1 Kings 16

¹And the word of the Lord came to Jehu the son of Hanaʹni against Baʹasha, saying, ²“Since I exalted you out of the dust and made you leader over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboʹam, and have made my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins, ³behold, I will utterly sweep away Baʹasha and his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboʹam the son of Nebat. ⁴Any one belonging to Baʹasha who dies in the city the dogs shall eat; and any one of his who dies in the field the birds of the air shall eat.”

⁵Now the rest of the acts of Baʹasha, and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ⁶And Baʹasha slept with his fathers, and was buried at Tirzah; and Elah his son reigned in his stead. ⁷Moreover the word of the Lord came by the prophet Jehu the son of Hanaʹni against Baʹasha 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 Jeroboʹam, and also because he destroyed it.

⁸In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baʹasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned two years. ⁹But his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. When he was at Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, 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 stead.

¹¹When he began to reign, as soon as he had seated himself on his throne, he killed all the house of Baʹasha; he did not leave him a single male of his kinsmen or his friends. ¹²Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baʹasha, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke against Baʹasha by Jehu the prophet, ¹³for all the sins of Baʹasha and the sins of Elah his son which they sinned, and which they made Israel to sin, provoking 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?

¹⁵In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the troops were encamped against Gibʹbethon, 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 Gibʹbethon, 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 which he committed, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the way of Jeroboʹam, and for his sin which he committed, making Israel to sin. ²⁰Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and the conspiracy which he made, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of 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 Samarʹia from Shemer for two talents of silver; and he fortified the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, Samarʹia, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.

²⁵Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil than all who were before him. ²⁶For he walked in all the way of Jeroboʹam the son of Nebat, and in the sins which he made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols. ²⁷Now the rest of the acts of Omri which 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 Samarʹia; and Ahab his son reigned in his stead.

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 Samarʹia twenty-two years. ³⁰And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all that were before him. ³¹And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboʹam the son of Nebat, he took for wife Jezʹebel the daughter of Ethbaʹal king of the Sidoʹnians, and went and served Baʹal, and worshiped him. ³²He erected an altar for Baʹal in the house of Baʹal, which he built in Samarʹia. ³³And Ahab made an Asheʹrah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. ³⁴In his days Hiʹel of Bethel built Jericho; he laid its foundation at the cost of Abiʹram his first-born, 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.