1 Kings 21

1 And it came to pass after these events, that Naboth the Yizre'elite had a vineyard, which was in Yizre'el, near the palace of Achab the king of Samaria.

King Ahab had a palace in Jezreel [city]. Near the palace was a vineyard owned by a man from that city whose name was Naboth.

2 And Achab spoke unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that it may serve me for a herb-garden, because it is near unto my house; and I will give thee in its stead a vineyard better than it; [or, ] if it seem good in thy eyes, I will give thee the money, the value of the same.

One day, Ahab [went to] Naboth and said to him, “Your vineyard is close to my palace. I would like to buy it, so that I can plant some vegetables there. In exchange, I will give you a better vineyard [somewhere else], or if you prefer, I will pay you for your vineyard.”

3 And Naboth said to Achab, Far be it from me before the Lord, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.

But Naboth replied, “That land belonged to my ancestors, [so I want to keep it]. I hope that Yahweh will never allow me to give that land to you!”

4 And Achab came into his house low-spirited and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Yizre'elite had spoken to him, when he said, I will not give unto thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid himself down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no food.

So Ahab became very sullen and angry because of what Naboth had said. He went home and lay down on his bed. He turned his face toward the wall, and he refused to eat anything.

5 But Izebel his wife came to him, and spoke unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad! and why eatest thou no food?

His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, “Why are you so depressed? Why are you refusing to eat anything?”

6 And he said unto her, Because I spoke unto Naboth the Yizre'elite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee a vineyard in its stead; but he hath said, I will not give unto thee my vineyard.

Ahab replied, “I talked to Naboth, that man from Jezreel. I told him that [I wanted] his vineyard. [I said, ] ‘I will buy it from you, or I will give you another vineyard for it.’ But he refused [to let me have it].”

7 Then said unto him Izebel his wife, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, eat bread, and let thy heart be merry: I will myself give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Yizre'elite.

His wife replied, “You are [RHQ] the king of Israel, [so you can get whatever you want] Get up, and eat some food and do not worry [about what Naboth said]. I will get Naboth’s vineyard for you.”

8 So she wrote letters in Achab's name, and sealed them with his seal; and she sent the letters unto the elders and unto the nobles who were in his city, and who dwelt near Naboth.

Then Jezebel wrote some letters, and she signed Ahab’s name on them. She used his official seal to seal them. Then she sent them to the older leaders and other important men who lived in Naboth’s town.

9 And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and cause Naboth to sit at the head of the people;

This is what she wrote in the letters: “Proclaim a day when all the people will [gather together and] (fast/abstain from eating food). Give to Naboth an important place to sit among them.

10 And seat two men, worthless fellows, opposite to him, and let them bear witness against him, saying, Thou hast blasphemed God and the king; and then lead him forth, and stone him, that he may die.

Then find two men who always cause trouble. Give them places to sit opposite/facing him. Tell these men to testify that they heard Naboth say things that criticized God and the king. Then take Naboth out of the city and kill him by throwing stones at him.”

11 And the men of his city, the elders and the nobles, those who dwelt in his city, did as Izebel had sent unto them, as was written in the letters which she had sent unto them.

The leaders [received the letters and] did what Jezebel had written in the letters for them to do.

12 They proclaimed a fast, and caused Naboth to sit at the head of the people.

They declared a day on which the people would all (fast/abstain from food). And they gave Naboth a seat in a place where honored people sat, in front of the people.

13 And there came in two men, worthless fellows, and seated themselves opposite to him; and these worthless men testified against him, against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth hath blasphemed God and the king. Then they led him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died.

Two men who always caused trouble sat opposite/facing Naboth. While everyone was listening, they stated that they had heard Naboth say things that criticized God and the king. So the people seized Naboth. They took him outside the city and killed him [by throwing] stones at him.

14 And they sent to Izebel, saying, Naboth hath been stoned, and is dead.

Then those leaders sent a message to Jezebel, saying “We have executed Naboth.”

15 And it came to pass, when Izebel heard that Naboth had been stoned, and was dead, that Izebel said to Achab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Yizre'elite, which he refused to give thee for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead.

When Jezebel found out that Naboth had been killed, she told Ahab, “Naboth is dead. Now you can go and take possession of the vineyard that he refused to sell to you.”

16 And it came to pass, when Achab heard that Naboth was dead, that Achab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Yizre'elite, to take possession of it.

When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went to the vineyard to claim that he now owned it.

17 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

Then Yahweh spoke to Elijah the prophet. He said,

18 Arise, go down to meet Achab the king of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to take possession of it.

“Go to Samaria and talk to Ahab, the king of Israel. He is in the vineyard of a man named Naboth. He has gone there to claim that he now owns it.

19 And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus hath said the Lord, Hast thou murdered, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus hath said the Lord, In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall the dogs lick thy blood, yes, thine also.

Tell Ahab that this is what I, Yahweh, say to him: ‘You have murdered Naboth and taken his land.’ So I am telling you this: ‘In the same place where [Naboth died and] dogs came and licked up Naboth’s blood, [you will die and] the dogs will lick up your blood, too!’”

20 And Achab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O my enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to do what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.

So when Elijah met with Ahab, Ahab said to him, “You, my enemy, have found me!” [RHQ] Elijah answered, “Yes, I have found you. You have never stopped doing the things that Yahweh says are wrong.

21 Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and I will sweep out after thee, and will cut off from Achab every male, and the guarded and fortified in Israel,

So this is what Yahweh says to you: ‘I will soon get rid of you. I will kill you, and I will also kill every male in your household, including those who are slaves and those who are not slaves.

22 And I will make thy house like the house of Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, and like the house of Ba'sha the son of Achiyah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked [me] to anger, and induced Israel to sin.

Your family will all be killed, just like the family of King Jeroboam and like the family of King Baasha were killed. I will get rid of you because you have caused me to become very angry, and you have also led the Israeli people to sin.’

23 And also concerning Izebel hath the Lord spoken, saying, The dogs shall eat Izebel in the valley of Yizre'el.

Yahweh has also told me that [your wife] Jezebel [will be killed, and] dogs in Jezreel will eat her corpse.

24 Him that dieth of Achab in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the heavens eat.

The [dead bodies of the] members of your family who die in this city [will not be buried, they] will be eaten by dogs, and [the corpses of] those who die in the fields will be eaten by vultures.”

25 But indeed there was none like unto Achab, who sold himself to do what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, to which Izebel his wife incited him.

There was no man no man like Ahab who always did things that Yahweh considered to be evil. His wife Jezebel incited/urged him to do [many of] those things.

26 And he acted very abominably in following the idols, in all things just as had done the Emorites, whom the Lord had driven out from before the children of Israel.

The most abominable/detestable thing that Ahab did was to worship idols, just like the Amor people-group had done. And that is why Yahweh took the Amor people’s land from them and gave it to the Israelis.

27 And it came to pass, when Achab heard these words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and slept in the sackcloth, and walked about barefooted.

After Elijah finished talking to Ahab, Ahab tore his clothes [to show that he was sorry for all the sins that he had committed]. He put on rough clothes that were made from sacks, and he refused to eat anything. He even wore those rough clothes made from sacks when he slept, to show that he was sorry.

28 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

Then Yahweh said this to Elijah:

29 Hast thou seen how Achab hath humbled himself before me? therefore, because he hath humbled himself before me, will I not bring the evil in his days: in the days of his son will I bring the evil upon his house.

“I have seen [RHQ] that Ahab is now very sorry for all the evil things that he has done. So the things that I promised to do to his [family] will not happen while he is still alive. I will cause them to happen after his son becomes king. Then those things will happen to his family.” [MTY]