1st Kings Chapter 22 verse 38 Holy Bible
And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood (now the harlots washed themselves `there'); according unto the word of Jehovah which he spake.
read chapter 22 in ASV
And the war-carriage was washed by the pool of Samaria, which was the bathing-place of the loose women, and the dogs were drinking his blood there, as the Lord had said.
read chapter 22 in BBE
And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked his blood, where the harlots bathed: according to the word of Jehovah, which he had spoken.
read chapter 22 in DARBY
And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armor; according unto the word of the LORD which he spake.
read chapter 22 in KJV
And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armor; according to the word of the LORD which he spoke.
read chapter 22 in WBT
They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood (now the prostitutes washed themselves [there]); according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke.
read chapter 22 in WEB
and `one' rinseth the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs lick his blood -- when the armour they had washed -- according to the word of Jehovah that He spake.
read chapter 22 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 38. - And one washed the chariot in [or at; Heb. עַל] the pool of Samaria. [Nearly all Eastern cities had their tanks or pools, often outside the city gate. Jerusalem has several of these, and we read of one at Hebron (2 Samuel 14:12) and Gibeon (2 Samuel 2:13). Cf. Song of Solomon 7:4. The Hebrew word בְּרֵכָה is preserved in the modern Arabic Birkeh]; and the dogs [The LXX. has the swine and the dogs. The mention of swine is hardly likely to have been omitted, had it formed part of the original text] licked up his blood [cf. 1 Kings 21:19, note. According to Josephus, the chariot was washed "in the fountain of Jezreel." The alteration would appear to have been made to avoid the difficulty occasioned by the discrepancy between the statement of the text, and that of 1 Kings 21:19], and they washed his armour [So the Chaldaic and the Syriac. But this translation is now abandoned, (1) because it is contrary to the usage of the language to make זֹנות the object; and (2) because that word occurs in the Old Testament only in the sense of harlots (Bahr). The true meaning is that given by the LXX., καὶ αἱ πόρναι ἐλούσαντο. רָחַץdoes not require any object such as "chariot," or "corpse," for it is found in the sense of bathe (intrans.) in Exodus 2:5; Numbers 19:19; Ruth 3:3; 2 Kings 5:10. Bahr reminds us that harlots are elsewhere associated with dogs (Deuteronomy 23:19; Revelation 22:15). This fact is mentioned as a proof of the just judgment of God. Even if these harlots were not prostitutes devoted to the service of the Phoenician deities, whose cultus Ahab had sought to establish in Israel, still the result of his religious policy had been the spread of prostitution. It is a fine example of the lex tolionis. "He which is filthy, let him be filthy still"]; according unto the word of the Lord which he spake [the reference is to 1 Kings 21:19].
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(38) They washed his armour.--There seems little doubt that this is a mistranslation, and that the LXX. rendering (supported also by Josephus) is correct: "And the harlots bathed in it," that is, in the bloodstained pool, the usual public bathing-place of their shamelessness. The dog and the harlot are the animal and human types of uncleanness.According unto the word of the Lord.--The reference to the emphatic prophecy of Elijah is unmistakable, and the context fixes its fulfilment plainly as having taken place in Samaria. The difficulty is, of course, the notice in 2Kings 9:25, where the dead body of Jehoram is cast "in the portion of the field of Naboth," evidently at Jezreel; with quotation of the "burden of the Lord laid upon him," "I will requite thee in this plot, saith the Lord." The reconcilement is, with our knowledge, difficult, if not impossible. But the reference in the text is so much clearer, that it must outweigh the other. Naboth, in any case, is likely to have had land in his native place, which would be forfeited to the king; and there would still be an appropriate judgment in making it also the scene of the dishonoured death of the last king of Ahab's house. We may notice, moreover, that the quotation in 2 Kings 9 is not taken from Elijah's words against Ahab, nor does it contain the characteristic notice of the "dogs licking the blood;" though it is noticed as a fulfilment of the subsequent prophecy of chapter 21:24 against Ahab's house.
