1st Kings 21:5-29

⁵And Jezebel, his wife, entered to him, and said to him, What is this thing, whereof thy soul is made sorry? and why eatest thou not bread?

⁶Which answered to her, I spake to Naboth of Jezreel, and I said to him, Give thy vineyard to me for money taken, either if it pleaseth thee, I shall give to thee a better vinery or vineyard for it. And he said, I shall not give to thee my vineyard.

⁷Therefore Jezebel, his wife, said to him, Thou art of great authority, and thou governest well the realm of Israel; rise thou, and eat bread, and be thou patient, either comforted; I shall give to thee the vinery or vineyard of Naboth of Jezreel.

⁸Therefore she wrote letters in the name of Ahab, and sealed those or them with the ring of him; and she sent to the greater men in birth, and to the best men, that were in the city of Naboth, and dwelled with him.

⁹And this was the sentence of the letters; Preach ye fasting, and make ye Naboth to sit among the first men of the people;

¹⁰and send ye privily two men, the sons of Belial, against him, and say they false witnessing, Naboth hath blessed God, and the king, that is, hath cursed; and lead ye out him, and stone ye him, and die he so.

¹¹Therefore his citizens, the greater men in birth, and the best men that dwelled with him in the city, did as Jezebel had commanded to them, and as it was written in the letters, which she had sent to them.

¹²They preached fasting, and made Naboth to sit among the first men of the people;

¹³and when two men, sons of the devil, were brought, they made them to sit against him, and they, that is, as men of the devil, said false witnessing against him before all the multitude, Naboth blessed God, and the king, that is, Naboth hath cursed God, and the king; for which thing they led him without the city, and killed him with stones.

¹⁴And they sent to Jezebel, and said, Naboth is stoned, and is dead.

¹⁵Forsooth it was done, when Jezebel had heard Naboth stoned and dead, she spake to Ahab, Rise thou, take in possession the vinery or vineyard of Naboth of Jezreel, which would not assent to thee, and give it for the money taken; for Naboth liveth not, but is dead.

¹⁶And when Ahab had heard this, that is, Naboth to be dead, he rose, and went down into the vinery or vineyard of Naboth of Jezreel, to have it into possession.

¹⁷Therefore the word of the Lord was made to Elijah of Tishbe, and said,

¹⁸Rise thou, go down into the coming of Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria; lo! he goeth down to the vinery or vineyard of Naboth, that he have it in possession.

¹⁹And thou shalt speak to him, and say, The Lord saith these things, Thou hast slain Naboth, furthermore and thou hast taken his vineyard in possession; and after these things thou shalt add, These things saith the Lord, In this place, wherein dogs licked the blood of Naboth, they shall lick also thy blood.

²⁰And Ahab said to Elijah, Whether thou hast found me thine enemy? And Elijah said, I have found thee so, for thou art sold to the devil that thou shouldest do evil in the sight of the Lord.

²¹Therefore the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall bring in upon thee evil, and I shall cut away thine hinder things, and I shall slay of Ahab a pisser to the wall, and the imprisoned, and the last in Israel;

²²and I shall give thine house to be as the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and as the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah; for thou didest evil to excite or stir me to wrathfulness, and madest Israel to do sin.

²³But also the Lord spake of Jezebel, and said, Dogs shall eat Jezebel in the field of Jezreel;

²⁴if Ahab shall die in the city, dogs shall eat him; soothly if he shall die in the field, birds of the air shall eat him.

²⁵Therefore none other was such as Ahab, that was sold to do evil in the sight of the Lord; for Jezebel his wife excited or stirred him thereto;

²⁶and he was made abominable, in so much that he followed the idols that Amorites made, which men the Lord wasted from before the face of the sons of Israel.

²⁷Therefore when Ahab had heard these words, he rent his cloth, and covered his flesh with an hair-shirt, and he fasted, and slept in a sackcloth, and went with the head cast down.

²⁸And the word of the Lord was made to Elijah of Tishbe, and said,

²⁹Whether thou hast not seen Ahab made low before me? Therefore for he is made low for the cause of me, I shall not bring in evil in his days, but in the days of his son I shall bring in evil to his house.