Study Desk

So he arose and ate and drank, and he journeyed in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

So He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD." And behold, the LORD was passing by! And a great and powerful wind was tearing out the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat while he was plowing, with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah came over to him and threw his cloak on him.

So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them, and cooked their meat with the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he got up and followed Elijah and served him.

So he said to the messengers of Ben-hadad, "Tell my lord the king, 'Everything that you sent as a demand to your servant at the first, I will do; but this thing I cannot do.'" Then the messengers departed, and brought him word again.

Ben-hadad sent word to him and said, "May the gods do so to me and more so, if the dust of Samaria will be enough for handfuls for all the people who follow me."

And when Ben-hadad heard this message, while he was drinking with the kings in the temporary shelters, he said to his servants, "Take your positions." So they took their positions against the city.

But Ahab said, "By whom?" So he said, "The LORD says this: 'By the young men of the leaders of the provinces.'" Then he said, "Who will begin the battle?" And he said, "You will."

So he mustered the young men of the leaders of the provinces, and there were 232; and after them he mustered all the people, all the sons of Israel: seven thousand.

So these men went out from the city, the young men of the leaders of the provinces, and the army which followed them.

and muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them in the plain, and we will certainly be stronger than they." And he listened to their voice and did so.

So at the turn of the year Ben-hadad mustered the Arameans and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.

So they camped, one opposite the other, for seven days. And on the seventh day the battle was joined, and the sons of Israel killed of the Arameans a hundred thousand foot soldiers in a single day.

So they put sackcloth around their waists and ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, "Your servant Ben-hadad says, 'Please let me live.'" And Ahab said, "Is he still alive? He is my brother."

And Ben-hadad said to him, "The cities which my father took from your father I will restore, and you can make streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria." Ahab said, "And I will let you go with this covenant." So he made a covenant with him and let him go.

So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the road, and disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes.

"Now while your servant was busy here and there, he disappeared." And the king of Israel said to him, "So shall your judgment be; you yourself determined it."

So the king of Israel went to his house sullen and furious, and came to Samaria.

And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "Give me your vineyard so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is close beside my house, and I will give you a better vineyard in place of it; if you prefer, I will give you what it is worth in money."

So Ahab entered his house sullen and furious because of the answer that Naboth the Jezreelite had given to him, since he said, "I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers." And he lay down on his bed and turned his face away, and ate no food.