1 Kings 20
1 Then Ben-hadad the King of Aram assembled all his armie, and two and thirtie Kings with him, with horses, and charets, and went vp and besieged Samaria, and fought against it.
And Nabuthai the Jezraelite had a vineyard, near the threshingfloor of Achaab king of Samaria.
2 And he sent messengers to Ahab King of Israel, into the citie,
And Achaab spoke to Nabuthai, saying, Give me thy vineyard, and I will have it for a garden of herbs, for it [is] near my house: and I will give thee another vineyard better than it; or if it please thee, I will give thee money, the price of this thy vineyard, and I will have it for a garden of herbs.
3 And sayd vnto him, Thus sayth Ben-hadad, Thy siluer and thy golde is mine: also thy women, and thy fayre children are mine.
And Nabuthai said to Achaab, My God forbid me that I should give thee the inheritance of my fathers.
4 And the King of Israel answered, and sayd, My lord King, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I haue.
And the spirit of Achaab was troubled, and he lay down upon his bed, and covered his face, and ate no bread.
5 And when the messengers came againe, they said, Thus commandeth Ben-hadad, and saith, When I shall send vnto thee, and command, thou shalt deliuer me thy siluer and thy golde, and thy women, and thy children,
And Jezabel his wife went in to him, and spoke to him, [saying], Why [is] thy spirit troubled, and [why] dost thou eat no bread?
6 Or els I will sende my seruants vnto thee by to morow this time: and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy seruants: and whatsoeuer is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall take it in their handes, and bring it away.
And he said to her, Because I spoke to Nabuthai the Jezraelite, saying, Give me thy vineyard for money; or if thou wilt, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers.
7 Then the King of Israel sent for all the Elders of the land, and sayd, Take heede, I pray you, and see how he seeketh mischiefe: for he sent vnto me for my wiues, and for my children, and for my siluer, and for my golde, and I denyed him not.
And Jezabel his wife said to him, Dost thou now thus act the king over Israel? arise, and eat bread, and be thine own [master], and I will give thee the vineyard of Nabuthai the Jezraelite.
8 And all the Elders, and all the people sayd to him, Hearken not vnto him, nor consent.
And she wrote a letter in the name of Achaab, and sealed it with his seal, and sent the letter to the elders, and to the freemen who dwelt with Nabuthai.
9 Wherefore hee sayde vnto the messengers of Ben-hadad, Tell my lorde the King, All that thou didddest sende for to thy seruant at the first time, that I will doe, but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him an answere.
And it was written in the letters, saying, Keep a fast, and set Naboth in a chief place among the people.
10 And Ben-hadad sent vnto him, and sayde, The gods do so to me and more also, if the dust of Samaria be ynough to all the people that follow me, for euery man an handfull.
And set two men, sons of transgressors, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, He blessed God and the king: and let them lead him forth, and stone him, and let them die.
11 And the King of Israel answered, and sayd, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth his harneis, boast himselfe, as he that putteth it off.
And the men of his city, the elders, and the nobles who dwelt in his city, did as Jezabel sent to them, and as it had been written in the letters which she sent to them.
12 And when he heard that tidings, as he was with the Kings drinking in the pauilions, he sayd vnto his seruants, Bring forth your engines, and they set them against the citie.
And they proclaimed a fast, and set Nebuthai in a chief place among the people.
13 And beholde, there came a Prophet vnto Ahab King of Israel, saying, Thus sayeth the Lord, Hast thou seene all this great multitude? beholde, I will deliuer it into thine hande this day, that thou mayest knowe, that I am the Lord.
And two men, sons of transgressors, came in, and sat opposite him, and bore witness against him, saying, Thou hast blessed God and the king. And they led him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, and he died.
14 And Ahab sayd, By whome? And he sayde, Thus sayth the Lord, By the seruants of the princes of the prouinces. He sayde againe, Who shall order the battel? And he answered, Thou.
And they sent to Jezabel, saying, Nabuthai is stoned, and is dead.
15 Then he nombred the seruantes of the princes of the prouinces, and they were two hundreth, two and thirtie: and after them he nombred the whole people of all the children of Israel, euen seuen thousand.
And it came to pass, when Jezabel heard [it], that she said to Achaab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Nabuthai the Jezraelite, who would not sell it to thee: for Nebuthai is not alive, for he is dead.
16 And they went out at noone: but Ben-hadad did drinke till he was drunken in the tentes, both he and the Kings: for two and thirtie Kings helped him.
And it came to pass, when Achaab heard that Nabuthai the Jezraelite was dead, that he rent his garments, and put on sackcloth. And it came to pass afterward, that Achaab arose and went down to the vineyard of Nabuthai the Jezraelite, to take possession of it.
17 So the seruants of the princes of the prouinces went out first: and Ben-hadad sent out, and they shewed him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria.
And the Lord spoke to Eliu the Thesbite, saying,
18 And he sayde, Whether they be come out for peace, take them aliue: or whether they bee come out to fight, take them yet aliue.
Arise, and go down to meet Achaab king of Israel, who is in Samaria, for he [is] in the vineyard of Nabuthai, for he has gone down thither to take possession of it.
19 So they came out of the citie, to wit, the seruants of the princes of the prouinces, and the hoste which followed them.
And thou shalt speak to him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast slain and taken possession, therefore thus saith the Lord, In every place where the swine and the dogs have licked the blood of Nabuthai, there shall the dogs lick thy blood; and the harlots shall wash themselves in thy blood.
20 And they slew euery one his enemie: and the Aramites fled, and Israel pursued them: but Ben-hadad ye King of Aram escaped on an horse with his horsemen.
And Achaab said to Eliu, Hast thou found me, mine enemy? and he said, I have found [thee]: because thou hast wickedly sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger;
21 And the King of Israel went out, and smote the horses and charets, and with a great slaughter slew he the Aramites.
behold, I bring evil upon thee: and I will kindle a fire after thee, and I will utterly destroy every male of Achaab, and him that is shut up and him that is left in Israel.
22 (For there had come a Prophet to the King of Israel, and had sayd vnto him, Goe, be of good courage, and consider, and take heede what thou doest: for when the yeere is gone about, the King of Aram wil come vp against thee)
And I will make thy house as the house of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, and as the house of Baasa son of Achia, because of the provocations wherewith thou hast provoked [me], and caused Israel to sin.
23 Then the seruants of the King of Aram said vnto him, Their gods are gods of the moutaines, and therefore they ouercame vs: but let vs fight against them in the playne, and doubtlesse we shall ouercome them.
And the Lord spoke of Jezabel, saying, The dogs shall devour her within the fortification of Jezrael.
24 And this doe, Take the Kings away, euery one out of his place, and place captaines for them.
Him that is dead of Achaab in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that is dead of him in the field shall the birds of the sky eat.
25 And nomber thy selfe an armie, like the armie that thou hast lost, with such horses, and such charets, and we wil fight against them in the plaine, and doubtlesse we shall ouercome them: and he hearkened vnto their voyce, and did so.
But Achaab [did] wickedly, in that he sold himself to do that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his wife Jezabel led him astray.
26 And after the yeere was gone about, Ben-hadad nombred the Aramites, and went vp to Aphek to fight against Israel.
And he did very abominably in following after the abominations, according to all that the Amorite did, whom the Lord utterly destroyed from before the children of Israel.
27 And the children of Israel were nombred, and were all assembled and went against them, and the children of Israel pitched before them, like two litle flockes of kiddes: but the Aramites filled the countrey.
And because of the word, Achaab was pierced with sorrow before the Lord, and he both went weeping, and rent his garment, and girt sackcloth upon his body, and fasted; he put on sackcloth also in the day that he smote Nabuthai the Jezraelite, and went his way.
28 And there came a man of God, and spake vnto the King of Israel, saying, Thus sayeth the Lord, Because the Aramites haue sayd, The Lord is the God of the mountaines, and not God of the valleis, therefore will I deliuer all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
And the word of the Lord came by the hand of his servant Eliu concerning Achaab, and the Lord said,
29 And they pitched one ouer against the other seuen dayes, and in the seuenth day the battel was ioyned: and the children of Israel slew of the Aramites an hundreth thousand footemen in one day.
Hast thou seen how Achaab has been pricked [to the heart] before me? I will not bring on the evil in his days, but in his son's days will I bring on the evil.
30 But the rest fled to Aphek into the citie: and there fel a wall vpon seuen and twentie thousand men that were left: and Ben-hadad fled into the citie, and came into a secret chamber.
And the son of Ader gathered all his forces, and went up and besieged Samaria, [he] and thirty-two kings with him, and all [his] horse and chariots: and they went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it.
31 And his seruants sayd vnto him, Beholde nowe, we haue heard say that the Kings of the house of Israel are mercifull Kings: we pray thee, let vs put sacke cloth about our loynes, and ropes about our heads, and goe out to the King of Israel: it may be that he will saue thy life.
And he sent into the city to Achaab king of Israel, and said to him, Thus says the son of Ader,
32 Then they gyrded sackecloth about their loynes, and put ropes about their heads, and came to the King of Israel, and sayd, Thy seruant Ben-hadad sayth, I pray thee, let me liue: and he sayd, Is he yet aliue? he is my brother.
Thy silver and thy gold are mine, and thy wives and thy children are mine.
33 Now the men tooke diliget heede, if they could catch any thing of him, and made haste, and sayd, Thy brother Ben-hadad. And he sayd, Go, bring him. So Ben-hadad came out vnto him, and he caused him to come vp vnto the chariot.
And the king of Israel answered and said, As thou hast said, my lord, O king, I am thine, and all mine [also].
34 And Ben-hadad sayd vnto him, The cities, which my father tooke from thy father, I wil restore, and thou shalt make streetes for thee in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will let thee goe with this couenant. So he made a couenant with him, and let him goe.
And the messengers came again, and said, Thus says the son of Ader, I sent to thee, saying, Thou shalt give me thy silver and thy gold, and thy wives and thy children.
35 Then a certaine man of the children of the Prophets sayd vnto his neighbour by the comandement of the Lord, Smite me, I pray thee. But the man refused to smite him.
For at this time to-morrow I will send my servants to thee, and they shall search thy house, and the houses of thy servants, and it shall be that all the desirable objects of their eyes on which they shall lay their hands, they shall even take [them].
36 Then sayd he vnto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voyce of the Lord, beholde, as soone as thou art departed from me, a lyon shall slay thee. So when he was departed from him, a lyon found him and slew him.
And the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, Take notice now and consider, that this man seeks mischief: for he has sent to me concerning my wives, and concerning my sons, an concerning my daughters: I have not kept back from him my silver and my gold.
37 Then he founde another man, and sayde, Smite mee, I pray thee. And the man smote him, and in smiting wounded him.
And the elders and all the people said to him, Hearken not, and consent not.
38 So the Prophet departed, and wayted for the King by the way, and disguised himselfe with ashes vpon his face.
And he said to the messengers of the son of Ader, Say to your master, All things that thou hast sent to thy servant about at first I will do; but this thing I shall not be able to do. And the men departed, and carried back the answer to him.
39 And when the King came by, he cried vnto the King, and said, Thy seruant went into the middes of the battel: and beholde, there went away a man, whom another man brought vnto me, and sayd, Keepe this man: if he be lost, and want, thy life shall go for his life, or els thou shalt pay a talent of siluer.
And the son of Ader sent to him, saying, So do God to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for foxes to all the people, even my infantry.
40 And as thy seruant had here and there to do, he was gone: And the King of Israel said vnto him, So shall thy iudgement be: thou hast giuen sentence.
And the king of Israel answered and said, Let it be sufficient; let not the humpbacked boast as he that is upright.
41 And hee hasted, and tooke the ashes away from his face: and the King of Israel knewe him that he was of the Prophets:
And it came to pass when he returned him this answer, he and all the kings with him were drinking in tents: and he said to his servants, Form a trench. And they made a trench against the city.
42 And he said vnto him, Thus saith the Lord, Because thou hast let goe out of thine handes a man whom I appoynted to dye, thy life shall goe for his life, and thy people for his people.
And, behold, a prophet came to Achaab king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou seen this great multitude? behold, I give it this day into thine hands; and thou shalt know that I [am] the Lord.
43 And the King of Israel went to his house heauie and in displeasure, and came to Samaria.
And Achaab said, Whereby? And he said, Thus saith the Lord, by the young men of the heads of the districts. And Achaab said, Who shall begin the battle? and he said, Thou.
