¹³During that time a prophet came to Ahab, the king of Israel. He announced, “The Lord says, ‘Do you see this huge army? I will hand it over to you today. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ”

¹⁴“But who will do it?” Ahab asked.

The prophet answered, “The Lord says, ‘The young officers who are under the area commanders will do it.’ ”

“And who will start the battle?” he asked.

The prophet answered, “You will.”

¹⁵So Ahab sent for the young officers who were under the area commanders. The total number of officers was 232. Ahab gathered together the rest of the men of Israel. The total number of them was 7,000. ¹⁶They started out at noon. At that time Ben-Hadad and the 32 kings who were helping him were in their tents. They were getting drunk. ¹⁷The young officers who were under Ahab’s area commanders marched out first.

Ben-Hadad had sent out scouts. They came back and reported, “Men are marching against us from Samaria.”

¹⁸Ben-Hadad said, “They might be coming to make peace. If they are, take them alive. Or they might be coming to make war. If they are, take them alive.”

¹⁹The young officers marched out of the city. The army was right behind them. ²⁰Each man struck down the one who was fighting against him. When that happened, the army of Aram ran away. The men of Israel chased them. But Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram, escaped on a horse. Some of his horsemen escaped with him.

²¹The king of Israel attacked them. He overpowered the horses and chariots. Large numbers of the men of Aram were wounded or killed.

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