1 Kings 16:1-34
16 And Jehovah’s word came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baʽasha,
2 “Since I raised you from the dust and set you as warden over my people Israel, and you have followed Jeroboam’s path and caused my people Israel to sin, provoking me by their sins,
3 I am routing out Baʽasha and his family and making your family like the family of Jeroboam the son of Nebat:
4 whoever of Baʽasha’s dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and whoever of his dies in the country the birds of the air shall eat.”
5 And as to the rest of the history of Baʽasha, and what he did, and his exploits, they are recorded in the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
6 And Baʽasha went to rest with his fathers, and was buried at Tirsah; and his son Elah succeeded him.
7 * Moreover, Jehovah’s word came to Baʽasha and his family by Jehu the son of Hanani both for all that he did that displeased Jehovah, provoking him with his handiwork, becoming like the family of Jeroboam, and for his killing it off.
8 In the year twenty-six of King Asa of Judah, Elah the son of Baʽasha became king over Israel for a reign of two years at Tirsah.
9 And his officer Zimri, the captain of half the chariotry, organized a revolution against him, and as he was at Tirsah getting drunk at the house of Arsa the steward of the palace at Tirsah,
10 Zimri came in and assassinated him in the year twenty-seven of King Asa of Judah, and succeeded him.
11 And when he became king, as soon as he was seated on the throne he killed off all Baʽasha’s family, not leaving him any male person, and his kinsmen and friends:
12 Zimri rooted out all Baʽasha’s family, in accordance with Jehovah’s prediction which he made to Baʽasha by the prophet Jehu,
13 for all Baʽasha’s sins and the sins of his son Elah, which they had committed and had caused Israel to commit, provoking Israel’s God Jehovah with their superstitions.
14 And as to the rest of the history of Elah, and all that he did, it is recorded in the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
15 In the year twenty-seven of King Asa of Judah, Zimri became king for a reign of seven days at Tirsah. But the people were in camp attacking Gibbethon, which belongs to the Philistines;
16 and the people in the camp heard the word “Zimri has organized a revolution, and he has killed the king,” and all Israel made ʽOmri, a general, king of Israel that day at the camp.
17 And ʽOmri, and all Israel with him, went up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirsah;
18 and when Zimri saw that the city was taken he went into the keep of the palace and burned the palace down over his head, and so died,
19 for his sins that he had committed in doing what displeased Jehovah, following Jeroboam’s path, and his sin that he had committed, causing Israel to sin.
20 And as to the rest of the history of Zimri, and his revolution that he organized, it is recorded in the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
21 Then the people, Israel, divided into parties: half the people backed Tibni the son of Ginath to make him king, and half backed ʽOmri.
22 And the party backing ʽOmri was too strong for the party backing Tibni; and Tibni and his brother Joram died at that time, and ʽOmri became king at Tirsah.
23 In the year thirty-one of King Asa of Judah, ʽOmri became king over Israel for a reign of twelve years: he reigned at Tirsah six years,
24 and he bought the plateau of Samaria from Shemer for two hundred-weight of silver, and fortified the plateau, and named the city that he built after Shemer, the owner of the plateau, “Shamaria” or Samaria.
25 And ʽOmri did what displeased Jehovah, and did worse than all who had gone before him;
26 and he walked altogether in the path of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in his sins that he caused Israel to commit, provoking Israel’s God Jehovah with their superstitions.
27 And as to the rest of the history of ʽOmri, and all that he did, and his exploits, they are recorded in the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
28 * And ʽOmri went to rest with his fathers, and was buried at Samaria, and his son Ahab succeeded him.
29 And Ahab the son of ʽOmri became king over Israel in the year thirty-eight of King Asa of Judah; and Ahab the son of ʽOmri reigned over Israel at Samaria for twenty-two years.
30 And Ahab the son of ʽOmri did more to displease Jehovah than all who had gone before him:
31 his walking in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat was the slightest part; he married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Phenicians, and went and worshiped the Baal and did reverence to him,
32 and erected an altar to the Baal in the Baal’s house that he built in Samaria.
33 And Ahab made the asherah; and Ahab kept on doing things to provoke Israel’s God Jehovah more than all the kings of Israel that had gone before him.
34 * In his days Ahiel the Bethelite fortified Jericho; he laid its foundation with his oldest son Abiram, and set up its gates with his youngest son Segub, in accordance with Jehovah’s prediction which he had made by Joshuaʽ the son of Nun.
Footnotes
^ 16:7 Var. the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani
^ 16:28 Var. puts 22:41-51 after this verse instead of after 22:40
^ 16:34 That is, these persons were put to death and buried beside the foundations as a good-luck charm in accordance with custom; probably the victims were picked out by lot
