The Pillars of Three Faiths: Tanakh, Bible & Qu'ran. Various Authors

and came into the city, into an inner chamber.

      ³¹And his servants said unto him: 'Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings; let us, we pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel; peradventure he will save thy life.' ³²So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said: 'Thy servant Ben-hadad saith: I pray thee, let me live.' And he said: 'Is he yet alive? he is my brother.' ³³Now the men took it for a sign, and hastened to catch it from him; and they said: 'Thy brother Ben-hadad.' Then he said: 'Go ye, bring him.' Then Ben-hadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into his chariot. ³⁴And [Ben-hadad] said unto him: 'The cities which my father took from thy father I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria.' 'And I, said Ahab, will let thee go with this covenant.' So he made a covenant with him, and let him go.

      ³⁵And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his fellow by the word of the Lord: 'Smite me, I pray thee.' And the man refused to smite him. ³⁶Then said he unto him: 'Because thou hast not heartened to the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee.' And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him; and slew him. ³⁷Then he found another man, and said: 'Smite me, I pray thee.' And the man smote him, smiting and wounding him. ³⁸So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with his headband over his eyes. ³⁹And as the king passed by, he cried unto the king; and he said: 'Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said: Keep this man; if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver. ⁴⁰And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone.' And the king of Israel said unto him: 'So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.' ⁴¹And he hastened, and took the headband away from his eyes; and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets. ⁴²And he said unto him: 'Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast let go out of thy hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people.' ⁴³And the king of Israel went to his house sullen and displeased, and came to Samaria.

      21And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria. ²And Ahab spoke unto Naboth, saying: 'Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house; and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money.' ³And Naboth said to Ahab: 'The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.' ⁴And Ahab came into his house sullen and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said: 'I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers.' And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.

      ⁵But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him: 'Why is thy spirit so sullen, that thou eatest no bread?' ⁶And he said unto her: 'Because I spoke unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him: Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it; and he answered: I will not give thee my vineyard.' ⁷And Jezebel his wife said unto him: 'Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thy heart be merry; I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.' ⁸So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, and that dwelt with Naboth. ⁹And she wrote in the letters, saying: 'Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth at the head of the people; ¹⁰and set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them bear witness against him, saying: Thou didst curse God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he die.'

      ¹¹And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who dwelt in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, according as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them. ¹²They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth at the head of the people. ¹³And the two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him; and the base fellows bore witness against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying: 'Naboth did curse God and the king.' Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died. ¹⁴Then they sent to Jezebel, saying: 'Naboth is stoned, and is dead.' ¹⁵And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab: 'Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead.' ¹⁶And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

      ¹⁷And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying: ¹⁸'Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who dwelleth in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to take possession of it. ¹⁹And thou shalt speak unto him, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Hast thou killed, and also taken possessions? and thou shalt speak unto him, saying: Thus saith the Lord: In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.' ²⁰And Ahab said to Elijah: 'Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?' And he answered: 'I have found thee; because thou hast given thyself over to do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord. ²¹Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will utterly sweep thee away, and will cut off from Ahab every man-child, and him that is shut up and him that is left at large in Israel. ²²And I will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasa the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked Me, and hast made Israel to sin. ²³And of Jezebel also spoke the Lord, saying: The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the moat of Jezreel. ²⁴Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.' ²⁵But there was none like unto Ahab, who did give himself over to do that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. ²⁶And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.

      ²⁷And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softy. ²⁸And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying: ²⁹'Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before Me? because he humbleth himself before Me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house.'

      22And they continued three years without war between Aram and Israel. ²And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. ³And the king of Israel said unto his servants: 'Know ye that Ramoth-gilead is ours, and we are still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Aram?' ⁴And he said unto Jehoshaphat: 'Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead?' And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel: 'I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses.'

      ⁵And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel: 'Inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord to-day.' ⁶Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them: 'Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?' And they said: 'Go up; for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.' ⁷But Jehoshaphat said: 'Is there not here besides a prophet of the Lord, that we might inquire of him?' ⁸And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat: 'There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.' And Jehoshaphat said: 'Let not the king say so.' ⁹Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said: 'Fetch quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah.' ¹⁰Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, in a threshing-floor, at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them. ¹¹And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron, and said: 'Thus saith the Lord: With