Old Testament

New Testament

1 Kings 16:4-19 Contemporary English Version Anglicised (CEVUK00)

4. Dogs will eat the bodies of your relatives who die in town, and vultures will eat the bodies of those who die in the country.

5-7. Baasha made the Lord very angry, and that's why the Lord gave Jehu this message for Baasha and his family. Baasha constantly disobeyed the Lord by following Jeroboam's sinful example—but even worse, he killed everyone in Jeroboam's family!Everything else Baasha did while he was king, including his brave deeds, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel. Baasha died and was buried in Tirzah, and his son Elah became king.

8. Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel after Asa had been king of Judah for twenty-five years, and he ruled from Tirzah for two years.

9. Zimri commanded half of Elah's chariots, and he made plans to kill Elah.One day, Elah was in Tirzah, getting drunk at the home of Arza, his prime minister,

10. when Zimri went there and killed Elah. So Zimri became king in the twenty-seventh year of Asa's rule in Judah.

11. As soon as Zimri became king, he killed everyone in Baasha's family. Not one man or boy in his family was left alive—even his close friends were killed.

12. Baasha's family was completely wiped out, just as the Lord's prophet Jehu had warned.

13. Baasha and Elah sinned and caused the Israelites to sin, and they made the Lord angry by worshipping idols.

14. Everything else Elah did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Israel.

15-16. Zimri became king of Israel in Asa's twenty-seventh year as king of Judah, but he ruled only seven days from Tirzah.Israel's army was camped near Gibbethon in Philistia under the command of Omri. The soldiers heard that Zimri had killed Elah, and they made Omri their king that same day.

17. At once, Omri and his army marched to Tirzah and attacked.

18. When Zimri saw that the town was captured, he ran into the strongest part of the palace and killed himself by setting it on fire.

19. Zimri had disobeyed the Lord by following the evil example of Jeroboam, who had caused the Israelites to sin.

Read complete chapter 1 Kings 16