1 Kings 16:29-34

Contemporary English Version

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 22 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^[a] and started worshiping Baal. ³²Ahab built an altar and temple for Baal in Samaria ³³and set up a sacred pole^[b] for worshiping the goddess Asherah. Ahab did more to make the Lord God of Israel angry than any king of Israel before him.

³⁴^(A) While 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 oldest 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.^[c]

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Footnotes

16.31 Sidon: One of the most important cities in Phoenicia. It was located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of Israel, in what is today southern Lebanon.
16.33 sacred pole: See the note at 14.15.
16.34 a man from Bethel … ago: See Joshua 6.26.