1 Kings 16

¹And the word of the LORD came to Jehu son of Hanani against Baasha, saying:

²Because I raised you up out of the dust and made you ruler over my people Israel, but you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made my people Israel sin, provoking me to anger with their sins,

³Behold, I am about to consume Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat.

⁴Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city the dogs will eat, and anyone of his who dies in the field the birds of the heavens will 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 lay down with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah, and Elah his son reigned in his place.

⁷And also by the hand of Jehu son of Hanani the prophet the word of the LORD came against Baasha and against his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, to be like the house of Jeroboam, and because he struck it down.

⁸In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king over Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned two years.

⁹And his servant Zimri, commander of half the chariotry, conspired against him while he was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah.

¹⁰And Zimri came in and struck him down and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned in his place.

¹¹And it came to pass, when he became king, as soon as he sat upon his throne, that he struck down all the house of Baasha; he did not leave him a single one who urinates against a wall, neither his kinsmen-redeemers nor his friends.

¹²So Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord that he had spoken against Baasha by the hand of 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, provoking the LORD, the 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 on the scroll 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 people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.

¹⁶And the people who were encamped heard it said, Zimri has conspired and has also struck down the king. So all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp.

¹⁷And Omri went up, and all Israel with him, from Gibbethon, and they besieged Tirzah.

¹⁸And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was captured, that he went into the citadel of the king's house and burned the king's house over himself with fire, and he died,

¹⁹because of his sins that he committed, doing what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, walking in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he committed, making Israel sin.

²⁰Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his conspiracy that he made, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

²¹Then the people of Israel were divided in two: half of the people followed Tibni son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri.

²²And the people who followed Omri prevailed over the people who followed Tibni son of Ginath; and Tibni died, and Omri reigned.

²³In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel, and reigned twelve years; in Tirzah he reigned six years.

²⁴And he bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built up the hill, and he called the name of the city that he built, after the name of Shemer the lord of the hill, Samaria.

²⁵And Omri did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord; he acted more wickedly than all who were before him.

²⁶And he walked in all the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and in his sin which he made Israel to sin, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their idols.

²⁷Now the rest of the acts of Omri that he did, and his might that he showed, are they not written on the scroll of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

²⁸And Omri lay down with his fathers and was buried in Samaria, and Ahab his son reigned in his place.

²⁹And Ahab son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.

³⁰And Ahab son of Omri did the evil in the eyes of the LORD, more than all who were before him.

³¹And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and he went and served Baal and bowed down to him.

³²And he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria.

³³And Ahab made the Asherah, and Ahab did yet more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

³⁴In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho; at the cost of Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundation, and at the cost of Segub his youngest he set up its gates, according to the word of the Lord that he had spoken by the hand of Joshua son of Nun.