1 Kings - Chapter 21

¹ This is what happened next: Naboth of Jezreel had a vineyard close by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria,

² and Ahab said to Naboth, 'Give me your vineyard to be my vegetable garden, since it adjoins my palace; I will give you a better vineyard for it or, if you prefer, I will give you its value in money.'

³ Naboth, however, said to Ahab, 'Yahweh forbid that I should give you my ancestral heritage!'

⁴ Ahab went home gloomy and out of temper at the words of Naboth of Jezreel, 'I will not give you my heritage from my ancestors.' He lay down on his bed and turned his face away and refused to eat.

⁵ His wife Jezebel came to him. 'Why are you so dispirited,' she said, 'that you refuse to eat?'

⁶ He said, 'I have been talking to Naboth of Jezreel. I said, "Give me your vineyard either for money or, if you prefer, for another vineyard in exchange." But he said, "I will not give you my vineyard." '

⁷ Then his wife Jezebel said, 'Some king of Israel you make! Get up, eat and take heart; I myself shall get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.'

⁸ So she wrote a letter in Ahab's name and sealed it with his seal, sending the letter to the elders and notables of the city where Naboth lived.

⁹ In the letter, she wrote, 'Proclaim a fast, and put Naboth in a prominent place among the people.

¹⁰ There confront him with a couple of scoundrels who will accuse him as follows, "You have cursed God and the king." Then take him outside and stone him to death.'

¹¹ The men of Naboth's city, the elders and notables living in his city, did what Jezebel ordered, as was written in the letter which she had sent him.

¹² They proclaimed a fast and put Naboth in a prominent place among the people.

¹³ The two scoundrels then came and confronted him, and the scoundrels then publicly accused Naboth as follows, 'Naboth has cursed God and the king.' He was then taken outside the city and stoned to death.

¹⁴ They then sent word to Jezebel, 'Naboth has been stoned to death.'

¹⁵ When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, 'Get up! Take possession of the vineyard which Naboth of Jezreel refused to sell you, for Naboth is no longer alive, he is dead.'

¹⁶ When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth of Jezreel and take possession of it.

¹⁷ Then the word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite,

¹⁸ 'Up! Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, in Samaria. You will find him in Naboth's vineyard; he has gone down to take possession of it.

¹⁹ You are to say this to him, "Yahweh says this: You have committed murder and now you usurp as well. For this -- and Yahweh says this -- in the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will lick your blood too." '

²⁰ Ahab said to Elijah, 'So you have caught me, O my enemy!' Elijah answered, 'I have caught you! For your double dealing, and since you have done what is displeasing to Yahweh,

²¹ I shall now bring disaster down on you; I shall sweep away your descendants and wipe out every manjack of the House of Ahab, fettered or free in Israel.

²² I shall treat your House as I treated the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and of Baasha son of Ahijah, for provoking my anger and leading Israel into sin.

²³ (Against Jezebel too Yahweh spoke these words, "The dogs will eat Jezebel in the Field of Jezreel.")

²⁴ Those of Ahab's family who die in the city, the dogs will eat; and those who die in the open country, the birds of the air will eat.'

²⁵ And indeed there never was anyone like Ahab for double dealing and for doing what is displeasing to Yahweh, urged on by Jezebel his wife.

²⁶ He behaved in the most abominable way, adhering to idols, just as the Amorites had, whom Yahweh had dispossessed for the Israelites.

²⁷ When Ahab heard these words, he tore his garments and put sackcloth next to his skin and fasted; he slept in the sackcloth; he walked with slow steps.

²⁸ Then the word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite,

²⁹ 'Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Since he has humbled himself before me, I shall not bring the disaster in his days; I shall bring the disaster down on his House in his son's days.'

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