1 Kings 16
16
1The LORD sent Jehu son of Hanani to say to Baasha:
2Nobody knew who you were until I, the LORD, chose you#16.2 Nobody…you: Hebrew “I pulled you up out of the dust”. to be the leader of my people Israel. And now you're acting exactly like Jeroboam by causing the Israelites to sin. What you've done has made me so angry 3that I will destroy you and your family, just as I did the family of Jeroboam. 4Dogs will eat the bodies of your relatives who die in town, and vultures will eat the bodies of those who die in the country.
5-7Baasha made the LORD very angry, and that's why the LORD gave Jehu this message for Baasha and his family. Baasha constantly disobeyed the LORD by following Jeroboam's sinful example—but even worse, he killed everyone in Jeroboam's family!
Everything else Baasha did while he was king, including his brave deeds, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel. Baasha died and was buried in Tirzah, and his son Elah became king.
King Elah of Israel
8Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel after Asa had been king of Judah for twenty-five years, and he ruled from Tirzah for two years.
9Zimri commanded half of Elah's chariots, and he made plans to kill Elah.
One day, Elah was in Tirzah, getting drunk at the home of Arza, his prime minister, 10when Zimri went there and killed Elah. So Zimri became king in the twenty-seventh year of Asa's rule in Judah.
11As soon as Zimri became king, he killed everyone in Baasha's family. Not one man or boy in his family was left alive—even his close friends were killed. 12Baasha's family was completely wiped out, just as the LORD's prophet Jehu had warned. 13Baasha and Elah sinned and caused the Israelites to sin, and they made the LORD angry by worshipping idols.
14Everything else Elah did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Israel.
King Zimri of Israel
15-16Zimri became king of Israel in Asa's twenty-seventh year as king of Judah, but he ruled only seven days from Tirzah.
Israel's army was camped near Gibbethon in Philistia under the command of Omri. The soldiers heard that Zimri had killed Elah, and they made Omri their king that same day. 17At once, Omri and his army marched to Tirzah and attacked. 18When Zimri saw that the town was captured, he ran into the strongest part of the palace and killed himself by setting it on fire. 19Zimri had disobeyed the LORD by following the evil example of Jeroboam, who had caused the Israelites to sin.
20Everything else Zimri did while he was king, including his rebellion against Elah, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel.
King Omri of Israel
21After Zimri died, some of the Israelites wanted Tibni son of Ginath to be king, but others wanted Omri. 22Omri's followers were stronger than Tibni's, so Tibni was killed, and Omri became king of Israel 23in the thirty-first year of Asa's rule in Judah.
Omri ruled Israel for twelve years. The first six years he ruled from Tirzah, 24then he bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for six thousand pieces of silver. He built a town there and named it Samaria, after Shemer who had owned the hill.
25Omri did more evil things than any king before him. 26He acted just like Jeroboam and made the LORD God of Israel angry by causing the Israelites to sin and to worship idols.
27Everything else Omri did while he was king, including his brave deeds, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel. 28Omri died and was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab became king.
King Ahab of Israel
29Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa's rule in Judah, and he ruled twenty-two years from Samaria.
30Ahab did more things to disobey the LORD than any king before him. 31He acted just like Jeroboam. Even worse, he married Jezebel the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon#16.31 Sidon: One of the most important cities in Phoenicia. It was on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of Israel, in what is today southern Lebanon. and started worshipping Baal. 32Ahab built an altar and temple for Baal in Samaria 33and set up a sacred pole#16.33 sacred pole: See the note at 14.15. for worshipping the goddess Asherah. Ahab did more to make the LORD God of Israel angry than any king of Israel before him.
34While Ahab was king, a man from Bethel named Hiel rebuilt the town of Jericho. But while Hiel was laying the foundation for the town wall, his eldest son Abiram died. And while he was finishing the gates, his youngest son Segub died. This happened just as the LORD had told Joshua to say many years ago.#16.34 a man from Bethel…ago: See Joshua 6.26.#Js 6.26.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
1 Kings 16
16
1And the word of the Lord came to #2 Chr. 19:2; 20:34 Jehu the son of #2 Chr. 16:7Hanani against Baasha, saying, 2“Since I #[ch. 14:7] exalted you out of the dust and made you leader over my people Israel, and #ch. 15:34you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins, 3behold, I will utterly #[ch. 14:10; 21:21] sweep away #ver. 11 Baasha and his house, and I will make your house #[ch. 15:29]like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 4#[ch. 14:11; 21:24]Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies in the field the birds of the heavens shall eat.”
5Now the rest of the acts of Baasha and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 6And Baasha slept with his fathers and was buried at #ch. 14:17; 15:21Tirzah, and Elah his son reigned in his place. 7Moreover, the word of the Lord came by the prophet #[See ver. 1 above] Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and also because #ch. 15:27, 29; [Hos. 1:4]he destroyed it.
Elah Reigns in Israel
8In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned two years. 9But his servant #2 Kgs. 9:31 Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. When he was at Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, #[ch. 18:3]who was over the household in Tirzah, 10Zimri came in and struck him down and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.
11When he began to reign, as soon as he had seated himself on his throne, he struck down #[ver. 3] all the house of Baasha. He #[1 Sam. 25:22]did not leave him a single male of his relatives or his friends. 12Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, #ver. 3 according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke against Baasha by #[See ver. 1 above]Jehu the prophet, 13for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and which they made Israel to sin, #ver. 26; Deut. 32:21provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols. 14Now the rest of the acts of Elah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
Zimri Reigns in Israel
15In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the troops were encamped against #ch. 15:27Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, 16and the troops who were encamped heard it said, “Zimri has conspired, and he has killed the king.” Therefore all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp. 17So Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah. 18And when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king’s house and burned the king’s house over him with fire and died, 19because of his sins that he committed, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, #[ch. 15:26, 34]walking in the way of Jeroboam, and for his sin which he committed, making Israel to sin. 20Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and the conspiracy that he made, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
Omri Reigns in Israel
21Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts. Half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri. 22But the people who followed Omri overcame the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. So Tibni died, and Omri became king. 23In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for twelve years; six years he reigned in Tirzah. 24He bought the hill of #[ch. 13:32] Samaria from Shemer for two talents#16:24 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms of silver, and he fortified the hill and called the name of the city that he built #ver. 28, 29, 32Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.
25 #
Mic. 6:16 Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil #ver. 30than all who were before him. 26For #[See ver. 19 above] he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in the sins that he made Israel to sin, #ver. 13provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols. 27Now the rest of the acts of Omri that he did, and the might that he showed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 28And Omri slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria, and Ahab his son reigned in his place.
Ahab Reigns in Israel
29In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. 30And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, #ch. 21:25; [ver. 25]more than all who were before him. 31And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, #[Ex. 34:16; Deut. 7:3] he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the #Judg. 18:7 Sidonians, #ch. 21:25, 26; [2 Kgs. 3:2; 10:18; 17:16]and went and served Baal and worshiped him. 32He erected an altar for Baal in #2 Kgs. 10:21, 26, 27the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. 33And Ahab made an #ch. 18:19; 2 Kgs. 13:6; 17:10; 21:3; 2 Chr. 14:3; [Ex. 34:13; Jer. 17:2] Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger #[See ver. 30 above]than all the kings of Israel who were before him. 34#[Josh. 6:26] In his days Hiel of Bethel built #See 2 Kgs. 2:4, 18-22Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.
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