1 Kings 15-17

New King James Version

Abijam Reigns in Judah^(A)

15 ^(B)In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. ² He reigned three years in Jerusalem. ^(C)His mother’s name was ^(D)Maachah the granddaughter of ^(E)Abishalom. ³ And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; ^(F)his heart was not ^[a]loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. ⁴ Nevertheless ^(G)for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by setting up his son after him and by establishing Jerusalem; ⁵ because David ^(H)did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, ^(I)except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. ^6 (J)And there was war between ^[b]Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. ^7 (K)Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

^8 (L)So Abijam ^[c]rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son reigned in his place.

Asa Reigns in Judah^(M)

⁹ In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king over Judah. ¹⁰ And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother’s name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom. ^11 (N)Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did his father David. ^12 (O)And he banished the ^[d]perverted persons from the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. ¹³ Also he removed ^(P)Maachah his grandmother from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of ^[e]Asherah. And Asa cut down her obscene image and ^(Q)burned it by the Brook Kidron. ^14 (R)But the ^[f]high places were not removed. Nevertheless Asa’s ^(S)heart was loyal to the Lord all his days. ¹⁵ He also brought into the house of the Lord the things which his father ^(T)had dedicated, and the things which he himself had dedicated: silver and gold and utensils.

¹⁶ Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. ¹⁷ And ^(U)Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built ^(V)Ramah, ^(W)that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. ¹⁸ Then Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the treasuries of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants. And King Asa sent them to ^(X)Ben-Hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who dwelt in ^(Y)Damascus, saying, ¹⁹ “Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. See, I have sent you a present of silver and gold. Come and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”

²⁰ So Ben-Hadad heeded King Asa, and ^(Z)sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked ^(AA)Ijon, ^(AB)Dan, ^(AC)Abel Beth Maachah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. ²¹ Now it happened, when Baasha heard it, that he stopped building Ramah, and remained in ^(AD)Tirzah.

^22 (AE)Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none was exempted. And they took away the stones and timber of Ramah, which Baasha had used for building; and with them King Asa built ^(AF)Geba of Benjamin, and ^(AG)Mizpah.

²³ The rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? But ^(AH)in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. ²⁴ So Asa ^[g]rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David his father. ^(AI)Then ^(AJ)Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.

Nadab Reigns in Israel

²⁵ Now ^(AK)Nadab the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. ²⁶ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in ^(AL)his sin by which he had made Israel sin.

^27 (AM)Then Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. And Baasha killed him at ^(AN)Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon. ²⁸ Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place. ²⁹ And it was so, when he became king, that he killed all the house of Jeroboam. He did not leave to Jeroboam anyone that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according to ^(AO)the word of the Lord which He had spoken by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite, ^30 (AP)because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he had sinned and by which he had made Israel sin, because of his provocation with which he had provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger.

³¹ Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ^32 (AQ)And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

Baasha Reigns in Israel

³³ In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah became king over all Israel in Tirzah, and reigned twenty-four years. ³⁴ He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in ^(AR)the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin.

The Reigns of Elah, Zimri, Omri, and Ahab

16 Then the word of the Lord came to ^(AS)Jehu the son of ^(AT)Hanani, against ^(AU)Baasha, saying: ^2 (AV)“Inasmuch as I lifted you out of the dust and made you ruler over My people Israel, and ^(AW)you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made My people Israel sin, to provoke Me to anger with their sins, ³ surely I will ^(AX)take^[h] away the posterity of Baasha and the posterity of his house, and I will make your house like ^(AY)the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ⁴ The dogs shall eat ^(AZ)whoever belongs to Baasha and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the fields.”

⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, what he did, and his might, ^(BA)are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ⁶ So Baasha ^[i]rested with his fathers and was buried in ^(BB)Tirzah. Then Elah his son reigned in his place.

⁷ And also the word of the Lord came by the prophet ^(BC)Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord in provoking Him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because ^(BD)he killed them.

Elah Reigns in Israel

⁸ In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha became king over Israel, and reigned two years in Tirzah. ^9 (BE)Now his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him as he was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, ^(BF)steward^[j] of his house in Tirzah. ¹⁰ And Zimri went in and struck him and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.

¹¹ Then it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he was seated on his throne, that he killed all the household of Baasha; he ^(BG)did not leave him one male, neither of his relatives nor of his friends. ¹² Thus Zimri destroyed all the household of Baasha, ^(BH)according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, ¹³ for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, by which they had sinned and by which they had made Israel sin, in provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger ^(BI)with their ^[k]idols.

¹⁴ Now 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

¹⁵ In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri had reigned in Tirzah seven days. And the people were encamped ^(BJ)against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. ¹⁶ Now the people who were encamped heard it said, “Zimri has conspired and also has killed the king.” So all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp. ¹⁷ Then Omri and all Israel with him went up from Gibbethon, and they besieged Tirzah. ¹⁸ And it happened, when Zimri saw that the city was ^[l]taken, that he went into the citadel of the king’s house and burned the king’s house ^[m]down upon himself with fire, and died, ¹⁹ because of the sins which he had committed in doing evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(BK)in walking in the ^(BL)way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he had committed to make Israel sin.

²⁰ Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and the treason he committed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Omri Reigns in Israel

²¹ Then 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. ²² But the people who followed Omri prevailed over the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. So Tibni died and Omri reigned. ²³ In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel, and reigned twelve years. Six years he reigned in ^(BM)Tirzah. ²⁴ And he bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; then he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, ^(BN)Samaria,^[n] after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill. ^25 (BO)Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all who were before him. ²⁶ For he ^(BP)walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their ^(BQ)idols.^[o]

²⁷ Now 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?

²⁸ So Omri rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. Then Ahab his son reigned in his place.

Ahab Reigns in Israel

²⁹ In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel; and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. ³⁰ Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him. ³¹ And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^(BR)that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the ^(BS)Sidonians; ^(BT)and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. ³² Then he set up an altar for Baal in ^(BU)the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. ^33 (BV)And Ahab made a ^[p]wooden image. Ahab ^(BW)did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. ³⁴ In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation ^[q]with Abiram his firstborn, and with his youngest son Segub he set up its gates, ^(BX)according to the word of the Lord, which He had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun.

Elijah Proclaims a Drought

17 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the ^(BY)inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, ^(BZ)“As the Lord God of Israel lives, ^(CA)before whom I stand, ^(CB)there shall not be dew nor rain ^(CC)these years, except at my word.”

² Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ³ “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. ⁴ And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ^(CD)ravens to feed you there.”

⁵ So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. ⁶ The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. ⁷ And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

Elijah and the Widow

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁹ “Arise, go to ^(CE)Zarephath, which belongs to ^(CF)Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” ¹⁰ So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” ¹¹ And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

¹² So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a ^[r]jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and ^(CG)die.”

¹³ And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. ¹⁴ For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ ”

¹⁵ So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. ¹⁶ The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.

Elijah Revives the Widow’s Son

¹⁷ Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so ^[s]serious that ^[t]there was no breath left in him. ¹⁸ So she said to Elijah, ^(CH)“What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?”

¹⁹ And he said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰ Then he cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?” ^21 (CI)And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.” ²² Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he ^(CJ)revived.

²³ And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives!”

²⁴ Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now by this ^(CK)I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.”