Back to 1 Kings 16

1 Kings 16:9-11

His servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah; and Zimri went in and struck him, and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.

When he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, he attacked all the house of Baasha. He didn’t leave him a single one who urinates on a wall among his relatives or his friends.

World English Bible · Public Domain
Show the surrounding paragraph

1 Kings 16:9-11 sits inside this longer paragraph.

In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah for two years. His servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah; and Zimri went in and struck him, and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.

When he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, he attacked all the house of Baasha. He didn’t leave him a single one who urinates on a wall among his relatives or his friends. Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to Yahweh’s word, which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned, and with which they made Israel to sin, to provoke Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities. Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. The people who were encamped heard that Zimri had conspired, and had also killed the king. Therefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp. Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah. When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the fortified part of the king’s house, and burned the king’s house over him with fire, and died, for his sins which he sinned in doing that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel to sin. Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he committed, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Read all of 1 Kings 16 →

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    His servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah;

    and Zimri went in and struck him, and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.

    When he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, he attacked all the house of Baasha. He didn’t leave him a single one who urinates on a wall among his relatives or his friends.

  • KJV King James Version

    And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza steward of his house in Tirzah.

    And Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead.

    And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he slew all the house of Baasha: he left him not one that pisseth against a wall, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends.

Show all 3 translations
  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him; now he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah;

    and Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead.

    And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he smote all the house of Baasa; he left him not a single man-child, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends.

View more translations →

Cross-references (31)

  • Genesis 24:2 (v9) Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh.
  • Genesis 39:4 (v9) Joseph found favor in his sight. He ministered to him, and Potiphar made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his…
  • 1 Samuel 25:22 (v11) God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one who urinates on…
  • 1 Kings 15:29 (v11) As soon as he was king, he struck all the house of Jeroboam. He didn’t leave to Jeroboam any who breathed, until he had destroyed him;…
  • 1 Kings 16:3 (v11) behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and his house; and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
Show all 31 cross-references
  • 1 Kings 18:3 (v9) Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Yahweh greatly;
  • Daniel 5:1-4 (v9) Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, while he tasted the…
  • Genesis 15:2 (v9) Abram said, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”
  • Genesis 24:10 (v9) The servant took ten of his master’s camels, and departed, having a variety of good things of his master’s with him. He arose, and went to…
  • Genesis 39:9 (v9) No one is greater in this house than I am, and he has not kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do…
  • Judges 1:7 (v11) Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their big toes cut off, scavenged under my table. As I have done, so God has done…
  • 1 Samuel 25:34 (v11) For indeed, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from harming you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely…
  • 1 Samuel 25:36-38 (v9) Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was…
  • 2 Samuel 13:28-29 (v9) Absalom commanded his servants, saying, “Mark now, when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill…
  • 1 Kings 14:10 (v11) therefore, behold, I will bring evil on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam everyone who urinates on a wall, he who is…
  • 1 Kings 15:27 (v9) Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha struck him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the…
  • 1 Kings 20:16 (v9) They went out at noon. But Ben Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who helped him.
  • 2 Kings 9:14 (v9) So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram was keeping Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, because…
  • 2 Kings 9:30-33 (v9) When Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and adorned her head, and looked out at the window. As Jehu…
  • 2 Kings 9:31 (v10) As Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, “Do you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?”
  • 2 Kings 12:20 (v9) His servants arose, and made a conspiracy, and struck Joash at the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla.
  • 2 Kings 15:10 (v9) Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and struck him before the people, and killed him, and reigned in his place.
  • 2 Kings 15:25 (v9) Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him and attacked him in Samaria, in the fortress of the king’s house, with Argob…
  • 2 Kings 15:30 (v9) Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, attacked him, killed him, and reigned in his place, in the…
  • Proverbs 23:29-35 (v9) Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who stay long at…
  • Jeremiah 51:57 (v9) I will make her princes, her wise men, her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men drunk. They will sleep a perpetual sleep, and not…
  • Daniel 5:30 (v9) In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain.
  • Nahum 1:10 (v9) For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble.
  • Habakkuk 2:15-16 (v9) “Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies! You…
  • Matthew 24:49-51 (v9) and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards, the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn’t…
  • Luke 21:34 (v9) “So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you…

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

Explain this passage (18 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v9 The Chaldea text hath thus, Drinking till he was…

The Chaldea text hath thus, Drinking till he was drunken in the Temple of Arza the idol by his house in Tirzah.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv9–11 1Ki 16:9 And his servant Zimri, captain of half…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv9, 11 Captain of half his chariots, i.e. of all his…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv9–11 And it came to pass when he began to…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv9, 11 Chariots - Of all his military chariots, and the…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv9, 11 Verse 9. Captain of half his chariots] It is…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v11 1Ki 16:11-13. He slew all the house of Baasha,…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv9, 11 The conspiracy of Zimri - Elah’s “servant” (i. e.,…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv9, 11 Horsemen. Hebrew, "chariots." (Septuagint) (Calmet) --- But Josephus styles…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v9 ZIMRI'S CONSPIRACY. (Kg1 16:9-22)
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v9 9. Captain of half his chariots — So, then,…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv9–11 9. And his servant Zimri] The LXX. omits ‘his…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v9 (9) Drinking himself drunk.—There seems an emphasis of half-contemptuous…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv9–11 And his servant Not only "subject," as Rawlinson, but…
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v11 As far as we can understand from our meager…
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v11 kinsfolks Heb. "goel," Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield "Isa…
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v11 He did not leave alive a single male
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9, 11 16:9-10 Elah’s drunkenness in Tirzah while his army risked…
Share