16:1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,
16:2 “Since I exalted you from the dust and made you leader over My people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have misled My people Israel into sin, provoking Me to anger with their sins,
16:3 behold, I am going to ①burn Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
▷ ①Another reading is sweep away
16:4 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.”
16:5 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?
16:6 And Baasha ①lay down with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah, and his son Elah became king in his place.
▷ ①I.e., died
16:7 Moreover, the word of the LORD through 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 the work of his hands, by being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he struck ①it.
▷ ①Or him
16:8 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.
16:9 And his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now ①Elah was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was in charge of the household in Tirzah.
▷ ①Lit he
16:10 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.
16:11 And when he became king, as soon as he sat on his throne, he ①killed all the household of Baasha; he did not leave ②a single male alive, either of his ③relatives or of his friends.
▷ ①Lit struck ②Lit him who urinates against the wall ③Lit blood avengers
16:12 So Zimri eliminated all the household of Baasha, in accordance with the word of the LORD which He spoke against Baasha through Jehu the prophet,
16:13 for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of his son Elah, which they ①committed and into which they misled Israel, provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their ②idols.
▷ ①Lit sinned ②Lit non-existing things
16:14 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?
16:15 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned for seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were camped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.
16:16 And the people who were camped heard ①it 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.
▷ ①Lit saying
16:17 Then Omri and all Israel with him went up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah.
16:18 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 died,
16:19 because of his sins which he ①committed, doing evil in the sight of the LORD, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he committed, misleading Israel into sin.
▷ ①Lit sinned
16:20 Now as for the rest of the acts of Zimri and his conspiracy which he ①carried out, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
▷ ①Lit conspired
16:21 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.
16:22 But the people who followed Omri prevailed over the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. And Tibni died and Omri became king.
16:23 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 Tirzah.
16:24 And he purchased the hill ①Samaria from Shemer for ②two talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and named the city which he built ③Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.
▷ ①Heb Shomeron ②About 150 lb. or 68 kg ③Heb Shomeron
16:25 Now Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, and acted more wickedly than all who were before him.
16:26 For he walked ①entirely 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 ②idols.
▷ ①Lit in all the way of ②Lit non-existing things
16:27 Now as for the rest of the acts of Omri which he did and his might which he ①displayed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
▷ ①Lit did
16:28 And Omri ①lay down with his fathers and was buried in Samaria; and his son Ahab became king in his place.
▷ ①I.e., died
16:29 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.
16:30 Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD more than all who were before him.
16:31 And as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him.
16:32 So he erected an altar for Baal at the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria.
16:33 Ahab also made the ①Asherah. So Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
▷ ①I.e., wooden symbol of a female deity
16:34 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.