a said to him: Their gods are
gods of the hills, therefore they have overcome us: but it is better
that we should fight against them in the plains, and we shall overcome
them.

20:24. Do thou, therefore, this thing: Remove all the kings from thy
army, and put captains in their stead:

20:25. And make up the number of soldiers that have been slain of thine,
and horses, according to the former horses, and chariots, according to
the chariots which thou hadst before: and we will fight against them in
the plains, and thou shalt see that we shall overcome them. He believed
their counsel, and did so.

20:26. Wherefore, at the return of the year, Benadad mustered the
Syrians, and went up to Aphec, to fight against Israel.

20:27. And the children of Israel were mustered, and taking victuals,
went out on the other side, and encamped over against them, like two
little flocks of goats: but the Syrians filled the land.

20:28. (And a man of God coming, said to the king of Israel: Thus saith
the Lord: Because the Syrians have said: The Lord is God of the hills,
but is not God of the valleys: I will deliver all this great multitude
into thy hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.)

20:29. And both sides set their armies in array one against the other
seven days, and on the seventh day the battle was fought: and the
children of Israel slew, of the Syrians, a hundred thousand footmen in
one day.

20:30. And they that remained fled to Aphec, into the city: and the wall
fell upon seven and twenty thousand men, that were left. And Benadad
fleeing, went into the city, into a chamber that was within a chamber.

20:31. And his servants said to him: Behold, we have heard that the
kings of the house of Israel are merciful; so let us put sackcloths on
our loins, and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel:
perhaps he will save our lives.

20:32. So they girded sackcloths on their loins, and put ropes on their
heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said to him: Thy servant,
Benadad, saith: I beseech thee let me have my life. And he said: If he
be yet alive, he is my brother.

20:33. The men took this for good luck: and in haste caught the word out
of his mouth, and said: Thy brother Benadad. And he said to them: Go,
and bring him to me. Then Benadad came out to him, and he lifted him up
into his chariot.

20:34. And he said to him: The cities which my father took from thy
father, I will restore: and do thou