⁸In 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.

¹¹As 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

¹⁵In 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

²¹The 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.

²⁵Omri 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.

Read in Logos