1 Kings 20
20
Syria Attacks Israel
1King Benhadad of Syria#20.1 King Benhadad of Syria: This is probably not the same Benhadad mentioned in 15.18-21. called his army together. He was joined by 32 other kings with their horses and chariots, and together they marched to Samaria and attacked. 2Benhadad sent a messenger to tell King Ahab of Israel, 3“Ahab, give me your silver and gold, your wives,#20.3 wives: Having more than one wife was allowed in those times. and your strongest sons!”
4“Your Majesty,” Ahab replied, “everything I have is yours, including me.”
5Later, Benhadad sent another messenger to say to Ahab, “I already told you to give me your silver and gold, your wives, and your children. 6But tomorrow at this time, I will send my officials into your city to search your palace and the houses of your officials. They will take everything else that you#20.6 you: Hebrew; three ancient translations “they.” own.”
7Ahab called a meeting with the leaders of Israel and said, “Benhadad is causing real trouble. He told me to give him my wives and children, as well as my silver and gold. And I agreed.”
8“Don't listen to him!” they answered. “You don't have to do what he says.”
9So Ahab sent someone to tell Benhadad, “Your Majesty, I'll give you my silver and gold, and even my wives and children. But I won't let you have anything else.”
When Benhadad got his answer, 10he replied, “I'll completely destroy Samaria! There won't even be enough of it left for my soldiers to carry back in their hands. If I don't do it, I pray that the gods will punish me terribly.”
11Ahab then answered, “Benhadad, don't brag before the fighting even begins. Wait and see if you live through it.”
12Meanwhile, Benhadad and the other kings had been drinking in their tents. But when Ahab's reply came, he ordered his soldiers to prepare to attack Samaria, and they all got ready.
13At that very moment, a prophet ran up to Ahab and said, “You can see that Benhadad's army is very strong. But the Lord has promised to help you defeat them today. Then you will know that the Lord is in control.”
14“Who will fight the battle?” Ahab asked.
The prophet answered, “The young bodyguards who serve the district officials.”
“But who will lead them into battle?” Ahab asked.
“You will!” the prophet replied.
15So Ahab called together the 232 young soldiers and the 7,000 troops in Israel's army, and he got them ready to fight the Syrians.
Israel Defeats the Syrians
16-17At noon, King Ahab and his Israelite army marched out of Samaria, with the young soldiers in front.
King Benhadad of Syria and the 32 kings with him were drunk when the scouts he had sent out ran up to his tent, shouting, “We just now saw soldiers marching out of Samaria!”
18“Take them alive!” Benhadad ordered. “I don't care if they have come out to fight or to surrender.”
19The young soldiers led Israel's troops into battle, 20and each of them attacked and killed an enemy soldier. The rest of the Syrian army turned and ran, and the Israelites went after them. Benhadad and some others escaped on horses, 21but Ahab and his soldiers followed them and captured#20.21 captured: One ancient translation; Hebrew “attacked.” their horses and chariots.
Ahab and Israel's army crushed the Syrians.
22Later, the prophet#20.22 the prophet: See verse 13. went back and warned Ahab, “Benhadad will attack you again next spring. Build up your troops and make sure you have some good plans.”
Syria Attacks Israel Again
23Meanwhile, Benhadad's officials went to him and explained:
Israel's gods are mountain gods. We fought Israel's army in the hills, and that's why they defeated us. But if we fight them on flat land, there's no way we can lose.
24Here's what you should do. First, get rid of those 32 kings and put army commanders in their places. 25Then get more soldiers, horses, and chariots, so your army will be as strong as it was before. We'll fight Israel's army on flat land and wipe them out.
Benhadad agreed and did what they suggested.
26In the spring, Benhadad got his army together, and they marched to the town of Aphek to attack Israel. 27The Israelites also prepared to fight. They marched out to meet the Syrians, and the two armies camped across from each other. The Syrians covered the whole area, but the Israelites looked like two little flocks of goats.
28The prophet went to Ahab and said, “The Syrians think the Lord is a god of the hills and not of the valleys. So he has promised to help you defeat their powerful army. Then you will know that the Lord is in control.”
29For seven days the two armies stayed in their camps, facing each other. Then on the seventh day the fighting broke out, and before sunset the Israelites had killed 100,000 Syrian troops. 30The rest of the Syrian army ran back to Aphek, but the town wall fell and crushed 27,000 of them.
Benhadad also escaped to Aphek and hid in the back room of a house. 31His officials said, “Your Majesty, we've heard that Israel's kings keep their agreements. We will wrap sackcloth around our waists, put ropes around our heads, and ask Ahab to let you live.”
32They dressed in sackcloth and put ropes on their heads, then they went to Ahab and said, “Your servant Benhadad asks you to let him live.”
“Is he still alive?” Ahab asked. “Benhadad is like a brother to me.”
33Benhadad's officials were trying to figure out what Ahab was thinking, and when he said “brother,” they quickly replied, “You're right! You and Benhadad are like brothers.”
“Go get him,” Ahab said.
When Benhadad came out, Ahab had him climb up into his chariot.
34Benhadad said, “I'll give back the towns my father took from your father. And you can have shops in Damascus, just as my father had in Samaria.”
Ahab replied, “If you do these things, I'll let you go free.” Then they signed a peace treaty, and Ahab let Benhadad go.
A Prophet Condemns Ahab
35About this time the Lord commanded a prophet to say to a friend, “Hit me!” But the friend refused, 36#1 K 13.24. and the prophet told him, “You disobeyed the Lord, and as soon as you walk away, a lion will kill you.” The friend left, and suddenly a lion killed him.
37The prophet found someone else and said, “Hit me!” So this man beat him up.
38The prophet left and put a bandage over his face to disguise himself. Then he went and stood beside the road, waiting for Ahab to pass by.
39When Ahab went by, the prophet shouted, “Your Majesty, right in the heat of battle, someone brought a prisoner to me and told me to guard him. He said if the prisoner got away, I would either be killed or forced to pay 3,000 pieces of silver. 40But I got busy doing other things, and the prisoner escaped.”
Ahab answered, “You will be punished just as you have said.”
41The man quickly tore the bandage off his face, and Ahab saw that he was one of the prophets. 42The prophet said, “The Lord told you to kill Benhadad, but you let him go. Now you will die in his place, and your people will die in place of his people.”
43Ahab went back to Samaria, angry and depressed.
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1 Kings 20: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
1 Kings 20
20
1And Ben-Hadad king of Aram hath gathered all his force, and thirty and two kings [are] with him, and horse and chariot, and he goeth up and layeth siege against Samaria, and fighteth with it,
2and sendeth messengers unto Ahab king of Israel, to the city,
3and saith to him, ‘Thus said Ben-Hadad, ‘Thy silver and thy gold are mine, and thy wives and thy sons — the best — are mine.’
4And the king of Israel answereth and saith, ‘According to thy word, my lord, O king: I [am] thine, and all that I have.’
5And the messengers turn back and say, ‘Thus spake Ben-Hadad, saying, Surely I sent unto thee, saying, Thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy sons, to me thou dost give;
6for if, at this time to-morrow, I send my servants unto thee then they have searched thy house, and the houses of thy servants, and it hath been, every desirable thing of thine eyes they place in their hand, and have taken away.’
7And the king of Israel calleth to all the elders of the land, and saith, ‘Know, I pray you, and see that evil this [one] is seeking, for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my sons, and for my silver, and for my gold, and I withheld not from him.’
8And all the elders and all the people say unto him, ‘Do not hearken, nor consent.’
9And he saith to the messengers of Ben-Hadad, ‘Say to my lord the king, All that thou didst send for unto thy servant at the first I do, and this thing I am not able to do;’ and the messengers go and take him back word.
10And Ben-Hadad sendeth unto him, and saith, ‘Thus do the gods to me, and thus do they add, if the dust of Samaria suffice for handfuls for all the people who [are] at my feet.’
11And the king of Israel answereth and saith, ‘Speak ye: let not him who is girding on boast himself as him who is loosing [his armour].’
12And it cometh to pass at the hearing of this word — and he is drinking, he and the kings, in the booths — that he saith unto his servants, ‘Set yourselves;’ and they set themselves against the city.
13And lo, a certain prophet hath come nigh unto Ahab king of Israel, and saith, ‘Thus said Jehovah, ‘Hast thou seen all this great multitude? lo, I am giving it into thy hand to-day, and thou hast known that I [am] Jehovah.’
14And Ahab saith, ‘By whom?’ and he saith, ‘Thus said Jehovah, By the young men of the heads of the provinces;’ and he saith, ‘Who doth direct the battle?’ and he saith, ‘Thou.’
15And he inspecteth the young men of the heads of the provinces, and they are two hundred, two and thirty, and after them he hath inspecteth the whole of the people, all the sons of Israel, seven thousand,
16and they go out at noon, and Ben-Hadad is drinking — drunk in the booths, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings, helping him.
17And the young men of the heads of the provinces go out at the first, and Ben-Hadad sendeth, and they declare to him, saying, ‘Men have come out of Samaria.’
18And he saith, ‘If for peace they have come out — catch them alive; and if for battle they have come out — alive catch them.’
19And these have gone out of the city — the young men of the heads of the provinces — and the force that [is] after them,
20and smite each his man, and Aram fleeth, and Israel pursueth them, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram escapeth on a horse, and the horsemen;
21and the king of Israel goeth out, and smiteth the horses, and the charioteers, and hath smitten among the Aramaeans a great smiting.
22And the prophet cometh nigh unto the king of Israel, and saith to him, ‘Go, strengthen thyself, and know and see that which thou dost, for at the turn of the year the king of Aram is coming up against thee.’
23And the servants of the king of Aram said unto him, ‘Gods of hills [are] their gods, therefore they were stronger than we; and yet, we fight with them in the plain — are we not stronger than they?
24‘And this thing do thou: turn aside the kings each out of his place, and set captains in their stead;
25and thou, number to thee a force as the force that is fallen from thee, and horse for horse, and chariot for chariot, and we fight with them in the plain; are we not stronger than they?’ and he hearkeneth to their voice, and doth so.
26And it cometh to pass at the turn of the year, that Ben-Hadad inspecteth the Aramaeans, and goeth up to Aphek, to battle with Israel,
27and the sons of Israel have been inspected, and supported, and go to meet them, and the sons of Israel encamp before them, like two flocks of goats, and the Aramaeans have filled the land.
28And there cometh nigh a man of God, and speaketh unto the king of Israel, and saith, ‘Thus said Jehovah, Because that the Aramaeans have said, God of hills [is] Jehovah, and He [is] not God of valleys — I have given the whole of this great multitude into thy hand, and ye have known that I [am] Jehovah.’
29And they encamp one over-against another seven days, and it cometh to pass on the seventh day, that the battle draweth near, and the sons of Israel smite Aram — a hundred thousand footmen in one day.
30And those left flee to Aphek, unto the city, and the wall falleth on twenty and seven chief men who are left, and Ben-Hadad hath fled, and cometh in unto the city, into the innermost part.
31And his servants say unto him, ‘Lo, we pray thee, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel — that they are kind kings; let us put, we pray thee, sackcloth on our loins, and ropes on our heads, and we go out unto the king of Israel; it may be he doth keep thee alive.’
32And they gird sackcloth on their loins, and ropes [are] on their heads, and they come in unto the king of Israel, and say, ‘Thy servant Ben-Hadad hath said, Let me live, I pray thee;’ and he saith, ‘Is he yet alive? he [is] my brother.’
33And the men observe diligently, and hasten, and catch it from him, and say, ‘Thy brother Ben-Hadad;’ and he saith, ‘Go ye in, bring him;’ and Ben-Hadad cometh out unto him, and he causeth him to come up on the chariot.
34And he saith unto him, ‘The cities that my father took from thy father, I give back, and streets thou dost make for thee in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria;’ — ‘and I, with a covenant, send thee away;’ and he maketh with him a covenant, and sendeth him away.
35And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour by the word of Jehovah, ‘Smite me, I pray thee;’ and the man refuseth to smite him,
36and he saith to him, ‘Because that thou hast not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah, lo, thou art going from me, and the lion hath smitten thee;’ and he goeth from him, and the lion findeth him, and smiteth him.
37And he findeth another man, and saith, ‘Smite me, I pray thee;’ and the man smiteth him, smiting and wounding,
38and the prophet goeth and standeth for the king on the way, and disguiseth himself with ashes on his eyes.
39And it cometh to pass — the king is passing by — that he hath cried unto the king, and saith, ‘Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle, and lo, a man hath turned aside and bringeth in unto me a man, and saith, Keep this man; if he be at all missing, then hath thy life been for his life, or a talent of silver thou dost weigh out;
40and it cometh to pass, thy servant is working hither and thither, and he is not!’ and the king of Israel saith unto him, Right [is] thy judgment; thou hast determined [it].’
41And he hasteth and turneth aside the ashes from off his eyes, and the king of Israel discerneth him, that he [is] of the prophets,
42and he saith unto him, ‘Thus said Jehovah, Because thou hast sent away the man I devoted, out of [thy] hand, even thy life hath been for his life, and thy people for his people;’
43and the king of Israel goeth unto his house, sulky and wroth, and cometh in to Samaria.
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