What Does 1 Kings 21:6 Mean in the King James?
And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard.
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
A replacement can change the price, but it cannot give Ahab the authority to give Naboth’s vineyard away.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a balanced-sounding offer beside a refusal that remains complete. Money or a substitute vineyard does not create consent in the person being asked. The reader can hear how an offer may seem fair by the asker’s measure while the other person’s answer still stands.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A fair price or equivalent replacement makes refusal unreasonable.
THE ROOT
תְּנָה
tenah
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
give, set, place
The root נתן appears in Ahab’s request that Naboth give the vineyard, Ahab’s offer to give a replacement, and Naboth’s refusal to give his vineyard. Its sense of setting or placing opens the dispute further: it concerns who can determine where this inherited ground belongs, not only what price it might fetch.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: gift
מַתָּנָה
This noun grows from the same root and names what is received; an offered gift or exchange still differs from a transfer the owner refuses.
nethinim: given ones; temple servants
נְתִינִים
The name uses the same root for people assigned to a place of service, echoing the question of who has authority to place something in another’s hands.
THE PATTERN
A transfer is truthful only when it respects who holds authority over what is given and whether the giving is willing.
The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.THE THREAD
And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.The same root נתן appears in Naboth’s refusal, but this verse names what his vineyard carries: his fathers’ inheritance. That makes clear why a replacement parcel cannot simply answer the request.
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