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1 Kings 16
New American Standard Bible

Prophecy against Baasha

16 Now the word of the Lord came to (A)Jehu the son of (B)Hanani against Baasha, saying, 2 “Since I (C)exalted you from the dust and made you leader over My people Israel, and (D)you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have misled My people Israel into sin, provoking Me to anger with their sins, 3 behold, (E)I am going to [a]burn (F)Baasha and his house, and (G)I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 4 (H)Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city, the dogs will eat; and anyone belonging to him who dies in the field, the birds of the sky will eat.”

5 (I)Now as for the rest of the acts of Baasha and what he did and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

The Israelite Kings

6 And Baasha [b]lay down with his fathers and was buried in (J)Tirzah, and his son Elah became king in his place. 7 Moreover, the word of the Lord through (K)the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came against Baasha and his household, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with (L)the work of his hands, by being like the house of Jeroboam, and because (M)he struck [c]it.

8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha became king over Israel at Tirzah, and reigned for two years. 9 And his servant (N)Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now [d]Elah was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, (O)who was in charge of the household in Tirzah. 10 Then Zimri came in and struck him and put him to death in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and he became king in his place. 11 And when he became king, as soon as he sat on his throne, (P)he [e]killed all the household of Baasha; he did not leave [f]a single male alive, either of his [g]relatives or of his friends.

12 So Zimri eliminated all the household of Baasha, (Q)in accordance with the word of the Lord which He spoke against Baasha through (R)Jehu the prophet, 13 for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of his son Elah, which they [h]committed and into which they misled Israel, (S)provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their [i]idols. 14 (T)Now as for 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 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned for seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were camped against (U)Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. 16 And the people who were camped heard [j]it being said, “Zimri has conspired and has also struck and killed the king!” Therefore 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 besieged Tirzah. 18 When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king’s house and burned the king’s house over himself with fire, and (V)died, 19 because of his sins which he [k]committed, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, (W)walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he committed, misleading Israel into sin. 20 (X)Now as for the rest of the acts of Zimri and his conspiracy which he [l]carried out, 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 of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king; the other half followed Omri. 22 But the people who followed Omri prevailed over the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. And Tibni died and Omri became king. 23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel and reigned for twelve years; he reigned for six years at (Y)Tirzah. 24 And he purchased the hill [m]Samaria from Shemer for [n]two talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and named the city which he built [o](Z)Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.

25 Now (AA)Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, and (AB)acted more wickedly than all who were before him. 26 For he (AC)walked [p]entirely in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in his sins into which he misled Israel, provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their [q]idols. 27 Now as for the rest of the acts of Omri which he did and his might which he [r]displayed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 28 And Omri [s]lay down with his fathers and was buried in Samaria; and his son Ahab became king in his place.

29 Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria for twenty-two years. 30 Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord (AD)more than all who were before him.

31 And as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, (AE)he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the (AF)Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him. 32 So he erected an altar for Baal at (AG)the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made (AH)the [t]Asherah. So (AI)Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. 34 (AJ)In his days Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho; he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 16:3 Another reading is sweep away
  2. 1 Kings 16:6 I.e., died
  3. 1 Kings 16:7 Or him
  4. 1 Kings 16:9 Lit he
  5. 1 Kings 16:11 Lit struck
  6. 1 Kings 16:11 Lit him who urinates against the wall
  7. 1 Kings 16:11 Lit blood avengers
  8. 1 Kings 16:13 Lit sinned
  9. 1 Kings 16:13 Lit non-existing things
  10. 1 Kings 16:16 Lit saying
  11. 1 Kings 16:19 Lit sinned
  12. 1 Kings 16:20 Lit conspired
  13. 1 Kings 16:24 Heb Shomeron
  14. 1 Kings 16:24 About 150 lb. or 68 kg
  15. 1 Kings 16:24 Heb Shomeron
  16. 1 Kings 16:26 Lit in all the way of
  17. 1 Kings 16:26 Lit non-existing things
  18. 1 Kings 16:27 Lit did
  19. 1 Kings 16:28 I.e., died
  20. 1 Kings 16:33 I.e., wooden symbol of a female deity
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1 Kings 16
Living Bible

16 A message of condemnation from the Lord was delivered to King Baasha at this time by the prophet Jehu:

2 “I lifted you out of the dust,” the message said, “to make you king of my people Israel; but you have walked in the evil paths of Jeroboam. You have made my people sin, and I am angry! 3 So now I will destroy you and your family, just as I did the descendants of Jeroboam. 4-7 Those of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the fields will be eaten by the birds.”

The message was sent to Baasha and his family because he had angered the Lord by all his evil deeds. He was as evil as Jeroboam despite the fact that the Lord had destroyed all of Jeroboam’s descendants for their sins.

The rest of Baasha’s biography—his deeds and conquests—are written in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

8 Elah, Baasha’s son, began reigning during the twenty-sixth year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, but he reigned only two years. 9 Then General Zimri, who had charge of half the royal chariot troops, plotted against him. One day King Elah was half drunk at the home of Arza, the superintendent of the palace, in the capital city of Tirzah. 10 Zimri simply walked in and struck him down and killed him. (This occurred during the twenty-seventh year of the reign of King Asa of Judah.) Then Zimri declared himself to be the new king of Israel.

11 He immediately killed the entire royal family—leaving not a single male child. He even destroyed distant relatives and friends. 12 This destruction of the descendants of Baasha was in line with what the Lord had predicted through the prophet Jehu. 13 The tragedy occurred because of the sins of Baasha and his son Elah; for they had led Israel into worshiping idols, and the Lord was very angry about it. 14 The rest of the history of Elah’s reign is written in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

15-16 But Zimri lasted only seven days; for when the army of Israel, which was then engaged in attacking the Philistine city of Gibbethon, heard that Zimri had assassinated the king, they decided on General Omri, commander-in-chief of the army, as their new ruler. 17 So Omri led the army of Gibbethon to besiege Tirzah, Israel’s capital. 18 When Zimri saw that the city had been taken, he went into the palace and burned it over him and died in the flames. 19 For he, too, had sinned like Jeroboam; he had worshiped idols and had led the people of Israel to sin with him. 20 The rest of the story of Zimri and his treason are written in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

21 But now the kingdom of Israel was split in two; half the people were loyal to General Omri, and the other half followed Tibni, the son of Ginath. 22 But General Omri won and Tibni was killed; so Omri reigned without opposition.

23 King Asa of Judah had been on the throne thirty-one years when Omri began his reign over Israel, which lasted twelve years, six of them in Tirzah. 24 Then Omri bought the hill now known as Samaria from its owner, Shemer, for $4,000 and built a city on it, calling it Samaria in honor of Shemer. 25 But Omri was worse than any of the kings before him; 26 he worshiped idols as Jeroboam had and led Israel into this same sin. So God was very angry. 27 The rest of Omri’s history is recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Israel. 28 When Omri died he was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab became king in his place.

29 King Asa of Judah had been on the throne thirty-eight years when Ahab became the king of Israel; and Ahab reigned for twenty-two years. 30 But he was even more wicked than his father Omri; he was worse than any other king of Israel! 31 And as though that were not enough, he married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians, and then began worshiping Baal. 32 First he built a temple and an altar for Baal in Samaria. 33 Then he made other idols and did more to anger the Lord God of Israel than any of the other kings of Israel before him.

34 (It was during his reign that Hiel, a man from Bethel, rebuilt Jericho. When he laid the foundations, his oldest son, Abiram, died; and when he finally completed it by setting up the gates, his youngest son, Segub, died. For this was the Lord’s curse upon Jericho[a] as declared by Joshua, the son of Nun.)

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 16:34 the Lord’s curse upon Jericho, see Joshua 6:26.
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