Wikipedia's first sentence called it “no prince"”. Today it says “daughter of ithobaal i of tyre and the wife of ahab”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Biblical Phoenician princess”. It now reads “Biblical figure; Phoenician princess and wife of Ahab”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2010 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2010
Jezebel ( Hebrew : אִיזֶבֶל / אִיזָבֶל , Modern Izével' / ' Izável Tiberian ʾÎzéḇel / ʾÎzāḇel ) (fl. 9th century B.C.) was a Phoenician princess, identified in the Hebrew Book of Kings as the daughter of Ethbaal, King of the Sidonians (Phoenicians) and the wife of Ahab , king of north Israel .1According to genealogies given in Josephus and other classical sources she was the great aunt of Dido, Queen of Carthage . The Hebrew text portrays Jezebel as an evil power behind the throne. Ahab and Jezebel allow temples of Baal to operate in Israel, and that religion receives royal patronage. After Ahab's death, his sons by Jezebel, Ahaziah and Jehoram , accede to the throne. The prophet Elisha has one of his servants anoint Jehu as king in order to overthrow the house of Ahab. Jehu kills Jehoram as he attempts to flee in his war chariot. He then confronts Jezebel in Jezreel and urges her eunuchs to kill the queen mother by throwing her out of a window and leaving her corpse in the street to be eaten by dogs. Only Jezebel's skull, feet, and hands remain. Jezebel's final act, equipping herself in all her finery before she is murdered, has led to her being represented as a kind of prostitute.2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 371199058.
The opening as it stood in 2005
In the Bible , Jezebel ( אִיזֶבֶל / אִיזָבֶל "Chaste" or possibly "There is no prince", Standard Hebrew Izével / Izável , Tiberian Hebrew , ʾÎzéḇel / ʾÎzāḇel ) is the name of two women.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 17114623.
The opening as it stood in 2015 9 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Jezebel (/ˈdʒɛzəbəl/, Hebrew : אִיזֶבֶל / אִיזָבֶל , Modern Izével' / ' Izável Tiberian ʾÎzéḇel / ʾÎzāḇel ) (fl. 9th century BCE) was a princess, identified in the Hebrew Book of Kings (1 Kings 16:31) as the daughter of Ethbaal, King of Sidon (Lebanon/Phoenicia) and the wife of Ahab , king of northern Israel .According to the biblical accounts, Jezebel incited her husband King Ahab to abandon the worship of Yahweh and encourage worship of the deities Baal and Asherah instead.Jezebel persecuted the prophets of Yahweh, and fabricated false evidence of blasphemy against an innocent landowner who refused to sell his property to King Ahab, causing the landowner to be put to death.Jezebel became associated with false prophets .In some interpretations, her dressing in finery and putting on makeup led to the association of the use of cosmetics with "painted women" or prostitutes.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 666681924.
The opening as it stood in 2020 5 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Jezebel ( / ˈ dʒ ɛ z ə b əl , - b ɛ l / , ) was the daughter of Ithobaal I of Tyre and the wife of Ahab , King of Israel , according to the Book of Kings of the Hebrew Bible ( 1 Kings 16:31 with invalid book ).According to the Biblical narrative, Jezebel, along with her husband, instituted the worship of Baal and Asherah on a national scale.In addition, she violently purged the prophets of Yahweh from Israel, damaging the reputation of the Omride dynasty .In later Christian tradition , Jezebel was associated with false prophets ."Jezebel" (US) and "Jezebel" .Elizabeth Knowles, "Jezebel" , The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable , OUP 2006 "Micah 6:16" . : CS1 maint: url-status ( link ) "2 Chronicles 21:6" . : CS1 maint: url-status ( link ) "2 Kings 8:18" . : CS1 maint: url-status ( link ) ISHDA, T.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 962523543.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Biblical figure; Phoenician princess and wife of Ahab "Jezabel" redirects here.Jezebel ( / ˈ dʒ ɛ z ə b əl , - b ɛ l / ; Hebrew : אִיזֶבֶל , Modern : ʾĪzével , Tiberian : ʾĪzeḇel ) was the daughter of Ithobaal I of Tyre and the wife of Ahab , King of Israel , according to the Book of Kings of the Hebrew Bible ( 1 Kings 16:31 ). According to the biblical narrative, Jezebel, along with her husband, instituted the worship of Baal and Asherah on a national scale. In addition, she violently purged the prophets of Yahweh from Israel, damaging the reputation of the Omride dynasty . Later, in the Book of Revelation , Jezebel is symbolically associated with false prophets . "Jezebel" (US) and "Jezebel" . Elizabeth Knowles, "Jezebel" , The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable , OUP 2006 "Micah 6:16" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176733416.
The opening as it stood in 2025 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Biblical figure; Phoenician princess and wife of Ahab "Jezabel" redirects here. Jezebel ( / ˈ dʒ ɛ z ə b əl , - b ɛ l / ) was the daughter of Ithobaal I of Tyre and the wife of Ahab , King of Israel , according to the Book of Kings of the Hebrew Bible ( 1 Kings 16 , 1 Kings 16:31 ). In the biblical narrative, Jezebel replaced Yahwism with Baal and Asherah worship and was responsible for Naboth 's death.This caused irreversible damage to the reputation of the Omride dynasty , who were already unpopular among the Israelites.Later, in the Book of Revelation , the name Jezebel is contemptuously attributed to a prophetic woman of Thyatira , whom the author, through the voice of the risen Christ, accuses of leading her followers into fornication (idolatry). "Jezebel" (US) and "Jezebel" . Hebrew : אִיזֶבֶל , Modern : ʾĪzével , Tiberian : ʾĪzeḇel Elizabeth Knowles, "Jezebel" , The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable , OUP 2006 "Micah 6:16" . Israel Exploration Journal . 25 (2/3): 135– 137.The Strange Woman: Power and Sex in the Bible .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1298192676. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “no prince"”. Today it says “daughter of ithobaal i of tyre and the wife of ahab”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Biblical Phoenician princess”. It now reads “Biblical figure; Phoenician princess and wife of Ahab”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
no prince"
Now
daughter of ithobaal i of tyre and the wife of ahab
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
