And after these things, Naboth the Jezrahelite, who was in Jezrahel, had at that time a vineyard near the palace of Achab king of Samaria.2 And Achab spoke to Naboth, saying: Give me thy vineyard, that I may make me a garden of herbs, because it is nigh, and adjoining to my house, and I will give thee for it a better vineyard: or if thou think it more convenient for thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money.3 Naboth answered him: The Lord be merciful to me, and not let me give thee the inheritance of my fathers.4 And Achab came into his house angry and fretting, because of the word that Naboth the Jezrahelite had spoken to him, saying: I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And casting himself upon his bed, he turned away his face to the wall, and would eat no bread.5 And Jezabel his wife went in to him, and said to him: What is the matter that thy soul is so grieved? and why eatest thou no bread?6 And he answered her: I spoke to Naboth the Jezrahelite, and said to him: Give me thy vineyard, and take money for it: or if it please thee, I will give thee a better vineyard for it. And he said: I will not give thee my vineyard.7 Then Jezabel his wife said to him: Thou art of great authority indeed, and governest well the kingdom of Israel. Arise, and eat bread, and be of good cheer, I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezrahelite.8 So she wrote letter’s in Achab’s name, and sealed them with his ring, and sent them to the ancients, and the chief men that were in his city, and that dwelt with Naboth.9 And this was the tenor of the letters: Proclaim a fast, and make Naboth sit among the chief of the people,10 And suborn two men, sons of Belial against him, and let them bear false witness: that he hath blasphemed God and the king: and then carry him out, and stone him, and so let him die.11 And the men of his city, the ancients and nobles, that dwelt with him in the city, did as Jezabel had commanded them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them:12 They proclaimed a fast, and made Naboth sit among the chief of the people.13 And bringing two men, sons of the devil, they made them sit against him: and they, like men of the devil, bore witness against him before the people, saying: Naboth hath blasphemed God and the king: wherefore they brought him forth without the city, and stoned him to death.14 And they sent to Jezabel, saying: Naboth is stoned, and is dead.15 And it came to pass when Jezabel heard that Naboth was stoned, and dead, that she said to Achab: Arise and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezrahelite, who would not agree with thee, and give it thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead.16 And when Achab heard this, to wit, that Naboth was dead, he arose, and went down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezrahelite, to take possession of it.
What Ahab said to Naboth, that is, that he would have given him the price of his vineyard or [another vineyard], was a lie. But Naboth did not sell his inheritance, first of all because he knew that [Ahab] would not have given him another vineyard in exchange and would not have kept his promise; second, because the Law forbade that an inheritance could be sold from one person to another; third, because the inheritance of the promised land, which they had received through the mediation of Joshua, was for them as precious as the kingdom of heaven is for us, and Naboth did not want to be deprived of that divine gift.
Give ear, O Lord, to my words, understand my cry.3 Hearken to the voice of my prayer, O my King and my God.4 For to thee will I pray: O Lord, in the morning thou shalt hear my voice.5 In the morning I will stand before thee, and will see: because thou art not a God that willest iniquity.6 Neither shall the wicked dwell near thee: nor shall the unjust abide before thy eyes.6 Neither shall the wicked dwell near thee: nor shall the unjust abide before thy eyes.7 Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity: Thou wilt destroy all that speak a lie. The bloody and the deceitful man the Lord will abhor.
From the start God examines all the words that you speak, whether they are shameful, blasphemous or lying words; whether malicious, harmful or deceitful; or whether they are words of degradation, which through their deceit are able to overwhelm the one whom the lie injures. "You have loved words of destruction, a deceitful tongue." … "Every careless word that people speak will return to them judgment." How much more when you speak hurtful words do they become a hindrance and destruction to your spirit! God judges your cry: whether you have cried out against anyone unjustly, whether you have trumpeted unjust anger with your cry or whether you, overcome with such wrath, have called for the striking down of the innocent, like those who stoned Stephen: "Shouting with a loud voice, they covered their ears and in one spirit united against him they rushed him." And their shout became a vehicle of murder. God, therefore, tests your words.… Therefore, since God will measure our words, let us give to him spiritual songs and canticles, hymns and psalms, becoming a sweet smell not by running to bars but by hastening to the church; not sunk in our drunkenness but adorned with sobriety; not dancing and being wanton like the Jews but glorifying the way of life of the apostles.… No one may walk into the royal dwelling leaping about; no one may stand before the king drunk. If such caution is followed on earth, how much more caution is there for the heavenly state and the kingdom that exists there? Let us live lives worthy of that kingdom, rejoicing and happy in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to whom there is glory and power from now to infinite ages of ages.
If one grants that indeed each animal recognizes the cry of its own offspring in the largest and most crowded flocks, that though a thousand calves may cry, the mother knows the cry of her own young, that though a thousand lambs may bleat, the female runs to the voice of her own and it does not fall, how much more among a thousand sinners crying out does God know the cry of the just and recognize him as the pure voice of his own child?
You have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.39 But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other:†40 And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him.41 And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him other two,†42 Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)