17. Then the Lord spoke to Elijah, the prophet from Tishbe:
18. “Go to King Ahab in Samaria. He will be at Naboth’s vineyard. He is there to take the vineyard as his own.
19. Tell Ahab that I, the Lord, say to him, ‘Ahab! You killed the man Naboth and now you are taking his land. So I, the Lord, tell you this: Where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, they will lick up your blood as well.’”
20. So Elijah went to Ahab. When Ahab saw him, he said, “Well, my enemy has found me again!” Elijah answered, “Yes, I found you, because you have again sold yourself out to do what the Lord says is evil.
21. So this is what he says to you: ‘I will make something bad happen to you. I will kill you and every male in your family.
22. I will destroy your family just as I destroyed the families of King Jeroboam son of Nebat and King Baasha. I will do this to you because you have made me angry and you have caused the Israelites to sin.’
23. The Lord also says this about your wife Jezebel: ‘Dogs will eat the body of Jezebel by the wall of the city of Jezreel.
24. As for the family of Ahab, whoever dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and whoever dies in the fields will be eaten by birds.’”
25. So Ahab sold himself out to do what the Lord says is evil. There is no one who did as much evil as Ahab and his wife Jezebel, who caused him to do these things.
26. Ahab committed the terrible sin of worshiping those filthy idols, just as the Amorites did. And that is why the Lord took the land from them and gave it to the Israelites.
27. When Ahab heard what Elijah said, he tore his clothes to show how sad he was. Then he put on sackcloth and refused to eat. He even slept in these clothes. He was very sad and upset.
28. The Lord said to the prophet Elijah from Tishbe,