Naboth's Vineyard

21 Now Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in ^(A)Jezreel, beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. ² And after this Ahab said to Naboth, ^(B)“Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house, and I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money.” ³ But Naboth said to Ahab, “The Lord forbid ^(C)that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.” ⁴ And Ahab ^(D)went into his house vexed and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him, for he had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” And he lay down on his bed and turned away his face and would eat no food.

⁵ But Jezebel his wife came to him and said to him, “Why is your spirit so vexed that you eat no food?” ⁶ And he said to her, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money, or else, if it please you, I will give you another vineyard for it.’ And he answered, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” ⁷ And Jezebel his wife said to him, “Do you now govern Israel? Arise and eat bread and let your heart be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

^8 (E)So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal, and she sent the letters to ^(F)the elders and the leaders who lived with Naboth in his city. ⁹ And she wrote in the letters, “Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth at the head of the people. ¹⁰ And set two ^(G)worthless men opposite him, and let them bring a charge against him, saying, ^(H)‘You have cursed^[a] God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.” ¹¹ And the men of his city, ^(I)the elders and the leaders who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent word to them. As it was written in the letters that she had sent to them, ^12 (J)they proclaimed a fast and set Naboth at the head of the people. ¹³ And the two worthless men came in and sat opposite him. And the worthless men brought a charge against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth cursed God and the king.” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death with stones. ¹⁴ Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned; he is dead.”

¹⁵ As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead.” ¹⁶ And as soon as Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab arose to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

The Lord Condemns Ahab

^17 (K)Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ¹⁸ “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in ^(L)Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession. ¹⁹ And you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Have you killed and also taken possession?”’ And you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(M)“In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood.”’”

²⁰ Ahab said to Elijah, ^(N)“Have you found me, O my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because ^(O)you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. ²¹ Behold, I will bring disaster upon you. I will utterly burn you up, and ^(P)will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel. ²² And I will make your house like ^(Q)the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like ^(R)the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the anger to which you have provoked me, and because you ^(S)have made Israel to sin. ²³ And of Jezebel the Lord also said, ^(T)‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel within ^(U)the walls of Jezreel.’ ^24 (V)Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat.”

Ahab's Repentance

²⁵ (^(W)There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited. ²⁶ He acted very abominably in going after ^(X)idols, as ^(Y)the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the people of Israel.)

²⁷ And when Ahab heard those words, he ^(Z)tore his clothes and ^(AA)put sackcloth on his flesh and ^(AB)fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly. ²⁸ And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ²⁹ “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; ^(AC)but in his son's days I will bring the disaster upon his house.”

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

Warning Against Worldliness

4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions^[a] are ^(A)at war within you?^{[b] 2} You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask ^(B)wrongly, to spend it on your passions. ^4 (C)You adulterous people!^[c] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? ^(D)Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit ^(E)that he has made to dwell in us”? ⁶ But ^(F)he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ^(G)“God opposes the proud but ^(H)gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. ^(I)Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ^8 (J)Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. ^(K)Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and ^(L)purify your hearts, ^(M)you double-minded. ^9 (N)Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ^10 (O)Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

^11 (P)Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.^[d] The one who speaks against a brother or ^(Q)judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. ¹² There is only ^(R)one lawgiver and ^(S)judge, he who is able to save and ^(T)to destroy. But ^(U)who are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting About Tomorrow

¹³ Come now, you who say, ^(V)“Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— ¹⁴ yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For ^(W)you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, ^(X)“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. ^(Y)All such boasting is evil. ^17 (Z)So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Warning to the Rich

5 Come now, ^(AA)you rich, weep and howl for the ^(AB)miseries that are coming upon you. ^2 (AC)Your riches have rotted and ^(AD)your garments are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. ^(AE)You have laid up treasure ^(AF)in the last days. ⁴ Behold, ^(AG)the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and ^(AH)the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of ^(AI)the Lord of hosts. ^5 (AJ)You have lived on the earth in luxury and ^(AK)in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in ^(AL)a day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned and ^(AM)murdered ^(AN)the righteous person. He does not resist you.

Patience in Suffering

⁷ Be patient, therefore, brothers,^[e] until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives ^(AO)the early and the late rains. ⁸ You also, be patient. ^(AP)Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord ^(AQ)is at hand. ⁹ Do not grumble against one another, brothers, ^(AR)so that you may not be judged; behold, ^(AS)the Judge is standing ^(AT)at the door. ¹⁰ As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take ^(AU)the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of ^(AV)the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen ^(AW)the purpose of the Lord, how ^(AX)the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

¹² But above all, my brothers, ^(AY)do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

The Prayer of Faith

¹³ Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him ^(AZ)sing praise. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, ^(BA)anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And ^(BB)if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore, ^(BC)confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, ^(BD)that you may be healed. ^(BE)The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.^{[f] 17} Elijah was a man ^(BF)with a nature like ours, and ^(BG)he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for ^(BH)three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. ^18 (BI)Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

¹⁹ My brothers, ^(BJ)if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone ^(BK)brings him back, ²⁰ let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering ^(BL)will save his soul from death and ^(BM)will cover a multitude of sins.