7. So Ahab called a meeting of all the elders of his country. He said, “Ben-Hadad is looking for trouble. First he said I had to give him my wives, my children, my silver and my gold. I agreed to that.”
8. But the elders and all the people said, “Pay no attention to him. Don’t do what he says.”
9. So Ahab said to Ben-Hadad’s messengers, “Tell my master the king this: ‘I will do what you said at first. But I will not obey your second command.’” So King Ben-Hadad’s men carried the message back to him.
10. Then Ben-Hadad sent another message to Ahab: “I will completely destroy Samaria. There won’t be even enough left for each of my men to get a handful of dust. May the gods punish me terribly if I don’t do this!”
11. Ahab answered, “Tell Ben-Hadad this: ‘The man who puts on his armor should not brag too soon. It’s the man who lives long enough to take it off who has the right to brag.’”
12. Now Ben-Hadad was drinking in his tent with the other rulers. The messengers came and gave him the message from Ahab. Ben-Hadad commanded his men to prepare to attack the city. So they moved into their places for the battle.
13. At the same time a prophet came to Ahab, king of Israel. The prophet said, “Ahab, the Lord says to you, ‘Do you see that big army? I will let you defeat it today. Then you will know I am the Lord.’”
14. Ahab said, “Who will you use to defeat them?”The prophet answered, “The Lord says, ‘The young officers of the district governors will defeat them.’”Then the king asked, “Who will command the main army?”The prophet answered, “You will.”
15. So Ahab gathered the young officers of the district governors. There were 232 of them. Then he called together the army of Israel. There were 7,000 of them.
16. At noon Ben-Hadad and the 32 rulers helping him were getting drunk in their tents. At this time Ahab attacked them.