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,
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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.”
3
And Naboth says to Ahab, “Far be it from me, by YHWH, my giving the inheritance of my fathers to you”;
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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.
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?”
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.”
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.”
Jezebel’s Plot
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,
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and she writes in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast, and cause Naboth to sit at the head of the people,
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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.”
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,
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they have proclaimed a fast, and caused Naboth to sit at the head of the people,
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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;
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and they send to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth was stoned, and is dead.”
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.”
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.
Elijah Denounces Ahab and Jezebel
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And the word of YHWH is to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
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“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,
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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.”
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;
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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,
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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.
23
And YHWH has also spoken of Jezebel, saying, The dogs eat Jezebel in the bulwark of Jezreel;
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the dogs eat him who dies of Ahab in a city, and [the] bird of the heavens eats him who dies in a field;
Ahab’s Repentance
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surely there has been none like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of YHWH, whom his wife Jezebel has moved,
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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.”
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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.
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And the word of YHWH is to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
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“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.”
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