Bible Strands
1 Kings 22:27
and tell them that this is what the king says: ‘Put this man in prison and feed him only bread and water until I return safely.’”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The king of Israel commands his officials to deliver a direct order to Amon and Joash regarding the prophet Micaiah. He issues this directive immediately after Micaiah publicly predicts the king’s death in battle.
The words — The order hinges on שִׂ֥ימוּ (Si.mu), meaning “put” or “lay,” combined with בֵּ֣ית (beit), meaning “house,” to specify confinement. The opening phrase כֹּ֚ה אָמַ֣ר הַ/מֶּ֔לֶךְ (koh 'a.mar ha./Me.lekh) literally renders “thus says the king.”
The thread — Rulers confining prophets recurs in 2 Chronicles 16:10 when Asa imprisons a seer, while 2 Chronicles 18:25 records the parallel command to deliver Micaiah. The New Testament later mirrors state-imposed confinement in Revelation 2:10 as a mechanism of testing.
Why it lands — The text records a political command to restrict a prophet’s movement and sustenance until the king’s survival is confirmed. It demands the reader observe how earthly authority attempts to control divine speech through detention and deprivation.
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 say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 16:10 Asa was angry with the seer and became so enraged over this matter that he put the man in prison. And at the same time Asa oppressed some of the people.
- 2 Chronicles 18:25 And the king of Israel declared, “Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son,
- Revelation 2:10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
- Deuteronomy 16:3 You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.
- Psalms 80:5 You fed them with the bread of tears and made them drink the full measure of their tears.
- Psalms 102:9 For I have eaten ashes like bread and mixed my drink with tears
- Psalms 127:2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat—for He gives sleep to His beloved.
- Isaiah 30:20 The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself—with your own eyes you will see Him.
- Jeremiah 20:2 he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.
- Jeremiah 29:26 ‘The LORD has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada, to be the chief officer in the house of the LORD, responsible for any madman who acts like a prophet—you must put him in stocks and neck irons.