1 Kings 1:23
1:23 The king was told, “Nathan the prophet is here.” Nathan entered and bowed before the king with his face to the floor. 1
1 Kings 8:22
Solomon Prays for Israel
8:22 Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward the sky. 2
1 Kings 14:9
14:9 You have sinned more than all who came before you. You went and angered me by making other gods, formed out of metal; you have completely disregarded me. 3
1 Kings 14:24
14:24 There were also male cultic prostitutes 4 in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations 5 that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites.
1 Kings 15:3
15:3 He followed all the sinful practices of his father before him. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his ancestor David had been. 6
1 Kings 16:33
16:33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole; he 7 did more to anger the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
1 Kings 18:15
18:15 But Elijah said, “As certainly as the Lord who rules over all 8 lives (whom I serve), 9 I will make an appearance before him today.”
1 Kings 21:26
21:26 He was so wicked he worshiped the disgusting idols, 10 just like the Amorites 11 whom the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites.)
1 Kings 22:21
22:21 Then a spirit 12 stepped forward and stood before the Lord. He said, ‘I will deceive him.’ The Lord asked him, ‘How?’
1 tn Heb “ground.” Since this was indoors, “floor” is more appropriate than “ground.”
2 tn Or “heaven.”
3 tn Heb “you went and you made for yourself other gods, metal [ones], angering me, and you threw me behind your back.”
4 tc The Old Greek translation has “a conspiracy” rather than “male cultic prostitutes.”
5 tn Heb “they did according to all the abominable acts of the nations.”
6 tn Heb “his heart was not complete with the Lord his God, like the heart of David his father.”
7 tn Heb “Ahab”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
8 tn Traditionally, “the Lord of Hosts.”
9 tn Heb “(before whom I stand).”
10 tn The Hebrew word used here, גִלּוּלִים (gillulim) is always used as a disdainful reference to idols. It is generally thought to have originally referred to “dung pellets” (cf. KBL 183 s.v. גִלּוּלִים). It is only one of several terms used in this way, such as אֱלִילִים (’elilim, “worthless things”) and הֲבָלִים (havalim, “vanities” or “empty winds”).
11 tn Heb “He acted very abominably by walking after the disgusting idols, according to all which the Amorites had done.”
12 tn Heb “the spirit.” The significance of the article prefixed to רוּחַ (ruakh) is uncertain, but it could contain a clue as to this spirit’s identity, especially when interpreted in light of v. 24. It is certainly possible, and probably even likely, that the article is used in a generic or dramatic sense and should be translated, “a spirit.” In the latter case it would show that this spirit was vivid and definite in the mind of Micaiah the storyteller. However, if one insists that the article indicates a well-known or universally known spirit, the following context provides a likely referent. Verse 24 tells how Zedekiah slapped Micaiah in the face and then asked sarcastically, “Which way did the spirit from the Lord (רוּחַ־יְהוָה, [ruakh-Yahweh], Heb “the spirit of the Lord”) go when he went from me to speak to you?” When the phrase “the spirit of the Lord” refers to the divine spirit (rather than the divine breath or mind, Isa 40:7, 13) elsewhere, the spirit energizes an individual or group for special tasks or moves one to prophesy. This raises the possibility that the deceiving spirit of vv. 20-23 is the same as the divine spirit mentioned by Zedekiah in v. 24. This would explain why the article is used on רוּחַ; he can be called “the spirit” because he is the well-known spirit who energizes the prophets.