Bible (Jewish Publication Society 1917)/II Chronicles

 

דברי הימים ב‎

SECOND CHRONICLES

1 And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly. ²And Solomon spoke unto all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every prince in all Israel, the heads of the fathers' houses. ³So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tent of meeting of God, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness. ⁴But the ark of God had David brought up from Kiriath-jearim to the place that David had prepared for it; for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem. ⁵Moreover the brazen altar, that Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, had been put before the tabernacle of the Lord; and Solomon and the congregation sought unto it. ⁶And Solomon offered there, upon the brazen altar before the Lord, which was at the tent of meeting, he offered a thousand burnt-offerings upon it.

⁷In that night did God, appear unto Solomon, and said unto him: 'Ask what I shall give thee.' ⁸And Solomon said unto God: 'Thou hast shown great kindness unto David my father, and hast made me king in his stead. ⁹Now, O Lord God, let Thy promise unto David my father be established; for Thou hast made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. ¹⁰Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this Thy people, that is so great?' ¹¹And God said to Solomon: 'Because this was in thy heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honour, nor the life of them that hate thee, neither yet hast asked long life, but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou mayest judge My people, over whom I have made thee king; ¹²wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee, and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and honour, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall there any after thee have the like.' ¹³So Solomon came [from his journey] to the high place that was at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting, unto Jerusalem; and he reigned over Israel.

¹⁴And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he placed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. ¹⁵And the king made silver and gold to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore-trees that are in the Lowland, for abundance. ¹⁶And the horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt; also out of Keve, the king's merchants buying them of the men of Keve at a price. ¹⁷And they fetched up, and brought out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of Aram, did they bring them out by their means.

¹⁸Now Solomon purposed to build a house for the name of the Lord, and a house for his kingdom. 2 ¹And Solomon counted out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand men that were hewers in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them. ²And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying: 'As thou didst deal with David my father, and didst send him cedars to build him a house to dwell therein [, even so deal with me]. ³Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to Him, and to burn before Him incense of sweet spices, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt-offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the appointed seasons of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance for ever to Israel. ⁴And the house which I build is great; for great is our God above all gods. ⁵But who is able to build Him a house, seeing the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? who am I then, that I should build Him a house, save only to offer before Him? ⁶Now therefore send me a man skilful to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and that hath skill to grave all manner of gravings, to be with the skilful men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide. ⁷Send me also cedar-trees, cypress-trees, and sandal-wood, out of Lebanon; for I know that thy servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and, behold, my servants shall be with thy servants, ⁸even to prepare me timber in abundance; for the house which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful. ⁹And, behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.'

¹⁰Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon: 'Because the Lord loveth His people, He hath made thee king over them.' ¹¹Huram said moreover: 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who hath given to David the king a wise son, endued with discretion and understanding, that should build a house for the Lord, and a house for his kingdom. ¹²And now I have sent a skilful man, endued with understanding, even Huram my master craftsman, ¹³the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave any manner of graving, and to devise any device; to do whatever may be set before him, with thy skilful men, and with the skilful men of my lord David thy father. ¹⁴Now therefore the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his servants; ¹⁵and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need; and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa; and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.'

¹⁶And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them; and they were found a hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred. ¹⁷And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people at work.

3 Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where [the Lord] appeared unto David his father; for which provision had been made in the Place of David, in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ²And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. ³Now these are the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the ancient measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. ⁴And the porch that was before [the house], the length of it, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and the height a hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold. ⁵And the greater house he covered with cypress-wood, which he overlaid with fine gold, and wrought thereon palm-trees and chains. ⁶And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty; and the gold was gold of Parvaim. ⁷He overlaid also the house, the beams, the thresholds, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubim on the walls.

⁸And he made the most holy place; the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents. ⁹And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

¹⁰And in the most holy place he made two cherubim of image work; and they overlaid them with gold. ¹¹And the wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long: the wing of the one cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was likewise five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub. ¹²And the wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits also, joining to the wing of the other cherub. ¹³The wings of these cherubim spread themselves forth twenty cubits; and they stood on their feet, and their faces were inward.

¹⁴And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubim thereon.

¹⁵Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high, and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.

¹⁶And he made chains in the Sanctuary, and put them on the tops of the pillars; and he made a hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains. ¹⁷And he set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.

4 Moreover he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits the length thereof, and twenty cubits the breadth thereof, and ten cubits the height thereof.

²Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and the height thereof was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. ³And under it was the similitude of oxen, which did compass it round about, for ten cubits, compassing the sea round about. The oxen were in two rows, cast when it was cast. ⁴It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set upon them above, and all their hinder parts were inward. ⁵And it was a handbreadth thick; and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it received and held three thousand baths.

⁶He made also ten lavers, and put five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them; such things as belonged to the burnt-offering they washed in them; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

⁷And he made the ten candlesticks of gold according to the ordinance concerning them; and he set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left.

⁸He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. And he made a hundred basins of gold.

⁹Furthermore he made the court of the priests, and the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid the doors of them with brass.

¹⁰And he set the sea on the right side [of the house] eastward, toward the south.

¹¹And Huram made the pots, and the shovels, and the basins. So Huram made an end of doing the work that he wrought for king Solomon in the house of God: ¹²the two pillars, and the bowls, and the two capitals which were on the top of the pillars; and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; ¹³and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks: two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars. ¹⁴He made also the bases, and the lavers made he upon the bases; ¹⁵one sea, and the twelve oxen under it. ¹⁶The pots also, and the shovels, and the flesh-hooks, and all the vessels thereof, did Huram his master craftsman make for king Solomon for the house of the Lord of bright brass. ¹⁷In the plain of the Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah. ¹⁸Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance; for the weight of the brass could not be found out.

¹⁹And Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of God, the golden altar also, and the tables whereon was the showbread; ²⁰and the candlesticks with their lamps, that they should burn according to the ordinance before the Sanctuary, of pure gold; ²¹and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold, and that perfect gold; ²²and the snuffers, and the basins, and the pans, and the fire-pans, of pure gold. And as for the entry of the house, the inner doors thereof for the most holy place, and the doors of the house, that is, of the temple, were of gold.

5 Thus all the work that Solomon wrought for the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had hallowed; even the silver, and the gold, and all the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the house of God.

²Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers' houses of the children of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. ³And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king at the feast, which was in the seventh month. ⁴And all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark. ⁵And they brought up the ark, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; these did the priests and the Levites bring up. ⁶And king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be counted nor numbered for multitude. ⁷And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto its place, into the Sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim. ⁸For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves thereof above. ⁹And the staves were so long that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before the Sanctuary; but they could not be seen without; and there they are unto this day. ¹⁰There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

¹¹And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place—for all the priests that were present had sanctified themselves, and did not keep their courses; ¹²also the Levites who were the singers, all of them, even Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and their brethren, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets—¹³it came even to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord: 'for He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever'; that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord, ¹⁴so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.

6 Then spoke Solomon:

The Lord hath said that He would dwell in the thick darkness.

²But I have built Thee a house of habitation,

And a place for Thee to dwell in for ever.

³And the king turned his face, and blessed all the congregation of Israel; and all the congregation of Israel stood. ⁴And he said: 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth unto David my father, and hath with His hands fulfilled it, saying: ⁵Since the day that I brought forth My people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that My name might be there; neither chose I any man to be prince over My people Israel; ⁶but I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name might be there; and have chosen David to be over My people Israel. ⁷Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ⁸But the Lord said unto David my father: Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house for My name, thou didst well that it was in thy heart; ⁹ nevertheless thou shalt not build the house, but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for My name. ¹⁰And the Lord hath established His word that He spoke; for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹¹And there have I set the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord, which He made with the children of Israel.' ¹²And he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands—¹³for Solomon had made a brazen scaffold, of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven—¹⁴and he said: 'O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like Thee, in the heaven, or in the earth; who keepest covenant and mercy with Thy servants, that walk before Thee with all their heart; ¹⁵who hast kept with Thy servant David my father that which Thou didst promise him; yea, Thou spokest with Thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with Thy hand, as it is this day. ¹⁶Now therefore, O Lord, the God of Israel, keep with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him, saying: There shall not fail thee a man in My sight to sit on the throne of Israel; if only thy children take heed to their way, to walk in My law as thou hast walked before Me. ¹⁷Now therefore, O Lord, the God of Israel, let Thy word be verified, which Thou spokest unto Thy servant David.

¹⁸But will God in very truth dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house which I have builded! ¹⁹Yet have Thou respect unto the prayer of Thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which Thy servant prayeth before Thee; ²⁰that Thine eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place whereof Thou hast said that thou wouldest put Thy name there; to hearken unto the prayer which Thy servant shall pray toward this place. ²¹And hearken Thou to the supplications of Thy servant, and of Thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place; yea, hear Thou from Thy dwelling-place, even from heaven; and when Thou hearest, forgive.

²²If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be exacted of him to cause him to swear, and he come and swear before Thine altar in this house; ²³then hear Thou from heaven, and do, and judge Thy servants, requiting the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

²⁴And if Thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, when they sin against Thee, and shall turn again and confess Thy name, and pray and make supplication before Thee in this house; ²⁵then hear Thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy people Israel, and bring them back unto the land which Thou gavest to them and to their fathers.

²⁶When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, when they sin against Thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess Thy name, turning from their sin, when Thou dost afflict them; ²⁷then hear Thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy servants, and of Thy people Israel, when Thou dost direct them on the good way wherein they should walk; and send rain upon Thy land, which Thou hast given to Thy people for an inheritance.

²⁸If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague or whatsoever sickness there be; ²⁹what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all Thy people Israel, who shall know every man his own plague and his own pain, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house; ³⁰then hear Thou from heaven Thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and render unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest—for Thou, even Thou only, knowest the hearts of the children of men—³¹that they may fear Thee, to walk in Thy ways, all the days that they live in the land which Thou gavest unto our fathers.

³²Moreover concerning the stranger, that is not of Thy people Israel, when be shall come out of a far country for Thy great name's sake, and Thy mighty hand, and Thine outstretched arm; when they shall come and pray toward this house; ³³then hear Thou from heaven, even from Thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to Thee for; that all the peoples of the earth may know Thy name, and fear Thee, as doth Thy people Israel, and that they may know that Thy name is called upon this house which I have built.

³⁴If Thy people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatsoever way Thou shalt send them, and they pray unto Thee toward this city which Thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for Thy name; ³⁵then hear Thou from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. ³⁶If they sin against Thee—for there is no man that sinneth not—and Thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive unto a land far off or near; ³⁷yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn, and make supplication unto Thee in the land of their captivity, saying: We have sinned, we have done iniquitously, and have dealt wickedly; ³⁸if they return unto Thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captive, and pray toward their land, which Thou gavest unto their fathers, and the city which Thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Thy name; ³⁹then hear Thou from heaven, even from Thy dwelling-place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause; and forgive Thy people who have sinned against Thee.

⁴⁰Now, O my God, let, I beseech Thee, Thine eyes be open, and let Thine ears be attent, unto the prayer that is made in this place.

⁴¹Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into Thy resting-place,

Thou, and the ark of Thy strength;

Let Thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation,

And let Thy saints rejoice in good.

⁴²O Lord God, turn not away the face of Thine anointed;

Remember the good deeds of David Thy servant.'

7 Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house. ²And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. ³And all the children of Israel looked on, when the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord was upon the house; and they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and prostrated themselves, and gave thanks unto the Lord; 'for He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever.'

⁴And the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord. ⁵And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ⁶And the priests stood, according to their offices; the Levites also with instruments of music of the Lord, which David the king had made, to give thanks unto the Lord, for His mercy endureth for ever, with the praises of David by their hand; and the priests sounded trumpets over against them; and all Israel stood. ⁷Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord; for there he offered the burnt-offerings, and the fat of the peace-offerings; because the brazen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt-offering, and the meal-offering, and the fat.

⁸So Solomon held the feast at that time seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entrance of Hamath unto the Brook of Egypt. ⁹And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly; for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. ¹⁰And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away unto their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that the Lord had shown unto David, and to Solomon, and to Israel His people.

¹¹Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord, and the king's house; and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of the Lord, and in his own house, he prosperously effected. ¹²And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him: 'I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to Myself for a house of sacrifice. ¹³If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people; ¹⁴if My people, upon whom My name is called, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. ¹⁵Now Mine eyes shall be open, and Mine ears attent, unto the prayer that is made in this place. ¹⁶For now have I chosen and hallowed this house, that My name may be there for ever; and Mine eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually. ¹⁷And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before Me as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep My statutes and Mine ordinances; ¹⁸then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I covenanted with David thy father, saying: There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel. ¹⁹But if ye turn away, and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; ²⁰then will I pluck them up by the roots out of My land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for My name, will I cast out of My sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. ²¹And this house, which is so high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall say: Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and to this house? ²²And they shall answer: Because they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them; therefore hath He brought all this evil upon them.'

8 And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of the Lord, and his own house, ²that the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there.

³And Solomon went to Hamathzobah, and prevailed against it. ⁴And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store-cities, which he built in Hamath. ⁵Also he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars; ⁶and Baalath, and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

⁷As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel; ⁸of their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, of them did Solomon raise a levy of bondservants, unto this day. ⁹But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.

¹⁰And these were the chief officers of king Solomon, even two hundred and fifty, that bore rule over the people.

¹¹And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her; for he said: 'No wife of mine shall dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of the Lord hath come.'

¹²Then Solomon offered burnt-offerings unto the Lord on the altar of the Lord, which he had built before the porch, ¹³even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the appointed seasons, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. ¹⁴And he appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the courses of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their charges, to praise, and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required; the doorkeepers also by their courses at every gate; for so had David the man of God commanded. ¹⁵And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures. ¹⁶So all the work of Solomon was set in order from the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord, and until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was perfected.

¹⁷Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, on the sea-shore in the land of Edom. ¹⁸And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had of the sea; and they came with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and fetched from thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.

9 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great train, and camels that bore spices and gold in abundance, and precious stones; and when she was come to Solomon, she spoke with him of all that was in her heart. ²And Solomon told her all her questions; and there was not any thing hid from Solomon which he told her not. ³And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, ⁴and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, and their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord; there was no more spirit in her. ⁵And she said to the king: 'It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom. ⁶Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it; and, behold, the half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me; thou exceedest the fame that I heard. ⁷Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, that stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom. ⁸Blessed be the Lord thy God, who delighted in thee, to set thee on His throne, to be king for the Lord thy God; because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made He thee king over them, to do justice and righteousness.'

⁹And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in great abundance, and precious stones; neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. ¹⁰And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon that brought gold from Ophir, brought sandal-wood and precious stones. ¹¹And the king made of the sandal-wood paths for the house of the Lord, and for the king's house, and harps and psalteries for the singers; and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah. ¹²And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which she had brought unto the king. So she turned, and went to her own land, she and her servants.

¹³Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold; ¹⁴beside that which the traffickers and merchants brought; and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one target; ¹⁶three hundred shields of beaten gold also: three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield; and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and arms on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms. ¹⁹And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps; there was not the like made in any kingdom.

²⁰And all king Solomon's drinking-vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. ²¹For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years came the ships of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

²²So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²³And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. ²⁴And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.

²⁵And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. ²⁶And he ruled over all the kings from the River even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. ²⁷And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore-trees that are in the Lowland, for abundance. ²⁸And they brought horses for Solomon out of Egypt, and out of all lands.

²⁹Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the words of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Jedo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ³⁰And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ³¹And Solomon slept with his fathers; they buried him in the city of David his father; and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

10 And Rehoboam went to Shechem; for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king. ²And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it—for he was in Egypt, whither he had fled from the presence of king Solomon—that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt. ³And they sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came, and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying: ⁴'Thy father made our yoke grievous; now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.' ⁵And he said unto them: 'Come again unto me after three days.' And the people departed.

⁶And king Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, that had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying: 'What counsel give ye me to return answer to this people?' ⁷And they spoke unto him, saying: 'If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.' ⁸But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men that were grown up with him, that stood before him. ⁹And he said unto them: 'What counsel give ye, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying: Make the yoke that thy father did put upon us lighter?' ¹⁰And the young men that were grown up with him spoke unto him, saying: 'Thus shalt thou say unto the people that spoke unto thee, saying: Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them: My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. ¹¹And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.'

¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king bade, saying: 'Come to me again the third day.' ¹³And the king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men, ¹⁴and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying: '[My father] made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.' ¹⁵So the king hearkened not unto the people; for it was brought about of God, that the Lord might establish His word, which He spoke by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶And when all Israel [saw] that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying: 'What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to your tents, O Israel; now see to thine own house, David.' So all Israel departed unto their tents. ¹⁷But as for the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. ¹⁸Then king Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the levy; and the children of Israel stoned him with stones, so that he died. And king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day.

11 And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, that were warriors, to fight against Israel, to bring the kingdom back to Rehoboam. ²But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying: ³'Speak unto Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying: ⁴Thus saith the Lord: Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren; return every man to his house, for this thing is of Me.' So they hearkened unto the words of the Lord, and returned from going against Jeroboam.

⁵And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defence in Judah. ⁶He built even Beth-lehem, and Etam, and Tekoa, ⁷and Beth-zur, and Soco, and Adullam, ⁸and Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph, ⁹and Adoraim, and Lachish, and Azekah, ¹⁰and Zorah, and Aijalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and in Benjamin, fortified cities. ¹¹And he fortified the strongholds, and put captains in them, and store of victual, and oil and wine. ¹²And in every city he put shields and spears, and made them exceeding strong. And Judah and Benjamin adhered to him.

¹³And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel presented themselves to him out of all their border. ¹⁴For the Levites left their open land and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; for Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priest's office unto the Lord; ¹⁵and he appointed him priests for the high places, and for the satyrs, and for the calves which he had made. ¹⁶And after them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek the Lord, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice unto the Lord, the God of their fathers. ¹⁷So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years; for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.

¹⁸And Rehoboam took him a wife, Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse; ¹⁹and she bore him sons: Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰And after her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines—for he took eighteen wives, and threescore concubines, and begot twenty and eight sons and threescore daughters. ²²And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief, even the prince among his brethren; for he was minded to make him king. ²³And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, unto every fortified city; and he gave them victual in abundance. And he sought for them many wives.

12 And it came to pass, when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and he was strong, that he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. ²And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had dealt treacherously with the Lord, ³with twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen; and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians. ⁴And he took the fortified cities which pertained to Judah, and came unto Jerusalem. ⁵Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them: 'Thus saith the Lord: Ye have forsaken Me, therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.' ⁶Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said: 'The Lord is righteous.' ⁷And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying: 'They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them; but I will grant them some deliverance, and My wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. ⁸Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know My service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.'

⁹So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house; he took all away; he took away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made. ¹⁰And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, that kept the door of the king's house. ¹¹And it was so, that as oft as the king entered into the house of the Lord, the guard came and bore them, and brought them back into the guard-chamber. ¹²And when he humbled himself, the anger of the Lord turned from him, that He would not destroy him altogether; and moreover in Judah there were good things found.

¹³So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned; for Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there; and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess. ¹⁴And he did that which was evil, because he set not his heart to seek the Lord.

¹⁵Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, after the manner of genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. ¹⁶And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David; and Abijah his son reigned in his stead.

13 In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah. ²Three years reigned he in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³And Abijah joined battle with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men; and Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, who were mighty men of valour. ⁴And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill-country of Ephraim, and said: 'Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel; ⁵ought ye not to know that the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? ⁶Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up, and rebelled against his lord. ⁷And there were gathered unto him vain men, base fellows that strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and faint-hearted, and could not withstand them. ⁸And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude, and there are with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods. ⁹Have ye not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the peoples of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same becometh a priest of them that are no gods. ¹⁰But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and we have priests ministering unto the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their work; ¹¹and they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening burnt-offerings and sweet incense; the showbread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening; for we keep the charge of the Lord our God; but ye have forsaken Him. ¹²And, behold, God is with us at our head, and His priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the Lord, the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.'

¹³But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them; so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them. ¹⁴And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind them; and they cried unto the Lord, and the priests sounded with the trumpets. ¹⁵Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶And the children of Israel fled before Judah; and God delivered them into their hand. ¹⁷And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter; so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. ¹⁸Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the Lord, the God of their fathers. ¹⁹And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Bethel with the towns thereof, and Jeshanah with the towns thereof, and Ephrain with the towns thereof. ²⁰Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and the Lord smote him, and he died. ²¹But Abijah waxed mighty, and took unto himself fourteen wives, and begot twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters. ²²And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo.

²³So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and Asa his son reigned in his stead; in his days the land was quiet ten years. 14¹And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God; ²for he took away the strange altars, and the high places, and broke down the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim; ³and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. ⁴Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images; and the kingdom was quiet before him. ⁵And he built fortified cities in Judah; for the land was quiet, and he had no war in those years; because the Lord had given him rest. ⁶For he said unto Judah: 'Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars; the land is yet before us, because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought Him, and He hath given us rest on every side.' So they built and prospered. ⁷And Asa had an army that bore bucklers and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand; all these were mighty men of valour.

⁸And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an army of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and he came unto Mareshah. ⁹Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephath at Mareshah. ¹⁰And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said: 'Lord, there is none beside Thee to help, between the mighty and him that hath no strength; help us, O Lord our God; for we rely on Thee, and in Thy name are we come against this multitude. Thou art the Lord our God; let not man prevail against Thee.' ¹¹So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. ¹²And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar; and there fell of the Ethiopians so that none remained alive; for they were shattered before the Lord, and before His host; and they carried away very much booty. ¹³And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for a terror from the Lord came upon them; and they spoiled all the cities; for there was much spoil in them. ¹⁴They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep in abundance and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.

15 And the spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded; ²and he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him: 'Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you, while ye are with Him; and if ye seek Him, He will be found of you; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you. ³Now for long seasons Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law; ⁴but when in their distress they turned unto the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found of them. ⁵And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great discomfitures were upon all the inhabitants of the lands. ⁶And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God did discomfit them with all manner of adversity. ⁷But be ye strong, and let not your hands be slack; for your work shall be rewarded.'

⁸And when Asa heard these words, even the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the detestable things out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord. ⁹And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and them that sojourned with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon; for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. ¹⁰So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. ¹¹And they sacrificed unto the Lord in that day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. ¹²And they entered into the covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; ¹³and that whosoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. ¹⁴And they swore unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with horns. ¹⁵And all Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought Him with their whole desire; and He was found of them; and the Lord gave them rest round about.

¹⁶And also Maacah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and made dust of it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. ¹⁷But the high places were not taken away out of Israel; nevertheless the heart of Asa was whole all his days. ¹⁸And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had hallowed, and that he himself had hallowed, silver, and gold, and vessels. ¹⁹And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.

16 In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa, Baasa king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. ²Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king's house, and sent to Ben-hadad king of Aram, that dwelt at ^[1]Damascus, saying: ³'There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father; behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasa king of Israel, that he may depart from me.' ⁴And Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtali. ⁵And it came to pass, when Baasa heard thereof, that he left off building Ramah, and let his work cease. ⁶Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasa had builded; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.

⁷And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him: 'Because thou hast relied on the king of Aram, and hast not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Aram escaped out of thy hand. ⁸Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge host, with chariots and horsemen exceeding many? yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, He delivered them into thy hand. ⁹For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is whole toward Him. Herein thou hast done foolishly; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars.' ¹⁰Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in the prison-house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.

¹¹And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ¹²And in the thirty and ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet; his disease was exceeding great; yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. ¹³And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign. ¹⁴And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had hewn out for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds [of spices] prepared by the perfumers' art; and they made a very great burning for him.

17 And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel. ²And he placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken. ³And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto the Baalim; ⁴but sought to the God of his father, and walked in His commandments, and not after the doings of Israel. ⁵Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presents; and he had riches and honour in abundance. ⁶And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord; and furthermore he took away the high places and the Asherim out of Judah.

⁷Also in the third year of his reign he sent his princes, even Ben-hail, and Obadiah, and Zechariah, and Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; ⁸and with them the Levites, even Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah, the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests. ⁹And they taught in Judah, having the book of the Law of the Lord with them; and they went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught among the people.

¹⁰And a terror from the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹And some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and silver for tribute; the Arabians also brought him flocks, seven thousand and seven hundred rams, and seven thousand and seven hundred he-goats. ¹²And Jehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly; and he built in Judah castles and cities of store. ¹³And he had many works in the cities of Judah; and men of war, mighty men of valour, in Jerusalem. ¹⁴And this was the numbering of them according to their fathers' houses: of Judah, the captains of thousands: Adnah the captain, and with him mighty men of valour three hundred thousand; ¹⁵and next to him Jehohanan the captain, and with him two hundred and fourscore thousand; ¹⁶and next to him Amasiah the son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself unto the Lord, and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valour; ¹⁷and of Benjamin: Eliada a mighty man of valour, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield; ¹⁸and next to him Jehozabad, and with him a hundred and fourscore thousand ready prepared for war. ¹⁹These were they that waited on the king beside those whom the king put in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.

18 Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance; and he allied himself with Ahab by marriage. ²And after a lapse of years he went down to Ahab to Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that were with him, and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth-gilead. ³And Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah: 'Wilt thou go with me to Ramoth-gilead?' And he answered him: 'I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war.'

⁴And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel: 'Inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord to-day.' ⁵Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said unto them: 'Shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?' And they said: 'Go up; for God will deliver it into the hand of the king.' ⁶But Jehoshaphat said: 'Is there not here besides a prophet of the Lord, that we might inquire of him?' ⁷And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat: 'There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord; but I hate him; for he never prophesieth good concerning me, but always evil; the same is Micaiah the son of Imla.' And Jehoshaphat said: 'Let not the king say so.' ⁸Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said: 'Fetch quickly Micaiah the son of Imla.' ⁹Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, and they sat in a threshing-floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them. ¹⁰And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron, and said: 'Thus saith the Lord: With these shalt thou gore the Arameans, until they be consumed.' ¹¹And all the prophets prophesied so, saying: 'Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper; for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.'

¹²And the messenger that went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying: 'Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one mouth; let thy word therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs, and speak thou good.' ¹³And Micaiah said: 'As the Lord liveth, what my God saith, that will I speak.' ¹⁴And when he was come to the king, the king said unto him: '^[2]Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?' And he said: 'Go ye up, and prosper; and they shall be delivered into your hand.' ¹⁵And the king said to him: 'How many times shall I adjure thee that thou speak unto me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord.' ¹⁶And he said: 'I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd; and the Lord said: These have no master, let them return every man to his house in peace.' ¹⁷And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat: 'Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?' ¹⁸And he said: 'Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting upon His throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right hand and on His left. ¹⁹And the Lord said: who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one spoke saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner. ²⁰And there came forth the spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said: I will entice him. And the Lord said unto him: Wherewith? ²¹And he said: I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And He said: Thou shalt entice him, and shalt prevail also; go forth, and do so. ²²Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets; and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.'

²³Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and smote Micaiah upon the check, and said: 'Which way went the spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee?' ²⁴And Micaiah said: 'Behold, thou shalt see on that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.' ²⁵And the king of Israel said: 'Take ye Micaiah; and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son; ²⁶and say: Thus saith the king: Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with scant bread and with scant water, until I return in peace.' ²⁷And Micaiah said: 'If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me.' And he said: 'Hear, ye peoples, all of you.'

²⁸So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the kind of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. ²⁹And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat: 'I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but put thou on thy robes.' So the king of Israel disguised himself; and they went into the battle. ³⁰Now the king of Aram had commanded the captains of his chariots, saying: 'Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel.' ³¹And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said: 'It is the king of Israel.' Therefore they turned about to fight against him; but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him; and God moved them to depart from him. ³²And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. ³³And a certain man drew his bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the lower armour and the breastplate; wherefore he said to the driver of the chariot: 'Turn thy hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am sore wounded.' ³⁴And the battle increased that day; howbeit the king of Israel stayed himself up in his chariot against the Arameans until the even; and about the time of the going down of the sun he died.

19 And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. ²And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat: 'Shouldest thou help the wicked, and love them that hate the Lord? for this thing wrath is upon thee from before the Lord. ³Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast put away the Asheroth out of the land, and hast set thy heart to seek God.'

⁴And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem; and he went out again among the people from Beer-sheba to the hill-country of Ephraim, and brought them back unto the Lord, the God of their fathers. ⁵And he set judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, ⁶and said to the judges: 'Consider what ye do; for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord; and [He is] with you in giving judgment. ⁷Now therefore let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed and do it; for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of bribes.'

⁸Moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set of the Levites and the priests, and of the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel, for the judgment of the Lord, and for controversies. And they returned to Jerusalem. ⁹And he charged them, saying: 'Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully, and with a whole heart. ¹⁰And whensoever any controversy shall come to you from your brethren that dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and ordinances, ye shall warn them, that they be not guilty towards the Lord, and so wrath come upon you and upon your brethren; thus shall ye do, and ye shall not be guilty. ¹¹And, behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the Lord; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, in all the king's matters; also the officers of the Levites before you. Deal courageously, and the Lord be with the good.'

20 And it came to pass after this, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. ²Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying: 'There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea from Aram; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar'—the same is En-gedi. ³And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek unto the Lord; and he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴And Judah gathered themselves together, to seek help of the Lord; even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. ⁵And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court; ⁶and he said: 'O Lord, the God of our fathers, art not Thou alone God in heaven? and art not Thou ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? and in Thy hand is power and might, so that none is able to withstand Thee. ⁷Didst not Thou, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend for ever? ⁸And they dwelt therein, and have built Thee a sanctuary therein for Thy name, saying: ⁹If evil come upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before Thee—for Thy name is in this house—and cry unto Thee in our affliction, and Thou wilt hear and save. ¹⁰And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom Thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned aside from them, and destroyed them not; ¹¹behold, they render unto us [evil], to come to cast us out of Thy possession, which Thou hast given us to inherit. ¹²O our God, wilt Thou not execute judgment on them? for we have no might against this great multitude that cometh against us; neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon Thee.' ¹³And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.

¹⁴Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, came the spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation; ¹⁵and he said: 'Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat: thus saith the Lord unto you: Fear not ye, neither be dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. ¹⁶To-morrow go ye down against them; behold, they come up by the ascent of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷Ye shall not need to fight in this battle; set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem; fear not, nor be dismayed; to-morrow go out against them; for the Lord is with you.' ¹⁸And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. ¹⁹And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with an exceeding loud voice.

²⁰And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said: 'Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper.' ²¹And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed them that should sing unto the Lord, and praise in the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and say: 'Give thanks unto the Lord, for His mercy endureth for ever.' ²²And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set liers-in-wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, that were come against Judah; and they were smitten. ²³For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.

²⁴And when Judah came to the watch-tower of the wilderness, they looked upon the multitude; and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and there were none that escaped. ²⁵And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches and dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much. ²⁶And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of ^[3]Beracah; for there they blessed the Lord; therefore the name of that place was called The valley of Beracah, unto this day. ²⁷Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go back to Jerusalem with joy; for the Lord had made them to rejoice over their enemies. ²⁸And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the Lord. ²⁹And a terror from God was on all the kingdoms of the countries, when they heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel. ³⁰So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet; for his God gave him rest round about.

³¹And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah; he was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. ³²And he walked in the way of Asa his father, and turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. ³³Howbeit the high places were not taken away; neither as yet had the people set their hearts unto the God of their fathers. ³⁴Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the words of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is inserted in the book of the kings of Israel.

³⁵And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah king of Israel; the same did very wickedly; ³⁶and he joined him with himself to make ships to go to Tarshish; and they made the ships in Ezion-geber. ³⁷Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying: 'Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath made a breach in thy works.' And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish.

21 And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead. ²And he had brethren the sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariahu, and Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. ³And their father gave them great gifts, of silver, and of gold, and of precious things, with fortified cities in Judah; but the kingdom gave he to Jehoram, because he was the first-born. ⁴Now when Jehoram was risen up over the kingdom of his father, and had strengthened himself, he slew all his brethren with the sword, and divers also of the princes of Israel. ⁵Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab; for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife; and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. ⁷Howbeit the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that He had made with David, and as He promised to give a lamp to him and to his children alway.

⁸In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves. ⁹Then Jehoram passed over with his captains, and all his chariots with him; and he rose up by night, and smote the Edomites that compassed him about, and the captains of the chariots. ¹⁰So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day; then did Libnah revolt at the same time from under his hand; because he had forsaken the Lord, the God of his fathers. ¹¹Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and made the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go astray, and drew Judah away. ¹²And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying: 'Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father: Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah; ¹³but hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go astray, like as the house of Ahab made [Israel] to go astray; and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father's house, who were better than thyself; ¹⁴behold, the Lord will smite with a great plague thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy substance; ¹⁵and thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness, day by day.'

¹⁶And the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians that are beside the Ethiopians; ¹⁷and they came up against Judah, and broke into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

¹⁸And after all this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease. ¹⁹And it came to pass, that in process of time, at the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness, and he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers. ²⁰Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years; and he departed joyless; and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.

22 And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead; for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned. ²Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri. ³He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab; for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly. ⁴And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as did the house of Ahab; for they were his counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction. ⁵He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead; and the Arameans wounded Joram. ⁶And he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which they had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. And Azariah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.

⁷Now the downfall of Ahaziah was of God, in that he went unto Joram; for when he was come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab. ⁸And it came to pass, when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, that he found the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, ministering to Ahaziah, and slew them. ⁹And he sought Ahaziah, and they caught him—now he was hiding in Samaria—and they brought him to Jehu, and slew him; and they buried him, for they said: 'He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.' And there was none of the house of Ahaziah that had power to hold the kingdom.

¹⁰Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah. ¹¹But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in the bed-chamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest—for she was the sister of Ahaziah—hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not. ¹²And he was with them hid in the house of God six years; and Athaliah reigned over the land.

23 And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into covenant with him. ²And they went about in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the heads of fathers' houses of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. ³And all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said unto them: 'Behold, the king's son shall reign, as the Lord hath spoken concerning the sons of David. ⁴This is the thing that ye shall do: a third part of you, that come in on the sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be porters of the doors; ⁵and a third part shall be at the king's house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation; and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord. ⁶But let none come into the house of the Lord, save the priests, and they that minister of the Levites; they shall come in, for they are holy; but all the people shall keep the charge of the Lord. ⁷And the Levites shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whosoever cometh into the house, let him be slain; and be ye with the king when he cometh in, and when he goeth out.'

⁸So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and they took every man his men, those that were to come in on the sabbath, with those that were to go out on the sabbath; for Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the courses. ⁹And Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spears, and bucklers, and shields, that had been king David's, which were in the house of God. ¹⁰And he set all the people, every man with his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, by the king round about. ¹¹Then they brought out the king's son, and put upon him the crown and the insignia, and made him king; and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him; and they said: 'Long live the king.'

¹²And when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of the Lord; ¹³and she looked, and, behold, the king stood on his platform at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets; the singers also [played] on instruments of music, and led the singing of praise. Then Athaliah rent her clothes, and said: 'Treason, treason.' ¹⁴And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds that were set over the host, and said unto them: 'Have her forth between the ranks; and whoso followeth her, let him be slain with the sword'; for the priest said: 'Slay her not in the house of the Lord.' ¹⁵So they made way for her; and she went to the entry of the horse gate to the king's house; and they slew her there.

¹⁶And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, and all the people, and the king, that they should be the Lord's people. ¹⁷And all the people went to the house of Baal, and broke it down, and broke his altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. ¹⁸And Jehoiada appointed the offices of the house of the Lord under the hand of the priests the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the Lord, to offer the burnt-offerings of the Lord, as it is written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, according to the direction of David. ¹⁹And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the Lord, that none that was unclean in any thing should enter in. ²⁰And he took the captains of hundreds, and the nobles, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the house of the Lord; and they came through the upper gate unto the king's house, and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom. ²¹So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet; and they slew Athaliah with the sword.

24 Joash was seven years old when he began to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. ²And Joash did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. ³And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begot sons and daughters.

⁴And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to restore the house of the Lord. ⁵And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them: 'Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter.' Howbeit the Levites hastened it not. ⁶And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and unto him: 'Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the tax of Moses the servant of the Lord, and of the congregation of Israel, for the tent of the testimony?' ⁷For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the hallowed things of the house of the Lord did they bestow upon the Baalim.

⁸So the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the Lord. ⁹And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in for the Lord the tax that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end. ¹¹And it was so, that at what time the chest was brought unto the king's officers by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king's scribe and the chief priest's officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it back to its place. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance. ¹²And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the Lord; and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the Lord, and also such as wrought iron and brass to repair the house of the Lord. ¹³So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set up the house of God in its state, and strengthened it. ¹⁴And when they had made an end, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, whereof were made vessels for the house of the Lord, even vessels wherewith to minister, and buckets, and pans, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt-offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada.

¹⁵But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days, and he died; a hundred and thirty years old was he when he died. ¹⁶And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and His house. ¹⁷Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and prostrated themselves before the king. Then the king hearkened unto them. ¹⁸And they forsook the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their guiltiness. ¹⁹Yet He sent prophets to them, to bring them back unto the Lord; and they admonished them, but they would not give ear.

²⁰And the spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said unto them: 'Thus saith God: Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the Lord, He hath also forsaken you.' ²¹And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord. ²²Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said: 'The Lord look upon it, and require it.'

²³And it came to pass, when the year was come about, that the army of the Arameans came up against him; and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus. ²⁴For the army of the Arameans came with a small company of men; and the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment upon Joash. ²⁵And when they were departed from him—for they left him in great diseases—his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings. ²⁶And these are they that conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess. ²⁷Now concerning his sons, and the multitude of the burdens against him, and the rebuilding of the house of God, behold, they are written in the commentary of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

25 Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. ²And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not with a whole heart. ³Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established unto him, that he slew his servants who had killed the king his father. ⁴But he put not their children to death, but did according to that which is written in the law in the book of Moses, as the Lord commanded, saying: 'The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin.'

⁵Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and ordered them according to their fathers' houses, under captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, even all Judah and Benjamin; and he numbered them from twenty years old and upward, and found them three hundred thousand chosen men, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield. ⁶He hired also a hundred thousand mighty men of valour out of Israel for a hundred talents of silver. ⁷But there came a man of God to him, saying: 'O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the Lord is not with Israel, even with all the children of Ephraim. ⁸But if thou wilt go, and do engage never so valiantly in battle, God will cast thee down before the enemy; for God hath power to help, and to cast down.' ⁹And Amaziah said to the man of God: 'But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel?' And the man of God answered: 'The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.' ¹⁰Then Amaziah separated them, to wit, the army that was come to him out of Ephraim, to go back home; wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in fierce anger.

¹¹And Amaziah took courage, and led forth his people, and went to the Valley of Salt, and smote of the children of Seir ten thousand. ¹²And other ten thousand did the children of Judah carry away alive, and brought them unto the top of the Rock, and cast them down from the top of the Rock, that they all were broken in pieces. ¹³But the men of the army whom Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even unto Beth-horon, and smote of them three thousand, and took much spoil.

¹⁴Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and prostrated himself before them, and offered unto them. ¹⁵Wherefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah, and He sent unto him a prophet, who said unto him: 'Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which have not delivered their own people out of thy hand?' ¹⁶And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that [the king] said unto him: 'Have we made thee of the king's counsel? forbear; why shouldest thou be smitten?' Then the prophet forbore, and said: 'I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel.'

¹⁷Then Amaziah king of Judah took advice, and sent to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying: 'Come, let us look one another in the face.' ¹⁸And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying: 'The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying: Give thy daughter to my son to wife; and there passed by the wild beasts that were in Lebanon, and trod down the thistle. ¹⁹Thou sayest—lo, thou hast smitten Edom; will thy heart therefore lift thee up to glory therein? abide now at home; why shouldest thou meddle with evil, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?' ²⁰But Amaziah would not hear; for it was of God, that He might deliver them into the hand [of their enemies], because they had sought after the gods of Edom. ²¹So Joash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth-shemesh, which belongeth to Judah. ²²And Judah was put to the worse before Israel; and they fled every man to his tent. ²³And Joash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim unto the corner gate, four hundred cubits. ²⁴And [he took] all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God with Obed-edom, and the treasures of the king's house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria.

²⁵And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years. ²⁶Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, behold, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? ²⁷Now from the time that Amaziah did turn away from following the Lord they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there. ²⁸And they brought him upon horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.

26 And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. ²He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. ³Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. ⁴And he did that, which was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. ⁵And he set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the vision of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.

⁶And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities in [the country of] Ashdod, and among the Philistines. ⁷And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gur-baal, and the Meunim. ⁸And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah; and his name spread abroad even to the entrance of Egypt; for he waxed exceeding strong. ⁹Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the Turning, and fortified them. ¹⁰And be built towers in the wilderness, and hewed out many cisterns, for he had much cattle; in the Lowland also, and in the table-land; and he had husbandmen and vinedressers in the mountains and in the fruitful fields; for he loved husbandry.

¹¹Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men, that went out to war by bands, according to the number of their reckoning made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king's captains. ¹²The whole number of the heads of fathers' houses, even the mighty men of valour, was two thousand and six hundred. ¹³And under their hand was a trained army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. ¹⁴And Uzziah prepared for them, even for all the host, shields, and spears, and helmets, and coats of mail, and bows, and stones for slinging. ¹⁵And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by skilful men, to be on the towers and upon the corners, wherewith to shoot arrows and great stones. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong.

¹⁶But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up so that he did corruptly, and he trespassed against the Lord his God; for he went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. ¹⁷And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, that were valiant men; ¹⁸and they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him: 'It pertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests the sons of Aaron that are consecrated it pertaineth to burn incense; go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thy honour from the Lord God.' ¹⁹Then Uzziah was wroth; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense; and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy broke forth in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the altar of incense. ²⁰And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out quickly from thence; yea, himself made haste also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him. ²¹And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a house set apart, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord; and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. ²²Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write. ²³So Uzziah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the field of burial which belonged to the kings; for they said: 'He is a leper'; and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

27 Jotham was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok. ²And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah had done; howbeit he entered not into the temple of the Lord. And the people did yet corruptly. ³He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord, and on the wall of Ophel he built much. ⁴Moreover he built cities in the hill-country of Judah, and in the forest he built castles and towers. ⁵He fought also with the king of the children of Ammon, and prevailed against them. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year a hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. So much did the children of Ammon render unto him, in the second year also, and in the third. ⁶So Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before the Lord his God. ⁷Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. ⁸He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. ⁹And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.

28 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, like David his father; ²but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for the Baalim. ³Moreover he offered in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. ⁴And he sacrificed and offered in the high places, and on the hills, and under every leafy tree. ⁵Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Aram; and they smote him, and carried away of his a great multitude of captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter. ⁶For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah a hundred and twenty thousand in one day, all of them valiant men; because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. ⁷And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king's son, and Azrikam the ruler of the house, and Elkanah that was next to the king. ⁸And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.

⁹But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out to meet the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them: 'Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was wroth with Judah, He hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage which hath reached up unto heaven. ¹⁰And now ye purpose to bring the children of Judah and Jerusalem into subjection for bondmen and bondwomen unto you; but are there not even with you acts of guilt of your own against the Lord your God? ¹¹Now hear me therefore, and send back the captives, that ye have taken captive of your brethren; for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.' ¹²Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Jehohanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against them that came from the war, ¹³and said unto them: 'Ye shall not bring in the captives hither; for ye purpose that which will bring upon us guilt against the Lord, to add unto our sins and to our guilt; for our guilt is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.' ¹⁴So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the congregation. ¹⁵And the men that have been mentioned by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm-trees, unto their brethren; then they returned to Samaria.

¹⁶At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him. ¹⁷For again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives. ¹⁸The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the Lowland, and of the South of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, and Aijalon, and Gederoth, and Soco with the towns thereof, and Timnah with the towns thereof, Gimzo also and the towns thereof; and they dwelt there. ¹⁹For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he had cast away restraint in Judah, and acted treacherously against the Lord. ²⁰And Tillegath-pilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not. ²¹For Ahaz stripped the house of the Lord, and the house of the king and the princes, and gave thereof unto the king of Assyria; but it helped him not.

²²And in the time of his distress did he act even more treacherously against the Lord, this same king Ahaz. ²³For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him; and he said: 'Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me.' But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel. ²⁴And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord; and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem. ²⁵And in every city of Judah he made high places to offer unto other gods, and provoked the Lord, the God of his fathers. ²⁶Now the rest of his acts, and all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem; for they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel; and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

29 Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old; and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. ²And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. ³He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them. ⁴And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the broad place on the east; ⁵and said unto them: 'Hear me, ye Levites: now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. ⁶For our fathers have acted treacherously, and done that which was evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and have forsaken Him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs. ⁷Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt-offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel. ⁸Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He hath delivered them to be a horror, an astonishment, and a hissing, as ye see with your eyes. ⁹For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. ¹⁰Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, that His fierce anger may turn away from us. ¹¹My sons, be not now negligent; for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before Him, to minister unto Him, and that ye should be His ministers, and offer unto Him.'

¹²Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah; ¹³and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; ¹⁴and of the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. ¹⁵And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and went in, according to the commandment of the king by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord. ¹⁶And the priests went in unto the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad to the brook Kidron. ¹⁷Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the Lord; and they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days; and on the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end. ¹⁸Then they went in to Hezekiah the king within [the palace], and said: 'We have cleansed all the house of the Lord, even the altar of burnt-offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the table of showbread, with all the vessels thereof. ¹⁹Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away when he acted treacherously, have we prepared and sanctified; and, behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.'

²⁰Then Hezekiah the king arose early, and gathered the princes of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord. ²¹And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he-goats, for a sin-offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the Lord. ²²So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and dashed it against the altar; and they killed the rams, and dashed the blood against the altar; they killed also the lambs, and dashed the blood against the altar. ²³And they brought near the he-goats for the sin-offering before the king and the congregation, and they laid their hands upon them; ²⁴and the priests killed them, and they made a sin-offering with their blood upon the altar, to make atonement for all Israel; for the king commanded that the burnt-offering and the sin-offering should be made for all Israel.

²⁵And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet; for the commandment was of the Lord by His prophets. ²⁶And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. ²⁷And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt-offering upon the altar. And when the burnt-offering began, the song of the Lord began also, and the trumpets, together with the instruments of David king of Israel. ²⁸And all the congregation prostrated themselves, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt-offering was finished. ²⁹And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves and prostrated themselves. ³⁰Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praises unto the Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves.

³¹Then Hezekiah answered and said: 'Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the Lord, come near and bring sacrifices and thank-offerings into the house of the Lord.' And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank-offerings; and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt-offerings. ³²And the number of the burnt-offerings, which the congregation brought, was threescore and ten bullocks, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt-offering to the Lord. ³³And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep. ³⁴But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt-offerings; wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the priests had sanctified themselves; for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests. ³⁵And also the burnt-offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace-offerings, and the drink-offerings for every burnt-offering. So the service of the house of the Lord was firmly established. ³⁶And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, because of that which God had prepared for the people; for the thing was done suddenly.

30 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord, the God of Israel. ²For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month. ³For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem. ⁴And the thing was right in the eyes of the king and of all the congregation. ⁵So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beer-sheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem; for they had not kept it in great numbers according as it is written.

⁶So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying: 'Ye children of Israel, turn back unto the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that He may return to the remnant that are escaped of you out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. ⁷And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, who acted treacherously against the Lord, the God of their fathers, so that He delivered them to be an astonishment, as ye see. ⁸Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were; but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into His sanctuary, which He hath sanctified for ever, and serve the Lord your God, that His fierce anger may turn away from you. ⁹For if ye turn back unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that led them captive, and shall come back into this land; for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away His face from you, if ye return unto Him.'

¹⁰So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun; but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them. ¹¹Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem. ¹²Also in Judah was the hand of God to give them one heart, to do the commandment of the king and of the princes by the word of the Lord.

¹³And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation. ¹⁴And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron. ¹⁵Then they killed the passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month; and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought burnt-offerings into the house of the Lord. ¹⁶And they stood in their place after their order, according to the law of Moses the man of God; the priests dashed the blood, which they received of the hand of the Levites. ¹⁷For there were many in the congregation that had not sanctified themselves; therefore the Levites had the charge of killing the passover lambs for every one that was not clean, to sanctify them unto the Lord. ¹⁸For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it is written. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying: 'The good Lord pardon ¹⁹every one that setteth his heart to seek God, the Lord, the God of his fathers, though [he be] not [cleansed] according to the purification that pertaineth to holy things.' ²⁰And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people. ²¹And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the Lord. ²²And Hezekiah spoke encouragingly unto all the Levites that were well skilled in the service of the Lord. So they did eat throughout the feast for the seven days, offering sacrifices of peace-offerings, and giving thanks to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

²³And the whole congregation took counsel to keep other seven days; and they kept other seven days with gladness. ²⁴For Hezekiah king of Judah did give to the congregation for offerings a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep; and priests sanctified themselves in great numbers. ²⁵And all the congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah, rejoiced. ²⁶So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem. ²⁷Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people; and their voice was heard [of the Lord], and their prayer came up to His holy habitation, even unto heaven.

31 Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke in pieces the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, and broke down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.

²And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priest and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service, both the priests and the Levites, for burnt-offerings and for peace-offerings, to minister, and to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the camp of the Lord. ³He appointed also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt-offerings, to wit, for the morning and evening burnt-offerings, and the burnt-offerings for the sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the appointed seasons, as it is written in the Law of the Lord. ⁴Moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves to the law of the Lord. ⁵And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel gave in abundance the first-fruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly. ⁶And the children of Israel and Judah, that dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of hallowed things which were hallowed unto the Lord their God, and laid them by heaps. ⁷In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. ⁸And when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord, and His people Israel. ⁹Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. ¹⁰And Azariah the chief priest, of the house of Zadok, answered him and said: 'Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have eaten and had enough, and have left plenty; for the Lord hath blessed His people; and that which is left is this great store.'

¹¹Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of the Lord; and they prepared them. ¹²And they brought in the offerings and the tithes and the hallowed things faithfully; and over them Conaniah the Levite was ruler, and Shimei his brother was second. ¹³And Jehiel, and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah, were overseers under the hand of Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king, and Azariah the ruler of the house of God. ¹⁴And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the porter at the east gate, was over the freewill-offerings of God, to distribute the offerings of the Lord, and the most holy things. ¹⁵And under him were Eden, and Miniamin, and Jeshua, and Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in their office of trust, to give to their brethren by courses, as well to the great as to the small; ¹⁶beside them that were reckoned by genealogy of males, from three years old and upward, even every one that entered into the house of the Lord, for his daily portion, for their service in their charges according to their courses; ¹⁷and them that were reckoned by genealogy of the priests by their fathers' houses, and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, in their charges by their courses; ¹⁸even to give to them that were reckoned by genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, through all the congregation; for in their office of trust they administered the sacred gifts; ¹⁹also for the sons of Aaron the priests, that were in the fields of the open land about their cities, in every city, there were men that were mentioned by name, to give portions to all the males among the priests, and to all that were reckoned by genealogy among the Levites.

²⁰And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah; and he wrought that which was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. ²¹And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

32 After these things, and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, and thought to make a breach therein for himself. ²And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, ³he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city; and they helped him. ⁴So there was gathered much people together, and they stopped all the fountains, and the brook that flowed through the midst of the land, saying: 'Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?' ⁵And he took courage, and built up all the wall that was broken down, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and strengthened Millo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in abundance. ⁶And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the broad place at the gate of the city, and spoke encouragingly to them, saying: ⁷'Be strong and of good courage, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him; for there is a Greater with us than with him: ⁸with him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles.' And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

⁹After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem—now he was before Lachish, and all his power with him—unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying: ¹⁰'Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria: Whereon do ye trust, that ye abide the siege in Jerusalem? ¹¹Doth not Hezekiah persuade you, to give you over to die by famine and by thirst, saying: The Lord our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹²Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away His high places and His altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying: Ye shall worship before one altar, and upon it shall ye offer? ¹³Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands in any wise able to deliver their land out of my hand? ¹⁴Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand? ¹⁵Now therefore let not Hezekiah beguile you, nor persuade you after this manner, neither believe ye him; for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers; how much less shall your God deliver you out of my hand?'

¹⁶And his servants spoke yet more against the Lord God, and against His servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷He wrote also a letter, to taunt the Lord, the God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying: 'As the gods of the nations of the lands, which have not delivered their people out of my hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver His people out of my hand.' ¹⁸And they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to terrify them, and to affright them; that they might take the city. ¹⁹And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem, as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men's hands.

²⁰And Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, prayed because of this, and cried to heaven. ²¹And the Lord sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword. ²²Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all, and guided them on every side. ²³And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah; so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.

²⁴In those days Hezekiah was sick even unto death; and he prayed unto the Lord; and He spoke unto him, and gave him a sign. ²⁵But Hezekiah rendered not according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up; therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁶Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

²⁷And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour; and he provided him treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of goodly vessels; ²⁸store-houses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and flocks in folds. ²⁹Moreover he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance; for God had given him very much substance. ³⁰This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon, and brought them straight down on the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. ³¹Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that He might know all that was in his heart.

³²Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his good deeds, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ³³And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the ascent of the sepulchres of the sons of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

33 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. ²And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the nations, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. ³For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars for the Baalim, and made Asheroth, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. ⁴And he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord said: 'In Jerusalem shall My name be for ever.' ⁵And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. ⁶He also made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and he practised soothsaying, and used enchantments, and practised sorcery, and appointed them that divined by a ghost or a familiar spirit; he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him. ⁷And he set the graven image of the idol, which he had made, in the house of God, of which God 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, will I put My name for ever; ⁸neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers; if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.' ⁹And Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, so that they did evil more than did the nations, whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.

¹⁰And the Lord spoke to Manasseh, and to his people; but they gave no heed. ¹¹Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. ¹²And when he was in distress, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. ¹³And he prayed unto Him; and He was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord He was God.

¹⁴Now after this he built an outer wall to the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at the fish gate; and he compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height; and he put captains of the army in all the fortified cities of Judah. ¹⁵And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. ¹⁶And he built up the altar of the Lord, and offered thereon sacrifices of peace-offerings and of thanksgiving, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁷Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, but only unto the Lord their God.

¹⁸Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, behold, they are written among the acts of the kings of Israel. ¹⁹His prayer also, and how [God] was entreated of him, and all his sin and his transgression, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up the Asherim and the graven images, before he humbled himself; behold, they are written in the history of the seers. ²⁰So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house; and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

²¹Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. ²²And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as did Manasseh his father; and Amon sacrificed unto all the graven images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them. ²³And he humbled not himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but this same Amon became guilty more and more. ²⁴And his servants conspired against him, and put him to death in his own house. ²⁵But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.

34 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. ²And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. ³For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images. ⁴And they broke down the altars of the Baalim in his presence; and the sun-images, that were on high above them, he hewed down; and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. ⁵And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their axes round about. ⁷And he broke down the altars, and beat the Asherim and the graven images into powder, and hewed down all the sun-images throughout all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.

⁸Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God. ⁹And they came to Hilkiah the high priest, and delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the door, had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin, and they returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁰And they delivered it into the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the Lord; and the workmen that wrought in the house of the Lord gave it to mend and repair the house; ¹¹even to the carpenters and to the builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. ¹²And the men did the work faithfully; and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to preside over it; and other of the Levites, all that had skill with instruments of music. ¹³Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and presided over all that did the work in every manner of service; and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.

¹⁴And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses. ¹⁵and Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe: 'I have found the book of the Law in the house of the Lord.' And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. ¹⁶And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and moreover brought back word unto the king, saying: 'All that was committed to thy servants, they do it. ¹⁷And they have poured out the money that was found in the house of the Lord, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and into the hand of the workmen.' ¹⁸And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying: 'Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book.' And Shaphan read therein before the king. ¹⁹And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the Law, that he rent his clothes. ²⁰And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying: ²¹'Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according unto all that is written in this book.'

²²So Hilkiah, and they whom the king [had commanded], went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe—now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter—and they spoke to her to that effect. ²³And she said unto them: 'Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Tell ye the man that sent you unto me: ²⁴Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah; ²⁵because they have forsaken Me, and have offered unto other gods, that they might provoke Me with all the works of their hands; therefore is My wrath poured out upon this place, and it shall not be quenched. ²⁶But unto the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say to him: Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: As touching the words which thou hast heard, ²⁷because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest His words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and hast humbled thyself before Me, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. ²⁸Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof.' And they brought back word unto the king.

²⁹Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, both great and small; and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord. ³¹And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments, and His testimonies, and His statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. ³²And he caused all that were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. ³³And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were found in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God. All his days they departed not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.

35 And Josiah kept a passover unto the Lord in Jerusalem; and they killed the passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month. ²And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the Lord. ³And he said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, that were holy unto the Lord: 'Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; there shall no more be a burden upon your shoulders; now serve the Lord your God, and His people Israel. ⁴And prepare ye after your fathers' houses by your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son. ⁵And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers'houses of your brethren the children of the people, and [let there be for each] a portion of a father's house of the Levites. ⁶And kill the passover lamb, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brethren, to do according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.'

⁷And Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all of them for the passover-offerings, unto all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks; these were of the king's substance. ⁸And his princes gave willingly unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, the rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover-offerings two thousand and six hundred [small cattle], and three hundred oxen. ⁹Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave unto the Levites for the passover-offerings five thousand [small cattle], and five hundred oxen.

¹⁰So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their courses, according to the king's commandment. ¹¹And they killed the passover lamb, and the priests dashed [the blood, which they received] of their hand, and the Levites flayed them. ¹²And they removed the portions that were to be burnt, that they might give them to the divisions of the fathers'houses of the children of the people, to present unto the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen. ¹³And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance; and the holy offerings sod they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people. ¹⁴And afterward they prepared for themselves, and for the priests; because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering the portions that were to be burnt and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron. ¹⁵And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the porters were at every gate; they needed not to depart from their service, for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.

¹⁶So all the service of the Lord was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt-offerings upon the altar of the Lord, according to the commandment of king Josiah. ¹⁷And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. ¹⁸And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did any of the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁹In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.

²⁰After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates; and Josiah went out against him. ²¹But he sent ambassadors to him, saying: 'What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war; and God hath given command to speed me; forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that He destroy thee not.' ²²Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Neco, from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. ²³And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants: 'Have me away; for I am sore wounded.' ²⁴So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. ²⁵And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations, unto this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel; and, behold, they are written in the lamentations. ²⁶Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds, according to that which is written in the Law of the Lord, ²⁷and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

36 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem. ²Joahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. ³And the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem, and fined the land a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. ⁴And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Neco took Joahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.

⁵Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. ⁶Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. ⁷Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. ⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah; and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

⁹Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem; and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁰And at the return of the year king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the Lord, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

¹¹Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; ¹²and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God; he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord. ¹³And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God; but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁴Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, transgressed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted the house of the Lord which He had hallowed in Jerusalem. ¹⁵And the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent to them by His messengers, sending betimes and often; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling-place; ¹⁶but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.

¹⁷Therefore He brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man or hoary-headed; He gave them all into his hand. ¹⁸And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. ¹⁹And they burnt the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. ²⁰And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia; ²¹to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had been paid her sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

²²Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying: ²³'Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord, the God of heaven, given me; and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you of all His people—the Lord his God be with him—let him go up.'

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1. Heb. Darmesek, and in xxiv. 23; xxviii. 5, 23.
2. Heb. Micah.
3. That is, Blessing.