Verse Lens · Expanded explanation

1 Kings 16:12 Explained in Context

Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.

Selected verse

Verse 12. Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake against Baasha by Jehu the prophet,

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

This verse advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence: “Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Zimri destroys Baasha's house.”

Zimri destroys Baasha's house as soon as he sits

This verse is one part of that explanation in 1 Kings 16:11–14. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.

Read It With

  • 1 Kings 16:11–14

Read 1 Kings 16:12 with 16:11–14. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Uses the KJV's coarse male idiom while describing Zimri's killing of Baasha's kin and allies; refers readers to the northern annals for Elah's other acts.

Why This Verse Appears Here

Within “Zimri destroys Baasha's house,” 1 Kings 16:12 advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence through the wording “Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 1 Kings 16:8–10 establishes this prior movement: Dates Elah's accession and two-year reign at Tirzah; reports Zimri killing Elah and taking the throne. 1 Kings 16:11–14 escalates the unresolved conflict and its human cost; that demonstrated relationship, rather than database adjacency alone, explains its placement.

Read 1 Kings 16:11–14 together

Why these verses belong together: Zimri destroys Baasha's house is the complete reviewed scene, prayer, oracle, list, or regnal notice bounded at 16:11–16:14.

Verse 11. 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.

Verse 12. Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake against Baasha by Jehu the prophet,

Verse 13. For all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned, and by which they made Israel to sin, in provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities.

Verse 14. Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Follow the Context

  1. Uses the KJV's coarse male idiom while describing Zimri's killing of Baasha's kin and allies
  2. Refers readers to the northern annals for Elah's other acts

What This Verse Is Not Saying

1 Kings 16:12 does not permit the wording “Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. The unit does not authorize political execution, private vengeance, massacre, siege, collective punishment, or transferring an ancient dynastic and military conflict onto a modern people.

What Remains True

Power remains accountable for every person exposed, silenced, displaced, injured, or killed even when the narrative also reports fulfillment or victory. This unit tests that truth through uses the KJV's coarse male idiom while describing Zimri's killing of Baasha's kin and allies; refers readers to the northern annals for Elah's other acts. In 1 Kings 16:12, the concrete line “Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.

Teach It Back

In 70–220 words, explain 1 Kings 16:12's role in 16:11–14. Paraphrase “Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he…,” identify one agent or affected person, state one material source or historical limit, and name one conclusion the context does not authorize.

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Continue in Context

Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.

Read 1 Kings 16:11–14 — Zimri destroys Baasha's house
Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? probable

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.

Exact location: 1 Kings 16:11–14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

Open source ↗

hebrew text and morphology

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Kings

Open Scriptures

Open Scriptures, release 2.2

Supports: Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, name, clause, and older-English checks; this is not a critical apparatus or historical proof.

Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 16:11–14

Open source ↗

translation and translator notes

NET Bible: 1 Kings with translators' notes

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, 2006

Supports: Only printed unit-level translation, lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and verse-numbering notes; silence is not evidence.

Exact location: NET Bible 1 Kings PDF, printed pp. 616–618, translation and translator notes for 16:11–14

Open source ↗
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