King Ben-hadad of Aram gathered his whole army; thirty-two kings accompanied him with horses and chariots. He advanced against Samaria, laid siege to it, and attacked it.
I meant that tomorrow at this time I will send my servants to you and they will search your house and the houses of your courtiers and seize everything youayou Several ancient versions read “they.” prize and take it away.”
Then the king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land, and he said, “See for yourselves how that man is bent on evil! For when he demanded my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, I did not refuse him.”
Word-by-Word Analysis
ויקרא
317
מלךישראל
631
לכלזקני
247
הארץ
296
ויאמר
257
דעונא
131
וראו
213
כי
30
רעה
275
זה
12
מבקש
442
כישלח
368
אלי
41
לנשי
390
ולבני
98
ולכספי
206
ולזהבי
60
ולא
37
מנעתי
570
ממנו
136
I Kings 20:8
Gematria: 2035
ויאמרואליוכלהזקניםוכלהעםאלתשמעולואתאבה
All the elders and all the people said, “Do not obey and do not submit!”
So he said to Ben-hadad’s messengers, “Tell my lord the king: All that you first demanded of your servant I shall do, but this thing I cannot do.” The messengers went and reported this to him.
Thereupon Ben-hadad sent him this message: “May the gods do thus to me and even more,bMay the gods do thus to me and even more See note at 19.2. if the dust of Samaria will provide even a handful for each of the men who are right behind me!”
Word-by-Word Analysis
וישלח
354
אליו
47
בןהדד
65
ויאמר
257
כהיעשון
461
לי
40
אלהים
86
וכה
31
יוספו
162
אםישפק
531
עפר
350
שמרון
596
לשעלים
480
לכלהעם
195
אשר
501
ברגלי
245
I Kings 20:11
Gematria: 2501
ויעןמלךישראלויאמרדברואליתהללחגרכמפתח
The king of Israel replied, “Tell him: Let not him who girds on his sword boast like him who ungirds it!”
On hearing this reply—while he and the other kings were drinking together at Succoth—Ben-hadadcBen-hadad Heb. “he.” commanded his followers, “Advance!” And they advanced against the city.
Then a certain prophet went up to King Ahab of Israel and said, “Thus said GOD: Do you see that great host? I will deliver it into your hands today, and you shall know that I am GOD.”
“Through whom?” asked Ahab. He answered, “Thus said GOD: Through the aides of the provincial governors.” He asked, “Who shall begin the battle?” And he answered, “You.”
and each of them struck down his opponent. The Arameans fled, and Israel pursued them; but King Ben-hadad of Aram escaped on a horse with other riders.
Word-by-Word Analysis
ויכו
42
איש
311
אישו
317
וינסו
132
ארם
241
וירדפם
340
ישראל
541
וימלט
95
בןהדד
65
מלך
90
ארם
241
עלסוס
226
ופרשים
636
I Kings 20:21
Gematria: 2332
ויצאמלךישראלויךאתהסוסואתהרכבוהכהבארםמכהגדולה
The king of Israel came out and attacked the horses and chariots, and inflicted a great defeat on the Arameans.
Then the prophet approached the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, keep up your efforts, and consider well what you must do; for the king of Aram will attack you at the turn of the year.”
Now the ministers of the king of Aram said to him, “Their God is a God of mountains; that is why they got the better of us. But if we fight them in the plain, we will surely get the better of them.
Word-by-Word Analysis
ועבדי
92
מלךארם
331
אמרו
247
אליו
47
אלהי
46
הרים
255
אלהיהם
91
עלכן
170
חזקו
121
ממנו
136
ואולם
83
נלחם
128
אתם
441
במישור
558
אםלא
72
נחזק
165
מהם
85
I Kings 20:24
Gematria: 3670
ואתהדברהזהעשההסרהמלכיםאישממקמוושיםפחותתחתיהם
Do this: Remove all the kings from their posts and appoint governors in their place.
Then muster for yourself an army equal to the army you lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. And let us fight them in the plain, and we will surely get the better of them.” He took their advice and acted accordingly.
Now the Israelites had been mustered and provisioned, and they went out against them; but when the Israelites encamped against them, they looked like two flocksdflocks Meaning of Heb. uncertain. of goats, while the Arameans covered the land.
Then the agent of God approached and spoke to the king of Israel, “Thus said GOD: Because the Arameans have said, ‘GOD is a God of mountains—but not a God of lowlands,’ I will deliver that great host into your hands; and you shall know that I am GOD.”
For seven days they were encamped opposite each other. On the seventh day, the battle was joined and the Israelites struck down 100,000 Aramean foot soldiers in one day.
The survivors fled to Aphek, inside the town, and the wall fell on the 27,000 survivors.Ben-hadad also fled and took refuge inside the town, in an inner chamber.
His ministers said to him, “We have heard that the kings of the House of Israel are magnanimous kings. Let us put sackcloth on our loins and ropes on our heads, and surrender to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.”
So they girded sackcloth on their loins and wound ropes around their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘I beg you, spare my life.’” He replied, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”eHe is my brother I.e., I would accept him as my treaty partner.
The men divined his meaning and quickly caught the word from him,fcaught the word from him Meaning of Heb. uncertain. saying, “Yes, Ben-hadad is your brother.”gyour brother I.e., willing to be your treaty partner. “Go, bring him,” he said. Ben-hadad came out to him, and he invited him into his chariot.
Ben-hadad said to him, “I will give back the towns that my father took from your father, and you may set up bazaars for yourself in Damascus as my father did in Samaria.” “And I, for my part,” [said Ahab,] “will let you go home under these terms.” So he made a treaty with him and dismissed him.
He said to him, “Because you have not obeyed GOD, a lion will strike you dead as soon as you leave me.” And when he left, a lion came upon him and killed him.
Word-by-Word Analysis
ויאמר
257
לו
36
יען
130
אשר
501
לאשמעת
841
בקול
138
יהוה
26
הנך
75
הולך
61
מאתי
451
והכך
51
האריה
221
וילך
66
מאצלו
167
וימצאהו
158
האריה
221
ויכהו
47
I Kings 20:37
Gematria: 1709
וימצאאישאחרויאמרהכינינאויכהוהאישהכהופצע
Then he met another man and said, “Come, strike me.” So the man struck him and wounded him.
Word-by-Word Analysis
וימצא
147
איש
311
אחר
209
ויאמר
257
הכיני
95
נא
51
ויכהו
47
האיש
316
הכה
30
ופצע
246
I Kings 20:38
Gematria: 2046
וילךהנביאויעמדלמלךעלהדרךויתחפשבאפרעלעיניו
Then the prophet, disguised by a cloth over his eyes, went and waited for the king by the road.
As the king passed by, he cried out to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the thick of the battle. Suddenly someone came over and brought a man to me, saying, ‘Guard this man! If he goes missing, it will be your life for his, or you will have to pay a talent of silver.’
He said to him, “Thus said GOD: Because you have set free the man whom I doomed, your life shall be forfeit for his life and your people for his people.”
Word-by-Word Analysis
ויאמר
257
אליו
47
כה
25
אמר
241
יהוה
26
יען
130
שלחת
738
אתאישחרמי
970
מיד
54
והיתה
426
נפשך
450
תחת
808
נפשו
436
ועמך
136
תחת
808
עמו
116
I Kings 20:43
Gematria: 2338
וילךמלךישראלעלביתוסרוזעףויבאשמרונהפ
Dispirited and sullen, the king of Israel left for home and came to Samaria.