Chronological
Nadab King of Israel
25 Nadab son of Jeroboam became king of Israel. This was during the second year Asa was king of Judah. And Nadab was king of Israel for two years. 26 He did what the Lord said was wrong. Jeroboam had caused the people of Israel to sin. Nadab sinned in the same way his father Jeroboam had sinned.
27 Baasha son of Ahijah was from the tribe of Issachar. He made plans to kill Nadab. Nadab and all Israel were attacking the Philistine town of Gibbethon. So Baasha killed Nadab there. 28 This happened during Asa’s third year as king of Judah. And Baasha became the next king of Israel.
Baasha King of Israel
29 As soon as Baasha became king, he killed all of Jeroboam’s family. He left no one in Jeroboam’s family alive. This happened as the Lord had said it would. The Lord had said this through his servant Ahijah from Shiloh. 30 This happened because King Jeroboam had sinned very much. And he had caused the people of Israel to sin. Jeroboam had made the Lord, the God of Israel, very angry.
31 Everything else Nadab did is written down. It is in the book of the history of the kings of Israel. 32 There was war between Asa king of Judah and Baasha king of Israel all the time they were kings.
33 Baasha son of Ahijah became king of Israel. This was during Asa’s third year as king of Judah. And Baasha ruled in Tirzah for 24 years. 34 But Baasha did what the Lord said was wrong. Jeroboam had caused the people of Israel to sin. And Baasha sinned in the same way Jeroboam had sinned.
16 Then Jehu son of Hanani spoke the word of the Lord against King Baasha. 2 The Lord said, “You were nothing. Then I took you and made you a leader over my people Israel. But you have followed the ways of Jeroboam. You have caused my people Israel to sin. Their sins have made me angry. 3 So, Baasha, I will destroy you and your family. I will do to you what I did to the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat. 4 Anyone from your family who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs. And anyone from your family who dies in the fields will be eaten by birds.”
5 Everything else Baasha did and all his victories are written down. They are in the book of the history of the kings of Israel. 6 So Baasha died and was buried in Tirzah. His son Elah became king in his place.
7 The Lord spoke his word through the prophet Jehu son of Hanani. The Lord’s message was against Baasha and his family. Baasha had done many things the Lord said were wrong. This made the Lord very angry. Baasha did the same things that Jeroboam’s family had done before him. The Lord was also angry because Baasha killed all of Jeroboam’s family.
Elah King of Israel
8 Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel. This was during Asa’s twenty-sixth year as king of Judah. And Elah ruled in Tirzah for two years.
9 Zimri was one of Elah’s officers. He commanded half of Elah’s chariots. But Zimri made plans against Elah.
Elah was in Tirzah, getting drunk at Arza’s home. (Arza was the man in charge of the palace at Tirzah.) 10 So Zimri went into Arza’s house and killed Elah. This was during Asa’s twenty-seventh year as king of Judah. Then Zimri became king of Israel in Elah’s place.
Zimri King of Israel
11 As soon as Zimri became king, he killed all of Baasha’s family. He did not let any man of Baasha’s family or friends live. 12 So Zimri destroyed all of Baasha’s family. This happened as the Lord had said it would. The Lord had spoken this against Baasha through the prophet Jehu. 13 This happened because of all the sins of Baasha and his son Elah. They sinned and caused the people of Israel to sin. They also made the Lord, the God of Israel, angry because they had made worthless idols.
14 Everything else Elah did is written down. It is in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.
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.
Omri King of Israel
21 The people of Israel were divided into two groups. Half of the people wanted Tibni to be king. He was the son of Ginath. The other half of the people wanted Omri. 22 But Omri’s followers were stronger than the followers of Tibni son of Ginath. So Tibni died, and Omri became king.
23 Omri became king of Israel. This was during the thirty-first year Asa was king of Judah. And Omri ruled Israel for 12 years. Six of those years he ruled in the town of Tirzah. 24 Omri bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer. He paid about 150 pounds of silver for it. Omri built a city on that hill. And he called it Samaria after the name of its earlier owner, Shemer.
25 But Omri did what the Lord said was wrong. He did more evil than all the kings who were before him. 26 Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused the people of Israel to sin. And Omri sinned in the same way Jeroboam had sinned. So the Israelites made the Lord, the God of Israel, very angry. He was angry because they worshiped worthless idols.
27 Everything else Omri did and all his successes are written down. They are all in the book of the history of the kings of Israel. 28 So Omri died and was buried in Samaria. His son Ahab became king in his place.
Ahab King of Israel
29 So Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel. This was during Asa’s thirty-eighth year as king of Judah. Ahab ruled Israel in the town of Samaria for 22 years. 30 Ahab did many things that the Lord said were wrong. He did more evil than any of the kings before him. 31 He sinned in the same ways that Jeroboam son of Nebat had sinned. But he did even worse things. He married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal. (Ethbaal was king of the city of Sidon.) Then Ahab began to serve Baal and worship him. 32 He built a temple in Samaria for worshiping Baal. And he put an altar there for Baal. 33 Ahab also made an idol for worshiping Asherah. He did more things to make the Lord, the God of Israel, angry than all the other kings before him.
34 During the time of Ahab, Hiel from Bethel rebuilt the town of Jericho. It cost Hiel the life of Abiram, his oldest son, to begin work on the city. And it cost the life of Segub, his youngest son, to build the city gates. The Lord had said, through Joshua, that this would happen.[a] (Joshua was the son of Nun.)
Jehoshaphat King of Judah
17 Jehoshaphat, Asa’s son, became king of Judah in Asa’s place. Jehoshaphat made Judah strong so they could fight against Israel. 2 He put troops in all the strong, walled cities of Judah. And he put troops in Judah and in the towns of Ephraim his father Asa had captured.
3 The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he did good things. He lived as his father Asa did when he first became king. Jehoshaphat did not ask for help from the Baal idols. 4 He asked for help from the God his father had followed. He obeyed God’s commands. He did not live as the people of Israel lived. 5 The Lord made Jehoshaphat a strong king over Judah. All the people of Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat. So he had much wealth and honor. 6 He wanted very much to obey the Lord. He also removed the places for worshiping false gods and the Asherah idols from Judah.
7 Jehoshaphat sent his officers to teach in the towns of Judah. This happened in the third year of his rule. These officers were Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah. 8 Jehoshaphat sent with them these Levites: Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah and Tob-Adonijah. He also sent the priests Elishama and Jehoram. 9 These leaders, Levites and priests taught the people in Judah. They took the Book of the Teachings of the Lord with them. And they went through all the towns of Judah and taught the people.
10 The nations near Judah were afraid of the Lord. So they did not start a war against Jehoshaphat. 11 Some of the Philistines brought gifts and silver to Jehoshaphat as forced payments. Some Arabs brought him flocks. They brought him 7,700 male sheep and 7,700 goats.
12 Jehoshaphat became more and more powerful. He built strong, walled cities and storage towns in Judah. 13 He kept many supplies in the towns of Judah. And he kept trained soldiers in Jerusalem. 14 These soldiers were listed by families.
From the families of Judah, these were the commanders of groups of 1,000 men: Adnah was the commander of 300,000 soldiers. 15 Jehohanan was the commander of 280,000 soldiers. 16 And Amasiah was the commander of 200,000 soldiers. Amasiah son of Zicri had volunteered to serve the Lord.
17 These were the commanders from the families of Benjamin: Eliada had 200,000 soldiers who used bows and shields. Eliada was a brave soldier. 18 And Jehozabad had 180,000 men armed for war.
19 All these soldiers served King Jehoshaphat. The king also put other men in the strong, walled cities through all of Judah.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.