Skip to content
mannafest.faith

1 Kings 22:6

in 1 Kings 22

So the king of Israel assembled the prophets, about four hundred men, and asked them, “Should I go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I refrain?” “Go up,” they replied, “and the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.

KJV

Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramoth–gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.

This verse in 1 Kings 22

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

About four hundred men - These were probably the prophets of Asherah or Venus, maintained by Jezebel, who were not present at the contention on Mount Carmel. See 1Ki 18:19, etc.

This site's exposition

Enquire, I pray thee, at

on 1 Kings 22:5-6

Jehoshaphat asks first for the word of the Lord, and Ahab produces four hundred men who answer as one voice, Go up, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. Their unanimity is the tell rather than the proof: court prophets salaried by a king tend to say what the king wants said, the same pattern Elijah's contest at Carmel had already exposed.

This site's exposition

assembled the prophets, about four hundred men

Adam Clarke takes the four hundred as the prophets of Asherah whom Jezebel fed at 18:19, men absent from the contest on Carmel. Their answer uses the title Lord, and in verse 7 Jehoshaphat asks for a prophet of the LORD. The promise leaves the king unnamed.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

But they pretended to speak by prophecy, not by rational conjecture, by divine, not human, foresight: "Thou shalt certainly recover Ramoth-Gilead." Zedekiah, a leading man among these prophets, in imitation of the true prophets, illustrated his false prophecy with a sign,

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

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 prophets - i. e., In all probability the prophets attached to the worship of the calves; not real prophets of Yahweh. This seems evident both from Jehoshaphat’s dissatisfaction 1Ki 22:7, and from the strong antagonism apparent between the true Yahweh-prophet Micaiah, and these self-styled “prophets of the Lord” 1Ki 22:22-25. The Lord shall deliver it - In the Hebrew the word here used for “Lord” is אדני 'ǎdonāy. Later (i. e., in 1Ki 22:11-12) Lord or יהוה yehovâh is used. It would seem as if the idolatrous prophets shrank from employing the latter title until they found that Jehoshaphat insisted on learning the will of Yahweh in the matter.

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.

  • וַיִּקְבֹּ֨ץand he gathered

    vaiyikbotzH6908127 times

  • מֶֽלֶךְ־[the] king of

    melekh-H44282525 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֥לIsrael

    yisraelH34782507 times

  • אֶֽת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • הַנְּבִיאִים֮the prophets

    haneviimH5030314 times

  • כְּאַרְבַּ֣עabout four

    kearba'H702318 times

  • מֵא֣וֹתhundred<s>

    meotH3967581 times

  • אִישׁ֒man

    ʾishH3761663 times

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH5595305 times

  • אֲלֵהֶ֗םto them

    ʾalehemH4135510 times

  • הַאֵלֵ֞ךְ¿ will I go

    haelekhH19801546 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H59215755 times

  • רָמֹ֥תRamoth

    ramotH741822 times

  • גִּלְעָ֛דGilead

    giladH1568134 times

  • לַמִּלְחָמָ֖הfor <the> battle

    lamilchamahH4421320 times

  • אִם־or?

    ʾim-H5181069 times

  • אֶחְדָּ֑לwill I refrain

    ʾechdalH230858 times

  • וַיֹּאמְר֣וּand they said

    vaiyomeruH5595305 times

  • עֲלֵ֔הgo up

    ʾalehH5927890 times

  • וְיִתֵּ֥ןso he may give [it]

    veyitenH54142011 times

  • אֲדֹנָ֖י[the] Lord

    ʾadonaiH136440 times

  • בְּיַ֥דin [the] hand of

    beyadH30271618 times

  • הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃the king

    hamelekhH44282525 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

    Revelation 19:20

    But the beast was captured along with the false prophet, who on its behalf had performed signs deceiving those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. Both the beast and…

    it leads to

    • Revelation 20:10

      And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, into which the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown. There they will be tormented day…

    • Revelation 21:8

      But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This…

    • Revelation 20:14–15

      Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire.

    • 2 Thessalonians 2:8–11

      And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival.

    • Daniel 7:7–14

      After this, as I watched in my vision in the night, suddenly a fourth beast appeared, and it was terrifying—dreadful and extremely strong—with large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed; then it trampled underfoot…

  • Through

    Ezekiel 13:22

    Because you have disheartened the righteous with your lies, even though I have caused them no grief, and because you have encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways to save their…

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 23:14

      And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness.…

  • Through

    1 Kings 18:19

    Now summon all Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel, along with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 16:33

      Then he set up an Asherah pole. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel before him.

    • Joshua 19:26

      Allammelech, Amad, and Mishal. On the west the border touched Carmel and Shihor-libnath,

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Kings

The Death of Ahab — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Death of Ahab — 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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.