19 Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Have you murdered(A) and also taken possession?’(B) Then tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: In the place where the dogs licked Naboth’s blood, the dogs will also lick your blood!’”(C)

20 Ahab said to Elijah, “So, you have caught me, my enemy.”(D)

He replied, “I have caught you because you devoted(E) yourself to do what is evil in the Lord’s sight. 21 This is what the Lord says:[a] ‘I am about to bring disaster on you and will sweep away your descendants:

I will eliminate all of Ahab’s males,[b]
both slave and free, in Israel;(F)

22 I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam(G) son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha(H) son of Ahijah, because you have provoked My anger and caused Israel to sin.(I) 23 The Lord also speaks of Jezebel: The dogs will eat Jezebel in the plot of land[c] at Jezreel:(J)

24 He who belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, the dogs will eat,
and he who dies in the field, the birds of the sky will eat.’”(K)

25 Still, there was no one like Ahab, who devoted himself to do what was evil in the Lord’s sight, because his wife Jezebel incited him.(L) 26 He committed the most detestable acts by going after idols(M) as the Amorites(N) had, whom the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.

27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put sackcloth over his body, and fasted. He lay down in sackcloth(O) and walked around subdued. 28 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: 29 “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? I will not bring the disaster during his lifetime,(P) because he has humbled himself before Me. I will bring the disaster on his house during his son’s lifetime.”(Q)

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 21:21 LXX; MT omits This is what the Lord says
  2. 1 Kings 21:21 Lit eliminate Ahab’s one who urinates against the wall
  3. 1 Kings 21:23 Some Hb mss, Syr, Tg, Vg, 2Kg 9:36; other Hb mss, LXX read the rampart

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