2 Kings, chapter 1
1: After the
death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel.
2: Now Ahazi'ah fell through the lattice in his upper
chamber in Sama'ria, and lay sick; so he sent messengers,
telling them, "Go, inquire of Ba'al-ze'bub, the god of
Ekron, whether I shall recover from this sickness."
3: But the angel of the LORD said to Eli'jah the
Tishbite, "Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king
of Sama'ria, and say to them, `Is it because there is no God in
Israel that you are going to inquire of Ba'al-ze'bub, the god of
Ekron?'
4: Now therefore thus says the LORD, `You shall not come
down from the bed to which you have gone, but you shall surely
die.'" So Eli'jah went.
5: The messengers returned to the king, and he said to
them, "Why have you returned?"
6: And they said to him, "There came a man to meet
us, and said to us, `Go back to the king who sent you, and say
to him, Thus says the LORD, Is it because there is no God in
Israel that you are sending to inquire of Ba'al-ze'bub, the god
of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to
which you have gone, but shall surely die.'"
7: He said to them, "What kind of man was he who
came to meet you and told you these things?"
8: They answered him, "He wore a garment of
haircloth, with a girdle of leather about his loins." And
he said, "It is Eli'jah the Tishbite."
9: Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty men with
his fifty. He went up to Eli'jah, who was sitting on the top of
a hill, and said to him, "O man of God, the king says,
`Come down.'"
10: But Eli'jah answered 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: Again the king sent to him another captain of fifty
men with his fifty. And he went up and said to him, "O man
of God, this is the king's order, `Come down quickly!'"
12: But Eli'jah answered them, "If I am a man of
God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your
fifty." Then the fire of God came down from heaven and
consumed him and his fifty.
13: Again the king sent the captain of a third fifty with
his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and
fell on his knees before Eli'jah, and entreated him, "O man
of God, I pray you, let my life, and the life of these fifty
servants of yours, be precious in your sight.
14: Lo, fire came down from heaven, and consumed the two
former captains of fifty men with their fifties; but now let my
life be precious in your sight."
15: Then the angel of the LORD said to Eli'jah, "Go
down with him; do not be afraid of him." So he arose and
went down with him to the king,
16: and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, `Because
you have sent messengers to inquire of Ba'al-ze'bub, the god of
Ekron, -- is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of
his word? -- therefore you shall not come down from the bed to
which you have gone, but you shall surely die.'"
17: So he died according to the word of the LORD which
Eli'jah had spoken. Jeho'ram, his brother, became king in his
stead in the second year of Jeho'ram the son of Jehosh'aphat,
king of Judah, because Ahazi'ah had no son.
18: Now the rest of the acts of Ahazi'ah which he did,
are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings
of Israel?
2 Kings, chapter 2
1: Now when
the LORD was about to take Eli'jah up to heaven by a whirlwind,
Eli'jah and Eli'sha were on their way from Gilgal.
2: And Eli'jah said to Eli'sha, "Tarry here, I pray
you; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel." But
Eli'sha said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live,
I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.
3: And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came
out to Eli'sha, and said to him, "Do you know that today
the LORD will take away your master from over you?" And he
said, "Yes, I know it; hold your peace."
4: Eli'jah said to him, "Eli'sha, tarry here, I pray
you; for the LORD has sent me to Jericho." But he said,
"As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not
leave you." So they came to Jericho.
5: The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near
to Eli'sha, and said to him, "Do you know that today the
LORD will take away your master from over you?" And he
answered, "Yes, I know it; hold your peace."
6: Then Eli'jah said to him, "Tarry here, I pray
you; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan." But he said,
"As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not
leave you." So the two of them went on.
7: Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went, and
stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by
the Jordan.
8: Then Eli'jah took his mantle, and rolled it up, and
struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and
to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground.
9: When they had crossed, Eli'jah said to Eli'sha,
"Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from
you." And Eli'sha said, "I pray you, let me inherit a
double share of your spirit."
10: And he said, "You have asked a hard thing; yet,
if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for
you; but if you do not see me, it shall not be so."
11: And as they still went on and talked, behold, a
chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them.
And Eli'jah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
12: And Eli'sha saw it and he cried, "My father, my
father! the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" And he
saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and rent
them in two pieces.
13: And he took up the mantle of Eli'jah that had fallen
from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
14: Then he took the mantle of Eli'jah that had fallen
from him, and struck the water, saying, "Where is the LORD,
the God of Eli'jah?" And when he had struck the water, the
water was parted to the one side and to the other; and Eli'sha
went over.
15: Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho
saw him over against them, they said, "The spirit of
Eli'jah rests on Eli'sha." And they came to meet him, and
bowed to the ground before him.
16: And they said to him, "Behold now, there are
with your servants fifty strong men; pray, let them go, and seek
your master; it may be that the Spirit of the LORD has caught
him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some
valley." And he said, "You shall not send."
17: But when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said,
"Send." They sent therefore fifty men; and for three
days they sought him but did not find him.
18: And they came back to him, while he tarried at
Jericho, and he said to them, "Did I not say to you, Do not
go?"
19: Now the men of the city said to Eli'sha,
"Behold, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord
sees; but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful."
20: He said, "Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in
it." So they brought it to him.
21: Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in
it, and said, "Thus says the LORD, I have made this water
wholesome; henceforth neither death nor miscarriage shall come
from it."
22: So the water has been wholesome to this day,
according to the word which Eli'sha spoke.
23: He went up from there to Bethel; and while he was
going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and
jeered at him, saying, "Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you
baldhead!"
24: And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed
them in the name of the LORD. And two she-bears came out of the
woods and tore forty-two of the boys.
25: From there he went on to Mount Carmel, and thence he
returned to Sama'ria.
2 Kings, chapter 3
1: In the
eighteenth year of Jehosh'aphat king of Judah, Jeho'ram the son
of Ahab became king over Israel in Sama'ria, and he reigned
twelve years.
2: He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, though
not like his father and mother, for he put away the pillar of
Ba'al which his father had made.
3: Nevertheless he clung to the sin of Jerobo'am the son
of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from
it.
4: Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder; and he had
to deliver annually to the king of Israel a hundred thousand
lambs, and the wool of a hundred thousand rams.
5: But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against
the king of Israel.
6: So King Jeho'ram marched out of Sama'ria at that time
and mustered all Israel.
7: And he went and sent word to Jehosh'aphat king of
Judah, "The king of Moab has rebelled against me; will you
go with me to battle against Moab?" And he said, "I
will go; I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as
your horses."
8: Then he said, "By which way shall we march?"
Jeho'ram answered, "By the way of the wilderness of
Edom."
9: So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and
the king of Edom. And when they had made a circuitous march of
seven days, there was no water for the army or for the beasts
which followed them.
10: Then the king of Israel said, "Alas! The LORD
has called these three kings to give them into the hand of
Moab."
11: And Jehosh'aphat said, "Is there no prophet of
the LORD here, through whom we may inquire of the LORD?"
Then one of the king of Israel's servants answered,
"Eli'sha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on
the hands of Eli'jah."
12: And Jehosh'aphat said, "The word of the LORD is
with him." So the king of Israel and Jehosh'aphat and the
king of Edom went down to him.
13: And Eli'sha said to the king of Israel, "What
have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and the
prophets of your mother." But the king of Israel said to
him, "No; it is the LORD who has called these three kings
to give them into the hand of Moab."
14: And Eli'sha said, "As the LORD of hosts lives,
whom I serve, were it not that I have regard for Jehosh'aphat
the king of Judah, I would neither look at you, nor see you.
15: But now bring me a minstrel." And when the
minstrel played, the power of the LORD came upon him.
16: And he said, "Thus says the LORD, `I will make
this dry stream-bed full of pools.'
17: For thus says the LORD, `You shall not see wind or
rain, but that stream-bed shall be filled with water, so that
you shall drink, you, your cattle, and your beasts.'
18: This is a light thing in the sight of the LORD; he
will also give the Moabites into your hand,
19: and you shall conquer every fortified city, and every
choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop up all
springs of water, and ruin every good piece of land with
stones."
20: The next morning, about the time of offering the
sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom, till
the country was filled with water.
21: When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come
up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armor,
from the youngest to the oldest, were called out, and were drawn
up at the frontier.
22: And when they rose early in the morning, and the sun
shone upon the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them
as red as blood.
23: And they said, "This is blood; the kings have
surely fought together, and slain one another. Now then, Moab,
to the spoil!"
24: But when they came to the camp of Israel, the
Israelites rose and attacked the Moabites, till they fled before
them; and they went forward, slaughtering the Moabites as they
went.
25: And they overthrew the cities, and on every good
piece of land every man threw a stone, until it was covered;
they stopped every spring of water, and felled all the good
trees; till only its stones were left in Kir-har'eseth, and the
slingers surrounded and conquered it.
26: When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going
against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break
through, opposite the king of Edom; but they could not.
27: Then he took his eldest son who was to reign in his
stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And
there came great wrath upon Israel; and they withdrew from him
and returned to their own land.
2 Kings, chapter 4
1: Now the
wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Eli'sha,
"Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your
servant feared the LORD, but the creditor has come to take my
two children to be his slaves."
2: And Eli'sha said to her, "What shall I do for
you? Tell me; what have you in the house?" And she said,
"Your maidservant has nothing in the house, except a jar of
oil."
3: Then he said, "Go outside, borrow vessels of all
your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few.
4: Then go in, and shut the door upon yourself and your
sons, and pour into all these vessels; and when one is full, set
it aside."
5: So she went from him and shut the door upon herself
and her sons; and as she poured they brought the vessels to her.
6: When the vessels were full, she said to her son,
"Bring me another vessel." And he said to her,
"There is not another." Then the oil stopped flowing.
7: She came and told the man of God, and he said,
"Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons
can live on the rest."
8: One day Eli'sha went on to Shunem, where a wealthy
woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he
passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food.
9: And she said to her husband, "Behold now, I
perceive that this is a holy man of God, who is continually
passing our way.
10: Let us make a small roof chamber with walls, and put
there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that
whenever he comes to us, he can go in there."
11: One day he came there, and he turned into the chamber
and rested there.
12: And he said to Geha'zi his servant, "Call this
Shu'nammite." When he had called her, she stood before him.
13: And he said to him, "Say now to her, See, you
have taken all this trouble for us; what is to be done for you?
Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to
the commander of the army?" She answered, "I dwell
among my own people."
14: And he said, "What then is to be done for
her?" Geha'zi answered, "Well, she has no son, and her
husband is old."
15: He said, "Call her." And when he had called
her, she stood in the doorway.
16: And he said, "At this season, when the time
comes round, you shall embrace a son." And she said,
"No, my lord, O man of God; do not lie to your
maidservant."
17: But the woman conceived, and she bore a son about
that time the following spring, as Eli'sha had said to her.
18: When the child had grown, he went out one day to his
father among the reapers.
19: And he said to his father, "Oh, my head, my
head!" The father said to his servant, "Carry him to
his mother."
20: And when he had lifted him, and brought him to his
mother, the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died.
21: And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of
God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.
22: Then she called to her husband, and said, "Send
me one of the servants and one of the asses, that I may quickly
go to the man of God, and come back again."
23: And he said, "Why will you go to him today? It
is neither new moon nor sabbath." She said, "It will
be well."
24: Then she saddled the ass, and she said to her
servant, "Urge the beast on; do not slacken the pace for me
unless I tell you."
25: So she set out, and came to the man of God at Mount
Carmel. When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Geha'zi
his servant, "Look, yonder is the Shu'nammite;
26: run at once 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 answered, "It is well."
27: And when she came to the mountain to the man of God,
she caught hold of his feet. And Geha'zi came to thrust her
away. But the man of God said, "Let her alone, for she is
in bitter distress; and the LORD has hidden it from me, and has
not told me."
28: Then she said, "Did I ask my lord for a son? Did
I not say, Do not deceive me?"
29: He said to Geha'zi, "Gird up your loins, and
take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet any one, do not
salute him; and if any one salutes you, do not reply; and lay my
staff upon the face of the child."
30: Then the mother of the child said, "As the LORD
lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So
he arose and followed her.
31: Geha'zi went on ahead and laid the staff upon the
face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life.
Therefore he returned to meet him, and told him, "The child
has not awaked."
32: When Eli'sha came into the house, he saw the child
lying dead on his bed.
33: So he went in and shut the door upon the two of them,
and prayed to the LORD.
34: Then he went up and lay upon the child, putting his
mouth upon his mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon
his hands; and as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of
the child became warm.
35: Then he got up again, and walked once to and fro in
the house, and went up, and stretched himself upon him; the
child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
36: Then he summoned Geha'zi and said, "Call this
Shu'nammite." So he called her. And when she came to him,
he said, "Take up your son."
37: She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground;
then she took up her son and went out.
38: And Eli'sha came again to Gilgal when there was a
famine in the land. And as the sons of the prophets were sitting
before him, he said to his servant, "Set on the great pot,
and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets."
39: One of them went out into the field to gather herbs,
and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild
gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of pottage, not
knowing what they were.
40: And they poured out for the men to eat. But while
they were eating of the pottage, they cried out, "O man of
God, there is death in the pot!" And they could not eat it.
41: He said, "Then bring meal." And he threw it
into the pot, and said, "Pour out for the men, that they
may eat." And there was no harm in the pot.
42: A man came from Ba'al-shal'ishah, bringing the man of
God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and
fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Eli'sha said, "Give to
the men, that they may eat."
43: But his servant said, "How am I to set this
before a hundred men?" So he repeated, "Give them to
the men, that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, `They shall
eat and have some left.'"
44: So he set it before them. And they ate, and had some
left, according to the word of the LORD.
2 Kings, chapter 5
1: Na'aman,
commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with
his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given
victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a
leper.
2: Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off
a little maid from the land of Israel, and she waited on
Na'aman's wife.
3: She said to her mistress, "Would that my lord
were with the prophet who is in Sama'ria! He would cure him of
his leprosy."
4: So Na'aman went in and told his lord, "Thus and
so spoke the maiden from the land of Israel."
5: And the king of Syria said, "Go now, and I will
send a letter to the king of Israel." So he went, taking
with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold,
and ten festal garments.
6: And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which
read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent
to you Na'aman my servant, that you may cure him of his
leprosy."
7: And when the king of Israel read the letter, he rent
his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive,
that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?
Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with
me."
8: But when Eli'sha the man of God heard that the king of
Israel had rent his clothes, he sent to the king, saying,
"Why have you rent your clothes? Let him come now to me,
that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel."
9: So Na'aman came with his horses and chariots, and
halted at the door of Eli'sha's house.
10: And Eli'sha 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 Na'aman was angry, and went away, saying,
"Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me, and
stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his
hand over the place, and cure the leper.
12: Are not Aba'na and 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: But his servants came near and said to him, "My
father, if the prophet had commanded you to do some great thing,
would you not have done it? How much rather, then, when he says
to you, `Wash, and be clean'?"
14: So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the
Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh
was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
15: Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his
company, and he came and stood before him; and he said,
"Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but
in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant."
16: But he said, "As the LORD lives, whom I serve, I
will receive none." And he urged him to take it, but he
refused.
17: Then Na'aman said, "If not, I pray you, let
there be given to your servant two mules' burden of earth; for
henceforth your servant will not offer burnt offering or
sacrifice to any god but the LORD.
18: In this matter may the LORD pardon your servant: when
my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there,
leaning on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when
I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon your
servant in this matter."
19: He said to him, "Go in peace." But when
Na'aman had gone from him a short distance,
20: Geha'zi, the servant of Eli'sha the man of God, said,
"See, my master has spared this Na'aman the Syrian, in not
accepting from his hand what he brought. As the LORD lives, I
will run after him, and get something from him."
21: So Geha'zi followed Na'aman. And when Na'aman saw
some one 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
to say, `There have just now come to me from the hill country of
E'phraim two young men of the sons of the prophets; pray, give
them a talent of silver and two festal garments.'"
23: And Na'aman said, "Be pleased to accept two
talents." And he urged him, and tied up two talents of
silver in two bags, with two festal garments, and laid them upon
two of his servants; and they carried them before Geha'zi.
24: And when he came to the hill, he took them from their
hand, and put them in the house; and he sent the men away, and
they departed.
25: He went in, and stood before his master, and Eli'sha
said to him, "Where have you been, Geha'zi?" And he
said, "Your servant went nowhere."
26: But he said to him, "Did I not go with you in
spirit when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it
a time to accept money and garments, olive orchards and
vineyards, sheep and oxen, menservants and maidservants?
27: Therefore the leprosy of Na'aman shall cleave to you,
and to your descendants for ever." So he went out from his
presence a leper, as white as snow.
2 Kings, chapter 6
1: Now the
sons of the prophets said to Eli'sha, "See, the place where
we dwell under your charge is too small for us.
2: Let us go to the Jordan and each of us get there a
log, and let us make a place for us to dwell there." And he
answered, "Go."
3: Then one of them said, "Be pleased to go with
your servants." And he answered, "I will go."
4: So he went with them. And when they came to the
Jordan, they cut down trees.
5: But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into
the water; and he cried out, "Alas, my master! It was
borrowed."
6: Then the man of God said, "Where did it
fall?" When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick,
and threw it in there, and made the iron float.
7: And he said, "Take it up." So he reached out
his hand and took it.
8: Once when the king of Syria was warring against
Israel, he took counsel with his servants, saying, "At such
and such a place shall be my camp."
9: But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel,
"Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians
are going down there."
10: And the king of Israel sent to the place of which the
man of God told him. Thus he used to warn him, so that he saved
himself there more than once or twice.
11: And the mind of the king of Syria was greatly
troubled because of this thing; and he called his servants and
said to them, "Will you not show me who of us is for the
king of Israel?"
12: And one of his servants said, "None, my lord, O
king; but Eli'sha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king
of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber."
13: And he said, "Go and see where he is, that I may
send and seize him." It was told him, "Behold, he is
in Dothan."
14: So he sent there horses and chariots and a great
army; and they came by night, and surrounded the city.
15: When the servant of the man of God rose early in the
morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots
was round about the city. And the servant said, "Alas, my
master! What shall we do?"
16: He said, "Fear not, for those who are with us
are more than those who are with them."
17: Then Eli'sha prayed, and said, "O LORD, I pray
thee, open his eyes that he may see." So the LORD opened
the eyes of the young man, and he saw; and behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Eli'sha.
18: And when the Syrians came down against him, Eli'sha
prayed to the LORD, and said, "Strike this people, I pray
thee, with blindness." So he struck them with blindness in
accordance with the prayer of Eli'sha.
19: And Eli'sha 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 led them to Sama'ria.
20: As soon as they entered Sama'ria, Eli'sha said,
"O LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may
see." So the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and lo,
they were in the midst of Sama'ria.
21: When the king of Israel saw them he said to Eli'sha,
"My father, shall I slay them? Shall I slay them?"
22: He answered, "You shall not slay them. Would you
slay those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with
your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and
drink and go to their master."
23: So he prepared for them a great feast; and when they
had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their
master. And the Syrians came no more on raids into the land of
Israel.
24: Afterward Ben-ha'dad king of Syria mustered his
entire army, and went up, and besieged Sama'ria.
25: And there was a great famine in Sama'ria, as they
besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for eighty shekels of
silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five
shekels of silver.
26: Now as the king of Israel was passing by upon the
wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, "Help, my lord, O
king!"
27: And he said, "If the LORD will not help you,
whence shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the
wine press?"
28: And the king asked her, "What is your
trouble?" She answered, "This woman said to me, `Give
your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son
tomorrow.'
29: So we boiled my son, and ate him. And on the next day
I said to her, `Give your son, that we may eat him'; but she has
hidden her son."
30: When the king heard the words of the woman he rent
his clothes -- now he was passing by upon the wall -- and the
people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath upon his
body --
31: and he said, "May God do so to me, and more
also, if the head of Eli'sha the son of Shaphat remains on his
shoulders today."
32: Eli'sha was sitting in his house, and the elders were
sitting with him. Now the king had dispatched a man from his
presence; but before the messenger arrived Eli'sha said to the
elders, "Do you see how this murderer has sent to take off
my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold
the door fast against him. Is not the sound of his master's feet
behind him?"
33: And while he was still speaking with them, the king
came down to him and said, "This trouble is from the LORD!
Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?"
2 Kings, chapter 7
1: But Eli'sha
said, "Hear the word of the LORD: thus says the LORD,
Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine meal shall be sold
for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, at the
gate of Sama'ria."
2: Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to
the man of God, "If the LORD himself should make windows in
heaven, could this thing be?" But he said, "You shall
see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it."
3: Now there were four men who were lepers at the
entrance to the gate; and they said to one another, "Why do
we sit here till we die?
4: If we say, `Let us enter the city,' the famine is in
the city, and we shall die there; and if we sit here, we die
also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians; if
they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall
but die."
5: So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the
Syrians; but when they came to the edge of the camp of the
Syrians, behold, there was no one there.
6: For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the
sound of chariots, and of horses, the sound of a great army, so
that they said to one another, "Behold, the king of Israel
has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of
Egypt to come upon us."
7: So they fled away in the twilight and forsook their
tents, their horses, and their asses, leaving the camp as it
was, and fled for their lives.
8: And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp,
they went into a tent, and ate and drank, and they carried off
silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they
came back, and entered another tent, and carried off things from
it, and went and hid them.
9: Then they said to one another, "We are not doing
right. This day is a day of good news; if we are silent and wait
until the morning light, punishment will overtake us; now
therefore come, let us go and tell the king's household."
10: So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the
city, and told them, "We came to the camp of the Syrians,
and behold, there was no one to be seen or heard there, nothing
but the horses tied, and the asses tied, and the tents as they
were."
11: Then the gatekeepers called out, and it was told
within the king's household.
12: And the king rose in the night, and said to his
servants, "I will tell you what the Syrians have prepared
against us. They know that we are hungry; therefore they have
gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the open country,
thinking, `When they come out of the city, we shall take them
alive and get into the city.'"
13: And one of his servants said, "Let some men take
five of the remaining horses, seeing that those who are left
here will fare like the whole multitude of Israel that have
already perished; let us send and see."
14: So they took two mounted men, and the king sent them
after the army of the Syrians, saying, "Go and see."
15: So they went after them as far as the Jordan; and,
lo, all the way was littered with garments and equipment which
the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. And the messengers
returned, and told the king.
16: Then the people went out, and plundered the camp of
the Syrians. So a measure of fine meal was sold for a shekel,
and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word
of the LORD.
17: Now the king had appointed the captain on whose hand
he leaned to have charge of the gate; and the people trod upon
him in the gate, so that he died, as the man of God had said
when the king came down to him.
18: For when the man of God had said to the king,
"Two measures of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a
measure of fine meal for a shekel, about this time tomorrow in
the gate of Sama'ria,"
19: the captain had answered the man of God, "If the
LORD himself should make windows in heaven, could such a thing
be?" And he had said, "You shall see it with your own
eyes, but you shall not eat of it."
20: And so it happened to him, for the people trod upon
him in the gate and he died.
2 Kings, chapter 8
1: Now Eli'sha
had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life,
"Arise, and depart with your household, and sojourn
wherever you can; for the LORD has called for a famine, and it
will come upon the land for seven years."
2: So the woman arose, and did according to the word of
the man of God; she went with her household and sojourned in the
land of the Philistines seven years.
3: And at the end of the seven years, when the woman
returned from the land of the Philistines, she went forth to
appeal to the king for her house and her land.
4: Now the king was talking with Geha'zi the servant of
the man of God, saying, "Tell me all the great things that
Eli'sha has done."
5: And while he was telling the king how Eli'sha had
restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had
restored to life appealed to the king for her house and her
land. And Geha'zi said, "My lord, O king, here is the
woman, and here is her son whom Eli'sha restored to life."
6: And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So
the king appointed an official for her, saying, "Restore
all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields
from the day that she left the land until now."
7: Now Eli'sha came to Damascus. Ben-ha'dad the king of
Syria was sick; and when it was told him, "The man of God
has come here,"
8: the king said to Haz'ael, "Take a present with
you and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD
through him, saying, `Shall I recover from this sickness?'"
9: So Haz'ael went to meet him, and took a present with
him, all kinds of goods of Damascus, forty camel loads. When he
came and stood before him, he said, "Your son Ben-ha'dad
king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, `Shall I recover from
this sickness?'"
10: And Eli'sha said to him, "Go, say to him, `You
shall certainly recover'; but the LORD has shown me that he
shall certainly die."
11: And he fixed his gaze and stared at him, until he was
ashamed. And the man of God wept.
12: And Haz'ael said, "Why does my lord weep?"
He answered, "Because I know the evil that you will do to
the people of Israel; you will set on fire their fortresses, and
you will slay their young men with the sword, and dash in pieces
their little ones, and rip up their women with child."
13: And Haz'ael said, "What is your servant, who is
but a dog, that he should do this great thing?" Eli'sha
answered, "The LORD has shown me that you are to be king
over Syria."
14: Then he departed from Eli'sha, and came to his
master, who said to him, "What did Eli'sha say to
you?" And he answered, "He told me that you would
certainly recover."
15: But on the morrow he took the coverlet and dipped it
in water and spread it over his face, till he died. And Haz'ael
became king in his stead.
16: In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of
Israel, Jeho'ram the son of Jehosh'aphat, king of Judah, began
to reign.
17: He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and
he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
18: And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as
the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his
wife. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.
19: Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah, for the sake of
David his servant, since he promised to give a lamp to him and
to his sons for ever.
20: In his days Edom revolted from the rule of Judah, and
set up a king of their own.
21: Then Joram passed over to Za'ir with all his
chariots, and rose by night, and he and his chariot commanders
smote the E'domites who had surrounded him; but his army fled
home.
22: So Edom revolted from the rule of Judah to this day.
Then Libnah revolted at the same time.
23: Now 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: So Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with
his fathers in the city of David; and Ahazi'ah his son reigned
in his stead.
25: In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of
Israel, Ahazi'ah the son of Jeho'ram, king of Judah, began to
reign.
26: Ahazi'ah was twenty-two years old when he began to
reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name
was Athali'ah; she was a granddaughter of Omri king of Israel.
27: He also walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and
did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as the house of Ahab
had done, for he was son-in-law to the house of Ahab.
28: He went with Joram the son of Ahab to make war
against Haz'ael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead, where the
Syrians wounded Joram.
29: And King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of
the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he
fought against Haz'ael king of Syria. And Ahazi'ah the son of
Jeho'ram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in
Jezreel, because he was sick.
2 Kings, chapter 9
1: Then
Eli'sha 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, look there for Jehu the son of
Jehosh'aphat, son of Nimshi; and go in and bid him rise from
among his fellows, and lead him to an inner chamber.
3: Then take the flask of oil, and pour it on his head,
and say, `Thus says the LORD, I anoint you king over Israel.'
Then open the door and flee; do not tarry."
4: So the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead.
5: And when he came, behold, the commanders of the army
were in council; and he said, "I have an errand to you, O
commander." And Jehu said, "To which of us all?"
And he said, "To you, O commander."
6: So he arose, and went into the house; and the young
man poured the oil on his head, saying to him, "Thus says
the LORD the God of Israel, I anoint you king over the people of
the LORD, over Israel.
7: And you shall strike down the house of Ahab your
master, that I may avenge on Jez'ebel the blood of my servants
the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD.
8: For the whole house of Ahab shall perish; and I will
cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel.
9: And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of
Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, and like the house of Ba'asha the
son of Ahi'jah.
10: And the dogs shall eat Jez'ebel in the territory of
Jezreel, and none shall bury her." Then he opened the door,
and fled.
11: When Jehu came out to the servants of his master,
they said to him, "Is all well? Why did this mad fellow
come to you?" And he said to them, "You know the
fellow and his talk."
12: And they said, "That is not true; tell us
now." And he said, "Thus and so he spoke to me,
saying, `Thus says the LORD, I anoint you king over
Israel.'"
13: Then in haste every man of them took his garment, and
put it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet,
and proclaimed, "Jehu is king."
14: Thus Jehu the son of Jehosh'aphat the son of Nimshi
conspired against Joram. (Now Joram with all Israel had been on
guard at Ramoth-gilead against Haz'ael king of Syria;
15: but King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel
of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought
with Haz'ael king of Syria.) So Jehu said, "If this is your
mind, then let no one slip out of the city to go and tell the
news in Jezreel."
16: Then Jehu mounted his chariot, and went to Jezreel,
for Joram lay there. And Ahazi'ah king of Judah had come down to
visit Joram.
17: Now the watchman was standing on the tower in
Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said,
"I see a company." And Joram said, "Take a
horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, `Is it
peace?'"
18: So a man on horseback went to meet him, and said,
"Thus says the king, `Is it peace?'" And Jehu said,
"What have you to do with peace? Turn round and ride behind
me." And the watchman reported, saying, "The messenger
reached them, but he is not coming back."
19: Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them,
and said, "Thus the king has said, `Is it peace?'" And
Jehu answered, "What have you to do with peace? Turn round
and ride behind me."
20: Again the watchman reported, "He reached them,
but he is not coming back. And the driving is like the driving
of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he drives furiously."
21: Joram said, "Make ready." And they made
ready his chariot. Then Joram king of Israel and Ahazi'ah king
of Judah set out, each in his chariot, and went to meet Jehu,
and met him at the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.
22: And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, "Is it peace,
Jehu?" He answered, "What peace can there be, so long
as the harlotries and the sorceries of your mother Jez'ebel are
so many?"
23: Then Joram reined about and fled, saying to Ahazi'ah,
"Treachery, O Ahazi'ah!"
24: And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and
shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his
heart, and he sank in his chariot.
25: Jehu said to Bidkar his aide, "Take him up, and
cast him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the
Jezreelite; for remember, when you and I rode side by side
behind Ahab his father, how the LORD uttered this oracle against
him:
26: `As surely as I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and
the blood of his sons -- says the LORD -- I will requite you on
this plot of ground.' Now therefore take him up and cast him on
the plot of ground, in accordance with the word of the
LORD."
27: When Ahazi'ah the king of Judah saw this, he fled in
the direction of Beth-haggan. And Jehu pursued him, and said,
"Shoot him also"; and they shot him in the chariot at
the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megid'do,
and died there.
28: His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem,
and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the city of
David.
29: In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab,
Ahazi'ah began to reign over Judah.
30: When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jez'ebel heard of it; and
she painted her eyes, and adorned her head, and looked out of
the window.
31: And as Jehu entered the gate, she said, "Is it
peace, you Zimri, murderer of your master?"
32: And he lifted up his face to the window, and said,
"Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked
out at him.
33: He said, "Throw her down." So they threw
her down; and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the
horses, and they trampled on her.
34: Then he went in and ate and drank; and he said,
"See 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 the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.
36: When they came back and told him, he said, "This
is the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Eli'jah
the Tishbite, `In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat
the flesh of Jez'ebel;
37: and the corpse of Jez'ebel shall be as dung upon the
face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one
can say, This is Jez'ebel.'"
2 Kings, chapter 10
1: Now Ahab
had seventy sons in Sama'ria. So Jehu wrote letters, and sent
them to Sama'ria, to the rulers of the city, to the elders, and
to the guardians of the sons of Ahab, saying,
2: "Now then, as soon as this letter comes to you,
seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you
chariots and horses, fortified cities also, and weapons,
3: select the best and fittest of your master's sons and
set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's
house."
4: But they were exceedingly afraid, and said,
"Behold, the two kings could not stand before him; how then
can we stand?"
5: So he who was over the palace, and he who was over the
city, together with the elders and the guardians, sent to Jehu,
saying, "We are your servants, and we will do all that you
bid us. We will not make any one king; do whatever is good in
your eyes."
6: Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying,
"If you are on my side, and if you are ready to obey me,
take the heads of your master's sons, and come to me at Jezreel
tomorrow at this time." Now the king's sons, seventy
persons, were with the great men of the city, who were bringing
them up.
7: And when the letter came to them, they took the king's
sons, and slew them, seventy persons, and put their heads in
baskets, and sent them to him at Jezreel.
8: When the messenger came and told him, "They have
brought the heads of the king's sons," he said, "Lay
them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the
morning."
9: Then in the morning, when he went out, he stood, and
said to all the people, "You are innocent. It was I who
conspired against my master, and slew him; but who struck down
all these?
10: Know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing
of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spoke concerning the
house of Ahab; for the LORD has done what he said by his servant
Eli'jah."
11: So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab
in Jezreel, all his great men, and his familiar friends, and his
priests, until he left him none remaining.
12: Then he set out and went to Sama'ria. On the way,
when he was at Beth-eked of the Shepherds,
13: Jehu met the kinsmen of Ahazi'ah king of Judah, and
he said, "Who are you?" And they answered, "We
are the kinsmen of Ahazi'ah, and we came down to visit the royal
princes and the sons of the queen mother."
14: He said, "Take them alive." And they took
them alive, and slew them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two
persons, and he spared none of them.
15: And when he departed from there, he met Jehon'adab
the son of Rechab coming to meet him; and he greeted him, and
said to him, "Is your heart true to my heart as mine is to
yours?" And Jehon'adab answered, "It is." Jehu
said, "If it is, give me your hand." So he gave him
his hand. And Jehu took him up with him into the chariot.
16: And he said, "Come with me, and see my zeal for
the LORD." So he had him ride in his chariot.
17: And when he came to Sama'ria, he slew all that
remained to Ahab in Sama'ria, till he had wiped them out,
according to the word of the LORD which he spoke to Eli'jah.
18: Then Jehu assembled all the people, and said to them,
"Ahab served Ba'al a little; but Jehu will serve him much.
19: Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Ba'al,
all his worshipers and all his priests; let none be missing, for
I have a great sacrifice to offer to Ba'al; whoever is missing
shall not live." But Jehu did it with cunning in order to
destroy the worshipers of Ba'al.
20: And Jehu ordered, "Sanctify a solemn assembly
for Ba'al." So they proclaimed it.
21: And Jehu sent throughout all Israel; and all the
worshipers of Ba'al came, so that there was not a man left who
did not come. And they entered the house of Ba'al, and the house
of Ba'al was filled from one end to the other.
22: He said to him who was in charge of the wardrobe,
"Bring out the vestments for all the worshipers of
Ba'al." So he brought out the vestments for them.
23: Then Jehu went into the house of Ba'al with
Jehon'adab the son of Rechab; and he said to the worshipers of
Ba'al, "Search, and see that there is no servant of the
LORD here among you, but only the worshipers of Ba'al."
24: Then he went in to offer sacrifices and burnt
offerings. Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside, and said,
"The man who allows any of those whom I give into your
hands to escape shall forfeit his life."
25: So as soon as he had made an end of offering the
burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the officers,
"Go in and slay them; let not a man escape." So when
they put them to the sword, the guard and the officers cast them
out and went into the inner room of the house of Ba'al
26: and they brought out the pillar that was in the house
of Ba'al, and burned it.
27: And they demolished the pillar of Ba'al, and
demolished the house of Ba'al, and made it a latrine to this
day.
28: Thus Jehu wiped out Ba'al from Israel.
29: But Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of
Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin, the
golden calves that were in Bethel, and in Dan.
30: And the LORD said to Jehu, "Because you have
done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have
done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart,
your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of
Israel."
31: But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the
LORD the God of Israel with all his heart; he did not turn from
the sins of Jerobo'am, which he made Israel to sin.
32: In those days the LORD began to cut off parts of
Israel. Haz'ael defeated them throughout the territory of
Israel:
33: from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the
Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manas'sites, from Aro'er,
which is by the valley of the Arnon, that is, Gilead and Bashan.
34: Now 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: So Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him
in Sama'ria. And Jeho'ahaz his son reigned in his stead.
36: The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Sama'ria
was twenty-eight years.
2 Kings, chapter 11
1: Now when
Athali'ah the mother of Ahazi'ah saw that her son was dead, she
arose and destroyed all the royal family.
2: But Jehosh'eba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of
Ahazi'ah, took Jo'ash the son of Ahazi'ah, and stole him away
from among the king's sons who were about to be slain, and she
put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. Thus she hid him from
Athali'ah, so that he was not slain;
3: and he remained with her six years, hid in the house
of the LORD, while Athali'ah reigned over the land.
4: But in the seventh year Jehoi'ada sent and brought the
captains of the Carites and of the guards, and had them come to
him in the house of the LORD; and he made a covenant with them
and put them under oath in the house of the LORD, and he showed
them the king's son.
5: And he commanded them, "This is the thing that
you shall do: one third of you, those who come off duty on the
sabbath and guard the king's house
6: (another third being at the gate Sur and a third at
the gate behind the guards), shall guard the palace;
7: and the two divisions of you, which come on duty in
force on the sabbath and guard the house of the LORD,
8: shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his
hand; and whoever approaches the ranks is to be slain. Be with
the king when he goes out and when he comes in."
9: The captains did according to all that Jehoi'ada the
priest commanded, and each brought his men who were to go off
duty on the sabbath, with those who were to come on duty on the
sabbath, and came to Jehoi'ada the priest.
10: And the priest delivered to the captains the spears
and shields that had been King David's, which were in the house
of the LORD;
11: and the guards stood, every man with his weapons in
his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of
the house, around the altar and the house.
12: Then he brought out the king's son, and put the crown
upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they proclaimed him
king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said,
"Long live the king!"
13: When Athali'ah heard the noise of the guard and of
the people, she went into the house of the LORD to the people;
14: and when she looked, there was the king standing by
the pillar, according to the custom, and the captains and the
trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land
rejoicing and blowing trumpets. And Athali'ah rent her clothes,
and cried, "Treason! Treason!"
15: Then Jehoi'ada the priest commanded the captains who
were set over the army, "Bring her out between the ranks;
and slay with the sword any one who follows her." For the
priest said, "Let her not be slain in the house of the
LORD."
16: So they laid hands on her; and she went through the
horses' entrance to the king's house, and there she was slain.
17: And Jehoi'ada made a covenant between the LORD and
the king and people, that they should be the LORD's people; and
also between the king and the people.
18: Then all the people of the land went to the house of
Ba'al, and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in
pieces, and they slew Mattan the priest of Ba'al before the
altars. And the priest posted watchmen over the house of the
LORD.
19: And he took the captains, the Carites, the guards,
and all the people of the land; and they brought the king down
from the house of the LORD, marching through the gate of the
guards to the king's house. And he took his seat on the throne
of the kings.
20: So all the people of the land rejoiced; and the city
was quiet after Athali'ah had been slain with the sword at the
king's house.
21: Jeho'ash was seven years old when he began to reign.
2 Kings, chapter 12
1: In the
seventh year of Jehu Jeho'ash began to reign, and he reigned
forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zib'iah of
Beer-sheba.
2: And Jeho'ash did what was right in the eyes of the
LORD all his days, because Jehoi'ada the priest instructed him.
3: Nevertheless the high places were not taken away; the
people continued to sacrifice and burn incense on the high
places.
4: Jeho'ash said to the priests, "All the money of
the holy things which is brought into the house of the LORD, the
money for which each man is assessed -- the money from the
assessment of persons -- and the money which a man's heart
prompts him to bring into the house of the LORD,
5: let the priests take, each from his acquaintance; and
let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is
discovered."
6: But by the twenty-third year of King Jeho'ash the
priests had made no repairs on the house.
7: Therefore King Jeho'ash summoned Jehoi'ada the priest
and the other priests and said to them, "Why are you not
repairing the house? Now therefore take no more money from your
acquaintances, but hand it over for the repair of the
house."
8: So the priests agreed that they should take no more
money from the people, and that they should not repair the
house.
9: Then Jehoi'ada the priest took a chest, and bored a
hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar on the right
side as one entered the house of the LORD; and the priests who
guarded the threshold put in it all the money that was brought
into the house of the LORD.
10: And whenever they saw that there was much money in
the chest, the king's secretary and the high priest came up and
they counted and tied up in bags the money that was found in the
house of the LORD.
11: Then they would give the money that was weighed out
into the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house
of the LORD; and they paid it out to the carpenters and the
builders who worked upon the house of the LORD,
12: and to the masons and the stonecutters, as well as to
buy timber and quarried stone for making repairs on the house of
the LORD, and for any outlay upon the repairs of the house.
13: But there were not made for the house of the LORD
basins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, or any vessels of
gold, or of silver, from the money that was brought into the
house of the LORD,
14: for that was given to the workmen who were repairing
the house of the LORD with it.
15: And they did not ask an accounting from the men into
whose hand they delivered the money to pay out to the workmen,
for they dealt honestly.
16: The money from the guilt offerings and the money from
the sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD; it
belonged to the priests.
17: At that time Haz'ael king of Syria went up and fought
against Gath, and took it. But when Haz'ael set his face to go
up against Jerusalem,
18: Jeho'ash king of Judah took all the votive gifts that
Jehosh'aphat and Jeho'ram and Ahazi'ah, his fathers, the kings
of Judah, had dedicated, and his own votive gifts, and all the
gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD
and of the king's house, and sent these to Haz'ael king of
Syria. Then Haz'ael went away from Jerusalem.
19: Now the rest of the acts of Jo'ash, and all that he
did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the
Kings of Judah?
20: His servants arose and made a conspiracy, and slew
Jo'ash in the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to
Silla.
21: It was Jo'zacar the son of Shim'e-ath and Jeho'zabad
the son of Shomer, his servants, who struck him down, so that he
died. And they buried him with his fathers in the city of David,
and Amazi'ah his son reigned in his stead.
2 Kings, chapter 13
1: In the
twenty-third year of Jo'ash the son of Ahazi'ah, king of Judah,
Jeho'ahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in
Sama'ria, and he reigned seventeen years.
2: He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and
followed the sins of Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, which he made
Israel to sin; he did not depart from them.
3: And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel,
and he gave them continually into the hand of Haz'ael king of
Syria and into the hand of Ben-ha'dad the son of Haz'ael.
4: Then Jeho'ahaz besought the LORD, and the LORD
hearkened to him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the
king of Syria oppressed them.
5: (Therefore the LORD gave Israel a savior, so that they
escaped from the hand of the Syrians; and the people of Israel
dwelt in their homes as formerly.
6: Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the
house of Jerobo'am, which he made Israel to sin, but walked in
them; and the Ashe'rah also remained in Sama'ria.)
7: For there was not left to Jeho'ahaz an army of more
than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen;
for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the
dust at threshing.
8: Now the rest of the acts of Jeho'ahaz and all that he
did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the
Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
9: So Jeho'ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried
him in Sama'ria; and Jo'ash his son reigned in his stead.
10: In the thirty-seventh year of Jo'ash king of Judah
Jeho'ash the son of Jeho'ahaz began to reign over Israel in
Sama'ria, and he reigned sixteen years.
11: He also did what was evil in the sight of the LORD;
he did not depart from all the sins of Jerobo'am the son of
Nebat, which he made Israel to sin, but he walked in them.
12: Now the rest of the acts of Jo'ash, and all that he
did, and the might with which he fought against Amazi'ah king of
Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the
Kings of Israel?
13: So Jo'ash slept with his fathers, and Jerobo'am sat
upon his throne; and Jo'ash was buried in Sama'ria with the
kings of Israel.
14: Now when Eli'sha had fallen sick with the illness of
which he was to die, Jo'ash king of Israel went down to him, and
wept before him, crying, "My father, my father! The
chariots of Israel and its horsemen!"
15: And Eli'sha said to him, "Take a bow and
arrows"; so he took a bow and arrows.
16: Then he said to the king of Israel, "Draw the
bow"; and he drew it. And Eli'sha laid his hands upon the
king's hands.
17: And he said, "Open the window eastward";
and he opened it. Then Eli'sha said, "Shoot"; and he
shot. And he said, "The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow
of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek
until you have made an end of them."
18: And he said, "Take the arrows"; and he took
them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground
with them"; and he struck three times, and stopped.
19: Then the man of God was angry with him, and said,
"You should have struck five or six times; then you would
have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now
you will strike down Syria only three times."
20: So Eli'sha died, and they buried him. Now bands of
Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year.
21: And as a man was being buried, lo, a marauding band
was seen and the man was cast into the grave of Eli'sha; and as
soon as the man touched the bones of Eli'sha, he revived, and
stood on his feet.
22: Now Haz'ael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the
days of Jeho'ahaz.
23: But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion
on them, and he turned toward them, because of his covenant with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them; nor has
he cast them from his presence until now.
24: When Haz'ael king of Syria died, Ben-ha'dad his son
became king in his stead.
25: Then Jeho'ash the son of Jeho'ahaz took again from
Ben-ha'dad the son of Haz'ael the cities which he had taken from
Jeho'ahaz his father in war. Three times Jo'ash defeated him and
recovered the cities of Israel.
2 Kings, chapter 14
1: In the
second year of Jo'ash the son of Jo'ahaz, king of Israel,
Amazi'ah the son of Jo'ash, king of Judah, began to reign.
2: He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name
was Jeho-ad'din of Jerusalem.
3: And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet
not like David his father; he did in all things as Jo'ash his
father had done.
4: But the high places were not removed; the people still
sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
5: And as soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand
he killed his servants who had slain the king his father.
6: But he did not put to death the children of the
murderers; according to what is written in the book of the law
of Moses, where the LORD commanded, "The fathers shall not
be put to death for the children, or the children be put to
death for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own
sin."
7: He killed ten thousand E'domites in the Valley of Salt
and took Sela by storm, and called it Jok'the-el, which is its
name to this day.
8: Then Amazi'ah sent messengers to Jeho'ash the son of
Jeho'ahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, "Come, let
us look one another in the face."
9: And Jeho'ash king of Israel sent word to Amazi'ah king
of Judah, "A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon,
saying, `Give your daughter to my son for a wife'; and a wild
beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle.
10: You have indeed smitten Edom, and your heart has
lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home; for
why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah
with you?"
11: But Amazi'ah would not listen. So Jeho'ash king of
Israel went up, and he and Amazi'ah king of Judah faced one
another in battle at Beth-she'mesh, which belongs to Judah.
12: And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled
to his home.
13: And Jeho'ash king of Israel captured Amazi'ah king of
Judah, the son of Jeho'ash, son of Ahazi'ah, at Beth-she'mesh,
and came to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for
four hundred cubits, from the E'phraim Gate to the Corner Gate.
14: And he seized all the gold and silver, and all the
vessels that were found in the house of the LORD and in the
treasuries of the king's house, also hostages, and he returned
to Sama'ria.
15: Now the rest of the acts of Jeho'ash which he did,
and his might, and how he fought with Amazi'ah king of Judah,
are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings
of Israel?
16: And Jeho'ash slept with his fathers, and was buried
in Sama'ria with the kings of Israel; and Jerobo'am his son
reigned in his stead.
17: Amazi'ah the son of Jo'ash, king of Judah, lived
fifteen years after the death of Jeho'ash son of Jeho'ahaz, king
of Israel.
18: Now the rest of the deeds of Amazi'ah, are they not
written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
19: And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem,
and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish, and
slew him there.
20: And they brought him upon horses; and he was buried
in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.
21: And all the people of Judah took Azari'ah, who was
sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father
Amazi'ah.
22: He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the
king slept with his fathers.
23: In the fifteenth year of Amazi'ah the son of Jo'ash,
king of Judah, Jerobo'am the son of Jo'ash, king of Israel,
began to reign in Sama'ria, and he reigned forty-one years.
24: And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; he
did not depart from all the sins of Jerobo'am the son of Nebat,
which he made Israel to sin.
25: He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of
Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of
the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah
the son of Amit'tai, the prophet, who was from Gath-he'pher.
26: For the LORD saw that the affliction of Israel was
very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there
was none to help Israel.
27: But the LORD had not said that he would blot out the
name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand
of Jerobo'am the son of Jo'ash.
28: Now the rest of the acts of Jerobo'am, and all that
he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he recovered 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 Jerobo'am slept with his fathers, the kings of
Israel, and Zechari'ah his son reigned in his stead.
2 Kings, chapter 15
1: In the
twenty-seventh year of Jerobo'am king of Israel Azari'ah the son
of Amazi'ah, king of Judah, began to reign.
2: He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and
he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was
Jecoli'ah of Jerusalem.
3: And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD,
according to all that his father Amazi'ah had done.
4: Nevertheless the high places were not taken away; the
people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
5: And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper to
the day of his death, and he dwelt in a separate house. And
Jotham the king's son was over the household, governing the
people of the land.
6: Now the rest of the acts of Azari'ah, and all that he
did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the
Kings of Judah?
7: And Azari'ah slept with his fathers, and they buried
him with his fathers in the city of David, and Jotham his son
reigned in his stead.
8: In the thirty-eighth year of Azari'ah king of Judah
Zechari'ah the son of Jerobo'am reigned over Israel in Sama'ria
six months.
9: And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as
his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of
Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.
10: Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and
struck him down at Ibleam, and killed him, and reigned in his
stead.
11: Now the rest of the deeds of Zechari'ah, behold, they
are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of
Israel.
12: (This was the promise of the LORD which he gave to
Jehu, "Your sons shall sit upon the throne of Israel to the
fourth generation." And so it came to pass.)
13: Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the
thirty-ninth year of Uzzi'ah king of Judah, and he reigned one
month in Sama'ria.
14: Then Men'ahem the son of Gadi came up from Tirzah and
came to Sama'ria, and he struck down Shallum the son of Jabesh
in Sama'ria and slew him, and reigned in his stead.
15: Now the rest of the deeds of Shallum, and the
conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the Book
of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
16: At that time Men'ahem sacked Tappuah and all who were
in it and its territory from Tirzah on; because they did not
open it to him, therefore he sacked it, and he ripped up all the
women in it who were with child.
17: In the thirty-ninth year of Azari'ah king of Judah
Men'ahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel, and he
reigned ten years in Sama'ria.
18: And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; he
did not depart all his days from all the sins of Jerobo'am the
son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.
19: Pul the king of Assyria came against the land; and
Men'ahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that he might
help him to confirm his hold of the royal power.
20: Men'ahem exacted the money from Israel, that is, from
all the wealthy men, fifty shekels of silver from every man, to
give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back,
and did not stay there in the land.
21: Now the rest of the deeds of Men'ahem, and all that
he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of
the Kings of Israel?
22: And Men'ahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahi'ah
his son reigned in his stead.
23: In the fiftieth year of Azari'ah king of Judah
Pekahi'ah the son of Men'ahem began to reign over Israel in
Sama'ria, and he reigned two years.
24: And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; he
did not turn away from the sins of Jerobo'am the son of Nebat,
which he made Israel to sin.
25: And Pekah the son of Remali'ah, his captain,
conspired against him with fifty men of the Gileadites, and slew
him in Sama'ria, in the citadel of the king's house; he slew
him, and reigned in his stead.
26: Now the rest of the deeds of Pekahi'ah, and all that
he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles
of the Kings of Israel.
27: In the fifty-second year of Azari'ah king of Judah
Pekah the son of Remali'ah began to reign over Israel in
Sama'ria, and reigned twenty years.
28: And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; he
did not depart from the sins of Jerobo'am the son of Nebat,
which he made Israel to sin.
29: In the days of Pekah king of Israel Tig'lath-pile'ser
king of Assyria came and captured I'jon, A'bel-beth-ma'acah,
Jan-o'ah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of
Naph'tali; and he carried the people captive to Assyria.
30: Then Hoshe'a the son of Elah made a conspiracy
against Pekah the son of Remali'ah, and struck him down, and
slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of
Jotham the son of Uzzi'ah.
31: Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he
did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of
the Kings of Israel.
32: In the second year of Pekah the son of Remali'ah,
king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzzi'ah, king of Judah, began
to reign.
33: He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was
Jeru'sha the daughter of Zadok.
34: And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD,
according to all that his father Uzzi'ah had done.
35: Nevertheless the high places were not removed; the
people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
He built the upper gate of the house of the LORD.
36: Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he
did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the
Kings of Judah?
37: In those days the LORD began to send Rezin the king
of Syria and Pekah the son of Remali'ah against Judah.
38: 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 stead.
2 Kings, chapter 16
1: In the
seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remali'ah, Ahaz the son of
Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign.
2: Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and
he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what
was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David
had done,
3: but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He
even burned his son as an offering, according to the abominable
practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the
people of Israel.
4: And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high
places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
5: Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of
Remali'ah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and
they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him.
6: At that time the king of Edom recovered Elath for
Edom, and drove the men of Judah from Elath; and the E'domites
came to Elath, where they dwell to this day.
7: So Ahaz sent messengers to Tig'lath-pile'ser king of
Assyria, saying, "I am your servant and your son. Come up,
and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the
hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me."
8: Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in
the house of the LORD and in the treasures of the king's house,
and sent a present to the king of Assyria.
9: And the king of Assyria hearkened to him; the king of
Assyria marched up against Damascus, and took it, carrying its
people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin.
10: When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet
Tig'lath-pile'ser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at
Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uri'ah the priest a model of the
altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details.
11: And Uri'ah the priest built the altar; in accordance
with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uri'ah the
priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus.
12: And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed
the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar, and went up on
it,
13: and burned his burnt offering and his cereal
offering, and poured his drink offering, and threw the blood of
his peace offerings upon the altar.
14: And the bronze altar which was before the LORD he
removed from the front of the house, from the place between his
altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of
his altar.
15: And King Ahaz commanded Uri'ah the priest, saying,
"Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and
the evening cereal offering, and the king's burnt offering, and
his cereal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people
of the land, and their cereal offering, and their drink
offering; and throw upon it all the blood of the burnt offering,
and all the blood of the sacrifice; but the bronze altar shall
be for me to inquire by."
16: Uri'ah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz
commanded.
17: And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands, and
removed the laver from them, and he took down the sea from off
the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pediment
of stone.
18: And the covered way for the sabbath which had been
built inside the palace, and the outer entrance for the king he
removed from the house of the LORD, because of the king of
Assyria.
19: Now 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 Hezeki'ah his son reigned
in his stead.
2 Kings, chapter 17
1: In the
twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah Hoshe'a the son of Elah began
to reign in Sama'ria over Israel, and he reigned nine years.
2: And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, yet
not as the kings of Israel who were before him.
3: Against him came up Shalmane'ser king of Assyria; and
Hoshe'a became his vassal, and paid him tribute.
4: But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshe'a;
for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no
tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year;
therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in
prison.
5: Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came
to Sama'ria, and for three years he besieged it.
6: In the ninth year of Hoshe'a the king of Assyria
captured Sama'ria, and he carried the Israelites away to
Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river
of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7: And this was so, because the people of Israel had
sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out
of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of
Egypt, and had feared other gods
8: and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD
drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs which
the kings of Israel had introduced.
9: And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD
their God things that were not right. They built for themselves
high places at all their towns, from watchtower to fortified
city;
10: they set up for themselves pillars and Ashe'rim on
every high hill and under every green tree;
11: and there they burned incense on all the high places,
as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them. And
they did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger,
12: and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to
them, "You shall not do this."
13: Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet
and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep
my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the law
which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my
servants the prophets."
14: But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as
their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their
God.
15: They despised his statutes, and his covenant that he
made with their fathers, and the warnings which he gave them.
They went after false idols, and became false, and they followed
the nations that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD
had commanded them that they should not do like them.
16: And they forsook all the commandments of the LORD
their God, and made for themselves molten images of two calves;
and they made an Ashe'rah, and worshiped all the host of heaven,
and served Ba'al.
17: And they burned their sons and their daughters as
offerings, and used divination and sorcery, and sold themselves
to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
18: Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and
removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of
Judah only.
19: Judah also did not keep the commandments of the LORD
their God, but walked in the customs which Israel had
introduced.
20: And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel,
and afflicted them, and gave them into the hand of spoilers,
until he had cast them out of his sight.
21: When he had torn Israel from the house of David they
made Jerobo'am the son of Nebat king. And Jerobo'am drove Israel
from following the LORD and made them commit great sin.
22: The people of Israel walked in all the sins which
Jerobo'am did; they did not depart from them,
23: until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he
had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was
exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.
24: And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon,
Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sephar-va'im, and placed them in the
cities of Sama'ria instead of the people of Israel; and they
took possession of Sama'ria, and dwelt in its cities.
25: And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they
did not fear the LORD; therefore the LORD sent lions among them,
which killed some of them.
26: So the king of Assyria was told, "The nations
which you have carried away and placed in the cities of Sama'ria
do not know the law of the god of the land; therefore he has
sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them,
because they do not know the law of the god of the land."
27: Then the king of Assyria commanded, "Send there
one of the priests whom you carried away thence; and let him go
and dwell there, and teach them the law of the god of the
land."
28: So one of the priests whom they had carried away from
Sama'ria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they
should fear the LORD.
29: But every nation still made gods of its own, and put
them in the shrines of the high places which the Samaritans had
made, every nation in the cities in which they dwelt;
30: the men of Babylon made Suc'coth-be'noth, the men of
Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashi'ma,
31: and the Av'vites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the
Sephar'vites burned their children in the fire to Adram'melech
and Anam'melech, the gods of Sephar-va'im.
32: They also feared the LORD, and appointed from among
themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places,
who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places.
33: So they feared the LORD but also served their own
gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had
been carried away.
34: To this day they do according to the former manner.
They do not fear the LORD, and they do not follow the statutes
or the ordinances or the law or the commandment which the LORD
commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel.
35: The LORD made a covenant with them, and commanded
them, "You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to
them or serve them or sacrifice to them;
36: but you shall fear the LORD, who brought you out of
the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm;
you shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice.
37: And the statutes and the ordinances and the law and
the commandment which he wrote for you, you shall always be
careful to do. You shall not fear other gods,
38: and you shall not forget the covenant that I have
made with you. You shall not fear other gods,
39: but you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will
deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies."
40: However they would not listen, but they did according
to their former manner.
41: So these nations feared the LORD, and also served
their graven images; their children likewise, and their
children's children -- as their fathers did, so they do to this
day.
2 Kings, chapter 18
1: In the
third year of Hoshe'a son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezeki'ah the
son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
2: He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name
was Abi the daughter of Zechari'ah.
3: And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD,
according to all that David his father had done.
4: He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and
cut down the Ashe'rah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent
that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel
had burned incense to it; it was called Nehush'tan.
5: He trusted in the LORD the God of Israel; so that
there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him,
nor among those who were before him.
6: For he held fast to the LORD; he did not depart from
following him, but kept the commandments which the LORD
commanded Moses.
7: And the LORD was with him; wherever he went forth, he
prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria, and would
not serve him.
8: He smote the Philistines as far as Gaza and its
territory, from watchtower to fortified city.
9: In the fourth year of King Hezeki'ah, which was the
seventh year of Hoshe'a son of Elah, king of Israel,
Shalmane'ser king of Assyria came up against Sama'ria and
besieged it
10: and at the end of three years he took it. In the
sixth year of Hezeki'ah, which was the ninth year of Hoshe'a
king of Israel, Sama'ria was taken.
11: The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to
Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of
Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
12: because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their
God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the
servant of the LORD commanded; they neither listened nor obeyed.
13: In the fourteenth year of King Hezeki'ah Sennach'erib
king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of
Judah and took them.
14: And Hezeki'ah king of Judah sent to the king of
Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong; withdraw
from me; whatever you impose on me I will bear." And the
king of Assyria required of Hezeki'ah king of Judah three
hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15: And Hezeki'ah gave him all the silver that was found
in the house of the LORD, and in the treasuries of the king's
house.
16: At that time Hezeki'ah stripped the gold from the
doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the doorposts which
Hezeki'ah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of
Assyria.
17: And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the
Rab'saris, and the Rab'shakeh with a great army from Lachish to
King Hezeki'ah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to
Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit
of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Fuller's
Field.
18: And when they called for the king, there came out to
them Eli'akim the son of Hilki'ah, who was over the household,
and Shebnah the secretary, and Jo'ah the son of Asaph, the
recorder.
19: And the Rab'shakeh said to them, "Say to
Hezeki'ah, `Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On
what do you rest this confidence of yours?
20: Do you think that mere words are strategy and power
for war? On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled against
me?
21: Behold, you are relying now on Egypt, that broken
reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans
on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.
22: But if you say to me, "We rely on the LORD our
God," is it not he whose high places and altars Hezeki'ah
has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall
worship before this altar in Jerusalem"?
23: Come now, make a wager with my master the king of
Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on
your part to set riders upon them.
24: How then can you repulse a single captain among the
least of my master's servants, when you rely on Egypt for
chariots and for horsemen?
25: Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up
against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up
against this land, and destroy it.'"
26: Then Eli'akim the son of Hilki'ah, and Shebnah, and
Jo'ah, said to the Rab'shakeh, "Pray, speak to your
servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it; do not
speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the
people who are on the wall."
27: But the Rab'shakeh said to them, "Has my master
sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not
to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat
their own dung and to drink their own urine?"
28: Then the Rab'shakeh stood and called out in a loud
voice in the language of Judah: "Hear the word of the great
king, the king of Assyria!
29: Thus says the king: `Do not let Hezeki'ah deceive
you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand.
30: Do not let Hezeki'ah make you to rely on the LORD by
saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not
be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'
31: Do not listen to Hezeki'ah; for thus says the king of
Assyria: `Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every
one of you will eat of his own vine, and every one of his own
fig tree, and every one of you will drink the water of his own
cistern;
32: until I come and take you away to a land like your
own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and
vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live,
and not die. And do not listen to Hezeki'ah when he misleads you
by saying, The LORD will deliver us.
33: Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his
land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
34: Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the
gods of Sepharva'im, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered
Sama'ria out of my hand?
35: Who among all the gods of the countries have
delivered their countries out of my hand, that the LORD should
deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'"
36: But the people were silent and answered him not a
word, for the king's command was, "Do not answer him."
37: Then Eli'akim the son of Hilki'ah, who was over the
household, and Shebna the secretary, and Jo'ah the son of Asaph,
the recorder, came to Hezeki'ah with their clothes rent, and
told him the words of the Rab'shakeh.
2 Kings, chapter 19
1: When King
Hezeki'ah heard it, he rent his clothes, and covered himself
with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
2: And he sent Eli'akim, who was over the household, and
Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with
sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz.
3: They said to him, "Thus says Hezeki'ah, This day
is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have
come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth.
4: It may be that the LORD your God heard all the words
of the Rab'shakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent
to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD
your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the
remnant that is left."
5: When the servants of King Hezeki'ah came to Isaiah,
6: Isaiah said to them, "Say to your master, `Thus
says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you
have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have
reviled me.
7: Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall
hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to
fall by the sword in his own land.'"
8: The Rab'shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria
fighting against Libnah; for he heard that the king had left
Lachish.
9: And when the king heard concerning Tirha'kah king of
Ethiopia, "Behold, he has set out to fight against
you," he sent messengers again to Hezeki'ah, saying,
10: "Thus shall you speak to Hezeki'ah king of
Judah: `Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by
promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the
king of Assyria.
11: Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have
done to all lands, destroying them utterly. And shall you be
delivered?
12: Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the
nations which my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and
the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar?
13: Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the
king of the city of Sepharva'im, the king of Hena, or the king
of Ivvah?'"
14: Hezeki'ah received the letter from the hand of the
messengers, and read it; and Hezeki'ah went up to the house of
the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
15: And Hezeki'ah prayed before the LORD, and said:
"O LORD the God of Israel, who art enthroned above the
cherubim, thou art the God, thou alone, of all the kingdoms of
the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
16: Incline thy ear, O LORD, and hear; open thy eyes, O
LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennach'erib, which he has
sent to mock the living God.
17: Of a truth, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid
waste the nations and their lands,
18: and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were
no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore
they were destroyed.
19: So now, O LORD our God, save us, I beseech thee, from
his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou,
O LORD, art God alone."
20: Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezeki'ah,
saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Your prayer
to me about Sennach'erib king of Assyria I have heard.
21: This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning
him: "She despises you, she scorns you -- the virgin
daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you -- the daughter
of Jerusalem.
22: "Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom
have you raised your voice and haughtily lifted your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
23: By your messengers you have mocked the LORD, and you
have said, `With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of
the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon; I felled its
tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses; I entered its farthest
retreat, its densest forest.
24: I dug wells and drank foreign waters, and I dried up
with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt.'
25: "Have you not heard that I determined it long
ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that
you should turn fortified cities into heaps of ruins,
26: while their inhabitants, shorn of strength, are
dismayed and confounded, and have become like plants of the
field, and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops;
blighted before it is grown?
27: "But I know your sitting down and your going out
and coming in, and your raging against me.
28: Because you have raged against me and your arrogance
has come into my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my
bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which
you came.
29: "And this shall be the sign for you: this year
you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what
springs of the same; then in the third year sow, and reap, and
plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
30: And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall
again take root downward, and bear fruit upward;
31: for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and
out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD will
do this.
32: "Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the
king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city or shoot an
arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege
mound against it.
33: By the way that he came, by the same he shall return,
and he shall not come into this city, says the LORD.
34: For I will defend this city to save it, for my own
sake and for the sake of my servant David."
35: And that night the angel of the LORD went forth, and
slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the
Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold,
these were all dead bodies.
36: Then Sennach'erib king of Assyria departed, and went
home, and dwelt at Nin'eveh.
37: And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his
god, Adram'melech and Share'zer, his sons, slew him with the
sword, and escaped into the land of Ar'arat. And Esarhad'don his
son reigned in his stead.
2 Kings, chapter 20
1: In those
days Hezeki'ah became sick and was at the point of death. And
Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him,
"Thus says the LORD, `Set your house in order; for you
shall die, you shall not recover.'"
2: Then Hezeki'ah turned his face to the wall, and prayed
to the LORD, saying,
3: "Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have
walked before thee in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and
have done what is good in thy sight." And Hezeki'ah wept
bitterly.
4: And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court,
the word of the LORD came to him:
5: "Turn back, and say to Hezeki'ah the prince of my
people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have
heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal
you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD.
6: And I will add fifteen years to your life. I will
deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of
Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my
servant David's sake."
7: And Isaiah said, "Bring a cake of figs. And let
them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover."
8: And Hezeki'ah said to Isaiah, "What shall be the
sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the
house of the LORD on the third day?"
9: And Isaiah said, "This is the sign to you from
the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has promised:
shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten
steps?"
10: And Hezeki'ah answered, "It is an easy thing for
the shadow to lengthen ten steps; rather let the shadow go back
ten steps."
11: And Isaiah the prophet cried to the LORD; and he
brought the shadow back ten steps, by which the sun had declined
on the dial of Ahaz.
12: At that time Mero'dach-bal'adan the son of Bal'adan,
king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to
Hezeki'ah; for he heard that Hezeki'ah had been sick.
13: And Hezeki'ah welcomed them, and he showed them all
his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the
precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses;
there was nothing in his house or in all his realm that
Hezeki'ah did not show them.
14: Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezeki'ah, and
said to him, "What did these men say? And whence did they
come to you?" And Hezeki'ah said, "They have come from
a far country, from Babylon."
15: He said, "What have they seen in your
house?" And Hezeki'ah answered, "They have seen all
that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I
did not show them."
16: Then Isaiah said to Hezeki'ah, "Hear the word of
the LORD:
17: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your
house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day,
shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the
LORD.
18: And some of your own sons, who are born to you, shall
be taken away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the
king of Babylon."
19: Then said Hezeki'ah to Isaiah, "The word of the
LORD which you have spoken is good." For he thought,
"Why not, if there will be peace and security in my
days?"
20: The rest of the deeds of Hezeki'ah, and all his
might, and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought
water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the
Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
21: And Hezeki'ah slept with his fathers; and Manas'seh
his son reigned in his stead.
2 Kings, chapter 21
1: Manas'seh
was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Heph'zibah.
2: And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD,
according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the
LORD drove out before the people of Israel.
3: For he rebuilt the high places which Hezeki'ah his
father had destroyed; and he erected altars for Ba'al, and made
an Ashe'rah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all
the host of heaven, and served them.
4: And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which
the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem will I put my name."
5: And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the
two courts of the house of the LORD.
6: And he burned his son as an offering, and practiced
soothsaying and augury, and dealt with mediums and with wizards.
He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to
anger.
7: And the graven image of Ashe'rah that he had made he
set in the house of which the LORD said to David and to Solomon
his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have
chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for
ever;
8: and I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander any
more out of the land which I gave to their fathers, if only they
will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded
them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses
commanded them."
9: But they did not listen, and Manas'seh seduced them to
do more evil than the nations had done whom the LORD destroyed
before the people of Israel.
10: And the LORD said by his servants the prophets,
11: "Because Manas'seh king of Judah has committed
these abominations, and has done things more wicked than all
that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah
also to sin with his idols;
12: therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such evil that
the ears of every one who hears of it will tingle.
13: And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line
of Sama'ria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will
wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it
upside down.
14: And I will cast off the remnant of my heritage, and
give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become
a prey and a 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 out
of Egypt, even to this day."
16: Moreover Manas'seh shed very much innocent blood,
till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides
the sin which he made Judah to sin so that they did what was
evil in the sight of the LORD.
17: Now the rest of the acts of Manas'seh, and all that
he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in
the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
18: And Manas'seh slept with his fathers, and was buried
in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon his
son reigned in his stead.
19: Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was
Meshul'lemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
20: And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as
Manas'seh his father had done.
21: He walked in all the way in which his father walked,
and served the idols that his father served, and worshiped them;
22: he forsook the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did
not walk in the way of the LORD.
23: And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and
killed the king in his house.
24: But the people of the land slew all those who had
conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made
Josi'ah his son king in his stead.
25: Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are
they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of
Judah?
26: And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza;
and Josi'ah his son reigned in his stead.
2 Kings, chapter 22
1: Josi'ah was
eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedi'dah
the daughter of Adai'ah of Bozkath.
2: And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and
walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn
aside to the right hand or to the left.
3: In the eighteenth year of King Josi'ah, the king sent
Shaphan the son of Azali'ah, son of Meshul'lam, the secretary,
to the house of the LORD, saying,
4: "Go up to Hilki'ah the high priest, that he may
reckon the amount of the money which has been brought into the
house of the LORD, which the keepers of the threshold have
collected from the people;
5: and let it be given into the hand of the workmen who
have the oversight of the house of the LORD; and let them give
it to the workmen who are at the house of the LORD, repairing
the house,
6: that is, to the carpenters, and to the builders, and
to the masons, as well as for buying timber and quarried stone
to repair the house.
7: But no accounting shall be asked from them for the
money which is delivered into their hand, for they deal
honestly."
8: And Hilki'ah the high priest said to Shaphan the
secretary, "I have found the book of the law in the house
of the LORD." And Hilki'ah gave the book to Shaphan, and he
read it.
9: And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and
reported to the king, "Your servants have emptied out the
money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into
the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of
the LORD."
10: Then Shaphan the secretary told the king,
"Hilki'ah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan
read it before the king.
11: And when the king heard the words of the book of the
law, he rent his clothes.
12: And the king commanded Hilki'ah the priest, and
Ahi'kam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micai'ah, and
Shaphan the secretary, and Asai'ah the king's servant, saying,
13: "Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the
people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book
that has been found; for great is the wrath of the LORD that is
kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the
words of this book, to do according to all that is written
concerning us."
14: So Hilki'ah the priest, and Ahi'kam, and Achbor, and
Shaphan, and Asai'ah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of
Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe
(now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter); and they
talked with her.
15: And she said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the
God of Israel: `Tell the man who sent you to me,
16: Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon
this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book
which the king of Judah has read.
17: Because they have forsaken me and have burned incense
to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the
work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against
this place, and it will not be quenched.
18: But as to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire
of the LORD, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD, the
God of Israel: Regarding the words which you have heard,
19: because your heart was penitent, and you humbled
yourself before the LORD, when you heard how I spoke against
this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become
a desolation and a curse, and you have rent your clothes and
wept before me, I also have heard you, says the LORD.
20: Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers,
and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes
shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this
place.'" And they brought back word to the king.
2 Kings, chapter 23
1: Then the
king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were
gathered to him.
2: And the king went up to the house of the LORD, and
with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and the priests and the prophets, all the people,
both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words
of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of
the LORD.
3: And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant
before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep his
commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his
heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant
that were written in this book; and all the people joined in the
covenant.
4: And the king commanded Hilki'ah, the high priest, and
the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the
threshold, to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the
vessels made for Ba'al, for Ashe'rah, and for all the host of
heaven; he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the
Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.
5: And he deposed the idolatrous priests whom the kings
of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places at the
cities of Judah and round about Jerusalem; those also who burned
incense to Ba'al, to the sun, and the moon, and the
constellations, and all the host of the heavens.
6: And he brought out the Ashe'rah from the house of the
LORD, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at
the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it
upon the graves of the common people.
7: And he broke down the houses of the male cult
prostitutes which were in the house of the LORD, where the women
wove hangings for the Ashe'rah.
8: And he brought all the priests out of the cities of
Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned
incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba; and he broke down the high
places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of
Joshua the governor of the city, which were on 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 the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate
unleavened bread among their brethren.
10: And he defiled To'pheth, which is in the valley of
the sons of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his
daughter as an offering to Molech.
11: And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had
dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the LORD,
by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in
the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
12: And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of
Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which
Manas'seh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD,
he pulled down and broke in pieces, and cast the dust of them
into the brook Kidron.
13: And the king defiled the high places that were east
of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which
Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ash'toreth the
abomination of the Sido'nians, and for Chemosh the abomination
of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
14: And he broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the
Ashe'rim, and filled their places with the bones of men.
15: Moreover the altar at Bethel, the high place erected
by Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that
altar with the high place he pulled down and he broke in pieces
its stones, crushing them to dust; also he burned the Ashe'rah.
16: And as Josi'ah turned, he saw the tombs there on the
mount; and he sent and took the bones out of the tombs, and
burned them upon the altar, and defiled it, according to the
word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who had
predicted these things.
17: Then he said, "What is yonder monument that I
see?" And the men of the city told him, "It is the
tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these
things which you have done against the altar at Bethel."
18: And he said, "Let him be; let no man move his
bones." So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the
prophet who came out of Sama'ria.
19: And all the shrines also of the high places that were
in the cities of Sama'ria, which kings of Israel had made,
provoking the LORD to anger, Josi'ah removed; he did to them
according to all that he had done at Bethel.
20: And he slew all the priests of the high places who
were there, upon the altars, and burned the bones of men upon
them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
21: And the king commanded all the people, "Keep the
passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this book of
the covenant."
22: For no such passover had been kept since the days of
the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the
kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah;
23: but in the eighteenth year of King Josi'ah this
passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.
24: Moreover Josi'ah put away the mediums and the wizards
and the teraphim and the idols and all the abominations that
were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might
establish the words of the law which were written in the book
that Hilki'ah the priest found in the house of the LORD.
25: Before him there was no king like him, who turned to
the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all
his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like
him arise after him.
26: Still the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of
his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah,
because of all the provocations with which Manas'seh had
provoked him.
27: And the LORD said, "I will remove Judah also out
of 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 shall be there."
28: Now the rest of the acts of Josi'ah, 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 king of Egypt went up to the
king of Assyria to the river Euphra'tes. King Josi'ah went to
meet him; and Pharaoh Neco slew him at Megid'do, when he saw
him.
30: And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from
Megid'do, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his
own tomb. And the people of the land took Jeho'ahaz the son of
Josi'ah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's
stead.
31: Jeho'ahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to
reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's
name was Hamu'tal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
32: And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD,
according to all that his fathers had done.
33: And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the
land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid
upon the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a
talent of gold.
34: And Pharaoh Neco made Eli'akim the son of Josi'ah
king in the place of Josi'ah his father, and changed his name to
Jehoi'akim. But he took Jeho'ahaz away; and he came to Egypt,
and died there.
35: And Jehoi'akim gave the silver and the gold to
Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to
the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of
the people of the land, from every one according to his
assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.
36: Jehoi'akim was twenty-five years old when he began to
reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's
name was Zebi'dah the daughter of Pedai'ah of Rumah.
37: And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD,
according to all that his fathers had done.
2 Kings, chapter 24
1: In his days
Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoi'akim became
his servant three years; then he turned and rebelled against
him.
2: And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chalde'ans,
and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands
of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it,
according to the word of the LORD which he spoke by his servants
the prophets.
3: Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the
LORD, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of
Manas'seh, according to all that he had done,
4: and also for the innocent blood that he had shed; for
he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD would not
pardon.
5: Now the rest of the deeds of Jehoi'akim, and all that
he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of
the Kings of Judah?
6: So Jehoi'akim slept with his fathers, and Jehoi'achin
his son reigned in his stead.
7: And the king of Egypt did not come again out of his
land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the
king of Egypt from the Brook of Egypt to the river Euphra'tes.
8: Jehoi'achin was eighteen years old when he became
king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's
name was Nehush'ta the daughter of Elna'than of Jerusalem.
9: And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD,
according to all that his father had done.
10: At that time the servants of Nebuchadnez'zar king of
Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
11: And Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon came to the city,
while his servants were besieging it;
12: and Jehoi'achin the king of Judah gave himself up to
the king of Babylon, himself, and his mother, and his servants,
and his princes, and his palace officials. The king of Babylon
took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign,
13: and carried off all the treasures of the house of the
LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces
all the vessels of gold in the temple of the LORD, which Solomon
king of Israel had made, as the LORD had foretold.
14: He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes,
and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all
the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, except the poorest
people of the land.
15: And he carried away Jehoi'achin to Babylon; the
king's mother, the king's wives, his officials, and the chief
men of the land, he took into captivity from Jerusalem to
Babylon.
16: And the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon
all the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the
smiths, one thousand, all of them strong and fit for war.
17: And the king of Babylon made Mattani'ah,
Jehoi'achin's uncle, king in his stead, and changed his name to
Zedeki'ah.
18: Zedeki'ah was twenty-one years old when he became
king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's
name was Hamu'tal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
19: And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD,
according to all that Jehoi'akim had done.
20: For because of the anger of the LORD it came to the
point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his
presence. And Zedeki'ah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
2 Kings, chapter 25
1: And in the
ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of
the month, Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon came with all his
army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it; and they built
siegeworks against it round about.
2: So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of
King Zedeki'ah.
3: On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so
severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the
land.
4: Then a breach was made in the city; the king with all
the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the
two walls, by the king's garden, though the Chalde'ans were
around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah.
5: But the army of the Chalde'ans pursued the king, and
overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was
scattered from him.
6: Then they captured the king, and brought him up to the
king of Babylon at Riblah, who passed sentence upon him.
7: They slew the sons of Zedeki'ah before his eyes, and
put out the eyes of Zedeki'ah, and bound him in fetters, and
took him to Babylon.
8: In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month --
which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnez'zar, king of
Babylon -- Nebu'zarad'an, the captain of the bodyguard, a
servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
9: And he burned the house of the LORD, and the king's
house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he
burned down.
10: And all the army of the Chalde'ans, who were with the
captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
11: And the rest of the people who were left in the city
and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon,
together with the rest of the multitude, Nebu'zarad'an the
captain of the guard carried into exile.
12: But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest
of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.
13: And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of
the LORD, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the
house of the LORD, the Chalde'ans broke in pieces, and carried
the bronze to Babylon.
14: And they took away the pots, and the shovels, and the
snuffers, and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of
bronze used in the temple service,
15: the firepans also, and the bowls. What was of gold
the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of
silver, as silver.
16: As for the two pillars, the one sea, and the stands,
which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the bronze of
all these vessels was beyond weight.
17: The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and
upon it was a capital of bronze; the height of the capital was
three cubits; a network and pomegranates, all of bronze, were
upon the capital round about. And the second pillar had the
like, with the network.
18: And the captain of the guard took Serai'ah the chief
priest, and Zephani'ah the second priest, and the three keepers
of the threshold;
19: and from the city he took an officer who had been in
command of the men of war, and five men of the king's council
who were found in the city; and the secretary of the commander
of the army who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men
of the people of the land who were found in the city.
20: And Nebu'zarad'an the captain of the guard took them,
and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
21: And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to
death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into
exile out of its land.
22: And over the people who remained in the land of
Judah, whom Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon had left, he
appointed Gedali'ah the son of Ahi'kam, son of Shaphan,
governor.
23: Now when all the captains of the forces in the open
country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had
appointed Gedali'ah governor, they came with their men to
Gedali'ah at Mizpah, namely, Ish'mael the son of Nethani'ah, and
Joha'nan the son of Kare'ah, and Serai'ah the son of Tanhu'meth
the Netoph'athite, and Ja-azani'ah the son of the Ma-ac'athite.
24: And Gedali'ah swore to them and their men, saying,
"Do not be afraid because of the Chalde'an officials; dwell
in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well
with you."
25: But in the seventh month, Ish'mael the son of
Nethani'ah, son of Eli'shama, of the royal family, came with ten
men, and attacked and killed Gedali'ah and the Jews and the
Chalde'ans who were with him at Mizpah.
26: Then all the people, both small and great, and the
captains of the forces arose, and went to Egypt; for they were
afraid of the Chalde'ans.
27: And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of
Jehoi'achin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the
twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-mero'dach king of Babylon,
in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoi'achin
king of Judah from prison;
28: and he spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat above
the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
29: So Jehoi'achin put off his prison garments. And every
day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table;
30: and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given
him by the king, every day a portion, as long as he lived. |