And Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead.

1 KINGS 16:10KJV
Know the Bible

1 Kings 16:10 (KJV)

What does 1 Kings 16:10 mean?

1 Kings 16:10 describes a violent change of ruler in the northern kingdom of Israel. Zimri kills King Elah and takes the throne for himself. The date is given by the reign of Asa, king of the neighboring kingdom of Judah.

The verse continues the account of Zimri’s plot in verse 9, where Elah was drinking in the house of Arza, a palace official. The phrase “in his stead” means that Zimri took Elah’s place as king.

Why 1 Kings 16:10 matters

  • The date uses Judah’s king as a reference point, not the king whom Zimri killed. “The twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah” locates the event within Asa’s reign.

  • Zimri’s rise was brief. Verse 15 says that he reigned for seven days before the army proclaimed Omri king. That detail helps place Zimri’s seizure of the throne within a larger struggle over Israel’s rule.

  • The killing also begins the end of Elah’s family’s hold on the throne. Verses 11–12 describe Zimri’s killing of Baasha’s household; Baasha was Elah’s father and the previous king.

Where else these words appear

“Zimri” Hebrew H2174 · used in 13 verses

  • Numbers 25:14 Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites.
  • 1 Kings 16:16 And the people that were encamped heard say, Zimri hath conspired, and hath also slain the king: wherefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the host, king over Israel that day in the camp.
  • 1 Chronicles 2:6 And the sons of Zerah; Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara: five of them in all.

“Asa” Hebrew H609 · used in 52 verses

  • 1 Kings 15:8 And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead.
  • 1 Kings 16:15 In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah. And the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.
  • 2 Chronicles 15:10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.