1 Kings 21:7-15

21:7 His wife Jezebel said to him, “You are the king of Israel!¹ Get up, eat some food, and have a good time.² I will get the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for you.”

21:8 She wrote out orders,³ signed Ahab’s name to them,⁴ and sealed them with his seal. She then sent the orders⁵ to the leaders⁶ and to the nobles who lived in Naboth’s city.⁷ 21:9 This is what she wrote:⁸ “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 the⁹ city, the leaders¹⁰ and the nobles who lived there,¹¹ followed the written orders Jezebel had sent them.¹² 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 him¹³ outside the city and stoned him to death.¹⁴ 21:14 Then they reported to Jezebel, “Naboth has been stoned to death.”¹⁵

21:15 When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she¹⁶ 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.”

1 Kings 21:23-25

21:23 The Lord says this about Jezebel, ‘Dogs will devour Jezebel by the outer wall¹⁷ of Jezreel.’ 21:24 As for Ahab’s family, dogs will eat the ones¹⁸ who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country.” 21:25 (There had never been anyone like Ahab, who was firmly committed¹⁹ to doing evil in the sight of²⁰ the Lord, urged on by his wife Jezebel.²¹

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

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

³tn Heb “scrolls.”

⁴tn Heb “in the name of Ahab.”

⁵tn Heb “scrolls.”

⁶tn Heb “elders.”

⁷tn Heb “to the nobles who were in his city, the ones who lived with Naboth.”

⁸tn Heb “she wrote on the scrolls, saying.”

⁹tn Heb “his.”

¹⁰tn Heb “elders.”

¹¹tn Heb “and the nobles who were living in his city.”

¹²tn Heb “did as Jezebel sent to them, just as was written in the scrolls which she sent to them.”

¹³tn Heb “led him.”

¹⁴tn Heb “and they stoned him with stones and he died.”

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

¹⁶tn Heb “Jezebel”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“she”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁷tc 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.

¹⁸tn “Dogs will eat the ones who belonging to Ahab who die in the city.”

¹⁹tn Heb “who sold himself.”

²⁰tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

²¹tn Heb “like Ahab…whom his wife Jezebel incited.”