1 To this Baasa the Lord sent a message by Jehu, son of Hanani: 2 Was it for this I raised thee up out of the dust, and made thee ruler of my people Israel, that thou shouldst follow the ways of Jeroboam, teaching my people Israel to sin, and by their sins to defy my anger? 3 See if I do not sweep away every trace of Baasa and Baasa’s line, treating thy race as I treated the race of Jeroboam son of Nabat. 4 Die they in the city, they shall be food for the dogs, die they in the open country, they shall be food for all the birds of heaven. 5 What else Baasa did, all his history and the record of all his battles, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel. 6 So he was laid to rest with his fathers, with Thersa for his burying-place, and the throne passed to his son Ela. 7 (It was through the prophet Jehu, son of Hanani, that the Lord pronounced sentence upon Baasa and his line, and on all the provocations by which he had earned the Lord’s displeasure, following the example of Jeroboam’s race; and Baasa, for that reason, put the prophet Jehu to death.[1])
1 Factus est autem sermo Domini ad Jehu filium Hanani contra Baasa, dicens: 2 Pro eo quod exaltavi te de pulvere, et posui te ducem super populum meum Israël, tu autem ambulasti in via Jeroboam, et peccare fecisti populum meum Israël, ut me irritares in peccatis eorum: 3 ecce ego demetam posteriora Baasa, et posteriora domus ejus, et faciam domum tuam sicut domum Jeroboam filii Nabat. 4 Qui mortuus fuerit de Baasa in civitate, comedent eum canes: et qui mortuus fuerit ex eo in regione, comedent eum volucres cæli. 5 Reliqua autem sermonum Baasa, et quæcumque fecit, et prælia ejus, nonne hæc scripta sunt in libro verborum dierum regum Israël? 6 Dormivit ergo Baasa cum patribus suis, sepultusque est in Thersa: et regnavit Ela filius ejus pro eo. 7 Cum autem in manu Jehu filii Hanani prophetæ verbum Domini factum esset contra Baasa, et contra domum ejus, et contra omne malum quod fecerat coram Domino, ad irritandum eum in operibus manuum suarum, ut fieret sicut domus Jeroboam: ob hanc causam occidit eum, hoc est, Jehu filium Hanani prophetam.
8 It was in the twenty-sixth year of Asa that Baasa’s son Ela came to the throne of Israel; and when he had reigned two years at Thersa, 9 his own servant Zambri, that led half his cavalry, rebelled against him. Ela was at Thersa, drinking himself drunk at the house of Arsa, that was prefect of the city, 10 when Zambri rushed in and gave him a mortal blow, taking the throne for himself, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa’s reign over Juda. 11 Once he was king, and settled on the throne, he struck down all Baasa’s descendants, leaving no male among them alive, his kinsfolk, too, and his friends. 12 When Zambri thus made an end of Baasa’s race, the sentence which the Lord had passed on Baasa through the prophet Jehu was carried out; 13 they must atone for their guilt, Baasa and his son Ela, that sinned and taught Israel to sin, defying the Lord God of Israel with their false worship. 14 What else Ela did, all his history, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
8 Anno vigesimo sexto Asa regis Juda, regnavit Ela filius Baasa super Israël in Thersa, duobus annis. 9 Et rebellavit contra eum servus suus Zambri, dux mediæ partis equitum: erat autem Ela in Thersa bibens, et temulentus in domo Arsa præfecti Thersa. 10 Irruens ergo Zambri, percussit et occidit eum, anno vigesimo septimo Asa regis Juda, et regnavit pro eo. 11 Cumque regnasset, et sedisset super solium ejus, percussit omnem domum Baasa, et non dereliquit ex ea mingentem ad parietem: et propinquos et amicos ejus. 12 Delevitque Zambri omnem domum Baasa, juxta verbum Domini quod locutus fuerat ad Baasa in manu Jehu prophetæ, 13 propter universa peccata Baasa, et peccata Ela filii ejus, qui peccaverunt, et peccare fecerunt Israël, provocantes Dominum Deum Israël in vanitatibus suis. 14 Reliqua autem sermonum Ela, et omnia quæ fecit, nonne hæc scripta sunt in libro verborum dierum regum Israël?
15 So, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa, Zambri reigned in Thersa for seven days. The army of Israel were then laying siege to the Philistine city of Gebbethon; 16 and when news reached them of Zambri’s conspiracy and the king’s death, they chose, by common consent, a king of their own. This was Amri, who was then in command of the Israelite forces, and was present there in the camp. 17 So Amri with all his men left Gebbethon and laid siege to Thersa; 18 and Zambri, seeing that the city must needs fall, retired into the palace and burned it over his own head. So he died, 19 in all the guilt of defying the Lord by following the example of Jeroboam; in all the guilt, too, he had brought on Israel by teaching them to sin. 20 What else Zambri did, the story of his plot and of his tyranny, are to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
15 Anno vigesimo septimo Asa regis Juda, regnavit Zambri septem diebus in Thersa: porro exercitus obsidebat Gebbethon urbem Philisthinorum. 16 Cumque audisset rebellasse Zambri, et occidisse regem, fecit sibi regem omnis Israël Amri, qui erat princeps militiæ super Israël in die illa in castris. 17 Ascendit ergo Amri, et omnis Israël cum eo, de Gebbethon, et obsidebant Thersa. 18 Videns autem Zambri quod expugnanda esset civitas, ingressus est palatium, et succendit se cum domo regia: et mortuus est 19 in peccatis suis quæ peccaverat, faciens malum coram Domino, et ambulans in via Jeroboam, et in peccato ejus, quo fecit peccare Israël. 20 Reliqua autem sermonum Zambri, et insidiarum ejus, et tyrannidis, nonne hæc scripta sunt in libro verborum dierum regum Israël?
21 Thereupon the Israelite people divided itself into two factions; half of them espoused the cause of Thebni, son of Gineth, and would have made a king of him, the other half followed Amri. 22 But Amri’s party gained the victory over Thebni’s; so Thebni came to his death, and Amri to a throne. 23 It was in the thirty-first year of Asa that Amri began his reign over Israel, which lasted twelve years. For the first six, his capital was at Thersa; 24 then, for two talents of silver, he bought the hill of Samaria from Somer, and built on it a city which he called Samaria, after Somer’s name. 25 This Amri defied the Lord’s will more recklessly than any king before him, 26 following the wicked ways of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, that taught Israel to sin, and provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with his false worship. 27 What else Amri did, the record of all the battles he fought, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel. 28 So Amri was laid to rest with his fathers, with Samaria for his burying-place, and the throne passed to his son Achab.
21 Tunc divisus est populus Israël in duas partes: media pars populi sequebatur Thebni filium Gineth, ut constitueret eum regem: et media pars Amri. 22 Prævaluit autem populus qui erat cum Amri, populo qui sequebatur Thebni filium Gineth: mortuusque est Thebni, et regnavit Amri. 23 Anno trigesimo primo Asa regis Juda, regnavit Amri super Israël, duodecim annis: in Thersa regnavit sex annis. 24 Emitque montem Samariæ a Somer duobus talentis argenti: et ædificavit eum, et vocavit nomen civitatis quam exstruxerat, nomine Semer domini montis, Samariam. 25 Fecit autem Amri malum in conspectu Domini, et operatus est nequiter, super omnes qui fuerunt ante eum. 26 Ambulavitque in omni via Jeroboam filii Nabat, et in peccatis ejus quibus peccare fecerat Israël, ut irritaret Dominum Deum Israël in vanitatibus suis. 27 Reliqua autem sermonum Amri, et prælia ejus quæ gessit, nonne hæc scripta sunt in libro verborum dierum regum Israël? 28 Dormivitque Amri cum patribus suis, et sepultus est in Samaria: regnavitque Achab filius ejus pro eo.
29 It was in the thirty-eighth year of Asa that Achab, son of Amri, came to the throne of Israel; and for twenty-two years he reigned over Israel at Samaria. 30 This Achab, son of Amri, defied the Lord’s will as no other had done before him; 31 not content with following the evil example of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, he married Jezabel, daughter of the Sidonian king Ethbaal, and thenceforward enslaved himself to Baal’s worship. 32 To Baal he built a temple, to Baal he raised an altar, in Samaria; 33 planted, too, a sacred wood, and did more to earn the Lord’s displeasure than any king of Israel in earlier times.
29 Achab vero filius Amri regnavit super Israël anno trigesimo octavo Asa regis Juda. Et regnavit Achab filius Amri super Israël in Samaria viginti et duobus annis. 30 Et fecit Achab filius Amri malum in conspectu Domini super omnes qui fuerunt ante eum. 31 Nec suffecit ei ut ambularet in peccatis Jeroboam filii Nabat: insuper duxit uxorem Jezabel filiam Ethbaal regis Sidoniorum. Et abiit, et servivit Baal, et adoravit eum. 32 Et posuit aram Baal in templo Baal, quod ædificaverat in Samaria, 33 et plantavit lucum: et addidit Achab in opere suo, irritans Dominum Deum Israël super omnes reges Israël qui fuerunt ante eum.
34 It was in his days that Hiel, a man of Bethel, rebuilt Jericho; the foundation of it cost him his eldest son Abiram, and the gates of it his youngest son Segub; such was the doom pronounced by Josue, son of Nun, in the Lord’s name.[2]
34 In diebus ejus ædificavit Hiel de Bethel Jericho: in Abiram primitivo suo fundavit eam, et in Segub novissimo suo posuit portas ejus, juxta verbum Domini quod locutus fuerat in manu Josue filii Nun.
[1] ‘And Baasa, for that reason, put the prophet Jehu to death’; both in the Hebrew text and in the Septuagint Greek we read ‘And because he killed him’, that is, presumably, because Baasa killed Nadab. The Latin gives a preferable sense.
