1 Kings 20:13–21

¹³A prophet approached King Ahab of Israel and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do you see this whole huge army? Watch, I am handing it over to you today so that you may know that I am the Lord.’ ”^a

¹⁴Ahab asked, “By whom?”

And the prophet said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘By the young men of the provincial leaders.’ ”

Then he asked, “Who is to start the battle?”^b

He said, “You.”

¹⁵So Ahab mobilized the young men of the provincial leaders, and there were 232. After them he mobilized all the Israelite troops: 7,000.^{c 16}They marched out at noon while Ben-hadad and the thirty-two kings^d who were helping him were getting drunk in their quarters. ¹⁷The young men of the provincial leaders marched out first. Then Ben-hadad sent out scouts, and they reported to him, saying, “Men are marching out of Samaria.”^e

¹⁸So he said, “If they have marched out in peace,^f take them alive, and if they have marched out for battle, take them alive.”

¹⁹The young men of the provincial leaders and the army behind them marched out from the city, ²⁰and each one struck down his opponent.^g So the Arameans fled and Israel pursued them,^h but King Ben-hadad of Aram escaped on a horse with the cavalry. ²¹Then the king of Israel marched out and attacked the cavalry and the chariots. He inflicted a severe slaughter on Aram.