1 Kings 21:1-9

Ahab Murders Naboth

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?” 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.’” ⁹  21:7 His wife Jezebel said to him, “You are the king of Israel! ¹⁰  Get up, eat some food, and have a good time. ¹¹  I will get the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for you.”

21:8 She wrote out orders, ¹²  signed Ahab’s name to them, ¹³  and sealed them with his seal. She then sent the orders ¹⁴  to the leaders ¹⁵  and to the nobles who lived in Naboth’s city. ¹⁶  21:9 This is what she wrote: ¹⁷  “Observe a time of fasting and seat Naboth in front of the people.

[21:1]  ¹ tn Heb “after these things.” The words “the following episode took place” are added for stylistic reasons.

[21:1]  ² sn King Ahab of Samaria. Samaria, as the capital of the northern kingdom, here stands for the nation of Israel.

[21:2]  ³ tn Heb “if it is good in your eyes.”

[21:2]  ⁴ tc The Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And it will be mine as a garden of herbs.”

[21:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “Far be it from me, by the Lord, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you.”

[21:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “on account of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite spoke to him.”

[21:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will not give to you the inheritance of my fathers.”

[21:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “turned away his face.”

[21:6]  ⁹ 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.

[21:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “You, now, you are exercising kingship over Israel.”

[21:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “so your heart [i.e., disposition] might be well.”

[21:8]  ¹² tn Heb “scrolls.”

[21:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “in the name of Ahab.”

[21:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “scrolls.”

[21:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “elders.”

[21:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to the nobles who were in his city, the ones who lived with Naboth.”

[21:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “she wrote on the scrolls, saying.”