2 Chronicles

 

Chapter 1

 

1 And Solomon the son of David was strengthened over his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him and magnified him exceedingly.

 

2 And Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds and the judges and all the rulers before Israel, the heads of the families,

 

3 and Solomon and all the assembly with him went to the high place at Gibeon, where the tent of the testimony of God was, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness.

 

4 But David had brought up the ark of God from the city of Kiriath-jearim, because he had prepared a tent for it in Jerusalem.

 

5 And the bronze altar, which Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the tent of the Lord, and Solomon and the assembly sought it out.

 

6 And Solomon offered there upon the bronze altar before the Lord, which was in the tent, and offered upon it a thousand burnt offerings.

 

7 In that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, "Ask what I should give you."

 

8 And Solomon said to God, "You showed great mercy to David my father, and you made me king in his place.

 

9 And now, Lord God, let your name be confirmed upon David my father, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.

 

10 Now give me wisdom and understanding, and I shall go out before this people and come in; for who shall judge this great people of yours?"

 

11 And God said to Solomon, "Because this was in your heart, and you did not ask for wealth of possessions, nor glory, nor the life of your enemies, and you did not ask for many days, but asked for yourself wisdom and understanding, that you might judge my people over whom I made you king,

 

12 I give you wisdom and understanding, and I will give you wealth and possessions and glory, such that there has not been anyone like you among the kings before you, and after you there shall not be such."

 

13 And Solomon came from the high place at Gibeon to Jerusalem, from before the tent of the testimony, and reigned over Israel.

 

14 And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen, and he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen; and he left them in the chariot cities, and the people were with the king in Jerusalem.

 

15 And the king made gold and silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars in Judea as abundant as the sycamores in the plain.

 

16 And the export of Solomon's horses was from Egypt, and the price paid by the king's merchants; they would buy to trade,

 

17 and they went up and brought out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred pieces of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and thus they brought them by their own hands to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.

 

18 And Solomon determined to build a house for the name of the Lord and a house for his kingdom. 

  

Chapter 2

 

1 And Solomon gathered together seventy thousand men to bear burdens and eighty thousand hewers of stone in the mountain, and their overseers were three thousand six hundred.

 

2 And Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre, saying: As you dealt with my father David and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in,

 

3 so behold, I his son am building a house to the name of the Lord my God, to consecrate it to him, to burn incense before him and the continual showbread, and to offer up whole burnt offerings continually, morning and evening, and on the sabbaths and on the new moons and at the feasts of the Lord our God; this is forever upon Israel.

 

4 And the house which I am building is great, for great is our God above all gods.

 

5 And who will be able to build him a house? For heaven, even the heaven of heaven, cannot bear his glory. And who am I, that I should build him a house, except only to burn incense before him?

 

6 And now send me a man wise and skilled to work in gold and in silver and in bronze and in iron and in purple and in scarlet and in blue, and knowing how to engrave engravings, together with the wise men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father prepared.

 

7 And send me cedar and juniper and pine timber from Lebanon, for I know that your servants know how to cut timber from Lebanon; and behold, your servants shall go with my servants

 

8 to prepare me timber in abundance, for the house which I am building is great and glorious.

 

9 And behold, to the workmen who cut the timber I have given for food, as gifts to your servants, twenty thousand cors of wheat, and twenty thousand cors of barley, and twenty thousand measures of wine, and twenty thousand measures of oil.

 

10 And Hiram king of Tyre spoke in writing and sent to Solomon: Because the Lord loved his people, he gave you to be king over them.

 

11 And Hiram said: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who gave to David the king a wise son, endowed with understanding and knowledge, who will build a house for the Lord and a house for his kingdom.

 

12 And now I have sent you a wise man endowed with understanding, Hiram my father

 

13 ,skilled to work in gold and in silver and in bronze and in iron, in stones and in timber, and to weave in purple and in blue and in fine linen and in scarlet, and to engrave engravings, and to devise every device, whatever you may give him, together with your wise men and the wise men of David my lord, your father.

 

14 And now let my lord send to his servants the wheat and the barley and the oil and the wine of which he spoke.

 

15 And we will cut timber from Lebanon according to all your need, and we will bring it in rafts to the sea at Joppa, and you shall carry it up to Jerusalem. —

 

16 And Solomon gathered together all the foreign men in the land of Israel, after the numbering with which David his father had numbered them; and there were found one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.

 

17 And he made of them seventy thousand burden-bearers and eighty thousand hewers of stone and three thousand six hundred taskmasters over the people. 

  

Chapter 3

 

1 And Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on mount Amoria, where the Lord appeared to David his father, in the place which David had prepared on the threshing floor of Orna the Jebusite.

 

2 And he began to build in the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

 

3 And thus Solomon began to build the house of God: the length in cubits, the first measurement, sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.

 

4 And the porch in front of the house: its length across the front of the breadth of the house was twenty cubits, and its height a hundred and twenty cubits; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

 

5 And the great house he paneled with cedar wood and overlaid it with pure gold, and carved upon it palm trees and chainwork.

 

6 And he adorned the house with precious stones for glory, and with gold, gold from Pharuaim.

 

7 And he gilded the house, the walls and the gateways and the ceilings and the doors with gold, and carved cherubim on the walls.

 

8 And he made the house of the holy of holies: its length, across the front of the breadth, twenty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with pure gold, for cherubim, to the amount of six hundred talents.

 

9 And the weight of the nails, the weight of each was fifty shekels of gold. And the upper chamber he gilded with gold.

 

10 And he made in the house of the holy of holies two cherubim, work of wood, and gilded them with gold.

 

11 And the wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits in length: the one wing of five cubits touching the wall of the house, and the other wing of five cubits touching the wing of the other cherub;

 

12 and the wing of the one cherub, of five cubits, touching the wall of the house, and the other wing, of five cubits, touching the wing of the other cherub.

 

13 And the wings of the cherubim were spread out twenty cubits; and they stood upon their feet, and their faces were toward the house.

 

14 And he made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen, and wove cherubim into it.

 

15 And he made before the house two pillars, thirty-five cubits in height, and their capitals of five cubits.

 

16 And he made chains in the inner sanctuary and set them upon the heads of the pillars; and he made a hundred pomegranates and put them upon the chainwork.

 

17 And he set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right and one on the left; and he called the name of the one on the right Success, and the name of the one on the left Strength. 

  

Chapter 4

 

1 And he made the bronze altar, twenty cubits in length, and its breadth twenty cubits, its height ten cubits.

 

2 And he made the molten sea, ten cubits in diameter, round all about, and five cubits in height, and its circumference thirty cubits.

 

3 And a likeness of calves was beneath it; they encircle it round about, ten cubits enclosing the laver all around; they cast the calves in two rows in their casting,

 

4 in which they made them, twelve calves, three looking north and three looking west and three looking south and three looking toward the east, and the sea was upon them above; their hindquarters were inward.

 

5 And its thickness was a handbreadth, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, carved with lily blossoms, holding three thousand measures; and he finished it.

 

6 And he made ten lavers and set five on the right and five on the left, for washing in them the works of the whole burnt offerings and rinsing in them. And the sea was for the priests to wash themselves in it.

 

7 And he made the ten golden lampstands according to their ordinance and placed them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left.

 

8 And he made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left. And he made a hundred golden bowls.

 

9 And he made the court of the priests and the great court, and doors for the court, and their doors were overlaid with bronze.

 

10 And he set the sea at the corner of the house on the right, facing toward the east.

 

11 And Hiram made the flesh-hooks and the firepans and the grate of the altar and all its vessels. And Hiram finished doing all the work that he did for King Solomon in the house of God:

 

12 two pillars, and upon them golath for the chothareth on the tops of the two pillars, and two networks to cover the heads of the chothareth, which are on the tops of the pillars,

 

13 and four hundred golden bells for the two networks, and two rows of small pomegranates on the one network to cover the two golath of the chothareth, which are above the pillars.

 

14 And he made the ten mechonoth, and he made the lavers upon the mechonoth,

 

15 and the one sea and the twelve calves beneath it,

 

16 and the pot-stands and the ladles and the cauldrons and the flesh-hooks and all their vessels, which Hiram made and brought to King Solomon in the house of the Lord, of pure bronze.

 

17 In the region round about the Jordan the king cast them, in the thick clay ground, at the house of Sokchoth and between Sirdatha.

 

18 And Solomon made all these vessels in very great abundance, for the weight of the bronze did not fail.

 

19 And Solomon made all the vessels of the house of the Lord, and the golden altar and the tables,

 

20 and the lampstands and the lamps of light according to the ordinance and before the dabir, of pure gold,

 

21 and their tongs and their lamps, and the bowls and the censers and the firepans, of pure gold;

 

22 and the inner door of the house, to the holy of holies, and the doors of the house of the temple, of gold. 

  

Chapter 5

 

1 And all the work that Solomon made for the house of the Lord was completed. And Solomon brought in the holy things of David his father; the silver and the gold and the vessels he gave into the treasury of the house of the Lord.

 

2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the chiefs of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers' houses of the sons of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David.

 

3 And every man of Israel was assembled to the king at the feast,

 

4 and all the elders of Israel came, and all the Levites took the ark

 

5 and brought up the ark and the tent of witness and all the holy vessels that were in the tent, and the priests and the Levites brought it up.

 

6 And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, and those who feared and those of them who were gathered together, were before the ark, sacrificing calves and sheep, which could not be numbered nor counted for multitude.

 

7 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, into the holy of holies, beneath the wings of the cherubim.

 

8 And the cherubim had spread out their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered over the ark and over its poles from above;

 

9 and the poles projected, and the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen outside; and they were there until this day.

 

10 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses placed there at Horeb, which the Lord covenanted with the sons of Israel when they went out of the land of Egypt.

 

11 And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, for all the priests who were found had been sanctified; they were not arranged by course

 

12 and the Levites, the singers, all of them, belonging to the sons of Asaph, to Heman, to Jeduthun, and to their sons and their brothers, clothed in fine linen robes, with cymbals and with harps and with lyres, standing opposite the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding the trumpets

 

13 and there was one voice in the trumpeting and in the singing and in raising the voice with one voice, to give thanks and praise to the Lord and when they lifted up the voice with trumpets and with cymbals and with instruments of song, and said, "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy is forever," then the house was filled with the cloud of the glory of the Lord,

 

14 and the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. 

 

Chapter 6

 

1 Then Solomon said, "The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.

 

2 And I have built a house for your name, holy to you, and prepared for you to dwell in forever."

 

3 And the king turned his face and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, and the whole assembly of Israel stood by.

 

4 And he said, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and with his hands has fulfilled it, saying,

 

5 'From the day when I brought up my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there; and I chose no man to be ruler over my people Israel.

 

6 But I chose Jerusalem, that my name might be there, and I chose David to be over my people Israel.'

 

7 And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

 

8 But the Lord said to David my father, 'Because it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart;

 

9 nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son, who shall come forth from your loins, he shall build the house for my name.'

 

10 And the Lord has established his word which he spoke, and I have risen up in the place of David my father and sat on the throne of Israel, as the Lord spoke, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

 

11 And I have placed there the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord, which he made with Israel."

 

12 And he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands.

 

13 For Solomon had made a bronze platform and set it in the middle of the court of the temple; its length was five cubits, and its width five cubits, and its height three cubits; and he stood upon it, and fell on his knees before the whole assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven,

 

14 and said, "O Lord, God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and mercy with your servants who walk before you with all their heart.

 

15 You have kept for your servant David my father the things you spoke to him; you spoke with your mouth and with your hands you have fulfilled it, as it is this day.

 

16 And now, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you spoke to him, saying, 'There shall not fail you a man before me sitting on the throne of Israel, if only your sons keep their way, to walk in my law, as you have walked before me.'

 

17 And now, O Lord, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you spoke to your servant David.

 

18 For will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? If heaven and the heaven of heaven will not suffice you, what then is this house which I have built?

 

19 Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to my supplication, O Lord God, to hearken to the supplication and the prayer which your servant prays before you today,

 

20 that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, toward this place of which you said that your name should be called upon there, to hear the prayer which your servant prays toward this place.

 

21 And you shall hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel, whatever they pray toward this place; and you shall hearken in the place of your dwelling, from heaven, and hear and be merciful.

 

22 If a man sins against his neighbor, and he takes upon himself an oath to make him swear, and he comes and swears before the altar in this house,

 

23 then you shall hearken from heaven and act, and judge your servants, to repay the lawless one and requite his ways upon his own head, and to vindicate the righteous, repaying him according to his righteousness.

 

24 And if your people Israel are struck down before the enemy, if they sin against you, and they return and confess your name and pray and make supplication before you in this house,

 

25 then you shall hearken from heaven and be merciful to the sins of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which you gave to them and to their fathers.

 

26 When heaven is shut up and there is no rain, because they will sin against you, and they pray toward this place and praise your name and turn from their sins, because you afflict them,

 

27 then you shall hearken from heaven and be merciful to the sins of your servants and of your people Israel, for you will show them the good way in which they shall walk, and you shall give rain upon your land, which you gave to your people as an inheritance.

 

28 If there be famine upon the land, if there be pestilence, blight and mildew, if there be locust and grasshopper, if the enemy oppresses them before their cities—whatever plague and whatever affliction there may be

 

29 then every prayer and every supplication that may be made by any man and by all your people Israel, if a man knows his own affliction and his own sickness and spreads out his hands toward this house,

 

30 then you shall hearken from heaven, from your established dwelling-place, and be gracious, and give to each man according to his ways, as you know his heart—for you alone know the heart of the sons of men

 

31 so that they may fear your ways all the days that they live upon the face of the land which you gave to our fathers.

 

32 And also every foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, and comes from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, if they come and pray toward this place,

 

33 then you shall hearken from heaven, from your established dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls upon you for, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as does your people Israel, and know that your name is called upon this house which I have built.

 

34 And if your people go out to war against their enemies by the way in which you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen and the house which I have built for your name,

 

35 then you shall hear from heaven their supplication and their prayer, and maintain their cause.

 

36 Because they will sin against you, for there is no man who will not sin and you shall smite them and deliver them up before their enemies, and their captors shall carry them captive into the land of enemies, into a land far off or near,

 

37 and if they turn their heart in the land where they have been carried away, and indeed return and make supplication to you in their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted lawlessly,'

 

38 and they turn back to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of those who carried them captive, and pray toward the way of their land, which you gave to their fathers, and the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name,

 

39 then you shall hear from heaven, from your established dwelling-place, their prayer and their supplication, and execute judgments, and be merciful to the people that has sinned against you.

 

40 Now, O Lord, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the supplication of this place.

 

41 And now arise, O Lord God, into your resting-place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your sons rejoice in good things.

 

42 O Lord God, turn not away the face of your anointed one; remember the mercies of David your servant." 

  

Chapter 7

 

1 And when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house.

 

2 And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord at that time, because the glory of the Lord filled the house.

 

3 And all the children of Israel saw the fire coming down, and the glory of the Lord was upon the house; and they fell face down upon the ground on the stone pavement, and worshipped and praised the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.

 

4 And the king and all the people were sacrificing victims before the Lord.

 

5 And Solomon offered the sacrifice of twenty-two thousand calves and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep; and the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

 

6 And the priests were standing at their watches, and the Levites with instruments of song of the Lord, which David the king had made, to give thanks before the Lord, for his mercy endures forever, with the hymns of David by their hand; and the priests were sounding the trumpets before them, and all Israel was standing.

 

7 And Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in the house of the Lord; for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings and the grain offerings and the fat.

 

8 And Solomon kept the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath even to the brook of Egypt.

 

9 And on the eighth day he held a solemn assembly, for he kept the dedication of the altar as a feast for seven days.

 

10 And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, rejoicing and glad of heart because of the good things which the Lord had done for David and for Solomon and for Israel his people.

 

11 And Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the house of the king; and all that Solomon desired in his soul to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house prospered.

 

12 And God appeared to Solomon by night and said to him: I have heard your prayer, and I have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.

 

13 If I shut up the heaven and there is no rain, and if I command the locust to devour the trees, and if I send pestilence among my people,

 

14 and if my people, upon whom my name has been called, humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven and will be merciful to their sins and will heal their land.

 

15 Now my eyes shall be open and my ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

 

16 And now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there all the days.

 

17 And as for you, if you walk before me as David your father did, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and keep my ordinances and my judgments,

 

18 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying: There shall not fail you a man to rule in Israel.

 

19 But if you turn away and forsake my ordinances and my commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,

 

20 then I will remove you from the land which I gave them, and this house which I have sanctified to my name I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a byword and a tale among all the nations.

 

21 And this house, which was so exalted, everyone who passes by it shall be astonished and shall say: Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?

 

22 And they shall say: Because they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold of other gods and worshipped them and served them; therefore he has brought upon them all this evil. 

  

Chapter 8

 

1 And it came to pass after twenty years, in which Solomon built the house of the Lord and his own house,

 

2 that the cities which Hiram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them and settled the sons of Israel there.

 

3 And Solomon came to Hamath-zobah and prevailed over it.

 

4 And he built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the fortified cities which he built in Hamath.

 

5 And he built upper Beth-horon and lower Beth-horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars,

 

6 and Baalath and all the fortified cities that belonged to Solomon, and all the cities of the chariots and the cities of the horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired according to his desire to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all his kingdom.

 

7 All the people that were left of the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, who are not of Israel

 

8 they were of their sons who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel did not utterly destroy, Solomon made them subject to tribute unto this day.

 

9 But of the sons of Israel Solomon gave none as servants for his kingdom, for they were men of war and rulers and mighty men and commanders of chariots and horsemen.

 

10 And these were the chiefs of the officers of King Solomon: two hundred and fifty, overseeing the work among the people.

 

11 And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh from the city of David to the house which he had built for her, for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the city of David the king of Israel, for the place is holy where the ark of the Lord has entered.

 

12 Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord upon the altar which he had built before the temple,

 

13 even according to the daily requirement, offering according to the commandments of Moses on the sabbaths and on the new moons and at the feasts, three times in the year: at the feast of unleavened bread, and at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of tabernacles.

 

14 And he appointed, according to the ordinance of David, the divisions of the priests according to their services, and the Levites over their charges, to praise and to minister before the priests according to the daily requirement, and the gatekeepers according to their divisions at every gate; for such were the commandments of David the man of God.

 

15 They did not transgress the commandments of the king concerning the priests and the Levites in any matter, or concerning the treasuries.

 

16 And all the work was prepared from the day it was founded until Solomon finished the house of the Lord.

 

17 Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth by the seaside in the land of Edom.

 

18 And Hiram sent by the hand of his servants ships and servants skilled in the sea, and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took from there four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and came to King Solomon. 

 

Chapter 9

 

1 And the queen of Sheba heard the name of Solomon, and came to test Solomon with riddles at Jerusalem, with a very great force, and camels bearing spices and gold in abundance and precious stone; and she came to Solomon and spoke to him all that was in her soul.

 

2 And Solomon declared to her all her words, and no word passed from Solomon which he did not report to her.

 

3 And the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, and the house which he had built,

 

4 and the food of the tables, and the seating of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers and their apparel, and his cupbearers and their attire, and the whole burnt offerings which he offered up in the house of the Lord; and she was beside herself.

 

5 And she said to the king, "True is the report which I heard in my land concerning your words and concerning your wisdom,

 

6 and I did not believe the reports until I came and my eyes saw; and behold, not half of the abundance of your wisdom was reported to me; you have exceeded the report which I heard.

 

7 Blessed are the men, blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom.

 

8 Blessed be the Lord your God, who was pleased with you, to set you upon his throne as king for the Lord your God; because the Lord your God loved Israel, to establish it forever, and he set you over them as king to do judgment and righteousness."

 

9 And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in great abundance, and precious stone; and there were no spices like those which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

 

12 And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desires which she asked, besides all that she had brought to King Solomon; and she returned to her own land.

 

13 And the weight of the gold that was brought to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold,

 

14 besides what the men under subjection and the merchants brought, and all the kings of Arabia and the satraps of the land brought gold and silver to King Solomon.

 

15 And King Solomon made two hundred shields of beaten gold—six hundred pieces of pure gold went to one shield, six hundred pieces of gold were laid upon the one shield

 

16 and three hundred bucklers of beaten gold, three hundred pieces of gold going up upon each buckler; and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

 

17 And the king made a great throne of ivory tusks, and overlaid it with tried gold.

 

18 And there were six steps to the throne, bound with gold, and armrests on either side of the throne of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests,

 

19 and twelve lions standing there upon the six steps on either side; the like was not made in any kingdom.

 

20 And all King Solomon's vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were overlaid with gold; silver was reckoned as nothing in the days of Solomon.

 

21 For a ship of the king went to Tarshish with the servants of Hiram; once every three years vessels came from Tarshish to the king, laden with gold and silver and ivory tusks and apes.

 

22 And Solomon was magnified above all the kings both in riches and in wisdom.

 

23 And all the kings of the earth sought the face of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart.

 

24 And they brought each his gifts: vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and clothing, myrrh oil and spices, horses and mules, year by year.

 

25 And Solomon had four thousand mares for chariots and twelve thousand horsemen; and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

 

26 And he was ruler over all the kings from the river even to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.

 

27 And the king made gold and silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as the sycamore trees that are in the plain, in abundance.

 

28 And the export of horses was from Egypt to Solomon, and from all the land.

 

29 And the rest of the acts of Solomon, the first and the last, behold, they are written in the words of Nathan the prophet, and in the words of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Joel the seer concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat.

 

30 And King Solomon reigned over all Israel forty years.

 

31 And Solomon slept, and they buried him in the city of David his father; and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead. 

  

Chapter 10

 

1 And Rehoboam came to Shechem, for all Israel was coming to Shechem to make him king.

 

2 And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it — now he was in Egypt, since he had fled from the presence of King Solomon, and Jeroboam had dwelt in Egypt that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.

 

3 And they sent and called him, and Jeroboam came, and all the assembly of Israel, to Rehoboam, saying,

 

4 "Your father made our yoke harsh; now therefore lighten the harsh servitude of your father and his heavy yoke which he laid upon us, and we will serve you."

 

5 And he said to them, "Go away for three days, and then come to me." And the people departed.

 

6 And King Rehoboam gathered the elders who had stood before Solomon his father while he lived, saying, "How do you counsel me to answer this people a word?"

 

7 And they spoke to him, saying, "If today you will be kind to this people, and be well pleased, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants all your days."

 

8 But he forsook the counsel of the elders who had counseled him, and took counsel with the young men who had been brought up with him, who stood before him.

 

9 And he said to them, "What do you counsel, that I may answer a word to this people, who spoke to me saying, 'Lighten the yoke which your father laid upon us'?"

 

10 And the young men who had been brought up with him spoke to him: "Thus shall you speak to the people who spoke to you, saying, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it from us' — thus shall you say: 'My little finger is thicker than my father's loins.

 

11 And now, my father chastised you with a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.'"

 

12 And Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had spoken, saying, "Return to me on the third day."

 

13 And the king answered harshly, and King Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the elders,

 

14 and spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."

 

15 And the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turning of events from God, saying, "The Lord has established his word, which he spoke by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat

 

16 and all Israel," because the king did not listen to them. And the people answered the king, saying, "What portion have we in David, or inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Now look to your own house, David." And all Israel went to their tents.

 

17 But as for the men of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

 

18 And King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, who was over the tribute, and the sons of Israel stoned him with stones and he died; and King Rehoboam hastened to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

 

19 And Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day. 

 

Chapter 11

 

1 And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem and assembled Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand young men who made war, and he made war against Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.

 

2 And the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

 

3 Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon and to all Judah and Benjamin, saying,

 

4 Thus says the Lord: You shall not go up, and you shall not fight against your brothers; return each to his own house, for this thing has come from me. And they heeded the word of the Lord and turned back from going against Jeroboam.

 

5 And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem and built walled cities in Judea.

 

6 And he built Bethlehem and Etam and Tekoa

 

7 and Beth-zur and Soco and Adullam

 

8 and Gath and Mareshah and Ziph

 

9 and Adoraim and Lachish and Azekah

 

10 and Zorah and Aijalon and Hebron, which belongs to Judah and Benjamin, walled cities.

 

11 And he fortified them with walls and placed in them commanders and stores of food, oil and wine,

 

12 in each and every city shields and spears, and he strengthened them very greatly; and Judah and Benjamin were his.

 

13 And the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel gathered to him from all their borders;

 

14 for the Levites abandoned the dwellings of their possession and went to Judah, to Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had cast them out from ministering to the Lord,

 

15 and he appointed for himself priests of the high places and for the idols and the vanities and the calves which Jeroboam made,

 

16 and he cast out from the tribes of Israel those who set their heart to seek the Lord God of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their fathers,

 

17 and they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and strengthened Rehoboam the son of Solomon for three years, for he walked in the ways of David and Solomon for three years.

 

18 And Rehoboam took for himself as wife Mahalath, daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and Abihail daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse,

 

19 and she bore him sons: Jeush and Shemariah and Zaham.

 

20 And after these things he took for himself Maacah daughter of Absalom, and she bore him Abijah and Attai and Ziza and Shelomith.

 

21 And Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines, for he had eighteen wives and thirty concubines; and he begot twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

 

22 And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah as ruler, as leader among his brothers, for he intended to make him king;

 

23 and he was increased above all his sons in all the borders of Judah and Benjamin and in the fortified cities, and he gave them provisions in great abundance and asked for a multitude of wives. 

 

Chapter 12

 

1 And it came to pass, when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and when it had grown strong, that he forsook the commandments of the Lord, and all Israel with him.

 

2 And it came to pass in the fifth year of the reign of Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had sinned before the Lord,

 

3 with a thousand and two hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen; and there was no number of the multitude that came with him out of Egypt: Libyans, Troglodytes, and Ethiopians.

 

4 And they took the fortified cities that were in Judah, and he came to Jerusalem.

 

5 And Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem from before Shishak, and said to them, Thus says the Lord: You have forsaken me, and I will forsake you into the hand of Shishak.

 

6 And the princes of Israel and the king were ashamed and said, The Lord is righteous.

 

7 And when the Lord saw that they were humbled, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, They have been humbled; I will not destroy them; and I will grant them a little deliverance, and my wrath shall not drop upon Jerusalem,

 

8 because they shall become servants and shall know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the earth.

 

9 And Shishak king of Egypt came up and took the treasures that were in the house of the Lord and the treasures that were in the house of the king; he took everything; and he took the golden shields which Solomon had made.

 

10 And Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place. And Shishak set over him captains of the runners who guarded the gate of the king.

 

11 And it came to pass, when the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards and the runners went in, and those returning to meet the runners.

 

12 And when he was humbled, the anger of the Lord turned away from him, and not to utter destruction; for indeed in Judah there were good things.

 

13 And Rehoboam grew strong in Jerusalem and reigned; and Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, in the city which the Lord had chosen to set his name there out of all the tribes of the sons of Israel; and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

 

14 And he did evil, because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.

 

15 And the acts of Rehoboam, the first and the last, are they not written in the words of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, and his deeds? And Rehoboam waged war against Jeroboam all their days.

 

16 And Rehoboam died and was buried with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David; and Abijah his son reigned in his place. 

 

Chapter 13

 

1 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.

 

2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Maacah, daughter of Uriel from Gibeon. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

 

3 And Abijah drew up the battle with a force of warriors of might, four hundred thousand mighty men, and Jeroboam drew up battle against him with eight hundred thousand, mighty warriors of might.

 

4 And Abijah stood up from Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, "Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel!

 

5 Is it not for you to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel forever to David and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

 

6 Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and revolted from his lord.

 

7 And there gathered to him pestilent men, lawless sons, and he withstood Rehoboam the son of Solomon; and Rehoboam was young and timid of heart, and did not withstand him to his face.

 

8 And now you say that you will withstand the kingdom of the Lord that is in the hand of the sons of David; and you are a great multitude, and with you are golden calves, which Jeroboam made for you as gods.

 

9 Did you not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and make for yourselves priests from the people of the land? Everyone who comes to consecrate himself with a calf from the herd and seven rams becomes a priest to that which is no god.

 

10 But as for us, we have not forsaken the Lord our God, and his priests, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites minister to the Lord in their courses;

 

11 they burn to the Lord whole burnt offerings morning and evening, and compounded incense, and set out rows of loaves on the pure table; and the golden lampstand and its lamps for burning are lit at evening; for we keep the charges of the Lord, the God of our fathers, but you have forsaken him.

 

12 And behold, with us at the head is the Lord and his priests and the trumpets of signal to sound against you. O sons of Israel, will you fight against the Lord, the God of our fathers? For it will not prosper for you."

 

13 But Jeroboam turned the ambush to come upon them from behind; and he was in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind.

 

14 And Judah turned, and behold, the battle was upon them from before and from behind, and they cried out to the Lord, and the priests sounded the trumpets.

 

15 And the men of Judah shouted, and it came to pass, as the men of Judah shouted, that the Lord struck Jeroboam and Israel before Abijah and Judah.

 

16 And the sons of Israel fled from before Judah, and the Lord delivered them into their hands.

 

17 And Abijah and his people struck them with a great slaughter, and there fell slain of Israel five hundred thousand mighty men.

 

18 And the sons of Israel were humbled on that day, and the sons of Judah prevailed, because they trusted in the Lord, the God of their fathers.

 

19 And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam and took cities from him: Bethel and its villages, and Jeshanah and its villages, and Ephron and its villages.

 

20 And Jeroboam had no more strength all the days of Abijah, and the Lord struck him, and he died.

 

21 And Abijah grew strong and took for himself fourteen wives and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

 

22 And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his deeds and his words, are written in the book of the prophet Iddo.

 

23 And Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and Asa his son reigned in his place. In the days of Asa the land of Judah was at rest ten years. 

  

Chapter 14

 

1 And he did what was good and right before the Lord his God.

 

2 And he removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places, and broke the pillars in pieces and cut down the sacred groves,

 

3 and told Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to observe the law and the commandments.

 

4 And he removed from all the cities of Judah the altars and the idols. And there was peace;

 

5 fortified cities were in the land of Judah, because the land was at peace; and he had no war in those years, because the Lord gave him rest.

 

6 And he said to Judah, "Let us build these cities and make walls and towers and gates and bars, while we are masters of the land, because as we have sought the Lord our God, he has sought us and given us rest on every side and prospered our way."

 

7 And Asa had a force of armed men bearing shields and spears, three hundred thousand in the land of Judah, and in the land of Benjamin two hundred and fifty thousand targeteers and archers; all these were mighty warriors.

 

8 And Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with a force of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah.

 

9 And Asa went out to meet him, and drew up for battle in the valley north of Mareshah.

 

10 And Asa cried to the Lord his God and said, "O Lord, it is not impossible with you to save by many or by few; strengthen us, O Lord our God, for we trust in you, and in your name we have come against this great multitude. O Lord our God, let not man prevail against you."

 

11 And the Lord struck the Ethiopians before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.

 

12 And Asa and his people pursued them as far as Gedor, and the Ethiopians fell so that none of them remained alive, for they were crushed before the Lord and before his army; and they took much spoil.

 

13 And they destroyed their villages round about Gedor, for the terror of the Lord had come upon them; and they plundered all their cities, for there was much spoil in them.

 

14 And they also destroyed the tents of the herdsmen, the Amazoneis, and took many sheep and camels, and returned to Jerusalem. 

  

Chapter 15

 

1 And as for Azariah the son of Oded, the spirit of the Lord came upon him,

 

2 and he went out to meet Asa and all Judah and Benjamin, and said, "Hear me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you while you are with him, and if you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

 

3 And Israel has had many days without the true God, and without a priest to teach, and without law;

 

4 but he will return to the Lord God of Israel, and he will be found by them.

 

5 And in that time there is no peace for the one going out or the one coming in, for there is a terror from the Lord upon all those inhabiting the lands.

 

6 And nation will war against nation and city against city, for God has confounded them with every affliction.

 

7 But as for you, be strong, and let not your hands grow weak, for there is a reward for your work."

 

8 And when he heard these words and the prophecy of Adad the prophet, he took courage and cast out the abominations from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he held in Mount Ephraim, and he renewed the altar of the Lord which was before the temple of the Lord.

 

9 And he assembled Judah and Benjamin and the sojourners dwelling with him from Ephraim and from Manasseh and from Simeon, for many from Israel had joined him when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

 

10 And they gathered at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

 

11 And he sacrificed to the Lord on that day, from the spoils which they had brought, seven hundred calves and seven thousand sheep.

 

12 And he entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;

 

13 and whoever should not seek the Lord God of Israel would die, from the younger to the elder, from man to woman.

 

14 And they swore by the Lord with a loud voice and with trumpets and with horns.

 

15 And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their soul and sought him with all their will, and he was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest round about.

 

16 And he removed Maachah his mother from being a ministrant to Astarte, and he cut down the idol and burned it in the brook Kidron.

 

17 But the high places they did not remove; they still remained in Israel; yet the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.

 

18 And he brought in the holy things of David his father and the holy things of the house of the Lord God, silver and gold and vessels.

 

19 And there was no war with him until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa. 

 

Chapter 16

 

1 And in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and built Ramah, so as not to allow going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.

 

2 And Asa took gold and silver from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king's house, and sent to the son of Hader, king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying,

 

3 "Make a covenant between me and you, and between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you gold and silver; come, and drive away from me Baasha king of Israel, and let him depart from me."

 

4 And the son of Hader listened to King Asa, and sent the commanders of his army against the cities of Israel, and he struck Ion and Dan and Abelmain and all the surrounding regions of Naphtali.

 

5 And it came to pass, when Baasha heard, he left off building Ramah and ceased his work.

 

6 And King Asa took all Judah, and took the stones of Ramah and its timbers, which Baasha had built with, and with them he built Gabae and Maspha.

 

7 And at that time Hanani the prophet came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, "Because you trusted in the king of Syria and did not trust in the Lord your God, therefore the army of Syria has escaped from your hand.

 

8 Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a great force in boldness, in horsemen, in an exceedingly great multitude? Yet because you trusted in the Lord, he delivered them into your hands.

 

9 For the eyes of the Lord look upon all the earth, to strengthen every heart that is fully devoted to him. You have acted foolishly in this; from now on there shall be war with you."

 

10 And Asa was angry with the prophet and put him in prison, for he was enraged over this; and Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.

 

11 And behold, the acts of Asa, the first and the last, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

 

12 And Asa became diseased in his feet in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, until he was exceedingly diseased; and in his sickness he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians.

 

13 And Asa slept with his fathers and died in the thirty-ninth year of his reign,

 

14 and they buried him in the tomb which he had dug for himself in the city of David, and they laid him on the bier and filled it with spices and kinds of perfumers' ointments, and they made for him an exceedingly great funeral. 

 

Chapter 17

 

1 And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place, and Jehoshaphat strengthened himself against Israel.

 

2 And he placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and appointed leaders in all the cities of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken beforehand.

 

3 And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father and did not seek out the idols,

 

4 but sought out the Lord, the God of his father, and walked in the commandments of his father, and not according to the works of Israel.

 

5 And the Lord established the kingdom in his hand, and all Judah gave gifts to Jehoshaphat, and he had riches and great glory.

 

6 And his heart was lifted up in the way of the Lord, and moreover he removed the high places and the groves from the land of Judah.

 

7 And in the third year of his reign he sent his leaders and the sons of the mighty men, Obadiah and Zechariah and Nethanel and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah,

 

8 and with them the Levites, Shemaiah and Nethaniah and Zebadiah and Asahel and Shemiramoth and Jonathan and Adonijah and Tobijah, the Levites, and with them Elishama and Jehoram the priests.

 

9 And they taught in Judah, and with them was the book of the law of the Lord, and they went through the cities of Judah and taught the people.

 

10 And a terror of the Lord came upon all the kingdoms of the land round about Judah, and they did not make war against Jehoshaphat.

 

11 And from among the Philistines they brought Jehoshaphat gifts and silver and presents, and the Arabs brought him seven thousand seven hundred rams of the flocks.

 

12 And Jehoshaphat went on growing exceedingly great, and he built dwellings in Judea and fortified cities.

 

13 And he had many works in Judea, and men of war, mighty and strong, in Jerusalem.

 

14 And this is their number according to the houses of their fathers: of Judah, commanders of thousands: Adnah the chief, and with him mighty sons of valor, three hundred thousand;

 

15 and after him Jehohanan the leader, and with him two hundred and eighty thousand;

 

16 and after him Amasiah the son of Zichri, who was zealous for the Lord, and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valor.

 

17 And from Benjamin, a mighty man of valor, Eliada, and with him archers and shield-bearers, two hundred thousand;

 

18 and after him Jehozabad, and with him a hundred and eighty thousand mighty men of war.

 

19 These were they who served the king, besides those whom the king had placed in the fortified cities in all Judea. 

  

Chapter 18

 

1 And Jehoshaphat had yet more wealth and great glory, and he allied himself by marriage with the house of Ahab.

 

2 And at the end of some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria, and Ahab sacrificed for him many sheep and calves, and for the people that were with him, and he persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth of Gilead.

 

3 And Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, "Will you go with me to Ramoth of Gilead?" And he said to him, "As I am, so also are you; as your people, so also my people is with you for war."

 

4 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "Seek, I pray, the Lord today."

 

5 And the king of Israel gathered the prophets, four hundred men, and said to them, "Shall I go to Ramoth Gilead to war, or shall I forbear?" And they said, "Go up, and God will give it into the hands of the king."

 

6 And Jehoshaphat said, "Is there not here still a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of him?"

 

7 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is yet one man by whom to seek the Lord, but I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, for all his days are for evil, this is Micaiah son of Imlah." And Jehoshaphat said, "Let not the king speak so."

 

8 And the king of Israel called one eunuch and said, "Quickly, Micaiah son of Imlah."

 

9 And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting each on his throne, clothed in robes, sitting in the open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

 

10 And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, "Thus says the Lord: With these you shall gore Syria until it be consumed."

 

11 And all the prophets prophesied thus, saying, "Go up to Ramoth Gilead and you shall prosper, and the Lord will give it into the hands of the king."

 

12 And the messenger who went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, "Behold, the prophets have spoken good with one mouth concerning the king; let your words, I pray, be as one of theirs, and you shall speak good things."

 

13 And Micaiah said, "As the Lord lives, whatever God says to me, that will I speak."

 

14 And he came to the king, and the king said to him, "Micaiah, shall I go to Ramoth Gilead to war, or shall I forbear?" And he said, "Go up, and you shall prosper, and they shall be given into your hands."

 

15 And the king said to him, "How many times must I adjure you that you speak to me nothing but truth in the name of the Lord?"

 

16 And he said, "I saw Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd; and the Lord said, 'They have no leader; let them return each to his house in peace.'"

 

17 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not tell you that he does not prophesy good concerning me, but only evil?"

 

18 And he said, "Not so; hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing at his right hand and at his left.

 

19 And the Lord said, 'Who will deceive Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?' And this one spoke thus, and that one spoke thus.

 

20 And the spirit came forth and stood before the Lord and said, 'I will deceive him.' And the Lord said, 'By what means?'

 

21 And he said, 'I will go forth and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And he said, 'You shall deceive him, and shall prevail; go forth and do so.'

 

22 And now, behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets, and the Lord has spoken evil against you."

 

23 And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah drew near and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said to him, "By what way did the spirit of the Lord pass from me to speak to you?"

 

24 And Micaiah said, "Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber from chamber to hide yourself."

 

25 And the king of Israel said, "Take Micaiah and carry him back to Amon the ruler of the city, and to Joash the ruler, the king's son,

 

26 and you shall say, 'Thus says the king: Put this man in prison, and let him eat bread of affliction and water of affliction, until I return in peace.'"

 

27 And Micaiah said, "If you indeed return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me. Hear, all you peoples!"

 

28 And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead.

 

29 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will disguise myself and go into the battle, but you put on my robes." And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle.

 

30 And the king of Syria commanded the captains of the chariots that were with him, saying, "Fight neither small nor great, but only the king of Israel."

 

31 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, "It is the king of Israel," and they surrounded him to fight; and Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord saved him, and God turned them away from him.

 

32 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned away from him.

 

33 And a man drew his bow with true aim and struck the king of Israel between the lung and the breastplate. And he said to the charioteer, "Turn your hand and bring me out of the battle, for I am wounded."

 

34 And the battle turned that day, and the king of Israel remained standing in his chariot until evening, facing the Syrians, and he died at the setting of the sun. 

  

Chapter 19

 

1 And Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem.

 

2 And Jehu the son of Hanani the prophet went out to meet him and said to him, "King Jehoshaphat, do you help a sinner, or show friendship to one hated by the Lord? Because of this, wrath from the Lord has come upon you.

 

3 Nevertheless, good things have been found in you, for you have removed the sacred groves from the land of Judah and directed your heart to seek the Lord."

 

4 And Jehoshaphat dwelt in Jerusalem, and again he went out among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and he turned them back to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

 

5 And he appointed judges in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city,

 

6 and he said to the judges, "See what you are doing, for you judge not for man but for the Lord, and with you are the words of judgment.

 

7 And now let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed and act, for with the Lord our God there is no injustice, nor respecting of persons, nor taking of bribes."

 

8 And also in Jerusalem Jehoshaphat appointed some of the priests and the Levites and the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel for the judgment of the Lord, and to judge the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

 

9 And he charged them, saying, "Thus shall you act in the fear of the Lord, in truth and with a whole heart:

 

10 every man in any dispute that comes to you from your brothers who dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, and between ordinance and commandment, and statutes and judgments, you shall instruct them, and they shall not sin against the Lord, and wrath shall not come upon you and upon your brothers. Thus shall you act, and you shall not sin.

 

11 And behold, Amariah the priest is chief over you in every matter of the Lord, and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael is the ruler over the house of Judah in every matter of the king, and the scribes and the Levites are before you. Be strong and act, and the Lord will be with the good." 

  

Chapter 20

 

1 And after these things the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon came, and with them some of the Minaeans, against Jehoshaphat for war.

 

2 And they came and reported to Jehoshaphat, saying, "A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria, and behold, they are in Asasanthamar (that is, Engaddi)."

 

3 And Jehoshaphat was afraid, and set his face to seek the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

 

4 And Judah gathered together to seek the Lord, and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

 

5 And Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah in Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court,

 

6 and said, "O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven, and do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? And in your hand is the strength of dominion, and there is no one able to withstand you.

 

7 Are you not the Lord who destroyed the inhabitants of this land from before your people Israel, and gave it to the seed of Abraham your beloved forever?

 

8 And they dwelt in it and built in it a sanctuary to your name, saying,

 

9 'If evils come upon us sword, judgment, death, famine, we will stand before this house and before you, for your name is upon this house, and we will cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.'

 

10 And now behold, the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, through whom you did not allow Israel to pass when they came out of the land of Egypt, for they turned away from them and did not destroy them

 

11 and now, behold, they undertake to come out against us to cast us out of our inheritance, which you gave us.

 

12 O Lord our God, will you not judge them? For we have no strength to withstand this great multitude that has come against us, and we do not know what we shall do to them; but our eyes are upon you."

 

13 And all Judah was standing before the Lord, with their children and their wives.

 

14 And upon Oziel the son of Zacharias, of the sons of Banaias, of the sons of Eleel, the son of Manthanias the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in the assembly,

 

15 and he said, "Hear, all Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the Lord to you: Do not fear nor be dismayed before this great crowd, for the battle is not yours, but God's.

 

16 Tomorrow go down against them; behold, they are coming up by the ascent of Asas, and you will find them at the end of the river of the wilderness of Jeriel.

 

17 It is not for you to fight; understand these things and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem; do not fear nor be dismayed to go out tomorrow to meet them, and the Lord will be with you."

 

18 And Jehoshaphat bowed with his face down, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord to worship the Lord.

 

19 And the Levites of the sons of Kaath and of the sons of Kore stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high.

 

20 And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa, and as they went out Jehoshaphat stood and cried out and said, "Hear me, Judah and you who dwell in Jerusalem: trust in the Lord your God, and you will be trusted; trust in his prophet, and you will prosper."

 

21 And he took counsel with the people, and appointed psalm-singers and those praising, to give thanks and to praise the holy things as they went out before the army, and they said, "Give thanks to the Lord, for his mercy endures forever."

 

22 And when they began his praise of thanksgiving, the Lord caused the sons of Ammon to fight against Moab and Mount Seir, who had come out against Judah, and they were routed.

 

23 And the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to destroy and wipe them out; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they rose up against one another to be destroyed.

 

24 And Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness and looked and saw the multitude, and behold, all were dead, fallen upon the ground; there was no survivor.

 

25 And Jehoshaphat and his people came to plunder their spoils, and they found many cattle and baggage and spoils and desirable vessels, and they plundered them for themselves; and they spent three days plundering the spoils, because they were so many.

 

26 And on the fourth day they gathered together at the valley of blessing, for there they blessed the Lord; therefore they called the name of that place Valley of Blessing to this day.

 

27 And every man of Judah returned to Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat leading them, in great joy, because the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies,

 

28 and they entered Jerusalem with harps and lyres and trumpets, to the house of the Lord.

 

29 And the terror of the Lord came upon all the kingdoms of the earth when they heard that the Lord had fought against the adversaries of Israel.

 

30 And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, and his God gave him rest on every side.

 

31 And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah; he was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Azuba, daughter of Sali.

 

32 And he walked in the ways of his father Asa and did not turn aside from doing what was right before the Lord;

 

33 but the high places still remained, and the people still did not direct their heart toward the Lord, the God of their fathers.

 

34 And the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, the first and the last, behold, they are written in the words of Jehu the son of Anani, who wrote the book of the kings of Israel.

 

35 And after these things Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined himself with Ochozias king of Israel,

 

36 by acting and going with him to make ships to go to Tharsis; and he made ships in Gasiongaber.

 

37 And Eliezer the son of Dodia, from Marisa, prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, "Because you made friendship with Ochozias, the Lord has broken your work, and your ships were wrecked." And they were unable to go to Tharsis. 

 

Chapter 21

 

1 And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried beside his fathers in the city of David, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place.

 

2 And he had brothers, sons of Jehoshaphat, six: Azariah and Jiel and Zechariah and Azariah and Michael and Shephatiah; all these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.

 

3 And their father gave them many gifts, silver and gold and weapons, together with fortified cities in Judah; but the kingdom he gave to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn.

 

4 And Jehoram rose up over his kingdom and strengthened himself, and killed all his brothers with the sword, and some of the rulers of Israel.

 

5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he was established over his kingdom, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

 

6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife, and he did what was evil before the Lord.

 

7 But the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant which he had made with David, and as he had said to him, to give him a lamp, and to his sons, all the days.

 

8 In those days Edom revolted from Judah, and they made a king over themselves.

 

9 And Jehoram went with the rulers, and all the cavalry with him; and it came to pass that he arose by night and struck Edom that surrounded him, and the commanders of the chariots, and the people fled to their tents.

 

10 And Edom has been in revolt from Judah to this day; then Libnah revolted at that time from his hand, because he had forsaken the Lord, the God of his fathers.

 

11 For he also made high places in the cities of Judah, and led the inhabitants of Jerusalem into fornication, and led Judah astray.

 

12 And a writing came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying: Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: Because you have not walked in the way of Jehoshaphat your father and in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

 

13 but have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and have led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into fornication, as the house of Ahab committed fornication, and have killed your brothers, the sons of your father, who were better than you,

 

14 behold, the Lord will strike you with a great blow among your people and among your sons and among your wives and in all your goods,

 

15 and you shall be in a grievous sickness, with a disease of the bowels, until your bowels come out because of the sickness, from day to day.

 

16 And the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the Philistines and the Arabs and those bordering on the Ethiopians,

 

17 and they came up against Judah and prevailed, and carried away all the goods that they found in the king's house, and his sons and his daughters; and no son was left to him except Ahaziah, the youngest of his sons.

 

18 And after all these things the Lord struck him in the bowels with a sickness for which there is no cure;

 

19 and it came to pass, from day to day, and when the time of the days came, for two days, his bowels came out with the disease, and he died in grievous sickness. And his people did not make a funeral for him like the funeral of his fathers.

 

20 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem; and he departed without praise, and was buried in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. 

 

Chapter 22

 

1 And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his place, because the band of raiders that had come against them, the Arabians and the Alimazonians, had killed all the elder sons; and Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned.

 

2 Ahaziah was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri.

 

3 And he also walked in the way of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in sinning.

 

4 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, like the house of Ahab, for after his father's death they were his counselors, to his destruction,

 

5 and he walked in their counsels. And he went with Jehoram son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead; and the archers struck Jehoram.

 

6 And Jehoram returned to Jezreel to be healed of the wounds with which the Syrians had struck him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria; and Ahaziah son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram son of Ahab at Jezreel, because he was sick.

 

7 And the destruction of Ahaziah was from God, in his coming to Jehoram; for when he arrived, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu son of Nimshi, the anointed of the Lord against the house of Ahab.

 

8 And it came to pass, when Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, that he found the princes of Judah and the brothers of Ahaziah ministering to Ahaziah, and he killed them.

 

9 And he ordered that Ahaziah be sought, and they captured him while he was being healed in Samaria, and brought him to Jehu, and he killed him. And they buried him, because they said, He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart. And there was no one in the house of Ahaziah able to hold power over the kingdom.

 

10 And Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, and she arose and destroyed all the royal seed in the house of Judah.

 

11 But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king's sons who were being put to death, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber; and Jehoshabeath, daughter of King Jehoram, sister of Ahaziah, wife of Jehoiada the priest, hid him, she hid him from the face of Athaliah, and she did not kill him.

 

12 And he was with her hidden in the house of God six years, and Athaliah reigned over the land. 

  

Chapter 23

 

1 And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah son of Jeroham, and Ishmael son of Johanan, and Azariah son of Obed, and Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zechariah, with him into a covenant in the house.

 

2 And they went around Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.

 

3 And all the assembly of Judah made a covenant in the house of God with the king, and he showed them the king's son and said to them, "Behold, let the king's son reign, as the Lord spoke concerning the house of David.

 

4 Now this is the thing you shall do: a third of you—of the priests and of the Levites—shall enter on the sabbath, and at the gates of the entrances,

 

5 and a third at the house of the king, and a third at the middle gate, and all the people in the courts of the house of the Lord.

 

6 And let no one enter the house of the Lord except the priests and the Levites and those of the Levites who minister; they shall enter, for they are holy, and all the people shall keep the watches of the Lord.

 

7 And the Levites shall surround the king round about, each man with his weapon in his hand, and whoever enters the house shall die; and they shall be with the king when he goes in and when he goes out."

 

8 And the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and each took his men from the beginning of the sabbath to the end of the sabbath, for Jehoiada did not dismiss the divisions.

 

9 And he gave the swords and the shields and the arms that had belonged to King David in the house of God.

 

10 And he stationed all the people, each with his weapons, from the right corner of the house to the left corner of the altar and of the house, around the king.

 

11 And he brought out the king's son and put upon him the crown and the testimonies, and they made him king, and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, "Long live the king!"

 

12 And Athaliah heard the sound of the people running and giving thanks and praising the king, and she went in to the king into the house of the Lord.

 

13 And she looked, and behold, the king was standing at his post, and at the entrance were the officers and the trumpets around the king, and all the people rejoiced and blew the trumpets, and the singers with the instruments were singing and offering hymns of praise. And Athaliah tore her robe and cried out and said, "Treason, treason!"

 

14 And Jehoiada the priest came out, and Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds and the leaders of the army and said to them, "Bring her out of the house and go in after her, and let her die by the sword"; for the priest said, "Let her not die in the house of the Lord."

 

15 And they gave way to her, and she passed through the horse gate of the king's house, and there they put her to death.

 

16 And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and the people and the king, that they should be the Lord's people.

 

17 And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal and tore it down, and they broke his altars and his idols to pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before his altars.

 

18 And Jehoiada the priest committed the works of the house of the Lord into the hand of the priests and Levites, and he restored the divisions of the priests and the Levites which David had appointed over the house of the Lord, to offer whole burnt offerings to the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with songs, by the hand of David.

 

19 And the gatekeepers stood at the gates of the house of the Lord, so that no one unclean in any matter should enter.

 

20 And he took the heads of the fathers' houses and the mighty men and the rulers of the people and all the people of the land, and they brought the king up to the house of the Lord; and he entered through the inner gate into the king's house, and they seated the king upon the throne of the kingdom.

 

21 And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet; and Athaliah they had put to death with the sword. 

  

Chapter 24

 

1 Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Sabia, from Beersheba.

 

2 And Joash did what was right before the Lord all the days of Jodae the priest.

 

3 And Jodae took for him two wives, and he begot sons and daughters.

 

4 And it came to pass after this that it came into the heart of Joash to repair the house of the Lord.

 

5 And he gathered together the priests and the Levites and said to them, "Go out into the cities of Judah and gather from all Israel silver to strengthen the house of the Lord year by year, and make haste to speak of it." But the Levites did not make haste.

 

6 And King Joash called Jodae the chief and said to him, "Why have you not seen to it concerning the Levites, that they bring in from Judah and Jerusalem what was decreed by Moses the man of God, when he assembled Israel at the tent of witness?

 

7 For Gotholia was the lawless one, and her sons tore down the house of God; indeed, they used the holy things of the house of the Lord for the Baalim."

 

8 And the king said, "Let a chest be made and let it be set at the gate of the house of the Lord, outside;

 

9 and let them proclaim in Judah and in Jerusalem that they bring in to the Lord, as Moses the servant of God said concerning Israel in the wilderness."

 

10 And all the rulers and all the people gave, and they brought it in and cast it into the chest until it was filled.

 

11 And it came to pass, when they brought the chest to the king's officers by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that the silver was abundant, then the king's scribe and the officer of the great priest came and emptied the chest and set it back in its place; thus they did day by day, and they gathered much silver.

 

12 And the king and Jodae the priest gave it to those who did the works for the work of the house of the Lord, and they hired stonecutters and carpenters to repair the house of the Lord, and smiths in iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord.

 

13 And those who did the works worked, and the measure of the works advanced in their hands, and they set up the house of the Lord upon its foundation and strengthened it.

 

14 And when they had finished, they brought to the king and to Jodae the remainder of the silver, and they made vessels for the house of the Lord, ministering vessels for the whole burnt offerings, and censers of gold and silver. And they offered whole burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jodae.

 

15 And Jodae grew old, full of days, and he died, being one hundred and thirty years old at his death;

 

16 and they buried him in the city of David with the kings, because he had done good with Israel and with God and his house.

 

17 And it came to pass after the death of Jodae that the rulers of Judah came in and did obeisance to the king; then the king listened to them.

 

18 And they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Astartes and the idols; and there came wrath upon Judah and upon Jerusalem in that day.

 

19 And he sent prophets to them to turn them back to the Lord, but they did not listen; and they bore witness against them, but they did not listen.

 

20 And the Spirit of God clothed Azariah the son of Jodae the priest, and he stood up above the people and said, "Thus says the Lord: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord? You will not prosper, because you have forsaken the Lord, and he will forsake you."

 

21 And they set upon him and stoned him at the command of King Joash in the court of the house of the Lord.

 

22 And Joash did not remember the mercy which Jodae his father had shown him, and he put his son to death. And as he was dying, he said, "May the Lord see and judge."

 

23 And it came to pass at the end of the year that the army of Syria came up against him, and it came against Judah and against Jerusalem, and they destroyed all the rulers of the people among the people, and they sent all their spoils to the king of Damascus.

 

24 For the army of Syria came with few men, yet God delivered into their hands a very great force, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers; and upon Joash he executed judgments.

 

25 And after they departed from him, leaving him in great infirmities, his servants set upon him because of the blood of the son of Jodae the priest, and they put him to death upon his bed, and he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tomb of the kings.

 

26 And those who conspired against him were Zabed the son of Samath the Ammanite and Jozabed the son of Somaroth the Moabite,

 

27 and all his sons, and the five came against him. And the rest, behold, they are written in the writing of the kings; and Amasias his son reigned in his stead. 

 

Chapter 25

 

1 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Joadan, from Jerusalem.

 

2 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a full heart.

 

3 And it came to pass, when the kingdom was established in his hand, that he put to death his servants who had murdered the king his father;

 

4 but their sons he did not kill, according to the covenant of the law of the Lord, as it is written, as the Lord commanded, saying: Fathers shall not die for children, and sons shall not die for fathers, but each shall die for his own sin.

 

5 And Amaziah gathered the house of Judah and appointed them according to their fathers' houses as commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds in all Judah and Jerusalem; and he numbered them from twenty years old and upward, and found them to be three hundred thousand able to go out to war, wielding spear and shield.

 

6 And he hired from Israel a hundred thousand mighty men of strength for a hundred talents of silver.

 

7 And a man of God came to him, saying: O king, the army of Israel shall not go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel, with all the sons of Ephraim;

 

8 for if you suppose to prevail with these, the Lord will put you to flight before your enemies, for it belongs to the Lord both to strengthen and to put to flight.

 

9 And Amaziah said to the man of God: And what shall I do about the hundred talents which I gave to the army of Israel? And the man of God said: The Lord is able to give you much more than these.

 

10 And Amaziah separated the army that had come to him from Ephraim, to depart to their own place, and they were greatly enraged against Judah and returned to their place in fierce anger.

 

11 And Amaziah took courage and led out his people, and went to the Valley of Salt and struck down there ten thousand of the sons of Seir;

 

12 and the sons of Judah took ten thousand alive, and brought them to the top of the cliff and cast them down from the top of the cliff, and they were all dashed to pieces.

 

13 But the men of the army whom Amaziah had turned back, that they should not go with him to war, attacked the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon, and struck down three thousand in them and took much spoil.

 

14 And it came to pass, after Amaziah came from striking Idumea, that he brought back to them the gods of the sons of Seir, and set them up for himself as gods, and bowed down before them, and himself sacrificed to them.

 

15 And the anger of the Lord came upon Amaziah, and he sent prophets to him, and they said to him: Why have you sought the gods of the people, who did not deliver their own people from your hand?

 

16 And it came to pass, while he was speaking to him, that he said to him: Have I made you a counselor of the king? Take heed lest you be flogged. And the prophet was silent. And he said: I know that he has resolved concerning you to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.

 

17 And Amaziah took counsel and sent to Joash son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying: Come, let us look one another in the face.

 

18 And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying: The thistle in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying: Give your daughter to my son as wife. And behold, the wild beasts of the field that are in Lebanon shall come; and the beasts came and trampled the thistle.

 

19 You have said: Behold, you have struck Idumea, and your heavy heart lifts you up. Now sit at home; why do you meddle in mischief, so that you fall, you and Judah with you?

 

20 But Amaziah did not listen, for it was from the Lord, to deliver him into their hands, because he had sought after the gods of the Idumeans.

 

21 And Joash king of Israel went up, and they looked one another in the face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.

 

22 And Judah was routed before Israel, and each man fled to his tent.

 

23 And Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and tore down part of the wall of Jerusalem, from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits;

 

24 and all the gold and the silver and all the vessels found in the house of the Lord and with Obed-edom, and the treasures of the king's house, and the hostages, and he returned to Samaria.

 

25 And Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.

 

26 And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, the first and the last, behold, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?

 

27 And at the time when Amaziah turned away from the Lord, they made a conspiracy against him, and he fled from Jerusalem to Lachish; and they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there.

 

28 And they carried him on horses and buried him with his fathers in the city of David. 

 

Chapter 26

 

1 And all the people of the land took Ozias, and he was sixteen years old, and they made him king in place of his father Amasias.

 

2 He built Aelath; he restored it to Juda after the king slept with his fathers.

 

3 Ozias was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Chalia, of Jerusalem.

 

4 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Amasias his father had done.

 

5 And he was seeking the Lord in the days of Zacharias, who had understanding in the fear of the Lord; and in his days he sought the Lord, and the Lord prospered him.

 

6 And he went out and made war against the Philistines, and pulled down the walls of Geth and the walls of Jabne and the walls of Azotus, and he built cities of Azotus and among the Philistines.

 

7 And the Lord strengthened him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who dwelt upon the rock, and against the Minaeans.

 

8 And the Minaeans gave gifts to Ozias, and his name spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for he grew strong exceedingly.

 

9 And Ozias built towers in Jerusalem, at the corner gate and at the gate of the valley and at the corners, and fortified them.

 

10 And he built towers in the wilderness, and hewed out many cisterns, for he had many cattle in Sephela and in the plain, and vinedressers in the hill country and in Carmel, for he was a lover of husbandry.

 

11 And Ozias had forces that made war and went out in array by number, and their number was taken by the hand of Jiel the scribe and Maasaias the judge, by the hand of Ananias the king's deputy.

 

12 The whole number of the heads of families, mighty men for war, was two thousand six hundred;

 

13 and with them a warlike force of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred: these were they who made war with mighty power, to help the king against his adversaries.

 

14 And Ozias prepared for them, for all the force, shields and spears and helmets and breastplates and bows and slings for stones.

 

15 And he made in Jerusalem engines devised by an engineer, to be upon the towers and upon the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones; and their construction was heard of afar, for he was marvelously helped, until he became strong.

 

16 And when he became strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, and he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense.

 

17 And Azarias the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of the Lord, mighty men,

 

18 and they stood up against Ozias the king and said to him: It is not for you, Ozias, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have turned aside from the Lord, and this shall not be to your glory from the Lord God.

 

19 And Ozias was angry, and in his hand was the censer to burn incense in the temple; and as he was angry with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, above the altar of incense.

 

20 And the chief priest and the priests turned toward him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead; and they hurried him out from there, and indeed he himself hastened to go out, for the Lord had rebuked him.

 

21 And Ozias the king was a leper until the day of his death, and he dwelt as a leper in a separate house, for he was cut off from the house of the Lord; and Joatham his son was over his kingdom, judging the people of the land.

 

22 And the rest of the acts of Ozias, the first and the last, were written by Jessias the prophet.

 

23 And Ozias slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial place of the kings, for they said, He is a leper; and Joatham his son reigned in his place. 

 

Chapter 27

 

1 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jerusha, daughter of Zadok.

 

2 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that Uzziah his father had done, but he did not enter into the temple of the Lord, and the people were still acting corruptly.

 

3 He built the high gate of the house of the Lord, and on the wall of Ophel he built much.

 

4 And he built cities in the hill country of Judah, and in the forests he built dwellings and towers.

 

5 He fought against the king of the sons of Ammon and prevailed over him; and the sons of Ammon gave him each year a hundred talents of silver and ten thousand cors of wheat and ten thousand of barley. These the king of Ammon brought to him each year, in the first year and the second and the third.

 

6 And Jotham grew strong, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God.

 

7 And the rest of the acts of Jotham, and his war and his deeds, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 9 And Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David, and Ahaz his son reigned in his place. 

 

Chapter 28

 

1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord, as David his father had done.

 

2 And he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel; for he even made carved images for their idols,

 

3 and he sacrificed in Gaibenenom and passed his children through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had utterly destroyed from before the sons of Israel,

 

4 and he burned incense on the high places and on the housetops and under every leafy tree.

 

5 And the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria, who struck him and took from them a great multitude of captives and brought them to Damascus; and indeed he delivered him into the hands of the king of Israel, who struck him with a great blow.

 

6 And Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, slew in Judah in one day a hundred and twenty thousand men mighty in strength, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers.

 

7 And Ezekri, the mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maasaiah the king's son, and Esdrikam the ruler of his house, and Elkanah the king's deputy.

 

8 And the sons of Israel took captive from their brethren three hundred thousand women, sons, and daughters and they took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria.

 

9 And there was there a prophet of the Lord, Oded by name, and he went out to meet the army that was coming to Samaria and said to them, "Behold, the wrath of the Lord, the God of your fathers, is upon Judah, and he has delivered them into your hands, and you have killed among them in wrath; it has reached up to the heavens.

 

10 And now you say that you will possess the children of Judah and Jerusalem as male and female slaves. Behold, am I not with you to bear witness to the Lord your God?

 

11 And now hear me, and return the captives whom you have taken captive from your brethren, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you."

 

12 And leaders of the sons of Ephraim arose, Oudia the son of Joanan, and Barachias the son of Mosolamoth, and Ezekias the son of Sellem, and Amasias the son of Chodli—against those coming from the war,

 

13 and they said to them, "You shall by no means bring the captives here to us, for you speak of bringing sin against the Lord upon us, to add to our sins and to our ignorance, for great is our sin, and the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon Israel."

 

14 And the warriors released the captives and the spoil before the leaders and all the assembly.

 

15 And the men who were called by name arose and took charge of the captives, and they clothed all the naked from the spoil, and dressed them and gave them shoes and gave them food and anointing, and carried all who were weak on beasts of burden, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren; and they returned to Samaria.

 

16 At that time Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria to help him,

 

17 and in this matter also, because the Edomites had attacked and struck Judah and taken captives,

 

18 and the Philistines had attacked the cities of the lowland and of the south of Judah, and had taken Baithsamys and Ailon and Gaderoth and Socho and its villages, and Thamna and its villages, and Gamzo and its villages, and had settled there.

 

19 For the Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Judah, because he had revolted with apostasy from the Lord.

 

20 And Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came against him and struck him.

 

21 And Ahaz took the things in the house of the Lord and the things in the house of the king and of the leaders, and gave them to the king of Assyria; but it was of no help to him.

 

22 But rather in his distress he added still further to his apostasy from the Lord, and the king said,

 

23 "I will seek out the gods of Damascus who strike me." And he said, "Because the gods of the king of Syria strengthen them, therefore I will sacrifice to them, and they will help me." But they became a stumbling block to him and to all Israel.

 

24 And Ahaz removed the vessels of the house of the Lord and cut them in pieces, and shut the doors of the house of the Lord, and made for himself altars in every corner in Jerusalem;

 

25 and in every single city in Judah he made high places to burn incense to foreign gods, and they provoked to anger the Lord, the God of their fathers.

 

26 And the rest of his acts and his deeds, the first and the last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

 

27 And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David, for they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel; and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place. 

 

Chapter 29

 

1 And Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Abba, daughter of Zechariah.

 

2 And he did what was right before the Lord according to all that David his father had done.

 

3 And it came to pass, when he was established over his kingdom, in the first month he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them.

 

4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites and set them on the side toward the east,

 

5 and said to them, Hear me, you Levites: now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and cast out the uncleanness from the holy places.

 

6 For our fathers rebelled and did evil before the Lord, and forsook him, and turned their face away from the tabernacle of the Lord, and turned their backs.

 

7 And they shut the doors of the temple, and quenched the lamps, and burned no incense, and offered no whole burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.

 

8 And the Lord was angry with wrath against Judah and against Jerusalem, and gave them over to astonishment and to destruction and to hissing, as you see with your own eyes.

 

9 And behold, your fathers have been struck down by the sword, and your sons and your daughters and your wives are in captivity in a land not their own, as it is even now.

 

10 Therefore it is now in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, and he will turn away the wrath of his anger from us.

 

11 And now do not be negligent, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him to minister, and to be ministers to him and to burn incense.

 

12 And the Levites arose: Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of Kohath; and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the sons of Gershon, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Jodan the son of Joah;

 

13 and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;

 

14 and of the sons of Heman, Jeiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.

 

15 And they gathered their brothers and sanctified themselves according to the command of the king by the ordinance of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord.

 

16 And the priests went inside into the house of the Lord to sanctify it, and they cast out all the uncleanness found in the house of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord; and the Levites received it to carry it out to the brook Kidron outside.

 

17 And they began on the first day, at the new moon of the first month, to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month they entered the temple of the Lord; and they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.

 

18 And they went inside to King Hezekiah and said, We have sanctified all the things in the house of the Lord, the altar of whole burnt offering and its vessels, and the table of showbread and its vessels;

 

19 and all the vessels which King Ahaz defiled during his reign, in his apostasy, we have prepared and sanctified; behold, they are before the altar of the Lord. —

 

20 And King Hezekiah rose early and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord.

 

21 And he brought seven bull calves, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven he-goats for a sin offering, for the kingdom and for the holy things and for Israel; and he told the priests, the sons of Aaron, to go up to the altar of the Lord.

 

22 And they slaughtered the calves, and the priests received the blood and poured it on the altar; and they slaughtered the rams, and poured the blood on the altar; and they slaughtered the lambs, and poured the blood around the altar.

 

23 And they brought the he-goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them;

 

24 and the priests slaughtered them, and made atonement with their blood at the altar, and made atonement for all Israel; for the king said, The whole burnt offering and the sin offerings are for all Israel.

 

25 And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals and with harps and with lyres, according to the command of David the king, and of Gad the king's seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for by the command of the Lord was the ordinance, by the hand of the prophets.

 

26 And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

 

27 And Hezekiah gave command to offer up the whole burnt offering on the altar; and when they began to offer up the whole burnt offering, they began to sing to the Lord, and the trumpets sounded with the instruments of David king of Israel.

 

28 And all the assembly worshiped, and the singers were singing, and the trumpets were sounding, until the whole burnt offering was completed.

 

29 And when they had finished offering, the king bowed, and all who were present, and they worshiped.

 

30 And King Hezekiah and the rulers told the Levites to sing praise to the Lord in the words of David and of Asaph the prophet; and they sang praises with gladness, and fell down and worshiped.

 

31 And Hezekiah answered and said, Now you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord; draw near and bring sacrifices and offerings of praise into the house of the Lord. And the assembly brought sacrifices and offerings of praise into the house of the Lord, and everyone willing in heart brought whole burnt offerings.

 

32 And the number of the whole burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy calves, a hundred rams, two hundred lambs; all these were for a whole burnt offering to the Lord.

 

33 And the consecrated calves were six hundred, and the sheep three thousand.

 

34 But the priests were few and could not skin the whole burnt offering, so their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was finished, and until the priests were sanctified; for the Levites had sanctified themselves more readily than the priests.

 

35 And the whole burnt offering was abundant, with the fat of the completion of the peace offering and the drink offerings of the whole burnt offering; and the service of the house of the Lord was set in order.

 

36 And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because God had prepared the people; for the thing came about suddenly. 

 

Chapter 30

 

1 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem to keep the passover to the Lord God of Israel.

 

2 And the king and the rulers and all the assembly in Jerusalem took counsel to keep the passover in the second month;

 

3 for they were not able to keep it at that time, because the priests had not been sanctified in sufficient number, and the people had not been gathered to Jerusalem.

 

4 And the word pleased the king and the assembly.

 

5 And they established a decree that a proclamation should go through all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should come and keep the passover to the Lord God of Israel in Jerusalem; for the multitude had not kept it according to the scripture.

 

6 And the couriers went with the letters from the king and the rulers into all Israel and Judah, according to the command of the king, saying, Children of Israel, return to the God of Abraham and Isaac and Israel, and he will bring back those that have escaped, that are left from the hand of the king of Assyria.

 

7 And be not as your fathers and your brethren, who revolted from the Lord God of their fathers, and he gave them up to desolation, as you see.

 

8 And now harden not your necks; give glory to the Lord God, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified for ever, and serve the Lord your God, and he will turn away from you his fierce anger.

 

9 For when you return to the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before all who took them captive, and he will bring them back to this land; for the Lord our God is merciful and compassionate, and he will not turn away his face from us, if we return to him.

 

10 And the couriers went through, passing from city to city in the mountain of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun; and they were as it were laughing them to scorn and mocking them.

 

11 But men of Asher and of Manasseh and of Zebulun were ashamed and came to Jerusalem.

 

12 And in Judah the hand of the Lord was present to give them one heart, to come to do according to the command of the king and the rulers by the word of the Lord.

 

13 And a great multitude of people were gathered to Jerusalem to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great assembly.

 

14 And they arose and took down the altars that were in Jerusalem; and all the things on which they burned incense to false gods they pulled down and cast into the brook Kidron.

 

15 And they sacrificed the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month; and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought whole burnt offerings into the house of the Lord.

 

16 And they stood at their post according to their ordinance, according to the commandment of Moses the man of God; and the priests received the blood from the hand of the Levites.

 

17 For a great part of the assembly had not been sanctified, and the Levites were there to sacrifice the passover for every one who was not able to sanctify himself to the Lord.

 

18 For the greater part of the people from Ephraim and Manasseh and Issachar and Zebulun had not been sanctified, but ate the passover contrary to the scripture. And Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, May the good Lord make atonement for

 

19 every heart that sets itself to seek the Lord God of their fathers, though not according to the purity of the holy things.

 

20 And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah and healed the people.

 

21 And the children of Israel who were found in Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great joy, singing praises to the Lord day by day, and the priests and the Levites with instruments to the Lord.

 

22 And Hezekiah spoke to every heart of the Levites and of those who had good understanding for the Lord; and they completed the feast of unleavened bread seven days, offering sacrifices of peace offering and giving thanks to the Lord God of their fathers.

 

23 And the assembly took counsel together to keep another seven days; and they kept seven days with gladness.

 

24 For Hezekiah presented to Judah, to the assembly, a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep, and the rulers presented to the people a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep, and the holy things of the priests were in abundance.

 

25 And all the assembly rejoiced, the priests and the Levites, and all the assembly of Judah, and those who were found from Israel, and the strangers who came from the land of Israel, and those dwelling in Judah.

 

26 And there was great joy in Jerusalem; since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had not been such a feast in Jerusalem.

 

27 And the priests, the Levites, arose and blessed the people; and their voice was heard, and their prayer came into his holy dwelling place, into heaven.

 

Chapter 31

 

1 And when all these things were completed, all Israel who were found in the cities of Judah went out and broke the pillars in pieces and cut down the sacred groves and tore down the high places and the altars from all Judea and Benjamin and from Ephraim and from Manasseh, until the end; and all Israel returned, each to his inheritance and to their cities.

 

2 And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites, and the courses of each according to his own service, for the priests and the Levites, for the whole burnt offering and for the sacrifice of peace, and to praise and to give thanks and to minister in the gates in the courts of the house of the Lord.

 

3 And the king's portion was from his possessions for the whole burnt offerings, the morning and the evening ones, and whole burnt offerings for the sabbaths and for the new moons and for the feasts written in the law of the Lord.

 

4 And he told the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, so that they might be strong in the service of the house of the Lord.

 

5 And as he commanded the word, the sons of Israel brought in abundance the firstfruits of grain and wine and oil and honey and every produce of the field, and they brought all the tithes in abundance

 

6 the sons of Israel and Judah. And those dwelling in the cities of Judah, they too brought tithes of calves and sheep, and tithes of goats, and they consecrated them to the Lord their God, and they brought them in and laid them in heaps upon heaps.

 

7 In the third month the heaps began to be founded, and in the seventh month they were completed.

 

8 And Hezekiah and the rulers came and saw the heaps, and they blessed the Lord and his people Israel.

 

9 And Hezekiah inquired of the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps,

 

10 and Azariah the priest, the ruler of the house of Zadok, spoke to him and said, "From the time the firstfruits began to be brought into the house of the Lord, we have eaten and drunk and left over; for the Lord has blessed his people, and we have left over besides this abundance."

 

11 And Hezekiah said to prepare chambers in the house of the Lord, and they prepared them.

 

12 And they brought in there the firstfruits and the tithes in faithfulness, and over them was Conaniah the Levite as overseer, and Shimei his brother as second.

 

13 And Jehiel and Azaziah and Nahath and Asahel and Jerimoth and Jozabad and Eliel and Ismachiah and Mahath and Benaiah and his sons were appointed under Conaniah and Shimei his brother, as king Hezekiah commanded, and Azariah the leader of the house of the Lord.

 

14 And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the gatekeeper toward the east, was over the gifts, to give the firstfruits to the Lord and the most holy things,

 

15 by the hand of Eden and Benjamin and Jeshua and Shimei and Amariah and Shecaniah, by the hand of the priests in faithfulness, to give to their brothers according to the courses, according to great and small,

 

16 besides the offspring of the males from three years old and upward, to everyone entering the house of the Lord, according to the reckoning of days, day by day, for the service in the courses of their arrangement.

 

17 This is the enrollment of the priests according to the houses of their fathers, and the Levites in their courses, from twenty years old and upward, in their arrangement,

 

18 in enrollments with all the offspring of their sons and their daughters for the whole multitude; for in faithfulness they sanctified the holy place.

 

19 For the sons of Aaron who served as priests, and those from their cities in every single city, there were men who were designated by name, to give a portion to every male among the priests and to everyone numbered among the Levites.

 

20 And Hezekiah did thus in all Judah, and he did what was good and upright before the Lord his God.

 

21 And in every work in which he began, in the work of the house of the Lord, and in the law and in the commandments, he sought his God with all his soul, and he acted and prospered.

 

Chapter 32

 

1 And after these words and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came, and he came against Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, and he intended to seize them.

 

2 And Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that his face was set to make war against Jerusalem,

 

3 and he took counsel with his elders and his mighty men to stop up the waters of the springs that were outside the city, and they helped him.

 

4 And he gathered many people and stopped up the waters of the springs and the river that flowed through the city, saying, "Let not the king of Assyria come and find much water and prevail."

 

5 And Hezekiah took courage and built up all the wall that had been broken down, and towers, and outside another outer wall, and he strengthened the Millo of the city of David and prepared many weapons.

 

6 And he set commanders of war over the people, and they were gathered to him in the square of the gate of the valley, and he spoke to their heart, saying,

 

7 "Be strong and courageous; do not be terrified before the king of Assyria and before all the nation that is with him, for there are more with us than with him.

 

8 With him are arms of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to save and to fight our battle." And the people took courage at the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

 

9 And after this Sennacherib king of the Assyrians sent his servants against Jerusalem, while he himself was at Lachish with all his army, and he sent to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all Judah that was in Jerusalem, saying,

 

10 "Thus says Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians: In what do you trust, that you sit in the siege in Jerusalem?

 

11 Is not Hezekiah deceiving you, to give you over to death and to famine and to thirst, saying, 'The Lord our God will save us from the hand of the king of Assyria'?

 

12 Is not this the Hezekiah who removed his altars and his high places and said to Judah and to those dwelling in Jerusalem, 'Before this altar you shall worship, and upon it you shall burn incense'?

 

13 Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of all the earth at all able to save their people from my hand?

 

14 Who among all the gods of these nations, whom my fathers utterly destroyed—were they able to save their people from my hand, that your God will be able to save you from my hand?

 

15 Now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you, and do not let him make you trust in this way, and do not believe him; for the god of no nation or kingdom is able to save his people from my hand and from the hand of my fathers—so your God will surely not save you from my hand."

 

16 And still his servants spoke against the Lord God and against Hezekiah his servant.

 

17 And he wrote a letter to reproach the Lord God of Israel, and spoke concerning him, saying, "As the gods of the nations of the earth did not deliver their peoples from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah shall surely not deliver his people from my hand."

 

18 And he cried with a loud voice in the language of Judah against the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them and terrify them, so that they might seize the city.

 

19 And he spoke against the God of Jerusalem as against the gods of the peoples of the earth, the works of men's hands.

 

20 And Hezekiah the king and Isaiah son of Amos the prophet prayed concerning these things and cried out to heaven.

 

21 And the Lord sent an angel, and he wiped out every mighty warrior and commander and general in the camp of the king of Assyria, and he returned with shame of face to his own land. And he came into the house of his god, and some of those who came forth from his own body struck him down with the sword.

 

22 And the Lord saved Hezekiah and those dwelling in Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all, and gave them rest on every side.

 

23 And many brought gifts to the Lord in Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah, and he was exalted in the eyes of all the nations after this.

 

24 In those days Hezekiah fell sick unto death; and he prayed to the Lord, and he heard him and gave him a sign.

 

25 But Hezekiah did not repay according to the benefit shown to him, for his heart was lifted up; and wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

 

26 And Hezekiah humbled himself from the pride of his heart, he and those dwelling in Jerusalem, and the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

 

27 And Hezekiah had riches and very great glory, and he made for himself treasuries of silver and gold and precious stone, and for spices, and armories, and for desirable vessels,

 

28 and cities for the produce of grain and oil and wine, and stalls for every kind of cattle, and folds for the flocks,

 

29 and cities that he built for himself, and possessions of sheep and oxen in abundance, for the Lord gave him very great possessions.

 

30 This same Hezekiah stopped up the upper outlet of the water of Gihon and directed it down to the south side of the city of David; and Hezekiah prospered in all his works.

 

31 And so, with the envoys of the rulers from Babylon, who were sent to him to inquire of him about the wonder that had happened in the land, the Lord left him, to test him, to know what was in his heart.

 

32 And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his mercy, behold, they are written in the prophecy of Isaiah son of Amos the prophet and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

 

33 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him on the ascent of the tombs of the sons of David, and all Judah and those dwelling in Jerusalem gave him glory and honor at his death; and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

 

Chapter 33

 

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

 

2 And he did evil before the Lord, according to all the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had utterly destroyed from before the sons of Israel.

 

3 And he turned back and rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had torn down, and he set up pillars to the Baalim and made sacred groves, and he worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.

 

4 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, "In Jerusalem shall my name be forever."

 

5 And he built altars to all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

 

6 And he himself passed his children through fire in Gai-banai-ennom, and he practiced divination and augury and sorcery, and he appointed ventriloquists and enchanters; he multiplied doing evil before the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

 

7 And he set the carved and the molten image, the likeness which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will set my name forever;

 

8 and I will no more cause the foot of Israel to be moved from the land which I gave to their fathers, only if they take care to do all that I commanded them, according to all the law and the ordinances and the judgments given by the hand of Moses."

 

9 And Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do evil beyond all the nations that the Lord had removed from before the sons of Israel.

 

10 And the Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they did not listen.

 

11 And the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assur, and they seized Manasseh in bonds and bound him in fetters and brought him to Babylon.

 

12 And when he was afflicted, he sought the face of the Lord his God, and he was greatly humbled before the God of his fathers;

 

13 and he prayed to him, and he heard him; and he heard his cry and returned him to Jerusalem to his kingdom; and Manasseh knew that the Lord, he is God. —

 

14 And after this he built a wall outside the city of David, on the southwest toward Gion in the wadi, and at the going out of the gate round about, and to the Ophla, and he raised it very high. And he appointed commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah.

 

15 And he removed the foreign gods and the carved image from the house of the Lord, and all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem and outside the city.

 

16 And he restored the altar of the Lord and sacrificed upon it a sacrifice of peace offering and of praise, and he told Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.

 

17 Yet the people were still on the high places, only to the Lord their God.

 

18 And the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, behold, they are among the words

 

19 of his prayer, and how he heard him, and all his sins and his apostasies, and the places on which he built the high places and set up there groves and carved images before he turned back, behold, they are written in the words of the seers.

 

20And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the garden of his house; and Amon his son reigned in his place.

 

21Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

 

22And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done; and to all the idols which Manasseh his father had made, Amon sacrificed and served them.

 

23And he was not humbled before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had been humbled, for his son Amon multiplied transgression.

 

24And his servants conspired against him and struck him down in his house.

 

25And the people of the land struck down those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.

 

Chapter 34

 

1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.

 

2 And he did what was right before the Lord and walked in the ways of David his father, and did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

 

3 And in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a boy, he began to seek the Lord, the God of David his father. And in the twelfth year of his reign he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places and the groves and the molten images.

 

4 And he pulled down before his face the altars of the Baalim and the high places that were upon them, and he cut down the groves, and the carved and molten images he broke in pieces and ground to powder and scattered upon the face of the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

 

5 And he burned the bones of the priests upon the altars, and he purged Judah and Jerusalem.

 

6 And in the cities of Ephraim and Manasseh and Simeon and Naphtali and their places round about,

 

7 he pulled down the groves and the altars, and cut the idols into small pieces, and cut down all the high places from all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.

 

8 And in the eighteenth year of his reign, to purge the land and the house, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the ruler of the city, and Joah son of Joahaz his recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.

 

9 And they came to Hilkiah the high priest, and gave the silver that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites who kept the gate had gathered from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim and the rulers, and from all the remnant in Israel, and from the sons of Judah and Benjamin and those dwelling in Jerusalem.

 

10 And they gave it into the hand of the workmen who were appointed over the house of the Lord, and they gave it to those who did the work, who worked in the house of the Lord, to repair and strengthen the house.

 

11 And they gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy squared stones and timber for beams, to roof the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.

 

12 And the men worked faithfully at the works, and over them were overseers: Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam of the sons of Kohath, to oversee; and every Levite, everyone skilled in instruments of song,

 

13 was over the burden-bearers and over all who did the work in every kind of labor; and of the Levites there were scribes and judges and gatekeepers.

 

14 And as they brought out the silver that had been brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by the hand of Moses.

 

15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found a book of the law in the house of the Lord." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.

 

16 And Shaphan brought the book to the king, and moreover reported to the king, saying, "All the silver given has been placed in the hand of your servants who do the work,

 

17 and they have melted down the silver found in the house of the Lord and have given it into the hand of the overseers and into the hand of those who do the work."

 

18 And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read it before the king.

 

19 And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the law, that he tore his garments.

 

20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam son of Shaphan, and Abdon son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,

 

21 "Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for all who are left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers did not heed the words of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book."

 

22 And Hilkiah went, and those whom the king had told, to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath, son of Hasrah, keeper of the garments and she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter—and they spoke to her about these things.

 

23 And she said to them, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Say to the man who sent you to me,

 

24 Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am bringing evil upon this place, all the words written in the book that was read before the king of Judah,

 

25 because they have forsaken me and burned incense to strange gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; and my wrath has been kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched.

 

26 But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: As for the words which you have heard

 

27 because your heart was moved and you humbled yourself before my face when you heard my words against this place and against its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before me and tore your garments and wept before me, I also have heard, says the Lord.

 

28 Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evils which I am bringing upon this place and upon its inhabitants." And they brought back word to the king.

 

29 And the king sent and gathered the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

 

30 And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and the Levites, and all the people from great to small; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord.

 

31 And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk before the Lord, to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, the words of the covenant written in this book.

 

32 And he caused all who were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem made a covenant in the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers.

 

33 And Josiah removed all the abominations from all the land that belonged to the sons of Israel, and made all who were found in Jerusalem and in Israel serve the Lord their God all his days; he did not turn aside from following the Lord, the God of his fathers.

 

Chapter 35

 

1 And Josiah kept the passover to the Lord his God, and they sacrificed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

 

2 And he set the priests at their watches, and strengthened them for the works of the house of the Lord.

 

3 And he said to the Levites who were mighty in all Israel, that they should sanctify themselves to the Lord; and they placed the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, had built. And the king said, You have nothing to carry upon your shoulders; now therefore serve the Lord your God and his people Israel,

 

4 and prepare yourselves according to the houses of your fathers and according to your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and by the hand of Solomon his son;

 

5 and stand in the house according to the divisions of the houses of your fathers for your brethren, the sons of the people—and a portion of a father's house for the Levites

 

6 and sacrifice the passover, and prepare the holy things for your brethren, to do according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

 

7 And Josiah offered as a first offering to the sons of the people sheep and lambs and kids from the young of the goats, all for the passover, for all who were found, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand calves: these were of the king's substance.

 

8 And his rulers gave a first offering to the people and to the priests and Levites: Helkias and Zacharias and Jiel, the rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests, and they gave for the passover sheep and lambs and kids, two thousand six hundred, and three hundred calves.

 

9 And Chonenias and Banaias and Samaias and Nathanael his brother, and Asabia and Jiel and Jozabad, rulers of the Levites, offered to the Levites for the passover five thousand sheep and five hundred calves.

 

10 And the service was set in order, and the priests stood at their station and the Levites in their divisions, according to the command of the king.

 

11 And they sacrificed the passover, and the priests poured out the blood from their hand, and the Levites flayed the victims.

 

12 And they prepared the whole burnt offering to deliver to them according to the division, according to the houses of the fathers, to the sons of the people, to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses; and thus until the morning.

 

13 And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance, and boiled the holy things in the brazen vessels and in the cauldrons; and it went well, and they ran to all the sons of the people.

 

14 And after they had prepared for themselves and for the priests—for the priests were engaged in offering up the fat and the whole burnt offerings until night—then the Levites prepared for themselves and for their brethren, the sons of Aaron.

 

15 And the singers, the sons of Asaph, were at their station according to the commands of David, and Asaph and Aiman and Idithon, the prophets of the king; and the rulers and the porters at every gate, it was not for them to stir from the service of the holy things, for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.

 

16 And all the service of the Lord was set in order and prepared on that day, to keep the passover and to offer the whole burnt offerings upon the altar of the Lord, according to the command of king Josiah.

 

17 And the sons of Israel who were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.

 

18 And there was no passover like it in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet, and none of all the kings of Israel kept such a passover as Josiah kept, with the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to the Lord,

 

19 in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah.

 

19a And king Josiah burned the ventriloquists and the wizards and the theraphin and the idols and the carasim, which were in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law which were written in the book that Helkias the priest found in the house of the Lord.

 

19b There was no one like him before him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, according to all the law of Moses, and after him there arose none like him.

 

19c Nevertheless the Lord turned not from the anger of his great wrath, wherewith the Lord was angered in wrath against Judah, for all the provocations wherewith Manasses provoked him.

 

19d And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also from my presence, as I removed Israel, and I have rejected the city which I chose, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.

 

20 And Pharaoh Nechao king of Egypt went up against the king of the Assyrians to the river Euphrates, and king Josiah went to meet him.

 

21 And he sent messengers to him, saying, What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I am not come against you today to make war; and God has commanded me to make haste: beware of the God who is with me, lest he destroy you.

 

22 But Josiah did not turn his face from him, but strengthened himself to fight against him, and did not listen to the words of Nechao from the mouth of God, and he came to fight in the plain of Magedon.

 

23 And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Take me out, for I am grievously wounded.

 

24 And his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot which he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried with his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah,

 

25 and Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the chief men and chief women uttered a lament over Josiah until this day; and they made it an ordinance in Israel, and behold, it is written in the laments.

 

26 And the acts of Josiah and his hope were written in the law of the Lord;

 

27 and his acts, the first and the last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

 

Chapter 36

 

1 And the people of the land took Joachaz son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in place of his father in Jerusalem.

 

2 Joachaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

 

2a And his mother's name was Amital, daughter of Jeremiah, of Lobena.

 

2b And he did evil in the sight of the Lord according to all that his fathers had done.

 

2c And Pharaoh Nechao bound him at Deblatha in the land of Emath, so that he should not reign in Jerusalem,

 

3and the king carried him away to Egypt, and imposed tribute on the land: a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

 

4And Pharaoh Nechao appointed Eliakim son of Josiah king of Judah in place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Joakim; and Pharaoh Nechao took Joachaz his brother and brought him into Egypt, and he died there.

 

4a And they gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; then the land began to be taxed to give the silver at the command of Pharaoh, and each one according to his ability exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land to give to Pharaoh Nechao.

 

5 Joakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Zechora, daughter of Nerias, of Rama. And he did evil before the Lord according to all that his fathers had done.

 

5a In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came into the land, and he served him three years, and then revolted from him.

 

5b And the Lord sent against them the Chaldeans, and raiding bands of Syrians, and raiding bands of Moabites and of the sons of Ammon and of Samaria; and they revolted after this word, according to the word of the Lord by the hand of his servants the prophets.

 

5c Yet the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah, to remove him from before his face, because of the sins of Manasseh in all that he did,

 

5d and for the innocent blood which Joakim shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; yet the Lord did not will to destroy them utterly.

 

6 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him and bound him in fetters of bronze and led him away to Babylon.

 

7 And he carried off part of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and placed them in his temple in Babylon.

 

8 And the rest of the acts of Joakim, and all that he did, behold, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And Joakim slept with his fathers and was buried in Ganoza with his fathers, and Jechonias his son reigned in his place.

 

9 Jechonias was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

 

10 And at the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him into Babylon, together with the precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and made Sedekias, his father's brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem.

 

11 Sedekias was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

 

12 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord his God; he was not abashed before Jeremiah the prophet, nor at the mouth of the Lord,

 

13 in that he broke faith with King Nebuchadnezzar, in the matters concerning which he had made him swear by God; and he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart so as not to return to the Lord God of Israel.

 

14 And all the notables of Judah and the priests and the people of the land multiplied their transgressions with the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.

 

15 And the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word by the hand of prophets, rising early and sending his messengers, for he was sparing his people and his sanctuary;

 

16 but they kept mocking his messengers and despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

 

17 And he brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, and he slew their young men with the sword in the house of his sanctuary, and he did not spare Sedekias; and they had no mercy on their virgins, and they led away their elders; he delivered everything into their hands.

 

18 And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures, and all the treasures of the king and of the nobles—everything he carried into Babylon.

 

19 And he burned the house of the Lord, and razed the wall of Jerusalem, and burned its palaces with fire, and every beautiful vessel he gave over to destruction.

 

20 And he deported the remnant to Babylon, and they were slaves to him and to his sons until the kingdom of the Medes,

 

21 that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, until the land should accept its sabbaths, keeping sabbath; all the days of its desolation it kept sabbath, to the completion of seventy years.

 

22 In the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, after the fulfillment of the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of the Persians, and he commanded a proclamation to be made throughout all his kingdom, in writing, saying:

 

23 Thus says Cyrus king of the Persians: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me, and he himself has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem in Judea. Who is there among you of all his people? His God shall be with him, and let him go up.