1 Kings 16

Revised Geneva Translation

16 Then, the Word of the LORD came to Jehu, the son of Hanani, against Baasha, saying,

² “Because I exalted you out of the dust, and made you captain over My people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made My people Israel sin, to provoke Me with their sins,

³ “behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his House, and will make your House like the House of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.

⁴ “He of Baasha’s stock who dies in the city, him shall the dogs eat. And the man from him who dies in the fields, shall the birds of the air eat.”

⁵ And the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his power, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

⁶ So, Baasha slept with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah. And Elah, his son, reigned in his place.

⁷ And also, the Word of the LORD came to Baasha, and to his House, by the hand of Jehu, the son of Hanani the Prophet: that he would be like the House of Jeroboam for all the wickedness that he had done in the sight of the LORD, in provoking Him with the work of his hands, and because he had killed.

⁸ During the twenty-six years of Asa, king of Judah, Elah, the son of Baasha, began to reign over Israel in Tirzah, for two years.

⁹ And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah drinking, until he was drunk in the house of Arza, steward of his house in Tirzah.

¹⁰ And Zimri came and struck him, and killed him, within the twenty-seven years of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned in his place.

¹¹ And when he was king, and sat on his throne, he killed all the House of Baasha, not leaving one man of it, neither of his kinsfolk nor of his friends.

¹² So, Zimri destroyed all the House of Baasha, according to the Word of the LORD which He spoke against Baasha by the hand of Jehu the Prophet,

¹³ for all the sins of Baasha and sins of Elah, his son, which they sinned and made Israel sin and provoked the LORD God of Israel with their vanities.

¹⁴ And 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?

¹⁵ During the twenty-seven years of Asa, king of Judah, Zimri reigned for seven days in Tirzah. And the people were then encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.

¹⁶ And the people of the army heard say, “Zimri has conspired, and has also killed the king!” Therefore, all Israel made Omri the captain of the army, king over Israel, that same day, in the camp.

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

¹⁸ And when Zimri saw that the city had been taken, he went into the palace of the king’s house and burnt himself and the king’s house with fire, and so died

¹⁹ for his sins which he sinned in doing that which is evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam and in his sins which he did, causing Israel to sin.

²⁰ And the rest of the acts of Zimri and his treason that he worked, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

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

²² But the people who followed Omri prevailed against the people who followed Tibni, the son of Ginath. So Tibni died and Omri reigned.

²³ During the thirty-one years of Asa, king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel, for twelve years. For six years he reigned in Tirzah.

²⁴ And he bought the mountain, Samaria, from one Shemer for two talents of silver. And he built on the mountain and called the name of the city which he built after the name of Shemer, lord of the mountain: Samaria.

²⁵ But Omri did evil in the Eyes of the LORD and did worse than all who were before him.

²⁶ For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and in his sins with which he made Israel sin in provoking the LORD God of Israel with their vanities.

²⁷ And the rest of the acts of Omri that he did, and his strength that he showed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

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

²⁹ Now Ahab, the son of Omri, began to reign over Israel, during the thirty-eight years of Asa, king of Judah. And Ahab, the son of Omri, reigned over Israel in Samaria for twenty-two years.

³⁰ And Ahab, the son of Omri, did worse in the sight of the LORD than all who were before him.

³¹ For as it happened, it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. For he also took Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, as a wife, and went and served Baal and worshipped him.

³² Also, he raised up an altar to Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.

³³ And Ahab made a grove. And Ahab proceeded, and provoked the LORD God of Israel more than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

³⁴ In his days, Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho. He laid its foundation in Abiram, his eldest son, and set up its gates in his youngest son, Segub, according to the Word of the LORD which He spoke by Joshua, the son of Nun.