¹It happened after these words that a vineyard belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite, which was in Jezreel, beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

²Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying: Give me your vineyard, and let it be a vegetable garden for me, for it is near, beside my house; and I will give you in its place a vineyard better than it. Or, if it is good in your eyes, I will give you its price in silver.

³Naboth said to Ahab: Far be it from me, from Yahweh, to give you the inheritance of my fathers.

⁴Ahab went to his house, sullen and vexed over the word that Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him, for he had said: I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. He lay down on his bed, turned his face away, and did not eat bread.

⁵His wife Jezebel came to him and spoke to him: What is this, that your breath is sullen, and you are not eating bread?

⁶He spoke to her: Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, Give me your vineyard for silver, or if you desire, I will give you a vineyard in its place; and he said, I will not give you my vineyard.

⁷His wife Jezebel said to him: Do you now exercise kingship over Israel? Get up, eat bread, and let your heart be glad; I myself will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

⁸She wrote letters in the name of Ahab, sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, those who dwell with Naboth.

⁹She wrote in the letters: Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the people.

¹⁰Seat two men, sons of worthlessness, opposite him, and have them testify against him: You have cursed God and the king! Then take him out and stone him, so that he dies.

¹¹And the men of his city, the elders and the nobles, those who dwelt in his city, did just as Jezebel had sent word to them, as it was written in the letters that she had sent to them.

¹²They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the people.

¹³The two men, sons of worthlessness, came and sat opposite him, and the men of worthlessness testified against Naboth before the people: Naboth has cursed God and the king! Then they took him out, outside the city, and stoned him with stones, and he died.

¹⁴They sent to Jezebel, saying: Naboth has been stoned, and he is dead.

¹⁵It happened, when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab: Get up, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for silver; for Naboth is not alive, but dead.

¹⁶It happened, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab got up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

¹⁷The word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying:

¹⁸Get up, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria; look, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it.

¹⁹You are to speak to him, saying: This is what Yahweh says: Have you murdered, and also taken possession? Then speak to him, saying: This is what Yahweh says: In the place where the dogs lapped the blood of Naboth, the dogs will lap your blood, you too.

²⁰Ahab said to Elijah: Have you found me, my enemy? He said: I have found you, because you sold yourself to do the evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

²¹Here I am bringing evil to you, and I will burn up what follows you, and I will cut off from Ahab the one who urinates on a wall, and the restrained and the forsaken in Israel.

²²I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you provoked me to anger, and you made Israel sin.

²³And also of Jezebel Yahweh has spoken, saying: The dogs will eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel.

²⁴The one of Ahab who dies in the city, the dogs will eat; and the one who dies in the field, the birds of the skies will eat.

²⁵Surely there was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do the evil in the eyes of Yahweh, whom Jezebel his wife urged on.

²⁶He acted very abominably, going after the idols, just as all that the Amorites had done, whom Yahweh dispossessed from the face of the children of Israel.

²⁷It happened, when Ahab heard these words, he tore his garments, put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted; he lay down in the sackcloth and went about gently.

²⁸The word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying:

²⁹Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before my face? Because he has humbled himself before my face, I will not bring the disaster in his days; in the days of his son I will bring the disaster upon his house.