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.
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.
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.