Bible Strands
1 Kings 20:1
Now Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he marched up, besieged Samaria, and waged war against it.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Ben-hadad king of Aram mobilizes his forces to besiege Samaria, an action that immediately precedes his sending of messengers to Ahab king of Israel (1 Kings 20:2).
The words — The Hebrew verb קָבַץ (qāḇēṣ) records the deliberate gathering of Ben-hadad’s כָּל־חֵיל (kol-ḥêl, "entire army"), establishing the operational scale of the campaign.
The thread — The narrative of the Aramean king and his allied forces recurs in 1 Kings 22:31, where Aram’s chariot commanders are explicitly ordered to focus only on the king of Israel.
Why it lands — The verse records a concrete historical mobilization that requires the reader to track the political and military dynamics of the divided monarchy without importing later theological commentary.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Ben–hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 15:18 So Asa withdrew all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the royal palace. He entrusted it to his servants and sent them with this message to Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, the king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus:
- 1 Kings 15:20 And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, conquering Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and the whole land of Naphtali, including the region of Chinnereth.
- 1 Kings 22:31 Now the king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.”
- Genesis 14:1 In those days Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim
- Exodus 14:7 He took 600 of the best chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.
- Leviticus 26:25 And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
- Deuteronomy 20:1 When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you.
- Deuteronomy 28:52 They will besiege all the cities throughout your land, until the high and fortified walls in which you trust have fallen. They will besiege all your cities throughout the land that the LORD your God has given you.
- Judges 1:7 Then Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have gathered the scraps under my table. As I have done to them, so God has repaid me.” And they brought him to Jerusalem, where he died.
- Judges 4:3 Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.