2 Kings

Chapter 1

¹ Now Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. ² Then Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and he was injured. So he sent for messengers and he said to them, “Go, inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, if I will recover from this injury.” ³ But the messenger of Yahweh spoke to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it on account of there being no God in Israel you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? ⁴ Now therefore thus says Yahweh, “The bed on which you have gone up there, you will not come down from it, for surely you will die.’” Then Elijah left.

⁵ When the messengers returned to him, then he said to them, “What is this, you have come back?” ⁶ Then they said to him, “A man came up to meet us and he said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you, and you must speak to him, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Is it on account of there being no God in Israel you are sending to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore the bed that you have gone upon there, you will not go down from it, for you will surely die.’”’” ⁷ So he spoke to them, “What was the manner of the man who came up to meet you and he spoke to you these words?” ⁸ Then they replied to him, “A man, a possessor of hair, and a waist cloth of hide was belted around his sides.” So he said, “He is Elijah, the Tishbite.”

⁹ Then he sent to him a prince of 50 along with his 50, and he went up to him. Now here he was sitting on the top of the hill and he spoke to him, “O man of the true God, the king has spoken, ‘You must come down.’” ¹⁰ However Elijah answered and he spoke to the prince of the 50, “Now if I am a man of God, let fire come down from the heavens, that it may consume you and your 50.” Then fire came down from the heavens and it consumed him and his 50. ¹¹ So he repeated and he sent to him another prince of 50 and his 50, and he responded and he spoke to him, “Man of the true God, thus says the king, ‘Quickly! You must come down!’” ¹² But Elijah answered and he spoke to them, “If I am a man of the true God, let fire come down from the heavens, that it may consume you and your 50.” So the fire of God came down from the heavens and it consumed him and his 50. ¹³ Still he repeated and he sent a prince of 50 a third time and his 50. So he went up, and the third prince of 50 came and he bowed low on his knees in view of Elijah, and he made repeated supplication to him and he spoke to him, “Man of the true God, please may my life and the life of these 50 servants of yours be precious in your eyes. ¹⁴ Look, fire came down from the heavens and it consumed the first two princes of the 50 along with their fifties, but now may my life be precious in your eyes.” ¹⁵ Then the angel of Yahweh spoke to Elijah, “Go down with him. Do not be afraid of his presence.” So he rose up and he went down with him to the king. ¹⁶ Then he spoke to him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘By reason that you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, was it on account of there being no God in Israel to inquire about his word? Therefore, the bed that you have gone upon there, you will not come down from it, for you will surely die.’”

¹⁷ So he died according to the word of Yahweh that Elijah had spoken. Then Joram reigned in his place, in the second year of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, because there was no son for him. ¹⁸ As for the rest of the matters concerning Ahaziah that he had done, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Israel?

Chapter 2

¹ Now it happened when Yahweh was about to take up Elijah by the whirlwind to the heavens, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. ² Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, please, because Yahweh has sent me even further to Bethel.” However Elisha replied, “As Yahweh is alive, and as you yourself are alive, surely I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. ³ Then the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and they said to him, “Do you know that Yahweh is taking away your master away from over your head today?” So he replied, “Indeed, I myself know. You all keep quiet.” ⁴ Next Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, please, because Yahweh has sent me to Jericho.” But he replied, “As Yahweh is alive, and as you yourself are alive, surely I will not leave you.” So they came in to Jericho. ⁵ Then the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho came to Elisha and they said to him, “Do you know that Yahweh is taking away your master from over your head today?” So he replied, “Indeed I myself know. You all keep quiet!” ⁶ Next Elijah said to him, “Stay here, please, because Yahweh has sent me to the Jordan.” However he replied, “As Yahweh is alive, and as you yourself are alive, surely I will not leave you.” So the two of them went. ⁷ Now, 50 men of the sons of the prophets went and they stood at a standpoint opposite from a distance while the two of them stood along the Jordan. ⁸ Then Elijah took his mantle, and he folded, and he struck the waters and they were divided here and there. So the two of them crossed over on the dry ground. ⁹ Now it happened at their crossing over, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I should do for you before I will be taken away from with you.” So Elisha replied, “Indeed, please may a double portion of your spirit be with me.” ¹⁰ So he replied, “You have shown tenacity by asking. If you see me being taken away from beside you, so it will happen for you, but if not, it will not happen.” ¹¹ Now it happened they were walking, going along and speaking, when look, a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and they caused a separation between the two of them. Then Elijah went up in a whirlwind into the heavens. ¹² Then Elisha was looking and he was crying out, “My father, my father, the chariotry of Israel and its horsemen!”

But he did not see him any longer, so he took hold of his garments and he tore them into two pieces. ¹³ Then he picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from upon him, and he turned back and he stood along the edge of the Jordan. ¹⁴ Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from upon him and he struck the waters and he said, “Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah, indeed, he?” When he struck the waters, then they were divided in half, here and there, so Elisha crossed over.

¹⁵ When the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho saw him from afar, then they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha!” So they came to meet him, and they bowed themselves to the ground to him. ¹⁶ Then they said to him, “Look, please, there are 50 men, sons of strength, with your servants. Please, let them go, so they may search for your master, in case the Spirit of Yahweh has carried him and he has thrown him on one of the mountains or in one of the valleys.” However he replied, “Do not send forth.” ¹⁷ But they pressed upon him until shaming, so he said, “Send forth!” Then they sent 50 men, and they searched three days, but they did not find him. ¹⁸ Then they returned to him while he was staying in Jericho, and he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘you should not go’?”

¹⁹ Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Please, look the site of the city is good, just as my master is seeing, but the waters are worthless and the land is unfruitful.” ²⁰ So he replied, “Take for me a new small jug and put some salt in there,” so they took it to him. ²¹ Then he went out to the source of the waters and he threw some salt in there. Then he said, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘I have brought healing to these waters. There will not be death or being unfruitful from there any longer.’” ²² So the waters are healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.

²³ Then he went up from there to Bethel, and he was going up along the road, when some young boys came out from the city. Now they were making fun of him among themselves. Then they said to him, “Go up, bald one! Go up, bald one!” ²⁴ So he turned behind him and he saw them, and he cursed them in the name of Yahweh. Then two female bears came out from the forrest and they tore up 42 of the boys among them. ²⁵ Then he went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

Chapter 3

¹ Now Joram, the son of Ahab, became king over Israel in Samaria in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, and he reigned 12 years. ² He also did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh,only not as his father or as his mother, for he removed the standing stone of the Baal that his father had made. ³ However he held fast to the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin; he did not turn away from it.

⁴ Now Mesha, the king of Moab, was a breeder of sheep, and he would bring back to the king of Israel 100,000 young rams and 100,000 rams with much wool. ⁵ Now it happened after the death of Ahab, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. ⁶ So the King, Joram, came out of Samaria on that day and he mobilized all Israel. ⁷ Then he went and he sent to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to Moab to the battle?” and he replied, “I will go up. Truly I will as you will, as my people will so your people will, as my horses will, so will your horses.” ⁸ Then he said, “Where is this, the way we should go up?” and he replied, “The way of the wilderness of Edom.” ⁹ So the king of Israel went along with the king of Judah and the king of Edom, and they wandered about on a journey for seven days, but there was no water for the army or for the cattle that were at their feet. ¹⁰ Then the king of Israel said, “Alas, for Yahweh has called for these three kings in order to give them into the hand of Moab!” ¹¹ But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here a prophet of Yahweh, that we might seek Yahweh by him?” Then one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and he said, “Elisha, the son of Shaphat is here, who has poured waters on the hands of Elijah.” ¹² So Jehoshaphat replied, “The word of Yahweh is present with him.” So the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom went down to him.

¹³ Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do I have that is for you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” However the king of Israel said to him, “No, for Yahweh has called for these three kings in order to give them into the hand of Moab.” ¹⁴ But Elisha said, “As Yahweh of hosts is alive, whom I stand in his presence, surely except that I am respecting the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not pay attention to you, or I would even look at you. ¹⁵ But now bring someone who plays a stringed instrument to me.” Now it was when the one playing a stringed instrument played, the hand of Yahweh came upon him. ¹⁶ Then he said, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘This dry river valley will function as cisterns, cisterns.’ ¹⁷ For thus says Yahweh, ‘You will not see wind, and you will not see rain, but this dry river valley will be filled with waters, so that you may drink, you and your flocks, and your herds.’ ¹⁸ Indeed, this is an easy thing in the eyes of Yahweh, so he will give Moab into your hand. ¹⁹ Therefore you will attack every fortified city and every choice city. Also every good tree you will make fall, and all springs of waters you will stop up, and all of the good portion of land you will mar with stones.” ²⁰ Now it happened in the morning at the offering up of the sacrifice, that, look, waters were coming from the way of Edom and the land was filled with the waters.

²¹ Then all Moab heard that the kings had gone up to fight against them. So they were mobilized out of all girding on a warrior belt and upwards, and they stood along the border. ²² Now they rose up early in the morning and the sun shone on the waters. When Moab looked from the other side the waters were red like the blood. ²³ So they said, “This is blood! The kings have surely been destroyed, and each man has struck down his comrade. So now, Moab, to the spoil!” ²⁴ When they came to the camp of Israel, then Israel rose up and they struck Moab. Then they fled away from their presence but they came into it, in order to strike Moab. ²⁵ Then they would tear down the cities, and every good portion each man would throw down his stone so they would fill it. Also they would stop up every spring of waters and they would make every good tree fall. As far as at the Kir Hareseth each allowed its stones to remain, but the slingers surrounded and they struck it. ²⁶ When the king of Moab saw that the battle had grown stronger than him, then he took with him 700 men wielding a sword in order to break through to the king of Edom, but they were not able. ²⁷ Then he took his son, the first-born who would have reigned in his place, and he offered him as a burnt offering upon the wall. As a result there was great wrath against Israel, so they journeyed away from him and they returned to the land.

Chapter 4

¹ Now a woman, one of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant, my husband, has died, and you yourself know that your servant was a fearer of Yahweh. Now the money lender has come to take two of my children for himself as slaves.” ² So Elisha said to her, “What should I do for you? Tell to me, what is there for you in the house?” Then she replied, “There is nothing for your maidservant at all in the house, except for a flask of oil.” ³ Then he said, “Go, ask for vessels for yourself from the outside, from all of your neighbors, empty vessels. You should not collect a few. ⁴ Then you should go in and you should shut the door behind you and behind your sons, and you should pour into all those vessels. Then the full ones you should set aside.” ⁵ So she went away from being with him and she shut the door behind her and behind her sons. They were bringing to her, and she continued pouring. ⁶ Now it happened after the filling of the vessels that she said to her son, “Bring to me another vessel.” But he replied to her, “There is not another vessel.” Then the oil stopped. ⁷ Then she came and she reported to the man of God. So he replied, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt, so you along with your sons, you can live on the rest.”

⁸ Now the day came when Elisha passed over to Shunem and there was a prominent woman. Then she prevailed upon him to eat bread. So it would happen whenever he passed by, he would turn in to there in order to eat bread. ⁹ Then she said to her husband, “Look, please, I know that he is a holy man of God always passing by us. ¹⁰ Please, let us make a little upper chamber in a wall and we will set up for him there a bed, and a table, and a chair, and a lampstand, so it wll be upon his coming to us he may turn in to there.” ¹¹ Now the day happened when he came to there, and he turned in to the upper chamber and he took rest in there. ¹² Then he said to Gehazi his young man, “Call for this Shunammite woman.” So he called for her, and she stood in his presence. ¹³ Then he said to him, “Please, say to her, ‘Look, you have worked tirelessly on our behalf by all this trouble. What is there to do for you, to speak on your behalf to the king or to the prince of the army?’” But she replied, “I am staying in the midst of my people.” ¹⁴ So he said, “Then, what to do for her?” So Gehazi replied, “Actually, there is not a son for her, and her husband is old.” ¹⁵ Then he said, “Call for her,” and he called for her. Then she stood at the entrance. ¹⁶ Then he said, “At this appointed time, at the very time, revived, you will be embracing a son.” However she replied, “No, my master, the man of God, do not lie to your bondservant.”

¹⁷ So the woman became pregnant and she brought forth a son at this appointed time, at that very time, revived, that Elisha had spoken to her. ¹⁸ When the boy had grown, then the day happened that he went out to his father, to the harvesters. ¹⁹ Then he said to his father, “My head, my head.” So he said to the young man, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰ So he carried him and he brought him to his mother. Then he sat on her knees until high noon when he died. ²¹ So she got up and she laid him on the bed of the man of God. Then she shut him in, and she went out. ²² Then she called to her husband, and she said, “Please send to me one of the young men and one of the donkeys so that I may rush to the man of God and I may return.” ²³ Then he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is not a new moon nor a Sabbath.” However she replied, “Peace.” ²⁴ Then she saddled the donkey and she said to her young man, “Lead on and go! Do not hold back on account of me to ride except if I order to you.” ²⁵ So she went and she came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

Now it happened upon the man of God seeing her from afar that he said to Gehazi his young man, “Here is this Shunammite woman. ²⁶ Now please run to meet her and say to her, ‘Is there tranquility for you? Is there tranquility for your husband? Is there tranquility for the boy?’” Then she replied, “Peace.” ²⁷ When she came to the man of God, to the mountain, then she held on to his feet. Then Gehazi approached in order to push her away but the man of God said, “Let loose of her, for her temperament is bitter for her, however Yahweh has concealed from me, and he has revealed nothing to me.” ²⁸ Then she said, “Did I ask for a son by the help of my master? Did I not say, ‘Do not give me a false hope’?” ²⁹ So he said to Gehazi, “Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand, then go. Even if you should find anyone, you should not bless him, and if anyone should bless you, do not answer him. Then you should set my staff on the face of the young man.” ³⁰ Then the mother of the young man said, “As Yahweh is alive and as you yourself are alive, if ever I would leave you.” So he rose up and he went after her. ³¹ Now Gehazi passed by ahead of them and he set the staff on the face of the young man, but there was not a sound nor was there attentiveness. So he returned to meet him and he told to him saying, “The young man has not awakened.”

³² When Elisha came in to the house, then here, the young man was dead, laid on his bed. ³³ So he went in and he shut the door behind the two of them, and he prayed to Yahweh. ³⁴ Then he went up and he lay on the boy, and he put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his palms on his palms. Then he prostrated himself over him, and grew warm the flesh of the boy. ³⁵ Then he returned and he walked around the house once here and once there. Then he went up and he prostrated himself on him. Next the young man sneezed, even seven times, and the young man opened his eyes! ³⁶ So he called to Gehazi and he said, “Call to this Shunammite woman!” So he called her. When she came to him, then he said, “Take up your son.” ³⁷ When she came in, indeed she fell down at his feet and she bowed down to the ground. Then she took up her son and she went out.

³⁸ Then Elisha returned to the Gilgal area. Now a famine was in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting in his presence. Then he said to his young man, “Set the large pot on the fire and boil soup for the sons of the prophets.” ³⁹ Now one went out into the field in order to gather herbs, and he found a vine in a field. So he gathered from it a wild cucumber out of a field, the fullness of his garment. Then he came in and he sliced up into the pot of soup, for they did not know. ⁴⁰ So they poured out for the men to eat. Now it happened when they were eating of the stew, that they cried out and they said, “Death is in the pot, O Man of God!” So they were not able to eat. ⁴¹ So he said, “Now bring some flour,” and he threw into the pot. Then he said, “Pour out for the people, so that they will eat,” and there was not anything harmful in the pot.

⁴² Now a man came from Baal Shalishah and he brought to the man of God bread, firstfruits, 20 loaves of barley bread and produce in his sack. Then he said, “Give to the people so they will eat.” ⁴³ However the one serving him said, “How do I set this in the presence of 100 men?” But he replied, “Give to the people, so they will eat, for thus says Yahweh, ‘Eat and have some leftover.’” ⁴⁴ So he set in their presence and they ate and they had some leftover, according to the word of Yahweh.

Chapter 5

¹ Now Naaman, the prince of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man in the presence of his master, and he was lifted up in countenance, because through him Yahweh had given deliverance to Aram. Also the man was mighty in strength although he had been stricken with leprosy. ² Now Aram had gone out in raids and they had taken captive from the land of Israel a young little girl. Then she was in the presence of the wife of Naaman. ³ Then she said to her powerful woman, “O that my master was in the presence of the prophet who is in Samaria, since he would restore him of his leprosy.” ⁴ So he came in and he reported to his master, saying “the young girl who is from the land of Israel had spoken as such and as such.” ⁵ So the king of Aram said, “Go, go on, and let me send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he went and he took in his hand ten rounds of silver and 6,000 in gold, along with ten changes of garments. ⁶ So he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, “So now when this letter comes to you, look, I have sent to you Naaman, my servant, that you may restore him from his leprosy.” ⁷ Now it happened when the king of Israel was reading the letter, that he tore his garments and he said, “Am I God, by killing and by making alive, that this one is sending to me in order to restore a man from his leprosy? For surely please know and see that he is seeking to provoke a quarrel against me.”

⁸ So it happened upon Elisha, the man of God, hearing that the king of Israel had torn his garments, that he sent to the king saying, “Why have you torn your garments? Please, let him come to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” ⁹ So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots, and he stood at the entrance of the house of Elisha. ¹⁰ Then Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and you must wash in the Jordan seven times, that your flesh may return to you, then be clean. ¹¹ But Naaman became angry so he went away and he said, “Look, I said to myself surely he would come out and he would stand and he would call on the name of Yahweh his God, and he would wave his hand to the place so he would restore the leprosy. ¹² Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Can I not bathe in them in order that I would be clean?” So he turned and he went away in a rage. ¹³ Then his servants approached and they spoke to him and they said, “My father, had the prophet pronounced for you some great thing, would you not have acted? Now, how much rather that he said to you, ‘Wash and be clean?’” ¹⁴ So he went down and he dipped in the Jordan seven times, in accordance with the word of the man of God. Then his flesh turned back as flesh of a young little boy, and he was clean.

¹⁵ Then he returned to the man of God, he and all of his company, and he came and he stood in his presence. Now he said, “Look, please, I know that there is no God in all the earth except only in Israel. So now, please receive a blessing even along with your servant.” ¹⁶ But he replied, “As Yahweh is living, whom I stand in his presence, I would not take anything. Then he pressed upon him to receive but he refused. ¹⁷ So Naaman said, “Although not, please may a load of soil from a team of mules be given to your servant, for your servant will not make a burnt offering or a sacrifice to other gods any longer, but only to Yahweh. ¹⁸ In this matter Yahweh will grant forgiveness to your servant, when my master is coming into the house of Rimmon to order to worship in there, and he is leaning himself on my hand so that I might bow myself down in the house of Rimmon, when I am bowing myself down in the house of Rimmon, please may Yahweh grant forgiveness to your servant in this matter.” ¹⁹ Then he replied to him, “Go in peace.” So he went away from him some distance of land.

²⁰ Then Gehazi, the young man of Elisha, the man of God, said, “Look, my master has held back Naaman, this Aramean, from taking from his hand what he had brought. As Yahweh is living, surely if I ran after him then I would take something from him.” ²¹ So Gehazi pursued after Naaman. When Naaman saw someone running after him, then he dismounted from upon the chariot in order to meet him. Then he said, “Is there peace?” ²² Then he said, “There is peace. My master has sent me, saying, ‘Look, now this, two young men from the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give to them a round of silver and two changes of garments.’” ²³ Then Naaman replied, “I am pleased! Take two rounds.” So he pressed upon him and he bound two rounds in silver in two bags, along with two changes of garments. Then he gave to two of his young men, and they carried in his presence. ²⁴ When he came in to the fortress, then he took from their hand and he deposited in the house. Then he sent the men away, and they went. ²⁵ When he came in and he stood beside his master, then Elisha said to him, “From where has Gehazi come?” But he replied, “Your servant has not gone here nor there.” ²⁶ Then he said to him, “Did not my heart go at the same time when a man turned from upon his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to take the silver and to take garments, or olives and vineyards, or sheep and cattle, or male servants and maid servants? ²⁷ So the leprosy of Naaman will cling upon you and upon your seed for forever.” So he went out from his presence, one stricken with leprosy, as the snow.

Chapter 6

¹ Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, please, the place where we are living there in your presence is too cramped for us. ² Please let us go as far as the Jordan, and let each man take one beam from there, and let us make for ourselves there a place to dwell there.” So he replied, “Go ahead.” ³ Then the one said, “Be willing, please, and go with your servants.” So he replied, “I myself will go.” ⁴ So he went with them. When they came to the Jordan, then they began to cut down the trees. ⁵ Now it happened while the one was felling the beam, that the blade of the iron tool fell into the waters. So he cried out and he said, “Alas, my master, for it was borrowed!” ⁶ Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” So he showed him the place. Then he chopped off a branch, and he threw to there, and the iron tool floated over. ⁷ Then he said, “Lift up to yourself.” So he stretched out his hand and he took it.

⁸ Now the king of Aram, he was battling with Israel. So he consulted together with his servants, saying, “My camp will be at a certain place as such.” ⁹ So the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Be careful of passing by that place, for there Aram is descending.” ¹⁰ So the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God had said to him and he warned him. So he was guarded there not once and not twice. ¹¹ As a result the heart of the king of Aram became furious about this thing, so he called to his servants and he said to them, “Will you not tell to me who of those among us is on the side of the king of Israel?” ¹² So one of his servants replied, “None, my master, O king, but Elisha the prophet who is in Israel tells to the king of Israel the things that you speak in the room containing your bed!” ¹³ So he replied, “Go and see where he is so I might send out and I might seize him.” Then it was told to him, saying, “Look, in Dothan.”

¹⁴ So he sent out to there horses and chariotry, along with a heavy army, and they came by night and they enircled around the city. ¹⁵ Now the one attending the man of God had started early to rise so he went out and here was an army surrounding the city along with horse and chariot. So his young man said to him, “Alas, my master! What will we do?” ¹⁶ So he replied, “Do not fear, for more numerous are those with us than those with them.” ¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed and he said, “Yahweh, please open his eyes that he will see.” So Yahweh opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. Now here, the mountain was full of horses and a chariot of fire encircling around Elisha! ¹⁸ Then they came down to him, so Elisha prayed to Yahweh and he said, “Please, strike this nation with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, in accordance with the word of Elisha. ¹⁹ Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and neither is this the city. Walk after me, and let me bring you to the man whom you are seeking.” Then he led them to Samaria.

²⁰ Now it happened upon their coming into Samaria, that Elisha said, “Yahweh, open the eyes of these ones that they may see.” So Yahweh opened their eyes and they saw, and look, in the midst of Samaria. ²¹ Then the king of Israel said to Elisha, upon his seeing them, “Should I strike? Should I strike, my father?” ²² Then he replied, “You must not strike down. If these you had taken captive with your sword and with your bow, would you strike down? Put bread and water in their presence, that they may eat and they may drink, and they may go to their master.” ²³ Then he prepared a great feast for them, and they ate and they drank. Then he sent away, and they went to their master, and the raiding bands of Aram did not continue any longer to come into the land of Israel.

²⁴ Now it happened after this that Ben Hadad, the king of Aram, assembled all of his camp and they came up and they layed seige to Samaria. ²⁵ Also there was a great famine in Samaria, and look, they were besieging around it until a head of a donkey was being sold for 80 silver rounds, and the fourth part of the qav measure in dung of doves in exchange for five silver rounds. ²⁶ Then it happened when the king of Israel was passing by along the wall, that a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my master, O king.” ²⁷ So he replied, “If Yahweh does not intend to help you, from where could I bring help for you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?” ²⁸ Then the king said to her, What is happening to you?” So she replied, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son, so that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’” ²⁹ So we boiled my son and we ate him. Then I said to her on the next day, “Give up your son that we may eat him, but she has hidden her son.” ³⁰ Now it happened upon the king hearing the words of the woman, that he tore his garments as he was passing by on the wall. When the people looked, now here was sackcloth against his flesh, from inside. ³¹ Then he said, “Thus should God do to me, and so he should continue even more, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, remains on him today.”

³² However Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him when he sent a man from before his presence. Even before the messenger would come to him, then he said to the elders, “Do you see that this son of a murderer has sent to take off my head? Look, as the messenger is coming, shut the door, and you should push him back with the door. Is there not the sound of the feet of his master behind him?” ³³ While he was still speaking with them, then here was the messenger coming down to him. Then he said, “Look, this evil is from Yahweh. Why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?”

Chapter 7

¹ However Elisha said, “Hear the word of Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh: ‘About this time tomorrow a seah measure of fine flour will be for a shekel, and two seah measures of barley grains will be for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’” ² Then the third officer, who was on the side of the king, on his hand he had been depending, answered the man of God, and he said, “Look, even if Yahweh was making latticed openings in the heavens, would this thing happen?” So he replied, “Though you are about to see with your eyes, but from there you will not eat.”

³ Now there were four men stricken with leprosy at the entrance of the gate, and they said, one man to his companion, “Why should we sit here until we have died? ⁴ If we said we should go into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we will die there. But if we sat here, then we would die. So now, come, let us fall into the camp of Aram. If they keep us alive, we will live, but if not, they will kill us, and we will die.” ⁵ So they rose up at the evening twilight in order to go into the camp of Aram. When they arrived at the edge of the camp of Aram, then look, not anyone was there. ⁶ For Adonai had made the camp of Aram hear a sound of a chariot, a sound of a horse, a sound of a great army. So they said, each man to his brother, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come against us.” ⁷ So they had risen up and they fled in the twilight. Thus they had abandoned their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys, the camp just as it was, and they fled for their lives. ⁸ When these who who were stricken with leprosy came in as far as the edge of the camp, then they went in to one tent and they ate and they drank. Then they carried away from there silver, and gold, and garments, and they went and they hid. Then they came back and they came in to another tent and they carried away from there and they went and they hid.

⁹ Then they said, each man to his companion, “It is not right we are doing. This day, it is a day of good news, but we are keeping quiet. So should we wait until the light of the morning, then punishment will find us. So, now, go and let us come in and let us tell the house of the king.” ¹⁰ So they went in and they called to the gatekeeper of the city. Then they declared to them, saying, “We came in to the camp of Aram. But look, not anyone was there, nor the sound of a man, but only the horse was tied, and the donkey was tied, and the tents just as they were.” ¹¹ So the gatekeepers cried out, then they told the house of the king inside. ¹² Now the king arose at night and he said to his servants, “Please, let me tell to you what Aram has done to us. They know that we are hungry, so they have gone out of the camp in order to hide themselves in the countryside, saying, ‘When they go forth from the city, then we will capture them alive, so we may go into the city.’” ¹³ Yet one of his servants answered and he said, “Now, please, let us take five of the remaining horses, that were left in it. Look, they are like all the population of Israel who are left in it. Look, they are like all the population of Israel who are finished. So let us send that we may see.” ¹⁴ So they took two chariot horses, and the king sent after the camp of Aram, saying, “Go and see.” ¹⁵ So they went after them as far as the Jordan, and look, all the road was full of garments and implements that Aram had cast away in their hurried alarm. Then the messengers returned and they explained to the king.

¹⁶ So the people went out and they plundered the camp of Aram. Then it happened, a seah measure of fine flour for a shekel, and two sheah measures of barley grains for a shekel, according to the word of Yahweh. ¹⁷ Now the king had appointed the third officer on whom he had been depending on his hand over the gate, but the people trampled him in the gate. As a result he died, just as the man of God had spoken, when he spoke when the king had come down to him. ¹⁸ So it happened as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seah measures of barley for a shekel, and a seah measure of fine flour for a shekel, it will happen about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria,” ¹⁹ when the third officer had answered the man of God and he had said, “Look, even if Yahweh was making latticed openings in the heavens, would this thing happen?” Then he had said, “Look, you are going to see with your eyes, but from there you will not eat.” ²⁰ So thus it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and as a result he died.

Chapter 8

¹ Now Elisha spoke to the woman who he had restored to life her son, saying, “Arise and go, you and your household, and stay at wherever you can stay, because Yahweh has called for a famine and moreover it will come to this land seven years.” ² So the woman arose and she did according to the word of the man of God. So she went, she along with her household, and she sojurned in the land of the Philistines seven years. ³ Now it happened at the end of seven years that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines. Then she went forth to cry out to the king on behalf of her household and for her land. ⁴ Now the king was speaking to Gehazi the young man of the man of God, saying, “Please tell to me all the great things that Elisha has done.” ⁵ So it happened as he was telling to the king that he had restored the dead to life, and here was the woman who he had restored her son to life, crying out to the king on behalf of her household and about her field. Then Gehazi said, “My master, O King, this is the woman, and this is her son, who Elisha restored to life.” ⁶ So the king asked directly to the woman and she recounted to him. So the king granted for her one eunuch, saying, “Return back everything that belongs to her and all the production income of the field from the day she left the land even until now.”

⁷ Now Elisha came to Damascus when Ben Hadad, the king of Aram, was sick. Then it was told to him, saying, “The man of God has come to here.” ⁸ So the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift in your hand, and go to meet the man of God. Then you must inquire of Yahweh through him, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” ⁹ So Hazael went to meet him and he took a gift in his hand, even every good thing of Damascus, a burden of 40 camels. Then he came in and he stood in his presence and he said, “Your son Ben Hadad, the king of Aram, has sent me to you, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” ¹⁰ Then Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You will surely recover,’ but Yahweh has shown me that he will surely die.” ¹¹ Then he held his face still and he stayed put to the point of shaming, and the man of God wept. ¹² So Hazael responded, “Why is my master weeping?” Then he replied, “Because I know that you will do evil to the sons of Israel. Their fortifications you will send into the fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword. Also their infants you will hack to pieces, and their pregnant women you will split into pieces.” ¹³ However Hazael said, “But what is your servant, the dog, that he should do this great thing? Then Elisha replied, “Yahweh has shown me you will be king over Aram.” ¹⁴ Then he went away from with Elisha and he came to his master. Then he said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” So he replied, “He said to me surely you will recover.” ¹⁵ Now it happened even the next day that he took the covering and he dipped in the waters, and he spread over his face so that he died. Thus Hazael became king in his place.

¹⁶ Now in year five of Joram, the son of Ahab, the king of Israel, when Jehoshapat was king of Judah, Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, began to reign. ¹⁷ He was a son of 32 years upon his beginning to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ Now he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab did, for the daughter of Ahab was for him as wife. Indeed, he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. ¹⁹ However, Yahweh did not want to annihilate Judah, for the sake of David his servant, just as he had said to him, in order to give to him a lamp through his sons all the days.

²⁰ In his days, Edom rebelled from under the hand of Judah, and they seated a king to reign over themselves. ²¹ Then Jehoram crossed over to Zair along with all the chariotry with him. Now it happened he himself rose by night, and he struck Edom, who was encircling around him and the princes of the chariotry. But the people fled to their tents. ²² Thus Edom rebelled from under the hand of Judah to this day. Then Libnah rebelled at that time. ²³ Now the rest of the matters of Jehoram, and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Judah? ²⁴ Then Jehoram slept with his fathers and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David. Then Ahaziah his son became king in his place.

²⁵ During the year of year 12 of Joram, the son of Ahab, the king of Israel, Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, the king of Judah, began to reign. ²⁶ Ahaziah was a son of 22 years upon his becoming king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. Now the name of his mother was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, the king of Israel. ²⁷ Now he walked in the way of the house of Ahab and he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, as the house of Ahab, for he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab. ²⁸ Then he went with Joram, the son of Ahab, to battle against Hazael, the king of Aram, at Ramoth Gilead, but Arameans struck Joram. ²⁹ So Joram the king returned in order to heal himself in Jezreel from the wounds that Arameans had struck him at Ramah, in his fighting against Hazael, the king of Aram. So Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, the king of Judah, went down to see Joram, the son of Ahab, in Jezreel because he was wounded.

Chapter 9

¹ Now Elisha the prophet called to one of the sons of the prophets and he said to him, “Gird up your loins and take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramoth Gilead. ² When you have come in to there, then look there for Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Then you must go in and you must make him rise up from the midst of his brothers. Then you must bring him to a room within a room. ³ Then you must take the flask of oil and you must pour out over his head and you must say, ‘Thus says Yahweh: “I have anointed you as king over Israel.”’ Then you must open the door, and you must flee. So you must not tarry.” ⁴ So the young man, the prophet young man, went to Ramoth Gilead. ⁵ Then he came in and look, the princes of the army were sitting. So he said, “A message to me concerning you, O prince.” Then Jehu replied, “To whom among all of us?” Then he said, “To you, O prince.” ⁶ So he rose up and he came in to the house, and he poured out the oil over his head. Then he said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘I have anointed you as king over the people of Yahweh, over Israel. ⁷ Indeed, you must strike down the house of Ahab, your master, that I may avenge the bloods of my servants, the prophets, and the bloods of all the servants of Yahweh, by the hand of Jezebel. ⁸ For all of the house of Ahab will perish, and I will exterminate from Ahab anyone who urinates on a wall, so he is shut off and is abandoned in Israel. ⁹ Thus I will give up the house of Ahab as the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and as the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah. ¹⁰ Then the dogs will eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, but there will be no burying.’” Then he opened the door and he fled.

¹¹ Then Jehu came out to the servants of his lords, and he said to him, “Is there peace? Why did this one who is mad come to you?” Then he replied to them, “You know the man and his babbling.” ¹² However they said, “A lie! Please tell to us.” So he replied, “He said like this and like that to me, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh: “I have anointed you as king over Israel.’”” ¹³ So they hurried and they took, each one his garment and they set beneath him at the top of the steps. Then they blew with the shofar and they said, “Jehu has become king.”

¹⁴ Then Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, plotted together against Joram. Now Joram was guarding in Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, from the face of Hazael, the king of Aram. ¹⁵ However Joram the king had returned in order to get healed in Jezreel of the wounds that Arameans had stricken, when he was fighting with Hazael, the king of Aram.

So Jehu said, “If it is your mindset, let not an escapee go out of the city, in order to go to report in Jezreel.” ¹⁶ So Jehu rode and he went to Jezreel because Joram was resting over there. Now Ahaziah, the king of Judah, had gone down to see Joram.

¹⁷ Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu at his coming. Then he said, “I am seeing a great company.” So Joram said, “Take a rider, and send out to meet them and say, ‘Is there peace?’” ¹⁸ So the rider of the horse went to meet him and he said, “Thus says the king: ‘Is there peace?’” Then Jehu replied, “What is there for you and for peace? Turn around to follow after me.” Then the watchman informed, saying, “The messenger has come to them, but he has not returned.” ¹⁹ So he sent out a second rider of a horse, and he came to them and he said, “Thus says the king: ‘Peace.’” Then Jehu replied, “What is there for you and for peace? Turn around to follow after me.” ²⁰ So the watchman informed, saying, “He has come up to them, but he has not returned, and the driving is as the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi, for with madness he drives.”

²¹ Then Joram said, “Get harnessed.” So he harnessed his chariot, and Joram, the king of Israel and Ahaziah, the king of Judah, went forth, each man in his chariot, thus they went forth to meet Jehu. Then they found him at the property of Naboth the Jezreelite. ²² Now it happened upon Joram seeing Jehu, that he said, “Is there peace, Jehu?” Then he replied, “What is the peace, as long as continues the fornications of Jezebel, your mother, and her many sorceries?” ²³ So Joram turned his hands and he fled, and he said to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!” ²⁴ Then Jehu filled his hand with the bow and he struck Joram between his arms and the arrow went out from his heart. Then he sank down in his chariot. ²⁵ Then he said to Bidkar, his third man, “Pick up and throw him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember myself and you together riding as teams after Ahab his father, when Yahweh raised this utterance against him: ²⁶ ‘Certainly, have I not seen the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, declaration of Yahweh, indeed I will repay to you in this portion, declaration of Yahweh. Therefore, now, pick up and throw him in the portion, according to the word of Yahweh.”

²⁷ When Ahaziah, the king of Judah, saw then he fled the way of the house of the garden. But Jehu pursued after him, and he said, “Also strike him down in the chariot along the ascent of Gur, which is near Ibleam.” Thus he fled to Megiddo but he died there. ²⁸ Then his servants carried him by chariot to Jerusalem and they buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the city of David.

²⁹ Now during the year of the 11th year of Joram, the son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah.

³⁰ When Jehu came to Jezreel, then Jezebel heard. So she applied her eyes with mineral powder, and she made her head beautiful, and she looked down through the window. ³¹ As Jehu came in the gate, then she said, “Is there peace, Zimri, murderer of his master?” ³² So he lifted up his face to the window and he said, “Who is with me? Who?” Then two, three eunuchs looked down towards him. ³³ Then he said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down, and some of her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled her. ³⁴ Then he went in, and he ate and he drank, and he said, “Please attend to this cursed woman and bury her, for a daughter of a king is she.” ³⁵ So they went to bury her, but they did not find any of her except only the skull, and the feet, and the palms of the hands. ³⁶ So they returned and they reported to him, and he said, “The word of Yahweh it is, that he spoke by the hand of his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘In the portion of Jezreel the dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel, ³⁷ and the remains of Jezebel will be as dung on the surfaces of the field in the portion of Jezreel, that they will not say, “This is Jezebel.”’”

Chapter 10

¹ Now Ahab had 70 sons in Samaria. Meanwhile Jehu wrote letters that he sent to Samaria, to the princes of Jezreel, the elders and to the attendants for Ahab, saying, ² “So, now, at the coming of this letter to you, and with you are the sons of your masters, and with you are the chariot and the horses, and a fortified city and the war equipment, ³ so consider the best and the upright among the sons of your masters and you should install on the throne of his father, and fight on behalf of the house of your masters.” ⁴ But they were exceedingly exceedingly afraid, and they said, “Look, the two kings did not stand before his face. So how will we stand ourselves?” ⁵ Then he who was over the house, and who was over the city, and the elders, and the attendants sent to Jehu, saying, “We are your servants, and all that you say to us we will do. We will not make anyone king. Do what is good in your eyes.” ⁶ Then he wrote a second letter to them, saying, “If you are for me, and you are heeding to my voice, take the heads of the men of the sons of your masters and come to me at this time tomorrow to Jezreel.” Now the sons of the king, 70 men, were with the nobles of the city, who were raising them. ⁷ Now it happened at the coming of the letter to them, that they took the sons of the king and they slaughtered 70 men, and they put their heads in the baskets, and they sent to him at Jezreel. ⁸ Then the messenger came and he reported to him, saying, “They have brought the heads of the sons of the king.” So he replied, “Put them in two piles at the entrance of the gate until the morning.” ⁹ Now it happened in the morning that he went out and he stood up, and he said to all the people, “You are righteous. Look, I myself conspired against my master and I killed him, but who slaughtered all these? ¹⁰ Know then, that nothing falls from the word of Yahweh to the ground that Yahweh has spoken concerning the house of Ahab, for Yahweh has done what he spoke through the hand of his servant Elijah.” ¹¹ So Jehu struck down all who were left of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his important ones, and who were acquainted with him, and his priests, until that he did not let a survivor remain for him.

¹² Then he arose and he came in and he went to Samaria. He was at Beth Eked of the shepherds along the way, ¹³ when Jehu found the brothers of Ahaziah, the king of Judah. So he said, “Who are you?” Then they replied, “We are the brothers of Ahaziah, and we have come down regarding the welfare of the sons of the king and the sons of the mighty lady.” ¹⁴ So he said, “Capture them alive!” So they captured them alive and they slaughtered them near the well of Beth Eked, 42 men; and he did not leave a man among them.

¹⁵ Then he went from there, and he found Jehonadab, the son of Recab, coming to meet him. So he blessed him and he said to him, “Is it sincere with your heart, just as my heart is with your heart?” So Jehonadab replied, “It is.” “Since it is, give your hand.” So he gave his hand, and he lifted him up to himself into the chariot. ¹⁶ Then he said, “Come with me and see my zeal for Yahweh.” So they had him ride in his chariot. ¹⁷ When he entered Samaria, then he struck down all the ones who were remaining of Ahab in Samaria, until he utterly annihilated him, according to the word of Yahweh, which he had spoken to Elijah.

¹⁸ Then Jehu gathered all the people and he said to them, “Ahab served the Baal a little, Jehu will serve him much. ¹⁹ Now therefore summon to me all the prophets of the Baal, all his servants, and all his priests. Let not a man be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for the Baal. Anyone who will be missing will not live.” However Jehu acted with deceitfulness, in order to destroy the servants of Baal. ²⁰ Then Jehu said, “Consecrate a festive assembly for the Baal.” So they called out. ²¹ Then Jehu sent throughout all Israel and all the servants of the Baal came, so not a man was left who had not come. So they entered the house of the Baal, and the house of the Baal was filled edge to edge. ²² Then he said to the one who was over the apparal, “Bring out a garment for all the servants of the Baal.” So he brought out to them the ceremonial clothing. ²³ Next Jehu and Jehonadab, the son of Recab, entered the house of the Baal, and he said to the servants of the Baal, “Search and see that there is not here with you among the servants of Yahweh, but only the servants of the Baal by themselves alone.” ²⁴ Then they entered to make sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had placed for himself 80 men at the outside, and he directed, “The man who would let slip away out of the men who I am bringing into your hands, his life will be in place of his life.”

²⁵ Now it happened upon his finishing to perform the burnt offering that Jehu said to the runners and to the third men, “Go in! Strike them down! Do not let a man go forth.” So they struck them with the edge of a sword, and the runners and the third men cast away, and they went up to the fortified area of the house of the Baal. ²⁶ Then they brought out the standing stones of the house of the Baal, and they set it on fire. ²⁷ Also they tore down the standing image of the Baal, and they tore down the house of the Baal and they made it as a cesspit, until this day. ²⁸ Thus Jehu eradicated the Baal from Israel.

²⁹ Only the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, by which he caused Israel to sin, Jehu did not depart from after them, the calves of gold that were in Bethel and that were in Dan. ³⁰ So Yahweh said to Jehu, “Because that you have done well by doing what was right in my eyes, according to all that was in my heart you did to the house of Ahab, sons of fourth ones will sit for you on the throne of Israel.” ³¹ However Jehu did not take care to walk in the instruction of Yahweh, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from with regard to the sins of Jeroboam, by which he caused Israel to sin.

³² In those days Yahweh began to cut off some of Israel, and Hazael struck them in every border of Israel, ³³ from the Jordan towards the rising of the sun, all the land of the Gilead: the Gadite, and the Reubenite, and the Manassite, from Aroer, which is along the valley of Arnon, namely the Gilead along with the Bashan. ³⁴ Also the rest of the matters concerning Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Israel? ³⁵ Then Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. Then Jehoahaz his son became king in his place. ³⁶ Thus the days that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria were 28 years.

Chapter 11

¹ Now Athaliah was the mother of Ahaziah, and she saw that her son had died. So she arose and she destroyed all the offspring of the kingdom. ² But Jehosheba, the daughter of the King Jehoram, sister of Ahaziah, had taken Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and she secretly brought him away from the midst of the sons of the king who were being put to death, he along with his wet nurse, into the chamber of the bed. Thus they hid him from the face of Athaliah so that he was not killed. ³ Then he was with her in the house of Yahweh, keeping hidden six years, while Athaliah was reigning over the land.

⁴ Now in the seventh year, Jehoiada sent and he took the princes of the hundreds of the Carite and of the runners, and he brought them to himself at the house of Yahweh. Then he cut with them a covenant, and he made them swear an oath in the house of Yahweh, and he showed them the son of the king. ⁵ Then he commanded them, by saying, “This is the thing that you must do. The third part of you coming in on the Sabbath also will be keepers of the watch over the house of the king, ⁶ and the third part will be at the gate of Sur, and the third part at the gate behind the runners. Thus you will keep the watch of the house, alternating.” ⁷ The two hands among you, all the ones going out on the Sabbath, also they will keep the watch over the house of Yahweh for the king. ⁸ So you must enircle around the king round about, each man with his weapons in his hand, and the one who comes in to the ranks will be put to death. So be with the king at his going out and at his coming in.

⁹ So the princes of the hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest had commanded. Then they took, each man with his men, ones coming in on the Sabbath, with ones going out on the Sabbath; and they came to Jehoiada the priest. ¹⁰ Then the priest gave to the princes of the hundreds the spears and the shields that belonged to the King David, that were in the house of Yahweh. ¹¹ So the runners stood, each man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, to the altar and to the house, around the king round about. ¹² Then he brought out the son of the king, and he set the crown on him, and the testimony. Then they installed him as king and they anointed him, and they struck a palm. Also they said, “May the king live!”

¹³ When Athaliah heard the sound of the runners, the people, then she came to the people at the house of Yahweh. ¹⁴ Then she saw, and here was the king standing by the column, according to the custom, and the princes and the trumpeters were near the king. Now all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing on the trumpets. So Athaliah tore her garments and she cried out, “Treason! Treason!” ¹⁵ Then Jehoiada the priest ordered the princes of the hundreds, inspectors of the army, and he said to them, “Bring her out to away from inside of the ranks. Now the one who comes after her, surely kill with the sword.” For the priest had said, “Do not let her be put to death in the house of Yahweh.” ¹⁶ So they laid hands upon her when she came in the way of the entrance of the horses at the house of the king, and she was put to death there.

¹⁷ Then Jehoiada cut the covenant between Yahweh and between the king and between the people, to be as a people for Yahweh, and between the king and between the people. ¹⁸ So all the people of the land went into the house of the Baal and they pulled down his altar and his images they smashed into pieces thoroughly. Then they killed Mattan, the priest of the Baal, at the front faces of the altars and the priest set overseers for the house of Yahweh. ¹⁹ Then he took the princes of the hundreds, and the Carite, and the runners, and all of the people of the land, and they brought down the king from the house of Yahweh. Then they came in the way of the gate of the runners at the house of the king and he sat on the throne of the kings. ²⁰ So all of the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet, for Athaliah they had put to death with the sword at the house of the king.

²¹ Joash was a son of seven years upon his beginning to reign.

Chapter 12

¹ In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash began to reign, and he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem. Now the name of his mother was Zibiah, from Beersheba. ² Now Joash did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh all of his days, because Jehoiada the priest had instructed him. ³ Only the high places they did not remove. The people still were sacrificing and were burning incense on the high places.

⁴ Now Joash said to the priests, “All the silver of the sacred purposes, that is brought into the house of Yahweh, silver moving through, each man, the silver of the persons in his estimation, all the silver when it goes up into the heart of a man to bring into the house of Yahweh. ⁵ the priests should receive for them, each man from his acquaintance, so they will strengthen the breach of the house, in every place where is found there a breach.” ⁶ Now it had happened that by the year of the 23rd year of the King Joash, the priests had not strengthened the breach of the house. ⁷ Then the King Joash called for Jehoiada the priest and for the priests, and he said to them, “Why are you not strengthening the breach of the house? So, now, you may not take silver from your acquaintences, but for the breach of the house you should give it.” ⁸ So the priests were in agreement to not accepting silver from the people and to not strengthening the breach of the house.

⁹ However, Jehoiada the priest took one wooden container, and he pierced a hole in its lid, and he set it beside the altar, on the right side as anyone is coming into the house of Yahweh. Then the priests, the keepers of the threshold, put in there all the silver that was brought into the house of Yahweh. ¹⁰ Now it happened upon their seeing that abundant was the silver in the wooden container, that the scribe of the king and the high priest went up and they bound and they weighed out the silver that was found at the house of Yahweh. ¹¹ Then they gave the silver that was measured out into the hands of the doers of the work, the ones attending to the house of Yahweh, and they brought it out to the fabricators of the wood and to the builders, the ones preparing the house of Yahweh, ¹² and to the masons and to the hewers of the stone, and to buy timbers and stones for hewing in order to strengthen the breach of the house of Yahweh, and for all that would come forth for the house for repair. ¹³ Only for the house of Yahweh bowls of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold or vessels of silver would not be made from the silver that was brought into the house of Yahweh, ¹⁴ because they gave it to the doers of the work so they strengthened the house of Yahweh with it. ¹⁵ Also, they did not make an accounting with the men who they gave the silver into their hand to give to the doers of the work, for with trustworthiness they were acting. ¹⁶ Silver for a guilt offering and the silver for the sin offerings was not brought into the house of Yahweh, they were for the priests.

¹⁷ At that time Hazael, the king of Aram, went up and he fought against Gath, and he captured it. Then Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem. ¹⁸ So Joash, the king of Judah, took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, the kings of Judah, had consecrated, and his holy things, and all of the gold that was found in the storerooms of the house of Yahweh and the house of the king and he sent to Hazael, the king of Aram, so he would go up away from against Jerusalem.

¹⁹ Now the rest of the matters concerning Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Judah? ²⁰ Then his servants arose and they plotted a conspiracy, so they struck down Joash at Beth Millo, at the going down to Silla. ²¹ Then Jozabad, ^[1] the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him, and as a result he died. Then they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Amaziah, his son, became king in his place.

Chapter 13

¹ During the year of the 23rd year of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, the king of Judah, Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, became king over Israel in Samaria, 17 years. ² Now he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and he walked after the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. He did not turn away from it. ³ As a result the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, so he gave them into the hand of Hazael, the king of Aram, and into the hand of Ben Hadad, the son of Hazael, all the days. ⁴ So Jehoahaz entreated the faces of Yahweh, and Yahweh listened to him because he saw the oppression of Israel, for the king of Aram had oppressed them. ⁵ So Yahweh gave to Israel a savior, and they came out from beneath the hand of Aram. Then the sons of Israel settled in their tents as previously, aforetime. ⁶ Nevertheless, they did not turn aside from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin, he walked in it and also the Asherah stood in Samaria. ⁷ For he had not left for Jehoahaz any people, except only 50 horsemen, and ten chariots, and 10,000 footmen, for the king of Aram had destroyed them and he had made them like the dust at threshing. ⁸ Now the rest of the matters concerning Jehoahaz, and all that he did and his might, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Israel? ⁹ Then Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria, and Johoash his son became king in his place.

¹⁰ During the year of the 37th year of Joash, the king of Judah, Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, began to reign over Israel in Samaria, 16 years. ¹¹ Now he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. He did not turn aside from all of the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, he walked in it. ¹² Now the rest of the matters concerning Jehoash, and all that he did, and his might, how he fought with Amaziah, the king of Judah, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Israel? ¹³ Then Jehoash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne, and Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

¹⁴ Now Elisha fell sick with his sickness which he would die by it, so Jehoash, the king of Israel went down to him and he wept on his face. Then he said, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” ¹⁵ Then Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows,” so he took to him a bow and some arrows. ¹⁶ Next he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand in place on the bow,” so he put his hand in place. Then Elisha set his hands over the hands of the king. ¹⁷ Then he said, “Open the window facing eastward,” so he opened. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!”, so he shot. Then he said, “An arrow of victory for Yahweh and an arrow of victory against Aram, for you will strike down Aram in Aphek until utterly bringing to an end.” ¹⁸ Then he said, “Take the arrows,” so he took. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Strike down towards ground,” so he struck three times, and he stopped. ¹⁹ However the man of God was angry on account of him and he said, “By striking five or six times, then you would have struck down Aram until utterly bringing to an end, but now three times you will strike Aram.”

²⁰ Now Elisha died, and they buried him. Then the raiders of Moab would come into the land, coming in each year. ²¹ Now it happened that they were burying a man, and look, they saw the raider, so they threw the man into the grave of Elisha. As the man went and he touched upon the bones of Elisha, then it happened that he rose up onto his feet.

²² Thus Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. ²³ However Yahweh showed favor to them, and he had compassion on them so he turned towards them on account of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So did not want to destroy them, and he did not cast them away from before his face until now. ²⁴ Then Hazael, the king of Aram, died and Ben Hadad his son became king in his place. ²⁵ Then Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, returned and he took the cities from the hand of Ben Hadad, the son of Hazael, that he had taken from the hand of Jehoahaz his father in the war. Three times Jehoash had struck him, thus he returned the cities of Israel.

Chapter 14

¹ In the second year of Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, the king of Israel, Amaziah, the son of Joash, the king of Judah, began to reign. ² He was a son of 25 years upon his beginning to reign, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. Now the name of his mother was Jehoaddan, from Jerusalem. ³ Now he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, only not like David his father. Like all that Joash, his father, had done, he did. ⁴ Only the high places were not removed, the people still were sacrificing and burning incense at the high places. ⁵ Now it happened just as the kingdom became strong in his hand, that he struck down his servants, the ones who had struck down the king, his father. ⁶ However the sons of the ones striking down he did not put to death, according to what is written in the scroll of the law of Moses, that Yahweh had commanded, by saying, “Fathers may not be put to death on account of sons, and sons may not be put to death on account of fathers. But only each man will be put to death because of his sin.” ⁷ He struck down Edom in the valley of the Salt, 10,000 and he seized the Sela in the war. Also he called its name Joktheel, until this day.

⁸ Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, the king of Israel, saying, “Come, we will show each other faces.” ⁹ But Jehoash, the king of Israel, sent to Amaziah, the king of Judah, saying, “The thorn bush that was in the Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in the Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ but a beast of the field that was in the Lebanon passed over and it trampled down the thorn bush. ¹⁰ Indeed, you have struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Be honored, but stay in your house. For why should you engage yourself with evil that you would fall, you and Judah with you?”

¹¹ But Amaziah did not listen. So Jehoash, the king of Israel, went up and they showed each other faces, he and Amaziah, the king of Judah, at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. ¹² Then Judah was struck hard before the faces of Israel, and they fled, each man to his tent. ¹³ Then Jehoash, the king of Israel, captured Amaziah, the king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh. Next he came to Jerusalem and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem at the Gate of Ephraim up to the Gate of the Corner, 400 cubits. ¹⁴ Then he took all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that had been found in the house of Yahweh, and in the treasuries of the house of the king, and the sons of the pledges. Then he returned to Samaria.

¹⁵ Now the rest of the matters concerning Jehoash, what he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah, the king of Judah, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Israel? ¹⁶ Then Jehoash slept with his fathers and he was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam, his son, became king in his place.

¹⁷ Now Amaziah, the son of Joash, the king of Judah, lived 15 years after the death of Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, the king of Israel. ¹⁸ Now the rest of the matters concerning Amaziah, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Judah? ¹⁹ For they had plotted a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, so he had fled to Lachish, but they sent after him to Lachish and they killed him there. ²⁰ Then they carried him on the horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. ²¹ Then all the people of Judah took Azariah, when he was a son of 16 years, and they made him king in place of his father Amaziah. ²² He himself built up Elath and he returned it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers.

²³ During the year of the 15th year of Amaziah, the son of Joash, the king of Judah, Jeroboam, the son of Jehoash, the king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, 41 years. ²⁴ Now he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. He did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin. ²⁵ He himself restored the border of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Yahweh, the God of Israel, which he had spoken by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from the Gath Hepher. ²⁶ For Yahweh saw the affliction of Israel, being exceedingly contentious, along with a cessation of restraining and a cessation of relenting, and there was not a helper for Israel. ²⁷ However Yahweh had not spoken to blot out the name of Israel from under the heavens, instead, he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Jehoash.

²⁸ Now the rest of the matters concerning Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he fought and how he restored Damascus and Hamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Israel? ²⁹ Then Jeroboam slept with his fathers, with the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son became king in his place.

Chapter 15

¹ During the year of the 27th year of Jeroboam, the king of Israel, Azariah the son of Amaziah, the king of Judah, began to reign. ² He was a son of 16 years upon his beginning to reign, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. Also, the name of his mother was Jekoliah, from Jerusalem. ³ Now he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, like all that Amaziah his father had done. ⁴ However, the high places were not removed; the people still were sacrificing and burning incense at the high places. ⁵ Thus Yahweh afflicted the king so he was stricken with leprosy until the day of his death and he lived in the house for the exempt from duties. Then Jotham, the son of the king, was over the house, judging the people of the land. ⁶ Now the rest of the matters concerning Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Judah? ⁷ Then Azariah slept with his fathers and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. So Jotham, his son, became king in his place.

⁸ During the year of the 38th year of Azariah, the king of Judah, Zechariah, the son of Jeroboam, became king over Israel in Samaria, six months. ⁹ Now he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, just as his fathers had done. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. ¹⁰ Then Shallum, the son of Jabesh, conspired against him, and he struck him in front of the people, and he killed him. Then he became king in his place. ¹¹ Now the rest of the matters concerning Zechariah, look, they are written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Israel. ¹² It was the word of Yahweh that he had spoken to Jehu, by saying, “Sons of fourth will sit for you on the throne of Israel,” and it was so.

¹³ Shallum, the son of Jabesh, began to reign during the year of the 39th year of Azariah, the king of Judah, and he reigned a lunar month of days in Samaria. ¹⁴ Then Menahem, the son of Gadi, went up from Tirzah and he came into Samaria and he struck Shallum, the son of Jabesh in Samaria. Thus he killed him and he became king in his place. ¹⁵ Now the rest of the matters concerning Shallum and his conspiracy that he conspired, look, they are written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Israel. ¹⁶ Then Menahem struck Tiphsah and all who were in it, and its borders toward Tirzah, because it did not open. So he struck, all its pregnant ones he split open. ^{[1] 17} During the year of the 39th year of Azariah, the king of Judah, Menahem, the son of Gadi, began to reign over Israel, ten years in Samaria. ¹⁸ Now he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin all his days. ¹⁹ Pul, the king of Assyria, came against the land, so Menahem gave to Pul 1,000 rounds of silver, for his hands being with him in order to strengthen the kingdom in his hand. ²⁰ Then Menahem brought forth the silver incumbent upon Israel obliging each of the mighty ones of wealth to give to the king of Assyria 50 silver shekels, incumbent upon each one. So the king of Assyria turned back and he did not remain standing there in the land. ²¹ Now the rest of the matters concerning Menahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Israel? ²² Then Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son became king in his place.

²³ During the year of the 50th year of Azariah, the king of Judah, Pekahiah, the son of Menahem, began to reign over Israel in Samaria, two years. ²⁴ Now he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that caused Israel to sin. ²⁵ Then Pekah, the son of Remaliah, his officer, conspired against him, and he struck him down in Samaria, in the citadel of the house of the king, along with Argob and with Arieh and with him 50 men of the sons of the Gileadites. Thus he killed him, and he became king in his place. ²⁶ Now the rest of the matters concerning Pekahiah, and all that he did, look, they are written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Israel.

²⁷ During the year of the 52nd year of Azaria, the king of Judah, Pekah, the son of Remaliah, began to reign over Israel in Samaria, 20 years. ²⁸ Also he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.

²⁹ In the days of Pekah, the king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria, came and he took Ijon, and Abel Beth Maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh,and Hazor, and the Gilead, and the Galilee, all the land of Naphtali and he forced them to exile to Assyria. ³⁰ Then Hoshea, the son of Elah, plotted a conspiracy against Pekah, the son of Remaliah, and he struck him and he killed him. Then he became king in his place, in the 20th year of Jotham, the son of Uzziah. ³¹ Now the rest of the matters concerning Pekah and all that he did, look, they are written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Israel.

³² In the second year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, Jotham, the son of Azariah, the king of Judah, began to reign. ³³ He was a son of 25 years upon his beginning to reign and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. Also, the name of his mother was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok. ³⁴ Now he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, like all that Azariah his father had done, he did. ³⁵ However, the high places were not removed. The people still were sacrificing and were burning incense at the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of Yahweh. ³⁶ Now the rest of the matters concerning Jotham that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Judah? ³⁷ In those days Yahweh began to dispatch Rezin, the king of Aram, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, against Judah. ³⁸ Then Jotham slept with his fathers and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David, his father. Then Ahaz, his son, began to reign in his place.

Chapter 16

¹ During the year of the 17th year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the king of Judah, began to reign. ² Ahaz was a son of 20 years upon his beginning to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. However he did not do what was right in the eyes of Yahweh his God, as David his father. ³ Instead, he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. indeed, he even made his son pass through in the fire, like the abominations of the nations, that Yahweh had driven them out away from the faces of the sons of Israel. ⁴ Also he sacrificed and he burned incense on the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

⁵ Then Rezin, the king of Aram and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, were simultaneously coming up to Jerusalem for the battle. Then they layed siege against Ahaz, but they were not able to wage war. ⁶ At that time, Rezin, the king of Aram, restored Elath to Aram and he drove the Jews out of Elath. Then Arameans came to Elath and they have lived there to this day.

⁷ So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and deliver me from the palm of the king of Aram and from the palm of the king of Israel, who have risen up against me.” ⁸ So Ahaz took the silver and the gold that was found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasuries of the house of the king and he sent a bribe to the king of Assyria. ⁹ Then the king of Assyria listened to him, so the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and he seized it and he led it into exile to Kir. He also killed Rezin.

¹⁰ Then the King, Ahaz, went to meet Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria, at Damascus, and he saw the altar that was in Damascus. So the King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest the plan of the altar and its pattern for all its design. ¹¹ So Uriah the priest built the altar according to all that the King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. Thus Uriah the priest did while the King Ahaz was coming from Damascus. ¹² When the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar. So the king came near to the altar and he offered up on it. ¹³ Then he made his burnt offering and his grain offering rise in smoke, and he poured out his drink offering, and he sprinkled the blood of the peace offerings that were for him on the altar. ¹⁴ Then the bronze altar that was before the faces of Yahweh, also he brought near from the front face of the house, from between the altar and from between the house of Yahweh and he put it on the side of altar towards north. ¹⁵ Then the King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the large altar make the burnt offering of the morning and the grain offering of the evening, and the burnt offering of the king and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offerings rise in smoke. Also you will sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all blood of sacrifice. But the bronze altar will be for me to seek.” ¹⁶ So Uriah the priest did according to all that the King Ahaz had commanded.

¹⁷ Then the King Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases and he removed the wash bowl from upon them. Also he took down the sea from upon the bronze oxen that were beneath it and he put it on pavement of stones. ¹⁸ Also he removed the covered walkway for the Sabbath that they had built at the house, and the outer entrance of the king from the house of Yahweh, because of the face of the king of Assyria. ¹⁹ Now the rest of the matters concerning Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Judah? ²⁰ Then Ahaz slept with his fathers and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David. Then Hezekiah his son became king in his place.

Chapter 17

¹ In the 12th year of Ahaz, the king of Judah, Hoshea, the son of Elah, began to reign in Samaria over Israel, nine years. ² Now he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, only not as the kings of Israel who were before him. ³ Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, came up against him, and Hoshea became a servant for him and he brought back tribute to him. ⁴ Then the king of Assyria found in Hoshea a conspiracy, that he had sent messengers to So, the king of Egypt and he had not brought up tribute to the king of Assyria, as year by year. So the king of Assyria restrained him and he bound him in a house of confinement. ⁵ Then the king of Assyria came up against all the land, and he came up to Samaria and he besieged around it three years. ⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and he exiled Israel to Assyria. Then he had them live in Halah, and along Habor, the River of Gozan, and the cities of Media.

⁷ Now it happened because the sons of Israel had sinned against Yahweh, their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Also they had feared other gods, ⁸ and they walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Yahweh had dispossessed away from the faces of the sons of Israel, and the kings of Israel, that they had made. ⁹ Now the sons of Israel did things in secret against Yahweh their God that were not right. Moreover they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from a tower for watchmen to a city with fortification. ¹⁰ They also erected standing stones and Asherah poles for themselves on every high hill and under every flourishing tree. ¹¹ They burned incense there in all high places, like the nations that Yahweh had exiled away from their faces, and they did evil things to provoke Yahweh to anger. ¹² They even the served idols, about which Yahweh had said to them, “You must not do this thing.” ¹³ Yet Yahweh had brought warnings against Israel and against Judah by the hand of all of his prophets, every seer, by saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments, my statutes, according to all of the instruction that I have commanded your fathers, and that I have sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets.” ¹⁴ But they did not heed and they hardened their necks as the necks of their fathers who did not put trust in Yahweh their God. ¹⁵ Thus they rejected his statutes and his covenant that he had cut with their fathers, and his testimonies that he had admonished against them. So they walked after what was vanity and they became vain, and after the nations that were around them, that Yahweh had commanded them to not act like them. ¹⁶ Then they abadoned all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and they made molten metal for themselves, two calves. Also they made an Asherah pole, and they bowed down to all the host of the heavens and they served the Baal. ¹⁷ They even made their sons and their daughters pass through in the fire. Also they divined information by sorceries and hissing magic spells. Thus they sold themselves over by doing what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, as a result provoking him to anger. ¹⁸ Therefore Yahweh became exceedingly enraged at Israel so he removed them away from his faces. None was left except for the tribe of Judah by itself.

¹⁹ Even Judah did not keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, and they walked in the statutes of Israel that they had made. ²⁰ So Yahweh rejected all the seed of Israel, so he afflicted them and he gave them into the hand of plunderers, until that he had cast them away from his faces. ²¹ For he tore Israel away from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, king. Then Jeroboam seduced Israel away from following after Yahweh and he made them sin a great sin. ²² So the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, that he did. They did not turn away from it, ²³ until that Yahweh removed Israel away from his faces, according to what he had spoken by the hand of all his servants the prophets. Thus Israel went into exile away from its land to Assyria, to this day.

²⁴ Then the king of Assyria brought in from Babylon and from Kuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, that he had settle in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. So they took possession of Samaria and they lived in its cities. ²⁵ Now it happened at the beginning of their living there, they did not revere Yahweh. So Yahweh sent the lions among them and they were killing among them. ²⁶ So they said to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations that you have exiled and you have settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the judgments of the gods of the land. So he has sent the lions against them, and, look, they are killing them just because none of them know the judgments of the gods of the land.”

²⁷ So the king of Assyria commanded, by saying, “Have one of the priests go to there whom you have exiled from there, so they will go and they will settle there. Then they will instruct them about the judgments of the gods of the land.” ²⁸ So one of the priests whom they had exiled from Samaria came and he settled in Bethel. Then he was instructing them how they should revere Yahweh. ²⁹ However nation by nation they were making its gods, that they permitted to rest in the house at the high places that the Samaritans had made, nation by nation in their cities where they were settling there. ³⁰ Thus the men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, and the men of Kuthah made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, ³¹ and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak. Also the Sepharvites were burning their sons in the fire to Adrammelek and Anammelek, the gods of Sepharvim. ³² Although they were reverencing Yahweh, however they made for themselves from their divisions priests of high places, and they were performing on their behalf at the house of the high places. ³³ They were reverencing Yahweh while their gods they were serving, according to the judgments of the nations that they had exiled them from there.

³⁴ To this day they are acting according to the earlier judgments. They are not reverencing Yahweh, nor are they acting according to their statutes, and their judgments, and according to the instruction and according to the commandments that Yahweh had commanded the sons of Jacob, whom he set his name as Israel, ³⁵ and Yahweh had cut with them a covenant and he had commanded them by saying, “You must not fear other gods, and you must not bow yourselves down to them, and you must not serve them, and you must not sacrifice to them. ³⁶ But only Yahweh, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm, him you must fear, and to him you must bow yourselves down, and to him you must sacrifice. ³⁷ Also the statutes and the judgments, and the instruction and the commandment that he wrote for you, you must surely take care to do all the days, so you must not revere other gods. ³⁸ Therefore the covenant that I have cut with you, you must not forget, and you must not revere other gods. ³⁹ Surely if Yahweh your God you will revere, then he will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.” ⁴⁰ But they not heeded,for instead according to their earlier judgments they were behaving. ⁴¹ So these nations were reverencing Yahweh while their idols they were serving. Likewise their sons and the sons of their sons, just as their fathers had done, they were doing to this day.

Chapter 18

¹ Now it happened in the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah, the king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, the king of Judah, began to reign. ² He was a son of 25 years upon his beginning to reign and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. Now the name of his mother was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. ³ Now he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, like all that David his father had done. ⁴ He removed the high places, and he shattered the standing stones, and he cut down the Asherah and he crushed to pieces the serpent of bronze that Moses had made, because up to those days the sons of Israel were offering incense to it. However he called it “Nehushtan.” ⁵ He trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel, and after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, or who were before him. ⁶ For he clung to Yahweh, he did not turn away from following him but he kept his commandments, which Yahweh had commanded Moses. ⁷ So Yahweh was with him. In every way when he went out, he prospered. Also he rebelled against the king of Assyria and he did not serve him. ⁸ He struck Philistines as far as Gaza and its borders, from a tower of watchmen as well as a fortified city.

⁹ Now it happened in the fourth year of the King Hezekiah, it was the seventh year of Hoshea, the son of Elah, the king of Israel, Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, came up against Samaria and he encircled around it. ¹⁰ Then they captured it, at the end of three years. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Israel, Samaria was captured. ¹¹ Next the king of Assyria exiled Israel to Assyria and he led them to Halah, and to Habor, the river of Gozan, and Median cities, ¹² because that they did not heed the voice of Yahweh their God, but they passed aside his covenant, all that Moses, the servant of Yahweh, had commanded, thus they did not heed and they did not do.

¹³ Then in the 14th year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and he conquered them. ¹⁴ So Hezekiah, the king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria, to Lachish, saying, “I am at fault. Withdraw from against me. Whatever you place upon me, I will bear.” As a result the king of Assyria imposed upon Hezekiah, the king of Judah 300 rounds of silver and 30 rounds of gold. ¹⁵ So Hezekiah gave all the silver that was found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasuries of the house of the king. ¹⁶ At that time Hezekiah chopped off the doors of the temple of Yahweh and the columns that Hezekiah, the king of Judah, had overlaid, and he gave them to the king of Assyria. ¹⁷ Nevertheless the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshaken from Lachish to the King Hezekiah with a heavily armed army to Jerusalem. So they went up and they came to Jerusalem. Then they went up and they came in and they stood at the channel of the upper resevoir, that was along a raised path in a field of a launderer. ¹⁸ Then they called out to the King, and Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them.

¹⁹ Then Rabsakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What is this confidence in which you have trusted? ²⁰ You have said only a word from lips, a plan and might for battle. Now in whom have you trusted, that you would rebel against me? ²¹ Now, look, you have trusted for yourself in the staff of this bruised reed in Egypt, which should a man lean on it, it would go into his hand and it would puncture it. Thus is Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to anyone who is trusting in him. ²² But although you say to me, ‘We trust in Yahweh our God,’ is it not he whom Hezekiah has removed his high places and his altars, and he has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘Before this altar you must bow down in Jerusalem?’” ²³ So now, I insist, make a pledge with my master, with the king of Assyria, and I will give to you 2000 horses, if you are able to provide for yourself riders for them. ²⁴ So how would you repel the faces of the captain of one of the least servants of my master? Yet you trust for yourself in Egypt for chariotry and horsemen! ²⁵ Now even without Yahweh have I come up against this place in order to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”

²⁶ Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah said to Rabshekah, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we are listening. So do not speak Judean with us in the ears of the people who are on the wall.” ²⁷ But Rabshekah said to them, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words? Is it not for the men who are sitting on the wall, about to eat their excrement and to drink their urine with you?” ²⁸ Then Rabshekah stood up and he cried out in a loud voice in Judean, and he spoke and he said, “Listen to the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. ²⁹ Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah cause deception for yourselves, for he is not be able to pull you out of his hand. ³⁰ Also do not let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, by saying, ‘Yahweh 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: ‘Make a blessing with me and come out to me. Then eat, each man from his vine, and each man from his fig tree, and drink, each man from the waters of his well, ³² until my coming. Then I will take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive tree for fresh oil, and honey. Therefore live, and do not die.’ So do not listen to Hezekiah when he makes you persuaded by saying, ‘Yahweh will deliver us.’ ³³ Indeed, has any gods of the nations delivered his land out of 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? Indeed, have they rescued Samaria out of my hand? ³⁵ Who is among all the gods of the lands that has delivered their land from my hand? Indeed, will Yahweh deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

³⁶ But the people remained silent and they did not answer him a word, for it was a commandment of the king by saying, “You must not answer him".” ³⁷ Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah being torn of garments, and they reported to him the words of Rabshekah.

Chapter 19

¹ Now it happened upon the King Hezekiah hearing, that he tore his garments, and he covered himself with sackcloth, and he went into the house of Yahweh. ² Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the house, and Shebna, the scribe, and the elders of the priests, coverering themselves with sackcloth, to Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz. ³ Then they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, and rebuke, and humiliation, for sons have come to the birth canal, but there is no strength for childbirth. ⁴ Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear all the words of Rabshekah, because the king of Assyria his master, sent him to defy the living God, and he will decide about the words that Yahweh your God has heard. Now you should lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant that is found.’” ⁵ So the servants of the King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶ and Isaiah said to them, “Thus you will surely say to your master: ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Do not be afraid in the face of the words that you have heard, because the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. ⁷ Look, I am dispensing a spirit upon him, so he will hear a report. Then he will return to his land and I will make him fall by the sword in his land.”’” ⁸ Then Rabshekah returned and he found the king of Assyria was fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that he had journeyed away from Lachish. ⁹ When he heard concerning Tirhakah, the king of Cush being said, “look, he has gone forth to fight with you,” as a result he returned and he sent messengers to Hezekiah saying: ¹⁰ “Thus you will surely say to Hezekiah, the king of Judah, saying ‘Do not let your God whom you are trusting in him make you deceived, by saying, “Jerusalem will not be given over into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹¹ Look, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands by destroying them. However you yourself will be delivered? ¹² Have the gods of the nations delivered them, when my fathers annihilated Gozan, or Haran, or Rezeph, or the sons of Eden who were in Tel Assar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

¹⁴ Then Hezekiah took the letters from the hand of the messengers and he read them. Afterwards he went up to the house of Yahweh and Hezekiah spread it out before the faces of Yahweh. ¹⁵ Then Hezekiah prayed before the faces of Yahweh and he said, “O Yahweh, the God of Israel, dwelling amid the cherubim, you are he, the true God, you alone are over all the kingdoms of the earth. You yourself made the heavens and the earth. ¹⁶ Incline your ear, O Yahweh, and hear. Open your eyes, Yahweh, and see, and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to taunt the living God. ¹⁷ Truly, O Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their land. ¹⁸ Also they have put their gods into the fire, for they are not gods but rather a work of hands of man, some wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. ¹⁹ So now, O Yahweh our God, deliver us please from his hand, so all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you, Yahweh, are God, you alone.”

²⁰ Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, I have listened attentively. ²¹ This is the word that Yahweh has spoken about him:

     “A maiden, the daughter of Zion

         has contempt for you, has derision for you.

     The daughter of Jerusalem

         shakes a head at you.

     ²² Whom have you taunted and have you reviled?

         And against whom have you raised a voice

     and have you lifted your eyes upward?

         Against the Holy One of Israel!

     ²³ By the hand of your messengers

         you have defiled my Lord,

     and you have said,

         ‘With the multitude of my chariotry

     I myself have gone up to heights of mountains,

         the remotest parts of Lebanon.

     Then I will cut down the tallest of its cedars,

         the choicest of its cypress trees.

     Thus I may enter into its remotest lodging place,

         the thicket of its orchards.

     ²⁴ I myself have dug

         and I have drunk foreign waters.

     Indeed, I have dried up all the rivers of Egypt

         with the sole of my footstep.’

     ²⁵ Have you not heard for

         long ago I designed it,

     for from days of old that I formed it?

         Now I have brought it and it will happen

     by laying waste, fortified cities being devastated

         into ruins.

     ²⁶ Meanwhile, their inhabitants, being deficient of hand,

         they were in panic and they were ashamed.

     They were an herb of a field,

         or a vegetable in sprout,

     grass on roofs or

         blighted before being a stalk.

     ²⁷ But I know your sitting down,

         and your going out, and your coming in,

         and your raging against me.

     ²⁸ Because of your raging against me,

         and your arrogance has come up into my ears,

     now I will put my ring in your nose,

         and my bit in your lips.

     So I will turn you back

         on the way that you have come on it.”

²⁹ Now this will be the sign for you:

     this year eating only what grows on its own,

         and in the second year aftergrowth.

     But in the third year you must sow and you must harvest,

         and you must plant vineyards and you must eat their fruit.

     ³⁰ Then the escaped portion of the house of Judah who are remaining

         will again be a root going downward and it will make fruit going upward.

     ³¹ For out of Jerusalem a remnant will come forth,

         and an escaped portion from Mount Zion. The zeal of Yahweh will accomplish this. ³² Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria:

     “He will not enter into this city

         and he will not shoot an arrow there.

     Indeed, he will not confront it with shield,

         and he will not pour out a siege ramp against it.

     ³³ By the way which he comes,

         by it he will return,

         and he will not enter into this city,

             the declaration of Yahweh, ³⁴ For I will cover over this city in order to save it,

         for my sake and for the sake of David, my servant.’”

³⁵ Now it happened during that night that the messenger of Yahweh went forth and he struck against the camp of Assyria, 185,000. When they arose early in the morning, indeed, look, all of them dead bodies. ³⁶ So he journeyed, and he went and Sennacherib, the king of Assyria returned and he stayed in Nineveh. ³⁷ Now it happened as he was bowing down at the house of Nisrok, his gods, that Adrammelek and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. Then they escaped into the land of Ararat, and Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.

Chapter 20

¹ In those days Hezekiah became sick, about to die when Isaiah, the son of Amoz, the prophet, came to him, and he said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Give instruction to your house, for you are dying, and you will not live.’” ² Then he turned his face to the wall and he prayed to Yahweh, saying, ³ “I pray, O Yahweh, please remember how I walked about before your face in faithfulness and a whole heart, and the good in your eyes I have done.” Then Hezekiah wept a loud weeping. ⁴ Now it happened Isaiah had not gone out to the middle courtyard when the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, ⁵ “Turn back, and you must say to Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. Here I am, a healer for you. On the third day you will go up to the house of Yahweh. ⁶ Now I will add 15 years to your days, and I will rescue you and this city from the palm of the king of Assyria. Indeed I will hedge about this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.”’” ⁷ Then Isaiah said, “Take a pressed cake of figs.” So they took and they set on the inflamed spot, and he recovered.

⁸ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What is the sign that Yahweh will heal for me, so I will go up to the house of Yahweh on the third day?” ⁹ So Isaiah replied, “This will be the sign for you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do the thing that he has spoken. Has the shadow gone forward ten steps, or it will turn back ten steps?” ¹⁰ Then Hezekiah said, “It is easy for the shadow to go down ten steps. No, rather the shadow should turn backward ten steps.” ¹¹ So Isaiah the prophet cried out to Yahweh, and he reversed the shadow on the steps so that it went down on the steps of Ahaz backwards ten steps.

¹² At that time Berodak-Baladan, the son of Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had become sick. ¹³ Now Hezekiah heeded to them, and he showed them all his storehouse of value: the silver and the gold, and the spices and the best oil, and the storehouse of his armanents, and all that was found in his storehouses. There was not anything that Hezekiah did not show them, in his house or in all his realm. ¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet came to the king Hezekiah and he said to him, “What did these men say, and from where are they coming to you?” So Hezekiah replied, “They have come from a distant land, from Babylon.” ¹⁵ Then he said, “What did they see in your house?” So Hezekiah replied, “They have seen everything that is in my house. There was not anyhing that I have not shown them in my storehouses.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Yahweh: ¹⁷ ‘Look, days are coming when everything that is in your house, and that your fathers stored away to this day, will be carried to Babylon. Not anything will be left, says Yahweh. ¹⁸ Also from your sons who will come forth from you, who you will father, they will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” ¹⁹ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “Good is the word of Yahweh that you have spoken.” For he said, “Is it not, if there will be peace and stability in my days?” ²⁰ Now the rest of the matters of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the resevoir and the tunnel, and he brought the waters into the city, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Judah? ²¹ So Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son became king in his place.

Chapter 21

¹ Now Manasseh was a son of 12 years upon his beginning to reign, and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother was Hephzibah. ² Now he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, like the abominations of the nations that Yahweh had driven out away from the faces of the sons of Israel. ³ For he turned back, and he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he set up altars for Baal, and he made an Asherah pole, just as Ahab, the king of Israel, had done, and he bowed down to all the host of the heavens and he served them. ⁴ He also built altars in the house of Yahweh, where Yahweh had said, “In Jerusalem I will place my.” ⁵ He also built altars for all the host of the heavens in the two courts of the house of Yahweh. ⁶ He even made his son pass through in the fire, and he interpreted clouds as sorcery and he practiced divination and he practiced seeking information from the dead and conjurers. He escalated to do this evil in the eyes of Yahweh, thus provoking anger. ⁷ Then he placed the idol of the Asherah, that he had made, in the house about which Yahweh had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will place my name for forever. ⁸ Also I would not permit anymore to make the foot of Israel wander away from the ground that I gave to their fathers, if only they would take care to do according to all that I have commanded them, and to all the instruction that my servant Moses commanded them.” ⁹ But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray by doing what was evil, more than the nations that Yahweh had destroyed before the faces of the sons of Israel.

¹⁰ So Yahweh spoke by the hand of his servants the prophets, by saying, ¹¹ “By reason that Manasseh, the king of Judah, has done these abominations, that which is evil, more than all that the Amorite who was before him had done, and he has also made Judah sin with its idols, ¹² therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Look, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that all hearing it, his two ears will quiver. ¹³ So I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb bob of the house of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem just as one wipes a bowl, he wipes and it turns on its face. ¹⁴ Indeed I will leave the remnant of my inheritance alone and I will give them into the hand of their enemies. Thus they will be for spoil and for plunder for all their enemies, ¹⁵ by reason that they have done what is evil in my eyes, and they have been provoking me to anger from the day that their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even to this day.”

¹⁶ Indeed, Manasseh even poured out exceedingly much innocent blood, until that he had filled Jerusalem mouth to mouth, beside his sinfulness that he made Judah sin by doing what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. ¹⁷ Now the rest of the matters concerning Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Judah? ¹⁸ Then Manasseh slept with his fathers and he was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza. Then Amon his son became king in his place.

¹⁹ Amon was a son of 22 years upon his becoming king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. Now the name of his mother was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz from Jotbah. ²⁰ Now he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, just as Manasseh his father had done. ²¹ For he walked in all the way that his father had walked and he served the idols that his father had served, and he bowed down to them. ²² Thus he abandoned Yahweh, the God of his fathers, and he did not walk in the way of Yahweh. ²³ Then the servants of Amon conspired against him and they put the king to death in his house. ²⁴ However the people of the land struck down all who were conspiring against the King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. ²⁵ As for the rest of the matters concerning Amon that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Judah? ²⁶ Thus he buried him in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son became king in his place.

Chapter 22

¹ Josiah was a son of eight years upon his beginning to reign, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. Now the name of his mother was Yedidah, the daughter of Adaiah from Bozkath. ² Now he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh. Indeed he walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn away, right or left.

³ Now it happened in the 18th year of the king Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of Yahweh, saying, ⁴ “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest so he will use up the silver that has been brought into the house of Yahweh, which the keepers of the threshhold have gathered from the people. ⁵ Then let it be given into the hand of the ones doing the work, the ones overseeing at the house of Yahweh, so they will give it to the ones doing the work who are in the house of Yahweh, to strengthen the breach of the house, ⁶ to the craftsmen, and to the builders, and to the masons, also to buy timbers and stones from a quarry in order to strengthen the house.” ⁷ However the silver that was given into their hand was not accounted for by them, because they acted with trustworthiness.

⁸ Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the scroll of the instruction in the house of Yahweh.” So Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan, and he read it. ⁹ Then Shaphan the scribe came in to the king and he returned a report to the king, and he said, “Your servants have poured out the silver that was found in the house and they have given it into the hand of the ones doing the work, the ones overseeing the house of Yahweh.” ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the scribe explained to the king by saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given to me a scroll.” Then Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. ¹¹ Now it happened upon the king hearing the words in the scroll of the instruction, that he tore his garments. ¹² Then the king commanded Hilkiah, the priest, and Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Akbor, the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan, the scribe, and Asaiah, the servant of the king, by saying, ¹³ “Go! Inquire of Yahweh, on behalf of me, and on behalf of the people, and on behalf of all Judah, concerning the words of this scroll that has been found. For great is the wrath of Yahweh because it has been kindled against us by reason that our fathers did not heed to the words of this scroll by doing according to all that was written for us.”

¹⁴ So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Akbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah, the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the keeper of the garments. Now she was living in Jerusalem in the second part, and they spoke to her. ¹⁵ Then she said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Say to the man who sent you to me, ¹⁶ “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Look, I am bringing disaster to this place and to its inhabitants, all the things in the scroll that the king of Judah has read. ¹⁷ Because that they have forsaken me and they have burned incense to other gods, thus provoking me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore my wrath is kindled against this place, and it will not go out.’” ¹⁸ But to the king of Judah, the one sending you to inquire of Yahweh, thus you must say to him: “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘The things that you have heard, ¹⁹ because your heart became tender, and you have humbled yourself before the presence of Yahweh, upon your hearing what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, to become into a horror and as a curse, and you have torn your garments and you have wept before my face, so also I have heard, an utterance of Yahweh. ²⁰ So therefore, I am gathering you to your fathers, indeed you will be gathered to your sepulchers in peace. Thus your eyes will not look upon all the disaster that I am bringing upon this place.’”’” So they brought the king back a message.

Chapter 23

¹ As a result the king sent and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ² Then the king went up to the house of Yahweh, and every man of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both from small and to great. Next he read in their ears all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the house of Yahweh. ³ Then the king stood by the pillar and he cut the covenant in the presence of Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with a whole heart and with a whole being, in order to perpetuate the words of this covenant that were written in this scroll. So all the people stood by the covenant.

⁴ Next the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshhold to bring out of the temple of Yahweh all the vessels that were made for the Baal and for the Asherah, and for all the host of the heavens. Then he burned them towards outside of Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and he carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵ Also he made the pagan priests cease, whom the kings of Judah had designated so he burned incense at the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places around Jerusalem, and who were burning incense to the Baal, and to the sun, and to the moon, and to the constellations of the zodiac, and to all the host of the heavens. ⁶ Then he brought out the Asherah pole from the house of Yahweh, to outside of Jerusalem to the wadi Kidron and he burned it in the wadi Kidron. Then he made a powder of dust and he threw its dust over the burial area of the sons of the people. ⁷ He also tore down the houses for the male temple prostitutes that were by the house of Yahweh, where the women were weaving houses for Asherah there. ⁸ Then he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and he defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense on there, from Geba as far as Beersheba. He also tore down the high places at the gates that were along the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the prince of the city, that were at the left side of anyone at the gate of the city. ⁹ Although the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of Yahweh in Jerusalem, nevertheless they still ate unleavened bread in the midst of their brothers. ¹⁰ He also defiled the Topheth, which was in the Valley of the son of Hinnom, so as not to allow anyone to make his son or his daugther pass through the fire to the Molech. ¹¹ Then he put an end to the horses that the kings of Judah had given over to the sun, away from coming into the house of Yahweh, to the chamber of Nathan-Melek, the eunich, that was in the annex. He also burned the chariots of the sun in the fire. ¹² Also the king tore down the altars that were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, that the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Yahweh. Then he ran from there and he threw their dust into the wadi Kidron. ¹³ Also the king defiled the high places that were on the front face of Jerusalem, that were at the right of the mount of corruption that Solomon, the king of Israel, had built for Ashtoreth, the detestable idol of the Sidonians and for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab, and for Milcom, the abomination of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁴ Then he broke the standing pillars into pieces and cut down the Asherah poles and he filled their places with human bones.

¹⁵ Then he also tore down the altar that was at Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam, the son of Nebat had made, by which he had caused Israel to sin, both that altar and the high place he burned down. He pulverized the high place into dust and he burned an Asherah pole. ¹⁶ When Josiah turned and he saw the graves that were there on the hillside, then he sent out and he took the bones from the graves. Then he burned on the altar, thus he defiled it according to the word of Yahweh which the man of God had proclaimed, who had proclaimed these things. ¹⁷ Then he said, “What is this monument that I am seeing?” So the men of the city replied to him, “The grave of the man of God who came from Judah and he proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.” ¹⁸ So he said, “Allow rest for him. Let not anyone disturb his bones.” So they preserved his bones, along with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria. ¹⁹ Then Josiah also removed all the shrines on the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, that the kings of Israel had made, thus provoking to anger. So he did to them like all the deeds that he did at Bethel. ²⁰ Then he slaughtered all the priests of the high places who were there on the altars and he burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ Then the king commanded all the people, by saying, “Do Passover for Yahweh your God, according to what is written in this scroll of the covenant.” ²² For it had not been done as this Passover since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor all the days of the kings of Israel or the kings of Judah. ²³ But truly in the 18th year of the King Josiah, this Passover was done for Yahweh in Jerusalem.

²⁴ Now Josiah also destroyed in blazing fury the women sorcerers who talked with the dead and those with familiar spirits and the household idols, and the idol images and all the detestable idols that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, so as to perpetuate the words of the instruction that were written in the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of Yahweh. ²⁵ Now before him there was not a king like him, who had turned to Yahweh with all his heart, and with all his being, and with all his might, in accordance with all the instruction of Moses, neither after him none had arisen like him.

²⁶ Nevertheless, Yahweh did not turn away from the burning fury of his great anger, with which his anger kindled against Judah because of all the offences that Manasseh had provoked him to anger. ²⁷ So Yahweh said, “I will also remove Judah away from my faces, just as I have removed Israel, and I will reject this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, ‘My name will be there.’”

²⁸ Now the rest of the matters concerning Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Judah? ²⁹ In his days, Pharaoh Necho, the king of Egypt, had gone up against the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River, and the King Josiah had gone to meet him. But he killed him at Megiddo upon his seeing him. ³⁰ So his servants had him ride dying in a chariot from Megiddo, and they brought him to Jerusalem, and they buried him in his grave. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and they anointed him, and they made him king in place of his father.

³¹ Jehoahaz was a son of 23 years upon his becoming king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. Now the name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. ³² Now he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, like everything that his fathers had done. ³³ Then Pharaoh Necho bound him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, away from reigning in Jerusalem. Then he instituted a fine against the land, 100 rounds of silver and a round of gold. ³⁴ Then Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim, the son of Josiah, king in place of Josiah his father, and he turned his name into Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and he came into Egypt, and he died there. ³⁵ Now the silver and the gold Jehoiakim gave to Pharaoh. Only he assessed the land in order to give the silver according to the mouth of Pharoah, each man according to his assessment, he extracted forcibly, the silver and the gold, the people of the land in order to give to Pharoah Neco.

³⁶ Jehoiakim was a son of 25 years upon his beginning to reign, and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. Now the name of his mother was Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah. ³⁷ However he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, like everything that his fathers had done.

Chapter 24

¹ In his days, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came up, and Jehoiakim became a servant to him, three years. Then he turned back and he rebelled against him. ² Then Yahweh sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, and raiding bands from Aram, and raiding bands from Moab, and raiding bands of the sons of Ammon. Now he sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yahweh that he had spoken by the hand of his servants, the prophets. ³ Certainly it was according to the mouth of Yahweh against Judah, to remove out away from his faces, because of the sins of Manasseh, in accordance with all that he had done, ^{[1] 4} and also innocent blood that he had spilled, and he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, so Yahweh was not willing to forgive. ⁵ Now the rest of the matters concerning Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the chronicles of the days of the kings of Judah? ⁶ Then Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son became king in his place. ⁷ Then king of Egypt did not continue again to go forth out of his land, because the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt as far as the Euphrates River, everything that had been belonging to the king of Egypt.

⁸ Jehoiachin was a son of 18 years upon his beginning to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. Now the name of his mother was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem. ⁹ Now he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, like all that his father had done.

¹⁰ At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came up against Jerusalem and the city came into the state of besiegement. ¹¹ Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came to the city while his servants were besieging it, ¹² and Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his eunuchs. So the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reigning. ¹³ Then he brought out from there all the valuables in the house of Yahweh, and the valuables in the house of the king, and he cut into pieces all the vessels of gold that Solomon, the king of Israel, had made in the temple of Yahweh, just as Yahweh had spoken. ¹⁴ Then he led into exile all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighy ones of the army, exiling 10,000, and all of the skilled worker and the smith. No one was left except the poorest of the people of the land. ¹⁵ Thus he exiled Jehoiachin into Babylon, along with the mother of the king, and the wives of the king, and his eunuchs, and the mighy ones of the land, he led an exile from Jerusalem into Babylon. ¹⁶ Also all of the men of the army, 7,000, and the skilled workman, and the smith, 1,000, that all were mighty ones, who were experienced in warfare, however the king of Babylon brought them into exile at Babylon. ¹⁷ Now the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, his uncle, king in his place, and he turned his name into Zedekiah.

¹⁸ Zedekiah was a son of 21 years upon his beginning to reign and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. Now the name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. ¹⁹ Now he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh like everything that Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰ For because of the anger of Yahweh it happened in Jerusalem and in Judah, until he cast them out away from his faces. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Chapter 25

¹ Now it happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon came, he along with all his army against Jerusalem. Then he encamped around it, and they built a siege wall up to it all around. ² Thus the city came under the seige until the eleventh year of the king Zedekiah. ³ On the ninth of the month, then the famine took hold in the city so there was not bread for the people of the land. ⁴ Then the city was breached, and all the men of the battle during the night were at a path at a gate between the two walls, that were along the garden of the king. Now Chaldeans were upon the city all around, yet he went the way of the Arabah. ⁵ However the army of Chaldeans pursued after the king and they overtook him in the desert-plain near Jericho, as a result all his army was scattered away from him. ⁶ Thus they seized the king and they brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they pronounced judgment upon him. ⁷ Now they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, then he put out the eyes of Zedikiah, and he bound him with two bronze chains, and he brought him to Babylon.

⁸ Now in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month, it was in the 19th year, the year of the king Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, chief of executioners, the servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ⁹ Then he burned the house of Yahweh, and the house of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, indeed, every great house he burned in the fire. ¹⁰ Also all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the chief of executioners, tore down the walls of Jerusalem all around. ¹¹ Now the rest of the people who had been left in the city, and the fallen ones, who had fallen to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan, chief of executioners, led away into exile. ¹² But the chief of executioners did let some of the poorest of the land remain for vinedressers and for tillers.

¹³ Now the pillars of bronze that were in the house of Yahweh, and the pedestals and the sea of bronze that were in the house of Yahweh, the Chaldeans broke into pieces and they carried their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ Also the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze that they were ministering with them, they took. ¹⁵ Even the firepans and the bowls that were purest gold, and that were purest silver, the chief of executioners took. ¹⁶ The two pillars, the one sea, and the pedestals that Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh, there could not be a weighing on account of the bronze of all these vessels. ¹⁷ 18 in cubit was the height of the first pillar, and the capital on it was bronze. Now the height of the capital was three cubits, with latticework and pomegranates on the capital all around, that was entirely bronze. Also just as these were on the second pillar corresponding to the latticework.

¹⁸ Also the chief of the executioners took Seraiah the high priest, along with Zephaniah, a second priest, and the three keepers of the threshhold. ¹⁹ Then from the city he took one eunuch because he was an officer over the men of the battle, and five men from those seeing the faces of the king, who were found in the city and the scribe, the prince of the host, the one who drafted the people of the land, and 60, each man out of the people of the land who were found in the city. ²⁰ Then Nebuzaradan, the chief of the executioners, took them and he had them go to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹ However the king of Babylon struck them down and he put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah went into exile out away from its land.

²² Now the people who were remaining in the land of Judah, who Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon had allowed to remain, he even appointed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, over them. ²³ When all the princes of the armies, they and the men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, then they came to Gedaliah at the Mizpah with Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan, the son of Kareah, and Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth, the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah, the son of the Maakathite, they and their men. ²⁴ Then Gedaliah swore an oath to them and to their men, and he said to them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and he will be good to you.” ²⁵ But it happened in the seventh month Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, from the seed of the royalty, came with ten men with him and he struck down Gedaliah and as a result he died, along with the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him at the Mizpah. ²⁶ Then all the people, from least and up to great, and the princes of the troops, arose and they entered Egypt, because they were afraid of the faces of the Chaldeans.

²⁷ Now it happened in the 37th year of the exile of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, in the 12th month, on the 27th of the month, Awel-Marduk, the king of Babylon, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, out of the house of imprisonment, in the year of his beginning to reign. ²⁸ Then he spoke kindly with him and he set his seat higher than the seat of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹ He also changed his garments of imprisonment, and he would eat bread continually in his presence all the days of his life. ³⁰ Even his meal allowance was a regular meal allowance. A provision of a day in its day was given to him from the king all the days of his life.