A cry went throughout the army about the going down of the sun, saying, “Every man to his city, and every man to his country!”
Parallel translations
- KJV And there went a proclamation throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his own country.
- BSB As the sun was setting, the cry rang out in the army: “Every man to his own city, and every man to his own land!”
- NKJV Then, as the sun was going down, a shout went throughout the army, saying, “Every man to his city, and every man to his own country!”
- NASB Then the word passed throughout the army close to sunset, saying, “Every man to his city, and every man to his country!”
- NLT Just as the sun was setting, the cry ran through his troops: “We’re done for! Run for your lives!”
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
At sunset the cry goes out for every soldier to return home, signaling Israel's defeat with the king's death.
Overview
With Ahab dead, the army disperses, fulfilling Micaiah's vision of Israel scattered like sheep without a shepherd. The collapse confirms that the campaign undertaken against God's word ends in failure. The verse closes the battle with the proof that God's prophecy stood true.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 2 Kgs 14:12Judah was defeated by Israel; and each man fled to his tent.
- 1 Sam 4:10The Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter; for thirty thousand footmen of Israel fell.
- 1 Kgs 12:16When all Israel saw that the king didn’t listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion have we in David? We don’t have an inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel! Now see to your own house, David.” So Israel departed to their tents.
- 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.”
- Judg 21:24The children of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they each went out from there to his own inheritance.
- Judg 7:7–8Yahweh said to Gideon, “By the three hundred men who lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, each to his own place.”
- 2 Sam 19:8Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. They told to all the people, saying, “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate.” All the people came before the king. Now Israel had fled every man to his tent.
- 1 Kgs 12:24‘Yahweh says, “You shall not go up or fight against your brothers, the children of Israel. Everyone return to his house; for this thing is from me.”’” So they listened to Yahweh’s word, and returned and went their way, according to Yahweh’s word.
- 1 Kgs 22:17He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. Yahweh said, ‘These have no master. Let them each return to his house in peace.’”
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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 22:36 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
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