11 ⁴ But in the seventh year Jehoi'ada sent and brought the captains of the Carites and of the guards, and had them come to him in the house of the LORD; and he made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of the LORD, and he showed them the king's son. 11 ⁵ And he commanded them, "This is the thing that you shall do: one third of you, those who come off duty on the sabbath and guard the king's house 11 ⁶ (another third being at the gate Sur and a third at the gate behind the guards), shall guard the palace; 11 ⁷ and the two divisions of you, which come on duty in force on the sabbath and guard the house of the LORD, 11 ⁸ shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand; and whoever approaches the ranks is to be slain. Be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in."

11 ⁹ The captains did according to all that Jehoi'ada the priest commanded, and each brought his men who were to go off duty on the sabbath, with those who were to come on duty on the sabbath, and came to Jehoi'ada the priest. 11 ¹⁰ And the priest delivered to the captains the spears and shields that had been King David's, which were in the house of the LORD; 11 ¹¹ and the guards stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house. 11 ¹² Then he brought out the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they proclaimed him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, "Long live the king!"

11 ¹³ When Athali'ah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she went into the house of the LORD to the people; 11 ¹⁴ and when she looked, there was the king standing by the pillar, according to the custom, and the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets. And Athali'ah rent her clothes, and cried, "Treason! Treason!" 11 ¹⁵ Then Jehoi'ada the priest commanded the captains who were set over the army, "Bring her out between the ranks; and slay with the sword any one who follows her." For the priest said, "Let her not be slain in the house of the LORD." 11 ¹⁶ So they laid hands on her; and she went through the horses' entrance to the king's house, and there she was slain. - Jehoiada's reforms.  2Kgs.11.17-21- 2Chr.23.16-21 | RSV Contents | notes

11 ¹⁷ And Jehoi'ada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and people, that they should be the LORD's people; and also between the king and the people. 11 ¹⁸ Then all the people of the land went to the house of Ba'al, and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they slew Mattan the priest of Ba'al before the altars. And the priest posted watchmen over the house of the LORD. 11 ¹⁹ And he took the captains, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land; and they brought the king down from the house of the LORD, marching through the gate of the guards to the king's house. And he took his seat on the throne of the kings. 11 ²⁰ So all the people of the land rejoiced; and the city was quiet after Athali'ah had been slain with the sword at the king's house.

11 ²¹ Jeho'ash was seven years old when he bagan to reign. - JOASH king of Judah. (835 BCE)  2Kgs.12.1-21- 2Chr.24.1-16 | RSV Contents | notes

12 ¹ In the seventh year of Jehu Jeho'ash began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zib'iah of Beer-sheba. 12 ² And Jeho'ash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all his days, because Jehoi'ada the priest instructed him. 12 ³ Nevertheless the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and burn incense on the high places.

12 ⁴ Jeho'ash said to the priests, "All the money of the holy things which is brought into the house of the LORD, the money for which each man is assessed - the money from the assessment of persons - and the money which a man's heart prompts him to bring into the house of the LORD, 12 ⁵ let the priests take, each from his acquaintance; and let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is discovered." 12 ⁶ But by the twenty-third year of King Jeho'ash the priests had made no repairs on the house. 12 ⁷ Therefore King Jeho'ash summoned Jehoi'ada the priest and the other priests and said to them, "Why are you not repairing the house? Now therefore take no more money from your acquaintances, but hand it over for the repair of the house." 12 ⁸ So the priests agreed that they should take no more money from the people, and that they should not repair the house.

12 ⁹ Then Jehoi'ada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar on the right side as one entered the house of the LORD; and the priests who guarded the threshold put in it all the money that was brought into the house of the LORD. 12 ¹⁰ And whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king's secretary and the high priest came up and they counted and tied up in bags the money that was found in the house of the LORD. 12 ¹¹ Then they would give the money that was weighed out into the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the LORD; and they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked upon the house of the LORD, 12 ¹² and to the masons and the stonecutters, as well as to buy timber and quarried stone for making repairs on the house of the LORD, and for any outlay upon the repairs of the house. 12 ¹³ But there were not made for the house of the LORD basins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, or any vessels of gold, or of silver, from the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, 12 ¹⁴ for that was given to the workmen who were repairing the house of the LORD with it. 12 ¹⁵ And they did not ask an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to pay out to the workmen, for they dealt honestly. 12 ¹⁶ The money from the guilt offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD; it belonged to the priests.

12 ¹⁷ At that time Haz'ael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath, and took it. But when Haz'ael set his face to go up against Jerusalem, 12 ¹⁸ Jeho'ash king of Judah took all the votive gifts that Jehosh'aphat and Jeho'ram and Ahazi'ah, his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own votive gifts, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king's house, and sent these to Haz'ael king of Syria. Then Haz'ael went away from Jerusalem.

12 ¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Jo'ash, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 12 ²⁰ His servants arose and made a conspiracy, and slew Jo'ash in the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla. 12 ²¹ It was Jo'zacar the son of Shim'e-ath and Jeho'zabad the son of Shomer, his servants, who struck him down, so that he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Amazi'ah his son reigned in his stead. - JEHOAHAZ king of Israel. (821 BCE)  2Kgs.13.1-9

13 ¹ In the twenty-third year of Jo'ash the son of Ahazi'ah, king of Judah, Jeho'ahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Sama'ria, and he reigned seventeen years. 13 ² He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from them. 13 ³ And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them continually into the hand of Haz'ael king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-ha'dad the son of Haz'ael. 13 ⁴ Then Jeho'ahaz besought the LORD, and the LORD hearkened to him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them. 13 ⁵ (Therefore the LORD gave Israel a saviour, so that they escaped from the hand of the Syrians; and the people of Israel dwelt in their homes as formerly. 13 ⁶ Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jerobo'am, which he made Israel to sin, but walked in them; and the Ashe'rah also remained in Sama'ria.) 13 ⁷ For there was not left to Jeho'ahaz an army of more than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing. 13 ⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jeho'ahaz and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 13 ⁹ So Jeho'ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Sama'ria; and Jo'ash his son reigned in his stead. - JEHOASH king of Israel. (804 BCE)  2Kgs.13.10-13

13 ¹⁰ In the thirty-seventh year of Jo'ash king of Judah Jeho'ash the son of Jeho'ahaz began to reign over Israel in Sama'ria, and he reigned sixteen years. 13 ¹¹ He also did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from all the sins of Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin, but he walked in them. 13 ¹² Now the rest of the acts of Jo'ash, and all that he did, and the might with which he fought against Amazi'ah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 13 ¹³ So Jo'ash slept with his fathers, and Jerobo'am sat upon his throne; and Jo'ash was buried in Sama'ria with the kings of Israel. - Death of the prophet Elisha.  2Kgs.13.14-21

13 ¹⁴ Now when Eli'sha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Jo'ash king of Israel went down to him, and wept before him, crying, "My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" 13 ¹⁵ And Eli'sha said to him, "Take a bow and arrows"; so he took a bow and arrows. 13 ¹⁶ Then he said to the king of Israel, "Draw the bow"; and he drew it. And Eli'sha laid his hands upon the king's hands. 13 ¹⁷ And he said, "Open the window eastward"; and he opened it. Then Eli'sha said, "Shoot"; and he shot. And he said, "The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them." 13 ¹⁸ And he said, "Take the arrows"; and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground with them"; and he struck three times, and stopped. 13 ¹⁹ Then the man of God was angry with him, and said, "You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times."

13 ²⁰ So Eli'sha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. 13 ²¹ And as a man was being buried, lo, a marauding band was seen and the man was cast into the grave of Eli'sha; and as soon as the man touched the bones of Eli'sha, he revived, and stood on his feet. - Israel's gains in the war with Syria.  2Kgs.13.22-25

13 ²² Now Haz'ael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jeho'ahaz. 13 ²³ But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion on them, and he turned toward them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them; nor has he cast them from his presence until now.

13 ²⁴ When Haz'ael king of Syria died, Ben-ha'dad his son became king in his stead. 13 ²⁵ Then Jeho'ash the son of Jeho'ahaz took again from Ben-ha'dad the son of Haz'ael the cities which he had taken from Jeho'ahaz his father in war. Three times Jo'ash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel. - AMAZIAH king of Judah. (795 BCE)  2Kgs.14.1-16- 2Chr.25.1-24 | RSV Contents | notes

14 ¹ In the second year of Jo'ash the son of Jo'ahaz, king of Israel, Amazi'ah the son of Jo'ash, king of Judah, began to reign. 14 ² He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jeho-ad'din of Jerusalem. 14 ³ And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not like David his father; he did in all things as Jo'ash his father had done. 14 ⁴ But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. 14 ⁵ And as soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand he killed his servants who had slain the king his father. 14 ⁶ But he did not put to death the children of the murderers; according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses, where the LORD commanded, "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, or the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin."

14 ⁷ He killed ten thousand E'domites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by storm, and called it Jok'the-el, which is its name to this day.

14 ⁸ Then Amazi'ah sent messengers to Jeho'ash the son of Jeho'ahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, "Come, let us look one another in the face." 14 ⁹ And Jeho'ash king of Israel sent word to Amazi'ah king of Judah, "A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son for a wife'; and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. 14 ¹⁰ You have indeed smitten Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home; for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?"

14 ¹¹ But Amazi'ah would not listen. So Jeho'ash king of Israel went up, and he and Amazi'ah king of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth-she'mesh, which belongs to Judah. 14 ¹² And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home. 14 ¹³ And Jeho'ash king of Israel captured Amazi'ah king of Judah, the son of Jeho'ash, son of Ahazi'ah, at Beth-she'mesh, and came to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits, from the E'phraim Gate to the Corner Gate. 14 ¹⁴ And he seized all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house, also hostages, and he returned to Sama'ria.

14 ¹⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Jeho'ash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amazi'ah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 14 ¹⁶ And Jeho'ash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Sama'ria with the kings of Israel; and Jerobo'am his son reigned in his stead. - Death of Amaziah.  2Kgs.14.17-22- 2Chr.25.25-28 | RSV Contents | notes

14 ¹⁷ Amazi'ah the son of Jo'ash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jeho'ash son of Jeho'ahaz, king of Israel. 14 ¹⁸ Now the rest of the deeds of Amazi'ah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 14 ¹⁹ And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there. 14 ²⁰ And they brought him upon horses; and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. 14 ²¹ And all the people of Judah took Azari'ah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amazi'ah. 14 ²² He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers. - JEROBOAM (2) king of Israel. (788 BCE)  2Kgs.14.23-29

14 ²³ In the fifteenth year of Amazi'ah the son of Jo'ash, king of Judah, Jerobo'am the son of Jo'ash, king of Israel, began to reign in Sama'ria, and he reigned forty-one years. 14 ²⁴ And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from all the sins of Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. 14 ²⁵ He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amit'tai, the prophet, who was from Gath-he'pher. 14 ²⁶ For the LORD saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. 14 ²⁷ But the LORD had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jerobo'am the son of Jo'ash.

14 ²⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jerobo'am, and all that he did, and his might, 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 Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 14 ²⁹ And Jerobo'am slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and Zechari'ah his son reigned in his stead. - UZZIAH/AZARIAH king of Judah. (786 BCE)  2Kgs.15.1-7

15 ¹ In the twenty-seventh year of Jerobo'am king of Israel Azari'ah the son of Amazi'ah, king of Judah, began to reign. 15 ² He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoli'ah of Jerusalem. 15 ³ And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Amazi'ah had done. 15 ⁴ Nevertheless the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. 15 ⁵ And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and he dwelt in a separate house. And Jotham the king's son was over the household, governing the people of the land. 15 ⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Azari'ah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 15 ⁷ And Azari'ah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Jotham his son reigned in his stead. - ZECHARIAH king of Israel. (747 BCE)  2Kgs.15.8-12

15 ⁸ In the thirty-eighth year of Azari'ah king of Judah Zechari'ah the son of Jerobo'am reigned over Israel in Sama'ria six months. 15 ⁹ And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. 15 ¹⁰ Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and struck him down at Ibleam, and killed him, and reigned in his stead. 15 ¹¹ Now the rest of the deeds of Zechari'ah, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 15 ¹² (This was the promise of the LORD which he gave to Jehu, "Your sons shall sit upon the throne of Israel to the fourth generation." And so it came to pass.) - SHALLUM king of Israel. (747 BCE)  2Kgs.15.13-16

15 ¹³ Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uzzi'ah king of Judah, and he reigned one month in Sama'ria. 15 ¹⁴ Then Men'ahem the son of Gadi came up from Tirzah and came to Sama'ria, and he struck down Shallum the son of Jabesh in Sama'ria and slew him, and reigned in his stead. 15 ¹⁵ Now the rest of the deeds of Shallum, and the conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 15 ¹⁶ At that time Men'ahem sacked Tappuah and all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on; because they did not open it to him, therefore he sacked it, and he ripped up all the women in it who were with child. - MENAHEM king of Israel. (747 BCE)  2Kgs.15.17-22

15 ¹⁷ In the thirty-ninth year of Azari'ah king of Judah Men'ahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel, and he reigned ten years in Sama'ria. 15 ¹⁸ And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart all his days from all the sins of Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. 15 ¹⁹ Pul the king of Assyria came against the land; and Men'ahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that he might help him to confirm his hold of the royal power. 15 ²⁰ Men'ahem exacted the money from Israel, that is, from all the wealthy men, fifty shekels of silver from every man, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and did not stay there in the land. 15 ²¹ Now the rest of the deeds of Men'ahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 15 ²² And Men'ahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahi'ah his son reigned in his stead. - PEKAHIAH king of Israel. (737 BCE)  2Kgs.15.23-26

15 ²³ In the fiftieth year of Azari'ah king of Judah Pekahi'ah the son of Men'ahem began to reign over Israel in Sama'ria, and he reigned two years. 15 ²⁴ And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not turn away from the sins of Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. 15 ²⁵ And Pekah the son of Remali'ah, his captain, conspired against him with fifty men of the Gileadites, and slew him in Sama'ria, in the citadel of the king's house; he slew him, and reigned in his stead. 15 ²⁶ Now the rest of the deeds of Pekahi'ah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. - PEKAH king of Israel. (735 BCE)  2Kgs.15.27-31

15 ²⁷ In the fifty-second year of Azari'ah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remali'ah began to reign over Israel in Sama'ria, and reigned twenty years. 15 ²⁸ And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from the sins of Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.

15 ²⁹ In the days of Pekah king of Israel Tig'lath-pile'ser king of Assyria came and captured I'jon, A'bel-beth-ma'acah, Jan-o'ah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naph'tali; and he carried the people captive to Assyria. 15 ³⁰ Then Hoshe'a the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remali'ah, and struck him down, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzzi'ah. 15 ³¹ Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. - JOTHAM king of Judah. (744 BCE)  2Kgs.15.32-38- 2Chr.27.1-9 | RSV Contents | notes

15 ³² In the second year of Pekah the son of Remali'ah, king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzzi'ah, king of Judah, began to reign. 15 ³³ He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jeru'sha the daughter of Zadok. 15 ³⁴ And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzzi'ah had done. 15 ³⁵ Nevertheless the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the LORD. 15 ³⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 15 ³⁷ In those days the LORD began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remali'ah against Judah. 15 ³⁸ Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead. - AHAZ king of Judah. (741 BCE)  2Kgs.16.1-20- 2Chr.28.1-27 | RSV Contents | notes

16 ¹ In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remali'ah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. 16 ² Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David had done, 16 ³ but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. 16 ⁴ And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

16 ⁵ Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remali'ah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. 16 ⁶ At that time the king of Edom recovered Elath for Edom, and drove the men of Judah from Elath; and the E'domites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day. 16 ⁷ So Ahaz sent messengers to Tig'lath-pile'ser king of Assyria, saying, "I am your servant and your son. Come up, and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me." 16 ⁸ Ahaz also 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. 16 ⁹ And the king of Assyria hearkened to him; the king of Assyria marched up against Damascus, and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin.

16 ¹⁰ When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tig'lath-pile'ser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uri'ah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. 16 ¹¹ And Uri'ah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uri'ah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. 16 ¹² And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar, and went up on it, 16 ¹³ and burned his burnt offering and his cereal offering, and poured his drink offering, and threw the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar. 16 ¹⁴ And the bronze altar which was before the LORD he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of his altar. 16 ¹⁵ And King Ahaz commanded Uri'ah the priest, saying, "Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening cereal offering, and the king's burnt offering, and his cereal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their cereal offering, and their drink offering; and throw upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by." 16 ¹⁶ Uri'ah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.

16 ¹⁷ And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands, and removed the laver from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pediment of stone. 16 ¹⁸ And the covered way for the sabbath which had been built inside the palace, and the outer entrance for the king he removed from the house of the LORD, because of the king of Assyria. 16 ¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 16 ²⁰ And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Hezeki'ah his son reigned in his stead. - HOSHEA king of Israel. (733 BCE)  2Kgs.17.1-4

17 ¹ In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah Hoshe'a the son of Elah began to reign in Sama'ria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. 17 ² And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. 17 ³ Against him came up Shalmane'ser king of Assyria; and Hoshe'a became his vassal, and paid him tribute. 17 ⁴ But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshe'a; for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. - SHALMANEZER - Assyria. The Fall of Samaria. Deportation. (732 BCE)  2Kgs.17.5-23

17 ⁵ Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Sama'ria, and for three years he besieged it. 17 ⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshe'a the king of Assyria captured Sama'ria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

17 ⁷ And this was so, because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods 17 ⁸ and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs which the kings of Israel had introduced. 17 ⁹ And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places at all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city; 17 ¹⁰ they set up for themselves pillars and Ashe'rim on every high hill and under every green tree; 17 ¹¹ and there they burned incense on all the high places, as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger, 17 ¹² and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this." 17 ¹³ Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets." 17 ¹⁴ But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. 17 ¹⁵ They despised his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and the warnings which he gave them. They went after false idols, and became false, and they followed the nations that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them. 17 ¹⁶ And they forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves molten images of two calves; and they made an Ashe'rah, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Ba'al. 17 ¹⁷ And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings, and used divination and sorcery, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. 17 ¹⁸ Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of Judah only.

17 ¹⁹ Judah also did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs which Israel had introduced. 17 ²⁰ And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel, and afflicted them, and gave them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

17 ²¹ When he had torn Israel from the house of David they made Jerobo'am the son of Nebat king. And Jerobo'am drove Israel from following the LORD and made them commit great sin. 17 ²² The people of Israel walked in all the sins which Jerobo'am did; they did not depart from them, 17 ²³ until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day. - Israel a province of the Assyrian Empire.  2Kgs.17.24-41

17 ²⁴ And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sephar-va'im, and placed them in the cities of Sama'ria instead of the people of Israel; and they took possession of Sama'ria, and dwelt in its cities. 17 ²⁵ And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD; therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 17 ²⁶ So the king of Assyria was told, "The nations which you have carried away and placed in the cities of Sama'ria do not know the law of the god of the land; therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land." 17 ²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded, "Send there one of the priests whom you carried away thence; and let him go and dwell there, and teach them the law of the god of the land." 17 ²⁸ So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Sama'ria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

17 ²⁹ But every nation still made gods of its own, and put them in the shrines of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they dwelt; 17 ³⁰ the men of Babylon made Suc'coth-be'noth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashi'ma, 17 ³¹ and the Av'vites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sephar'vites burned their children in the fire to Adram'melech and Anam'melech, the gods of Sephar-va'im. 17 ³² They also feared the LORD, and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. 17 ³³ So they feared the LORD but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. 17 ³⁴ To this day they do according to the former manner.

They do not fear the LORD, and they do not follow the statutes or the ordinances or the law or the commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel. 17 ³⁵ The LORD made a covenant with them, and commanded them, "You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them; 17 ³⁶ but you shall fear the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm; you shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. 17 ³⁷ And the statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment which he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods, 17 ³⁸ and you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods, 17 ³⁹ but you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies." 17 ⁴⁰ However they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner.

17 ⁴¹ So these nations feared the LORD, and also served their graven images; their children likewise, and their children's children - as their fathers did, so they do to this day. - HEZEKIAH king of Judah. (725 BCE)  2Kgs.18.1-12- 2Chr.29.1-2, 2Chr.29.31.1 | RSV Contents | notes

18 ¹ In the third year of Hoshe'a son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezeki'ah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 18 ² He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechari'ah. 18 ³ And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. 18 ⁴ He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Ashe'rah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had burned incense to it; it was called Nehush'tan. 18 ⁵ He trusted in the LORD the God of Israel; so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. 18 ⁶ For he held fast to the LORD; he did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments which the LORD commanded Moses. 18 ⁷ And the LORD was with him; wherever he went forth, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria, and would not serve him. 18 ⁸ He smote the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

18 ⁹ In the fourth year of King Hezeki'ah, which was the seventh year of Hoshe'a son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmane'ser king of Assyria came up against Sama'ria and besieged it 18 ¹⁰ and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezeki'ah, which was the ninth year of Hoshe'a king of Israel, Sama'ria was taken. 18 ¹¹ The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 18 ¹² because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded; they neither listened nor obeyed. - The Assyrians threaten Jerusalem.  2Kgs.18.13-36- 2Chr.32.1-19, Is.36.1-22 | RSV Contents | notes

18 ¹³ In the fourteenth year of King Hezeki'ah Sennach'erib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 18 ¹⁴ And Hezeki'ah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong; withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will bear." And the king of Assyria required of Hezeki'ah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 18 ¹⁵ And Hezeki'ah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasuries of the king's house. 18 ¹⁶ At that time Hezeki'ah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the doorposts which Hezeki'ah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. 18 ¹⁷ And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab'saris, and the Rab'shakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezeki'ah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Fuller's Field. 18 ¹⁸ And when they called for the king, there came out to them Eli'akim the son of Hilki'ah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the secretary, and Jo'ah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

18 ¹⁹ And the Rab'shakeh said to them, "Say to Hezeki'ah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this confidence of yours? 18 ²⁰ Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled against me? 18 ²¹ Behold, you are relying now on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 18 ²² But if you say to me, "We rely on the LORD our God," is it not he whose high places and altars Hezeki'ah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem"? 18 ²³ Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders upon them. 18 ²⁴ How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 18 ²⁵ Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.'"

18 ²⁶ Then Eli'akim the son of Hilki'ah, and Shebnah, and Jo'ah, said to the Rab'shakeh, "Pray, speak to your servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it; do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall." 18 ²⁷ But the Rab'shakeh 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 doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?"

18 ²⁸ Then the Rab'shakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 18 ²⁹ Thus says the king: 'Do not let Hezeki'ah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand. 18 ³⁰ Do not let Hezeki'ah make you to rely on the LORD by saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.' 18 ³¹ Do not listen to Hezeki'ah; for thus says the king of Assyria: 'Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat of his own vine, and every one of his own fig tree, and every one of you will drink the water of his own cistern; 18 ³² until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezeki'ah when he misleads you by saying, The LORD will deliver us. 18 ³³ Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 18 ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharva'im, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Sama'ria out of my hand? 18 ³⁵ Who among all the gods of the countries have delivered their countries out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'"

18 ³⁶ But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, "Do not answer him." 18 ³⁷ Then Eli'akim the son of Hilki'ah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Jo'ah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezeki'ah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of the Rab'shakeh. - Hezekiah seeks advice from the prophet Isaiah.  2Kgs.19.1-7- Is.37.1-7 | RSV Contents | notes

19 ¹ When King Hezeki'ah heard it, he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD. 19 ² And he sent Eli'akim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 19 ³ They said to him, "Thus says Hezeki'ah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 19 ⁴ It may be that the LORD your God heard all the words of the Rab'shakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left." 19 ⁵ When the servants of King Hezeki'ah came to Isaiah, 19 ⁶ Isaiah said to them, "Say to your master, 'Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 19 ⁷ Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.'" - The Assyrians send a further threat.  2Kgs.19.8-19- Is.37.8-20 | RSV Contents | notes

19 ⁸ The Rab'shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he heard that the king had left Lachish. 19 ⁹ And when the king heard concerning Tirha'kah king of Ethiopia, "Behold, he has set out to fight against you," he sent messengers again to Hezeki'ah, saying, 19 ¹⁰ "Thus shall you speak to Hezeki'ah king of Judah: 'Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 19 ¹¹ Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. And shall you be delivered? 19 ¹² Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations which my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? 19 ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharva'im, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?'"

19 ¹⁴ Hezeki'ah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezeki'ah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 19 ¹⁵ And Hezeki'ah prayed before the LORD, and said: "O LORD the God of Israel, who art enthroned above the cherubim, thou art the God, thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. 19 ¹⁶ Incline thy ear, O LORD, and hear; open thy eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennach'erib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 19 ¹⁷ Of a truth, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 19 ¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore they were destroyed. 19 ¹⁹ So now, O LORD our God, save us, I beseech thee, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou, O LORD, art God alone." - Isaiah's message to king Hezekiah.  2Kgs.19.20-37

19 ²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezeki'ah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennach'erib king of Assyria I have heard. 19 ²¹ This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him:

19 ²⁹ "And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same; then in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 19 ³⁰ And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward; 19 ³¹ for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD will do this.

19 ³² "Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 19 ³³ By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, says the LORD. 19 ³⁴ For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David."

19 ³⁵ And that night the angel of the LORD went forth, and slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 19 ³⁶ Then Sennach'erib king of Assyria departed, and went home, and dwelt at Nin'eveh. 19 ³⁷ And as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adram'melech and Share'zer, his sons, slew him with the sword, and escaped into the land of Ar'arat. And Esarhad'don his son reigned in his stead. - Hezekiah's illness & recovery.  2Kgs.20.1-19- 2Chr.32.24-26, Is.38.1-8, Is.38.21-22 | RSV Contents | notes

20 ¹ In those days Hezeki'ah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Set your house in order; for you shall die, you shall not recover.'" 20 ² Then Hezeki'ah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying, 20 ³ "Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in thy sight." And Hezeki'ah wept bitterly. 20 ⁴ And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: 20 ⁵ "Turn back, and say to Hezeki'ah the prince of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD. 20 ⁶ And I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake." 20 ⁷ And Isaiah said, "Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover."

20 ⁸ And Hezeki'ah said to Isaiah, "What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?" 20 ⁹ And Isaiah said, "This is the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?" 20 ¹⁰ And Hezeki'ah answered, "It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps; rather let the shadow go back ten steps." 20 ¹¹ And Isaiah the prophet cried to the LORD; and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which the sun had declined on the dial of Ahaz.

20 ¹² At that time Mero'dach-bal'adan the son of Bal'adan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezeki'ah; for he heard that Hezeki'ah had been sick. 20 ¹³ And Hezeki'ah welcomed them, and he showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses; there was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezeki'ah did not show them. 20 ¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezeki'ah, and said to him, "What did these men say? And whence did they come to you?" And Hezeki'ah said, "They have come from a far country, from Babylon." 20 ¹⁵ He said, "What have they seen in your house?" And Hezeki'ah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them."

20 ¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezeki'ah, "Hear the word of the LORD: 20 ¹⁷ Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the LORD. 20 ¹⁸ And some of your own sons, who are born to you, shall be taken away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." 20 ¹⁹ Then said Hezeki'ah to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good." For he thought, "Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?" - Hezekiah - conclusion of his reign.  2Kgs.20.20-21- 2Chr.32.32-33 | RSV Contents | notes

20 ²⁰ The rest of the deeds of Hezeki'ah, and all his might, and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 20 ²¹ And Hezaki'ah slept with his fathers; and Manas'she his son reigned in his stead. - MANASSEH king of Judah. (696 BCE)  2Kgs.21.1-18- 2Chr.33.1-20 | RSV Contents | notes

21 ¹ Manas'seh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Heph'zibah. 21 ² And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. 21 ³ For he rebuilt the high places which Hezeki'ah his father had destroyed; and he erected altars for Ba'al, and made an Ashe'rah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 21 ⁴ And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem will I put my name." 21 ⁵ And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. 21 ⁶ And he burned his son as an offering, and practiced soothsaying and augury, and dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. 21 ⁷ And the graven image of Ashe'rah that he had made he set 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 the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for ever; 21 ⁸ and I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which 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." 21 ⁹ But they did not listen, and Manas'seh seduced them to do more evil than the nations had done whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel.

21 ¹⁰ And the LORD said by his servants the prophets, 21 ¹¹ "Because Manas'seh king of Judah has committed these abominations, and has done things more wicked than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols; 21 ¹² therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such evil that the ears of every one who hears of it will tingle. 21 ¹³ And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Sama'ria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 21 ¹⁴ And I will cast off the remnant of my heritage, and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, 21 ¹⁵ because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day."

21 ¹⁶ Moreover Manas'seh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin which he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.

21 ¹⁷ Now the rest of the acts of Manas'seh, and all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 21 ¹⁸ And Manas'seh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon his son reigned in his stead. - AMON king of Judah. (641 BCE)  2Kgs.21.19-26- 2Chr.33.21-25 | RSV Contents | notes

21 ¹⁹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshul'lemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 21 ²⁰ And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as Manas'seh his father had done. 21 ²¹ He walked in all the way in which his father walked, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them; 21 ²² he forsook the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD. 21 ²³ And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and killed the king in his house. 21 ²⁴ But the people of the land slew all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josi'ah his son king in his stead. 21 ²⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 21 ²⁶ And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza; and Josi'ah his son reigned in his stead. - JOSIAH king of Judah. (639 BCE)  2Kgs.22.1-2- 2Chr.34.1-2 | RSV Contents | notes

22 ¹ Josi'ah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedi'dah the daughter of Adai'ah of Bozkath. 22 ² And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. - Discovery of the book of the Law.  2Kgs.22.3-20- 2Chr.34.8-28 | RSV Contents | notes

22 ³ In the eighteenth year of King Josi'ah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azali'ah, son of Meshul'lam, the secretary, to the house of the LORD, saying, 22 ⁴ "Go up to Hilki'ah the high priest, that he may reckon the amount of the money which has been brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people; 22 ⁵ and let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD; and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of the LORD, repairing the house, 22 ⁶ that is, to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, as well as for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the house. 22 ⁷ But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money which is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly."

22 ⁸ And Hilki'ah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD." And Hilki'ah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 22 ⁹ And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, "Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD." 22 ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, "Hilki'ah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read it before the king.

22 ¹¹ And when the king heard the words of the book of the law, he rent his clothes. 22 ¹² And the king commanded Hilki'ah the priest, and Ahi'kam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micai'ah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asai'ah the king's servant, saying, 22 ¹³ "Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and 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, to do according to all that is written concerning us."

22 ¹⁴ So Hilki'ah the priest, and Ahi'kam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asai'ah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter); and they talked with her. 22 ¹⁵ And she said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Tell the man who sent you to me, 22 ¹⁶ Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read. 22 ¹⁷ Because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. 22 ¹⁸ But as to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Regarding the words which you have heard, 22 ¹⁹ because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the LORD, when you heard how I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have rent your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the LORD. 22 ²⁰ Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place.'" And they brought back word to the king. - Josiah's reforms.  2Kgs.23.1-20- 2Chr.34.3-7, 2Chr.34.29-33 | RSV Contents | notes

23 ¹ Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. 23 ² And the king went up to the house of the LORD, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of the LORD. 23 ³ And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments and 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; and all the people joined in the covenant.

23 ⁴ And the king commanded Hilki'ah, the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels made for Ba'al, for Ashe'rah, and for all the host of heaven; he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 23 ⁵ And he deposed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places at the cities of Judah and round about Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Ba'al, to the sun, and the moon, and the constellations, and all the host of the heavens. 23 ⁶ And he brought out the Ashe'rah from the house of the LORD, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. 23 ⁷ And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes which were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the Ashe'rah. 23 ⁸ And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one's left at the gate of the city. 23 ⁹ However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren. 23 ¹⁰ And he defiled To'pheth, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech. 23 ¹¹ And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 23 ¹² And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manas'seh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, he pulled down and broke in pieces, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. 23 ¹³ And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ash'toreth the abomination of the Sido'nians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 23 ¹⁴ And he broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Ashe'rim, and filled their places with the bones of men.

23 ¹⁵ Moreover the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and he broke in pieces its stones, crushing them to dust; also he burned the Ashe'rah. 23 ¹⁶ And as Josi'ah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount; and he sent and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them upon the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. 23 ¹⁷ Then he said, "What is yonder monument that I see?" And the men of the city told him, "It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things which you have done against the altar at Bethel." 23 ¹⁸ And he said, "Let him be; let no man move his bones." So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Sama'ria. 23 ¹⁹ And all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Sama'ria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the LORD to anger, Josi'ah removed; he did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. 23 ²⁰ And he slew all the priests of the high places who were there, upon the altars, and burned the bones of men upon them. Then he returned to Jerusalem. - Josiah celebrates the passover.  2Kgs.23.21-23- 2Chr.35.1-19 | RSV Contents | notes

23 ²¹ And the king commanded all the people, "Keep the passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant." 23 ²² For no such passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah; 23 ²³ but in the eighteenth year of King Josi'ah this passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem. - Josiah's other reforms.  2Kgs.23.24-27

23 ²⁴ Moreover Josi'ah put away the mediums and the wizards and the teraphim and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilki'ah the priest found in the house of the LORD. 23 ²⁵ Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.

23 ²⁶ Still 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 Manas'seh had provoked him. 23 ²⁷ And the LORD said, "I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there." - The end of Josiah's reign.  2Kgs.23.28-30- 2Chr.35.20-36-1 | RSV Contents | notes

23 ²⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Josi'ah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 23 ²⁹ In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphra'tes. King Josi'ah went to meet him; and Pharaoh Neco slew him at Megid'do, when he saw him. 23 ³⁰ And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megid'do, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jeho'ahaz the son of Josi'ah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead. - JOAHAZ king of Judah.  2Kgs.23.31-34- 2Chr.36.2-4 | RSV Contents | notes

23 ³¹ Jeho'ahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamu'tal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 23 ³² And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. 23 ³³ And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid upon the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 23 ³⁴ And Pharaoh Neco made Eli'akim the son of Josi'ah king in the place of Josi'ah his father, and changed his name to Jehoi'akim. But he took Jeho'ahaz away; and he came to Egypt, and died there. - JEHOIAKIM king of Judah. (608 BCE)  2Kgs.23.34-24.7- 2Chr.36.5-8 | RSV Contents | notes

23 ³⁶ Jehoi'akim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebi'dah the daughter of Pedai'ah of Rumah. 23 ³⁷ And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

24 ¹ In his days Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoi'akim became his servant three years; then he turned and rebelled against him. 24 ² And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chalde'ans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD which he spoke by his servants the prophets. 24 ³ Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the LORD, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manas'seh, according to all that he had done, 24 ⁴ and also for the innocent blood that he had shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD would not pardon. 24 ⁵ Now the rest of the deeds of Jehoi'akim, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 24 ⁶ So Jehoi'akim slept with his fathers, and Jehoi'achin his son reigned in his stead. 24 ⁷ And the king of Egypt did not come again out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Brook of Egypt to the river Euphra'tes. - JEHOIACHIN king of Judah. (597 BCE)  2Kgs.24.8-17- 2Chr.36.9-10 | RSV Contents | notes

24 ⁸ Jehoi'achin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Nehush'ta the daughter of Elna'than of Jerusalem. 24 ⁹ And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.

24 ¹⁰ At that time the servants of Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. 24 ¹¹ And Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it; 24 ¹² and Jehoi'achin the king of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his palace officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign, 24 ¹³ and carried off all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the LORD, which Solomon king of Israel had made, as the LORD had foretold. 24 ¹⁴ He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, except the poorest people of the land. 24 ¹⁵ And he carried away Jehoi'achin to Babylon; the king's mother, the king's wives, his officials, and the chief men of the land, he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 24 ¹⁶ And the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, all of them strong and fit for war. 24 ¹⁷ And the king of Babylon made Mattani'ah, Jehoi'achin's uncle, king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedeki'ah. - JEDEKIAH king of Judah. (597 BCE)  2Kgs.24.18-20- 2Chr.36.11-12, Jr.52.1-3 | RSV Contents | notes

24 ¹⁸ Zedeki'ah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamu'tal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 24 ¹⁹ And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoi'akim had done. 24 ²⁰ For because of the anger of the LORD it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.

And Zedeki'ah rebelled against the king of Babylon. - The fall of Jerusalem. (586 BCE)  2Kgs.25.1-7- 2Chr.36.13-21, Jr.52.3-11 | RSV Contents | notes

25 ¹ And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it; and they built siegeworks against it round about. 25 ² So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedeki'ah. 25 ³ On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 25 ⁴ Then a breach was made in the city; the king with all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the king's garden, though the Chalde'ans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. 25 ⁵ But the army of the Chalde'ans pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 25 ⁶ Then they captured the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, who passed sentence upon him. 25 ⁷ They slew the sons of Zedeki'ah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedeki'ah, and bound him in fetters, and took him to Babylon. - Destruction of the first temple.  2Kgs.25.8-17- Jr.52.12-23 | RSV Contents | notes

25 ⁸ In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month - which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnez'zar, king of Babylon -Nebu'zarad'an, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 25 ⁹ And he burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. 25 ¹⁰ And all the army of the Chalde'ans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 25 ¹¹ And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebu'zarad'an the captain of the guard carried into exile. 25 ¹² But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

25 ¹³ And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the LORD, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the LORD, the Chalde'ans broke in pieces, and carried the bronze to Babylon. 25 ¹⁴ And they took away the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service, 25 ¹⁵ the firepans also, and the bowls. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver. 25 ¹⁶ As for the two pillars, the one sea, and the stands, which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight. 25 ¹⁷ The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and upon it was a capital of bronze; the height of the capital was three cubits; a network and pomegranates, all of bronze, were upon the capital round about. And the second pillar had the like, with the network. - Deportation of the people of Judah.  2Kgs.25.18-21- Jr.52.24-27 | RSV Contents | notes

25 ¹⁸ And the captain of the guard took Serai'ah the chief priest, and Zephani'ah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold; 25 ¹⁹ and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and five men of the king's council who were found in the city; and the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city. 25 ²⁰ And Nebu'zarad'an the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 25 ²¹ And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile out of its land. - GEDALIAH Governor of the Chaldean Province of Judah. (586 BCE)  2Kgs.25.22-26- Jr.40.7-9, Jr.41.1-3 | RSV Contents | notes

25 ²² And over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon had left, he appointed Gedali'ah the son of Ahi'kam, son of Shaphan, governor.

25 ²³ Now when all the captains of the forces in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedali'ah governor, they came with their men to Gedali'ah at Mizpah, namely, Ish'mael the son of Nethani'ah, and Joha'nan the son of Kare'ah, and Serai'ah the son of Tanhu'meth the Netoph'athite, and Ja-azani'ah the son of the Ma-ac'athite. 25 ²⁴ And Gedali'ah swore to them and their men, saying, "Do not be afraid because of the Chalde'an officials; dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you." 25 ²⁵ But in the seventh month, Ish'mael the son of Nethani'ah, son of Eli'shama, of the royal family, came with ten men, and attacked and killed Gedali'ah and the Jews and the Chalde'ans who were with him at Mizpah. 25 ²⁶ Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose, and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chalde'ans. - Jehoiachin released from prison.  2Kgs.25.27-30- Jr.52.31-34 | RSV Contents | notes

25 ²⁷ And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoi'achin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-mero'dach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoi'achin king of Judah from prison; 25 ²⁸ and he spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 25 ²⁹ So Jehoi'achin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table; 25 ³⁰ and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, every day a portion, as long as he lived.