1 Kings 21:17-29

New King James Version

The Lord Condemns Ahab

^17 (A)Then the word of the Lord came to ^(B)Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ¹⁸ “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, ^(C)who lives in Samaria. There he is, in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. ¹⁹ You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Have you murdered and also taken possession?” ’ And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(D)“In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours.” ’ ”

²⁰ So Ahab said to Elijah, ^(E)“Have you found me, O my enemy?”

And he answered, “I have found you, because ^(F)you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord: ²¹ ‘Behold, ^(G)I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your ^(H)posterity, and will cut off from Ahab ^(I)every male in Israel, both ^(J)bond and free. ²² I will make your house like the house of ^(K)Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of ^(L)Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and made Israel sin.’ ²³ And ^(M)concerning Jezebel the Lord also spoke, saying, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the ^[a]wall of Jezreel.’ ²⁴ The dogs shall eat ^(N)whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field.”

²⁵ But ^(O)there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, ^(P)because Jezebel his wife ^[b]stirred him up. ²⁶ And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all ^(Q)that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

²⁷ So it was, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes and ^(R)put sackcloth on his body, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went about mourning.

²⁸ And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ²⁹ “See how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he ^(S)has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity in his days. ^(T)In the days of his son I will bring the calamity on his house.”