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1 Kings 20:9

in 1 Kings 20

So Ahab answered the messengers of Ben-hadad, “Tell my lord the king, ‘All that you demanded of your servant the first time I will do, but this thing I cannot do.’” So the messengers departed and relayed the message to Ben-hadad.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Ben-hadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do; but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again.

KJV

Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Ben–hadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again.

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This verse in 1 Kings 20

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Ben-hadad's object in these and other boastful menaces was to intimidate Ahab. But the weak sovereign began to show a little more spirit, as appears in his abandoning "my lord the king" for the single "tell him," and giving him a dry but sarcastic hint to glory no more till the victory is won.

This site's exposition

summoned all the elders of the land

on 1 Kings 20:7-9

Ahab calls the elders of the land and lays the second demand before them. Their answer is unanimous, “Do not listen to him or consent to his terms”. He still stands by the surrender of verse 4, a half-measure that leaves Ben-hadad free to call it treachery.

This site's exposition

this thing I cannot do

Ahab still calls Ben-hadad my lord the king and himself your servant. Two verses later the courtesy is gone, and his reply opens with a bare order to tell him. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown see a king finding his nerve.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Ahab, encouraged by a prophet, overthrows him twice, ver. 13-30. Makes a covenant with him, ver. 31-34. Is reproved and threatened by a prophet, ver. 35-43.

quarantine:anchor (2026-07-29) — cites-ver-31/35-anchored-1-12

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

I must not give what is none of my own." It was a mortification to Ben-hadad that even such an abject spirit as Ahab's durst deny him; yet it should seem, by his manner of expressing himself, that he durst not have done it if his people had not animated him.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes

Wherefore he sent unto the messengers of Benhadad,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

If the dust of Shomron will be sufficient for the soles of the feet, etc. [Targum Yonoson rendered,] “to take with the footsteps of all the people who are with me,” the earth that sticks to the sole of the feet.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on I Kings 20:10:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

23 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּ֜אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • לְמַלְאֲכֵ֣יto [the] messengers of

    lemalakheiH4397 →213 times

  • בֶן־Ben

    ven-H1130 →50 times

  • הֲדַ֗דHadad

    hadadH1130 →50 times

  • אִמְר֞וּsay

    ʾimruH559 →5305 times

  • לַֽאדֹנִ֤יto lord my

    ladoniH113 →333 times

  • הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙the king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • כֹּל֩all

    kolH3605 →5413 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־that

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • שָׁלַ֨חְתָּyou sent

    shalachtaH7971 →845 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • עַבְדְּךָ֤servant your

    ʾavdekhaH5650 →799 times

  • בָרִֽאשֹׁנָה֙at the first

    varishonahH7223 →182 times

  • אֶעֱשֶׂ֔הI will do

    ʾeesehH6213 →2628 times

  • וְהַדָּבָ֣רand the thing

    vehadavarH1697 →1440 times

  • הַזֶּ֔ה<the> this

    hazehH2088 →1180 times

  • לֹ֥אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • אוּכַ֖לI am able

    ʾukhalH3201 →194 times

  • לַעֲשׂ֑וֹתto do

    laasotH6213 →2628 times

  • וַיֵּֽלְכוּ֙and they went

    vaiyelekhuH1980 →1546 times

  • הַמַּלְאָכִ֔יםthe messengers

    hamalakhimH4397 →213 times

  • וַיְשִׁבֻ֖הוּand they brought back him

    vayshivuhuH7725 →1056 times

  • דָּבָֽר׃word

    davarH1697 →1440 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

About 1 Kings

The Israelites Slaughter the Syrians — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Israelites Slaughter the Syrians — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
1 Kings: the study guide →Read 1 Kings 20 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 1 Kings 20 →