1 Kings 21:25

¹⁴The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit. He who is under the LORD’s wrath will fall into it.

²⁰Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in the LORD’s sight.

³⁰Ahab the son of Omri did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight above all that were before him. ³¹As if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. ³²He raised up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. ³³Ahab made the Asherah; and Ahab did more yet to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

²⁶I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner will be ensnared by her.

²But the disbelieving^[+] Jews stirred up and embittered the souls of the Gentiles against the brothers.

¹⁹I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh; for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification.

⁷Jezebel his wife said to him, “Do you now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

¹⁷For Herod himself had sent out and arrested John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, for he had married her. ¹⁸For John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹Herodias set herself against him and desired to kill him, but she couldn’t, ²⁰for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. When he heard him, he did many things, and he heard him gladly.

²¹Then a convenient day came when Herod on his birthday made a supper for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee. ²²When the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and those sitting with him. The king said to the young lady, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.” ²³He swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.”

²⁴She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?” She said, “The head of John the Baptizer.”

²⁵She came in immediately with haste to the king and requested, “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptizer on a platter.”

²⁶The king was exceedingly sorry, but for the sake of his oaths and of his dinner guests, he didn’t wish to refuse her. ²⁷Immediately the king sent out a soldier of his guard and commanded to bring John’s head; and he went and beheaded him in the prison,

²⁵There was no king like him before him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; and there was none like him who arose after him.

¹The LORD says, “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I have put her away? Or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother was put away for your transgressions.