1 Kings 15; 1 Kings 16; 1 Kings 17

1 Kings 15

1 In the eighteenth year of the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel, Abijah became king of Judah,

2 and he ruled three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom.

3 He committed the same sins as his father and was not completely loyal to the Lord his God, as his great-grandfather David had been.

4 But for David's sake the Lord his God gave Abijah a son to rule after him in Jerusalem and to keep Jerusalem secure.

5 The Lord did this because David had done what pleased him and had never disobeyed any of his commands, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.

6 The war which had begun between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continued throughout Abijah's lifetime.

7 And everything else that Abijah did is recorded in [The History of the Kings of Judah.]

8 Abijah died and was buried in David's City, and his son Asa succeeded him as king.

9 In the twentieth year of the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel, Asa became king of Judah,

10 and he ruled forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom.

11 Asa did what pleased the Lord, as his ancestor David had done.

12 He expelled from the country all the male and female prostitutes serving at the pagan places of worship, and he removed all the idols his predecessors had made.

13 He removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made an obscene idol of the fertility goddess Asherah. Asa cut down the idol and burned it in Kidron Valley.

14 Even though Asa did not destroy all the pagan places of worship, he remained faithful to the Lord all his life.

15 He placed in the Temple all the objects his father had dedicated to God, as well as the gold and silver objects that he himself dedicated.

16 King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel were constantly at war with each other as long as they were in power.

17 Baasha invaded Judah and started to fortify Ramah in order to cut off all traffic in and out of Judah.

18 So King Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the Temple and the palace, and sent it by some of his officials to Damascus, to King Benhadad of Syria, the son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion, with this message:

19 "Let us be allies, as our fathers were. This silver and gold is a present for you. Now break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel, so that he will have to pull his troops out of my territory."

20 King Benhadad agreed to Asa's proposal and sent his commanding officers and their armies to attack the cities of Israel. They captured Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, the area near Lake Galilee, and the whole territory of Naphtali.

21 When King Baasha heard what had happened, he stopped fortifying Ramah and went to Tirzah.

22 Then King Asa sent out an order throughout all of Judah requiring everyone, without exception, to help carry away from Ramah the stones and timber that Baasha had been using to fortify it. With this material Asa fortified Mizpah and Geba, a city in the territory of Benjamin.

23 Everything else that King Asa did, his brave deeds and the towns he fortified, are all recorded in [The History of the Kings of Judah.] But in his old age he was crippled by a foot disease.

24 Asa died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City, and his son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.

25 In the second year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, King Jeroboam's son Nadab became king of Israel, and he ruled for two years.

26 Like his father before him, he sinned against the Lord and led Israel into sin.

27 Baasha son of Ahijah, of the tribe of Issachar, plotted against Nadab and killed him as Nadab and his army were besieging the city of Gibbethon in Philistia.

28 This happened during the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah. And so Baasha succeeded Nadab as king of Israel.

29 At once he began killing all the members of Jeroboam's family. In accordance with what the Lord had said through his servant, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh, all of Jeroboam's family were killed; not one survived.

30 This happened because Jeroboam aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, by the sins that he committed and that he caused Israel to commit.

31 Everything else that Nadab did is recorded in [The History of the Kings of Israel.]

32 King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel were constantly at war with each other as long as they were in power.

33 In the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king of all Israel, and he ruled in Tirzah for twenty-four years.

34 Like King Jeroboam before him, he sinned against the Lord and led Israel into sin.

1 Kings 16

1 The Lord spoke to the prophet Jehu son of Hanani and gave him this message for Baasha:

2 "You were a nobody, but I made you the leader of my people Israel. And now you have sinned like Jeroboam and have led my people into sin. Their sins have aroused my anger,

3 and so I will do away with you and your family, just as I did with Jeroboam.

4 Any members of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and any who die in the open country will be eaten by vultures."

5 Everything else that Baasha did and all his brave deeds are recorded in [The History of the Kings of Israel.]

6 Baasha died and was buried in Tirzah, and his son Elah succeeded him as king.

7 That message from the Lord against Baasha and his family was given by the prophet Jehu because of the sins that Baasha committed against the Lord. He aroused the Lord's anger not only because of the evil he did, just as King Jeroboam had done before him, but also because he killed all of Jeroboam's family.

8 In the twenty-sixth year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel, and he ruled in Tirzah for two years.

9 Zimri, one of his officers who was in charge of half of the king's chariots, plotted against him. One day in Tirzah, Elah was getting drunk in the home of Arza, who was in charge of the palace.

10 Zimri entered the house, assassinated Elah, and succeeded him as king. This happened in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of King Asa of Judah.

11 As soon as Zimri became king he killed off all the members of Baasha's family. Every male relative and friend was put to death.

12 And so, in accordance with what the Lord had said against Baasha through the prophet Jehu, Zimri killed all the family of Baasha.

13 Because of their idolatry and because they led Israel into sin, Baasha and his son Elah had aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel.

14 Everything else that Elah did is recorded in [The History of the Kings of Israel.]

15 In the twenty-seventh year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Zimri ruled in Tirzah over Israel for seven days. The Israelite troops were besieging the city of Gibbethon in Philistia,

16 and when they heard that Zimri had plotted against the king and assassinated him, then and there they all proclaimed their commander Omri king of Israel.

17 Omri and his troops left Gibbethon and went and besieged Tirzah.

18 When Zimri saw that the city had fallen, he went into the palace's inner fortress, set the palace on fire, and died in the flames.

19 This happened because of his sins against the Lord. Like his predecessor Jeroboam, he displeased the Lord by his own sins and by leading Israel into sin.

20 Everything else that Zimri did, including the account of his conspiracy, is recorded in [The History of the Kings of Israel.]

21 The people of Israel were divided: some of them wanted to make Tibni son of Ginath king, and the others were in favor of Omri.

22 In the end, those in favor of Omri won out; Tibni died and Omri became king.

23 So in the thirty-first year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Omri became king of Israel, and he ruled for twelve years. The first six years he ruled in Tirzah,

24 and then he bought the hill of Samaria for six thousand pieces of silver from a man named Shemer. Omri fortified the hill, built a town there, and named it Samaria, after Shemer, the former owner of the hill.

25 Omri sinned against the Lord more than any of his predecessors.

26 Like Jeroboam before him, he aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, by his sins and by leading the people into sin and idolatry.

27 Everything else that Omri did and all his accomplishments are recorded in [The History of the Kings of Israel.]

28 Omri died and was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab succeeded him as king.

29 In the thirty-eighth year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he ruled in Samaria for twenty-two years.

30 He sinned against the Lord more than any of his predecessors.

31 It was not enough for him to sin like King Jeroboam; he went further and married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon, and worshiped Baal.

32 He built a temple to Baal in Samaria, made an altar for him, and put it in the temple.

33 He also put up an image of the goddess Asherah. He did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than all the kings of Israel before him.

34 During his reign Hiel from Bethel rebuilt Jericho. As the Lord had foretold through Joshua son of Nun, Hiel lost his oldest son Abiram when he laid the foundation of Jericho, and his youngest son Segub when he built the gates.

1 Kings 17

1 A prophet named Elijah, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to King Ahab, "In the name of the Lord, the living God of Israel, whom I serve, I tell you that there will be no dew or rain for the next two or three years until I say so."

2 Then the Lord said to Elijah,

3 "Leave this place and go east and hide yourself near Cherith Brook, east of the Jordan.

4 The brook will supply you with water to drink, and I have commanded ravens to bring you food there."

5 Elijah obeyed the Lord's command, and went and stayed by Cherith Brook.

6 He drank water from the brook, and ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and every evening.

7 After a while the brook dried up because of the lack of rain.

8 Then the Lord said to Elijah,

9 "Now go to the town of Zarephath, near Sidon, and stay there. I have commanded a widow who lives there to feed you."

10 So Elijah went to Zarephath, and as he came to the town gate, he saw a widow gathering firewood. "Please bring me a drink of water," he said to her.

11 And as she was going to get it, he called out, "And please bring me some bread, too."

12 She answered, "By the living Lord your God I swear that I don't have any bread. All I have is a handful of flour in a bowl and a bit of olive oil in a jar. I came here to gather some firewood to take back home and prepare what little I have for my son and me. That will be our last meal, and then we will starve to death."

13 "Don't worry," Elijah said to her. "Go on and prepare your meal. But first make a small loaf from what you have and bring it to me, and then prepare the rest for you and your son.

14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: "The bowl will not run out of flour or the jar run out of oil before the day that I, the Lord, send rain.' "

15 The widow went and did as Elijah had told her, and all of them had enough food for many days.

16 As the Lord had promised through Elijah, the bowl did not run out of flour nor did the jar run out of oil.

17 Some time later the widow's son got sick; he got worse and worse, and finally he died.

18 She said to Elijah, "Man of God, why did you do this to me? Did you come here to remind God of my sins and so cause my son's death?"

19 "Give the boy to me," Elijah said. He took the boy from her arms, carried him upstairs to the room where he was staying, and laid him on the bed.

20 Then he prayed aloud, "O Lord my God, why have you done such a terrible thing to this widow? She has been kind enough to take care of me, and now you kill her son!"

21 Then Elijah stretched himself out on the boy three times and prayed, "O Lord my God, restore this child to life!"

22 The Lord answered Elijah's prayer; the child started breathing again and revived.

23 Elijah took the boy back downstairs to his mother and said to her, "Look, your son is alive!"

24 She answered, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the Lord really speaks through you!"