1st Kings Chapter 20 verse 3 Holy Bible
Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine.
read chapter 20 in ASV
And they said to him, Ben-hadad says, Your silver and your gold are mine; and your wives and children are mine.
read chapter 20 in BBE
Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, the goodliest, are mine.
read chapter 20 in DARBY
Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine.
read chapter 20 in KJV
Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the most comely, are mine.
read chapter 20 in WBT
Your silver and your gold is mine; your wives also and your children, even the best, are mine.
read chapter 20 in WEB
and saith to him, `Thus said Ben-Hadad, `Thy silver and thy gold are mine, and thy wives and thy sons -- the best -- are mine.'
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 3. - Thy silver and thy gold is mine [Heb. mine it is]; thy wives also and thy children [Nothing reveals Ben-hadad's object more clearly than the mention of Ahab's wives. When we consider how jealously the seraglio of an Eastern prince is guarded, and how the surrender of the harem is a virtual surrender of the throne (2 Samuel 16:21, 22; note on 1 Kings 2:22), and certainly a surrender of all manhood and self-respect, we see that his aim was to wound Ahab in his tenderest point, to humble him to the lowest depths of degradation, and possibly to force a quarrel upon him], even the goodliest [The LXX. omits this. Bahr says the word can only apply to the sons, and that it must mean the most eminent young men of the city - not Ahab's children - whom Ben-hadad demanded as hostages. But against this is (1) Ahab's answer, "All that I have," etc.; (2) the fact that Ben-hadad obviously meant insult and plunder; and (3) the language of ver. 7, where see note], are mine. [Heb. mine are they. Rawlinson would explain this excessive demand of the Syrian king by the assumption that when it was made the siege had already lasted a long time, and that the people were now reduced to the greatest straits, circumstances which the historian, with the characteristic brevity of the sacred writers, omits to mention. But really no such supposition is needed. The overwhelming force which Ben-hadad had at his back would, in his eyes, justify any demands. And the prima facie view of ver. 2 is that the messengers were sent on the first approach of the army, or rather at the beginning of the siege.]
