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2
And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith
Ben-hadad,
3
Thy silver and thy gold
is
mine; thy wives also and thy children,
even
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 have.
5
And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Ben-hadad,
saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and
thy wives, and thy children;
6
Yet 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.
7
Then 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.
8
And all the elders and all the people said unto him, Hearken not
unto him,
nor
consent.
9
Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Ben-hadad, 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.
10
And Ben-hadad 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.
11
And 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.
12
And 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.
13
And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the L
ORD
,
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 L
ORD
.
14
And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the L
ORD
,
Even
by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle?
And he answered, Thou.
15
Then 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.
16
And they went out at noon. But Ben-hadad
was
drinking
himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.
17
And
the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben-hadad 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 alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive.
19
So these young
men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them.
20
And
they slew every one his man: and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them: and Ben-hadad the
king of Syria escaped on an horse with the horsemen.
21
And the king of Israel went out, and smote
the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.
22
And 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.
23
And 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
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KJV Bible