13. A prophet came to Ahab king of Israel and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do you see this entire great army? Watch, I am handing it over to you today so that you may know that I am Yahweh.’ ”
14. Ahab asked, “By whom? ”And the prophet said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘By the young men of the provincial leaders.’ ”Then he asked, “Who is to start the battle? ” He said, “You.”
15. So Ahab counted the young men of the provincial leaders, and there were 232. After them he counted all the Israelite troops: 7,000.
16. They marched out at noon while Ben-hadad and the 32 kings who were helping him were getting drunk in the tents.
17. The young men of the provincial leaders marched out first. Then Ben-hadad sent out scouts, and they reported to him, saying, “Men are marching out of Samaria.”
18. So he said, “If they have marched out in peace, take them alive, and if they have marched out for battle, take them alive.”
19. The young men of the provincial leaders and the army behind them marched out from the city,
20. and each one struck down his opponent. So the Arameans fled and Israel pursued them, but Ben-hadad king of Aram escaped on a horse with the cavalry.
21. Then the king of Israel marched out and attacked the cavalry and the chariots. He inflicted a great slaughter on Aram.
22. The prophet approached the king of Israel and said to him, “Go and strengthen yourself, then consider what you should do, for in the spring the king of Aram will march against you.”
23. Now the king of Aram’s servants said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hill country. That’s why they were stronger than we were. Instead, we should fight with them on the plain; then we will certainly be stronger than they will be.
24. Also do this: remove each king from his position and appoint captains in their place.
25. Raise another army for yourself like the army you lost — horse for horse, chariot for chariot — and let’s fight with them on the plain; and we will certainly be stronger than they will be.” The king listened to them and did so.
26. In the spring, Ben-hadad mobilized the Arameans and went up to Aphek to battle Israel.
27. The Israelites mobilized, gathered supplies, and went to fight them. The Israelites camped in front of them like two little flocks of goats, while the Arameans filled the landscape.
28. Then the man of God approached and said to the king of Israel, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because the Arameans have said: Yahweh is a god of the mountains and not a god of the valleys, I will hand over all this great army to you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ”
29. They camped opposite each other for seven days. On the seventh day, the battle took place, and the Israelites struck down the Arameans — 100,000 foot soldiers in one day.