1 Kings 20:34

And Benhadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
said	וַיֹּ֣אמֶר vai.Yo.mer	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
cities	הֶעָרִ֣ים he.'a.Rim	H5892	a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
father	אָבִי֩ 'a.Vi	H1	father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
took	לָֽקַח la.kach-	H3947	to take (in the widest variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
father	אָבִ֜יךָ 'a.Vi.kha	H1	father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
restore	אָשִׁ֗יב 'a.Shiv	H7725	to turn back (hence · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

1 Kings 15:20 So Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of the hosts which he had against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan,…
1 Kings 20:42 And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore t…
Isaiah 26:10 Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not beho…
1 Kings 22:31 But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, sav…
2 Chronicles 16:4 And Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and A…
2 Chronicles 18:30 Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of the chariots that were with him, saying, Fight ye not with small or great, save only wit…
Isaiah 8:12 Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 20:31–end

Here is an account of what followed upon the victory which Israel obtained over the Syrians. I. Ben-hadad's tame and mean submission. Even in his inner chamber he feared, and would, if he could, flee further, though none pursued. His servants, seeing him and themselves reduced to the last extremity, advised that they should surrender at discretion, and make themselves prisoners and petitioners to Ahab for their lives, Kg1 20:31. The servants will put their lives in their hands, and venture first, and their master will act according as they speed. Their inducement to take this course is the great reputation the kings of Israel had for clemency above any of their neighbours: "We have heard tha…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Kings 20:34

streets for thee in Damascus--implying that a quarter of that city was to be assigned to Jews, with the free exercise of their religion and laws, under a judge of their own. This misplaced kindness to a proud and impious idolater, so unbecoming a theocratic monarch, exposed Ahab to the same censure and fate as Saul (Sa1 15:9, &c.). It was in opposition to God's purpose in giving him the victory.

Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 20:34

Thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus - It appears that it was customary for foreigners to have a place assigned to them, particularly in maritime towns, where they might deposit and vend their merchandise. This was the very origin of European settlements in Asiatic countries: "The people gave an inch to those strangers; and in consequence they took an ell." Under the pretense of strengthening the place where they kept their wares, to prevent depredations, they built forts, and soon gave laws to their entertainers. In vain did the natives wish them away; they had got power, and would retain it; and at last subjected these countries to their own dominion. It was customary also, in the…

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John Gill on 1 Kings 20:34

The Church Fathers

For no one can doubt that when the judgment of our heart goes wrong, and is overwhelmed by the night of ignorance, our thoughts and deeds, which are the result of deliberation and discretion, must be involved in the darkness of still greater sins. Lastly, the man who in the judgment of God was the first to be worthy of the kingdom of His people Israel, because he was lacking in this "eye" of discretion, was, as if his whole body were full of darkness, actually cast down from the kingdom while, being deceived by the darkness of this "light," and in error, he imagined that his own offerings were more acceptable to God than obedience to the command of Samuel, and met with an occasion of falling in that very matter in which he had hoped to propitiate the Divine Majesty. And ignorance, I say, of this discretion led Ahab the king of Israel after a triumph and splendid victory which had been granted to him by the favour of God to fancy that mercy on his part was better than the stern execution of the divine command, and, as it seemed to him, a cruel rule: and moved by this consideration, while he desired to temper a bloody victory with mercy, he was on account of his indiscriminating clemency rendered full of darkness in his whole body, and condemned irreversibly to death.
— John Cassian, CONFERENCE 2.2-3

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Ahab — Father’s brother. (1.) The son of Omri, whom he succeeded as the seventh king of Israel. His history is recorded in 1 Kings 16-22. His wife was Jezebel (q.v.), who exercised a very evil influence…
Damascus · General references — General references
Diplomacy · .Ambassadors from Ben-hadad to Ahab — .Ambassadors from Ben-hadad to Ahab
Kindness · .Ahab to Ben-hadad — .Ahab to Ben-hadad
Magnanimity · .Ahab to Benhadad — .Ahab to Benhadad
Omri · .Surren — .Surren
Self-Delusion · .Ahab — .Ahab
Syria · The Israelites: Craftily drawn into a league with — The Israelites: Craftily drawn into a league with
Treaty · Ceding of the territory by — Ceding of the territory by

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

1 Kings 20:34

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 20:31–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Kings 20:34

Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 20:34

John Gill on 1 Kings 20:34

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Kings 20:34

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 20:31–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Kings 20:34

Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 20:34

John Gill on 1 Kings 20:34

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Kings 20:34

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Kings 20:34

Rashi on 1 Kings 20:34