1 Kings 1:2
Context1:2 His servants advised 1 him, “A young virgin must be found for our master, the king, 2 to take care of the king’s needs 3 and serve as his nurse. She can also sleep with you 4 and keep our master, the king, warm.” 5
1 Kings 18:13
Context18:13 Certainly my master is aware of what I did 6 when Jezebel was killing the Lord’s prophets. I hid one hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves in two groups of fifty and I brought them food and water.
1 Kings 20:9
Context20:9 So he said to the messengers of Ben Hadad, “Say this to my master, the king, ‘I will give you everything you demanded at first from your servant, but I am unable to agree to this latest demand.’” 7 So the messengers went back and gave their report.


[1:2] 2 tn Heb “let them seek for my master, the king, a young girl, a virgin.” The third person plural subject of the verb is indefinite (see GKC 460 §144.f). The appositional expression, “a young girl, a virgin,” is idiomatic; the second term specifically defines the more general first term (see IBHS 230 §12.3b).
[1:2] 3 tn Heb “and she will stand before the king.” The Hebrew phrase “stand before” can mean “to attend; to serve” (BDB 764 s.v. עָמַד).
[1:2] 4 tn Heb “and she will lie down in your bosom.” The expression might imply sexual intimacy (see 2 Sam 12:3 [where the lamb symbolizes Bathsheba] and Mic 7:5), though v. 4b indicates that David did not actually have sex with the young woman.
[1:2] 5 tn Heb “and my master, the king, will be warm.”
[18:13] 6 tn Heb “Has it not been told to my master what I did…?” The rhetorical question expects an answer, “Of course it has!”
[20:9] 11 tn Heb “all which you sent to your servant in the beginning I will do, but this thing I am unable to do.”