Bible Strands
1 Kings 21:7
But his wife Jezebel said to him, “Do you not reign over Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful, for I will get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jezebel addresses her husband Ahab immediately after he complains that Naboth refused to sell or trade his vineyard. She intervenes at the precise moment Ahab retreats to sullenly eat and sulk.
The words — The Hebrew תַּעֲשֶ֥ה (ta.'a.Seh) paired with מְלוּכָ֖ה (me.lu.Khah) literally renders “are you doing? kingship,” directly challenging his passive posture against his royal authority.
The thread — This pattern of royal entitlement and land seizure runs parallel to the prophetic warning in 1 Samuel 8:14 about kings taking the best fields and vineyards for their servants.
Why it lands — The text records a ruler’s spouse offering to bypass legal boundaries to secure a neighbor’s property for the crown. It requires the reader to identify where institutional power is weaponized to override personal rights.
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 Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 8:4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.
- 1 Samuel 8:14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his servants.
- 2 Samuel 13:4 and he asked Amnon, “Why are you, the son of the king, so depressed morning after morning? Won’t you tell me?” Amnon replied, “I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”
- 1 Kings 21:15 When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, who refused to give it to you for silver. For Naboth is no longer alive, but dead.”
- Proverbs 30:31 a strutting rooster; a he-goat; and a king with his army around him.
- Ecclesiastes 4:1 Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.
- Ecclesiastes 8:4 For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
- Daniel 5:19 Because of the greatness that He bestowed on him, the people of every nation and language trembled in fear before him. He killed whom he wished and kept alive whom he wished; he exalted whom he wished and humbled whom he wished.
- Micah 2:1 Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.
- Micah 7:3 Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.