1 Kings 21:2-4

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, ¹  I will pay you silver for it.” ²  21:3 But Naboth replied to Ahab, “The Lord forbid that I should sell you my ancestral inheritance.” ³ 

21:4 So Ahab went into his palace, bitter and angry that Naboth the Jezreelite had said, ⁴  “I will not sell to you my ancestral inheritance.” ⁵  He lay down on his bed, pouted, ⁶  and would not eat.

1 Kings 21:19-24

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, ⁷  “So, you have found me, my enemy!” Elijah ⁸  replied, “I have found you, because you are committed ⁹  to doing evil in the sight of ¹⁰  the Lord. 21:21 The Lord says, ¹¹  ‘Look, I am ready to bring disaster ¹²  on you. I will destroy you ¹³  and cut off every last male belonging to Ahab in Israel, including even the weak and incapacitated. ¹⁴  21:22 I will make your dynasty ¹⁵  like those of Jeroboam son of Nebat and Baasha son of Ahijah because you angered me and made Israel sin.’ ¹⁶  21:23 The Lord says this about Jezebel, ‘Dogs will devour Jezebel by the outer wall ¹⁷  of Jezreel.’ 21:24 As for Ahab’s family, dogs will eat the ones ¹⁸  who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country.”

[21:2]  ¹ tn Heb “if it is good in your eyes.”

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

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

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

[21:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will not give to you the inheritance of my fathers.”

[21:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “turned away his face.”

[21:20]  ⁷ 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.

[21:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “you have sold yourself.”

[21:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[21:21]  ¹¹ tn The introductory formula “the Lord says” is omitted in the Hebrew text, but supplied in the translation for clarification.

[21:21]  ¹² 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.

[21:21]  ¹³ 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.

[21:21]  ¹⁴ 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.

[21:22]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[21:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “because of the provocation by which you angered [me], and you caused Israel to sin.”

[21:23]  ¹⁷ tc A few Hebrew mss and some ancient versions agree with 2 Kgs 9:10, 36, which reads, “the plot [of ground] at Jezreel.” The Hebrew words translated “outer wall” (חֵל, khel, defectively written here!) and “plot [of ground]” (חֵלֶק, kheleq) are spelled similarly.

[21:24]  ¹⁸ tn “Dogs will eat the ones who belonging to Ahab who die in the city.”