Amplified Bible
1 Kings 20:18
18And he said, “Whether they have come out for peace or for war, take them alive.”
1 Kings 20:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And he said, Whether they be come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive.
- New International Version (NIV)He said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; if they have come out for war, take them alive.”
- English Standard Version (ESV)He said, "If they have come out for peace, take them alive. Or if they have come out for war, take them alive."
- New King James Version (NKJV)So he said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; and if they have come out for war, take them alive.”
Context of 1 Kings 20:18
16They went out at noon, while Ben-hadad was getting drunk in the temporary shelters, he and the thirty-two kings who were helping him. 17The young men of the governors of the districts went out first; and Ben-hadad sent men out and they told him, saying, “Men have come out of Samaria.” And he said, “Whether they have come out for peace or for war, take them alive.” 19So these young men of the governors of the districts went out of the city, and the army followed them. 20And each one killed his man; and the Arameans (Syrians) fled and Israel pursued them. Ben-hadad king of Aram escaped on a horse with horsemen.
Read all of 1 Kings 201 Kings 20:18 word by word
וַיֹּ֛אמֶר אִם־לְשָׁל֥וֹם יָצָ֖אוּ תִּפְשׂ֣וּם חַיִּ֑ים וְאִ֧ם לְמִלְחָמָ֛ה יָצָ֖אוּ חַיִּ֥ים תִּפְשֽׂוּם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for 1 Kings 20:18
- 2 Samuel 2:16Each one of them seized his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into his opponents side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim [that is, the Field of Sides], which is in Gibeon.
- Ecclesiastes 9:11I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the strong, and neither is bread to the wise nor riches to those of intelligence and understanding nor favor to men of ability; but time and chance overtake them all.
- Leviticus 26:8Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will put ten thousand to flight; your enemies will fall before you by the sword.
- Judges 7:20When three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow, and they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”
- 1 Samuel 14:13Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, his armor bearer following after him. The enemy fell before Jonathan [in combat], and his armor bearer killed some of them after him.
- 2 Kings 7:6For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots, and the sound of horses, the sound of a great army. They had said to one another, “The king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come [and fight] against us.”
- Psalms 33:16The king is not saved by the great size of his army; A warrior is not rescued by his great strength.
- Psalms 46:6The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered and were moved; He raised His voice, the earth melted.
- 1 Samuel 30:16When he brought David down, the Amalekites had disbanded and spread over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
- 2 Kings 19:36So Sennacherib king of Assyria left and returned home, and lived at Nineveh.
Commentaries on 1 Kings 20:18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18Take them alive - He was confident of victory. Do not slay them; bring them to me, they may give us some useful information.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 12-21Verses 12-21 The proud Syrians were beaten, and the despised Israelites were conquerors. The orders of the proud, drunken king disordered his troops, and prevented them from attacking the Israelites. Those that are most secure, are commonly least courageous. Ahab slew the Syrians with a great slaughter. God often makes one wicked man a scourge to another.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 13-34Two 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).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 13-2113-21. behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab--Though the king and people of Israel had highly offended Him, God had not utterly cast them off. He still cherished designs of mercy towards them, and here, though unasked, gave them a signal proof of His interest in them, by a prophet's animating announcement that the Lord would that day deliver the mighty hosts of the enemy into his hand by means of a small, feeble, inadequate band. Conformably to the…Read the comment
Topics related to 1 Kings 20:18
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 1 Kings 20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
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