1 Kings 16

Then God told Jehu son of Hanani to speak a message to Baasha. He told him to say,

“You were an insignificant person, but I allowed you to become the king of Israel. Despite that, you have done the same evil things that King Jeroboam did. You have led the people of Israel to commit sins, and that has made me very angry. \*

So now I am going to destroy you and your family completely. That is what I did to Jeroboam and his family, and I am going to do the same thing to your family.

Dogs will eat the bodies of any members of your household who die in cities. Scavenger birds will eat the bodies of any members of your household who die in the countryside.” \*

The book in which the kings of Israel recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Baasha did, including the battles that his armies won and other things that he did.

When Baasha died, the Israelites buried him in Tirzah, {his capital city}. His son Elah became the next king. \*

Baasha did many things that God had told the Israelites were evil. The things he did made God very angry. Baasha did the same kind of things that King Jeroboam and his descendants who ruled as kings after him had done. God was also angry with Baasha because he killed all of Jeroboam’s family. That was why God gave a message to the prophet Jehu son of Hanani {saying that he would destroy Baasha and his family}. \*

Elah son of Baasha became the king of Israel after Asa had been the king of Judah for almost 26 years. Elah ruled in Tirzah until the next year.

One day Elah was in Tirzah, drinking wine in the home of Arza, the official who was responsible for the royal palace there. Elah had a military officer whose name was Zimri. Zimri commanded the drivers of half of Elah’s chariots. Zimri plotted {with some of the other officers} to kill him. Elah had already become drunk.

Zimri went into Arza’s house and stabbed Elah so that he died. Then Zimri became the next king of Israel. This happened when Asa had been the king of Judah for 27 years. \*

Once Zimri became king, as soon as he could, he commanded his soldiers to kill Baasha’s whole remaining family. He killed every male in Baasha’s family and all of Baasha’s male friends.

In that way Zimri destroyed Baasha’s whole remaining family. That is exactly what God had said would happen in the message that he gave to the prophet Jehu about what would happen to Baasha.

That message was about how Baasha and his son Elah had sinned and led the Israelite people to sin. They both encouraged the people to worship worthless idols. This made God, the God whom the Israelites worship, very angry. \*

The book in which the kings of Israel recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Elah did. \*

In that way, Zimri became the next king of Israel. This happened after Asa had been the king of Judah for 27 years. But Zimri ruled in Tirzah for only seven days. At that time, the Israelite army was attacking the city of Gibbethon in the region of Philistia.

The soldiers in the Israelite army camp heard that Zimri had plotted against Elah and killed him. Right away, there in the camp, they appointed Omri, the commander of their army, to be the king of Israel {instead of Zimri}.

Then Omri led the entire Israelite army from Gibbethon to Tirzah, and they attacked that city. \*

When Zimri realized that Omri’s soldiers had captured the city, he went into his palace and set it on fire. The palace burned down, and he died in the fire.

Zimri died that way because he had sinned by doing many things that God had told the Israelites were evil. Jeroboam had sinned and led the Israelite people to sin, and Zimri did the same kind of things.

The book in which the kings of Israel recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Zimri did, including how he plotted to kill King Elah. \*

After Zimri died, the Israelite soldiers disagreed about who should be the next king. Many of them wanted Tibni son of Ginath to be the king. But many others wanted Omri to be the king.

{The two groups of soldiers fought each other for four years, and finally} the soldiers who supported Omri defeated the ones who supported Tibni. They killed Tibni, and Omri became king. \*

Omri became king when Asa had been the king of Judah for almost 31 years. Omri ruled Israel for 12 years. For the first 6 years he ruled in Tirzah.

Then Omni bought the hill that people now call Samaria from a man whose name was Shemer. He paid him about 66 kilograms of silver for it. Then Omri had his workers build a city on that hill. He called the city Samaria because Shemer was the name of the man who had owned the hill previously. \*

Omri did many things that God had told the Israelites were evil. He did more evil deeds than any of the kings had done who had ruled Israel before him.

Jeroboam had sinned and led the Israelite people to sin, and Omri did the same kind of things. They both encouraged the people to worship worthless idols. This made God, the God whom the Israelites worship, very angry. \*

The book in which the kings of Israel recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Omri did, including the victories that his armies won.

Then Omri died, and the Israelites buried him in Samaria. His son Ahab became the next king. \*

Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel when Asa had ruled Judah for almost 38 years. Ahab ruled Israel from the city of Samaria for 22 years.

Ahab did many things that God had told the Israelites were evil. He did more evil deeds than any of the kings had done who had ruled Israel before him. \*

It would have been bad enough if Ahab had only committed the same kind of sins that Jeroboam did. But he did things that were even worse. He married a woman whose name was Jezebel. She was the daughter of Ethbaal, the king of the city of Sidon. {Because Jezebel worshiped the false god Baal,} Ahab started to worship Baal himself, and he even bowed down to Baal {to honor him as his lord}.

He built a temple in Samaria where people could worship Baal, and he put an altar in that temple for making sacrifices to Baal.

Ahab also made an idol that represented the goddess Asherah. He did more things to make God angry than any of the previous kings of Israel had done. \*

During the years when Ahab ruled, a man whose name was Hiel, who came from the city of Bethel, rebuilt the city of Jericho. When Hiel {and his family and servants} started restoring the foundations of the city, his oldest son Abiram died. And they had nearly finished the rebuilding and were putting the doors in the gates of the city, his youngest son Segub died. Joshua son of Nun had said this would happen to the sons of anyone who rebuilt Jericho. God had led Joshua to say that, and that is exactly what happened. \*