The Second Book of Kings

1

1 Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.

2 Ahaziah fell down through the lattice in his upper room that was in Samaria, and was sick. So he sent messengers, and said to them, “ Go, enquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover of this sickness.”

3 But the LORD’s+ 1:3 When rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, “LORD” or “GOD” is the translation of God’s Proper Name. angel said to Elijah the Tishbite, “ Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and tell them, ‘ Is it because there is no God+ 1:3 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim). in Israel that you go to enquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? 4 Now therefore the LORD says, “ You will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely die.”’” Then Elijah departed.

5 The messengers returned to him, and he said to them, “ Why is it that you have returned?”

6 They said to him, “ A man came up to meet us, and said to us, ‘ Go, return to the king who sent you, and tell him, “ The LORD says, ‘ Is it because there is no God in Israel that you send to enquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely die.’”’”

7 He said to them, “ What kind of man was he who came up to meet you and told you these words?”

8 They answered him, “ He was a hairy man, and wearing a leather belt around his waist.”

He said, “It’s Elijah the Tishbite.”

9 Then the king sent a captain of fifty with his fifty to him. He went up to him; and behold,+ 1:9 “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection. he was sitting on the top of the hill. He said to him, “ Man of God, the king has said, ‘ Come down!’”

10 Elijah answered to the captain of fifty, “ If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty!” Then fire came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty.

11 Again he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. He answered him, “ Man of God, the king has said, ‘ Come down quickly!’”

12 Elijah answered them, “ If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty!” Then God’s fire came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty.

13 Again he sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. The third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, and said to him, “ Man of God, please let my life and the life of these fifty of your servants be precious in your sight. 14 Behold, fire came down from the sky and consumed the last two captains of fifty with their fifties. But now let my life be precious in your sight.”

15 The LORD’s angel said to Elijah, “ Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.”

Then he arose and went down with him to the king. 16 He said to him, “ The LORD says, ‘ Because you have sent messengers to enquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to enquire of his word? Therefore you will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely die.’”

17 So he died according to the LORD’s word which Elijah had spoken. Jehoram began to reign in his place in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, because he had no son. 18 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

2

1 When the LORD was about to take Elijah up by a whirlwind into heaven, Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, “ Please wait here, for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.”

Elisha said, “ As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

3 The sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “ Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today?”

He said, “ Yes, I know it. Hold your peace.”

4 Elijah said to him, “ Elisha, please wait here, for the LORD has sent me to Jericho.”

He said, “ As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho.

5 The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came near to Elisha, and said to him, “ Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today?”

He answered, “ Yes, I know it. Hold your peace.”

6 Elijah said to him, “ Please wait here, for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.”

He said, “ As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” Then they both went on. 7 Fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood opposite them at a distance; and they both stood by the Jordan. 8 Elijah took his mantle, and rolled it up, and struck the waters; and they were divided here and there, so that they both went over on dry ground. 9 When they had gone over, Elijah said to Elisha, “ Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.”

Elisha said, “ Please let a double portion of your spirit be on me.”

10 He said, “ You have asked a hard thing. If you see me when I am taken from you, it will be so for you; but if not, it will not be so.”

11 As they continued on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 Elisha saw it, and he cried, “ My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”

He saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. 13 He also took up Elijah’s mantle that fell from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took Elijah’s mantle that fell from him, and struck the waters, and said, “ Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” When he also had struck the waters, they were divided apart, and Elisha went over.

15 When the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho facing him saw him, they said, “ The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. 16 They said to him, “ See now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. Perhaps the LORD’s Spirit has taken him up, and put him on some mountain or into some valley.”

He said, “ Don’t send them.”

17 When they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, “ Send them.”

Therefore they sent fifty men; and they searched for three days, but didn’t find him. 18 They came back to him while he stayed at Jericho; and he said to them, “ Didn’t I tell you, ‘ Don’t go’?”

19 The men of the city said to Elisha, “ Behold, please, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land is barren.”

20 He said, “ Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it.” Then they brought it to him. 21 He went out to the spring of the waters, and threw salt into it, and said, “ The LORD says, ‘ I have healed these waters. There shall not be from there any more death or barren wasteland.’” 22 So the waters were healed to this day, according to Elisha’s word which he spoke.

23 He went up from there to Bethel. As he was going up by the way, some youths came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, “ Go up, you baldy! Go up, you baldy!” 24 He looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in the LORD’s name. Then two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of those youths. 25 He went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

3

1 Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. 2 He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, but not like his father and like his mother, for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made. 3 Nevertheless he held to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. He didn’t depart from them.

4 Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder; and he supplied the king of Israel with one hundred thousand lambs and the wool of one hundred thousand rams. 5 But when Ahab was dead, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 King Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time, and mustered all Israel. 7 He went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, “ The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me against Moab to battle?”

He said, “ I will go up. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” 8 Then he said, “ Which way shall we go up?”

Jehoram answered, “ The way of the wilderness of Edom.”

9 So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom, and they marched for seven days along a circuitous route. There was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. 10 The king of Israel said, “ Alas! For the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”

11 But Jehoshaphat said, “ Isn’t there a prophet of the LORD here, that we may enquire of the LORD by him?”

One of the king of Israel’s servants answered, “ Elisha the son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah, is here.”

12 Jehoshaphat said, “ The LORD’s word is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “ What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your mother.”

The king of Israel said to him, “ No, for the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”

14 Elisha said, “ As the LORD of Armies lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I respect the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look towards you, nor see you. 15 But now bring me a musician.” When the musician played, the LORD’s hand came on him. 16 He said, “ The LORD says, ‘ Make this valley full of trenches.’ 17 For the LORD says, ‘ You will not see wind, neither will you see rain, yet that valley will be filled with water, and you will drink, both you and your livestock and your other animals. 18 This is an easy thing in the LORD’s sight. He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand. 19 You shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.’”

20 In the morning, about the time of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.

21 Now when all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, they gathered themselves together, all who were able to put on armour, young and old, and stood on the border. 22 They rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. 23 They said, “ This is blood. The kings are surely destroyed, and they have struck each other. Now therefore, Moab, to the plunder!”

24 When they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and struck the Moabites, so that they fled before them; and they went forward into the land attacking the Moabites. 25 They beat down the cities; and on every good piece of land each man cast his stone, and filled it. They also stopped all the springs of water and cut down all the good trees, until in Kir Hareseth all they left was its stones; however the men armed with slings went around it and attacked it. 26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too severe for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew a sword, to break through to the king of Edom; but they could not. 27 Then he took his oldest son who would have reigned in his place, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. There was great wrath against Israel; and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.

4

1 Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “ Your servant my husband is dead. You know that your servant feared the LORD. Now the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be slaves.”

2 Elisha said to her, “ What should I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?”

She said, “ Your servant has nothing in the house, except a pot of oil.”

3 Then he said, “ Go, borrow empty containers from all your neighbours. Don’t borrow just a few containers. 4 Go in and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour oil into all those containers; and set aside those which are full.”

5 So she went from him, and shut the door on herself and on her sons. They brought the containers to her, and she poured oil. 6 When the containers were full, she said to her son, “ Bring me another container.”

He said to her, “ There isn’t another container.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

7 Then she came and told the man of God. He said, “ Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”

8 One day Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman; and she persuaded him to eat bread. So it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread. 9 She said to her husband, “ See now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God who passes by us continually. 10 Please, let’s make a little room on the roof. Let’s set a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp stand for him there. When he comes to us, he can stay there.”

11 One day he came there, and he went to the room and lay there. 12 He said to Gehazi his servant, “ Call this Shunammite.” When he had called her, she stood before him. 13 He said to him, “ Say now to her, ‘ Behold, you have cared for us with all this care. What is to be done for you? Would you like to be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the army?’”

She answered, “ I dwell amongst my own people.”

14 He said, “ What then is to be done for her?”

Gehazi answered, “ Most certainly she has no son, and her husband is old.”

15 He said, “ Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the door. 16 He said, “ At this season next year, you will embrace a son.”

She said, “ No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your servant.”

17 The woman conceived, and bore a son at that season when the time came around, as Elisha had said to her. 18 When the child was grown, one day he went out to his father to the reapers. 19 He said to his father, “ My head! My head!”

He said to his servant, “ Carry him to his mother.”

20 When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died. 21 She went up and laid him on the man of God’s bed, and shut the door on him, and went out. 22 She called to her husband and said, “ Please send me one of the servants, and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come again.”

23 He said, “ Why would you want to go to him today? It is not a new moon or a Sabbath.”

She said, “It’s all right.”

24 Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “ Drive, and go forward! Don’t slow down for me, unless I ask you to.”

25 So she went, and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her afar off, he said to Gehazi his servant, “ Behold, there is the Shunammite. 26 Please run now to meet her, and ask her, ‘ Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with your child?’”

She answered, “ It is well.”

27 When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God said, “ Leave her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and the LORD has hidden it from me, and has not told me.”

28 Then she said, “ Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I say, ‘ Do not deceive me’?”

29 Then he said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand, and go your way. If you meet any man, don’t greet him; and if anyone greets you, don’t answer him again. Then lay my staff on the child’s face.”

30 The child’s mother said, “ As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.”

So he arose, and followed her.

31 Gehazi went ahead of them, and laid the staff on the child’s face; but there was no voice and no hearing. Therefore he returned to meet him, and told him, “ The child has not awakened.”

32 When Elisha had come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and lying on his bed. 33 He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to the LORD. 34 He went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. He stretched himself on him; and the child’s flesh grew warm. 35 Then he returned, and walked in the house once back and forth, then went up and stretched himself out on him. Then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. 36 He called Gehazi, and said, “ Call this Shunammite!” So he called her.

When she had come in to him, he said, “ Take up your son.”

37 Then she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; then she picked up her son, and went out.

38 Elisha came again to Gilgal. There was a famine in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, “ Get the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”

39 One went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered a lap full of wild gourds from it, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew; for they didn’t recognise them. 40 So they poured out for the men to eat. As they were eating some of the stew, they cried out and said, “ Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.

41 But he said, “ Then bring meal.” He threw it into the pot; and he said, “ Serve it to the people, that they may eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

42 A man from Baal Shalishah came, and brought the man of God some bread of the first fruits: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “ Give to the people, that they may eat.”

43 His servant said, “ What, should I set this before a hundred men?”

But he said, “ Give it to the people, that they may eat; for the LORD says, ‘ They will eat, and will have some left over.’”

44 So he set it before them and they ate and had some left over, according to the LORD’s word.

5

1 Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria; he was also a mighty man of valour, but he was a leper. 2 The Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little girl, and she waited on Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “ I wish that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him of his leprosy.”

4 Someone went in and told his lord, saying, “ The girl who is from the land of Israel said this.”

5 The king of Syria said, “ Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”

He departed, and took with him ten talents+ 5:5 A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothing. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, “ Now when this letter has come to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.”

7 When the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “ Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? But please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.”

8 It was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “ Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “ Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall come again to you, and you shall be clean.”

11 But Naaman was angry, and went away and said, “ Behold, I thought, ‘ He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leper.’ 12 Aren’t Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.

13 His servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “ My father, if the prophet had asked you do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? How much rather then, when he says to you, ‘ Wash, and be clean’?”

14 Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. 15 He returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him; and he said, “ See now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.”

16 But he said, “ As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.”

He urged him to take it; but he refused. 17 Naaman said, “ If not, then, please let two mules’ load of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will from now on offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but to the LORD. 18 In this thing may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon. When I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, may the LORD pardon your servant in this thing.”

19 He said to him, “ Go in peace.”

So he departed from him a little way. 20 But Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “ Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought. As the LORD lives, I will run after him, and take something from him.”

21 So Gehazi followed after Naaman. When Naaman saw one running after him, he came down from the chariot to meet him, and said, “ Is all well?”

22 He said, “ All is well. My master has sent me, saying, ‘ Behold, even now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent+ 5:22 A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds of silver and two changes of clothing.’”

23 Naaman said, “ Be pleased to take two talents.” He urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and laid them on two of his servants; and they carried them before him. 24 When he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and stored them in the house. Then he let the men go, and they departed. 25 But he went in, and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, “ Where did you come from, Gehazi?”

He said, “ Your servant went nowhere.”

26 He said to him, “ Didn’t my heart go with you when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive groves and vineyards, and sheep and cattle, and male servants and female servants? 27 Therefore the leprosy of Naaman will cling to you and to your offspring+ 5:27 or, seed forever.”

He went out from his presence a leper, as white as snow.

6

1 The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “ See now, the place where we live and meet with you is too small for us. 2 Please let us go to the Jordan, and each man take a beam from there, and let’s make us a place there, where we may live.”

He answered, “ Go!”

3 One said, “ Please be pleased to go with your servants.”

He answered, “ I will go.” 4 So he went with them. When they came to the Jordan, they cut down wood. 5 But as one was cutting down a tree, the axe head fell into the water. Then he cried out and said, “ Alas, my master! For it was borrowed.”

6 The man of God asked, “ Where did it fall?” He showed him the place. He cut down a stick, threw it in there, and made the iron float. 7 He said, “ Take it.” So he put out his hand and took it.

8 Now the king of Syria was at war against Israel; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, “ My camp will be in such and such a place.”

9 The man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “ Beware that you not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.” 10 The king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once or twice. 11 The king of Syria’s heart was very troubled about this. He called his servants, and said to them, “ Won’t you show me which of us is for the king of Israel?”

12 One of his servants said, “ No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”

13 He said, “ Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.”

He was told, “ Behold, he is in Dothan.”

14 Therefore he sent horses, chariots, and a great army there. They came by night and surrounded the city. 15 When the servant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was around the city. His servant said to him, “ Alas, my master! What shall we do?”

16 He answered, “ Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 Elisha prayed, and said, “ LORD, please open his eyes, that he may see.” the LORD opened the young man’s eyes, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha. 18 When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, “ Please strike this people with blindness.”

He struck them with blindness according to Elisha’s word.

19 Elisha said to them, “ This is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” He led them to Samaria. 20 When they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, “ LORD, open these men’s eyes, that they may see.”

The LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, they were in the middle of Samaria.

21 The king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw them, “ My father, shall I strike them? Shall I strike them?”

22 He answered, “ You shall not strike them. Would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, then go to their master.”

23 He prepared a great feast for them. After they ate and drank, he sent them away and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria stopped raiding the land of Israel.

24 After this, Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria. 25 There was a great famine in Samaria. Behold, they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab+ 6:25 A kab was about 2 litres, so a fourth of a kab would be about 500 milliliters or about a pint of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. 26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, saying, “ Help, my lord, O king!”

27 He said, “ If the LORD doesn’t help you, where could I get help for you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?” 28 Then the king asked her, “ What is your problem?”

She answered, “ This woman said to me, ‘ Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29 So we boiled my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘ Give up your son, that we may eat him;’ and she has hidden her son.”

30 When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. Now he was passing by on the wall, and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth underneath on his body. 31 Then he said, “ God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat stays on him today.”

32 But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Then the king sent a man from before him; but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “ Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? Behold, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door shut against him. Isn’t the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”

33 While he was still talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him. Then he said, “ Behold, this evil is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”

7

1 Elisha said, “ Hear the LORD’s word. The LORD says, ‘ Tomorrow about this time a seah+ 7:1 1 seah is about 7 litres or 1.9 gallons or 0.8 pecks of fine flour will be sold for a shekel,+ 7:1 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces. In this context, it was probably a silver coin weighing that much. and two seahs of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’”

2 Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, “ Behold, if the LORD made windows in heaven, could this thing be?”

He said, “ Behold, you will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it.”

3 Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. They said to one another, “ Why do we sit here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘ We will enter into the city,’ then the famine is in the city, and we will die there. If we sit still here, we also die. Now therefore come, and let’s surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we will live; and if they kill us, we will only die.”

5 They rose up in the twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. When they had come to the outermost part of the camp of the Syrians, behold, no man was there. 6 For the Lord+ 7:6 The word translated “Lord” is “Adonai.” had made the army of the Syrians to hear the sound of chariots and the sound of horses, even the noise of a great army; and they said to one another, “ Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us.” 7 Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. 8 When these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank, then carried away silver, gold, and clothing and went and hid it. Then they came back, and entered into another tent and carried things from there also, and went and hid them. 9 Then they said to one another, “ We aren’t doing right. Today is a day of good news, and we keep silent. If we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let’s go and tell the king’s household.”

10 So they came and called to the city gatekeepers; and they told them, “ We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, not even a man’s voice, but the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.”

11 Then the gatekeepers called out and told it to the king’s household within.

12 The king arose in the night, and said to his servants, “ I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘ When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and get into the city.’”

13 One of his servants answered, “ Please let some people take five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel who are consumed. Let’s send and see.”

14 Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king sent them out to the Syrian army, saying, “ Go and see.”

15 They went after them to the Jordan; and behold, all the path was full of garments and equipment which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king. 16 The people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah+ 7:16 1 seah is about 7 litres or 1.9 gallons or 0.8 pecks of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel,+ 7:16 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces. In this context, it was probably a silver coin weighing that much. according to the LORD’s word. 17 The king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to be in charge of the gate; and the people trampled over him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. 18 It happened as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “ Two seahs+ 7:18 1 seah is about 7 litres or 1.9 gallons or 0.8 pecks of barley for a shekel,+ 7:18 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces. In this context, it was probably a silver coin weighing that much. and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria;” 19 and that captain answered the man of God, and said, “ Now, behold, if the LORD made windows in heaven, might such a thing be?” and he said, “ Behold, you will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it.” 20 It happened like that to him, for the people trampled over him in the gate, and he died.

8

1 Now Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “ Arise, and go, you and your household, and stay for a while wherever you can; for the LORD has called for a famine. It will also come on the land for seven years.”

2 The woman arose, and did according to the man of God’s word. She went with her household, and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years. 3 At the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines. Then she went out to beg the king for her house and for her land. 4 Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, “ Please tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” 5 As he was telling the king how he had restored to life him who was dead, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life begged the king for her house and for her land. Gehazi said, “ My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.”

6 When the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed to her a certain officer, saying, “ Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.”

7 Elisha came to Damascus; and Benhadad the king of Syria was sick. He was told, “ The man of God has come here.”

8 The king said to Hazael, “ Take a present in your hand, and go meet the man of God, and enquire of the LORD by him, saying, ‘ Will I recover from this sickness?’”

9 So Hazael went to meet him and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ burden, and came and stood before him and said, “ Your son Benhadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘ Will I recover from this sickness?’”

10 Elisha said to him, “ Go, tell him, ‘ You will surely recover;’ however the LORD has shown me that he will surely die.” 11 He settled his gaze steadfastly on him, until he was ashamed. Then the man of God wept.

12 Hazael said, “ Why do you weep, my lord?”

He answered, “ Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel. You will set their strongholds on fire, and you will kill their young men with the sword, and will dash their little ones in pieces, and rip up their pregnant women.”

13 Hazael said, “ But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he could do this great thing?”

Elisha answered, “ The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Syria.”

14 Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who said to him, “ What did Elisha say to you?”

He answered, “ He told me that you would surely recover.”

15 On the next day, he took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it on the king’s face, so that he died. Then Hazael reigned in his place.

16 In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being king of Judah then, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign. 17 He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign. He reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 18 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did Ahab’s house, for he married Ahab’s daughter. He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight. 19 However, the LORD would not destroy Judah, for David his servant’s sake, as he promised him to give to him a lamp for his children always.

20 In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves. 21 Then Joram crossed over to Zair, and all his chariots with him; and he rose up by night and struck the Edomites who surrounded him with the captains of the chariots; and the people fled to their tents. 22 So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time. 23 The rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 24 Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in David’s city; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.

25 In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. 26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri king of Israel. 27 He walked in the way of Ahab’s house and did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, as did Ahab’s house, for he was the son-in-law of Ahab’s house.

28 He went with Joram the son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead, and the Syrians wounded Joram. 29 King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel from the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.

9

1 Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, “ Put your belt on your waist, take this vial of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead. 2 When you come there, find Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in and make him rise up from amongst his brothers, and take him to an inner room. 3 Then take the vial of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, ‘ The LORD says, “ I have anointed you king over Israel.”’ Then open the door, flee, and don’t wait.”

4 So the young man, the young prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. 5 When he came, behold, the captains of the army were sitting. Then he said, “ I have a message for you, captain.”

Jehu said, “ To which one of us?”

He said, “ To you, O captain.” 6 He arose, and went into the house. Then he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, “ The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘ I have anointed you king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel. 7 You must strike your master Ahab’s house, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel. 8 For the whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall,+ 9:8 or, male both him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel. 9 I will make Ahab’s house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. 10 The dogs will eat Jezebel on the plot of ground of Jezreel, and there shall be no one to bury her.’” Then he opened the door and fled.

11 When Jehu came out to the servants of his lord and one said to him, “ Is all well? Why did this madman come to you?”

He said to them, “ You know the man and how he talks.”

12 They said, “ That is a lie. Tell us now.”

He said, “ He said to me, ‘ The LORD says, I have anointed you king over Israel.’”

13 Then they hurried, and each man took his cloak, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew the trumpet, saying, “ Jehu is king.”

14 So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. ( Now Joram was defending Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria; 15 but King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) Jehu said, “ If this is your thinking, then let no one escape and go out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel.” 16 So Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there. Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram. 17 Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, “ I see a company.”

Joram said, “ Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, ‘ Is it peace?’”

18 So one went on horseback to meet him, and said, “ the king says, ‘ Is it peace?’”

Jehu said, “ What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me!”

The watchman said, “ The messenger came to them, but he isn’t coming back.”

19 Then he sent out a second on horseback, who came to them and said, “ The king says, ‘ Is it peace?’”

Jehu answered, “ What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me!”

20 The watchman said, “ He came to them, and isn’t coming back. The driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.”

21 Joram said, “ Get ready!”

They got his chariot ready. Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot; and they went out to meet Jehu, and found him on Naboth the Jezreelite’s land. 22 When Joram saw Jehu, he said, “ Is it peace, Jehu?”

He answered, “ What peace, so long as the prostitution of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft abound?”

23 Joram turned his hands and fled, and said to Ahaziah, “ This is treason, Ahaziah!”

24 Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and struck Joram between his arms; and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. 25 Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, “ Pick him up, and throw him in the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember how, when you and I rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden on him: 26 ‘ Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons,’ says the LORD; ‘ and I will repay you in this plot of ground,’ says the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him onto the plot of ground, according to the LORD’s word.”

27 But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. Jehu followed after him, and said, “ Strike him also in the chariot!” They struck him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo, and died there. 28 His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in David’s city. 29 In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah.

30 When Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and adorned her head, and looked out at the window. 31 As Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, “ Do you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?”

32 He lifted up his face to the window, and said, “ Who is on my side? Who?”

Two or three eunuchs looked out at him.

33 He said, “ Throw her down!”

So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses. Then he trampled her under foot. 34 When he had come in, he ate and drank. Then he said, “ See now to this cursed woman, and bury her; for she is a king’s daughter.”

35 They went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands. 36 Therefore they came back, and told him.

He said, “ This is the LORD’s word, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘ The dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel on the plot of Jezreel, 37 and the body of Jezebel will be as dung on the surface of the field on Jezreel’s land, so that they won’t say, “ This is Jezebel.”’”

10

1 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, even the elders, and to those who brought up Ahab’s sons, saying, 2 “ Now as soon as this letter comes to you, since your master’s sons are with you, and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city also, and armour, 3 select the best and fittest of your master’s sons, set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.”

4 But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, “ Behold, the two kings didn’t stand before him! How then shall we stand?” 5 He who was over the household, and he who was over the city, the elders also, and those who raised the children, sent to Jehu, saying, “ We are your servants, and will do all that you ask us. We will not make any man king. You do that which is good in your eyes.”

6 Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, “ If you are on my side, and if you will listen to my voice, take the heads of the men who are your master’s sons, and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time.”

Now the king’s sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up. 7 When the letter came to them, they took the king’s sons and killed them, even seventy people, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jezreel. 8 A messenger came and told him, “ They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.”

He said, “ Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.” 9 In the morning, he went out and stood, and said to all the people, “ You are righteous. Behold, I conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these? 10 Know now that nothing will fall to the earth of the LORD’s word, which the LORD spoke concerning Ahab’s house. For the LORD has done that which he spoke by his servant Elijah.”

11 So Jehu struck all that remained of Ahab’s house in Jezreel, with all his great men, his familiar friends, and his priests, until he left him no one remaining.

12 He arose and departed, and went to Samaria. As he was at the shearing house of the shepherds on the way, 13 Jehu met with the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, “ Who are you?”

They answered, “ We are the brothers of Ahaziah. We are going down to greet the children of the king and the children of the queen.”

14 He said, “ Take them alive!”

They took them alive, and killed them at the pit of the shearing house, even forty-two men. He didn’t leave any of them.

15 When he had departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him. He greeted him, and said to him, “ Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?”

Jehonadab answered, “ It is.”

“ If it is, give me your hand.” He gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot. 16 He said, “ Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD.” So they made him ride in his chariot. 17 When he came to Samaria, he struck all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed them, according to the LORD’s word which he spoke to Elijah.

18 Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, “ Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much. 19 Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all of his worshippers, and all of his priests. Let no one be absent, for I have a great sacrifice to Baal. Whoever is absent, he shall not live.” But Jehu did deceptively, intending to destroy the worshippers of Baal.

20 Jehu said, “ Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal!”

So they proclaimed it. 21 Jehu sent through all Israel; and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that didn’t come. They came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was filled from one end to another. 22 He said to him who kept the wardrobe, “ Bring out robes for all the worshippers of Baal!”

So he brought robes out to them. 23 Jehu went with Jehonadab the son of Rechab into the house of Baal. Then he said to the worshippers of Baal, “ Search, and see that none of the servants of the LORD are here with you, but only the worshippers of Baal.”

24 So they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had appointed for himself eighty men outside, and said, “ If any of the men whom I bring into your hands escape, he who lets him go, his life shall be for the life of him.”

25 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, “ Go in and kill them! Let no one escape.” So they struck them with the edge of the sword. The guard and the captains threw the bodies out, and went to the inner shrine of the house of Baal. 26 They brought out the pillars that were in the house of Baal and burnt them. 27 They broke down the pillar of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine, to this day. 28 Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.

29 However, Jehu didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin— the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan. 30 The LORD said to Jehu, “ Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to Ahab’s house according to all that was in my heart, your descendants shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”

31 But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin.

32 In those days the LORD began to cut away parts of Israel; and Hazael struck them in all the borders of Israel33 from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan. 34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 35 Jehu slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria. Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place. 36 The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

11

1 Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal offspring. 2 But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from amongst the king’s sons who were slain, even him and his nurse, and put them in the bedroom; and they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not slain. 3 He was with her hidden in the LORD’s house six years while Athaliah reigned over the land.

4 In the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the captains over hundreds of the Carites and of the guard, and brought them to him into the LORD’s house; and he made a covenant with them, and made a covenant with them in the LORD’s house, and showed them the king’s son. 5 He commanded them, saying, “ This is what you must do: a third of you, who come in on the Sabbath, shall be keepers of the watch of the king’s house; 6 a third of you shall be at the gate Sur; and a third of you at the gate behind the guard. So you shall keep the watch of the house, and be a barrier. 7 The two companies of you, even all who go out on the Sabbath, shall keep the watch of the LORD’s house around the king. 8 You shall surround the king, every man with his weapons in his hand; and he who comes within the ranks, let him be slain. Be with the king when he goes out, and when he comes in.”

9 The captains over hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and they each took his men, those who were to come in on the Sabbath with those who were to go out on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest. 10 The priest delivered to the captains over hundreds the spears and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the LORD’s house. 11 The guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, around the king. 12 Then he brought out the king’s son, and put the crown on him, and gave him the covenant; and they made him king and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, “ Long live the king!”

13 When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into the LORD’s house; 14 and she looked, and behold, the king stood by the pillar, as the tradition was, with the captains and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “ Treason! Treason!”

15 Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds who were set over the army, and said to them, “ Bring her out between the ranks. Kill anyone who follows her with the sword.” For the priest said, “ Don’t let her be slain in the LORD’s house.” 16 So they seized her; and she went by the way of the horses’ entry to the king’s house, and she was slain there.

17 Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they should be the LORD’s people; also between the king and the people. 18 All the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and broke it down. They broke his altars and his images in pieces thoroughly, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. The priest appointed officers over the LORD’s house. 19 He took the captains over hundreds, and the Carites, and the guard, and all the people of the land; and they brought down the king from the LORD’s house, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king’s house. He sat on the throne of the kings. 20 So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. They had slain Athaliah with the sword at the king’s house.

21 Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.

12

1 Jehoash began to reign in the seventh year of Jehu, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2 Jehoash did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 3 However, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

4 Jehoash said to the priests, “ All the money of the holy things that is brought into the LORD’s house, in current money, the money of the people for whom each man is evaluated,+ 12:4 Exodus 30:12 and all the money that it comes into any man’s heart to bring into the LORD’s house, 5 let the priests take it to them, each man from his donor; and they shall repair the damage to the house, wherever any damage is found.”

6 But it was so, that in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash the priests had not repaired the damage to the house. 7 Then King Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and for the other priests, and said to them, “ Why aren’t you repairing the damage to the house? Now therefore take no more money from your treasurers, but deliver it for repair of the damage to the house.”

8 The priests consented that they should take no more money from the people, and not repair the damage to the house. 9 But Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the LORD’s house; and the priests who kept the threshold put all the money that was brought into the LORD’s house into it. 10 When they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king’s scribe and the high priest came up, and they put it in bags and counted the money that was found in the LORD’s house. 11 They gave the money that was weighed out into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the LORD’s house; and they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked on the LORD’s house, 12 and to the masons and the stone cutters, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the damage to the LORD’s house, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it. 13 But there were not made for the LORD’s house cups of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into the LORD’s house; 14 for they gave that to those who did the work, and repaired the LORD’s house with it. 15 Moreover they didn’t demand an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to give to those who did the work; for they dealt faithfully. 16 The money for the trespass offerings and the money for the sin offerings was not brought into the LORD’s house. It was the priests’.

17 Then Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath, and took it; and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem. 18 Jehoash king of Judah took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own holy things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the LORD’s house, and of the king’s house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria; and he went away from Jerusalem.

19 Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 20 His servants arose and made a conspiracy, and struck Joash at the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla. 21 For Jozacar the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in David’s city; and Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

13

1 In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria for seventeen years. 2 He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. He didn’t depart from it. 3 The LORD’s anger burnt against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael, continually. 4 Jehoahaz begged the LORD, and the LORD listened to him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them. 5 ( The LORD gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel lived in their tents as before. 6 Nevertheless they didn’t depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin, but walked in them; and the Asherah also remained in Samaria.) 7 For he didn’t leave to Jehoahaz of the people any more than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria destroyed them and made them like the dust in threshing. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 9 Jehoahaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria; and Joash his son reigned in his place.

10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria for sixteen years. 11 He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight. He didn’t depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin; but he walked in them. 12 Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 13 Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat on his throne. Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

14 Now Elisha became sick with the illness of which he died; and Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over him, and said, “ My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”

15 Elisha said to him, “ Take bow and arrows;” and he took bow and arrows for himself. 16 He said to the king of Israel, “ Put your hand on the bow;” and he put his hand on it. Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. 17 He said, “ Open the window eastward;” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “ Shoot!” and he shot. He said, “ The LORD’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Syria; for you will strike the Syrians in Aphek until you have consumed them.”

18 He said, “ Take the arrows;” and he took them. He said to the king of Israel, “ Strike the ground;” and he struck three times, and stopped. 19 The man of God was angry with him, and said, “ You should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck Syria until you had consumed it, but now you will strike Syria just three times.”

20 Elisha died, and they buried him.

Now the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. 21 As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a band of raiders; and they threw the man into Elisha’s tomb. As soon as the man touched Elisha’s bones, he revived, and stood up on his feet.

22 Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. 23 But the LORD was gracious to them, and had compassion on them, and favoured them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them and he didn’t cast them from his presence as yet.

24 Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his place. 25 Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Joash struck him three times, and recovered the cities of Israel.

14

1 In the second year of Joash, son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah the 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. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. 3 He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, yet not like David his father. He did according to all that Joash his father had done. 4 However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. 5 As soon as the kingdom was established in his hand, he killed his servants who had slain the king his father, 6 but the children of the murderers he didn’t put to death, according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, as the LORD commanded, saying, “ The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin.”

7 He killed ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela by war, and called its name Joktheel, to this day. 8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “ Come, let’s look one another in the face.”

9 Jehoash the 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 as wife.’ Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by, and trampled down the thistle. 10 You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy the glory of it, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to your harm, that you fall, even you, and Judah with you?”

11 But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash 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 Judah was defeated by Israel; and each man fled to his tent. 13 Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh and came to Jerusalem, then broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.+ 14:13 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimetres.14 He took all the gold and silver and all the vessels that were found in the LORD’s house and in the treasures of the king’s house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria.

15 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 16 Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.

17 Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, fifteen years. 18 Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 19 They made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there. 20 They brought him on horses, and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in David’s city.

21 All the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. 22 He built Elath and restored it to Judah. After that the king slept with his fathers.

23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria for forty-one years. 24 He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight. He didn’t depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. 25 He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to the LORD, the God of Israel’s word, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath Hepher. 26 For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter for all, slave and free; and there was no helper for Israel. 27 The LORD didn’t say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under the sky; but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash. 28 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, for Israel, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 29 Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.

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. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. 3 He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. 4 However, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. 5 The LORD struck the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and lived in a separate house. Jotham, the king’s son, was over the household, judging the people of the land. 6 Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 7 Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in David’s city; and Jotham his son reigned in his place.

8 In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. 9 He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, as his fathers had done. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. 10 Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and struck him before the people and killed him, and reigned in his place. 11 Now 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 LORD’s word which he spoke to Jehu, saying, “ Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” So it came to pass.

13 Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned for a month in Samaria. 14 Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, came to Samaria, struck Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, killed him, and reigned in his place. 15 Now 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 attacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its border areas, from Tirzah. He attacked it because they didn’t open their gates to him, and he ripped up all their women who were with child.

17 In the thirty ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel for ten years in Samaria. 18 He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight. He didn’t depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. 19 Pul the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul one thousand talents+ 15:19 A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds, so 1000 talents is about 30 metric tonnes of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand. 20 Menahem exacted the money from Israel, even from all the mighty men of wealth, from each man fifty shekels+ 15:20 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces, so 50 shekels was about 0.5 kilograms or 1.1 pounds. of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and didn’t stay there in the land. 21 Now the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 22 Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son reigned in his place.

23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria for two years. 24 He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. 25 Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him and attacked him in Samaria, in the fortress of the king’s house, with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites. He killed him, and reigned in his place. 26 Now 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 the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria for twenty years. 28 He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. 29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria. 30 Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, attacked him, killed him, and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. 31 Now 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 the son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah 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. His mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. 34 He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes. He did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. 35 However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. He built the upper gate of the LORD’s house. 36 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 37 In those days, the LORD began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah. 38 Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in his father David’s city; and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

16

1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He didn’t do that which was right in the LORD his God’s eyes, like David his father. 3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel. 4 He sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

5 Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war. They besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. 6 At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews from Elath; and the Syrians came to Elath, and lived there to this day. 7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “ I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.” 8 Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the LORD’s house, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. 9 The king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it, and carried its people captive to Kir, and killed Rezin.

10 King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest a drawing of the altar and plans to build it. 11 Urijah the priest built an altar. According to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Urijah the priest made it for the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus. 12 When the king had come from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king came near to the altar, and offered on it. 13 He burnt his burnt offering and his meal offering, poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14 The bronze altar, which was before the LORD, he brought from the front of the house, from between his altar and the LORD’s house, and put it on the north side of his altar. 15 King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “ On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, the evening meal offering, the king’s burnt offering and his meal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their meal offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; but the bronze altar will be for me to enquire by.” 16 Urijah the priest did so, according to all that King Ahaz commanded.

17 King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basin from off them, and took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stone. 18 He removed the covered way for the Sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king’s outer entrance to the LORD’s house, because of the king of Assyria. 19 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 20 Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in David’s city; and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

17

1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel for nine years. 2 He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. 3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him; and Hoshea became his servant, and brought him tribute. 4 The king of Assyria discovered a conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria seized him, and bound him in prison. 5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

7 It was so because the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, 8 and walked in the statutes of the nations whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made. 9 The children of Israel secretly did things that were not right against the LORD their God; and they built high places for themselves in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city; 10 and they set up for themselves pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree; 11 and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as the nations whom the LORD carried away before them did; and they did wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger; 12 and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, “ You shall not do this thing.” 13 Yet the LORD testified to Israel and to Judah, by every prophet and every seer, saying, “ Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” 14 Notwithstanding, they would not listen, but hardened their neck like the neck of their fathers who didn’t believe in the LORD their God. 15 They rejected his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them. 16 They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made molten images for themselves, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshipped all the army of the sky, and served Baal. 17 They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, to provoke him to anger. 18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

19 Also Judah didn’t keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. 20 The LORD rejected all the offspring of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hands of raiders, until he had cast them out of his sight. 21 For he tore Israel from David’s house; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king; and Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin. 22 The children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they didn’t depart from them23 until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he said by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day.

24 The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, from Cuthah, from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities. 25 So it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they didn’t fear the LORD. Therefore the LORD sent lions amongst them, which killed some of them. 26 Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “ The nations which you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria don’t know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions amongst them; and behold, they kill them, because they don’t know the law of the god of the land.”

27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “ Carry there one of the priests whom you brought from there; and let him+ 17:27 Hebrew: them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the god of the land.”

28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

29 However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived. 30 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 burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32 So they feared the LORD, and also made from amongst themselves priests of the high places for themselves, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. 33 They feared the LORD, and also served their own gods, after the ways of the nations from amongst whom they had been carried away. 34 To this day they do what they did before. They don’t fear the LORD, and they do not follow the statutes, or the ordinances, or the law, or the commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; 35 with whom the LORD had made a covenant and commanded them, saying, “ You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them; 36 but you shall fear the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, and you shall bow yourselves to him, and you shall sacrifice to him. 37 The statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever more. You shall not fear other gods. 38 You shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods. 39 But you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.”

40 However they didn’t listen, but they did what they did before. 41 So these nations feared the LORD, and also served their engraved images. Their children did likewise, and so did their children’s children. They do as their fathers did to this day.

18

1 Now in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah the 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. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, according to all that David his father had done. 4 He removed the high places, broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because in those days the children of Israel burnt incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan. 5 He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that after him was no one like him amongst all the kings of Judah, nor amongst them that were before him. 6 For he joined with the LORD. He didn’t depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses. 7 The LORD was with him. Wherever he went, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria, and didn’t serve him. 8 He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.

9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. 10 At the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. 11 The king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12 because they didn’t obey the LORD their God’s voice, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear it or do it.

13 Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 14 Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “ I have offended you. Withdraw from me. That which you put on me, I will bear.” The king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents+ 18:14 A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces of gold. 15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the LORD’s house and in the treasures of the king’s house. 16 At that time, Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the LORD’s temple, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

17 The king of Assyria sent Tartan, Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller’s field. 18 When they had called to the king, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder came out to them. 19 Rabshakeh said to them, “ Say now to Hezekiah, ‘ The great king, the king of Assyria, says, “ What confidence is this in which you trust? 20 You say ( but they are but vain words), ‘ There is counsel and strength for war.’ Now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? 21 Now, behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt. If a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him. 22 But if you tell me, ‘ We trust in the LORD our God,’ isn’t that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘ You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? 23 Now therefore, please give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 24 How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 25 Have I now come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? the LORD said to me, ‘ Go up against this land, and destroy it.’”’”

26 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, Shebnah, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, “ Please speak to your servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Jews’ language, in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

27 But Rabshakeh said to them, “ Has my master sent me to your master and to you, to speak these words? Hasn’t he sent me to the men who sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own urine with you?”

28 Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and spoke, saying, “ Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. 29 The king says, ‘ Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand. 30 Don’t let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, “ The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 31 Don’t listen to Hezekiah.’ For the king of Assyria says, ‘ Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and everyone of you eat from his own vine, and everyone from his own fig tree, and everyone drink water from his own cistern; 32 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and of honey, that you may live and not die. Don’t listen to Hezekiah when he persuades you, saying, “ The LORD will deliver us.” 33 Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 35 Who are they amongst all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

36 But the people stayed quiet, and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “ Don’t answer him.” 37 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, came with Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him Rabshakeh’s words.

19

1 When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the LORD’s house. 2 He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “ Hezekiah says, ‘ Today is a day of trouble, of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them. 4 It may be the LORD your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 Isaiah said to them, “ Tell your master this: ‘ The LORD says, “ Don’t be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

8 So Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish. 9 When he heard it said of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “ Behold, he has come out to fight against you,” he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “ Tell Hezekiah king of Judah this: ‘ Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Will you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed— Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?’”

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the LORD’s house, and spread it before the LORD. 15 Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, “ LORD, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Incline your ear, LORD, and hear. Open your eyes, LORD, and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to defy the living God. 17 Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 18 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them. 19 Now therefore, LORD our God, save us, I beg you, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, LORD, are God alone.”

20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “ The LORD, the God of Israel, says ‘ You have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, and I have heard you. 21 This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him: ‘ The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. 22 Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel! 23 By your messengers, you have defied the Lord, and have said, “ With the multitude of my chariots, I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon, and I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees; and I will enter into his farthest lodging place, the forest of his fruitful field. 24 I have dug and drunk strange waters, and I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt with the sole of my feet.” 25 Haven’t you heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. 26 Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops and like grain blasted before it has grown up. 27 But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me. 28 Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.’

29 “ This will be the sign to you: This year, you will eat that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from that; and in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 30 The remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. 31 For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and out of Mount Zion those who shall escape. The LORD’s zeal will perform this.

32 “ Therefore the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria, ‘ He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there. He will not come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. 33 He will return the same way that he came, and he will not come to this city,’ says the LORD. 34 ‘ For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.’”

35 That night, the LORD’s angel went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, went home, and lived at Nineveh. 37 As he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.

20

1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and dying. Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “ The LORD says, ‘ Set your house in order; for you will die, and not live.’”

2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying, 3 “ Remember now, LORD, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Before Isaiah had gone out into the middle part of the city, the LORD’s word came to him, saying, 5 “ Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, ‘ The LORD, the God of David your father, says, “ I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you will go up to the LORD’s house. 6 I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.”’”

7 Isaiah said, “ Take a cake of figs.”

They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

8 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “ What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I will go up to the LORD’s house the third day?”

9 Isaiah said, “ This will be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has spoken: should the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?”

10 Hezekiah answered, “ It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten steps. No, but let the shadow return backward ten steps.”

11 Isaiah the prophet cried to the LORD; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.

12 At that time Berodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13 Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them all the storehouse of his precious things— the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, or in all his dominion, that Hezekiah didn’t show them.

14 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “ What did these men say? From where did they come to you?”

Hezekiah said, “ They have come from a far country, even from Babylon.”

15 He said, “ What have they seen in your house?”

Hezekiah answered, “ They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing amongst my treasures that I have not shown them.”

16 Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “ Hear the LORD’s word. 17 ‘ Behold, the days come that all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store to this day, will be carried to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says the LORD. 18 ‘ They will take away some of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will father; and they will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “ The LORD’s word which you have spoken is good.” He said moreover, “ Isn’t it so, if peace and truth will be in my days?”

20 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 21 Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

21

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, after the abominations of the nations whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. 3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he raised up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel did, and worshipped all the army of the sky, and served them. 4 He built altars in the LORD’s house, of which the LORD said, “ I will put my name in Jerusalem.” 5 He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of the LORD’s house. 6 He made his son to pass through the fire, practised sorcery, used enchantments, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits and with wizards. He did much evil in the LORD’s sight, to provoke him to anger. 7 He set the engraved image of Asherah that he had made in the house of which the LORD 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 forever; 8 I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.” 9 But they didn’t listen, and Manasseh seduced them to do that which is evil more than the nations did whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.

10 The LORD spoke by his servants the prophets, saying, 11 “ Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has also made Judah to sin with his idols; 12 therefore the LORD the God of Israel says, ‘ Behold, I will bring such evil on Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. 13 I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plumb line of Ahab’s house; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance and deliver them into the hands of their enemies. They will become a prey and a plunder to all their enemies, 15 because they have done that which is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.’”

16 Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; in addition to his sin with which he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the LORD’s sight.

17 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 18 Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own 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. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 20 He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, as Manasseh his father did. 21 He walked in all the ways that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them; 22 and he abandoned the LORD, the God of his fathers, and didn’t walk in the way of the LORD. 23 The servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in his own house. 24 But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. 25 Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 26 He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place.

22

1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. 2 He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, and walked in all the ways of David his father, and didn’t turn away to the right hand or to the left.

3 In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the LORD’s house, saying, 4 “ Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money which is brought into the LORD’s house, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people. 5 Let them deliver it into the hand of the workers who have the oversight of the LORD’s house; and let them give it to the workers who are in the LORD’s house, to repair the damage to the house, 6 to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the house. 7 However, no accounting shall be asked of them for the money delivered into their hand, for they deal faithfully.”

8 Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “ I have found the book of the law in the LORD’s house.” Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 9 Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, “ Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hands of the workmen who have the oversight of the LORD’s house.” 10 Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “ Hilkiah the priest has delivered a book to me.” Then Shaphan read it before the king.

11 When the king had heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. 12 The king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, 13 “ Go enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is the LORD’s wrath that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that which is written concerning us.”

14 So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe ( now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they talked with her. 15 She said to them, “ The LORD the God of Israel says, ‘ Tell the man who sent you to me, 16 “ The LORD says, ‘ Behold, I will bring evil on this place and on its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read. 17 Because they have forsaken me and have burnt incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched.’” 18 But to the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of The LORD, tell him, “ the LORD the God of Israel says, ‘ Concerning the words which you have heard, 19 because your heart was tender, 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 have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you,’ says the LORD. 20 ‘ Therefore behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place.’”’” So they brought this message back to the king.

23

1 The king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. 2 The king went up to the LORD’s house, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him— with the priests, the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the LORD’s house. 3 The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book; and all the people agreed to the covenant.

4 The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the LORD’s temple all the vessels that were made for Baal, for the Asherah, and for all the army of the sky; and he burnt them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 He got rid of the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places around Jerusalem; those also who burnt incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the planets, and to all the army of the sky. 6 He brought out the Asherah from the LORD’s house, outside of Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burnt it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of the common people. 7 He broke down the houses of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the LORD’s house, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. 8 He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burnt incense, from Geba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city. 9 Nevertheless the priests of the high places didn’t come up to the LORD’s altar in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread amongst their brothers. 10 He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. 11 He took away the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance of the LORD’s house, by the room of Nathan Melech the officer who was in the court; and he burnt the chariots of the sun with fire. 12 The king broke down the altars that were on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the LORD’s house, and beat them down from there, and cast their dust into the brook Kidron. 13 The king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon. 14 He broke in pieces the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled their places with men’s bones.

15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burnt the high place and beat it to dust, and burnt the Asherah. 16 As Josiah turned himself, he spied the tombs that were there in the mountain; and he sent, and took the bones out of the tombs, and burnt them on the altar, and defiled it, according to the LORD’s word which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things. 17 Then he said, “ What monument is that which I see?”

The men of the city told him, “ It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.”

18 He said, “ Let him be! Let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. 19 All the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. 20 He killed all the priests of the high places that were there, on the altars, and burnt men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.

21 The king commanded all the people, saying, “ Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.” 22 Surely there was not kept such a Passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; 23 but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.

24 Moreover, Josiah removed those who had familiar spirits, the wizards, and the teraphim,+ 23:24 teraphim were household idols. and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the LORD’s house. 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 might, according to all the law of Moses; and there was none like him who arose after him. 26 Notwithstanding, the LORD didn’t turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger burnt against Judah, because of all the provocation with which Manasseh had provoked him. 27 The LORD said, “ I will also remove Judah out of my sight, as I have 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 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 29 In his days Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him, but Pharaoh Necoh killed him at Megiddo when he saw him. 30 His servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.

31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 Pharaoh Necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent+ 23:33 A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces of gold. 34 Pharaoh Necoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim; but he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necoh. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37 He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, according to all that his fathers had done.

24

1 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. 2 The LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, bands of the Syrians, bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the LORD’s word which he spoke by his servants the prophets. 3 Surely at the commandment of the LORD this came on Judah, to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did, 4 and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD would not pardon. 5 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 6 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

7 The king of Egypt didn’t come out of his land any more; for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates, all that belonged to the king of Egypt.

8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9 He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, according to all that his father had done. 10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. 11 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it, 12 and Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon— he, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers; and the king of Babylon captured him in the eighth year of his reign. 13 He carried out from there all the treasures of the LORD’s house and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the LORD’s temple, as the LORD had said. 14 He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. No one remained except the poorest people of the land. 15 He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, with the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the chief men of the land. He carried them into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 All the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths one thousand, all of them strong and fit for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. 17 The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s father’s brother, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 19 He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 20 For through the anger of the LORD, this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence.

Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

25

1 In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it around it. 2 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3 On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. 4 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden ( now the Chaldeans were against the city around it); and the king went by the way of the Arabah. 5 But the Chaldean army pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 6 Then they captured the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they passed judgement on him. 7 They killed Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

8 Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He burnt the LORD’s house, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burnt every great house with fire. 10 All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 11 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the rest of the people who were left in the city and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon— all the rest of the multitude. 12 But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields.

13 The Chaldeans broke up the pillars of bronze that were in the LORD’s house and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the LORD’s house, and carried the bronze pieces to Babylon. 14 They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered. 15 The captain of the guard took away the fire pans, the basins, that which was of gold, for gold, and that which was of silver, for silver. 16 The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the LORD’s house, the bronze of all these vessels was not weighed. 17 The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits,+ 25:17 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimetres. and a capital of bronze was on it. The height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital around it, all of bronze; and the second pillar with its network was like these.

18 The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold; 19 and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and five men of those who saw the king’s face, who were found in the city; and the scribe, the captain 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 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. 21 The king of Babylon attacked them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.

22 As for the people who were left in the land of Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor. 23 Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. 24 Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them, “ Don’t be afraid because of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.”

25 But in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal offspring came, and ten men with him, and struck Gedaliah so that he died, with the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him at Mizpah. 26 All the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans. 27 In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, released Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison, 28 and he spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon, 29 and changed his prison garments. Jehoiachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life; 30 and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him from the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.