1 Kings 21:1-29
21 And it befell after these events that Naboth the Jezreʽelite had a vineyard beside the palace of King Ahab of Samaria,
2 and Ahab spoke to Naboth and said “Give me your vineyard so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is close to my house; and I will give you a better vineyard instead; if you prefer, I will pay you the price of this one in money”;
3 and Naboth said to Ahab “Jehovah forbid the thought of my giving you my family estate.”
4 And Ahab came home sullen and exasperated over the words of Naboth the Jezreʽelite had spoken to him, “I will not give you my family estate,” and took to his bed and turned his face to the wall and ate no food.
5 And his wife Jezebel went into his room and said to him “What does it mean that your spirit has gone and you are eating no food?”
6 And he told her “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreʽelite and said ‘Give me your vineyard for money, or, if you like, I will give you a vineyard instead of it,’ and he said ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’”
7 * And his wife Jezebel said to him “And it is you that are exercising the royal power over Israel now! Get up, eat food and be gay; I will give you Naboth the Jezreʽelite’s vineyard.”
8 And she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and gentry that lived where Naboth did;
9 and in the letters she wrote “Proclaim a fast, and have Naboth sit at the head of the people,
10 * and have two blackguards sit down in his presence and testify against him ‘You cursed God and the king’; and take him out and stone him to death.”
11 And the men of his city, the elders and gentry who were residents in his city, did as Jezebel had sent them word to, as was written in the letters she sent them:
12 proclaimed a fast, and had Naboth sit at the head of the people,
13 and in came the two blackguards and sat down in his presence and testified against him “Naboth cursed God and the king,” and they took him outside the city and stoned him to death;
14 and they sent Jezebel word “Naboth has been stoned to death.”
15 And when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death Jezebel said to Ahab “Get up and take possession of Naboth the Jezreʽelite’s vineyard, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, he has died.”
16 And when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab rose to go down to Naboth the Jezreʽelite’s vineyard to take possession of it.
17 And Jehovah’s word came to Elijah the Tishbite
18 “Go down to meet King Ahab of Israel, of Samaria; you will find him in Naboth’s vineyard, which he has gone down to take possession of; and tell him ‘Says Jehovah, You murdered and got possession, did you?’
19 ** and tell him ‘Says Jehovah, In the place where the hogs and dogs lapped Naboth’s blood the dogs shall lap your own blood too.’”
20 And Ahab said to Elijah “Found me, have you, enemy?” and he said “Yes; since you have sold yourself to do mischief that displeases Jehovah,
21 I am bringing mischief to you, and will rout you out and will exterminate every male person that belongs to Ahab, barred and unbarred in Israel,
22 and make your family like the families of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and Baʽasha the son of Ahijah, for the affronts you gave me, and causing Israel to sin.
23 And Jehovah spoke of Jezebel too, and said ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel on Jezreʽel common.’
24 Whoever of Ahab’s dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and whoever dies in the country the birds of the air shall eat.”
25 No one at all was like Ahab, who sold himself to do what displeased Jehovah, his wife Jezebel instigating him;
26 and he went after fetishes most abominably, just as the Amorites had done, whom Jehovah dispossessed before the sons of Israel.
27 And when Ahab heard these words he tore his clothes and put a sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and slept in the sackcloth, and walked softly;
28 and Jehovah’s word came to Elijah the Tishbite
29 “Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before me? since he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the mischief in his days: in his son’s days I will bring the mischief upon his house.”
Footnotes
^ 21:7 Lit. said to him “It is you
^ 21:10 Codd. You blessed
^ 21:19 Var. did you? therefore Jehovah says, In
^ 21:19 Var. where the dogs lapped
