1 Kings 20

Ben-hadad, the king of Aram, gathered his whole army. Thirty-two kings came with him, along with horses and chariots. He marched up to the city of Samaria, surrounded it, and attacked it.

1And Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots; and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it.

Note"Syria" in the King James is Aram, a kingdom centered on Damascus, north-east of Israel; it is not the modern country of the same name, and its people were Arameans. Ben-hadad ("son of Hadad," Hadad being the Aramean storm god) was a throne name used by more than one Damascus king. Samaria was the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel, built by Ahab's father Omri. The "thirty-two kings" were rulers of small city-states bound to Ben-hadad as junior partners, each expected to supply troops.

2He sent messengers into the city to Ahab, the king of Israel, with this message:

2And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Benhadad,

3"This is what Ben-hadad says: 'Your silver and your gold belong to me. Your wives and your children, the finest of them, belong to me too.'"

3Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine.

NoteThe demand is the standard opening of a surrender negotiation: silver, gold, wives and children handed over meant tribute plus hostages, and marked the receiving king as an overlord and Ahab as his dependent. "The goodliest" means the best or choicest ones.

4The king of Israel answered, "It is as you say, my lord the king. I belong to you, and so does everything I have."

4And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have.

Note"I am thine, and all that I have" is formal submission language, the recognized way of accepting vassal status rather than a personal expression of affection.

5The messengers came back and said, "This is what Ben-hadad says: 'I already sent you word that you must hand over your silver, your gold, your wives, and your children.

5And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Benhadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;

6But about this time tomorrow I will send my officials to you. They will search your palace and the houses of your officials. They will take whatever you value most and carry it away.'"

6Yet I will send my servants unto thee to morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away.

7Then the king of Israel called together all the elders of the land. He said, "Look closely and see how this man is out to do us harm. He sent to me for my wives, my children, my silver, and my gold, and I did not refuse him."

7Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischief: for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I denied him not.

NoteThe "elders of the land" were heads of leading families and towns, whose consent a king needed for a decision that affected everyone. "Mischief" in the King James means serious harm or malicious intent, not a prank.

8All the elders and all the people said to him, "Do not listen to him. Do not agree to his terms."

8And all the elders and all the people said unto him, Hearken not unto him, nor consent.

9So he said to Ben-hadad's messengers, "Tell my lord the king, 'I will do everything you first demanded of me, your servant, but this new thing I cannot do.'" The messengers left and carried the answer back.

9Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Benhadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again.

10Then Ben-hadad sent word to him: "May the gods punish me, and worse, if there is enough dust left of Samaria to give a handful to each man who follows me."

10And Benhadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me.

Note"The gods do so unto me, and more also" is a fixed oath formula: the speaker calls down unnamed punishment on himself if he fails to do what he swears. The boast about dust means his army is so vast that the rubble of a flattened Samaria would not give each man even a handful as a souvenir.

11The king of Israel answered, "Tell him this: the man putting on his armor should not brag like the man taking it off."

11And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.

NoteA proverb about timing: the man strapping on his armor is going into a battle he has not yet fought; the man taking it off has survived it. Boasting belongs to the second man. "Harness" in the King James means armor.

12Ben-hadad got this message while he and the other kings were drinking in their tents. He said to his officers, "Take your positions." So they took up positions against the city.

12And it came to pass, when Ben-hadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions, that he said unto his servants, Set yourselves in array. And they set themselves in array against the city.

Note"Pavilions" are large tents. The Hebrew word can also be read as the place name Succoth, so it is uncertain whether the text says the kings were drinking in shelters or at a town called Succoth.

13Just then a prophet came to Ahab, the king of Israel, and said, "This is what the LORD says: 'Do you see this whole huge army? I am going to hand it over to you today, and you will know that I am the LORD.'"

13And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

NoteWhere the King James prints "LORD" in capitals it stands for the personal name of Israel's God, four Hebrew consonants often written Yahweh, which Jewish readers did not pronounce aloud. "Thus saith the LORD" is the standard opening formula of a messenger delivering a king's words, here used for a message from God.

14Ahab asked, "By whom?" The prophet said, "This is what the LORD says: 'By the young officers who serve the district governors.'" Then Ahab asked, "Who will begin the battle?" The prophet answered, "You will."

14And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou.

NoteThe northern kingdom was divided into administrative districts, each under a governor. The "young men of the princes of the provinces" were the governors' junior attendants or cadets, a small, elite group, not the regular army.

15So Ahab called up the young officers who served the district governors. There were 232 of them. After them he called up the rest of the Israelite army, 7,000 men in all.

15Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty two: and after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand.

16They marched out at noon. Ben-hadad was in the tents getting drunk, along with the thirty-two kings who were helping him.

16And they went out at noon. But Benhadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.

NoteArmies normally moved at dawn and rested through the midday heat, so a noon attack was unexpected. That the enemy commander was drunk at that hour is the point of the detail.

17The young officers of the district governors marched out first. Ben-hadad had sent out scouts, and they reported to him, "Men are marching out of Samaria."

17And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Benhadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria.

18He said, "If they have come out for peace, take them alive. If they have come out for war, take them alive."

18And he said, Whether they be come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive.

19So these young officers of the district governors marched out of the city, with the army following behind them.

19So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them.

20Each man struck down the man facing him. The Arameans ran away, and Israel chased them. But Ben-hadad, the king of Aram, got away on a horse along with some of his horsemen.

20And they slew every one his man: and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them: and Benhadad the king of Syria escaped on an horse with the horsemen.

NoteIsrael had no significant chariot force of its own here; "horsemen" means the mounted escort that let Ben-hadad outrun the pursuit.

21Then the king of Israel marched out and attacked the horses and chariots, and killed a great many of the Arameans.

21And the king of Israel went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.

22Afterward the prophet came to the king of Israel and said, "Go and build up your strength. Think carefully about what you must do, because next spring the king of Aram will come up against you again."

22And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee.

Note"At the return of the year" means the following spring. Campaigns were fought in the dry months after the winter rains ended and before harvest, so armies wintered at home and resumed fighting at a predictable time of year.

23Meanwhile the officials of the king of Aram said to him, "Their gods are gods of the hills. That is why they were stronger than we were. But if we fight them on flat ground, we will surely be stronger than they are.

23And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.

NoteAncient peoples generally assumed a god's power was tied to a particular territory or terrain, so a defeat could be explained as fighting on ground where the enemy's god was strong. The advice is also plain military sense: chariots, Aram's main advantage, were nearly useless in Israel's hill country and devastating on level plains.

24So do this: remove each of the kings from his command, and put regular officers in their places.

24And do this thing, Take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their rooms:

Note"In their rooms" in the King James means "in their places." The proposal is to replace the allied kings, who commanded their own contingents and could not be disciplined, with professional officers answerable to Ben-hadad.

25Then raise an army like the one you lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. We will fight them on flat ground, and we will surely be stronger than they are." The king listened to their advice and did what they said.

25And number thee an army, like the army that thou hast lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot: and we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he hearkened unto their voice, and did so.

26The next spring Ben-hadad called up the Aramean army and marched to Aphek to fight against Israel.

26And it came to pass at the return of the year, that Benhadad numbered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel.

NoteAphek was most likely the town east of the Sea of Galilee on the level ground of the Golan, chosen precisely because chariots could be used there.

27The Israelites were called up too, given supplies, and marched out to meet them. The Israelites camped facing them like two small flocks of goats, while the Arameans covered the countryside.

27And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present, and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country.

Note"Kids" are young goats. Two small flocks of them on an open hillside is an image of something tiny, scattered and defenseless against the mass facing it.

28Then a man of God came to the king of Israel and said, "This is what the LORD says: 'Because the Arameans have said the LORD is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will hand this whole huge army over to you. Then you will know that I am the LORD.'"

28And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Note"A man of God" is a standard term for a prophet, someone recognized as speaking on God's behalf.

29For seven days the two armies camped facing each other. On the seventh day the battle began, and the Israelites killed a hundred thousand Aramean foot soldiers in one day.

29And they pitched one over against the other seven days. And so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day.

NoteLarge round numbers like these are normal in ancient battle reports and were not necessarily meant as head counts. The Hebrew word translated "thousand" can also mean a military unit or contingent of unspecified size, so the true scale is uncertain.

30The rest fled into the city of Aphek, and there the city wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the men who were left. Ben-hadad also fled into the city and hid in an inner room.

30But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and there a wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left. And Benhadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber.

31His officials said to him, "Listen, we have heard that the kings of Israel are merciful kings. Let us put rough cloth around our waists and ropes around our heads and go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life."

31And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save thy life.

NoteSackcloth was coarse, dark cloth woven from goat hair, worn next to the skin in mourning or humiliation. Ropes on the head signaled surrender: the men present themselves as prisoners already tied, at the victor's disposal. "Peradventure" in the King James means "perhaps."

32So they tied rough cloth around their waists and ropes around their heads. They went to the king of Israel and said, "Your servant Ben-hadad says, 'Please let me live.'" Ahab said, "Is he still alive? He is my brother."

32So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy servant Benhadad saith, I pray thee, let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? he is my brother.

Note"He is my brother" is diplomatic vocabulary, not family. Kings bound to each other by treaty as rough equals addressed one another as brothers; a king who accepted the word had committed himself to a relationship rather than an execution, which is exactly why the envoys pounce on it in the next verse.

33The men were watching closely for any sign of hope from him, and they seized on the word at once. They said, "Yes, your brother Ben-hadad." Ahab said, "Go and bring him." So Ben-hadad came out to him, and Ahab had him get up into his chariot.

33Now the men did diligently observe whether any thing would come from him, and did hastily catch it: and they said, Thy brother Benhadad. Then he said, Go ye, bring him. Then Benhadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot.

NoteBringing a man up into your chariot was a public gesture of honor, placing him beside the king as an ally rather than below him as a captive.

34Ben-hadad said to him, "I will give back the cities my father took from your father, and you may set up your own market streets in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria." Ahab said, "On these terms I will let you go." So he made an agreement with him and let him go.

34And Ben-hadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away.

Note"Streets" translates a word for market quarters: the right to keep a trading district, with your own merchants, inside the other king's capital. Such concessions were a normal clause in treaties between unequal states. "My father" and "thy father" here mean royal predecessors and need not be literal fathers. "Covenant" means a binding treaty, sworn and formally witnessed.

35At the LORD's command, one of the group of prophets said to his companion, "Hit me, please." But the man refused to hit him.

35And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour in the word of the LORD, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man refused to smite him.

Note"The sons of the prophets" does not mean prophets' children; it is the usual phrase for members of a prophetic guild or company, men who lived and worked in groups under a senior figure.

36So the prophet said to him, "Because you have not obeyed the LORD, a lion will kill you as soon as you leave me." And as soon as the man left, a lion found him and killed him.

36Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him.

37Then the prophet found another man and said, "Hit me, please." The man struck him and wounded him.

37Then he found another man, and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man smote him, so that in smiting he wounded him.

38Then the prophet went and waited for the king beside the road. He disguised himself by pulling a cloth down over his eyes.

38So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face.

NoteThe King James says the prophet disguised himself with ashes on his face; most modern translations read a bandage over his eyes. Two Hebrew words differing by a single letter lie behind this, and it is not certain which the text originally had. Either way the point is that the king cannot recognize him, and that he looks like a wounded soldier.

39As the king passed by, the prophet called out to him. He said, "Your servant went out into the middle of the battle. A man came over to me with a prisoner and said, 'Guard this man. If he goes missing for any reason, your life will be taken in place of his life, or you will pay a talent of silver.'

39And as the king passed by, he cried unto the king: and he said, Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said, Keep this man: if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver.

NoteA talent was a weight of about seventy-five pounds, roughly thirty-four kilograms, of silver, a sum far beyond an ordinary soldier's means, equivalent to many years of wages. The demand is therefore effectively a death sentence with a theoretical alternative.

40But while I was busy with this and that, the man got away." The king of Israel said to him, "That is your sentence, then. You have decided it yourself."

40And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.

41Then the prophet quickly pulled the cloth away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.

41And he hasted, and took the ashes away from his face; and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets.

42The prophet said to him, "This is what the LORD says: 'Because you let go the man I had set apart to be destroyed, your life will be taken in place of his life, and your people in place of his people.'"

42And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people.

Note"Appointed to utter destruction" translates a technical term, the ban: persons or property placed under an irrevocable claim and put beyond human use, so that no one could take them as plunder or spare them for profit. Releasing someone under the ban in exchange for a trade agreement broke the terms of it.

43The king of Israel went home to Samaria, sullen and angry.

43And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.