The Second Book of the Kings, 2 Kings

Translation in British English (The Second Book of the Kings)

1:1 Subsequently, Moab revolted against Israel following Ahab’s demise.
1:2 Ahaziah plummeted through a lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, becoming gravely ill. He dispatched messengers, instructing them, “Seek guidance from Baalzebub, the deity of Ekron, regarding my recovery from this illness.”
1:3 Yet, the LORD’s angel commanded Elijah the Tishbite, “Rise, intercept the king of Samaria’s messengers, and question them, ‘Is it because there’s no God in Israel that you consult Baalzebub, the deity of Ekron?’
1:4 Therefore, this is the LORD’s decree: ‘You shall not rise from the bed you’ve ascended, but will surely perish.'” And Elijah went his way.
1:5 The messengers returned to the king, who asked, “Why have you come back?”
1:6 They replied, “A man approached us, instructing, ‘Return to the king who sent you and convey, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Is it because there’s no God in Israel that you seek counsel from Baalzebub, the god of Ekron? Consequently, you’ll not rise from your bed but are destined to perish.'”‘”
1:7 The king inquired, “What was the appearance of the man who met you and relayed these words?”
1:8 They described, “He was a hairy man, belted with a leather girdle around his waist.” The king deduced, “It’s Elijah the Tishbite.”
1:9 Subsequently, the king dispatched a captain with his fifty men to Elijah. They found him atop a hill and commanded, “Man of God, the king decrees, ‘Descend.'”
1:10 Elijah responded to the captain of fifty, “If I am indeed a man of God, let fire descend from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” And divine fire descended, consuming him and his fifty.
1:11 Once more, the king sent another captain with his fifty. This captain urged, “Man of God, the king orders, ‘Descend promptly.'”
1:12 Elijah retorted, “If I am a man of God, let fire descend from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” And God’s fire descended, consuming him and his fifty.
1:13 Again, a third captain with his fifty approached. The captain knelt before Elijah, pleading, “Man of God, may my life and the lives of these fifty servants be precious in your eyes.
1:14 Behold, fire descended from heaven and consumed the two previous captains with their fifties. But now, may my life be precious in your eyes.”
1:15 The LORD’s angel instructed Elijah, “Descend with him, fear him not.” So he rose and descended with him to the king.
1:16 Elijah proclaimed to the king, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Since you’ve sent messengers to consult Baalzebub, the god of Ekron—as if there’s no God in Israel to inquire from—therefore, you shall not rise from your bed, but will surely perish.'”
1:17 And so, he perished according to the word of the LORD, which Elijah had spoken. Jehoram ascended to the throne in his stead, in the second year of Jehoram, Jehoshaphat’s son, king of Judah, as he had no son.
1:18 The remainder of Ahaziah’s deeds, are they not chronicled in the annals of the kings of Israel?
2:1 As the LORD was about to elevate Elijah into heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah journeyed with Elisha from Gilgal.
2:2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, I beseech you; for the LORD has sent me to Bethel.” But Elisha replied, “As the LORD lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So they descended to Bethel.
2:3 The prophets’ sons in Bethel approached Elisha, questioning, “Are you aware the LORD will take your master from your head today?” He acknowledged, “Yes, I know; be silent.”
2:4 Elijah then said to him, “Elisha, stay here, I implore you; for the LORD has sent me to Jericho.” He replied, “As the LORD lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” And they reached Jericho.
2:5 The prophets’ sons in Jericho approached Elisha, saying, “Do you know the LORD will take your master from your head today?” He confirmed, “Yes, I know; hold your peace.”
2:6 Elijah then said to him, “Stay here, please; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.” He replied, “As the LORD lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” And the two proceeded.
2:7 Fifty men from the prophets’ sons stood at a distance, while the two stood by the Jordan.
2:8 Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the waters, which parted to one side and the other, allowing the two to cross on dry ground.
2:9 Upon crossing, Elijah said to Elisha, “Request what I should do for you before I’m taken from you.” Elisha requested, “Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”
2:10 He responded, “You’ve requested a difficult thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I’m taken from you, it will be granted; if not, it won’t.”
2:11 As they continued walking and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire with horses of fire appeared, separating the two; and Elijah ascended into heaven in a whirlwind.
2:12 Elisha witnessed this, crying out, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his clothes and tore them in two.
2:13 He picked up Elijah’s mantle that had fallen from him, returned, and stood by the Jordan’s bank;
2:14 he struck the waters with Elijah’s mantle and asked, “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” And when he also struck the waters, they parted to one side and the other, and Elisha crossed over.
2:15 When the prophets’ sons from Jericho saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They approached him and bowed to the ground before him.
2:16 They said to him, “Look, there are fifty strong men with your servants; let them go, we implore you, and search for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and cast him on some mountain or into some valley.” But he said, “Do not send them.”
2:17 However, when they urged him until he was embarrassed, he said, “Send.” They sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him.
2:18 When they returned to him, (for he stayed in Jericho,) he said to them, “Did I not tell you not to go?”
2:19 The men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, the location of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the ground barren.”
2:20 He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” And they brought it to him.
2:21 He went to the spring of the waters, cast the salt in there, and said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘I have healed these waters; there shall be no more death or barrenness from them.'”
2:22 So the waters were healed to this day, according to Elisha’s word which he spoke.
2:23 He went up from there to Bethel, and as he was going up the road, young lads came out of the city and mocked him, saying, “Go up, you bald head; go up, you bald head!”
2:24 He turned around, looked at them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the lads.
2:25 He went from there to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.
3:1 Jehoram, the son of Ahab, began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and reigned for twelve years.
3:2 He committed evil in the sight of the LORD, but not like his father and mother, for he removed the image of Baal that his father had made.
3:3 Nevertheless, he clung to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel sin; he did not depart from them.
3:4 Mesha, king of Moab, was a sheep breeder and paid the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs and the wool of one hundred thousand rams.
3:5 But after Ahab’s death, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
3:6 King Jehoram set out from Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel.
3:7 He went and sent a message to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?” And he replied, “I will go up; I am as you are, my people as your people, and my horses as your horses.”
3:8 He then asked, “Which way shall we go up?” And he answered, “The way through the wilderness of Edom.”
3:9 So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom set out; and they took a circuitous route of seven days. However, there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them.
3:10 The king of Israel exclaimed, “Alas! The LORD has summoned these three kings to deliver them into the hand of Moab!”
3:11 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of the LORD through him?” One of the king of Israel’s servants answered, “Elisha, son of Shaphat, who poured water on Elijah’s hands, is here.”
3:12 Jehoshaphat affirmed, “The word of the LORD is with him.” So the king of Israel, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom went down to him.
3:13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do I have to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No, for the LORD has summoned these three kings to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”
3:14 Elisha said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, if I did not respect the presence of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you.
3:15 But now, bring me a musician.” And when the musician played, the hand of the LORD came upon him.
3:16 And he said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Make this valley full of ditches.’
3:17 For thus says the LORD: ‘You shall not see wind nor rain, yet this valley shall be filled with water, so you, your cattle, and your animals may drink.’
3:18 This is but a trivial thing in the sight of the LORD; He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand.
3:19 You shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, cut down every good tree, stop all springs of water, and ruin every good piece of land with stones.”
3:20 It happened in the morning, when the grain offering was presented, that suddenly water came by the way of Edom, and the land was filled with water.
3:21 When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, they mustered all who could bear arms and older and stood at the border.
3:22 They rose early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood.
3:23 They said, “This is blood; the kings have surely slain each other, and now, Moab, to the spoil!”
3:24 But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose and struck the Moabites, so they fled before them. They went forward, striking the Moabites in their land.
3:25 They demolished the cities, and on every good piece of land, each man cast a stone and filled it; they stopped all the springs of water and cut down all the good trees. Only in Kirharaseth did they leave the stones intact; however, the slingers surrounded it and struck it.
3:26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too intense for him, he took seven hundred men who drew swords 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 stead, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. Great wrath came against Israel, and they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.
4:1 A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant, my husband, is dead; and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And the creditor has come to take my two sons to be his slaves.”
4:2 Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.”
4:3 Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbours—empty vessels; do not gather just a few.
4:4 And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons, then pour into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”
4:5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her, and she poured out.
4:6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased.
4:7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”
4:8 It happened one day that Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a notable woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food.
4:9 And she said to her husband, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly.
4:10 Please, let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table, and a chair, and a lampstand. So it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there.”
4:11 And it happened one day that he came there, and he turned into the upper room and lay down there.
4:12 Then he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite woman.” When he had called her, she stood before him.
4:13 And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Look, you have been concerned for us with all this care. What can be done for you? Do you want a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?'” She replied, “I dwell among my own people.”
4:14 So he said, “What then is to be done for her?” And Gehazi answered, “Actually, she has no son, and her husband is old.”
4:15 He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the doorway.
4:16 Then he said, “About this time next year, you shall embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord, man of God, do not lie to your maidservant!”
4:17 But the woman conceived and bore a son when the appointed time had come, of which Elisha had told her.
4:18 And the child grew. It happened one day that he went out to his father, to the reapers.
4:19 And he said to his father, “My head, my head!” So he said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
4:20 When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.
4:21 And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon him, and went out.
4:22 Then she called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come back.”
4:23 So he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.” And she said, “It will be well.”
4:24 Then she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, “Drive, and go forward; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.”
4:25 And so she departed and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. It happened when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, the Shunammite woman!
4:26 Please run now to meet her, and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?'” And she answered, “It is well.”
4:27 Now when she came to the man of God at the hill, she caught him by the feet, but Gehazi came near to push her away. But the man of God said, “Let her alone, for her soul is in deep distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.”
4:28 So she said, “Did I ask a son of my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me?'”
4:29 Then he said to Gehazi, “Get yourself ready, take my staff in your hand, and go your way. If you meet anyone, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. But lay my staff on the face of the child.”
4:30 And the mother of the child said, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her.
4:31 Gehazi went ahead of them and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was neither voice nor hearing. Therefore, he went back to meet him and told him, saying, “The child has not awakened.”
4:32 When Elisha came into the house, there was the child, lying dead on his bed.
4:33 He went in, therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the LORD.
4:34 And he went up and lay on the child, put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and he stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm.
4:35 He returned and walked back and forth in the house, then went up and stretched himself out on him; and 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. And when she came in to him, he said, “Pick up your son.”
4:37 So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; then she picked up her son and went out.
4:38 And Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. Now the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, and he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”
4:39 So one went out into the field to gather herbs, found a wild vine, and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they were.
4:40 Then they served it to the men to eat. Now it happened, as they were eating the stew, that they cried out and said, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.
4:41 But he said, “Then bring some flour.” And he put it into the pot, and said, “Serve it to the people, that they may eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.
4:42 A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and newly ripened grain in his knapsack. And he said, “Give it to the people, that they may eat.”
4:43 But his servant said, “What? Shall I set this before one hundred men?” He said again, “Give it to the people, that they may eat; for thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and have some left over.'”
4:44 So he set it before them; and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD.
5:1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and highly regarded, because through him, the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty warrior, but he was a leper.
5:2 Now the Syrians had gone out in bands and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife.
5:3 And she said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would heal him of his leprosy.”
5:4 So someone went in and told his master, saying, “This is what the girl from the land of Israel says.”
5:5 And the king of Syria said, “Go, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothing.
5:6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, “Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.”
5:7 And it happened when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore, please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel with me.”
5:8 So it was, 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? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
5:9 Then Naaman came with his horses and chariot and stood at the door of Elisha’s house.
5:10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.”
5:11 But Naaman became furious and went away, saying, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’
5:12 Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
5:13 But his servants came near and spoke to him, saying, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”
5:14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
5:15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him. And he said, “Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel; now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.”
5:16 But he said, “As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused.
5:17 So Naaman said, “Then, if not, please let your servant be given two mule loads of earth; for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods, but to the LORD.
5:18 Yet in this thing may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD please pardon your servant in this thing.”
5:19 And he said to him, “Go in peace.” So he departed from him a short distance.
5:20 But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving from his hands what he brought; but, as the LORD lives, I will run after him and take something from him.”
5:21 So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and said, “Is all well?”
5:22 And he said, “All is well. My master has sent me, saying, ‘Indeed, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.'”
5:23 So Naaman said, “Please, take two talents.” And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and handed them to two of his servants; and they carried them on ahead of him.
5:24 When he came to the citadel, he took them from their hand, and stored them away in the house; then he let the men go, and they departed.
5:25 But he went in and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, “Where did you go, Gehazi?” And he said, “Your servant did not go anywhere.”
5:26 Then he said to him, “Did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants?
5:27 Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever.” And he went out from his presence, leprous as white as snow.
6:1 And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See now, the place where we dwell with you is too small for us.
6:2 Please, let us go to the Jordan, and let every man take a beam from there, and let us make there a place where we may dwell.” So he answered, “Go.”
6:3 Then one said, “Please consent to go with your servants.” And he answered, “I will go.”
6:4 So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.
6:5 But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, “Alas, master! For it was borrowed.”
6:6 And the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And he showed him the place. So he cut off a stick, threw it in there, and made the iron float.
6:7 Therefore he said, “Pick it up for yourself.” So he reached out his hand and took it.
6:8 Then the king of Syria warred against Israel and took counsel with his servants, saying, “At such and such a place shall be my camp.”
6:9 And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.”
6:10 Then the king of Israel sent someone to the place of which the man of God had told him. Thus he warned him, and he was watchful there, not just once or twice.
6:11 Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?”
6:12 And one of his servants said, “None, 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 So he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.” And it was told him, saying, “Surely, he is in Dothan.”
6:14 Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city.
6:15 And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
6:16 So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
6:17 And Elisha prayed and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
6:18 So when they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
6:19 Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” But he led them to Samaria.
6:20 And it happened when they had come into Samaria, that Elisha said, “LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and there they were, inside Samaria!
6:21 Now when the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?”
6:22 But he answered, “You shall not kill them. Would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.”
6:23 So he prepared a great feast for them; and after they ate and drank, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria did not come anymore into the land of Israel.
6:24 It happened after this that Ben-Hadad king of Syria gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria.
6:25 And there was a great famine in Samaria; and indeed, they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.
6:26 Then, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”
6:27 He said, “If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?”
6:28 Then the king said to her, “What is troubling you?” And 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’; but she has hidden her son.”
6:30 Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes; and as he passed by on the wall, the people looked, and there underneath he had sackcloth on his body.
6:31 Then he said, “God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today!”
6:32 But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man ahead of him. But before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to take away my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold him fast at the door. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”
6:33 And while he was still talking with them, there was the messenger, coming down to him; and then the king said, “Surely this calamity is from the LORD; why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”
7:1 Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD: ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.'”
7:2 So a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” And he said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”
7:3 Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. And they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die?
7:4 If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.”
7:5 And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there.
7:6 For the LORD had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!”
7:7 Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives.
7:8 And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it.
7:9 Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.”
7:10 So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, “We went to the Syrian camp, and surprisingly no one was there, not a human sound—only horses and donkeys tied, and the tents intact.”
7:11 And the gatekeepers called out, and they told it to the king’s house inside.
7:12 So the king arose in the night and said to his servants, “Let me now tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.'”
7:13 And one of his servants answered and said, “Please, let several men take five of the remaining horses which are left in the city. (Look, they are like all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; look, they are like all the multitude of Israel that are consumed.) So let us send and see.”

7:14 Therefore they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army, saying, “Go and see.”

7:15 And they went after them to the Jordan; and indeed, all the road was full of garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned and told the king.

7:16 Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.

7:17 Now the king had appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. But the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him.

7:18 And it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seahs of barley for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, shall be tomorrow about this time at the gate of Samaria.”

7:19 And the noble retorted to the prophet, “Consider this, if the LORD were to fashion apertures in the heavens, could such an event transpire?” He replied, “Behold, with your own eyes you shall witness it, but partake in it you shall not.”

7:20 Thus, his fate was sealed: the masses surged upon him at the gateway, and he perished.

8:1 Elisha then addressed the woman, whose son he had revived, instructing, “Rise, and with your kin, seek refuge wherever you may find shelter; for the LORD has decreed a famine, which shall besiege the land for a span of seven years.”
8:2 Heeding the prophet’s counsel, the woman uprooted her household, seeking asylum in the land of the Philistines for seven years.
8:3 As the seventh year waned, she departed from Philistine lands and presented her plea to the king for her abode and her lands.
8:4 Meanwhile, the king engaged Gehazi, servant to the holy man, inquiring, “Do recount unto me all the grand deeds wrought by Elisha.”
8:5 As he narrated how the dead were restored to life, the very woman whose son Elisha had revived beseeched the king for her house and her lands. Gehazi interjected, “My liege, behold the woman, and this, her son, whom Elisha restored to the living.”
8:6 The king, upon querying the woman, received her account. Subsequently, he designated an official, instructing, “Reinstate all that is hers, along with all the harvests of the field, dating from her departure until this day.”
8:7 Elisha ventured to Damascus; during this time, Benhadad, king of Syria, was indisposed, and it was conveyed to him, “The man of God has arrived.”
8:8 The king instructed Hazael, “Take a gift in your hand, approach the man of God and consult the LORD through him, inquiring, ‘Shall I recover from this malaise?'”
8:9 Hazael met him, bearing gifts from Damascus, worthy of forty camels, and posed before him, stating, “Thy son Benhadad, king of Syria, has dispatched me to thee, querying, ‘Shall I recover from this malaise?'”
8:10 Elisha responded, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover,’ yet the LORD has disclosed to me that he is destined to die.”
8:11 He fixed his gaze upon him until it became uncomfortable, and then the man of God wept.
8:12 Perplexed, Hazael inquired, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “For I know the calamity that you will inflict upon the Israelites: their fortresses you will set ablaze, their youth you will strike down with the sword, their infants you will dash to the ground, their pregnant women you will rip open.”
8:13 Hazael queried, “But what is your servant, a mere dog, that he should commit such a monstrous act?” Elisha replied, “The LORD has shown me that you shall reign over Syria.”
8:14 Departing from Elisha, Hazael returned to his master, who questioned, “What did Elisha say to you?” He answered, “He told me that you would surely recover.”
8:15 However, the next day, he took a cloth, soaked it in water, and spread it over his face, thereby suffocating him. Thus, Hazael ascended to the throne.
8:16 In the fifth year of Joram, son of Ahab, king of Israel, while Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah, Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, commenced his reign.
8:17 He was thirty-two years of age at the beginning of his reign, and he ruled for eight years in Jerusalem.
8:18 He trod the path of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife, and he committed evil in the eyes of the LORD.
8:19 Yet, for the sake of David His servant, the LORD was not willing to obliterate Judah, having promised to maintain a lamp for him and his descendants.
8:20 During his reign, Edom rebelled against Judah’s dominion and appointed their own king.
8:21 Joram crossed over to Zair, and all his chariots with him. He rose by night and defeated the Edomites who had surrounded him, along with the commanders of his chariots. However, his army fled to their tents.
8:22 Despite this, Edom remained defiant against Judah’s authority to this day. At the same time, Libnah also rebelled.
8:23 The other deeds of Joram, and all he did, are they not chronicled in the annals of the kings of Judah?
8:24 Joram rested with his ancestors and was interred with them in the City of David. Ahaziah, his son, succeeded him.
8:25 In the twelfth year of Joram, son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, king of Judah, ascended the throne.
8:26 He was twenty-two years old when he began his reign and ruled for a single year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, a descendant of Omri, king of Israel.
8:27 He followed the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the LORD, akin to the house of Ahab, for he was a son-in-law to the house of Ahab.
8:28 He joined Joram, son of Ahab, in the campaign against Hazael, king of Syria, at Ramoth-gilead, where the Syrians wounded Joram.
8:29 King Joram retreated to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Syrians had inflicted at Ramah, during the battle against Hazael, king of Syria. Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, king of Judah, descended to Jezreel to visit Joram, son of Ahab, for he was unwell.
9:1 Meanwhile, Elisha the prophet summoned one of the sons of the prophets and instructed him, “Gird your loins, take this flask of oil in your hand, and proceed to Ramoth-gilead.
9:2 Upon your arrival, seek out Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. Go in, rouse him from among his brethren, and escort him to an inner chamber.
9:3 Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and declare, ‘Thus says the LORD, I have anointed you king over Israel.’ Then open the door, flee, and linger not.”
9:4 So the young prophet embarked towards Ramoth-gilead.
9:5 Upon his arrival, he found the commanders of the army seated. He announced, “I have a message for you, O commander.” Jehu inquired, “For which of us?” He replied, “For you, O commander.”
9:6 Jehu rose and entered the house. The prophet then poured the oil on his head, proclaiming, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘I have anointed you king over the people of the LORD, over Israel.
9:7 You shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, so I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel.
9:8 For the entire house of Ahab shall perish, and I will eliminate from Ahab every male, both bond and free in Israel.
9:9 I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha, son of Ahijah.
9:10 The dogs shall consume Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her.'” Then he opened the door and fled.
9:11 Jehu emerged to attend to his lord’s servants. One asked, “Is all well? Why did this madman come to you?” He answered, “You know the man and his talk.”
9:12 They insisted, “It’s a falsehood; tell us now.” He said, “He spoke to me thus, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, I have anointed you king over Israel.'”
9:13 They hurriedly took their garments, placed them under him on the bare steps, blew the trumpet, and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.”
9:14 Thus Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had been defending Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, against Hazael, king of Syria.
9:15 But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Syrians had inflicted upon him in the battle with Hazael, king of Syria.) Jehu declared, “If this is your will, then let no one escape from the city to report in Jezreel.”
9:16 Jehu rode in a chariot to Jezreel, for Joram was resting there, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, had come down to visit Joram.
9:17 A lookout stationed in the tower of Jezreel spotted Jehu’s troop approaching and reported, “I see a company.” Joram ordered, “Send a horseman to meet them and inquire, ‘Is it peace?'”
9:18 The horseman rode to meet Jehu and asked, “The king inquires, ‘Is it peace?'” Jehu retorted, “What concern is peace to you? Fall in behind me.” The lookout reported, “The messenger reached them, but he’s not returning.”
9:19 Joram dispatched a second horseman, who approached them and asked, “The king inquires, ‘Is it peace?'” Jehu responded, “What concern is peace to you? Fall in behind me.”
9:20 The lookout reported, “He reached them, but he’s not returning. The driving style is like that of Jehu, son of Nimshi – he drives furiously.”
9:21 Joram ordered, “Prepare my chariot.” Both he and Ahaziah, king of Judah, rode out, each in his chariot, to meet Jehu. They confronted him in the plot of land belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite.
9:22 When Joram saw Jehu, he inquired, “Is it peace, Jehu?” Jehu replied, “How can there be peace as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her sorceries continue unabated?”
9:23 Joram turned to flee, crying out to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”
9:24 Jehu drew his bow to its full strength and struck Jehoram between the arms. The arrow pierced his heart, and he collapsed in his chariot.
9:25 Jehu instructed Bidkar, his captain, “Lift him and throw him onto the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how, when you and I rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD pronounced this sentence against him,
9:26 ‘Surely, I have observed yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, says the LORD, and I will repay you on this plot of ground, says the LORD.’ Now, lift and throw him onto the plot, according to the word of the LORD.”
9:27 When Ahaziah, king of Judah, saw this, he fled towards the Garden House. Jehu pursued him, commanding, “Strike him down in the chariot.” So they did at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo and died there.
9:28 His servants transported him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his sepulchre with his ancestors in the city of David.
9:29 In the eleventh year of Joram, son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah.
9:30 Upon Jehu’s arrival in Jezreel, Jezebel received news of it. She adorned her face, arranged her hair, and peered out of a window.
9:31 As Jehu entered the gate, she jeered, “Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?”
9:32 He lifted his face to the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs peered down at him.
9:33 He commanded, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses, and he trampled her underfoot.
9:34 When he had entered, he ate and drank, and then commanded, “Attend to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.”
9:35 They went to bury her, but they found nothing of her except the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands.
9:36 They returned and informed him. He declared, “This fulfills the word of the LORD, which He spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘In the plot of Jezreel, dogs shall consume the flesh of Jezebel,
9:37 and the corpse of Jezebel shall be like dung on the surface of the field in the plot of Jezreel, so that none shall say, ‘This is Jezebel.'”
10:1 Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, the elders, and the guardians of Ahab’s sons, stating,
10:2 “As soon as this letter reaches you, who have your master’s sons with you, as well as chariots, horses, a fortified city, and weaponry,
10:3 select the best and most fitting of your master’s sons, set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.”
10:4 However, they were greatly afraid and said, “Behold, two kings could not stand before him; how then can we stand?”
10:5 The overseer of the house, the city governor, the elders, and the guardians sent word to Jehu, saying, “We are your servants and will do all that you instruct. We will not appoint a king. Do what is good in your eyes.”
10:6 Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying, “If you are on my side and will listen to my voice, take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel by tomorrow this time.” Now the king’s sons, seventy in number, were with the city’s leading men, who were rearing them.
10:7 When the letter arrived, they took the king’s sons and slaughtered all seventy, placed their heads in baskets, and sent them to him in Jezreel.
10:8 A messenger arrived and informed him, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” He said, “Lay them in two piles at the entrance of the gate until morning.”
10:9 In the morning, he went out and stood before all the people, declaring, “You are innocent. Indeed, I conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these?
10:10 Know then that nothing shall fall to the earth of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for the LORD has done what He spoke through His servant Elijah.”
10:11 So Jehu struck down all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, his great men, his close associates, and his priests, leaving him without a survivor.
10:12 He then set out and went to Samaria. En route, at Beth Eked of the Shepherds,
10:13 Jehu encountered the relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, “Who are you?” They answered, “We are relatives of Ahaziah, and we’ve come down to greet the children of the king and the children of the queen mother.”
10:14 He said, “Capture them alive.” They captured them alive and slaughtered them at the pit of Beth Eked, forty-two men. He spared none of them.
10:15 After leaving there, he encountered Jehonadab son of Rechab coming to meet him. He greeted him and said to him, “Is your heart as true to mine as mine is to yours?” Jehonadab answered, “It is.” Jehu said, “If it is, give me your hand.” He gave him his hand, and Jehu pulled him up into the chariot with him.
10:16 He said, “Come with me and witness my zeal for the LORD.” So they had him ride in his chariot.
10:17 When he arrived in Samaria, he struck down all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had wiped them out, according to the word of the LORD spoken to Elijah.
10:18 Then Jehu gathered all the people and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much.
10:19 Now, summon to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests. Let no one be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever is missing shall not live.” But Jehu did this cunningly, intending to destroy the worshippers of Baal.
10:20 And Jehu proclaimed, “Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal.” They proclaimed it.
10:21 Jehu sent word throughout Israel, and all the worshippers of Baal came. Not a single one stayed away. They entered the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled from one end to another.
10:22 He said to the one in charge of the wardrobe, “Bring out garments for all the worshippers of Baal.” So he brought out garments for them.
10:23 Then Jehu, along with Jehonadab son of Rechab, entered the house of Baal and said to the worshippers of Baal, “Search and make sure there are no servants of the LORD here with you, only the worshippers of Baal.”
10:24 They went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Jehu had stationed eighty men outside and warned, “If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, the life of the one who lets him escape shall be for the life of him.”
10:25 As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and the officers, “Go in and strike them down; let none come out.” They struck them down with the edge of the sword. The guards and the officers threw them out and then went into the inner room of the house of Baal.
10:26 They brought out the pillars of the house of Baal and burned them.
10:27 They tore down the pillar of Baal, demolished the house of Baal, and made it a latrine, which it remains to this day.
10:28 Thus Jehu eradicated Baal from Israel.
10:29 However, Jehu did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin, namely, the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan.
10:30 The LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in executing what is right in My eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in My heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.
10:31 But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin.
10:32 In those days the LORD began to reduce the size of Israel. Hazael ravaged them throughout the territory of Israel;
10:33 from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead—the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites—from Aroer, which is by the Arnon River, including Gilead and Bashan.
10:34 The rest of the acts of Jehu, all that he did, and all his might, are they not recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
10:35 Jehu rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. His son Jehoahaz succeeded him.
10:36 The duration of Jehu’s reign over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.
11:1 When Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal offspring.
11:2 But Jehosheba, daughter of King Joram and sister of Ahaziah, secretly took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were being killed. She placed him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah, so he was not slain.
11:3 He remained hidden with her in the house of the LORD for six years while Athaliah reigned over the land.
11:4 In the seventh year, Jehoiada sent for the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, and the guards, and brought them to him in the house of the LORD. He made a covenant with them, took an oath from them in the house of the LORD, and showed them the king’s son.
11:5 He commanded them, “This is what you must do: one-third of you who come on duty on the Sabbath shall guard the royal palace;
11:6 another third shall be at the Gate of Sur, and a third at the gate behind the guards. You shall guard the palace for defense.
11:7 Two parts of you, all who go off duty on the Sabbath, shall guard the house of the LORD for the king.
11:8 You shall surround the king, each with weapons in hand. Anyone who approaches the ranks must be killed. Stay with the king wherever he goes.”
11:9 The commanders of hundreds did everything Jehoiada the priest commanded. Each took his men, those who were coming on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off duty, and came to Jehoiada the priest.
11:10 The priest gave King David’s spears and shields that were in the temple of the LORD to the commanders.
11:11 The guards stood, each with weapons in hand, from the south side of the temple to the north side of the temple, around the altar and the temple, to protect the king on all sides.
11:12 Then he brought out the king’s son, placed the crown on him, gave him the testimony, and they made him king. They anointed him, clapped their hands, and said, “Long live the king!”
11:13 When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and the people, she came to the people in the temple of the LORD.
11:14 She looked and saw the king standing by the pillar, according to custom, with the officers and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!”
11:15 Jehoiada the priest commanded the commanders of hundreds, the officers of the army, “Take her out between the ranks, and kill with the sword anyone who follows her.” For the priest had said, “She must not be killed in the house of the LORD.”
11:16 They seized her, and as she reached the horses’ entrance to the king’s house, there she was killed.
11:17 Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD, the king, and the people, that they would be the LORD’s people, and also between the king and the people.
11:18 All the people of the land went to the house of Baal and tore it down. They smashed his altars and his images thoroughly, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, before the altars. The priest appointed officers over the house of the LORD.
11:19 He took the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the LORD, marching through the guards’ gate to the king’s house. He sat on the throne of the kings.
11:20 All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was peaceful after they had killed Athaliah with the sword beside the king’s house.
11:21 Jehoash was seven years old when he became king.
12:1 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.
12:2 Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all his days because Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
12:3 However, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
12:4 Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the dedicated gifts brought into the house of the LORD—the money each person is assessed, the money from personal vows, and all the money brought voluntarily into the house of the LORD—
12:5 let the priests receive it, each from his donor, and let them repair the damages of the house wherever any damage is found.”
12:6 But by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had not repaired the damages of the house.
12:7 So King Jehoash called Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and asked them, “Why haven’t you repaired the damages of the house? Now, do not take more money from your donors but hand it over for the repair of the damages of the house.”
12:8 The priests agreed that they would neither take more money from the people nor repair the damages of the house.
12:9 But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and placed it beside the altar, on the right side as one enters the house of the LORD. The priests who guarded the threshold put all the money brought into the house of the LORD into the chest.
12:10 Whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king’s secretary and the high priest would come up, bag the money that was found in the house of the LORD, and count it.
12:11 They would then give the money that was weighed out into the hands of the workers assigned to the house of the LORD. They in turn paid it out to the carpenters and builders who worked on the house of the LORD,
12:12 to the masons and stonecutters, and for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the damage to the house of the LORD, and for all that was paid out to repair the house.
12:13 However, no silver bowls, snuffers, basins, trumpets, or any vessels of gold or vessels of silver were made for the house of the LORD from the money brought into the house of the LORD;
12:14 for they gave it to the workmen, and with it, they repaired the house of the LORD.
12:15 They did not require an accounting from the men into whose hands they delivered the money to be paid to the workmen, for they dealt faithfully.
12:16 The money from the guilt offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD. It belonged to the priests.
12:17 At that time Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and captured it. Then Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.
12:18 Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred objects that Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, his own sacred objects, and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king’s house, and sent them to Hazael king of Syria. Then Hazael withdrew from Jerusalem.
12:19 The rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
12:20 His servants arose, formed a conspiracy, and struck down Joash in the house of Millo, on the road that goes down to Silla.
12:21 It was Jozachar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, who struck him down so that he died. They buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.
13:1 In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years.
13:2 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from them.
13:3 The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and He gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael.
13:4 Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him, for He saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them.
13:5 (Therefore the LORD gave Israel a deliverer, so that they escaped from the hand of the Syrians, and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before.
13:6 Nevertheless, they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin, but walked in them; and the Asherah also remained in Samaria.)
13:7 For there was not left to Jehoahaz an army of more than fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing.
13:8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
13:9 And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. Then Joash his son reigned in his place.
13:10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years.
13:11 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin, but he walked in them.
13:12 Now the rest of the acts of Joash, all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
13:13 And 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 had been suffering from the illness from which he died. Joash king of Israel went down to him, wept over his face, and said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”
13:15 Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows.
13:16 Then 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 And he said, “Open the window eastward.” And he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And he said, “The LORD’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall strike the Syrians in Aphek until you have destroyed them.”
13:18 Then he said, “Take the arrows.” And he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground.” 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 destroyed it. But now you shall strike Syria only three times.”
13:20 Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year.
13:21 As some people were burying a man, behold, they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man into the tomb of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.
13:22 Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.
13:23 But the LORD was gracious to them, had compassion on them, and turned toward them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was not willing to destroy them or cast them from His presence as yet.
13:24 When Hazael king of Syria died, Ben-hadad his son became king in his place.
13:25 Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz recaptured from Ben-hadad son of Hazael the cities that he had taken in war from his father Jehoahaz. Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.
14:1 In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign.
14:2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.
14:3 He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like his father David. He did in all things as Joash his father had done.
14:4 However, the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
14:5 As soon as the kingdom was firmly in his hand, he executed his servants who had murdered the king his father.
14:6 But he did not put the children of the murderers to death, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the LORD commanded, saying, “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children be put to death for their fathers; but each one shall be put to death for his own sin.”
14:7 He struck down ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by war, calling its name Joktheel, which is its name to this day.
14:8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us face each other.”
14:9 Jehoash king of Israel sent word back to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife.’ Then a wild animal in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle.
14:10 You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory and stay at home, for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”
14:11 But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.
14:12 Judah was defeated by Israel, and each fled to his tent.
14:13 Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh. He 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, all the vessels that were found in the house of the LORD and in the treasures of the king’s house, as well as hostages, and returned to Samaria.
14:15 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash that he did, his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not 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. Then Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.
14:17 Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel.
14:18 The rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
14:19 They conspired 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 in 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 instead of his father Amaziah.
14:22 He built Elath and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers.
14:23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years.
14:24 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who 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 the LORD, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.
14:26 For the LORD saw the bitter affliction of Israel, that there was no one left, bond or free, and there was no helper for Israel.
14:27 The LORD did not say that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, but He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Joash.
14:28 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, all that he did, his might, how he warred, how he recovered Damascus and Hamath for Judah in Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
14:29 Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel. Then Zechariah his son reigned in his place.
15:1 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign.
15:2 He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem.
15:3 He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done,
15:4 except that the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
15:5 But the LORD struck the king, so that he was a leper until the day of his death, and he lived in a separate house. Jotham the king’s son was over the house, judging the people of the land.
15:6 The rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
15:7 Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. Jotham his son reigned in his place.
15:8 In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months.
15:9 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
15:10 Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against him and struck him down 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 the LORD which He spoke to Jehu, saying, “Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” And so it came to pass.
15:13 Shallum son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned one month in Samaria.
15:14 Then Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and struck down Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria and killed him, and reigned in his place.
15:15 Now the rest of the acts of Shallum, and the conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
15:16 Then Menahem struck down Tiphsah and all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on; because they did not open it to him, he struck it down. He ripped open all its pregnant women.
15:17 In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi began to reign over Israel, and he reigned ten years in Samaria.
15:18 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
15:19 Pul king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, so that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.
15:20 Menahem exacted the money from Israel, that is, from all the mighty men of wealth, from each man fifty shekels of silver to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay there in the land.
15:21 Now the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
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 son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned two years.
15:24 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
15:25 But Pekah son of Remaliah, a captain of his, conspired against him and struck him in Samaria, in the palace of the king’s house, with Argob and Arieh, and with him fifty men of the Gileadites. 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 fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twenty years.
15:28 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
15:29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried the people captive to Assyria.
15:30 Then Hoshea son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah, struck him down, and killed him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham 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 son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham son of Uzziah king of Judah began to reign.
15:33 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha, daughter of Zadok.
15:34 He did what was right in the sight of the LORD. He did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.
15:35 However, the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. He built the Upper Gate of the house of the LORD.
15:36 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
15:37 In those days the LORD began to send Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah.
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 stead.
16:1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.
16:2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David had done.
16:3 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel and even made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven out from before the children of Israel.
16:4 He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, 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 wage war against Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him.
16:6 At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria and drove the Jews from Elath. And the Syrians came to Elath and have 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 rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising against me.”
16:8 Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s house and sent a present to the king of Assyria.
16:9 The king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched against Damascus, captured it, carried its people captive to Kir, and killed Rezin.
16:10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar that was in Damascus, and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the design of the altar and its pattern, according to all its workmanship.
16:11 Urijah the priest built an altar in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus; so Urijah the priest made it before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus.

16:12 When the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king approached the altar and went up to it,
16:13 and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.
16:14 He also brought the bronze altar that was before the LORD from the front of the temple, from between the altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of the altar.
16:15 King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “On the great altar, burn the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt sacrifice and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their drink offerings. 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 everything King Ahaz commanded.
16:17 King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them. He took down the sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a pavement of stone.

16:18 The covered walkway for the Sabbath that they had built in the temple and the king’s outer entrance he turned from the house of the LORD because of the king of Assyria.

16:19 Are the remaining deeds of Ahaz, his actions, not chronicled in the annals of the kings of Judah?

16:20 Ahaz then rested with his ancestors, interred in the city of David. Hezekiah, his son, ascended to rule in his place.
17:1 In Judah’s Ahaz twelfth year, Hoshea, son of Elah, began his nine-year reign over Israel in Samaria.
17:2 He acted wickedly in the LORD’s eyes, yet not as severely as the preceding Israelite monarchs.
17:3 Shalmaneser, Assyria’s king, marched against him. Hoshea became his vassal, paying tributes.

17:4 The Assyrian king discovered Hoshea’s betrayal—for he had liaised with So, Egypt’s king, and ceased his tributes. Thus, Assyria’s king imprisoned him.

17:5 The Assyrian king then invaded the entire land, besieging Samaria for three years.

17:6 In Hoshea’s ninth year, the Assyrian king seized Samaria, exiling the Israelites to Assyria. They were settled in Halah, by Habor, the Gozan river, and in the Medes’ cities.
17:7 This befell them because they sinned against the LORD their God, who freed them from Egypt, from Pharaoh’s grip, yet they revered other deities.
17:8 They followed the customs of the nations the LORD had ousted for the Israelites and the practices their kings had instituted.
17:9 Secretly they did things not right against the LORD their God. High places emerged in all their cities, from watchtowers to fortified towns.
17:10 They erected pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and beneath every green tree.
17:11 They burnt incense on all high places, like the nations the LORD exiled before them, provoking the LORD’s wrath.
17:12 They served idols, despite the LORD’s specific prohibition.
17:13 Still, the LORD warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and seer, urging them to abandon their evil ways and obey His commandments and decrees, as given to their ancestors and relayed through His servants the prophets.
17:14 But they would not listen, stiffening their necks like their ancestors who did not trust the LORD their God.
17:15 They spurned His decrees and the covenant He made with their ancestors, as well as the warnings He gave them. They chased empty idols and themselves became empty, mimicking the nations around them, though the LORD had ordered them not to.
17:16 They abandoned all the LORD’s commandments, making for themselves molten images, even two calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed to the celestial host and served Baal.
17:17 They passed their sons and daughters through fire, practiced divination and augury, and sold themselves to do evil in the LORD’s eyes, provoking Him.
17:18 As a result, the LORD’s wrath flared against Israel, and He removed them from His sight, leaving only the tribe of Judah.
17:19 Yet even Judah did not keep the LORD’s commandments but followed the practices Israel had introduced.
17:20 The LORD rejected all Israel’s descendants, punishing them and delivering them to plunderers, until He cast them from His presence.
17:21 For He tore Israel away from David’s house, and they made Jeroboam, son of Nebat, king. Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD and led them into grave sin.

17:22 The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them,
17:23 until the LORD removed them from His sight, as He had foretold through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their land to Assyria, where they remain to this day.
17:24 Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities.
17:25 When they first lived there, they did not fear the LORD. Therefore, the LORD sent lions among them, killing some.
17:26 The newcomers reported to the king of Assyria, “The nations you deported and settled in Samaria’s cities don’t know the local deity’s customs. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them because the people don’t know the local deity’s customs.”
17:27 The king of Assyria commanded, “Send back one of the priests you exiled from there, and let him live there to teach them the local deity’s customs.
17:28 So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria returned to live in Bethel and taught the people how to fear the LORD.
17:29 Nevertheless, each nationality made its own gods and placed them in the Samaria’s high places’ shrines, which the Samaritans had made. Each nation did so in their cities where they lived.
17:30 The Babylonians made Sukkoth-benoth, the people of Cuth made Nergal, the people of Hamath made Ashima,
17:31 the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
17:32 They also feared the LORD and appointed from among themselves priests for the high places, who would offer sacrifices for them in the shrines.
17:33 They feared the LORD but also served their own gods, following the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.
17:34 To this day, they continue their former practices. They do not truly fear the LORD, nor do they follow the statutes, the ordinances, the law, or the commandment that the LORD had commanded the children of Jacob, whom He named Israel.
17:35 The LORD had made a covenant with them and commanded them, “Do not fear other gods or bow down to them, serve them, or sacrifice to them.
17:36 But the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice.
17:37 The statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandment He wrote for you, you shall be careful to do forever. Do not fear other gods.
17:38 The covenant I have made with you, you shall not forget. You shall not fear other gods.
17:39 But fear the LORD your God, and He will deliver you from the hands of all your enemies.”
17:40 However, they did not listen but continued their former practices.
17:41 So while these nations feared the LORD, they also served their carved images. Their children and their children’s children continue doing as their ancestors did, to this day.
18:1 In Israel’s Hoshea third year, Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
18:2 He was twenty-five years old when he started to reign, and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi, daughter of Zechariah.
18:3 He did what was right in the LORD’s eyes, just as his ancestor David had done.
18:4 He removed the high places, shattered the sacred stones, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also broke into pieces the bronze serpent Moses had made, for up until those days, the Israelites had been burning incense to it; it was called Nehushtan.
18:5 Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. Among all the kings of Judah after him or before him, there was no one like him.
18:6 He clung to the LORD and did not cease to follow Him; he kept the commandments the LORD had given Moses.
18:7 The LORD was with him; wherever he went, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
18:8 He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.
18:9 In king Hezekiah’s fourth year, which was Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel’s seventh year, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it.
18:10 After three years, they captured it. In Hezekiah’s sixth year and Hoshea’s ninth year, Samaria was captured.
18:11 The king of Assyria deported the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
18:12 because they did not obey the LORD their God but violated His covenant—all that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.
18:13 In king Hezekiah’s fourteenth year, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
18:14 King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
18:15 So Hezekiah gave him all the silver found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace.
18:16 At that time, Hezekiah stripped the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the LORD and gave it to the king of Assyria.
18:17 The king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a large army. They went up to Jerusalem and arrived there. They stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the road to the launderer’s field.
18:18 They called for the king, and Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder came out to them.
18:19 The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what basis are you confident?
18:20 You claim to have strategy and military strength—but these are mere words. On whom are you relying that you have rebelled against me?
18:21 Look, you are relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.
18:22 But if you say to me, ‘We rely on the LORD our God,’ isn’t He the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, telling Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?
18:23 Come now, make a wager with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!
18:24 How can you repulse one official, even the least of my master’s servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
18:25 Have I come up to destroy this place without the LORD’s direction? The LORD Himself told me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.'”
18:26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
18:27 But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”
18:28 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in Hebrew, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!
18:29 This is what the king says: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you.
18:30 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the LORD, saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
18:31 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern,
18:32 until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive groves and honey. Choose life and not death!
18:33 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.”
18:34 Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
18:35 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand?
18:36 But the people remained silent and did not answer him a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.”
18:37 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
19:1 When king Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went into the temple of the LORD.
19:2 He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
19:3 They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; it is as if children have come to the moment of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.
19:4 Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to insult the living God, and will rebuke the words the LORD your God has heard. Therefore, lift up your prayer for the remnant that still survives.”
19:5 When king Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah,
19:6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of the words you heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
19:7 Listen! I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.'”
19:8 The Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.
19:9 When Sennacherib heard about Tirhakah king of Cush, saying, “He has set out to fight against you,” he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,
19:10 “Tell king Hezekiah of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you by saying, ‘Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’
19:11 You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all countries, destroying them completely. Will you be delivered?
19:12 Did the gods of the nations that my predecessors destroyed rescue them—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
19:13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, or the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, or of Ivvah?”
19:14 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it before the LORD.
19:15 And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD: “O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
19:16 Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.
19:17 It is true, LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste the nations and their lands.
19:18 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.
19:19 Now, LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You, LORD, are the only God.”
19:20 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria.
19:21 This is the word the LORD has spoken against him: ‘The virgin, the daughter of Zion, despises you and mocks you. The daughter of Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee.
19:22 Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
19:23 By your messengers, you have reproached the LORD. You have said: With my many chariots, I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I will cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest junipers. I will enter its remotest lodgings, the most fruitful of its forests.
19:24 I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water there. With the soles of my feet, I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.
19:25 Have you not heard? Long ago, I ordained it. In days of old, I planned it, and now I have brought it to pass. You have turned fortified cities into piles of stone.
19:26 Their inhabitants, powerless, are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it grows up.
19:27 But I know your resting place, your going out and coming in, and your rage against me.
19:28 Because of your rage against me and your arrogance, which I have heard, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.’
19:29 This will be the sign for you: This year you will eat what grows by itself, and in the second year what springs from that. But in the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
19:30 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
19:31 For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
19:32 Therefore, this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it.
19:33 By the way he came, he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the LORD.
19:34 I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.”
19:35 That night, the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!
19:36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
19:37 One day, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and then escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esarhaddon succeeded him as king.
20:1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”
20:2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,
20:3 “Remember, LORD, how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in Your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
20:4 Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him:
20:5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of My people, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD.
20:6 I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.'”
20:7 Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered.
20:8 Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I will go up to the temple of the LORD on the third day?”
20:9 Isaiah answered, “This is the LORD’s sign to you that the LORD will do what He has promised: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?”
20:10 “It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,” said Hezekiah. “Rather, have it go back ten steps.”
20:11 Then the prophet Isaiah called out to the LORD, and the LORD made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.
20:12 At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah’s illness.
20:13 Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the fine oil—his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.
20:14 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?” “From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came from Babylon.”
20:15 The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?” “They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”
20:16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD:
20:17 ‘The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says the LORD.
20:18 ‘And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'”
20:19 “The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?”
20:20 As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city—are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
20:21 Hezekiah rested with his ancestors. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.
21:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.
21:2 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
21:3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them.
21:4 He built altars in the temple of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My Name.”
21:5 In the two courts of the temple of the LORD, he built altars to all the starry hosts.
21:6 He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, arousing His anger.
21:7 He took the carved Asherah pole he had made and put it in the temple, of which the LORD had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My Name forever.
21:8 I will not again make the feet of the Israelites wander from the land I gave their ancestors—if only they will be careful to do everything I have commanded them and will keep the whole Law that My servant Moses gave them.”
21:9 But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.
21:10 The LORD said through His servants the prophets:
21:11 “Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols.
21:12 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.
21:13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.
21:14 I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and give them into the hands of enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their enemies;
21:15 they have done evil in My eyes and have aroused My anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until this day.”
21:16 Moreover, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end—besides the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, so that they did evil in the eyes of the LORD.
21:17 As for the other events of Manasseh’s reign, and all he did, and the sin he committed, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
21:18 Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza. And Amon his son succeeded him as king.
21:19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
21:20 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done.
21:21 He walked in all the ways of his father; he worshiped the idols his father had worshiped, and bowed down to them.
21:22 He forsook the LORD, the God of his ancestors, and did not walk in obedience to Him.
21:23 Amon’s officials conspired against him and assassinated the king in his palace.
21:24 Then the people of the land killed all who had plotted against King Amon, and they made Josiah his son king in his place.
21:25 As for the other events of Amon’s reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
21:26 He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza. And Josiah his son succeeded him as king.
22:1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.
22:2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.
22:3 In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the LORD. He said,
22:4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people.
22:5 Have them entrust it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. And have these men pay the workers who repair the temple of the LORD—
22:6 the carpenters, the builders and the masons. Also have them purchase timber and dressed stone to repair the temple.
22:7 But they need not account for the money entrusted to them, because they are honest in their dealings.”
22:8 Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it.
22:9 Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: “Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the LORD and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple.”
22:10 Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.
22:11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes.
22:12 He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Akbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant:
22:13 “Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD’s anger that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”
22:14 Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Akbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to speak to the prophetess Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the New Quarter.
22:15 She said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me,
22:16 ‘This is what the LORD says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people—all the words of the book the king of Judah has read.
22:17 Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all the idols their hands have made, my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.’
22:18 Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard:
22:19 Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people—that they would become a curse and be laid waste—and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I also have heard you, declares the LORD.
22:20 Therefore I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place.'” So they took her answer back to the king.
23:1 Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
23:2 He went up to the temple of the LORD with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant, which had been found in the temple of the LORD.
23:3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD—to follow the LORD and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.
23:4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel.
23:5 He did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem—those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts.
23:6 He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people.
23:7 He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the LORD, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.
23:8 Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places where the priests had burned incense—from Geba to Beersheba. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate.
23:9 Although the priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.
23:10 He desecrated Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek.
23:11 He removed from the entrance to the temple of the LORD the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the chamber of Nathan-Melech, the official, which was in the precincts. He burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.
23:12 The king pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper chamber of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the LORD. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley.
23:13 The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the people of Ammon.
23:14 Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.
23:15 Even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin—even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also.
23:16 Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.
23:17 The king asked, “What is that monument I see?” The people of the city said, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it.”
23:18 “Leave it alone,” he said. “Don’t let anyone disturb his bones.” So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.
23:19 Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the cities of Samaria and that had aroused the LORD’s anger.
23:20 Josiah slaughtered all the priests of the high places who were there on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.
23:21 The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”
23:22 Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed.
23:23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the LORD in Jerusalem.
23:24 Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the temple of the LORD.
23:25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.
23:26 Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to arouse his anger.
23:27 So the LORD said, “I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and the temple about which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.'”
23:28 As for the other events of Josiah’s reign, all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
23:29 While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Necho faced him and killed him at Megiddo.
23:30 Josiah’s servants brought his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz 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 became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
23:32 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his fathers had done.
23:33 Pharaoh Necho put him in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
23:34 Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, and there he died.
23:35 Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Necho the silver and gold he demanded. In order to do so, he taxed the land and exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land according to their assessments.
23:36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
23:37 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his fathers had done.
24:1 During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. But then he changed his mind and rebelled against him.
24:2 The LORD sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders against him to destroy Judah, in accordance with the word of the LORD proclaimed by his servants the prophets.
24:3 Surely these things happened to Judah according to the LORD’s command, to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done,
24:4 including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was not willing to forgive.
24:5 As for the other events of Jehoiakim’s reign, all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
24:6 Jehoiakim rested with his ancestors. And Jehoiachin his son succeeded him as king.
24:7 The king of Egypt did not march out from his own country again, because the king of Babylon had taken all his territory from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River.
24:8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem.
24:9 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father had done.
24:10 At that time the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem and laid siege to it,
24:11 and Nebuchadnezzar himself came up to the city while his officers were besieging it.
24:12 Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his attendants, his nobles and his officials all surrendered to him. In the eighth year of the reign of the king of Babylon, he took Jehoiachin prisoner.
24:13 As the LORD had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the LORD and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the LORD.
24:14 He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans—a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left.
24:15 Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. He also took from Jerusalem to Babylon the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officials and the prominent people of the land.
24:16 The king of Babylon also deported to Babylon the entire force of seven thousand fighting men, strong and fit for war, and a thousand skilled workers and artisans.

24:17 And the monarch of Babylon appointed Mattaniah, his uncle, as sovereign in his place, renaming him Zedekiah.

24:18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years of age when he commenced his reign, and he governed for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.

24:19 Zedekiah pursued a path of wickedness in the LORD’s view, mirroring all the deeds of Jehoiakim.

24:20 Due to the LORD’s wrath, it transpired in Jerusalem and Judah that, until he expelled them from his sight, Zedekiah rebelled against the Babylonian king.

25:1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day, Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, arrived with his entire host to lay siege to Jerusalem, encircling it with fortifications.

25:2 The siege endured until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

25:3 By the fourth month’s ninth day, famine had overtaken the city, leaving the populace without bread.

25:4 The city’s defences were breached, and all the warriors fled at night through a gate between two walls, near the royal garden, while the Chaldeans surrounded the city. The king fled towards the plains.

25:5 However, the Chaldean army pursued the king, capturing him in the plains of Jericho, with his forces dispersed from him.

25:6 They brought the king before the Babylonian king at Riblah, where he was tried.

25:7 There, they executed Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, blinded Zedekiah, shackled him in bronze fetters, and transported him to Babylon.

25:8 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in Nebuchadnezzar’s nineteenth year as king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard and servant of the Babylonian king, entered Jerusalem.

25:9 He set fire to the LORD’s temple, the royal palace, all the residences of Jerusalem, and every notable’s dwelling.

25:10 The entire Chaldean army, under the captain of the guard’s command, demolished the walls of Jerusalem.

25:11 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, deported the city’s remaining inhabitants, those who had defected to the Babylonian king, and the residual populace.

25:12 But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest in the land to work as vineyard keepers and farmers.

25:13 The Chaldeans dismantled the bronze pillars in the LORD’s temple, the stands, and the bronze sea, transporting the bronze to Babylon.

25:14 They seized the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes, and all the bronze vessels used in temple service.

25:15 The fire pans and bowls, whether gold or silver, were also taken by the captain of the guard.

25:16 The two pillars, the massive bronze basin, and the stands made by Solomon for the LORD’s temple—the weight of the bronze of all these furnishings was immeasurable.

25:17 The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, with a bronze capital on top measuring three cubits high, adorned with a network and pomegranates, all in bronze. The second pillar, with its network, was identical.

25:18 The captain of the guard took Seraiah, the chief priest, Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three doorkeepers.

25:19 From the city, he took an official overseeing the warriors, five of the king’s advisors present in the city, the chief army recruiter, and sixty citizens found in the city.

25:20 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, brought them to the Babylonian king at Riblah.

25:21 There, in Riblah in the land of Hamath, the Babylonian king executed them. Thus, Judah was exiled from its territory.

25:22 Over the people remaining in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had left behind, he appointed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor.

25:23 When all the army captains and their men learned that the Babylonian king had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah—namely, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Careah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the Maachathite, along with their men.

25:24 Gedaliah took an oath to reassure them and their men, advising them, “Do not fear serving the Chaldeans. Reside in the land, serve the Babylonian king, and all will be well for you.”

25:25 However, in the seventh month, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, of royal descent, came with ten men. They assassinated Gedaliah, along with the Jews and Chaldeans present with him at Mizpah.

25:26 Consequently, everyone, both high and low, along with the army captains, fled to Egypt, fearing the Chaldeans.

25:27 On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, in the thirty-seventh year of Jehoiachin’s exile from Judah, Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, in the inaugural year of his reign, released Jehoiachin from prison.

25:28 He spoke kindly to him and elevated his throne above those of the other kings in Babylon.

25:29 Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes and dined regularly in the king’s presence for the rest of his life.

25:30 The king granted Jehoiachin a daily allowance for the duration of his life.

 

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