CHAPTER 16
1 Forsooth the word of the Lord was made to Jehu, the son of Hanani, against Baasha, and said,
2 For that that I raised thee from dust, and setted [or set] thee duke on Israel, my people; soothly thou wentest in the way of Jeroboam, and thou hast made my people Israel to do sin, that thou shouldest stir me to ire, in the sins of them;
3 lo! I shall cut away the hinder things of Baasha, and the hinder things of his house, and I shall make thine house as the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.
4 Dogs shall eat that man of Baasha, that shall be dead in the city, and [the] birds of the air shall eat that man of Baasha, that shall die in the field.
5 Soothly the residue of the words of Baasha, and whatever things he did, and his battles, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?
6 And so Baasha slept with his fathers, and he was buried in Tirzah; and Elah, his son, reigned for him.
7 Forsooth when the word of the Lord was made in the hand of Jehu, the son of Hanani, against Baasha, and against his house, and against all the evil which he did before the Lord, to stir him to ire in the works of his hands, that he should be as the house of Jeroboam, for this cause he killed him*.
8 In the six and twentieth year of Asa, king of Judah, Elah, the son of Baasha, reigned upon Israel, in Tirzah, two years.
9 And Zimri, his servant, duke of the half part of his knights, rebelled against him; soothly Elah was in Tirzah, and drank and was drunken in the house of Arza, prefect of Tirzah.
10 Therefore Zimri felled in, and smote Elah, and killed him, in the seven and twentieth year of Asa, king of Judah; and [he] reigned for him.
11 And when he had reigned, and sat upon his throne, he smote all the house of Baasha, and he left not thereof a pisser to the wall, and his kinsmen, and friends.
12 And Zimri did away all the house of Baasha, by the word of the Lord, which he spake to Baasha, in the hand of Jehu, the prophet,
13 for all the sins of Baasha, and for the sins of Elah, his son, which sinned, and made Israel to do sin, and wrathed the Lord God of Israel in their vanities.
14 Soothly the residue of the words of Elah, and all things which he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?
15 In the seven and twentieth year of Asa, king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah; forsooth the host of Israel besieged Gibbethon, the city of Philistines.
16 And when it had heard, that Zimri had rebelled, and had slain the king, all Israel made Omri king to them, that was prince of the chivalry, on Israel, in that day, in their tents.
17 Therefore Omri went up, and all Israel with him, from Gibbethon, and besieged Tirzah.
18 And Zimri saw, that the city should be overcome, and he entered into the palace, and burnt himself with the king’s house; and he was dead
19 in his sins which he sinned, doing evil before the Lord, and going in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sins, by which he made Israel to do sin.
20 Soothly the residue of the words of Zimri, and of his treasons, and tyranny, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?
21 Then the people of Israel was parted into two parts; the half part of the people followed Tibni, the son of Ginath, to make him king, and the other half part followed Omri.
22 And the people that was with Omri, had the mastery over the people that followed Tibni, the son of Ginath; and Tibni was dead, and Omri reigned.
23 In the one and thirtieth year of Asa, king of Judah, Omri reigned upon Israel, twelve years; in Tirzah, he reigned six years.
24 And he bought of Shemer, for two talents of silver, the hill of Samaria, and builded on that hill; and he called the name of the city, which he had builded, by the name of Shemer, [the] lord of the hill of Samaria.
25 Forsooth Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, and wrought waywardly, or wickedly, over all men that were before him.
26 And he went in all the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and in his sins, by which he made Israel to do sin, that he should stir to ire, in his vanities, the Lord God of Israel.
27 Forsooth the residue of the words of Omri, and his battles, which he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?
28 And Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria; and Ahab, his son, reigned for him.
29 Forsooth Ahab, the son of Omri, reigned upon Israel, in the eight and thirtieth year of Asa, king of Judah; and Ahab, the son of Omri, reigned upon Israel, in Samaria, two and twenty years.
30 And Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the Lord, over all men that were before him;
31 and it sufficed not to him that he went in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, furthermore and he wedded a wife, Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Sidonians; and he went and served Baal, and worshipped him.
32 And he set up an altar to Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had builded in Samaria,
33 and he planted a maumet woods; and Ahab added to that in his work, and stirred to ire the Lord God of Israel, more than all [the] kings of Israel that were before him.
34 Forsooth in his days Hiel of Bethel builded Jericho; in Abiram, his first son, he founded it†, and in Segub, his last son, he setted [or set] the gates thereof, by the word of the Lord, which he had spoken in the hand of Joshua, the son of Nun.
* CHAPTER 16:7 The words that follow, ‘that is, Jehu, the prophet, the son of Hanani, the prophet,’ are not in Hebrew; it is a gloss. † CHAPTER 16:34 That is, when he setted the foundaments, Abiram, his first engendered son, died, and when he went forth in building, his sons died each after the other, till to the last son, that was dead in the filling of the work.