And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people.

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.

and he saith unto him, 'Thus said Jehovah, Because thou hast sent away the man I devoted, out of thy hand, even thy life hath been for his life, and thy people for his people;'

And he said to him, These are the words of the Lord: Because you have let go from your hands the man whom I had put to the curse, your life will be taken for his life, and your people for his people.

And he said to him: "Thus says the Lord: Because you have released from your hand a man worthy of death, your life will take the place of his life, and your people will take the place of his people."

A man whom I appointed to utter destruction - or to חרם chērem, i. e., a man on whom My curse had been laid (Leviticus 27:28 note).

Thy life shall go for his life - This was fulfilled at the battle of Ramoth-gilead, where he was slain by the Syrians; see 1-Kings 22:34, 1-Kings 22:35.

And he said unto him, thus saith the Lord,.... He spake not his own sense, and in his own words, but in the name of the Lord, for which he had authority, that it might have the greater weight with Ahab:
because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction; meaning Benhadad; or "the man of my anathema or curse" (w); cursed of God for his blasphemy of him, and devoted by him to ruin on that account; or "of my net" (x), being by his providence brought into a net or noose at Aphek, out of which he could not have escaped, had not Ahab let him go:
therefore thy life shall go for his life; as it shortly did, and that by the hand of a Syrian soldier, 1-Kings 22:34,
and thy people for his people; which was fulfilled by Hazael king of Syria, the sins of Israel rendering them deserving of the calamities they endured by his means, see 2-Kings 8:12.
(w) "vir anathematis mei", Montanus, Piscator. (x) "Vir retis mei"; so some in Vatablus.

Thy life - What was the great sin of Ahab in this action, for which God so severely punisheth him? The great dishonour hereby done to God, in suffering so horrid a blasphemer, to go unpunished, which was contrary to an express law, Leviticus 24:16. And God had delivered him into Ahab's hand, for his blasphemy, as he promised to do, 1-Kings 20:28, by which act of his providence, compared with that law, it was most evident, that this man was appointed by God to destruction, but Ahab was so far from punishing this blasphemer, that he doth not so much as rebuke him, but dismisseth him upon easy terms, and takes not the least care for the reparation of God's honour, and the people were punished for their own sins, which were many, and great; though God took this occasion to inflict it.