1 Kings 20

1 Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, beside the threshing floor of Ahab king of Samaria. [a] 2 And Ahab spoke to Naboth and said, “Give me your vineyard, and it will be a vegetable garden for me, because it is close to my house; and I will give you a better vineyard in its place. Or if you would rather, I will give you silver, the price in exchange for this vineyard of yours, and it will be a vegetable garden for me.” 3 And Naboth said to Ahab, “May my God keep me from giving you the inheritance of my fathers.” 4 And Ahab’s spirit was troubled, and he lay down on his bed and covered his face and ate no bread.

5 And Jezebel his wife came in to him and said to him, “Why is your spirit troubled, and why are you eating no bread?” 6 And he said to her, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said, ‘Give me your vineyard for silver; or if you would rather, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ And he said, ‘I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.’” 7 And Jezebel his wife said to him, “Is this how you act the king over Israel? Get up, eat bread, and be your own master. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

8 And she wrote a letter in Ahab’s name and sealed it with his seal, and she sent the letter to the elders and to the free men who lived with Naboth. 9 And this is what was written in the letters: “Hold a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the people; 10 and set two men, sons of lawless men, facing him, and have them testify against him and say, ‘He has blessed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him, and let him die.” [c] 11 And the men of his city — the elders and the free men who lived in his city — did as Jezebel had sent word to them, as it was written in the letters she sent them.

12 They called a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the people, 13 and two men, sons of lawless men, came in and sat facing him and testified against him, saying, “You have blessed God and the king.” And they took him outside the city and stoned him with stones, and he died. 14 And they sent word to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned; he is dead.”

15 And when Jezebel heard it, she said to Ahab, “Get up, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, who would not give it to you for silver; for Naboth is not alive — he is dead.” 16 And when Ahab heard that Naboth the Jezreelite was dead, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth. And after this Ahab got up and went down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. [d]

17 And the Lord spoke to Elijah the Tishbite and said, 18 “Get up and go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria. See, he is in Naboth’s vineyard; he has gone down there to take possession of it. 19 And you are to speak to him and say, ‘This is what the Lord says: You have murdered, and you have taken possession. And so this is what the Lord says: In every place where the pigs and the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, there the dogs will lick up your blood, and the prostitutes will wash themselves in your blood.’” [e]

20 And Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?” And he said, “I have found you — because you have sold yourself for nothing, to do what is evil before the Lord and provoke him to anger. [f] 21 This is what the Lord says: See, I am bringing evil on you, and I will kindle a fire after you, and I will destroy every male of Ahab’s, the one shut in and the one left at large in Israel. [g] 22 And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, for the provocations with which you provoked me and made Israel sin.”

23 And concerning Jezebel the Lord spoke and said, “The dogs will devour her at the outer wall of Jezreel. [h] 24 The one of Ahab’s who dies in the city, the dogs will eat him; and the one of his who dies in the field, the birds of the sky will eat him.”

25 But Ahab had sold himself for nothing, to do what was evil before the Lord, since Jezebel his wife had turned him to it. 26 And he made himself utterly detestable by going after detestable things, in everything the Amorite did, whom the Lord destroyed from before the children of Israel.

27 And over this word — how Ahab was cut to the heart before the Lord, and went about weeping, and tore his tunic and wrapped sackcloth around his body and fasted, and wore sackcloth on the day he struck down Naboth the Jezreelite — [i] 28 the word of the Lord came by the hand of his servant Elijah concerning Ahab, and the Lord said, 29 “Have you seen how Ahab was cut to the heart before me? I will not bring the evil in his days; but in his son’s days I will bring the evil.”