1 Kings 16:15-20

International Children’s Bible

¹⁵ So Zimri became king of Israel. This was during Asa’s twenty-seventh year as king of Judah. Zimri ruled in Tirzah seven days. This is what happened:

The army of Israel was camped near Gibbethon, a Philistine town. ¹⁶ The men in the camp heard that Zimri had made secret plans against the king. And they heard that Zimri had killed him. So that day in the camp they made Omri king over Israel. (Omri was commander of the army.) ¹⁷ So Omri and all the Israelites left Gibbethon and attacked Tirzah. ¹⁸ Zimri saw that the city had been captured. So he went into the palace and set it on fire. He burned the palace and himself with it. ¹⁹ So Zimri died because he had sinned. He did what the Lord said was wrong. Jeroboam had caused the people of Israel to sin. And Zimri sinned in the same way Jeroboam had sinned.

²⁰ Everything else Zimri did is written down. It is in the book of the history of the kings of Israel. The story of how Zimri turned against King Elah is also written there.