1Moab revolted against Israel after the death of Ahab. 2 Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper room in Samaria, and he became injured. He sent messengers and said to them, “Go and inquire from Baal-zebub,a god of Ekron, whether I will survive after this my injury.” They went to inquire from him. 3 The angel of the Lord called Elijah the Tishbite, saying, “Arise! Come to a meeting of the messengers of Ahaziah, king of Samaria. And you will say to them, ‘Is it because there is no god in Israel that you go to seek after Baalzebub, god of Ekron? 4 that this is what the Lord says: “The bed on which you have ascended, from there you will not descend from it, because you will die in death?”’” And Elijah went and said that to them. 5 The messengers returned to him, and he said to them, “Why is it that you have returned?” 6 They said to him, “A man went to meet us, and he said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and say to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you have gone to seek from Baal-zebub, god of Ekron? It is not so; the bed on which you have ascended, you will not descend from it because you will die in death.’”’” 7 He replied to them, “What was the judgment of the man who ascended to meet you and who spoke to you these words?” 8 They said to him, “A hairy man; a leather belt girded his loins.” He said, “This was Elijah the Tishbite.” 9 He sent to him a commander of fifty and his fifty men. He ascended to him. Behold, Elijah sat on the peak of the mountain. The commander of fifty spoke to him and said, “O man of God, the king has summoned you. Come down!” 10 Elijah answered and said to the commander of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire descend from heaven and devour you and your fifty men.” Fire went down from heaven and devoured him and his fifty men. 11 Again the king sent to him another commander of fifty and his fifty men. The commander of fifty spoke to him. He said, “O man of God, this is what the king says: ‘Hurry and come down!’” 12 Elijah answered and spoke with him. He said, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and devour you and your fifty men.” Fire came down from heaven and devoured him and his fifty men. 13 And the king proceeded further to send a leader and his fifty men. The third commander of fifty came and bent on his knees before Elijah, and he asked him and spoke to him. He said, “O man of God, may my life and the life of these your servants be respected in your eyes. 14 Look, fire came down from heaven and devoured the first two commanders of fifty. Now please let my soul be valued in your eyes.” 15 The angel of the Lord spoke to Elijah and said, “Go down with him. Do not be afraid of their face.” Elijah arose and went down with him to the king. 16 Elijah spoke to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Why was it that you sent to consult with Baal-zebub, god of Ekron? Is it not the case that the bed on which you ascended there is one that you will not descend from it, for you will die by death?’” 17 He died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah spoke. 18 The rest of the deeds of Ahaziah that he did, behold, are these not written in the document of the words of the annals of the kings of Israel? 18 a And Joram son of Ahab reigned over Israel in Samaria twelve years in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. 18 b And he did what is evil before the Lord, except not as his brothers, nor as his mother. 18 c And he sent away the pillars of Baal, which his father made, and he crushed them, except he clung to the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin; he did not depart from them.
2And the Lord was enraged with wrath toward the house of Ahab. 2 It happened when the Lord brought up Elijah in the air and so into heaven that Elijah and Elisha went out from Jericho. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Look, sit here now, for God has sent me to Bethel.” Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, cursed if I will leave you!” So, he went to Bethel. 3 The sons of the prophets who were in Bethel went to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will remove your master from above your head?” He said, “Yes, I know, but you keep silent!” 4 Elijah said to Elisha, “Remain here, because the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” He said, “As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, cursed if I will leave you!” They went to Jericho. 5 The sons of the prophets who were in Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will remove your master from over your head?” He said, “Yes I know, but you keep silent!” 6 Elijah said to him, “Remain here because the Lord sent me as far as to the Jordan,” and Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, cursed if I will leave you.” Both of them went. 7 Fifty men, the sons of the prophets, stood opposite them from a distance. Both of them stood at the Jordan. 8 Elijah took his sheepskin, rolled it up, and struck the water. The water divided on one side and on the other side, and both of them crossed to the desert. 9 It happened when they had crossed that Elijah said to Elisha, “What can I do for you before I am taken up from you?” Elisha said, “May your spirit become twofold on me.” 10 Elijah said, “You have hardened to ask. If you see me taken up from you, then it will be in this way. If not, then it will not be so.” 11 It happened as they were walking, they went along and spoke. Look, a chariot of fire and a horse of fire! And he separated between the two of them. Elijah was taken up in the air as into heaven. 12 Elisha saw and cried, “Father, Father, the chariot of Israel and his horses!” He did not see him any longer. He took hold of his garments and tore them into two fragments. 13 He raised the sheepskin of Elijah that had fallen from upon Elisha. And he stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the sheepskin of Elijah that fell on top of him, and he struck the water. And he said, “Where is the God of Elijah?” He struck the water, and it divided to the one side and to the other side, and Elisha crossed. 15 The sons of the prophets and those who were in Jericho saw him from the opposite side. They said, “The spirit of Elijah has rested upon Elisha.” They came to meet him and did reverence to him on the land. 16 They said to him, “Look, we are with your servants, fifty men who are sons of strength. Let them go and search for your master, in case the Spirit of the Lord discovered him and brought him to the Jordan or onto one of the mountains or onto one of the hills.” Elisha said, “Do not send them.” 17 They urged him until he was ashamed, and so he said, “Send them.” They sent fifty men, and they searched for three days but did not find him. 18 And he was living in Jericho. Elisha said, “Did they not say to you, ‘Don’t go?’” 19 The men of the city said to Elisha, “Look, the situation of the city is good just as the master sees. However, the water is bad, and the land is barren.” 20 Elisha said, “Bring me a new small jar and put salt there.” They brought it to him. 21 Elisha went out to the spring of water and threw salt in it. He said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have cured this water; no longer will death be there and it be unproductive.’” 22 The waters were purified until this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken. 23 He went up from there to Bethel. While he was traveling on the road, young children went out from the town and mocked him. They said to him, “Go up, bald man! Go up!” 24 He looked around after them and saw them. He cursed them in the name of the Lord. Look, two bears came out from the forest and tore apart forty-two children from them. 25 He went from there to Mount Carmel and then returned to Samaria.
3Joram son of Ahab became king in Israel in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and he reigned for twelve years. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not as his father and not as his mother had done. He removed the stones of Baal that his father had made. 3 Nevertheless, he clung to the sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin. He did not turn away from it. 4 Mesha, king of Moab, was an owner of sheep, and he turned to the king of Israel in the rising up of a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand woolly rams. 5 It happened that after Ahab died, the king of Moab revolted against the king of Israel. 6 On that day, King Joram went out from Samaria and numbered Israel. 7 He went and sent to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab revolted against me. Will you go with me to Moab to battle?” He said, “I will go up. Just like me, so like you. As my people, so are your people. As my horses, so are your horses.” 8 He said, “By which way shall I go up?” He said, “By the way of the wilderness of Edom.” 9 And the king of Israel and the king of Judah and the king of Edom went and circled around a way of seven days. And there was not water for the encampment or the livestock that were at their feet. 10 And the king of Israel said, “O, has the Lord indeed called the three kings who passed by to give them into the hand of Moab?” 11 Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, that we may seek after the Lord from him?” One of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, “Here is Elisha the son of Jehoshaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” 12 Jehoshaphat said, “The word is with him.” And there went down to him the king of Israel; Jehoshaphat, king of Judah; and the king of Edom. 13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do we have to do with each other?a Go to the prophets of your father.” The king of Israel said to him, “No, because the Lord called the three kings in order to give them into the hands of Moab.” 14 Elisha said, “As the Lord of the powers lives, whom I stand before him, that unless I take in the face of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, or I looked at you and saw you. 15 Now bring me harpists.” It happened that as the harpist played, the hand of the Lord came upon him. 16 And he said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Make this brook ditches, ditches. 17 For this is what the Lord says: ‘You will not see wind, nor will you see rain, but this brook will be filled with water, and you, your property, and your livestock will drink. 18 This is also a light matter in the eyes of the Lord. He will give Moab into your hand. 19 You will strike every strong city, and you will overthrow every good timber. You shall block up all the springs of water, and with stones you will render every good piece of land useless.” 20 It happened early in the morning, when the sacrifice would be offered up; look, water began from the direction of Edom, and the land was filled with water. 21 All Moab heard that the kings went up to fight them, and they called out all those girded up with battle gear. And they said, “Alas!” and stood on the border. 22 They rose up early, and the sun was rising on the water. From across, Moab saw the water, red as blood. 23 They said, “This is blood from the sword. The kings fought and each struck down his neighbor. Now, to the spoils, Moab!” 24 They entered into the fort of Israel. Israelites arose and beat Moab, and they fled from their face. They invaded and struck Moab. 25 They destroyed the towns, and each man threw a stone on every good parcel. They filled it, and they stopped up every spring. They cut down every good tree. Only the stones of the wall were left behind, having been removed. The slingers surrounded and struck it down. 26 The king of Moab saw that the battle prevailed over him. He took with him seven hundred men, who drew the sword to cut through to the king of Edom, but he was not able. 27 He took his firstborn son, who reigned in place of him. He offered him as a whole burnt offering on the wall. Great regret came upon Israel, and they departed from him and returned to the land.
4One woman from the sons of the prophets cried aloud to Elisha, saying, “Your servant, my husband, died, and you know that the servant was one who feared the Lord. But the moneylender has come to take my two sons for his own slaves.” 2 Elisha said, “What can I do for you? What is yours in your house?” But she said, “Nothing belongs to your servant—nothing other than olive oil, with which I anoint.” 3 He said to her, “Go! Ask for vessels for yourself outside from all the neighbors, empty vessels. Don’t skimp. 4 You will enter and shut the door after you and after your sons. Pour into these jars and take up the full ones.” 5 She departed from him, and she shut the door after her and after her sons. They brought the jars to her, and she poured until the vessels were filled. 6 And she said to her sons, “Bring me a further vessel.” And they said to her, “There is no further vessel.” And the olive oil stood. 7 She went and reported to the man of God. Elisha said, “Go and sell the oil. You can repay your interest, and you and your sons can live on the remaining oil.” 8 A day came and Elisha crossed to Shunem. A great woman was there. She prevailed on him to eat bread, and it happened, as often as he came by, he turned aside to eat there. 9 The woman said to her husband, “Look, now I know that this one who passes by us at all times is a holy man of God. 10 Let us make a small upper place for him, and let us put for him there a bed, a table, a couch, and a lampstand. He will, when he comes to us, turn aside there.” 11 It happened on a day he passed by there and turned aside to the upper room and slept there. 12 He said to Gehazi his servant, “Call to me this Shunammite woman.” He called her, and she stood before him. 13 He said to him, “Say to her, ‘Look, you have astonished us all with possessions. What should I do for you? If there is a word for you to the king or to the commander of the army?’” She said, “I am living in the midst of the people.” 14 He said, “What is necessary to do for her?” Gehazi, his servant, said, “However, there is no son to her, and her husband is old.” 15 He called her, and she stood beside the door. 16 Elisha said to her, “At this time when the season lives,a you will embrace a son.” But she said, “No, my lord. Do not deceive your servant.” 17 The woman became pregnant.b She brought forth a son at this time as the hour was living, just as Elisha spoke to her. 18 The child grew, and there was a time when he went out to his father with the reapers. 19 He said to his father, “My head, my head.” He said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 He fell asleep on her knees until noon, and he died. 21 She lifted him and set him on the bed of the man of God. She shut the door behind him and left. 22 She called her husband and said, “Send to me one of the servants and one donkey. I will run to the man of God and return.” 23 And he said, “Why is it that you go to him today? It is not a new moon or Sabbath.” But she said, “Peace.” 24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead. Go. Do not hold back for me to go forward that if I tell you.” 25 Going, she went and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. It came to pass as Elisha saw her coming, he said to Gehazi, his servant, “Look, there is the Shunammite woman. 26 Run to meet her and say, ‘Is there peace with you? Or is there peace with your husband? Or is there peace with the boy?’” She said, “There is peace.” 27 She went to Elisha at the mountain and took hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to push her away. Elisha said, “Leave her because her soul is afflicted in her, but the Lord has hidden it from me and you and has not told it to me.” 28 She said, “Did I ask for a son from my master? For did I not say, ‘Don’t deceive me?’” 29 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Gird your loins and take my staff in your hand and go. For if you meet someone, do not bless him. If a man blesses you, do not answer him. Put my staff on the face of the boy.” 30 The mother of the boy said, “As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, cursed if I will leave you.” Elisha arose and went after her. 31 Gehazi went on ahead of him and put the staff on the face of the boy, but there was no sound, nor was anything heard. He returned to meet him and reported to him, saying, “The boy has not awakened.” 32 Elisha entered into the house and look, the boy was dead and lying on his bed. 33 Elisha entered into the house and shut the door on the two of them. He prayed to the Lord. 34 He ascended and lay on the boy. He put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. He bent over him, and the flesh of the boy warmed. 35 He turned and went in the house up and down. He ascended and bent down over the boy for seven times, and the boy opened his eyes. 36 Elisha called to Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” He called and went in to him. Elisha said, “Take your son.” 37 The woman entered and fell down at his feet and worshiped on the earth. She took her son and left. 38 Elisha returned to Gilgal. The famine was in the land, and the sons of the prophets sat before him. Elisha said to his servant, “Put on the kettle and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets.” 39 He went into the field to gather herbs. He discovered a vine in the field and collected from it a wild gourd in the folds of his garment and threw it into the kettle of pottage because no one knew what they were. 40 So it was given to the men to eat. It happened when they ate from the pottage, behold! They shouted and said, “Death is in the kettle, O man of God,” and they were not able to eat. 41 He said, “Take flour and throw it into the kettle.” Elisha said to Gehazi the servant, “Pour it out to the people and let them eat it.” Nothing was remaining there that was bad in the kettle. 42 A man came from Baal-shalishah. He brought twenty barley bread loaves of the firstfruits and fruitcakes to the man of God. He said, “Give it to the people, and let them eat.” 43 His servant said, “How can I do this before a hundred men?” He said, “Give it to the people, and let them eat, because this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat, and they will leave something.’” 44 They ate, and they had leftovers according to the word of the Lord.
5Naaman was the ruler of the army of Aram. He was a great man before his master and was admired to his face because, through him, the Lord gave victory to Aram. The man was a strong soldier who had become leprous. 2 Arameans went out lightly armed and captured from the land of Israel a small young woman. She was a servant before the wife of Naaman. 3 She said to her mistress, “Would that my master was in front of the prophet of God who is in Samaria. Then he would cure him from his leprosy.” 4 She went in and reported to her master. She said, “So and so, the young woman from the land of Israel spoke.” 5 The king of Aram said to Naaman, “Go, enter, and I will send a document to the king of Israel.” He went and took in his hand ten talents of silver and six thousand gold pieces and ten changes of clothing. 6 He carried the document to the king of Israel, saying, “Now there comes this document to you. Look, I have sent to you Naaman, my servant. You will cure him from his leprosy.” 7 It happened when the king of Israel read the document, he tore his garments and said, “Am I God that I should kill and make alive? For this one sends to me to cure a man from his leprosy. Surely you know and see that this one seeks a quarrel against me.” 8 It happened when Elisha heard that the king of Israel tore his garments, he sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Why did you tear your garments? Let Naaman come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 Naaman went with horse and chariot and came to a stop at the door of the house of Elisha. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go! Wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will return to you, and you will be clean.” 11 Naaman became wrathful and departed. He said, “Look, they said to me surely he would come out and call upon the name of his God. He would put his hand on the place, and it would recover from the leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not go to wash in them and be cleansed?” He turned and departed in wrath. 13 His servants came and spoke to him, “If the prophet spoke to you a great matter, would you not do it? But you would not do it because he said to you, ‘Wash and be cleansed!’” 14 And so Naaman went down and immersed himself in the Jordan seven times according to the word of Elisha. His flesh returned like the flesh of a small child, and he was cleansed. 15 He returned to Elisha, he and all his camp. He went and stood and said, “Look, I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Now accept the gift from your servant.” 16 Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, whom I stand before him, cursed if I will accept it.” He pressed him to take it, but he refused. 17 Naaman said, “If you will not, please give your servant a gomer, a yoke of mules, because your servant will no longer make a whole burnt offering and a sacrifice to other gods except to the Lord. 18 By this word also the Lord will pardon your servant. When my master enters into the house of Rimmon to bow down there, and he shall rest upon my hand, and I shall bow down in the house of Rimmon when he bows down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant in this matter.” 19 Elisha said to Naaman, “Go in peace!” And he departed from him for a little way along the land. 20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, said, “Look, my master spared Naaman, this Aramean, by not taking from his hand what he brought. As the Lord lives, surely, I will run after him and take something from him.” 21 Gehazi pursued after Naaman, and Naaman saw him running after him. He turned from the chariot to meet him. 22 He said, “Peace. My master sent me, saying, ‘Look, two youths from the mountains of Ephraim, from the sons of the prophets, have come to me. Give to them a talent of silver and two changes of clothes.’” 23 Naaman said, “Take two talents of silver. Take them in two bags and two changes of clothes.” He gave them to two of his servants and took them up before him. 24 They came to the dark, and he took them from their hands and set the items in the house. He discharged the men. 25 He went in and stood by his master. Elisha said to him, “Where were you, Gehazi?” Gehazi said, “Your servant did not go here or there.” 26 Elisha said to him, “Did not my heart go with you when the man turned from the chariot to meet you? Now you took the silver, you took the garments, and olive yards, vineyards, sheep, oxen, male servants, and female servants? 27 The leprosy of Naaman will cling to you and to your seed for eternity.” He went out from his face, having become leprous like snow.
6The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place in which we reside before you is small for us. 2 Let us go to the Jordan and let us take from there each one a single beam. Let us make for ourselves there a place to live there.” He said, “Come on!” 3 One said, “Kindly come with your servants.” He said, “I will come.” 4 He went with them. They went to the Jordan and cut down trees. 5 Look, one was cutting down the tree, and the axe head fell into the water. He cried out, “O master, it was hidden.” 6 The man of God said, “Where did it fall?” He showed to him the place. He snipped off a stick and threw it there, and the axe head floated. 7 He said, “Lift it up yourself.” So, he stretched out the hand and took it. 8 The king of Aram was fighting against Israel. He planned with his subjects, saying, “I will set up camp in this certain place.” 9 Elisha sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Watch out! Do not pass by through that place because Arameans are hidden there.” 10 The king of Israel sent to the place that Elisha had said to him. He watched from there not merely one nor two places. 11 The soul of the king of Aram was enraged concerning this matter. He called his servants and said to them, “Will you not announce to me who has betrayed me to the king of Israel?” 12 One of his subordinates said, “None, O king, my master, except Elisha the prophet who is in Israel. He tells the king of Israel all the words, whatever you say in the inner room of your bedchamber.” 13 He said, “Come, see where this one is. And I will send and take him.” He reported to him saying, “Look, he is in Dothan.” 14 He sent horse, chariotry, and strong military strength there. They came by night and surrounded the city. 15 The servant of Elisha awoke, arose, and went out. Look, an army was surrounding the city, along with horse and chariotry. The servant said to him, “O master, what will we do?” 16 Elisha said, “Do not fear because those who are with us are more numerous than those who are with them.” 17 Elisha prayed and said, “Lord, open the eyes of the servant and let him see.” The Lord opened his eyes, and he looked, and look, the mountain was full of horses and chariotry of fire all around Elisha. 18 He went down to him and prayed to the Lord and said, “Strike this people with blindness.” He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. 19 Elisha said to them, “This is not the city, nor is this the way. Follow after me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” So, he led them to Samaria. 20 It happened that when they entered into Samaria, Elisha said, “Open, I pray Lord, their eyes, and let them see.” And he opened their eyes, and they saw. Look, they were in the center of Samaria. 21 The king of Israel said, when he saw them, “Shall I, striking, strike them, O father?” 22 He said, “You shall not strike. Would you not strike those whom you took prisoner with your sword and your bow? Set bread and water before them and let them eat and drink. Then let them depart to their master.” 23 He set before them a great dinner. They ate and drank, and he sent them to their master. Lightly armed groups of Syria did not enter again any more into the land of Israel. 24 It happened after this that the son of Hadad, king of Aram, mustered all his army. 25 There was a great famine in Samaria, and look, they laid siege against it until the time when the head of a donkey was worth fifty of silver, and a quarter of a caba of dung of pigeons was worth five of silver. 26 As the king of Israel was passing by the wall, a woman cried to him, saying, “Save me, O lord, O king!” 27 And he said to her, “If the Lord is not able to save you, where will I save you from? Not from a threshing floor, or from a winepress?” 28 And the king said to her, “What is 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 him tomorrow. 29 We boiled my son and ate him. I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, and we will eat him.’ But she hid her son.” 30 It happened when the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his garments. And as he passed by on the wall, the people saw the sackcloth on his body underneath. 31 This one said, “May God do to me and more, if the head of Elisha stands on him today.” 32 Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him. He sent a man before his face, before the messenger came to him. Then he said to the elders, “Had you known that the son of the murderer sent to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut in the door. Is not the sound of the feet of his master behind him?” 33 While he was talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him, and he said, “Look, this evil is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”
7Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: ‘About this time tomorrow, a measure of flour will be sold for a shekel in the gates of Samaria.’” 2 The officer on whom the king rested on his hand answered Elisha and said, “Look, if the Lord makes a flood from the heavens, will this matter really happen?” Elisha said, “Look, you will see with the eyes, but you will not eat from it.” 3 Four men were leprous beside the gate of the city. A man said to his neighbor, “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘Let us enter into the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we will die there. If we remain here, we will die. Now, come and let us go over to the army of Aram. If they allow us to live, then we will live. If they kill us, then we will die.” 5 They arose in the dark to go to the army of Aram. They came to the middle of the army of Aram. And behold! No man was there. 6 The Lord made the army of Aram to hear the sound of the chariotry, the sound of the horse, the sound of a great army. A man said to his neighbor, “Now the king of Israel hired against us the king of the Hittites and the king of Egypt in order to come to us.” 7 They arose and ran away in the darkness. They abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys in the camp as it is, and they fled for their life. 8 These lepers went in to the edge of the camp and entered into one tent. They ate and drank and carried away from there silver and gold and garments. They went and returned from there and entered into another tent. They took from here and went and hid. 9 A man said to his neighbor, “We are not doing in this way. This day is a day of good tidings, and we remain silent. If we wait until the light of the early morning, then we will find evil. Come, and let us go to and report to the house of the king.” 10 They entered and called to the gate of the city, and they announced to them, saying, “We went in to the camp of Aram. Look, no man is there nor the sound of a man, only tethered horses and donkeys, and their tents as they were.” 11 The gatekeepers shouted and they announced to the house of the king within. 12 The king stood in the night and said to his servants, “I will tell you what Aram has done to us. They know that we are hungry, and they have gone out from the camp and have hidden in the fields, saying, ‘They will come out from the city, and we will capture them alive. Then we will go into the city.’” 13 One of his servants answered and said, “Let them take five of the horses that remain among those who are left behind here. Look, they are with all the mass of Israel who remain. We will send there and see.” 14 They took two riders of horses, and the king of Israel sent after the king of Aram, saying, “Go and see.” 15 They went after them as far as the Jordan. Look, all the road was full of garments and objects that the Arameans had thrown away. After they were surprised, the messengers returned and reported to the king. 16 The people went out and tore apart the camp of the Arameans. It happened that a measure of flour sold for a shekel according to the word of the Lord, and two measures of barley for a shekel. 17 The king appointed the officer on whom the king rested his hand on the gate. The people trampled him in the gate, and he died just as the man of God said, who had spoken when the messenger came down to him. 18 It happened as Elisha spoke to the king, saying, “Two measures of barley will sell for a shekel and a measure of flour for a shekel. It will be as at this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria.” 19 The officer answered Elisha and said, “Look, if the Lord makes a flood from the heavens, will this matter really happen?” Elisha said, “Look, you will see with your eyes, but you will not eat from it.” 20 So it happened that the people trampled him in the gate and he died.
8Elisha said to the woman, whose son he restored to life, saying, “Get up and go, you and your house, and live wherever you dwell, because the Lord has decreed a famine in the land. It has come on the land for seven years.” 2 The woman arose and did according to the word of Elisha. She and her household went and lived in the land of the foreigners for seven years. 3 It happened after the end of seven years that the woman returned from the fields of the foreigners into the city. She went to cry to the king concerning her own house and concerning her own land. 4 The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, saying, “Carry over to me all the great things that Elisha did.” 5 It happened as he was relating to the king how he brought to life a boy who had died, look, the woman whose son Elisha had restored to life was crying to the king concerning her own house and concerning her own fields. Gehazi said, “O lord king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha brought to life.” 6 The king asked the woman, and she told him. The king gave to her one eunuch, saying, “Return all that was hers, the produce of the field from the day when she left the land until now.” 7 Elisha went to Damascus, and the son of Hadad, king of Aram, was ill. And he reported to him, saying, “The man of God has reached unto this place.” 8 The king said to Hazael, “Take a maanaa in your hand and go to meet the man of God. Consult the Lord through him, saying, ‘Will I live from this my sickness?’” 9 And Hazael went to meet him. He took a maana in his hand, all the goods of Damascus, a load of forty camels, as gifts. He came and stood before him and said to Elisha, “Your son, the son of Hadad, king of Aram, sent me to you to inquire, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness of mine?’” 10 Elisha said, “Go and say, ‘You will live by life, and the Lord has made known to me that you will die by death.’” 11 He stood to his face to the point of embarrassment. Then the man of God wept. 12 Hazael said, “Why is it that my lord weeps?” He said, “Because I know how much evil you will do to the sons of Israel. You will send their forts into fire. You will kill their select men with a sword. You will throw down their children. You will rip up those who are pregnant.” 13 Hazael said, “How is it that your servant, the dead dog, will do this thing?” Elisha said, “The Lord has shown me that you will become king over Israel.” 14 He left Elisha and went in to his master. He said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” He said, “He said to me, ‘You will live by life.’” 15 It happened on the next day that he took the chabbac and dipped it in the water and covered over his face so that he died. Hazael ruled in his place. 16 In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, while Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Joram son of Jehoshaphat became king of Judah. 17 He was the son of thirty-two years when he became king, and he ruled forty years in Jerusalem. 18 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel as the house of Ahab had done, because the daughter of Ahab was to him for a wife. He did evil before the Lord. 19 The Lord did not want to destroy Judah on account of David, his servant, just as he said, to give to him a lamp all the days. 20 In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and they appointed a king over themselves. 21 Joram went up to Zair, and all the chariots with him. It happened that he arose and struck the Edomites who surrounded him and the chiefs of the chariots. The people fled into their tents. 22 Edom has revolted from under the hand of Judah until this day. Then Libnah revolted at that time. 23 The rest of the deeds of Joram and all, whatever he did, behold, are these not written in the document of the deeds of the annals of the kings of Judah? 24 Joram slept with his fathers. He was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David, and Ahaziah, his son, ruled in place of him. 25 In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Joram became king. 26 Ahaziah was the son of twenty-two years when he became king, and he ruled for one year in Israel. The name of his mother was Athaliah daughter of Omri, king of Israel. 27 He walked in the way of the house of Ahab. He did evil before the Lord as the house of Ahab. 28 He walked with Joram son of Ahab to battle with Hazael, king of the foreigners, in Ramoth-gilead. The Arameans struck Joram. 29 King Joram returned to be cured in Israel from the wounds with which they struck him in Ramah when he fought with Hazael, king of Aram. Ahaziah son of Joram went down to see Joram son of Ahab in Israel because he was ill.
9Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Gird your loins and take the bottle of this olive oil in your hand and go to Ramoth-gilead. 2 And you shall go in there, and there you will see Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, and you will go in and raise him from the midst of his brothers, and you will bring him into the chamber in the chamber. 3 Take the bottle of olive oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I have anointed you as king over Israel.”’ And you shall open the door and run. Do not wait around.” 4 And the young prophet went to Ramoth-gilead. 5 He arrived, and look, the chiefs of the army sat. He said, “I have a word for you, the ruler.” Jehu said, “For which of all of us?” He said, “For you, the ruler.” 6 He stood and entered into the house. He poured the olive oil on his head and said to him, “This is what the Lord the God of Israel says: ‘I have anointed you as king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. 7 You will destroy the house of Ahab, your master, from your face, and you will avenge the blood of my servants, the prophets, and the blood of all of the servants of the Lord from the hand of Jezebel. 8 From the hand of the whole house of Ahab, I will destroy in the house of Ahab, he who urinates toward a wall, both the one who comes and the one left behind in Israel. 9 I will give the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. 10 The dogs will devour Jezebel in the plot of Israel, and there is none who will bury her.’” He opened the door and fled. 11 Jehu went out to the servants of his lord and they said to him, “Peace? Why is it that this crazy one came to you?” He said to them, “You know the man and his talk.” 12 And he said, “It is wrong! Report to us.” Jehu said to them, “So and so he said to me, saying, and he said, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I have anointed you as king over Israel.”’” 13 And when they heard this they hurried, and each took his outer garment and placed it under him upon the garema of the steps, and they gave a signal by the horn and said, “Jehu became king!” 14 Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. Joram himself kept watch in Ramoth-gilead and all Israel from before Hazael, king of Aram. 15 And Joram, the king, returned to be cured in Israel from the wounds of which the Arameans had mocked him when they fought with Hazael, king of Aram. Jehu said, “If your soul is with me, do not let anyone go out of the city to escape in order to go and report in Israel.” 16 Jehu rode and went and descended in Israel because Joram, king of Israel, served in Israel from the arrows that the Arameans shot at him in Ramoth, in the battle with Hazael, king of Syria, because he was strong. A man of the army and Ahaziah, king of Judah, went down to see Joram. 17 The guard went up on the tower of Israel and saw the dust of Jehu when he was coming and said, “I see a dust cloud.” Joram said, “Take a rider and send him before them and say, ‘Surely there is peace?’” 18 The rider of the horse went to meet them, and he said, “Thus says the king: ‘Surely there is peace?’” Jehu said, “What is it with you and peace? Return in behind me.” The guard reported, saying, “The messenger came to them, but he not did return.” 19 He sent a rider of a second horse and went to him and said, “This is what the king says: ‘Surely there is peace?’” Jehu said, “What is it with you and peace? Return in behind me.” 20 The guard reported, saying, “He went to them, but he did not return. The moving is how Jehu son of Nimshi moves because he proceeds in madness.” 21 Joram said, “Put the yoke on!” And he yoked a team. And Joram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, went out, each in his chariot. They went out to meet Jehu and found him in the plot of Naboth, the Israelite. 22 It happened when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, “Surely there is peace, Jehu?” Jehu said, “How is there peace while the immorality of Jezebel, your mother, and her many medicines remain?” 23 Joram turned his hands and fled. Then he said to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!” 24 Jehu filled his hand with the bow and struck Joram between his arms. His arrow went out through his heart, and he slumped on his knees. 25 He said to Bidkar, his officer, “Throw him in the portion of the field of Naboth, the Israelite. Because I remember, you and I were mounting on a chariot behind Ahab, his father, and the Lord took to him this word: 26 ‘Unless yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will repay it on this plot,’ declares the Lord. Now, pick up and throw him on the plot according to the word of the Lord.” 27 Ahaziah, king of Judah, saw and fled on the road to Bethhaggan. Jehu pursued after him and said, “Him also!” He struck him against the chariot when he went up to Ai, which is Ibleam, but he fled to Megiddo and died there. 28 His servants caused to mount him on the chariot, and they led him to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb in the city of David. 29 In the eleventh year of Joram, king of Israel, Ahaziah reigned over Judah. 30 Jehu went to Israel, and Jezebel heard and painted her eyes. She adorned her head and peered through the window. 31 Jehu entered into the city, and she said, “Surely there is peace, Zimri, the murderer of his lord?” 32 He raised his face to the window and saw her. He said, “Who are you? Come down with me!” Two eunuchs bent down to him. 33 He said, “Throw her down.” And they threw her down. Some of her blood was spattered at the wall and at the horses, and they trampled her underfoot. 34 And he went in and ate and drank. He said, “Look after, I pray, this cursed woman. Bury her because she is the daughter of a king.” 35 They went out to bury her, but they did not find any part of her other than the skull, the feet, and the palms of the hands. 36 They returned and reported to him. He said, “This is the word of the Lord that he spoke by the hand of Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘On the plot of Israel, the dogs will devour the flesh of Jezebel. 37 The body of Jezebel will be like dung on the face of the field in the plot of Israel, so they do not say, “This is Jezebel.”’”
10Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. Jehu wrote a document and sent it to Samaria, to the chiefs of Samaria and to the elders and to the caring of Ahab, saying, 2 “Now as soon as this document comes to you, and the sons of your master are with you and your chariots and horses, as well as fortified cities and weapons, 3 look for the good and the upright among the sons of your master, and set him on the throne of his father. You make war on behalf of the house of your master.” 4 They were very frightened and said, “Look, two kings have not stood against his face. How will we stand?” 5 Those who were over the house, those who were over the city, the elders, and the caretakers sent to Jehu, saying, “We are your servants, and whatever you say to us we will do. We will not make anyone king. You shall do that which is good in your eyes.” 6 He wrote to them a second document, saying, “If you are with me and you listen to my voice, take the heads of the men of the sons of your master and bring them to me about this time tomorrow in Israel.” The sons of the king were seventy men. These men of the city were rearing them. 7 It happened that when the document came to them, they took the sons of the king, and they killed seventy men of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to him in Israel. 8 The messenger arrived and reported, saying, “They have brought the heads of the sons of the king.” He said, “Put them in two piles beside the door of the gates of the city until the morning.” 9 It happened early in the morning that he went out and stood and said to all the people, “You are righteous. Look, I am the one who conspired against my master and killed him. But who struck all these? 10 See, then, that nothing will fall from the word of the Lord to the earth that the Lord spoke against the house of Ahab. The Lord has done what he said through the hand of his servant Elijah.” 11 Jehu struck down everyone in the house of Ahab who was left behind in Israel, along with all his men, his acquaintances, and his priests, so that there was not a remnant left behind for them. 12 He stood and went to Samaria. He was in Beth-eked of the Shepherds on the way. 13 Jehu found the brothers of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and said, “Who are you?” They said, “We are the brothers of Ahaziah. We have come down for the welfare of the sons of the king and of the sons of the queen.” 14 He said, “Take them alive!” And they killed them in Betheked, forty-two men. He did not leave any of them. 15 He went from there and took Jonadab son of Rechab for a meeting with him. He blessed him, and Jehu said to him, “Is your heart with my heart in rightness, just as my heart is with your heart?” Jonadab said, “It is.” Jehu said, “If it is, give your hand.” He gave his hand, and he lifted him up to him on the chariot. 16 He said to him, “Come with me and see I am zealous for the Lord.” He put him in his chariot. 17 And he entered into Samaria and struck all the ones who were left behind by Ahab in Samaria until he had destroyed him according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke to Elijah. 18 Jehu was jealous of all the people and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little, Jehu will serve him a lot. 19 Now! Summon to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and his priests. Let no man be overlooked because I will make a great offering to Baal. Everyone who ever overlooks the offering will not live.” But Jehu acted in deception in order to destroy the servants of Baal. 20 Jehu said, “Dedicate a priestess of Baal.” Then he made a proclamation. 21 Jehu sent through all Israel, saying, “Now, all his servants and all his priests and all his prophets should not be abandoned because I will make a great sacrifice. Whoever is abandoned shall not live.” All the servants of Baal and all his priests and all his prophets came, with no one left who was not present. They came to the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled door to door. 22 And he said to the one over the house of the wardrobe, “Bring out a garment to all the servants of Baal.” The wardrobe keeper brought out garments for them. 23 Jehu and Jonadab son of Rechab entered into the house of Baal and said to the servant of Baal, “Look around and see if there are with you any servants of the Lord except the servants of Baal alone.” 24 He entered to make sacrifices and offerings. Jehu stationed for himself eighty men outside and said, “Men, whoever preserves alive any of the men whom I lead into your hands, it will be his life in place of his life.” 25 It happened when he finished making the burnt offering that Jehu said to the bodyguard and to the officers, “Entering, you shall strike them. Let none of them escape.” They struck them with the mouth of the sword. The guards and the officers threw away the bodies. They went to the city, to the house of Baal. 26 They brought out the garment of Baal and set it on fire. 27 They destroyed the pillar of Baal and struck it as an outhouse until this day. 28 And Jehu removed Baal from out of Israel. 29 However, from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, Jehu did not turn away from themthe golden heifers in Bethel and in Dan. 30 The Lord said to Jehu, “Because of this, you have done well to do what is right in my eyes, concerning all that was in my heart which you have done to the house of Ahab; your sons will sit with you on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” 31 Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with his whole heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin. 32 In those days the Lord began to make the land smaller in Israel. Hazael struck them, and in every border of Israel, 33 from the Jordan to the east,b all of the Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is at the edge of the brook Arnon and Gilead and Bashan. 34 The rest of the matters of Jehu, all that he did and all his deeds and the alliances that he bound together, are these not written on the document of the matters of the annals for the kings of Israel? 35 Jehu rested with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. Jehoahaz, his son, ruled in place of him. 36 The days that Jehu ruled over Israel were twenty-eight years in Samaria.
11Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son died, and she destroyed all the seed of the kingdom. 2 Jehosheba, daughter of King Joram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, the son of her brother, and stole him from among the sons of the king who were being put to death, he and his nurse in the inner room of the beds. She hid him from the face of Athaliah, and he was not destroyed. 3 He was with her in the housea hidden for six years while Athaliah ruled over the land. 4 In the seventh year, Jehoiada sent and took the leaders of a hundred, the Hori and the Rasim. He led them to him in the house of the Lord and he made a covenant of the Lord with them. Then he swore an oath and Jehoiada showed the son of the king to them. 5 He commanded them, saying, “This is the word that you will do. Let a third of you enter on the Sabbath and put a guard of the house of the king at the gate; 6 a third at the gate of the roads; and a third at the gate behind the bodyguard, and you shall appoint the guard of the house. 7 And there shall be two hands among you, everyone who goes out on the Sabbath shall keep guard over the house of the Lord for the king. 8 Surround the king in a circle, each one with his weapon in his hand. The one who enters into the aedothb shall die. Let it be with the king when he comes out and when he enters.” 9 The leaders of a hundred did everything just as Jehoiada the wise commanded. Each took his men and those who were going in on the Sabbath. Then he went in to Jehoiada the priest. 10 The priest gave to the leaders of a hundred the lances and the thirdsc of King David that were in the house of the Lord. 11 The guards stood, each with his weapon in his hand, from the side of the house on the right to the side of the house on the left of the altar, and of the house by the king and around the house by the king. 12 He sent forth the son of the king, and he gave to him an iezerd and the covenant. He made him king and anointed him. So, he was strong in his hand and said, “Let the king live.” 13 Athaliah heard the sound of those who run from among the people, and she went to the people in the house of the Lord. 14 She saw and, look, the king stood at the pillar according to the judgment. The singers and the trumpeters were with the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and sounding with trumpets. Athaliah tore her garments and shouted, “Bond! Bond!” 15 Jehoiada commanded the priest, the leaders of a hundred, and the overseers of the army. He said to them, “Bring them out from within the Hazeroth.f The one who goes after her will be put to death with death by the sword.” For the priest said, “She shall not be killed in the house of the Lord.” 16 They put hands on her when they entered by way of the entrance of the horses of the house of the king. She died there. 17 Jehoiada made a treaty between the Lord and the king and the people to be people for the Lord, and also between the king and the people. 18 All the people of the land entered into the house of Baal and pulled it down along with its altar. They crushed its images completely, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, at the face of the altars. The priest put officials at the house of the Lord. 19 He took the chiefs of the hundreds, the Hori, the Rasim, and all the people of the land. They brought down the king from the house of the Lord, and he entered the way to the gate of the bodyguards of the house of the king. He sat him on the throne of the kings. 20 All the people of the land rejoiced. The city had peace, and they killed Athaliah with a sword in the house of the king. 21 aJoash was a son of seven years when he began to rule.
12In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king and reigned in Jerusalem for forty years. The name of his mother was Abijah from the land of Beer-sheba. 2 Joash did what was right before the Lord all the days that Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 3 However, the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed there and made burnt offerings at the high places. 4 Joash said to the priests, “As for all the silver of the holy things that have been collected in the house of the Lord, the silver of assessment, each man who receives the silver of the valuation, all the silver, whatever he receives to the heart of a man to carry into the house of the Lord, 5 let the priests receive for themselves, each from his trade, and they will repair the bedeksb of the house for every breach, whatever is found there.” 6 It happened by the twenty-third year of King Joash, the priests had not repaired the bedek of the house. 7 Joash the king called Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, “How is it that you have not repaired the bedek of the house? Now take no silver from your traders because you shall give it for the bedek of the house.” 8 The priests agreed to not receive silver from the people and not to repair the abomination of the house. 9 Jehoiada the priest took a chest and drilled a hole in its opening. And the priests who watched the station gave all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord. 10 It happened when he saw that much silver was in the box, the scribe of the king and the high priest came up. They tied up in a bundle and counted the silver that was left in the house of the Lord. 11 He gave the silver that was prepared into the hands of those who were doing the work of overseeing the house of the Lord. They paid the carpenters of the wood and the builders who worked in the house of the Lord, 12 and to the masons and to the cutters of the stones, in order to procure the wood and the hewn stones to repair the breach of the house of the Lord for all that was spent on the house in order to restore it. 13 However, silver doors, nails, basins, trumpets, any gold vessel, or any silver vessel would not be made in the house of the Lord from the silver that was brought into the house of the Lord. 14 They would give it to those who did the work, and with it they repaired the house of the Lord. 15 They did not ask an accounting of the men to whom they gave the silver in their hands to give to those who did the works because with trust of them they did it. 16 Silver concerning sin offerings and silver concerning guilt offerings, whatever was brought to the house of the Lord, belonged to the priests. 17 Then Hazael, king of Aram, came up and made war at Gath. He seized it. Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem. 18 Joash, king of Judah, took all the holy things, as many as Jehoshaphat dedicated, along with Joram and Ahaziah, his fathers, and kings of Judah, and his sacred things and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the house of the king, and he sent them to Hazael, king of Aram, and he went up from Jerusalem. 19 As for the rest of the deeds of Joash and all, as much as he did, behold, are these not written in the document of the deeds of the annals for the kings of Judah? 20 His servants arose and bound every chain and struck Joash in the house of Millo in Gaala. 21 Jozacar the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad his son, Shomer, his servants, struck him. He died, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. Amaziah, his son, became king in place of him.
13On the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king in Samaria and reigned seventeen years. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and went after the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. He did not turn away from it. 3 The Lord was angry with wrath at Israel. He gave them into the hand of Hazael, king of Aram, and into the hand of the son of Hadad, the son of Hazael, all the days. 4 And Jehoahaz prayed to the face of the Lord, and the Lord heard him because he saw the distress of Israel, that the king of Aram oppressed him. 5 The Lord gave salvation for Israel, and it escaped from beneath the hand of the Arameans. The sons of Israel dwelt in their tents just as yesterday and the day before yesterday. 6 Only they did not go away from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin; they went in thema; and indeed the grove stood in Samaria. 7 For no people of Jehoahaz were left except fifty cavalry, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, because the king of Aram destroyed them and set them like dust for trampling. 8 The rest of the deeds of Jehoahaz, all as much as he did and his achievements, are these things not written in the document of the deeds of the annals for the kings of Israel? 9 Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. Joash, his son, became king. 10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash, king of Judah, Joash son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria for sixteen years. 11 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. He walked in it. 12 The rest of the deeds of Joash and all, as much as he did and his great works that he did against Amaziah, king of Judah, are these things not written in the document of the deeds of the days for the kings of Israel? 13 Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat with his fathers andb in Samaria, with the brothers of Israel. 14 Elisha was ill with his illness through which he died. Joash, the king of Israel, descended to him and wept over his face. He said, “Father! Father! The chariotry of Israel and its cavalry.” 15 Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and an arrow.” He took to himself a bow and an arrow. 16 He said to the king, “Put your hand on the bow.” Joash put his hand, and Elisha put his hands on the hands of the king. 17 He said, “Open the window toward the east!” He opened it. He said, “The arrow of salvation for the Lord, and the arrow of salvation against Aram. You will strike the Arameans at Aphek unto destruction.” 18 Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” He took and said to the king of Israel, “Strike on the earth.” The king struck three times and stood. 19 The man of God was annoyed at him. He said, “If you struck five or six times, then you would have struck down Aram unto defeat. Now, you will strike down Aram three times.” 20 Elisha died. They buried him. Lightly armed Moabites came in to the land at the beginning of the year. 21 It happened when they were burying a man, look, they saw the lightly armed forces, and they threw the man into the tomb of Elisha. He went and touched the bones of Elisha, and he came alive. He stood on his feet. 22 Hazael afflicted Israel all the days Jehoahaz. 23 The Lord had mercy on them and pitied them. He looked upon them because of his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. The Lord did not want to utterly destroy them. He did not reject them from his face. 24 Hazael, king of Aram, died, and the son of Hadad, his son, became king in place of him. 25 Joash son of Jehoahaz returned and took the towns from the hand of the son of Hadad, son of Hazael, that he had taken from the hand of Jehoahaz, his father, in battle. Three times Joash struck him down, and he returned the towns of Israel.
14In the second year for Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was the son of twenty-five years when he became king, and he ruled twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Jehoaddin from Jerusalem. 3 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not as David his father. In everything, he did just as Joash his father had done. 4 However, he did not remove the high places. The people still sacrificed and made burnt offerings at the high places. 5 It happened when the kingdom strengthened in his hand, that he struck down his servants who had struck his father. 6 He did not kill the sons of those who had struck down his father, just as it is written in the document of the law of Moses as 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; nevertheless he shall die for his sins.” 7 He struck down ten thousand Edomites in Gaimele. He captured Petra in battle and called its name Jokthe-el until this day. 8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Joash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come! Let us see each other in person.” 9 Joash, king of Israel, sent to Amaziah, king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar who was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife.’ Then the beasts of the field who were in Lebanon passed through and trampled the thistle. 10 Beating you have struck down Edom, and your heart has stirred you up. Be glorified and remain in your house. For what purpose do you strive for your evil? You will fall down, and Judah with you.” 11 But Amaziah did not listen. So, the king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah, king of Judah, looked at each other in Beth-shemesh in the land of Judah. 12 Judah was defeated from the face of Israel. Each one fled to his tent. 13 And Amaziah son of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, was captured by Joash, king of Israel at Bethshemesh. He came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem at the gate of Ephraim up to the gate of the corner for four hundred cubits. 14 He took the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the house of the king; and he took the sons of the commingling, and he returned to Samaria. 15 The rest of the deeds of Joash, as much as he did in his power when he made war with Amaziah, king of Judah, are these not written in the document of the deeds of the annals for the kings of Israel? 16 Joash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. Jeroboam, his son, became king in place of him. 17 Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, lived for fifteen years after Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, died. 18 The rest of the deeds of Amaziah and all that he did, are these not written in the document of the words of the days for the kings of Judah? 19 They conspired against him in a conspiracy in Jerusalem. He fled to Lachish, and they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there. 20 They lifted him on horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. 21 All the people of Judah took Azariah. He was the son of sixteen years. And he reigned in place of his father, Amaziah. 22 He built Ailom and returned it to Judah after the king rested with his fathers. 23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Joash became king in Israel at Samaria for forty-one years. 24 He did evil before the Lord. He did not draw away from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to sin. 25 He restored the boundary of Israel from the entrance of Hamath unto the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, that he had spoken by the hand of his servant, Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath-hepher. 26 For the Lord saw the humiliation of Israel, very bitter, and those constrained were few, exhausted and in want, and Israel had no helper. 27 The Lord said he would not wipe out the seed of Israel from beneath heaven. He saved them from the hand of Jeroboam son of Joash. 28 The rest of the matters of Jeroboam, all, as much as he did and his mighty deeds, how he made war and how he restored Damascus and Hamath to Judah in Israel, are these things not written in the document of the deeds of the annals belonging to the kings of Israel? 29 Jeroboam slept with his fathers, with the kings of Israel. Zechariah son of Amaziah ruled in place of his father.
15In the twenty-seventh year for Jeroboam, king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah, king of Judah, became king. 2 He was the son of sixteen years when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother was Jecoliah from Jerusalem. 3 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all, as much as Amaziah, his father, did. 4 However, he did not remove the high places. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places. 5 The Lord touched the king, and he was leprous until the day of his death. He was king in a separate house. Jonathan, the son of the king, was over the house, judging the people of the land. 6 The rest of the deeds of Azariah and all, as much as he did, behold, are these things not written in the document of the deeds of the annals for the kings of Judah? 7 Azariah slept with his fathers. They buried him with his fathers in the city of David. Jonathan, his son, reigned in place of him. 8 In the thirty-eighth year for Azariah, king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in Samaria for six months. 9 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord as his fathers had done. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. 10 Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against him. They struck him in Keblaama and killed him. He became king in place of him. 11 The rest of the deeds of Zechariah, behold, they are written in the document of the deeds of the annals for the kings of Israel. 12 The word of the Lord that he spoke to Jehu, saying, “Your sons to the fourth generation will sit on the throne of Israel;” and it was so. 13 Shallum the son of Jabesh became king, and in the thirty-ninth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Shallum reigned a day in Samaria. 14 Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah and went to Samaria. He struck down Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and he killed him. 15 The rest of the deeds of Shallum and his conspiracy, which he conspired, behold, they are written on the document of the deeds of the annals for the kings of Israel. 16 Then Menahem struck Tirzah and all those in it, and its boundary from Tirzah, because they did not open to him. He struck it down, and he ripped open women who were pregnant. 17 In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel for ten years in Samaria. 18 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin. 19 In his days, Pul, king of Assyria, went up over the land. Menahem gave to Pul a thousand talents of silver so that his hand might be with him. 20 Menahem exacted the silver against Israel, against all who were strong in wealth. They gave to the king of Assyria fifty shekels for each man. The king of Assyria returned and did not remain there in the land. 21 The rest of the deeds of Menahem and all, as much as he did, behold, are these things not written on the document of the deeds of the annals for the kings of Israel? 22 Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah, his son, became king in place of him. 23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria for two years. 24 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. 25 Pekah the son of Remaliah, who was his chief officer, conspired against him and struck him in Samaria, before the house of the king, along with Argob and Arieh with him. With him were fifty men from the four hundred. He killed him and became king in place of him. 26 The rest of the deeds of Pekahiah and everything, as much as he did, behold, they are written on the document of the deeds of the annals for the kings of Israel. 27 In the fifty-second year of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria for twenty years. 28 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. 29 In the days of Pekah, the king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came and took Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kenaz, Hazor, Gilead, Galilee, and all the land of Naphtali; and he deported them to Assyria. 30 Hoshea the son of Elah conspired a conspiracya against Pekah the son of Remaliah. He struck and killed him, and he became king in place of him in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Ahaz. 31 The rest of the deeds of Pekah and all, as much as he did, behold, it is written in the document of the deeds of the annals for the kings of Israel. 32 In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jonathan son of Azariah, king of Judah, became king. 33 He was the son of twenty-five years when he became king, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. 34 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all, as much as Uzziah his father had done. 35 However, he did not remove the high places. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places. He built the upper gates of the house of the Lord. 36 The rest of the deeds of Jotham and all, as much as he did, are these not written in a document of the deeds of the annals of the kings of Judah? 37 In those days the Lord began to send Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah the son of Remaliah. 38 Jotham slept with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. Ahaz, his son, became king in place of him.
16In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham, king of Judah, became king. 2 Ahaz was the son of twenty years when he became king. He reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord God with good faith like David his father. 3 He walked in the way of the king of Israel and indeed, he carried his son through fire and the abominations of the nations that the Lord had removed from the face of the sons of Israel. 4 He sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places and on the hills and under every tree of the woodland. 5 Then Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem for battle. They laid siege against Ahaz, but they were not able to fight. 6 At that time Rezin, king of Syria, brought back Elath for Syria. He threw out the Judeans from Elath. Edomites went into Elath and settled there until this day. 7 Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up, save me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” 8 Ahaz took silver and gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the house of the king. He sent gifts to the king. 9 The king of Assyria heard him. The king of Assyria went up to Damascus and captured it. He exiled it and killed Rezin. 10 King Ahaz went to meet him, to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, at Damascus. He saw the altar in Damascus. King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest the image of the altar and its form for all its production. 11 Uriah the priest built the altar according to all, as much as King Ahaz sent from Damascus. 12 The king saw the altar, and he went up on it. 13 He burnt his burnt offering and his sacrifice, and his drink-offering. 14 of bronze that was before the Lord. And he brought the face of the house of the Lord, from between the altar and the house of the Lord, and showed it on the thigh of the altar toward the north. 15 King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the large altar, offer up the burnt offering in the morning, the sacrifice in the evening, the burnt offering of the king and his sacrifice, the burnt offering of all the people, their sacrifice, and their drink offering. Then you shall pour all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice on it. That which is upon the bronze altar will be for me in the morning.” 16 Uriah the priest did according to all, as much as King Ahaz commanded him. 17 And the king cut off the rims of the stands, and he removed from them the basin. He took down the sea from the bronze oxen who were under it. He put it on a base of stone. 18 He built the foundation of the throne in the house of the Lord. He removed the entrance of the king that was outside the house of the Lord from the face of the king of Assyria. 19 The rest of the deeds of Ahaz, as much as he did, are these not written in the document of the deeds of the annals for the kings of Judah? 20 Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. Hezekiah, his son, became king in place of him.
17In the twelfth year for Ahaz, king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king in Samaria over Israel for nine years. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who were before him. 3 Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against him. Hoshea became a slave to him and returned manach to him. 4 The king of Assyria found wrongdoing in Hoshea because he sent messengers to Zoar, king of Egypt, and he did not offer tribute to the king of Assyria in each year. The king of Assyria besieged him and bound him in prison. 5 The king of Assyria went up against all the land. He went up to Samaria and laid siege against it for three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and exiled Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, at the Habor rivers in Gozan, and the mountains of the Medes. 7 It happened because the sons of Israel sinned against their Lord God, who led them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. They feared other gods. 8 They walked in the duties of the nations that the Lord removed from the face of the sons of Israel, and as much as the kings of Israel had done. 9 As much as the sons of Israel clothed their words, they were not according to the Lord their God. And they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from the guards’ tower to the fortified city. 10 They erected for themselves pillars and sacred groves on every high hill and under every woodland tree. 11 They burned incense there at all high places, as the nations whom the Lord drove out from their face. They made partners and provoked the Lord to anger. 12 They served images, concerning which the Lord said to them, “Do not make this thing to the Lord.” 13 The Lord warned Israel and Judah through the hand of all his prophets and all the word of seers, “Turn back from your ways of evil. Keep my commands and my duties, and all the laws that I commanded your fathers, all that I sent to them by the hand of my servants, the prophets.” 14 They did not listen, but they hardened their back more than the back of their fathers; 15 and his testimonies that he warned them with, and they walked after the pointless things, and they became pointless also after the nations that surrounded them, concerning which he commanded them not to do according to these things. 16 They forsook the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves molten images, two heifers, and they made sacred groves and worshiped all the host of heaven. They served Baal. 17 They passed their sons and their daughters through fire. They divined divinations, they divined omens, and they sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. 18 The Lord was very angry against Israel. He removed them from his face, and there was nothing left except the tribe of Judah alone. 19 Even Judah did not keep the commands of God. They walked in the customs of Israel that Israel had made. 20 They pushed away the Lord among all the seed of Israel. He afflicted them and gave them into the hand of those who tore them until he thrust them from his face. 21 Nevertheless because Israel was removed from upon the house of David, they appointed Jeroboam son of Nebat as king. Jeroboam removed Israel from behind the Lord and caused them to sin a great sin. 22 The sons of Israel went in all the sin of Jeroboam, from which they did not turn, 23 until the Lord removed Israel from his face, just as the Lord said by the hand of all his servants the prophets. He sent Israel from upon its land to Assyria until this day. 24 The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, from Cuth, from Avva, from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and he settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. They inherited Samaria and settled in its cities. 25 It happened at the beginning of their establishment, they did not fear the Lord. The Lord sent lions against them, and they were killing them. 26 They said to the king of Assyria, saying, “The peoples who you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the judgment of the God of the land. He has sent lions against them. Look, they are killing them, as they do not know the judgment of the God of the land.” 27 The king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Bring backa from there, and let them go and settle there so that they may teach them the judgment of the land.” 28 They brought one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria, and he settled in Bethel and was instructing them how they should fear the Lord. 29 Nations nationsb were making their gods. They put them in a house of the high places that the Samaritan people had made in their cities, in which they had settled in them. 30 The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth; the men of Cuth made Nergal; the men of Hamath made Ashima; 31 the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites did evil when they burned their sons in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech of Sepharvaim. 32 They were fearing the Lord, and they established their idols in the houses of the high places that were made in Samaria by nation nationc in the city in which they settled in it. They were fearing the Lord, and they made priests of the high places, and they made for themselves in the house of the high places. 33 They feared the Lord, and they served their gods according to the judgment of the peoples from which he sent into exile them from there. 34 To this day they have been doing according to their judgment. They have feared, and they have been doing according to their duties and according to their judgment and according to the law and according to the command that the Lord commanded the sons of Jacob, whom he set his name as Israel. 35 The Lord made with them a covenant, and he commanded them, saying, “Do not fear other gods and bow down to them. Do not serve them, and do not sacrifice to them; 36 but only to the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great strength and with an up-raised arm. Fear him and bow to him; sacrifice to him. 37 Keep the duties, the judgments, the law, and the commands that he wrote for you to do all the days. Do not fear other gods. 38 Do not forget the covenant that he made with you, and do not fear other gods. 39 Rather, fear the Lord your God, and he will deliver you from all your enemies. 40 You shall not listen any longer to their judgment which they did.” 41 These nations were fearing the Lord, and they were serving their images. The sons and the sons of their sons did just as their fathers did until this day.
18It happened in the third year for Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah son of Ahaz, king of Judah, became king. 2 He was a son of twenty-five years when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. The name for his mother was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all, as much as David his father did. 4 He removed the high places and broke down the pillars. He destroyed the sacred groves and the bronze serpent that Moses made, because until that day, the sons of Israel were burning incense to it. He called it Nehushtan. 5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel. After him there was no one like him among the kings of Judah, and among those who were before him. 6 He was close to the Lord. He did not withdraw from after him. He kept his commands, in all that Moses commanded. 7 The Lord was with him, and in all that he did, he had insight. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 8 He struck down the foreigners until Gaza and until its boundary, from the tower of guards to the fortified city. 9 It happened in the fourth year for King Hezekiah (it was the seventh year for Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel), Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, went up against Samaria and laid siege against it. 10 He seized it at the end of three years, in the sixth year for Hezekiah; it was the ninth year for Hoshea, king of Israel, when Samaria was captured. 11 The king of Assyria deported Samaria to Assyria and put them in Halah and in Habor, in the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes; 12 because that they did not listen to the voice of the Lord their God and they transgressed his treaty, all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and they did not listen and did not do them. 13 In the fourteenth year for King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went up against the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 14 Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent messengers to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have sinned. Turn back from me. Whatever you place on me, I will bear.” The king of Assyria put on Hezekiah, king of Judah, three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 Hezekiah gave all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the house of the king. 16 At that time, Hezekiah cut off the doors of the temple and the things that were fixed there that Hezekiah, king of Judah, had covered with gold, and he gave them to the king of Assyria. 17 The king of Assyria sent the Thanthan, the Raphis, and the Rabshakeha from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a strong army against Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem and stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool that is on the road to the field of the fuller. 18 They shouted to Hezekiah, and Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, the steward, Shebna the scribe, and Jehosaphat the recorder went to him. 19 Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the king, the great king of Assyria, “What is this trust on which you rely? 20 You said, however they are words of lips, plan and power for battle. Now then, you revolted against me, trusting in whom? 21 Now look, you have placed your trust on a rod of this bruised reed, on Egypt. Whatever man is supported by it, it will enter into his hand, and it will pierce it. In this way is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who trust in him. 22 And if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord God.’ Is he not the one Hezekiah removed his high places and his altars; and he said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘Before this altar you shall worship in Jerusalem’? 23 Now make an agreement with my lord the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses if you are able to give for yourself riders on them. 24 How will you turn back the face of one of the least officers of the servants of my lord? But you trust by yourself in Egypt for chariots and riders. 25 Now not without the word of the Lord have we gone up against this place to destroy it. The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’” 26 Eliakim son of Hilkiah and Shebnah and Joash said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, that we may listen. Do not speak to us in Hebrew so that what you say is in the ears of the people who are on the walls.” 27 The Rabshakeh said to them, “Was it only to your master and to you that my master sent me to say these words, and not to the men who are sitting on the walls in order to eat their dung and to drink their urine together with you?” 28 The Rabshakeh stood and shouted aloud in Hebrew and spoke and said, “Hear the words of the great king of Assyria. 29 This is what the king says: ‘Do not let Hezekiah arouse you with words because he is not able to deliver you from his hand.[1] 30 Do not let Hezekiah give hope to you before the Lord, saying, “In delivering, the Lord will deliver us; this city shall not be given 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. A man will drink from his vine, and a man will eat from his fig tree and drink water from his well; 32 until I come and take you to a land like your land, of grain and wine and bread and vineyards—a land of olive trees, of olive oil, and of honey. You shall live and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah, because he tricked you, saying, ‘The Lord will deliver you. 33 The gods of the nations each have not rescued, rescuing their own territory from the hand of the king of Assyria. 34 Where is the god of Hamath and of Arpad? Where is the god of the Sepharvaim? Is it because they have rescued Samaria from my hand? 35 Who, among all the gods of the lands, who has delivered their lands from my hand? How is it that the Lord can deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’” 36 They kept quiet and did not answer him a word because of the command of the king, saying, “Do not answer him.” 37 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the steward, Shebna the scribe, and Joash son of Asaph, the recorder, entered to Hezekiah, having torn clothes. They reported to him the word of Rabshakeh.
19It happened that when King Hezekiah heard, he tore his garments and put on sackcloth. He entered into the house of the Lord. 2 He sent Eliakim the steward, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests clothed with sackcloth to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 And he said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘A day of distress and of rebuke and of wrath is this day, as when sons come to the pains of labor and there is not strength for the birth. 4 If somehow the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh that the king of Assyria, his lord, sent him to revile the living God and to slander with words that the Lord your God heard, you will pray concerning the profit that was found.’” 5 The servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 Isaiah said to them, “This is what you shall say to your lord: ‘This is what the Lord says, “Do not be afraid of the words that you heard, concerning which the servants of the king of Assyria blasphemed. 7 Look, I give to him a spirit, and he will hear a message and return to his land. I will overthrow him by the sword in his land.”’” 8 Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, because he heard that he had left Lachish. 9 He heard concerning Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, saying, “Look, he went out to make war with you.” And he returned and sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Do not let your God, on whom you believe in him, arouse you by saying, ‘Do not hand Jerusalem into the hands of the king of Assyria. 11 Look, you have heard all that the king of Assyria did to all the lands when he devoted them to destruction. Will you be spared? 12 The gods of the nations did not deliver them; did not my fathers destroy Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the descendants of Eden who were in Tel Assar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?” 14 Hezekiah received the document from the hand of the messengers, and he read it. He went up to the house of the Lord, and Hezekiah spread it before the Lord. 15 He said, “Lord God of Israel, who sits on the cherubim, you are God alone among all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. 16 O Lord, incline your ears and hear. O Lord, open your eyes and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, which he sent to revile the living God. 17 For in truth, O Lord, the kings of Assyria laid waste to the nations. 18 They gave their gods to the fire because they are not gods, but rather the works of human hands, wood and stone, and they destroyed them. 19 Now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, and so all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you, O Lord, are alone God.” 20 Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “This is what the Lord the God of hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have heard what you prayed to me concerning Sennacherib, the king of Assyria.’” 21 This is the word that the Lord spoke against him: “The virgin daughter of Zion scorned you and mocked you. The daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head at you. 22 Who have you reviled and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice, and against whom have you lifted your eyes on high? Against the holy one of Israel. 23 By the hand of your messengers you have reproached your Lord and have said, ‘With the great number of my chariots, I will go up to the height of the mountains, the flanksa of Lebanon. I have cut down the height of its cedars, the choice ones of its cypresses. And I went into the midst of the forest and Carmel. 24 I sought the cold air and drank strange water. With the print of my foot I dried up all the rivers of the enclosure. 25 I formed it; I gathered it. And it became to risings of warlike captivities, even fortified cities. 26 The inhabitants in them were weak in the hand. They stumbled and were disgraced. They became hay of the field or green pasture, tender grass of high places, trodden before one who stands. 27 I know your seat, your going out, and your entrance, and your anger against me. 28 Because you were angry against me and your arrogance ascended to my ears, I will put my fishhooks in your noses and a bit in your lips. I will return you by the way that you went on it. 29 This will be a sign to you: eat this year what grows spontaneously, on the second year what grows up, and yet on the third, sowing and reaping and planting of vineyards, you will eat their fruit. 30 That which is preserved of the house of Judah, the remaining root beneath he will add, and it will make fruit upward. 31 For from Jerusalem a remnant will come out, and those who have escaped from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. 32 Not so; this is what the Lord says to the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter into this city, and he will not shoot an arrow there, and he will not come before him with a shield nor bring out against it a mound. 33 By the way that he came, by it he will return. He will not enter into this city,’ says the Lord. 34 ‘I will defend this city, for my sake, and for the sake of David my servant.’” 35 It was night, and the angel of the Lord came out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. They rose up early and look, all were dead bodies. 36 Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went away. He went and returned and stayed in Nineveh. 37 It happened while he was worshiping his god in the house of Nisroch that Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him with a sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. Esar-haddon, his son, reigned instead of him.
20In those days Hezekiah became ill unto death. Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, went in to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Order your house; you will die and not live.’” 2 Hezekiah returned to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3 “Remember, O Lord, as much as I have walked before you in truth and a full heart, and I have done what is good to you in your eyes.” Then Hezekiah wept with great sorrow. 4 Isaiah was in the middle court when the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 5 “Return and say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. On the third day you will go up to the house of the Lord. 6 I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”’” 7 He said, “Bring a cake of figs.” They put it on the wound, and he became well. 8 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will ascend to the house of the Lord on the third day?” 9 Isaiah said, “This is the sign from the Lord that the Lord will do the word that he said: ‘Shall the sundial shadow go ten degrees, or shall it return ten degrees?’” 10 Hezekiah said, “It is easy for the shadow to go down ten degrees. No, but let the shadow return in degrees ten steps backward.” 11 Isaiah the prophet cried to the Lord, and the shadow returned on the steps to what was behind ten degrees. 12 At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent documents and manaana to Hezekiah because he heard that Hezekiah was sick. 13 Hezekiah rejoiced at them and showed to them all the house of the treasury—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the good olive oil—as well as the house of the liturgical vessels and as much as was found in its treasuries. There was no thing that Hezekiah did not show to them in his house and in all of his authority. 14 Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “From a far land they came to me; from Babylon.” 15 He said, “What did they see in your house?” He said, “They saw everything, whatever was in my house. There was nothing in my house that I did not show to them—indeed, even the things in my treasuries.” 16 Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: 17 ‘Look, the days will come, and all the things in your house and as much as your fathers stored until this day will be carried off to Babylon. No word that the Lord said will be left. 18 Your sons who will come forth from you, whom you will father, will be taken, and they will become eunuchs in the house of the king of Babylon.’” 19 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that he said is good.” 20 The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his achievement, how he made the pool and the conduit and brought the water into the city, are these things not written in the document of the deeds of the annals of the kings of Judah? 21 Hezekiah slept with his fathers. And Manasseh, his son, became king in his place.
21Manasseh was the son of twelve years when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations that the Lord had removed from the face of the sons of Israel. 3 He brought back and built the high places that Hezekiah, his father, had torn down. He established altars to Baal and made sacred groves, just as Ahab, the king of Israel, had done. He worshiped all the host of heaven, and he served them. 4 He built an altar in the house of the Lord as he said, “In Jerusalem I will place my name.” 5 He built an altar to all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6 He passed his sons through the fire. He practiced divination and heeded omens and made what was desired and multiplied mediums in order to do evil in the eyes of the Lord and to provoke him. 7 He put the carved object of the sacred grove in the house, concerning which the Lord had said to David and to Solomon, his son, “In this house in Jerusalem I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for eternity. 8 I will not remove the foot of Israel again from the land that I gave to their fathers, who will preserve all, as much as I commanded, according to all the commandment that Moses my servant commanded.” 9 They did not listen. Manasseh led them astray in order to do what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, more than the nations that the Lord removed from the face of the sons of Israel. 10 The Lord spoke by the hand of his servants the prophets, saying, 11 “Because, as much as Manasseh, the king of Judah, did these evil abominations more than all that the Amorites who were earlier did, and caused Judah to sin by their images, 12 it shall not be so. Thus, says the Lord the God of Israel: ‘Look, I bring evil on Jerusalem and on Judah, so that both of his ears of all who hear will tingle. 13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measure of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab. I will leave Jerusalem behind, just as an alabaster box is left behind—left behind and overturned on its face. 14 I will push away the remnant of my inheritance, and I will give them over into the hands of their enemies. They will become plunder and spoil for all their enemies. 15 Because, as he did evil in my eyes, and they were provoking me to anger from the days when their fathers were led out of Egypt until this day.’” 16 And indeed, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until it filled Jerusalem from gate to gatea besides from his sins, concerning which he had caused Judah to sin, to do evil in the eyes of the Lord. 17 The rest of the deeds of Manasseh and all, as much as he did, and his sins that he sinned, are these not written in the document of the deeds of the annals of the kings of Judah? 18 Manasseh slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzzah. Amon, his son, became king in place of him. 19 Amon was the son of twenty-two years when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz, from Jotbah. 20 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Manasseh, his father, had done. 21 He walked in all the ways that his father had walked. He served the images that his father had served, and he worshiped them. 22 He deserted the Lord, the God of his fathers, and he did not walk in the way of the Lord. 23 The servants of Amon conspired against him. They killed him, the king, in his house. 24 And the people of the land struck down all those who conspired against the king, Amon. The people of the land appointed Josiah, his son, as king in place of him. 25 The rest of the deeds of Amon, as much as he did, behold, are these not written in the document of the deeds of the annals of the kings of Judah? 26 They buried him in his tomb in the garden of Uzzah. Josiah, his son, became king in place of him.
22Josiah was the son of eight years when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah, from Bozkath. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in every way of David his father. He did not depart to the right and left. 3 It happened in the eighteenth year for King Josiah, in the eighth month, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullemeth, the scribe of the house of the Lord, saying, 4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and seal up the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, which those who guarded the door collected from the people. 5 Let them give it to the hand of those who do the work that is appointed at the house of the Lord.” And he gave it to those who do the works that are in the house of the Lord in order to repair the breach of the house: 6 to the carpenters, the builders, and the masons, and to purchase timber and hewn stone in order to strengthen the breach of the house. 7 Except they did not need to account to them for the money that was given to them because they were acting in faith. 8 Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I found the document of the law in the house of the Lord.” Hilkiah gave the document to Shaphan, and he read it. 9 And he went to the king in the house of the Lord and returned a word to the king. He said, “Your servants collected the money that was found in the house of the Lord. They gave it into the hand of those who do the work who are appointed in the house of the Lord.” 10 Shaphan the scribe said to the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest gave me a document.” And Shaphan read it before the king. 11 It happened when the king heard the words of the document of the law, that he tore his garments. 12 The king commanded Hilkiah the priest and Ahikam the son of Shaphan and Achbor the son of Micaiah and Shaphan the scribe and Asaiah the servant of the king, saying, 13 “Go and seek the Lord concerning me, concerning all the people, and concerning all Judah, and about the words of this document that was found; because the anger of the Lord is great that pours out against us because our fathers did not hear the words of the document so as to act according to all that is written about us.” 14 Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, mother of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, who keeps the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter. They spoke to her. 15 She said, “This is what the Lord the God of Israel says: ‘Speak to the man who sent you to me. 16 This is what the Lord says: “Look, I am bringing evil on this place and on those who inhabit it, all the words of the document that the king of Judah read. 17 Because they deserted me and burned incense to other gods so that they angered me by the works of their hands, my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.” 18 To the king of Judah who sent you to seek the Lord, thus you shall say to him: ‘Thus says Lord the God of Israel: “Concerning the words that you heard, 19 because your heart was softened and you had regard for the face of the Lord when you heard what I said against this place and against those who inhabit it, so that they would become for destruction and cursing, and because you tore your garments and wept before me, so I heard you, says the Lord. 20 It will not be so. Look, you will join your fathers, and you will be gathered to your burial in peace. You will not see with your eyes all the evils that I am bringing against this place.”’”
23So the kings reported the word, and the king sent and gathered to himself all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 The king went up to the house of the Lord; every man of Judah and the inhabitants in Jerusalem were with him, along with the priests and the prophets, and all the people, from the least to the greatest. He read before them all the words of the document of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord. 3 The king stood at the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to go after the Lord, to keep his commands, his testimonies, and his duties with all his heart and with all his soul, to establish the words of this covenant that were written in this document. All the people stood with the covenant. 4 The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and those who guard the door to take out from the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal and for the sacred grove and all the power of heaven; and he incinerated them outside Jerusalem in the salemotha of Kidron. He took their dust to Bethel. 5 And he burned up the chomarim,b whom the king of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places and in the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven. 6 He carried out the sacred grove from the house of the Lord outside Jerusalem to the brook of Kidron. He burned it up in the brook of Kidron. He ground it into dust and threw its dust into the tomb of the sons of the people. 7 He broke down the house of the Kadesim,a who were in the house of the Lord, where the women were weaving chettiinb for the sacred grove. 8 He brought up all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defiled the high places where the priests burned incense from Gibeah to Beer-sheba. He took down the house of the gates beside the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the ruler of the gate which is on the left side of the man at the gate of the city. 9 However, the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem except when they ate unleavened bread in the midst of their brothers. 10 And you shall defile the Tophethc in the ravine of the son of Hinnom, in order for a man to move across his son and a man his daughter to Molech in fire. 11 And he burned up the horses that the kings of Judah gave to the sun at the entrance of the house of the Lord. They were in the treasury of Nathan-king, a eunuch in pharourim.d He burned the chariot of the sun with fire. 12 As for the altars that were on top of the house at the upper room of Ahaz that the king of Judah made and the altars that Manasseh made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king took them down and tore them down from there. He threw their dust into the brook of Kidron. 13 The king defiled the house that was at the face of Jerusalem to the right of the mountain of Destruction that Solomon, king of Israel, built for Astarte, the idol of the Sidonians, and Chemosh, the idol of Moab, and Milcom, the idol of the sons of Ammon. 14 He smashed the pillars and destroyed the sacred groves. He filled their places with human bones. 15 Even the altar at Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin, made, he even pulled down that high altar. He crushed its stones and ground them into dust. He burned the sacred grove. 16 Josiah looked around and saw the burials there in the city. He sent and took the bones from the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it according to the word of the Lord that the man of God had said when Jeroboam stood at the feast over the altar; and while turning, he lifted his eyes on the tomb of the man of God while saying these words. 17 He said, “What is that mound that I see?” The men of the city said to him, “The man of God who came out of Judah and invoked these words that he invoked concerning the altar of Bethel.” 18 He said, “Leave it. Let no man move his bones.” So, they protected his bones along with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria. 19 And indeed, Josiah removed all the houses of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria that the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord. He did in them all the deeds that he had done in Bethel. 20 He slaughtered all the priests of the high places that were there on the altars. He burned the human bones on them and returned to Jerusalem. 21 The king commanded all the people, saying, “Celebrate Passover to the Lord our God just as it is written in the document of this covenant.” 22 For there was no Passover like this since the days of the judges who judged Israel and all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. 23 However, on the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem. 24 And indeed, Josiah took away the sorcerers,a the mediums, the teraphim, the images, and all the abominations that came in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem so that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the document that Hilkiah the priest discovered in the house of the Lord. 25 Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with his whole heart and with his whole strength and with all his soul according to all the law of Moses. After him no one arose like him. 26 However, the Lord did not turn back from the anger of his great wrath, the same anger that raged against Judah on the provocation that Manasseh provoked him to anger. 27 The Lord said, “I will remove Judah from his face as well, just as I put away Israel, and I will push away Jerusalem, this city that I chose, and the house concerning which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’” 28 The rest of the deeds of Josiah and all, as much as he did, are these not written in the document of the deeds of the annals of the kings of Judah? 29 In his days, Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, went up to the king of Assyria at the River Euphrates. Josiah went to meet him, and Neco killed him at Megiddo when he saw him. 30 His servants conveyed his corpse from Macedon. And they brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him, and they made him king in place of his father. 31 Jehoahaz was the son of twenty-three years when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. 32 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord according to all, as much as his fathers had done. 33 Pharaoh Neco removed him in Riblah, in the land of Hamath, so that he would not reign in Jerusalem. He gave one hundred talents of silver and one hundred talents of gold. 34 Pharaoh Neco appointed as king over them Eliakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, in place of Josiah, his father. He changed his name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz and carried him to Egypt, and he died there. 35 Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh. However, he assessed the land in order to give the money into the mouth of Pharaoh. Each gave the silver and the gold according to his assessment. From the people of the land they gave it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was the son of twenty-five years when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Zebudah daughter of Pedaiah, from Rumah. 37 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord according to all, just as his fathers had done.
24In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon went up, and Jehoiakim was his servant for three years. He returned and revolted against him. 2 He sent against him lightly armed Chaldeans, lightly armed Arameans, lightly armed Moabites, and lightly armed Ammonites. He sent them into the land of Judah in order to be master of them in accordance with the word of the Lord, which he spoke by the hand of his servants, the prophets. 3 Surely this happened in Judah by the wrath of the Lord in order to remove it from the face due to the sins of Manasseh, according to all, as much as he had done— 4 even as he shed innocent blood and filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. The Lord did not want to pardon. 5 The rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim and all, as much as he did, behold, are these things not written in the document of the deeds of the annals for the kings of Judah? 6 Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin, his son, became king in place of him. 7 Yet the king of Egypt did not go away from his land again, because the king of Babylon took all, as much as belonged to the king of Egypt, from the brook of Egypt to the brook of Euphrates. 8 Jehoiachin was the son of eighteen years when he became king, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem. 9 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord according to all, as much as his father did. 10 At that time Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, went up to Jerusalem. The city had gone under siege. 11 Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came into the city. His servants had laid a siege against it. 12 Jehoiachin, king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon—he, his servants, his mother, his commanders, and his eunuchs, and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. 13 And he carried out from that place all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the house of the king, and he cut up in pieces all the golden vessels that Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the house of the Lord, according to the word of the Lord. 14 He sent away Jerusalem and all its commanders and the mighty ones into the power of captivity, ten thousand captives, including every carpenter and smith. No one was left except the poor of the land. 15 He carried away Jehoiachin into Babylon, along with the mother of the king, the wives of the king, his eunuchs, and the leaders of the land. He carried off into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 The king of Babylon led them into captivity to Babylon: all the men of the army—seven thousand —and a thousand carpenters and smiths, all strong and ready for battle. 17 The king of Babylon appointed as king Mattaniah, his son, in place of him, and placed his name Zedekiah. 18 Zedekiah was the son of twenty-one years when he became king. He reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah. 19 And he did evil before the Lord according to all, as much as Jehoiachin had done. 20 Because of the anger of the Lord, it was against Jerusalem and in Judah, until he thrust them away from his face. Zedekiah revolted against the king of Babylon.
25And it happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his power came against Jerusalem. And he encamped against it and built against it a siege wall all around. 2 The city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah, on the ninth of the month. 3 The famine became severe in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. 4 The city was broken through, and all the men of war went out at night toward the gate that was in the middle of the walls (this is of the garden of the king), while the Chaldeans were at the city surrounding it. He went toward the Arabah. 5 The army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and seized him in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered above him. 6 They captured the king and led him to the king of Babylon, to Riblah, and he pronounced judgment against him. 7 He killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He blinded the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with shackles. He led him to Babylon. 8 On the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, it was the nineteenth year for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; Nebuzaradan, the chief of the royal guard,a came standing before the king of Babylon at Jerusalem. 9 He incinerated the house of the Lord and the house of the king and all the houses of Jerusalem. The chief of the royal guard incinerated every house. 11 Nebuzaradan, the chief of the royal guard, carried into exile the remainder of the people who were left behind in the city and those who went over, who had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the solid citizens. 12 The chief of the royal guard left behind some from the poor of the land for vine dressers and for tabein. 13 The Chaldeans broke down the bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, the stands, and the bronze sea that was in the house of the Lord. They took away their bronze to Babylon. 14 He took the kettles, the shovels, the shallow bowls, the censers, and all the bronze vessels with which they minister with them. 15 The chief of the royal guard took the censers, and the gold and silver shallow bowls. 16 The two pillars, the one sea, and the stands, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lordthe weight of the bronze of all these vessels was beyond measure. 17 Eighteen cubits was the height of the one pillar. The capital on it was bronze, and the height of the capital was three cubits. The sakacharthai on the capital round about were all bronze. In the same manner it was on the second pillar with the gabacha. 18 The chief of the royal guard took as prisoner Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah son of the second rank,c and the three who guarded the door. 19 From the city he took one officer, who was chief of the men who were warriors, and the five men who see the face of the king, who were those found in the city; and he also took the scribes of the chiefs of the army who keep the muster roll of the people of the land and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city. 20 Nebuzaradan, the chief of the royal guard, took them and led them away to the king of Babylon, to Riblah. 21 The king of Babylon toyed with them and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Judah was sent into exile from upon its land. 22 As for the people who were left behind in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, left behind, he appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, over them. 23 All the rulers of the army, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah. They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the Netophathite, Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their men. 24 Gedaliah swore to them and their men and said to them, “Do not be afraid of the passing of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.” 25 It happened on the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the seed of the kings, came and men with him, and he struck down Gedaliah, and he died along with the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him in Mizpah. 26 All the people, from small to great, and the rulers of the army stood and went in to Egypt, for they were afraid of the face of the Chaldeans. 27 It happened on the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, on the twelfth month on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-merodach, king of Babylon, in the year of his reign raised the head of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, and led him out from the house of his prison. 28 He said to him good things, and he put his chair above the chairs of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 He changed the garments from his prison ones and he ate bread continually before him all the days of his life. 30 His portion, a continual portion, was given to him from the house of the king daily,a all the days of his life.