Do this thing: take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their place.
Parallel translations
- KJV And do this thing, Take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their rooms:
- BSB So do this: Dismiss all the kings from their positions and replace them with other officers.
- NKJV So do this thing: Dismiss the kings, each from his position, and put captains in their places;
- NASB Carry out this plan: remove the kings, each from his place, and put governors in their place,
- NLT Only this time replace the kings with field commanders!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The advisers counsel replacing the allied kings with appointed commanders. They seek a more disciplined army for the rematch.
Overview
Among their strategies, the Syrian advisers urge removing the thirty-two allied kings, whose drunken leadership had failed, and substituting professional captains. The move aims to correct the disorder that marred the first campaign. Yet however shrewd their tactics, the narrative shows that no human strategy can prevail against the purpose of the Lord.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- 1 Kgs 22:31Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, saying, “Don’t fight with small nor great, except only with the king of Israel.”
- Prov 21:30There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against Yahweh.
- 1 Kgs 20:1Ben Hadad the king of Syria gathered all his army together; and there were thirty-two kings with him, with horses and chariots. He went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it.
- 1 Kgs 20:16They went out at noon. But Ben Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who helped him.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Solomon's glory, wisdom, and temple where God's presence dwells are a shadow of the greater Son of David — 'one greater than Solomon is here' — and of the true Temple, Christ himself.
How 1 Kings 20:24 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.