1 Kings 21:3-13

3 Naboth told Ahab, "The LORD has forbidden me to give you what I inherited from my ancestors."
4 Resentful and upset, Ahab went home because of what Naboth from Jezreel had told him. ([Naboth had said,] "I will not give you what I inherited from my ancestors.") So Ahab lay on the couch, turned his face [from everyone], and refused to eat.
5 His wife Jezebel came to him and asked, "Why are you so resentful of everything? Why don't you eat?"
6 He told her, "I talked to Naboth from Jezreel. I said to him, 'Sell me your vineyard. Or, if you like, I'll give you another vineyard for it.' But he said, 'I won't give you my vineyard.'"
7 His wife Jezebel said to him, "Aren't you king of Israel? Get up, eat, and cheer up. I'll give you the vineyard belonging to Naboth from Jezreel."
8 So Jezebel wrote letters, signed them with Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal. She sent them to the respected leaders and nobles living in Naboth's city.
9 In these letters she wrote: "Announce a fast. Seat Naboth as leader of the people.
10 Have two good-for-nothing men sit opposite him and accuse him of cursing God and the king. Then stone him to death outside the city."
11 The men in Naboth's city--the respected leaders and nobles who lived there--did what Jezebel asked them to do. They did just as she had written in the letters she sent.
12 They announced a fast and had Naboth seated as the leader of the people.
13 The two good-for-nothing men came in and sat opposite him. In front of the people, these men accused Naboth of cursing God and the king. So the people stoned him to death outside the city.

1 Kings 21:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 21

In this chapter we have an account of Ahab's design to have Naboth's vineyard, for which he offered him another, or the value of that, but Naboth refusing to part with it, Ahab fell sick, 1Ki 21:1-4, the reason of which being found out by Jezebel, she devised means to get Naboth put to death under the colour of justice for blasphemy, 1Ki 21:5-14, and then bid Ahab go and take possession of the vineyard, where he was met by Elijah, who denounced the judgments of God upon him, and Jezebel, and all his family, for his injustice, 1Ki 21:15-26, but he humbling himself, the evil threatened was deferred to the days of his son, 1Ki 21:27-29.

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