⁸ Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.

¹ And Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together; and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it.

⁵ Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have purposed evil against thee, saying,

⁶ Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set up a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeel;

⁷ thus saith the Lord Jehovah, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.

³⁰ There is no wisdom nor understanding Nor counsel against Jehovah.

¹⁸ Every purpose is established by counsel; And by wise guidance make thou war.

¹² He frustrateth the devices of the crafty, So that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.

¹³ He taketh the wise in their own craftiness; And the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.

²⁴ And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.

³¹ Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty and two captains of his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel.

³⁴ And `Ben-hadad' said unto him, The cities which my father took from thy father I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. And I, `said Ahab', will let thee go with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and let him go.

²³ And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their god is a god of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we: but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.

¹⁰ Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.