This verse begins in Hebrew with the words “And it was after these things.” The initial words are the verbal transition meaning “And it happened.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh begins this chapter with the words “The following events occurred sometime afterward.” New Jerusalem Bible has “This is what happened next.” Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation both shift this part of the verse to the beginning of verse 2, where the time relationship of what follows is connected to the preceding chapter.

Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel: Naboth was from the city of Jezreel, which was previously mentioned in 1 Kgs 4.12. Jezreel was located north of the city of Samaria and southwest of Lake Galilee at the east end of the Jezreel Valley in the territory of Issachar. While Good News Translation states that Naboth had a vineyard in Jezreel, Good News Translation does not necessarily imply that Naboth was from Jezreel, as the Hebrew explicitly states.

The term vineyard is used ten times in this chapter. It refers to a garden for growing grapes or grapevines. In languages where grapes are unknown, translators are sometimes forced to borrow the word from a major language in the area. And in some cases it is helpful to add a classifier term, saying something like “the fruit called grape.” In this present context the actual fruit is not so important.

Beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria: King Ahab had palaces in both the city of Samaria and the city of Jezreel (1 Kgs 18.45-46). Hebrew often uses the word “house” for palace (as in verse 2), but the word here is a different word and means “large house” or “large palace.” Samaria is used here to refer to the entire northern kingdom, and not just the capital city itself. Parole de Vie, in fact, has a footnote that states “The king of Samaria, that is to say the kingdom of Israel. See 1 Kgs 16.24.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .