1 Kings 21:17–29

Elijah Pronounces God’s Sentence

¹⁷Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,^{* 18}“Go down to meet King Ahab of Israel, who rules^m in Samaria; he is now in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession.^{* 19}You shall say to him: Thus says the Lord: Have you killed and also taken possession? You shall say to him: Thus says the Lord: In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood.”^*

²⁰Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you. Because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord,^{* 21}I will bring disaster on you; I will consume you and will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel,^{* 22}and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin. ²³Also concerning Jezebel the Lord said: The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the bounds of Jezreel.^{* 24}Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies in the open country the birds of the air shall eat.”^*

²⁵(Indeed, there was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord, urged on by his wife Jezebel. ²⁶He acted most abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.)^*

²⁷When Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth over his bare flesh; he fasted, lay in the sackcloth, and went about dejectedly.^{* 28}Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, ²⁹“Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days, but in his son’s days I will bring the disaster on his house.”^*