I Kings 16

1. And the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,

2. “Since I exalted you out of the dust, and made you ruler over My people Israel, and since you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made My people Israel to sin to provoke Me to anger with their sins,

3. Behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and his house. And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

4. Those of Baasha who die in the city shall the dogs eat. And those who die in the fields, the birds of the air shall eat.”

5. And 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?

6. And Baasha lay with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah. And Elah his son reigned in his place.

7. And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of the LORD against Baasha and against his house, even for all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD in provoking Him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, for he destroyed it.

8. In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned two years.

9. And his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, plotted against him; and he was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza the steward of his house in Tirzah.

10. And Zimri went in and struck him, and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.

11. Then it came to pass when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, he killed all the house of Baasha. He did not leave him one who pissed against a wall, nor of his kinsmen, nor of his friends.

12. And Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet,

13. For all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned and that they made Israel to sin in provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities.

14. And 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 seven days in Tirzah. And the people were camped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.

16. And the people that were camped heard it said that Zimri had plotted and had also slain the king. Then all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp.

17. And Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they laid siege to Tirzah.

18. Now it came to pass when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the palace of the king’s house and burned the king’s house over him with fire, and died,

19. For his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did to make Israel sin.

20. And the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

21. And the people of Israel were divided into two parts. Half the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath to make him king. And half followed Omri.

22. But the people who followed Omri were stronger than the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. And Tibni died and Omri reigned.

23. In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel. He reigned twelve years, six years in Tirzah.

24. And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill, Samaria.

25. And Omri did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all who were before him,

26. For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities.

27. And the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might that he showed, are they not written in the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

28. And Omri slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. And Ahab his son reigned in his place.

29. And in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel. And Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.

30. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all who were before him.

31. And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he also took Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, for a wife. And he went and served Baal, and worshiped him.

32. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.

33. And Ahab made a wooden image. And Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

34. In his days Hiel the man of Bethel built Jericho. He laid the foundation of it at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates of it at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.