Bible Strands
1 Kings 20:9
So Ahab answered the messengers of Ben-hadad, “Tell my lord the king, ‘All that you demanded of your servant the first time I will do, but this thing I cannot do.’” So the messengers departed and relayed the message to Ben-hadad.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Ahab addresses the messengers of Ben-hadad immediately after the elders and people of Israel advised him to reject the king’s terms (1 Kings 20:8). He delivers a conditional reply before the envoys depart to report back to their sovereign.
The words — The text foregrounds כֹּל (kol, “all”) and אִמְר֞וּ ('imru, “say”) to mark Ahab’s measured response to the royal couriers (1 Kings 20:9). These lexical anchors frame his attempt to honor prior concessions while explicitly refusing the present demand.
The thread — The pattern of military ultimatums and diplomatic negotiation continues in 1 Kings 20:10 when Ben-hadad sends a second message threatening to reduce Samaria to dust. This sequence of demands and refusals structures the immediate political conflict in the narrative.
Why it lands — The passage records a ruler’s attempt to manage an overwhelming threat through conditional compliance. It requires a reader to observe how diplomatic language functions when military power is already decisive.
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
Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Ben–hadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again.