Douay Rheims Original ↷
1 Kings 20 📜 📕 ↷
Ben-hadad Attacks Samaria
1 MOREOVER Benadad the king of Syria, gathered together all his host, and two and thirty kings with him, & horses, & chariots: & going up fought against Samaria, and besieged it.📜💬📚
2 And sending messengers to Achab the king of Israel into the city,📜💬📚
3 he said: Thus saith Benadad: Thy silver, and thy gold is mine: and thy wives, and thy principal children be mine.📜💬📚
4 And the king of Israel answered: According to thy word my lord king, I am thine, and all that is mine.📜💬📚
5 And the messengers returning, said: Thus saith Benadad, which sent us unto thee: Thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children thou shalt give me.📜💬📚
6 To morrow therefore this very hour I will send my servants to thee, and they shall search thy house, and the house of thy servants: and all that pleaseth them, they shall put in their hands, and take away.📜💬📚
7 And the king of Israel called all the ancients of the land, and said: Mark, and see that he seeketh to intrap us. For he sent to me for my wives, and children, and for the silver and gold: and I said not nay.📜💬📚
8 And all the ancients, and all the people said to him: Hear not, neither agree unto him.📜💬📚
9 He therefore answered the messengers of Benadad: Tell my lord the king: All things for the which thou didst send to me thy servant in the beginning I will do: but this thing I can not do.📜💬📚
10 And the messengers returning made report unto him, who sent again, and said: These things do the gods to me, and these add they, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for the handfuls of all the people, that followeth me.📜💬📚
11 And the king of Israel answering, said: Tell him Let not the girded glory as the ungirded.📜💬📚
12 And it came to pass, when Benadad had heard this word, himself & the kings drank in pavilions, and he said to his servants: Beset the city, and they did beset it.📜💬📚
Ahab Defeats Ben-hadad
13 And behold a Prophet coming to Achab the king of Israel, said to him: Thus saith our Lord, Hast thou in deed seen all this exceeding great multitude? Behold, I will deliver them into thy hand this day: that thou mayst know, that I am the Lord.📜💬📚
14 And Achab said: By whom? And he said to him: Thus saith our Lord: By the servants of the princes of the provinces. And he said: Who shall begin to fight? And he said: Thou.📜💬📚
15 He therefore mustered the servants of the Princes of the provinces, and he found the number of two hundred thirty two: and he mustered after them the people, all the children of Israel, seven thousand.📜💬📚
16 And they went forth at noon. But Benadad drank all drunken in his tent. And two and thirty kings with him, which were come to aid him.📜💬📚
17 The servants thereof of the Princes of the provinces issued forth in the forefront. Benadad therefore sent. Who told him, saying: Men are come forth out of Samaria.📜💬📚
18 And he said: Whether they come for peace, take them alive: or else to fight, alive take ye them.📜💬📚
19 The servants therefore of the Princes of the provinces issued forth, and the rest of the army followed:📜💬📚
20 and every one struck the man that came against him: and the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them. Benadad also the king of Syria fled on horseback with his horsemen.📜💬📚
21 Moreover the king of Israel issuing forth struck the horses and chariots, & he struck Syria with a great slaughter.📜💬📚
22 (And a Prophet coming to the king of Israel, said to him: Go, & take courage, & know, & see what thou doest: for the year following the king of Syria will come up against thee.)📜💬📚
23 But the servants of the king of Syria said to him: The gods of the mountains be their gods, therefore have they overcome us: but it is better that we fight against them in the champion, and we shall overcome them.📜💬📚
24 Thou therefore do this word: Remove all the kings from thine army, and put captains for them:📜💬📚
25 and repair the number of soldiers, that are slain of thine, and horses according to the old horses, & chariots according to the chariots, which thou hadst before: and we will fight against them in the champion, and thou shalt see that we shall overcome them. He believed their counsel, and did so.📜💬📚
Another War with Ben-hadad
26 Therefore after a year was passed, Benadad mustered the Syrians, and went up into Aphec, to fight against Israel.📜💬📚
27 Moreover the children of Israel were mustered, and taking victuals they went forth on the contrary side, and camped against them, as it were two little flocks of goats: but the Syrians filled the land.📜💬📚
28 (And a man of God coming, said to the king of Israel: Thus saith our Lord: Because the Syrians have said: The Lord is God of the mountains, and is not God of the Valleys, I will give all this great multitude into thy hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.)📜💬📚
29 And seven days did these, and they direct their armies one against the other, and in the seventh day was the battle fought, and the children of Israel struck of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day.📜💬📚
30 And they that remained in Aphec, fled into the city: and the wall fell upon seven and twenty thousand men, that were left. Moreover Benadad flying entered the city, into a chamber that was within a chamber,📜💬📚
Ahab Spares Ben-hadad
31 and his servants said to him: Behold, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful: Let us therefore put sackcloths on our loins, and cords on our heads, and go forth to the king of Israel: perhaps he will save our lives📜💬📚
32 They girded their loins with sackcloths, and put cords on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said to him: Thy servant Benadad saith: Let my soul live, I beseech thee. And he said: If he be yet alive, he is my brother.📜💬📚
33 Which the men took for good luck: and in haste caught the word of his mouth, and said: Thy brother Benadad. And he said to them: Go and bring him to me. Benadad therefore came out to him, and he lifted him up into his chariot.📜💬📚
34 Who said to him: The cities which my father took from thy father, I will render: do thou make thee streets in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria, and I confederate will depart from thee. He therefore made a league, and dismissed him.📜💬📚
A Prophet Reproves Ahab
35 Then a certain man of the children of the Prophets said to his fellow in the word of our Lord: Strike me. But he would not strike.📜💬📚
36 To whom he said: Because thou wouldest not hear the word of our Lord, behold thou shalt depart from me, and a lion shall strike thee. And when he was departed a little from him, a lion found him, and slew him.📜💬📚
37 But finding also an other man, he said to him: Strike me. Who struck him, and wounded him.📜💬📚
38 The Prophet therefore went, and met the king in the way, and with sprinkling of dust changed his face and his eyes.📜💬📚
39 And when the king passed by, he cried to the king, and said: Thy servant went forth to fight hand strokes: and when a certain man was fled, one brought him to me, and said: Keep this man: who if he shall slip away, thy life shall be for his life, or thou shalt pay a talent of silver.📜💬📚
40 And whilst I being troubled turned hither and thither, suddenly he appeared not. And the king of Israel said to him: This is thy judgment, which thy self hast decreed.📜💬📚
41 But he forthwith wiped off the dust from his face, and the king of Israel knew him, that he was of the prophets.📜💬📚
42 Who said to him: Thus saith our Lord Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man worthy to die, thy life shall be for his life, and thy people for his people.📜💬📚
43 The king of Israel therefore returned into his house, contemning to hear, & raging came into Samaria.📜💬📚
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