1 Kings 21

1 And it comes to pass after these things, a vineyard has been to Naboth the Jezreelite, that [is] in Jezreel, near the palace of Ahab 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 Ahab speaks to Naboth, saying, “Give your vineyard to me, and it is for a garden of green herbs for me, for it [is] near by my house, and I give to you a better vineyard than it in its stead; if [this is] good in your eyes, I give to you its price [in] silver.”

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 says to Ahab, “Far be it from me, by YHWH, my giving the inheritance of my fathers to you”;

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 Ahab comes to his house, sulky and angry, because of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite has spoken to him when he says, “I do not give the inheritance of my fathers to you,” and he lies down on his bed, and turns around his face, and has not eaten bread.

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 And his wife Jezebel comes to him, and speaks to him, “Why [is] this [that] your spirit [is] sulky, and you are not eating bread?”

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

6 And he says to her, “Because I speak to Naboth the Jezreelite, and say to him, Give your vineyard to me for money, or if you desire, I give a vineyard to you in its stead; and he says, I do not give my vineyard to you.”

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 And his wife Jezebel says to him, “You now execute rule over Israel! Rise, eat bread, and let your heart be glad—I give the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to you.”

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 And she writes letters in the name of Ahab, and seals with his seal, and sends the letters to the elderly and to the nobles who are in his city, those dwelling with 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 writes 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 cause two men—sons of worthlessness—to sit opposite him, and they testify of him, saying, You have blessed [[or cursed]] God and [the] king; and they have brought him out, and stoned him, and he dies.”

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 elderly and the nobles who are dwelling in his city, do as Jezebel has sent to them, as written in the letters that she sent to them,

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

12 they have 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 two men—sons of worthlessness—come in, and sit opposite him, and the men of worthlessness testify of him, even Naboth, before the people, saying, “Naboth blessed [[or cursed]] God and [the] king”; and they take him out to the outside of the city, and stone him with stones, and he dies;

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 send to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth was stoned, and is dead.”

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

15 And it comes to pass, at Jezebel’s hearing that Naboth has been stoned, and is dead, that Jezebel says to Ahab, “Rise, possess the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, that he refused to give to you 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 comes to pass, at Ahab’s hearing that Naboth is dead, that Ahab rises to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to possess 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 YHWH is to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

Then Yahweh spoke to Elijah the prophet. He said,

18 “Rise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who [is] in Samaria—behold, in the vineyard of Naboth, to where he has gone down to possess 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 you have spoken to him, saying, Thus said YHWH: Have you murdered, and also possessed? And you have spoken to him, saying, Thus said YHWH: In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs lick your blood, even yours.”

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 Ahab says to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” And he says, “I have found—because of your selling yourself to do evil in the eyes of YHWH;

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 am bringing calamity on you, and have taken away your posterity, and cut off from Ahab those sitting on the wall, and restrained, and left, 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 given up your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, for the provocation with which you have provoked [Me], and cause 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 YHWH has also spoken of Jezebel, saying, The dogs eat Jezebel in the bulwark of Jezreel;

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

24 the dogs eat him who dies of Ahab in a city, and [the] bird of the heavens eats him who dies in a field;

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 surely there has been none like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of YHWH, whom his wife Jezebel has moved,

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 does very abominably to go after the idols, according to all that the Amorite did whom YHWH dispossessed from the presence of the sons 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 comes to pass, at Ahab’s hearing these words, that he tears his garments, and puts sackcloth on his flesh, and fasts, and lies in sackcloth, and goes gently.

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 YHWH is to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

Then Yahweh said this to Elijah:

29 “Have you seen that Ahab has been humbled before Me? Because that he has been humbled before Me, I do not bring in the calamity in his days; I bring in the calamity on his house in the days of his son.”

“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]