10. Then Ben-Hadad sent messengers to him and said, “The gods do to me and then some if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people who follow me.”
11. The king of Israel answered, “Tell him: Let not he who puts on his armor boast himself as he who takes it off.”
12. When Ben-Hadad heard this message as he was drinking with the kings in the pavilions, he said to his servants, “Station yourselves!” And they stationed themselves against the city.
13. Then a prophet came to Ahab king of Israel, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Have you seen this great multitude? See, I will deliver it into your hand this day, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
14. Ahab asked, “By whom?”And he said, “Thus says the Lord: By the young leaders of the provinces.”Then he said, “Who shall order the battle?”And he answered, “You.”
15. Then he counted the young leaders of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two, and after them he counted all the people, all the children of Israel, and had seven thousand.
16. They went out at noon. But Ben-Hadad and the thirty-two kings who helped him were getting drunk in the pavilions.
17. The young leaders of the provinces went out first.Ben-Hadad sent out scouts, and they told him, “Men from Samaria have come out.”
18. He said, “If they have come out peacefully, take them alive, and if they have come out for battle, take them alive.”
19. So these young leaders of the provinces came out of the city, followed by the army.
20. Each one killed his man, and the Arameans fled with Israel pursuing them, but Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram, escaped on a horse with the horsemen.
21. The king of Israel went out and attacked the horses and chariots and killed a great number of Arameans.
22. The prophet came to the king of Israel and said, “Go, strengthen yourself and prepare, and see what you do, for next year 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. That is why they were stronger than us, but if we fight against them in the plain, we will surely be stronger than they.
24. Do this: Dismiss the kings, each from his position, and put commanders in their places,
25. and assemble an army like the army that you lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot, and we will fight them in the plain and will surely be stronger than they.” And he listened to their advice and followed it.
26. The next year Ben-Hadad assembled the Arameans and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.
27. The children of Israel were assembled and were all present, and they went against them, and the children of Israel camped in front of them like two little flocks of kids, while the Arameans filled the country.
28. A man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel and said, “Thus says the Lord: Because the Arameans have said, ‘The Lord is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,’ I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you will know that I am the Lord.”