1Jehovah spoke to the prophet Jehu son of Hanani and gave him this message to give to Baasha: 2»I lifted you out of the dust and made you ruler over my people Israel. You have gone the way of Jeroboam. You made my people Israel do evil, moving me to wrath by their sins. 3»Truly, I will take away the family of Baasha. I will make your family like the family of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. 4»Dogs will eat anyone of the family of Baasha who dies in town. The birds of the air will eat anyone who dies in the open country.« 5The rest of the acts of Baasha, what he did, and his power, are recorded in the book of the History of the Kings of Israel. 6Baasha rested with his fathers. He was buried at Tirzah; and Elah his son became king in his place. 7The word of Jehovah came to the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani. This was a warning against Baasha and his family because of all the evil he did in the eyes of Jehovah. He made Jehovah angry by the work of his hands, because he was like the family of Jeroboam, and because he killed him. 8In the twenty-sixth year that Asa was king of Judah, Elah, the son of Baasha, became king of Israel in Tirzah. He was king for two years. 9His servant Zimri, commander of half his war-carriages made plans to kill him. He was in Tirzah, drinking hard at the house of Arza, controller of the king's house in Tirzah. 10Zimri attacked and killed him. It was the twenty-seventh year that Asa was king of Judah. 11Immediately after he became king and took his place on the throne of the kingdom, he put to death all the family of Baasha. Not one male child survived. 12So Zimri destroyed the entire family of Baasha as Jehovah promised through the prophet Jehu. 13This happened because of the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, and because of all the sins they led Israel to commit. It aroused the anger of Jehovah the God of Israel. 14The rest of the acts of Elah are recorded in the book of the History of the Kings of Israel. 15In the twenty-seventh year of Asa, king of Judah, Zimri was king for seven days in Tirzah. The people were attacking Gibbethon in the land of the Philistines. 16The Israelites in the camp heard it said: »Zimri plotted against the king and killed him.« So all Israel made Omri, the captain of the army, king that day there in the camp. 17Then Omri went up from Gibbethon, with all the army of Israel, and they attacked Tirzah, Israel’s capital. 18Zimri saw that the city had fallen. So he went into the palace's inner fortress and set the palace on fire. He died in the flames. 19This happened because of his sins against Jehovah. Like his predecessor Jeroboam, he displeased Jehovah 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. 21Then the army of Israel was divided into two factions. Half of the army followed Tibni, son of Ginath, and wanted to make him king. The other half followed Omri. 22But the half that followed Omri was stronger than the half that followed Tibni, Ginath's son. Tibni died and Omri became king. 23Omri began to rule Israel in Asa's thirty-first year as king of Judah. He ruled for twelve years, six of them in Tirzah. 24Omri bought a hill from Shemer for one hundred and fifty pounds of silver. He fortified the hill and built the city of Samaria on it. He named the city after its former owner, Shemer. 25Omri did what Jehovah considered evil. He did more evil things than all the kings before him. 26He lived exactly like Jeroboam, Nebat's son. He sinned and led Israel to sin with worthless idols. The Israelites made Jehovah the God of Israel furious. 27Everything else about Omri is written in the official records of the kings of Israel. 28Omri rested with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria. Ahab his son became king in his place. 29In the thirty-eighth year that Asa was king of Judah, Ahab, the son of Omri, became king over Israel. Ahab was king in Samaria for twenty-two years. 30Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, even worse than all who went before him! 31It was as if he copied the evil ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. He took as his wife Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Zidon, and became a servant and worshipper of Baal. 32He built an altar for Baal in the house of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33Ahab made an image of Asherah. He did more than all the kings of Israel before him to make Jehovah, the God of Israel, angry. 34In his days Hiel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundation at the price of Abiram, his oldest son, and he put its doors in place at the price of his youngest son Segub. This was according to the word of Jehovah spoken through Joshua, the son of Nun.