1 Kings 16–18

16^*Then the word of the Lord came to ^aJehu the son of ^bHanani against Baasha, saying, ^2cForasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and ^dthou 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 ^etake away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make thy house like ^fthe house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ^4gHim that dieth of Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth of his in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat. ⁵Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ⁶So Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in ^hTirzah: and Elah his son reigned in his stead. ⁷And also by the hand of the prophet ⁱJehu the son of Hanani came the word of the Lord against Baasha, and against his house, even for all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord, in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam; and because ^khe killed him.

^8*In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years. ⁹And his servant ^lZimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza ^†steward of his house in Tirzah. ^10*And Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead. ¹¹And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he slew all the house of Baasha: he left him ^mnot one that pisseth against a wall, ^||neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends. ¹²Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, ⁿaccording to the word of the Lord, which he spake against Baasha ^†by ^oJehu the prophet, ¹³For all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned, and by which they made Israel to sin, in provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their ^pvanities. ¹⁴Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

¹⁵In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah. And the people were encamped ^qagainst Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. ¹⁶And the people that were encamped heard say, Zimri hath conspired, and hath also slain the king: wherefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the host, king over Israel that day in the camp. ¹⁷And Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah. ¹⁸And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the palace of the king’s house, and burnt the king’s house over him with fire, and died, ¹⁹For his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the Lord, in ^rwalking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel to sin. ²⁰Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his ^streason that he wrought, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

²¹Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king; and half followed Omri. ²²But the people that followed Omri prevailed against the people that followed Tibni the son of Ginath: so Tibni died, and Omri reigned. ^23*In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel, ^ttwelve years: six years reigned he in Tirzah. ²⁴And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, ^†uSamaria. ²⁵But ^vOmri wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord, and ^wdid worse than all that were before him. ²⁶For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger with their ^xvanities. ²⁷Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might that he shewed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ²⁸So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria: and Ahab his son reigned in his stead.

^29*And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. ³⁰And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord ^yabove all that were before him. ³¹And it came to pass, ^†as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that ^zhe took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the ^aZidonians, and went and ^bserved Baal, and worshipped him. ³²And he reared up an altar for Baal in ^cthe house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. ³³And Ahab made ^da grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger ^ethan all the kings of Israel that were before him.

³⁴In his days did Hiel the Beth-elite build ^fJericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, ^gaccording to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.

17^*And ^†Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, ^aAs the Lord God of Israel liveth, ^bbefore whom I stand, ^cthere shall not be dew nor rain ^dthese years, but according to my word. ²And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, ³Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. ⁴And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. ⁵So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. ⁶And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. ⁷And it came to pass ^†after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

⁸And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, ⁹Arise, get thee to ^e||Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. ¹⁰So he arose and went to ^eZarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there ^fgathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. ¹¹And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. ¹²And she said, ^aAs the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am ^fgathering ^gtwo sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. ¹³And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. ¹⁴For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord ^†sendeth rain upon the earth. ¹⁵And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat ^||many days. ¹⁶And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake ^†by Elijah.

¹⁷And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. ¹⁸And she said unto Elijah, ^hWhat have I to do with thee, O thou ⁱman of God? art thou come unto me to ^jcall my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? ¹⁹And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a ^kloft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. ²⁰And ^lhe cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? ^21lAnd he ^†stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come ^†into him again. ²²And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he ^mrevived. ²³And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the ^kchamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. ²⁴And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this ⁿI know that thou art a ⁱman of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.

18^*And it came to pass after ^amany days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and ^bI will send rain upon the earth. ²And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria. ³And Ahab called ^†Obadiah, which was ^†the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly: ⁴For it was so, when ^†Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) ⁵And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, ^†that we lose not all the beasts. ⁶So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

⁷And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah? ⁸And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. ⁹And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me? ¹⁰As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom,…