19 When Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had put all the prophetsa to the sword, 2Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, b-“Thus and more may the gods do-b if by this time tomorrow I have not made you like one of them.”
3Frightened,c he fled at once for his life. He came to Beer-sheba, which is in Judah, and left his servant there; 4he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush and sat down under it, and prayed that he might die. “Enough!” he cried. “Now, O LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
5He lay down and fell asleep under a broom bush. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6He looked about; and there, beside his head, was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water! He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7The angel of the LORD came a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” 8He arose and ate and drank; and with the strength from that meal he walked forty days and forty nights as far as the mountain of God at Horeb. 9There he went into a cave, and there he spent the night.
Then the word of the LORD came to him. He said to him, “Why are you here, Elijah?” 10He replied, “I am moved by zeal for the LORD, the God of Hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and put Your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they are out to take my life.” 11“Come out,” He called, “and stand on the mountain before the LORD.”
And lo, the LORD passed by. There was a great and mighty wind, splitting mountains and shattering rocks by the power of the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind—an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12After the earthquake—fire; but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire—a soft murmuring sound.d 13When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his mantle about his face and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then a voice addressed him: “Why are you here, Elijah?” 14He answered, “I am moved by zeal for the LORD, the God of Hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and have put Your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they are out to take my life.”
15The LORD said to him, “Go back by the way you came, [and] on to the wilderness of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael as king of Aram. 16Also anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king of Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17Whoever escapes the sword of Hazael shall be slain by Jehu, and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu shall be slain by Elisha. 18I will leave in Israel only seven thousand—every knee that has not knelt to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
19He set out from there and came upon Elisha son of Shaphat as he was plowing. There were twelve yoke of oxen ahead of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah came over to him and threw his mantle over him. 20He left the oxen and ran after Elijah, saying: “Let me kiss my father and mother good-by, and I will follow you.” And he answered him, “Go back. What have I done to you?”e 21He turned back from him and took the yoke of oxen and slaughtered them; he boiled f-their meat-f with the gearg of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and became his attendant.
20 King Ben-hadad of Aram gathered his whole army, thirty-two kings accompanied him with horses and chariots. He advanced against Samaria, laid siege to it, and attacked it. 2And he sent messengers to Ahab inside the city 3to say to him, “Thus said Ben-hadad: Your silver and gold are mine, and your beautiful wives and children are mine.” 4The king of Israel replied, “As you say, my lord king: I and all I have are yours.” 5Then the messengers came again and said, “Thus said Ben-hadad: When I sent you the order to give me your silver and gold, and your wives and children, 6I meant that tomorrow at this time I will send my servants to you and they will search your house and the houses of your courtiers and seize everything youa prize and take it away.”
7Then the king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land, and he said, “See for yourselves how that man is bent on evil! For when he demanded my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, I did not refuse him.” 8All the elders and all the people said, “Do not obey and do not submit!” 9So he said to Ben-hadad’s messengers, “Tell my lord the king: All that you first demanded of your servant I shall do, but this thing I cannot do.” The messengers went and reported this to him. 10Thereupon Ben-hadad sent him this message: b-“May the gods do thus to me and even more,-b if the dust of Samaria will provide even a handful for each of the men who follow me!”
11The king of Israel replied, “Tell him: Let not him who girds on his sword boast like him who ungirds it!”
12On hearing this reply—while he and the other kings were drinking together at Succoth—hec commanded his followers, “Advance!” And they advanced against the city. 13Then a certain prophet went up to King Ahab of Israel and said, “Thus said the LORD: Do you see that great host? I will deliver it into your hands today, and you shall know that I am the LORD.” 14“Through whom?” asked Ahab. He answered, “Thus said the LORD: Through the aides of the provincial governors.” He asked, “Who shall begin the battle?” And he answered, “You.”
15So he mustered the aides of the provincial governors, 232 strong, and then he mustered all the troops—all the Israelites—7,000 strong. 16They marched out at noon, while Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk at Succoth together with the thirty-two kings allied with him. 17The aides of the provincial governors rushed out first. Ben-hadad sent [scouts], who told him, “Some men have come out from Samaria.” 18He said, “If they have come out to surrender, take them alive; and if they have come out for battle, take them alive anyhow.” 19But the others—the aides of the provincial governors, with the army behind them—had already rushed out of the city, 20and each of them struck down his opponent. The Arameans fled, and Israel pursued them; but King Ben-hadad of Aram escaped on a horse with other horsemen. 21The king of Israel came out and attacked the horses and chariots, and inflicted a great defeat on the Arameans. 22Then the prophet approached the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, keep up your efforts, and consider well what you must do; for the king of Aram will attack you at the turn of the year.”
23Now the ministers of the king of Aram said to him, “Their God is a God of mountains; that is why they got the better of us. But if we fight them in the plain, we will surely get the better of them. 24Do this: Remove all the kings from their posts and appoint governors in their place. 25Then muster for yourself an army equal to the army you lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. And let us fight them in the plain, and we will surely get the better of them.” He took their advice and acted accordingly.
26At the turn of the year, Ben-hadad mustered the Arameans and advanced on Aphek to fight Israel. 27Now the Israelites had been mustered and provisioned, and they went out against them; but when the Israelites encamped against them, they looked like two flocksd of goats, while the Arameans covered the land. 28Then the man of God approached and spoke to the king of Israel, “Thus said the LORD: Because the Arameans have said, ‘The LORD is a God of mountains, but He is not a God of lowlands,’ I will deliver that great host into your hands; and you shall know that I am the LORD.”
29For seven days they were encamped opposite each other. On the seventh day, the battle was joined and the Israelites struck down 100,000 Aramean foot soldiers in one day. 30The survivors fled to Aphek, inside the town, and the
