1 Kings 21:5–24

⁵His wife Jezebel went to him and asked, “Why are you so depressed? Why won’t you eat?”

⁶He answered, “Because of what Naboth said to me. I offered to buy his vineyard, or, if he preferred, to give him another one for it, but he told me that I couldn’t have it!”

⁷“Well, are you the king or aren’t you?” Jezebel replied. “Get out of bed, cheer up and eat. I will get you Naboth’s vineyard!”

⁸Then she wrote some letters, signed them with Ahab’s name, sealed them with his seal, and sent them to the officials and leading citizens of Jezreel. ⁹The letters said: “Proclaim a day of fasting, call the people together, and give Naboth the place of honour. ¹⁰Get a couple of scoundrels to accuse him to his face of cursing God and the king. Then take him out of the city and stone him to death.”

¹¹The officials and leading citizens of Jezreel did what Jezebel had commanded. ¹²They proclaimed a day of fasting, called the people together, and gave Naboth the place of honour. ¹³The two scoundrels publicly accused him of cursing God and the king, and so he was taken outside the city and stoned to death. ¹⁴The message was sent to Jezebel: “Naboth has been put to death.”

¹⁵As soon as Jezebel received the message, she said to Ahab, “Naboth is dead. Now go and take possession of the vineyard which he refused to sell to you.” ¹⁶At once Ahab went to the vineyard to take possession of it.

¹⁷Then the Lord said to Elijah, the prophet from Tishbe, ¹⁸“Go to King Ahab of Samaria. You will find him in Naboth’s vineyard, about to take possession of it. ¹⁹Tell him that I, the Lord, say to him, ‘After murdering the man, are you taking over his property as well?’ Tell him that this is what I say: ‘In the very place that the dogs licked up Naboth’s blood they will lick up your blood!’ ”

²⁰When Ahab saw Elijah, he said, “Have you caught up with me, my enemy?”

“Yes, I have,” Elijah answered. “You have devoted yourself completely to doing what is wrong in the Lord’s sight. ²¹So the Lord says to you, ‘I will bring disaster on you. I will do away with you and get rid of every male in your family, young and old alike. ²²Your family will become like the family of King Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the family of King Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have stirred up my anger by leading Israel into sin.’ ^23*And concerning Jezebel, the Lord says that dogs will eat her body in the city of Jezreel. ²⁴Any of your relatives who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and any who die in the open country will be eaten by vultures.”