The Holy Bible

[14:21] Solomon's son Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen from all the territory of Israel as the place where he was to be worshiped. Rehoboam's mother was Naamah from Ammon.

[14:22] The people of Judah sinned against the Lord and did more to arouse his anger against them than all their ancestors had done.

[14:23] They built places of worship for false gods and put up stone pillars and symbols of Asherah to worship on the hills and under shady trees.

[14:24] Worst of all, there were men and women who served as prostitutes at those pagan places of worship. The people of Judah practiced all the shameful things done by the people whom the Lord had driven out of the land as the Israelites advanced into the country.

[14:25] In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.

[14:26] He took away all the treasures in the Temple and in the palace, including the gold shields Solomon had made.

[14:27] To replace them, King Rehoboam made bronze shields and entrusted them to the officers responsible for guarding the palace gates.

[14:28] Every time the king went to the Temple, the guards carried the shields and then returned them to the guardroom.

[14:29] Everything else that King Rehoboam did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.

[14:30] During all this time Rehoboam and Jeroboam were constantly at war with each other.

[14:31] Rehoboam died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City and his son Abijah succeeded him as king.

[15:1] In the eighteenth year of the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel, Abijah became king of Judah,

[15:2] and he ruled three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom.

[15:3] 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.

[15:4] But for David's sake the Lord his God gave Abijah a son to rule after him in Jerusalem and to keep Jerusalem secure.

[15:5] 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.

[15:6] The war which had begun between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continued throughout Abijah's lifetime.

[15:7] And everything else that Abijah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.

[15:8] Abijah died and was buried in David's City, and his son Asa succeeded him as king.

[15:9] In the twentieth year of the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel, Asa became king of Judah,

[15:10] and he ruled forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom.

[15:11] Asa did what pleased the Lord, as his ancestor David had done.

[15:12] 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.

[15:13] 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.

[15:14] Even though Asa did not destroy all the pagan places of worship, he remained faithful to the Lord all his life.

[15:15] 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.

[15:16] King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel were constantly at war with each other as long as they were in power.

[15:17] Baasha invaded Judah and started to fortify Ramah in order to cut off all traffic in and out of Judah.

[15:18] 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:

[15:19] “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.”

[15:20] 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.

[15:21] When King Baasha heard what had happened, he stopped fortifying Ramah and went to Tirzah.

[15:22] 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.

[15:23] 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.

[15:24] Asa died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City, and his son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.

[15:25] 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.

[15:26] Like his father before him, he sinned against the Lord and led Israel into sin.

[15:27] 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.

[15:28] This happened during the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah. And so Baasha succeeded Nadab as king of Israel.

[15:29] 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.

[15:30] 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.

[15:31] Everything else that Nadab did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.

[15:32] King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel were constantly at war with each other as long as they were in power.

[16:8] 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.

[16:9] 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.

[16:10] 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.

[16:11] 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.

[16:12] And so, in accordance with what the Lord had said against Baasha through the prophet Jehu, Zimri killed all the family of Baasha.

[16:13] 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.

[16:14] Everything else that Elah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.

[16:15] 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,

[16:16] 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.

[16:17] Omri and his troops left Gibbethon and went and besieged Tirzah.

[16:18] 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.

[16:19] 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.

[16:20] Everything else that Zimri did, including the account of his conspiracy, is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.

[16:21] 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.

[16:22] In the end, those in favor of Omri won out; Tibni died and Omri became king.

[16:23] 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,

[16:24] 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.

[16:25] Omri sinned against the Lord more than any of his predecessors.

[16:26] 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.

[16:27] Everything else that Omri did and all his accomplishments are recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.

[16:28] Omri died and was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab succeeded him as king.

[16:29] 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.

[16:30] He sinned against the Lord more than any of his predecessors.

[16:31] 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.

[16:32] He built a temple to Baal in Samaria, made an altar for him, and put it in the temple.

[16:33] 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.

[16:34] 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.

[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.”

[17:2] Then the Lord said to Elijah,

[17:3] “Leave this place and go east and hide yourself near Cherith Brook, east of the Jordan.

[17:4] The brook will supply you with water to drink, and I have commanded ravens to bring you food there.”

[17:5] Elijah obeyed the Lord's command, and went and stayed by Cherith Brook.

[17:6] He drank water from the brook, and ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and every evening.

[17:7] After a while the brook dried up because of the lack of rain.