What Does 1 Kings 21:15 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Jezebel treats Naboth’s death as if it turns his refusal into permission.
THE MEANING
Naboth refuses to give Ahab the vineyard, and Jezebel makes his death the opening for Ahab to take it. The refusal remains in the sentence even as she presents Naboth’s absence as a reason the vineyard can be seized. The same move remains legible now: a person’s absence can be treated as permission to take what that person refused to give.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief that death makes another person’s refusal irrelevant.
THE ROOT
רֵשׁ
resh from yarash
GROWS FROM
ירש
Possess, inherit, or dispossess.
“take possession” in this verse is resh from yarash. The root can describe inheriting a possession or dispossessing its holder. That range exposes the taking inside Jezebel’s order: Naboth is dead, and Ahab is told to claim what Naboth refused to give.
ALSO GROWS
yarash: Possess, inherit, or dispossess.
יָרַשׁ
The same root frames the vineyard as something Ahab takes after Naboth’s death.
yerushah: Inheritance or possession.
יְרֻשָּׁה
The inheritance language carries the question of how the property changes hands.
horish: Drive out or dispossess.
הוֹרִישׁ
This branch makes the removal beneath a new possession visible.
לָתֶת
latet
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, set, or place.
“give” in this verse is latet. The verse sets giving against taking: Naboth refuses to place the vineyard into Ahab’s hands, but Jezebel directs Ahab to possess it after Naboth is dead. The root keeps the refused transfer visible beneath the seizure.
ALSO GROWS
natan: Give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This is the root behind the verse’s statement that Naboth refused to give the vineyard.
mattanah: Gift, something given.
מַתָּנָה
A gift is something placed into another’s hands; this vineyard is explicitly not given.
THE PATTERN
When someone’s death is used to claim what they refused to give, the possession exposes the dispossession beneath it.
And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.THE THREAD
And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.The question repeats the root ירש (yarash), the same root behind Jezebel’s command to take possession. It puts Naboth’s killing beside the acquisition, exposing what her order leaves compressed: this possession follows the death.
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