מלכים א 21:2

Hebrew Modern Translation

וידבר אחאב אל נבות לאמר תנה לי את כרמך ויהי לי לגן ירק כי הוא קרוב אצל ביתי ואתנה לך תחתיו כרם טוב ממנו אם טוב בעיניך אתנה לך כסף מחיר זה׃

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Aleppo Codex
וידבר אחאב אל נבות לאמר תנה לי את כרמך ויהי לי לגן ירק כי הוא קרוב אצל ביתי ואתנה לך תחתיו כרם טוב ממנו אם טוב בעיניך אתנה לך כסף מחיר זה

Biblia Hebrica Stuttgartensia (1967/77)
וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר אַחְאָ֣ב אֶל־נָבֹ֣ות ׀ לֵאמֹר֩ ׀ תְּנָה־לִּ֨י אֶֽת־כַּרְמְךָ֜ וִֽיהִי־לִ֣י לְגַן־יָרָ֗ק כִּ֣י ה֤וּא קָרוֹב֙ אֵ֣צֶל בֵּיתִ֔י וְאֶתְּנָ֤ה לְךָ֙ תַּחְתָּ֔יו כֶּ֖רֶם טֹ֣וב מִמֶּ֑נּוּ אִ֚ם טֹ֣וב בְּעֵינֶ֔יךָ אֶתְּנָה־לְךָ֥ כֶ֖סֶף מְחִ֥יר זֶֽה ׃

Westminster Leningrad Codex
וַיְדַבֵּר אַחְאָב אֶל־נָבוֹת ׀ לֵאמֹר ׀ תְּנָה־לִּי אֶֽת־כַּרְמְךָ וִֽיהִי־לִי לְגַן־יָרָק כִּי הוּא קָרוֹב אֵצֶל בֵּיתִי וְאֶתְּנָה לְךָ תַּחְתָּיו כֶּרֶם טוֹב מִמֶּנּוּ אִם טוֹב בְּעֵינֶיךָ אֶתְּנָה־לְךָ כֶסֶף מְחִיר זֶֽה ׃

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Give me: The request of Ahab, at first view, appears fair and honourable. But, as he most evidentially wished Naboth to alienate it finally, which was expressly forbidden and provided against in the law of God - Leviticus 25:14-28, it was high iniquity in Ahab to tempt him to do it, and to covet it showed the depravity of his soul. Genesis 3:6, Exodus 20:17, Deuteronomy 5:21, 1 Samuel 8:14, Jeremiah 22:17, Habakkuk 2:9-11, Luke 12:15, 1 Timothy 6:9, James 1:14, James 1:15

a garden of herbs: 2 Kings 9:27, Deuteronomy 11:10, Ecclesiastes 2:5, Song of Solomon 4:15

seem good to thee: Heb. be good in thine eyes, Genesis 16:6, 1 Samuel 8:6, 1 Samuel 29:6

Reciprocal: Genesis 41:37 - good Joshua 7:21 - I coveted 1 Kings 21:6 - Because 1 Chronicles 21:22 - Grant Psalms 101:3 - set Micah 2:2 - they covet Zechariah 11:12 - ye think good

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs,.... For a kitchen garden to produce eatables of the vegetable kind for his household, or for a flower garden; and perhaps for both, as Kimchi observes, it being customary to have such in court yards, or behind the house; perhaps he might take his notion of an herb garden from his neighbours the Syrians, who were very diligent and laborious in cultivating their gardens, as Pliny z; hence

"multa Syrorum olera'',

the many herbs of the Syrians, became a proverb with the Greeks:

because it is near unto mine house; lay very convenient for him:

and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seemeth good unto thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money; which seems very well spoken, that he would either give him a better in exchange, or purchase it at its full value; he did not pretend to take it by usurpation, by force, against his will, as it was represented by Samuel kings would do, 1 Samuel 8:14 as yet such oppression and tyranny was not exercised.

z Nat Hist. l. 20. c. 5.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I will give thee the worth of it in money - literally, “I will give thee silver, the worth of it.” Money, in our sense of the word, that is to say, coins of definite values, did not yet exist. The first coin known to the Jews was the Persian daric, with which they became acquainted during the captivity. (1 Chronicles 29:7 note).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 21:2. Give me thy vineyard — The request of Ahab seems at first view fair and honourable. Naboth's vineyard was nigh to the palace of Ahab, and he wished to add it to his own for a kitchen garden, or perhaps a grass-plat, גן ירק gan yarak; and he offers to give him either a better vineyard for it, or to give him its worth in money. Naboth rejects the proposal with horror: The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to thee. No man could finally alienate any part of the parental inheritance; it might be sold or mortgaged till the jubilee, but at that time it must revert to its original owner, if not redeemed before; for this God had particularly enjoined Leviticus 25:14-17; Leviticus 25:25-28: therefore Naboth properly said, 1 Kings 21:3, The Lord forbid it me, to give the inheritance of my fathers. Ahab most evidently wished him to alienate it finally, and this is what God's law had expressly forbidden; therefore he could not, consistently with his duty to God, indulge Ahab; and it was high iniquity in Ahab to tempt him to do it; and to covet it showed the depravity of Ahab's soul. But we see farther that, despotic as those kings were, they dared not seize on the inheritance of any man. This would have been a flagrant breach of the law and constitution of the country; and this indeed would have been inconsistent with the character which they sustained, viz., the Lord's vicegerents. The Jewish kings had no authority either to alter the old laws, or to make new ones. "The Hindoos," says Mr. Ward, "are as strongly attached to their homesteads as the Jews were. Though the heads of the family be employed in a distant part of the country, and though the homesteads may be almost in ruins, they cling still to the family inheritance with a fondness bordering on superstition."