1Ki 16:2-3 | NETfull | STEP | “I raised you up from the dust and made you ruler over my people Israel. Yet you followed in Jeroboam’s footsteps and encouraged my people Israel to sin; their sins have made me angry.

1 Kings 16:2-3

2 “I raised you up ^{▼▼ The Hebrew text has “because” at the beginning of the sentence. In the Hebrew text vv. 2–3 are one sentence comprised of a causal clause giving the reason for divine punishment (v. 2) and the main clause announcing the punishment (v. 3). The translation divides this sentence for stylistic reasons.} from the dust and made you ruler over my people Israel. Yet you followed in Jeroboam’s footsteps ^{▼▼ Heb “walked in the way of Jeroboam.”} and encouraged my people Israel to sin; their sins have made me angry. ^{▼▼ Heb “angering me by their sins.”} 3 So I am ready to burn up ^{▼▼ 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.} Baasha and his family, and make your family ^{▼▼ The Old Greek, Syriac Peshitta, and some mss of the Targum have here “his house.”} like the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat.