⁹Zimri, one of Elah’s officers, commanded half of Elah’s chariots. Zimri made plans against Elah while the king was in Tirzah, getting drunk at Arza’s home. (Arza was in charge of the palace at Tirzah.) ¹⁰Zimri went into Arza’s house and killed Elah during Asa’s twenty-seventh year as king of Judah. Then Zimri became king of Israel in Elah’s place.

Zimri King of Israel

¹¹As soon as Zimri became king, he killed all of Baasha’s family, not allowing any of Baasha’s family or friends to live. ¹²So Zimri destroyed all of Baasha’s family just as the Lord had said it would happen through the prophet Jehu. ¹³Baasha and his son Elah sinned and led the people of Israel to sin, and they made the Lord, the God of Israel, angry because of their worthless idols.

¹⁴Everything else Elah did is written in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.

¹⁵So during Asa’s twenty-seventh year as king of Judah, Zimri became king of Israel and ruled in Tirzah seven days.

The army of Israel was camped near Gibbethon, a Philistine town. ¹⁶The men in the camp heard that Zimri had made secret plans against King Elah and had killed him. So that day in the camp they made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel. ¹⁷So Omri and all the Israelite army left Gibbethon and attacked Tirzah. ¹⁸When Zimri saw that the city had been captured, he went into the palace and set it on fire, burning the palace and himself with it. ¹⁹So Zimri died because he had sinned by doing what the Lord said was wrong. Jeroboam had led the people of Israel to sin, and Zimri sinned in the same way as Jeroboam.

²⁰Everything else Zimri did and the story of how he turned against King Elah are written down in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.

Omri King of Israel

²¹The people of Israel were divided into two groups. Half of the people wanted Tibni son of Ginath to be king, while the other half wanted Omri. ²²Omri’s followers were stronger than the followers of Tibni son of Ginath, so Tibni died, and Omri became king.

²³Omri became king of Israel during the thirty-first year Asa was king of Judah. Omri ruled Israel for twelve years, six of those years in the city of Tirzah. ²⁴He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for about one hundred fifty pounds of silver. Omri built a city on that hill and called it Samaria after the name of its earlier owner, Shemer.

²⁵But Omri did what the Lord said was wrong; he did more evil than all the kings who came before him. ²⁶Jeroboam son of Nebat had led the people of Israel to sin, and Omri sinned in the same way as Jeroboam. The Israelites made the Lord, the God of Israel, very angry because they worshiped worthless idols.

²⁷Everything else Omri did and all his successes are written in the book of the history of the kings of Israel. ²⁸So Omri died and was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab became king in his place.

Read in Logos