Text -- 1 Kings 21:1-21 (NET)

Ahab Murders Naboth

21:1 After this the following episode took place. Naboth the Jezreelite owned a vineyard in Jezreel adjacent to the palace of King Ahab of Samaria. 21:2 Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard so I can make a vegetable garden out of it, for it is adjacent to my palace. I will give you an even better vineyard in its place, or if you prefer, I will pay you silver for it.” 21:3 But Naboth replied to Ahab, “The Lord forbid that I should sell you my ancestral inheritance.” 21:4 So Ahab went into his palace, bitter and angry that Naboth the Jezreelite had said, “I will not sell to you my ancestral inheritance.” He lay down on his bed, pouted, and would not eat. 21:5 Then his wife Jezebel came in and said to him, “Why do you have a bitter attitude and refuse to eat?” 21:6 He answered her, “While I was talking to Naboth the Jezreelite, I said to him, ‘Sell me your vineyard for silver, or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ But he said, ‘I will not sell you my vineyard.’” 21:7 His wife Jezebel said to him, “You are the king of Israel! Get up, eat some food, and have a good time. I will get the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for you.” 21:8 She wrote out orders, signed Ahab’s name to them, and sealed them with his seal. She then sent the orders to the leaders and to the nobles who lived in Naboth’s city. 21:9 This is what she wrote: “Observe a time of fasting and seat Naboth in front of the people. 21:10 Also seat two villains opposite him and have them testify, ‘You cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.” 21:11 The men of the city, the leaders and the nobles who lived there, followed the written orders Jezebel had sent them. 21:12 They observed a time of fasting and put Naboth in front of the people. 21:13 The two villains arrived and sat opposite him. Then the villains testified against Naboth right before the people, saying, “Naboth cursed God and the king.” So they dragged him outside the city and stoned him to death. 21:14 Then they reported to Jezebel, “Naboth has been stoned to death.” 21:15 When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up, take possession of the vineyard Naboth the Jezreelite refused to sell you for silver, for Naboth is no longer alive; he’s dead.” 21:16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. 21:17 The Lord told Elijah the Tishbite: 21:18 “Get up, go down and meet King Ahab of Israel who lives in Samaria. He is at the vineyard of Naboth; he has gone down there to take possession of it. 21:19 Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Haven’t you committed murder and taken possession of the property of the deceased?”’ Then say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “In the spot where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood they will also lick up your blood– yes, yours!”’” 21:20 When Elijah arrived, Ahab said to him, “So, you have found me, my enemy!” Elijah replied, “I have found you, because you are committed to doing evil in the sight of the Lord. 21:21 The Lord says, ‘Look, I am ready to bring disaster on you. I will destroy you and cut off every last male belonging to Ahab in Israel, including even the weak and incapacitated.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Ki 21:1

¹ tn Heb “after these things.” The words “the following episode took place” are added for stylistic reasons.

² sn King Ahab of Samaria. Samaria, as the capital of the northern kingdom, here stands for the nation of Israel.

map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

NET Notes: 1Ki 21:2

¹ tn Heb “if it is good in your eyes.”

² tc The Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And it will be mine as a garden of herbs.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 21:3

¹ tn Heb “Far be it from me, by the Lord, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 21:4

¹ tn Heb “on account of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite spoke to him.”

² tn Heb “I will not give to you the inheritance of my fathers.”

³ tn Heb “turned away his face.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 21:6

¹ tn Heb “While I was talking…, I said…, he said….” Ahab’s explanation is one lengthy sentence in the Hebrew text, which is divided in the English translation for stylistic reasons.

NET Notes: 1Ki 21:7

¹ tn Heb “You, now, you are exercising kingship over Israel.”

² tn Heb “so your heart [i.e., disposition] might be well.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 21:8

¹ tn Heb “scrolls.”

² tn Heb “in the name of Ahab.”

³ tn Heb “scrolls.”

⁴ tn Heb “elders.”

⁵ tn Heb “to the nobles who were in his city, the ones who lived with Naboth.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 21:9

¹ tn Heb “she wrote on the scrolls, saying.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 21:11

¹ tn Heb “his.”

² tn Heb “elders.”

³ tn Heb “and the nobles who were living in his city.”

⁴ tn Heb “did as Jezebel sent to them, just as was written in the scrolls which she sent to them.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 21:13

¹ tn Heb “led him.”

² tn Heb “and they stoned him with stones and he died.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 21:14

¹ tn Heb “Naboth was stoned and he died.” So also in v. 15.

NET Notes: 1Ki 21:15

¹ tn Heb “Jezebel”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“she”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

NET Notes: 1Ki 21:16

¹ tc The Old Greek translation includes the following words here: “he tore his garments and put on sackcloth. After these things.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 21:17

¹ tn Heb “the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 21:20

¹ tn Heb “and Ahab said to Elijah.” The narrative is elliptical and streamlined. The words “when Elijah arrived” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “you have sold yourself.”

⁴ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 21:21

¹ tn The introductory formula “the Lord says” is omitted in the Hebrew text, but supplied in the translation for clarification.

² sn Disaster. There is a wordplay in the Hebrew text. The word translated “disaster” (רָעָה, ra’ah) is similar to the word translated “evil” (v. 20, הָרַע, hara’). Ahab’s sins would receive an appropriate punishment.

³ tn Heb “I will burn after you.” Some take the verb בָּעַר (ba’ar) to mean here “sweep away.” See the discussion of this verb in the notes at 14:10 and 16:3.

⁴ tn Heb “and I will cut off from Ahab those who urinate against a wall, [including both those who are] restrained and let free [or “abandoned”] in Israel.” The precise meaning of the idiomatic phrase עָצוּר וְעָזוּב (’atsur vÿ’azuv, translated here “weak and incapacitated”) is uncertain. For various options see HALOT 871 s.v. עצר and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 107. The two terms are usually taken as polar opposites (“slaves and freemen” or “minors and adults”), but Cogan and Tadmor, on the basis of contextual considerations (note the usage with אֶפֶס (’efes), “nothing but”) in Deut 32:36 and 2 Kgs 14:26, argue convincingly that the terms are synonyms, meaning “restrained and abandoned,” and refer to incapable or incapacitated individuals.