1 Kings 19:1-2

Elijah Runs for His Life

19:1 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, including a detailed account of how he killed all the prophets with the sword. 19:2 Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with this warning, ¹  “May the gods judge me severely ²  if by this time tomorrow I do not take your life as you did theirs!” ³ 

1 Kings 19:2

19:2 Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with this warning, ⁴  “May the gods judge me severely ⁵  if by this time tomorrow I do not take your life as you did theirs!” ⁶ 

1 Kings 9:22

9:22 Solomon did not assign Israelites to these work crews; ⁷  the Israelites served as his soldiers, attendants, officers, charioteers, and commanders of his chariot forces. ⁸ 

Revelation 2:20

2:20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that ⁹  woman ¹⁰  Jezebel, ¹¹  who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives ¹²  my servants ¹³  to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. ¹⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “saying.”

² tn Heb “So may the gods do to me, and so may they add.”

³ tn Heb “I do not make your life like the life of one of them.”

⁴ tn Heb “saying.”

⁵ tn Heb “So may the gods do to me, and so may they add.”

⁶ tn Heb “I do not make your life like the life of one of them.”

⁷ sn These work crews. The work crews referred to here must be different than the temporary crews described in 5:13-16.

⁸ tn Heb “officers of his chariots and his horses.”

⁹ tn The Greek article has been translated here with demonstrative force.

¹⁰ tc The ms evidence for γυναῖκα (gunaika, “woman”) alone includes {א C P 1611 2053 pc lat}. The ms evidence for the addition of “your” (σου, sou) includes A 1006 2351 Ï^K pc sy. With the pronoun, the text reads “your wife, Jezebel” instead of “that woman, Jezebel.” In Revelation, A C are the most important mss, along with א Ì⁴⁷ (which only reads in portions of chapters 9-17) 1006 1611 2053; in this instance, the external evidence slightly favors the shorter reading. But internally, it gains strength. The longer reading implies the idea that the angel in 2:18 is the bishop or leader of the church in Thyatira. The pronoun “your” (σου) is used four times in vv. 19-20 and may have been the cause for the scribe copying it again. Further, once the monarchical episcopate was in vogue (beginning in the 2nd century) scribes might have been prone to add “your” here.

¹¹ sn Jezebel was the name of King Ahab’s idolatrous and wicked queen in 1 Kgs 16:31; 18:1-5; 19:1-3; 21:5-24. It is probable that the individual named here was analogous to her prototype in idolatry and immoral behavior, since those are the items singled out for mention.

¹² tn Grk “teaches and deceives” (διδάσκει καὶ πλανᾷ, didaskei kai plana), a construction in which the first verb appears to specify the means by which the second is accomplished: “by her teaching, deceives…”

¹³ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

¹⁴ sn To commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. Note the conclusions of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:29, which specifically prohibits Gentile Christians from engaging in these activities.