1 Kings 16

Complete Jewish Bible

16 The word of Adonai came to Yehu the son of Hanani against Ba‘sha: ² “I raised you up out of the dust and made you prince over my people Isra’el. But you have lived in the same way as Yarov‘am and caused my people Isra’el to sin, so that their sinning has made me angry. ³ Therefore I will sweep away Ba‘sha and his house completely; I will make your house like the house of Yarov‘am the son of N’vat. ⁴ If someone from the line of Ba‘sha dies in the city, the dogs will eat him; if he dies in the countryside, the vultures will eat him.”

⁵ Other activities of Ba‘sha, his accomplishments and his power are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra’el. ⁶ Ba‘sha slept with his ancestors, and Elah his son became king in his place. ⁷ Through the prophet Yehu the son of Hanani the word of Adonai was proclaimed against Ba‘sha and his house both because he did so much evil from Adonai’s perspective, angering him with his actions and becoming like the house of Yarov‘am, and because he killed [Nadav].

⁸ It was in the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Y’hudah that Elah the son of Ba‘sha began his reign over all Isra’el in Tirtzah, and he ruled for two years. ⁹ His servant Zimri, commander of half of his chariots, plotted against him. Finally, one time when Elah was in Tirtzah, drinking himself senseless in the house of Artza, administrator of the palace in Tirtzah, ¹⁰ Zimri entered, struck him down and killed him. This was in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Y’hudah; Zimri then took Elah’s place as king.

¹¹ At the beginning of his reign, as soon as he took over the throne, he killed off the entire house of Ba‘sha; he left not a single male, neither of his relatives nor of his friends. ¹² Thus Zimri eliminated all the house of Ba‘sha, in keeping with the word of Adonai spoken against Ba‘sha through Yehu the prophet. This word had been spoken ¹³ because of all of Ba‘sha’s sins and the sins of Elah his son, which they committed and with which they made Isra’el sin, thereby angering Adonai the God of Isra’el with their worthless idols. ¹⁴ Other activities of Elah and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra’el.

¹⁵ It was in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Y’hudah that Zimri ruled for seven days in Tirtzah. At that time, the army was besieging Gib’ton, which belonged to the P’lishtim. ¹⁶ The troops in their camp heard it said that Zimri had plotted and killed the king, whereupon that same day, there in the camp, all Isra’el made ‘Omri, the commander of the army, king over Isra’el. ¹⁷ ‘Omri and all Isra’el with him withdrew from Gib’ton and besieged Tirtzah. ¹⁸ When Zimri saw that the city had been captured, he went into the citadel of the royal palace and burned down the royal palace over him, so that he died. ¹⁹ This came about because of the sins he committed in doing what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, in living as Yarov‘am had lived, and in sinning by making Isra’el sin. ²⁰ Other activities of Zimri and his conspiracy are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra’el.

²¹ At this point the people of Isra’el divided into two factions. Half of the people went after Tivni the son of Ginat to make him king, while the other half followed ‘Omri. ²² But the faction supporting ‘Omri won out over that of Tivni the son of Ginat; so Tivni died, and ‘Omri became king.

²³ It was in the thirty-first year of Asa king of Y’hudah that ‘Omri began his reign over Isra’el, and he ruled for twelve years, six of them in Tirtzah. ²⁴ He bought Mount Shomron from Shemer for 132 pounds of silver. On the mountain he built a city, which he named Shomron after Shemer, who had owned the mountain.

²⁵ ‘Omri did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, outdoing all his predecessors in wickedness; ²⁶ for he lived entirely in the manner of Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, committing the sins with which he made Isra’el sin, thereby angering Adonai the God of Isra’el with their worthless idols. ²⁷ Other activities of ‘Omri and the power he demonstrated are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra’el. ²⁸ Then ‘Omri slept with his ancestors and was buried in Shomron, and Ach’av his son became king in his place.

²⁹ It was in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Y’hudah that Ach’av the son of ‘Omri began his rule over Isra’el; Ach’av the son of ‘Omri ruled twenty-two years over Isra’el in Shomron. ³⁰ Ach’av the son of ‘Omri did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, outdoing all his predecessors [in wickedness]. ³¹ But then, as if it had been a trifling thing for him to commit the sins of Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, he took as his wife Izevel the daughter of Etba‘al king of the Tzidonim, and went and served Ba‘al and worshipped him. ³² He erected an altar for Ba‘al in the house of Ba‘al, which he had built in Shomron. ³³ Ach’av also set up the asherah; indeed, Ach’av did more to anger Adonai the God of Isra’el, than all the kings of Isra’el preceding him. ³⁴ It was during his time that Hi’el of Beit-El rebuilt Yericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of his firstborn son Aviram and erected its gates at the cost of his youngest son S’guv. This was in keeping with the word of Adonai spoken through Y’hoshua the son of Nun.