⁹ His servant Zimri, a commander of half of his chariot force, conspired against him. While Elah was in Tirzah drinking heavily^[a] at the house of Arza, who supervised the palace in Tirzah, ¹⁰ Zimri came in and struck him dead. (This happened in the twenty-seventh year of Asa’s reign over Judah.) Zimri replaced Elah as king.^{[b] 11} When he became king and occupied the throne, he killed Baasha’s entire family. He did not spare any male belonging to him; he killed his relatives and his friends.^{[c] 12} Zimri destroyed Baasha’s entire family, in keeping with the Lord’s message which he had spoken against Baasha through Jehu the prophet. ¹³ This happened because of all the sins which Baasha and his son Elah committed and which they made Israel commit. They angered the Lord God of Israel with their worthless idols.^[d]

¹⁴ The rest of the events of Elah’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.^[e]

Zimri’s Reign over Israel

¹⁵ In the twenty-seventh year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Zimri became king over Israel; he ruled for seven days in Tirzah. Zimri’s revolt took place while the army was deployed^[f] in Gibbethon, which was in Philistine territory. ¹⁶ While deployed there, the army received this report:^[g] “Zimri has conspired against the king and assassinated him.”^[h] So all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that very day in the camp. ¹⁷ Omri and all Israel went up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah. ¹⁸ When Zimri saw that the city was captured, he went into the fortified area of the royal palace. He set the palace on fire and died in the flames.^{[i] 19} This happened because of the sins he committed. He did evil in the sight of^[j] the Lord and followed in Jeroboam’s footsteps and encouraged Israel to continue sinning.^[k]

²⁰ The rest of the events of Zimri’s reign, including the details of his revolt, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.^[l]