1 Kings 21-22

New American Standard Bible

Ahab Covets Naboth’s Vineyard

21 Now it came about after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in ^(A)Jezreel beside the palace of Ahab, the king of Samaria. ² And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “^(B)Give me your vineyard so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is close beside my house, and I will give you a better vineyard in place of it; if ^[a]you prefer, I will give you what ^[b]it is worth in money.” ³ But Naboth said to Ahab, “The Lord forbid me ^(C)that I would give you the inheritance of my fathers!” ^4 (D)So Ahab entered his house sullen and furious because of the ^[c]answer that Naboth the Jezreelite had given to him, since he said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” And he lay down on his bed and turned his face away, and ate no ^[d]food.

⁵ But Jezebel his wife came to him and said to him, “How is it that your spirit is so sullen that you are not eating ^[e]food?” ⁶ So he said to her, “It is because I was speaking to Naboth the Jezreelite and saying to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you a vineyard in place of it.’ But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” ⁷ Jezebel his wife said to him, “^(E)Do you now ^[f]reign over Israel? Arise, eat bread, and let your heart be joyful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

^8 (F)So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to ^(G)the elders and to the nobles who were living with Naboth in his city. ⁹ Now she had written in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people; ¹⁰ and seat two ^(H)worthless men opposite him, and have them testify against him, saying, ‘^(I)You ^[g]cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and ^(J)stone him ^[h]to death.”

Jezebel’s Plot

¹¹ So the men of his city, the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did just as Jezebel had sent word to them, just as it was written in the letters which she had sent them. ¹² They ^(K)proclaimed a fast, and seated Naboth at the head of the people. ¹³ Then the two worthless men came in and sat opposite him; and the worthless men testified against him, against Naboth, before the people, saying, “Naboth ^[i]cursed God and the king.” ^(L)So they took him outside the city and stoned him ^[j]to death with stones. ¹⁴ Then they sent word to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned and is dead.”

¹⁵ And when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, 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.” ¹⁶ When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab got up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

¹⁷ Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ¹⁸ “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, ^(M)who is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. ¹⁹ And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: “^(N)Have you murdered and also taken possession?”’ And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘The Lord says this: “^(O)In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, the dogs will lick up your blood, yours as well.”’”

²⁰ Then Ahab said to Elijah, “^(P)Have you found me, enemy of mine?” And he ^[k]answered, “I have found you, ^(Q)because you have given yourself over to do evil in the sight of the Lord. ²¹ Behold, I am bringing disaster upon you, and I ^(R)will utterly sweep you away, and will eliminate from Ahab every male, both ^[l]bond and free in Israel; ²² and ^(S)I will make your house ^(T)like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and because you ^(U)have misled Israel into sin. ²³ The Lord has also spoken of Jezebel, saying, ‘^(V)The dogs will eat Jezebel in the ^[m]territory of Jezreel.’ ^24 (W)The one belonging to Ahab, who dies in the city, the dogs will eat; and the one who dies in the field, the birds of the sky will eat.”

^25 (X)There certainly was no one like Ahab who gave himself over to do evil in the sight of the Lord, ^[n]because Jezebel his wife incited him. ^26 (Y)He also acted very despicably in following idols, ^(Z)conforming to everything that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord drove out from the sons of Israel.

²⁷ Yet it came about, when Ahab heard these words, that ^(AA)he tore his clothes and put ^[o]on sackcloth and fasted, and he lay in sackcloth and went about despondently. ²⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ²⁹ “Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; I will bring the disaster upon his house ^(AB)in his son’s days.”

Ahab’s Third Campaign against Aram

22 Now ^[p]three years passed without war between Aram and Israel. ^2 (AC)In the third year, ^(AD)Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. ³ Now the king of Israel said to his servants, “Are you aware that ^(AE)Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, yet we are hesitant to take it out of the hand of the king of Aram?” ⁴ So he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go to battle with me at Ramoth-gilead?” And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “^[q](AF)Consider me yours, my people yours, and my horses yours!”

⁵ However, Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please request the word of the Lord ^[r]first.” ⁶ So ^(AG)the king of Israel assembled the ^[s]prophets, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Should I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead or should I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for the Lord will hand it over to the king.” ⁷ But ^(AH)Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no longer a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of him?” ⁸ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, because he does not prophesy anything good regarding me, but only bad. He is Micaiah the son of Imlah.” But Jehoshaphat said, “May the king not say so.” ⁹ Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah quickly.” ¹⁰ Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting, each on his throne, dressed in their robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and ^(AI)all the prophets were prophesying before them. ¹¹ Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made ^(AJ)horns of iron for himself and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘^(AK)With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed!’” ¹² All the prophets were prophesying this as well, saying, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and succeed, for the Lord will hand it over to the king.”

Micaiah Predicts Defeat

¹³ Then the messenger who went to summon Micaiah spoke to him saying, “Behold now, the words of the prophets are ^[t]unanimously favorable to the king. Please let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” ¹⁴ But Micaiah said, “^(AL)As the Lord lives, whatever ^(AM)the Lord says to me, I shall speak it.”

¹⁵ When he came to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, should we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or should we refrain?” And he said, “^(AN)Go up and succeed, for the Lord will hand it over to the king!” ¹⁶ Then the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear that you will tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?” ¹⁷ So he said,

¹⁸ Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “^(AP)Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy anything good regarding me, but only bad?”

¹⁹ And Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. ^(AQ)I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and ^(AR)all the ^[u]angels of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left. ²⁰ And the Lord said, ‘Who will ^[v]entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one spirit said this, while another said that. ²¹ Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will ^[w]entice him.’ ²² And the Lord said to him, ‘How?’ And he said, ‘I will go out and ^(AS)be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You shall ^[x]entice him, and you will also prevail. Go and do so.’ ²³ Now then, behold, ^(AT)the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours; and the Lord has declared disaster against you.”

²⁴ Then ^(AU)Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah approached and struck Micaiah on the cheek; and he said, “^(AV)How did the Spirit of the Lord pass from me to speak to you?” ²⁵ And Micaiah said, “Behold, you are going to see how on that day when you ^(AW)go from one inner room to ^[y]another trying to hide yourself.” ²⁶ Then the king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king’s son; ²⁷ and say, ‘This is what the king says: “^(AX)Put this man in prison, and feed him enough bread and water to survive until I ^[z]return safely.”’” ²⁸ But Micaiah said, “^(AY)If you actually return ^[aa]safely, the Lord has not spoken by me.” And he said, “^(AZ)Listen, all you people!”

Defeat and Death of Ahab

²⁹ So ^(BA)the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up against Ramoth-gilead. ³⁰ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “^(BB)I will disguise myself and go into the battle, but you put on your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle. ³¹ Now ^(BC)the king of Aram had commanded the thirty-two commanders of his chariots, saying, “Do not fight with the small or great, but only with the king of Israel.” ³² So when the commanders of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “Surely he is the king of Israel!” And they turned aside to fight against him, and Jehoshaphat cried out. ³³ Then, when the commanders of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.

³⁴ Now one man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel ^[ab]in a joint of the armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn ^[ac]around and take me out of the battle, ^(BD)for I am severely wounded.” ³⁵ The battle ^[ad]raged on that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot in front of the Arameans, and he died at evening, and the blood from the wound ran into the bottom of the chariot. ^36 (BE)Then the word passed throughout the army close to sunset, saying, “Every man to his city, and every man to his ^[ae]country!”

³⁷ So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. ³⁸ They washed out the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood (it was there that the prostitutes bathed themselves) ^(BF)in accordance with the word of the Lord which He had spoken. ³⁹ Now as for the rest of the acts of Ahab and everything that he did, and ^(BG)the ivory house which he built and all the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ⁴⁰ So Ahab ^[af]lay down with his fathers, and his son Ahaziah became king in his place.

The New Rulers

^41 (BH)Now Jehoshaphat the son of Asa became king over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. ⁴² Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for twenty-five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. ^43 (BI)He walked ^[ag]entirely in the way of his father Asa; he did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. ^(BJ)However, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ^44 (BK)Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.

⁴⁵ Now as for the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might which he showed and how he made war, are they not written ^(BL)in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ⁴⁶ And the remnant of ^(BM)the cult prostitutes who remained in the days of his father Asa, he eliminated from the land.

⁴⁷ Now ^(BN)there was no king in Edom; a governor served as king. ⁴⁸ Jehoshaphat built ^(BO)ships of Tarshish to go to ^(BP)Ophir for gold, but ^(BQ)they did not go, because the ships were destroyed at ^(BR)Ezion-geber. ⁴⁹ Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships.” But Jehoshaphat was not willing. ^50 (BS)And Jehoshaphat ^[ah]lay down with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David, and his son Jehoram became king in his place.

⁵¹ Ahaziah the son of Ahab ^(BT)became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel for two years. ⁵² He did evil in the sight of the Lord and ^(BU)walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who misled Israel into sin. ^53 (BV)So he served Baal and worshiped him, and provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger, according to all that his father had done.