The Fallible Study Bible

The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible

1 Kings16:1–7

Jehu’s Prophecy against Baasha

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

1 Kings 16:1–7 — Jehu’s Prophecy against Baasha. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

1

Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu son of Hanani against Baasha, saying:

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ḏə·ḇar- Yah·weh way·hî ’el- yê·hū ḇen- ḥă·nā·nî ‘al- ba‘·šā lê·mōr

Word by word10 · parsed
דְבַר־ḏə·ḇar-Then the wordH1697
√ dâbâr — a wordNounmasculine singular construct
dâbâr: a word The unit's controlling noun. It stands in the emphatic first position of the clause: what enters the reign of Baasha is not an army but a sentence. In v. 7 the same construct chain reappears with a perfect verb, and in v. 5 the plural of this same root is what gets filed away in a royal archive. The word of YHWH and the words of Baasha are the two records this passage sets side by side.
יְהוָה֙Yah·wehof the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
וַיְהִ֤יway·hîcameH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
hâyâh: to exist, to come to pass (Qal consecutive imperfect) The word of YHWH is treated as a thing that occurs. Hebrew has no verb here for “was spoken”; the oracle is an event in history on the same grammatical footing as a coronation or a burial.
אֶל־’el-toH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
יֵה֣וּאyê·hūJehuH3058
√ Yêhûwʼ — Jehu, the name of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
Yêhûwʼ: Jehu The prophet, not the later king of the same name (2 Kings 9). Ellicott, Benson, Barnes, Gill, Cambridge and Pulpit all agree he is the son of the seer Hanani who rebuked Asa (2 Chronicles 16:7), and all infer that he must have been young here, since he still rebukes Jehoshaphat and writes that king's annals decades later (2 Chronicles 19:2; 20:34).
בֶן־ḇen-sonH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct
חֲנָ֔נִיḥă·nā·nîof HananiH2607
√ Chănânîy — Chanani, the name of six IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
עַל־‘al-againstH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
ʻal: over, upon, against One preposition doing two jobs across two verses: the word comes down upon the man whom God had set upon Israel. The English split into “against” and “over” is accurate sense-for-sense and invisible word-for-word.
בַּעְשָׁ֖אba‘·šāBaashaH1201
√ Baʻshâʼ — Basha, a king of IsraelNounpropermasculine singular
לֵאמֹֽר׃lê·mōrsayingH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
Infinitive of quotation; it opens the mouth of the oracle that runs to the end of v. 4.
2

“Even though I lifted you out of the dust and made you ruler over My people Israel, you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have caused My people Israel to sin and to provoke Me to anger by their sins.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ya·‘an ’ă·šer hă·rî·mō·ṯî·ḵā min- he·‘ā·p̄ār wā·’et·ten·ḵā nā·ḡîḏ ‘al ‘am·mî yiś·rā·’êl wat·tê·leḵ bə·ḏe·reḵ yā·rā·ḇə·‘ām ‘am·mî yiś·rā·’êl wat·ta·ḥă·ṭi ’eṯ- lə·haḵ·‘î·sê·nî bə·ḥaṭ·ṭō·ṯām

Word by word19 · parsed
יַ֗עַןya·‘anEvenH3282
√ yaʻan — properly, heedAdverb
yaʻan: properly, heed; hence “because” The hinge of the oracle's logic. Everything in v. 2 is subordinate to this particle, and the main clause does not arrive until hinnî in v. 3. Read that way, the verse is not a reminiscence but a charge sheet, and the sentence is the next thing out of God's mouth.
אֲשֶׁ֤ר’ă·šerthoughH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
הֲרִימֹתִ֙יךָ֙hă·rî·mō·ṯî·ḵāI lifted youH7311
√ rûwm — to be high actively, to rise or raise (in various applications, literally or figuratively)VerbHifilPerfectfirst person common singularsecond person masculine singular
rûwm: to be high; Hifil, to raise The Hifil forecloses any claim Baasha might make on his own throne. Poole and Gill both work the resulting problem honestly: the transfer of the kingdom was God's, ordered by decree and providence; the treachery by which Baasha took it was his own, and v. 7 charges it to him as murder.
מִן־min-outH4480
√ min — properly, a part ofPreposition
הֶ֣עָפָ֔רhe·‘ā·p̄ārof the dustH6083
√ ʻâphâr — dust (as powdered or gray)ArticleNounmasculine singular
ʻâphâr: dust The word for powdered earth, and so for the lowest social ground. Poole points to 1 Samuel 2:8 and Psalm 113:7, where the same image is God's signature act. Cambridge adds the sharper reading: whatever Baasha's birth, to be chosen of God as ruler of Israel is exaltation out of any station whatever.
וָאֶתֶּנְךָ֣wā·’et·ten·ḵāand madeH5414
√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectfirst person common singularsecond person masculine singular
נָגִ֔ידnā·ḡîḏyou rulerH5057
√ nâgîyd — a commander (as occupying the front), civil, military or religiousNounmasculine singular
nâgîyd: a commander, as occupying the front The covenant word for a leader God appoints, not one a people or an army installs. Its use here is the whole indictment in one noun: the office was a gift, the gift came with the Giver's terms, and the man treated it as spoil.
עַ֖ל‘aloverH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
עַמִּ֣י‘am·mîMy peopleH5971
√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)Nounmasculine singular constructfirst person common singular
ʻam: a people as a congregated unit The suffix is the weight: ‘ammî, “My people.” Twice in one verse, of a kingdom deep in calf worship. Cambridge: they have rejected His law, but He does not reject them. Henry makes the same observation over the whole chapter.
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לyiś·rā·’êlIsraelH3478
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
וַתֵּ֣לֶךְ׀wat·tê·leḵyou have walkedH1980
√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectsecond person masculine singular
בְּדֶ֣רֶךְbə·ḏe·reḵin the wayH1870
√ derek — a road (as trodden)Preposition-bNouncommon singular construct
derek: a road, as trodden “The way of Jeroboam” is a worn path, not an abstraction. The metaphor is of a road others have already beaten down, and wattêleḵ (from hâlak, H1980) says Baasha walked it. The house he destroyed left him its road, and he took it.
יָרָבְעָ֗םyā·rā·ḇə·‘āmof JeroboamH3379
√ Yârobʻâm — Jarobam, the name of two Israelite kingsNounpropermasculine singular
עַמִּ֣י‘am·mîand have caused My peopleH5971
√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)Nounmasculine singular constructfirst person common singular
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לyiś·rā·’êlIsraelH3478
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
וַֽתַּחֲטִא֙wat·ta·ḥă·ṭito sinH2398
√ châṭâʼ — properly, to missConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectsecond person masculine singular
châṭâʼ: properly, to miss (Hifil, to cause to miss) The causative is the difference between a private sin and a royal one. Baasha's guilt in this clause is not that he missed but that he made a nation miss, and v. 7 will add a second count that is purely his own.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
לְהַכְעִיסֵ֖נִיlə·haḵ·‘î·sê·nîand to provoke Me to angerH3707
√ kaʻaç — to troublePreposition-lVerbHifilInfinitive constructfirst person common singular
kaʻaç: to trouble, to vex A single Hifil infinitive with God as its object. The syntax makes the provoking the purpose clause of the walking and the causing: as the sentence stands, the whole career reads as though aimed at vexing Him.
בְּחַטֹּאתָֽם׃bə·ḥaṭ·ṭō·ṯāmby their sinsH2403
√ chaṭṭâʼâh — an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness), and its penalty, occasion, sacrifice, or expiationPreposition-bNounfeminine plural constructthird person masculine plural
chaṭṭâʼâh: an offence, and its penalty Cambridge records that the LXX here reads ἐν τοῖς ματαίοις αὐτῶν, “with their vanities,” a common idiom for idols, and points to 1 Kings 16:13 where the Hebrew itself uses that word. The variant is worth knowing: one text charges the sins, the other names the idols.
3

So now I will consume Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat:

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

hin·nî maḇ·‘îr ’a·ḥă·rê ḇa‘·šā wə·’a·ḥă·rê ḇê·ṯōw wə·nā·ṯat·tî ’eṯ- bê·ṯə·ḵā kə·ḇêṯ yā·rā·ḇə·‘ām ben- nə·ḇāṭ

Word by word13 · parsed
הִנְנִ֥יhin·nîSo nowH2005
√ hên — lo!Interjectionfirst person common singular
hên: lo! (with first person suffix) Not a future but a presentation: “here I am, doing this.” Coupled with the participle that follows, it is the grammar of a sentence already in execution, which is why the fulfilment notice at 1 Kings 16:12 can say it happened “according to the word of the LORD.”
מַבְעִ֛ירmaḇ·‘îrI will consumeH1197
√ bâʻar — to kindle, iVerbHifilParticiplemasculine singular
bâʻar: to kindle, to burn A fire verb used for the removal of a dynasty. The Hifil participle keeps the action open-ended: God is not scheduling the burning, He is doing it. Cambridge and Pulpit both tie the phrase to the identical formula spoken against Jeroboam at 1 Kings 14:10, which is the whole point of the verse's second half.
אַחֲרֵ֥י’a·ḥă·rêH310
√ ʼachar — properly, the hind partPreposition
Preposition of pursuit: “after.”
בַעְשָׁ֖אḇa‘·šāBaashaH1201
√ Baʻshâʼ — Basha, a king of IsraelNounpropermasculine singular
וְאַחֲרֵ֣יwə·’a·ḥă·rêH310
√ ʼachar — properly, the hind partConjunctive wawPreposition
בֵית֑וֹḇê·ṯōwand his houseH1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
וְנָֽתַתִּי֙wə·nā·ṯat·tîand I will makeH5414
√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectfirst person common singular
nâthan: to give, put, make The same verb, and the same speaker, as v. 2’s wā’ettenkā, “and I gave thee.” Hebrew uses one root (H5414, the widest verb of giving in the language) for both halves of Baasha’s story, so the oracle is grammatically a single transaction: the hand that gave the throne now gives the precedent. And note what is given the second time. Not punishment in the abstract but a likeness, the shape of a house God had already unmade, which is why Benson can trace the fulfilment point for point, down to the length of the son’s reign and the manner of his death.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
בֵּ֣יתְךָ֔bê·ṯə·ḵāyour houseH1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
כְּבֵ֖יתkə·ḇêṯlike thatH1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcPreposition-kNounmasculine singular construct
bayith: a house, family, dynasty Three times in this verse (ḇêṯōw, bêṯəḵā, kəḇêṯ). Hebrew makes no distinction between the building, the household and the dynasty, so the judgment falls on all three senses at once. Benson, following Bishop Patrick, traces how exactly the likeness held: Nadab reigned two years and Elah two; both were killed by the sword.
יָרָבְעָ֥םyā·rā·ḇə·‘āmof JeroboamH3379
√ Yârobʻâm — Jarobam, the name of two Israelite kingsNounpropermasculine singular
בֶּן־ben-sonH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct
נְבָֽט׃nə·ḇāṭof NebatH5028
√ Nᵉbâṭ — Nebat, the father of Jeroboam INounpropermasculine singular
Nᵉbâṭ: Nebat, father of Jeroboam I The patronymic is formulaic in Kings and functions as a label for the whole apostasy, not as genealogical information.
4

Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

lə·ḇa‘·šā ham·mêṯ bā·‘îr yō·ḵə·lū hak·kə·lā·ḇîm wə·ham·mêṯ lōw baś·śā·ḏeh yō·ḵə·lū ‘ō·wp̄ haš·šā·mā·yim

Word by word11 · parsed
לְבַעְשָׁא֙lə·ḇa‘·šāAnyone belonging to BaashaH1201
√ Baʻshâʼ — Basha, a king of IsraelPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular
הַמֵּ֤תham·mêṯwho diesH4191
√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)ArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
mûwth: to die Participle, used twice, as the pivot of a two-panel formula: city and field, dogs and birds. Nothing is said about how they die; the horror is entirely in what happens afterward.
בָּעִ֔ירbā·‘îrin the cityH5892
√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Preposition-b, ArticleNounfeminine singular
יֹֽאכְל֖וּyō·ḵə·lūwill be eatenH398
√ ʼâkal — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine plural
הַכְּלָבִ֑יםhak·kə·lā·ḇîmby dogsH3611
√ keleb — a dogArticleNounmasculine plural
keleb: a dog Not a pet but a scavenger of the streets. Gill states the point flatly: they should not have burial. In a culture where burial with one's fathers is the last dignity a man keeps, this sentence removes it, and v. 6 will then grant that very dignity to Baasha himself.
וְהַמֵּ֥תwə·ham·mêṯand anyone who diesH4191
√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive waw, ArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
לוֹ֙lōw
Prepositionthird person masculine singular
בַּשָּׂדֶ֔הbaś·śā·ḏehin the fieldH7704
√ sâdeh — a field (as flat)Preposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular
יֹאכְל֖וּyō·ḵə·lūwill be eatenH398
√ ʼâkal — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine plural
ע֥וֹף‘ō·wp̄by the birdsH5775
√ ʻôwph — a bird (as covered with feathers, or rather as covering with wings), often collectivelyNounmasculine singular construct
ʻôwph: a bird, collectively Singular in form, plural in force. Paired with the dogs it closes every escape: the city is covered and so is the open country.
הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃haš·šā·mā·yimof the airH8064
√ shâmayim — the sky (as aloftArticleNounmasculine plural
shâmayim: the sky, the heavens The plural noun for the whole upper realm. ⚙ The phrase is idiomatic for wild birds, and no theological weight should be forced on it; the resonance is a reader's, not the grammar's.
5

As for the rest of the acts of Baasha, along with his accomplishments and might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·ye·ṯer diḇ·rê ḇa‘·šā wa·’ă·šer ‘ā·śāh ū·ḡə·ḇū·rā·ṯōw hêm hă·lō- kə·ṯū·ḇîm ‘al- sê·p̄er diḇ·rê hay·yā·mîm lə·mal·ḵê yiś·rā·’êl

Word by word15 · parsed
וְיֶ֨תֶרwə·ye·ṯerAs for the restH3499
√ yether — properly, an overhanging, iConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct
yether: properly, an overhanging, a remainder The formula word of the book of Kings. It concedes that this history is selective: much of Baasha is deliberately left out, because the narrator's interest is the word of YHWH and its fulfilment, not the reign.
דִּבְרֵ֥יdiḇ·rêof the actsH1697
√ dâbâr — a wordNounmasculine plural construct
dâbâr: a word, matter, act The same lexeme as the “word of the LORD” in v. 1 and v. 7. ⚙ This is one Hebrew noun doing both jobs in a single unit, and the effect is a quiet comparison of two records: one spoken over the king, one written about him. The second is filed in a book now lost; the first is being fulfilled as the chapter runs.
בַעְשָׁ֛אḇa‘·šāof BaashaH1201
√ Baʻshâʼ — Basha, a king of IsraelNounpropermasculine singular
וַאֲשֶׁ֥רwa·’ă·šeralong with his accomplishmentsH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatConjunctive wawPronounrelative
עָשָׂ֖ה‘ā·śāh. . .H6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
וּגְבֽוּרָת֑וֹū·ḡə·ḇū·rā·ṯōwand mightH1369
√ gᵉbûwrâh — force (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular
gᵉbûwrâh: force, might Baasha's strength is real and the text says so without flattery. Barnes measures it by its effect on Judah, and Pulpit adds that fortifying Ramah, five miles from Jerusalem, was proof enough of it. The oracle of vv. 2 to 4 is not passed on a weak king.
הֵ֣םhêm[are] theyH1992
√ hêm — they (only used when emphatic)Pronounthird person masculine plural
הֲלֹא־hă·lō-notH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle
כְּתוּבִ֗יםkə·ṯū·ḇîmwrittenH3789
√ kâthab — to grave, by implication, to write (describe, inscribe, prescribe, subscribe)VerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine plural
kâthab: to grave, to write Passive participle. The royal annals are treated as an existing public document the first readers could consult; that book is not extant, and the Bible's chronicle of Baasha is what survives.
עַל־‘al-inH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
סֵ֛פֶרsê·p̄erthe BookH5612
√ çêpher — properly, writing (the art or a document)Nounmasculine singular construct
çêpher: writing, a document, a scroll With the following construct chain, literally “the scroll of the words of the days,” which is where the English title Chronicles comes from.
דִּבְרֵ֥יdiḇ·rêof the ChroniclesH1697
√ dâbâr — a wordNounmasculine plural construct
dâbâr (plural construct) The third occurrence of the root in this verse alone: rest-of-the-words, scroll-of-the-words-of-the-days. The verse is saturated with the noun that v. 1 gave to God.
הַיָּמִ֖יםhay·yā·mîm. . .H3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)ArticleNounmasculine plural
לְמַלְכֵ֥יlə·mal·ḵêof the KingsH4428
√ melek — a kingPreposition-lNounmasculine plural construct
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃yiś·rā·’êlof IsraelH3478
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
6

And Baasha rested with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah, and his son Elah reigned in his place.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ba‘·šā way·yiš·kaḇ ‘im- ’ă·ḇō·ṯāw way·yiq·qā·ḇêr bə·ṯir·ṣāh ḇə·nōw ’ê·lāh way·yim·lōḵ taḥ·tāw

Word by word10 · parsed
בַּעְשָׁא֙ba‘·šāAnd BaashaH1201
√ Baʻshâʼ — Basha, a king of IsraelNounpropermasculine singular
וַיִּשְׁכַּ֤בway·yiš·kaḇrestedH7901
√ shâkab — to lie down (for rest, sexual connection, decease or any other purpose)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
shâkab: to lie down, for rest or decease The formula of a peaceful royal death, and here it is granted to a king under sentence. Henry sees the problem and answers it from outside this unit: Baasha dies in peace and is buried with honour, and therein plainly appears that there are punishments after death, which are most to be dreaded. ⚙ That reading is Henry's inference, not this verse's statement; what the verse states is the gap between the sentence and the funeral.
עִם־‘im-withH5973
√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iPreposition
אֲבֹתָ֔יו’ă·ḇō·ṯāwhis fathersH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
וַיִּקָּבֵ֖רway·yiq·qā·ḇêrand was buriedH6912
√ qâbar — to interConjunctive wawVerbNifalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
qâbar: to inter Nifal, passive. Set against hammêṯ and the dogs of v. 4, this is the unit's sharpest structural irony: the oracle falls on the house, and the head of the house dies in his bed. The judgment lands on Elah (1 Kings 16:8-13), outside this unit.
בְּתִרְצָ֑הbə·ṯir·ṣāhin TirzahH8656
√ Tirtsâh — Tirtsah, a place in PalestinePreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular
Tirtsâh: Tirzah The royal seat of the northern kingdom before Samaria. Cambridge notes that it was by now distinguished enough to become a burial place for the kings of Israel.
בְנ֖וֹḇə·nōwand his sonH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
אֵלָ֥ה’ê·lāhElahH425
√ ʼÊlâh — Elah, the name of an Edomite, of four Israelites, and also of a place in PalestineNounpropermasculine singular
ʼÊlâh: Elah The son whose two-year reign will fulfil v. 3's “like the house of Jeroboam”: Nadab son of Jeroboam reigned two years and fell to a conspiracy, and so will Elah. Benson lays out the parallel in detail.
וַיִּמְלֹ֛ךְway·yim·lōḵreignedH4427
√ mâlak — to reignConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
תַּחְתָּֽיו׃taḥ·tāwin his placeH8478
√ tachath — the bottom (as depressed)Prepositionthird person masculine singular
tachath: the bottom, underneath, in the stead of The dynastic formula. Spatially, the son stands where the father lay.
7

Moreover, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Jehu son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, because of all the evil he had done in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger with the work of his hands and becoming like the house of Jeroboam, and also because Baasha had struck down the house of Jeroboam.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·ḡam də·ḇar- Yah·weh hā·yāh bə·yaḏ- han·nā·ḇî yê·hū ḇen- ḥă·nā·nî ’el- ba‘·šā wə·’el- bê·ṯōw wə·‘al kāl- hā·rā·‘āh ’ă·šer- ‘ā·śāh bə·‘ê·nê Yah·weh lə·haḵ·‘î·sōw bə·ma·‘ă·śêh yā·ḏāw lih·yō·wṯ kə·ḇêṯ yā·rā·ḇə·‘ām wə·‘al ’ă·šer- hik·kāh ’ō·ṯōw

Word by word30 · parsed
וְגַ֡םwə·ḡamMoreoverH1571
√ gam — properly, assemblageConjunction
gam: also, moreover The particle that governs the entire verse. K&D's reading is the load-bearing one: this is not a second oracle but a supplementary remark, added to block a false inference from v. 2's “I made thee prince,” namely that Baasha destroyed Nadab's house under divine commission.
דְּבַר־də·ḇar-the wordH1697
√ dâbâr — a wordNounmasculine singular construct
יְהוָ֡הYah·wehof the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
הָיָה֩hā·yāhcameH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
hâyâh: to come to pass (Qal perfect) The aspect shift from v. 1 is the strongest internal evidence that v. 7 is the narrator's retrospective note. Barnes says its natural position would be after v. 4 and before v. 5; Benson reports that Houbigant simply moved it there. ⚙ The verse is left where the Masoretic text has it, and the awkwardness is part of the record.
בְּיַד־bə·yaḏ-throughH3027
√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcPreposition-bNounfeminine singular construct
yâd: a hand, the open one, indicating power and means The prophetic idiom for agency. Poole and Benson both gloss it as “the ministry” of Jehu, and Poole adds the human cost of that ministry: Jehu did what God commanded him in this matter, though it was not without apparent hazard to himself.
הַנָּבִ֗יאhan·nā·ḇîthe prophetH5030
√ nâbîyʼ — a prophet or (generally) inspired manArticleNounmasculine singular
יֵה֨וּאyê·hūJehuH3058
√ Yêhûwʼ — Jehu, the name of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
בֶן־ḇen-sonH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct
חֲנָ֜נִיḥă·nā·nîof HananiH2607
√ Chănânîy — Chanani, the name of six IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
אֶל־’el-againstH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
בַּעְשָׁ֨אba‘·šāBaashaH1201
√ Baʻshâʼ — Basha, a king of IsraelNounpropermasculine singular
וְאֶל־wə·’el-[and]H413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongConjunctive wawPreposition
בֵּית֜וֹbê·ṯōwhis houseH1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
וְעַ֥לwə·‘albecause ofH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsConjunctive wawPreposition
כָּל־kāl-allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
הָרָעָ֣ה׀hā·rā·‘āhthe evilH7451
√ raʻ — bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral)ArticleAdjectivefeminine singular
raʻ: bad, evil, natural or moral Feminine singular with the article, hārā‘āh, “the evil,” treated as one summed quantity under the phrase “all.” The following infinitives then spell out what it consisted of.
אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-H834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
עָשָׂ֣ה׀‘ā·śāhhe had doneH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
בְּעֵינֵ֣יbə·‘ê·nêin the sightH5869
√ ʻayin — an eye (literally or figuratively)Preposition-bNouncdc
יְהוָ֗הYah·wehof the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
לְהַכְעִיסוֹ֙lə·haḵ·‘î·sōwprovoking Him to angerH3707
√ kaʻaç — to troublePreposition-lVerbHifilInfinitive constructthird person masculine singular
kaʻaç: to vex (Hifil infinitive, 3ms suffix) The same verb as v. 2, but the suffix has changed from first person to third: in the oracle God said “to vex Me”; in the narrator's note it is “to vex Him.” The identical charge is now spoken about God rather than by Him, which is exactly what a historian's supplement should look like.
בְּמַעֲשֵׂ֣הbə·ma·‘ă·śêhwith the workH4639
√ maʻăseh — an action (good or bad)Preposition-bNounmasculine singular construct
maʻăseh: an action, good or bad; a work Pulpit records Bahr's reading of “the works of his hands” as idols, Dii factitii, after Deuteronomy 4:28, and judges it somewhat far fetched. The plainer sense is Baasha's deeds as a whole.
יָדָ֔יוyā·ḏāwof his handsH3027
√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcNounfeminine dual constructthird person masculine singular
yâd (dual construct) The dual, “his two hands.” Set beside bəyaḏ at the head of the verse, the verse hangs on a single noun used twice: what the prophet's hand delivers is a verdict on what the king's hands made.
לִהְי֖וֹתlih·yō·wṯand becomingH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
כְּבֵ֣יתkə·ḇêṯlike the houseH1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcPreposition-kNounmasculine singular construct
יָרָבְעָ֑םyā·rā·ḇə·‘āmof JeroboamH3379
√ Yârobʻâm — Jarobam, the name of two Israelite kingsNounpropermasculine singular
וְעַ֥לwə·‘aland alsoH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsConjunctive wawPreposition
אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-becauseH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
הִכָּ֖הhik·kāhBaasha had struck downH5221
√ nâkâh — to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively)VerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular
nâkâh: to strike, lightly or severely The second count of the indictment, and the one v. 2 did not mention. Cambridge draws the closest parallel in Scripture: Isaiah 47:6, where God gives His people into the hand of Babylon and is nonetheless angry with the conqueror for the cruelty of the execution.
אֹתֽוֹ׃פ’ō·ṯōw[the house of Jeroboam]H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object markerthird person masculine singular
Object marker with a suffix whose referent the text never names; see the divergence.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The word that comes down on the man it raised — 1 Kings 16:1-2

The unit opens with the subject in the emphatic position: not the prophet, not the king, but דְבַר־יְהוָה, the word of YHWH, which simply comes to pass (way·hî, H1961) upon Baasha. Cambridge notes that the opening conjunction is the simple copula, tying this oracle straight onto the end of chapter 15, and that the man who carries it, Jehu son of Hanani, seems to have lived in Jerusalem though his ministry was directed north. Benson, Barnes, Gill and Pulpit all reach the same conclusion about him from 2 Chronicles 19:2 and 20:34: he must have been young here, and Pulpit reckons his prophetic career ran over at least half a century.

Then the indictment. יַעַן אֲשֶׁר (ya‘an ’ăšer) is the legal “because that,” and BSB's “Even though” softens a charge into a concession; the sentence has no main clause until hinnî in v. 3. Inside that charge stands the hardest verb in the unit, הֲרִימֹתִיךָ, a Hifil: “I caused thee to be high.” JFB puts the difficulty without flinching, that though he had waded through slaughter to his throne, he owed his elevation to the appointment or permission of Him by whom kings reign. Poole answers it at length (and Benson simply reproduces Poole's answer, crediting him): the transfer of the kingdom from Nadab to Baasha, simply considered, was from God, who by decree and providence ordered it, while the manner of invading it was from Baasha's own wicked heart. Ellicott reads the same evidence as probation: the prophecy, closely resembling Ahijah's against Jeroboam, clearly shows that Baasha had a probation, which he neglected. And over the whole charge stands the phrase Cambridge will not let pass, עַמִּי, “My people,” twice, of a kingdom deep in calf worship: though Israel has offended, they are still God's people.

ii. Burning after a house — 1 Kings 16:3-4

הִנְנִי מַבְעִיר is not “So now I will consume” but “behold-Me burning away,” a participle of action already under way, and the preposition twice repeated is ’aḥărê, “after”: God burns after Baasha and after his house. Pulpit glosses the verb “exterminate” and sends the reader to 1 Kings 14:10; Cambridge says the R.V. renders it “I will utterly sweep away” and that this is precisely the same expression as in the closing words of 1 Kings 14:10. The sentence, in other words, is not composed for Baasha. It is Jeroboam's sentence, handed on verbatim to the man who executed it.

Verse 4 makes that reuse explicit in the formula of dogs and birds. Gill records what it means in practice: they should not have burial, which is just the same that was threatened to and executed on Jeroboam's family. Pulpit sees the deeper cruelty of a repeated formula, noting that precisely the same words were used of Jeroboam a few years before, and Baasha knew well how they had been accomplished, and quoting Wordsworth that all the prophets in succession have the same message from God for the same sins. Henry draws the moral the whole unit is built to teach: those who resemble others in their sins may expect to resemble them in the plagues they suffer, especially those who seem zealous against such sins in others as they allow in themselves.

iii. Two records: the scroll and the grave — 1 Kings 16:5-6

Verse 5 is the standard closing formula of Kings, and in Hebrew it is built out of the unit's own keyword. What comes upon Baasha in v. 1 is dəḇar-YHWH; what is filed about him in v. 5 is diḇrê Baasha, in the sēp̄er diḇrê hayyāmîm, the scroll of the words of the days. One noun, H1697, three times in a single verse, against its one solemn occurrence in v. 1. English renders one “word” and the others “acts” and “Chronicles,” and the comparison disappears. His might is not denied: Barnes measures it by the successes that drove Asa to call Ben-hadad to his aid, and Pulpit adds that fortifying a post five miles from Jerusalem was proof enough, while recording that Keil would read the noun instead of energy in government and Bahr as brave deeds.

Then v. 6 does something the oracle did not prepare us for. The man sentenced to dogs and birds lies down with his fathers and is buried, Nifal, in the royal city. Gill notes it plainly: not a violent, but natural, death. Cambridge computes that he had reigned not quite twenty-four full years, and that Tirzah was by now distinguished enough to be made a burial place by the kings of Israel. Henry, reading the whole chapter, sees here that Baasha himself dies in peace and is buried with honour, and infers that there are punishments after death which are most to be dreaded. The text itself says less and leaves more: the sentence stands unfulfilled over a funeral, and the reader must wait for Elah.

iv. The hand of the prophet, the hands of the king — 1 Kings 16:7

The last verse doubles back, and its verb tells the reader so: not wayhî as in v. 1 but the perfect הָיָה, “had come.” Barnes says its natural position would be after v. 4 and before v. 5, and Benson reports that Houbigant simply moved it there. Ellicott calls it a note of the historian, added chiefly for the sake of the last clause, which shows that Baasha's act, though foretold, was not thereby justified. JFB agrees that it is not another prophecy but an addition by the sacred historian. K&D argues the grammar in detail, that wəgam means simply “and also,” governs the whole sentence, and is there to block the erroneous inference that Baasha had exterminated Nadab's house by divine command.

That is the theological centre of the unit, and four independent voices land on it. Barnes: as he received no command to execute God's wrath on the offender, and was instigated solely by ambition and self-interest, his guilt was just as great as if no prophecy had been uttered. K&D: the very fact that Baasha continued Jeroboam's sin showed clearly enough that in exterminating the family of Jeroboam he did not act under divine direction but simply pursued his own selfish ends. Poole and Benson give the two reasons in the same order: God appointed that Jeroboam's family should be cut off, but gave Baasha no commission to do it, and Baasha did it not to fulfil God's will but his own lusts. Cambridge reaches for the closest parallel in the prophets, Isaiah 47:6, where God hands His people to Babylon and is angry all the same with the conqueror who showed them no mercy. And the Hebrew stages the argument in one noun: the word comes bəyaḏ, by the hand, of the prophet, and condemns the ma‘ăśêh yāḏāw, the work of the king's own hands.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Reading this unit under Scripture alone, and offering the reading to be tested: 1 Kings 16:1-7 is built to keep two truths from collapsing into each other. The first is that Baasha's throne was God's gift, stated in a Hifil that leaves no room for a second agent, הֲרִימֹתִיךָ, “I caused thee to be high.” The second is that Baasha's coup was Baasha's murder, stated in v. 7 with the same bluntness, הִכָּה, “he struck.” Verse 7 exists, as K&D saw, precisely so the first cannot be pleaded as a defence of the second.

What the passage adds to that familiar point is the shape of the sentence itself. The oracle against Baasha is not a new composition; it is Jeroboam's oracle, reissued word for word, as Cambridge and Pulpit both show from 1 Kings 14:10. Baasha had been the instrument of that sentence, and now he receives it. The sword he carried was handed to him blade first. And the mechanism is not arbitrary: v. 2 says he walked in the way of Jeroboam, a road already trodden, so that by the time judgment arrives it is not a fresh verdict at all but the old one catching up with a man who had voluntarily put himself in the condemned house's place.

Then the passage refuses to tie its own knot. The man promised dogs and birds is buried in Tirzah with his fathers, and the text records it without comment. Henry resolves the tension by appealing to punishment after death; I would rather leave the tension where 1 Kings leaves it, because the resolution 1 Kings actually offers is the reign of Elah, which begins in the same breath and ends in vv. 8 to 13 outside this unit. The word of YHWH in v. 1 and the words of Baasha in v. 5 are the two records this passage lays side by side: one is filed in a royal scroll no one now possesses, and the other is still in force at the end of the chapter. That, and not the funeral, is the verdict the unit wants read. The line that follows is my summary, not Scripture:

God's decree is never a man's warrant, and the sword you carry for Him is still the sword you will answer for.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The sentence reissued: Jeroboam's doom becomes Baasha's, then Ahab's verbal / quotation: confirmed

The formula spoken here (v. 3, “I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat”; v. 4, the dogs and the birds) is not composed for Baasha. Cambridge states that v. 3 is precisely the same expression as the closing words of 1 Kings 14:10, and Pulpit that the identical formula of v. 4 had been used of Jeroboam a few years before, so that Baasha knew well how it had been accomplished. At 1 Kings 21:22 the formula is handed on a third time, now to Ahab, and by name: like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. The Verifier confirms the shared lexemes. What began as one house's sentence has become the standing verdict of the northern kingdom.

1 Kings 21:22

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H1201 Baʻshâʼ (rare, in 26 vv), H3379 Yârobʻâm (in 95 vv), H2398 châṭâʼ (in 220 vv). The rare name H1201 plus the reuse of the same dynastic-doom formula is a verbal citation, not merely a shared motif; 1 Kings 21:22 names Baasha's house explicitly as the pattern.

“According to the word of the LORD, which He spoke by Jehu the prophet” verbal / quotation: confirmed

This oracle is one of the few in Kings whose fulfilment notice cites it by the prophet's name. The sentence of vv. 3 and 4 is executed by Zimri on the house of Baasha, and 1 Kings 16:11-13 reports it as the discharge of this very word spoken against Baasha by Jehu. The Verifier ties the two passages by the rare name of Baasha together with the name of Jehu. Note that this is fulfilment inside the same chapter and by the same narrator, which is the strongest kind of internal attestation a prophetic word in Kings receives.

1 Kings 16:11 · 1 Kings 16:12 · 1 Kings 16:13

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H3058 Yêhûwʼ (in 54 vv) and H1201 Baʻshâʼ (rare, in 26 vv) at 16:12; H1201 with H2398 châṭâʼ and H2403 chaṭṭâʼâh at 16:13. 16:12 explicitly cites this oracle and its prophet by name, which is an internal quotation, not an inferred link.

Jehu the king recites the doom Jehu the prophet spoke verbal / quotation: confirmed

At 2 Kings 9:9 a second Jehu, this one a king and not a prophet, pronounces over Ahab's house the formula that here fell on Baasha: I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. The Verifier records the shared rare names. ⚙ The coincidence of the name Jehu across the two passages is genuinely only a coincidence of a common name (H3058 occurs in 54 verses, and the commentators here are careful that this Jehu is Hanani's son, a Judahite prophet, not the future king of Israel), so nothing is claimed from it. The verbal link is the formula, not the name.

2 Kings 9:9

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H1201 Baʻshâʼ (rare, in 26 vv), H5028 Nᵉbâṭ (rare, in 25 vv), H3379 Yârobʻâm (in 95 vv). Two rare proper names carried inside a repeated formula; the shared name H3058 Yêhûwʼ is explicitly excluded from the basis as referring to a different person.

The prophet and his father, and the annals they wrote structural / thematic: confirmed

The narrator identifies the messenger only as Jehu son of Hanani, and the identification matters because the same pair of names surfaces in Chronicles. Hanani is the seer who rebuked Asa of Judah and was put in the stocks for it (2 Chronicles 16:7-10); his son Jehu rebukes Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 19:2) and wrote the history of that reign, which was taken up into the book of the kings of Israel (2 Chronicles 20:34). Ellicott, Benson, Barnes, Gill, Cambridge and Pulpit all build the same portrait from these verses, and Pulpit concludes his prophetic career must have extended over at least half a century. ⚙ Note the quiet irony against v. 5: the king's acts go into a royal chronicle now lost, and the prophet who sentenced him is himself remembered as a writer of chronicles.

2 Chronicles 20:34 · 2 Chronicles 16:7 · 2 Chronicles 19:2

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H2607 Chănânîy (rare, in 11 vv) and H3058 Yêhûwʼ (in 54 vv) at 2 Chronicles 20:34. The rare patronymic establishes the person, but this is a prosopographic and thematic link, not a quotation, so it is tiered structural rather than verbal. 2 Chronicles 16:7 and 19:2 are added on the commentators' authority (Ellicott, Barnes, Cambridge, Pulpit), not from the Verifier's computed bases.

Two kings named Baasha in one memory: the fortress fear and the cistern structural / thematic: confirmed

Verse 5 concedes Baasha's gᵉbûrâh, his force, and Barnes measures it by the successes that drove Asa to hire Ben-hadad (1 Kings 15:17-21). The measure outlives him by centuries: when Jeremiah 41:9 needs to identify the cistern into which Ishmael threw the bodies of the men he murdered at Mizpah, it names it as the one King Asa had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel. ⚙ The link is onomastic in the Verifier's computation and thematic in substance: a pit dug out of fear of this king becomes a mass grave generations later, and the only thing left of Baasha's might in the prophets is the shape of the hole his enemies dug to hide from it.

Jeremiah 41:9 · 1 Kings 15:17

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H1201 Baʻshâʼ (rare, in 26 vv) is the entire computed basis, so the link is by proper name only. Deliberately tiered structural and not verbal: there is no shared formula, and the thematic reading (fortification, fear, and what remains of a king's might) is synthesis offered to be tested.

Instrument and agent: the same problem, stated in Greek structural / thematic: confirmed

The problem v. 7 exists to solve is not confined to the Hebrew Scriptures. Acts 2:23 holds both halves in one sentence: delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, and by the hands of lawless men you crucified and killed. The structure is identical to what Poole, Benson, Barnes and K&D labour over here, that a decreed outcome gives no man a commission, and that the hands which execute it answer for what they did. Cambridge reaches for the same principle from Isaiah 47:6, where God gives His people into Babylon's hand and is angry with the conqueror all the same. ⚙ Note the unit's own idiom: the word comes by the hand (bəyaḏ) of the prophet and condemns the work of his hands (ma‘ăśêh yāḏāw).

Acts 2:23 · Isaiah 47:6

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's numbers are possible and no verbal tier may be claimed. The basis is a shared doctrinal structure, divine determination together with full human culpability for the means, stated in both texts by the same idiom of hands. Isaiah 47:6 is supplied by Cambridge on this verse; Acts 2:23 is this tool's own comparison and is offered as synthesis.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The nagid raised out of the dust ancient/widely-held

God does not call Baasha melek in the oracle. He calls him נָגִיד (nāḡîḏ, H5057), the covenant word for a leader God Himself appoints, and Pulpit records that its range runs from 1 Samuel 9:16 and 10:1 through 1 Kings 1:35 to Daniel 9:25, where the coming one is mashiach nagid. The verb that makes him one is hărîmōṯîḵā, “I raised thee high,” and the place he is raised from is ‘āp̄ār, dust. Poole points to 1 Samuel 2:8 and Psalm 113:7, where lifting the poor from the dust is God's own signature; Cambridge adds that to be called to rule Israel is exaltation out of any station whatever.

⚙ Baasha is the nagid who takes the gift and keeps the knife. Scripture holds out another: the one born in a village and raised from a tomb rather than a throne, whom Peter preaches as made both Lord and Christ by the God who raised Him (Acts 2:32-36), and whom Paul describes as taking the form of a servant and being exalted by God (Philippians 2:7-9). The messianic reading of the nagid of Daniel 9:25 is ancient and widely held; the application of Baasha's raising specifically as its foil is this tool's own reading, offered to be tested against the text.

Daniel 9:25 · 1 Samuel 2:8 · Psalm 113:7 · Philippians 2:7-9

The word that came, and the Word that came ancient/widely-held

The unit is framed by one construct chain: דְבַר־יְהוָה, the word of YHWH, which came to pass in v. 1 and had come in v. 7. Between those frames sits the other dâbâr: the words of Baasha, filed in a royal scroll that no longer exists. The kingdom's own record is gone; the word spoken over it is still being executed at 1 Kings 16:12.

⚙ John's prologue takes that same noun's Greek equivalent and makes it a person: in the beginning was the Word, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1, 14). The prophetic formula of Kings, a word that comes and then acts in history, is the grammar John is using when he says the Word came to His own. The identification of the Logos of John 1 with the dâbâr YHWH of the prophets is ancient and widely held; what is mine, and fallible, is the observation that this particular unit stages the contrast between the two records, the perishable annals of a king and the imperishable word spoken against him.

John 1:1 · John 1:14 · Isaiah 40:8

Unburied in the field, and the burial that was granted novel

The sentence of v. 4 is a sentence of no grave: dogs in the city, birds in the open country, for anyone of Baasha's house. Gill states the substance, that they should not have burial. And yet v. 6 buries Baasha himself, with his fathers, in the royal city, and the text records it without a word of comment. Henry closes the gap by appealing to punishment after death; the text leaves the gap open, and it stays open until Elah.

⚙ Set against it stands a death outside a city gate, under a sentence that was not deserved, followed by the one thing Baasha's house was denied: a burial, in a new tomb, by a rich man (Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:57-60). The pattern is a contrast rather than a type, and I mark it as novel: the commentators quoted in this brief draw no such comparison, and nothing in 1 Kings 16 points forward to it. It is offered as a reading to be tested, not as a claim about the author's intent.

Isaiah 53:9 · Matthew 27:57-60

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Placement of v. 7. The Hebrew verb in v. 7 is a perfect (hāyāh), not the consecutive imperfect of v. 1, and several of the commentators quoted here treat the verse as the historian's retrospective note rather than a second oracle: so Ellicott, Barnes, JFB and Pulpit. Barnes holds its natural position would be after v. 4 and before v. 5; Benson reports that Houbigant simply relocated it there. The Masoretic order is followed here without emendation, and the awkwardness is left visible.

The unnamed object of v. 7. אֹתוֹ has no stated antecedent. Poole, Benson, Geneva and Pulpit read Nadab; K&D and Cambridge read Jeroboam or his house; Gill reports both, citing Lightfoot that Jeroboam was still alive that year and Abarbinel that the whole house is meant. BSB supplies “[the house of Jeroboam]” in brackets. The ambiguity is genuine and is not resolved here.

Versional variants recorded by Cambridge. At v. 2 the LXX reads ἐν τοῖς ματαίοις αὐτῶν, “with their vanities,” for the Hebrew “with their sins”; at v. 7 the LXX omits the words “the prophet.” Both are reported on Cambridge's authority.

Interlinear ordering. The Berean interlinear indices used for the note keys follow English sense order in places, not Hebrew word order (most visibly at 16:1, where the gloss “Then the word” precedes the verb way·hî, and at 16:2 indices 13 to 16). The literal renderings above restore Hebrew order; the note keys retain the interlinear indices so they can be checked against the source.

Quotation integrity. The Pulpit entry on v. 5 is printed with “thou” where the sense requires “than,” and the Geneva entries carry their marginal letters (a), (b), (c), (d). Both are quoted exactly as received. The Henry entry attached to vv. 1 through 6 is a single block comment on 1 Kings 16:1-14 and therefore discusses Elah's drunkenness and the burning of Zimri, which fall outside this unit; where Henry is cited above, only the portion bearing on vv. 1 to 6 is used.

Thread bases. The Verifier's candidate list for this unit is dominated by the proper name Baasha (H1201, in 26 verses), which links this passage to nearly every verse in Scripture where he is mentioned, including several (1 Kings 15:17-22, 2 Chronicles 16:1-5) that add nothing beyond his name. Those have been left out. The Jeremiah 41:9 thread rests on the name alone, and its badge says so. The Acts 2:23 thread is cross-Testament and therefore carries no lexical basis at all; it is tiered structural for that reason.

What is uncertain. The meaning of gᵉbûrâh in v. 5 (military success, per Barnes, or energy in government, per Keil as reported by Pulpit, or brave deeds, per Bahr) is unsettled. Baasha's tribal origin is not stated in this unit; Benson's “probably from a mean family in the tribe of Issachar” is an inference drawn from 1 Kings 15:27, and Cambridge cautions that the dust image may signify nothing about his birth at all. The note about the sound of maḇ‘îr beside ḇa‘šā at v. 3 is an observation about assonance only; H1197 and H1201 are unrelated roots, and no etymological claim is made.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)