1 Kings 22:3
in 1 Kings 22who said to his servants, “Do you not know that Ramoth-gilead is ours, but we have failed to take it from the hand of the king of Aram?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth-gilead is ours, and we are still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria?
KJV
And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria?
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This verse in 1 Kings 22
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
By the terms of Ahab’s covenant with Ben-hadad, Ramoth in Gilead ought, long ere this, to have been restored 1Ki 20:34. Hence, the claim “is ours,” i. e., “it belongs to us of right though the Syrians still hold possession of it.”
This site's exposition
Ramoth in Gilead is ours
on 1 Kings 22:3-4
Ahab presses a claim on Ramoth-gilead, a city Ben-hadad's terms should have restored and never did, and Jehoshaphat answers with the formula of full alliance, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses. The same sentence returns almost word for word at 2 Ki 3:7 when Jehoshaphat joins Jehoram against Moab, a partnership the house of David keeps making with the house of Omri.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Is ours - Belongeth to us by right. both by God's donation, and by our last agreement with Ben-hadad, chap. xx, 34, which yet he refuseth to deliver up.
(And the king of Israel said unto his servants,....
But now he knows by experience, what he ought before to have considered, that as the kisses, so the promises, of an enemy are deceitful, and there is no confidence to be put in leagues extorted by distress. Benhadad is one of those princes that think themselves bound by their word no further and no longer than it is for their interest.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Jos 21:38), on the site of the present Salt Lake, in the province of Belka. It lay within the territories of the Israelitish monarch, and was unjustly alienated; but whether it was one of the cities usurped by the first Ben-hadad, which his son had promised to restore, or was retained for some other reasons, the sacred historian has not mentioned.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The words behind it
17 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֤אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| מֶֽלֶךְ־ | melekh- | [the] king of | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| עֲבָדָ֔יו | ʾavadav | servants his | H5650 → | 799 times |
| הַיְדַעְתֶּ֕ם | hayda'tem | ¿ do you know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| לָ֖נוּ | lanu | [belongs] to us | ||
| רָמֹ֣ת | ramot | Ramoth | H7418 → | 22 times |
| גִּלְעָ֑ד | gilad | Gilead | H1568 → | 134 times |
| וַאֲנַ֣חְנוּ | vaanachnu | and we | H587 → | 120 times |
| מַחְשִׁ֔ים | machshim | [are] inactive | H2814 → | |
| מִקַּ֣חַת | mikachat | from taking | H3947 → | 966 times |
| אֹתָ֔הּ | ʾotah | <obj.> it | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מִיַּ֖ד | miyad | from [the] hand of | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| מֶ֥לֶךְ | melekh | [the] king of | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| אֲרָֽם׃ | ʾaram | Aram | H758 → | 143 times |
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
מֶֽלֶךְ־[the] king of
melekh-H4428 →2525 times
יִשְׂרָאֵל֙Israel
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
עֲבָדָ֔יוservants his
ʾavadavH5650 →799 times
הַיְדַעְתֶּ֕ם¿ do you know
hayda'temH3045 →945 times
כִּֽי־that
ki-H3588 →4482 times
לָ֖נוּ[belongs] to us
lanu
רָמֹ֣תRamoth
ramotH7418 →22 times
גִּלְעָ֑דGilead
giladH1568 →134 times
וַאֲנַ֣חְנוּand we
vaanachnuH587 →120 times
מַחְשִׁ֔ים[are] inactive
machshimH2814 →
מִקַּ֣חַתfrom taking
mikachatH3947 →966 times
אֹתָ֔הּ<obj.> it
ʾotahH853 →10935 times
מִיַּ֖דfrom [the] hand of
miyadH3027 →1618 times
מֶ֥לֶךְ[the] king of
melekhH4428 →2525 times
אֲרָֽם׃Aram
ʾaramH758 →143 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 4:43Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the Gadites, or Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites.
it leads to
- Joshua 20:8
And beyond the Jordan, east of Jericho, they designated Bezer on the wilderness plateau from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Chronicles 6:80
And from the tribe of Gad they were given Ramoth in Gilead, Mahanaim,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Joshua 20:8
Through
Judges 16:2When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded that place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They were quiet throughout the night, saying, “Let us wait…
it leads to
- Psalms 118:10–12
All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
- 1 Samuel 23:26
Saul was proceeding along one side of the mountain, and David and his men along the other side. Even though David was hurrying to get away, Saul and his men were closing in on…
- Acts 9:24
but Saul learned of their plot. Day and night they watched the city gates in order to kill him.
- Psalms 118:10–12
Through
1 Kings 4:13Ben-geber in Ramoth-gilead (the villages of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead belonged to him, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan with its sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);
it leads to
- Numbers 32:41
Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, went and captured their villages and called them Havvoth-jair.
- Deuteronomy 3:4
At that time we captured all sixty of his cities. There was not a single city we failed to take—the entire region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
- Numbers 32:41
Through
Joshua 21:38And from the tribe of Gad they were given Ramoth in Gilead, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Mahanaim,
it leads to
- Genesis 32:2
When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God.” So he named that place Mahanaim.
- Genesis 32:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
What the record shows
1 entry- Hadadezer — attested in contemporary inscriptionundisputed
Shalmaneser III inscriptions; Melqart stele
Biblical figure (King of Aram-Damascus, early 9th c.-844/842 BC) identified in extra-biblical epigraphy.
Counterpoint: A king of Damascus named Adad-idri fought Assyria in these years, and the Bible names a king of Damascus called Ben-Hadad. Neither source makes the connection itself; treating them as the same man is a scholarly reconstruction, and 1 Kings 22 in fact leaves the Aramean king unnamed.
About 1 Kings

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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 (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
