
The Second Book of Kings

   {1:1} Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. {1:2}
Ahaziah fell down through the lattice in his upper room that was in
Samaria, and was sick. So he sent messengers, and said to them, "Go,
inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover of this
sickness."

   {1:3} But the angel of [1>]Yahweh[<1] said to Elijah the Tishbite,
"Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and tell
them, 'Is it because there is no [2>]God[<2] in Israel, that you go to
inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? {1:4} Now therefore thus says
Yahweh, "You shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up,
but shall surely die."'" Elijah departed.

   {1:5} The messengers returned to him, and he said to them, "Why is
it that you have returned?"

   {1:6} They said to him, "A man came up to meet us, and said to us,
'Go, return to the king who sent you, and tell him, "Thus says Yahweh,
'Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you send to inquire of
Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from
the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die.'"'"

   {1:7} He said to them, "What kind of man was he who came up to meet
you, and told you these words?"

   {1:8} They answered him, "He was a hairy man, and wearing a leather
belt around his waist."

   He said, "It is Elijah the Tishbite."

   {1:9} Then the king sent a captain of fifty with his fifty to him.
He went up to him; and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill.
He said to him, "Man of God, the king has said, 'Come down!'"

   {1:10} Elijah answered to the captain of fifty, "If I am a man of
God, let fire come down from the sky, and consume you and your fifty!"
Fire came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty.

   {1:11} Again he sent to him another captain of fifty and his fifty.
He answered him, "Man of God, the king has said, 'Come down quickly!'"

   {1:12} Elijah answered them, "If I am a man of God, let fire come
down from the sky, and consume you and your fifty!" The fire of God
came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty.

   {1:13} Again he sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty.
The third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees
before Elijah, and begged him, and said to him, "Man of God, please let
my life, and the life of these fifty your servants, be precious in your
sight. {1:14} Behold, fire came down from the sky, and consumed the two
former captains of fifty with their fifties. But now let my life be
precious in your sight."

   {1:15} The angel of Yahweh said to Elijah, "Go down with him. Don't
be afraid of him."

   He arose, and went down with him to the king. {1:16} He said to him,
"Thus says Yahweh, 'Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal
Zebub, 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
where you have gone up, but shall surely die.'"

   {1:17} So he died according to the word of Yahweh which Elijah had
spoken. Jehoram began to reign in his place in the second year of
Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he had no son.
{1:18} Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, aren't they
written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

   {2:1} It happened, when Yahweh would take up Elijah by a whirlwind
into heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. {2:2} Elijah
said to Elisha, "Please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me as far as
Bethel."

   Elisha said, "As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not
leave you." So they went down to Bethel.

   {2:3} The sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to
Elisha, and said to him, "Do you know that Yahweh will take away your
master from your head today?"

   He said, "Yes, I know it; hold your peace."

   {2:4} Elijah said to him, "Elisha, please wait here, for Yahweh has
sent me to Jericho."

   He said, "As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave
you." So they came to Jericho.

   {2:5} The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came near to
Elisha, and said to him, "Do you know that Yahweh will take away your
master from your head today?"

   He answered, "Yes, I know it. Hold your peace."

   {2:6} Elijah said to him, "Please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me
to the Jordan."

   He said, "As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave
you." They both went on. {2:7} Fifty men of the sons of the prophets
went, and stood opposite them at a distance; and they both stood by the
Jordan. {2:8} Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and
struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that they
two went over on dry ground. {2:9} It happened, when they had gone
over, that Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for you, before
I am taken from you."

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

   {2:10} He said, "You have asked a hard thing. If you see me when I
am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be
so."

   {2:11} It happened, as they still went on, and talked, that behold,
a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them; and Elijah went up
by a whirlwind into heaven. {2:12} Elisha saw it, and he cried, "My
father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!"

   He saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and tore
them in two pieces. {2:13} He took up also the mantle of Elijah that
fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of the Jordan.
{2:14} He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and struck the
waters, and said, "Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah?" When he also
had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha
went over. {2:15} When the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho
over against him saw him, they said, "The spirit of Elijah rests on
Elisha." They came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground
before him. {2:16} They said to him, "See now, there are with your
servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master.
Perhaps the Spirit of Yahweh has taken him up, and put him on some
mountain, or into some valley.

   He said, "You shall not send them."

   {2:17} When they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, "Send
them."

   They sent therefore fifty men; and they searched for three days, but
didn't find him. {2:18} They came back to him, while he stayed at
Jericho; and he said to them, "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't go?'"

   {2:19} The men of the city said to Elisha, "Behold, please, the
situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is
bad, and the land miscarries."

   {2:20} He said, "Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it." They
brought it to him. {2:21} He went out to the spring of the waters, and
threw salt into it, and said, "Thus says Yahweh, 'I have healed these
waters. There shall not be from there any more death or miscarrying.'"
{2:22} So the waters were healed to this day, according to the word of
Elisha which he spoke.

   {2:23} He went up from there to Bethel. As he was going up by the
way, some youths came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him,
"Go up, you baldy! Go up, you baldhead!" {2:24} He looked behind him
and saw them, and cursed them in the name of Yahweh. Two female bears
came out of the woods, and mauled forty-two of those youths. {2:25} He
went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

   {3:1} Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in
Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and
reigned twelve years. {3:2} He did that which was evil in the sight of
Yahweh, but not like his father, and like his mother; for he put away
the pillar of Baal that his father had made. {3:3} Nevertheless he held
to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to
sin; he didn't depart from it. {3:4} Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep
breeder; and he rendered to the king of Israel the wool of one hundred
thousand lambs, and of one hundred thousand rams. {3:5} But it
happened, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against
the king of Israel. {3:6} King Jehoram went out of Samaria at that
time, and mustered all Israel. {3:7} He went and sent to Jehoshaphat
the king of Judah, saying, "The king of Moab has rebelled against me.
Will you go with me against Moab to battle?"

   He said, "I will go up. I am as you are, my people as your people,
my horses as your horses." {3:8} He said, "Which way shall we go up?"

   He answered, "The way of the wilderness of Edom." {3:9} So the king
of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom; and they
made a circuit of seven days' journey. There was no water for the army,
nor for the animals that followed them. {3:10} The king of Israel said,
"Alas! For Yahweh has called these three kings together to deliver them
into the hand of Moab."

   {3:11} But Jehoshaphat said, "Isn't there here a prophet of Yahweh,
that we may inquire of Yahweh by him?"

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

   {3:12} Jehoshaphat said, "The word of Yahweh is with him." So the
king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

   {3:13} Elisha said to the king of Israel, "What have I to do with
you? Go to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your
mother."

   The king of Israel said to him, "No; for Yahweh has called these
three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab." {3:14}
Elisha said, "As Yahweh of Armies lives, before whom I stand, surely,
were it not that I respect the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of
Judah, I would not look toward you, nor see you. {3:15} But now bring
me a minstrel." It happened, when the minstrel played, that the hand of
Yahweh came on him. {3:16} He said, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Make this
valley full of trenches.' {3:17} For thus says Yahweh, 'You will not
see wind, neither will you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled
with water, and you will drink, both you and your livestock and your
animals. {3:18} This is but a light thing in the sight of Yahweh. He
will also deliver the Moabites into your hand. {3:19} You shall strike
every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good
tree, and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land
with stones.'"

   {3:20} It happened in the morning, about the time of offering the
offering, that behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country
was filled with water.

   {3:21} Now when all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to
fight against them, they gathered themselves together, all who were
able to put on armor, and upward, and stood on the border. {3:22} They
rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the
Moabites saw the water over against them as red as blood. {3:23} They
said, "This is blood. The kings are surely destroyed, and they have
struck each other. Now therefore, Moab, to the spoil!"

   {3:24} When they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up
and struck the Moabites, so that they fled before them; and they went
forward into the land smiting the Moabites. {3:25} They beat down the
cities; and on every good piece of land they cast every man his stone,
and filled it; and they stopped all the springs of water, and felled
all the good trees, until in Kir Hareseth only they left its stones;
however the men armed with slings went about it, and struck it. {3:26}
When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too severe for him, he
took with him seven hundred men who drew sword, to break through to the
king of Edom; but they could not. {3:27} Then he took his eldest son
who would have reigned in his place, and offered him for a burnt
offering on the wall. There was great wrath against Israel: and they
departed from him, and returned to their own land.

   {4:1} Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of
the prophets to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead. You
know that your servant feared Yahweh. Now the creditor has come to take
for himself my two children to be slaves."

   {4:2} Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me: what do
you have in the house?"

   She said, "Your handmaid has nothing in the house, except a pot of
oil."

   {4:3} Then he said, "Go, borrow containers from of all your
neighbors, even empty containers. Don't borrow just a few. {4:4} You
shall go in, and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour out
into all those containers; and you shall set aside that which is full."

   {4:5} So she went from him, and shut the door on her and on her
sons; they brought the containers to her, and she poured out. {4:6} It
happened, when the containers were full, that she said to her son,
"Bring me another container."

   He said to her, "There isn't another container." The oil stopped
flowing.

   {4:7} Then she came and told the man of God. He said, "Go, sell the
oil, and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest."

   {4:8} It fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where there
was a prominent woman; and she persuaded him to eat bread. So it was,
that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread. {4:9}
She said to her husband, "See now, I perceive that this is a holy man
of God, that passes by us continually. {4:10} Please let us make a
little room on the wall. Let us set for him there a bed, a table, a
chair, and a lamp stand. It shall be, when he comes to us, that he
shall turn in there."

   {4:11} One day he came there, and he turned into the room and lay
there. {4:12} He said to Gehazi his servant, "Call this Shunammite."
When he had called her, she stood before him. {4:13} He said to him,
"Say now to her, 'Behold, you have cared for us with all this care.
What is to be done for you? Would you like to be spoken for to the
king, or to the captain of the army?'"

   She answered, "I dwell among my own people."

   {4:14} He said, "What then is to be done for her?"

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

   {4:15} He said, "Call her." When he had called her, she stood in the
door. {4:16} He said, "At this season, when the time comes around, you
will embrace a son."

   She said, "No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your handmaid."

   {4:17} The woman conceived, and bore a son at that season, when the
time came around, as Elisha had said to her. {4:18} When the child was
grown, it happened one day that he went out to his father to the
reapers. {4:19} He said to his father, "My head! My head!"

   He said to his servant, "Carry him to his mother."

   {4:20} When he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat
on her knees until noon, and then died. {4:21} She went up and laid him
on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door on him, and went out.
{4:22} She called to her husband, and said, "Please send me one of the
servants, and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God, and
come again."

   {4:23} He said, "Why would you want go to him today? It is neither
new moon nor Sabbath."

   She said, "It's alright."

   {4:24} Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, "Drive,
and go forward! Don't slow down for me, unless I ask you to."

   {4:25} So she went, and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel. It
happened, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi
his servant, "Behold, there is the Shunammite. {4:26} Please run now to
meet her, and ask her, 'Is it well with you? Is it well with your
husband? Is it well with the child?'"

   She answered, "It is well."

   {4:27} When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold
of his feet. Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God
said, "Leave her alone; for her soul is troubled within her; and Yahweh
has hidden it from me, and has not told me."

   {4:28} Then she said, "Did I desire a son of my lord? Didn't I say,
Do not deceive me?"

   {4:29} Then he said to Gehazi, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take
my staff in your hand, and go your way. If you meet any man, don't
greet him; and if anyone greets you, don't answer him again. Then lay
my staff on the face of the child."

   {4:30} The mother of the child said, "As Yahweh lives, and as your
soul lives, I will not leave you."

   He arose, and followed her.

   {4:31} Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff on the face
of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Therefore he
returned to meet him, and told him, saying, "The child has not
awakened."

   {4:32} When Elisha had come into the house, behold, the child was
dead, and laid on his bed. {4:33} He went in therefore, and shut the
door on them both, and prayed to Yahweh. {4:34} He went up, and lay on
the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes,
and his hands on his hands. He stretched himself on him; and the flesh
of the child grew warm. {4:35} Then he returned, and walked in the
house once back and forth; and went up, and stretched himself on him.
Then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
{4:36} He called Gehazi, and said, "Call this Shunammite!" So he called
her.

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

   {4:37} Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to
the ground; and she took up her son, and went out.

   {4:38} Elisha came again to Gilgal. There was a famine in the land;
and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to
his servant, "Set on the great pot, and boil stew for the sons of the
prophets."

   {4:39} One went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild
vine, and gathered of it wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred
them into the pot of stew; for they didn't recognize them. {4:40} So
they poured out for the men to eat. It happened, as they were eating of
the stew, that they cried out, and said, "Man of God, there is death in
the pot!" They could not eat of it.

   {4:41} But he said, "Then bring meal." He cast it into the pot; and
he said, "Pour out for the people, that they may eat." There was no
harm in the pot.

   {4:42} A man from Baal Shalishah came, and brought the man of God
bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of
grain in his sack. He said, "Give to the people, that they may eat."

   {4:43} His servant said, "What, should I set this before a hundred
men?"

   But he said, "Give the people, that they may eat; for thus says
Yahweh, 'They will eat, and will have some left over.'"

   {4:44} So he set it before them, and they ate, and left some of it,
according to the word of Yahweh.

   {5:1} Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a
great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Yahweh had
given victory to Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a
leper. {5:2} The Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away
captive out of the land of Israel a little maiden; and she waited on
Naaman's wife. {5:3} She said to her mistress, "I wish that my lord
were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him of his
leprosy."

   {5:4} Someone went in, and told his lord, saying, "The maiden who is
from the land of Israel said this."

   {5:5} The king of Syria said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to
the king of Israel."

   He departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six
thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothing. {5:6} He brought
the letter to the king of Israel, saying, "Now when this letter has
come to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may
heal him of his leprosy."

   {5:7} It happened, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that
he tore his clothes, and said, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive,
that this man sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? But please
consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me."

   {5:8} It was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of
Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, "Why
have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know
that there is a prophet in Israel."

   {5:9} So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots, and
stood at the door of the house of Elisha. {5:10} Elisha sent a
messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and
your flesh shall come again to you, and you shall be clean."

   {5:11} But Naaman was angry, and went away, and said, "Behold, I
thought, 'He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the
name of Yahweh his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the
leper.' {5:12} Aren't Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus,
better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them, and be
clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage.

   {5:13} His servants came near, and spoke to him, and said, "My
father, if the prophet had asked you do some great thing, wouldn't you
have done it? How much rather then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be
clean?'"

   {5:14} Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in the
Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was
restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. {5:15} He
returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood
before him; and he said, "See now, I know that there is no God in all
the earth, but in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your
servant."

   {5:16} But he said, "As Yahweh lives, before whom I stand, I will
receive none."

   He urged him to take it; but he refused. {5:17} Naaman said, "If
not, then, please let two mules' burden of earth be given to your
servant; for your servant will from now on offer neither burnt offering
nor sacrifice to other gods, but to Yahweh. {5:18} In this thing may
Yahweh pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of
Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in
the house of Rimmon. When I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, may
Yahweh pardon your servant in this thing."

   {5:19} He said to him, "Go in peace."

   So he departed from him a little way. {5:20} But Gehazi the servant
of Elisha the man of God, said, "Behold, my master has spared this
Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought.
As Yahweh lives, I will run after him, and take something from him."

   {5:21} So Gehazi followed after Naaman. When Naaman saw one running
after him, he came down from the chariot to meet him, and said, "Is all
well?"

   {5:22} He said, "All is well. My master has sent me, saying,
'Behold, even now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come
to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of
silver and two changes of clothing.'"

   {5:23} Naaman said, "Be pleased to take two talents." He urged him,
and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of
clothing, and laid them on two of his servants; and they carried them
before him. {5:24} When he came to the hill, he took them from their
hand, and stored them in the house. Then he let the men go, and they
departed. {5:25} But he went in, and stood before his master. Elisha
said to him, "Where did you come from, Gehazi?"

   He said, "Your servant went nowhere."

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

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

   {6:1} The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "See now, the place
where we dwell before you is too small for us. {6:2} Please let us go
to the Jordan, and every man take a beam from there, and let us make us
a place there, where we may dwell."

   He answered, "Go!"

   {6:3} One said, "Please be pleased to go with your servants."

   He answered, "I will go." {6:4} So he went with them. When they came
to the Jordan, they cut down wood. {6:5} But as one was felling a beam,
the axe head fell into the water. Then he cried, and said, "Alas, my
master! For it was borrowed."

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

   {6:8} Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel; and he took
counsel with his servants, saying, "My camp will be in such and such a
place."

   {6:9} The man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, "Beware
that you not pass such a place; for the Syrians are coming down there."
{6:10} The king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told
him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor twice.
{6:11} The heart of the king of Syria was very troubled about this. He
called his servants, and said to them, "Won't you show me which of us
is for the king of Israel?"

   {6:12} One of his servants said, "No, my lord, O king; but Elisha,
the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that
you speak in your bedroom."

   {6:13} He said, "Go and see where he is, that I may send and get
him."

   It was told him, saying, "Behold, he is in Dothan."

   {6:14} Therefore he sent horses, chariots, and a great army there.
They came by night, and surrounded the city. {6:15} When the servant of
the man of God had risen early, and gone out, behold, an army with
horses and chariots was around the city. His servant said to him,
"Alas, my master! What shall we do?"

   {6:16} He answered, "Don't be afraid; for those who are with us are
more than those who are with them." {6:17} Elisha prayed, and said,
"Yahweh, please open his eyes, that he may see." Yahweh opened the eyes
of the young man; and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of
horses and chariots of fire around Elisha. {6:18} When they came down
to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, and said, "Please strike this people
with blindness."

   He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
{6:19} Elisha said to them, "This is not the way, neither is this the
city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek." He led
them to Samaria. {6:20} It happened, when they had come into Samaria,
that Elisha said, "Yahweh, open the eyes of these men, that they may
see."

   Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, they were in the
midst of Samaria. {6:21} The king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw
them, "My father, shall I strike them? Shall I strike them?"

   {6:22} He answered, "You shall not strike them. Would you strike
those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow?
Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to
their master."

   {6:23} He prepared great feast for them. When they had eaten and
drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. The bands of
Syria stopped raiding the land of Israel.

   {6:24} It happened after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered
all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria. {6:25} There was a
great famine in Samaria. Behold, they besieged it, until a donkey's
head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab
of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. {6:26} As the king of Israel
was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, saying, "Help, my
lord, O king!"

   {6:27} He said, "If Yahweh doesn't help you, from where could I help
you? From of the threshing floor, or from the winepress?" {6:28} The
king said to her, "What ails you?"

   She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give your son, that we may
eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.' {6:29} So we boiled my
son, and ate him: and I said to her on the next day, 'Give your son,
that we may eat him;' and she has hidden her son."

   {6:30} It happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that
he tore his clothes (now he was passing by on the wall); and the people
looked, and behold, he had sackcloth underneath on his flesh. {6:31}
Then he said, "God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha
the son of Shaphat shall stay on him this day."

   {6:32} But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were
sitting with him. Then the king sent a man from before him; but before
the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, "Do you see how this
son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? Behold, when the
messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door shut against him.
Isn't the sound of his master's feet behind him?"

   {6:33} While he was still talking with them, behold, the messenger
came down to him. Then he said, "Behold, this evil is from Yahweh. Why
should I wait for Yahweh any longer?"

   {7:1} Elisha said, "Hear the word of Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh,
'Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will be sold for a
shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of
Samaria.'"

   {7:2} Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the
man of God, and said, "Behold, if Yahweh made windows in heaven, could
this thing be?"

   He said, "Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat
of it."

   {7:3} Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate.
They said one to another, "Why do we sit here until we die? {7:4} If we
say, 'We will enter into the city,' then the famine is in the city, and
we shall die there. If we sit still here, we also die. Now therefore
come, and let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they save us
alive, we will live; and if they kill us, we will only die."

   {7:5} They rose up in the twilight, to go to the camp of the
Syrians. When they had come to the outermost part of the camp of the
Syrians, behold, there was no man there. {7:6} For the [3>]Lord[<3] had
made the army of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise
of horses, even the noise of a great army: and they said one to
another, Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of
the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come on us. {7:7}
Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents,
and their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled
for their life. {7:8} When these lepers came to the outermost part of
the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drink, and carried there
silver, and gold, and clothing, and went and hid it. Then they came
back, and entered into another tent, and carried there also, and went
and hid it. {7:9} Then they said one to another, "We aren't doing
right. This day is a day of good news, and we keep silent. If we wait
until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore
come, let us go and tell the king's household."

   {7:10} So they came and called to the porter of the city; and they
told them, saying, "We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold,
there was no man there, neither voice of man, but the horses tied, and
the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were."

   {7:11} He called the porters; and they told it to the king's
household within. {7:12} The king arose in the night, and said to his
servants, "I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They
know that we are hungry. Therefore are they gone out of the camp to
hide themselves in the field, saying, 'When they come out of the city,
we shall take them alive, and get into the city.'"

   {7:13} One of his servants answered, "Please let some take five of
the horses that remain, which are left in the city. Behold, they are
like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it. Behold, they are
like all the multitude of Israel who are consumed. Let us send and see."

   {7:14} They took therefore two chariots with horses; and the king
sent after the army of the Syrians, saying, "Go and see."

   {7:15} They went after them to the Jordan; and behold, all the way
was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in
their haste. The messengers returned, and told the king. {7:16} The
people went out, and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a measure of
fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a
shekel, according to the word of Yahweh. {7:17} The king appointed the
captain on whose hand he leaned to be in charge of the gate: and the
people trod on him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said,
who spoke when the king came down to him. {7:18} It happened, as the
man of God had spoken to the king, saying, "Two measures of barley for
a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be tomorrow
about this time in the gate of Samaria"; {7:19} and that captain
answered the man of God, and said, "Now, behold, if Yahweh should make
windows in heaven, might such a thing be?" and he said, "Behold, you
shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat of it." {7:20} It
happened like that to him; for the people trod on him in the gate, and
he died.

   {8:1} Now Elisha had spoken to the woman, whose son he had restored
to life, saying, "Arise, and go, you and your household, and stay for a
while wherever you can; for Yahweh has called for a famine. It shall
also come on the land seven years."

   {8:2} The woman arose, and did according to the word of the man of
God. She went with her household, and lived in the land of the
Philistines seven years. {8:3} It happened at the seven years' end,
that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines. Then she
went forth to cry to the king for her house and for her land. {8:4} Now
the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying,
"Please tell me all the great things that Elisha has done." {8:5} It
happened, as he was telling the king how he had restored to life him
who was dead, that behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to
life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. Gehazi said,
"My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha
restored to life."

   {8:6} When the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king
appointed to her a certain officer, saying, "Restore all that was hers,
and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land,
even until now."

   {8:7} Elisha came to Damascus; and Benhadad the king of Syria was
sick. It was told him, saying, "The man of God has come here."

   {8:8} The king said to Hazael, "Take a present in your hand, and go,
meet the man of God, and inquire of Yahweh by him, saying, 'Will I
recover from this sickness?'"

   {8:9} So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even
of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden, and came and
stood before him, and said, "Your son Benhadad king of Syria has sent
me to you, saying, 'Will I recover from this sickness?'"

   {8:10} Elisha said to him, "Go, tell him, 'You shall surely
recover;' however Yahweh has shown me that he shall surely die." {8:11}
He settled his gaze steadfastly on him, until he was ashamed. Then the
man of God wept.

   {8:12} Hazael said, "Why do you weep, my lord?"

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

   {8:13} Hazael said, "But what is your servant, who is but a dog,
that he should do this great thing?"

   Elisha answered, "Yahweh has shown me that you will be king over
Syria."

   {8:14} Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who
said to him, "What did Elisha say to you?"

   He answered, "He told me that you would surely recover."

   {8:15} It happened on the next day, that he took a thick cloth,
dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died. Then
Hazael reigned in his place.

   {8:16} In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel,
Jehoshaphat being king of Judah then, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat
king of Judah began to reign. {8:17} He was thirty-two years old when
he began to reign. He reigned eight years in Jerusalem. {8:18} He
walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab; for
he had the daughter of Ahab as wife. He did that which was evil in the
sight of Yahweh. {8:19} However Yahweh would not destroy Judah, for
David his servant's sake, as he promised him to give to him a lamp for
his children always.

   {8:20} In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and
made a king over themselves. {8:21} Then Joram passed over to Zair, and
all his chariots with him: and he rose up by night, and struck the
Edomites who surrounded him, and the captains of the chariots; and the
people fled to their tents. {8:22} So Edom revolted from under the hand
of Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time. {8:23} The
rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, aren't they written in
the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? {8:24} Joram slept
with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David;
and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place. {8:25} In the twelfth year of
Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king
of Judah began to reign. {8:26} Twenty-two years old was Ahaziah when
he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's
name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri king of Israel. {8:27} He walked
in the way of the house of Ahab, and did that which was evil in the
sight of Yahweh, as did the house of Ahab; for he was the son-in-law of
the house of Ahab. {8:28} He went with Joram the son of Ahab to war
against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead: and the Syrians wounded
Joram. {8:29} King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds
which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael
king of Syria. Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to
see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.

   {9:1} Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and
said to him, "Put your belt on your waist, take this vial of oil in
your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead. {9:2} When you come there, find
Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him
arise up from among his brothers, and carry him to an inner room. {9:3}
Then take the vial of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, 'Thus says
Yahweh, "I have anointed you king over Israel."' Then open the door,
flee, and don't wait."

   {9:4} So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to
Ramoth Gilead. {9:5} When he came, behold, the captains of the army
were sitting. Then he said, "I have a message for you, captain."

   Jehu said, "To which of us all?"

   He said, "To you, O captain." {9:6} He arose, and went into the
house. Then he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, "Thus says
Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'I have anointed you king over the people of
Yahweh, even over Israel. {9:7} You shall strike the house of Ahab your
master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and
the blood of all the servants of Yahweh, at the hand of Jezebel. {9:8}
For the whole house of Ahab shall perish. I will cut off from Ahab
everyone [4>]who urinates against a wall,[<4] both him who is shut up
and him who is left at large in Israel. {9:9} I will make the house of
Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of
Baasha the son of Ahijah. {9:10} The dogs will eat Jezebel on the plot
of ground of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her.'" He opened
the door, and fled.

   {9:11} Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one
said to him, "Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you?"

   He said to them, "You know the man and what his talk was." {9:12}
They said, "That is a lie. Tell us now."

   He said, "He said to me, 'Thus says Yahweh, I have anointed you king
over Israel.'"

   {9:13} Then they hurried, and took every man his garment, and put it
under him on the top of the stairs, and blew the trumpet, saying, "Jehu
is king."

   {9:14} So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired
against Joram. (Now Joram was keeping Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel,
because of Hazael king of Syria; {9:15} but king Joram was returned to
be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him,
when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) Jehu said, "If this is your
thinking, then let no one escape and go out of the city, to go to tell
it in Jezreel." {9:16} So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel;
for Joram lay there. Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram.
{9:17} Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he
spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, "I see a company."

   Joram said, "Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him
say, 'Is it peace?'"

   {9:18} So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, "Thus
says the king, 'Is it peace?'"

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

   The watchman said, "The messenger came to them, but he isn't coming
back."

   {9:19} Then he sent out a second on horseback, who came to them, and
said, "Thus says the king, 'Is it peace?'"

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

   {9:20} The watchman said, "He came to them, and isn't coming back.
The driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he
drives furiously."

   {9:21} Joram said, "Get ready!"

   They got his chariot ready. Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of
Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu,
and found him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. {9:22} It
happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, "Is it peace, Jehu?"

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

   {9:23} Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, "There
is treason, Ahaziah!"

   {9:24} Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and struck Joram
between his arms; and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down
in his chariot. {9:25} Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, "Pick him
up, and throw him in the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite;
for remember how, when you and I rode together after Ahab his father,
Yahweh laid this burden on him: {9:26} 'Surely I have seen yesterday
the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons,' says Yahweh; 'and I
will repay you in this plot of ground,' says Yahweh. Now therefore take
and cast him onto the plot of ground, according to the word of Yahweh."

   {9:27} But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the
way of the garden house. Jehu followed after him, and said, "Strike him
also in the chariot!" They struck him at the ascent of Gur, which is by
Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo, and died there. {9:28} His servants carried
him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his
fathers in the city of David. {9:29} In the eleventh year of Joram the
son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah. {9:30} When Jehu had
come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and
attired her head, and looked out at the window. {9:31} As Jehu entered
in at the gate, she said, "Do you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of
your master?"

   {9:32} He lifted up his face to the window, and said, "Who is on my
side? Who?"

   Two or three eunuchs looked out at him.

   {9:33} He said, "Throw her down!"

   So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the
wall, and on the horses. Then he trampled her under foot. {9:34} When
he had come in, he ate and drink; and he said, "See now to this cursed
woman, and bury her; for she is a king's daughter."

   {9:35} They went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the
skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. {9:36} Therefore they
came back, and told him.

   He said, "This is the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by his servant
Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'The dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel on
the plot of Jezreel, {9:37} and the body of Jezebel shall be as dung on
the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they shall not
say, "This is Jezebel."'"

   {10:1} Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. Jehu wrote letters, and
sent to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, even the elders, and to
those who brought up the sons of Ahab, saying, {10:2} "Now as soon as
this letter comes to you, since your master's sons are with you, and
there are with you chariots and horses, a fortified city also, and
armor. {10:3} Select the best and fittest of your master's sons, set
him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house."

   {10:4} But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, "Behold, the two
kings didn't stand before him! How then shall we stand?" {10:5} He who
was over the household, and he who was over the city, the elders also,
and those who raised the children, sent to Jehu, saying, "We are your
servants, and will do all that you ask us. We will not make any man
king. You do that which is good in your eyes."

   {10:6} Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, "If
you are on my side, and if you will listen to my voice, take the heads
of the men your master's sons, and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow
this time."

   Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men
of the city, who brought them up. {10:7} It happened, when the letter
came to them, that they took the king's sons, and killed them, even
seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him
to Jezreel. {10:8} A messenger came, and told him, "They have brought
the heads of the king's sons."

   He said, "Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until
the morning." {10:9} It happened in the morning, that he went out, and
stood, and said to all the people, "You are righteous. Behold, I
conspired against my master, and killed him; but who struck all these?
{10:10} Know now that nothing shall fall to the earth of the word of
Yahweh, which Yahweh spoke concerning the house of Ahab. For Yahweh has
done that which he spoke by his servant Elijah."

   {10:11} So Jehu struck all that remained of the house of Ahab in
Jezreel, with all his great men, his familiar friends, and his priests,
until he left him none remaining.

   {10:12} He arose and departed, and went to Samaria. As he was at the
shearing house of the shepherds on the way, {10:13} Jehu met with the
brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, "Who are you?"

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

   {10:14} He said, "Take them alive!"

   They took them alive, and killed them at the pit of the shearing
house, even forty-two men. He didn't leave any of them. {10:15} When he
had departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to
meet him. He greeted him, and said to him, "Is your heart right, as my
heart is with your heart?"

   Jehonadab answered, "It is."

   "If it is, give me your hand." He gave him his hand; and he took him
up to him into the chariot. {10:16} He said, "Come with me, and see my
zeal for Yahweh." So they made him ride in his chariot. {10:17} When he
came to Samaria, he struck all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, until
he had destroyed him, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke
to Elijah. {10:18} Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to
them, "Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu will serve him much. {10:19}
Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all of his
worshippers, and all of his priests. Let none be absent; for I have a
great sacrifice to Baal. Whoever is absent, he shall not live." But
Jehu did it in subtlety, intending that he might destroy the
worshippers of Baal.

   {10:20} Jehu said, "Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal!"

   They proclaimed it. {10:21} Jehu sent through all Israel; and all
the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that
didn't come. They came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal
was filled from one end to another. {10:22} He said to him who was over
the vestry, "Bring out robes for all the worshippers of Baal!"

   He brought robes out to them. {10:23} Jehu went with Jehonadab the
son of Rechab into the house of Baal. Then he said to the worshippers
of Baal, "Search, and look that there are here with you none of the
servants of Yahweh, but the worshippers of Baal only."

   {10:24} They went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now
Jehu had appointed him eighty men outside, and said, "If any of the men
whom I bring into your hands escape, he who lets him go, his life shall
be for the life of him."

   {10:25} It happened, as soon as he had made an end of offering the
burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, "Go
in, and kill them! Let none escape." They struck them with the edge of
the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to
the city of the house of Baal. {10:26} They brought out the pillars
that were in the house of Baal, and burned them. {10:27} They broke
down the pillar of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal, and made it
a latrine, to this day. {10:28} Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.

   {10:29} However from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with
which he made Israel to sin, Jehu didn't depart from after them, the
golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan. {10:30} Yahweh
said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in executing that which 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."

   {10:31} But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of Yahweh, the God
of Israel, with all his heart. He didn't depart from the sins of
Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin. {10:32} In those days
Yahweh began to cut off from Israel; and Hazael struck them in all the
borders of Israel; {10:33} from the Jordan eastward, all the land of
Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from
Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.
{10:34} Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all
his might, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the
kings of Israel? {10:35} Jehu slept with his fathers; and they buried
him in Samaria. Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place. {10:36} The time
that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

   {11:1} Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was
dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal. {11:2} But Jehosheba,
the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of
Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were slain,
even him and his nurse, and put them in the bedroom; and they hid him
from Athaliah, so that he was not slain; {11:3} He was with her hidden
in the house of Yahweh six years. Athaliah reigned over the land.
{11:4} In the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the captains over
hundreds of the Carites and of the guard, and brought them to him into
the house of Yahweh; and he made a covenant with them, and took an oath
of them in the house of Yahweh, and showed them the king's son. {11:5}
He commanded them, saying, "This is the thing that you shall do: a
third part of you, who come in on the Sabbath, shall be keepers of the
watch of the king's house; {11:6} A third part shall be at the gate
Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard. So you shall keep
the watch of the house, and be a barrier. {11:7} The two companies of
you, even all who go out on the Sabbath, shall keep the watch of the
house of Yahweh around the king. {11:8} You shall surround the king,
every man with his weapons in his hand; and he who comes within the
ranks, let him be slain. Be with the king when he goes out, and when he
comes in."

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

   {11:13} When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the
people, she came to the people into the house of Yahweh: {11:14} and
she looked, and behold, the king stood by the pillar, as the tradition
was, and the captains and the trumpets by the king; and all the people
of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her
clothes, and cried, "Treason! Treason!"

   {11:15} Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds who
were set over the army, and said to them, "Bring her out between the
ranks. Kill him who follows her with the sword." For the priest said,
"Don't let her be slain in the house of Yahweh." {11:16} So they made
way for her; and she went by the way of the horses' entry to the king's
house. She was slain there. {11:17} Jehoiada made a covenant between
Yahweh and the king and the people, that they should be Yahweh's
people; between the king also and the people. {11:18} All the people of
the land went to the house of Baal, and broke it down; his altars and
his images broke they in pieces thoroughly, and killed Mattan the
priest of Baal before the altars. The priest appointed officers over
the house of Yahweh. {11:19} He took the captains over hundreds, and
the Carites, and the guard, and all the people of the land; and they
brought down the king from the house of Yahweh, and came by the way of
the gate of the guard to the king's house. He sat on the throne of the
kings. {11:20} So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was
quiet. Athaliah they had slain with the sword at the king's house.
{11:21} Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.

   {12:1} In the seventh year of Jehu began Jehoash to reign; and he
reigned forty years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Zibiah of
Beersheba. {12:2} Jehoash did that which was right in the eyes of
Yahweh all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him. {12:3}
However the high places were not taken away; the people still
sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. {12:4} Jehoash said to
the priests, "All the money of the holy things that is brought into the
house of Yahweh, in current money, the money of the persons for whom
each man is rated, and all the money that it comes into any man's heart
to bring into the house of Yahweh, {12:5} let the priests take it to
them, every man from his acquaintance; and they shall repair the
breaches of the house, wherever any breach shall be found."

   {12:6} But it was so, that in the three and twentieth year of king
Jehoash the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house. {12:7}
Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and for the other
priests, and said to them, "Why don't you repair the breaches of the
house? Now therefore take no more money from your treasurers, but
deliver it for the breaches of the house."

   {12:8} The priests consented that they should take no more money
from the people, neither repair the breaches of the house. {12:9} But
Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in its lid, and set
it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of
Yahweh: and the priests who kept the threshold put therein all the
money that was brought into the house of Yahweh. {12:10} It was so,
when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king's
scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags and counted
the money that was found in the house of Yahweh. {12:11} They gave the
money that was weighed out into the hands of those who did the work,
who had the oversight of the house of Yahweh: and they paid it out to
the carpenters and the builders, who worked on the house of Yahweh,
{12:12} and to the masons and the stone cutters, and for buying timber
and cut stone to repair the breaches of the house of Yahweh, and for
all that was laid out for the house to repair it. {12:13} But there
were not made for the house of Yahweh cups of silver, snuffers, basins,
trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, of the money that
was brought into the house of Yahweh; {12:14} for they gave that to
those who did the work, and repaired therewith the house of Yahweh.
{12:15} Moreover they didn't demand an accounting from the men into
whose hand they delivered the money to give to those who did the work;
for they dealt faithfully. {12:16} The money for the trespass
offerings, and the money for the sin offerings, was not brought into
the house of Yahweh: it was the priests'. {12:17} Then Hazael king of
Syria went up, and fought against Gath, and took it; and Hazael set his
face to go up to Jerusalem. {12:18} Jehoash king of Judah took all the
holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers,
kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own holy things, and all the
gold that was found in the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and of the
king's house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria: and he went away
from Jerusalem. {12:19} Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that
he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings
of Judah? {12:20} His servants arose, and made a conspiracy, and struck
Joash at the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla.
{12:21} For Jozacar the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad the son of
Shomer, his servants, struck him, and he died; and they buried him with
his fathers in the city of David: and Amaziah his son reigned in his
place.

   {13:1} In the three and twentieth year of Joash the son of Ahaziah,
king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in
Samaria for seventeen years. {13:2} He did that which was evil in the
sight of Yahweh, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,
with which he made Israel to sin; he didn't depart from it. {13:3} The
anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into
the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son
of Hazael, continually. {13:4} Jehoahaz begged Yahweh, and Yahweh
listened to him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how that the king
of Syria oppressed them. {13:5} (Yahweh gave Israel a savior, so that
they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of
Israel lived in their tents as before. {13:6} Nevertheless they didn't
depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, with which he made
Israel to sin, but walked therein: and there remained the Asherah also
in Samaria.) {13:7} For he didn't leave to Jehoahaz of the people any
more than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen;
for the king of Syria destroyed them, and made them like the dust in
threshing. {13:8} Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he
did, and his might, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles
of the kings of Israel? {13:9} Jehoahaz slept with his fathers; and
they buried him in Samaria: and Joash his son reigned in his place.
{13:10} In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the
son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria for sixteen
years. {13:11} He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he
didn't depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with
which he made Israel to sin; but he walked therein. {13:12} Now the
rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might with
which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, aren't they written in
the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? {13:13} Joash slept
with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat on his throne: and Joash was buried
in Samaria with the kings of Israel. {13:14} Now Elisha was fallen sick
of his sickness of which he died: and Joash the king of Israel came
down to him, and wept over him, and said, "My father, my father, the
chariots of Israel and its horsemen!"

   {13:15} Elisha said to him, "Take bow and arrows"; and he took to
him bow and arrows. {13:16} He said to the king of Israel, "Put your
hand on the bow"; and he put his hand on it. Elisha laid his hands on
the king's hands. {13:17} He said, "Open the window eastward"; and he
opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot!" and he shot. He said, "Yahweh's
arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Syria; for you shall
strike the Syrians in Aphek, until you have consumed them."

   {13:18} He said, "Take the arrows"; and he took them. He said to the
king of Israel, "Strike the ground"; and he struck three times, and
stopped. {13:19} The man of God was angry with him, and said, "You
should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck Syria
until you had consumed it, whereas now you shall strike Syria just
three times."

   {13:20} Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the
Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. {13:21} It
happened, as they were burying a man, that behold, they spied a band;
and they cast the man into the tomb of Elisha: and as soon as the man
touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.
{13:22} Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.
{13:23} But Yahweh was gracious to them, and had compassion on them,
and had respect to them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his
presence as yet. {13:24} Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his
son reigned in his place. {13:25} Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took
again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities which he
had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Joash struck
him three times, and recovered the cities of Israel.

   {14:1} In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel
began Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah to reign. {14:2} He was
twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned
twenty-nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jehoaddin of
Jerusalem. {14:3} He did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh,
yet not like David his father: he did according to all that Joash his
father had done. {14:4} However the high places were not taken away:
the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
{14:5} It happened, as soon as the kingdom was established in his hand,
that he killed his servants who had slain the king his father: {14:6}
but the children of the murderers he didn't put to death; according to
that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, as Yahweh
commanded, saying, "The fathers shall not be put to death for the
children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every
man shall die for his own sin." {14:7} He killed of Edom in the Valley
of Salt ten thousand, and took Sela by war, and called its name
Joktheel, to this day. {14:8} Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash,
the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, "Come, let us
look one another in the face."

   {14:9} Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah,
saying, "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in
Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as wife. Then a wild
animal that was in Lebanon passed by, and trampled down the thistle.
{14:10} You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up.
Enjoy the glory of it, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to
your harm, that you should fall, even you, and Judah with you?'"
{14:11} But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went
up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at
Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. {14:12} Judah was defeated by
Israel; and they fled every man to his tent. {14:13} Jehoash king of
Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of
Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and broke down the
wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four
hundred cubits. {14:14} He took all the gold and silver, and all the
vessels that were found in the house of Yahweh, and in the treasures of
the king's house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria. {14:15}
Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and
how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, aren't they written in the
book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? {14:16} Jehoash slept
with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel;
and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place. {14:17} Amaziah the son of
Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz
king of Israel fifteen years. {14:18} Now the rest of the acts of
Amaziah, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings
of Judah? {14:19} They made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and
he fled to Lachish: but they sent after him to Lachish, and killed him
there. {14:20} They brought him on horses; and he was buried at
Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. {14:21} All the people
of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in
the place of his father Amaziah. {14:22} He built Elath, and restored
it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. {14:23} In the
fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the
son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria for forty-one
years. {14:24} He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: he
didn't depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with
which he made Israel to sin. {14:25} He restored the border of Israel
from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to the
word of Yahweh, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah
the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath Hepher. {14:26} For
Yahweh saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter; for there
was none shut up nor left at large, neither was there any helper for
Israel. {14:27} Yahweh didn't say that he would blot out the name of
Israel from under the sky; but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam
the son of Joash. {14:28} Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all
that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered
Damascus, and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, for Israel, aren't
they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
{14:29} Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel;
and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.

   {15:1} In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel began
Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign. {15:2} Sixteen years old
was he when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-two years in
Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. {15:3} He
did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that
his father Amaziah had done. {15:4} However the high places were not
taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high
places. {15:5} Yahweh struck the king, so that he was a leper to the
day of his death, and lived in a separate house. Jotham the king's son
was over the household, judging the people of the land. {15:6} Now the
rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, aren't they written
in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? {15:7} Azariah
slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the
city of David: and Jotham his son reigned in his place. {15:8} In the
thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of
Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. {15:9} He did that
which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as his fathers had done: he
didn't depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he
made Israel to sin. {15:10} Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against
him, and struck him before the people, and killed him, and reigned in
his place. {15:11} Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, behold, they
are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
{15:12} This was the word of Yahweh which he spoke to Jehu, saying,
"Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel."
So it came to pass.

   {15:13} Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth
year of Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned for a month in Samaria.
{15:14} Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to
Samaria, and struck Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and killed
him, and reigned in his place. {15:15} Now the rest of the acts of
Shallum, and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in
the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. {15:16} Then Menahem
struck Tiphsah, and all who were therein, and its borders, from Tirzah:
because they didn't open to him, therefore he struck it; and all the
women therein who were with child he ripped up. {15:17} In the nine and
thirtieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi began
to reign over Israel for ten years in Samaria. {15:18} He did that
which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: he didn't depart all his days
from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel
to sin. {15:19} There came against the land Pul the king of Assyria;
and Menahem gave Pul one thousand talents of silver, that his hand
might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand. {15:20} Menahem
exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of
each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So
the king of Assyria turned back, and didn't stay there in the land.
{15:21} Now the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did,
aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of
Israel? {15:22} Menahem slept with his fathers; and Pekahiah his son
reigned in his place. {15:23} In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of
Judah Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria
for two years. {15:24} He did that which was evil in the sight of
Yahweh: he didn't depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,
with which he made Israel to sin. {15:25} Pekah the son of Remaliah,
his captain, conspired against him, and struck him in Samaria, in the
castle of the king's house, with Argob and Arieh; and with him were
fifty men of the Gileadites: and he killed him, and reigned in his
place. {15:26} Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all that he
did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the
kings of Israel. {15:27} In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king
of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in
Samaria for twenty years. {15:28} He did that which was evil in the
sight of Yahweh: he didn't depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of
Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. {15:29} In the days of Pekah
king of Israel came Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and
Abel Beth Maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and
Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to
Assyria. {15:30} Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah
the son of Remaliah, and struck him, and killed him, and reigned in his
place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. {15:31} 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. {15:32}
In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began
Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign. {15:33} He was
twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen
years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jerusha the daughter of
Zadok. {15:34} He did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh; he
did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. {15:35} However
the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and
burned incense in the high places. He built the upper gate of the house
of Yahweh. {15:36} Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he
did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of
Judah? {15:37} In those days Yahweh began to send against Judah Rezin
the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah. {15:38} 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 place.

   {16:1} In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the
son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. {16:2} Twenty years old was
Ahaz when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem:
and he didn't do that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh his God,
like David his father. {16:3} But he walked in the way of the kings of
Israel, yes, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to
the abominations of the nations, whom Yahweh cast out from before the
children of Israel. {16:4} He sacrificed and burnt incense in the high
places, and on the hills, and under every green tree. {16:5} Then Rezin
king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to
Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him.
{16:6} At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and
drove the Jews from Elath; and the Syrians came to Elath, and lived
there, to this day. {16:7} So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pileser
king of Assyria, saying, "I am your servant and your son. Come up, and
save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of
the king of Israel, who rise up against me." {16:8} Ahaz took the
silver and gold that was found in the house of Yahweh, and in the
treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of
Assyria. {16:9} The king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of
Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried its people
captive to Kir, and killed Rezin. {16:10} King Ahaz went to Damascus to
meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at
Damascus; and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the
altar, and its pattern, according to all its workmanship. {16:11}
Urijah the priest built an altar: according to all that king Ahaz had
sent from Damascus, so Urijah the priest made it for the coming of king
Ahaz from Damascus. {16:12} When the king had come from Damascus, the
king saw the altar: and the king drew near to the altar, and offered on
it. {16:13} He burnt his burnt offering and his meal offering, and
poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace
offerings, on the altar. {16:14} The bronze altar, which was before
Yahweh, he brought from the forefront of the house, from between his
altar and the house of Yahweh, and put it on the north side of his
altar. {16:15} King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, "On the
great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meal
offering, and the king's burnt offering, and his meal offering, with
the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meal
offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood
of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; but the
bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by." {16:16} Urijah the priest
did so, according to all that king Ahaz commanded. {16:17} King Ahaz
cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basin from off them,
and took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it, and
put it on a pavement of stone. {16:18} The covered way for the Sabbath
that they had built in the house, and the king's entry outside, turned
he to the house of Yahweh, because of the king of Assyria. {16:19} Now
the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, aren't they written in the
book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? {16:20} Ahaz slept with
his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and
Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

   {17:1} In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of
Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel for nine years. {17:2} He
did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, yet not as the kings of
Israel who were before him. {17:3} Against him came up Shalmaneser king
of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and brought him tribute.
{17:4} The king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent
messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of
Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria
shut him up, and bound him in prison. {17:5} Then the king of Assyria
came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged
it three years. {17:6} In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria
took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in
Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the
Medes. {17:7} It was so, because the children of Israel had sinned
against Yahweh their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt
from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other
gods, {17:8} and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Yahweh
cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of
Israel, which they made. {17:9} The children of Israel did secretly
things that were not right against Yahweh their God: and they built
them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to
the fortified city; {17:10} and they set them up pillars and Asherim on
every high hill, and under every green tree; {17:11} and there they
burnt incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom Yahweh
carried away before them; and they worked wicked things to provoke
Yahweh to anger; {17:12} and they served idols, of which Yahweh had
said to them, "You shall not do this thing." {17:13} Yet Yahweh
testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer,
saying, "Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my
statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and
which I sent to you by my servants the prophets." {17:14}
Notwithstanding, they would not listen, but hardened their neck, like
the neck of their fathers, who didn't believe in Yahweh their God.
{17:15} They rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with
their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they
followed vanity, and became vain, and followed the nations that were
around them, concerning whom Yahweh had commanded them that they should
not do like them. {17:16} They forsook all the commandments of Yahweh
their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an
Asherah, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal.
{17:17} They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the
fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do
that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.
{17:18} Therefore Yahweh was very angry with Israel, and removed them
out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
{17:19} Also Judah didn't keep the commandments of Yahweh their God,
but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. {17:20} Yahweh
rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them
into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
{17:21} For he tore Israel from the house of David; and they made
Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drove Israel from
following Yahweh, and made them sin a great sin. {17:22} The children
of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they didn't
depart from them; {17:23} until Yahweh removed Israel out of his sight,
as he spoke by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried
away out of their own land to Assyria to this day. {17:24} The king of
Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and
from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria
instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and
lived in the cities of it. {17:25} So it was, at the beginning of their
dwelling there, that they didn't fear Yahweh: therefore Yahweh sent
lions among them, which killed some of them. {17:26} Therefore they
spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, "The nations which you have
carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria, don't know the law
of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and
behold, they kill them, because they don't know the law of the god of
the land."

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

   {17:28} So one of the priests whom they had carried away from
Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear
Yahweh. {17:29} However every nation made gods of their own, and put
them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made,
every nation in their cities in which they lived. {17:30} The men of
Babylon made Succoth Benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the
men of Hamath made Ashima, {17:31} and the Avvites made Nibhaz and
Tartak; and the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to
Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. {17:32} So they
feared Yahweh, and made to them from among themselves priests of the
high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
{17:33} They feared Yahweh, and served their own gods, after the ways
of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. {17:34} To
this day they do what they did before: they don't fear Yahweh, neither
do they follow their statutes, or their ordinances, or the law or the
commandment which Yahweh commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named
Israel; {17:35} with whom Yahweh had made a covenant, and commanded
them, saying, "You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to
them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them; {17:36} but you shall fear
Yahweh, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power
and with an outstretched arm, and you shall bow yourselves to him, and
you shall sacrifice to him. {17:37} The statutes and the ordinances,
and the law and the commandment, which he wrote for you, you shall
observe to do forevermore. You shall not fear other gods. {17:38} You
shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you; neither shall
you fear other gods. {17:39} But you shall fear Yahweh your God; and he
will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies." {17:40} However
they did not listen, but they did what they did before. {17:41} So
these nations feared Yahweh, and served their engraved images. Their
children likewise, and their children's children, as their fathers did,
so they do to this day.

   {18:1} Now it happened in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king
of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
{18:2} He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Abi
the daughter of Zechariah. {18:3} He did that which was right in the
eyes of Yahweh, according to all that David his father had done. {18:4}
He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the
Asherah: and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made;
for in those days the children of Israel burned incense to it; and he
called it Nehushtan. {18:5} He trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel; so
that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor
among them that were before him. {18:6} For he joined with Yahweh; he
didn't depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which
Yahweh commanded Moses. {18:7} Yahweh was with him; wherever he went
forth he prospered: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and
didn't serve him. {18:8} He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its
borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city. {18:9}
It happened in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh
year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of
Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it. {18:10} At the end of
three years they took it: in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the
ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. {18:11} The
king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah,
and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
{18:12} because they didn't obey the voice of Yahweh their God, but
transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of Yahweh
commanded, and would not hear it, nor do it. {18:13} Now in the
fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up
against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them. {18:14}
Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying,
"I have offended; return from me. That which you put on me, I will
bear." The king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three
hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. {18:15} Hezekiah
gave him all the silver that was found in the house of Yahweh, and in
the treasures of the king's house. {18:16} At that time, Hezekiah cut
off the gold from the doors of Yahweh's temple, and from the pillars
which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of
Assyria. {18:17} The king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and
Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem.
They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they came
and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of
the fuller's field. {18:18} When they had called to the king, there
came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the
household, and Shebnah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the
recorder. {18:19} Rabshakeh said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah, 'Thus
says the great king, the king of Assyria, "What confidence is this in
which you trust? {18:20} You say (but they are but vain words), 'There
is counsel and strength for war.' Now on whom do you trust, that you
have rebelled against me? {18:21} Now, behold, you trust in the staff
of this bruised reed, even in Egypt. If a man leans on it, it will go
into his hand, and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who
trust on him. {18:22} But if you tell me, 'We trust in Yahweh our God;'
isn't that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken
away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before
this altar in Jerusalem?' {18:23} Now therefore, please give pledges to
my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses,
if you are able on your part to set riders on them. {18:24} How then
can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's
servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
{18:25} Have I now come up without Yahweh against this place to destroy
it? Yahweh said to me, 'Go up against this land, and destroy it.'"'"

   {18:26} Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said
to Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in the Syrian language;
for we understand it. Don't speak with us in the Jews' language, in the
hearing of the people who are on the wall."

   {18:27} But Rabshakeh said to them, "Has my master sent me to your
master, and to you, to speak these words? Hasn't he sent me to the men
who sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own
water with you?" {18:28} Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud
voice in the Jews' language, and spoke, saying, "Hear the word of the
great king, the king of Assyria. {18:29} Thus says the king, 'Don't let
Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you out of his
hand. {18:30} Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying,
"Yahweh will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into
the hand of the king of Assyria." {18:31} Don't listen to Hezekiah.'
For thus says the king of Assyria, 'Make your peace with me, and come
out to me; and everyone of you eat of his vine, and everyone of his fig
tree, and everyone drink the waters of his own cistern; {18:32} until I
come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain
and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and
of honey, that you may live, and not die. Don't listen to Hezekiah,
when he persuades you, saying, "Yahweh will deliver us." {18:33} Has
any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand
of the king of Assyria? {18:34} Where are the gods of Hamath, and of
Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they
delivered Samaria out of my hand? {18:35} Who are they among all the
gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my
hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'"

   {18:36} But the people held their peace, and answered him not a
word; for the king's commandment was, "Don't answer him." {18:37} Then
Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, came with
Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah
with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

   {19:1} It happened, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his
clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of
Yahweh. {19:2} He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna
the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to
Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. {19:3} They said to him, "Thus says
Hezekiah, 'This day is a day of trouble, of rebuke, and of rejection;
for the children have come to the point of birth, and there is no
strength to deliver them. {19:4} It may be Yahweh your God will hear
all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has
sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which Yahweh
your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that
is left.'"

   {19:5} So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. {19:6}
Isaiah said to them, "Thus you shall tell your master, 'Thus says
Yahweh, "Don't be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which
the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. {19:7} Behold,
I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear news, and will return to
his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."'"

   {19:8} So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring
against Libnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.
{19:9} When he heard it said of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, "Behold, he
has come out to fight against you, he sent messengers again to
Hezekiah, saying, {19:10} 'Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of
Judah, saying, "Don't let your God in whom you trust deceive you,
saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of
Assyria. {19:11} Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have
done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Will you be delivered?
{19:12} Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers
have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden
that were in Telassar? {19:13} Where is the king of Hamath, and the
king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and
Ivvah?"'"

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

   {19:20} Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus
says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'Whereas you have prayed to me against
Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you. {19:21} This is the word
that Yahweh has spoken concerning him: "The virgin daughter of Zion has
despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken
her head at you. {19:22} Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against
whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high?
Against the Holy One of Israel. {19:23} By your messengers you have
defied the Lord, and have said, 'With the multitude of my chariots, I
have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of
Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees;
and I will enter into his farthest lodging place, the forest of his
fruitful field. {19:24} I have dug and drunk strange waters, and with
the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.' {19:25}
Haven't you heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient
times? Now have I brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay
waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. {19:26} Therefore their
inhabitants were of small power. They were dismayed and confounded.
They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like
the grass on the housetops, and like grain blasted before it has grown
up. {19:27} But I know your sitting down, and your going out, and your
coming in, and your raging against me. {19:28} Because of your raging
against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears,
therefore will I put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips,
and I will turn you back by the way by which you came."

   {19:29} "'This shall be the sign to you: You shall eat this year
that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs
of the same; and in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards,
and eat its fruit. {19:30} The remnant that has escaped of the house of
Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. {19:31}
For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and out of Mount Zion those
who shall escape. The zeal of Yahweh will perform this.'

   {19:32} "Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria,
'He shall not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither
shall he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it.
{19:33} By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he
shall not come to this city,' says Yahweh. {19:34} 'For I will defend
this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's
sake.'"

   {19:35} It happened that night, that the angel of Yahweh went out,
and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the
Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all
dead bodies. {19:36} So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went
and returned, and lived at Nineveh. {19:37} It happened, as he was
worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and
Sharezer struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of
Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.

   {20:1} In those days was Hezekiah sick to death. Isaiah the prophet
the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Set
your house in order; for you shall die, and not live.'"

   {20:2} Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh,
saying, {20:3} "Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked
before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which
is good in your sight." Hezekiah wept bitterly.

   {20:4} It happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle part
of the city, that the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, {20:5} "Turn
back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, 'Thus says Yahweh, 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 Yahweh. {20:6} I will add to your days fifteen years. I
will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria.
I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David's
sake."'"

   {20:7} Isaiah said, "Take a cake of figs."

   They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. {20:8} Hezekiah
said to Isaiah, "What shall be the sign that Yahweh will heal me, and
that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh the third day?"

   {20:9} Isaiah said, "This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that
Yahweh will do the thing that he has spoken: shall the shadow go
forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?"

   {20:10} Hezekiah answered, "It is a light thing for the shadow to go
forward ten steps. Nay, but let the shadow return backward ten steps."

   {20:11} Isaiah the prophet cried to Yahweh; and he brought the
shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of
Ahaz.

   {20:12} At that time Berodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of
Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that
Hezekiah had been sick. {20:13} Hezekiah listened to them, and showed
them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold,
and the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armor, and
all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house,
nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah didn't show them. {20:14} Then
Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did
these men say? From where did they come to you?"

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

   {20:15} He said, "What have they seen in your house?"

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

   {20:16} Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of Yahweh. {20:17}
'Behold, the days come, that all that is in your house, and that which
your fathers have laid up in store to this day, shall be carried to
Babylon. Nothing shall be left,' says Yahweh. {20:18} 'Of your sons who
shall issue from you, whom you shall father, shall they take away; and
they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"

   {20:19} Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of Yahweh which you
have spoken is good." He said moreover, "Isn't it so, if peace and
truth shall be in my days?"

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

   {21:1} Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was
Hephzibah. {21:2} He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh,
after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the
children of Israel. {21:3} For he built again the high places which
Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal,
and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshiped all the
army of the sky, and served them. {21:4} He built altars in the house
of Yahweh, of which Yahweh said, "I will put my name in Jerusalem."
{21:5} He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of
the house of Yahweh. {21:6} He made his son to pass through the fire,
and practiced sorcery, and used enchantments, and dealt with those who
had familiar spirits, and with wizards: he worked much evil in the
sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger. {21:7} He set the engraved
image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which Yahweh 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, will I put my name
forever; {21:8} neither will I cause the feet of Israel to wander any
more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will
observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and
according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them." {21:9}
But they didn't listen: and Manasseh seduced them to do that which is
evil more than the nations did whom Yahweh destroyed before the
children of Israel. {21:10} Yahweh spoke by his servants the prophets,
saying, {21:11} "Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these
abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did,
who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols;
{21:12} therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I bring
such evil on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his
ears shall tingle. {21:13} I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of
Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe
Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.
{21:14} I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them
into the hand of their enemies. They will become a prey and a spoil to
all their enemies; {21:15} because they have done that which is evil in
my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers
came forth out of Egypt, even to this day.'"

   {21:16} Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he
had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with
which he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight
of Yahweh. {21:17} Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that
he did, and his sin that he sinned, aren't they written in the book of
the chronicles of the kings of Judah? {21:18} Manasseh slept with his
fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden
of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his place. {21:19} Amon was
twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years
in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of
Haruz of Jotbah. {21:20} He did that which was evil in the sight of
Yahweh, as Manasseh his father did. {21:21} He walked in all the way
that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served,
and worshiped them: {21:22} and he forsook Yahweh, the God of his
fathers, and didn't walk in the way of Yahweh. {21:23} The servants of
Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in his own house.
{21:24} But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired
against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king
in his place. {21:25} Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did,
aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of
Judah? {21:26} He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza: and
Josiah his son reigned in his place.

   {22:1} Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was
Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. {22:2} He did that which was
right in the eyes of Yahweh, and walked in all the way of David his
father, and didn't turn aside to the right hand or to the left. {22:3}
It happened in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent
Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the
house of Yahweh, saying, {22:4} "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that
he may sum the money which is brought into the house of Yahweh, which
the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people. {22:5} Let
them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of
the house of Yahweh; and let them give it to the workmen who are in the
house of Yahweh, to repair the breaches of the house, {22:6} to the
carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying
timber and cut stone to repair the house. {22:7} However there was no
accounting made with them of the money that was delivered into their
hand; for they dealt faithfully."

   {22:8} Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have
found the book of the law in the house of Yahweh." Hilkiah delivered
the book to Shaphan, and he read it. {22:9} Shaphan the scribe came to
the king, and brought the king word again, and said, "Your servants
have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have
delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the
house of Yahweh." {22:10} Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying,
"Hilkiah the priest has delivered a book to me." Shaphan read it before
the king. {22:11} It happened, when the king had heard the words of the
book of the law, that he tore his clothes. {22:12} The king commanded
Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son
of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant,
saying, {22:13} "Go inquire of Yahweh for me, and for the people, and
for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for
great is the wrath of Yahweh that is kindled against us, because our
fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to
all that which is written concerning us."

   {22:14} So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan,
and Asaiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son
of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in
Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they talked with her. {22:15} She
said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'Tell the man who
sent you to me, {22:16} "Thus says Yahweh, 'Behold, I will bring evil
on this place, and on its inhabitants, even all the words of the book
which the king of Judah has read. {22:17} 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 shall be
kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched.'" {22:18} But
to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Yahweh, thus you shall
tell him, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'Concerning the words
which you have heard, {22:19} because your heart was tender, and you
humbled yourself before Yahweh, when you heard what I spoke against
this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become a
desolation and a curse, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me;
I also have heard you,' says Yahweh. {22:20} 'Therefore behold, I will
gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in
peace, neither shall your eyes see all the evil which I will bring on
this place.'"'" They brought back this message to the king.

   {23:1} The king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of
Judah and of Jerusalem. {23:2} The king went up to the house of Yahweh,
and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him,
and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and
great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the
covenant which was found in the house of Yahweh. {23:3} The king stood
by the pillar, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh,
and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes,
with all his heart, and all his soul, to confirm the words of this
covenant that were written in this book: and all the people stood to
the covenant. {23:4} The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and
the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to
bring forth out of Yahweh's temple all the vessels that were made for
Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the army of the sky, and he
burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and
carried their ashes to Bethel. {23:5} He put down the idolatrous
priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the
high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places around Jerusalem;
those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and
to the planets, and to all the army of the sky. {23:6} He brought out
the Asherah from the house of Yahweh, outside of Jerusalem, to the
brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust,
and cast its dust on the graves of the common people. {23:7} He broke
down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house of Yahweh,
where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. {23:8} 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 Beersheba; and he
broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of
the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left
hand at the gate of the city. {23:9} Nevertheless the priests of the
high places didn't come up to the altar of Yahweh in Jerusalem, but
they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. {23:10} He defiled
Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man
might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
{23:11} He took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to
the sun, at the entrance of the house of Yahweh, by the room of Nathan
Melech the officer, who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of
the sun with fire. {23:12} The king broke down the altars that were on
the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made,
and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house
of Yahweh, and beat them down from there, and cast their dust into the
brook Kidron. {23:13} The the king defiled the high places that were
before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mountain of
corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth
the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of
Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon. {23:14}
He broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled
their places with the bones of men. {23:15} Moreover the altar that was
at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made
Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke
down; and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the
Asherah. {23:16} As Josiah turned himself, he spied the tombs that were
there in the mountain; and he sent, and took the bones out of the
tombs, and burned them on the altar, and defiled it, according to the
word of Yahweh which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these
things. {23:17} Then he said, "What monument is that which I see?"

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

   {23:18} 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
Samaria. {23:19} All the houses also of the high places that were in
the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke
Yahweh to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the
acts that he had done in Bethel. {23:20} He killed all the priests of
the high places that were there, on the altars, and burned men's bones
on them; and he returned to Jerusalem. {23:21} The king commanded all
the people, saying, "Keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, as it is
written in this book of the covenant." {23:22} Surely there was not
kept such a Passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor
in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;
{23:23} but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah was this Passover
kept to Yahweh in Jerusalem. {23:24} Moreover Josiah removed those who
had familiar spirits, 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 confirm the words of the law which were
written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of
Yahweh. {23:25} Like him was there no king before him, who turned to
Yahweh with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his
might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there
any like him. {23:26} Notwithstanding, Yahweh didn't turn from the
fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger was kindled against
Judah, because of all the provocation with which Manasseh had provoked
him. {23:27} Yahweh 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, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, 'My name shall
be there.'"

   {23:28} Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did,
aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of
Judah? {23:29} In his days Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt went up against
the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went
against him; and Pharaoh Necoh killed him at Megiddo, when he had seen
him. {23:30} His servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo,
and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The
people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him,
and made him king in his father's place. {23:31} Jehoahaz was
twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three
months in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of
Jeremiah of Libnah. {23:32} He did that which was evil in the sight of
Yahweh, according to all that his fathers had done. {23:33} Pharaoh
Necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might
not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of one hundred
talents of silver, and a talent of gold. {23:34} Pharaoh Necoh made
Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and
changed his name to Jehoiakim: but he took Jehoahaz away; and he came
to Egypt, and died there. {23:35} Jehoiakim gave the silver and the
gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to
the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the
people of the land, of everyone according to his taxation, to give it
to Pharaoh Necoh. {23:36} Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he
began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his
mother's name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. {23:37} He
did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that
his fathers had done.

   {24:1} In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and
Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled
against him. {24:2} Yahweh sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and
bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the
children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according
to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by his servants the prophets.
{24:3} Surely at the commandment of Yahweh came this on Judah, to
remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to
all that he did, {24:4} and also for the innocent blood that he shed;
for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood: and Yahweh would not
pardon. {24:5} Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he
did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of
Judah? {24:6} So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers; and Jehoiachin his
son reigned in his place. {24:7} The king of Egypt didn't come again
out of his land any more; for the king of Babylon had taken, from the
brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king
of Egypt. {24:8} Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to
reign; and he reigned in Jerusalem three months: and his mother's name
was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. {24:9} He did that
which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that his father
had done. {24:10} At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. {24:11}
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city, while his servants
were besieging it; {24:12} and Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to
the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his
princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the
eighth year of his reign. {24:13} He carried out there all the
treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king's
house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of
Israel had made in Yahweh's temple, as Yahweh had said. {24:14} He
carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men
of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the
smiths; none remained, except the poorest sort of the people of the
land. {24:15} He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king's
mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the chief men of
the land, carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. {24:16}
All the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the
smiths one thousand, all of them strong and apt for war, even them the
king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. {24:17} The king of Babylon
made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's father's brother, king is his place, and
changed his name to Zedekiah. {24:18} Zedekiah was twenty-one years old
when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and
his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
{24:19} He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to
all that Jehoiakim had done. {24:20} For through the anger of Yahweh,
it happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his
presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

   {25:1} It happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth
month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped
against it; and they built forts against it around it. {25:2} So the
city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. {25:3} On the
ninth day of the fourth month the famine was severe in the city, so
that there was no bread for the people of the land. {25:4} Then a
breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by
the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's
garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city around it); and the
king went by the way of the Arabah. {25:5} But the army of the
Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of
Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. {25:6} Then they took
the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they
gave judgment on him. {25:7} They killed the sons of Zedekiah before
his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters,
and carried him to Babylon. {25:8} Now in the fifth month, on the
seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the
guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, to Jerusalem. {25:9} He burnt
the house of Yahweh, and the king's house; and all the houses of
Jerusalem, even every great house, burnt he with fire. {25:10} All the
army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke
down the walls around Jerusalem. {25:11} Nebuzaradan the captain of the
guard carried away captive the residue of the people who were left in
the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and
the residue of the multitude. {25:12} But the captain of the guard left
some of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
{25:13} The Chaldeans broke up the pillars of brass that were in the
house of Yahweh and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the house
of Yahweh, and carried the brass pieces to Babylon. {25:14} They took
away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the
vessels of brass with which they ministered. {25:15} The captain of the
guard took away the fire pans, the basins, that which was of gold, in
gold, and that which was of silver, in silver. {25:16} The two pillars,
the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the house of
Yahweh, the brass of all these vessels was without weight. {25:17} The
height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of brass
was on it; and the height of the capital was three cubits, with network
and pomegranates on the capital around it, all of brass: and like to
these had the second pillar with network. {25:18} The captain of the
guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest,
and the three keepers of the threshold: {25:19} and out of the city he
took an officer who was set over the men of war; and five men of those
who saw the king's face, who were found in the city; and the scribe,
the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty
men of the people of the land, who were found in the city. {25:20}
Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the
king of Babylon to Riblah. {25:21} The king of Babylon struck them, and
put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried
away captive out of his land. {25:22} As for the people who were left
in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left,
even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan,
governor. {25:23} Now when all the captains of the forces, they and
their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor,
they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and
Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the
Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their
men. {25:24} Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them,
"Don't be afraid because of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the
land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you."

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





________________________________________________________________________

Footnotes:
[1] {1:3} "Yahweh" is God's proper Name, sometimes rendered "LORD" (all
caps) in other translations.

[2] {1:3} The Hebrew word rendered "God" is "Elohim."

[3] {7:6} The word translated "Lord" is "Adonai."

[4] {9:8} or, male

