1 Kings 21:5-26

5But Jezebel his wife came to him and said to him, “How is it that your spirit is so sullen that you are not eating 1food?” 6So he said to her, “It is because I was speaking to Naboth the Jezreelite and saying to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you a vineyard in place of it.’ But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” 7Jezebel his wife said to him, “2Do you now 3reign over Israel? Arise, eat bread, and let your heart be joyful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

84So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to 5the elders and to the nobles who were living with Naboth in his city. 9Now she had written in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people; 10and seat two 6worthless men opposite him, and have them testify against him, saying, ‘7You 8cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and 9stone him 10to death.”

11So the men of his city, the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did just as Jezebel had sent word to them, just as it was written in the letters which she had sent them. 12They 11proclaimed a fast, and seated Naboth at the head of the people. 13Then the two worthless men came in and sat opposite him; and the worthless men testified against him, against Naboth, before the people, saying, “Naboth 12cursed God and the king.” 13So they took him outside the city and stoned him 14to death with stones. 14Then they sent word to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned and is dead.”

15And when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead.” 16When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab got up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

17Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 18“Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, 15who is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. 19And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: “16Have you murdered and also taken possession?”’ And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘The Lord says this: “17In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, the dogs will lick up your blood, yours as well.”’”

20Then Ahab said to Elijah, “18Have you found me, enemy of mine?” And he 19answered, “I have found you, 20because you have given yourself over to do evil in the sight of the Lord. 21Behold, I am bringing disaster upon you, and I 21will utterly sweep you away, and will eliminate from Ahab every male, both 22bond and free in Israel; 22and 23I will make your house 24like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and because you 25have misled Israel into sin. 23The Lord has also spoken of Jezebel, saying, ‘26The dogs will eat Jezebel in the 27territory of Jezreel.’ 2428The one belonging to Ahab, who dies in the city, the dogs will eat; and the one who dies in the field, the birds of the sky will eat.”

2529There certainly was no one like Ahab who gave himself over to do evil in the sight of the Lord, 30because Jezebel his wife incited him. 2631He also acted very despicably in following idols, 32conforming to everything that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord drove out from the sons of Israel.