1 Kings 16:1–18:15

16 The Lord spoke to the prophet Jehu son of Hanani and gave him this message for Baasha: 2“You were a nobody, but I made you the leader of my people Israel. And now you have sinned like Jeroboam and have led my people into sin. Their sins have aroused my anger, 3and so I will do away with you and your family, just as I did with Jeroboam. 4Any members of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and any who die in the open country will be eaten by vultures.”

5 Everything else that Baasha did and all his brave deeds are recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel. 6Baasha died and was buried in Tirzah, and his son Elah succeeded him as king.

7 That message from the Lord against Baasha and his family was given by the prophet Jehu because of the sins that Baasha committed against the Lord. He aroused the Lord’s anger not only because of the evil he did, just as King Jeroboam had done before him, but also because he killed all Jeroboam’s family.

King Elah of Israel

8 In the 26th year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel, and he ruled in Tirzah for two years. 9Zimri, one of his officers who was in charge of half the king’s chariots, plotted against him. One day in Tirzah, Elah was getting drunk in the home of Arza, who was in charge of the palace. 10Zimri entered the house, assassinated Elah, and succeeded him as king. This happened in the 27th year of the reign of King Asa of Judah.

11 As soon as Zimri became king he killed off all the members of Baasha’s family. Every male relative and friend was put to death. 12And so, in accordance with what the Lord had said against Baasha through the prophet Jehu, Zimri killed all the family of Baasha. 13Because of their idolatry and because they led Israel into sin, Baasha and his son Elah had aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel. 14Everything else that Elah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.

King Zimri of Israel

15 In the 27th year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Zimri ruled in Tirzah over Israel for seven days. The Israelite troops were besieging the city of Gibbethon in Philistia, 16and when they heard that Zimri had plotted against the king and assassinated him, then and there they all proclaimed their commander Omri king of Israel. 17Omri and his troops left Gibbethon and went and besieged Tirzah. 18When Zimri saw that the city had fallen, he went into the palace’s inner fortress, set the palace on fire, and died in the flames. 19This happened because of his sins against the Lord. Like his predecessor Jeroboam he displeased the Lord by his own sins and by leading Israel into sin. 20Everything else that Zimri did, including the account of his conspiracy, is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.

King Omri of Israel

21 The people of Israel were divided: some of them wanted to make Tibni son of Ginath king, and the others were in favour of Omri. 22In the end, those in favour of Omri won; Tibni died and Omri became king. 23So in the 31st year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Omri became king of Israel, and he ruled for twelve years. The first six years he ruled in Tirzah, 24and then he bought the hill of Samaria for 6,000 pieces of silver from a man named Shemer. Omri fortified the hill, built a town there, and named it Samaria, after Shemer, the former owner of the hill.

25 Omri sinned against the Lord more than any of his predecessors. 26Like Jeroboam before him, he aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, by his sins and by leading the people into sin and idolatry. 27Everything else that Omri did and all his accomplishments are recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel. 28Omri died and was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab succeeded him as king.

King Ahab of Israel

29 In the 38th year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he ruled in Samaria for 22 years. 30He sinned against the Lord more than any of his predecessors. 31It was not enough for him to sin like King Jeroboam; he went further and married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon, and worshipped Baal. 32He built a temple to Baal in Samaria, made an altar for him, and put it in the temple. 33He also put up an image of the goddess Asherah. He did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than all the kings of Israel before him. 34*During his reign Hiel from Bethel rebuilt Jericho. As the Lord had foretold through Joshua son of Nun, Hiel lost his eldest son Abiram when he laid the foundation of Jericho, and his youngest son Segub when he built the gates.

Elijah and the Drought

17 * A prophet named Elijah, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to King Ahab, “In the name of the Lord, the living God of Israel, whom I serve, I tell you that there will be no dew or rain for the next two or three years until I say so.”

2 Then the Lord said to Elijah, 3“Leave this place and go east and hide yourself near the brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan. 4The brook will supply you with water to drink, and I have commanded ravens to bring you food there.”

5 Elijah obeyed the Lord’s command, and went and stayed by the brook of Cherith. 6He drank water from the brook, and ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and every evening. 7After a while the brook dried up because of the lack of rain.

Elijah and the Widow in Zarephath

8 Then the Lord said to Elijah, 9*“Now go to the town of Zarephath, near Sidon, and stay there. I have commanded a widow who lives there to feed you.” 10So Elijah went to Zarephath, and as he came to the gate of the town, he saw a widow gathering firewood. “Please bring me a drink of water,” he said to her. 11And as she was going to get it, he called out, “And please bring me some bread, too.”

12 She answered, “By the living Lord your God I swear that I haven’t got any bread. All I have is a handful of flour in a bowl and a drop of olive oil in a jar. I came here to gather some firewood to take back home and prepare what little I have for my son and me. That will be our last meal, and then we will starve to death.”

13 “Don’t worry,” Elijah said to her. “Go ahead and prepare your meal. But first make a small loaf from what you have and bring it to me, and then prepare the rest for you and your son. 14For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The bowl will not run out of flour or the jar run out of oil before the day that I, the Lord, send rain.’ ”

15 The widow went and did as Elijah had told her, and all of them had enough food for many days. 16As the Lord had promised through Elijah, the bowl did not run out of flour nor did the jar run out of oil.

17 Some time later the widow’s son fell ill; he got worse and worse, and finally he died. 18She said to Elijah, “Man of God, why did you do this to me? Did you come here to remind God of my sins and so cause my son’s death?”

19 “Give the boy to me,” Elijah said. He took the boy from her arms, carried him upstairs to the room where he was staying, and laid him on the bed. 20Then he prayed aloud, “O Lord my God, why have you done such a terrible thing to this widow? She has been kind enough to take care of me, and now you kill her son!” 21*Then Elijah stretched himself out on the boy three times and prayed, “O Lord my God, restore this child to life!” 22The Lord answered Elijah’s prayer; the child started breathing again and revived.

23 Elijah took the boy back downstairs to his mother and said to her, “Look, your son is alive!”

24 She answered, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the Lord really speaks through you!”

Elijah and the Prophets of Baal

18 After some time, in the third year of the drought, the Lord said to Elijah, “Go and present yourself to King Ahab, and I will send rain.” 2So Elijah started out.

The famine in Samaria was at its worst, 3so Ahab called in Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace. (Obadiah was a devout worshipper of the Lord, 4and when Jezebel was killing the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah took a hundred of them, hid them in caves in two groups of 50, and provided them with food and water.) 5Ahab said to Obadiah, “Let us go and lookt at every spring and every riverbed in the land to see if we can find enough grass to keep the horses and mules alive. Maybe we won’t have to kill any of our animals.” 6They agreed on which part of the land each one would explore, and set off in different directions.

7 As Obadiah was on his way, he suddenly met Elijah. He recognized him, bowed low before him, and asked, “Is it really you, sir?”

8 “Yes, I’m Elijah,” he answered. “Go and tell your master the king that I am here.”

9 Obadiah answered, “What have I done that you want to put me in danger of being killed by King Ahab? 10By the living Lord, your God, I swear that the king has made a search for you in every country in the world. Whenever the ruler of a country reported that you were not in his country, Ahab would require that ruler to swear that you could not be found. 11And now you want me to go and tell him that you are here? 12What if the spirit of the Lord carries you off to some unknown place as soon as I leave? Then, when I tell Ahab that you are here, and he can’t find you, he will put me to death. Remember that I have been a devout worshipper of the Lord ever since I was a boy. 13Haven’t you heard that when Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord I hid a hundred of them in caves, in two groups of 50, and supplied them with food and water? 14So how can you order me to go and tell the king that you are here? He will kill me!”

15 Elijah answered, “By the living Lord, whom I serve, I promise that I will present myself to the king today.”