King James Version · The divided kingdom
1 Kings 20
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And Ben–hadad the king of gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged , and warred against it. And he sent to king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Ben–hadad, Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine. And the king of Israel answered and said, My , O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have. 5And the came again, and said, Thus speaketh Ben–hadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children; Yet I will send my servants unto thee to morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away. Then the king of Israel called all the of the land, and said, Mark, I you, and see how this man seeketh mischief: for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I denied him not. 8And all the and all the people said unto him, not unto him, nor consent. 9Wherefore he said unto the of Ben–hadad, Tell my the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may not do. And the departed, and brought him word again. And Ben–hadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if of shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me. And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off. And it came to pass, when Ben–hadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions, that he said unto his servants, Set yourselves in array. And they set themselves in array against the city. And, behold, there came a unto king of Israel, saying, Thus saith , Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am . And said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith , Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou. Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty two: and after them he numbered all the people, even all the , being seven thousand. And they went out at noon. But Ben–hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, and two kings that helped him. And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben–hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of . And he said, Whether they be come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive. 19So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them. And they slew every one his man: and fled; and Israel pursued them: and Ben–hadad the king of escaped on an horse with the horsemen. And the king of Israel went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and slew with a great slaughter. And the came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of will come up against thee. And the servants of the king of said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And do this thing, Take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their rooms: And number thee an army, like the army that thou hast lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot: and we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he hearkened unto their voice, and did so. And it came to pass at the return of the year, that Ben–hadad numbered , and went up to , to fight against Israel. And the were numbered, and were all present, and went against them: and the pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but filled the country. And there came a , and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith , Because have said, is of the hills, but he is not of the valleys, therefore will I all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am . And they pitched one over against the other seven days. And so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the slew of an hundred thousand footmen in one day. But the rest fled to , into the city; and there a wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left. And Ben–hadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber. And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the are merciful kings: let us, I thee, put on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will thy life. So they girded on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy servant Ben–hadad saith, I thee, let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? he is my brother. Now the men did diligently observe whether any thing would come from him, and did hastily catch it: and they said, Thy brother Ben–hadad. Then he said, Go ye, bring him. Then Ben–hadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot. And Ben–hadad said unto him, The cities, which took from thy , I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in , as made in . Then said , I will send thee away with this . So he made a with him, and sent him away. And a certain man of the sons of said unto his neighbour in the word of , Smite me, I thee. And the man refused to smite him. Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not , behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him. Then he found another man, and said, Smite me, I thee. And the man smote him, so that in smiting he wounded him. So the departed, and waited for the king by , and disguised himself with upon . And as the king passed by, he cried unto the king: and he said, Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said, Keep this man: if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay a of silver. And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy be; thyself hast decided it. And he hasted, and took the away from ; and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of . And he said unto him, Thus saith , Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter , therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people. And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The divided kingdom, 931 BC to 745 BC ›
Israel in the north and Judah in the south, often at odds, with Aram of Damascus as the immediate threat and Assyria growing in the distance.
- Aram of Damascus
- The immediate enemy for most of two centuries, close enough to raid every campaigning season and strong enough to take territory. Most of the wars in Kings that read like national emergencies are border wars with Damascus.
- Assyria
- Growing steadily in the distance. Shalmaneser III fights a coalition at Qarqar in 853 BC and his own inscription lists King Ahab of Israel among his opponents with two thousand chariots, the earliest Assyrian mention of an Israelite king. A later monument shows Jehu bowing and paying tribute. Assyria is not yet the destroyer, but it is already taking notes.
- Egypt
- Divided and unreliable, capable of the occasional raid, such as Shishak stripping the temple in Rehoboam's fifth year, but no longer an empire that governs the Levant.
- Further afield
- The Greeks adopt the alphabet, hold the first Olympiad by tradition in 776 BC, and begin to compose the Homeric poems. Rome is founded by tradition in 753 BC, a village of huts at this point. This is the century in which the classical world begins.