World English Bible
- The LORD’s word came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,
- “Because I exalted you out of the dust and made you prince over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins,
- behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and his house; and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
- The dogs will eat Baasha’s descendants who die in the city; and he who dies of his in the field, the birds of the sky will eat.”
- Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
- Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah; and Elah his son reigned in his place.
- Moreover the LORD’s word came by the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and against his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the LORD’s sight, to provoke him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he struck him.
- In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah for two years.
- His servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah;
- and Zimri went in and struck him and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.
- When he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, he attacked all the house of Baasha. He didn’t leave him a single one who urinates on a wall among his relatives or his friends.
- Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the LORD’s word which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet,
- for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and with which they made Israel to sin, to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities.
- Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
- In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.
- The people who were encamped heard that Zimri had conspired, and had also killed the king. Therefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp.
- Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah.
- When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the fortified part of the king’s house and burned the king’s house over him with fire, and died,
- for his sins which he sinned in doing that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did to make Israel to sin.
- Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he committed, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
- Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri.
- But the people who followed Omri prevailed against the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath; so Tibni died, and Omri reigned.
- In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel for twelve years. He reigned six years in Tirzah.
- He bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.
- Omri did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and dealt wickedly above all who were before him.
- For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sins with which he made Israel to sin, to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities.
- Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might that he showed, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
- So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria; and Ahab his son reigned in his place.
- In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel. Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.
- Ahab the son of Omri did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight above all that were before him.
- As if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.
- He raised up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.
- Ahab made the Asherah; and Ahab did more yet to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
- In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho. He laid its foundation with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the LORD’s word, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.
“When thrones shake, the word of the LORD remains.”
Jehu son of Hanani walks into Baasha’s court with a sentence that sounds almost copied and pasted from 1 Kings 15. “You walked in the way of Jeroboam… therefore I will sweep away your house” (New International Version). The Hebrew verb for “sweep away” (בָּעַר / baʿar) is used of burning chaff—quick, thorough, final. Empires look permanent; God’s word looks fragile. But the chapter will prove again that the reverse is true.
Cross-lights
• Deuteronomy 17:14-20 – the charter for kings who refuse to read
it.
• Isaiah 40:6-8 – flesh like grass, but God’s word stands.
• Hosea 8:4 – “They set up kings without my consent.”
For reflection
Have I grown numb to repeated warnings because I have heard them
before?
Elah drinks himself dull while Zimri plots. In one afternoon the dynasty ends. Zimri lasts only seven days—the shortest reign in either Testament. Ancient Near-Eastern steles trumpet stability and longevity; the Bible records fragility.
Notice the repeated formula:
• “He sinned… he provoked the LORD.”
• “The rest of the acts… are they not written?”
This is history written as theology. Sin is not a private matter; it destabilises whole systems.
Cross-lights
• Proverbs 23:29-35 – alcohol’s fog of judgment.
• Luke 12:45-46 – a servant who “eats and drinks and gets drunk” finds
the Master returning.
Application
Hidden habits in the palace of the heart can topple whatever I think is
secure.
The army splits: half for Tibni, half for Omri. Archaeologists at Tel Tirzah have found burnt layers that match Omri’s siege. He then buys a hill from a man named Shemer and builds Šōmrôn—Samaria. The name means “watch-place,” and indeed the city will watch both idolatry and prophetic fire (Elijah) play out.
Omri is politically brilliant (Assyrian records later call Israel “the land of Omri”), yet the text sums him up: “He did more evil than all before him.” Influence without obedience only multiplies damage.
Cross-lights
• Psalm 127:1 – unless the LORD builds the house…
• Micah 6:16 – “You have kept the statutes of Omri.”
The Hebrew narrator shifts into slow motion; we will stay with Ahab for six more chapters. Three dark steps are named:
Each verb escalates compromise into public policy. Church fathers saw here the anatomy of temptation: what is first “light” becomes life-shaping.
Cross-lights
• 2 Corinthians 6:14 – unequal yokes.
• James 1:14-15 – desire, sin, death sequence.
Hebrew note
“Provoked” (הִכְעִיס / hikʿīs) is intensive—to anger repeatedly.
Sin that once grieved God now taunts Him.
Hymn suggestion
“God, the Omnipotent! King Who Ordainest” – a sober plea for rulers and
nations.
Hiel of Bethel rebuilds Jericho “at the cost of his firstborn… and his youngest,” fulfilling Joshua 6:26. Excavations show a small 9th-century settlement on the older ruins—possibly Hiel’s work. The point, however, is not masonry but defiance. A curse spoken five centuries earlier still stands.
Theology in miniature
• Covenant promise (blessing or curse) outlives its speakers.
• The God of Joshua is the God of Ahab’s day; He is ours too.
Voices from the Past
• Augustine: earthly kingdoms rise and fall “so that the City of God may
learn not to confuse passing glory with eternal hope.”
• Calvin: God “arms wicked men against each other” to curb wickedness
and to teach the Church to fix her eyes above.
• John Wesley: “Every revolution of government is a loud call to
personal holiness.”
Almighty God,
You hold kings and commoners in Your hand.
Shake from us the illusion that sin is small or that Your word can
fail.
Protect us from alliances that dull our love for You,
and raise in our hearts a longing for the true King, Jesus Christ,
whose kingdom cannot be toppled and whose mercy rebuilds without
curse.
In His strong name we pray. Amen.