13. At the same time a prophet came to Ahab, king of Israel. The prophet said, “Ahab, the Lord says to you, ‘Do you see that big army? I will let you defeat it today. Then you will know I am the Lord.’”
14. Ahab said, “Who will you use to defeat them?”The prophet answered, “The Lord says, ‘The young officers of the district governors will defeat them.’”Then the king asked, “Who will command the main army?”The prophet answered, “You will.”
15. So Ahab gathered the young officers of the district governors. There were 232 of them. Then he called together the army of Israel. There were 7,000 of them.
16. At noon Ben-Hadad and the 32 rulers helping him were getting drunk in their tents. At this time Ahab attacked them.
17. The young officers of the district governors attacked first.Ben-Hadad’s scouts told him that soldiers were coming from Samaria.
18. So Ben-Hadad said, “They may be coming to fight. Or they may be coming to ask for peace. In either case capture them alive.”
19. The young officers of the district governors led the attack. The army of Israel followed them.
20. Then each officer of Israel killed the man who came against him. So the men from Aram ran away as Israel chased them. But Ben-Hadad king of Aram escaped on a horse with some of his horsemen.
21. Ahab king of Israel led the army. He captured the Arameans’ horses and chariots. So King Ahab caused a great defeat of the Aramean army.
22. Then the prophet went to Ahab king of Israel and said, “The king of Aram will attack you again next spring. So you should go home now and make your army stronger. Make plans to defend yourself.”
23. The officers of Ben-Hadad king of Aram said to him, “The gods of Israel are mountain gods. Since we fought in a mountain area, Israel won. So let’s fight them on the flat land. Then we will win.
24. This is what you should do. Don’t allow the 32 rulers to command the armies. Put commanders in their places.
25. Gather an army like the one that was destroyed. Gather as many horses and chariots as it had. We will fight the Israelites on flat land. Then we will win.” Ben-Hadad agreed with their advice and did what they said.
26. The next spring Ben-Hadad gathered the people of Aram. He went to Aphek to fight against Israel.
27. The Israelites also prepared for war. They marched out to meet the Arameans and camped opposite them. They looked like two small groups of goats. But the Arameans covered the area.
28. A man of God came to the king of Israel with this message: “The Lord says, ‘The people of Aram say that I, the Lord, am a god of the mountains. They think I am not a god of the valleys. So I will allow you to defeat this big army. Then you will know I am the Lord.’”
29. The armies were camped across from each other for seven days. On the seventh day the battle began. The Israelites killed 100,000 Aramean soldiers in one day.
30. The rest of them ran away to the city of Aphek. There a city wall fell on 27,000 of them. Ben-Hadad also ran away to the city and hid in a room.
31. His officers said to him, “We have heard that the kings of Israel are merciful. Let’s dress in rough cloth to show our sadness. And let’s wear ropes on our heads as a sign of surrender. Then let’s go to the king of Israel. Maybe he will let you live.”
32. So they dressed in rough cloth and wore ropes on their heads. Then they went to the king of Israel. They said, “Your servant Ben-Hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’”Ahab answered, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”
33. Now Ben-Hadad’s men had wanted a sign from Ahab. They wanted to know he would not kill Ben-Hadad. So when Ahab called Ben-Hadad his brother, they quickly said, “Yes! Ben-Hadad is your brother.”Ahab said, “Bring him to me.” When Ben-Hadad came, Ahab asked him to join him in the chariot.