1 Kings 21

¹And it came about after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard that was in Jezreel, beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

²And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying: 'Give me your vineyard, that it may be mine for a vegetable garden, for it is near beside my house; and I will give you in its place a better vineyard than it; or if it seems good to you, I will give you silver, the price of this.'

³And Naboth said to Ahab, 'The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers!'

⁴And Ahab came into his house sullen and vexed over the word that Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him, for he had said: 'I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.' And he lay down on his bed and turned his face away and would not eat bread.

⁵And Jezebel his wife came to him and spoke to him, 'Why is your spirit so sullen that you are not eating food?'

⁶And he spoke to her: 'When I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him: "Give me your vineyard for silver, or if you prefer, I will give you a vineyard in its place," he said: "I will not give you my vineyard."'

⁷And Jezebel his wife said to him, 'You! Are you not now exercising kingship over Israel? Arise, eat food, and let your heart be glad. I myself will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.'

⁸And she wrote letters in the name of Ahab and sealed them with his signet, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, those who lived with Naboth.

⁹And she wrote in the letters, saying, 'Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people.'

¹⁰And seat two worthless men opposite him, and let them testify against him, saying: 'You have cursed God and the king.' Then bring him out and stone him so that he dies.

¹¹And the men of his city, the elders and the nobles who were living in his city, did just as Jezebel had sent to them, as was written in the letters that she had sent to them.

¹²They called a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the people.

¹³And the two men, scoundrels, came and sat opposite him; and the scoundrels bore witness against Naboth before the people, saying, 'Naboth has cursed God and the king.' So they led him outside the city and stoned him with stones, and he died.

¹⁴And they sent to Jezebel, saying: 'Naboth has been stoned and he is dead.'

¹⁵And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and had died, that Jezebel said to Ahab, 'Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give to you for silver, for Naboth is not alive, for he is dead.'

¹⁶And when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab arose to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

¹⁷And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

¹⁸Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession of it.

¹⁹And you shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the LORD: Have you murdered and also taken possession?' And you shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the LORD: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth's blood, dogs will lick up your blood — yes, yours.'

²⁰And Ahab said to Elijah, 'Have you found me, my enemy?' And he said, 'I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is bad in the eyes of the Lord.'

²¹Behold, I am about to bring disaster upon you and will sweep you away, and I will cut off from Ahab every male — both the confined and the abandoned — in Israel.

²²And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you provoked me and caused Israel to sin.

²³And also concerning Jezebel the LORD spoke, saying, 'The dogs will devour Jezebel in the rampart of Jezreel.'

²⁴Whoever of Ahab's dies in the city, dogs will eat, and whoever dies in the field, birds of the heavens will eat.

²⁵Surely there was none like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife incited.

²⁶And he acted very abominably by walking after the idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord drove out before the children of Israel.

²⁷And it came to pass, when Ahab heard these words, that he tore his garments and put sackcloth on his body and fasted and lay down in sackcloth and went about softly.

²⁸And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying:

²⁹'Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; in the days of his son I will bring the disaster upon his house.'