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The Bible1 Kings 20

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1 Kings 20

1
English · Berean Standard Bible

Now Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he marched up, besieged Samaria, and waged war against it.

2
English · Berean Standard Bible

Then he sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel,

3
English · Berean Standard Bible

saying, “This is what Ben-hadad says: ‘Your silver and gold are mine, and your best wives and children are mine!’”

4
English · Berean Standard Bible

And the king of Israel replied, “Just as you say, my lord the king: I am yours, along with all that I have.”

5
English · Berean Standard Bible

The messengers came back and said, “This is what Ben-hadad says: ‘I have sent to you to demand your silver, your gold, your wives, and your children.

6
English · Berean Standard Bible

But about this time tomorrow I will send my servants to search your palace and the houses of your servants. They will seize and carry away all that is precious to you.’”

7
English · Berean Standard Bible

Then the king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said, “Please take note and see that this man is looking for trouble, for when he demanded my wives, my children, my silver, and my gold, I did not deny him.”

8
English · Berean Standard Bible

And the elders and the people all said, “Do not listen to him or consent to his terms.”

9
English · Berean Standard Bible

So Ahab answered the messengers of Ben-hadad, “Tell my lord the king, ‘All that you demanded of your servant the first time I will do, but this thing I cannot do.’” So the messengers departed and relayed the message to Ben-hadad.

10
English · Berean Standard Bible

Then Ben-hadad sent another message to Ahab: “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if enough dust remains of Samaria for each of my men to have a handful.”

11
English · Berean Standard Bible

And the king of Israel replied, “Tell him: ‘The one putting on his armor should not boast like one taking it off.’”

12
English · Berean Standard Bible

Ben-hadad received this message while he and the kings were drinking in their tents, and he said to his servants, “Take your positions.” So they stationed themselves against the city.

13
English · Berean Standard Bible

Meanwhile 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
English · Berean Standard Bible

“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.

15
English · Berean Standard Bible

So 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.

16
English · Berean Standard Bible

They marched out at noon while Ben-hadad and the 32 kings allied with him were in their tents getting drunk.

17
English · Berean Standard Bible

And 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
English · Berean Standard Bible

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

19
English · Berean Standard Bible

Meanwhile, these young officers of the district governors marched out of the city, with the army behind them,

20
English · Berean Standard Bible

and 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.

21
English · Berean Standard Bible

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

22
English · Berean Standard Bible

Afterward, 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 the king of Aram will come up against you.”

23
English · Berean Standard Bible

Meanwhile, 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.

24
English · Berean Standard Bible

So do this: Dismiss all the kings from their positions and replace them with other officers.

25
English · Berean Standard Bible

And 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.

26
English · Berean Standard Bible

In the spring, Ben-hadad mobilized the Arameans and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.

27
English · Berean Standard Bible

The 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.

28
English · Berean Standard Bible

Then 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.’”

29
English · Berean Standard Bible

For 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.

30
English · Berean Standard Bible

The 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.

31
English · Berean Standard Bible

Then the servants of Ben-hadad said to him, “Look now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful. Let us go out to the king of Israel with sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads. Perhaps he will spare your life.”

32
English · Berean Standard Bible

So with sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads, they went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please spare my life.’” And the king answered, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”

33
English · Berean Standard Bible

Now the men were looking for a sign of hope, and they quickly grasped at this word and replied, “Yes, your brother Ben-hadad.” “Go and get him!” said the king. Then Ben-hadad came out, and Ahab had him come up into his chariot.

34
English · Berean Standard Bible

Ben-hadad said to him, “I will restore the cities my father took from your father; you may set up your own marketplaces in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” “By this treaty I release you,” Ahab replied. So he made a treaty with him and sent him away.

35
English · Berean Standard Bible

Meanwhile, by the word of the LORD, one of the sons of the prophets said to his companion, “Strike me, please!” But the man refused to strike him.

36
English · Berean Standard Bible

Then the prophet said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, as soon as you depart from me a lion will kill you.” And when he left, a lion found him and killed him.

37
English · Berean Standard Bible

Then the prophet found another man and said, “Strike me, please!” So the man struck him and wounded him,

38
English · Berean Standard Bible

and the prophet went and waited on the road for the king, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes.

39
English · Berean Standard Bible

As the king passed by, he cried out to the king: “Your servant had marched out into the middle of the battle, when suddenly a man came over with a captive and told me, ‘Guard this man! If he goes missing for any reason, your life will be exchanged for his life, or you will weigh out a talent of silver.’

40
English · Berean Standard Bible

But while your servant was busy here and there, the man disappeared.” And the king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you have pronounced it on yourself.”

41
English · Berean Standard Bible

Then the prophet quickly removed the bandage from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.

42
English · Berean Standard Bible

And the prophet said to the king, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Because you have let slip from your hand the man I had devoted to destruction, your life will be exchanged for his life, and your people for his people.’”

43
English · Berean Standard Bible

Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went home to Samaria.

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Hebrew text: Westminster Leningrad Codex (public domain). Original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb (CC BY 4.0). · Source ↗

Hebrew text: Westminster Leningrad Codex (public domain), from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible. Original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Changes: lemma and morphology markup removed; morpheme separators removed; qere readings shown in [brackets] after the ketiv, which is shown in (parentheses); petucha/setuma marks omitted; verses renumbered to English versification (Psalm titles moved to headings).

The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB. Dedicated to the public domain. · Source ↗

The Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version), standard text of 1769; electronic text courtesy of eBible.org and the CrossWire Bible Society. Public domain outside the United Kingdom. In the UK, rights in the Authorized Version are vested in the Crown under Letters Patent, administered by Cambridge University Press. · Source ↗

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