And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, thus saith the Lord,
hast thou killed, and also taken possession?
&c.] Killed in order to possess, and now taken possession upon the murder; some versions, as the Vulgate Latin and Arabic, read without an interrogation, "thou hast killed and hath taken possession", so Joseph Kimchi and Ben Melech; charging him with the murder of Naboth, and the unjust possession of his vineyard; the murder is ascribed to him, because his covetousness was the cause of it; and it was done by the contrivance of his wife; and it is highly probable Ahab knew more of it, and connived at it, and consented to it, than what is recorded, and however, by taking possession upon it, he abetted the fact:
and thou shalt speak unto him, saying, in the place where dogs licked
the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine;
which was fulfilled in his sons, who were his flesh and blood, ( 2 Kings 9:26 ) , for the punishment was respited in his days, and transferred to his sons, see ( 1 Kings 21:29 ) , though dogs did lick his blood, even his blood also, according to this prophecy, though not in the same place, see ( 1 Kings 22:38 ) , wherefore some take these words not to be expressive of the place where, but of the cause or reason for which this should be done, and read the words, "inasmuch", or "because dogs have licked" F8