Jehu’s Prophecy against Baasha 1 UST Then Yahweh told Jehu son of Hanani to speak a message to Baasha. He told him to say, BSB BSB: Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu son of Hanani against Baasha, saying:
2 UST “You were an insignificant person, but I allowed you to become the king of Israel. Despite that, you have done the same evil things that King Jeroboam did. You have led the people of Israel to commit sins, and that has made me very angry. BSB BSB: “Even though I lifted you out of the dust and made you ruler over My people Israel, you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have caused My people Israel to sin and to provoke Me to anger by their sins.
3 UST So now I am going to destroy you and your family completely. That is what I did to Jeroboam and his family, and I am going to do the same thing to your family. BSB BSB: So now I will consume Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat:
4 UST Dogs will eat the bodies of any members of your household who die in cities. Scavenger birds will eat the bodies of any members of your household who die in the countryside.” BSB BSB: Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.”
5 UST The book in which the kings of Israel recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Baasha did, including the battles that his armies won and other things that he did. BSB BSB: As for the rest of the acts of Baasha, along with his accomplishments and might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
6 UST When Baasha died, the Israelites buried him in Tirzah,{ his capital city}. His son Elah became the next king. BSB BSB: And Baasha rested with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah, and his son Elah reigned in his place.
7 UST Baasha did many things that Yahweh had told the Israelites were evil. The things he did made Yahweh very angry. Baasha did the same kind of things that King Jeroboam and his descendants who ruled as kings after him had done. Yahweh was also angry with Baasha because he killed all of Jeroboam’ s family. That was why Yahweh gave a message to the prophet Jehu son of Hanani{ saying that he would destroy Baasha and his family}. BSB BSB: Moreover, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Jehu son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, because of all the evil he had done in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger with the work of his hands and becoming like the house of Jeroboam, and also because Baasha had struck down the house of Jeroboam.
Elah Reigns in Israel 8 UST Elah son of Baasha became the king of Israel after Asa had been the king of Judah for almost 26 years. Elah ruled in Tirzah until the next year. BSB BSB: In the twenty-sixth year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah two years.
9 UST One day Elah was in Tirzah, drinking wine in the home of Arza, the official who was responsible for the royal palace there. Elah had a military officer whose name was Zimri. Zimri commanded the drivers of half of Elah’ s chariots. Zimri plotted{ with some of the other officers} to kill him. Elah had already become drunk. BSB BSB: However, while Elah was in Tirzah getting drunk in the house of Arza the steward of his household there, Elah’s servant Zimri, the commander of half his chariots, conspired against him.
10 UST Zimri went into Arza’ s house and stabbed Elah so that he died. Then Zimri became the next king of Israel. This happened when Asa had been the king of Judah for 27 years. BSB BSB: So in the twenty-seventh year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Zimri went in, struck Elah down, and killed him. And Zimri reigned in his place.
11 UST Once Zimri became king, as soon as he could, he commanded his soldiers to kill Baasha’ s whole remaining family. He killed every male in Baasha’ s family and all of Baasha’ s male friends. BSB BSB: As soon as Zimri began to reign and was seated on the throne, he struck down the entire household of Baasha. He did not leave a single male, whether a kinsman or friend.
12 UST In that way Zimri destroyed Baasha’ s whole remaining family. That is exactly what Yahweh had said would happen in the message that he gave to the prophet Jehu about what would happen to Baasha. BSB BSB: So Zimri destroyed the entire household of Baasha, according to the word that the LORD had spoken against Baasha through Jehu the prophet.
13 UST That message was about how Baasha and his son Elah had sinned and led the Israelite people to sin. They both encouraged the people to worship worthless idols. This made Yahweh, the God whom the Israelites worship, very angry. BSB BSB: This happened because of all the sins Baasha and his son Elah had committed and had caused Israel to commit, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their worthless idols.
14 UST The book in which the kings of Israel recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Elah did. BSB BSB: As for the rest of the acts of Elah, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
Zimri Reigns in Israel 15 UST In that way, Zimri became the next king of Israel. This happened after Asa had been the king of Judah for 27 years. But Zimri ruled in Tirzah for only seven days. At that time, the Israelite army was attacking the city of Gibbethon in the region of Philistia. BSB BSB: In the twenty-seventh year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Zimri reigned in Tirzah for seven days. Now the troops were encamped against Gibbethon of the Philistines,
16 UST The soldiers in the Israelite army camp heard that Zimri had plotted against Elah and killed him. Right away, there in the camp, they appointed Omri, the commander of their army, to be the king of Israel{ instead of Zimri}. BSB BSB: and the people in the camp heard that Zimri had conspired against the king and struck him down. So there in the camp that very day, all Israel proclaimed Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel.
17 UST Then Omri led the entire Israelite army from Gibbethon to Tirzah, and they attacked that city. BSB BSB: Then Omri and all the Israelites marched up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah.
18 UST When Zimri realized that Omri’ s soldiers had captured the city, he went into his palace and set it on fire. The palace burned down, and he died in the fire. BSB BSB: When Zimri saw that the city was captured, he entered the citadel of the royal palace and burned it down upon himself. So he died
19 UST Zimri died that way because he had sinned by doing many things that Yahweh had told the Israelites were evil. Jeroboam had sinned and led the Israelite people to sin, and Zimri did the same kind of things. BSB BSB: because of the sins he had committed, doing evil in the sight of the LORD and following the example of Jeroboam and the sin he had committed and had caused Israel to commit.
20 UST The book in which the kings of Israel recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Zimri did, including how he plotted to kill King Elah. BSB BSB: As for the rest of the acts of Zimri and the treason he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
Omri Reigns in Israel 21 UST After Zimri died, the Israelite soldiers disagreed about who should be the next king. Many of them wanted Tibni son of Ginath to be the king. But many others wanted Omri to be the king. BSB BSB: At that time the people of Israel were divided: Half of the people supported Tibni son of Ginath as king, and half supported Omri.
22 UST { The two groups of soldiers fought each other for four years, and finally} the soldiers who supported Omri defeated the ones who supported Tibni. They killed Tibni, and Omri became king. BSB BSB: But the followers of Omri proved stronger than those of Tibni son of Ginath. So Tibni died and Omri became king.
23 UST Omri became king when Asa had been the king of Judah for almost 31 years. Omri ruled Israel for 12 years. For the first 6 years he ruled in Tirzah. BSB BSB: In the thirty-first year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned twelve years, six of them in Tirzah.
24 UST Then Omni bought the hill that people now call Samaria from a man whose name was Shemer. He paid him about 66 kilograms of silver for it. Then Omri had his workers build a city on that hill. He called the city Samaria because Shemer was the name of the man who had owned the hill previously. BSB BSB: He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built a city there, calling it Samaria after the name of Shemer, who had owned the hill.
25 UST Omri did many things that Yahweh had told the Israelites were evil. He did more evil deeds than any of the kings had done who had ruled Israel before him. BSB BSB: But Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD and acted more wickedly than all who were before him.
26 UST Jeroboam had sinned and led the Israelite people to sin, and Omri did the same kind of things. They both encouraged the people to worship worthless idols. This made Yahweh, the God whom the Israelites worship, very angry. BSB BSB: For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat and in his sins, which he caused Israel to commit, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their worthless idols.
27 UST The book in which the kings of Israel recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Omri did, including the victories that his armies won. BSB BSB: As for the rest of the acts of Omri, along with his accomplishments and the might he exercised, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
28 UST Then Omri died, and the Israelites buried him in Samaria. His son Ahab became the next king. BSB BSB: And Omri rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab reigned in his place.
Ahab Reigns in Israel, Marries Jezebel 30 UST Ahab did many things that Yahweh had told the Israelites were evil. He did more evil deeds than any of the kings had done who had ruled Israel before him. BSB BSB: However, Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him.
31 UST It would have been bad enough if Ahab had only committed the same kind of sins that Jeroboam did. But he did things that were even worse. He married a woman whose name was Jezebel. She was the daughter of Ethbaal, the king of the city of Sidon.{ Because Jezebel worshiped the false god Baal,} Ahab started to worship Baal himself, and he even bowed down to Baal{ to honor him as his lord}. BSB BSB: And as if it were not enough for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, he even married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and he then proceeded to serve and worship Baal.
32 UST He built a temple in Samaria where people could worship Baal, and he put an altar in that temple for making sacrifices to Baal. BSB BSB: First, Ahab set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he had built in Samaria.
33 UST Ahab also made an idol that represented the goddess Asherah. He did more things to make Yahweh angry than any of the previous kings of Israel had done. BSB BSB: Then he set up an Asherah pole. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel before him.
34 UST During the years when Ahab ruled, a man whose name was Hiel, who came from the city of Bethel, rebuilt the city of Jericho. When Hiel{ and his family and servants} started restoring the foundations of the city, his oldest son Abiram died. And they had nearly finished the rebuilding and were putting the doors in the gates of the city, his youngest son Segub died. Joshua son of Nun had said this would happen to the sons of anyone who rebuilt Jericho. Yahweh had led Joshua to say that, and that is exactly what happened. BSB BSB: In Ahab’s days, Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho. At the cost of Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundation, and at the cost of Segub his youngest he set up its gates, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through Joshua son of Nun.
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