3 Kings 20:42
And he said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man worthy of death, thy life shall be for his life, and thy people for his people.
Open 3 Kings 20:42 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Qui ait ad eum : Hæc dicit Dominus : Quia dimisisti virum dignum morte de manu tua, erit anima tua pro anima ejus, et populus tuus pro populo ejus.
- Septuagint (Swete) shown from 3 Kings 21:42
- καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν Τάδε λέγει Κύριος Διότι ἐξήνεγκας σὺ ἄνδρα ὀλέθριον ἐκ χειρός σου, καὶ ἔσται ἡ ψυχή σου ἀντὶ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὁ λαός σου ἀντὶ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֵלָ֗יו כֹּ֚ה אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֔ה יַ֛עַן שִׁלַּ֥חְתָּ אֶת אִישׁ חֶרְמִ֖י מִיָּ֑ד וְהָיְתָ֤ה נַפְשְׁךָ֙ תַּ֣חַת נַפְשׁ֔וֹ וְעַמְּךָ֖ תַּ֥חַת עַמּֽוֹ
Haydock's commentary
Worthy. Hebrew, "of my anathema;" or, "the man who has fallen into my snares." (Vatable) Cherem is taken in this sense, Micheas vii. 2., &c. He was my prey, and you ought not to have disposed of him without my leave. (Calmet)
People. This was verified (chap. xxii.; Menochius) within three years. (Salien)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Theodoret Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus, To Bishop Romulus
You have reminded me of the ancient story, and remarked how the King of the Syrians, bethinking him of the loving kindness of the kings of Israel, assumed the form of a suppliant and failed not to obtain his petition. Remember therefore, sir, the divine wrath. God delivered Ahab to utter destruction for using mercy, and delivered his sentence through the mouth of the prophet, saying “Thy life shall go for his life and thy people for his people.” We are thus commanded to temper mercy with justice, since not every kind of mercy is pleasing to the God of all. The present state of affairs specially requires prudent council; for we are contending on behalf of the divine doctrines, wherein we have the hope of our salvation. But herein, too, may be seen the great difference between man and man. …
St John Cassian The Conferences of John Cassian. Part III. Containing Conferences XVIII.-XXIV, Chapter XVII. How the weaker part of the soul is the first to yield to the devil's temptations
You should then apply to this member or part of the soul which we have described as particularly wounded, the remedy of true humility: for as, so far as appears, it is weaker than the other powers of the soul in you, it is sure to be the first to yield to the assaults of the devil. As when some injuries come upon us, which are caused either by toil laid upon us or by a bad atmosphere, it is generally the case in the bodies of men that those which are the weaker are the first to give in and yield to those chances, and when the disease has more particularly laid hold of them, it affects the sound parts of the body also with the same mischief, so also, when the pestilent blast of sin breathes over us the soul of each one of us is sure to be tempted above all by that passion, in the case of which its feebler and weaker portion does not make so stubborn a resistance to the powerful attacks of …