1 Kings 16:16-30

¹⁶When the troops who were camped there learned that Zimri had plotted rebellion against the king and had murdered him, they made Omri, the army commander, king of Israel that same day in the army camp.

¹⁷Omri and the whole Israelite army left Gibbethon and went and besieged Tirzah.

¹⁸When Zimri saw that the city had been taken he went into the fortress of the royal palace and set it on fire around him, and he died, because of the sins he had committed.

¹⁹He did evil in the Lord's sight and followed the way of Jeroboam and his sin which he had made Israel commit.

²⁰The rest of what happened in Zimri's reign and his rebellion are recorded in the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

²¹After this the people of Israel were divided. Half supported Tibni, son of Ginath, as king, while the other half supported Omri.

²²However, those on Omri's side defeated Tibni's supporters. Tibni was killed and Omri became king.

²³Omri became king of Israel in the thirty-first year of the reign of King Asa of Judah. He reigned for a total of twelve years, (six of them were in Tirzah).

²⁴He purchased the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver. He fortified the hill, and named the city that he built Samaria, after Shemer, the previous owner of the hill.

²⁵Omri did what was evil in the Lord's sight—in fact he did more evil than those who lived before him.

²⁶For he followed all the ways of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and in his sins which he made Israel commit, worshiping their useless idols which angered the Lord, the God of Israel.

²⁷The rest of what happened in Omri's reign, what he did, and his achievements are recorded in the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

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

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

³⁰Ahab, son of Omri, did evil in the Lord's sight, more than those who lived before him.