Bible Strands
1 Kings 16:17
Then Omri and all the Israelites marched up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Omri and the Israelite army advancing from Gibbethon to besiege Tirzah immediately after the camp troops proclaim Omri king. This military movement occurs between Zimri’s coup and the city’s eventual capture.
The words — The verb וַ/יָּצֻ֖רוּ (va/i.ya.Tzu.ru), "and they laid siege," combined with עַל\־ ('al-), "on," describes the physical encirclement of the royal capital. The verb וַ/יַּעֲלֶ֥ה (va/i.ya.'a.Leh), "and he went up," specifies the army’s deliberate march from Gibbethon toward the seat of government.
The thread — The narrative of marching against and capturing a fortified city appears in Judges 9:45 and 9:50 during Abimelech’s campaigns. These passages share the same structural focus on armed force securing urban control.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to observe that royal succession here depends on troop loyalty and siege warfare rather than explicit divine mandate. It asks for attention to how political authority transfers through military action during Israel’s early monarchy.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah.
Cross-references
- Judges 9:45 And all that day Abimelech fought against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he demolished the city and sowed it with salt.
- Judges 9:50 Then Abimelech went to Thebez, encamped against it, and captured it.
- Judges 9:56 In this way God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father in murdering his seventy brothers.
- 2 Kings 6:24 Some time later, Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army and marched up to besiege Samaria.
- 2 Kings 18:9 In the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the seventh year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and besieged it.
- 2 Kings 25:1 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.
- Luke 19:43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will barricade you and surround you and hem you in on every side.