When Omri ruled Israel

21 After Zimri died, the Israeli people were divided. One group wanted Tibni, the son of Ginath, to be their king. The other group wanted Omri to be the king. 22 Those who supported Omri ◄were stronger than/defeated► those who supported Tibni. So Tibni was killed, and Omri became king.

23 Omri became king when Asa had been king of Judah for almost 31 years. Omri ruled Israel for 12 years. For the first six years he ruled in Tirzah. 24 Then he bought a hill from a man named Shemer and paid him about ◄150 pounds/70 kg.► of silver for it. Then Omri ordered his men to build a city on that hill, and he called it Samaria, to honor Shemer, the man who owned it previously.

25 But Omri did many things that Yahweh considered to be evil. He did more evil deeds than any of the kings who ruled Israel before he did. 26 When Jeroboam was previously the king, he had led the Israeli people to sin, and Omri committed the same kind of sins that Jeroboam did. The Israeli people caused Yahweh, the God the Israeli people had worshiped, to become very angry, because they worshiped worthless idols.

27 Everything that Omri did, and the record of the victories that his army won, are written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Israel’. 28 After Omri died, he was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab became king.