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So he went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him. When he and the twelve passed Elijah, he threw his cloak on him.

Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered all of his army, and thirty-two kings were with him, and horses and chariots. He went up and laid siege against Samaria and fought with it.

The king of Israel answered and said, "Tell him, ‘Let not him who girds on his armor boast as one who takes off his armor.'"

It happened at the moment he heard this word, he and the kings were drinking in the tents. He said to his servants, "Get ready to attack." So they got ready to attack the city.

Each man killed his man, and the Arameans fled, so Israel pursued them, but Ben-Hadad king of Aram escaped on a horse with cavalry.

Do this thing: remove the kings each from his post, and put a governor in their place.

Then his servants said to him, "Please now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are kings of mercy. Let us now put sackcloth on around our waists and ropes on our heads. Then let us go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will let you live."

A certain man from the sons of the prophets said to his fellow countryman, "By the word of Yahweh, please strike me." But the man refused to strike him.

Then the prophet went and waited for the king along the road and disguised himself with a headband over his eyes.

As the king was passing by, he called to the king and said, "Your servant went out in the thick of the battle, and suddenly a man turned and brought a man to me and said, ‘Guard this man. If by any means he should be missed, it will be your life in his place, or you shall pay a talent of silver.'

He quickly removed the headband from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him, that he was from the prophets.

He said to him, "Thus says Yahweh: ‘Because you have let the man I devoted for destruction go from your hand, your life shall be in place of his life and your people in place of his people.'"

Then the king of Israel went to his house, sullen and angry, and he came to Samaria.

Then Ahab went to his house, sullen and angry because of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him when he had said, "I will not give to you the inheritance of my ancestors." So he lay on his bed, turned away his face, and would not eat any food.

Then Jezebel his wife came to him, and she said to him, "What is this, that your spirit is sullen and you are not eating food?"

Jezebel his wife said to him, "Now, you rule over Israel. Get up, eat food, and let your heart be cheerful. I myself will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."

So she wrote letters in the name of Ahab and sealed them with his seal. She sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who were dwelling with Naboth in his city.

The men of his city and the elders and nobles who were living in his city did according to what Jezebel had sent to them, as was written in the letters which she had sent to them.

When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth over his flesh, fasted, lay in the sackcloth, and went about dejectedly.

"Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring disaster in his days. I will bring the disaster on his house in the days of his son."