20 And Ben-Hadad king of Aram hath gathered all his force, and thirty and two kings [are] with him, and horse and chariot, and he goeth up and layeth siege against Samaria, and fighteth with it,

² and sendeth messengers unto Ahab king of Israel, to the city,

³ and saith to him, `Thus said Ben-Hadad, `Thy silver and thy gold are mine, and thy wives and thy sons -- the best -- are mine.'

⁴ And the king of Israel answereth and saith, `According to thy word, my lord, O king: I [am] thine, and all that I have.'

⁵ And the messengers turn back and say, `Thus spake Ben-Hadad, saying, Surely I sent unto thee, saying, Thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy sons, to me thou dost give;

⁶ for if, at this time to-morrow, I send my servants unto thee then they have searched thy house, and the houses of thy servants, and it hath been, every desirable thing of thine eyes they place in their hand, and have taken away.'

⁷ And the king of Israel calleth to all the elders of the land, and saith, `Know, I pray you, and see that evil this [one] is seeking, for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my sons, and for my silver, and for my gold, and I withheld not from him.'

⁸ And all the elders and all the people say unto him, `Do not hearken, nor consent.'

⁹ And he saith to the messengers of Ben-Hadad, `Say to my lord the king, All that thou didst send for unto thy servant at the first I do, and this thing I am not able to do;' and the messengers go and take him back word.

¹⁰ And Ben-Hadad sendeth unto him, and saith, `Thus do the gods to me, and thus do they add, if the dust of Samaria suffice for handfuls for all the people who [are] at my feet.'

¹¹ And the king of Israel answereth and saith, `Speak ye: let not him who is girding on boast himself as him who is loosing [his armour].'

¹² And it cometh to pass at the hearing of this word -- and he is drinking, he and the kings, in the booths -- that he saith unto his servants, `Set yourselves;' and they set themselves against the city.

¹³ And lo, a certain prophet hath come nigh unto Ahab king of Israel, and saith, `Thus said Jehovah, `Hast thou seen all this great multitude? lo, I am giving it into thy hand to-day, and thou hast known that I [am] Jehovah.'

¹⁴ And Ahab saith, `By whom?' and he saith, `Thus said Jehovah, By the young men of the heads of the provinces;' and he saith, `Who doth direct the battle?' and he saith, `Thou.'

¹⁵ And he inspecteth the young men of the heads of the provinces, and they are two hundred, two and thirty, and after them he hath inspecteth the whole of the people, all the sons of Israel, seven thousand,

¹⁶ and they go out at noon, and Ben-Hadad is drinking -- drunk in the booths, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings, helping him.

¹⁷ And the young men of the heads of the provinces go out at the first, and Ben-Hadad sendeth, and they declare to him, saying, `Men have come out of Samaria.'

¹⁸ And he saith, `If for peace they have come out -- catch them alive; and if for battle they have come out -- alive catch them.'

¹⁹ And these have gone out of the city -- the young men of the heads of the provinces -- and the force that [is] after them,

²⁰ and smite each his man, and Aram fleeth, and Israel pursueth them, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram escapeth on a horse, and the horsemen;

²¹ and the king of Israel goeth out, and smiteth the horses, and the charioteers, and hath smitten among the Aramaeans a great smiting.

²² And the prophet cometh nigh unto the king of Israel, and saith to him, `Go, strengthen thyself, and know and see that which thou dost, for at the turn of the year the king of Aram is coming up against thee.'

²³ And the servants of the king of Aram said unto him, `Gods of hills [are] their gods, therefore they were stronger than we; and yet, we fight with them in the plain -- are we not stronger than they?

²⁴ `And this thing do thou: turn aside the kings each out of his place, and set captains in their stead;

²⁵ and thou, number to thee a force as the force that is fallen from thee, and horse for horse, and chariot for chariot, and we fight with them in the plain; are we not stronger than they?' and he hearkeneth to their voice, and doth so.

²⁶ And it cometh to pass at the turn of the year, that Ben-Hadad inspecteth the Aramaeans, and goeth up to Aphek, to battle with Israel,

²⁷ and the sons of Israel have been inspected, and supported, and go to meet them, and the sons of Israel encamp before them, like two flocks of goats, and the Aramaeans have filled the land.

²⁸ And there cometh nigh a man of God, and speaketh unto the king of Israel, and saith, `Thus said Jehovah, Because that the Aramaeans have said, God of hills [is] Jehovah, and He [is] not God of valleys -- I have given the whole of this great multitude into thy hand, and ye have known that I [am] Jehovah.'

²⁹ And they encamp one over-against another seven days, and it cometh to pass on the seventh day, that the battle draweth near, and the sons of Israel smite Aram -- a hundred thousand footmen in one day.

³⁰ And those left flee to Aphek, unto the city, and the wall falleth on twenty and seven chief men who are left, and Ben-Hadad hath fled, and cometh in unto the city, into the innermost part.

³¹ And his servants say unto him, `Lo, we pray thee, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel -- that they are kind kings; let us put, we pray thee, sackcloth on our loins, and ropes on our heads, and we go out unto the king of Israel; it may be he doth keep thee alive.'

³² And they gird sackcloth on their loins, and ropes [are] on their heads, and they come in unto the king of Israel, and say, `Thy servant Ben-Hadad hath said, Let me live, I pray thee;' and he saith, `Is he yet alive? he [is] my brother.'

³³ And the men observe diligently, and hasten, and catch it from him, and say, `Thy brother Ben-Hadad;' and he saith, `Go ye in, bring him;' and Ben-Hadad cometh out unto him, and he causeth him to come up on the chariot.

³⁴ And he saith unto him, `The cities that my father took from thy father, I give back, and streets thou dost make for thee in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria;' -- `and I, with a covenant, send thee away;' and he maketh with him a covenant, and sendeth him away.

³⁵ And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour by the word of Jehovah, `Smite me, I pray thee;' and the man refuseth to smite him,

³⁶ and he saith to him, `Because that thou hast not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah, lo, thou art going from me, and the lion hath smitten thee;' and he goeth from him, and the lion findeth him, and smiteth him.

³⁷ And he findeth another man, and saith, `Smite me, I pray thee;' and the man smiteth him, smiting and wounding,

³⁸ and the prophet goeth and standeth for the king on the way, and disguiseth himself with ashes on his eyes.

³⁹ And it cometh to pass -- the king is passing by -- that he hath cried unto the king, and saith, `Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle, and lo, a man hath turned aside and bringeth in unto me a man, and saith, Keep this man; if he be at all missing, then hath thy life been for his life, or a talent of silver thou dost weigh out;

⁴⁰ and it cometh to pass, thy servant is working hither and thither, and he is not!' and the king of Israel saith unto him, Right [is] thy judgment; thou hast determined [it].'

⁴¹ And he hasteth and turneth aside the ashes from off his eyes, and the king of Israel discerneth him, that he [is] of the prophets,

⁴² and he saith unto him, `Thus said Jehovah, Because thou hast sent away the man I devoted, out of [thy] hand, even thy life hath been for his life, and thy people for his people;'

⁴³ and the king of Israel goeth unto his house, sulky and wroth, and cometh in to Samaria.

21 And it cometh to pass, after these things, a vineyard hath been to Naboth the Jezreelite, that [is] in Jezreel, near the palace of Ahab king of Samaria,

² and Ahab speaketh unto Naboth, saying, `Give to me thy vineyard, and it is to me for a garden of green herbs, for it [is] near by my house, and I give to thee in its stead a better vineyard than it; if good in thine eyes, I give to thee silver -- its price.'

³ And Naboth saith unto Ahab, `Far be it from me, by Jehovah, my giving the inheritance of my fathers to thee;'

⁴ and Ahab cometh in unto his house, sulky and wroth, because of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite hath spoken unto him when he saith, `I do not give to thee the inheritance of my fathers,' and he lieth down on his bed, and turneth round his face, and hath not eaten bread.

⁵ And Jezebel his wife cometh in unto him, and speaketh unto him, `What [is] this? -- thy spirit sulky, and thou art not eating bread!'

⁶ And he saith unto her, `Because I speak unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and say to him, Give to me thy vineyard for money, or if thou desire, I give to thee a vineyard in its stead; and he saith, I do not give to thee my vineyard.'

⁷ And Jezebel his wife saith unto him, `Thou now dost execute rule over Israel! rise, eat bread, and let thy heart be glad, -- I do give to thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.'

⁸ And she writeth letters in the name of Ahab, and sealeth with his seal, and sendeth the letters unto the elders, and unto the freemen, who are in his city, those dwelling with Naboth,

⁹ and she writeth in the letters, saying, `Proclaim a fast, and cause Naboth to sit at the head of the people,

¹⁰ and cause two men -- sons of worthlessness -- to sit over-against him, and they testify of him, saying, Thou hast blessed God and Melech; and they have brought him out, and stoned him, and he dieth.'

¹¹ And the men of his city, the elders and the freemen who are dwelling in his city, do as Jezebel hath sent unto them, as written in the letters that she sent unto them,

¹² they have proclaimed a fast, and caused Naboth to sit at the head of the people,

¹³ and two men -- sons of worthlessness -- come in, and sit over-against him, and the men of worthlessness testify of him, even Naboth, before the people, saying, `Naboth blessed God and Melech;' and they take him out to the outside of the city, and stone him with stones, and he dieth;

¹⁴ and they send unto Jezebel, saying, `Naboth was stoned, and is dead.'

¹⁵ And it cometh to pass, at Jezebel's hearing that Naboth hath been stoned, and is dead, that Jezebel saith unto Ahab, `Rise, possess the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, that he refused to give to thee for money, for Naboth is not alive but dead.'

¹⁶ And it cometh to pass, at Ahab's hearing that Naboth is dead, that Ahab riseth to go down unto the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to possess it.

¹⁷ And the word of Jehovah is unto Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

¹⁸ `Rise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who [is] in Samaria, -- lo, in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he hath gone down to possess it,

¹⁹ and thou hast spoken unto him, saying, Thus said Jehovah, Hast thou murdered, and also possessed? and thou hast spoken unto him, saying, Thus said Jehovah, In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, do the dogs lick thy blood, even thine.'

²⁰ And Ahab saith unto Elijah, `Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?' and he saith, `I have found -- because of thy selling thyself to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah;

²¹ lo, I am bringing in unto thee evil, and have taken away thy posterity, and cut off to Ahab those sitting on the wall, and restrained, and left, in Israel,

²² and given up thy house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, for the provocation with which thou hast provoked [Me], and dost cause Israel to sin.

²³ `And also of Jezebel hath Jehovah spoken, saying, The dogs do eat Jezebel in the bulwark of Jezreel;

²⁴ him who dieth of Ahab in a city do the dogs eat, and him who dieth in a field do fowl of the heavens eat;

²⁵ surely there hath none been like Ahab, who sold himself to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, whom Jezebel his wife hath moved,

²⁶ and he doth very abominably to go after the idols, according to all that the Amorite did whom Jehovah dispossessed from the presence of the sons of Israel.'

²⁷ And it cometh to pass, at Ahab's hearing these words, that he rendeth his garments, and putteth sackcloth on his flesh, and fasteth, and lieth in sackcloth, and goeth gently.

²⁸ And the word of Jehovah is unto Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

²⁹ `Hast thou seen that Ahab hath been humbled before Me? because that he hath been humbled before Me, I bring not in the evil in his days; in the days of his son I bring in the evil on his house.'

22 And they sit still three years, there is no war between Aram and Israel,

² and it cometh to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat king of Judah cometh down unto the king of Israel,

³ and the king of Israel saith unto his servants, `Have ye not known that ours [is] Ramoth-Gilead? and we are keeping silent from taking it out of the hand of the king of Aram!'

⁴ And he saith unto Jehoshaphat, `Dost thou go with me to battle [to] Ramoth-Gilead?' and Jehoshaphat saith unto the king of Israel, `As I am, so thou; as my people, so thy people; as my horses, so thy horses.'

⁵ And Jehoshaphat saith unto the king of Israel, `Seek, I pray thee, to-day, the word of Jehovah;'

⁶ and the king of Israel gathereth the prophets, about four hundred men, and saith unto them, `Do I go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or do I forbear?' and they say, `Go up, and the Lord doth give [it] into the hand of the king.'

⁷ And Jehoshaphat saith, `Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah besides, and we seek by him?'

⁸ And the king of Israel saith unto Jehoshaphat, `Yet -- one man to seek Jehovah by him, and I have hated him, for he doth not prophesy concerning me good, but evil -- Micaiah son of Imlah;' and Jehoshaphat saith, `Let not the king say so.'

⁹ And the king of Israel calleth unto a certain eunuch, and saith, `Hasten Micaiah son of Imlah.'

¹⁰ And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah are sitting, each on his throne, clothed with garments, in a threshing-floor, at the opening of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets are prophesying before them.

¹¹ And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah maketh for himself horns of iron, and saith, `Thus said Jehovah, By these thou dost push the Aramaeans till they are consumed;'

¹² and all the prophets are prophesying so, saying, `Go up to Ramoth-Gilead, and prosper, and Jehovah hath given [it] into the hand of the king.'

¹³ And the messenger who hath gone to call Micaiah hath spoken unto him, saying, `Lo, I pray thee, the words of the prophets, with one mouth, [are] good towards the king; let it be, I pray thee, thy word as the word of one of them -- and thou hast spoken good.'

¹⁴ And Micaiah saith, `Jehovah liveth; surely that which Jehovah saith unto me -- it I speak.'

¹⁵ And he cometh in unto the king, and the king saith unto him, `Micaiah, do we go unto Ramoth-Gilead, to battle, or do we forbear?' and he saith unto him, `Go up, and prosper, and Jehovah hath given [it] into the hand of the king.'

¹⁶ And the king saith unto him, `How many times am I adjuring thee that thou speak nothing unto me but truth in the name of Jehovah?'

¹⁷ And he saith, `I have seen all Israel scattered on the hills as sheep that have no shepherd, and Jehovah saith, These have no master; they turn back each to his house in peace.'

¹⁸ And the king of Israel saith unto Jehoshaphat, `Have I not said unto thee, He doth not prophesy of me good, but evil?'

¹⁹ And he saith, `Therefore, hear a word of Jehovah; I have seen Jehovah sitting on His throne, and all the host of the heavens standing by Him, on His right and on His left;

²⁰ and Jehovah saith, Who doth entice Ahab, and he doth go up and fall in Ramoth-Gilead? and this one saith thus, and that one is saying thus.

²¹ `And the spirit goeth out, and standeth before Jehovah, and saith, I -- I do entice him; and Jehovah saith unto him, By what?

²² and he saith, I go out, and have been a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of all his prophets; and He saith, Thou dost entice, and also thou art able; go out and do so.

²³ And now, lo, Jehovah hath put a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and Jehovah hath spoken concerning thee -- evil.'

²⁴ And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah draweth nigh, and smiteth Micaiah on the cheek, and saith, `Where [is] this -- he hath passed over -- the Spirit of Jehovah -- from me to speak with thee?'

²⁵ And Micaiah saith, `Lo, thou art seeing on that day, when thou goest in to the innermost chamber to be hidden.'

²⁶ And the king of Israel saith, `Take Micaiah, and turn him back unto Amon head of the city, and unto Joash son of the king,

²⁷ and thou hast said, Thus said the king, Place ye this one in the house of restraint, and cause him to eat bread of oppression, and water of oppression, till my coming in peace.'

²⁸ And Micaiah saith, `If thou at all return in peace -- Jehovah hath not spoken by me;' and he saith, `Hear, O peoples, all of them.'

²⁹ And the king of Israel goeth up, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, to Ramoth-Gilead.

³⁰ And the king of Israel saith unto Jehoshaphat to disguise himself, and to go into battle, `And thou, put on thy garments.' And the king of Israel disguiseth himself, and goeth into battle.

³¹ And the king of Aram commanded the heads of the charioteers whom he hath -- thirty and two -- saying, `Ye do not fight with small or with great, but with the king of Israel by himself.'

³² And it cometh to pass, at the heads of the charioteers seeing Jehoshaphat, that they said, `He [is] only the king of Israel;' and they turn aside to him to fight, and Jehoshaphat crieth out,

³³ and it cometh to pass, at the heads of the charioteers seeing that he [is] not the king of Israel, that they turn back from after him.

³⁴ And a man hath drawn with a bow, in his simplicity, and smiteth the king of Israel between the joinings and the coat of mail, and he saith to his charioteer, `Turn thy hand, and take me out from the camp, for I have become sick.'

³⁵ And the battle increaseth on that day, and the king hath been caused to stand in the chariot, over-against Aram, and he dieth in the evening, and the blood of the wound runneth out unto the midst of the chariot,

³⁶ and he causeth the cry to pass over through the camp, at the going in of the sun, saying, `Each unto his city, and each unto his land.'

³⁷ And the king dieth, and cometh into Samaria, and they bury the king in Samaria;

³⁸ and [one] rinseth the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs lick his blood -- when the armour they had washed -- according to the word of Jehovah that He spake.

³⁹ And the rest of the matters of Ahab, and all that he did, and the house of ivory that he built, and all the cities that he built, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?

⁴⁰ And Ahab lieth with his fathers, and Ahaziah his son reigneth in his stead.

⁴¹ And Jehoshaphat son of Asa hath reigned over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel,

⁴² Jehoshaphat [is] a son of thirty and five years in his reigning, and twenty and five years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Azubah daughter of Shilhi.

⁴³ And he walketh in all the way of Asa his father, he hath not turned aside from it, to do that which [is] right in the eyes of Jehovah; only the high places have not turned aside, yet are the people sacrificing and making perfume in high places.

⁴⁴ And Jehoshaphat maketh peace with the king of Israel;

⁴⁵ and the rest of the matters of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he got, and with which he fought, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?

⁴⁶ And the remnant of the whoremongers who were left in the days of Asa his father he took away out of the land;

⁴⁷ and there is no king in Edom; he set up a king.

⁴⁸ Jehoshaphat made ships at Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, and they went not, for the ships were broken in Ezion-Geber.

⁴⁹ Then said Ahaziah son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, `Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships;' and Jehoshaphat was not willing.

⁵⁰ And Jehoshaphat lieth with his fathers, and is buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Jehoram his son reigneth in his stead.

⁵¹ Ahaziah son of Ahab hath reigned over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigneth over Israel two years,

⁵² and doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and walketh in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin,

⁵³ and serveth the Baal, and boweth himself to it, and provoketh Jehovah, God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.