|
|
|
||||||||
From The Bible Gateway
Back to my page1 Kings 21 (English-NIV)
1Some time later there was an incident involving a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. The vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.
2
Ahab said to Naboth, "Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth."
3
But Naboth replied, "The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers."
4
So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, "I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers." He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat.
5
His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, "Why are you so sullen? Why won't you eat?"
6
He answered her, "Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, `Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.' But he said, `I will not give you my vineyard.'"
7
Jezebel his wife said, "Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I'll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."
8
So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth's city with him.
9
In those letters she wrote: "Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people.
10
But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death."
11
So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth's city did as Jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them.
12
They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth in a prominent place among the people.
13
Then two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Naboth before the people, saying, "Naboth has cursed both God and the king." So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death.
14
Then they sent word to Jezebel: "Naboth has been stoned and is dead."
15
As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, "Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead."
16
When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth's vineyard.
17
Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite:
18
"Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He is now in Naboth's vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it.
19
Say to him, `This is what the LORD says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?' Then say to him, `This is what the LORD says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth's blood, dogs will lick up your blood--yes, yours!'"
20
Ahab said to Elijah, "So you have found me, my enemy!" "I have found you," he answered, "because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD.
21
`I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel--slave or free.
22
I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin.'
23
"And also concerning Jezebel the LORD says: `Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.'
24
"Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country."
25
(There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife.
26
He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the LORD drove out before Israel.)
27
When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.
28
Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite:
29
"Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son."
2 Kings 9 (English-NIV)
1The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and said to him, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead.
2
When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him, get him away from his companions and take him into an inner room.
3
Then take the flask and pour the oil on his head and declare, `This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.' Then open the door and run; don't delay!"
4
So the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead.
5
When he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. "I have a message for you, commander," he said. "For which of us?" asked Jehu. "For you, commander," he replied.
6
Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu's head and declared, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `I anoint you king over the LORD's people Israel.
7
You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the LORD's servants shed by Jezebel.
8
The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel--slave or free.
9
I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah.
10
As for Jezebel, dogs will devour her on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and no one will bury her.'" Then he opened the door and ran.
11
When Jehu went out to his fellow officers, one of them asked him, "Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?" "You know the man and the sort of things he says," Jehu replied.
12
"That's not true!" they said. "Tell us." Jehu said, "Here is what he told me: `This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.'"
13
They hurried and took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, "Jehu is king!"
14
So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth Gilead against Hazael king of Aram,
15
but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him in the battle with Hazael king of Aram.) Jehu said, "If this is the way you feel, don't let anyone slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel."
16
Then he got into his chariot and rode to Jezreel, because Joram was resting there and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.
17
When the lookout standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu's troops approaching, he called out, "I see some troops coming." "Get a horseman," Joram ordered. "Send him to meet them and ask, `Do you come in peace?'"
18
The horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, "This is what the king says: `Do you come in peace?'" "What do you have to do with peace?" Jehu replied. "Fall in behind me." The lookout reported, "The messenger has reached them, but he isn't coming back."
19
So the king sent out a second horseman. When he came to them he said, "This is what the king says: `Do you come in peace?'" Jehu replied, "What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me."
20
The lookout reported, "He has reached them, but he isn't coming back either. The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi--he drives like a madman."
21
"Hitch up my chariot," Joram ordered. And when it was hitched up, Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah rode out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him at the plot of ground that had belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite.
22
When Joram saw Jehu he asked, "Have you come in peace, Jehu?" "How can there be peace," Jehu replied, "as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?"
23
Joram turned about and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, "Treachery, Ahaziah!"
24
Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart and he slumped down in his chariot.
25
Jehu said to Bidkar, his chariot officer, "Pick him up and throw him on the field that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were riding together in chariots behind Ahab his father when the LORD made this prophecy about him:
26
`Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, declares the LORD, and I will surely make you pay for it on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.' Now then, pick him up and throw him on that plot, in accordance with the word of the LORD."
27
When Ahaziah king of Judah saw what had happened, he fled up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him, shouting, "Kill him too!" They wounded him in his chariot on the way up to Gur near Ibleam, but he escaped to Megiddo and died there.
28
His servants took him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of David.
29
(In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king of Judah.)
30
Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window.
31
As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, "Have you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?"
32
He looked up at the window and called out, "Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked down at him.
33
"Throw her down!" Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.
34
Jehu went in and ate and drank. "Take care of that cursed woman," he said, "and bury her, for she was a king's daughter."
35
But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands.
36
They went back and told Jehu, who said, "This is the word of the LORD that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel's flesh.
37
Jezebel's body will be like refuse on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, `This is Jezebel.'"