1 Kings 21:20

20 And Ahab said to Elijah, Whether thou hast found me thine enemy? And Elijah said, I have found thee so, for thou art sold to the devil that thou shouldest do evil in the sight of the Lord. (And when Ahab saw Elijah, he said, Hast thou found me, O my enemy? And Elijah said, Yes, I have found thee, for thou hath sold thyself to the devil, and thou doest evil before the Lord.)

1 Kings 21:20 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 21:20

And Ahab said to Elijah, hast thou found me, O mine enemy?
&c.] So he reckoned him, because he dealt faithfully with him, and reproved him for his sins, and denounced the judgments of God upon him for them:

and he answered, I have found thee;
as a thief, a robber and plunderer, in another's vineyard; he had found out his sin in murdering Naboth, and unjustly possessing his vineyard, which was revealed to him by the Lord; and now was come as his enemy, as he called him, as being against him, his adversary, not that he hated his person, but his ways and works:

because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord;
had given up himself wholly to his lusts, was abandoned to them, and as much under the power of them as a man is that has sold himself to another to be his slave; and which he served openly, publicly in the sight of the omniscient God, and in defiance of him. Abarbinel gives another sense of the word we render "sold thyself", that he "made himself strange", as if he was ignorant, and did not know what Jezebel had done; whereas he knew fully the whole truth of the matter, and that Naboth was killed through her contrivance, and by her management purposely; and so he did evil in the sight of that God that knows all things, pretending he was ignorant when he was not, and this Elijah found out by divine revelation; so the word is used in ( Genesis 42:6 ) ( 2 Kings 12:5 2 Kings 12:7 ) , but the former sense is best, as appears from ( 1 Kings 21:25 ) .

1 Kings 21:20 In-Context

18 Rise thou, go down into the coming of Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria; lo! he goeth down to the vinery of Naboth, that he have it in possession. (Rise thou up, and go down to meet with Ahab, the king of Israel, who is in Samaria; lo! he goeth down to the vineyard of Naboth, to take possession of it.)

19 And thou shalt speak to him, and say, The Lord saith these things, Thou hast slain Naboth, furthermore and thou hast taken his vineyard in possession; and after these things thou shalt add, [These things saith the Lord,] In this place, wherein dogs licked the blood of Naboth, they shall lick also thy blood. (And thou shalt speak to him, and say, The Lord saith these things, Hast thou killed Naboth, and furthermore, hast thou taken possession of his vineyard? and after these things thou shalt add, The Lord saith these things, In this place, where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, they shall also lick up thy blood.)

20 And Ahab said to Elijah, Whether thou hast found me thine enemy? And Elijah said, I have found thee so, for thou art sold to the devil that thou shouldest do evil in the sight of the Lord. (And when Ahab saw Elijah, he said, Hast thou found me, O my enemy? And Elijah said, Yes, I have found thee, for thou hath sold thyself to the devil, and thou doest evil before the Lord.)

21 Therefore the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall bring in upon thee evil, and I shall cut away thine hinder things, and I shall slay of Ahab a pisser to the wall, and the imprisoned, and the last in Israel; (And so the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall bring in evil upon thee, and I shall cut away thy posterity, or thy descendants, and I shall kill all who be of Ahab, unto a pisser on the wall, and the imprisoned, and the last in Israel;)

22 and I shall give thine house to be as the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and as the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah; for thou didest evil to excite me to wrathfulness, and madest Israel to do sin. (and I shall make thy house to be like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah; for thou didest evil to stir me to anger, and madest Israel to do sin.)