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1 Kings 21:25

in 1 Kings 21

(Surely there was never one like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, incited by his wife Jezebel.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

(But there was none like unto Ahab, who did sell himself to do that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.

KJV

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.

This verse in 1 Kings 21

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
whom Jezebel stirred up - The history of Ahab’s reign throughout exhibits him as completely governed by his imperious wife. Instances of her influence are seen in 1Ki 21:7, 1Ki 21:15, marginal reference, 1Ki 18:4; 1Ki 19:2.

This site's exposition

sell himself to work wickedness

on 1 Kings 21:25-26

The historian steps in with his own verdict on the reign just narrated, there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness, repeating verse twenty's own language and naming Jezebel as the one who stirred him to it. His idolatry is measured against the Amorites the LORD cast out of Canaan before Israel ever arrived, the same nations whose cup of iniquity Genesis 15:16 said was not yet full in Abraham's day. Four centuries later Ahab fills the same cup on his own account.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

And these, tho' lighting on the body only, yet undoubtedly were designed as figures of the soul's misery in an after state. 25 Was none - None among all the kings of Israel which had been before him. Whom Jezebel - This is added to shew, that temptations to sin are no excuse to the sinner.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

on 1 Kings 21:25-26

He was wholly given up to sin, and, upon condition he might have the pleasures of it, he would take the wages of it, which is death, Rom. vi. Blessed Paul complained that he was sold under sin ( Rom. vii. 14 ), as a poor captive against his will; but Ahab was voluntary: he sold himself to sin; of choice, and as his own act and deed, he submitted to the dominion of sin.

The words behind it

15 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • רַ֚קcertainly

    rakH7535109 times

  • לֹֽא־not

    lo'-H38085168 times

  • הָיָ֣הanyone was

    hayahH19613559 times

  • כְאַחְאָ֔בlike Ahab

    kheachavH25692 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רwho

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • הִתְמַכֵּ֔רhe sold himself

    hitmakerH4376

  • לַעֲשׂ֥וֹתto do

    laasotH62132628 times

  • הָרַ֖עthe evil

    hara'H7451662 times

  • בְּעֵינֵ֣יin [the] eyes of

    beeineiH5869887 times

  • יְהוָ֑הYahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־whom

    ʾasher-H8345497 times

  • הֵסַ֥תָּהshe incited

    hesatahH5496

  • אֹת֖וֹ<obj.> him

    ʾotoH85310935 times

  • אִיזֶ֥בֶלJezebel

    ʾizevelH34822 times

  • אִשְׁתּֽוֹ׃wife his

    ʾishtoH802781 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Ecclesiastes 7:26

    And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is…

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 22:14

      The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the wrath of the LORD will fall into it.

    • Proverbs 5:3–5

      Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,

    • Proverbs 2:16

      It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words

  • Through

    Proverbs 22:14

    The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the wrath of the LORD will fall into it.

    it leads to

    • Ecclesiastes 7:26

      And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is…

    • Proverbs 23:27

      For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.

    • Proverbs 6:24–29

      to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

  • Through

    Acts 14:2

    But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

    it leads to

    • Acts 13:50

      The Jews, however, incited the religious women of prominence and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.

    • Acts 13:45

      But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they blasphemously contradicted what Paul was saying.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Kings

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.