Then Ben-Hadad sent another message to Ahab: “May the gods punish me terribly if I don’t completely destroy Samaria. There won’t be enough left for each of my men to get a handful of dust!”
The king of Assyria says this: “By my own power I have done these things; by my wisdom I have defeated many nations. I have taken their wealth, and, like a mighty one, I have taken their people.
I have taken the riches of all these people, like a person reaching into a bird’s nest. I have taken these nations, like a person taking eggs. Not one raised a hand or opened its mouth to stop me.”
But the commander said, “My master did not send me to tell these things only to you and your king. He sent me to speak also to those people sitting on the wall who will have to eat their own dung and drink their own urine like you.”
The land you are going to take is not like Egypt, where you were. There you had to plant your seed and water it, like a vegetable garden, by using your feet.