4 Kingdoms

 

Chapter 1

 

1 And Moab rebelled against Israel after Ahab died.

 

2 And Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria and became ill. And he sent messengers and said to them, "Go and inquire of Baal the Fly, god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this my illness." And they went to inquire through him.

 

3 But an angel of the Lord spoke to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, "Arise, go to meet the messengers of Ahaziah king of Samaria, and you shall say to them, 'Is it because there is no god in Israel that you go to inquire of Baal the Fly, god of Ekron?

 

4 It shall not be so; for thus says the Lord: The bed onto which you have gone up there, you shall not come down from it, for there you shall die by death.'" And Elijah went and spoke to them.

 

5 And the messengers returned to him, and he said to them, "Why have you returned?"

 

6 And they said to him, "A man came up to meet us and said to us, 'Go, return to the king who sent you and say to him: Thus says the Lord: Is it because there is no god in Israel that you go to seek Baal the Fly, god of Ekron? It shall not be so; the bed onto which you have gone up there, you shall not come down from it, for you shall die by death.'"

 

7 And he spoke to them, saying, "What sort of man was he who came up to meet you and spoke these words to you?"

 

8 And they said to him, "A hairy man, girded with a leather belt about his loins." And he said, "It is Elijah the Tishbite."

 

9 And he sent to him a captain of fifty and his fifty, and he went up and came to him; and behold, Elijah was sitting on the top of the mountain. And the captain of fifty said to him, "O man of God, the king has summoned you; come down."

 

10 And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, "If I am a man of God, fire shall come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty." And fire came down from heaven and devoured him and his fifty.

 

11 And again the king sent to him another captain of fifty and his fifty, and he went up, and the captain of fifty said to him, "O man of God, thus says the king: Come down quickly."

 

12 And Elijah answered and said to him, "If I am a man of God, fire shall come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty." And fire came down from heaven and devoured him and his fifty.

 

13 And yet again the king sent a third captain of fifty and his fifty, and the third captain of fifty came to him and bent his knees before Elijah and entreated him and said to him, "O man of God, let my life and the life of these your servants, these fifty, be precious in your eyes;

 

14 for behold, fire came down from heaven and devoured the first two captains of fifty and their fifties; and now let the life of your servants be precious in your eyes."

 

15 And an angel of the Lord said to Elijah, "Go down with him; do not fear them." And Elijah arose and went down with him to the king.

 

16 And Elijah said to him, "Thus says the Lord: Why have you sent messengers to seek Baal the Fly, god of Ekron? It shall not be so; the bed onto which you have gone up there—you shall not come down from it, for you shall die by death."

 

17 And he died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah spoke.

 

18 And the rest of the deeds of Ahaziah, all that he did, are they not written in the book of the daily acts of the kings of Israel?

 

18a And Joram son of Ahab reigned over Israel in Samaria twelve years, in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.

 

18b And he did what was evil before the Lord, yet not like his brothers nor like his mother;

 

18c and he tore down the pillars of Baal which his father had made, and shattered them; yet he clung to the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin, and did not depart from them.

 

18d And the Lord was angered with wrath against the house of Ahab. 

 

Chapter 2

 

1 And it came to pass, when the Lord was about to take Elijah up in a whirlwind as it were into heaven, that Elijah and Elisha went out of Gilgal.

 

2 And Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here, I pray, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel." And Elisha said, "As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." And they came to Bethel.

 

3 And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came to Elisha and said to him, "Do you know that today the Lord is taking your master from above your head?" And he said, "I too know it; be silent."

 

4 And Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here, I pray, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho." And Elisha said, "As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not forsake you." And they came to Jericho.

 

5 And the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, "Do you know that today the Lord is taking your master from above your head?" And he said, "Indeed I know it; be silent."

 

6 And Elijah said to him, "Stay here, I pray, for the Lord has sent me as far as the Jordan." And Elisha said, "As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not forsake you." And they both went on.

 

7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets came and stood opposite them far off; and the two of them stood by the Jordan.

 

8 And Elijah took his sheepskin mantle and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was divided this way and that, and they both crossed over on dry ground.

 

9 And it came to pass, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken up from you." And Elisha said, "Let a double portion of your spirit, I pray, be upon me."

 

10 And Elijah said, "You have asked a hard thing. If you see me being taken up from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be."

 

11 And it came to pass, as they went on walking and talking, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and they separated between the two of them; and Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind as it were into heaven.

 

12 And Elisha saw it and cried out, "Father, father, the chariot of Israel and its horseman!" And he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own garments and tore them in two pieces.

 

13 And he took up the mantle of Elijah, which had fallen from upon him, and Elisha returned and stood on the bank of the Jordan.

 

14 And he took the mantle of Elijah, which had fallen from upon him, and struck the water, and it did not part. And he said, "Where is the God of Elijah, even he?" And he struck the waters, and they were torn apart this way and that, and Elisha crossed over.

 

15 And the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho saw him from opposite and said, "The spirit of Elijah has rested upon Elisha." And they came to meet him and bowed down to him to the ground.

 

16 And they said to him, "Behold now, there are with your servants fifty men, sons of strength; let them go, we pray, and seek your master, lest the spirit of the Lord has taken him up and cast him into the Jordan or upon one of the mountains or upon one of the hills." And Elisha said, "You shall not send them."

 

17 But they pressed him until he was ashamed, and he said, "Send them." And they sent fifty men, and they searched three days and did not find him.

 

18 And they returned to him while he was staying in Jericho, and Elisha said, "Did I not say to you, Do not go?"

 

19 And the men of the city said to Elisha, "Behold, the situation of the city is good, as our lord sees, but the waters are bad and the land is barren."

 

20 And Elisha said, "Bring me a new jar and put salt in it." And they brought it to him.

 

21 And Elisha went out to the spring of the waters and cast salt there and said, "Thus says the Lord: I have healed these waters; there shall no longer be death or barrenness from them."

 

22 And the waters were healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.

 

23 And he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up on the way, small boys came out of the city and mocked him and said to him, "Go up, baldhead, go up!"

 

24 And he turned back after them and saw them and cursed them in the name of the Lord; and behold, two bears came out of the forest and tore apart forty-two children of them.

 

25 And he went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria. 

  

Chapter 3

 

1 And Joram son of Ahab became king over Israel in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years.

 

2 And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, yet not like his father and not like his mother, and he removed the pillars of Baal which his father had made.

 

3 Yet he clung to the sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it.

 

4 And Mesha king of Moab was a sheep-master, and he rendered to the king of Israel at the uprising a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams with their wool.

 

5 And it came to pass, after Ahab died, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

 

6 And King Joram went out on that day from Samaria and mustered Israel.

 

7 And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to Moab to war?" And he said, "I will go up; I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses."

 

8 And he said, "By what way shall I go up?" And he said, "By the way of the wilderness of Edom."

 

9 And the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom, and they made a circuit of seven days' journey, and there was no water for the camp or for the beasts that were at their feet.

 

10 And the king of Israel said, "Alas, for the Lord has called these three kings on their way, to give them into the hand of Moab."

 

11 And Jehoshaphat said, "Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord through him?" And one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, "Here is Elisha son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah."

 

12 And Jehoshaphat said, "The word of the Lord is with him." And the king of Israel went down to him, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and the king of Edom.

 

13 And Elisha said to the king of Israel, "What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father." And the king of Israel said to him, "No, for the Lord has called these three kings to deliver them into the hands of Moab."

 

14 And Elisha said, "As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look toward you nor see you.

 

15 But now bring me a minstrel." And it came to pass, as the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him,

 

16 and he said, "Thus says the Lord: Make this valley full of trenches upon trenches.

 

17 For thus says the Lord: You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain, yet this valley shall be filled with water, and you shall drink, you and your possessions and your beasts.

 

18 And this is a light thing in the eyes of the Lord; and I will deliver Moab into your hand,

 

19 and you shall strike every fortified city, and you shall fell every good tree, and you shall stop up all springs of water, and you shall ruin every good portion with stones."

 

20 And it came to pass in the morning, as the sacrifice was being offered, that behold, waters came from the way of Edom, and the land was filled with water.

 

21 And all Moab heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, and they cried out, calling everyone who girded on a belt and upward, and they stood at the border.

 

22 And they rose early in the morning, and the sun rose upon the waters; and Moab saw the waters opposite them red as blood,

 

23 and they said, "This is the blood of the sword; the kings have fought and each has struck down his neighbor. And now, to the spoils, Moab!"

 

24 And they came into the camp of Israel, and Israel arose and struck Moab, and they fled from before them. And they came in, going forward and striking Moab,

 

25 and they tore down the cities, and on every good portion each man cast his stone and filled it, and they stopped up every spring of water, and felled every good tree, until only the stones of the wall were left, torn down; and the slingers surrounded it and struck it.

 

26 And the king of Moab saw that the battle was too strong for him, and he took with him seven hundred men who drew the sword, to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not.

 

27 And he took his firstborn son, who was to reign in his place, and offered him up as a whole burnt offering upon the wall; and there came great remorse upon Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their land. 

  

Chapter 4

 

1 And a certain woman of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord; and the creditor has come to take my two sons for himself as slaves."

 

2 And Elisha said, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" And she said, "Your servant has nothing in the house except the oil with which I anoint myself."

 

3 And he said to her, "Go, ask for vessels for yourself from outside, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not get too few.

 

4 And you shall go in and shut the door behind yourself and behind your sons, and you shall pour into these vessels, and set aside what is filled."

 

5 And she departed from him and did so, and shut the door behind herself and behind her sons; they brought the vessels near to her, and she poured,

 

6 until the vessels were filled. And she said to her sons, "Bring me yet another vessel." And they said to her, "There is no other vessel." And the oil stopped.

 

7 And she came and told the man of God, and Elisha said, "Go and sell the oil, and pay off your interest, and you and your sons shall live on the remaining oil."

 

8 And it happened one day that Elisha crossed over to Shunem, and there was a great woman there, and she constrained him to eat bread. And it happened, whenever he passed by, he would turn aside to eat there.

 

9 And the woman said to her husband, "Behold now, I know that this is a holy man of God who passes by us continually.

 

10 Let us make him a small upper room, and let us put a bed there for him, and a table and a chair and a lampstand, and it shall be, when he comes to us, he will turn aside there."

 

11 And it happened one day that he came there and turned aside into the upper room and lay down there.

 

12 And he said to Gehazi his servant, "Call this Shunammite for me." And he called her, and she stood before him.

 

13 And he said to him, "Say now to her, 'Behold, you have gone to all this trouble for us; what should be done for you? Do you have a word for the king or for the commander of the army?'" And she said, "I dwell in the midst of my own people."

 

14 And he said, "What is to be done for her?" And Gehazi his servant said, "Indeed, she has no son, and her husband is old."

 

15 And he called her, and she stood at the door.

 

16 And Elisha said to her, "At this season, when the time comes round, you shall be embracing a son." And she said, "No, my lord, do not deceive your servant."

 

17 And the woman conceived and bore a son at that season, when the time came round, as Elisha had spoken to her.

 

18 And the child grew. And it happened, when the child went out to his father, to the reapers,

 

19 that he said to his father, "My head, my head!" And he said to the servant, "Carry him to his mother."

 

20 And he carried him to his mother, and he lay on her knees until noon, and he died.

 

21 And she carried him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door on him, and went out.

 

22 And she called her husband and said, "Send me now one of the servants and one of the donkeys, and I will run to the man of God and return."

 

23 And he said, "Why are you going to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath." And she said, "Peace."

 

24 And she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, "Come, drive on; do not hold back the riding for me unless I tell you."

 

25 So she went and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. And it happened, when Elisha saw her coming, that he said to Gehazi his servant, "Behold now, that Shunammite!

 

26 Now run to meet her, and you shall say, 'Is it peace with you? Is it peace with your husband? Is it peace with the child?'" And she said, "Peace."

 

27 And she came to Elisha at the mountain and grasped his feet. And Gehazi drew near to push her away, but Elisha said, "Let her alone, for her soul is in bitter anguish, and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me."

 

28 And she said, "Did I ask a son from my lord? Did I not say, 'Do not deceive me'?"

 

29 And Elisha said to Gehazi, "Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet a man, you shall not greet him, and if a man greets you, you shall not answer him; and you shall lay my staff upon the face of the child."

 

30 And the mother of the child said, "As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." And Elisha arose and went after her.

 

31 And Gehazi went on ahead of her and laid the staff upon the face of the child, but there was no voice and no hearing. And he returned to meet him and told him, saying, "The child has not awakened."

 

32 And Elisha came into the house, and behold, the child was dead, laid upon his bed.

 

33 And Elisha went into the house and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord.

 

34 And he went up and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth and his eyes upon his eyes and his hands upon his hands, and bent over him, and the flesh of the child grew warm.

 

35 And he turned and walked in the house to and fro, and went up and bent over the child up to seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

 

36 And Elisha called out to Gehazi and said, "Call this Shunammite." And he called her, and she came in to him. And Elisha said, "Take your son."

 

37 And the woman came in and fell at his feet and bowed down to the ground, and took her son and went out.

 

38 And Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. And Elisha said to his servant, "Set the great cauldron on, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets."

 

39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a vine in the field and gathered from it wild gourds, his garment full, and threw them into the cauldron of pottage, for they did not know them.

 

40 And he poured out for the men to eat. And it happened, as they were eating of the pottage, behold, they cried out and said, "There is death in the cauldron, O man of God!" And they could not eat.

 

41 And he said, "Take flour and throw it into the cauldron." And Elisha said to Gehazi the servant, "Pour out for the people and let them eat." And there was no longer any harmful thing in the cauldron.

 

42 And a man came from Baal-shalishah and brought to the man of God firstfruits: twenty barley loaves and cakes of fruit. And he said, "Give to the people and let them eat."

 

43 And his attendant said, "How shall I set this before a hundred men?" And he said, "Give to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord: 'They shall eat and have some left over.'"

 

44 And they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord. 

  

Chapter 5

 

1 Now Naaman, the commander of the army of Syria, was a great man before his lord and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Syria; and the man was mighty in strength, but a leper.

 

2 And raiding bands went out from Syria and took captive from the land of Israel a little girl, and she was in the service of Naaman's wife.

 

3 And she said to her mistress, "Would that my lord were before the prophet of God who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy."

 

4 And he went in and told his lord, saying, "Thus and so spoke the girl who is from the land of Israel."

 

5 And the king of Syria said to Naaman, "Come, go, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel." And he went and took in his hand ten talents of silver and six thousand pieces of gold and ten changes of clothing.

 

6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, "And now, when this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent to you Naaman my servant, and you shall cure him of his leprosy."

 

7 And it came to pass, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his garments and said, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only know now and see that he is seeking a pretext against me."

 

8 And it came to pass, when Elisha heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments, that he sent to the king of Israel, saying, "Why have you torn your garments? Let Naaman come to me, and let him know that there is a prophet in Israel."

 

9 And Naaman came with horse and chariot and stood at the door of Elisha's house.

 

10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be cleansed."

 

11 And Naaman was angry and went away and said, "Behold, I said that he would come out to me and stand and call on the name of his God and lay his hand on the place and cure the leprosy.

 

12 Are not Abana and Pharphar, the rivers of Damascus, better than the Jordan and all the waters of Israel? Could I not go and wash in them and be cleansed?" And he turned and went away in a rage.

 

13 And his servants came near and spoke to him: "If the prophet had spoken a great word to you, would you not do it? How much more when he said to you, 'Wash and be cleansed'?"

 

14 And Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of Elisha, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was cleansed.

 

15 And he returned to Elisha, he and all his company, and he came and stood and said, "Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; and now, accept a blessing from your servant."

 

16 And Elisha said, "As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will not take it." And he urged him to take it, but he refused.

 

17 And Naaman said, "If not, then let there be given to your servant a load of a pair of mules, and you shall give me some of the red earth; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods, but to the Lord alone.

 

18 And may the Lord be merciful to your servant in this: when my lord goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon when he bows down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord be merciful to your servant in this matter."

 

19 And Elisha said to Naaman, "Go in peace." And he departed from him some distance of the land.

 

20 And Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, said, "Behold, my lord has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not taking from his hand what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will surely run after him and take something from him."

 

21 And Gehazi pursued after Naaman, and Naaman saw him running after him and turned back from the chariot to meet him.

 

22 And he said, "Peace. My lord has sent me, saying, 'Behold, just now two young men have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim, of the sons of the prophets. Give them, please, a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.'"

 

23 And Naaman said, "Take two talents of silver." And he took them in two bags, along with two changes of clothing, and he laid them on two of his servants, and they carried them before him.

 

24 And they came to the dark place, and he took them from their hands and stored them in the house and sent the men away.

 

25 And he himself went in and stood before his lord. And Elisha said to him, "Where have you been, Gehazi?" And Gehazi said, "Your servant has not gone here or there."

 

26 And Elisha said to him, "Did not my heart go with you, when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? And now you have taken the silver, and now you have taken the garments, and with it you shall acquire gardens and olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and menservants and maidservants;

 

27 and the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your offspring forever." And he went out from his presence a leper, white as snow. 

  

Chapter 6

 

1 And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "Behold now, the place where we dwell before you is too narrow for us.

 

2 Let us go now to the Jordan, and let each man take from there one beam, and let us make for ourselves a place there to dwell there." And he said, "Come."

 

3 And one of them said, "Kindly come with your servants." And he said, "I will go."

 

4 And he went with them, and they came to the Jordan and were cutting the timber.

 

5 And behold, as one was felling the beam, the iron axe-head fell into the water. And he cried out, "O master! And it was borrowed!"

 

6 And the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" And he showed him the place. And he broke off a piece of wood and threw it there, and the iron floated.

 

7 And he said, "Lift it up for yourself." And he stretched out his hand and took it.

 

8 Now the king of Syria was at war with Israel, and he took counsel with his servants, saying, "In such-and-such a place I will make my camp."

 

9 And Elisha sent to the king of Israel, saying, "Beware of passing by this place, for Syria lies hidden there."

 

10 And the king of Israel sent to the place which Elisha told him, and he guarded himself from there not once nor twice.

 

11 And the soul of the king of Syria was stirred up over this matter, and he called his servants and said to them, "Will you not tell me who is betraying me to the king of Israel?"

 

12 And one of his servants said, "No, my lord king; rather Elisha the prophet who is in Israel tells the king of Israel all the words that you speak in the inner chamber of your bedroom."

 

13 And he said, "Go, see where this man is, and I will send and take him." And they reported to him, saying, "Behold, he is in Dothan."

 

14 And he sent there horses and a chariot and a heavy force, and they came by night and surrounded the city.

 

15 And the servant of Elisha rose early to get up and went out, and behold, a force was encircling the city, with horses and chariots. And the young man said to him, "O master, what shall we do?"

 

16 And Elisha said, "Do not fear, for those with us are more than those with them."

 

17 And Elisha prayed and said, "Lord, open the eyes of the young man, and let him see." And the Lord opened his eyes, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses, and a chariot of fire was around Elisha.

 

18 And they came down to him, and Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, "Strike now this nation with blindness." And he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

 

19 And Elisha said to them, "This is not the city, and this is not the way. Come after me, and I will lead you to the man whom you seek." And he led them away to Samaria.

 

20 And it came to pass, when they entered Samaria, that Elisha said, "Open now, Lord, their eyes, and let them see." And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

 

21 And the king of Israel said, when he saw them, "Shall I indeed strike them, father?"

 

22 And he said, "You shall not strike them. Would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? Set bread and water before them, and let them eat and drink and go away to their master."

 

23 And he set before them a great feast, and they ate and drank; and he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the raiding bands of Syria no longer came into the land of Israel.

 

24 And it came to pass after these things that the son of Ader, king of Syria, gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria.

 

25 And there was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, they besieged it until a donkey's head was worth fifty shekels of silver and a quarter of a kab of doves' dung five shekels of silver.

 

26 And the king of Israel was passing along upon the wall, and a woman cried out to him, saying, "Save me, my lord king."

 

27 And he said to her, "If the Lord does not save you, from where shall I save you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?"

 

28 And the king said to her, "What is the matter with you?" And she said, "This woman said to me, 'Give your son, and we will eat him today, and my son, and we will eat him tomorrow.'

 

29 And we boiled my son and ate him. And I said to her on the second day, 'Give your son, and let us eat him,' and she has hidden her son."

 

30 And it came to pass, when the king of Israel heard the words of the woman, that he tore his garments; and he was passing along upon the wall, and the people saw the sackcloth upon his flesh underneath.

 

31 And he said, "May God do thus to me and add thus more, if the head of Elisha shall stand upon him this day."

 

32 And Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man before him. Before the messenger came to him, he himself said to the elders, "Do you know that this son of the murderer has sent to take off my head? See, when the messenger comes, shut the door and press him back at the door. Is not the sound of his master's feet behind him?"

 

33 While he was still speaking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him and said, "Behold, this evil is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?" 

  

Chapter 7

 

1 And Elisha said, "Hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord: About this hour tomorrow, a measure of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gates of Samaria."

 

2 And the officer on whose hand the king leaned answered Elisha and said, "Behold, even if the Lord should make floodgates in heaven, could this thing be?" And Elisha said, "Behold, you shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it."

 

3 Now there were four leprous men at the gate of the city, and one man said to his neighbor, "Why do we sit here until we die?

 

4 If we say, 'Let us enter the city,' the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we sit here, we shall also die. So now, come, let us fall upon the camp of Syria; if they spare us alive, we shall live, and if they put us to death, we shall die."

 

5 And they arose in the darkness to enter the camp of Syria, and they came to the edge of the camp of Syria, and behold, there was no man there.

 

6 For the Lord had made the camp of Syria hear the sound of chariots and the sound of horses and the sound of a great army, and one man said to his brother, "Now the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us."

 

7 So they arose and fled in the darkness, and abandoned their tents and their horses and their donkeys in the camp as it was, and fled for their lives.

 

8 And these lepers came to the edge of the camp, and entered one tent and ate and drank, and carried off from there silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; and they returned and entered another tent and took from there and went and hid it.

 

9 Then one man said to his neighbor, "We are not doing right; this day is a day of good tidings, and we keep silent. If we wait until the morning light, we shall find punishment. So now, come, let us go and report to the house of the king."

 

10 So they came and called to the gate of the city and reported to them, saying, "We went into the camp of Syria, and behold, there is no man there, nor voice of a man, but only horses tied and donkeys, and their tents just as they were."

 

11 And the gatekeepers called out and reported to the house of the king within.

 

12 And the king arose in the night and said to his servants, "Let me tell you what Syria has done to us. They know that we are hungry, so they have gone out of the camp and hidden themselves in the field, saying, 'They will come out of the city, and we shall take them alive and enter into the city.'"

 

13 And one of his servants answered and said, "Let them take, I pray, five of the horses that remain, which are left here, behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel that has perished and let us send there and see."

 

14 So they took two horsemen, and the king of Israel sent them after the king of Syria, saying, "Go and see."

 

15 And they went after them as far as the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of garments and equipment which Syria had cast away in their panic; and the messengers returned and told the king.

 

16 And the people went out and plundered the camp of Syria, and a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.

 

17 And the king appointed the officer on whose hand the king leaned to be over the gate, and the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the messenger came down to him.

 

18 And it came to pass just as Elisha had said to the king, saying, "Two measures of barley for a shekel and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, and it shall be about this hour tomorrow in the gate of Samaria."

 

19 And the officer had answered Elisha and said, "Behold, even if the Lord should make floodgates in heaven, could this thing be?" And Elisha said, "Behold, you shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it."

 

20 And so it happened to him, and the people trampled him in the gate, and he died. 

 

Chapter 8

 

1 And Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, "Arise, and go, you and your household, and sojourn wherever you may sojourn, for the Lord has called a famine upon the land, and indeed it has come upon the land for seven years."

 

2 And the woman arose and did according to the word of Elisha, and she went, she and her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.

 

3 And it came to pass after the end of the seven years that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines to the city, and she came to cry out to the king concerning her house and concerning her fields.

 

4 And the king was speaking to Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, saying, "Relate to me, I pray, all the great things which Elisha has done."

 

5 And it came to pass, as he was recounting to the king how he had restored to life a dead son, that behold, the woman whose son Elisha had restored to life was crying out to the king concerning her house and concerning her fields. And Gehazi said, "My lord king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life."

 

6 And the king questioned the woman, and she recounted it to him. And the king gave her one eunuch, saying, "Restore all that was hers, and all the produce of her field from the day she left the land until now."

 

7 And Elisha came to Damascus, and the son of Hadad, king of Syria, was sick; and they told him, saying, "The man of God has come here."

 

8 And the king said to Hazael, "Take in your hand a gift, and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the Lord through him, saying, 'Shall I recover from this my sickness?'"

 

9 And Hazael went to meet him, and took a gift in his hand and all the good things of Damascus, forty camels' burden, and came and stood before him and said to Elisha, "Your son, the son of Hadad, king of Syria, has sent me to you, saying, 'Shall I recover from this my sickness?'"

 

10 And Elisha said, "Go, say to him, 'You shall surely live'; but the Lord has shown me that he shall surely die."

 

11 And he stood before his face and fixed his gaze until he was ashamed; and the man of God wept.

 

12 And Hazael said, "Why does my lord weep?" And he said, "Because I know all the evils you will do to the sons of Israel: their strongholds you will send up in fire, and their chosen men you will kill with the sword, and their infants you will dash to pieces, and their women with child you will rip open."

 

13 And Hazael said, "What is your servant, the dead dog, that he should do this thing?" And Elisha said, "The Lord has shown me you reigning over Syria."

 

14 And he departed from Elisha and went in to his lord, and he said to him, "What did Elisha say to you?" And he said, "He said to me, 'You shall surely live.'"

 

15 And it came to pass on the next day that he took the coverlet and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, and he died; and Hazael reigned in his place.

 

16 In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, Joram son of Jehoshaphat became king of Judah.

 

17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

 

18 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab did, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

 

19 But the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah for the sake of David his servant, as he had said, to give him a lamp, and to his sons, all the days.

 

20 In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and they made a king over themselves.

 

21 And Joram went up to Zair, and all the chariots with him; and it came to pass, when he arose, that he struck Edom which had surrounded him, and the commanders of the chariots; and the people fled to their tents.

 

22 And Edom has revolted from under the hand of Judah until this day. Then Libnah revolted at that time.

 

23 And the rest of the acts of Joram and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

 

24 And Joram slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.

 

25 In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Joram became king.

 

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

 

27 And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the Lord, as did the house of Ahab.

 

28 And he went with Joram son of Ahab to war against Hazael, king of the Philistines, at Ramoth-gilead; and the Syrians struck Joram.

 

29 And king Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel from the wounds with which they had struck him at Ramoth, when he fought against Hazael, king of Syria; and Ahaziah son of Joram went down to see Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick. 

  

Chapter 9

 

1 And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, "Gird up your loins, and take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead.

 

2 And you shall enter there, and you shall see there Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi; and you shall go in and raise him up from among his brothers and bring him into the inner chamber, within the chamber.

 

3 And you shall take the flask of oil and pour it upon his head, and say, 'Thus says the Lord: I have anointed you as king over Israel.' Then you shall open the door and flee, and you shall not stay."

 

4 And the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead

 

5 and entered, and behold, the commanders of the army were sitting, and he said, "I have a word for you, O commander." And Jehu said, "For which one of us all?" And he said, "For you, O commander."

 

6 And he arose and went into the house, and he poured the oil upon his head and said to him, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I have anointed you as king over the people of the Lord, over Israel,

 

7 and you shall utterly destroy the house of Ahab your master from before my face, and you shall avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel

 

8 and at the hand of the whole house of Ahab; and you shall cut off from the house of Ahab every male who urinates against a wall, both him who is confined and him who is left in Israel.

 

9 And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah.

 

10 And the dogs shall devour Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be no one to bury her." And he opened the door and fled.

 

11 And Jehu went out to the servants of his master, and they said to him, "Is it peace? Why did this mad fellow come in to you?" And he said to them, "You know the man and his babbling."

 

12 And they said, "That is false; tell us now." And Jehu said to them, "Thus and so he spoke to me, saying, 'Thus says the Lord: I have anointed you as king over Israel.'"

 

13 And when they heard, they hurried, and each man took his garment and placed it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the horn and said, "Jehu is king!"

 

14 And Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi conspired against Joram — now Joram himself was keeping guard at Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, against Hazael king of Syria,

 

15 and Joram the king had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had inflicted on him when he fought with Hazael king of Syria — and Jehu said, "If your heart is with me, let no fugitive go out of the city to go and report it in Jezreel."

 

16 And Jehu mounted and rode and went down to Jezreel, for Joram king of Israel was being treated in Jezreel for the arrow wounds which the Arameans had shot into him at Ramah in the war with Hazael king of Syria, for he was mighty, a man of valor and Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram.

 

17 And the watchman went up on the tower in Jezreel and saw the dust cloud of Jehu as he approached, and he said, "I see a dust cloud." And Joram said, "Take a horseman and send him to meet them, and let him say, 'Is it peace?'"

 

18 And a rider on horseback went to meet them and said, "Thus says the king: Is it peace?" And Jehu said, "What have you to do with peace? Turn around behind me." And the watchman reported, saying, "The messenger came to them and has not returned."

 

19 And he sent a second rider on horseback, and he came to him and said, "Thus says the king: Is it peace?" And Jehu said, "What have you to do with peace? Turn around behind me."

 

20 And the watchman reported, saying, "He came to them and has not returned. And the driver is driving like Jehu son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously."

 

21 And Joram said, "Harness!" And he harnessed a chariot. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his own chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu, and they found him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.

 

22 And it happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, "Is it peace, Jehu?" And Jehu said, "What peace, so long as the harlotries of Jezebel your mother and her many sorceries continue?"

 

23 And Joram turned his hands to flee, and said to Ahaziah, "Treachery, Ahaziah!"

 

24 And Jehu filled his hand with the bow and struck Joram between his arms, and the arrow went out through his heart, and he sank down on his knees.

 

25 And Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, "Throw him into the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for I remember, you and I riding on teams behind Ahab his father, when the Lord took up this oracle against him, saying,

 

26 'Surely the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons I saw yesterday, says the Lord, and I will repay him in this portion, says the Lord.' Now then, take him up and throw him into the portion, according to the word of the Lord."

 

27 And Ahaziah king of Judah saw and fled by the way of Beth-haggan, and Jehu pursued after him and said, "Him too!" And he struck him in the chariot at the ascent of Gur, which is Ibleam; and he fled to Megiddo and died there.

 

28 And his servants put him on the chariot and brought him to Jerusalem, and they buried him in his tomb in the city of David.

 

29 And in the eleventh year of Joram king of Israel, Ahaziah became king over Judah.

 

30 And Jehu came to Jezreel; and Jezebel heard, and she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out through the window.

 

31 And Jehu was entering the city, and she said, "Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of his master?"

 

32 And he lifted his face toward the window and saw her and said, "Who are you? Come down with me." And two eunuchs looked down toward him.

 

33 And he said, "Roll her down!" And they rolled her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled her.

 

34 And Jehu went in and ate and drank, and said, "See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter."

 

35 And they went to bury her, but they found nothing of her except the skull and the feet and the palms of the hands.

 

36 And they returned and told him, and he said, "It is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by the hand of his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'In the portion of Jezreel the dogs shall devour the flesh of Jezebel,

 

37 and the corpse of Jezebel shall be like dung on the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they cannot say, "This is Jezebel."'" 

 

Chapter 10

 

1 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote a letter and sent it to Samaria, to the rulers of Samaria and to the elders and to the guardians of the sons of Ahab, saying,

 

2 "And now, as soon as this letter comes to you, since the sons of your lord are with you, and with you are the chariot and the horses and fortified cities and the weapons,

 

3 you shall look for the best and most upright among the sons of your lord, and set him upon his father's throne, and fight for the house of your lord."

 

4 And they were exceedingly afraid, and said, "Behold, the two kings did not stand before him; and how shall we stand?"

 

5 And those over the house and those over the city and the elders and the guardians sent to Jehu, saying, "We are your servants, and whatever you say to us we will do; we will not make any man king; we will do what is good in your eyes."

 

6 And he wrote a second letter to them, saying, "If you are for me and you hearken to my voice, take the heads of the men, the sons of your lord, and bring them to me at this time tomorrow to Jezreel." Now the sons of the king were seventy men; the great men of the city were rearing them.

 

7 And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the sons of the king and slaughtered them, seventy men, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.

 

8 And the messenger came and reported, saying, "They have brought the heads of the sons of the king." And he said, "Set them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning."

 

9 And it came to pass in the morning that he went out and stood in the gateway of the city and said to all the people, "You are righteous; behold, it is I who conspired against my lord and killed him; but who struck down all these?

 

10 See now that nothing of the word of the Lord shall fall to the ground, which the Lord spoke against the house of Ahab; and the Lord has done all that he spoke by the hand of his servant Elijah."

 

11 And Jehu struck down all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men and his acquaintances and his priests, so as to leave him no remnant.

 

12 And he arose and went to Samaria. He was at Beth-eked of the shepherds on the way,

 

13 and Jehu found the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah and said, "Who are you?" And they said, "We are the brothers of Ahaziah, and we came down for the peace of the sons of the king and the sons of the queen mother."

 

14 And he said, "Take them alive." And they took them alive, and slaughtered them at Beth-eked, forty-two men; he did not leave a man of them.

 

15 And he went from there and found Jonadab the son of Rechab on the way to meet him, and he blessed him. And Jehu said to him, "Is your heart upright with my heart, as my heart is with your heart?" And Jonadab said, "It is." And Jehu said, "If it is, give me your hand." And he gave his hand, and he brought him up to himself onto the chariot

 

16 and said to him, "Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord Sabaoth." And he seated him in his chariot.

 

17 And he entered Samaria and struck down all who remained of Ahab in Samaria until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke to Elijah.

 

18 And Jehu gathered all the people together and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much.

 

19 And now, all you prophets of Baal, call to me all his servants and his priests; let not a man be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal; whoever is missing shall not live." But Jehu acted with deceit, in order to destroy the servants of Baal.

 

20 And Jehu said, "Sanctify a solemn service for Baal." And they proclaimed it.

 

21 And Jehu sent throughout all Israel, saying, "And now, all the servants of Baal and all his priests and all his prophets, let no one be left behind, for I am making a great sacrifice; whoever is left behind shall not live." And all the servants of Baal came, and all his priests and all his prophets; there was left no man who did not come. And they entered the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled from end to end.

 

22 And Jehu said to him who was over the wardrobe, "Bring out vestments for all the servants of Baal." And the keeper of the vestments brought them out to them.

 

23 And Jehu went in, and Jonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal, and said to the servants of Baal, "Search and see whether there is with you any of the servants of the Lord, and that there be none but the servants of Baal alone."

 

24 And he went in to offer the sacrifices and the whole burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed for himself outside eighty men and said, "Any man who escapes of the men whom I bring into your hands, his life shall be for that man's life."

 

25 And it came to pass, when he had finished offering the whole burnt offering, that Jehu said to the runners and the officers, "Go in and strike them down; let not a man of them come out." And they struck them with the edge of the sword; and the runners and the officers cast them out, and went as far as the city of the house of Baal.

 

26 And they brought out the pillar of Baal and burned it.

 

27 And they tore down the pillars of Baal and demolished the house of Baal, and appointed it for latrines unto this day.

 

28 So Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.

 

29 Only, from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu did not turn aside from following them—the golden heifers in Bethel and in Dan.

 

30 And the Lord said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in performing what is upright in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in my heart, sons of the fourth generation shall sit for you upon the throne of Israel."

 

31 But Jehu did not take heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart; he did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

 

32 In those days the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel, and Hazael struck them in every border of Israel,

 

33 from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead of the Gadites and the Reubenites and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is on the bank of the brook Arnon, and Gilead and Bashan.

 

34 And the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, and the alliances that he made, are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

 

35 And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria; and Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead. 36 And the days that Jehu reigned over Israel were twenty-eight years in Samaria. 

 

Chapter 11

 

1 And Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her sons were dead, and she destroyed all the seed of the kingdom.

 

2 And Jehosheba, daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of her brother and stole him from among the king's sons who were being put to death, him and his nurse, in the bedchamber, and hid him from the face of Athaliah, and he was not put to death.

 

3 And he was with her hidden in the house of the Lord six years; and Athaliah reigned over the land.

 

4 And in the seventh year Jehoiada the priest sent and took the captains of hundreds, the Chorri and the Rasim, and brought them to him into the house of the Lord, and made with them a covenant of the Lord, and made them swear before the Lord; and Jehoiada showed them the king's son.

 

5 And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that you shall do: let a third of you enter on the sabbath and keep the watch of the king's house at the gateway,

 

6 and a third at the gate of the ways, and a third at the gate behind the runners; and you shall keep the watch of the house.

 

7 And two divisions among you, everyone going out on the sabbath, shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord for the king.

 

8 And encircle the king round about, each man with his weapon in his hand, and whoever enters the ranks shall die. And be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in.

 

9 And the captains of hundreds did all that Jehoiada the wise commanded, and each man took his men who were coming in on the sabbath with those going out on the sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest.

 

10 And the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the shields of King David which were in the house of the Lord.

 

11 And the runners stood, each man with his weapon in his hand, from the right corner of the house to the left corner of the house, by the altar and the house, around the king.

 

12 And he brought out the king's son and put upon him the crown and the testimony, and made him king and anointed him; and they clapped their hands and said, Long live the king!

 

13 And Athaliah heard the sound of the people running, and came in to the people into the house of the Lord.

 

14 And she looked, and behold, the king stood by the pillar according to the custom, and the singers and the trumpets were beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets; and Athaliah tore her garments and cried, Conspiracy! Conspiracy!

 

15 And Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds, the overseers of the force, and said to them: Bring her out from within the ranks, and whoever follows after her shall surely be put to death with the sword. For the priest said, Let her not die in the house of the Lord.

 

16 And they laid hands on her, and she went by the way of the horses' entrance of the king's house, and died there.

 

17 And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be a people to the Lord, and between the king and the people.

 

18 And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal and tore it down, and they thoroughly shattered his altars and his images, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars; and the priest set overseers over the house of the Lord.

 

19 And he took the captains of hundreds, and the Chorri and the Rasim, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, and he came by the way of the gate of the runners of the king's house, and they seated him on the throne of the kings.

 

20 And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet; and they put Athaliah to death with the sword in the king's house. 

 

Chapter 12

 

1 Joash was seven years old when he began to reign.

 

2 In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Abia, from Beersheba.

 

3 And Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days that Jehoiada the priest instructed him;

 

4 only the high places were not removed, and there the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

 

5 And Joash said to the priests, "All the money of the holy things that is brought into the house of the Lord, money of assessment, each man taking money of assessment, all money that may come into a man's heart to bring into the house of the Lord,

 

6 let the priests take for themselves, each man from his sale, and they shall repair the breach of the house wherever any breach is found there."

 

7 And it came to pass in the twenty-third year of King Joash that the priests had not repaired the breach of the house.

 

8 And King Joash called Jehoiada the priest and the priests and said to them, "Why is it that you have not repaired the breach of the house? Now therefore, take no money from your sales, for you shall give it for the breach of the house."

 

9 And the priests agreed not to take money from the people and not to repair the breach of the house.

 

10 And Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid and set it beside the iamibin in the house of a man of the house of the Lord, and the priests who kept the threshold put in all the money that was found in the house of the Lord.

 

11 And it came to pass, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king's scribe and the high priest went up, and they bound it up and counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord.

 

12 And they gave the money that was prepared into the hands of those who did the work, the overseers of the house of the Lord, and they paid it out to the carpenters of wood and to the builders who worked in the house of the Lord,

 

13 and to the wall-builders and to the hewers of stone, to buy timber and hewn stones to repair the breach of the house of the Lord, for all that was expended on the house to strengthen it;

 

14 but there were not made for the house of the Lord silver doors, nails, bowls, or trumpets, any vessel of gold or vessel of silver, from the money that was brought into the house of the Lord,

 

15 for they gave it to those who did the work, and with it they strengthened the house of the Lord.

 

16 And they did not call to account the men into whose hands they gave the money to give to those who did the work, for they acted in good faith.

 

17 The money for a sin offering and the money for a trespass offering, whatever was brought into the house of the Lord, belonged to the priests.

 

18 Then Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it. And Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem.

 

19 And Joash king of Judah took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had consecrated, and his own holy things, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king's house, and sent them to Hazael king of Syria; and he went up from Jerusalem.

 

20 And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

 

21 And his servants arose and made a conspiracy and struck down Joash in the house of Millo, which is in Gaalla.

 

22 And Jozachar the son of Jemuath and Jezebuth his son, Somer, his servants, struck him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Amaziah his son reigned in his place. 

  

Chapter 13

 

1 In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign in Samaria, seventeen years.

 

2 And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and walked after the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin; he did not depart from them.

 

3 And the Lord was angered with wrath against Israel, and gave them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael all the days.

 

4 And Jehoahaz besought the face of the Lord, and the Lord heard him, for he saw the affliction of Israel, that the king of Syria afflicted them.

 

5 And the Lord gave salvation to Israel, and they went out from under the hand of Syria, and the sons of Israel dwelt in their tents as yesterday and the day before.

 

6 Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin; in them they walked; and indeed the grove stood in Samaria.

 

7 For there was not left to Jehoahaz a people, except fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Syria destroyed them and made them like dust for trampling.

 

8 And the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his mighty deeds—are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

 

9 And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in Samaria, and Joash his son reigned in his stead.

 

10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Joash the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, sixteen years.

 

11 And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin; in them he walked.

 

12 And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his mighty deeds which he did with Amaziah king of Judah, are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

 

13 And Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat upon his throne in Samaria with the sons of Israel.

 

14 And Elisha fell sick with his sickness by which he died. And Joash king of Israel came down to him and wept over his face and said, Father, father, the chariot of Israel and its horseman.

 

15 And Elisha said to him, Take a bow and arrows; and he took to himself a bow and arrows.

 

16 And he said to the king, Put your hand upon the bow; and Joash put his hand upon the bow, and Elisha laid his hands upon the hands of the king.

 

17 And he said, Open the window toward the east; and he opened it. And Elisha said, Shoot; and he shot. And he said, An arrow of salvation for the Lord, and an arrow of salvation against Syria; and you shall smite Syria in Aphek until you have made an end.

 

18 And Elisha said to him, Take the arrows; and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Strike upon the ground; and the king struck three times and stopped.

 

19 And the man of God was grieved at him and said, If you had struck five or six times, then you would have smitten Syria until you had made an end; but now you shall smite Syria three times.

 

20 And Elisha died, and they buried him. And marauding bands of Moab came into the land at the coming of the year.

 

21 And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, behold, they saw the marauding band, and they cast the man into the tomb of Elisha; and he went and touched the bones of Elisha, and lived, and stood up on his feet.

 

22 And Hazael oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.

 

23 And the Lord had mercy on them and pitied them and looked upon them because of his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and the Lord was not willing to destroy them, and did not cast them away from his face.

 

24 And Hazael king of Syria died, and Ben-hadad his son reigned in his stead.

 

25 And Joash the son of Jehoahaz turned again and took the cities out of the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael, which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father in the war; three times Joash smote him, and recovered the cities of Israel. 

  

Chapter 14

 

1 In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign.

 

2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Joadin, of Jerusalem.

 

3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not like David his father; according to all that Joash his father had done, he did.

 

4 Only the high places he did not remove; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

 

5 And it came to pass, when the kingdom was firmly established in his hand, that he struck down his servants who had struck down his father.

 

6 But the sons of those who had struck him down he did not put to death, as it is written in the book of the laws of Moses, as the Lord commanded, saying, "Fathers shall not die for sons, and sons shall not die for fathers, but each shall die for his own sins."

 

7 He struck down Edom in Gaimele, ten thousand, and took Petra in the war, and called its name Kathoel to this day.

 

8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Joash son of Joahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, "Come, let us look one another in the face."

 

9 And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son for a wife'; and the beasts of the field that were in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle.

 

10 You have indeed struck Idumea, and your heart has lifted you up; be glorified sitting in your own house; why do you contend to your own harm? For you will fall, and Judah with you."

 

11 But Amaziah would not listen. So the king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.

 

12 And Judah was defeated before Israel, and every man fled to his own tent.

 

13 And Joash son of Joahaz, king of Israel, captured Amaziah son of Joash son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh. And he came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.

 

14 And he took the gold and the silver and all the vessels found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house, and the sons of the hostages, and returned to Samaria.

 

15 And the rest of the acts of Joash, all that he did in his might, how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

 

16 And Joash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.

 

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

 

18 And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, and all that he did, are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

 

19 And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there.

 

20 And they carried him on horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.

 

21 And all the people of Judah took Azariah and he was sixteen years old and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.

 

22 He built Eloth and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers.

 

23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Joash began to reign over Israel in Samaria, forty-one years.

 

24 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel sin.

 

25 He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spoke by the hand of his servant Jonah son of Amathi, the prophet from Gath-hepher.

 

26 For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, very bitter, and that they were few, hard-pressed, diminished, and forsaken, and there was none to help Israel.

 

27 And the Lord had not said that he would blot out the seed of Israel from under heaven, and he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Joash.

 

28 And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his mighty deeds, how he fought and how he restored Damascus and Hamath to Judah in Israel, are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

 

29 And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, with the kings of Israel, and Azariah son of Amaziah reigned in his father's place. 

  

Chapter 15

 

1 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign.

 

2 He 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.

 

3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that Amaziah his father had done;

 

4 only the high places he did not remove; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

 

5 And the Lord struck the king, and he was leprous until the day of his death, and he reigned in a separate house; and Jotham the king's son was over the household, judging the people of the land.

 

6 And the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

 

7 And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Jotham his son reigned in his place.

 

8 In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months.

 

9 And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his fathers had done; he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

 

10 And Shallum son of Jabesh and Keblaam conspired against him and struck him and put him to death, and Shallum reigned in his place.

 

11 And the rest of the acts of Zechariah, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

 

12 This was the word of the Lord which he spoke to Jehu, saying, "Sons of the fourth generation shall sit for you on the throne of Israel"; and so it came to pass.

 

13 And Shallum son of Jabesh reigned; and in the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Shallum reigned a full month in Samaria.

 

14 And Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria and struck Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria and put him to death.

 

15 And the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

 

16 Then Menahem struck Tirzah and all that was in it and its borders from Tirzah, because they did not open to him; and he struck it, and the women with child he ripped open.

 

17 In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi reigned over Israel ten years in Samaria.

 

18 And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

 

19 In his days Pul king of the Assyrians came up against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him.

 

20 And Menahem exacted the silver from Israel, from every man mighty in wealth, to give to the king of the Assyrians, fifty shekels for each man; and the king of the Assyrians turned back and did not stay there in the land.

 

21 And the rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

 

22 And Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son reigned in his place.

 

23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem reigned over Israel in Samaria two years.

 

24 And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

 

25 And Pekah son of Remaliah, his officer, conspired against him and struck him in Samaria before the king's house, with Argob and with Arieh, and with him fifty men of the four hundred; and he put him to death and reigned in his place.

 

26 And the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

 

27 In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty years.

 

28 And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

 

29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of the Assyrians came and took Ain and Abel-beth-maacah and Janoah and Kenez and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them away captive to the Assyrians.

 

30 And Hoshea son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah and struck him and put him to death, and reigned in his place in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Azariah.

 

31 And the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

 

32 In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham son of Azariah king of Judah began to reign.

 

33 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok.

 

34 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that Uzziah his father had done;

 

35 only the high places he did not remove; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord.

 

36 And the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

 

37 In those days the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah.

 

38 And Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Ahaz his son reigned in his place. 

  

Chapter 16

 

1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham, king of Judah, became king.

 

2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God faithfully, as David his father had done,

 

3 but he walked in the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat, king of Israel; and indeed he made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before the sons of Israel,

 

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

 

5 Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem for war, and they besieged Ahaz, but they could not prevail in battle.

 

6 At that time Rezin king of Syria restored Elath to Syria and drove the Judeans out of Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath and dwelt there to this day.

 

7 And Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of the Assyrians, saying, "I am your servant and your son; come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me."

 

8 And Ahaz took the silver and the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the house of the king, and sent gifts to the king.

 

9 And the king of the Assyrians listened to him, and the king of the Assyrians went up to Damascus and captured it and carried its people away, and he put Rezin to death.

 

10 And King Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-pileser king of the Assyrians at Damascus. And he saw the altar in Damascus, and King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest the likeness of the altar and its pattern for all its construction;

 

11 and Uriah the priest built the altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus.

 

12 And the king saw the altar and went up upon it,

 

13 and he burned his whole burnt offering and his sacrifice and his drink offering, and he poured out the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar.

 

14 And the bronze altar that was before the Lord, he brought it forward from the front of the house of the Lord, from between the altar and the house of the Lord, and set it at the side of the altar toward the north.

 

15 And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, "Upon the great altar offer the morning whole burnt offering and the evening sacrifice, and the king's whole burnt offering and his sacrifice, and the whole burnt offering of all the people and their sacrifice and their drink offering; and all the blood of the whole burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice you shall pour out upon it; and the bronze altar shall be for me for the morning."

 

16 And Uriah the priest did according to all that King Ahaz commanded him.

 

17 And King Ahaz cut off the panels of the stands and removed the laver from them, and he took down the sea from the bronze oxen that were beneath it and set it upon a stone base.

 

18 And he built the foundation of the seat in the house of the Lord, and the outer entrance of the king he turned away from the house of the Lord, because of the king of the Assyrians.

 

19 And the rest of the acts of Ahaz, all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

 

20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place. 

  

Chapter 17

 

1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel for nine years.

 

2 And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, yet not like the kings of Israel who were before him.

 

3 Against him came up Shalmaneser king of the Assyrians, and Hoshea became his servant and rendered him tribute.

 

4 And the king of the Assyrians found treachery in Hoshea, because he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and did not bring tribute to the king of the Assyrians in that year; and the king of the Assyrians besieged him and bound him in a prison house.

 

5 And the king of the Assyrians went up through all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.

 

6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of the Assyrians captured Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria, and settled them in Halah and in Habor, by the rivers of Gozan, and in the mountains of the Medes.

 

7 And it came to pass, because the sons of Israel sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and they feared other gods,

 

8 and walked in the ordinances of the nations whom the Lord had removed from before the sons of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, as many as did so,

 

9 and inasmuch as the sons of Israel cloaked matters that were not right against the Lord their God, and built for themselves high places in all their cities, from the watchmen's tower to the fortified city,

 

10 and set up for themselves pillars and groves on every high hill and under every leafy tree,

 

11 and burned incense there in all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had removed from before them, and made companions, and carved out wickedness to provoke the Lord to anger,

 

12 and served the idols, of which the Lord had said to them, "You shall not do this thing to the Lord."

 

13 And the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by the hand of all his prophets, every seer, saying, "Turn back from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my ordinances and all the law which I commanded your fathers, whatever I sent to them by the hand of my servants the prophets."

 

14 But they did not listen, and stiffened their neck beyond the neck of their fathers,

 

15 and his testimonies, whatever he testified to them, they did not keep, and they went after vanities and became vain, and after the nations that were round about them, concerning whom he had commanded them not to do like them.

 

16 They forsook the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves a molten image, two heifers, and made groves, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal,

 

17 and made their sons and their daughters pass through fire, and practiced divinations and observed omens, and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

 

18 And the Lord was greatly angered against Israel, and removed them from his presence; and there was left none but the tribe of Judah alone.

 

19 And even Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, and they walked in the ordinances of Israel which they practiced,

 

20 and they rejected the Lord among all the seed of Israel; and he shook them and gave them into the hand of those who plundered them, until he cast them away from his presence.

 

21 For Israel was rent from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king; and Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin.

 

22 And the sons of Israel walked in all the sin of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from it,

 

23 until the Lord removed Israel from his presence, as the Lord had spoken by the hand of all his servants the prophets, and Israel was carried away from off their land into Assyria until this day.

 

24 And the king of the Assyrians brought from Babylon the man of Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim; and they were settled in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel, and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities.

 

25 And it came to pass at the beginning of their settlement there that they did not fear the Lord, and the Lord sent lions among them, and they were killing among them.

 

26 And they spoke to the king of the Assyrians, saying, "The nations which you carried away and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the judgment of the God of the land, and he has sent lions against them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the judgment of the God of the land."

 

27 And the king of the Assyrians commanded, saying, "Lead some from there, and let them go and dwell there, and they shall teach them the judgment of the God of the land."

 

28 And they brought one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria, and he dwelt in Bethel, and he was teaching them how they should fear the Lord.

 

29 But nation after nation were making gods of their own, and set them in the house of the high places which the Samaritans had made, each nation in their cities in which they dwelt.

 

30 And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,

 

31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

 

32 And they were fearing the Lord, yet they set their abominations in the houses of the high places which they had made in Samaria, nation by nation in the city in which they dwelt; and they were fearing the Lord, and made for themselves priests of the high places, and served for themselves in the house of the high places.

 

33 They feared the Lord, and they served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from which they had been carried away.

 

34 To this day they were acting according to their custom: they fear, and they act according to their ordinances and according to their judgment and according to the law and according to the commandment which the Lord commanded the sons of Jacob, whose name he made Israel;

 

35 and the Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, saying, "You shall not fear other gods, nor shall you worship them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them;

 

36 but the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great strength and with an uplifted arm, him you shall fear, and to him you shall bow down, and to him you shall sacrifice;

 

37 and the ordinances and the judgments and the law and the commandments which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do all your days, and you shall not fear other gods;

 

38 and the covenant which he made with you, you shall not forget, and you shall not fear other gods;

 

39 but the Lord your God you shall fear, and he will deliver you out of all your enemies;

 

40 and you shall not hearken to their custom, which they practice."

 

41 And these nations were fearing the Lord, and were serving their graven images; and indeed their sons and their sons' sons do as their fathers did, until this day. 

  

Chapter 18

 

1 And it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.

 

2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Abu, daughter of Zechariah.

 

3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.

 

4 He removed the high places and broke in pieces all the pillars and utterly destroyed the sacred groves, and the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel were burning incense to it; and he called it Neesthan.

 

5 He hoped in the Lord God of Israel, and after him there was none like him among the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him.

 

6 And he clung to the Lord; he did not turn away from following him, and he kept his commandments, all that he commanded Moses.

 

7 And the Lord was with him; in all that he did, he prospered. And he rebelled against the king of the Assyrians and did not serve him.

 

8 He smote the Philistines as far as Gaza and as far as its border, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.

 

9 And it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah that Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians, came up against Samaria and besieged it.

 

10 And he took it at the end of three years, in the sixth year of Hezekiah and Samaria was captured.

 

11 And the king of the Assyrians carried Samaria away into Assyria, and settled them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the mountains of the Medes,

 

12 because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord their God and transgressed his covenant, all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; they neither listened nor did it.

 

13 And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, came up against the fortified cities of Judah and seized them.

 

14 And Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent messengers to the king of the Assyrians at Lachish, saying, "I have sinned; turn back from me; whatever you impose on me, I will bear." And the king of the Assyrians imposed on Hezekiah, king of Judah, three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

 

15 And Hezekiah gave all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house.

 

16 At that time Hezekiah cut off the doors of the temple of the Lord and the supports, which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid with gold, and gave them to the king of the Assyrians.

 

17 And the king of the Assyrians sent the Tartan and Rabsaris and the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a heavy force against Jerusalem; and they came up and arrived at Jerusalem and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the road of the fuller's field.

 

18 And they called to Hezekiah, and there came out to them Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the steward, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder.

 

19 And the Rabshakeh said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah: Thus says the king, the great king of the Assyrians: What is this confidence in which you trust?

 

20 You have said—mere words of the lips; 'Counsel and strength for war.' Now then, in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?

 

21 Now behold, you trust for yourself in this broken staff of reed, in Egypt; if any man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who trust in him.

 

22 And if you say to me, 'We trust in the Lord God', is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, 'Before this altar you shall worship in Jerusalem'?

 

23 And now, make a bargain with my lord the king of the Assyrians, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to provide for yourself riders for them.

 

24 And how will you turn back the face of a single governor, one of the least of my lord's servants? Yet you have set your hope on Egypt for chariots and horsemen.

 

25 And now, is it without the Lord that we have come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it.'"

 

26 And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, "Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; do not speak with us in the language of Judah in the ears of the people who are on the wall."

 

27 And the Rabshakeh said to them, "Was it to your master and to you that my lord sent me to speak these words? Was it not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine together with you?"

 

28 And the Rabshakeh stood and cried out with a loud voice in the language of Judah, and spoke and said, "Hear the words of the great king of the Assyrians:

 

29 Thus says the king: Let not Hezekiah deceive you with words, for he shall not be able to deliver you out of my hand.

 

30 And let not Hezekiah make you hope in the Lord, saying, 'The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of the Assyrians.'

 

31 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of the Assyrians: Make a blessing with me and come out to me, and each man shall drink of his own vine, and each shall eat of his own fig tree, and drink water from his own cistern,

 

32 until I come and take you to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine and bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey; and you shall live and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah, for he deceives you, saying, 'The Lord will rescue us.'

 

33 Have the gods of the nations ever rescued each his own land out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians?

 

34 Where is the god of Hamath and Arpad? Where is the god of Sepharvaim? Did they deliver Samaria out of my hand?

 

35 Who among all the gods of the lands has delivered his land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?"

 

36 And they kept silent and did not answer him a word, for the king's command was, "You shall not answer him."

 

37 And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the steward, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their garments torn, and reported to him the words of the Rabshakeh. 

  

Chapter 19

 

1 And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his garments and put on sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.

 

2 And he sent Eliakim the steward and Somnas the scribe and the elders of the priests, clothed in sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos.

 

3 And they said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of affliction and of rebuke and of provocation, for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength in her who is giving birth.

 

4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of the Assyrians, his master, sent to reproach the living God and to blaspheme with words which the Lord your God has heard; and you shall offer up prayer for the remnant that is found."

 

5 And the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah,

 

6 and Isaiah said to them, "Thus shall you say to your master: Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed.

 

7 Behold, I am putting a spirit in him, and he shall hear a report and shall return to his own land, and I will bring him down by the sword in his own land."

 

8 And Rabshakeh returned and found the king of the Assyrians making war against Libnah, for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.

 

9 And he heard concerning Tirhakah king of the Ethiopians, saying, "Behold, he has come out to make war with you." And he returned and sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

 

10 "Let not your God, in whom you trust, deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.

 

11 Behold, you have heard all that the kings of the Assyrians have done to all the lands, to destroy them utterly; and shall you be delivered?

 

12 Did the gods of the nations deliver them, those whom my fathers destroyed—Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Thaesthen?

 

13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad? And where is the king of Sepharvaim, of Hena and Ivvah?"

 

14 And Hezekiah took the letters from the hand of the messengers and read them; and he went up to the house of the Lord, and Hezekiah spread them out before the Lord.

 

15 And he said, "O Lord, God of Israel, who sits upon the cherubim, you alone are God in all the kingdoms of the earth; you made heaven and earth.

 

16 Incline, O Lord, your ear and hear; open, O Lord, your eyes and see, and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.

 

17 For in truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste the nations,

 

18 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they are not gods, but the works of men's hands, wood and stone and they have destroyed them.

 

19 And now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, and all the kingdoms of the earth shall know that you alone are the Lord God."

 

20 And Isaiah the son of Amos sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: I have heard what you prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of the Assyrians.

 

21 This is the word which the Lord has spoken against him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and mocked you; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.

 

22 Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice? And you have lifted your eyes on high against the Holy One of Israel.

 

23 By the hand of your messengers you have reproached the Lord and said, 'With the multitude of my chariots I will ascend to the height of the mountains, the flanks of Lebanon, and I have cut down the greatness of its cedar, the choicest of its cypresses, and I have come to the extremity of it, to the forest of its Carmel.

 

24 I have cooled myself and drunk foreign waters, and with the sole of my foot I have dried up all the rivers of the fortress.'

 

25 I formed it; now I have brought it to pass, and it has become the destruction of warlike bands of exiles, of fortified cities.

 

26 And those who dwelt in them were weak of hand; they cowered and were put to shame; they became grass of the field or green herbage, grass of the housetops, trodden down before it stood up.

 

27 And I know your sitting down and your going out and your coming in, and your rage against me.

 

28 Because you have raged against me, and your insolence has come up into my ears, I will put my hooks in your nostrils and a bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.

 

29 And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs up; and yet in the third year there shall be sowing and harvest and planting of vineyards, and you shall eat their fruit.

 

30 And the survivors of the house of Judah who remain shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

 

31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and one who escapes from Mount Zion; the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.

 

32 Not so; thus says the Lord concerning the king of the Assyrians: He shall not enter into this city, nor shall he shoot an arrow there, nor shall a shield come before it, nor shall he cast up a siege mound against it.

 

33 By the way by which he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not enter into this city, says the Lord.

 

34 And I will defend this city for my own sake and for the sake of David my servant."

 

35 And it came to pass by night that the angel of the Lord went out and struck down in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and they rose early in the morning, and behold, they were all dead bodies.

 

36 And Sennacherib king of the Assyrians departed and went and returned, and dwelt in Nineveh.

 

37 And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him down with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat; and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead. 

  

Chapter 20

 

1 In those days Hezekiah was sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, came in to him and said to him, "Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you are dying and shall not live."

 

2 And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying,

 

3 "O Lord, remember, I pray, how I have walked before you in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept with a great weeping.

 

4 And Isaiah was in the middle court, and the word of the Lord came to him, saying,

 

5 "Return and say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people: Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord,

 

6 and I will add fifteen years to your days, and I will save you and this city from the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for the sake of David my servant."

 

7 And he said, "Let them take a cake of figs and lay it on the sore, and he shall be well."

 

8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "What is the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?"

 

9 And Isaiah said, "This is the sign from the Lord that the Lord will do the word which he has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it return ten steps?"

 

10 And Hezekiah said, "It is a light thing for the shadow to decline ten steps; no, but let the shadow return backward ten steps."

 

11 And Isaiah the prophet cried to the Lord, and the shadow returned backward on the steps ten steps.

 

12 At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

 

13 And Hezekiah rejoiced over them and showed them all the house of his treasure, the silver and the gold, the spices and the fine oil, and the house of his vessels, and all that was found in his treasuries; there was nothing that Hezekiah did not show them in his house and in all his dominion.

 

14 And Isaiah the prophet came in to King Hezekiah and said to him, "What did these men say, and from where have they come to you?" And Hezekiah said, "They have come to me from a far land, from Babylon."

 

15 And he said, "What did they see in your house?" And he said, "They saw everything that is in my house; there was nothing in my house that I did not show them, even the things in my treasuries."

 

16 And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord:

 

17 Behold, days are coming when all that is in your house, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; and nothing shall be left, says the Lord;

 

18 and your sons who shall come forth from you, whom you shall beget, he shall take, and they shall be eunuchs in the house of the king of Babylon."

 

19 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "Good is the word of the Lord which he has spoken; let there be peace in my days."

 

20 And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and all that he did—the spring and the conduit, and how he brought the water into the city, are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

 

21 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place. 

 

Chapter 21

 

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hephzibah.

 

2 And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had removed 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 an altar to Baal and made groves, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and he worshipped all the host of heaven and served them.

 

4 And he built an altar in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, "In Jerusalem I will put my name."

 

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

 

6 And he made his sons pass through fire, and practiced divination and augury, and made a medium and soothsayers; he multiplied doing what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

 

7 And he set the carved image of the grove in the house of which the Lord 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 put my name there forever,

 

8 and I will not again cause the foot of Israel to be moved from the land which I gave to their fathers, if only they will keep all that I commanded, according to all the commandment which my servant Moses commanded them."

 

9 But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed from before the sons of Israel.

 

10 And the Lord spoke by the hand of his servants the prophets, saying,

 

11 "Because Manasseh king of Judah has done all these evil abominations, beyond all that the Amorite did who was before him, and has made Judah also to sin with their idols,

 

12 therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing evil upon Jerusalem and upon Judah, such that both the ears of everyone who hears it shall ring,

 

13 and I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as a dish is wiped, wiping it and turning it upside down.

 

14 And I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and will deliver them into the hands of their enemies, and they shall become a spoil and a prey to all their enemies,

 

15 because they have done what was evil in my eyes and have been provoking me to anger, from the day that I brought their fathers out of Egypt even to this day."

 

16 Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other, besides his sins by which he made Judah to sin, doing what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.

 

17 And the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin which he sinned, are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

 

18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon his son reigned in his place.

 

19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Meshullemeth, daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.

 

20 And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done.

 

21 And he walked in all the way in which his father had walked, and served the idols which his father had served, and worshipped them,

 

22 and he forsook the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord.

 

23 And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in his house.

 

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

 

25 And the rest of the acts of Amon, all that he did, behold, are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

 

26 And they buried him in his tomb in the garden of Uzza; and Josiah his son reigned in his place. 

  

Chapter 22

 

1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah, from Bozkath.

 

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

 

3 And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, in the eighth month, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the scribe of the house of the Lord, saying,

 

4 "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, and seal up the silver that has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered from the people,

 

5 and let them give it into the hand of the workmen who have been appointed over the house of the Lord." And he gave it to those doing the work in the house of the Lord, to repair the breaches of the house,

 

6 to the carpenters and the builders and the masons, and to buy timber and hewn stones to strengthen the breaches of the house;

 

7 only no accounting was required of them for the silver given to them, because they dealt faithfully.

 

8 And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

 

9 And he brought it to King Josiah, and returned word to the king, saying, "Your servants have melted down the silver found in the house of the Lord, and have given it into the hand of the workmen appointed over the house of the Lord."

 

10 And Shaphan the scribe spoke to the king, saying, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read it before the king.

 

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

 

12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,

 

13 "Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for all the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers did not listen to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us."

 

14 So Hilkiah the priest and Ahikam and Achbor and Shaphan and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe and she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter—and they spoke with her.

 

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

 

16 Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am bringing evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read—

 

17 because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods, so as to provoke me to anger with the works of their hands; and my wrath will be kindled against this place and will not be quenched.

 

18 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: Concerning the words which you have heard,

 

19 because your heart was softened and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your garments and wept before me, I also have heard, says the Lord.

 

20 It shall not be so; 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 evil which I am bringing upon this place." And they returned word to the king. 

 

Chapter 23

 

1 And the king sent and gathered to himself all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

 

2 And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and every man of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, from small even to great; and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord.

 

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

 

4 And the king commanded Chelkias the high priest and the priests of the second order and those who kept the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal and for the grove and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kedron, and took their dust to Baithel.

 

5 And he put down the chomarim, whom the kings of Judah had appointed, and who burned incense in the high places and in the cities of Judah and the places round about Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal and to the sun and to the moon and to the mazuroth and to all the host of heaven.

 

6 And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kedron, and burned it at the brook Kedron and ground it to dust, and cast its dust upon the grave of the sons of the people.

 

7 And he pulled down the house of the kadesim that were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove garments for the grove.

 

8 And he brought up all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests burned incense, from Gabaa even to Bersabee; and he pulled down the house of the gates that was by the door of the gate of Joshua the ruler of the city, which was on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.

 

9 Only the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread in the midst of their brethren.

 

10 And he defiled Tapheth, which is in the valley of the son of Ennom, so that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Moloch.

 

11 And he put down the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun at the entrance of the house of the Lord, by the treasury of Nathan the king's eunuch, in the pharurim; and the chariot of the sun he burned with fire.

 

12 And the altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Achaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasses had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king pulled down and tore away from there, and cast their dust into the brook Kedron.

 

13 And the house that was before Jerusalem, on the right hand of the mount of Mosoath, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Astarte the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chamos the abomination of Moab, and for Molchol the abomination of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled.

 

14 And he broke in pieces the pillars and utterly destroyed the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.

 

15 Moreover the altar that was in Baithel, the high place that Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he tore down, and broke its stones in pieces and ground them to dust, and burned the grove.

 

16 And Josias turned aside and saw the graves that were there in the city, and sent and took the bones out of the graves and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the word of the Lord which the man of God spoke when Jeroboam stood by the altar at the feast. And turning, he lifted up his eyes to the grave of the man of God who had spoken these words,

 

17 and said, "What is that monument which I see?" And the men of the city said to him, "It is the man of God who came out of Judah and pronounced these words which he pronounced against the altar of Baithel."

 

18 And he said, "Let it be; let no man move his bones." So his bones were spared, together with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.

 

19 Moreover all the houses of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josias removed, and did to them all the deeds that he had done in Baithel.

 

20 And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned the bones of men upon them; and he returned to Jerusalem.

 

21 And the king commanded all the people, saying, "Keep the passover to the Lord our God, as it is written in the book of this covenant."

 

22 For this passover had not been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah;

 

23 but in the eighteenth year of king Josias the passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.

 

24 Moreover the mediums and the wizards and the theraphin and the idols and all the abominations that had been in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem king Josias removed, that he might establish the words of the law written in the book which Chelkias the priest found in the house of the Lord.

 

25 There was no king 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.

 

26 Yet the Lord did not turn back from the fury of his great wrath, wherewith his wrath was kindled against Judah, because of the provocations wherewith Manasses had provoked him.

 

27 And the Lord said, "I will remove Judah also from before my face, as I removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there."

 

28 And the rest of the acts of Josias, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

 

29 In his days Pharaoh Nechao king of Egypt went up against the king of the Assyrians, to the river Euphrates; and Josias went out to meet him, and Nechao slew him at Mageddo when he saw him.

 

30 And his servants carried him dead from Mageddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own grave in the city of David; and the people of the land took Joachas the son of Josias, and anointed him and made him king in his father's stead.

 

31 Joachas was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Amital, daughter of Jeremias of Lemna.

 

32 And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.

 

33 And Pharaoh Nechao removed him to Deblatha in the land of Emath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid a tribute upon the land of a hundred talents of silver and a hundred talents of gold.

 

34 And Pharaoh Nechao made Eliakim the son of Josias king of Judah king over them in the stead of Josias his father, and changed his name to Joakim; and he took Joachas and brought him into Egypt, and he died there.

 

35 And Joakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; only he taxed the land to give the money at the command of Pharaoh: every man according to his assessment they gave the silver and the gold, together with the people of the land, to give to Pharaoh Nechao.

 

36 Joakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Ieldaph, daughter of Phedeia of Rouma.

 

37 And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 

  

Chapter 24

 

1 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.

 

2 And he sent against him the raiding bands of the Chaldeans and the raiding bands of Syria and the raiding bands of Moab and the raiding bands of the sons of Ammon, and he sent them out into the land of Judah to prevail, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by the hand of his servants the prophets.

 

3 Surely it was at the wrath of the Lord against Judah, to remove him from his presence, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did;

 

4 and moreover he shed innocent blood and filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to be appeased.

 

5 And the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

 

6 And Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

 

7 And the king of Egypt did not come out of his land again, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates.

 

8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

 

9 And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.

 

10 At that time Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.

 

11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it.

 

12 And Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his servants and his mother and his officials and his eunuchs, and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

 

13 And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house, and he cut in pieces all the golden vessels which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, according to the word of the Lord.

 

14 And he carried away Jerusalem, and all the officials and the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and every craftsman and smith; and none remained except the poor of the land.

 

15 And he carried Jehoiachin away to Babylon, and the king's mother and the king's wives and his eunuchs; and the mighty men of the land he led into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon,

 

16 and all the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, a thousand, all mighty men fit for war; and the king of Babylon brought them into exile to Babylon.

 

17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his son king in his place, and gave him the name Zedekiah.

 

18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah.

 

19 And he did what was evil before the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done;

 

20 for because of the wrath of the Lord it came upon Jerusalem and Judah, until he cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 

  

Chapter 25

 

1 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and encamped against it, and built a siege wall around it.

 

2 And the city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah;

 

3 on the ninth of the month the famine grew strong in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

 

4 And the city was broken through, and all the men of war went out by night by the way of the gate between the walls, that is, the gate of the king's garden and the Chaldeans were around the city and he went by the way of the Arabah.

 

5 And the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from about him.

 

6 And they seized the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and he passed judgment upon him;

 

7 and he slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters and brought him to Babylon.

 

8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month, Nebuzaradan the chief cook, who stood before the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

 

9 And he burned the house of the Lord and the house of the king and all the houses of Jerusalem; and every house

 

10 the chief cook burned.

 

11 And the remainder of the people that was left in the city, and the deserters who had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the chief cook carried away.

 

12 And of the poor of the land the chief cook left some to be vinedressers and farmers.

 

13 And the bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the bronze sea that was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and they carried their bronze to Babylon.

 

14 And the cauldrons and the shovels and the bowls and the censers and all the bronze vessels with which they ministered, he took;

 

15 and the firepans and the bowls of gold and of silver the chief cook took,

 

16 the two pillars, the one sea, and the bases which Solomon made for the house of the Lord: there was no weighing of the bronze of all the vessels.

 

17 The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the bronze capital upon it, and the height of the capital was three cubits, with latticework and pomegranates upon the capital all around, all of bronze; and the same for the second pillar with its latticework.

 

18 And the chief cook took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the threshold;

 

19 and out of the city he took one eunuch who was overseer of the men of war, and five men of those who saw the face of the king, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the commander of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.

 

20 And Nebuzaradan the chief cook took them and led them away to the king of Babylon at Riblah,

 

21 and the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. And Judah was carried away from off its land.

 

22 And as for the people left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he appointed over them Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan.

 

23 And all the commanders of the army heard, they and their men, that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, and they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, both Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and Johanan son of Kareah, and Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maachathite, they and their men.

 

24 And Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them, "Do not fear the passing of the Chaldeans; dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you."

 

25 And it came to pass in the seventh month that Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal seed, came, and ten men with him; and he struck Gedaliah, and he died, as well as the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

 

26 And all the people rose up, from small to great, and the commanders of the forces, and they went into Egypt, because they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

 

27 And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of his prison house,

 

28 and spoke kindly with him, and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

 

29 And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread continually before him all the days of his life;

 

30 and his allowance, a continual allowance, was given to him from the house of the king, a daily portion for each day, all the days of his life.