First Book of Kings 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 house; I will give you a better vineyard for it or, if you prefer, I will give you its worth in money’.

³ But Naboth answered Ahab, ‘Yahweh forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors!’

⁴ Ahab went home gloomy and out of temper at the words of Naboth of Jezreel, ‘I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers’. 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 will not eat?’

⁶ He said, ‘I have been speaking to Naboth of Jezreel; I said: Give me your vineyard either

⁷ Then his wife Jezebel said, ‘You make a fine king of Israel, and no mistake! Get up and eat; cheer up, and you will feel better; I will get you the vineyard of Naboth of Jezreel myself.’

⁸ So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal, sending them to the elders and nobles who lived where Naboth lived.

⁹ In the letters she wrote, ‘Proclaim a fast, and put Naboth in the forefront of the people.

¹⁰ Confront him with a couple of scoundrels who will accuse him like this, “You have cursed God and the king” Then take him outside and stone him to death.’

¹¹ The men of Naboth’s town, the elders and nobles who lived in his town, did what Jezebel ordered, what was written in the letters she had sent them.

¹² They proclaimed a fast and put Naboth in the forefront of the people.

¹³ Then the two scoundrels came and stood in front of him and made their accusation, ‘Naboth has cursed God and the king’. They led him outside the town and stoned him 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 would not give you for money, 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; 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 found me out, O my enemy!’ Elijah answered, ‘I have found you out. For your double dealing, and since you have done what is displeasing to Yahweh,

²¹ I will now bring disaster down on you; I will sweep away your descendants, and wipe out every male belonging to the family of Ahab, fettered or free in Israel.

²² I will 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 used to do whom Yahweh had dispossessed for the sons of Israel.

²⁷ When Ahab heard these words, he tore his garments and put sackcloth next 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, ‘Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Since he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; I will bring the disaster down on his House in the days of his son.’