1 Kings 16 - Easy To Read Version Easy To Read Version
1 Kings 16

¹ Then the Lord spoke to Jehu son of Hanani. The Lord was speaking against King Baasha.

² “I made you an important person. I made you a prince over my people Israel. But you have followed the ways of Jeroboam. You have caused my people Israel to sin. They have made me angry with their sins.

³ So I will destroy you, Baasha, and your family. I will do the same to you that I did to the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat.

⁴ The people in your family will die in the streets of the city. And dogs will eat their bodies. Some of the people in your family will die in the fields. And the birds will eat their bodies.”

⁵ All the other things about Baasha and the great things he did are written in the book The History of the Kings of Israel.

⁶ Baasha died and was buried in Tirzah. His son Elah became the new king after him.

⁷ So the Lord gave a message to Jehu the prophet. This message was against Baasha and his family. Baasha had done much evil against the Lord. This made the Lord very angry. Baasha did the same things that Jeroboam’s family had done before him. The Lord was also angry because Baasha killed all of Jeroboam’s family.

⁸ Elah became king during the 26th year that Asa was the king of Judah. Elah was the son of Baasha. He ruled in Tirzah for two years.

⁹ Zimri was one of King Elah’s officers. Zimri commanded half of Elah’s chariots. [186] But Zimri made plans against Elah.

¹⁰ Zimri went into that house and killed King Elah. This was during the 27th year that Asa was king in Judah. Then Zimri became the new king of Israel after Elah.

¹¹ After Zimri became the new king, he killed all of Baasha’s family. He did not let any of the men in Baasha’s family live. Zimri also killed Baasha’s friends.

¹² So Zimri destroyed Baasha’s family. This happened the way the Lord said it would when the Lord used the prophet Jehu to speak against Baasha.

¹³ This happened because of all the sins of Baasha and his son, Elah. They sinned and caused the people of Israel to sin. The Lord was angry because they had many idols.

¹⁴ The other things that Elah did are written in the book The History of the Kings of Israel.

¹⁵ Zimri became king of Israel during the 27th year that Asa was king of Judah. Zimri ruled in Tirzah seven days. This is what happened: The army of Israel was camped near the Philistines from Gibbethon. {They were prepared for war.}

¹⁶ The men in the camp heard that Zimri had made secret plans against the king. They heard that he killed the king. So all Israel made Omri king over Israel that day in the camp. Omri was the commander of the army.

¹⁷ So Omri and all Israel left Gibbethon and attacked Tirzah.

¹⁸ Zimri saw that the city had been captured. So he went into the palace [188] and started a fire. He burned the palace and himself.

¹⁹ So Zimri died because he had sinned. Zimri did the things the Lord said were wrong. He sinned in the same way that Jeroboam had sinned. And Jeroboam caused the people of Israel to sin.

²⁰ The story about Zimri’s secret plans and the other things that Zimri did are written in the book The History of the Kings of Israel. And the things that happened when Zimri turned against King Elah are also written in that book.

²¹ The people of Israel were divided into two groups. Half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath and wanted to make him king. The other half of the people followed Omri.

²² But Omri’s followers were stronger than the followers of Tibni son of Ginath. So Tibni was killed and Omri became king.

²³ During the 31st year that Asa was the king of Judah, Omri became king of Israel. Omri ruled over Israel for 12 years. Six of those years he ruled in the town of Tirzah.

²⁴ But Omri bought the hill of Samaria. He bought it from Shemer for about 150 pounds [189] of silver. Omri built a city on that hill. He called the city Samaria after the name of its owner, Shemer.

²⁵ Omri did the things that the Lord said were wrong. Omri was worse than all the kings that were before him.

²⁶ He did all the same sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat did. Jeroboam caused the people of Israel to sin. So they made the Lord, the God of Israel, very angry. The Lord was angry because they worshiped worthless idols.

²⁷ The other things about Omri and the great things he did are written in the book The History of the Kings of Israel.

²⁸ Omri died and was buried in Samaria. His son Ahab became the new king after him.

²⁹ Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel during the 38th year that Asa was king of Judah. Ahab ruled Israel in the town of Samaria for 22 years.

³⁰ Ahab did the things that the Lord said were wrong. And Ahab was worse than all the kings that were before him.

³¹ It was not enough for Ahab to do the same sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had done. So Ahab also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal. Ethbaal was the king of the people of Sidon. Then Ahab began to serve and worship Baal. [190]

³² Ahab built a temple in Samaria for worshiping Baal. He put an altar in that temple.

³³ Baasha, son of Ahijah, became king of Israel during the third year that Asa ruled over Judah. Baasha ruled in Tirzah for 24 years.

³⁴ During the time of Ahab, Hiel from Bethel built the town of Jericho again. At the time Hiel started work on the city, his oldest son, Abiram died. And when Hiel built the gates of the city, his youngest son, Segub, died. This happened the way that the Lord said it would happen when he spoke through Joshua son of Nun. [192]