1 *Kings 16

₁The Lord told Jehu, son of Hanani, to say to Baasha: ₂‘I have picked you up from the ground and I have made you rule my people of Israel. But you did as Jeroboam did. You have made my people of Israel sin and you have made Me angry. ₃I will punish you. It will be like a fire that will burn you and your royal family. You and your royal family will suffer like the royal family of Jeroboam, son of Nebat. ₄When one of your children or descendants dies in a town, the dogs will eat him, and when one of them dies in the field, the birds will eat him.’

₅All the important things and other things that Baasha did are written in the book of the history of the kings_of_Israel. ₆Baasha died and they buried him in the town of Tirzah. His son Elah became king after him. ₇The Lord sent Jehu, son of Hanani, to talk to Baasha and his family about all the things he did. The Lord said the things he did were not right, and they made the Lord angry. He was like Jeroboam and he also killed all the descendants of Jeroboam.

₈Elah, son of Baasha, became king_of_Israel in the 26th year after Asa had become king_of_Judah. Elah was king in Tirzah for 2 years. ₉Zimri, one of Elah's officials, was the chief of half of Elah's war-chariots and Zimri talked with other men and they planned to kill Elah. Elah was drinking and getting drunk in the house of Arza, the chief of the palace in the town of Tirzah. ₁₀Zimri went there and he killed Elah. It was in the 27th year after Asa had become king_of_Judah and then Zimri became king after Elah.

₁₁After Zimri became king, he killed all the people in the family of Baasha. He did not leave one man or boy or a friend or anyone alive in the family of Baasha. ₁₂It happened as the Lord had told the prophet Jehu to say to the people. ₁₃The Lord did that because of the sins that Baasha and his son Elah had done and because of the sins they made the people of Israel do. They made the Lord, the God of Israel, angry, because they worshipped_idols. ₁₄All the other things that Elah did are written in the book of the history of the kings_of_Israel.

₁₅Zimri became king_of_Israel in the 27th year after Asa had become king_of_Judah. He was king in Tirzah for only 7 days. His soldiers were in the camp at the town of Gibbethon in the land of the Philistines. ₁₆They told the soldiers that Zimri and some other people had made plans and that they had killed their king. Then the soldiers made Omri king_of_Israel in the camp on that day. Before that Omri was the chief of the army. ₁₇Omri and all the men of Israel went from Gibbethon to Tirzah and they put up their tents around the town and besieged it. ₁₈When Zimri saw that they had defeated the town, he fled to the strong place of the palace and he burnt it down over himself and he died in the flames. ₁₉This happened because Zimri had sinned and done things which God did not like. He did the same things and the same sin as Jeroboam had done and he made the people of Israel sin too. ₂₀All the other things that Zimri did and the plans he made are written in the book of the history of the kings_of_Israel.

₂₁Then the people of Israel were divided into 2 groups. One half of the people wanted Tibni, son of Ginath, to be king. The other half of the people wanted Omri to be king. ₂₂The people who chose Omri were more than the people who chose Tibni. They killed Tibni and Omri became king. ₂₃Omri became king_of_Israel in the 31st year after Asa had become king_of_Judah. Omri was king for 12 years. For the first 6 years he ruled in the town of Tirzah. ₂₄Omri bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer. He paid Shemer 2 talents of silver for it and then he built a city on the hill. He named the city Samaria, the same as the name of the man who had owned the hill before. ₂₅Omri did what the Lord said was wrong. He did worse things than anyone before him had done. ₂₆He did the same bad things as Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had done, and made the people of Israel do. They made the Lord God of Israel angry because they worshipped_idols.

₂₇All the important things that Omri did, and also the other things, are written in the book of the history of the kings_of_Israel. ₂₈Omri died and they buried him in Samaria. His son Ahab became king after him.

₂₉Ahab, son of Omri, became king_of_Israel in the 38th year after Asa had become king_of_Judah. Ahab was king_of_Israel in Samaria for 22 years. ₃₀He did what the Lord said was wrong. He did worse things than anyone before him had done. ₃₁He did the same sins as Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had done and he also married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonian people. He started to serve Baal and worship him. ₃₂Ahab built an altar for Baal at the temple that he had built for Baal in Samaria. ₃₃He also made a sacred_pillar to worship the goddess Asherah. He did more sins than all the kings_of_Israel before him. They were sins that made the Lord God of Israel angry. ₃₄In the time that Ahab lived, Hiel from the town of Bethel built the city of Jericho again. When he built the foundations of the city, his oldest son, Abiram, died and when he put in the gates of the city, his youngest son, Segub, died. This happened as the Lord had told Joshua, son of Nun, to tell the people.