Bible Strands
1 Kings 21:13
And the two scoundrels came in and sat opposite Naboth, and these men testified against him before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Two hired men enter and sit opposite Naboth during a proclaimed fast to deliver false charges before the assembled crowd. They then remove him from the city to execute him by stoning.
The words — בְּנֵי־בְלִיַּעַל (benei-beliyya‘al), literally “sons of worthlessness,” identifies the accusers. וַיְעִדוּהוּ (va-y‘îdûhû), “and they testified against him,” describes the legal fabrication presented to the people.
The thread — This false testimony echoes the prohibition in Exodus 20:16 against bearing false witness, while the execution of a blasphemer parallels Leviticus 24:11. The bloodshed is later cited as grounds for divine judgment in 2 Kings 9:26.
Why it lands — The text records a calculated legal murder, requiring the reader to recognize how institutional power can be weaponized against the innocent. It demands accountability for those who pervert justice to seize property.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 9:26 ‘As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, declares the LORD, so will I repay you on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.’ Now then, according to the word of the LORD, pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground.”
- Exodus 20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- Leviticus 24:11 The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse. So they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.)
- Numbers 15:35 And the LORD said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death. The whole congregation is to stone him outside the camp.”
- Deuteronomy 5:20 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- Deuteronomy 13:10 Stone him to death for trying to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Deuteronomy 19:16 If a false witness testifies against someone, accusing him of a crime,
- Deuteronomy 21:21 Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. So you must purge the evil from among you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.
- Deuteronomy 22:21 she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house, and there the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father’s house. So you must purge the evil from among you.
- Deuteronomy 22:24 you must take both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you must purge the evil from among you.