1 Kings 16–18

Chapter 16

Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu, the son of Hanani, against Baasa, saying:

²For as much as I have exalted thee out of the dust and made thee prince over my people Israel, and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins:

³Behold I will cut down the posterity of Baasa, and the posterity of his house, and I will make thy house as the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat.

⁴Him that dieth of Baasa, in the city, the dogs shall eat: and him that dieth of his in the country, the fowls of the air shall devour.

⁵But the rest of the acts of Baasa, and all that he did, and his battles, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

⁶So Baasa slept with his fathers, and was buried in Thersa: and Ela, his son, reigned in his stead.

⁷And when the word of the Lord came in the hand of Jehu, the son of Hanani, the prophet, against Baasa, and against his house, and against all the evil that he had done before the Lord, to provoke him to anger by the works of his hands, to become as the house of Jeroboam: for this cause he slew him; that is to say, Jehu, the son of Hanani, the prophet.

⁸In the six and twentieth year of Asa, king of Juda, Ela, the son of Baasa, reigned over Israel, in Thersa, two years.

⁹And his servant Zambri, who was captain of half the horsemen, rebelled against him: now Ela was drinking in Thersa, and drunk in the house of Arsa, the governor of Thersa.

¹⁰And Zambri rushing in, struck him, and slew him, in the seven and twentieth year of Asa, king of Juda and he reigned in his stead.

¹¹And when he was king, and sat upon his throne, he slew all the house of Baasa, and he left not one thereof to piss against a wall and all his kinsfolks and friends.

¹²And Zambri destroyed all the house of Baasa, according to the word of the Lord, that he had spoken to Baasa, in the hand of Jehu, the prophet,

¹³For all the sins of Baasa, and the sins of Ela, his son, who sinned, and made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, with their vanities.

¹⁴But the rest of the acts of Ela, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

¹⁵In the seven and twentieth year of Asa, king of Juda, Zambri reigned seven days in Thersa: now the army was besieging Gebbethon, a city of the Philistines.

¹⁶And when they heard that Zambri had rebelled, and slain the king, all Israel made Amri their king, who was general over Israel in the camp that day.

¹⁷And Amri went up, and all Israel with him, from Gebbethon, and they besieged Thersa.

¹⁸And Zambri, seeing that the city was about to be taken, went into the palace, and burnt himself with the king’s house: and he died

¹⁹In his sins, which he had sinned, doing evil before the Lord, and walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin, wherewith he made Israel to sin.

²⁰But the rest of the acts of Zambri, and of his conspiracy and tyranny, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

²¹Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts: one half of the people followed Thebni, the son of Gineth, to make him king: and one half followed Amri.

²²But the people that were with Amri, prevailed over the people that followed Thebni, the son of Gineth: and Thebni died, and Amri reigned.

²³In the one and thirtieth year of Asa, king of Juda, Amri reigned over Israel twelve years: in Thersa he reigned six years.

²⁴And he bought the hill of Samaria of Semer, for two talents of silver: and he built upon it, and he called the city which he built Samaria, after the name of Semer, the owner of the hill.

²⁵And Amri did evil in the sight of the Lord, and acted wickedly above all that were before him.

²⁶And he walked in all the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, and in his sins, wherewith he made Israel to sin: to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities.

²⁷Now the rest of the acts of Amri, and the battles he fought, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

²⁸And Amri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria, and Achab, his son, reigned in his stead.

²⁹Now Achab, the son of Amri, reigned over Israel in the eight and thirtieth year of Asa, king of Juda. And Achab, the son of Amri, reigned over Israel in Samaria two and twenty years.

³⁰And Achab, the son of Amri, did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.

³¹Nor was it enough for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat: but he also took to wife Jezabel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians. And he went, and served Baal, and adored him.

³²And he set up an altar for Baal, in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria;

³³And he planted a grove: and Achab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

³⁴In his days Hiel, of Bethel, built Jericho: in Abiram, his firstborn, he laid its foundations: and in his youngest son, Segub, he set up the gates thereof: according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke in the hand of Josue, the son of Nun.

Chapter 17

And Elias the Thesbite, of the inhabitants of Galaad, said to Achab: As the Lord liveth, the God of Israel, in whose sight I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to the words of my mouth.

²And the word of the Lord came to him, saying:

³Get thee hence, and go towards the east, and hide thyself by the torrent of Carith, which is over against the Jordan;

⁴And there thou shalt drink of the torrent: and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.

⁵So he went, and did according to the word of the Lord: and going, he dwelt by the torrent Carith, which is over against the Jordan.

⁶And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the torrent.

⁷But after some time the torrent was dried up: for it had not rained upon the earth.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying:

⁹Arise, and go to Sarephta of the Sidonians, and dwell there: for I have commanded a widow woman there to feed thee.

¹⁰He arose, and went to Sarephta. And when he was come to the gate of the city, he saw the widow woman gathering sticks, and he called her, and said to her: Give me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.

¹¹And when she was going to fetch it, he called after her, saying: Bring me also, I beseech thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand.

¹²And she answered: As the Lord thy God liveth, I have no bread, but only a handful of meal in a pot, and a little oil in a cruise: behold I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it, for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.

¹³And Elias said to her: Fear not; but go, and do as thou hast said but first make for me of the same meal a little hearth cake, and bring it to me, and after make for thyself and thy son.

¹⁴For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: The pot of meal shall not waste, nor the cruise of oil be diminished, until the day wherein the Lord will give rain upon the face of the earth.

¹⁵She went, and did according to the word of Elias: and he ate, and she, and her house: and from that day

¹⁶The pot of meal wasted not, and the cruise of oil was not diminished according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke in the hand of Elias.

¹⁷And it came to pass after this, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick, and the sickness was very grievous, so that there was no breath left in him.

¹⁸And she said to Elias: What have I to do with thee, thou man of God? art thou come to me, that my iniquities should be remembered, and that thou shouldst kill my son?

¹⁹And Elias said to her: Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him into the upper chamber where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.

²⁰And he cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord, my God, hast thou afflicted also the widow, with whom I am after a sort maintained, so as to kill her son?

²¹And he stretched, and measured himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord, my God, let the soul of this child, I beseech thee, return into his body.

²²And the Lord heard the voice of Elias: and the soul of the child returned into him, and he revived.

²³And Elias took the child, and brought him down from the upper chamber to the house below, and delivered him to his mother, and said to her: Behold thy son liveth.

²⁴And the woman said to Elias: Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and the word of the Lord in thy mouth is true.

Chapter 18

After many days, the word of the Lord came to Elias, in the third year, saying: Go, and shew thyself to Achab, that I may give rain upon the face of the earth.

²And Elias went to shew himself to Achab, and there was a grievous famine in Samaria.

³And Achab called Abdias the governor of his house: now Abdias feared the Lord very much.

⁴For when Jezabel killed the prophets of the Lord, he took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty and fifty in caves, and fed them with bread and water.

⁵And Achab said to Abdias: Go into the land unto all fountains of waters, and into all valleys, to see if we can find grass, and save the horses and mules, that the beasts may not utterly perish.

⁶And they divided the countries between them, that they might go round about them: Achab went one way, and Abdias another way by himself.

⁷And as Abdias was in the way, Elias met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said: Art thou my lord Elias?

⁸And he answered: I am. Go, and tell thy master: Elias is here.

⁹And he said: What have I sinned, that thou wouldst deliver me, thy servant, into the hand of Achab, that he should kill me?

¹⁰As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when all answered: He is not here: he took an oath of every…