1 Kings 21

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

² and Ahab said to Naboth, 'Give me your vineyard to be my vegetable garden, since it adjoins mypalace; I will give you a better vineyard for it or, if you prefer, I wil 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 wil not give you myheritage 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, ifyou prefer, for another vineyard in exchange." But he said, "I wil 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 shalget 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 wil accuse him as follows, "You have cursedGod 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 waswritten 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 Nabothas fol ows, '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! Takepossession of the vineyard which Naboth of Jezreel refused to sel 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 Jezreeland 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 hasgone 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 aswel . For this -- and Yahweh says this -- in the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will lickyour blood too." '

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

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

²² I shal 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 wil eat Jezebel in the Field of Jezreel.")

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

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

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

²⁷ When Ahab heard these words, he tore his garments and put sackcloth next to his skin and fasted; heslept 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 shal not bring the disaster in his days; I shal bring the disaster down on his House in his son's days.'