1Rois (NAB) 10
101 The queen of Sheba, having heard of Solomon's fame, came to test him with subtle questions. 2 She arrived in Jerusalem with a very numerous retinue, and with camels bearing spices, a large amount of gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and questioned him on every subject in which she was interested.3 King Solomon explained everything she asked about, and there remained nothing hidden from him that he could not explain to her.4 When the queen of Sheba witnessed Solomon's great wisdom, the palace he had built,5 the food at his table, the seating of his ministers, the attendance and garb of his waiters, his banquet service, and the holocausts he offered in the temple of the LORD, she was breathless.6 "The report I heard in my country about your deeds and your wisdom is true," she told the king.7 "Though I did not believe the report until I came and saw with my own eyes, I have discovered that they were not telling me the half. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report I heard.8 Happy are your men, happy these servants of yours, who stand before you always and listen to your wisdom.9 Blessed be the LORD, your God, whom it has pleased to place you on the throne of Israel. In his enduring love for Israel, the LORD has made you king to carry out judgment and justice."10 Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty gold talents, a very large quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again did anyone bring such an abundance of spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.11 Hiram's fleet, which used to bring gold from Ophir, also brought from there a large quantity of cabinet wood and precious stones. 12 With the wood the king made supports for the temple of the LORD and for the palace of the king, and harps and lyres for the chanters. No more such wood was brought or seen to the present day.13 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she desired and asked for, besides such presents as were given her from Solomon's royal bounty. Then she returned with her servants to her own country.14 The gold that Solomon received every year weighed six hundred and sixty-six gold talents,15 in addition to what came from the Tarshish fleet, from the traffic of merchants, and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country.16 Moreover, King Solomon made two hundred shields of beaten gold (six hundred gold shekels went into each shield)17 and three hundred bucklers of beaten gold (three minas of gold went into each buckler); and he put them in the hall of the Forest of Lebanon.18 The king also had a large ivory throne made, and overlaid it with refined gold.19 The throne had six steps, a back with a round top, and an arm on each side of the seat. Next to each arm stood a lion;20 and twelve other lions stood on the steps, two to a step, one on either side of each step. Nothing like this was produced in any other kingdom.21 In addition, all King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the utensils in the hall of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. There was no silver, for in Solomon's time it was considered worthless.22 The king had a fleet of Tarshish ships at sea with Hiram's fleet. Once every three years the fleet of Tarshish ships would come with a cargo of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys. 23 Thus King Solomon surpassed in riches and wisdom all the kings of the earth.24 And the whole world sought audience with Solomon, to hear from him the wisdom which God had put in his heart.25 Each one brought his yearly tribute: silver or gold articles, garments, weapons, spices, horses and mules.26 Solomon collected chariots and drivers; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand drivers; these he allocated among the chariot cities and to the king's service in Jerusalem.27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as numerous as the sycamores of the foothills.28 Solomon's horses were imported from Cilicia, where the king's agents purchased them.29 A chariot imported from Egypt cost six hundred shekels, a horse one hundred and fifty shekels; they were exported at these rates to all the Hittite and Aramean kings.
111 King Solomon loved many foreign women besides the daughter of Pharaoh (Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites), 2 from nations with which the LORD had forbidden the Israelites to intermarry, "because," he said, "they will turn your hearts to their gods." But Solomon fell in love with them.3 He had seven hundred wives of princely rank and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart.4 When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods, and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God, as the heart of his father David had been.5 By adoring Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites,6 Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not follow him unreservedly as his father David had done.7 Solomon then built a high place to Chemosh, the idol of Moab, and to Molech, the idol of the Ammonites, on the hill opposite Jerusalem.8 He did the same for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.9 The LORD, therefore, became angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice10 (for though the LORD had forbidden him this very act of following strange gods, Solomon had not obeyed him).11 So the LORD said to Solomon: "Since this is what you want, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes which I enjoined on you, I will deprive you of the kingdom and give it to your servant.12 I will not do this during your lifetime, however, for the sake of your father David; it is your son whom I will deprive.13 Nor will I take away the whole kingdom. I will leave your son one tribe for the sake of my servant David and of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."
14 The LORD then raised up an adversary to Solomon: Hadad the Edomite, who was of the royal line in Edom.15 Earlier, when David had conquered Edom, Joab, the general of the army, while going to bury the slain, put to death every male in Edom.16 Joab and all Israel remained there six months until they had killed off every male in Edom.17 Meanwhile, Hadad, who was only a boy, fled toward Egypt with some Edomite servants of his father.18 They left Midian and passing through Paran, where they picked up additional men, they went into Egypt to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house, appointed him rations, and assigned him land.19 Hadad won great favor with Pharaoh, so that he gave him in marriage the sister of Queen Tahpenes, his own wife.20 Tahpenes' sister bore Hadad a son, Genubath. After his weaning, the queen kept him in Pharaoh's palace, where he then lived with Pharaoh's own sons.21 When Hadad in Egypt heard that David rested with his ancestors and that Joab, the general of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, "Give me leave to return to my own country."22 Pharaoh said to him, "What do you lack with me, that you are seeking to return to your own country?" "Nothing," he said, "but please let me go!"23 God raised up against Solomon another adversary, in Rezon, the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord, Hadadezer, king of Zobah,24 when David defeated them with slaughter. Rezon gathered men about him and became leader of a band, went to Damascus, settled there, and became king in Damascus.25 He was an enemy of Israel as long as Solomon lived; this added to the harm done by Hadad, who made a rift in Israel by becoming king over Edom.
26 Solomon's servant Jeroboam, son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah with a widowed mother, Zeruah, also rebelled against the king.27 This is why he rebelled. King Solomon was building Millo, closing up the breach of his father's City of David.28 Jeroboam was a man of means, and when Solomon saw that he was also an industrious young man, he put him in charge of the entire labor force of the house of Joseph.29 At that time Jeroboam left Jerusalem, and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road. The two were alone in the area, and the prophet was wearing a new cloak.30 Ahijah took off his new cloak, tore it into twelve pieces,31 and said to Jeroboam: "Take ten pieces for yourself; the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I will tear away the kingdom from Solomon's grasp and will give you ten of the tribes.32 One tribe shall remain to him for the sake of David my servant, and of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.33 The ten I will give you because he has forsaken me and has worshiped Astarte, goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh, god of Moab, and Milcom, god of the Ammonites; he has not followed my ways or done what is pleasing to me according to my statutes and my decrees, as his father David did.34 Yet I will not take any of the kingdom from Solomon himself, but will keep him a prince as long as he lives for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose, who kept my commandments and statutes.35 But I will take the kingdom from his son and will give it to you-- that is, the ten tribes.36 I will give his son one tribe, that my servant David may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city in which I choose to be honored.37 I will take you; you shall reign over all that you desire and shall become king of Israel.38 If, then, you heed all that I command you, follow my ways, and please me by keeping my statutes and my commandments like my servant David, I will be with you. I will establish for you, as I did for David, a lasting dynasty; I will give Israel to you.39 I will punish David's line for this, but not forever.'"40 When Solomon tried to have Jeroboam killed for his rebellion, he escapedto King Shishak, in Egypt, where he remained until Solomon's death.
41 The rest of the acts of Solomon, with all his deeds and his wisdom, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of Solomon.42 The time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.43 Solomon rested with his ancestors; he was buried in his father's City of David, and his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.
121 Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel had come to proclaim him king. 2 Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon, returned from Egypt as soon as he learned this.3 They said to Rehoboam:4 "Your father put on us a heavy yoke. If you now lighten the harsh service and the heavy yoke your father imposed on us, we will serve you."5 "Come back to me in three days," he answered them. When the people had departed,6 King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had been in his father's service while he was alive, and asked, "What answer do you advise me to give this people?"7 They replied, "If today you will be the servant of this people and submit to them, giving them a favorable answer, they will be your servants forever."8 But he ignored the advice the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were in his service.9 He said to them, "What answer do you advise me to give this people, who have asked me to lighten the yoke my father imposed on them?"10 The young men who had grown up with him replied, "This is what you must say to this people who have asked you to lighten the yoke your father put on them: 'My little finger is thicker than my father's body.11 Whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will make it heavier. My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.'"12 On the third day all Israel came back to King Rehoboam, as he had instructed them to do.13 Ignoring the advice the elders had given him, the king gave the people a harsh answer.14 He said to them, as the young men had advised: "My father put on you a heavy yoke, but I will make it heavier. My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions."15 The king did not listen to the people, for the LORD brought this about to fulfill the prophecy he had uttered to Jeroboam, son of Nebat, through Ahijah the Shilonite.16 When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king: "What share have we in David? We have no heritage in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Now look to your own house, David."So Israel went off to their tents, 17 but Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.18 King Rehoboam then sent out Adoram, superintendent of the forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. Rehoboam managed to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem,19 and Israel went into rebellion against David's house to this day.
20 When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to an assembly and made him king over all Israel. None remained loyal to David's house except the tribe of Judah alone.21 On his arrival in Jersusalem, Rehoboam gathered together all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin-- one hundred and eighty thousand seasoned warriors-- to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, son of Solomon.22 However, the LORD spoke to Shemaiah, a man of God:23 "Say to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to the house of Judah and to Benjamin, and to the rest of the people:24 'Thus says the LORD: You must not march out to fight against your brother Israelites. Let every man return home, for I have brought this about.'" They accepted this message of the LORD and gave up the expedition accordingly.
25 Jeroboam built up Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. Then he left it and built up Penuel.26 Jeroboam thought to himself: "The kingdom will return to David's house. 27 If now this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, the hearts of this people will return to their master, Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me."28 After taking counsel, the king made two calves of gold and said to the people: "You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. Here is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."29 And he put one in Bethel, the other in Dan. 30 This led to sin, because the people frequented these calves in Bethel and in Dan.31 He also built temples on the high places and made priests from among the people who were not Levites.32 Jeroboam established a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month to duplicate in Bethel the pilgrimage feast of Judah, with sacrifices to the calves he had made; and he stationed in Bethel priests of the high places he had built.33 Jeroboam ascended the altar he built in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the month in which he arbitrarily chose to establish a feast for the Israelites; he was going to offer sacrifice.
131 A man of God came from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, while Jeroboam was standing at the altar to offer sacrifice.2 He cried out against the altar the word of the LORD: "O altar, altar, the LORD says, 'A child shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, who shall slaughter upon you the priests of the high places who offer sacrifice upon you, and he shall burn human bones upon you.'"3 He gave a sign that same day and said: "This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: The altar shall break up and the ashes on it shall be strewn about.4 When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God was crying out against the altar, he stretched forth his hand from the altar and said, "Seize him!" But the hand he stretched forth against him withered, so that he could not draw it back.5 Moreover, the altar broke up and the ashes from it were strewn about-- the sign the man of God had given as the word of the LORD.6 Then the king appealed to the man of God. "Entreat the LORD, your God," he said, "and intercede for me that I may be able to withdraw my hand." So the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king recovered the normal use of his hand.7 "Come home with me for some refreshment," the king invited the man of God, "and I will give you a present."8 "If you gave me half your kingdom," the man of God said to the king, "I would not go with you, nor eat bread or drink water in this place.9 For I was instructed by the word of the LORD not to eat bread or drink water and not to return by the way I came."10 So he departed by another road and did not go back the way he had come to Bethel.11 There was an old prophet living in the city, whose sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. When they repeated to their father the words he had spoken to the king,12 the father asked them, "Which way did he go?" And his sons pointed out to him the road taken by the man of God who had come from Judah.13 Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the ass for me." When they had saddled it, he mounted14 and followed the man of God, whom he found seated under a terebinth. When he asked him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" he answered, "Yes."15 Then he said, "Come home with me and have some bread."16 "I cannot go back with you, and I cannot eat bread or drink water with you in this place," he answered,17 "for I was told by the word of the LORD neither to eat bread nor drink water here, and not to go back the way I came."18 But he said to him, "I, too, am a prophet like you, and an angel told me in the word of the LORD to bring you back with me to my house and to have you eat bread and drink water." He was lying to him, however.19 So he went back with him, and ate bread and drank water in his house.20 But while they were sitting at table, the LORD spoke to the prophet who had brought him back,21 and he cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah: "The LORD says, 'Because you rebelled against the command of the LORD and did not keep the command which the LORD, your God, gave you,22 but returned and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you to do neither, your corpse shall not be brought to the grave of your ancestors.'"23 After he had eaten bread and drunk water, the ass was saddled for him, and he again24 set out. But a lion met him on the road, and killed him. His corpse lay sprawled on the road, and the ass remained standing by it, and so did the lion.25 Some passers-by saw the body lying in the road, with the lion standing beside it, and carried the news to the city where the old prophet lived.26 On hearing it, the prophet who had brought him back from his journey said: "It is the man of God who rebelled against the command of the LORD. He has delivered him to a lion, which mangled and killed him, as the LORD predicted to him."27 Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the ass for me." When they had saddled it,28 he went off and found the body lying in the road with the ass and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body nor had it harmed the ass.29 The prophet lifted up the body of the man of God and put it on the ass, and brought it back to the city to mourn over it and to bury it.30 He laid the man's body in his own grave, and they mourned over it: "Alas, my brother!"31 After he had buried him, he said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Lay my remains beside his.32 For the word of the LORD which he proclaimed against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria shall certainly come to pass."33 Jeroboam did not give up his evil ways after this event, but again made priests for the high places from among the common people. Whoever desired it was consecrated and became a priest of the high places.34 This was a sin on the part of the house of Jeroboam for which it was to be cut off and destroyed from the earth.
141 At that time Abijah, son of Jeroboam, took sick.2 So Jeroboam said to his wife, "Get ready and disguise yourself so that none will recognize you as Jeroboam's wife. Then go to Shiloh, where you will find the prophet Ahijah. It was he who predicted my reign over this people.3 Take along ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of preserves, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the child."4 The wife of Jeroboam obeyed. She made the journey to Shiloh and entered the house of Ahijah who could not see because age had dimmed his sight.5 The LORD had said to Ahijah: "Jeroboam's wife is coming to consult you about her son, for he is sick. This is what you must tell her. When she comes, she will be in disguise."6 So Ahijah, hearing the sound of her footsteps as she entered the door, said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why are you in disguise? I have been commissioned to give you bitter news.7 Go, tell Jeroboam, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I exalted you from among the people and made you ruler of my people Israel.8 I deprived the house of David of the kingdom and gave it to you. Yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with his whole heart, doing only what pleased me.9 You have done worse than all who preceded you: you have gone and made for yourself strange gods and molten images to provoke me; but me you have cast behind your back.10 Therefore, I am bringing evil upon the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off every male in Jeroboam's line, whether slave or freeman in Israel, and will burn up the house of Jeroboam completely, as though dung were being burned.11 When one of Jeroboam's line dies in the city, dogs will devour him; when one of them dies in the field, he will be devoured by the birds of the sky. For the LORD has spoken!'12 So leave; go home! As you step inside the city, the child will die,13 and all Israel will mourn him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam's line will be laid in the grave, since in him alone of Jeroboam's house has something pleasing to the LORD, the God of Israel, been found.14 Today, at this very moment, the LORD will raise up for himself a king of Israel who will destroy the house of Jeroboam.15 The LORD will strike Israel like a reed tossed about in the water and will pluck out Israel from this good land which he gave their fathers, scattering them beyond the River, because they made sacred poles for themselves and thus provoked the LORD.16 He will give up Israel because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and caused Israel to commit."17 So Jeroboam's wife started back; when she reached Tirzah and crossed the threshold of her house, the child died.18 He was buried with all Israel mourning him, as the LORD had prophesied through his servant the prophet Ahijah.
19 The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, with his warfare and his reign, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.20 The length of Jeroboam's reign was twenty-two years. He rested with his ancestors, and his son Nadab succeeded him as king.
21 Rehoboam, son of Solomon, reigned in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city in which, out of all the tribes of Israel, the LORD chose to be honored. His mother was the Ammonite named Naamah.22 Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and by their sins angered him even more than their fathers had done.23 They, too, built for themselves high places, pillars, and sacred poles, upon every high hill and under every green tree.24 There were also cult prostitutes in the land. Judah imitated all the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD had cleared out of the Israelites' way.25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem. 26 He took everything, including the treasures of the temple of the LORD and those of the royal palace, as well as all the gold shields made under Solomon.27 To replace them, King Rehoboam had bronze shields made, which he entrusted to the officers of the guard on duty at the entrance of the royal palace.28 Whenever the king visited the temple of the LORD, those on duty would carry the shields, and then return them to the guardroom.29 The rest of the acts of Rehoboam, with all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.30 There was constant warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.31 Rehoboam rested with his ancestors; he was buried with them in the City of David. His mother was the Ammonite named Naamah. His son Abijam succeeded him as king.
151 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, son of Nebat, Abijam became king of Judah;2 he reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah, daughter of Abishalom.3 He imitated all the sins his father had committed before him, and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God, like the heart of his grandfather David.4 Yet for David's sake the LORD, his God, gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, raising up his son after him and permitting Jerusalem to endure;5 because David had pleased the LORD and did not disobey any of his commands as long as he lived, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.6 There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.7 The rest of Abijam's acts, with all that he did, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.8 Abijam rested with his ancestors; he was buried in the City of David, and his son Asa succeeded him as king.
9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Asa, king of Judah, began to reign;10 he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother's name was Maacah, daughter of Abishalom.11 Asa pleased the LORD like his forefather David,12 banishing the temple prostitutes from the land and removing all the idols his father had made.13 He also deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made an outrageous object for Asherah. Asa cut down this object and burned it in the Kidron Valley.14 The high places did not disappear; yet Asa's heart was entirely with the LORD as long as he lived.15 He brought into the temple of the LORD his father's and his own votive offerings of silver, gold, and various utensils.
16 There was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, as long as they both reigned.17 Baasha, king of Israel, attacked Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent communication with Asa, king of Judah.18 Asa then took all the silver and gold remaining in the treasuries of the temple of the LORD and of the royal palace. Entrusting them to his ministers, King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad, son of Tabrimmon, son of Hezion, king of Aram, resident in Damascus. He said: 19 "There is a treaty between you and me, as there was between your father and my father. I am sending you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha, king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me."20 Ben-hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the leaders of his troops against the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinnereth, besides all the land of Naphtali.21 When Baasha heard of it, he left off fortifying Ramah, and stayed in Tirzah.22 Then King Asa summoned all Judah without exception, and they carried away the stones and beams with which Baasha was fortifying Ramah. With them King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Mizpeh.23 The rest of the acts of Asa, with all his valor and accomplishments, and the cities he built, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. In his old age, Asa had an infirmity in his feet.24 He rested with his ancestors; he was buried in his forefather's City of David, and his son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.
25 In the second year of Asa, king of Judah, Nadab, son of Jeroboam, became king of Israel; he reigned over Israel two years.26 He did evil in the LORD'S sight, imitating his father's conduct and the sin which he had caused Israel to commit.27 Baasha, son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, plotted against him and struck him down at Gibbethon of the Philistines, which Nadab and all Israel were besieging.28 Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned in his stead.29 Once he was king, he killed off the entire house of Jeroboam, not leaving a single soul to Jeroboam but destroying him utterly, according to the warning which the LORD had pronounced through his servant, Ahijah the Shilonite,30 because of the sins Jeroboam committed and caused Israel to commit, by which he provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger.31 The rest of the acts of Nadab, with all that he did, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.32 (There was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, as long as they lived.)
33 In the third year of Asa, king of Judah, Baasha, son of Ahijah, began his twenty-four-year reign over Israel in Tirzah.34 He did evil in the LORD'S sight, imitating the conduct of Jeroboam and the sin he had caused Israel to commit.
161 The LORD spoke against Baasha to Jehu, son of Hanani, and said:2 "Inasmuch as I lifted you up from the dust and made you ruler of my people Israel, but you have imitated the conduct of Jeroboam and have caused my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger by their sins,3 I will destroy you, Baasha, and your house;4 I will make your house like that of Jeroboam, son of Nebat. If anyone of Baasha's line dies in the city, dogs shall devour him; if he dies in the field, he shall be devoured by the birds of the sky."5 The rest of the acts of Baasha, with all his valor and accomplishments, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.6 Baasha rested with his ancestors; he was buried in Tirzah, and his son Elah succeeded him as king.7 (Through the prophet Jehu, son of Hanani, the LORD had threatened Baasha and his house, because of all the evil Baasha did in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger by his evil deeds, so that he became like the house of Jeroboam; and because he killed Nadab.)
8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa, king of Judah, Elah, son of Baasha, began his two-year reign over Israel in Tirzah.9 His servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, plotted against him. As he was in Tirzah, drinking to excess in the house of Arza, superintendent of his palace in Tirzah,10 Zimri entered; he struck and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned in his place.11 Once he was seated on the royal throne, he killed off the whole house of Baasha, not sparing a single male relative or friend of his.12 Zimri destroyed the entire house of Baasha, as the LORD had prophesied to Baasha through the prophet Jehu,13 because of all the sins which Baasha and his son Elah committed and caused Israel to commit, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols.14 The rest of the acts of Elah, with all that he did, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
15 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa, king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. The army was besieging Gibbethon of the Philistines16 when they heard that Zimri had formed a conspiracy and had killed the king. So that day in the camp all Israel proclaimed Omri, general of the army, king of Israel.17 Omri marched up from Gibbethon, accompanied by all Israel, and laid siege to Tirzah.18 When Zimri saw the city was captured, he entered the citadel of the royal palace and burned down the palace over him. He died19 because of the sins he had committed, doing evil in the sight of the LORD by imitating the sinful conduct of Jeroboam, thus causing Israel to sin.20 The rest of the acts of Zimri, with the conspiracy he carried out, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
21 At that time the people of Israel were divided, half following Tibni, son of Ginath, to make him king, and half for Omri.22 The partisans of Omri prevailed over those of Tibni, son of Ginath. Tibni died and Omri became king.23 In the thirty-first year of Asa, king of Judah, Omri became king; he reigned over Israel twelve years, the first six of them in Tirzah.
24 He then bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two silver talents and built upon the hill, naming the city he built Samaria after Shemer, the former owner.25 But Omri did evil in the LORD'S sight beyond any of his predecessors.26 He closely imitated the sinful conduct of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, causing Israel to sin and to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols.27 The rest of the acts of Omri, with all his valor and accomplishments, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.28 Omri rested with his ancestors; he was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab succeeded him as king.
29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa, king of Judah, Ahab, son of Omri, became king of Israel; he reigned over Israel in Samaria for twenty-two years.30 Ahab, son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the LORD more than any of his predecessors.
31 It was not enough for him to imitate the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat. He even married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and went over to the veneration and worship of Baal.32 Ahab erected an altar to Baal in the temple of Baal which he built in Samaria,33 and also made a sacred pole. He did more to anger the LORD, the God of Israel, than any of the kings of Israel before him.34 During his reign, Hiel from Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He lost his first-born son, Abiram, when he laid the foundation, and his youngest son, Segub, when he set up the gates, as the LORD had foretold through Joshua, son of Nun.
1Rois (NAB) 10