1 Kings 20:1-22:38

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

V. The Story of Ahab^[a]

Chapter 20

Ahab’s Victories over Aram.^{[b] 1} Ben-hadad, king of Aram, gathered all his forces and, accompanied by thirty-two kings with horses and chariotry, set out to besiege and attack Samaria. ² He sent messengers to Ahab, king of Israel, within the city, ³ and said to him, “This is Ben-hadad’s message: ‘Your silver and gold are mine, and your wives and your fine children are mine.’” ⁴ The king of Israel answered, “Just as you say, my lord king, I and all I have are yours.” ⁵ But the messengers came again and said, “This is Ben-hadad’s message: ‘I sent you word: Give me your silver and gold, your wives and your children. ⁶ But now I say: At this time tomorrow I will send my servants to you, and they shall ransack your house and the houses of your servants. They shall seize and take away whatever you consider valuable.’” ⁷ The king of Israel then summoned all the elders of the land and said: “Understand clearly that this man is intent on evil. When he sent to me for my wives and children, my silver and my gold, I did not refuse him.” ⁸ All the elders and all the people said to him, “Do not listen. Do not give in.” ⁹ Accordingly he directed the messengers of Ben-hadad, “Say this: ‘To my lord the king: I will do all that you demanded of your servant the first time. But this I cannot do.’” The messengers left and reported this. ¹⁰ Ben-hadad then responded, “May the gods do thus to me and more, if there will remain enough dust in Samaria to make handfuls for all my followers.” ¹¹ The king of Israel replied, “Tell him, ‘Let not one who puts on armor boast like one who takes it off.’” ¹² Ben-hadad was drinking in the pavilions with the kings when he heard this reply. He commanded his servants, “Get ready!”; and they got ready to storm the city.

¹³ Then a prophet came up to Ahab, king of Israel, and said: “The Lord says, Do you see all this vast army? Today I am giving it into your power, that you may know that I am the Lord.” ¹⁴ But Ahab asked, “Through whom will it be given over?” He answered, “The Lord says, Through the aides of the provincial governors.” Then Ahab asked, “Who is to attack?” He replied, “You are.” ¹⁵ So Ahab mustered the aides of the provincial governors, two hundred thirty-two of them. Behind them he mustered all the Israelite soldiery, who numbered seven thousand in all. ^16 [c]They marched out at noon, while Ben-hadad was drinking heavily in the pavilions with the thirty-two kings who were his allies. ¹⁷ When the aides of the provincial governors marched out first, Ben-hadad received word, “Some men have marched out of Samaria.” ¹⁸ He answered, “Whether they have come out for peace or for war, take them alive.” ¹⁹ But when these had come out of the city—the aides of the provincial governors with the army following them— ²⁰ each of them struck down his man. The Arameans fled with Israel pursuing them, while Ben-hadad, king of Aram, escaped on a chariot horse. ²¹ Then the king of Israel went out and destroyed the horses and chariots. Thus he inflicted a severe defeat on Aram.

²² Then the prophet approached the king of Israel and said to him: “Go, regroup your forces. Understand clearly what you must do, for at the turning of the year^[d] the king of Aram will attack you.” ²³ Meanwhile the servants of the king of Aram said to him: “Their gods are mountain gods. That is why they defeated us. But if we fight them on level ground, we shall be sure to defeat them. ²⁴ This is what you must do: Take the kings from their posts and put prefects in their places. ²⁵ Raise an army as large as the army you have lost, horse for horse, chariot for chariot. Let us fight them on level ground, and we shall surely defeat them.” He took their advice and did this. ²⁶ At the turning of the year, Ben-hadad mustered Aram and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. ²⁷ The Israelites, too, were mustered and supplied with provisions; then they went out to meet the enemy. The Israelites, encamped opposite, looked like little flocks of goats, while Aram covered the land. ²⁸ A man of God approached and said to the king of Israel: “The Lord says, Because Aram has said the Lord is a god of mountains, not a god of plains, I will give all this vast army into your power that you may know I am the Lord.” ²⁹ They were encamped opposite each other for seven days. On the seventh day battle was joined, and the Israelites struck down one hundred thousand foot soldiers of Aram in one day. ³⁰ The survivors fled into the city of Aphek, where the wall collapsed on twenty-seven thousand of them. Ben-hadad, too, fled, and took refuge within the city, in an inner room.

³¹ His servants said to him: “We have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Allow us, therefore, to garb ourselves in sackcloth, with cords around our heads, and go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.” ³² Dressed in sackcloth girded at the waist and wearing cords around their heads, they went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Spare my life!’” He asked, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”^{[e] 33} Hearing this as a good omen, the men quickly took him at his word and said, “Ben-hadad is your brother.” He answered, “Go and get him.” When Ben-hadad came out to him, the king had him mount his chariot. ³⁴ Ben-hadad said to him, “The cities my father took from your father I will restore, and you may set up bazaars for yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” Ahab replied, “For my part, I will set you free on those terms.” So he made a covenant with him and then set him free.

Prophetic Condemnation. ³⁵ Acting on the word of the Lord, one of the guild prophets said to his companion, “Strike me.” But he refused to strike him. ³⁶ Then he said to him, “Since you did not obey the voice of the Lord, a lion will attack you when you leave me.” When he left him, a lion came upon him and attacked him.^{(A) 37} Then the prophet met another man and said, “Strike me.” The man struck him a blow and wounded him. ³⁸ The prophet went on and waited for the king on the road, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes. ³⁹ As the king was passing, he called out to the king and said: “Your servant went into the thick of the battle, and suddenly someone turned and brought me a man and said, ‘Guard this man. If he is missing, you shall have to pay for his life with your life or pay out a talent of silver.’^{[f] 40} But while your servant was occupied here and there, the man disappeared.” The king of Israel said to him, “That is your sentence. You have decided it yourself.” ⁴¹ He quickly removed the bandage from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. ^42 (B)He said to him: “The Lord says, Because you have set free the man I put under the ban,^[g] your life shall pay for his life, your people for his people.” ^43 (C)Disturbed and angry, the king of Israel set off for home and entered Samaria.

Chapter 21

Seizure of Naboth’s Vineyard.^{[h] 1} Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel next to the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria. Some time later, ² Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard to be my vegetable garden, since it is close by, next to my house. I will give you a better vineyard in exchange, or, if you prefer, I will give you its value in money.” ³ Naboth said to Ahab, “The Lord forbid that I should give you my ancestral heritage.”^{[i] 4} Ahab went home disturbed and angry at the answer Naboth the Jezreelite had given him: “I will not give you my ancestral heritage.” Lying down on his bed, he turned away and would not eat. ⁵ His wife Jezebel came to him and said to him, “Why are you so sullen that you will not eat?” ⁶ He answered her, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, ‘Sell me your vineyard, or, if you prefer, I will give you a vineyard in exchange.’ But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” ⁷ Jezebel his wife said to him, “What a king of Israel you are! Get up! Eat and be cheerful. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

⁸ So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and, having sealed them with his seal, sent them to the elders and to the nobles who lived in the same city with Naboth. ⁹ This is what she wrote in the letters: “Proclaim a fast and set Naboth at the head of the people. ¹⁰ Next, set two scoundrels opposite him to accuse him: ‘You have cursed God and king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”

¹¹ His fellow citizens—the elders and the nobles who dwelt in his city—did as Jezebel had ordered in the letters she sent them. ¹² They proclaimed a fast and set Naboth at the head of the people. ¹³ Two scoundrels came in and sat opposite Naboth, and the scoundrels accused him in the presence of the people, “Naboth has cursed God and king.” And they led him out of the city and stoned him to death. ¹⁴ Then they sent word to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned to death.”

¹⁵ When Jezebel learned that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Go, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite which he refused to sell you, because Naboth is not alive, but dead.” ¹⁶ When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he started on his way down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

Prophetic Condemnation. ¹⁷ Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: ¹⁸ Go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, who is in Samaria. He will be in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession. ^19 (D)Tell him: “Thus says the Lord: After murdering, do you also take possession?” And tell him, “Thus says the Lord: In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, the dogs shall lick up your blood, too.”

^20 [j]Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me out, my enemy?” He said, “I have found you. Because you have given yourself up to doing evil in the Lord’s sight, ^21 (E)I am bringing evil upon you: I will consume you and will cut off every male belonging to Ahab, whether bond or free, in Israel. ²² I will make your house like that of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha, son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me by leading Israel into sin.”

²³ Against Jezebel, too, the Lord declared: The dogs shall devour Jezebel in the confines of Jezreel.

²⁵ Indeed, no one gave himself up to the doing of evil in the sight of the Lord as did Ahab, urged on by his wife Jezebel. ²⁶ He became completely abominable by going after idols, just as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord drove out of the Israelites’ way.

²⁷ When Ahab heard these words, he tore his garments and put on sackcloth over his bare flesh. He fasted, slept in the sackcloth, and went about subdued. ²⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, ^29 (F)Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Since he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his time. I will bring the evil upon his house in his son’s time.

Chapter 22

Ahab’s Defeat by Aram.^{[k] 1} Three years passed without war between Aram and Israel. ² In the third year, however, King Jehoshaphat of Judah came down to the king of Israel. ³ The king of Israel said to his servants, “Do you not know that Ramoth-gilead is ours and we are doing nothing to take it from the king of Aram?” ⁴ He asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you come with me to fight against Ramoth-gilead?” Jehoshaphat answered the king of Israel, “You and I are as one, and your people and my people, your horses and my horses as well.”

Prophetic Condemnation. ⁵ Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “Seek the word of the Lord at once.” ⁶ The king of Israel assembled the prophets, about four hundred of them, and asked, “Shall I go to fight against Ramoth-gilead or shall I refrain?” They said, “Attack. The Lord will give it into the power of the king.”^{[l] 7} But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no other prophet of the Lord here we might consult?” ⁸ The king of Israel answered, “There is one other man through whom we might consult the Lord; but I hate him because he prophesies not good but evil about me. He is Micaiah, son of Imlah.” Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say that.” ⁹ So the king of Israel called an official and said to him, “Get Micaiah, son of Imlah, at once.”

¹⁰ The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, were seated, each on his throne, clothed in their robes of state in the square at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. ^11 (G)Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, made himself two horns of iron^[m] and said, “The Lord says, With these you shall gore Aram until you have destroyed them.” ¹² The other prophets prophesied in a similar vein, saying: “Attack Ramoth-gilead and conquer! The Lord will give it into the power of the king.”

¹³ Meanwhile, the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah said to him, “Look now, the prophets are unanimously predicting good for the king. Let your word be the same as any of theirs; speak a good word.” ¹⁴ Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, I shall speak whatever the Lord tells me.”

¹⁵ When he came to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to fight at Ramoth-gilead, or shall we refrain?” He said, “Attack and conquer! The Lord will give it into the power of the king.” ¹⁶ But the king answered him, “How many times must I adjure you to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?” ^17 [n]So Micaiah said:

¹⁸ The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you, he does not prophesy good about me, but only evil?” ^19 [o]Micaiah continued: “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord seated on his throne, with the whole host of heaven standing to his right and to his left. ²⁰ The Lord asked: Who will deceive Ahab, so that he will go up and fall on Ramoth-gilead?^[p] And one said this, another that, ²¹ until this spirit came forth and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will deceive him.’ The Lord asked: How? ²² He answered, ‘I will go forth and become a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ The Lord replied: You shall succeed in deceiving him. Go forth and do this. ²³ So now, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours; the Lord himself has decreed evil against you.”

²⁴ Thereupon Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, came up and struck Micaiah on the cheek, saying, “Has the spirit of the Lord, then, left me to speak with you?” ²⁵ Micaiah said, “You shall find out on the day you go into an inner room to hide.” ²⁶ The king of Israel then said, “Seize Micaiah and take him back to Amon, prefect of the city, and to Joash, the king’s son, ²⁷ and say, ‘This is the king’s order: Put this man in prison and feed him scanty rations of bread and water until I come back in safety.’” ^28 (H)But Micaiah said, “If you return in safety, the Lord has not spoken through me.” (He also said, “Hear, O peoples, all of you.”)^[q]

Ahab at Ramoth-gilead. ²⁹ The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-gilead, ³⁰ and the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you put on your own robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and entered the battle. ³¹ In the meantime the king of Aram had given his thirty-two chariot commanders the order, “Do not fight with anyone, great or small, except the king of Israel alone.”

³² When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they cried out, “There is the king of Israel!” and wheeled to fight him. But Jehoshaphat cried out, ³³ and the chariot commanders, seeing that he was not the king of Israel, turned away from him. ³⁴ But someone drew his bow at random, and hit the king of Israel between the joints of his breastplate. He ordered his charioteer, “Rein about and take me out of the ranks, for I am wounded.”

^35 (I)The battle grew fierce during the day, and the king, who was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans, died in the evening. The blood from his wound flowed to the bottom of the chariot. ³⁶ At sunset a cry went through the army, “Every man to his city, every man to his land!”

³⁷ And so the king died, and came back to Samaria, and they buried him there. ^38 (J)When they washed out the chariot at the pool of Samaria, the dogs licked up his blood and prostitutes bathed there, as the Lord had prophesied.