1 Kings 20:37

20:37 He found another man and said, “Wound me!” So the man wounded him severely. ¹ 

1 Kings 20:35

A Prophet Denounces Ahab’s Actions

20:35 One of the members of the prophetic guild, speaking with divine authority, ordered his companion, “Wound me!” ²  But the man refused to wound him.

1 Kings 20:39

20:39 When the king passed by, he called out to the king, “Your servant went out into the heat ³  of the battle, and then a man turned aside and brought me a prisoner. ⁴  He told me, ‘Guard this prisoner. If he ends up missing for any reason, ⁵  you will pay with your life or with a talent ⁶  of silver.’ ⁷ 

¹ tn Heb “and the man wounded him, wounding and bruising.”

² tn Heb “Now a man from the sons of the prophets said to his companion by the word of the Lord, ‘Wound me.’”

³ tn Heb “middle.”

⁴ tn Heb “man” (also a second time later in this verse).

⁵ tn Heb “if being missed, he is missed.” The emphatic infinitive absolute before the finite verbal form lends solemnity to the warning.

⁶ tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 75 pounds of silver.

⁷ tn Heb “your life will be in place of his life, or a unit of silver you will pay.”