Bible Strands
1 Kings 20:4
And the king of Israel replied, “Just as you say, my lord the king: I am yours, along with all that I have.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The king of Israel answers Ben-hadad’s envoys immediately after the Syrian ruler demands all silver, gold, wives, and children (1 Kings 20:3–5). He verbally yields himself and his possessions to the invading monarch.
The words — כִּדְבָרְךָ (ki'dvar'kha) means “according to your word,” and אֲדֹנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ (adoni ha-melekh) translates to “O lord my king.” These phrases structure the king’s explicit concession to the foreign commander’s demands.
The thread — This posture of forced submission mirrors the covenant warnings of national defeat and exile into enemy territory (Leviticus 26:36; Deuteronomy 28:48). The narrative also aligns with scenes of desperate negotiation under military threat, such as Judges 15:11.
Why it lands — The text records a political surrender without endorsing it as a model of faith. It forces the reader to confront the reality of yielding sovereignty to hostile powers and the immediate consequences of that concession.
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 the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 26:36 As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
- Deuteronomy 28:48 you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.
- Judges 15:11 In response, three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Do you not realize that the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?” “I have done to them what they did to me,” he replied.
- 1 Samuel 13:6 Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns.
- 2 Kings 18:14 So Hezekiah king of Judah sent word to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand from me.” And the king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.