So Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near, next to my house; and for it I will give you a vineyard better than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near my house; and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money.”
- KJV And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money.
- BSB So Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard to use as a vegetable garden, since it is next to my palace. I will give you a better vineyard in its place—or if you prefer, I will give you its value in silver.”
- NASB And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is close beside my house, and I will give you a better vineyard in place of it; if you prefer, I will give you what it is worth in money.”
- NLT One day Ahab said to Naboth, “Since your vineyard is so convenient to my palace, I would like to buy it to use as a vegetable garden. I will give you a better vineyard in exchange, or if you prefer, I will pay you for it.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Ahab asks to buy or trade for Naboth's vineyard to use as a vegetable garden. His request, though framed as fair, presses against God's law of inheritance.
Overview
Ahab offers Naboth either a better vineyard or its value in money in exchange for the conveniently located plot. On the surface the proposal seems reasonable, yet it disregards the divine ordinance that tied each family permanently to its ancestral land. The episode begins to test whether earthly power will respect the boundaries the Lord established for His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- 1 Sam 8:14He will take your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, even their best, and give them to his servants.
- 1 Tim 6:9But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction.
- Jas 1:14–15But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
- Eccl 2:5I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit.
- Deut 11:10For the land, where you go in to possess it, isn’t as the land of Egypt, that you came out of, where you sowed your seed, and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs;
- 2 Kgs 9:27But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. Jehu followed after him, and said, “Strike him also in the chariot!” They struck him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo, and died there.
- 1 Sam 8:6But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” Samuel prayed to Yahweh.
- Gen 3:6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too.
- Jer 22:17But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”
- Exod 20:17“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
- Deut 5:21“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. Neither shall you desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
- Song 4:15a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, flowing streams from Lebanon.
- 1 Sam 29:6Then Achish called David, and said to him, “As Yahweh lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight; for I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords don’t favor you.
- Gen 16:6But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your hand. Do to her whatever is good in your eyes.” Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face.
- Hab 2:9–11Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!
- Luke 12:15He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”
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Christ at the center
Solomon's glory, wisdom, and temple where God's presence dwells are a shadow of the greater Son of David — 'one greater than Solomon is here' — and of the true Temple, Christ himself.
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Original language
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