1 God Judges Ahaziah Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.
2 Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria and became ill. So he sent messengers and said to them, “Go, inquire of Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron whether I will recover from this illness.”
3 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is not a God in Israel, that you go to inquire of Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron?’
4 Therefore thus says the Lord, ‘You will not come down from the bed on which you have gone up but will surely die.’ ” Then Elijah departed.
5 When the messengers returned to the king, he said to them, “Why have you returned?”
6 And they said to him, “A man came up to meet us and said to us, ‘Go, return to the king that sent you and say to him: Thus says the Lord: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not come down from the bed on which you have gone up, but you will surely die.’ ”
7 He said to them, “What sort of man was he who came up to meet you and told you these things?”
8 They answered him, “He was a hairy man with a leather belt around his waist.” He said, “It was Elijah the Tishbite.”
9 Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men. He went up to Elijah, and there he was, sitting on the top of a hill, and he said to him, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’ ”
10 But Elijah answered the captain of fifty: “If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.
11 Again the king sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty men. He said, “Man of God, thus says the king: Come down quickly.”
12 Elijah answered them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.
13 Then again the king sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men. The third captain of fifty went up, came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and pleaded with him, “Man of God, may my life and the life of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight.
14 See, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two captains of the former fifties with their fifty men. May my life now be precious in your sight.”
15 Then the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.” So he arose and went down with him to the king.
16 Then he said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Have you sent messengers to inquire of Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron, because there is no God in Israel to inquire of His word? Therefore you will not come down from the bed on which you have gone up, but you will surely die.”
17 So he died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken. Then Jehoram reigned in his place in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, because he had no son.
18 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
1 Elijah Ascends to Heaven Then when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Tarry here, I ask you, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel.” But Elisha said to him, “As the Lord lives, and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.
3 The sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord is taking away your master from you?” And he said, “Yes, I know. Keep silent.”
4 Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” And he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they entered Jericho.
5 The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho approached Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord is taking away your master from you?” And he said, “Yes, I know. Keep silent.”
6 Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” And he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you live, I will not leave you.” And the two of them went on.
7 Fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood at a distance, and the two of them stood by the Jordan.
8 Then Elijah took his robe and rolled it up and struck the water, and it was divided from one side to the other. Then the two of them crossed on dry ground.
9 And as they were crossing, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask for something, and I will do it for you before I am taken away from you.” And Elisha said, “Let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”
10 He said, “You have asked for a difficult thing, but if you see me when I am taken from you, it will happen to you. If not, it will not.”
11 As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
12 Elisha was watching and crying, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” And he did not see him again. Then he grabbed his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
13 He picked up the robe of Elijah that fell from him, and he returned and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
14 And he took the robe of Elijah that fell from him, and struck the water, and said, “Where is the Lord, God of Elijah?” When he had struck the water, it parted from one side to the other, and Elisha crossed over.
15 When the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him from far off, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.
16 They said to him, “Look now, there are fifty strong men with your servants. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has lifted him up and thrown him on some mountain or into some valley.” He said, “Do not send them.”
17 When they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, “Send them.” So they sent fifty men, and they searched for three days but did not find him.
18 When they returned to him (for he had stayed at Jericho), he said to them, “Did I not say to you, do not go?”
19 Elisha Performs Miracles Now the men of the city said to Elisha, “The location of this city is good, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.”
20 He said, “Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.
21 He went out to the spring of water and threw the salt into it and said, “Thus says the Lord: I have healed this water. No more death or unfruitfulness will come from it.”
22 So the waters have been healthy until this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.
23 He went up from there to Bethel, and going up on the way, little boys came out of the city and made fun of him and said to him, “Go up, you bald head! Go up, you bald head!”
24 He turned around, saw them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and ripped open forty-two of the boys.
25 He went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.
1 Jehoram Reigns Over Israel Now Jehoram son of Ahab reigned over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah and reigned twelve years.
2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father and mother, for he removed the pillar of Baal that his father had made.
3 Nevertheless he clung to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin. He did not depart from them.
4 Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep-breeder and gave back to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams.
5 But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
6 King Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel.
7 He went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to Moab to battle?” He said, “I will go up. I am as you are, my people as your people, and my horses as your horses.”
8 Then he said, “Which way should we go up?” And he said, “The way through the Wilderness of Edom.”
9 So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom went, and they marched around seven days. But there was no water for the camp or for the livestock that followed them.
10 The king of Israel said, “Alas! The Lord has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab!”
11 But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there a prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?” Then one of the king of Israel’s servants answered, “Elisha the son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah, is here.”
12 Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to your father’s prophets, or to your mother’s prophets.” Then the king of Israel said to him, “No. The Lord has called these three kings to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”
14 Elisha said, “As the Lord of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not for my regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you.
15 Now bring me a musician.” And when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon him.
16 He said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Make this valley full of pools.’
17 For thus says the Lord, ‘You will not see wind, nor will you see rain, yet that valley will be filled with water, that you may drink, both you and your livestock, and your cattle.’
18 This is an easy thing in the sight of the Lord, and He will give the Moabites into your hand.
19 You will strike every fortified city and every choice city, and will cut down every good tree, and stop every spring of water, and you will ruin every good piece of land with stones.”
20 So in the morning as the offering was offered up, suddenly water flowed from the way of Edom, and the land was filled with water.
21 When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to bear arms and older were summoned and stood at the border.
22 They got up early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water opposite them was as red as blood.
23 Then they said, “This is blood. The kings have surely fought together; and they have killed one another. Now therefore, Moab, to the spoil!”
24 When they came to the camp of Israel, the children of Israel arose and struck the Moabites, so that they ran from them. And they went forward into their land, killing the Moabites.
25 They demolished the cities, and on every good piece of land every man threw a stone and filled it with stones, and they stopped every spring of water and cut down every good tree. Only in Kir Hareseth did the stones in the wall remain, until the slingers surrounded it and struck it.
26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle was overwhelming him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they were unable.
27 Then he took his firstborn son, who would have reigned in his place, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And great wrath came upon Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land.
1 The Widow’s Olive Oil Now one of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but a creditor has come to take my two sons as slaves.”
2 Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.”
3 Then he said, “Go, ask for vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not just a few.
4 Then go in, shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour the oil into all these vessels. When each is full, set it aside.”
5 So she left him and shut the door behind her and her sons, and they kept bringing vessels to her, and she kept pouring.
6 When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” But he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” And the oil ceased.
7 Then she went and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt, and you and your children can live on the rest.”
8 Elisha Raises the Shunammite’s Son One day Elisha passed through Shunem, and a noble woman was there who urged him to eat a meal. So whenever he passed through, he stopped there to eat a meal.
9 And she said to her husband, “I know that he is a holy man of God regularly passing through near us.
10 Let us make a little walled upper room and put for him there a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so when he comes to us he can stay there.”
11 One day he came by there, and he turned aside to the upper room and lay down.
12 He said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she stood before him.
13 He said to him, “Say to her, Look, you have gone to all this trouble for us. What may be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king, or to the captain of the army?” And she answered, “I am living among my people.”
14 He said, “What may be done for her?” And Gehazi said, “Actually, she has no son, and her husband is old.”
15 He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the entrance.
16 He said, “At this season, when it is time, you will embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord, man of God, do not lie to your servant.”
17 But the woman conceived and bore a son at that season, at the time that Elisha had told her.
18 When the child was older, he went out one day to his father with the reapers.
19 He said to his father, “My head, my head!” And he said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
20 When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, the boy sat on her knees until noon, and died.
21 She went up, and laid him down on the bed of the man of God, shut the door on him, and went out.
22 Then she called to her husband, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so that I may run to the man of God and return.”
23 He said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither New Moon nor Sabbath.” She said, “It will be all right.”
24 Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on, and do not hold back for me unless I tell you.”
25 So she went and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. And when the man of God saw her far off, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, over there is the Shunammite woman.
26 Now run to meet her, and say to her, Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is the child all right?” And she said, “It is all right.”
27 When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she grabbed his feet. Gehazi approached to push her away. But the man of God said, “Let her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.”
28 Then she said, “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, Do not give me false hope?”
29 Then he said to Gehazi, “Prepare yourself, take my staff in your hand, and go. If you find anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him, and lay my staff on the face of the boy.”
30 Then the boy’s mother said, “As the Lord lives, and as you live, I will not leave without you.” And he got up and followed her.
31 Gehazi passed through ahead of them and laid the staff on the face of the boy, but there was no sound or response. So he returned to meet him and told him, “The boy is not awake.”
32 When Elisha came into the house, he saw that the boy was dead, lying on his bed.
33 So he went in, and shut the door on the two of them, and prayed to the Lord.
34 He went up and lay on the child, put his face on his face, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. Then he bent over the child, and the child’s flesh warmed.
35 Then he got down, walked once back and forth in the house, and went up, and bent over him; the boy sneezed seven times, and the boy opened his eyes.
36 Then Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” So he called her, and she came to him. Then he said, “Pick up your son.”
37 Then she came in, fell at his feet, and bowed down to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out.
38 Elisha Purifies the Deadly Stew When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. The sons of the prophets were sitting before him, and he said to his servant, “Put on the big cooking pot, and boil some stew for the sons of the prophets.”
39 One went out into the field to gather herbs. He found a wild vine and gathered from it wild gourds, filling his clothes, and came and split them into the pot of stew, but they did not recognize them.
40 So they poured it out for the men to eat. But as they were eating the stew, they cried out, “Man of God, there is death in the pot.” They could not eat it.
41 But he said, “Then bring flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Pour it for the people and let them eat.” And there was nothing bad in the pot.
42 Elisha Feeds One Hundred Men A man came from Baal Shalishah, and he brought the man of God food from the first fruits—twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain—in his sack. And Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.”
43 But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred men?” He said, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They will eat and have some left.’ ”
44 So he set it before them, they ate, and some was left over, according to the word of the Lord.
1 Naaman Healed of Leprosy Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man before his master and held favor because by him the Lord had given deliverance to Aram. He was also a mighty warrior, but he had leprosy.
2 The Arameans had gone out raiding and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel, and she waited on the wife of Naaman.
3 She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were before the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would take away his leprosy from him.”
4 So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.”
5 The king of Aram said, “Go, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he went and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothes.
6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “Now when this letter comes to you, know that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may take away from him his leprosy.”
7 When the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to give life, that this man sends a man to me to take away his leprosy? But consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”
8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent word to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariot and stood at the entrance to the house of Elisha.
10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be returned and cleansed.”
11 But Naaman became angry and went away and said to himself, “Surely he could have come out, and stood and called on the name of the Lord his God, and waved his hand over the infected area, and taken away the leprosy.
12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
13 But his servants approached and spoke to him, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more when he said to you, ‘Wash and be clean’?”
14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh returned like the flesh of a little boy, and he was clean.
15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company. He came and stood before him, and he said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the land, except in Israel. Now take a gift from your servant.”
16 But he said, “As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will take no gift.” He urged him to take it, but he refused.
17 Then Naaman said, “If not, let two mule loads of dirt be given to your servant, for your servant will no longer offer a burnt offering or sacrifice to any god, except the Lord.
18 But may the Lord pardon your servant on one account: When my master enters the house of Rimmon to worship, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, when I do bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant on this one account.”
19 He said to him, “Go in peace.” So he departed from him a short distance.
20 Gehazi’s Greed Then Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of God said, “My master has spared Naaman the Aramean by not taking from his hands what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him.”
21 So Gehazi pursued Naaman. Then Naaman saw him running after him, jumped down from the chariot to meet him, and said, “Is everything all right?”
22 And he said, “Everything is all right. My master has sent me and says, ‘Even now two servants from Ephraim, from the sons of the prophets, have come to me. Give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothes.’ ”
23 Naaman said, “Please, take two talents.” He urged him and tied up two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes and gave them to two of his servants, who carried them before Gehazi.
24 When he came to Ophel, he took them from their hand and put them away in the house. Then he sent the men away, and they departed.
25 Then he entered and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, “Where have you come from, Gehazi?” And he said, “Your servant went here and there.”
26 He said to him, “Did my heart not go with you when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to take money, and to take garments, olives and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants?
27 The leprosy of Naaman will cling to you and to your descendants forever.” So he went out from his presence, leprous like snow.
1 The Floating Axe Head Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we are living with you is too small for us.
2 Let us go to the Jordan and take from there one beam per man, and let us make for ourselves a place to live there.” And Elisha said, “Go.”
3 Then one of them said, “Please come with your servants.” And he said, “I will come.”
4 So he went with them. And they came to the Jordan and cut down trees.
5 But as one was cutting down a tree, the axe head fell into the water. He cried, “Ah, master! It was borrowed.”
6 Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick, and threw it in there, and he made the iron float.
7 So Elisha said, “Pick it up.” And he reached out his hand and took it.
8 The Blinded Arameans Captured Then the king of Aram was fighting against Israel, and he took counsel with his servants, saying, “At such and such a place will be my camp.”
9 But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, saying, “Take care not to pass through this place, for the Arameans are marching down there.”
10 The king of Israel sent word to the place of which the man of God spoke. He warned him and was on his guard there more than once.
11 The mind of the king of Aram was troubled by this, so he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not tell me who among us sides with the king of Israel?”
12 Then one of his servants said, “No one, my lord, O king. Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”
13 He said, “Go and see where he is, so that I may send for him and take him.” And it was told to him, “He is in Dothan.”
14 So he sent horses, chariots, and a great army there. They came by night and surrounded the city.
15 When a servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, a force surrounded the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What will we do?”
16 And he said, “Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than with them.”
17 Then Elisha prayed, “Lord, open his eyes and let him see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha.
18 When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this people with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
19 Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and let me bring you to the man whom you seek.” But he led them to Samaria.
20 When they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “Lord, open the eyes of these men and let them see.” And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were in the middle of Samaria.
21 The king of Israel said to Elisha when he saw them, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?”
22 And he said, “You shall not kill them. Did you capture with your sword and with your bow those whom you want to kill? Set bread and water before them, and let them eat and drink and then go to their master.”
23 So he prepared for them a great banquet. When they had eaten and had drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the Aramean raiders did not enter into the land of Israel again.
24 Ben-Hadad Besieges Samaria After this, Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered all his army, went up, and besieged Samaria.
25 There was a great famine in Samaria, and they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver.
26 As the king of Israel was walking across the city wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help, my lord king.”
27 He said, “If the Lord will not help you, how can I help you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?”
28 And the king said to her, “What is wrong with you?” And she said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son and let us eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’
29 So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.”
30 When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. And since he was walking across the city wall, the people saw that he had sackcloth on his body underneath.
31 Then he said, “So may God do to me, and even more, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat stands on his shoulders after today.”
32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger, but before the messenger came to him, Elisha said to the elders, “Are you aware that this son of a murderer has sent a man to take off my head? When the messenger enters, shut the door and hold it against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”
33 And while he was speaking with them, the messenger came down to him, and then the king said, “This calamity is of the Lord! Why should I hope in the Lord any longer?”
1 Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord: Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.”
2 Then an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, “If the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this thing happen?” And he said, “You will see it with your eyes, but you will not eat from it.”
3 The Arameans Flee There were four leprous men at the entry of the gate, and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die?
4 If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. But if we sit here, we die also. Now come, let us fall into the camp of the Arameans. If they spare our lives, we will live, and if they kill us, we will die.”
5 So they rose at twilight to enter the camp of the Arameans. When they came to the edge of the camp of the Arameans, there was no one there.
6 For the Lord had caused the Aramean camp to hear the sound of chariots, horses, even the sound of a large army, so that they said to one another, “Listen, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come against us.”
7 So they got up and ran away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys. The camp remained just as it was, and they ran for their lives.
8 When these leprous men came to the edge of the camp, they went into one tent. They ate and drank, carried off silver, gold, and clothes, and went and hid them. Then they went back, entered another tent, and carried off things from there and went and hid them.
9 Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right today. This is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, we will be found guilty. Let us go now and enter the city and tell the king’s household.”
10 So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and they told them, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and there was no one there. There was no sound of a man’s voice, only horses tied, donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.”
11 Then the gatekeepers called out and told the king’s household inside.
12 The king got up in the night and said to his servants, “I will show you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are starving, so they left the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and get into the city.’ ”
13 One of his servants answered, “Let some men take five of the remaining horses, since those remaining will suffer the fate of the whole multitude of Israel that have perished already; so let us send them and see.”
14 So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the army of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.”
15 So they went after them to the Jordan, and the whole way was full of clothes and vessels, which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and told the king.
16 Then the people went out and looted the camp of the Arameans. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.
17 The king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge over the gate, and the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said when the king came down to him.
18 Then the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seahs of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.”
19 The officer had answered the man of God, “If the Lord should make windows in heaven, could such a thing happen?” And he had said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”
20 So it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.
1 The Shunammite’s Land Restored Then Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Get up and go, you and your household, and sojourn wherever you can, for the Lord has called for a famine, and it will come on the land for seven years.”
2 So the woman got up and did according to the word of the man of God. She went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines for seven years.
3 At the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, and she went forth to appeal to the king for her house and her field.
4 Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.”
5 As he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, the woman whose son he had restored to life started appealing to the king for her house and her land. Gehazi said, “My lord king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.”
6 When the king questioned the woman, she told him. So the king appointed to her an official, saying, “Restore all that was hers and all the proceeds of the field from the day that she abandoned the land until now.”
7 Ben-Hadad Is Murdered Then Elisha came to Damascus while Ben-Hadad the king of Aram was ill, and he was told, “The man of God has come here.”
8 The king said to Hazael, “Take a present with you and go to meet the man of God. Inquire of the Lord through him, saying, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’ ”
9 So Hazael went to meet him and took a present with him, all sorts of good things from Damascus, forty camel loads. He came and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, asking, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’ ”
10 And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You will certainly recover,’ but the Lord has shown me that he will certainly die.”
11 Hazael stared at him until he was ashamed. Then the man of God wept.
12 Hazael said, “Why are you weeping, my lord?” He said, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel. You will set their fortresses on fire. You will kill their young men with the sword. You will smash their children and rip open their pregnant women.”
13 Hazael said, “What? Is your servant a dog that he should do this great thing?” And Elisha said, “The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”
14 Then he left Elisha and went to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he said, “He told me that you would surely recover.”
15 But the next day he took a blanket, dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died. And Hazael reigned in his place.
16 Jehoram, King of Judah In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, became king.
17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
18 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. He did evil in the sight of the Lord.
19 Yet the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of His servant David, since He promised to give a lamp to him and his sons perpetually.
20 In his days Edom rebelled against the rule of Judah, and they put a king over themselves.
21 So Jehoram crossed over to Zair, all his chariots with him, and he rose at night and struck Edom and the captains of their chariots who had surrounded him. But the people fled to their tents.
22 So Edom has been in rebellion against the rule of Judah until this day. Libnah rebelled at the same time.
23 The rest of the deeds of Jehoram and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
24 So Jehoram slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.
25 Ahaziah, King of Judah In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, became king.
26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king. He reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, king of Israel.
27 He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Ahab did, for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab.
28 He went with Joram the son of Ahab to the war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead, and the Arameans struck Joram.
29 King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel because he was ill.
1 Jehu Anointed King of Israel Then Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, “Prepare yourself. Take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead.
2 When you get there, look for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go in and make him rise from among his brothers, and bring him into an inner chamber.
3 Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: I have anointed you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee. Do not wait.”
4 So the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead.
5 When he arrived, the commanders of the army were sitting, and he said, “I have a word for you, Commander.” Jehu said, “Which one of us?” And he said, “For you, Commander.”
6 So he arose, went into the house, poured the oil on his head, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: I am anointing you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel.
7 You will strike the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the Lord from the hand of Jezebel.
8 The whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab all the males in Israel, both imprisoned and free.
9 I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah.
10 Dogs will eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and no one will bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.
11 When Jehu had returned to his master’s servants, one said to him, “Is all well? Why did this madman come to you?” And he said to them, “You know this man and his babble.”
12 They said, “A lie! Tell us.” Then he said, “Thus and thus he spoke to me, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: I am anointing you king over Israel.’ ”
13 Then they hurried. Each took his clothes, put them under him on the bare stairs, and blew a horn, saying, “Jehu is king.”
14 Joram of Israel Killed So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. Joram had been guarding Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Aram.
15 But King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel from the wounds with which the Arameans had stricken him when he fought with Hazael king of Aram. So Jehu said, “If this be your minds, let no fugitive exit the city to go tell Jezreel.”
16 Then Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there. Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram.
17 A watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu as he was coming and said, “I see a company.” And Joram said, “Take a horseman and send him to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’ ”
18 So the horseman went to meet him and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’ ” But Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace? Circle in behind me.” So the watchman reported, “The messenger came to them, but he is not returning.”
19 Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’ ” Again, Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace? Circle in behind me.”
20 The watchman reported, “He came to them, but he is not returning. The driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.”
21 Then Joram said, “Hitch my chariot.” So his chariot was hitched, 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 on the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.
22 When Joram saw Jehu he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” And he said, “What peace, so long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her sorceries are so many?”
23 Then Joram turned the reins, fled, and said to Ahaziah, “There is treachery, Ahaziah.”
24 Jehu drew a bow with his full strength and shot Joram between his shoulder blades. The arrow went out at his heart, and he kneeled down in his chariot.
25 Then Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, “Lift him up and throw him on the property of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember when you and I were riding together after Ahab his father and the Lord pronounced this oracle about him:
26 ‘Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth and his sons, declares the Lord, and I will pay you back on this property, declares the Lord.’ Now lift him up and throw him onto the property, according to the word of the Lord.”
27 Ahaziah of Judah Killed But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled on the path to the garden house. Jehu chased after him and said, “Shoot him too.” So they shot him on the ascent to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo and died there.
28 His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the City of David.
29 In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah became king over Judah.
30 Jezebel Executed When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard about it. She put black paint on her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down through the window.
31 As Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, “Is everything all right, Zimri, murderer of his master?”
32 And he lifted up his face toward the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” And two or three eunuchs looked down to him.
33 He said, “Drop her down.” So they dropped her down and some of her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses. Then he trampled her.
34 Then he entered, ate and drank, and said, “Attend to that cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.”
35 So they went to bury her, but they found nothing of her except a skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands.
36 They returned and told Jehu, and he said, “This is the word of the Lord, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘On the property of Jezreel dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel.
37 The corpse of Jezebel will be like dung in the field on the property of Jezreel, so that they cannot say, This is Jezebel.’ ”
1 Ahab’s Seventy Sons Killed Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the captains of Jezreel, to the elders, and to the guardians of the sons of Ahab, saying,
2 “Now as soon as this letter comes to you—since you are with your master’s sons, chariots, horses, a fortified city, and weapons—
3 select the best and most fitting of your master’s sons, put him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.”
4 But they were extremely afraid and said, “Two kings could not stand before him. How can we stand?”
5 So he who was over the house, and he who was over the city, the elders, and the guardians sent word to Jehu, saying, “We are your servants, and everything you say to us we will do. We will not appoint a man king. Do what is good in your eyes.”
6 Then he wrote a second letter to them, saying, “If you belong to me and will obey me, take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me at Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” Now the king’s sons, seventy men, were with the great men of the city who brought them up.
7 When the letter came to them, they took the king’s sons, slaughtered all seventy, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him in Jezreel.
8 So the messenger came and told him, saying, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” Then he said, “Put them in two heaps at the entry of the gate until morning.”
9 When morning came, he went out and stood and said to all the people, “You are innocent. I conspired against my master and killed him, but who struck all these?
10 Know then that the words of the Lord which He spoke about the house of Ahab will not fall to the ground. The Lord has done that which He spoke by His servant Elijah.”
11 So Jehu struck all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel and all his great men, his confidants, and his priests, until he left him no survivor.
12 Ahaziah’s Forty-Two Brothers Killed Then he got up and went to Samaria. When he was at Beth Eked of the Shepherds on the way,
13 Jehu found the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah and said, “Who are you?” And they said, “We are brothers of Ahaziah, and we have come down to visit the sons of the king and the sons of the queen mother.”
14 He said, “Capture them alive.” So they took them alive and slaughtered them at the pit of Beth Eked, forty-two men. Not a man of them remained.
15 Then he left there and found Jehonadab son of Rekab coming to meet him. He greeted him and said to him, “Is your heart right with me, as my heart is with yours?” And Jehonadab said, “It is.” “If it is, give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand, and he pulled him up to him into the chariot.
16 He said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.” So he made him ride in his chariot.
17 Then he came to Samaria and struck all that remained to Ahab in Samaria until he exterminated them, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to Elijah.
18 Worshippers of Baal Killed Then Jehu gathered all the people and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much.
19 Now call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his worshippers, and all his priests. Let none go unaccounted for, because I have a great sacrifice for Baal. All who are not accounted for will not live.” But Jehu did it with cunning in order to destroy the servants of Baal.
20 Jehu said, “Sanctify a festive assembly for Baal.” So they proclaimed it.
21 Jehu sent word through all Israel, and all the worshippers of Baal came. Not a man remained who did not come. They came into the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was full from one end to the other.
22 He said to the one in charge of the wardrobe, “Bring out garments for all the worshippers of Baal.” So he brought them garments.
23 Then Jehu and Jehonadab the son of Rekab went into the house of Baal and said to the worshippers of Baal, “Search and see that there are no worshippers of the Lord here with you and only worshippers of Baal.”
24 Then they went to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, but Jehu put eighty men outside and said, “If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escapes, the one who lets him go will die in his place.”
25 As soon as he had finished making the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and the officers, “Go in. Kill them. No one comes out.” So they struck them with the edge of the sword. The guards and the officers threw them out and went to the city of the house of Baal.
26 They brought out the sacred pillar from the house of Baal and burned it.
27 They broke down the sacred pillar of Baal, and tore down the house of Baal and made it a latrine to this day.
28 So Jehu exterminated Baal from Israel.
29 But from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, Jehu did not turn aside (that is, the golden calves that were in Bethel and Dan).
30 And the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well by doing what is right in My sight, and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.”
31 But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart. He did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin.
32 The Death of Jehu In those days the Lord began to trim off parts of Israel, and Hazael struck them in all the territory of Israel:
33 from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites, the Manassites from Aroer, which is by the River Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.
34 Now the rest of the deeds of Jehu, all he did and all his power, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
35 So Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. Jehoahaz his son became king in his place.
36 The days that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria were twenty-eight years.
1 Athaliah Reigns in Judah Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose up and destroyed all the royal descendants.
2 But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were being murdered; and they hid him and his nurse in the bedroom, from Athaliah, so that he was not killed.
3 He was with her, hidden in the house of the Lord for six years, while Athaliah reigned over the land.
4 Joash Anointed King of Judah But in the seventh year Jehoiada sent word and took the captains of hundreds from the Carites and the guards and brought them to him in the house of the Lord. He made a covenant with them, put them under oath in the house of the Lord, and then showed them the king’s son.
5 He commanded them, saying, “This is the thing that you shall do: One-third of your unit, those who come on duty on the Sabbath, will guard the king’s house.
6 One-third will be at the gate of Sur, and one-third will be at the gate behind the guards. You will take turns guarding the house.
7 Two of your companies from all who go out on the Sabbath will keep watch over the house of the Lord for the king.
8 You will encircle the king, each man with his weapons in his hand, and the one that comes within the ranks must be killed. They must be with the king when he goes out and comes in.”
9 The captains of hundreds did according to everything that Jehoiada the priest commanded. Each took his men, those who came on duty on the Sabbath, with those that went off duty on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest.
10 And the priest gave to the captains of hundreds spears and shields which belonged to King David that were in the house of the Lord.
11 The guards stood, each with his weapons in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, along the altar and the house, surrounding the king.
12 Then he brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony. They made him king and anointed him. Then they clapped their hands and said, “Live, O king!”
13 The Death of Athaliah Then Athaliah heard the sound of the guards and the people, so she came to the people in the house of the Lord.
14 Then she looked, and the king was standing by a pillar according to custom, the captains and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. So Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Conspiracy, conspiracy!”
15 But Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds, those appointed over the forces, “Bring her out of the house to the ranks, and kill with the sword whoever follows her.” For the priest had said, “Let her not be killed in the house of the Lord.”
16 So they laid hands on her, and she came through the horses’ entrance into the king’s house. Then she was put to death there.
17 Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be the people of the Lord, and also between the king and the people.
18 Then all the people of the land entered the house of Baal and broke down its altars. His images they thoroughly broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. The priest put appointees over the house of the Lord.
19 He took the captains of hundreds, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land. Then they brought down the king from the house of the Lord and marched through the gate of the guards to the king’s house. Then he sat on the throne of the kings.
20 All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. They had killed Athaliah with the sword at the king’s house.
21 Jehoash was seven years old when he became king.
1 Jehoash Repairs the Temple In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king. He reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.
2 Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all his days because Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
3 However, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings in the high places.
4 Now Jehoash said to the priests, “All the consecrated money that is brought into the house of the Lord, the money for which each man is currently assessed, and all the money that is brought voluntarily to the house of the Lord,
5 let the priests receive it, each from his donor, and repair the damages to the house wherever damages are found.”
6 But in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash the priests had not repaired the damages to the house.
7 Then King Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, “Why have you not repaired the damages to the house? So now money will no longer be taken from your donors. You will give it over for the damages to the house.”
8 The priests agreed that they should take no more money from the people, nor repair the damages of the house.
9 So Jehoiada the priest took a chest, made a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar on the right side as one enters the house of the Lord. The priests guarding the threshold put there all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord.
10 Whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king’s scribe and the high priest went up, emptied it, and counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord.
11 They gave the money that was weighed out into the hands of the workers who were appointed to the house of the Lord. Then they paid it out to the carpenters and builders working on the house of the Lord,
12 to the masons and stonecutters, and to buy timber and cut stone to repair the damages to the house of the Lord, that is, whatever went out for repairs to the house.
13 But for the house of the Lord silver bowls, snuffers, sprinkling basins, trumpets, and all the gold and silver vessels were not made with any of the money that was brought into the house of the Lord,
14 for they gave it to the workmen, and they repaired the house of the Lord with it.
15 They did not settle accounts with the men in whose hand they gave the money to give to the workmen, for they dealt faithfully.
16 The money from the guilt offerings and the money from the sin offerings were not brought into the house of the Lord. It belonged to the priests.
17 Hazael Threatens Jerusalem Then Hazael king of Aram went up, fought against Gath, and seized it. Then Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.
18 So Jehoash king of Judah took all the consecrated things that Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated and his own consecrated things, all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the Lord and in the king’s house, and sent it to Hazael king of Aram. Then Hazael went away from Jerusalem.
19 The Death of Joash Now the rest of the deeds of Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
20 His servants rose up, made a conspiracy, and struck Joash in the house of Millo, which goes down to Silla.
21 Jozabad the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him, and he died. They buried him with his fathers in the City of David. Then Amaziah his son reigned in his place.
1 Jehoahaz, King of Israel In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria for seventeen years.
2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. He did not turn aside from them.
3 The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, so He gave them into the hand of Hazael king of Aram and into the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael all their days.
4 But Jehoahaz appeased the Lord, and the Lord listened to him. For He saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Aram oppressed them.
5 So the Lord gave Israel a savior, so that they got out from under the hand of Aram. Then the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before.
6 Nevertheless, they did not turn aside from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin, but walked in them. The Asherah pole also stood in Samaria.
7 So Jehoahaz had only fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen left, for the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing.
8 Now the rest of the deeds of Jehoahaz, all that he did and his power, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
9 And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. Joash his son reigned in his place.
10 Jehoash, King of Israel In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz reigned over Israel in Samaria for sixteen years.
11 He did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not turn aside from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, but he walked in them.
12 The rest of the deeds of Joash, all that he did and his power with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
13 So Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne. Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
14 The Death of Elisha Now Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. So Joash the king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, and said, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen.”
15 Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows.
16 Then he said to the king of Israel, “Draw the bow.” So he drew it. Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.
17 Then he said, “Open the east window.” So he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot.” So he shot. Then he said, “The arrow of the deliverance of the Lord, and the arrow of deliverance from Aram; for you must strike Aram in Aphek until you have destroyed them.”
18 Then he said, “Take the arrows.” So he took them. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground.” So he struck it three times and stood there.
19 Then the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck it five or six times. Then you would have stricken Aram until you had finished them. Now you will strike Aram just three times.”
20 So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now Moabite raiders would enter the land in the spring.
21 As they were burying a man, they saw raiders. So they threw the man into the tomb of Elisha. When the man touched the bones of Elisha, he came to life and stood on his feet.
22 Israel Recaptures Cities from Aram Now Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.
23 But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them. He turned toward them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not yet destroy them or cast them from His presence.
24 Then Hazael king of Aram died and Ben-Hadad his son reigned in his place.
25 And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took back the cities from Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael that had been taken from Jehoahaz his father in war. Three times Joash struck him and recovered the cities of Israel.
1 Amaziah, King of Judah In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, became king.
2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king and reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan from Jerusalem.
3 He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, only not like David his father. He did everything that Joash his father did.
4 But he did not remove the high places. Still the people sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.
5 As soon as he seized the kingdom, he killed his servants who had killed his father, the king.
6 But he did not kill the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, in which the Lord commanded, “Fathers must not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers. Rather, a man should be put to death for his own sin.”
7 He struck ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and captured Sela in battle. He called it Joktheel, as it is to this day.
8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look one another in the face.”
9 Then Jehoash the king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thorn bush in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife.’ But a wild animal passed through in Lebanon and trampled the thorn bush.
10 You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy respect and sit at home. Why stir up trouble and fall, you and Judah with you?”
11 But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah.
12 Judah was beaten before Israel, and every man fled to his tent.
13 Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh. Then he came to Jerusalem and breached the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits.
14 He took all the gold and silver, all the vessels found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and hostages, and then returned to Samaria.
15 Now the rest of the deeds Jehoash did, his power and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
16 So Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.
17 Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.
18 And the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
19 They made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish, and killed him there.
20 They carried 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, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.
22 He built Elath and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers.
23 Jeroboam II, King of Israel In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria for forty-one years.
24 He did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not turn aside from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.
25 He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He spoke by His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath Hepher.
26 For the Lord saw the very bitter affliction of Israel. There was no one left, imprisoned or free, and no helper for Israel.
27 The Lord had not said that He would wipe out the name of Israel from under heaven, so He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Joash.
28 Now the rest of the deeds of Jeroboam, all that he did and his power, how he fought, and how he recovered for Israel Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
29 Jeroboam slept with his fathers, with the kings of Israel. Zechariah his son reigned in his place.
1 Azariah, King of Judah In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah, king of Judah, became king.
2 He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jekoliah from Jerusalem.
3 He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.
4 But the high places were not removed. The people continued sacrificing and making offerings on the high places.
5 The Lord afflicted the king, and he was leprous until the day of his death. He lived in a separate house. Jotham the king’s son was in charge of the house, judging the people of the land.
6 Now the rest of the deeds of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
7 So Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David. Jotham his son reigned in his place.
8 Zechariah, King of Israel In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam became king of Israel in Samaria for six months.
9 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had done. He did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.
10 Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, struck him at Ibleam, and killed him. Then Shallum reigned in his place.
11 Now the rest of the deeds of Zechariah are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel.
12 This was the word of the Lord which He spoke to Jehu, “Your sons will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” And it was so.
13 Shallum, King of Israel Shallum son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah. He reigned for a month in Samaria.
14 Then Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, entered Samaria, and struck Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria and killed him. Then Menahem reigned in his place.
15 Now the rest of the deeds of Shallum and the conspiracy he made are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel.
16 Then Menahem struck Tiphsah and all who were in it, and the territories around Tirzah. Because they did not open up the city to him, he attacked it. Then he split open all its pregnant woman.
17 Menahem, King of Israel 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 sight of the Lord. He did not turn aside all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.
19 Pul the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that he might help him strengthen his control of the kingdom.
20 Menahem exacted the money from Israel, from all the very wealthy men, fifty shekels of silver each, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria left and did not stay there in the land.
21 The rest of the deeds of Menahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
22 And Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son reigned in his place.
23 Pekahiah, King of Israel 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 sight of the Lord. He did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.
25 But Pekah son of Remaliah, his officer, conspired against him and struck him in Samaria, in the palace of the king’s house, with Argob, Arieh, and fifty men of the Gileadites with him. He killed him and reigned in his place.
26 Now the rest of the deeds of Pekahiah and all that he did are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel.
27 Pekah, King of Israel In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria for twenty years.
28 He did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.
29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maakah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, Galilee, and all the land of Naphtali, and then exiled them to Assyria.
30 Then Hoshea son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah and struck and killed him. Then he reigned in his place in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah.
31 The rest of the deeds of Pekah and all that he did are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel.
32 Jotham, King of Judah In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, became king.
33 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok.
34 He did what was right in the sight of the Lord. He did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.
35 Only he did not remove the high places. The people continued sacrificing and making offerings on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord.
36 Now the rest of the deeds of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
37 In those days the Lord began to send Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah.
38 Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David his father. Then Ahaz his son reigned in his place.
1 Ahaz, King of Judah In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham, king of Judah, became king.
2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God like David his father.
3 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel and even made his son pass through the fire according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the children of Israel.
4 He sacrificed and made offerings on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
5 Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to battle, and they besieged Ahaz but could not subdue him.
6 At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram and expelled the Judeans from Elath. The Edomites came to Elath and live there to this day.
7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.”
8 Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria.
9 So the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria went up to Damascus, captured it, exiled the people to Kir, and killed Rezin.
10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria and saw an altar that was in Damascus. King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a pattern of the altar and model of it, according to the manner of its construction.
11 Uriah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. Thus Uriah the priest worked until King Ahaz came from Damascus.
12 When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, the king approached the altar and made offerings on it.
13 He offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured out his libations, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar.
14 And the bronze altar that was before the Lord he moved from the front of the house, from between the altar and the house of the Lord. He put it on the north side of the new altar.
15 Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Upon the great altar offer the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering, and his grain offering with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their libations. Sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, and the bronze altar will be for me to inquire by.”
16 So Uriah the priest did everything that King Ahaz commanded.
17 King Ahaz cut off the bases of the stands and removed the basin from them. He took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on stone pavement.
18 The structure for the Sabbath that they had built in the house and the king’s outer entrance he removed from the house of the Lord for the king of Assyria.
19 Now the rest of the deeds of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
20 Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.
1 Hoshea, King of Israel In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king in Samaria over Israel for nine years.
2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, only not as the kings of Israel who were before him.
3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him. Hoshea became his servant and gave him gifts.
4 But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and offered up no gift to the king of Assyria as he had done year by year. So the king of Assyria detained him, and then put him in prison.
5 Israel Exiled to Assyria Then the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, went up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years.
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria seized Samaria and exiled Israel to Assyria. He put them in Halah, in Habor by the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7 This happened because the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had feared other gods
8 and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom the Lord dispossessed before the children of Israel, and walked in the statutes which the kings of Israel had made.
9 The children of Israel ascribed things to the Lord their God that were not so, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities from the watchtower to the fortified city.
10 They set up standing stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
11 There they burned incense on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord had carried away before them. And they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger,
12 for they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”
13 But the Lord warned Israel and Judah by all the prophets and by all the seers, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.”
14 But they would not listen. They stiffened their necks, like the neck of their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
15 They rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers and the decrees He had given them. They followed idols, and became idolaters, and followed the surrounding nations, concerning whom the Lord commanded them, that they should not do like them.
16 They forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God, made themselves cast images (two calves), made an Asherah pole, worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
17 They caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, used divination and omens, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord to anger Him.
18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from His presence. None remained except the tribe of Judah.
19 Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
20 The Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, afflicted them, and gave them into the hand of plunderers until He had cast them out of His presence.
21 For He had torn Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Jeroboam diverted Israel from following the Lord and caused them to sin greatly.
22 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins which Jeroboam committed. They did not turn aside from them
23 until the Lord removed Israel from His presence as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their land to Assyria until this day.
24 Assyria Resettles Samaria Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and put them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel. They possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.
25 Right at the beginning of their settling there, they did not fear the Lord, so the Lord sent lions among them, and they killed some of them.
26 So they said to the king of Assyria, “The nations which you have exiled and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore He has sent lions among them; they are killing them, because they do not know the requirements of the god of the land.”
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Escort back one of the priests whom you exiled from there and let him go and dwell there. Let him teach them the law of the god of the land.”
28 Then one of the priests whom they had exiled from Samaria came and lived in Bethel. He taught them how they should fear the Lord.
29 But each nation was making its own gods, and they put them in the houses of the high places that the people of Samaria had made, each nation in the cities where they were living.
30 The men of Babylon made Sukkoth Benoth, the men of Kuthah made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,
31 the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak. The Sepharvites were burning their children in fire to Adrammelek and Anammelek, the gods of Sepharvaim.
32 They feared the Lord and made from amongst themselves priests of the high places, who were working for them in the houses of the high places.
33 They feared the Lord, and they were serving their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they exiled from there.
34 To this day they continue to practice their former customs. They do not fear the Lord, nor are they doing according to the statutes, requirements, the law or commandment that the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom He named Israel.
35 The Lord had made a covenant and commanded them, saying, “You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them. You shall not serve them or sacrifice to them.
36 Rather, the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, to Him you shall bow down, and to Him you shall sacrifice.
37 The statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandment, which He wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever. And you shall not fear other gods.
38 The covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget. You shall not fear other gods.
39 Rather the Lord your God you shall fear, and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”
40 But they did not listen; rather they were practicing their former customs.
41 So these nations feared the Lord and were serving their carved images, both their children and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, and so they are doing to this day.
1 Hezekiah, King of Judah In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, became king.
2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi daughter of Zechariah.
3 He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to everything that David his father had done.
4 He removed the high places, broke down the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and crushed the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the children of Israel had made offerings to it. They called it Nehushtan.
5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel. Afterwards, there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah or among those who were before him.
6 He clung to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.
7 The Lord was with him. Wherever he went, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
8 He struck the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.
9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.
10 He seized it at the end of three years. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
11 Then the king of Assyria exiled Israel to Assyria and put them in Halah and in Habor by the River of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes,
12 because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and would not obey or do them.
13 Sennacherib Invades Judah In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
14 Hezekiah king of Judah sent word to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; turn away from me. I will bear whatever you put on me.” So the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15 So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house.
16 At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria.
17 Then the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great army against Jerusalem. So they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they went up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the Fuller’s Field.
18 Then they called to the king, and Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them.
19 Then the Rabshakeh said to them, “Speak to Hezekiah: “Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: What is the basis of your confidence?
20 You speak empty words concerning counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?
21 Now, look! You trust in the staff of this bruised reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will enter his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
22 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He, whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?
23 “Now, make a wager with my lord king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses if you are able to set riders on them.
24 How can you turn away one official of the least of my master’s servants and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
25 Have I come up apart from the will of the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.”
26 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak with us in the language of Judah in earshot of the people who are on the wall.”
27 But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are about to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”
28 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called with a loud voice in the language of Judah, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.
29 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he is not able to deliver you from my hand.
30 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
31 “Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Submit to me; come out to me, so that every man may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,
32 until I come and take you to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey, that you may live and not die.’ “Do not listen to Hezekiah when he leads you astray saying, The Lord will deliver us.
33 Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
35 Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
36 But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.”
37 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
1 Hezekiah Consults Isaiah When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of the Lord.
2 He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.
3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of distress, chastisement, and disgrace, for children have come to the mouth of the womb, but there is no strength to birth them.
4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to taunt the living God and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard, and you might lift up a prayer for the remnant that are left.”
5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah,
6 Isaiah said to them, “Thus shall you say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
7 I am putting a spirit in him, and he will hear a report and return to his own land. Then I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.’ ”
8 Sennacherib Defies the Lord Then the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.
9 When the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “He has come out to fight against you,” he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying: Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11 You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by annihilating them. Will you be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Harran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Tel Assar?
13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?”
14 Hezekiah’s Prayer Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.
15 Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, who sits on the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the sky and the earth.
16 Incline, O Lord, Your ear and hear. Open, O Lord, Your eyes and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, which he sent to taunt the living God.
17 “Surely, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have annihilated the nations and their lands
18 and have put their gods in the fire, for they were no gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; thus they have been destroyed.
19 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You, O Lord, are God alone.”
20 Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib’s Fall Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: That which you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.
21 This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him: She despises you, she ridicules you— virgin daughter of Zion. Behind you, she shakes her head— daughter of Jerusalem.
22 Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised a voice and lifted your eyes upward? Against the Holy One of Israel.
23 By your messengers you have taunted the Lord, and have said, ‘With my many chariots I have gone up the height of the mountains, to farthest reaches of Lebanon, and I will cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest junipers. I will enter its most remote canopies of night, its dense forest.
24 I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters, and I dried up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt.’
25 “Have you not heard? Long ago I arranged it, in ancient times I formed it; now I bring it to pass, that you will turn impregnable cities into desolate heaps of stones.
26 Their inhabitants are powerless; they are terrified and ashamed. They are like grass of the field and new vegetation, grass on the roof tops, scorched before it stands.
27 “But I know your dwelling place, your going out and your coming in, and your raging against Me.
28 Because you have raged against Me, and your self-assuredness has come up to My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bridle on your lips, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.
29 “This will be the sign to you: This year you will eat what grows itself, and in the second year the same. Then in the third year sow, reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruits.
30 The spared of the house of Judah who remain will again take root below, and bear fruit above.
31 For from Jerusalem a remnant will go forth, and escapees from Mount Zion. “The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this.
32 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He will not enter this city, shoot an arrow there, approach it with shield, or heap up a siege ramp against it.
33 By the way that he came, he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the Lord.
34 For I will protect this city to save it, for My own sake and for the sake of David My servant.”
35 The Death of Sennacherib On that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When others woke up early in the morning, these were all dead bodies.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and stayed in Nineveh.
37 As he was worshipping in the house of Nisrok his god, Adrammelek and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
1 Hezekiah’s Life Extended In those days Hezekiah became ill and was near death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.”
2 Then he turned his face toward the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying,
3 “Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with an undivided heart and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Now before Isaiah had come out of the middle courtyard, the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
5 “Turn back 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. I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.
6 I will add to your days fifteen years, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My own sake and for the sake of David My servant.”
7 Then Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.” So they took it and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.
8 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I should go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?”
9 Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that He has spoken: Should the shadow walk forward ten steps or go back ten steps?”
10 And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to stretch ten steps, so let it go back ten steps.”
11 Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, and He made the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.
12 Envoys From Babylon At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been ill.
13 Hezekiah welcomed them and showed them all the treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine oil, all the armory, and all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.
14 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say? From where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They came from a distant land, from Babylon.”
15 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah said, “They have seen everything in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”
16 Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord:
17 The days are coming when everything that is in your house and that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord.
18 Some of your sons who go out from you, who will be born to you, will be taken away. They will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” And he said, “Why not, if there is peace and security in my days?”
20 The Death of Hezekiah The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah, all his power, how he made a pool and a conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
21 Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.
1 Manasseh, King of Judah Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.
2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the children of Israel.
3 He went back and rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed. He erected altars for Baal, made an Asherah pole as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshipped all the host of heaven and served them.
4 He built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My name.”
5 He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.
6 He made his son pass through the fire, was conjuring and seeking omens, and dealt with mediums and soothsayers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger.
7 He put a carved image of Asherah that he had made in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever.
8 I will not make the feet of Israel to wander homeless from the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them.”
9 But they did not listen. Manasseh led them to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.
10 The Lord spoke by His servants the prophets, saying,
11 “Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, things more evil than all that the Amorites did, and has also caused Judah to sin with his idols,
12 therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel: I am bringing evil on Jerusalem and Judah, such evil that the ears of whoever hears about it will tingle.
13 I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the level of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl, wiping it and turning it upside down.
14 I will disregard the remnant of My inheritance and give them into the hand of their enemies. They shall become plunder and spoil for all their enemies,
15 because they have done evil in My sight and have provoked Me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.”
16 Moreover, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other; besides his sin he caused Judah to sin by doing evil in the sight of the Lord.
17 Now the rest of the deeds of Manasseh, all that he did, and his sin that he committed, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
18 Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza. Amon his son reigned in his place.
19 Amon, King of Judah Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king. He reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth, daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
20 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done.
21 He walked in all the ways that his father walked, served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them.
22 He abandoned the Lord God of his fathers, and he did not walk in the way of the Lord.
23 The servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his house.
24 But the people of the land struck all those who conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.
25 Now the rest of the deeds of Amon that he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
26 And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place.
1 Josiah, King of Judah Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah from Bozkath.
2 He did what was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the ways of David his father. He did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
3 The Book of the Law Found In the eighteenth year of King Josiah the king sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the Lord, saying,
4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, and have him prepare the money that has been brought to the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered from the people.
5 Let them deliver it to the hand of the appointed workers of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the workers who are in the house of the Lord to repair the damages to the house,
6 that is, to the carpenters, the builders, and the masons to buy timber and cut stone to repair the house.
7 But there need be no settling of accounts with them concerning the money that was given to their hand, because they are behaving honestly.”
8 Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.
9 Then Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought the king a report. He said, “Your servants have emptied the money that was found in the house and have given it into the hand of the appointed workers of the house of the Lord.”
10 Shaphan the scribe informed the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” So Shaphan read it before the king.
11 When the king had heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes.
12 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Akbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah, a servant of the king, saying,
13 “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people, and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book by doing according to all that is written concerning us.”
14 So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Akbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, wife of Shallum, son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter), and they spoke with her.
15 She said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Tell the man that sent you to Me,
16 Thus says the Lord: See, I will bring evil on this place and on its inhabitants—all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read.
17 Because they have forsaken Me and have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked Me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore My wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched.
18 But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel with regard to the words you have heard:
19 Because your heart was timid, and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord.
20 Therefore, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the evil which I am about to bring upon this place.” Then they brought the king a report.
1 Josiah Renews the Covenant Then the king sent them away and they gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him.
2 The king went up to the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, the priests, the prophets, and all the people, both small and great. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that was found in the house of the Lord.
3 The king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord, to keep His commandments, His testimonies, and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. All the people agreed with the covenant.
4 The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the implements that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. Then he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.
5 Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.
6 He brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord to the outside of Jerusalem, to the Kidron Valley. Then he burned it at the Kidron Valley, crushed it to dust, and threw its dust upon the graves of the people.
7 He tore down the houses of the male cult prostitutes that were in the house of the Lord, where the women were weaving hangings for the Asherah.
8 He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beersheba. He broke down the high places of the gates at the entry of the gates of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on the left 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. Instead they ate unleavened bread among their fellow priests.
10 He defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so that no man would make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molek.
11 He removed the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entry of the house of the Lord, by the hall of Nathan-Melek the eunuch, which was in the vestibule. The chariots of the sun he burned with fire.
12 The altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord the king tore down and banished from there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.
13 The high places east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Molek the abomination of the Ammonites, the king defiled.
14 He broke the standing stones, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled their sites with human bones.
15 Moreover, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he tore down. Then he burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and he burned the Asherah.
16 As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mount. He took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the Lord that the man of God proclaimed, the one who announced these things.
17 Then he said, “What is this monument that I see?” The men of the city said to him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.”
18 He said, “Let him rest. No one shall disturb his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.
19 Moreover, all the houses of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah removed. He did to them just as he had done in Bethel.
20 He slaughtered on the altars all the priests of the high places who were there, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
21 The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”
22 For such a Passover had not been kept from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.
23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.
24 Moreover, Josiah disposed of the mediums, the soothsayers, the teraphim, the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, so that he established the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord.
25 Now there had been no king like him before or after, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses.
26 However, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, by which His anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him.
27 The Lord said, “I will also remove Judah from before Me, as I have removed Israel. I will reject this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”
28 Josiah Dies in Battle Now the rest of the deeds of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
29 In his days Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria to the River Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, but he killed him at Megiddo when he had seen him.
30 His servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.
31 Jehoahaz, King of Judah Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
32 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.
33 Pharaoh Necho imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and imposed tribute on the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
34 Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of Josiah his father and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz away and went to Egypt, and he died there.
35 Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to Pharaoh’s demand. According to an assessed amount, he exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land to give to Pharaoh Necho.
36 Jehoiakim, King of Judah Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king. He reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
37 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.
1 Judah Overrun by Enemies In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him.
2 The Lord sent against him bands of Chaldeans, bands of Arameans, bands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonites. He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord that He spoke by His servants the prophets.
3 Surely at the decree of the Lord this came upon Judah, to remove them from before Him, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done,
4 and also for the innocent blood that he had shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to pardon.
5 Now the rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
6 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.
7 The king of Egypt did not come again from his land, for the king of Babylon had taken over from the Brook of Egypt to the River Euphrates all that belonged to the king of Egypt.
8 Jehoiachin, King of Judah Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king. He reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
9 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.
10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was under siege.
11 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to the city while his servants were besieging it,
12 and Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his eunuchs. The king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
13 The Captivity of Jerusalem He brought out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the implements of gold in the temple of the Lord, which Solomon king of Israel had made, just as the Lord had spoken.
14 He exiled all Jerusalem, all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. No one remained, except the poorest people of the land.
15 He exiled Jehoiachin in Babylon. The king’s mother, the king’s wives, his eunuchs, and the elite of the land he took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
16 All the fighting men, seven thousand, the craftsmen and smiths, one thousand, all those strong and fit for war the king of Babylon brought them into exile in Babylon.
17 The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, the uncle of Jehoiachin, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.
18 Zedekiah, King of Judah Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king. He reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
19 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
20 Because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until He threw them out from His presence. But Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
1 The Fall and Exile of Judah In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and set up camp near it. They built siege mounds against it all around.
2 The city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
3 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was severe in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land.
4 The city was breached, and all the fighting men fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which is by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They went along the way of the Arabah.
5 Then the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army deserted him.
6 So they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence upon him.
7 They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah. They bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.
8 In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
9 He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every great house he burned with fire.
10 All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard tore down the walls of Jerusalem all around.
11 The rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the crowd Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard took into exile.
12 But the captain of the bodyguard left some of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.
13 The bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, the stands, and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried their bronze to Babylon.
14 The pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the incense bowls, and all the bronze implements which were used in service they took away.
15 The fire pans and sprinkling basins that were fine gold and fine silver the captain of the bodyguard took.
16 The two pillars, the one sea, and the stands, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—the bronze of all these implements was beyond weight.
17 The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a bronze capital was on it. The height of the capital was three cubits. Latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, were on the capital all around. The second pillar with its latticework was like it.
18 The captain of the bodyguard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold.
19 From the city he took a eunuch who was an officer over the fighting men, five men of the king’s council who were found in the city, the chief scribe of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men from the people of the land who were found in the city.
20 Nebuzaradan captain of the bodyguard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
21 Then the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus he exiled Judah from their land.
22 Gedaliah, Governor of Judah Over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.
23 When all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, that is, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maakathite, they and their men.
24 Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them, “Do not be afraid of being the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well for you.”
25 But in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal line, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah. He died along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
26 Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies arose and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
27 Jehoiachin Released from Prison In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Awel-Marduk king of Babylon, in the year that he became king, released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison.
28 He spoke kindly to him, and gave him a throne above the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon.
29 He changed his prison garments, and he ate food continually before him all the days of his life.
30 His allowance was a regular allowance given him by the king every day, all the days of his life.