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.