1 Kings Chapter 16

¹ A message from Yahveh came to Jehu Ben-Hanani against Baasha:

² “Since I lifted you up from the dust to lead Israel, you’ve done what Jeroboam did and got Israel to do and made me angry by their sins. ³ I’ll consume you and your family and make it like Jeroboam’s. ⁴ Dogs will eat any relative that dies in the city; birds will eat any that die in the field.”

⁵ The rest of the acts of Baasha and the strength of his rule are recorded in The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ⁶ He died and they buried him in Tirzah. His son Elah became king. ⁷ In addition, a message from Yahveh through the prophet Jehu came against Baasha and his dynasty. It came against him because of his sin that made Yahveh angry like Jeroboam’s dynasty did, and because he destroyed Jeroboam’s family.       1 Kg 16:1-7

Elah Rules in Israel

⁸ In the twenty-sixth year of Asa, king of Judah, Elah became king of Israel at Tirzah and ruled for 2 years. ⁹ Zimri, commander of half his chariots, led a plot against him. Elah was at Tirzah getting drunk in the house of Arza, who managed the palace at Tirzah. ¹⁰ Zimri went in and struck him and put him to death in the twenty-seventh year of Asa and became king. ¹¹ As soon as he became king, he killed Baasha’s family. He didn’t leave a single male among his relatives and friends. ¹² So Zimri destroyed Baasha’s family like Yahveh had said through the prophet Jehu. ¹³ He delivered that message because of the sins Baasha and Elah did and got Israel to do with their idols and made Yahveh angry. ¹⁴ The rest of the acts of Elah are recorded in The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.                                       1 Kg 16:8-14

Zimri Rules in Israel

¹⁵ In the twenty-seventh year of Asa, Zimri ruled for 7 days at Tirzah. The people were camped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. ¹⁶ The people camped there heard that Zimri had struck down the king; so Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king of Israel that day in the camp. ¹⁷ Then Omri and Israel went up from Gibbethon and laid siege to Tirzah. ¹⁸ When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the fortress of the king’s palace and burned it down over himself and died. ¹⁹ He did it because of his sins, following the way of Jeroboam and getting Israel to sin. ²⁰ The rest of the acts of Zimri and his conspiracy are recorded in The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Omri Rules in Israel

²¹ The people of Israel were divided: half followed Tibni Ben-Ginath and half followed Omri. ²² But the ones that followed Omri prevailed. Tibni died and Omri became king. ²³ In the thirty-first year of Asa, king of Judah, Omri became king in Israel and ruled for 12 years, 6 in Tirzah. ²⁴ He bought the hill of Samaria from “Shemer” for 151 lbs ^{two talents} of silver, and built a city on it that he named Samaria after its owner. ²⁵ Omri did evil worse than anybody before him. ²⁶ He did everything Jeroboam did and got Israel to do. ²⁷ The rest of the acts of Omri and the strength he showed are recorded in The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ²⁸ He died and they buried him in Samaria. His son Ahab became king.    1 Kg 16:15-28

Ahab Rules in Israel

²⁹ Ahab became king of Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa, king of Judah, and ruled Israel in Samaria for 22 years. ³⁰ He did evil worse than anybody before him. ³¹ As though it had been a trivial thing for him to follow in the sins of Jeroboam, he married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and went to serve and worship Baal. ³² He erected an altar for Baal in a temple for Baal that he built for Baal in Samaria ³³ and set up an Asherah pole. He did more to provoke Yahveh God of Israel than any king of Israel before him.

³⁴ During his reign, Hiel from Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, in fulfillment of Yahveh’s message through Joshua Ben-Nun. 1 Kg 16:29-34