ELAH ē’ lə (אֵלָ֣ה, LXX ̓Ηλα, perhaps chief, strong, divine, cf. “terebinth”; Noth, Israelitische Personennamen, pp. 38, 90). Fourth king of Israel, son of Baasha of Issachar. His reign is described briefly in 1 Kings 16:8-14. He succeeded his father in the twenty-sixth year of Asa of Judah, and was assassinated in the following year (vv. 10, 15). “Two years” (v. 8) indicates that his reign covered more than a full year; this was long enough for him to show his adherence to his father’s religious policy, in defiance of the prophecy of Jehu ben Hanani, but he seems to have lacked his father’s energy and leadership. It is recorded that he met his death while carousing with his chamberlain in Tirzah, though the army was at the time laying siege to the Philistine city of Gibbethon.