(28) Then 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.” (29) For 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. (30) The survivors fled to Aphek, inside the town, and the wall fell on the 27,000 survivors. Ben-hadad also fled and took refuge inside the town, in an inner chamber.
(31) His ministers said to him, “We have heard that the kings of the House of Israel are magnanimous kings. Let us put sackcloth on our loins and ropes on our heads, and surrender to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.” (32) So they girded sackcloth on their loins and wound ropes around their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘I beg you, spare my life.’”...
והנה היו השקים במתניהם כדרך שבויי המלחמה, והחבלים בראשיהם מוכנים להתלות בהם, וכאלו אמרו בזה אדוננו המלך הננו שבויי חרבך וראויים אנחנו שתצוה לתלות את ראשנו בחבלים הללו אם לא מפני היותך מלך חסד.
The sackcloth...was the manner of prisoners of war, and the ropes around their heads, as if they were on the verge of being hanged. They aimed to say: O Master, King, we are your prisoners of war, and we understand that we should be executed if not for your manifest mercy.
... וַיֹּ֛אמֶר הַעוֹדֶ֥נּוּ חַ֖י אָחִ֥י הֽוּא׃ (לג) וְהָאֲנָשִׁים֩ יְנַחֲשׁ֨וּ וַֽיְמַהֲר֜וּ וַיַּחְלְט֣וּ הֲמִמֶּ֗נּוּ וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙ אָחִ֣יךָ בֶן־הֲדַ֔ד וַיֹּ֖אמֶר בֹּ֣אוּ קָחֻ֑הוּ וַיֵּצֵ֤א אֵלָיו֙ בֶּן־הֲדַ֔ד וַֽיַּעֲלֵ֖הוּ עַל־הַמֶּרְכָּבָֽה׃
He replied, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” (33) The men divined his meaning and quickly caught the word from him, saying, “Yes, Ben-hadad is your brother.” “Go, bring him,” he said. Ben-hadad came out to him, and he invited him into his chariot.
(34) Ben-hadad said to him, “I will give back the towns that my father took from your father, and you may set up bazaars for yourself in Damascus as my father did in Samaria.” “And I, for my part,” [said Ahab,] “will let you go home under these terms.” So he made a treaty with him and dismissed him.
(35) A certain man, a disciple of the prophets, said to another, at the word of the LORD, “Strike me”; but the man refused to strike him. (36) He said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the LORD, a lion will strike you dead as soon as you leave me.” And when he left, a lion came upon him and killed him. (37) Then he met another man and said, “Come, strike me.” So the man struck him and wounded him. (38) Then the prophet, disguised by a cloth over his eyes, went and waited for the king by the road. (39) As the king passed by, he cried out to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the thick of the battle. Suddenly a man came over and brought a man to me, saying, ‘Guard this man! If he is missing, it will be your life for his, or you will have to pay a talent of silver.’ (40) While your servant was busy here and there, [the man] got away.” The king of Israel responded, “You have your verdict; you pronounced it yourself.”
(1) Joab son of Zeruiah could see that the king’s mind was on Absalom; (2) so Joab sent to Tekoa and brought a clever woman from there. He said to her, “Pretend you are in mourning; put on mourning clothes and don’t anoint yourself with oil; and act like a woman who has grieved a long time over a departed one. (3) Go to the king and say to him thus and thus.” And Joab told her what to say. (4) The woman of Tekoa came to the king, flung herself face down to the ground, and prostrated herself. She cried out, “Help, O king!” (5) The king asked her, “What troubles you?” And she answered, “Alas, I am a widow, my husband is dead. (6) Your maidservant had two sons. The two of them came to blows out in the fields where there was no one to stop them, and one of them struck the other and killed him. (7) Then the whole clan confronted your maidservant and said, ‘Hand over the one who killed his brother, that we may put him to death for the slaying of his brother, even though we wipe out the heir.’ Thus they would quench the last ember remaining to me, and leave my husband without name or remnant upon the earth.” (8) The king said to the woman, “Go home. I will issue an order in your behalf.”
(41) Quickly he removed the cloth from his eyes, and the king recognized him as one of the prophets. (42) He said to him, “Thus said the LORD: Because you have set free the man whom I doomed, your life shall be forfeit for his life and your people for his people.” (43) Dispirited and sullen, the king left for home and came to Samaria.
(12) Then the woman said, “Please let your maidservant say another word to my lord the king.” “Speak on,” said the king. (13) And the woman said, “Why then have you planned the like against God’s people? In making this pronouncement, Your Majesty condemns himself in that Your Majesty does not bring back his own banished one. (14) We must all die; we are like water that is poured out on the ground and cannot be gathered up. God will not take away the life of one who makes plans so that no one may be kept banished.
(17) The city and everything in it are to be proscribed for the LORD; only Rahab the harlot is to be spared, and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers we sent.
(1) The Israelites, however, violated the proscription: Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of that which was proscribed, and the LORD was incensed with the Israelites. (2) Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which lies close to Beth-aven—east of Bethel—with orders to go up and spy out the country. So the men went up and spied out Ai. (3) They returned to Joshua and reported to him, “Not all the troops need go up. Let two or three thousand men go and attack Ai; do not trouble all the troops to go up there, for [the people] there are few.” (4) So about three thousand of the troops marched up there; but they were routed by the men of Ai.