Bible Strands
1 Kings 16:24
He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built a city there, calling it Samaria after the name of Shemer, who had owned the hill.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records King Omri’s political consolidation in the thirty-first year of Asa’s reign over Judah, immediately following the account of Omri’s six-year rule in Tirzah. The passage documents Omri’s acquisition of land and establishment of a new royal capital before the text shifts to evaluate his moral standing.
The words — The verb וַיִּקֶן (va-yi-ken) translates to "and he bought," marking a formal commercial transaction, while כִכְּרֵי כֶסֶף (kik-rei ke-sef) literally means "two talents of silver," specifying the exact payment amount.
The thread — This purchased hill becomes the fixed location for Omri’s burial (1 Kings 16:28), the site where his son Ahab constructs a Baal temple (1 Kings 16:32), and the broader region through which the earlier prophetic warning against the altar at Bethel (1 Kings 13:32) continues to unfold.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to observe how a ruler’s economic and territorial decisions directly enable the institutionalization of idolatry and set the stage for the subsequent divine judgment recorded in the narrative.
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 he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 13:32 for the message that he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria will surely come to pass.”
- 1 Kings 16:28 And Omri rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab reigned in his place.
- 1 Kings 16:32 First, Ahab set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he had built in Samaria.
- 1 Kings 18:2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria,
- 1 Kings 20:1 Now Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he marched up, besieged Samaria, and waged war against it.
- 1 Kings 22:37 So the king died and was brought to Samaria, where they buried him.
- 2 Kings 17:1 In the twelfth year of the reign of Ahaz over Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria nine years.
- 2 Kings 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried away the Israelites to Assyria, where he settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.
- 2 Kings 17:24 Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its towns.
- John 4:4 Now He had to pass through Samaria.