CHAPTER 20
1 Forsooth Benhadad, king of Syria, gathered together all his host, and two and thirty kings with him, and horses, and chariots; and he went up against Samaria, and fought, and besieged it.
2 And he sent messengers to Ahab, king of Israel, into the city, and they said to him, Benhadad saith these things,
3 Thy silver and thy gold is mine, and thy wives, and thy best sons be mine.
4 And the king of Israel answered, By thy word, my lord the king, I am thine, and all my things be thine.
5 And the messengers turned again, and said, Benhadad, that sent us to thee, saith these things, Thou shalt give to me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy sons.
6 Therefore tomorrow, in this same hour, I shall send my servants to thee, and they shall seek throughout thine house, and the house of thy servants; and they shall put in their hands, and take away all thing that shall please them.
7 Forsooth the king of Israel called all the elder men of the land, and said, Perceive ye, and see, that he setteth treason to us; for he sent to me for my wives, and sons, and for silver, and gold, and I forsook not.
8 And all the greater men in birth, and all the people said to him, Hear thou not, neither assent thou to him.
9 And he answered to the messengers of Benhadad, Say ye to my lord the king, I shall do all things, for which thou sentest in the beginning to me, thy servant; but I may not do this thing. And the messengers turned again, and told all things to him.
10 Which sent again, and said, Gods do these things to me, and add these things too, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice to the fist[ful] s of all the people that pursueth [or followeth] me.
11 And the king of Israel answered, and said, Say ye to him, A girded man, that is, he that goeth to battle, have not glory evenly as a man ungirded, that is, as he that hath the victory, and hath put off his armours.
12 And it was done, when Benhadad had heard this word, he drank, and also the kings, in shadowing places; and he said to his servants, Encompass ye the city. And they encompassed it.
13 And lo! one prophet nighed to Ahab, king of Israel, and said to him, The Lord God saith these things, Certainly thou hast seen all this multitude full great; lo! I shall betake it into thine hand today, that thou know that I am the Lord.
14 And Ahab said, By whom? And he said to Ahab, The Lord saith these things, By the squires, or the footmen, of the princes of provinces. And Ahab said, Who shall begin to fight? And the prophet said, Thou.
15 Therefore he numbered the chil-dren or servants of the princes of [the] provinces, and he found the number of two hundred and two and thirty; and after them he numbered the people, all the sons of Israel, seven thousand.
16 And they went out in midday. Forsooth Benhadad drank, and was drunken in his shadowing place, and two and thirty kings with him, that came to the help of him.
17 And the children of the princes of provinces went out in the first front. Therefore Benhadad sent men, which told to him, and said, Men went out of Samaria.
18 And he said, Whether they come for peace, take ye them quick; whether to fight, take ye them quick. [And he saith, Whether for peace they come, taketh them alive; whether that they fight, taketh them alive.]
19 Therefore the children of the princes of provinces went out, and the residue host pursued [or followed];
20 and each smote the man that came against him. And men of Syria fled, and Israel pursued them; also Benhadad, the king of Syria, fled on an horse with his knights.
21 Also the king of Israel went out, and smote horses and chariots, and he smote Syria with a full great vengeance.
22 Forsooth a prophet nighed to the king of Israel, and said, Go thou, and be comforted, and know, and see, what thou shalt do; for the king of Syria shall ascend [or go up] against thee in the year pursuing [or following].
23 Soothly the servants of the king of Syria said to him, The Gods of hills be the Gods of the sons of Israel, therefore they overcame us; but it is better that we fight against them in [the] field places, and we shall get them there.
24 Therefore do thou this word, or counsel; remove thou all [the] kings from thine host, and set thou [or put] princes for them;
25 and restore thou the number of knights, that felled [or fell] of thine, and [the] horses after the former horses, and restore thou[the] chariots, by the chariots which thou haddest before; and we shall fight against them in [the] field places, and thou shalt see, that we shall get them. He believed to the counsel of them, and did so.
26 Therefore after that the year had passed, Benhadad numbered men of Syria, and he went up into Aphek, to fight against Israel.
27 Forsooth the sons of Israel were numbered; and when meats were taken, they went forth even against; and they, as two little flocks of goats, setted tents against men of Syria. Forsooth men of Syria filled the land.
28 And one prophet of God nighed, and said to the king of Israel, The Lord God saith these things, For men of Syria said, God of hills is the Lord of them, and he is not God of valleys, I shall give all this great multitude in thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
29 And seven days these and they dressed battle arrays even against each other; and in the seventh day the battle was joined altogether, and the sons of Israel smote of the men of Syria an hundred thousand of footmen in one day.
30 And they that were left fled into the city of Aphek, and the wall felled [or fell] down upon seven and twenty thousand of men that were left. Forsooth Benhadad fled, and entered into the city, into a closet that was within a bed-closet;
31 and his servants said to him, [Lo!] We have heard that the kings of the house of Israel be merciful, therefore put we sackcloths in our loins, and cords in our heads, and go we out to the king of Israel; in hap he shall save our lives.
32 They girded their loins with sackcloths, and put cords in their heads, and they came to the king of Israel, and said to him, Thy servant Benhadad saith, I pray thee, let my soul live. And he said, If Benhadad liveth yet, he is my brother.
33 Which thing the men of Syria took for a gracious word, and they ravished hastily the word of his mouth, and said, Thy brother Benhadad liveth. And Ahab said to them, Go ye, and bring ye him to me. Therefore Benhadad went out to him, and he raised up Benhadad into his chariot.
34 [The] Which Benhadad said to him, I shall yield the cities which my father took from thy father, and make thou streets to thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria; and I shall be bound to peace, and I shall depart from thee. Therefore Ahab made [a] bond of peace with him, and delivered him.
35 Then a man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow, in the word of the Lord, Smite thou me. And he would not smite.
36 To whom the prophet said, For thou wouldest not hear the voice of the Lord, lo! thou shalt go [away] from me, and a lion shall smite thee. And when he had gone a little from him, a lion found him, and slew him.
37 But also the prophet found another man, and he said to that man, Smite thou me. And he smote him, and wounded him.
38 Therefore the prophet went, and met the king in the way; and he changed with a cloth, that is, by wrap-ping of a cloth, his mouth and eyes.
39 And when the king had passed by, he cried to the king, and said, Thy servant went out to fight anon, and when one man had fled, a man brought him to me, and said, Keep thou this man; and if he escapeth, thy life shall be for his life, either thou shalt pay a talent of silver.
40 Soothly while I was troubled, and turned me hither and thither, suddenly he appeared not. And the king of Israel said to him, This is thy doom that thou [thyself] hast deemed.
41 And anon he removed the cloth, either binding, from his face, and the king of Israel knew him, that he was of the prophets.
42 The which said to the king, The Lord saith these things, For thou deliveredest from thine hand a man worthy of death, thy life shall be for his life, and thy people for his people.
43 Therefore the king of Israel turned again into his house, and despised to hear God’s word, and came wroth into Samaria*.
* CHAPTER 20:43 Josephus saith that he killed the prophet.