16
They went out at noon, while Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the booths, he and the thirty-two kings allied with him.
17
The young men who served the district governors went out first. Ben-hadad had sent out scouts, and they reported to him, "Men have come out from Samaria."
18
He said, "If they have come out for peace, take them alive; if they have come out for war, take them alive."
19
But these had already come out of the city: the young men who served the district governors, and the army that followed them.
20
Each killed his man; the Arameans fled and Israel pursued them, but King Ben-hadad of Aram escaped on a horse with the cavalry.
21
The king of Israel went out, attacked the horses and chariots, and defeated the Arameans with a great slaughter.
22
Then the prophet approached the king of Israel and said to him, "Come, strengthen yourself, and consider well what you have to do; for in the spring the king of Aram will come up against you."
23
The servants of the king of Aram said to him, "Their gods are gods of the hills, and so they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.
24
Also do this: remove the kings, each from his post, and put commanders in place of them;
25
and muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot; then we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they." He heeded their voice, and did so.
26
In the spring Ben-hadad mustered the Arameans and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.