¹³Meanwhile a prophet approached Ahab king of Israel and declared, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Do you see this entire great army? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand this very day, and you will know that I am the LORD.’” ¹⁴“By whom?” Ahab asked. ¹⁵So Ahab assembled the young officers of the district governors, and there were 232 men. And after them, he assembled the rest of the Israelite troops, 7,000 in all. ¹⁶They marched out at noon while Ben-hadad and the 32 kings allied with him were in their tents getting drunk. ¹⁷And the young officers of the district governors marched out first. ¹⁸“If they have marched out in peace,” he said, “take them alive. Even if they have marched out for war, take them alive.” ¹⁹Meanwhile, these young officers of the district governors marched out of the city, with the army behind them, ²⁰and each one struck down his opponent. So the Arameans fled, with the Israelites in pursuit. But Ben-hadad king of Aram escaped on horseback with the cavalry. ²¹Then the king of Israel marched out and attacked the horses and chariots, inflicting a great slaughter on the Arameans. ²²Afterward, the prophet approached the king of Israel and said, “Go and strengthen your position, and take note what you must do, for in the spring the king of Aram will come up against you.” ²³Meanwhile, the servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. That is why they prevailed over us. Instead, we should fight them on the plains; surely then we will prevail. ²⁴So do this: Dismiss all the kings from their positions and replace them with other officers. ²⁵And you must raise an army like the one you have lost— horse for horse and chariot for chariot— so we can fight the Israelites on the plain, where we will surely prevail.”