Jonathan 2 Kings

Ahaziah Consults Baal Zebub

1 And Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. 2 And Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and he became sick; and he sent messengers and said to them, “Go, inquire of Baal Zebub, the idol of Ekron, whether I will recover from this sickness.”

3 And the angel of the Lord spoke with Elijah, who was from Tishbe, “Get up, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and speak with them, ‘Is it not so that the living God, whose Shekinah dwells in Israel, is there, and you are going to inquire of Baal Zebub, the idol of Ekron? 4 And therefore, this is what the Lord says: You shall not come down from the bed on which you have gone up, for you shall surely die.’” And Elijah went.

5 And the messengers returned to him, and he said to them, “Why is it that you have returned?” 6 And they said to him, “A man came up to meet us and said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you, and speak with him: This is what the Lord says: Is it not so that the living God, whose Shekinah dwells in Israel, is there, and you are sending to inquire of Baal Zebub, the idol of Ekron? Therefore, you shall not come down from the bed on which you have gone up, for you shall surely die.’”

7 And he spoke with them, “What was the manner of the man who came up to meet you and spoke these words with you?” 8 And they said to him, “A hairy man, with a leather belt fastened around his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah, who is from Tishbe.”

Fire on the Captains of Fifty

9 And he sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty, and he went up to him; and there he was, sitting on the top of the mountain. And he spoke with him, “Prophet of the Lord, the king has spoken: Come down!” 10 And Elijah answered and spoke with the captain of fifty, “If I am a prophet of the Lord, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

11 And he again sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty; and he answered and spoke with him, “Prophet of the Lord, this is what the king says: Come down quickly!” 12 And Elijah answered and spoke with them, “If I am a prophet of the Lord, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

13 And he again sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty; and the third captain of fifty went up and came and knelt on his knees before Elijah, and he pleaded with him and spoke with him, “Prophet of the Lord, please let my life and the life of these fifty, your servants, be precious in your eyes. 14 Look, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former captains of fifty and their fifties; but now, let my life be precious in your eyes.”

15 And the angel of the Lord spoke with Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” And he got up and went down with him to the king. 16 And he spoke with him, “This is what the Lord says: Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal Zebub, the idol of Ekron, is it not so that the living God, whose Shekinah dwells in Israel, is there to inquire of His word? Therefore, you shall not come down from the bed on which you have gone up, for you shall surely die.”

The Death of Ahaziah

17 And he died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram reigned in his place, in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, king of the house of Judah, for he had no son.

18 And the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Elijah Taken Up to Heaven

1 And it was, when the Lord was taking Elijah up in a whirlwind toward heaven, that Elijah and Elisha went from Gilgal. 2 And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” And Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” And they went down to Bethel. 3 And the disciples of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord is taking your master from over your head?” And he said, “I know it too; be quiet.”

4 And Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” And he said, “As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” And they came to Jericho. 5 And the disciples of the prophets who were in Jericho approached Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord is taking your master from you?” And he said, “I know it too; be quiet.”

6 And Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as the Jordan.” And he said, “As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” And the two of them went on. 7 And fifty men of the disciples of the prophets went and stood opposite, at a distance; and the two of them stood by the Jordan. 8 And Elijah took his cloak and folded it and struck the water, and it divided this way and that, and the two of them crossed on dry land.

9 And it was, as they crossed, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please, let there be a double portion of your spirit of prophecy with me.” 10 And he said, “You have asked a hard thing. If you see me being taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be.”

11 And it was, as they were going on and speaking, that suddenly chariots of fire and horses of fire separated between the two of them; and Elijah went up in a whirlwind toward heaven. 12 And Elisha saw it, and he was crying out, “My master, my master, who was better for Israel with his prayer than chariots and horsemen!” And he saw him no more; and he took hold of his garments and tore them into two pieces.

13 And he lifted up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him, and he went back and stood upon the bank of the Jordan. 14 And he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, and he said, “Accept my prayer, Lord, God of Elijah!” He too struck the water, and it divided this way and that, and Elisha crossed.

15 And the disciples of the prophets who were in Jericho saw him from opposite, and they said, “The spirit of Elijah has rested upon Elisha.” And they came to meet him and bowed down to him to the ground.

16 And they said to him, “Look, there are fifty strong men with your servants; let them go now and seek your master, in case a wind from before the Lord has carried him and thrown him onto one of the mountains or into one of the valleys.” And he said, “Do not send.” 17 And they pressed him until he was ashamed, and he said, “Send.” And they sent fifty men, and they sought for three days but did not find him.

18 And they returned to him, while he was staying in Jericho; and he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?”

Elisha Heals the Water of Jericho

19 And the men of the city said to Elisha, “Look, the situation of the city is good, as my master sees; but the water is bad and the land causes bereavement.” 20 And he said, “Bring me a new flask and put salt there.” And they brought it to him. 21 And he went out to the spring of the water and cast salt there, and he said, “This is what the Lord says: I have healed this water; death or bereavement shall no longer come from there.” 22 And the water was healed until this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.

The Boys at Bethel

23 And he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up on the way, little children came out of the city and mocked him, and they said to him, “Go up, baldhead! Go up, baldhead!” 24 And he turned around behind him and saw them, and he cursed them in the name of the Lord; and two bears came out of the forest and tore apart forty-two of the children.

25 And he went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

Jehoram King of Israel

1 And Jehoram son of Ahab reigned over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of the tribe of the house of Judah; and he reigned twelve years. 2 And he did what was evil before the Lord, but not like his father and like his mother; and he removed the pillar of Baal that his father had made. 3 Only in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, did he take pleasure; he did not turn aside from it.

The Campaign against Moab

4 And Mesha king of Moab was a master of cattle, and he would pay tribute to the king of Israel year by year: a hundred thousand fattened oxen and a hundred thousand rams of the flock. 5 And it was, when Ahab died, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

6 And King Jehoram went out of Samaria on that day and counted all Israel. 7 And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat king of the house of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me; will you go with me to Moab in battle?” And he said, “I will go up; I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” 8 And he said, “By which way shall we go up?” And he said, “By the way of the wilderness of Edom.”

9 And the king of Israel and the king of the tribe of the house of Judah and the king of Edom went, and they went around a journey of seven days; and there was no water for the camp and for the cattle that were with them. 10 And the king of Israel said, “Woe! For the Lord is ready to deliver these three kings into the hand of Moab.”

11 And Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire the word of the Lord from him?” And one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here, who ministered to Elijah.” 12 And Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

13 And Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” And the king of Israel said to him, “Please, do not remember that wicked sin; ask mercy for us, for the Lord is ready to deliver these three kings into the hand of the Moabites.” 14 And Elisha said, “As the Lord of Hosts lives, before whom I minister, were it not that I respect the presence of Jehoshaphat king of the tribe of the house of Judah, I would not look at you or see you. 15 But now, bring me a man who knows how to play on the harp.” And it was, when the player played, that a spirit of prophecy from before the Lord rested upon him.

16 And he said, “This is what the Lord says: Let this valley be made full of ditches, ditches. 17 For this is what the Lord says: You shall not see wind, and you shall not see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, and you shall drink, you and your cattle and your beasts. 18 And this is a light thing before the Lord; and He will deliver the Moabites into your hand. 19 And you shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and every good tree you shall uproot, and all springs of water you shall stop up, and every good field you shall ruin with stones.”

20 And it was in the morning, at the time of the offering up of the grain offering, that water suddenly came by the way of Edom, and the land was filled with water.

21 And all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to wage war against them; and everyone old enough to wear a sword was gathered together, and they stood at the border. 22 And they rose early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water opposite them red as blood. 23 And they said, “This is blood! The kings have surely fought one another, and each man has killed his fellow; and now, Moabites, to the loot!”

24 And they came to the camp of Israel, and Israel rose up and struck the Moabites, and they fled from before them; and they struck them and killed the Moabites. 25 And they demolished the cities, and on every good field they cast each man his stone and filled it, and all springs of water they stopped up, and every good tree they uprooted, until there did not remain a stone in the city that they had not demolished; and the slingers went around and struck it.

26 And the king of Moab saw that the warriors had prevailed over him, and he took with him seven hundred men who drew the sword, to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not. 27 And he took his firstborn son, who was destined to reign in his place, and offered him up as a burnt offering upon the wall; and there was great anger against Israel, and they withdrew from him and returned to the land.

The Widow’s Oil

1 And a woman, one of the wives of the disciples of the prophets cried out before Elisha, saying, “Your servant Obadiah, my husband, is dead; and you know that your servant was one who feared the Lord. When Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, he took a hundred men of them and hid them, in groups of fifty men, in the cave; and he would borrow and feed them, so as not to feed them from the possessions of Ahab, because they were gained by violence. And now the creditor has come to take my two sons for himself as slaves.” 2 And 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 at all in the house except a vessel of oil.”

3 And he said, “Go, borrow vessels for yourself from outside, from all your neighbors, empty vessels; do not take few. 4 And you shall go in and close the door behind you and behind your sons, and pour into all these vessels; and the vessel that is filled you shall set aside.”

5 And she went from him and closed the door behind her and behind her sons; they were bringing the vessels near to her, and she was pouring the oil. 6 And it was, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is no other vessel.” And the oil stopped.

7 And she came and told the prophet of the Lord; and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your creditor, and you and your sons shall be sustained from what remains.”

The Shunammite Woman

8 And it was one day, that Elisha passed over to Shunem, and there was a woman there who feared sin; and she urged him to eat bread. And it was, whenever he passed by, he would turn there to eat bread. 9 And she said to her husband, “Look, I know that he is a holy prophet of the Lord, who turns aside to us continually. 10 Please, let us make a small upper chamber with walls, and let us prepare there for him a place for a bed, and a table, and a chair, and a lamp; and it shall be, when he comes to us, he shall turn aside there.”

11 And it was one day, that he came there, and he turned into the upper chamber and lay there. 12 And he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” And he called her, and she stood before him. 13 And he said to him, “Please say to her, ‘Look, you have gone to all this trouble for us; what is to be done for you? Is there a matter for you to speak to the king or to the captain of the army?’” And she said, “I live among my own people.”

14 And he said, “And what is to be done for her?” And Gehazi said, “In truth, she has no son, and her husband is old.” 15 And he said, “Call her.” And he called her, and she stood in the doorway. 16 And he said, “At this season, at the time when you are alive, you shall be embracing a son.” And she said, “Please, my master, prophet of the Lord, let your word not prove false to your maidservant.”

17 And the woman conceived and bore a son at that season, at the time when she was alive, which Elisha had spoken to her.

The Shunammite’s Son Restored

18 And the child grew; and it was one day, that he went out to his father, to the reapers. 19 And he said to his father, “My head, my head!” And he said to the servant, “Carry him; bring him to his mother.” 20 And he carried him and brought him to his mother; and he sat on her knees until noon, and died. 21 And she went up and laid him on the bed of the prophet of the Lord, and closed the door behind him, and went out.

22 And she called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the she-donkeys, and I will hurry to the prophet of the Lord and return.” 23 And he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither New Moon nor Sabbath.” And she said, “All is well.” 24 And she saddled the she-donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on and go; do not hold back from riding for me unless I tell you.”

25 And she went and came to the prophet of the Lord, to Mount Carmel. And it was, when the prophet of the Lord saw her from opposite, that he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, there is that Shunammite. 26 Now, please run to meet her and say to her, ‘Are you well? Is your husband well? Is the child well?’” And she said, “All is well.”

27 And she came to the prophet of the Lord, to the mountain, and she took hold of his feet; and Gehazi drew near to push her away. And the prophet of the Lord said, “Let her be, for her soul is bitter within her; and from before the Lord it has been hidden from me and has not been told to me.” 28 And she said, “Did I ask a son of my master? Did I not say to you, ‘If a son is given to me, let him live; if not, do not deceive me’?”

29 And he said to Gehazi, “Tuck up your robe, and take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet a man, do not greet him; and if a man greets you, do not answer him; and place my staff on the child’s face.” 30 And the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” And he got up and followed her. 31 And Gehazi passed on before them and placed the staff on the child’s face, but there was no sound and no response; and he returned to meet him and told him, saying, “The child has not awakened.”

32 And Elisha came into the house, and there was the child, dead, laid on his bed. 33 And he went in and closed the door behind the two of them, and he prayed before the Lord. 34 And he went up and lay upon the child, and he placed his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands; and he stretched himself upon him, and the flesh of the child became warm. 35 And he turned back and walked in the house, once this way and once that way; and he went up and stretched himself upon him. And the child sneezed up to seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

36 And he called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” And he called her, and she came to him; and he said, “Take your son.” 37 And she came and fell at his feet and bowed down to the ground; and she took her son and went out.

Death in the Pot

38 And Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land; and the disciples of the prophets were sitting before him. And he said to his servant, “Set on the large pot and cook a stew for the disciples of the prophets.” 39 And one went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a wild vine in the field and gathered from it wild gourds, his garment full; and he came and sliced them and cast them into the pot of stew, for they did not know them. 40 And they poured out for the men to eat; and it was, as they were eating of the stew, that they cried out and said, “There is death in the pot, prophet of the Lord!” And they could not eat. 41 And he said, “Bring flour.” And he cast it into the pot, and he said, “Pour out for the people, and let them eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

Bread for a Hundred Men

42 And a man came from the land of the south and brought the prophet of the Lord bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley bread, and fresh ears of grain in his garment. And he said, “Give to the people, and let them eat.” 43 And his attendant said, “How shall I set this before a hundred men?” And he said, “Give to the people, and let them eat; for this is what the Lord says: They shall eat and have some left over.” 44 And he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.

Naaman Healed of Leprosy

1 And Naaman, the captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man before his master and highly regarded, for by his hand the Lord had brought victory for the people of Aram; and the man was a mighty man of valor, but he was stricken with leprosy. 2 And the people of Aram had gone out in bands, and they had taken captive from the land of Israel a young girl, and she was ministering before the wife of Naaman. 3 And she said to her mistress, “My master would be happy if he would go before the prophet who is in Samaria; then he would heal him of his leprosy.”

4 And he came and told his master, saying, “Such and such is what the girl from the land of Israel said.” 5 And the king of Aram said, “Come, go, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” And he went and took in his hand ten talents of silver and six thousand dinars of gold and ten changes of garments.

6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, and this is what was written in it: “And now, when this letter comes to you, I have sent to you Naaman my servant, and you shall heal him of his leprosy.” 7 And it was, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his garments and said, “Have I been given power from before the Lord to kill and to make alive, that this one sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? But know now, and see, that this one seeks a pretext to provoke me.”

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

9 And Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots, and stood at the entrance of the house of Elisha. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and immerse seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be healed.”

11 And Naaman became angry and went, and he said, “I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand, and pray in the name of the Lord his God, and raise his hand over the place of the plague, and the leprosy will be healed.’ 12 Are not Amana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of the land of Israel? Can I not immerse in them and be healed?” And he turned and went away in anger.

13 And his servants drew near and spoke with him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more so, since he said to you, ‘Immerse and be healed.’” 14 And he went down and immersed in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the prophet of the Lord; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was healed.

15 And he returned to the prophet of the Lord, he and all his camp, and he came and stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no living God in all the earth except in Israel; and now, please accept a gift from your servant.” 16 And he said, “As the Lord lives, before whom I minister, I will not accept.” And he urged him to accept, but he refused.

17 And Naaman said, “If not, please let your servant be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry; for your servant will no longer offer a burnt offering or a sacrifice to the idols of the nations, but only to the name of the Lord. 18 In this matter may the Lord forgive your servant: when my master comes into the house of Rimmon to bow down there, and he leans upon my hand, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon — when I bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant in this matter.”

19 And he said to him, “Go in peace.” And he went from him a short distance.

Gehazi’s Greed

20 And Gehazi, the disciple of Elisha the prophet of the Lord, said, “Look, my master has let this Naaman the Aramean go without accepting from him what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will surely run after him and take something from him.”

21 And Gehazi pursued Naaman; and Naaman saw a man running after him, and he leaned down from the chariot to meet him and said, “Is everything all right?” 22 And he said, “Everything is all right. My master has sent me, saying, ‘Just now two young men of the disciples of the prophets have come to me from the mountain of the house of Ephraim; please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.’” 23 And Naaman said, “Please, take two talents.” And he urged him, and he bound two talents of silver in two bags, and two changes of garments, and gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them before him. 24 And he came to a hidden place, and he took them from their hand and deposited them in the house; and he sent the men away, and they went.

25 And he came and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” And he said, “Your servant did not go anywhere.” 26 And he said to him, “By the spirit of prophecy it was shown to me, when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you. Is it the time for you to take silver and to take garments, and you thought in your heart to acquire olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female servants? 27 The leprosy of Naaman shall therefore cling to you and to your children forever.” And he went out from before him, leprous, white as snow.

The Floating Axe Head

1 And the disciples of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we live before you is too narrow for us. 2 Let us go now as far as the Jordan, and let us take from there each man one beam, and let us make ourselves a place to live there.” And he said, “Go.” 3 And one said, “Please be willing to go with your servants.” And he said, “I will go.” 4 And he went with them, and they came to the Jordan and cut down trees. 5 And it was, as one was felling a beam, that the iron head slipped off and fell into the water; and he cried out and said, “Oh no, my master! And it was borrowed!”

6 And the prophet of the Lord said, “Where did it fall?” And he showed him the place; and he cut off a stick and cast it there, and the iron floated. 7 And he said, “Take it up for yourself.” And he stretched out his hand and took it.

Elisha Traps the Arameans

8 And the king of Aram was waging war against Israel; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, “In such and such a hidden, concealed place shall be my camp.” 9 And the prophet of the Lord sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Beware of passing this place, for there the people of Aram are lying in ambush.” 10 And the king of Israel sent to the place which the prophet of the Lord had told him and warned him of, and he guarded himself there, not once and not twice.

11 And the heart of the king of Aram was stormy over this matter; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not tell me who of us reveals secrets to the king of Israel?” 12 And one of his servants said, “No, my lord the king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.”

13 And he said, “Go and see where he is, and I will send and take him.” And it was told to him, saying, “He is in Dothan.” 14 And he sent there horses and chariots and a great army; and they came by night and surrounded the city.

15 And the attendant of the prophet of the Lord rose early to get up, and he went out, and there was an army surrounding the city, horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Oh no, my master! What shall we do?” 16 And he said, “Do not fear, for more are those who are with us than those who are with them.” 17 And Elisha prayed and said, “Lord, please open his eyes, that he may see.” And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

18 And they came down to him, and Elisha prayed before the Lord and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha. 19 And Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city; come after me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he brought them to Samaria. 20 And it was, when they came into Samaria, that Elisha said, “Lord, open the eyes of these, that they may see.” And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw; and they were in the middle of Samaria.

21 And the king of Israel said to Elisha when he saw them, “Shall I surely kill them, my master?” 22 And he said, “Do not kill them. Would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.”

23 And he prepared for them a great feast, and they ate and drank; and he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the bands of Aram did not come into the territory of the land of Israel again.

Famine in Besieged Samaria

24 And it was after this, that Ben Hadad king of Aram gathered all his camp, and he went up and besieged Samaria. 25 And there was a great famine in Samaria; as they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a quarter of a kab of dove’s dung for five selas of silver.

26 And the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, and a woman cried out before him, saying, “Save me, my lord the king!” 27 And he said, “If the Lord does not save you, from where shall I save you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?” 28 And the king said to her, “What is the matter with you?” And she said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, and we will eat him today, and my son we will eat tomorrow.’ 29 And we cooked my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, and we will eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”

30 And it was, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his garments; and he was passing by on the wall, and the people saw, and there was sackcloth bound on his body underneath. 31 And he said, “So may the Lord do to me, and so may He add, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on him today.”

32 And Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him; and he sent a man before him. Before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Have you seen that this son of a murderer has sent to remove my head? See, when the messenger comes, close the door and press him back with the door. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?” 33 While he was still speaking with them, the messenger was coming down to him; and he said, “Look, this evil is from before the Lord; why should I pray before the Lord any longer?”

Elisha Promises Plenty

1 And Elisha said, “Accept the word of the Lord; this is what the Lord says: At this time tomorrow, a seah of fine flour will be sold for a sela, and two seahs of barley for a sela, in the gate of Samaria.” 2 And the officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the prophet of the Lord and said, “Even if the Lord were to open windows and bring down goodness from heaven, could this thing be?” And he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but from there you shall not eat.”

The Lepers Find the Camp Deserted

3 And four men, lepers, were sitting at the entrance of the gate; and they said each man to his fellow, “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we sit here, we shall die. And now, come, and let us surrender to the camp of Aram; if they let us live, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall be killed.” 5 And they set out at twilight to go into the camp of Aram; and they came to the edge of the camp of Aram, and there was no one there.

6 For from before the Lord there was made to be heard in the camp of Aram a sound of chariots, a sound of horses, the sound of a great army; and they said each man to his fellow, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us.” 7 And they got up and fled at twilight, and they left their tents and their horses and their donkeys, the camp as it was, and they fled to save their lives.

8 And these lepers came to the edge of the camp, and they entered one tent and ate and drank, and they took from there silver and gold and garments, and went and hid them; and they returned and entered another tent, and took from there, and went and hid them.

9 And they said each man to his fellow, “What we are doing is not right. This day is a day of good news, and we are silent; if we delay until the light of morning, punishment will overtake us. And now, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.”

10 And they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, saying, “We came to the camp of Aram, and there was no one there, nor the voice of any person, but only horses tied and donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.” 11 And the gatekeepers called out, and they told it to the king’s household within.

12 And the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “Let me tell you now what the people of Aram have done to us. They know that we are hungry, and they have gone out of the camp to hide in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and enter the city.’” 13 And one of his servants answered and said, “Let them take, please, five of the horses that remain, that are left in it. They are like all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; and if they perish, they are like all the multitude of Israel that have already been consumed. And let us send and see.”

14 And they took two horsemen, and the king sent them after the camp of Aram, saying, “Go and see.” 15 And they went after them as far as the Jordan, and the whole road was full of garments and vessels which the people of Aram had cast away in their haste to flee; and the messengers returned and told the king.

The Prophecy Fulfilled

16 And the people went out and plundered the camp of Aram; and a seah of fine flour was sold for a sela, and two seahs of barley for a sela, according to the word of the Lord.

17 And the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned over the gate; and the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, as the prophet of the Lord had spoken, which he spoke when the king came down to him.

18 And it was, as the prophet of the Lord had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seahs of barley for a sela and a seah of fine flour for a sela shall be at this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria.” 19 And the officer had answered the prophet of the Lord and said, “And even if the Lord were to open windows and bring down goodness from heaven, could it be according to this word?” And he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but from there you shall not eat.” 20 And so it was to him: the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.

The Shunammite’s Land Restored

1 And Elisha spoke with the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Get up and go, you and your household, and settle for a while wherever you can; for the Lord has called for a famine, and it is also destined to come on the land for seven years.” 2 And the woman got up and did according to the word of the prophet of the Lord; and she went, she and her household, and lived for a while in the land of the Philistines seven years.

3 And it was at the end of seven years, that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went out to cry out before the king for her house and for her field. 4 And the king was speaking with Gehazi, the disciple of the prophet of the Lord, saying, “Please recount to me all the great things that Elisha has done.”

5 And it was, as he was recounting to the king how he had restored the dead to life, that the woman whose son he had restored to life was crying out before the king for her house and for her field. And Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” 6 And the king asked the woman, and she recounted it to him; and the king appointed for her a certain officer, saying, “Restore all that is hers, and all the produce of the field from the day that she left the land until now.”

Hazael Murders Ben Hadad

7 And Elisha came to Damascus, and Ben Hadad king of Aram was sick; and it was told to him, saying, “The prophet of the Lord has come here.” 8 And the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift in your hand and go to meet the prophet of the Lord, and inquire the word of the Lord from him, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” 9 And Hazael went to meet him, and he took a gift in his hand, of every good thing of Damascus, the load of forty camels; and he came and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben Hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’”

10 And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You will surely recover’; but the Lord has shown me that he will surely die.”

11 And he turned his face away and waited a long while; and the prophet of the Lord wept. 12 And Hazael said, “Why is my master weeping?” And he said, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel: their fortified cities you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword, and their infants you will dash to pieces, and their pregnant women you will rip open.” 13 And Hazael said, “But what is your servant, the dog, that he should do this great thing?” And Elisha said, “The Lord has shown me you as king over Aram.”

14 And he went from Elisha and came to his master; and he said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he said, “He said to me, ‘You will surely recover.’” 15 And it was on the next day, that he took a blanket and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, and he died; and Hazael reigned in his place.

Jehoram King of Judah

16 And in the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel — Jehoshaphat having been king of the tribe of the house of Judah — Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, became king. 17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 18 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did what was evil before the Lord. 19 But it was not the will before the Lord to destroy the house of Judah, for the sake of David His servant, as He had said to him to give him a kingdom, and to his sons, all the days.

20 In his days Edom rebelled from under the hand of the people of Judah, and they made a king over themselves. 21 And Joram crossed over to Zair, and all the chariots with him; and he set out by night and struck the people of Edom who were surrounding him, and the captains of the chariots; and the people fled to their cities. 22 And Edom rebelled from under the hand of the people of Judah until this day; then Libnah rebelled at that time.

23 And the rest of the acts of Joram and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of the house of Judah? 24 And Joram lay with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.

Ahaziah King of Judah

25 In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, became king. 26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel. 27 And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and he did what was evil before the Lord like the house of Ahab, for he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

28 And he went with Joram son of Ahab to wage war with Hazael king of Aram in Ramoth Gilead; and the people of Aram wounded Joram. 29 And King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the people of Aram had inflicted on him in Ramah, when he waged war with Hazael king of Aram. And Ahaziah son of Jehoram, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, went down to help Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.

Jehu Anointed King of Israel

1 And Elisha the prophet called one of the disciples of the prophets and said to him, “Tuck up your robe, and take this vessel of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead. 2 And you shall come there and see there Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi; and you shall go in and make him get up from among his companions, and bring him into an inner chamber within an inner chamber. 3 And you shall take the vessel of oil and pour it upon his head, and say, ‘This is what the Lord says: I have anointed you to be king over Israel.’ And you shall open the door and flee, and not wait.”

4 And the young man, the disciple of the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. 5 And he came, and the captains of the army were sitting there; and he said, “I have a word to speak with you, captain.” And Jehu said, “To which of all of us?” And he said, “To you, captain.”

6 And he got up and went into the house; and he poured the oil upon his head and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: I have anointed you to be king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. 7 And you shall strike the house of Ahab your master, and I will exact retribution for the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, from the hand of Jezebel. 8 And the whole house of Ahab shall perish; and I will destroy of Ahab every one who has knowledge, and every one confined and abandoned in Israel. 9 And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. 10 And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the estate of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her.” And he opened the door and fled.

11 And Jehu went out to the servants of his master, and one said to him, “Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?” And he said to them, “You know the man and his talk.” 12 And they said, “It is false; tell us now.” And he said, “He said such and such to me: ‘This is what the Lord says: I have anointed you to be king over Israel.’” 13 And they hurried and took each man his garment and placed them under him on the step of the stairs; and they blew with the shofar and said, “Jehu reigns!”

Jehu Kills Joram and Ahaziah

14 And Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi rebelled against Joram. And Joram was guarding Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, from before Hazael king of Aram. 15 And King Jehoram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the people of Aram had inflicted on him when he waged war with Hazael king of Aram. And Jehu said, “If it is your soul’s desire, let no escapee go out of the city to go to tell in Jezreel.” 16 And Jehu rode and went to Jezreel, for Joram was lying there; and Ahaziah, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, had come down to help Joram.

17 And the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the camp of Jehu as he came, and he said, “I see a camp.” And Jehoram said, “Take a horseman and send him to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’” 18 And the horseman went to meet him and said, “This is what the king says: Is it peace?” And Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace? Fall in behind me.” And the watchman told, saying, “The messenger came as far as them, but he has not returned.” 19 And he sent a second horseman, and he came to them and said, “This is what the king says: Is it peace?” And Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace? Fall in behind me.” 20 And the watchman told, saying, “He came as far as them, but he has not returned. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi, for he drives calmly.”

21 And Jehoram said, “Harness!” And his chariot was harnessed, and Jehoram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of the tribe of the house of Judah went out, each man in his chariot; and they went out to meet Jehu, and they found him in the estate of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite.

22 And it was, when Jehoram saw Jehu, that he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” And he said, “What peace, so long as the idolatries of Jezebel your mother and her many witchcrafts continue?” 23 And Jehoram turned the reins around and fled, and he said to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”

24 And Jehu filled his hand with the bow and struck Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow came out of his heart, and he sank down in his chariot. 25 And he said to Bidkar his officer, “Take him and cast him in the estate of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember, you and I, when we were riding together after Ahab his father, and from before the Lord this burden of prophecy was laid upon him: 26 ‘Surely the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons are revealed before Me yesterday,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will repay you in this estate,’ says the Lord. And now, take him and cast him into the estate, according to the word of the Lord.”

27 And Ahaziah, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, saw, and he fled by the way of the garden house; and Jehu pursued him and said, “Strike him also in the chariot!” And they struck him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam; and he fled to Megiddo and died there. 28 And his servants carried him to Jerusalem, and they buried him in his grave with his fathers in the City of David. 29 And in the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah became king over the house of Judah.

The Death of Jezebel

30 And Jehu came to Jezreel; and Jezebel heard, and she painted her eyes with kohl and adorned her head, and looked out from the window. 31 And Jehu came in at the gate, and she said, “Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of his master?” 32 And he lifted up his face to the window and said, “Who is with me? Who?” And two or three officers looked out toward him. 33 And he said, “Throw her down!” And they threw her down; and some of her blood spattered upon the wall and upon the horses, and they trampled her.

34 And he came in and ate and drank, and he said, “Take care of this accursed woman and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.” 35 And they went to bury her, but they found of her only the skull and the feet and the palms of the hands. 36 And they returned and told him; and he said, “It is the word of the Lord, which He spoke by the hand of His servant Elijah, who was from Tishbe, saying, ‘In the estate of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel. 37 And the carcass of Jezebel shall be like dung scattered on the surface of the field in the estate of Jezreel, so that they shall not say, “This is Jezebel.”’”

The Sons of Ahab Killed

1 And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the princes of Jezreel, the elders, and to the guardians of Ahab’s children, saying, 2 “And now, when this letter comes to you — and with you are your master’s sons, and with you are chariots and horses, and fortified cities and weapons — 3 you shall see who is the best and most fit of your master’s sons, and set him on the throne of his father’s kingdom, and wage war for your master’s house.”

4 And they were terribly afraid, and they said, “Look, the two kings could not stand before him; how can we stand?” 5 And he who was appointed over the house, and he who was appointed over the city, and the elders and the guardians, sent to Jehu, saying, “We are your servants, and all that you tell us we will do; we will not make any man king; do what is good in your eyes.”

6 And he wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are mine, and you accept my words, take the heads of the men, your master’s sons, and come to me at this time tomorrow to Jezreel.” And the king’s sons, seventy men, were with the great men of the city who were raising them.

7 And it was, when the letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons and slaughtered seventy men, and they put their heads in baskets and sent them to him to Jezreel. 8 And the messenger came and told him, saying, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” And he said, “Place them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.”

9 And it was in the morning, that he went out and stood and said to all the people, “You are innocent. Look, I rebelled against my master and killed him; but who killed all these? 10 Know now that nothing shall fall from the word of the Lord which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab; and the Lord has fulfilled that which He spoke by the hand of His servant Elijah.” 11 And Jehu struck all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men and his intimates and his companions, until he left him no survivor.

The Brothers of Ahaziah Killed

12 And he got up and set out for Samaria. He was at the shepherds’ meeting house on the way, 13 and Jehu found the brothers of Ahaziah king of the tribe of the house of Judah, and he said, “Who are you?” And they said, “We are the brothers of Ahaziah, and we have come down to inquire after the welfare of the king’s sons and the queen’s sons.” 14 And he said, “Take them alive.” And they took them alive, and they slaughtered them at the pit of the meeting house, forty-two men; and he did not leave a man of them.

Jehonadab Joins Jehu

15 And he went from there and found Jehonadab son of Rechab coming to meet him; and he greeted him and said to him, “Is your heart upright, as my heart is with your heart?” And Jehonadab said, “It is.” “If it is, give me your hand.” And he gave his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot. 16 And he said, “Come with me and see my zeal, with which I am zealous before the Lord.” And they had him ride in his chariot. 17 And he came to Samaria, and he struck all who remained of Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke with Elijah.

The Worshippers of Baal Destroyed

18 And Jehu gathered all the people and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much. 19 And now, all the prophets of Baal, all his worshippers, and all his priests, summon to me; let no man be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever is missing shall not live.” But Jehu acted with cunning, in order to destroy the worshippers of Baal.

20 And Jehu said, “Proclaim an assembly for Baal.” And they proclaimed it. 21 And Jehu sent through all Israel, and all the worshippers of Baal came, and there was not a man left who did not come; and they came into the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled from end to end. 22 And he said to him who was appointed over the wardrobe, “Bring out garments for all the worshippers of Baal.” And he brought out garments for them.

23 And Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rechab came into the house of Baal, and he said to the worshippers of Baal, “Search and see, that there are none of the servants of the Lord here with you, only the worshippers of Baal.” 24 And they came to make peace offerings and burnt offerings. And Jehu had appointed for himself eighty men outside, and he said, “If any man lets one of the men whom I am bringing into your hands escape, his life shall be for that man’s life.” 25 And it was, when he had finished making the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the runners and to the officers, “Go in, strike them; let no man come out.” And they struck them with the edge of the sword; and the runners and the officers threw them out, slain, and they went as far as the city of the house of Baal.

26 And they brought out the pillar of the house of Baal and burned it. 27 And they broke down the pillar of Baal, and they broke down the house of Baal, and made it into a latrine until this day.

The Reign of Jehu

28 And Jehu destroyed Baal from Israel. 29 However, Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin: the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan. 30 And the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in doing what is right before Me, and according to all that was in My will you have done to the house of Ahab, sons of the fourth generation shall sit for you on the throne of the kingdom of Israel.” 31 But Jehu did not take care to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart; he did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin.

32 In those days the anger of the Lord began to grow strong against Israel; and Hazael struck them throughout the territory of the land of Israel, 33 from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the tribe of Gad and the tribe of Reuben and the tribe of Manasseh, from Aroer which is by the bank of the brook of Arnon, both Gilead and Bashan.

34 And the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 35 And Jehu lay with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria; and Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place. 36 And the days that Jehu reigned over Israel were twenty-eight years in Samaria.

Athaliah and Joash

1 And Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead; and she set out and destroyed the whole royal line. 2 And Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, the sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king’s sons who were being killed, and she hid him and his nurse in the bedchamber; and they hid him from before Athaliah, and he was not killed. 3 And he was with her in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, hidden for six years; and Athaliah reigned over the land.

4 And in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and took the captains of hundreds, of the officers and of the runners, and brought them to him into the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord; and he made a covenant with them and made them swear in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, and he showed them the king’s son. 5 And he commanded them, saying, “This is the thing that you shall do: a third of you, those who come in on the Sabbath, shall keep the watch of the king’s house; 6 and a third shall be at the gate of the officers, and a third at the gate behind the runners; and you shall keep the watch of the house without neglect. 7 And two parts of you, all who go out on the Sabbath, shall keep the watch of the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord around the king. 8 And you shall surround the king on every side, each man with his weapons in his hand; and whoever enters within the ranks shall be killed; and be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in.”

9 And the captains of hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and they took each man his men, those who came in on the Sabbath with those who went out on the Sabbath, and they came to Jehoiada the priest. 10 And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the shields that had belonged to King David, which were in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord. 11 And the runners stood, each man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, by the altar and by the house of atonement, all around the king.

12 And he brought out the king’s son and put the crown and the testimony on him; and they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, “May the king prosper!”

The Death of Athaliah

13 And Athaliah heard the sound of the people dancing, and she came to the people, to the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord. 14 And she looked, and there was the king, standing by the pillar, according to the custom, and the princes and the trumpets before the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing on the trumpets. And Athaliah tore her garments and cried out, “Rebellion! Rebellion!” 15 And Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds who were appointed over the army, and said to them, “Take her out from within the ranks, and whoever goes in after her shall be killed with the sword.” For the priest had said, “Let her not be killed in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord.” 16 And they made way for her, and she came by the way of the horses’ entrance to the king’s house, and she was killed there.

Jehoiada’s Reforms

17 And Jehoiada made the covenant between the Memra of the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be a people ministering before the Lord; and between the king and the people. 18 And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal and tore it down; they broke its altars and its images to pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed watches over the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord.

19 And he took the captains of hundreds, and the officers, and the runners, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, and they came by the way of the gate of the runners to the king’s house; and he sat on the throne of the kings. 20 And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet; and they killed Athaliah with the sword at the king’s house.

Jehoash King of Judah

1 Jehoash was seven years old when he became king. 2 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beer Sheba. 3 And Jehoash did what was right before the Lord all his days, as Jehoiada the priest had taught him. 4 Only the high places were not removed; the people were still sacrificing and offering up incense on the high places.

Repairs to the House of the Sanctuary

5 And Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things that is brought into the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord — the money of the shekels of one who passes among the numbered men, the money of the redemption of souls, which each man gives as the redemption of his soul, and also all the money that a man freely offers in his heart to bring into the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord — 6 let the priests take for themselves, each man from his acquaintance; and they shall repair the breaches of the house, wherever a breach is found.”

7 And it was in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, that the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house. 8 And King Jehoash called Jehoiada the priest and the priests and said to them, “Why are you not repairing the breaches of the house? And now, do not take money from your acquaintances, but you shall give it for the breaches of the house.” 9 And the priests agreed not to take money from the people, and not to repair the breaches of the house.

10 And Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid, and he placed it beside the altar on the right, as a man enters the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord; and the priests, the trustees, would put there all the money that was brought into the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord. 11 And it was, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king’s scribe and the high priest came up, and they bound up and counted the money that was found in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord.

12 And they would give the money that was counted into the hands of those doing the work, who were appointed over the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord; and they would pay it out to the carpenters of wood and to the builders who worked on the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, 13 and to the masons and to the stonecutters, and to buy timber and hewn stones to repair the breaches of the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, and for all that was spent on the house to repair it. 14 However, no basins of silver, musical instruments, bowls, trumpets, or any vessels of gold or vessels of silver were made for the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord from the money that was brought into the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord. 15 For they would give it to those doing the work, and with it they repaired the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord. 16 And they did not demand an accounting from the men into whose hands they gave the money to give to those doing the work, for they acted in faithfulness.

17 The money of guilt offerings and the money of sin offerings was not brought into the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord; it was given to the priests.

Hazael Threatens Jerusalem

18 Then Hazael king of Aram went up and waged war against Gath and captured it; and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem. 19 And Jehoash king of the tribe of the house of Judah took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, the kings of the house of Judah, had consecrated, and his own holy things, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord and of the king’s treasure house, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram; and he withdrew from Jerusalem.

The Death of Joash

20 And the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of the house of Judah?

21 And his servants rose up and formed a conspiracy, and they struck Joash at Beth Millo, which goes down to Silla. 22 And Jozacar son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer, his servants, struck him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David, and Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

Jehoahaz King of Israel

1 In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, for seventeen years. 2 And he did what was evil before the Lord, and he followed the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin; he did not turn aside from them.

3 And the anger of the Lord grew strong against Israel, and He delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Aram and into the hand of Ben Hadad son of Hazael all the days. 4 And Jehoahaz prayed before the Lord, and the Lord accepted his prayer, for the oppression of Israel was revealed before Him, for the king of Aram oppressed them. 5 And the Lord gave Israel a deliverer, and they went out from under the hand of the people of Aram; and the children of Israel lived in their cities as before.

6 However, they did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin; in them they walked; and the Asherah also remained standing in Samaria. 7 For he had not left to Jehoahaz any people except fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand foot soldiers; for the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust of threshing.

8 And the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 9 And Jehoahaz lay with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria; and Joash his son reigned in his place.

Jehoash King of Israel

10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, for sixteen years. 11 And he did what was evil before the Lord; he did not turn aside from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin; in them he walked.

12 And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of the tribe of the house of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 13 And Joash lay with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat upon his throne; and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

The Death of Elisha

14 And Elisha had fallen sick with the illness from which he would die; and Joash king of Israel came down to him and wept over his face, and he said, “My master, my master, who was better for Israel with his prayer than chariots and horsemen!”

15 And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” And he took a bow and arrows. 16 And he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” And he put his hand on it, and Elisha placed his hands on the king’s hands. 17 And he said, “Open the window eastward.” And he opened it. And Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And he said, “This arrow shall be for us a deliverance from before the Lord, and this arrow shall be for us a victory over the people of Aram; and you shall strike the people of Aram in Aphek until they are destroyed.”

18 And he said, “Take the arrows.” And he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground.” And he struck three times and stopped. 19 And the prophet of the Lord was angry with him and said, “It would have been fitting for you to strike five or six times; then you would have struck the people of Aram until destruction. But now, three times you shall strike the people of Aram.”

20 And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of Moab came into the land at the turn of the year. 21 And it was, as they were burying a man, that they suddenly saw the band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And the man went and touched the bones of Elisha, and he came to life and stood on his feet.

Victory over Aram

22 And Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. 23 And the Lord had pity on them and had compassion on them, and He turned by His Memra to do good to them, for the sake of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and He was not willing to destroy them, and He did not exile them from the land of the house of His Shekinah until now.

24 And Hazael king of Aram died, and Ben Hadad his son reigned in his place. 25 And Jehoash son of Jehoahaz again took the cities from the hand of Ben Hadad son of Hazael, which he had taken from Jehoahaz his father in battle. Three times Joash struck him, and he restored the cities of Israel.

Amaziah King of Judah

1 In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah son of Joash, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, became king. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. 3 And he did what was right before the Lord, but not like David his father; he did according to all that Joash his father had done. 4 Only the high places were not removed; the people were still sacrificing and offering up incense on the high places.

5 And it was, when the kingdom was strong in his hand, that he killed his servants who had killed the king his father. 6 But he did not kill the sons of the murderers, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord commanded, saying, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of sons, and sons shall not be put to death because of fathers; but each man shall die for his own sin.”

7 He struck the people of Edom in the Valley of Salt, ten thousand, and he captured the fortified city in battle, and named it Joktheel until this day.

War between Judah and Israel

8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us face one another in battle.” 9 And Jehoash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of the tribe of the house of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in the Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in the Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife’; and a wild beast that was in the Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle. 10 You have indeed struck the people of Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy your glory and stay in your house; why should you provoke trouble, that you should fall, you and the house of Judah with you?”

11 But Amaziah did not listen. And Jehoash king of Israel went up, and they faced one another in battle, he and Amaziah king of the tribe of the house of Judah, at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to the tribe of Judah. 12 And the people of Judah were broken before Israel, and they fled each man to his cities.

13 And Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of the tribe of the house of Judah, son of Jehoash son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh; and they came to Jerusalem, and he breached the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of the tribe of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits. 14 And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and the sons of the nobles as hostages, and he returned to Samaria.

15 And the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of the tribe of the house of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 16 And Jehoash lay with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.

The Death of Amaziah

17 And Amaziah son of Joash, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, fifteen years. 18 And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of the house of Judah? 19 And they formed a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; and they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there. 20 And they carried him on horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the City of David.

21 And all the people of Judah took Azariah, and he was sixteen years old, and they made him king in place of his father Amaziah. 22 He built Elath and restored it to the house of Judah, after the king lay with his fathers.

Jeroboam King of Israel

23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria, for forty-one years. 24 And he did what was evil before the Lord; he did not turn aside from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. 25 He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which He spoke by the hand of His servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Hepher.

26 For the bondage of Israel was revealed before the Lord, very harsh; and they were wandering and abandoned, and there was none to help Israel. 27 And it was not the will before the Lord to blot out the name of Israel from under the heavens; and He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Joash.

28 And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought, and how he restored Damascus and Hamath to the house of Judah in Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 29 And Jeroboam lay with his fathers, with the kings of Israel; and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.

Azariah King of Judah

1 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, became king. 2 He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. 3 And he did what was right before the Lord, according to all that Amaziah his father had done. 4 Only the high places were not removed; the people were still sacrificing and offering up incense on the high places.

5 And the Lord brought a plague upon the king, and he was a leper until the day of his death; and he lived outside Jerusalem. And Jotham the king’s son was appointed over the house, judging the people of the land.

6 And the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of the house of Judah? 7 And Azariah lay with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David; and Jotham his son reigned in his place.

Zechariah King of Israel

8 In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in Samaria, for six months. 9 And he did what was evil before the Lord, as his fathers had done; he did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. 10 And Shallum son of Jabesh rebelled against him and struck him before the people and killed him, and reigned in his place.

11 And the rest of the acts of Zechariah, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 12 That was the word of the Lord which He spoke with Jehu, saying, “Sons of the fourth generation shall sit for you on the throne of the kingdom of Israel.” And so it was.

Shallum King of Israel

13 Shallum son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah, king of the tribe of the house of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria.

14 And Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and he struck Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria and killed him, and reigned in his place. 15 And the rest of the acts of Shallum, and the rebellion he led, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

16 Then Menahem struck Tiphsah and all that was in it, and its borders, from Tirzah, because it did not open its gates to make peace; and he struck it, and all its pregnant women he ripped open.

Menahem King of Israel

17 In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel, for ten years in Samaria. 18 And he did what was evil before the Lord; he did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, all his days.

19 Pul the king of Assyria came against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hands might be at peace with him, to strengthen the kingdom in his hand. 20 And Menahem imposed the money upon Israel, upon all the men of wealth, to give to the king of Assyria, fifty selas of silver for each man; and the king of Assyria turned back and did no harm there in the land.

21 And the rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 22 And Menahem lay with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son reigned in his place.

Pekahiah King of Israel

23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria, for two years. 24 And he did what was evil before the Lord; he did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.

25 And Pekah son of Remaliah, his officer, rebelled against him and struck him in Samaria, in the inner chamber of the king’s house, with Argob and with Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites. And he killed him and reigned in his place. 26 And the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he did, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

Pekah King of Israel

27 In the fifty-second year of Azariah, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria, for twenty years. 28 And he did what was evil before the Lord; he did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.

29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon and Abel Beth Maacah and Janoah and Kedesh and Hazor and Gilead and the Galilee, all the land of the tribe of Naphtali; and he exiled them to Assyria.

30 And Hoshea son of Elah formed a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah, and struck him and killed him, and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah. 31 And the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

Jotham King of Judah

32 In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham son of Uzziah, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, became king. 33 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. 34 And he did what was right before the Lord; he did according to all that Uzziah his father had done. 35 Only the high places were not removed; the people were still sacrificing and offering up incense on the high places. He built the upper gate of the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord.

36 And 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 the house of Judah? 37 In those days the Lord began to incite against the house of Judah Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah. 38 And Jotham lay with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David his father; and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

Ahaz King of Judah

1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, became king. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right before the Lord his God, like David his father. 3 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel; and he even passed his son through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before the children of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and offered up incense on the high places and on the hills and under every leafy tree.

5 Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel went up to Jerusalem to wage war; and they besieged Ahaz, but they could not prevail in battle. 6 At that time Rezin king of Aram restored Elath to Aram, and he drove the Judeans out of Elath; and the Arameans came to Elath and lived there until this day.

7 And Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son; come up and save me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who have risen up against me.” 8 And Ahaz took the silver and the gold that was found in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent it to the king of Assyria as a bribe. 9 And the king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and captured it, and he exiled the people who were in it to Kir, and he killed Rezin.

The Altar from Damascus

10 And King Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria at Damascus, and he saw the altar that was in Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest the likeness of the altar and its pattern, for all its workmanship. 11 And Uriah the priest built the altar; according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz came from Damascus.

12 And the king came from Damascus, and the king saw the altar; and the king approached the altar and offered on it. 13 And he offered up his burnt offering and his grain offering, and poured his libation, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar. 14 And the copper altar that was before the Lord, he brought near from the front of the house, from between the altar and the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, and he put it on the north side of the altar.

15 And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar offer up the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offerings and their libations; and all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the peace offering you shall sprinkle on it. And the copper altar shall be for me to inquire by.” 16 And Uriah the priest did according to all that King Ahaz commanded.

17 And King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases and removed the laver from them; and he took down the sea from the copper oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stones. 18 And the covered structure for the Sabbath which they had built in the house, and the king’s outer entrance, he turned away from the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, because of the king of Assyria.

19 And the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of the house of Judah? 20 And Ahaz lay with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David; and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

Hoshea King of Israel

1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king in Samaria over Israel, for nine years. 2 And he did what was evil before the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who were before him.

3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him; and Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute. 4 And the king of Assyria found a conspiracy in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and he did not bring up tribute to the king of Assyria as he did year by year; and the king of Assyria seized him and bound him in prison.

The Fall of Samaria

5 And the king of Assyria came up through all the land, and he went up to Samaria and besieged it three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he exiled Israel to Assyria; and he settled them in Halah and in Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of Media.

Why Israel Was Exiled

7 And it was so, because the children of Israel had sinned before the Lord their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared the idols of the nations. 8 And they walked in the decrees of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. 9 And the children of Israel spoke words that were not right before the Lord their God; and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from the strong tower to the fortified city. 10 And they set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every lofty hill and under every leafy tree. 11 And they offered up incense there on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had exiled from before them; and they did evil deeds before Him, to provoke anger before the Lord. 12 And they served the idols, concerning which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”

13 And the Lord warned Israel and Judah by the hand of every scribe and every teacher, saying, “Return from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by the hand of My servants the prophets.” 14 But they did not listen, and they hardened their neck like the neck of their fathers, who did not believe in the Memra of the Lord their God. 15 And they despised His statutes and His covenant which He had made with their fathers, and His warnings with which He had warned them; and they strayed after the idols and became as nothing, and went after the nations that were around them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them not to do like them.

16 And they forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves a molten image, two calves; and they made an Asherah, and bowed down to all the host of heaven, and served Baal. 17 And they passed their sons and their daughters through the fire, and practiced divinations and enchantments, and they devoted themselves to doing what was evil before the Lord, to provoke anger before Him.

18 And there was very great anger from before the Lord against Israel, and He exiled them from the land of the house of His Shekinah; there remained only the tribe of the house of Judah alone. 19 Also the house of Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, and they walked in the decrees of Israel which they had made. 20 And the Lord despised all the seed of Israel, and He afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had exiled them from the place of the house of His Shekinah.

21 For the house of Israel split off from the house of Judah, and they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king; and Jeroboam led Israel astray from following the service of the Lord, and caused them to sin a great sin. 22 And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not turn aside from them, 23 until the Lord exiled Israel from the land of the house of His Shekinah, as He had spoken by the hand of all His servants the prophets; and Israel went into exile from their land to Assyria until this day.

Samaria Resettled

24 And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon and from Cuthah and from Avva and from Hamath and from Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the children of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.

25 And it was, when they first lived there, that they did not fear before the Lord; and the Lord incited the lions against them, and they were killing some of them. 26 And they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations which you have exiled and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the God of the land; and He has incited the lions against them, and they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the God of the land.” 27 And the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Bring there one of the priests whom you exiled from there; and let them go and live there, and let him teach them the law of the God of the land.” 28 And one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and he was teaching them how they should fear before the Lord.

29 And each nation was making its own idols, and they placed them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, each nation in their cities in which they were living. 30 And the people of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, and the people of Cuth made Nergal, and the people of Hamath made Ashima. 31 And the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the people of Sepharvaim burned their sons in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the idols of Sepharvaim.

32 And they feared before the Lord, and they made for themselves from among themselves priests of the high places, who would officiate for them in the houses of the high places. 33 They feared before the Lord, and they served their idols according to the customs of the nations from among whom they had been exiled from there.

34 Until this day they do according to the former customs: they do not fear before the Lord, and they do not do according to their decrees, and according to what is fitting for them, and according to the law and according to the commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whose name He made Israel. 35 And the Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, saying, “You shall not fear the idols of the nations, and you shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them, and you shall not sacrifice to them. 36 But before the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great might and with an outstretched arm, you shall fear Him, and bow down before Him, and sacrifice on His altar. 37 And the statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall keep to do all the days; and you shall not fear the idols of the nations. 38 And the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget; and you shall not fear the idols of the nations. 39 But you shall fear before the Lord your God; and He will save you from the hand of all your enemies.” 40 But they did not listen; rather, they do according to their former customs. 41 And these nations were fearing before the Lord, and they were serving their images; their sons, too, and their sons’ sons, as their fathers did, so they do until this day.

Hezekiah King of Judah

1 And it was in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah son of Ahaz, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, became king. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. 3 And he did what was right before the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.

4 He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah, and broke in pieces the copper serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel were offering up incense to it, and they called it Nehushtan.

5 He trusted in the Memra of the Lord, the God of Israel; and after him there was none like him among all the kings of the house of Judah, nor among those who were before him. 6 And he clung to the fear of the Lord; he did not turn aside from following His service, and he kept His commandments which the Lord had commanded Moses.

7 And the Memra of the Lord was at his aid; wherever he went out he prospered. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 8 He struck the Philistines as far as Gaza and its borders, from the strong tower to the fortified city.

Samaria Captured

9 And it was in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. 10 And they captured it at the end of three years; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was captured. 11 And the king of Assyria exiled Israel to Assyria, and he settled them in Halah and in Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of Media, 12 because they did not listen to the Memra of the Lord their God, and they transgressed His covenant, all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; and they did not listen to His Memra, nor did they do His will.

Sennacherib Invades Judah

13 And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of the house of Judah and seized them.

14 And Hezekiah king of the tribe of the house of Judah sent to the king of Assyria, to Lachish, saying, “I have sinned; withdraw from me; I will bear whatever you impose on me.” And the king of Assyria imposed upon Hezekiah king of the tribe of the house of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 And Hezekiah gave all the silver that was found in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. 16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the doors of the Temple of the Lord, and the doorposts which Hezekiah king of the tribe of the house of Judah had overlaid, and gave them to the king of Assyria.

Rabshakeh Taunts Jerusalem

17 And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-Saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah, with a great army, to Jerusalem; and they went up and came to Jerusalem, and they went up and came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the field where the launderers spread out their cloth. 18 And they called to the king; and there came out to them Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was appointed over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, who was appointed over the records.

19 And Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is this confidence in which you have trusted? 20 You have said — but it is only words of the lips — that you have counsel and might for the war. Now, in whom have you trusted, that you have rebelled against me? 21 Now look, you have trusted in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, which, if a man leans upon it, will go into his hand and pierce it; so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 22 And if you say to me, “In the Memra of the Lord our God we have trusted,” is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has removed, and he has said to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “Before this altar you shall bow down in Jerusalem”?

23 And now, please make a pledge with my master, with the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to set riders for yourself upon them. 24 And how can you turn back the face of one governor of the least of my master’s servants? And you have trusted in the Egyptians for chariots and for horsemen. 25 Now, is it without the Memra of the Lord that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, “Go up against this place and destroy it.”’”

26 And Eliakim son of Hilkiah and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak with your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak with us in Judean before the people who are on the wall.”

27 And Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak all these words? Is it not to the men who sit upon the wall, to eat their excrement and to drink their urine with you in the siege?”

28 And Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Judean, and he spoke and said, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 29 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to save you from his hand. 30 And do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Memra of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will surely save us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

31 Do not listen to Hezekiah; for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me, and each of you eat the fruit of his own vine and of his own fig tree, and drink the water of his own cistern, 32 until I come and take you to a land as good as your land, a land of grain and wine, a land of fields and vineyards, a land whose olives produce oil and which produces honey; and live, and do not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah, for he deceives you, saying, ‘The Lord will save us.’

33 Has any of the deities of the nations indeed saved its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where is the deity of Hamath and Arpad? Where is the deity of Sepharvaim? Did they not drive them out and exile them? Did they save Samaria from my hand? 35 Who among all the deities of the countries have saved their land from my hand, that the Lord should save Jerusalem from my hand?”

36 And the people were silent and did not answer him a word, for it was the king’s command, saying, “Do not answer him.”

37 And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was appointed over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, who was appointed over the records, came to Hezekiah with their garments torn, and they told him the words of Rabshakeh.

Hezekiah Sends to Isaiah

1 And it was, when King Hezekiah heard, that he tore his garments and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was appointed over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet son of Amoz. 3 And they said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and of reproach and of contempt; for distress has surrounded us like a woman who sits upon the birthstool and has no strength to give birth. 4 Perhaps the Lord your God has heard all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to revile the people of the living God, and He will exact retribution for all the words which have been heard before the Lord your God; and you shall make supplication in prayer for this remnant that is left.”

5 And the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

6 And Isaiah said to them, “This is what you shall say to your master: This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled before Me. 7 I am going to put a spirit into him, and he shall hear a report and return to his land; and I will cast him down by the sword in his land.”

Sennacherib’s Letter

8 And Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria waging war against Libnah, for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish. 9 And he heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, saying, “He has come out to wage war with you.” And he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “This is what you shall say to Hezekiah king of the tribe of the house of Judah: Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, ‘Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ 11 You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, to destroy them utterly; and do you think you will be saved? 12 Have the deities of the nations whom my fathers destroyed saved them — Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim? They drove them out and exiled them.”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

14 And Hezekiah took the letters from the hand of the messengers and read them; and he went up to the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, and Hezekiah spread them out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “Lord, God of Israel, whose Shekinah dwells above the cherubim, You are the Lord, and there is none besides You over all the kingdoms of the earth; You made the heavens and the earth. 16 It is revealed before You, Lord, so judge; and it is heard before You, Lord, so exact retribution and execute punishment for all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to revile the people of the living God. 17 Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands. 18 And they have burned their idols in the fire, for they are not deities in which there is any use, but the work of the hands of man, wood and stone; therefore they destroyed them. 19 And now, Lord our God, please save us from his hand, and all the kingdoms of the earth shall know that You, Lord, are God, there is none besides You.”

Isaiah’s Prophecy against Sennacherib

20 And Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: That which you have prayed before Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria has been heard before Me.

21 This is the word which the Lord has decreed concerning him: The kingdom of the congregation of Zion, who was distressed by you, rejoices over you; the people of Jerusalem shake their heads after you. 22 Whom have you reviled and against whom have you exalted yourself? And before whom have you raised your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? You have spoken words that are not right before the Holy One of Israel. 23 By the hand of your messengers you have reviled the people of the Lord, and you have said, ‘With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the strength of their fortified cities; I will also seize the House of their Sanctuary, and I will kill the finest of their warriors, the choicest of their rulers, and I will conquer the city of their strength, and destroy the multitude of their camps. 24 I have dug cisterns and drunk foreign waters, and with the sole of my feet I have dried up, with the people who are with me, all the waters of deep rivers.’ 25 Have you not heard long ago what I did to Pharaoh king of Egypt? Was it not because he ruled over them? And also concerning you the prophets of Israel prophesied, yet you did not repent. And this was revealed before Me from long ago, to do to you; I also prepared it, and now I have brought it; and this has become for you a stumbling block, because you were before Me like the raging of waves that lay waste fortified cities. 26 And their inhabitants were short of strength; they were broken and put to shame; they were like the grass of the field and like the green herb, like the grass on the rooftops which is scorched before it reaches the stage of ears of grain. 27 And your sitting in counsel, and your going out to wage war, and your coming to the land of Israel, is revealed before Me; and that you have provoked anger before Me is revealed. 28 Because you have provoked anger against My Memra, and your raging has come up before Me, I will put rings in your jaw and a bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.

29 And this shall be the sign for you: Eat this year the aftergrowth, and in the second year that which springs up of itself; and in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 30 And the survivors of the house of Judah who are left shall again be like a tree that sends out its roots downward and lifts up its branches upward. 31 For out of Jerusalem shall go out the remnant of the righteous, and the survivors of those who uphold the Torah out of Mount Zion; by the Memra of the Lord of Hosts this shall be done.

32 Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor heap up a siege mound against it. 33 By the way by which he came, by it he shall return, and into this city he shall not come, says the Lord. 34 And I will protect this city, to save it, for the sake of My Memra and for the sake of David My servant.”

Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death

35 And it was on that night, that the angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand; and they got up early in the morning, and there they all were, dead bodies.

36 And Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned, and he stayed in Nineveh. 37 And it was, as he was bowing down in the house of Nisroch his idol, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword; and they escaped to the land of Kardu. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

1 In those days Hezekiah became deathly ill; and Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, came to him and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: Give instructions to your household, for you shall die and not recover from your sickness.”

2 And he turned his face to the wall of the House of the Sanctuary, and he prayed before the Lord, saying, 3 “Accept my prayer, Lord; remember now how I have served before You in truth and with a whole heart, and I have done what is proper before You.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 And it was, before Isaiah had gone out to the middle court, that a word of prophecy from before the Lord was with him, saying, 5 “Return and say to Hezekiah, the king of My people: This is what the Lord, the God of David your father says: Your prayer has been heard before Me; your tears are revealed before Me. I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord. 6 And I will add fifteen years to your days; and from the hand of the king of Assyria I will save you and this city; and I will protect this city for the sake of My Memra and for the sake of David My servant.”

7 And Isaiah said, “Let them take a cake of figs.” And they took it and placed it on the boil, and he was healed.

8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What is the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up on the third day to the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord?”

9 And Isaiah said, “This is the sign for you from before the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten hours, or shall it go back ten hours?” 10 And Hezekiah said, “It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten hours; but let it be a miracle: let the shadow go back ten hours.”

11 And Isaiah the prophet prayed before the Lord, and He brought the shadow back on the figure of the stone of hours, by which the sun had gone down on the dial of Ahaz, backward ten hours.

Envoys from Babylon

12 At that time Berodach-Baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and gifts to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13 And Hezekiah received them, and he showed them all his treasure house: the silver and the gold and the spices and the good oil, and his armory, and all that was found in his treasuries; there was nothing that Hezekiah did not show them in his house and in all his dominion.

14 And Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say to you, and from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “From a distant land they have come to me, from Babylon.” 15 And he said, “What did they see in your house?” And Hezekiah said, “They saw all that is in my house; there was nothing that I did not show them in my treasuries.”

16 And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Accept the word of the Lord: 17 Days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up until this day, shall be carried off to Babylon; nothing shall remain, says the Lord. 18 And they shall take some of your sons who shall come from you, whom you shall father; and they shall be officers in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

19 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good.” And he said, “Is it not good, if there shall be peace and truth in my days?”

20 And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought the water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of the house of Judah? 21 And Hezekiah lay with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

Manasseh King of Judah

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 And he did what was evil before the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before the children of Israel. 3 And he again built the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done; and he bowed down to all the host of heaven and served them. 4 And he built altars in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will cause My Shekinah to dwell.” 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord. 6 And he passed his son through the fire, and practiced soothsaying and enchantment, and dealt with necromancers and wizards; he did much evil before the Lord, to provoke anger before Him. 7 And he placed the image of the Asherah that he had made in the house of which the Lord had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will cause My Shekinah to dwell forever. 8 And I will no longer cause Israel to wander from the land which I gave to their fathers, if only they will take care to do according to all the commandment which I commanded them, and according to all the law which My servant Moses commanded them.” 9 But they did not listen; and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed from before the children of Israel.

Judgment Pronounced on Judah

10 And the Lord spoke by the hand of His servants the prophets, saying, 11 “Because Manasseh king of the tribe of the house of Judah has done these abominations, he has done more evil than all that the Amorites who were before him did, and he has caused the house of Judah also to sin with the worship of his idols, 12 therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: I am bringing such evil on Jerusalem and Judah that both ears of whoever hears of it shall tingle. 13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of the destruction of Samaria and the plummet of the distress of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a flask is wiped, wiped and turned upside down. 14 And I will cast off the remnant of My inheritance, and I will deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become prey and loot for all their enemies, 15 because they have done what is evil before Me and have been provoking anger before Me, from the day that their fathers went out of Egypt until this day.”

16 Manasseh also shed a great deal of innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from end to end; besides his sins with which he caused the house of Judah to sin, to do what was evil before the Lord.

17 And the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sins which he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of the house of Judah? 18 And Manasseh lay with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon his son reigned in his place.

Amon King of Judah

19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 20 And he did what was evil before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done. 21 And he walked in all the way in which his father had walked, and he served the idols which his father had served, and bowed down to them. 22 And he forsook the service of the Lord, the God of his fathers, and he did not walk in the way that was proper before the Lord.

23 And the servants of Amon rebelled against him and killed the king in his house. 24 And the people of the land killed all who had rebelled against King Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.

25 And the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 26 And he buried him in his grave in the garden of Uzza; and Josiah his son reigned in his place.

Josiah King of Judah

1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. 2 And he did what was right before the Lord, and he walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

The Book of the Torah Found

3 And it was in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan son of Azaliah son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, saying, 4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, and let him count the money that has been brought into the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, which the trustees have gathered from the people. 5 And let them give it into the hands of those doing the work, who are appointed in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord; and let them give it to those doing the work that is in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, to repair the breaches of the house: 6 to the carpenters and to the builders and to the masons, and to buy timber and hewn stones to repair the house. 7 However, no accounting shall be demanded from them for the money that is given into their hands, for they act in faithfulness.”

8 And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the book of the Torah in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 9 And Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought the king word, and he said, “Your servants have counted the money that was found in the house, and they have given it into the hands of those doing the work, who are appointed in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord.”

10 And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king. 11 And it was, when the king heard the words of the book of the Torah, that he tore his garments.

12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam son of Shaphan, and Achbor son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, 13 “Go, inquire from before the Lord for me and for the people and for all the house of Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found; for the anger of the Lord that is kindled against us is great, because our fathers did not listen to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”

The Prophecy of Huldah

14 And Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah son of Harhas, keeper of the garments — and she lived in Jerusalem in the house of study — and they spoke with her. 15 And she said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: Say to the man who sent you to me, 16 ‘This is what the Lord says: I am bringing evil on this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book which the king of the tribe of the house of Judah has read, 17 because they have forsaken My service and have offered up incense to the idols of the nations, in order to provoke anger before Me with all the work of their hands; and My anger shall be kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched.’

18 And to the king of the tribe of the house of Judah, who sent you to seek instruction from before the Lord, this is what you shall say to him: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: As for the words which you have heard, 19 because your heart trembled, and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I decreed concerning this place and concerning its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your garments and wept before Me, I too have heard it before Me,’ says the Lord. 20 ‘Therefore, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the evil which I am bringing upon this place.’” And they brought the king word.

Josiah Renews the Covenant

1 And the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 And the king went up to the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, and all the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the scribes and all the people, from small to great; and he read before them all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord. 3 And the king stood by the pillar and made the covenant before the Lord, to walk after the service of the Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all the heart and with all the soul, to uphold the words of this covenant that are written in this book; and all the people accepted the covenant upon themselves.

Josiah’s Reforms

4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the deputy of the priests, and the trustees, to bring out of the Temple of the Lord all the vessels that had been made for Baal and for the Asherah and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the plain of Kidron, and he carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 And he abolished the idolatrous priests whom the kings of the house of Judah had appointed, and who offered up incense on the high places in the cities of the house of Judah and in the environs of Jerusalem; and those who offered up incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven. 6 And he brought out the Asherah from the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the plain of Kidron, and he burned it at the brook of Kidron, and ground it to dust, and cast its dust upon the graves of the common people. 7 And he broke down the houses of the idolatrous shrines that were in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, where the women were weaving curtains for the Asherah.

8 And he brought all the idolatrous priests from the cities of the house of Judah, and he defiled the high places where the idolatrous priests had offered up incense, from Geba to Beer Sheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left as he enters the gate of the city. 9 However, the priests of the high places did not go up to sacrifice upon the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their fellow priests.

10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, so that no man might pass his son or his daughter through the fire to Molech. 11 And he abolished the horses which the kings of the house of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech the officer, which was in the precincts; and the chariots of the sun he burned in the fire. 12 And the altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of the house of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, the king broke down and removed from there, and he cast their dust into the brook of Kidron.

13 And the king defiled the high places that were facing Jerusalem, which were south of the Mount of Olives, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom, the detestable thing of the children of Ammon. 14 And he broke the pillars and cut down the Asherim, and filled their place with the bones of men.

15 And also the altar that was in Bethel, the high place which Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made — that altar too, and the high place, he broke down; and he burned the high place and ground it to dust, and burned the Asherah. 16 And Josiah turned and saw the graves that were there on the mountain; and he sent and took the bones from the graves and burned them upon the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the Lord which the prophet of the Lord proclaimed, who prophesied these things. 17 And he said, “What is this monument that I see?” And the men of the city said to him, “It is the grave of the prophet of the Lord who came from the tribe of Judah and prophesied these things that you have done upon the altar of Bethel.” 18 And he said, “Let him be; let no man move his bones.” So they left his bones alone, with the bones of the false prophet who came from Samaria.

19 And also all the houses of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke anger, Josiah removed; and he did to them according to all the deeds that he had done in Bethel. 20 And he slaughtered all the priests of the high places who were there upon the altars, and he burned the bones of men upon them; and he returned to Jerusalem.

The Passover Kept

21 And the king commanded all the people, saying, “Make the Passover offering before the Lord your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.” 22 For no Passover offering like this one had been made from the days of the judges who judged Israel, and all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of the house of Judah; 23 but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover offering was made before the Lord in Jerusalem.

24 And also the necromancers and the wizards, and the images and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of the house of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah removed, in order to uphold the words of the Torah that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord. 25 There was no king like him before him who returned to the service of the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his possessions, according to all the law of Moses; and none like him arose after him.

26 However, the Lord did not turn back from the strength of His great anger, with which His anger was strong against the house of Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked anger before Him. 27 And the Lord said, “The house of Judah too I will exile from the land of the house of My Shekinah, as I exiled Israel; and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’”

The Death of Josiah

28 And the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of the house of Judah? 29 In his days Pharaoh the Lame, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went to meet him, and he killed him in Megiddo when he saw him. 30 And his servants carried him dead from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his grave. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.

Jehoahaz King of Judah

31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil before the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh the Lame bound him in Riblah in the land of Hamath, so that he could not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed a levy upon the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

34 And Pharaoh the Lame made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim; and he took Jehoahaz, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; however, he imposed a levy upon the land to give the money at the command of Pharaoh; from each man according to his assessment he exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land, to give to Pharaoh the Lame.

Jehoiakim King of Judah

36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Zebudah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37 And he did what was evil before the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.

Jehoiakim’s Rebellion

1 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him. 2 And the Lord incited against him the bands of the Chaldeans, and the bands of Aram, and the bands of Moab, and the bands of the children of Ammon; and He incited them against the house of Judah to destroy them, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by the hand of His servants the prophets. 3 But because they had provoked anger before the Lord, this came upon the house of Judah, to exile them from the land of the house of His Shekinah, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done; 4 and also for the innocent blood that he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with the guilt of innocent blood; and it was not the will before the Lord to forgive.

5 And the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of the house of Judah? 6 And Jehoiakim lay with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place. 7 And the king of Egypt did not go out from his land again, for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt as far as the river Euphrates, all that had belonged to the king of Egypt.

Jehoiachin King of Judah

8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9 And he did what was evil before the Lord, according to all that his father had done.

Jehoiachin Exiled to Babylon

10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege. 11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, while his servants were besieging it. 12 And Jehoiachin king of the tribe of the house of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his princes and his officers; and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

13 And he brought out from there all the treasures of the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and he cut up all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the Temple of the Lord, as the Lord had spoken. 14 And he exiled all of Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand into exile, and all the craftsmen and the gatekeepers; none remained except the poorest of the people of the land.

15 And he exiled Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the great men of the land he led into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 And all the mighty men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the gatekeepers, a thousand, all of them mighty men, warriors — the king of Babylon brought them into exile to Babylon. 17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, his father’s brother, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah King of Judah

18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 19 And he did what was evil before the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

20 For because they had provoked anger before the Lord, it came upon Jerusalem and upon Judah, until He exiled them from the land of the house of His Shekinah. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

The Fall of Jerusalem

1 And it was in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built siege towers against it all around. 2 And the city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3 On the ninth of the month the famine grew strong in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land.

4 And the city was breached, and all the warriors fled by night by way of the gate between the walls, which was by the king’s garden — and the Chaldeans were encamped all around the city — and he went by the way of the plain. 5 And the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.

6 And they seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon, to Riblah; and they pronounced judgment upon him. 7 And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; and he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with copper chains, and brought him to Babylon.

The Sanctuary Burned

8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 And he burned the Sanctuary of the Lord and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; and all the houses of the great men he burned with fire. 10 And all the army of the Chaldeans that was with the chief of the executioners broke down the walls all around Jerusalem.

11 And the rest of the people who were left in the city, and the deserters who had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners exiled. 12 And of the poorest of the people of the land, the chief of the executioners left some to be workers in the fields and in the vineyards.

13 And the copper pillars that were in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, and the bases, and the copper sea that was in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and they carried their copper to Babylon. 14 And the pots, and the shovels, and the musical instruments, and the spoons, and all the copper vessels with which they ministered, they took. 15 And the fire pans and the bowls, those that were of gold, in gold, and those that were of silver, in silver, the chief of the executioners took. 16 The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord — there was no weighing the copper of all these vessels. 17 The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the capital on it was of copper; and the height of the capital was three cubits; and the latticework and the pomegranates all around the capital, all of copper; and the second pillar was like these, with the latticework.

The Leaders Executed

18 And the chief of the executioners took Seraiah the high priest and Zephaniah the deputy of the priests, and the three trustees. 19 And from the city he took one officer who was appointed over the warriors, and five men of those who see the king’s face, who were found in the city, and the scribe, the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city. 20 And Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners took them and brought them to the king of Babylon, to Riblah. 21 And the king of Babylon struck them and killed them in Riblah in the land of Hamath. And the house of Judah went into exile from their land.

Gedaliah Governor of Judah

22 And the people who were left in the land of the house of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left — he appointed over them Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan. 23 And all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah; and they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and Johanan son of Kareah, and Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their men. 24 And Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans; live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.”

25 And it was in the seventh month, that Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, of the royal line, came, and ten men with him; and they struck Gedaliah, and he died, and the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him in Mizpah. 26 And all the people, from small to great, and the captains of the armies, set out and came to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

Jehoiachin Released

27 And it was in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of the tribe of the house of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he became king, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of the tribe of the house of Judah from the prison house. 28 And he spoke with him kind words, and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread continually before him all the days of his life. 30 And his allowance, a continual allowance, was given to him from before the king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.