1 Raja-raja 16:31

16:31 As if following in the sinful footsteps of Jeroboam son of Nebat were not bad enough, he married Jezebel the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians. Then he worshiped and bowed to Baal. ¹ 

1 Raja-raja 18:1-5

Elijah Meets the King’s Servant

18:1 Some time later, in the third year of the famine, the Lord told Elijah, ²  “Go, make an appearance before Ahab, so I may send rain on the surface of the ground.” 18:2 So Elijah went to make an appearance before Ahab.

Now the famine was severe in Samaria. ³  18:3 So Ahab summoned Obadiah, who supervised the palace. (Now Obadiah was a very loyal follower of the Lord. ⁴  18:4 When Jezebel was killing ⁵  the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah took one hundred prophets and hid them in two caves in two groups of fifty. He also brought them food and water.) 18:5 Ahab told Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grazing areas ⁶  so we can keep the horses and mules alive and not have to kill ⁷  some of the animals.”

1 Raja-raja 19:1-3

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, ⁸  “May the gods judge me severely ⁹  if by this time tomorrow I do not take your life as you did theirs!” ¹⁰ 

19:3 Elijah was afraid, ¹¹  so he got up and fled for his life to Beer Sheba in Judah. He left his servant there,

1 Raja-raja 21:5-24

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.’” ¹²  21:7 His wife Jezebel said to him, “You are the king of Israel! ¹³  Get up, eat some food, and have a good time. ¹⁴  I will get the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for you.”

21:8 She wrote out orders, ¹⁵  signed Ahab’s name to them, ¹⁶  and sealed them with his seal. She then sent the orders ¹⁷  to the leaders ¹⁸  and to the nobles who lived in Naboth’s city. ¹⁹  21:9 This is what she wrote: ²⁰  “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 the ²¹  city, the leaders ²²  and the nobles who lived there, ²³  followed the written orders Jezebel had sent them. ²⁴  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 him ²⁵  outside the city and stoned him to death. ²⁶  21:14 Then they reported to Jezebel, “Naboth has been stoned to death.” ²⁷ 

21:15 When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she ²⁸  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.” 21:16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, ²⁹  he got up and went down to take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

21:17 The Lord told Elijah the Tishbite: ³⁰  21:18 “Get up, go down and meet King Ahab of Israel who lives in Samaria. He is at the vineyard of Naboth; he has gone down there to take possession of it. 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, ³¹  “So, you have found me, my enemy!” Elijah ³²  replied, “I have found you, because you are committed ³³  to doing evil in the sight of ³⁴  the Lord. 21:21 The Lord says, ³⁵  ‘Look, I am ready to bring disaster ³⁶  on you. I will destroy you ³⁷  and cut off every last male belonging to Ahab in Israel, including even the weak and incapacitated. ³⁸  21:22 I will make your dynasty ³⁹  like those of Jeroboam son of Nebat and Baasha son of Ahijah because you angered me and made Israel sin.’ ⁴⁰  21:23 The Lord says this about Jezebel, ‘Dogs will devour Jezebel by the outer wall ⁴¹  of Jezreel.’ 21:24 As for Ahab’s family, dogs will eat the ones ⁴²  who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country.”

[16:31]  ¹ tn Heb “and he went and served Baal and bowed down to him.”

[16:31]  sn The Canaanites worshiped Baal as a storm and fertility god.

[18:1]  ² tn Heb “the word of the Lord came to Elijah.”

[18:2]  ³ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[18:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “now Obadiah greatly feared the Lord.” “Fear” refers here to obedience and allegiance, the products of healthy respect for the Lord’s authority.

[18:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “cutting off.”

[18:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “grass.”

[18:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “to cut off.”

[19:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “saying.”

[19:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “So may the gods do to me, and so may they add.”

[19:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I do not make your life like the life of one of them.”

[19:3]  ¹¹ tc The MT has “and he saw,” but some medieval Hebrew mss as well as several ancient versions support the reading “he was afraid.” The consonantal text (וַיַּרְא, vayyar’) is ambiguous and can be vocalized וַיַּרְא (from רָאָה, ra’ah, “to see”) or וַיִּרָא (vayyira’, from יָרֵא, yare’, “to fear”).

[21:6]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “You, now, you are exercising kingship over Israel.”

[21:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “so your heart [i.e., disposition] might be well.”

[21:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “scrolls.”

[21:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in the name of Ahab.”

[21:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “scrolls.”

[21:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “elders.”

[21:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to the nobles who were in his city, the ones who lived with Naboth.”

[21:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “she wrote on the scrolls, saying.”

[21:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “his.”

[21:11]  ²² tn Heb “elders.”

[21:11]  ²³ tn Heb “and the nobles who were living in his city.”

[21:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “did as Jezebel sent to them, just as was written in the scrolls which she sent to them.”

[21:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “led him.”

[21:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and they stoned him with stones and he died.”

[21:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Naboth was stoned and he died.” So also in v. 15.

[21:15]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Jezebel”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“she”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[21:16]  ²⁹ tc The Old Greek translation includes the following words here: “he tore his garments and put on sackcloth. After these things.”

[21:17]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite.”

[21:20]  ³¹ 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]  ³² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:20]  ³³ tn Heb “you have sold yourself.”

[21:20]  ³⁴ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[21:21]  ³⁵ tn The introductory formula “the Lord says” is omitted in the Hebrew text, but supplied in the translation for clarification.

[21:21]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ 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]  ³⁹ tn Heb “house.”

[21:22]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “because of the provocation by which you angered [me], and you caused Israel to sin.”

[21:23]  ⁴¹ 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]  ⁴² tn “Dogs will eat the ones who belonging to Ahab who die in the city.”