1 Kings 20:5

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) 1 Kings 20:5 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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1 Kings 20:5 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/1-kings/20/5.

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The messengers came again, and said, Thus speaks Ben Hadad, saying, I sent indeed to you, saying, You shall deliver me your silver, and your gold, and your wives, and your children;
World English Bible · Public Domain
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    The messengers came again, and said, Thus speaks Ben Hadad, saying, I sent indeed to you, saying, You shall deliver me your silver, and your gold, and your wives, and your children;
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Benhadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And the messengers returned and said, “Thus says Ben Hadad, saying, ‘Indeed I sent to you, saying, “Your silver and your gold and your wives and your sons, you shall give to me,”

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

3 of 4 selected

Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    The messengers came again, and said, Thus speaks Ben Hadad, saying, I sent indeed to you, saying, You shall deliver me your silver, and your gold, and your wives, and your children;
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    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.
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    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.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Benhadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Ben-hadad, saying, I sent indeed unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Ben-hadad, saying, I sent indeed unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    And when the messengers came againe, they said, Thus commandeth Ben-hadad, and saith, When I shall send vnto thee, and command, thou shalt deliuer me thy siluer and thy golde, and thy women, and thy children,
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    And the messengers came again, and said: Thus saith Benadad, who sent us unto thee: Thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children thou shalt deliver up to me.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    And the messengers turn back and say, `Thus spake Ben-Hadad, saying, Surely I sent unto thee, saying, Thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy sons, to me thou dost give;
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    And the messengers turn back and say, “Thus spoke Ben-Hadad, saying, Surely I sent to you, saying, Your silver, and your gold, and your wives, and your sons, you give to me;
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    The messengers came again and said, “Ben Hadad says this, 'I sent word to you saying that you must give me your silver, your gold, your wives, and your children.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And the messengers returned and said, “Thus says Ben Hadad, saying, ‘Indeed I sent to you, saying, “Your silver and your gold and your wives and your sons, you shall give to me,”
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaks Ben-Hadad saying: I sent to thee indeed, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    The messengers came again and said, “Ben Hadad says, ‘I sent indeed to you, saying, “You shall deliver me your silver, your gold, your wives, and your children;
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Ben-hadad, saying, Although I have sent to thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver to me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    The messengers returned and said, “This is what Ben-hadad says: I have sent you a message demanding you give me your silver, your gold, your wives, and your children.
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    Then the representatives came back again, and said, These are the words of Ben-hadad: I sent to you saying, Give up to me your silver and your gold, your wives and your children;
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    And the messengers came again, and said: 'Thus speaketh Ben-hadad, saying: I sent indeed unto thee, saying: Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

Word by word

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בֶּן
Ben-Hădad
H1130
“Ben-hadad”
Noun, Proper
Part of Speech
Noun
Type
Proper
Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H1121 and H1908

TWOT: None

Ben-hadad = "son of [the false god] Hadad" - the king of Syria, contemporary with Asa of Judah - the son of Hazael, also king of Syria
  1. וַיָּשֻׁ֨בוּ֙ shûwb H7725 “and · to return” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural
  2. הַמַּלְאָכִ֔ים mălʼâk H4397 “the · messengers” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute
  3. וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ ʼâmar H559 “and · to say” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural
  4. כֹּֽה kôh H3541 “thus” Adverb
  5. אָמַ֥ר ʼâmar H559 “to say” Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  6. הֲדַ֖ד Ben-Hădad H1130 “Ben-hadad” Noun, Proper
  7. לֵאמֹ֑ר ʼâmar H559 “to say” Preposition + Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct
  8. כִּֽי kîy H3588 “that” Conjunction
  9. שָׁלַ֤חְתִּי shâlach H7971 “to send” Verb, Qal, Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular
  10. אֵלֶ֨יךָ֙ ʼêl H413 “to · you” Preposition + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
  11. לֵאמֹ֔ר ʼâmar H559 “to say” Preposition + Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct
  12. כַּסְפְּךָ֧ keçeph H3701 “silver · your” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
  13. וּזְהָבְךָ֛ zâhâb H2091 “and · gold · your” Conjunction + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
  14. וְנָשֶׁ֥יךָ ʼishshâh H802 “and · women · your” Conjunction + Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
  15. וּבָנֶ֖יךָ bên H1121 “and · sons · your” Conjunction + Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
  16. תִתֵּֽן nâthan H5414 “to give” Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

18
words
13
distinct lemmas
Historical
section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

בֶּן Ben-hadad H1130 occurs in 24 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

  • 7 verbs
  • 7 nouns
  • 2 prepositions
  • 1 conjunction
  • 1 adverb

Verb forms

  • וַיָּשֻׁ֨בוּ֙ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
  • וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
  • אָמַ֥ר Qal · Perfect
  • לֵאמֹ֑ר Qal · Infinitive Construct
  • שָׁלַ֤חְתִּי Qal · Perfect
  • לֵאמֹ֔ר Qal · Infinitive Construct
  • תִתֵּֽן Qal · Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

  • וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ to say H559 ×4
  • בֶּן Ben-hadad H1130 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 32 words from the Hebrew and 25 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 18 Hebrew tokens and 23 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 1 Kings 20:5 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיָּשֻׁ֨בוּ֙ הַמַּלְאָכִ֔ים וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ כֹּֽה אָמַ֥ר בֶּן הֲדַ֖ד לֵאמֹ֑ר כִּֽי שָׁלַ֤חְתִּי אֵלֶ֨יךָ֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר כַּסְפְּךָ֧ וּזְהָבְךָ֛ וְנָשֶׁ֥יךָ וּבָנֶ֖יךָ לִ֥י תִתֵּֽן

The messengers came again, and said, Thus speaks Ben Hadad, saying, I sent indeed to you, saying, You shall deliver me your silver, and your gold, and your wives, and your children;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 1 Kings 20:5 Septuagint · lemma form

καί εἰςἔρχομαι ιεζαβελ ὁ γυνή αὐτός πρός αὐτός καί λαλέω πρός αὐτός τίς ὁ πνεῦμα σύ τεράσσω καί οὐ εἰμί σύ ἐσθίω ἄρτος

And Jezabel his wife went in to him, and spoke to him, saying, Why is your spirit troubled, and why do you eat no bread?

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

1

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

  1. Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)
    וְתָבוּ אִזְגַדַיָא וַאֲמַרוּ כִּדְנַן אֲמַר בַּר הֲדַד לְמֵימַר אֲרֵי שְׁלָחִית לְוָתָךְ לְמֵימַר כַּסְפָּךְ וְדַהֲבָךְ וּנְשָׁךְ וּבְנָךְ לִי תִתֵּן:

    (no public-domain English translation for this verse)

    Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on 1 Kings 20:5 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

1Ki 20:5 And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Benhadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;

Ver. 5. And the messengers came again] Ita fere fit, ut veterem fereudo iniuriam invites novam. Insolency is unreasonable: "the unjust knoweth no shame." {Zep 3:5}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

1Ki 20:5-6. Thus speaketh Ben-hadad, saying, &c. — Although I before demanded not only the dominion of thy treasures, and wives, and children, as thou mayest seem to understand me; but also the actual possession of them, wherewith I would then have been contented: yet now I will not accept of those terms, but, together with thy royal treasures, I expect all the treasures of thy servants or subjects; nor will I wait till thou deliver them to me; but I will send my servants into the city, and they shall search out and take away all thou art fond of, and this to prevent fraud and delay; and then I will grant thee a peace.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

5. Although I have sent unto thee] The R.V. translates I sent indeed unto thee, and begins the 6th verse with But instead of yet. This brings out the arrogancy of Ben-hadad more fully. It is as though he said ‘You submitted to my first demand, but in spite of that I am not satisfied.’ Now not only Ahab’s houses and treasures are threatened but those of all his subjects. Hence the summoning of a council to discuss the position.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And the messengers came again,.... From Benhadad:

and said, thus speaketh Benhadad, saying, although I have sent unto thee, saying: at the first message:

thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children; into his possession, and not as Ahab understood it, that he should be his vassal, and pay a yearly tribute for his quiet enjoyment of them; yet even this he would not now abide by, growing still more haughty upon the mean submission of Ahab, as by what follows.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Although I did before demand not only the dominion of thy treasures, and wives, and children, as thou mayest seem to understand me, but also the propriety and actual possession of them, wherewith I would then have been contented;

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

5. The messengers came again — Either Ahab has misunderstood the meaning of his former message, or else the king of Syria is emboldened by the pusillanimity of Ahab to make a stronger demand.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Ben-hadad, saying, Although Heb. yKi. According to some of the grammarians, this is merely the Hebrew equivalent of the oti recitantis. But the yKi of the next verse suggests that there must be a connexion between the two, and that the second emphasizes the first, much as in the A.V I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children Our translators have often sacrificed force to elegance by disregarding the order of the Hebrew, which here, e.g., is Thy silver and thy gold to me thou shalt give them."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Saying, &c. - Although I did before demand not only the dominion of thy treasures, and wives, and children, as thou mayst seem to understand me, but also the actual portion of them; wherewith I would then have been contented.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

When I have sent to you, etc., you must give [them] to me. I know that you will give them to me, but I am decreeing upon you something else.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

1 Kings, in the Historical, opens this verse with 18 words (13 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Ben-Hădad (“Ben-hadad”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. The word Ben-Hădad carries the sense “Ben-hadad.” How does it shape the verse?
  2. 1 Kings 15:18 shares the word «Ben-hadad» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
  3. “to say” occurs 4× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
  4. These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
  5. The verb «וַיָּשֻׁ֨בוּ֙» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
  6. Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

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Old Testament
Old Testament edition

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English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

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