They washed the chariot is literally “he washed the chariot,” but the Hebrew here is an impersonal construction meaning “they washed the chariot” or “the chariot was washed.” It is not known who did the washing of the chariot. Parole de Vie says “Some servants washed the chariot of the king.”

By the pool of Samaria: Archaeologists have discovered a pool about 10 meters by 5 meters (33 feet by 16.5 feet) in the northwest corner of Samaria.

The dogs licked up his blood: See the prophecy concerning this in 1 Kgs 21.19.

The harlots washed themselves in it is literally “the harlots washed themselves.” These words are difficult to understand. They are not in the prophecy in 1 Kgs 21.19. Revised Standard Version has supplied the words in it according to the sense of the verse as the translators understood it. Among the many interpretations of this clause which are most likely to be correct are the following:

• (a) The prostitutes were washing in the pool of water into which the king’s blood had flowed. Compare Bible en français courant: “They washed the chariot at the Pool of Samaria while the dogs licked up the blood, and the prostitutes washed in it” (similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible).

• (b) The prostitutes were washing themselves in the blood itself. This is clearly the meaning in the Septuagint; and it seems to be the intended meaning in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh (similarly Peregrino), which says “and they flushed out the chariot at the pool of Samaria. Thus the dogs lapped up his blood and the whores bathed [in it].” If this interpretation is followed, the sense may be that they washed in the king’s blood because blood was thought to have magical powers.

• (c) These words are parenthetical, indicating that this pool is the one where the harlots normally bathed, not that they bathed in it at this very moment. New International Version says “They washed the chariot at a pool in Samaria (where the prostitutes bathed), and the dogs licked up his blood.” Compare also Moffatt: “They washed the chariot at the pool of Samaria, where the harlots bathed, and dogs licked up his blood” (similarly New Living Translation).

Another interpretation has been proposed by several scholars and is suggested in the New International Version footnote. By making a slight correction in the spelling of the Hebrew word for harlots (zonoth), it is possible to read “they washed the weapons [zenaʾ in Hebrew]” (so Gray). But this Hebrew word for “weapon” is not found in biblical Hebrew, and the Hebrew verb for washed is never used elsewhere with things instead of people as the object.

Cogan (2000) notes that dogs and pigs were scavengers in the ancient Near East and that both animals appear together in curses from the ancient Near East, so he suggests that the Hebrew word hazonoth (the harlots) was originally chazirim (“pigs”), and that a scribe mistakenly changed “pigs bathed” to “the harlots bathed.” While this suggestion is possible, there is simply no manuscript evidence to support it.

The first or second interpretation, that is (a) or (b), should probably be followed. These words, which have been added to the prophecy of 1 Kgs 21.19, were most likely intended as a negative criticism of Ahab by associating prostitutes with his death.

According to the word of the LORD which he had spoken: The prophecy in 21.19 says “In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood.” Naboth’s blood was licked up by dogs in Jezreel, but Ahab’s blood was licked up in Samaria, so there is only a partial fulfilment of the prophecy.

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 .