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Person Old Testament

Elah

Elah, son of Baasha, was king of Israel for two years. Mentioned in 4 verses across 1 book, first at 1 Kings 16:6.

Why it matters. Son of Baasha, king of Israel

Last reviewed
2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team

About Elah

Elah was the son of Baasha and became the fourth king of Israel, ruling for two years (1Ki.16.8). He ascended to the throne after the death of his father, who had ruled for 24 years. Elah's reign was marked by his evil deeds and his continuation of the sins of his father, leading Israel astray from God (1Ki.16.13). While Elah was drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, his steward in Tirzah, Zimri, one of his officials, conspired against him and killed him (1Ki.16.9-10). Zimri then succeeded Elah as king. The death of Elah marked the end of the dynasty of Baasha, fulfilling the prophecy of Jehu against Baasha's house (1Ki.16.3-4, 11-14).

Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.

Connections

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Family

Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.

Parents
Baasha

Appears in Scripture

Named in 4 verses across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.

Record type: Person. FaithGraph explanations on this page are editorial and are not Scripture.