⁴ Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, ^(A)I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols,

⁷ For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, ^(A)who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, ^(B)I the Lord will answer him myself.

^17 (A)“Son of man, ^(B)I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall ^(C)give them warning from me. ^18 (D)If I say to the wicked, ^(E)‘You shall surely die,’ ^(F)and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person ^(G)shall die for^[a] his iniquity, ^(H)but his blood I will require at your hand. ^19 (I)But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, ^(J)but you ^(K)will have delivered your soul. ^20 (L)Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, ^(M)and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. ^(N)Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, ^(O)and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, ^(P)but his blood I will require at your hand. ²¹ But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”

⁴ And he said to me, ^(A)“Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them.

⁷ And you shall speak my words to them, ^(A)whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.

¹⁶ and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of ^(A)Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word?—therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’”

²⁰ Ahab said to Elijah, ^(A)“Have you found me, O my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because ^(B)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 ^(C)will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel. ²² And I will make your house like ^(D)the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like ^(E)the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the anger to which you have provoked me, and because you ^(F)have made Israel to sin. ²³ And of Jezebel the Lord also said, ^(G)‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel within ^(H)the walls of Jezreel.’ ^24 (I)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 (^(J)There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited.