Parallel Bible results for "1 kings 20"

1 Kings 20

Good News Translation GNT

1 King Benhadad of Syria gathered all his troops, and supported by thirty-two other rulers with their horses and chariots, he marched up, laid siege to Samaria, and launched attacks against it.

2 He sent messengers into the city to King Ahab of Israel to say, "King Benhadad demands that

3 you surrender to him your silver and gold, your women and the strongest of your children."

4 "Tell my lord, King Benhadad, that I agree; he can have me and everything I own," Ahab answered.

5 Later the messengers came back to Ahab with another demand from Benhadad: "I sent you word that you were to hand over to me your silver and gold, your women and your children.

6 Now, however, I will send my officers to search your palace and the homes of your officials, and to take everything they consider valuable. They will be there about this time tomorrow."

7 King Ahab called in all the leaders of the country and said, "You see that this man wants to ruin us. He sent me a message demanding my wives and children, my silver and gold, and I agreed."

8 The leaders and the people answered, "Don't pay any attention to him; don't give in."

9 So Ahab replied to Benhadad's messengers, "Tell my lord the king that I agreed to his first demand, but I cannot agree to the second." The messengers left and then returned with another message

10 from Benhadad: "I will bring enough men to destroy this city of yours and carry off the rubble in their hands. May the gods strike me dead if I don't!"

11 King Ahab answered, "Tell King Benhadad that a real soldier does his bragging [after] a battle, not before it."

12 Benhadad received Ahab's answer as he and his allies, the other rulers, were drinking in their tents. He ordered his men to get ready to attack the city, and so they moved into position.

13 Meanwhile, a prophet went to King Ahab and said, "The Lord says, "Don't be afraid of that huge army! I will give you victory over it today, and you will know that I am the Lord.' "

14 "Who will lead the attack?" Ahab asked. The prophet answered, "The Lord says that the young soldiers under the command of the district governors are to do it." "Who will command the main force?" the king asked. "You," the prophet answered.

15 So the king called out the young soldiers who were under the district commanders, 232 in all. Then he called out the Israelite army, a total of seven thousand men.

16 The attack began at noon, as Benhadad and his thirty-two allies were getting drunk in their tents.

17 The young soldiers advanced first. Scouts sent out by Benhadad reported to him that a group of soldiers was coming out of Samaria.

18 He ordered, "Take them alive, no matter whether they are coming to fight or to ask for peace."

19 The young soldiers led the attack, followed by the Israelite army,

20 and each one killed the man he fought. The Syrians fled, with the Israelites in hot pursuit, but Benhadad escaped on horseback, accompanied by some of the cavalry.

21 King Ahab took to the field, captured the horses and chariots, and inflicted a severe defeat on the Syrians.

22 Then the prophet went to King Ahab and said, "Go back and build up your forces and make careful plans, because the king of Syria will attack again next spring."

23 King Benhadad's officials said to him, "The gods of Israel are mountain gods, and that is why the Israelites defeated us. But we will certainly defeat them if we fight them in the plains.

24 Now, remove the thirty-two rulers from their commands and replace them with field commanders.

25 Then call up an army as large as the one that deserted you, with the same number of horses and chariots. We will fight the Israelites in the plains, and this time we will defeat them." King Benhadad agreed and followed their advice.

26 The following spring he called up his men and marched with them to the city of Aphek to attack the Israelites.

27 The Israelites were called up and equipped; they marched out and camped in two groups facing the Syrians. The Israelites looked like two small flocks of goats compared to the Syrians, who spread out over the countryside.

28 A prophet went to King Ahab and said, "This is what the Lord says: "Because the Syrians say that I am a god of the hills and not of the plains, I will give you victory over their huge army, and you and your people will know that I am the Lord.' "

29 For seven days the Syrians and the Israelites stayed in their camps, facing each other. On the seventh day they started fighting, and the Israelites killed a hundred thousand Syrians.

30 The survivors fled into the city of Aphek, where the city walls fell on twenty-seven thousand of them. Benhadad also escaped into the city and took refuge in the back room of a house.

31 His officials went to him and said, "We have heard that the Israelite kings are merciful. Give us permission to go to the king of Israel with sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our necks, and maybe he will spare your life."

32 So they wrapped sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their necks, went to Ahab and said, "Your servant Benhadad pleads with you for his life." Ahab answered, "Is he still alive? Good! He's like a brother to me!"

33 Benhadad's officials were watching for a good sign, and when Ahab said "brother," they took it up at once, and said, "As you say, Benhadad is your brother!" "Bring him to me," Ahab ordered. When Benhadad arrived, Ahab invited him to get in the chariot with him.

34 Benhadad said to him, "I will restore to you the towns my father took from your father, and you may set up a commercial center for yourself in Damascus, just as my father did in Samaria." Ahab replied, "On these terms, then, I will set you free." He made a treaty with him and let him go.

35 At the Lord's command a member of a group of prophets ordered a fellow prophet to hit him. But he refused,

36 so he said to him, "Because you have disobeyed the Lord's command, a lion will kill you as soon as you leave me." And as soon as he left, a lion came along and killed him.

37 Then this same prophet went to another man and said, "Hit me!" This man did so; he hit him a hard blow and hurt him.

38 The prophet bandaged his face with a cloth, to disguise himself, and went and stood by the road, waiting for the king of Israel to pass.

39 As the king was passing by, the prophet called out to him and said, "Your Majesty, I was fighting in the battle when a soldier brought a captured enemy to me and said, "Guard this man; if he escapes, you will pay for it with your life or else pay a fine of three thousand pieces of silver.'

40 But I got busy with other things, and the man escaped." The king answered, "You have pronounced your own sentence, and you will have to pay the penalty."

41 The prophet tore the cloth from his face, and at once the king recognized him as one of the prophets.

42 The prophet then said to the king, "This is the word of the Lord: "Because you allowed the man to escape whom I had ordered to be killed, you will pay for it with your life, and your army will be destroyed for letting his army escape.' "

43 The king went back home to Samaria, worried and depressed.

World English Bible WEB

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

2 He sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel, into the city, and said to him, Thus says Ben-hadad,

3 Your silver and your gold is mine; your wives also and your children, even the best, are mine.

4 The king of Israel answered, It is according to your saying, my lord, O king; I am yours, and all that I have.

5 The messengers came again, and said, Thus speaks Ben-hadad, saying, I sent indeed to you, saying, You shall deliver me your silver, and your gold, and your wives, and your children;

6 but I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, and they shall search your house, and the houses of your servants; and it shall be, that whatever is pleasant in your 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, Please notice how this man seeks mischief: for he sent to me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I didn't deny him.

8 All the elders and all the people said to him, Don't you listen, neither consent.

9 Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben-hadad, Tell my lord the king, All that you did send for to your servant at the first I will do; but this thing I may not do. The messengers departed, and brought him word again.

10 Ben-hadad sent to him, and said, The gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people who follow me.

11 The king of Israel answered, Tell him, Don't let him who girds on [his armor] boast himself as he who puts it off.

12 It happened, when [Ben-hadad] heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings, in the pavilions, that he said to his servants, Set [yourselves in array]. They set [themselves in array] against the city.

13 Behold, a prophet came near to Ahab king of Israel, and said, Thus says Yahweh, Have you seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into your hand this day; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

14 Ahab said, By whom? He said, Thus says Yahweh, By the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall begin the battle? He answered, You.

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

16 They went out at noon. But Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who helped him.

17 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 from Samaria.

18 He said, Whether they are come out for peace, take them alive, or whether they are come out for war, taken them alive.

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

20 They killed everyone his man; and the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them: and Ben-hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen.

21 The king of Israel went out, and struck the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter.

22 The prophet came near to the king of Israel, and said to him, Go, strengthen yourself, and mark, and see what you do; for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against you.

23 The servants of the king of Syria said to him, Their god is a god 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.

24 Do this thing: take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their room;

25 and number you an army, like the army that you have 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. He listened to their voice, and did so.

26 It happened at the return of the year, that Ben-hadad mustered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel.

27 The children of Israel were mustered, and were provisioned, and went against them: and the children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country.

28 A man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, Thus says Yahweh, Because the Syrians have said, Yahweh is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys; therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

29 They encamped one over against the other seven days. So it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel killed of the Syrians one hundred thousand footmen in one day.

30 But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men who were left. Ben-hadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber.

31 His servants said to him, See now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, we pray you, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save your life.

32 So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and [put] ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Your servant Ben-hadad says, please let me live. He said, Is he yet alive? he is my brother.

33 Now the men observed diligently, and hurried to catch whether it were his mind; and they said, Your brother Ben-hadad. Then he said, Go you, bring him. Then Ben-hadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot.

34 [Ben-hadad] said to him, The cities which my father took from your father I will restore; and you shall make streets for you in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. I, [said Ahab], will let you go with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and let him go.

35 A certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow by the word of Yahweh, Please strike me. The man refused to strike him.

36 Then said he to him, Because you have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh, behold, as soon as you are departed from me, a lion shall kill you. As soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and killed him.

37 Then he found another man, and said, Please strike me. The man struck him, smiting and wounding him.

38 So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with his headband over his eyes.

39 As the king passed by, he cried to the king; and he said, Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man to me, and said, Keep this man: if by any means he be missing, then shall your life be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.

40 As your servant was busy here and there, he was gone. The king of Israel said to him, So shall your judgment be; yourself have decided it.

41 He hurried, and took the headband away from his eyes; and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets.

42 He said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.

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