1 Kings 20:32

Read in context

1 Kings 20:30–34 · Berean Standard Bible

30 The rest of them fled into the city of Aphek, where the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the remaining men. Ben-hadad also fled to the city and hid in an inner room.

31 Then the servants of Ben-hadad said to him, “Look now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful. Let us go out to the king of Israel with sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads. Perhaps he will spare your life.”

32 So with sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads, they went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please spare my life.’” And the king answered, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”

33 Now the men were looking for a sign of hope, and they quickly grasped at this word and replied, “Yes, your brother Ben-hadad.” “Go and get him!” said the king. Then Ben-hadad came out, and Ahab had him come up into his chariot.

34 Ben-hadad said to him, “I will restore the cities my father took from your father; you may set up your own marketplaces in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” “By this treaty I release you,” Ahab replied. So he made a treaty with him and sent him away.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Study 1 Kings 20:32

Read the commentary on 1 Kings 20

Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

1 Kings 20:3

saying, “This is what Ben-hadad says: ‘Your silver and gold are mine, and your best wives and children are mine!’”

1 Kings 20:4

And the king of Israel replied, “Just as you say, my lord the king: I am yours, along with all that I have.”

1 Kings 20:5

The messengers came back and said, “This is what Ben-hadad says: ‘I have sent to you to demand your silver, your gold, your wives, and your children.

1 Kings 20:6

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.’”

Job 12:17

He leads counselors away barefoot and makes fools of judges.

Job 12:18

He loosens the bonds placed by kings and fastens a belt around their waists.

Job 40:11

Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low.

Job 40:12

Look on every proud man and humble him; trample the wicked where they stand.

Isaiah 2:11

The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

Isaiah 2:12

For the Day of the LORD of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted— it will be humbled—

Isaiah 10:12

So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes.

Daniel 5:20

But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit was hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him.

Daniel 5:21

He was driven away from mankind, and his mind was like that of a beast. He lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he acknowledged that the Most High God rules over the kingdom of mankind, setting over it whom He wishes.

Daniel 5:22

But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this.

Daniel 5:23

Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.

Obadiah 1:3

The pride of your heart has deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks whose habitation is the heights, who say in your heart, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’

Obadiah 1:4

Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.

1 Kings 20:42

And the prophet said to the king, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Because you have let slip from your hand the man I had devoted to destruction, your life will be exchanged for his life, and your people for his people.’”

1 Samuel 15:8

He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, but devoted all the others to destruction with the sword.

1 Samuel 15:9

Saul and his troops spared Agag, along with the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, and the best of everything else. They were unwilling to destroy them, but they devoted to destruction all that was despised and worthless.

1 Samuel 15:10

Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,

1 Samuel 15:11

“I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions.” And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all that night.

1 Samuel 15:12

Early in the morning Samuel got up to confront Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel, and behold, he has set up a monument for himself and has turned and gone down to Gilgal.”

1 Samuel 15:13

When Samuel reached him, Saul said to him, “May the LORD bless you. I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.”

1 Samuel 15:14

But Samuel replied, “Then what is this bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle that I hear?”

1 Samuel 15:15

Saul answered, “The troops brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but the rest we devoted to destruction.”

1 Samuel 15:16

“Stop!” exclaimed Samuel. “Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” “Tell me,” Saul replied.

1 Samuel 15:17

And Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, have you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel

1 Samuel 15:18

and sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and devote to destruction the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have wiped them out.’

1 Samuel 15:19

So why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you rush upon the plunder and do evil in the sight of the LORD?”

1 Samuel 15:20

“But I did obey the LORD,” Saul replied. “I went on the mission that the LORD gave me. I brought back Agag king of Amalek and devoted the Amalekites to destruction.