1 Kings 20:32

Translations

Modern

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.”

Traditional

So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy servant Ben–hadad saith, I pray thee, let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? he is my brother.

Literal

And they wore sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads, and they came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please let my soul live.’” And he said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”

Latin

Accinxerunt saccis lumbos suos, et posuerunt funiculos in capitibus suis, veneruntque ad regem Israël, et dixerunt ei: Servus tuus Benadad dicit: Vivat, oro te, anima mea. Et ille ait: Si adhuc vivit, frater meus est.

Original

Hebrew

English

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.”

Notes

1 Kings 20:32–33

my brother: Ahab spoke to Ben-hadad in a polite way, showing respect for the Aramean king's authority and Ahab's wish for good relations. Ahab invited Ben-hadad into his chariot to warmly welcome him and to show that he should see Ahab as his equal. In the ancient Near East, kings spoke to each other as brothers to express friendship, good relations, or formal equality.

1 Kings 20:13–34

Two separate battles took place, one in Samaria (1 Kings 20:13–25) and another at Aphek (1 Kings 20:26–34). The writer shared similar details for both:

advice before the battle (1 Kings 20:13–14, 23–25),
conditions before the battle (1 Kings 20:15–16, 26–28),
Israel's victory despite being outnumbered (1 Kings 20:17–21, 29–30), and
advice after the battle (1 Kings 20:22, 31).

Theme notes and profiles

Ahab Arameans Jezebel

Related verses

1 Kings 20:3–6
…saying, “This is what Ben-hadad says: ‘Your silver and gold are mine, and your best wives and children are mine!’”
Job 40:11–12
Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low.
Job 12:17–18
He leads counselors away barefoot and makes fools of judges.
Isaiah 2:11–12
The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
1 Kings 20:31
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.”
Daniel 5:20–23
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.
1 Samuel 15:8–20
He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, but devoted all the others to destruction with the sword.
Obadiah 1:3–4
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?’
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.
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.’”

People

Ben-hadad: King of Aram, contemporary of Asa and Baasha Israel: Patriarch, son of Isaac, father of twelve tribes

Glossary

Ahab (King) Gilead (Place) Kings, Books of First and Second Samaria

Topics

Cord: Symbolical Uses of Token in Mourning Diplomacy: Ambassadors from Ben-Hadad to Ahab Kindness: Ahab to Ben-Hadad Magnanimity: Ahab to Benhadad Rope: Worn on the Head As an Emblem of Servitude Sackcloth: A Symbol of Mourning Servants: The Term often Used to Express Humility Syria: The Israelites: Craftily Drawn Into a League With

1 Kings 20:32

Translations?

Original?

Notes?

Related verses?