1 Kings 21

1 It happened after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was 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 Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near to my house; and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money."

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 Naboth said to Ahab, "May YHWH forbid me, that I should give 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 Ahab came into his house sullen and angry because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, "I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers." He laid himself down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no 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 But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, "Why is your spirit so sad, that you eat no bread?"

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

6 He said to her, "Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite, and said to him, 'Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another vineyard for it.' He answered, 'I will not give you 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 Jezebel his wife said to him, "Do you now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."

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 Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived 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 She wrote in the letters, saying, "Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among 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 Set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, 'You cursed God and the king.' Then carry him out, and stone him to death."

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 The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, according as it was written in the letters which she had sent to 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 set Naboth on high among 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 The two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him. The base fellows testified against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, "Naboth cursed God and the king." Then they carried him out of the city, and stoned him to death with stones.

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 Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, "Naboth has been stoned, and is dead."

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

15 It happened, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, "Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give 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 It happened, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, 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 The word of YHWH came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

Then Yahweh spoke to Elijah the prophet. He said,

18 "Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who dwells in Samaria. Look, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has 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 You shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says YHWH, "Have you killed and also taken possession?"' You shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says YHWH, "In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs will 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 said to Elijah, "Have you found me, my enemy?" And he answered, "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in the sight of YHWH, to provoke him to anger.

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 Thus says YHWH, 'Look, I will bring disaster on you, and will utterly sweep you away and will cut off from Ahab everyone, slave or free 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 I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah for the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger, and have made 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 YHWH also spoke of Jezebel, saying, "The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the district 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 will eat he who dies of Ahab in the city; and the birds of the sky will eat he who dies in the 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 But there was none like Ahab, who sold himself to do that which was evil in the sight of YHWH, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.

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 He did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom YHWH cast out 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 It happened, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.

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 The word of YHWH came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

Then Yahweh said this to Elijah:

29 "See how Ahab humbles himself before me? Because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son's days will I bring the disaster on 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]