And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite:

1 KINGS 15:29KJV
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1 Kings 15:29 (KJV)

What does 1 Kings 15:29 mean?

1 Kings 15:29 describes how Baasha wiped out the family of Jeroboam after taking the throne of Israel. The verse presents the killing as the fulfillment of a message the LORD had spoken through Ahijah of Shiloh.

The “house of Jeroboam” means his family, not a building. “Any that breathed” emphasizes the extent of the destruction. The narrator’s reference to Ahijah connects the bloodshed to an earlier warning against Jeroboam’s family.

The Hebrew behind 1 Kings 15:29

  • “house” — בַּיִת (bayit): This word can mean a household or family as well as a physical house. Here it identifies the people belonging to Jeroboam’s family line.
  • “saying” — דָּבָר (davar): This word often means a word, message, or matter. Here it points to the LORD’s earlier message delivered by Ahijah.

Why 1 Kings 15:29 matters

  • The verse connects Baasha’s act with a specific earlier warning. In 1 Kings 14:10, Ahijah had announced that disaster would come on Jeroboam’s house.
  • The account gives a reason for the warning in the next verse: 1 Kings 15:30 points to Jeroboam’s sins and the sins into which he led Israel.
  • Baasha’s attack ended Jeroboam’s family line as a ruling house, but Baasha himself had seized power by killing Jeroboam’s son Nadab, as 1 Kings 15:27–28 records.

Where else these words appear

“Shilonite” Hebrew H7888 · used in 6 verses

  • 1 Kings 11:29 And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field:
  • 1 Kings 12:15 Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the LORD, that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
  • 2 Chronicles 9:29 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?

“Ahijah” Hebrew H281 · used in 23 verses

  • 1 Samuel 14:3 And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD'S priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone.
  • 1 Kings 14:4 And Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.
  • 2 Kings 9:9 And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah:

“breathed” Hebrew H5397 · used in 24 verses

  • Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
  • 1 Kings 17:17 And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.
  • Psalms 18:15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

“destroyed” Hebrew H8045 · used in 86 verses

  • Genesis 34:30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.
  • Deuteronomy 31:3 The LORD thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them: and Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the LORD hath said.
  • Esther 7:4 For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage.