18. Then he said, “If they have come out for peace, seize them alive. And if they have come out for battle, seize them alive.”
19. So these young rulers of the provinces went out of the city with the army which followed them.
20. And each smote his man, so the Arameans fled, and Yisra’ĕl pursued them. And Ben-Haḏaḏ the sovereign of Aram escaped on a horse with the horsemen.
21. And the sovereign of Yisra’ĕl went out and smote the horses and chariots, and smote the Arameans, a great smiting.
22. And the prophet came to the sovereign of Yisra’ĕl and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself. And know and see what you should do, for at the turn of the year the sovereign of Aram is coming up against you.”
23. And the servants of the sovereign of Aram said to him, “Their mighty ones are mighty ones of the hills. That is why they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain – are we not stronger than they?
24. “Now do this: Take away the sovereigns, each from his position, and put officers in their places,
25. and number an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot, and let us fight against them in the plain – are we not stronger than they?” And he listened to their voice and did so.
26. And it came to be, at the turn of the year, that Ben-Haḏaḏ mustered the Arameans and went up to Aphĕq to fight against Yisra’ĕl.
27. And the children of Yisra’ĕl were mustered and were fed, and they went against them. And the children of Yisra’ĕl encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, while the Arameans filled the land.