1 Kings 21:10

sons of Belial In Deuteronomy 13:13, the R.V. has translated this expression -base fellows", putting in the margin -sons of worthlessness". This is the sense everywhere in the O.T. and should have been in the text. In N.T. times -Belial" was personified (see 2 Corinthians 6:15), but there is no trace of this idea in the earlier Scriptures. The LXX. has υἱοὶ παρανόμων. The men were good-for-noughts, who would swear to anything for which they were paid. Josephus makes them three in number.

Thou didst blaspheme[R.V. curse] God and the king The verb in the original ברך is very frequently used of blessing, but it had the opposite sense also. The root idea appears to be -to say adieu to". This might be and most frequently was with a parting benediction; but it also might be a renunciation, a declaration of hostility. Hence the R.V. has put -renounce" in the margin, to indicate how the sense of -curse" is obtained. The verb is used in the bad sense also in Job 1:5; Job 2:9. It is remarkable that an accusation of this nature should have been set afoot by Jezebel. We need not however assume that she had any care about the cursing of God; only that she found this the first convenient mode of getting rid of Naboth. But amongst the people, who were to suppose Naboth justly executed, there must have still been some regard for the divine name and the divine law. The death stoning was appointed by the Mosaic code (Leviticus 24:16), and so was the necessity for two witnesses at least (Deuteronomy 17:6; Deuteronomy 19:15) before the accused could be put to death.

that he may die The R.V. omits -may".