1 Kings 20 - Introduction

1 Benhadad not content with Ahabs hommage, besiegeth Samaria.

13 By the direction of a Prophet, the Syrians are slaine.

22 As the Prophet forewarned Ahab, the Syrians trusting in the valleys, come against him in Aphek.

28 By the word of the Prophet, and Gods iudgment, the Syrians are smitten againe.

31 The Syrians submitting themselues, Ahab sendeth Benhadad away with a couenant.

35 The Prophet vnder the parable of a prisoner, making Ahab to iudge himselfe, denounceth Gods iudgement against him.

1 And Benhadad the King of Syria gathered all his hoste together, and there were thirtie and two kings with him, and horses, and charets: and hee went vp and besieged Samaria, and warred against it.

2 And hee sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel, into the city, and saide vnto him, Thus saith Benhadad,

3 Thy siluer and thy gold is mine, thy wiues also, and thy children, euen the goodliest, are mine.

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

5 And the messengers came againe, and saide, Thus speaketh Benhadad, saying, Although I haue sent vnto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliuer me thy siluer, and thy gold, and thy wiues, and thy children:

[Benhadads crueltie.]

6 Yet I will send my seruants vnto thee to morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy seruants; and it shall be, that whatsoeuer is [Note: Hebrew: desirable.] pleasant in thine eies, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away.

7 Then the king of Israel called all the Elders of the land, and saide; Marke, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischiefe: for hee sent vnto me for my wiues, and for my children, and for my siluer, and for my gold, and [Note: Hebrew: I kept not backe from him.] I denied him not.

8 And all the Elders, and all the people said vnto him; Hearken not vnto him, nor consent.

9 Wherefore hee said vnto the messengers of Benhadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou diddest send for to thy seruant at the first, I will doe: but this thing I may not doe. And the messengers departed, and brought him word againe.

10 And Benhadad sent vnto him, and said, The gods doe so vnto me and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that [Note: Hebrew are at my feete.] follow me.

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

12 And it came to passe, when Benhadad heard this [Note: Hebrew: word.] message (as hee was drinking, he and the kings in the [Note: Or, Tents.] pauilions) that hee said vnto his seruants, [Note: Or, place the engins: and they placed engines.] Set yourselues in aray. And they set themselues in aray against the citie.

13 And behold, there [Note: Hebrew: approched.] came a Prophet vnto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou seene all this great multitude? behold, I will deliuer it into thine hand this day, and thou shalt knowe that I am the Lord.

14 And Ahab saide, By whom? and he saide, Thus saith the Lord, Euen by the [Note: Or, seruants.] young men of the Princes of the prouinces: Then he said, Who shall [Note: Hebrew: Bynd, or, tie.] order the battell? And hee answered, Thou.

15 Then he numbred the young men of the Princes of the prouinces, and they were two hundred and thirty two: and after them hee numbred all the people, euen all the children of Israel, being seuen thousand.

16 And they went out at noone: But

[The Syrians are put to flight.]

Benhadad was drinking himselfe drunke in the pauilions, hee and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.

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

18 And he said, Whether they be come out for peace, take them aliue: or whether they be come out for warre, take them aliue.

19 So these yong men of the princes of the prouinces, came out of the citie, and the armie which followed them:

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

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

22 And the Prophet came to the king of Israel, and said vnto him, Goe, strengthen thy selfe, and marke and see what thou doest: for at the returne of the yeere, the king of Syria will come vp against thee.

23 And the seruants of the King of Syria said vnto him, Their gods are gods of the hilles, therefore they were stronger then wee: but let vs fight against them in the plaine, and surely we shall be stronger then they.

24 And doe this thing, Take the kings away, euery man out of his place, and put captaines in their roumes.

25 And number thee an armie, like the armie [Note: Hebrew: that was fallen.] that thou hast lost, horse for horse, and charet for charet: and wee will fight against them in the plaine, and surely wee shall be stronger then they. And hee hearkened vnto their voice, and did so.

26 And it came to passe at the returne of the yeere, that Benhadad numbred the Syrians, and went vp to Aphek, [Note: Hebrew: to the warre with Israel.] to fight against Israel.

27 And the children of Israel were numbred, and [Note: Or, were victualled.] were all present, and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them, like two little flockes of kids: but the Syrians filled the countrey.

28 And there came a man of God, and spake vnto the king of Israel, and

[The Syrians are put to flight.]

sayd, Thus sayth the Lord, Because the Syrians haue sayde, The Lord is God of the hilles, but hee is not God of the valleys: therefore will I deliuer all this great multitude into thine hand, and yee shall know that I am the Lord.

29 And they pitched one ouer against the other seuen daies, and so it was, that in the seuenth day the battell was ioyned: and the children of Israel slewe of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day.

30 But the rest fled to Aphek, into the citie, and there a wall fell vpon twentie and seuen thousand of the men that were left: and Benhadad fled, and came into the citie, [Note: Or, from chamber to chamber. Hebrew: into a chamber within a chamber.] into an inner chamber.

31 And his seruants said vnto him, Behold now, wee haue heard that the kings of the house of Israel are mercifull kings: let vs, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loines, and ropes vpon our heads, and goe out to the king of Israel; peraduenture he will saue thy life.

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

33 Now the men did diligently obserue whether any thing would come from him, and did hastily catch it: and they saide, Thy brother Benhadad. Then he said, Goe ye, bring him: then Benhadad came forth to him: and hee caused him to come vp into the charet.

34 And Benhadad said vnto him, The cities which my father tooke 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 couenant. So he made a couenant with him, and sent him away.

35 And a certaine man of the sonnes of the Prophets, saide vnto his neighbour in the word of the Lord, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man refused to smite him.

36 Then said he vnto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voyce of the Lord, beholde, assoone as thou art departed from me, a lyon shal slay thee. And assoone as hee was departed from him, a lyon found him, and slew him.

37 Then he found another man, and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And the

[Ahab reproued.]

man smote him, so that in [Note: Hebrew: smiting and wounding.] smiting hee wounded him.

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

39 And as the king passed by, he cried vnto the king: and he saide, Thy seruant went out into the mids of the battell, and behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man vnto me, and said, Keep this man: if by any meanes he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt [Note: Hebrew: weigh.] pay a talent of siluer.

40 And as thy seruant was busie here and there, [Note: Hebrew: hee was not.] he was gone. And the king of Israel saide vnto him, So shall thy iudgement bee, thy selfe hast discided it.

41 And he hasted, and tooke the ashes away from his face, and the king of Israel discerned him that hee was of the Prophets.

42 And hee said vnto him, Thus saith the Lord, [Note: 1 Kings 22:38.] Because thou hast let goe out of thy hand, a man whom I appointed to vtter destruction, therfore thy life shall goe for his life, and thy people for his people.

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