1 Kings 20:27

The Israeli army was also gathered together, and they were equipped with the things that they needed for the battle. Then they marched out and formed two groups facing the Syrian army. Their army was very small; they resembled two small flocks of goats, whereas the Syrian army was very large and spread all over the countryside.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present, and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country.

In Context

26In the spring of the following year, he gathered his soldiers and marched with them to Aphek city east of Galilee Lake, to fight against the Israeli army.

28A prophet came to King Ahab and said to him, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘The Syrians say that I am a god who lives in the hills, and that I am not a god who lives in the valleys. So I will show that they are wrong by enabling your men to defeat this huge army [IDM] in the valley, and you will know that I, Yahweh, have done it.’”

Read all of 1 Kings 20

Cross References

Joshua 1:11“Go throughout the camp and tell the people this: ‘Prepare all the food that you will take with you, because the day after tomorrow you will cross this Jordan River, in order to possess the land that Yahweh, our God, is about to give you.’”

Judges 7:8So Gideon’s 300 men collected the food and rams’ horns from all the other men, and then he sent them home. The men of Midian were camping in the valley below Gideon.

1 Samuel 13:5The Philistines gathered together and were given equipment to fight the Israelis. The Philistines had 3,000 chariots, and 6,000 chariot-drivers. Their soldiers seemed to be as many as grains of sand on the seashore [HYP]. They went up and set up their tents at Micmash, to the east of Beth-Aven ( which means ‘house of wickedness’, and really referred to Bethel town).

2 Kings 3:6So King Joram left Samaria and gathered together all his soldiers.

Ecclesiastes 9:11I have seen something else here on the earth: The person who runs fastest does not always win the race, the strongest soldiers do not always win the battle, the wisest people do not always have food, the smartest people do not always become rich, and people who have studied a lot are not always ◄honored/treated very specially► by others; we cannot always control what things will happen to us and where they will happen.

Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 20:23-31

Ahab's Folly Reproved. ( b. c. 900.) 22 And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee. 23 And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. 24 And do this thing, Take the kings away, every man out of his… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study 1 Kings 20:27