1 Kings 16

1Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu son of Hanani, a word against Baasha: 2“I lifted you up from the dust and made you ruler over my people Israel. Yet you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and led my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins. 3So I am about to sweep away Baasha and his house after him, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat. 4Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city, the dogs will eat, and anyone of his who dies in the open country, the birds of the sky will eat.” 5The rest of the acts of Baasha, what he did and his might, are written in the Book of the History of the Kings of Israel. 6Baasha rested with his ancestors and was buried in Tirzah, and his son Elah became king in his place. 7The word of the LORD had also come through the prophet Jehu son of Hanani against Baasha and his house. It came because of all the evil Baasha did in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger by the work of his hands, so that he became like the house of Jeroboam. It came also because he had struck that house down.

8In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king over Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned two years. 9His official Zimri, commander of half the chariots, plotted against him. Elah was in Tirzah at the time, getting drunk in the house of Arza, the steward of the palace in Tirzah. 10Zimri came in and struck him down, killing him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and he became king in his place. 11As soon as he became king and sat on his throne, he struck down the whole house of Baasha. He did not leave him a single male, neither his family redeemers nor his friends. 12So Zimri destroyed the whole house of Baasha, as the word of the LORD had said against Baasha through Jehu the prophet, 13because of all the sins of Baasha and the sins of his son Elah, the sins they committed and by which they led Israel to sin, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their worthless idols. 14The rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are written in the Book of the History of the Kings of Israel.

15In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri became king in Tirzah, and he reigned seven days. The troops were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. 16When the troops in the camp heard it said, “Zimri has plotted, and he has even struck down the king,” all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that very day in the camp. 17Then Omri and all Israel with him went up from Gibbethon and laid siege to Tirzah. 18When Zimri saw that the city had been taken, he went into the citadel of the royal palace and set the palace on fire over himself, and he died, 19because of the sins he had committed, doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD, walking in the way of Jeroboam and in the sin he committed, by which he led Israel to sin. 20The rest of the acts of Zimri, and the conspiracy he carried out, are written in the Book of the History of the Kings of Israel.

21Then the people of Israel were split in two. Half the people followed Tibni son of Ginath, to make him king, and the other half followed Omri. 22But the people who followed Omri were stronger than the people who followed Tibni son of Ginath. So Tibni died, and Omri became king.

23In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel, and he reigned twelve years, six of them in Tirzah. 24He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for about 150 pounds of silver. He built a city on the hill and named it Samaria, after Shemer, the owner of the hill. 25Omri did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did more evil than all who were before him. 26He walked in all the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat and in his sin, by which he led Israel to sin, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their worthless idols. 27The rest of the acts of Omri, what he did and the might he showed, are written in the Book of the History of the Kings of Israel. 28Omri rested with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab became king in his place.

29Ahab son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. 30Ahab son of Omri did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. 31As though walking in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat were a small thing for him, he married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and he went and served Baal and bowed down to him. 32He set up an altar to Baal in the temple of Baal that he had built in Samaria. 33Ahab also made the Asherah pole. He did more than all the kings of Israel before him to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger. 34In Ahab’s days Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. At the price of Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundation, and at the price of Segub his youngest he set its gates in place, as the word of the LORD had said through Joshua son of Nun.