Bible Strands
1 Kings 20:43
Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went home to Samaria.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the king of Israel departing immediately after a prophet pronounces a divine judgment for sparing a man devoted to destruction.
The words — סַר (sar) and זָעֵף (za'ef) denote a state of sullenness and furious resentment that accompanies his departure.
The thread — This pattern of royal sullen anger recurs in 1 Kings 21:4, 1 Kings 22:8, and Esther 5:13.
Why it lands — The text records the king’s immediate emotional response to a divine warning, requiring the reader to observe how unheeded correction produces hardened resentment rather than repentance.
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 went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 21:4 So Ahab went to his palace, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had told him, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He lay down on his bed, turned his face away, and refused to eat.
- 1 Kings 22:8 The king of Israel answered, “There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king should not say that!” Jehoshaphat replied.
- Esther 5:13 Yet none of this satisfies me as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”
- Esther 6:12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief.
- Job 5:2 For resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
- Proverbs 19:3 A man’s own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the LORD.