1 Kings 20:13–30

¹³Meanwhile a prophet approached Ahab king of Israel and declared, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Do you see this entire great army? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand this very day, and you will know that I am the LORD.’”

¹⁴“By whom?” Ahab asked.

And the prophet replied, “This is what the LORD says: ‘By the young officers of the district governors.’”

“Who will start the battle?” asked Ahab.

“You will,” answered the prophet.

¹⁵So Ahab assembled the young officers of the district governors, and there were 232 men. And after them, he assembled the rest of the Israelite troops, 7,000 in all.

¹⁶They marched out at noon while Ben-hadad and the 32 kings allied with him were in their tents getting drunk. ¹⁷And the young officers of the district governors marched out first.

Now Ben-hadad had sent out scouts, who reported to him, “Men are marching out of Samaria.”

¹⁸“If they have marched out in peace,” he said, “take them alive. Even if they have marched out for war, take them alive.”

¹⁹Meanwhile, these young officers of the district governors marched out of the city, with the army behind them, ²⁰and each one struck down his opponent. So the Arameans fled, with the Israelites in pursuit. But Ben-hadad king of Aram escaped on horseback with the cavalry.

²¹Then the king of Israel marched out and attacked the horses and chariots, inflicting a great slaughter on the Arameans.

²²Afterward, the prophet approached the king of Israel and said, “Go and strengthen your position, and take note what you must do, for in the spring^c the king of Aram will come up against you.”

²³Meanwhile, the servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. That is why they prevailed over us. Instead, we should fight them on the plains; surely then we will prevail. ²⁴So do this: Dismiss all the kings from their positions and replace them with other officers. ²⁵And you must raise an army like the one you have lost— horse for horse and chariot for chariot— so we can fight the Israelites on the plain, where we will surely prevail.”

And the king approved their plan and acted accordingly.

²⁶In the spring, Ben-hadad mobilized the Arameans and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. ²⁷The Israelites also mobilized, gathered supplies, and marched out to meet them.

The Israelites camped before them like two small flocks of goats, while the Arameans covered the countryside.

²⁸Then the man of God approached the king of Israel and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Because the Arameans have said that the LORD is a god of the hills and not of the valleys, I will deliver all this great army into your hand. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

²⁹For seven days the armies camped opposite each other, and on the seventh day the battle ensued, and the Israelites struck down the Arameans— a hundred thousand foot soldiers in one day.

³⁰The rest of them fled into the city of Aphek, where the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the remaining men. Ben-hadad also fled to the city and hid in an inner room.