What Does 1 Kings 21:25 Mean in the King James?
But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
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 incites Ahab, yet the verse says Ahab sells himself: outside pressure and self-surrender occupy the same sentence.
THE MEANING
This verse names a live pattern: a person can hand themselves over to harm while another person’s pressure stirs the choice. The influence is real, and so is the person’s participation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the claim that being pressured means a person has no part in what they yield themselves to; the verse names both Jezebel’s incitement and Ahab’s self-sale.
THE ROOT
הִתְמַכֵּר
hitmakker
GROWS FROM
מכר
To sell or transfer into another’s possession.
“sold himself” in this verse is hitmakker. The verb is reflexive: he sells himself. The root’s ordinary language of sale gives the phrase the shape of a transaction, making Ahab’s self-surrender part of the verse’s image even as it names Jezebel’s incitement.
ALSO GROWS
makhar: To sell.
מָכַר
The basic verb makes the sale image explicit: the person is not merely near evil but is handed over to it by his own act.
mimkar: A sale; something sold.
מִמְכָּר
This noun carries the same root into the thing transferred, deepening the image of a self given over.
הֵסִיתָה
hēsîtāh
GROWS FROM
סות
To incite or entice someone toward an action.
“stirred up” in this verse is hēsîtāh. The verb describes active incitement, not a neutral presence. Beside Ahab’s self-sale, it holds two forces in view at once: Jezebel stirs him, and he gives himself over.
ALSO GROWS
hēsît: To incite or entice.
הֵסִית
This verbal form shows the force of the action attributed to Jezebel: urging someone toward a course.
mēsît: One who incites; an instigator.
מֵסִית
The related noun names the person who exerts that pressure, clarifying the role the verse assigns to Jezebel.
THE PATTERN
Influence can press in from outside while a person’s yielding still shapes what governs them.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?THE THREAD
Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.Isaiah uses the same Hebrew root for “sold yourselves,” making the sale image a direct lexical echo. It opens Ahab’s self-sale as a picture of being handed over through wrongdoing, while the verse still names the force of Jezebel’s incitement.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us