2 Kings

1

¹ And Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.
² And Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber which was in Samaria and became ill. And he sent messengers and said to them, Go and inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I will recover from this sickness.
³ But the Angel of Jehovah said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise; go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron?
⁴ Now therefore thus says Jehovah, You shall not come down from the bed on which you have gone up, but you shall surely die. And Elijah departed.
⁵ And when the messengers returned to him, he said to them, Why have you returned?
⁶ And they said to him, A man came up to meet us and said to us, Go and return to the king who sent you, and say to him, Thus says Jehovah, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you send men to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed on which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.
⁷ And he said to them, What sort of man was he who came up to meet you and spoke these words to you?
⁸ And they said to him, A hairy man, and he was girded with a leather girdle around his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.
⁹ And he sent a captain of fifty with his fifty to him. And the captain went up to him, and there he was, sitting on the top of the hill. And he said to him, O man of God, the king says, Come down!
¹⁰ And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.
¹¹ And again the king sent another captain of fifty with his fifty. And the captain answered and said to him, O man of God, thus says the king, Come down quickly.
¹² And Elijah answered and said to them, If I am the man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.
¹³ And again the king sent a captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up; and he came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and he entreated him and said to him, O man of God, may my soul and the soul of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight.
¹⁴ Already fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty and their fifties; and now may my soul be precious in your sight.
¹⁵ And the Angel of Jehovah said to Elijah, Go down with him; do not be afraid of him. And he rose up and went down with him to the king.
¹⁶ Then he said to him, Thus says Jehovah, Because you sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron — was it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of His word? — therefore you shall not come down from the bed on which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.
¹⁷ And he died according to the word of Jehovah which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram began to reign in his place in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, because he had no son.
¹⁸ And the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

2

¹ And when Jehovah was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind into heaven, Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
² And Elijah said to Elisha, Stay here, for Jehovah has sent me as far as Bethel. And Elisha said, As Jehovah lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel.
³ Then the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that Jehovah will take away your master from over your head today? And he said, I too know it; be silent.
⁴ And Elijah said to him, Elisha, stay here, for Jehovah has sent me to Jericho. And he said, As Jehovah lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. And they came to Jericho.
⁵ And the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho approached Elisha and said to him, Do you know that Jehovah will take away your master from over your head today? And he said, I too know it; be silent.
⁶ And Elijah said to him, Stay here, for Jehovah has sent me to the Jordan. And he said, As Jehovah lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So the two of them went on.
⁷ And fifty men from the sons of the prophets went and stood opposite them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan.
⁸ And Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together and struck the water; and it parted to this side and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
⁹ And when they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I should do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, Let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.
¹⁰ And he said, You have asked a hard thing. If you see me when I am taken from you, so will it be to you; but if not, it will not be so.
¹¹ And as they went on and talked, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared; and they separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
¹² And Elisha saw it and cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen! And he did not see him anymore. And he grasped his clothes and tore them in two pieces.
¹³ And he picked up Elijah’s mantle, which had fallen from him, and returned and stood by the bank of the Jordan.
¹⁴ And he took Elijah’s mantle, which had fallen from him, and struck the water and said, Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah? And when he also struck the water, it parted to this side and that, and Elisha crossed over.
¹⁵ And when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho opposite him saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him.
¹⁶ And they said to him, Here with your servants are fifty strong men; let them go and seek your master, lest the Spirit of Jehovah has taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley. And he said, You shall not send them.
¹⁷ But when they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, Send them. So they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him.
¹⁸ And they returned to him while he stayed at Jericho; and he said to them, Did I not say to you, Do not go?
¹⁹ And the men of the city said to Elisha, The location of the city is good, as my lord can see; but the water is bad, and the land is barren.
²⁰ And he said, Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it. And they brought it to him.
²¹ And he went out to the source of the water and threw salt there; and he said, Thus says Jehovah, I have healed this water; there will not be any more death or barrenness from there.
²² So the water has been healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha, which he spoke.
²³ And he went up from there to Bethel. And as he was going up on the way, some little boys came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, Go up, baldhead; go up, baldhead.
²⁴ And he turned around and looked at them and cursed them in the name of Jehovah. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two children among them.
²⁵ And 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 the king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years.
² And he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah, but not as his father and his mother had done, for he put away the pillar of Baal, which his father had made.
³ Yet he clung to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, by which he caused Israel to sin; he did not turn away from them.
⁴ Now Mesha the king of Moab was a sheep breeder, who would pay as tribute to the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs and the wool of one hundred thousand rams.
⁵ And when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
⁶ And King Jehoram went forth from Samaria on that day and mustered all Israel.
⁷ And he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to Moab to fight? And he said, I will go up: I will be as you are; my people will be as your people; my horses, as your horses.
⁸ And he said, By which way shall we go up? And he said, By the way of the wilderness of Edom.
⁹ So the king of Israel and the king of Judah and the king of Edom set out, and they circled about on a journey of seven days. And there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them.
¹⁰ And the king of Israel said, Alas! Jehovah has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.
¹¹ But Jehoshaphat said, Is there no prophet of Jehovah here, by whom we may inquire of Jehovah? And one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.
¹² And Jehoshaphat said, The word of Jehovah is with him. And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
¹³ And Elisha said to the king of Israel, What do I have in this that concerns you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother. And the king of Israel said to him, No; for Jehovah has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.
¹⁴ And Elisha said, As Jehovah of hosts, before whom I stand, lives, were it not that I regard Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not even look at you or see you.
¹⁵ But now bring me a musician. And as the musician played, the hand of Jehovah came upon him.
¹⁶ And he said, Thus says Jehovah, Make this valley trenches, all trenches!
¹⁷ For thus says Jehovah, You will not see wind, nor will you see rain; but that valley will be filled with water, and you will drink, as will your cattle and your animals.
¹⁸ And this is but a small thing in the sight of Jehovah, for He will deliver Moab into your hand.
¹⁹ And you will strike every fortified city and every choice city, and every good tree you will fell, and all the springs of water you will stop, and every fine portion of land you will mar with stones.
²⁰ And in the morning, at about the time of the offering up of the meal offering, there came water from the direction of Edom, and the land was filled with water.
²¹ Now when all Moab heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, any of those old enough to strap on armor and upward were called out; and they stationed themselves at the border.
²² And when they rose up early in the morning, the sun shone on the water; and the Moabites saw the water before them as red as blood.
²³ And they said, This is blood; the kings have no doubt fought against themselves, and each has struck down his companion. Now therefore to the spoil, O Moab!
²⁴ And 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 among them and struck down the Moabites.
²⁵ And they overturned the cities, and on every fine portion of land each man threw his stone and filled it up, and every spring of water they stopped, and every good tree they felled. Only at Kir-hareseth did they leave stones standing, but the slingers encircled it and struck it.
²⁶ And when the king of Moab saw that the battle went hard against him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew the sword, in order to break through to the king of Edom; but they were not able to do it.
²⁷ So he took his firstborn son, who was to reign in his place, and offered him up as a burnt offering upon the wall. And great wrath came upon Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their land.

4

¹ Now a certain woman from among the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared Jehovah. And the creditor has come to take my two children to himself as servants.
² And Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in your house? And she said, Your servant has nothing at all in the house, except a jar of oil.
³ And he said, Go and borrow vessels outside, from all your neighbors, empty vessels, and not just a few.
⁴ Then go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour out into all those vessels; and each one you fill set aside.
⁵ So she went away from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons; and they brought the vessels to her, and she poured out into them.
⁶ And when she had filled the vessels, she said to her son, Bring me another vessel. But he said to her, There is no other vessel. And the oil stopped.
⁷ And she went and told the man of God. And he said, Go and sell the oil, and pay your debt; and you and your sons can live off the rest.
⁸ And one day Elisha was passing through Shunem; and there was a wealthy woman there, who compelled him to have a meal. So whenever he passed through, he would turn aside and have a meal there.
⁹ And she said to her husband, Now I know that this man who continually passes through unto us is a holy man of God.
¹⁰ Let us make a little walled upper room and put a bed and a table and a chair and a lamp for him; and when he comes to us, he can turn aside there.
¹¹ Then one day he came there, and he turned aside into the upper room and lay down there.
¹² And he said to Gehazi his attendant, Call this Shunammite. And he called her, and she stood before him.
¹³ And he said to him, Say to her, You have gone to all this trouble for us; what can be done for you? Should you be spoken of to the king or to the captain of the army? And she said, I dwell in the midst of my people.
¹⁴ And he said, What then can be done for her? And Gehazi said, Indeed she has no son, and her husband is old.
¹⁵ Then he said, Call her. And he called her, and she stood at the door.
¹⁶ And he said, At this time next year you shall embrace a son. And she said, No, my lord, O man of God, do not deceive your servant.
¹⁷ And the woman conceived and bore a son at that time the next year, as Elisha had told her.
¹⁸ And when the child grew up, one day he went out to his father among the reapers;
¹⁹ And he said to his father, My head! My head! And he said to his attendant, Carry him to his mother.
²⁰ And when he had carried him in and brought him to his mother, the child lay upon her lap until noon, then died.
²¹ And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and she shut the door behind him and went out.
²² Then she called her husband and said, Send me one of the attendants and one of the donkeys that I may run to the man of God and return.
²³ And he said, Why will you go to him today? It is neither the new moon nor the Sabbath. But she said, It will be fine.
²⁴ Then she saddled the donkey and said to her attendant, Urge the beast, and do not restrain the ride for me unless I tell you.
²⁵ So she went. And she came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. And when the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his attendant, That is the Shunammite over there.
²⁶ Run now to meet her, and say to her, Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child? And she said, It is well.
²⁷ And when she came to the man of God on the mountain, she clung to his feet. And Gehazi approached to push her away, but the man of God said, Leave her alone; for she is bitter in soul, and Jehovah has hidden the matter from me and has not told me about it.
²⁸ And she said, Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, Do not mislead me?
²⁹ Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet anyone, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not respond to him. And lay my staff upon the face of the boy.
³⁰ And the mother of the boy said, As Jehovah lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. And he rose up and followed her.
³¹ And Gehazi passed on before them and set the staff upon the boy’s face, but there was no sound or reaction. Therefore he returned to meet him and told him, saying, The boy has not awakened.
³² And when Elisha went into the house, there was the dead boy, laid out on his bed.
³³ And he went in and shut the door behind the two of them, and he prayed to Jehovah.
³⁴ Then he got up and lay on the child, and he put his mouth on his mouth and his eyes on his eyes and his palms on his palms; and he stretched himself over him, and the flesh of the child became warm.
³⁵ And he got down and walked about in the house once to and fro. Then he got up and stretched himself over him, and the boy sneezed seven times. Then the boy opened his eyes.
³⁶ And he called Gehazi and said, Call that Shunammite. So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, Take up your son.
³⁷ And she came and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground. And she took up her son and went out.
³⁸ Then Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. And the sons of the prophets sat before him. And he said to his attendant, Put on the big pot, and boil some stew for the sons of the prophets.
³⁹ And one went out into the field to gather herbs. And he found a wild vine and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds. And he came and cut them up into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they were.
⁴⁰ And they poured out the stew for the men to eat. And while they were eating some of the stew, they cried out and said, O man of God, there is poison in the pot. And they were not able to eat it.
⁴¹ And he said, Then bring some flour. And he threw it into the pot and said, Pour it out for the people that they may eat. And there was nothing harmful in the pot.
⁴² Then a man came from Baal-shalishah and brought to the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, Give it to the people that they may eat.
⁴³ And his servant said, How can I set this before a hundred people? And he said, Give it to the people that they may eat; for thus says Jehovah, They shall eat and have some left.
⁴⁴ So he set it before them; and they ate, and there was some left, according to the word of Jehovah.

5

¹ Now Naaman, the captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man in the sight of his master and highly respected, because by him Jehovah had given deliverance to Syria. But the man, though a mighty man of valor, was a leper.
² And the Syrians had gone out in bands and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel, and she waited on Naaman’s wife.
³ And she said to her mistress, If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy.
⁴ And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, Thus and thus did the girl who is from the land of Israel say.
⁵ Then the king of Syria said, Go then, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he went and took with him ten talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold and ten changes of clothes.
⁶ And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read: And now, when this letter comes to you, I am sending Naaman my servant to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy.
⁷ And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, Am I God to put to death and to give life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Therefore consider now and see how he seeks an occasion against me.
⁸ And when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent word to the king, saying, Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.
⁹ And Naaman came with his horses and his chariot and stood at the entrance of the house of Elisha.
¹⁰ And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored; and you shall be clean.
¹¹ But Naaman became furious and went away and said, I thought, He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of Jehovah his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.
¹² Are not the Abana and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
¹³ And his servants came near and spoke to him and said, My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, Wash and be clean?
¹⁴ So he went down and dipped in the Jordan seven times according to the word of the man of God. And his flesh was restored to be like the flesh of a little boy, and he was clean.
¹⁵ And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came and stood before him and said, Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except with Israel. And now, please accept a present from your servant.
¹⁶ But he said, As Jehovah lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing. And Naaman urged him to take it, but he refused.
¹⁷ And Naaman said, Then if not, please let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth, for your servant will no more offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to other gods, but to Jehovah only.
¹⁸ In this matter may Jehovah pardon your servant: When my master goes into the house of Rimmon to bow down there and leans on my arm, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, when I bow down in the house of Rimmon, may Jehovah pardon your servant in this matter.
¹⁹ And he said to him, Go in peace. And when he had gone from him a little way,
²⁰ Gehazi, the attendant of Elisha the man of God said, Now my master has spared Naaman this Syrian by not receiving from his hand that which he brought. As Jehovah lives, I will run after him and take something from him.
²¹ So Gehazi pursued Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he alighted from the chariot to meet him and said, Is all well?
²² And he said, All is well. My master has sent me, saying, Now at this moment two young men from among the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim; please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothes.
²³ And Naaman said, Please take two talents. And he urged him and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothes, and gave them to two of his attendants; and they carried them before him.
²⁴ And when he came to the hill, he took them from their hand and deposited them in the house. And he sent the men away, and they departed.
²⁵ And he went in and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, Where have you come from, Gehazi? And he said, Your servant has not gone anywhere.
²⁶ And he said to him, Did not my heart go with you when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive silver and to receive clothing and olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male servants and female servants?
²⁷ Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to you and to your seed forever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.

6

¹ Then the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, The place here where we dwell before you is too narrow for us.
² Let us go to the Jordan and each take a beam from there, and let us make for ourselves a place there, where we may dwell. And he said, Go.
³ And someone said, Please go with your servants. And he said, I will go.
⁴ And he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down the trees.
⁵ But as one was felling a beam, the ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, Alas, my master! It was borrowed.
⁶ And the man of God said, Where did it fall? And he showed him the place. And he cut down a stick and threw it there and made the iron float.
⁷ And he said, Take it up for yourself. And he stretched out his hand and took it.
⁸ Now the king of Syria waged war against Israel. And he took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall my camp be.
⁹ And the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, saying, Beware that you do not pass such a place, for the Syrians are going down there.
¹⁰ And the king of Israel sent word to the place that the man of God told him about. So the king alerted the place and put it on guard not merely once or twice.
¹¹ And the heart of the king of Syria was enraged over this matter. And he called his servants and said to them, Tell me, which of us sides with the king of Israel?
¹² And one of his servants said, None, O my lord the king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words which you speak in your bedroom.
¹³ And he said, Go and see where he is, that I may send for him and seize him. And it was told him, saying, He is in Dothan.
¹⁴ And he sent horses and chariots and a massive army there. And they came by night and surrounded the city.
¹⁵ And the servant of the man of God rose early and went out, and there it was: an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. And his attendant said to him, Alas, my master! What shall we do?
¹⁶ And he said, Do not fear, for they who are with us are more than they who are with them.
¹⁷ And Elisha prayed and said, O Jehovah, open his eyes that he may see. And Jehovah opened the eyes of the attendant, and he saw: The mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
¹⁸ And when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to Jehovah and said, Strike this nation with blindness. And He struck them with blindness according to Elisha’s word.
¹⁹ Then Elisha said to them, This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek. And he brought them to Samaria.
²⁰ And when they came to Samaria, Elisha said, O Jehovah, open the eyes of these men that they may see. And Jehovah opened their eyes and they saw that they were in the midst of Samaria.
²¹ And when he saw them, the king of Israel said to Elisha, Shall I strike them? Shall I strike them, my father?
²² And he said, You shall not strike them. Would you strike those whom you have taken captive by your sword and your bow? Set bread and water before them, and let them eat and drink and go back to their master.
²³ Then he prepared a great feast for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the bands of Syria no longer came into the land of Israel.
²⁴ And after this Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria.
²⁵ And there was a great famine in Samaria; and they besieged it until the head of a donkey was sold for eighty pieces of silver and a fourth part of a kab of doves’ dung was sold for five pieces of silver.
²⁶ And once, as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, Help me, O my lord the king.
²⁷ And he said, If Jehovah does not help you, from where shall I help you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?
²⁸ And the king said to her, What is your trouble? And she said, This woman said to me, Give up 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 on the next day I said to her, Give up your son that we may eat him; but she hid her son.
³⁰ And when the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his clothes. And as he passed by upon the wall, the people could see that he had sackcloth upon his flesh underneath.
³¹ And he said, God do so to me, and even more, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today.
³² Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And the king had sent a man from before him. Before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, Do you see that this son of a murderer has sent someone to take away my head? When the messenger comes, see that you shut the door and hold the door closed against him. Surely the sound of his master’s feet is behind him.
³³ While he was still talking with them, the king came down to him and said, This evil is from Jehovah; why should I wait for Jehovah any longer?

7

¹ And Elisha said, Hear the word of Jehovah: Thus says Jehovah, At about this time tomorrow a seah of fine flour will be sold for a shekel and two seahs of barley will be sold for a shekel in the gate of Samaria.
² Then the captain on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God and said, Even if Jehovah made windows in heaven, could this thing happen? And he said, Your eyes shall indeed see it, but you shall not eat from it.
³ Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. And they said to one another, Why are we sitting here until we die?
⁴ If we say, Let us enter the city, the famine is in the city and we will die there; but if we sit here, we will also die. Now therefore let us go and desert to the camp of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we will live; and if they kill us, we will die.
⁵ So they rose up in the twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. And when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, there was not a man there.
⁶ Now the Lord had made the camp of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and the sound of horses, the sound of a great army; and each man said to his brother, Now the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come against us.
⁷ And they rose up and fled in the twilight, and they abandoned their tents and their horses and their donkeys, indeed the whole camp just as it was, and fled for their lives.
⁸ So when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they entered one tent and began to eat and drink. And they took silver and gold and clothing from there, and went and hid them. And they went back and entered another tent and took things from there and went and hid them.
⁹ Then they said to one another, We are not doing right. This day is a day of good tidings, and we remain silent. If we delay until the morning’s light, our iniquity will find us out. Now therefore, come and let us go and tell the king’s household.
¹⁰ So they went and called out to the gatekeepers of the city and told them saying, We went to the camp of the Syrians, and there was not a man there nor even the sound of a man; but the horses were tied, and the donkeys were tied, and the tents were left as they were.
¹¹ And the gatekeepers proclaimed it and told the king’s household within.
¹² And the king rose up in the night and said to his servants, I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us: They know that we are hungry; and they have gone out from the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out from the city, we will take them alive; and into the city we will go.
¹³ And one of his servants answered and said, Let some men take five of the remaining horses that are left in the city — they are like all the multitude of Israel which remain in the city; they are like all the multitude of Israel which have perished — and let us send them and see.
¹⁴ So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the army of Syria, saying, Go and see.
¹⁵ And when they went after them toward the Jordan, all the way was full of garments and equipment that the Syrians had thrown off in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king.
¹⁶ And the people went forth and plundered the camp of the Syrians. And a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of Jehovah.
¹⁷ Now the king had appointed the captain on whose arm he leaned to have charge of the gate; and the people trampled him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king had come down to him.
¹⁸ So just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two seahs of barley will be sold for a shekel and a seah of fine flour will be sold for a shekel at about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria;
¹⁹ And the captain had answered the man of God and said, Even if Jehovah made windows in heaven, could this thing happen? and the man of God had said, Your eyes shall indeed see it, but you shall not eat from it;
²⁰ So it happened to him; for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.

8

¹ Now Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, Rise up, and you and your household go and dwell wherever you can; for Jehovah has called for a famine, and it will also come upon the land for seven years.
² So the woman rose up and did according to the word of the man of God. And she and her household went and dwelt in the land of the Philistines for seven years.
³ And at the end of the seven years the woman returned from the land of the Philistines. And she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and her land.
⁴ And the king was talking to Gehazi the attendant of the man of God, saying, Recount to me all the great things that Elisha has done.
⁵ And while Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead boy to life, there came the woman whose son he had restored to life, crying to the king for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, O my lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.
⁶ And the king asked the woman, and she recounted it to him. And the king appointed a certain officer for her, saying, Restore all that was hers and all the produce of her land from the day that she left the country until now.
⁷ And Elisha went to Damascus. And Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick. And it was told him, saying, The man of God has come here.
⁸ And the king said to Hazael, Take a gift with you, and go to meet the man of God; and inquire of Jehovah through him, saying, Will I recover from this sickness?
⁹ So Hazael went to meet him; and he took a gift with him, even all good things of Damascus, forty camel loads. And he came and stood before him and said, Your son Ben-hadad the king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, Will I recover from this sickness?
¹⁰ And Elisha said to him, Go and say to him, You shall certainly recover; however Jehovah has shown me that he shall certainly die.
¹¹ And he fixed his gaze and stared at him until he was ashamed. Then the man of God began to weep.
¹² And Hazael said, Why are you weeping, my lord? And he said, Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel: Their strongholds you will set on fire, and their choice young men you will slay with the sword, and their little ones you will dash to pieces, and their pregnant women you will rip open.
¹³ And Hazael said, But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha said, Jehovah has shown me that you will be king over Syria.
¹⁴ And he went from Elisha and came to his master. And his master said to him, What did Elisha say to you? And he said, He told me that you shall certainly recover.
¹⁵ But on the next day he took the heavy covering over Ben-hadad and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, so that he died; and Hazael reigned in his place.
¹⁶ Now in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, the king of Israel, while Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, began to reign.
¹⁷ He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
¹⁸ And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel and as the house of Ahab had done, for Ahab’s daughter was his wife; and he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah.
¹⁹ But Jehovah would not destroy Judah, because of David His servant, as He had promised him that for his sake He would provide a lamp for his children always.
²⁰ In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and they installed a king over themselves.
²¹ So Joram crossed over to Zair, and all his chariots with him. And he rose up at night and struck the Edomites all around him and the captains of the chariots, but his people fled to their tents.
²² So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, as it is to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time.
²³ And the rest of the acts of Joram and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
²⁴ And Joram slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.
²⁵ In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, the king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, the 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. And his mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri the king of Israel.
²⁷ And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah, like the house of Ahab; for he was a son-in-law to the house of Ahab.
²⁸ And he went with Joram the son of Ahab to fight with Hazael the king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead. And the Syrians struck Joram.
²⁹ And Joram the king returned to heal in Jezreel of his wounds that the Syrians had inflicted on him in Ramah when he fought with Hazael the king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, the king of Judah, went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he was sick.

9

¹ And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, Gird up your loins, and take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead.
² And when you arrive there, look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi; and go in and make him rise up from among his brothers, and bring him to an inner room.
³ Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, Thus says Jehovah, I have anointed you king over Israel. Then open the door and flee, and do not delay.
⁴ So the young man, the prophet’s attendant, went to Ramoth-gilead.
⁵ And when he came, there the captains of the army were sitting. And he said, I have a word for you, O captain. And Jehu said, To which one of all of us? And he said, To you, O captain.
⁶ And he rose up and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head and said to him, Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, I have anointed you king over the people of Jehovah, over Israel.
⁷ And you shall strike the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of My servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of Jehovah at the hand of Jezebel.
⁸ And the whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, bond and free, in Israel;
⁹ And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah;
¹⁰ And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the lot of Jezreel, and there will be none to bury her. Then he opened the door and fled.
¹¹ And when Jehu came out to the servants of his master, someone said to him, Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you? And he said to them, You know the man and his ranting.
¹² And they said, That is a lie; please tell us. And he said, Thus and thus he said to me, saying, Thus says Jehovah, I have anointed you king over Israel.
¹³ Then they moved quickly; and every man took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps; and they blew the trumpet and said, Jehu is king!
¹⁴ And Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had been defending Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael the king of Syria,
¹⁵ But Jehoram the king returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had inflicted on him when he fought Hazael the king of Syria). And Jehu said, If this is your desire, let no fugitive depart from the city and go and tell it in Jezreel.
¹⁶ So Jehu rode off in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was lying ill there. And Ahaziah the king of Judah had come down to see Joram.
¹⁷ And the watchman stood on the tower in Jezreel and saw Jehu’s multitude as he came, and he said, I see a multitude. And Jehoram said, Take a horseman, and send him to meet them; and let him say, Is there peace?
¹⁸ So the horseman went to meet him and said, Thus says the king, Is there peace? And Jehu said, What do you have to do with peace? Turn behind me. And the watchman reported, saying, The messenger went to them but did not return.
¹⁹ And he sent out a second horseman; and he came to them and said, Thus says the king, Is there peace? And Jehu said, What do you have to do with peace? Turn behind me.
²⁰ And the watchman reported, saying, He went to them but did not return; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, because he drives furiously.
²¹ And Jehoram said, Yoke the chariot! And someone yoked his chariot. And Jehoram the king of Israel and Ahaziah the king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and went to meet Jehu; and they found him in the lot of Naboth the Jezreelite.
²² And when Jehoram saw Jehu, he said, Is there peace, Jehu? And he said, What peace can there be, so long as the harlotries and sorceries of Jezebel your mother are so many?
²³ And Jehoram turned the reins and tried to flee. And he said to Ahaziah, Treachery, Ahaziah!
²⁴ And Jehu drew his bow with full strength and struck Jehoram between his arms; and the arrow went through his heart, and he sank down in his chariot.
²⁵ And Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, Take him up, and throw him in the lot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember how you and I were riding together behind Ahab his father, and Jehovah uttered this oracle against him:
²⁶ Surely I have seen the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, declares Jehovah; and I will repay you in this lot, declares Jehovah. And now, take him up and throw him in the lot, according to the word of Jehovah.
²⁷ And Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this and fled toward the garden house; and Jehu pursued after him and said, Strike him too in his chariot. So they struck him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo and died there.
²⁸ And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his grave with his fathers in the city of David.
²⁹ And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah.
³⁰ And Jehu came to Jezreel; and Jezebel heard of it. And she put paint on her eyes and adorned her head, and she looked out the window.
³¹ And as Jehu entered the gate, she said, Is all well, Zimri, you murderer of your master?
³² And he lifted up his face to the window and said, Who is on my side? Who? And two or three eunuchs looked out at him.
³³ And he said, Throw her down. And they threw her down. And some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and he trampled her.
³⁴ And he came in, and ate and drank, and said, Attend now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.
³⁵ But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than her skull and her feet and the palms of her hands.
³⁶ And they returned and reported it to him. And he said, This is the word of Jehovah, which He spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the lot of Jezreel the dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel;
³⁷ And the corpse of Jezebel will be like dung upon the surface of the field in the lot of Jezreel, so that they will not say, This is Jezebel.

10

¹ Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria, and Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the rulers of Jezreel, the elders, and to the guardians of the children of Ahab, saying,
² Now then, when this letter comes to you, since your master’s sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fortified city and weapons,
³ Look for the best and fittest of your master’s sons, and set him on the throne of his father, and fight for your master’s house.
⁴ But they feared very greatly and said, If the two kings could not stand before him, how then can we stand before him?
⁵ And he who was over the household and he that was over the city and the elders and the guardians of the children sent word to Jehu, saying, We are your servants; all that you say to us, we will do. We will not make anyone king. What is good in your sight, do.
⁶ Then he wrote a letter to them a second time, saying, If you are mine and listen to my voice, take the heads of the sons of your master, and come to me at Jezreel tomorrow at this time. Now the king’s sons, seventy men, were with the great men of the city, who had brought them up.
⁷ And when the letter reached them, they took the king’s sons and slaughtered them, seventy men; and they placed their heads in baskets and sent them to him in Jezreel.
⁸ And the messenger came and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king’s sons. And he said, Put them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.
⁹ And in the morning he went out and stood and said to all the people, You are righteous. I conspired against my master and have killed him; but who struck all these?
¹⁰ Know therefore that nothing of the word of Jehovah, which Jehovah spoke concerning the house of Ahab, shall fall to the earth; for Jehovah has done that which He spoke through His servant Elijah.
¹¹ So Jehu killed all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel and all his great men and his acquaintances and his priests, until he left him no one remaining.
¹² Then he rose up and departed and came into Samaria. And while he was at the shepherds’ meeting place on the way,
¹³ Jehu came upon the brothers of Ahaziah the king of Judah; and he said, Who are you? And they said, We are the brothers of Ahaziah, and have come down to greet the sons of the king and the sons of the queen mother.
¹⁴ And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive and slew them, forty-two men, at the pit of the meeting place; and he left not one of them remaining.
¹⁵ And when he departed from there, he came upon Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him; and he greeted him and said to him, Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart? And Jehonadab said, It is. And Jehu said, If it is, give me your hand. And he gave him his hand, and Jehu took him up to himself into the chariot.
¹⁶ And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for Jehovah. So they made him ride in his chariot.
¹⁷ And when he came to Samaria, he struck all who were left to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of Jehovah, which He spoke to Elijah.
¹⁸ And Jehu gathered all the people together and said to them, Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much.
¹⁹ Now call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be missing. For I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal. Whoever is missing will not live. But Jehu acted in subtlety, in order that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.
²⁰ And Jehu said, Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed it.
²¹ And Jehu sent word throughout all Israel, and all the worshippers of Baal came; and there was not one left who did not come. And they came to the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled from one end to the other.
²² And he said to the one who was over the wardrobe, Bring out garments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought out the garments to them.
²³ And Jehu and Jehonadab the son of Rechab came to the house of Baal; and he said to the worshippers of Baal, Search and see that none of the servants of Jehovah are here with you; only the worshippers of Baal should be here.
²⁴ And they came to offer sacrifice and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed for himself eighty men outside; and he had said, He who allows any of the men to escape whom I bring into your hands will give up his life instead.
²⁵ And when he finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and to the captains, Go in and slay them; let no one get out. And they struck them with the edge of the sword. And the guards and the captains threw them out, and they went to the inner room of the house of Baal.
²⁶ And they brought out the pillars of the house of Baal and burned them.
²⁷ And they broke down the pillar of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal and made it a latrine, as it is to this day.
²⁸ Thus Jehu eradicated Baal from Israel.
²⁹ However as regards the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, by which he caused Israel to sin, Jehu did not turn away from them, that is, the golden calves which were in Bethel and in Dan.
³⁰ And Jehovah said to Jehu, Because you have done well in executing what is right in My eyes and have dealt with the house of Ahab according to all that was in My heart, your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.
³¹ But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of Jehovah the God of Israel with all his heart; he did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, by which he caused Israel to sin.
³² In those days Jehovah began to cut away portions of land in Israel, and Hazael struck them in all the borders of Israel
³³ From the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the valley of Arnon, both Gilead and Bashan.
³⁴ And the rest of the acts of Jehu and all that he did and all his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
³⁵ And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place.
³⁶ Now the time which 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 rose up and destroyed all the royal seed.
² But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the sons of the king who were to be killed; she put him and his nurse into the bedchamber. So they hid him from Athaliah, and he was not killed.
³ And he was with her, hidden in the house of Jehovah, for six years while Athaliah reigned over the land.
⁴ Then in the seventh year Jehoiada sent word and gathered the captains of the hundreds over the Carites and over the guards and brought them to him at the house of Jehovah. And he made a covenant with them and put them under an oath in the house of Jehovah, then showed them the king’s son.
⁵ And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that you shall do: A third of you who come on duty on the Sabbath shall keep watch over the king’s house;
⁶ And another third shall keep watch in the gate of Sur; and another third shall keep watch at the gate behind the guards. You shall keep watch over the house for a defense.
⁷ And the two divisions of you, all who go off duty on the Sabbath, shall keep watch over the house of Jehovah for the king.
⁸ And you shall surround the king, each man with his weapons in his hand; and whoever enters the ranks shall be put to death; and you shall be with the king in his goings and comings.
⁹ And the captains of the hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded them. And each took his men, those who came on duty on the Sabbath with those who went off duty on the Sabbath; and they came to Jehoiada the priest.
¹⁰ And the priest gave the spears and shields that had belonged to King David, which were in the house of Jehovah, to the captains of the hundreds.
¹¹ And the guards stood, each man with his weapons in his hand, from the right flank of the house to the left flank of the house, by the altar and by the house, to guard the king all around.
¹² And he brought the king’s son out and gave him the crown and the testimony. And they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, Long live the king!
¹³ Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she went to the people at the house of Jehovah.
¹⁴ And she looked, and there was the king, standing by the pillar, according to the custom, with captains and their trumpets near the king. And all the people of the land rejoiced and blew the trumpets. And Athaliah tore her clothes and cried out, Treason! Treason!
¹⁵ And Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds who had been set over the army and said to them, Bring her out between the ranks, and anyone who follows her kill with a sword; for the priest said, She shall not be killed in the house of Jehovah.
¹⁶ And they made way for her, and she went to the house of the king through the horses’ entrance and was killed there.
¹⁷ And Jehoiada made a covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people that they would be Jehovah’s people, and also between the king and the people.
¹⁸ And all the people of the land went to the house of Baal and broke it down: The altars to him and his images they shattered to pieces, and they slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of Jehovah.
¹⁹ And Jehoiada gathered the captains of the hundreds and the Carites and the guards and all the people of the land. And they brought the king down from the house of Jehovah and came by way of the guard gate to the house of the king, and he sat upon the throne of the kings.
²⁰ And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet; for they had slain Athaliah with the sword at the house of the king.
²¹ Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.

12

¹ In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba.
² And Jehoash did what was right in the sight of Jehovah all the days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
³ However the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.
⁴ And Jehoash said to the priests, All the money of the sanctified things which goes into the house of Jehovah — the money of everyone who passes through the numbering, the money of each person’s assessment, and all the money that comes up in the heart of anyone to bring into the house of Jehovah —
⁵ Let the priests take, each man from his acquaintance; and they shall repair what is broken in the house, wherever anything is found broken.
⁶ But as of the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had not repaired what was broken in the house.
⁷ So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the priests and said to them, Why have you not been repairing what is broken in the house? Now therefore take no more money from your acquaintances, but deliver it for what is broken in the house.
⁸ And the priests agreed that they would neither take money from the people nor repair what was broken in the house.
⁹ Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid, and he put it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of Jehovah. And the priests who guarded the threshold put all the money that came into the house of Jehovah into it.
¹⁰ And whenever they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the king’s scribe and the high priest would go up and bind the money that came into the house of Jehovah in bags and count it.
¹¹ And they would give the money that was weighed out into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of Jehovah; and these would pay it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked on the house of Jehovah,
¹² And to the masons and to the stone hewers and for the purchase of timber and hewn stone, to repair what was broken in the house of Jehovah, and for any other outlay to repair the house.
¹³ But there were no cups of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, or any vessels of gold or any vessels of silver prepared for the house of Jehovah out of the money that was brought into the house of Jehovah;
¹⁴ For they gave it all to those who did the work, who repaired the house of Jehovah with it.
¹⁵ And they did not ask for an accounting from the men into whose hands they had given the money to use for doing the work, for these worked faithfully.
¹⁶ The money from the trespass offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of Jehovah; it was the priests’.
¹⁷ At that time Hazael the king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it. And Hazael set his face to go up toward Jerusalem.
¹⁸ And Jehoash the king of Judah took all the sanctified things which Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers the kings of Judah, had sanctified and his own sanctified things and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of Jehovah and the house of the king; and he sent it to Hazael the king of Syria. And he went up from Jerusalem.
¹⁹ And the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
²⁰ And his servants rose up and formed a conspiracy. And they struck Joash down in the house of Millo, on the way that leads down to Silla.
²¹ And it was Jozacar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, who struck him down; and he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

13

¹ In the twenty-third year of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, the king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned seventeen years.
² And he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah and followed after the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat by which he caused Israel to sin; he did not turn away from them.
³ And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel; and He gave them continually into the hand of Hazael the king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael.
⁴ (And Jehoahaz entreated Jehovah; and Jehovah listened to him, for He saw the oppression of Israel, for the king of Syria oppressed them.
⁵ And Jehovah gave Israel a deliverer, and they went out from under the hand of Syria; and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as they had before.
⁶ However they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, by which he caused Israel to sin, but walked in them. And also the Asherah remained standing in Samaria.)
⁷ For he left to Jehoahaz of the people not more than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand foot soldiers, for the king of Syria destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing.
⁸ And the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
⁹ And 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 the king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned sixteen years.
¹¹ And he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah; he did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, by which he caused Israel to sin; he walked in them.
¹² And the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did and his might with which he fought with Amaziah the king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
¹³ And Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat upon his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
¹⁴ Now when Elisha was ill with his illness by which he eventually died, Joash the king of Israel went down to him and wept over him and said, My father! My father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!
¹⁵ And Elisha said to him, Take a bow and arrows; and he took a bow and arrows to him.
¹⁶ And he said to the king of Israel, Grasp the bow; and he grasped the bow. And Elisha put his hands over the hands of the king,
¹⁷ And he said, Open the window toward the east; and he opened it. And Elisha said, Shoot; and he shot. And he said, Jehovah’s arrow of victory, an arrow of victory against Syria; for you will strike Syria in Aphek until you have consumed it.
¹⁸ And he said, Take the arrows; and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Strike the ground; and he struck the ground three times then stopped.
¹⁹ And the man of God became angry with him and said, You should have struck it five or six times; then you would have struck Syria until you had consumed them. But now you shall strike Syria only three times.
²⁰ And Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites would invade the land at the coming in of the new year.
²¹ And it so happened that as the people were burying a man, they saw a band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he came to life and stood up on his feet.
²² And Hazael the king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.
²³ But Jehovah was gracious to them and had compassion on them and turned to them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and He would not destroy them; and He has not cast them from His presence until now.
²⁴ And Hazael the king of Syria died, and Ben-hadad his son reigned in his place.
²⁵ And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz retook the cities out of the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael that he had taken in war out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father; Joash struck him three times and recovered the cities of Israel.

14

¹ In the second year of Joash the son of Joahaz, the king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash, the king of Judah, began to reign.
² He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years; and his mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem.
³ And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, yet not like David his father; he did according to all that Joash his father had done.
⁴ However the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.
⁵ And when the kingdom was established in his hand, he struck down his servants who had struck down his father the king.
⁶ But the children of the murderers he did not put to death, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, in which Jehovah commanded, saying, Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
⁷ He struck ten thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt; and he captured Sela in battle and called the name of it Joktheel, as it is to this day.
⁸ Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu, the king of Israel, saying, Come, let us confront each other.
⁹ And Jehoash the king of Israel sent word to Amaziah the king of Judah, saying, The thornbush that was in Lebanon sent word to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son as his wife; but a wild beast that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thornbush.
¹⁰ You have surely struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Glorify yourself, but remain in your home. Why should you stir up trouble so that you and Judah with you fall?
¹¹ But Amaziah would not listen; so Jehoash the king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah the king of Judah confronted each other in Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.
¹² And Judah was defeated before Israel, and they fled, each man to his tent.
¹³ And Jehoash the king of Israel captured Amaziah the king of Judah the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah in Beth-shemesh; and he came to Jerusalem and tore down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits.
¹⁴ And he took all the gold and silver and all the vessels that were found in the house of Jehovah and in the treasuries of the king’s house as well as hostages, and returned to Samaria.
¹⁵ And the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did and his might and how he fought with Amaziah the king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
¹⁶ And Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. And Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.
¹⁷ And Amaziah the son of Joash, the king of Judah, lived for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, the king of Israel.
¹⁸ And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
¹⁹ And they formed a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; and they sent men after him to Lachish, and they killed him there.
²⁰ And they brought him on horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.
²¹ And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.
²² It was he who built Elath and restored it to Judah after Amaziah the king slept with his fathers.
²³ In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, the king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, the king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria; he reigned forty-one years.
²⁴ And he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah; he did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, by which he caused Israel to sin.
²⁵ He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Jehovah the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was of Gath-hepher.
²⁶ For Jehovah saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter, for there was neither bond nor free left, nor was there anyone to help Israel.
²⁷ And Jehovah did not say that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven but saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.
²⁸ And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did and his might, how he warred and how he restored for Israel Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
²⁹ And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, with the kings of Israel. And Zechariah his son reigned in his place.

15

¹ In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam the king of Israel, Azariah the son of Amaziah, the king of Judah, began to reign.
² He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.
³ And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.
⁴ However the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.
⁵ And Jehovah struck the king, so that he was a leper until the day of his death; and he dwelt in a separate house. And Jotham, the king’s son, was over the household, judging the people of the land.
⁶ And the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
⁷ And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. And Jotham his son reigned in his place.
⁸ In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah the king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned six months.
⁹ And he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah, as his fathers had done; he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, by which he caused Israel to sin.
¹⁰ And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him and struck him down before the people. So he killed him and reigned in his place.
¹¹ And the rest of the acts of Zechariah are there written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
¹² This was the word of Jehovah which He spoke to Jehu, saying, Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel; and it was so.
¹³ Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah the king of Judah, and he reigned one month in Samaria.
¹⁴ And Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria. And he struck down Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and killed him. And he reigned in his place.
¹⁵ And the rest of the acts of Shallum and the conspiracy which he formed are there written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
¹⁶ Then Menahem struck Tiphsah and all who were in it and its borders from Tirzah; because they did not open to him, he struck it; all its pregnant women he ripped open.
¹⁷ In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah the king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel; he reigned ten years in Samaria.
¹⁸ And he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah; he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, by which he caused Israel to sin, throughout all his days.
¹⁹ Pul the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver so that he would support his efforts to keep the kingdom in his hand.
²⁰ And Menahem exacted the money from Israel, from all the great men of wealth, each one man giving fifty shekels of silver, so that he could give it to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria returned and did not stay there in the land.
²¹ And the rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
²² And Menahem slept with his fathers. And Pekahiah his son reigned in his place.
²³ In the fiftieth year of Azariah the king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned two years.
²⁴ And he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah; he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, by which he caused Israel to sin.
²⁵ And Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him. And he struck him down, along with Argob and Arieh, in Samaria in the citadel of the king’s house; and with him were fifty men from among the Gileadites. So he killed him and reigned in his place.
²⁶ And the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he did are there written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
²⁷ In the fifty-second year of Azariah the king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned twenty years.
²⁸ And he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah; he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, by which he caused Israel to sin.
²⁹ In the days of Pekah the king of Israel Tiglath-pileser the king of Assyria came and took Ijon and Abel-beth-maacah and Janoah and Kedesh and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them away captive to Assyria.
³⁰ And Hoshea the son of Elah formed a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and he struck him down and killed him and reigned in his place in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.
³¹ And the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did are there written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
³² In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah, the king of Judah, began to reign.
³³ He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.
³⁴ And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.
³⁵ However the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of Jehovah.
³⁶ And the rest of the acts of Jotham that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
³⁷ In those days Jehovah began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah.
³⁸ And Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. And Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

16

¹ In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, the king of Judah, began to reign.
² Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the sight of Jehovah his God, as David his father had done,
³ But walked in the way of the kings of Israel; and he even caused his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that Jehovah had dispossessed before the children of Israel.
⁴ And he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places and on the hills and under every flourishing tree.
⁵ Then Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to battle. And they besieged Ahaz, but they were not able to fight with him.
⁶ At that time Rezin the king of Syria restored Elath to Syria and drove the Jews from Elath; and the Syrians came to Elath and have dwelt there to this day.
⁷ And Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser the 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 have risen up against me.
⁸ And Ahaz took the silver and the gold that was found in the house of Jehovah and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent it as a present to the king of Assyria.
⁹ And the king of Assyria listened to him. And the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and he took it and carried the people of it away captive to Kir. And he killed Rezin.
¹⁰ And King Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-pileser the king of Assyria at Damascus, and he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the form of the altar and the pattern of it, according to all its workmanship.
¹¹ And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent him from Damascus. Urijah the priest made it that way before King Ahaz came from Damascus.
¹² And when the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king approached the altar and offered upon it.
¹³ And he burned his burnt offering and his meal offering, and poured out his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar.
¹⁴ And the bronze altar which was before Jehovah, he brought forward from the front of the house, from between his altar and the house of Jehovah, and put it by the side of his altar on the north.
¹⁵ And King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening meal offering, and the king’s burnt offering and his meal offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land and their meal offering and their drink offerings; and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. And the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.
¹⁶ And Urijah the priest did according to all that King Ahaz had commanded.
¹⁷ And King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases and removed the laver from off them; and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it upon a pavement of stone.
¹⁸ And the covered way for use on the Sabbath, which they had built in the house, and the king’s entry outside, he removed from the house of Jehovah because of the king of Assyria.
¹⁹ And the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
²⁰ And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

17

¹ In the twelfth year of Ahaz the king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel; he reigned for nine years.
² And he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah, but not like the kings of Israel that had been before him.
³ Against him Shalmaneser the king of Assyria came up, and Hoshea became his servant and rendered presents to him.
⁴ But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So the king of Egypt and did not send up a present to the king of Assyria as he had from year to year. And the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.
⁵ And the king of Assyria invaded the whole land, and he went up against Samaria and besieged it three years.
⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria; and he placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
⁷ And this happened because the children of Israel sinned against Jehovah their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and had feared other gods;
⁸ And they walked in the statutes of the nations that Jehovah had dispossessed from before the children of Israel and those of the kings of Israel, which they had made.
⁹ And the children of Israel secretly did things against Jehovah their God that were not right; and they built high places in all their cities for themselves, from the watchmen’s tower to the fortified city.
¹⁰ And they set up for themselves pillars and Asherahs on every high hill and under every flourishing tree;
¹¹ And there they burned incense in all the high places, as did the nations that Jehovah had carried away from before them, and they did wicked things to provoke Jehovah to anger;
¹² And they served idols, concerning which Jehovah had said to them, You shall not do this thing.
¹³ And Jehovah testified against Israel and against Judah through all the prophets and all the seers, 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 through My servants the prophets.
¹⁴ But they would not hear; and they stiffened their necks, which became like the neck of their fathers, who did not believe in Jehovah their God.
¹⁵ And they rejected His statutes and His covenant, which He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies, which He had testified unto them; and they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations that were around them, concerning whom Jehovah had charged them not to act like them.
¹⁶ And they forsook all the commandments of Jehovah their God and made for themselves molten images, that is, two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshipped all the host of heaven; and they served Baal.
¹⁷ And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through fire and practiced divination and enchantments; and they sold themselves to do what was evil in the sight of Jehovah, in order to provoke Him to anger.
¹⁸ Therefore Jehovah was very angry with Israel, and He removed them out of His sight; nothing remained except the tribe of Judah.
¹⁹ Judah also did not keep the commandments of Jehovah their God but walked in the statutes of Israel, which they had made.
²⁰ And Jehovah rejected all the seed of Israel; and He afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them out of His sight.
²¹ For He tore Israel from the house of David. Now they had made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king, and Jeroboam drove Israel away from following Jehovah and made them commit a great sin.
²² And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them,
²³ Until Jehovah removed Israel from His sight, as He had said through all His servants the prophets. And Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria; as it is unto this day.
²⁴ And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon and from Cuthah and from Avva and from Hamath and from Sepharvaim, and made them dwell in the cities of Samaria in place of the children of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities.
²⁵ And when they began dwelling there, they did not fear Jehovah, so Jehovah sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
²⁶ And they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations that you have carried away and made to dwell in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the God of the land; therefore He has sent lions among them, and now they are killing them because they do not know the custom of the God of the land.
²⁷ And the king of Assyria gave a command, saying, Take there one of the priests whom you have carried away from there; and let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the custom of the God of the land.
²⁸ Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and he taught them how to fear Jehovah.
²⁹ And every nation made gods of their own and put them in the houses of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they dwelt.
³⁰ And the people of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the people of Cuth made Nergal, and the people of Hamath made Ashima,
³¹ And the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
³² So they feared Jehovah; and they made for themselves from all their classes priests for the high places, who offered sacrifices for them in the houses of the high places.
³³ They feared Jehovah but served their own gods after the custom of the nations, from which they had been carried away.
³⁴ Unto this day they have done according to their former customs: They do not fear Jehovah; nor do they act according to their statutes and their ordinances, nor according to the law and commandment that Jehovah commanded the sons of Jacob, whom He named Israel.
³⁵ And Jehovah had made a covenant with them and commanded them, saying, You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them.
³⁶ But Jehovah alone, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, Him shall you fear, and Him shall you worship, and to Him shall you sacrifice.
³⁷ And the statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment which He wrote out for you, you shall be certain to do forever; and you shall not fear other gods.
³⁸ And you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you, neither shall you fear other gods;
³⁹ But you shall fear Jehovah your God, and He will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
⁴⁰ But they did not listen but acted according to their former customs.
⁴¹ So these nations feared Jehovah but served their graven images, as well as their children and their children’s children; as their fathers had done, so they have done unto this day.

18

¹ And in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, the king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, the king of Judah, began to reign.
² He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.
³ And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that David his father had done.
⁴ He removed the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherah and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the children of Israel had burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan.
⁵ He trusted in Jehovah the God of Israel, so that after him there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any among those who were before him.
⁶ And he clung to Jehovah; he did not turn away from following after Him but kept His commandments, which Jehovah commanded Moses.
⁷ And Jehovah was with him; everywhere he went, he prospered. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him.
⁸ He struck the Philistines as far as Gaza and its borders, from the watchmen’s tower to the fortified city.
⁹ And in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, the king of Israel, Shalmaneser the king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.
¹⁰ And at the end of three years they took it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
¹¹ And the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria and settled them in Halah and by the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes;
¹² For they would not listen to the voice of Jehovah their God but transgressed His covenant, that is, all that Moses the servant of Jehovah had commanded; and they would not listen to it nor do it.
¹³ And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib the king of Assyria went up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
¹⁴ And Hezekiah the king of Judah sent word to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, I have sinned; withdraw from me. I will bear whatever you impose upon me. And the king of Assyria imposed upon Hezekiah the king of Judah a levy of three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
¹⁵ And Hezekiah gave all the silver that was found in the house of Jehovah and in the treasuries of the king’s house.
¹⁶ At that time Hezekiah stripped the doors of the temple of Jehovah and the posts that Hezekiah the king of Judah had overlaid, and he gave them to the king of Assyria.
¹⁷ And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan and the Rab-saris and the Rab-shakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a great force. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they came up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the road to the Fuller’s Field.
¹⁸ And they called out to the king. And 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 And the Rab-shakeh said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: What is this confidence in which you trust?
²⁰ You say (but it is a vain word), There is counsel and strength for war. Now in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?
²¹ You now have put your trust in the staff of this broken reed, in Egypt, in that which, if a man should lean on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it; so is Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to all who trust in him.
²² And if you say to me, We trust in Jehovah our God; is it not He whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship only before this altar in Jerusalem?
²³ Now therefore give pledges to my master, the king of Assyria; and I will give you two thousand horses, if indeed you are able to set the riders on them.
²⁴ How then can you refuse one official of the least of my master’s servants and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
²⁵ Have I now come up apart from Jehovah against this place to destroy it? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.
²⁶ And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah and Shebnah and Joah said to the Rab-shakeh, Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand it; and do not speak with us in the Jews’ language in the hearing of the people who are upon the wall.
²⁷ But the Rab-shakeh said to them, Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?
²⁸ And the Rab-shakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language and spoke and said, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria:
²⁹ Thus says the king, Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, because he is not able to deliver you out of my hand.
³⁰ Neither let Hezekiah cause you to trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and let each eat from his own vine and each from his own fig tree, and let each drink the waters of his own cistern,
³² Until I come and take you away to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live and not die. So do not listen to Hezekiah when he tries to persuade you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us.
³³ Have any of the gods of the nations delivered at all their 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, Hena, and Ivvah? And have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
³⁵ Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
³⁶ But the people were silent and did not answer him a word, because of the commandment of the king that said, You shall not answer him.
³⁷ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rab-shakeh.

19

¹ And when King Hezekiah heard, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of Jehovah.
² And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, who had covered themselves with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.
³ And they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of affliction and rebuke and contempt, for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth.
⁴ It may be that Jehovah your God will hear all the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which Jehovah your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant which is left.
⁵ So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
⁶ And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall you say to your master, Thus says Jehovah, Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
⁷ Indeed, I will put a spirit in him, so that he will hear a report and return to his land. And I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
⁸ And the Rab-shakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, because he had heard that the king had departed from Lachish.
⁹ And he heard a report about Tirhakah the king of Ethiopia, which said, He has now come forth to make war with you. And he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,
¹⁰ Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah the king of Judah, saying, Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
¹¹ Indeed, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. And will you be delivered?
¹² Have the gods of the nations whom my fathers have destroyed delivered them: Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the children of Eden, who were in Telassar?
¹³ Where are the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena and Ivvah?
¹⁴ And Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and Hezekiah went up to the house of Jehovah and spread it before Jehovah.
¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed before Jehovah and said, O Jehovah, God of Israel, You who are enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth; You made the heavens and the earth.
¹⁶ Incline Your ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open Your eyes, O Jehovah, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, who has sent him to reproach the living God.
¹⁷ Truly, O Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,
¹⁸ And have cast their gods into the fire, because they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; so they destroyed them.
¹⁹ And now, O Jehovah our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O Jehovah, are God.
²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard.
²¹ This is the word which Jehovah has spoken concerning him: / The virgin daughter of Zion / Has despised you and laughed at you; / The daughter of Jerusalem / Has shaken her head behind you.
²² Whom have you reproached and reviled? / Against whom have you lifted up your voice / And lifted up your eyes haughtily? / Against the Holy One of Israel.
²³ By your messengers you have reproached the Lord, / And you have said, In the multitude of my chariots / I have come up to the height of the mountains, / To the sides of Lebanon; / And I have cut down its tall cedars, / And the choicest of its cypresses; / And I have entered into its farthest lodging place, / And its luxuriant forest.
²⁴ I have dug / And have drunk foreign waters, / And with the sole of my feet I have dried up / All the rivers of Egypt.
²⁵ Have you not heard / That long ago I did itAnd that from the days of old I had formed it? / Now I have brought it to pass, / That you should destroy fortified cities / And make them into ruinous heaps.
²⁶ Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength; / They were dismayed and felt ashamed; / They were like vegetation of the field / And green shoots of tender grass, / Like grass which grows on the housetops / And is scorched before it has grown up.
²⁷ But I know your sitting down, / And your going out and your coming in, / And your raging against Me.
²⁸ Because your raging against Me / And your arrogance have come up into My ears, / I will put My hook in your nose, / And My bridle in your lips; / And I will turn you back on the way by which you came.
²⁹ And this shall be the sign to you: This year you shall eat that which grows up of itself, and in the second year that which shoots up from the same, and in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
³⁰ And the remnant of those who have escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
³¹ For a remnant will go forth out of Jerusalem, and from Mount Zion those who have escaped. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.
³² Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria,He shall not come to this city, / Nor shoot an arrow there; / Neither shall he come against it with a shield / And build up a mound against it.
³³ By the way on which he came, / By the same shall he return, / And into this city he shall not come, / Declares Jehovah.
³⁴ And around this city I will put an enclosure, / To save it, / For My own sake, / And for the sake of David, My servant.
³⁵ And that night an angel of Jehovah went out and struck the Assyrians’ camp, a hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when they rose up early in the morning, all of them were corpses, dead.
³⁶ Then Sennacherib the king of Assyria departed and went back to dwell in Nineveh.
³⁷ And as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him down with the sword; and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

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¹ In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill; and Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet, came to him and said to him, Thus says Jehovah, Put your house in order, for you are about to die and will not live.
² And he turned his face to the wall and prayed to Jehovah, saying,
³ Now, O Jehovah, please remember how I have walked before You in truth and with a perfect heart and have done what is good in Your sight. And Hezekiah wept many tears.
⁴ And Isaiah had not gone out of the middle court when the word of Jehovah came to him, saying,
⁵ Return and speak to Hezekiah the leader of My people, Thus says Jehovah, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. I will now heal you: On the third day you will go up to the house of Jehovah;
⁶ And I will add to your life fifteen years; and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will put an enclosure around this city for My own sake and for the sake of David My servant.
⁷ And Isaiah said, Bring a cake of figs. And they brought it and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.
⁸ And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What will be the sign that Jehovah will heal me and that I will go up to the house of Jehovah on the third day?
⁹ And Isaiah said, This will be the sign from Jehovah to you, that Jehovah will do this thing which He has spoken. Shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?
¹⁰ And Hezekiah said, It is an easy matter for the shadow to go down ten steps. No; rather let the shadow go backward ten steps.
¹¹ And Isaiah the prophet cried to Jehovah; and He brought the shadow on the steps, which had descended on the steps of Ahaz, ten steps backward.
¹² At that time Berodach-baladan the son of Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, because he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.
¹³ And Hezekiah listened to them and showed them all his treasury, the silver and the gold, and the spices and the fine oil, and his armory and everything which was found among his treasures; there was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.
¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, What did these men say? And from where have they come to you? And Hezekiah said, They have come from a distant land, from Babylon.
¹⁵ And he said, What have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah said, They have seen everything that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.
¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Jehovah:
¹⁷ The days are now coming when everything that is in your house and that your fathers have laid up as a treasure unto this day will be carried away to Babylon; nothing will be left, says Jehovah.
¹⁸ And they will take away some of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
¹⁹ And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, The word of Jehovah which you have spoken is good. He said moreover, Indeed there will be peace and truth in my days.
²⁰ And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might, and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought the water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
²¹ And Hezekiah slept with his fathers. And Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

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¹ Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hephzibah.
² And he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah, like the abominations of the nations whom Jehovah had dispossessed from before the children of Israel.
³ And he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he raised up altars to Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab the king of Israel had done; and he worshipped all the host of heaven and served them.
⁴ And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, concerning which Jehovah had said, In Jerusalem will I put My name.
⁵ And he built altars to all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Jehovah.
⁶ And he caused his son to pass through fire and practiced soothsaying and enchantments, and appointed mediums and spiritists; he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah beyond measure, provoking Him to anger.
⁷ And he put the engraved image of the Asherah that he had made in that house concerning which Jehovah had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever;
⁸ And I will no longer cause the foot of Israel to wander away from the land that I gave their fathers, if only they will be certain to act according to all that I have commanded them and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them.
⁹ But they would not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations which Jehovah had destroyed from before the children of Israel.
¹⁰ And Jehovah spoke through His servants the prophets, saying,
¹¹ Because Manasseh the king of Judah has done these abominations and has done more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has caused Judah also to sin with his idols;
¹² Therefore thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, I am now bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that both ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.
¹³ And over Jerusalem I will stretch the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a pan, wiping it and turning it upside down.
¹⁴ And I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies;
¹⁵ Because they have done what is evil in My sight and have provoked Me to anger since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt even to this day.
¹⁶ And Manasseh also shed very much innocent blood, until he filled Jerusalem with it from one end to another, besides his sin by which he caused Judah to sin, doing what was evil in the sight of Jehovah.
¹⁷ And the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did and his sin which he committed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
¹⁸ And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his 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; and his mother’s name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
²⁰ And he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had done.
²¹ And he walked in all the way that his father had walked, and he served the idols that his father had served and worshipped them;
²² And he forsook Jehovah, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of Jehovah.
²³ And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and they killed the king in his own house.
²⁴ But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon. And the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.
²⁵ And the rest of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
²⁶ And he was buried in his grave in the garden of Uzza. And Josiah his son reigned in his place.

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¹ Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah from Bozkath.
² And he did what was right in the eyes of Jehovah and walked in all the way of David his father and did not turn to the right 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 house of Jehovah, saying,
⁴ Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him sum up the money that is brought to the house of Jehovah, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people.
⁵ And let them deliver it into the hand of those who do the work, who have the oversight of the house of Jehovah; and let them deliver it to those who do the work who are in the house of Jehovah, for the repair of what was broken in the house,
⁶ To the carpenters and the builders and the masons, and for the purchase of timber and hewn stones to repair the house.
⁷ But do not ask them for an accounting of the money delivered into their hand, for they work faithfully.
⁸ Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.
⁹ And Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought back word to the king and said, Your servants have emptied out the money which was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of those who do the work, who have the oversight of the house of Jehovah.
¹⁰ And Shaphan the scribe reported to the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read it aloud before the king.
¹¹ And when the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes.
¹² And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest and Ahikam the son of Shaphan and Achbor the son of Micaiah and Shaphan the scribe and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying,
¹³ Go; inquire of Jehovah for me and for the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for the anger of Jehovah which is kindled against us is great, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book by doing according to all that is written concerning us.
¹⁴ So Hilkiah the priest and Ahikam and Achbor and Shaphan and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter), and they spoke to her.
¹⁵ And she said to them, Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel: Tell the man who has sent you to me,
¹⁶ Thus says Jehovah, I am now bringing evil to this place and upon its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read;
¹⁷ Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods, so as to provoke Me to anger with all the work of their hands. Therefore My anger is kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched.
¹⁸ But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of Jehovah, thus shall you say to him: Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, regarding the words which you have heard,
¹⁹ Because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before Jehovah when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you, declares Jehovah.
²⁰ Therefore I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought back word to the king.

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¹ Then the king sent men, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
² And the king went up to the house of Jehovah, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were with him, as well as the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read aloud, in their hearing, all the words of the book of the covenant, which had been found in the house of Jehovah.
³ And the king stood beside the pillar and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, so as to establish the words of this covenant which were written in this book. And all the people stood with the covenant.
⁴ And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the doorkeepers to bring out of the temple of Jehovah all the vessels that were made for Baal and for Asherah and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.
⁵ And he did away with the idol priests, whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and the areas surrounding Jerusalem, as well as those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations and to all the host of heaven.
⁶ And he brought the Asherah from the house of Jehovah out of Jerusalem to the brook Kidron and burned it in the brook Kidron and ground it to dust and cast its dust on the graves of the children of the people.
⁷ He also broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes which were in the house of Jehovah, where the women were weaving hangings for the Asherah.
⁸ Then he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the gate of the city.
⁹ However the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of Jehovah in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.
¹⁰ And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, so that no one could make his son or his daughter pass through fire to Molech.
¹¹ And he did away with the horses which the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance of the house of Jehovah, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the officer, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
¹² And the altars which were on the roof at the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Jehovah, the king tore down; and he removed them quickly from there and cast their dust into the brook Kidron.
¹³ And the high places which were before Jerusalem, which were on the right of the mount of destruction which Solomon the king of Israel had built to Ashtoreth, the detestable thing of the Sidonians, and to Chemosh, the detestable thing of Moab, and to Milcom, the abomination of the children of Ammon, the king defiled.
¹⁴ And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherahs and filled their places with human bones.
¹⁵ And furthermore the altar which was at Bethel, the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and high place he broke down. And he burned the high place and beat it into dust and burned the Asherah.
¹⁶ Then Josiah turned and saw the graves which were there in the mountain, and he sent men and took the bones from the graves and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of Jehovah, which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.
¹⁷ Then he said, What is this monument which I see? And the men of the city said to him, It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar in Bethel.
¹⁸ And he said, Let him rest; let no man move his bones. So they left his bones alone with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.
¹⁹ And Josiah also removed all the houses of the high places which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel made, provoking Jehovah to anger, and did to them according to all that he had done in Bethel.
²⁰ And all the priests of the high places who were there he slaughtered on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
²¹ And the king commanded all the people saying, Hold the Passover to Jehovah your God according to all that is written in this book of the covenant.
²² Surely no Passover like this had been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah.
²³ But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held to Jehovah in Jerusalem.
²⁴ And moreover Josiah utterly removed the mediums and the soothsayers and the teraphim and the idols and all the detestable things 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 house of Jehovah.
²⁵ And before him there was no king like him who turned to Jehovah with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might according to all the law of Moses, and after him no one has risen up like him.
²⁶ However Jehovah did not turn from His great burning anger with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations by which Manasseh provoked Him.
²⁷ And Jehovah said, I will remove Judah also from My sight, as I have removed Israel. And I will cast off this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name will be there.
²⁸ And the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
²⁹ In his days Pharaoh Neco, the king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. And King Josiah went out to meet him; and when Pharaoh Neco saw him at Megiddo, he killed him.
³⁰ And his servants drove him dead in a chariot from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his grave. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in the place of his father.
³¹ Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.
³² And he did what was evil in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers had done.
³³ And Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him in Riblah, in the land of Hamath, so that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a fine of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
³⁴ And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And he took Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt, and he died there.
³⁵ And Jehoiakim gave silver and gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the silver according to Pharaoh’s word. He exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land, from each man according to his estimation, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.
³⁶ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah.
³⁷ And he did what was evil in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers had done.

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¹ In his days Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.
² And Jehovah sent against him bands of the Chaldeans and bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the children of Ammon; and He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Jehovah, which He spoke through his servants the prophets.
³ Surely it was at the command of Jehovah that this came to pass against Judah, to remove them out of His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done,
⁴ And also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and Jehovah would not forgive.
⁵ And the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
⁶ And Jehoiakim slept with his fathers. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.
⁷ And the king of Egypt did not come out of his land again, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates.
⁸ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem.
⁹ And he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father had done.
¹⁰ At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon went up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.
¹¹ And Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came against the city while his servants were besieging it.
¹² And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his eunuchs; and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
¹³ And he brought out from there all the treasures of the house of Jehovah and the treasures of the king’s house. And he cut in pieces all the golden vessels which Solomon the king of Israel had made in Jehovah’s temple, as Jehovah had said.
¹⁴ And he carried away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land.
¹⁵ And he carried Jehoiachin away into exile to Babylon; and the king’s mother and the king’s wives and his eunuchs and the leading men of the land, he carried away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
¹⁶ And all the seven thousand men of valor and the one thousand craftsmen and smiths, all mighty men fit for war, even these the king of Babylon carried away into exile to Babylon.
¹⁷ Then the king of Babylon made Jehoiachin’s uncle Mattaniah king in his place, and he changed his name to Zedekiah.
¹⁸ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.
¹⁹ And he did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
²⁰ For it was through the anger of Jehovah that this came to pass in Jerusalem and in Judah until He cast them out from His presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

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¹ In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came, he and his whole army, against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around.
² So the city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
³ On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was so severe within the city that there was no food for the people of the land.
⁴ Then the city was breached, and all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, while the Chaldeans were all around the city; and the king went on the way toward the Arabah.
⁵ And the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
⁶ And they seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they pronounced judgment upon him.
⁷ And they slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes then put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.
⁸ In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (this was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, the servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
⁹ And he burned the house of Jehovah and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every large house he burned with fire.
¹⁰ And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the bodyguard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
¹¹ And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who deserted to the king of Babylon and the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard carried away into exile.
¹² But the captain of the bodyguard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and field workers.
¹³ And the Chaldeans broke in pieces the bronze pillars, which were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases and the bronze sea, which were in the house of Jehovah. And they carried their bronze to Babylon.
¹⁴ And they took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the cups and all the bronze vessels with which they ministered.
¹⁵ And the captain of the bodyguard took away the firepans and the bowls: that which was of gold, for its gold, and that which was of silver, for its silver.
¹⁶ As for the two pillars, the one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of Jehovah, the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight.
¹⁷ The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a bronze capital was upon it; and the height of the capital was three cubits; and a network and pomegranates were upon the capital all around, all of bronze; and the second pillar was like these with a network.
¹⁸ And the captain of the bodyguard took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest and the three doorkeepers.
¹⁹ And from the city he took one eunuch, who was overseer of the men of war, and five men from the king’s inner circle who were found in the city, and the scribe of 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 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon in Riblah.
²¹ And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death in Riblah, in the land of Hamath; so Judah was carried away into exile out of its land.
²² And for the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon left behind, he appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan over them.
²³ And when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, that is, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and Johanan the son of Kareah and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.
²⁴ And Gedaliah swore to them and their men and said to them, Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans; dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.
²⁵ In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the royal seed, came with ten men with him; and they struck down Gedaliah and he died. And they did the same to the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
²⁶ And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces rose up and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
²⁷ In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin the king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merodach the king of Babylon, in the year that he became king, released Jehoiachin the king of Judah from prison.
²⁸ And he spoke with him kindly and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
²⁹ And Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes and ate his food in his presence continually all the days of his life.
³⁰ And for his allowance, a continual allowance was given to him by the king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.