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Journey of a Passage

1 Kings 20–21

Naboth before the Aramean wars

The Hebrew tells Ahab's wars with Ben-hadad (chapter 20) before Naboth's vineyard (chapter 21). The library's Greek reverses them, so that Naboth follows directly after the Elijah chapters. This is a difference in the order of the book, not in individual words.

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original KingsUnknown (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Kings
Greek
  1. Septuagint, 3 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (debated)

    Original Kings

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  2. Translated c. 2nd century BC

    Septuagint, 3 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    20:1 Et Naboth le Jezraélite avait une vigne… 21:1 Cependant Ben-Ader rassembla toute son armée…

    20:1 Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard… 21:1 Then Ben-hadad gathered all his army…

    In the reader, the library lines up each Greek chapter with the Hebrew chapter of the same number, so Greek chapter 20 (Naboth) appears beside Hebrew chapter 20 (Ben-hadad). One Greek text (Vaticanus type) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.

  3. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    20:1 Porro Benadad rex Syriæ… 21:1 …vinea erat Naboth

    Hebrew order.

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Kings

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    20:1 וּבֶן־הֲדַד מֶלֶךְ־אֲרָם… 21:1 כֶּרֶם הָיָה לְנָבוֹת

    20:1 Ben-hadad king of Aram… 21:1 Naboth had a vineyard

  5. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    20:1 And Ben-hadad the king of Syria… 21:1 …Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard

What changed, and why

The Greek order groups the Elijah stories (17–19 and Naboth) together and puts the two Aramean war chapters (Hebrew 20 and 22) side by side. The Hebrew 21:1 begins "after these things," which some read as a sign that the Hebrew moved the chapter; others think the Greek reorganized for neatness. Both orders are ancient.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe library's Greek has chapters 20 and 21 in reverse order.
  • DisputedThe Greek order is the original order.

Sources

Related lessons

  • The Wars against Aram →Ben-hadad of Aram and thirty-two kings besiege Samaria and demand Ahab's silver, gold, wives and children. A prophet promises victory; Israel's young officers rout the Arameans while Ben-hadad is drinking. The next year Aram fights in the plain at Aphek, thinking Israel's God is a god of the hills, and loses again. Ahab spares Ben-hadad and makes a treaty. A prophet, wounded on purpose, tells a parable that condemns Ahab.
  • Naboth's Vineyard →Ahab wants Naboth's vineyard next to his palace in Jezreel. Naboth refuses to sell his family's inheritance. Jezebel writes letters in Ahab's name: two false witnesses accuse Naboth of cursing God and the king, and he is stoned. Ahab takes the vineyard. Elijah meets him there: "Hast thou killed, and also taken possession?" When Ahab humbles himself, God delays the judgment on his house.
  • How 1 Kings Came to Us →1 Kings is the first half of the Hebrew book of Kings, one of the Former Prophets. It names its sources: the Book of the Acts of Solomon and the chronicles of the kings of Israel and Judah, none of which survive. Kings was edited as part of a history from Joshua to Kings. Three Qumran scrolls preserve fragments. The Greek 3 Kingdoms is unusually different: material moved, expanded and, in places, told twice.