1 ¶ Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,

2 Because I exalted you out of the dust, and made you ruler over my people Israel; and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made my people Israel sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins;

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

4 The dogs will eat any of Baasha’s family who dies in the city; and the birds of the air will eat any who dies in the fields.

5 Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the records of the kings of Israel?

6 So Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah: and Elah his son reigned in his stead.

7 So the word of the LORD delivered to Baasha and his house by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani, was fulfilled because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, and in doing just as the house of Jeroboam had done; and because he killed him.

8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began a two year reign over Israel in Tirzah.

9 And his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him, while he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was in charge 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 And when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, he killed the entire household of Baasha: he did not leave him one who urinates against a wall, of all his kinsmen, or his friends.

12 Thus Zimri destroyed the entire 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 by which they made Israel to sin, provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idols.

14 Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the records of the kings of Israel?

15 ¶ In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned for seven days in Tirzah. And the troops were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.

16 And the people who were encamped heard the rumor, Zimri has conspired, and has killed the king: therefore all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that very day in the camp.

17 And Omri, and all of Israel with him, went up from Gibbethon, and besieged Tirzah.

18 And when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the stronghold of the king’s house, and burned the king’s house over him with fire, and died,

19 Because of his sins which he committed in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in making Israel sin.

20 Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and the treason that he committed, are they not written in the book of the records of the kings of Israel?

21 Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, and made him king; and half followed Omri.

22 But the people who followed Omri prevailed against the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath: so Tibni died, and Omri reigned.

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

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

25 But 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 by which he made Israel sin, provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idols.

27 Now the rest of the things that Omri did, and the might that he showed, are they not written in the book of the records of the kings of Israel?

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

29 ¶ 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 for 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 was a small thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took as a wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.

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

33 And Ahab made a grove; and did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

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