The Syrians besiege Samaria: they are twice defeated by Achab: who is
reprehended by a prophet for letting Benadad go.
20:1. And Benadad, king of Syria, gathered together all his host, and
there were two and thirty kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and
going up, he fought against Samaria, and besieged it.
20:2. And sending messengers to Achab, king of Israel, into the city,
20:3. He said: Thus saith Benadad: Thy silver and thy gold is mine: and
thy wives and thy goodliest children are mine.
20:4. And the king of Israel answered: According to thy word, my lord,
O king, I am thine, and all that I have.
20:5. And the messengers came again, and said: Thus saith Benadad, who
sent us unto thee: Thy silver and thy gold, and thy wives and thy
children, thou shalt deliver up to me.
20:6. To morrow, therefore, at this same hour, I will send my servants
to thee, and they shall search thy house, and the houses of thy
servants: and all that pleaseth them, they shall put in their hands,
and take away.
20:7. And the king of Israel called all the ancients of the land, and
said: Mark, and see that he layeth snares for us. For he sent to me for
my wives, and for my children, and for my silver and gold: and I said
not nay.
20:8. And all the ancients, and all the people said to him: Hearken not
to him, nor consent to him.
20:9. Wherefore he answered the messengers of Benadad: Tell my lord,
the king: All that thou didst send for to me, thy servant at first, I
will do: but this thing I cannot do.
20:10. And the messengers returning brought him word. And he sent
again, and said: Such and such things may the gods do to me, and more
may they add, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all
the people that follow me.
20:11. And the king of Israel answering, said: Tell him: Let not the
girded boast himself as the ungirded.
Let not the girded, etc.... Let him not boast before the victory: it
will then be time to glory when he putteth off his armour, having
overcome his adversary.
20:12. And it came to pass, when Benadad heard this word, that he and
the kings were drinking in pavilions, and he said to his servants:
Beset the city. And they beset it.
20:13. And behold a prophet coming to Achab, king of Israel, said to
him: Thus saith the Lord: Hast thou seen all this exceeding great
multitude? behold I will deliver them into thy hand this day: that thou
mayst know that I am the Lord.
20:14. And Achab said: By whom? And he said to him: Thus saith the
Lord: By the servants of the princes of the provinces. And he said: Who
shall begin to fight? And he said: Thou.
20:15. So he mustered the servants of the princes of the provinces, and
he found the number of two hundred and thirty-two: and he mustered
after them the people, all the children of Israel, seven thousand:
20:16. And they went out at noon. But Benadad was drinking himself
drunk in his pavilion, and the two and thirty kings with him, who were
come to help him.
20:17. And the servants of the princes of the provinces went out first.
And Benadad sent. And they told him, saying: There are men come out of
Samaria.
20:18. And he said: Whether they come for peace, take them alive: or
whether they come to fight, take them alive.
20:19. So the servants of the princes of the provinces went out, and
the rest of the army followed:
20:20. And every one slew the man that came against him: and the
Syrians fled, and Israel pursued after them. And Benadad, king of
Syria, fled away on horseback with his horsemen.
20:21. But the king of Israel going out overthrew the horses and
chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.
20:22. (And a prophet coming to the king of Israel, said to him: Go,
and strengthen thyself, and know, and see what thou dost: for the next
year the king of Syria will come up against thee.)
20:23. But the servants of the king of Syria said to him: Their gods
are gods of the hills, therefore they have overcome us: but it is
better that we should fight against them in the plains, and we shall
overcome them.
20:24. Do thou, therefore, this thing: Remove all the kings from thy
army, and put captains in their stead:
20:25. And make up the number of soldiers that have been slain of
thine, and horses, according to the former horses, and chariots,
according to the chariots which thou hadst before: and we will fight
against them in the plains, and thou shalt see that we shall overcome
them. He believed their counsel, and did so.
20:26. Wherefore, at the return of the year, Benadad mustered the
Syrians, and went up to Aphec, to fight against Israel.
20:27. And the children of Israel were mustered, and taking victuals,
went out on the other side, and encamped over against them, like two
little flocks of goats: but the Syrians filled the land.
20:28. (And a man of God coming, said to the king of Israel: Thus saith
the Lord: Because the Syrians have said: The Lord is God of the hills,
but is not God of the valleys: I will deliver all this great multitude
into thy hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.)
20:29. And both sides set their armies in array one against the other
seven days, and on the seventh day the battle was fought: and the
children of Israel slew, of the Syrians, a hundred thousand footmen in
one day.
20:30. And they that remained fled to Aphec, into the city: and the
wall fell upon seven and twenty thousand men, that were left. And
Benadad fleeing, went into the city, into a chamber that was within a
chamber.
20:31. And his servants said to him: Behold, we have heard that the
kings of the house of Israel are merciful; so let us put sackcloths on
our loins, and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel:
perhaps he will save our lives.
20:32. So they girded sackcloths on their loins, and put ropes on their
heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said to him: Thy servant,
Benadad, saith: I beseech thee let me have my life. And he said: If he
be yet alive, he is my brother.
20:33. The men took this for good luck: and in haste caught the word
out of his mouth, and said: Thy brother Benadad. And he said to them:
Go, and bring him to me. Then Benadad came out to him, and he lifted
him up into his chariot.
20:34. And he said to him: The cities which my father took from thy
father, I will restore: and do thou make thee streets in Damascus, as
my father made in Samaria and having made a league, I will depart from
thee. So he made a league with him, and let him go.
20:35. Then a certain man of the sons of the prophets, said to his
companion, in the word of the Lord: Strike me. But he would not strike.
20:36. Then he said to him: Because thou wouldst not hearken to the
word of the Lord, behold thou shalt depart from me, and a lion shall
slay thee. And when he was gone a little from him, a lion found him,
and slew him.
20:37. Then he found another man, and said to him: Strike me. And he
struck him and wounded him.
20:38. So the prophet went, and met the king in the way, and disguised
himself by sprinkling dust on his face and his eyes.
20:39. And as the king passed by, he cried to the king, and said: Thy
servant went out to fight hand to hand: and when a certain man was run
away, one brought him to me, and said: Keep this man: and if he shall
slip away, thy life shall be for his life, or thou shalt pay a talent
of silver.
20:40. And whilst I, in the hurry, turned this way and that, on a
sudden he was not to be seen. And the king of Israel said to him: This
is thy judgment, which thyself hast decreed.
20:41. But he forthwith wiped off the dust from his face, and the king
of Israel knew him, that he was one of the prophets.
20:42. And he said to him: Thus saith the Lord. Because thou hast let
go out of thy hand a man worthy of death, thy life shall be for his
life, and thy people for his people.
20:43. And the king of Israel returned to his house, slighting to hear,
and raging came into Samaria.