1 Kings 16:3-8

16:3 So I am ready to burn up¹ Baasha and his family, and make your family² like the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat. 16:4 Dogs will eat the members of Baasha’s family³ who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country.”

16:5 The rest of the events of Baasha’s reign, including his accomplishments and successes, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.⁴ 16:6 Baasha passed away⁵ and was buried in Tirzah. His son Elah replaced him as king. 16:7 The prophet Jehu son of Hanani received from the Lord the message predicting the downfall of Baasha and his family because of all the evil Baasha had done in the sight of the Lord.⁶ His actions angered the Lord (including the way he had destroyed Jeroboam’s dynasty), so that his family ended up like Jeroboam’s.⁷

Elah’s Reign over Israel

16:8 In the twenty-sixth year of King Asa’s reign over Judah, Baasha’s son Elah became king over Israel; he ruled in Tirzah for two years.

¹tn The traditional view understands the verb בָּעַר (ba’ar) to mean “burn.” However, an alternate view takes בָּעַר (ba’ar) as a homonym meaning “sweep away” (HALOT 146 s.v. II בער). In this case one might translate, “I am ready to sweep away Baasha and his family.” Either metaphor emphasizes the thorough and destructive nature of the coming judgment.

²tc The Old Greek, Syriac Peshitta, and some mss of the Targum have here “his house.”

³tn Heb “the ones belonging to Baasha.”

⁴tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Baasha, and that which he did and his strength, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?”

⁵tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”

⁶tn Heb “and also through Jehu son of Hanani the word of the Lord came concerning [or “against”] Baasha and his house, and because of all the evil which he did in the eyes of the Lord.”

⁷tn Heb “angering him by the work of his hands, so that he was like the house of Jeroboam, and because of how he struck it down.”