Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together: The text of this verse follows verse 19 in using the two verbs, sent and gathered, but as in the previous case, it may be possible to translate them by a single verb in the receptor language (so Good News Translation). Translators may also supply a noun such as “messengers” after the verb sent (so Nouvelle Bible Segond).

The prophets in this context seems to include both the prophets of Baal and the prophets of Asherah. But the following verses mention only the prophets of Baal, which may explain why Good News Translation says only “the prophets of Baal” in this verse. In order to explain why the following verses mention only the prophets of Baal, some scholars have suggested that “prophets of Asherah” is a later addition to the text in verse 19. But the Masoretic Text of verse 19 should be translated as it stands. It will be better here in verse 20 to say “the prophets” rather than limiting it to the prophets of Baal as in Good News Translation.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .