21:1 After this the following episode took place. 1 Naboth the Jezreelite owned a vineyard in Jezreel adjacent to the palace of King Ahab of Samaria. 2 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, 3 I will pay you silver for it.” 4 21:3 But Naboth replied to Ahab, “The Lord forbid that I should sell you my ancestral inheritance.” 5
21:4 So Ahab went into his palace, bitter and angry that Naboth the Jezreelite had said, 6 “I will not sell to you my ancestral inheritance.” 7 He lay down on his bed, pouted, 8 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?”
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.
3 tn Heb “if it is good in your eyes.”
4 tc The Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And it will be mine as a garden of herbs.”
5 tn Heb “Far be it from me, by the
6 tn Heb “on account of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite spoke to him.”
7 tn Heb “I will not give to you the inheritance of my fathers.”
8 tn Heb “turned away his face.”