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1 Kings 20:6

in 1 Kings 20

But about this time tomorrow I will send my servants to search your palace and the houses of your servants. They will seize and carry away all that is precious to you.’”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

but I will send my servants unto thee to-morrow about this time, and they shall search thy house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away.

KJV

Yet I will send my servants unto thee to morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away.

This verse in 1 Kings 20

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes - It is not easy to discern in what this second requisition differed from the first; for surely his silver, gold, wives, and children, were among his most pleasant or desirable things. Jarchi supposes that it was the book of the law of the Lord which Ben-hadad meant, and of which he intended to deprive Israel. It is however evident that Ben-hadad meant to sack the whole city, and after having taken the royal treasures and the wives and children of the king, to deliver up the whole to be pillaged by his soldiers.

This site's exposition

I am thine, and all that I have

on 1 Kings 20:4-6

Ahab surrenders outright, hoping total submission will buy peace, but Ben-hadad's second message shows that yielding to an unjust demand only invites a larger one. The first request asked for what Ahab might have handed over as tribute; the second sends servants to search every house in the city and carry off whatever pleases them. The king's poor spirit stands in contrast to the elders he is about to consult, who see the trap for what it is.

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.

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Yet I will send my servants unto thee tomorrow about this time,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

(3.) He is as unreasonable as he is unjust, and will construe the surrender Ahab made for himself as made for all his subjects too, and will have them also to lie at his mercy: "They shall search, not only thy house, but the houses of thy servants too, and plunder them at discretion." Blessed be God for peace and property, and that what we have we can call our own.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

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.
Ben-hadad, disappointed by Ahab’s consent to an indignity which he had thought no monarch could submit to, proceeds to put a fresh construction on his former demands.

The words behind it

21 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.

  • כִּ֣י׀that

    kiH35884482 times

  • אִם־except

    ʾim-H5181069 times

  • כָּעֵ֣תabout <the> this time

    kaetH6256296 times

  • מָחָ֗רtomorrow

    macharH4279

  • אֶשְׁלַ֤חI will send

    ʾeshlachH7971845 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • עֲבָדַי֙servants my

    ʾavadaiH5650799 times

  • אֵלֶ֔יךָto you

    ʾeleikhaH4135510 times

  • וְחִפְּשׂוּ֙and they will search

    vechipesuH266423 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • בֵּ֣יתְךָ֔house your

    beitekhaH10042046 times

  • וְאֵ֖תand <obj.>

    veetH85310935 times

  • בָּתֵּ֣י[the] houses of

    bateiH10042046 times

  • עֲבָדֶ֑יךָservants your

    ʾavadeikhaH5650799 times

  • וְהָיָה֙and it will be

    vehayahH19613559 times

  • כָּל־every

    kol-H36055413 times

  • מַחְמַ֣ד<the> desirable thing of

    machmadH4261

  • עֵינֶ֔יךָeyes your

    ʾeineikhaH5869887 times

  • יָשִׂ֥ימוּthey will put

    yasimuH7760584 times

  • בְיָדָ֖םin hand their

    veyadamH30271618 times

  • וְלָקָֽחוּ׃and they will take [it]

    velakachuH3947966 times

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

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Isaiah 44:9

    All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 10:14–15

      Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.

    • Isaiah 41:24

      Behold, you are nothing and your work is of no value. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

    • Habakkuk 2:18–20

      What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.

    • Isaiah 41:29

      See, they are all a delusion; their works amount to nothing; their images are as empty as the wind.

    • Psalms 97:7

      All worshipers of images are put to shame— those who boast in idols. Worship Him, all you gods!

  • Through

    Hosea 13:15

    Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come—a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder…

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 19:12

      But it was uprooted in fury, cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were stripped off and they withered; the fire consumed them.

  • Through

    Joel 3:5

    For you took My silver and gold and carried off My finest treasures to your temples.

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 21:16–17

      Then the LORD stirred against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and Arabs who lived near the Cushites.

    • 2 Kings 24:13

      As the LORD had declared, Nebuchadnezzar also carried off all the treasures from the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and he cut into pieces all the gold articles that Solomon king…

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

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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.