1 Kings 22:28
"Hearken, O people, every one of you"
Micaiah's last words in the Hebrew, "Hearken, O people, every one of you," are the opening words of the book of Micah (Micah 1:2). The library's Greek lacks them. Many scholars think a scribe added them, identifying Micaiah son of Imlah with the later prophet Micah of Moresheth.
Disputed addition: some witnesses include it, some do not
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ includes the disputed words · ✕ does not include them · ❝ quotes part of them · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Every witness, in order
Book of Micah, 8th c. BC prophet
Micah 1:2 (Masoretic Text)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
שִׁמְעוּ עַמִּים כֻּלָּם
Hear, peoples, all of them
The same words open Micah's prophecy.
Unknown (debated)
Original Kings
No original survives.
Translated c. 2nd century BC
Septuagint, 3 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
Si tu reviens en paix, le Seigneur n'a point parlé par ma bouche.
If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by my mouth.
Ends without the call to the peoples. One Greek text (Vaticanus type) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.
c. AD 400
Jerome's Vulgate
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
Et ait: Audite, populi omnes.
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
וַיֹּאמֶר שִׁמְעוּ עַמִּים כֻּלָּם
And he said, Hear, peoples, all of them
Identical to Micah 1:2.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you.
What changed, and why
The words fit Micah's book naturally and Micaiah's situation less well. Whether a scribe added them to Kings, or the editor of Micah drew on Kings, is debated; the site does not presume a direction.
What the evidence shows
- The library's Greek lacks 22:28b.
- 22:28b was added to link Micaiah with Micah.
Sources
- USCCB, notes on 1 Kings 22 (divine council, chronology) ↗
- E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)
Related lessons
- Micaiah and the Heavenly Council →Ahab and Jehoshaphat of Judah plan to retake Ramoth-gilead. Four hundred prophets promise victory; Zedekiah makes iron horns. Jehoshaphat asks for another prophet: Micaiah son of Imlah, whom Ahab hates. Micaiah first mocks, then tells a vision: God on His throne with the host of heaven, asking who will entice Ahab; a spirit offers to be a lying spirit in the prophets' mouths. Micaiah is struck and imprisoned.
- How 1 Kings Came to Us →1 Kings is the first half of the Hebrew book of Kings, one of the Former Prophets. It names its sources: the Book of the Acts of Solomon and the chronicles of the kings of Israel and Judah, none of which survive. Kings was edited as part of a history from Joshua to Kings. Three Qumran scrolls preserve fragments. The Greek 3 Kingdoms is unusually different: material moved, expanded and, in places, told twice.