1tnHeb “after these things.” The words “the following episode took place” are added for stylistic reasons.
2snKing Ahab of Samaria. Samaria, as the capital of the northern kingdom, here stands for the nation of Israel.
map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.
3tnHeb “if it is good in your eyes.”
4tc The Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And it will be mine as a garden of herbs.”
5tnHeb “Far be it from me, by the Lord, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you.”
6tnHeb “on account of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite spoke to him.”
7tnHeb “I will not give to you the inheritance of my fathers.”
8tnHeb “turned away his face.”
9tnHeb “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.
10tnHeb “You, now, you are exercising kingship over Israel.”
11tnHeb “so your heart [i.e., disposition] might be well.”
12tnHeb “scrolls.”
13tnHeb “in the name of Ahab.”
14tnHeb “scrolls.”
15tnHeb “elders.”
16tnHeb “to the nobles who were in his city, the ones who lived with Naboth.”
17tnHeb “she wrote on the scrolls, saying.”
18tnHeb “his.”
19tnHeb “elders.”
20tnHeb “and the nobles who were living in his city.”
21tnHeb “did as Jezebel sent to them, just as was written in the scrolls which she sent to them.”
22tnHeb “led him.”
23tnHeb “and they stoned him with stones and he died.”
24tnHeb “Naboth was stoned and he died.” So also in v. 15.
25tnHeb “Jezebel”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“she”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
26tc The Old Greek translation includes the following words here: “he tore his garments and put on sackcloth. After these things.”
27tnHeb “the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite.”
28tnHeb “and Ahab said to Elijah.” The narrative is elliptical and streamlined. The words “when Elijah arrived” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
29tnHeb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
30tnHeb “you have sold yourself.”
31tnHeb “in the eyes of.”
32tn The introductory formula “the Lord says” is omitted in the Hebrew text, but supplied in the translation for clarification.
33snDisaster. 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.
34tnHeb “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.
35tnHeb “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 v˙’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.
36tnHeb “house.”
37tnHeb “because of the provocation by which you angered [me], and you caused Israel to sin.”
38tc 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.
39tn “Dogs will eat the ones who belonging to Ahab who die in the city.”
40tnHeb “who sold himself.”
41tnHeb “in the eyes of.”
42tnHeb “like Ahab…whom his wife Jezebel incited.”
43tn The Hebrew word used here, גִלּוּלִים (gillulim) is always used as a disdainful reference to idols. It is generally thought to have originally referred to “dung pellets” (cf. KBL 183 s.v. גִלּוּלִים). It is only one of several terms used in this way, such as אֱלִילִים (’elilim, “worthless things”) and הֲבָלִים (havalim, “vanities” or “empty winds”).
44tnHeb “He acted very abominably by walking after the disgusting idols, according to all which the Amorites had done.”
45tnHeb “the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite.”
46tn Or “humbles himself.” The expression occurs a second time later in this verse.
47tnHeb “I will not bring the disaster during his days, [but] in the days of his son I will bring the disaster on his house.”