Jubilee2000 - II Kings

Chapter 1

1:1  Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.

1:2  And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that [was] in Samaria and was sick, and he sent messengers and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this disease.

1:3  But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and thou shalt say unto them, Is there no God in Israel, [that] ye go to enquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron?

1:4  Now therefore, thus hath the LORD said, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed.

1:5  And when the messengers turned back unto him, he said unto them, Why are ye now turned back?

1:6  And they said unto him, We met a man who said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you and say unto him, Thus hath the LORD said, Is there no God in Israel, [that] thou dost send to enquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.

1:7  Then he said unto them, What manner of man [was he] who came up to meet you and told you these words?

1:8  And they answered him, [He was] a hairy man and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It [is] Elijah, the Tishbite.

1:9  Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him, and, behold, he sat on the top of a mountain. And he spoke unto him, Man of God, the king has commanded thee to come down.

1:10  And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I [am] a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And fire came down from heaven, that consumed him and his fifty.

1:11  Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly.

1:12  And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I [am] a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

1:13  And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up and came and fell on his knees before Elijah and besought him and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight.

1:14  Behold, fire has come down from heaven and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties; therefore, let my soul now be precious in thy sight.

1:15  Then the angel of the LORD said unto Elijah, Go down with him; do not be afraid of him. And he arose and went down with him unto the king.

1:16  And he said unto him, Thus hath the LORD said, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to enquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, peradventure is there no God in Israel to enquire of his word? Therefore, thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.

1:17  So he died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram ([son of Ahab]) reigned in his stead, in the second year of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, because [Ahaziah] had no son.

1:18  Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?:

Chapter 2

2:1  And it came to pass, when the LORD would take Elijah up into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.

2:2  And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD has sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said [unto him], [As] the LORD lives and [as] thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel.

2:3  And the sons of the prophets that [were] at Bethel came forth to Elisha and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head today? And he said, Yes, I know [it]; be silent.

2:4  And Elijah said unto him again, Elisha, tarry here, for the LORD has sent me to Jericho. And he said, [As] the LORD lives and [as] thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho.

2:5  And the sons of the prophets that [were] at Jericho came to Elisha and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head today? And he answered, Yes, I know [it]; be silent.

2:6  And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here, for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan. And he said, [As] the LORD lives and [as] thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. And [thus] the two went on.

2:7  And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood in front of them afar off; and the two of them stood by the Jordan.

2:8  And Elijah took his mantle and wrapped [it] together and smote the waters, and they separated to one side and the other so that they both went over on dry ground.

2:9  And when they had gone over, Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee before I am taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.

2:10  And he said, Thou hast asked a difficult thing. If thou shalt see me [when I am] taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee, but if not, it shall not be so.

2:11  And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked, that, behold, a chariot of fire with horses of fire separated the two, and Elijah went up into heaven in a whirlwind.

2:12  And as Elisha saw [it], he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more, and he took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces.

2:13  And lifting up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, he went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.

2:14  And taking up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, he smote the waters, and said, Where [is] the LORD God of Elijah? And when he smote the waters, they separated to one side and the other, and Elisha went over.

2:15  And seeing him, the sons of the prophets who [were] at Jericho said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

2:16  And they said unto him, Behold now, there are fifty strong men with thy servants; let them go and seek thy master; peradventure the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley. And he said, Do not send [them].

2:17  But when they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men, and they sought him three days, but did not find him.

2:18  And when they came again to him (for he tarried at Jericho), he said unto them, Did I not tell you to not go?

2:19  And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, the seat of this city [is] good, as my lord sees, but the water [is] evil, and the ground barren.

2:20  Then he said, Bring me a new cruse and put salt in it. And they brought [it] to him.

2:21  And he went forth unto the springs of the waters and cast the salt in there and said, Thus hath the LORD said, I have healed these waters; there shall be no more death or barrenness in them.

2:22  So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the word which Elisha spoke.

2:23  Then he went up from there unto Bethel, and as he was going up by the way, the young men of the city came forth and mocked him, saying, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.

2:24  And he turned back and looked on them and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And two bears came forth out of the forest and tore apart forty-two young men of them.

2:25  And he went from there to mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.:

Chapter 3

3:1  Now Jehoram, the son of Ahab, began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.

3:2  And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, but not like his father and like his mother, for he put away the images of Baal that his father had made.

3:3  Nevertheless, he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin; he did not depart from them.

3:4  And Mesha, king of Moab, was a pastor and rendered unto the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs and one hundred thousand rams, with the wool.

3:5  But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

3:6  And King Jehoram went out of Samaria the same time and numbered all Israel.

3:7  And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab has rebelled against me; wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up; I [am] as thou [art], my people as thy people [and] my horses as thy horses.

3:8  And he said, Which way shall we go up? And he answered, The way through the wilderness of Edom.

3:9  So the king of Israel went and the king of Judah and the king of Edom, and as they walked round about seven days' journey through the desert, there was no water for the host or for the beasts that followed them.

3:10  Then the king of Israel said, Alas! The LORD has called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab!

3:11  But Jehoshaphat said, [Is there] not a prophet of the LORD here, that we may enquire of the LORD by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here [is] Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.

3:12  And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the LORD is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

3:13  Then Elisha said unto the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? Go to the prophets of thy father and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, No, for the LORD has called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab.

3:14  And Elisha said, [As] the LORD of the hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee nor see thee.

3:15  But now bring me a minstrel. And when the minstrel played, the hand of the LORD came upon him;

3:16  and he said, Thus hath the LORD said, Make this valley full of ditches.

3:17  For thus hath the LORD said, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet this valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye and your livestock and your beasts.

3:18  And this is [but] a light thing in the sight of the LORD; he will also deliver the Moabites into your hands.

3:19  And ye shall smite every fenced city and every choice city and shall fell every good tree and stop every fountain of water and mar every good piece of land with stones.

3:20  And it came to pass in the morning, when the present was offered, that water came by the way of Edom, and the land was filled with water.

3:21  And when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered all that were able to gird on a girdle and upward and stood in the border.

3:22  And when they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water before them [as] red as blood;

3:23  and they said, This [is] blood; the kings are surely slain, and they have smitten one another. Now therefore, Moab, to the spoil.

3:24  But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites so that they fled before them, but they went forward smiting the Moabites, even in [their] country.

3:25  And they beat down the cities, and on every good piece of land each man cast his stone and filled it, and they stopped all the fountains of water and felled all the good trees until they left their stones only in Kirharaseth, for the slingers went about [it] and smote it.

3:26  And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was overcoming him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords to break through unto the king of Edom, but they could not.

3:27  Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead and offered him [for] a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great indignation in Israel, and they departed from him and returned to [their own] land.:

Chapter 4

4:1  Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant, my husband, is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant feared the LORD; and the creditor is come to take my two sons to be his servants.

4:2  And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me what thou hast in the house? And she said, Thy handmaid has nothing in the house except a flask of oil.

4:3  And he said, Go, borrow vessels from all thy neighbours, empty vessels; borrow not a few.

4:4  Then enter in and shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons and pour out into all those vessels, and as each one is full, set it aside.

4:5  So she went from him and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought [the vessels] to her, and she poured out [the oil].

4:6  And when the vessels were full, she said unto her son, Bring me yet [another] vessel. And he said unto her, [There are] no more vessels. Then the oil stopped [flowing].

4:7  Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell this oil and pay thy debtors and live thou and thy sons of the rest.

4:8  And it also happened that one day Elisha passed through Shunem, where [there was] an important woman, and she constrained him to eat bread. And [so] it was, [that] as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread.

4:9  And she said to her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this [is] a holy man of God, who passes by us continually.

4:10  Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall, and let us set for him there a bed and a table and a stool and a candlestick so that when he comes to us, he shall turn in there.

4:11  And it came to pass one day that he came there, and he turned into the chamber and slept there.

4:12  Then he said to Gehazi, his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him.

4:13  And he said unto [Gehazi], Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been diligent for us with all this care; what shall I do for thee? Dost thou have need that I speak for thee unto the king or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among my own people.

4:14  And he said, What then shall we do for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she has no child, and her husband is old.

4:15  [Then] he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door.

4:16  And he said, At the appointed time, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, No, my lord, [thou] man of God, do not deceive thy handmaid.

4:17  But the woman conceived and gave birth a son at appointed time that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.

4:18  And when the child was grown, it came to pass one day, that he went out to his father to the reapers.

4:19  And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a servant, Carry him to his mother.

4:20  And when he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon and [then] died.

4:21  Then she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut [the door] upon him and went out.

4:22  And calling her husband, she said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men and one of the asses that I may run to the man of God and come again.

4:23  And he said, Why must thou go to him today? [It is] neither new moon nor sabbath. And she said, Peace.

4:24  Then she caused the ass to be saddled and said to her servant, Lead and go forward; slack not the pace for me except I bid thee.

4:25  So she went and came unto the man of God to Mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi, his servant, Behold, [yonder is] that Shunammite.

4:26  Run now, I pray thee, to meet her and say unto her, Dost thou have peace? And thy husband? And the child? And she answered, Peace.

4:27  And when she came to the man of God in the mountain, she caught him by the feet. And Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God said, Let her alone, for her soul [is] bitter within her; and the LORD has hid [it] from me and has not revealed it to me.

4:28  Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? Did I not say, Do not deceive me?

4:29  Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins and take my staff in thy hand and go; if thou meet anyone, salute him not; and if anyone salutes thee, answer him not again, and lay my staff upon the face of the child.

4:30  Then the mother of the child said, As the LORD lives and [as] thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. And he arose and followed her.

4:31  And Gehazi had gone on before them and had laid the staff upon the face of the child, but [there was] neither voice, nor attention. Therefore he went again to meet him and told him, saying, The child is not awaked.

4:32  And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was laid dead upon his bed.

4:33  He went in therefore and shut the door upon both of them and prayed unto the LORD.

4:34  [Then] he went up and lay upon the child and put his mouth upon his mouth and his eyes upon his eyes and his hands upon his hands; [thus] he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm.

4:35  Then he returned and walked through the house to and fro and went up and stretched himself upon him again; and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

4:36  And he called Gehazi and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And as she was coming in unto him, he said, Take up thy son.

4:37  Then she entered in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground and took up her son and went out.

4:38  And Elisha returned to Gilgal. Then there was a famine in the land; and the sons of the prophets [were] sitting before him, so he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot and make pottage for the sons of the prophets.

4:39  And one went out into the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine and gathered his lap full of wild grapes and came and shred [them] into the pot of pottage, for they knew [them] not.

4:40  So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of that pottage, that they cried out and said, O [thou] man of God, [there is] death in the pot. And they could not eat it.

4:41  But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast [it] into the pot, and he said, Pour out for the people that they may eat. And there was no evil thing in the pot.

4:42  Then a man came from Baalshalisha, who brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of wheat in the head. And he said, Give unto the people that they may eat.

4:43  And his minister said, How can I set this before one hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat, for thus hath the LORD said, They shall eat, and [some] shall be left over.

4:44  So he set [it] before them, and they ate, and [some was] left over, according to the word of the LORD.:

Chapter 5

5:1  Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high esteem because by him the LORD had given salvation unto Syria; he was also a mighty man in valour, [but he was] a leper.

5:2  And the Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited on Naaman's wife.

5:3  And she said unto her mistress, If my lord would ask the prophet that [is] in Samaria, he would remove his leprosy.

5:4  And [Naaman] went in and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that [is] of the land of Israel.

5:5  And the king of Syria said, Go, depart, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver and six thousand [pieces] of gold, and ten changes of raiment.

5:6  And he [also] took the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have [therewith] sent Naaman, my servant, to thee, that thou may remove his leprosy.

5:7  And when the king of Israel read the letter, he rent his clothes and said, [Am] I God, to kill and to give life, that this man sends unto me to remove the leprosy of this man? Therefore now consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.

5:8  And when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, Why hast thou rent thy clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

5:9  So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.

5:10  And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall be restored, and thou shalt be clean.

5:11  But Naaman went away angry and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD, his God, and strike his hand over the place and remove the leprosy.

5:12  [Are] not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.

5:13  Then his servants came near and spoke unto him, and said, My father, [if] the prophet had bid thee [do some] great thing, would thou not have done [it]? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean?

5:14  Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

5:15  And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came and stood before him, and he said, Behold, now I know that [there is] no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing from thy servant.

5:16  But he said, As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take [it], but he refused.

5:17  Then Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules' burden of earth? For from now one thy servant will offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD.

5:18  In this thing [may] the LORD pardon thy servant, [that] when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, if I also bow myself in the house of Rimmon, that the LORD pardon thy servant in this thing, if I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon.

5:19  And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.

5:20  But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master has spared Naaman, this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought. As the LORD lives, I will run after him and take something from him.

5:21  So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw [him] running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him and said, [Is] there no peace?

5:22  And he said, Peace. My master has sent me, saying, Behold, even now two young men of the sons of the prophets came to me from Mount Ephraim; give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver and two changes of garments.

5:23  And Naaman said, If you wish take two talents. And he urged him and bound two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of garments and laid [them] upon two of his servants; and they bore [them] before him.

5:24  And when he came to a secret place, he took [them] from their hand and bestowed [them] in the house; and he let the men go, and they departed.

5:25  But [when] he went in and stood before his master, Elisha said unto him, From where [comest thou], Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went nowhere.

5:26  Then he said unto him, Did not my heart go [with thee] when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? [Is it] a time to receive money and to receive garments and oliveyards and vineyards and sheep and oxen and menservants and maidservants?

5:27  The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper [as white] as snow.:

Chapter 6

6:1  The sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too tight for us.

6:2  Let us go, we pray thee, unto the Jordan, and each one take a beam from there, and let us make us a place there where we may dwell. And he answered, Go.

6:3  And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.

6:4  So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down the wood.

6:5  But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water, and he cried and said, Alas, master! It was borrowed.

6:6  And the man of God said, Where did it fall? And he showed him the place. Then he cut down a stick and cast it in there and caused the iron to swim.

6:7  And he said unto him, Take it. And he put out his hand and took it.

6:8  Then the king of Syria warred against Israel and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place [shall be] my camp.

6:9  And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware to not pass through such [and such] a place, for the Syrians are going there.

6:10  Then the king of Israel sent to the place, which the man of God told him and warned him of and kept himself from there, not once nor twice.

6:11  Therefore, the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled over this thing, and he called his servants and said unto them, Will ye not show me which of us [is] for the king of Israel?

6:12  Then one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king, but Elisha, the prophet that [is] in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.

6:13  And he said, Go and spy where he [is], that I may send and take him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, [he is] in Dothan.

6:14  So he sent horsemen and chariots there and a great host, who came by night and compassed the city about.

6:15  And when the servant of the man of God was risen early to go forth, behold, a host compassed the city both with horsemen and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! What shall we do?

6:16  And he answered, Fear not; for those that [are] with us [are] more than those that [are] with them.

6:17  And Elisha prayed and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw; and, behold, the mountain [was] full of horsemen and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

6:18  And when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD and said, Smite these people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

6:19  And Elisha said unto them, This [is] not the way, neither [is] this the city; follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. And he led them to Samaria.

6:20  And when they came into Samaria, Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these [men], that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, [they were] in the midst of Samaria.

6:21  And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite [them]? Shall I smite [them]?

6:22  And he answered, Thou shalt not smite [them]; would thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and return to their master.

6:23  And he prepared great provision for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.

6:24  And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad, king of Syria, gathered all his host and went up and besieged Samaria.

6:25  And there was a great famine in Samaria as they besieged it until an ass's head was [sold] for eighty [pieces] of silver and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five [pieces] of silver.

6:26  And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, a woman cried unto him, saying, Save me, my lord, O king.

6:27  And he said, If the LORD does not save thee, from where shall I save thee? Out of the threshingfloor, or out of the winepress?

6:28  And the king said unto her, What ails thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.

6:29  So we boiled my son and ate him. And I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son that we may eat him. But she has hid her son.

6:30  And when the king heard the words of the woman, he rent his clothes; and he passed by [like this] upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, [he had] sackcloth within upon his flesh.

6:31  Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, shall remain upon him today.

6:32  And Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and [the king] sent a man unto him. But before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door; [is] not the sound of his master's feet behind him?

6:33  And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him; and he said, Behold, this evil [is] of the LORD; for what should I wait for the LORD any longer?:

Chapter 7

7:1  Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus hath the LORD said, Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour [shall be sold] for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.

7:2  Then a captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, Behold, [if] the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see [it] with thine eyes, but shalt not eat of it.

7:3  And there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate, who said one to another, Why shall we stay here until we die?

7:4  If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine [is] in the city, and we shall die there; and if we stay here, we shall die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians; if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.

7:5  And they rose up at the beginning of the night, to go unto the camp of the Syrians; and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, [there was] no man there.

7:6  For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses, [even] the noise of a great host; and they said one to another, Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.

7:7  Therefore they had arisen and fled at the beginning of the night and had left their tents and their horses and their asses, even the camp as it [was], and had fled for their lives.

7:8  And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank and took silver and gold and raiment and went and hid [it] and came again and entered into another tent and took from there [also] and went and hid [it].

7:9  Then they said one to another, We do not well; this day [is] a day to [give] good tidings, and we are silent; if we tarry until the morning light, we shall be taken in the iniquity. Now, therefore, come, that we may enter in and give the news in the king's house.

7:10  So they came and called unto the porter of the city, and they told them, saying, We went to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, [there was] no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied and asses tied, and the tents as they [were].

7:11  And the porters cried out and told [it] inside and in the king's house.

7:12  And the king arose in the night and said unto his servants, I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we [are] hungry; therefore, they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive and get into the city.

7:13  Then one of his servants answered and said, Let [some] take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city (for they [are] as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; they [are] also as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed) and let us send and see.

7:14  They took, therefore, two chariot horses; and the king sent after the camp of the Syrians, saying, Go and see.

7:15  And they went after them unto the Jordan; and, behold, all the way [was] full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king.

7:16  Then the people went out and spoiled the camp of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was [sold] for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.

7:17  And the king appointed the prince on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate; and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him.

7:18  And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria.

7:19  Unto which that prince had answered the man of God, and said, Even if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat of it.

7:20  And so it happened unto him, for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.:

Chapter 8

8:1  Then Elisha spoke unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household and sojourn wherever thou canst sojourn; for the LORD has called for a famine which shall come upon the land seven years.

8:2  Then the woman arose and did as the man of God told her; and she went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.

8:3  And it came to pass at the end of the seven years that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines, and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her lands.

8:4  And the king had talked with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha has done.

8:5  And as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. So Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this [is] the woman, and this [is] her son, whom Elisha restored to life.

8:6  And when the king asked the woman, she told him. Then the king appointed unto her a eunuch, saying, Restore all that [was] hers and all the fruits of the lands since the day that she left the lands, even until now.

8:7  Elisha went to Damascus; and Benhadad, the king of Syria, was sick; and it was told him, saying, The man of God is come here.

8:8  And the king said unto Hazael, Take a present in thy hand, and go, meet the man of God and enquire of the LORD by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?

8:9  So Hazael went to meet him and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Thy son Benhadad, king of Syria, has sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?

8:10  And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, Thou may certainly recover. But the LORD has showed me that he shall surely die.

8:11  And he settled his countenance steadfastly, until he was ashamed; and the man of God wept.

8:12  Then Hazael said unto him, Why does my lord weep? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the sons of Israel; their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword and wilt dash their children and rip up their women with child.

8:13  And Hazael said, But what, [is] thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The LORD has showed me that thou [shalt be] king over Syria.

8:14  So he departed from Elisha and came to his master; who said to him, What did Elisha say to thee? And he answered, He told me [that] thou may surely recover.

8:15  And it came to pass on the next day that he took a thick cloth and dipped [it] in water and spread [it] on his face so that he died; and Hazael reigned in his stead.

8:16  And in the fifth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat [being] then king of Judah, Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, began to reign.

8:17  He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

8:18  He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife, and he did evil in the sight of the LORD.

8:19  Yet with all this, the LORD would not destroy Judah for David, his servant's sake, as he had promised him to give him always a light of his sons.

8:20  In his days, Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah and made a king over themselves.

8:21  So Joram went over to Zair and all his chariots with him, and he rose up by night and smote the Edomites, who had compassed him about, and the captains of the chariots; and the people fled into their tents.

8:22  Yet Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time.

8:23  And the rest of the acts of Joram and all that he did, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

8:24  And Joram slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Ahaziah, his son, reigned in his stead.

8:25  In the twelfth year of Joram, the son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram king of Judah, began to reign.

8:26  Ahaziah [was] twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother's name [was] Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, king of Israel.

8:27  And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the LORD, as [did] the house of Ahab; for he [was] the son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

8:28  And he went with Joram, the son of Ahab, to the war against Hazael, king of Syria, in Ramothgilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram.

8:29  And King Joram went back to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael, king of Syria. And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram king of Judah, went down to see Joram, the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.:

Chapter 9

9:1  Then Elisha, the prophet, called one of the sons of the prophets and said unto him, Gird up thy loins and take this flask of oil in thy hand and go to Ramothgilead.

9:2  And when thou comest there, thou shalt see Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, there; go in and make him arise up from among his brethren and take him to an inner chamber.

9:3  Then take the flask of oil and pour [it] on his head and say, Thus hath the LORD said, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door and flee and do not tarry.

9:4  So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramothgilead.

9:5  And when he came, behold, the captains of the host [were] sitting, and he said, I have an errand to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And he said, To thee, O captain.

9:6  And he arose and went into the house, and he poured the oil on his head and said unto him, Thus hath said the LORD God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the LORD, [even] over Israel.

9:7  And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab, thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants, the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel.

9:8  For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisses against the wall, he that is shut up as well as he that is left in Israel.

9:9  And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah.

9:10  And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and [there shall be] no one to bury [her]. And he opened the door and fled.

9:11  Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord, and [one] said unto him, Is there peace? Why did this mad [fellow] come to thee? And he said unto them, Ye know the man and his communication.

9:12  And they said, We know not; tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus he spoke unto me, saying, Thus hath the LORD said, I have anointed thee king over Israel.

9:13  Then they hastened, and each man took his garment, and put [it] under him in a high throne, and blew the shofar, saying, Jehu is king.

9:14  So Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram was keeping Ramothgilead, with all Israel, because of Hazael, king of Syria.

9:15  But King Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael, king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If it is your desire, [then] do not let anyone go forth [nor] escape out of the city to tell the news in Jezreel.

9:16  So Jehu rode and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah, king of Judah, was come down to see Joram.

9:17  And the watchman, who stood in the tower of Jezreel, spied the company of Jehu as he came and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take a horseman and send to meet them and let him say unto them, Is there peace?

9:18  So one on horseback went to meet him and said, Thus saith the king, Is there peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? Turn behind me. And the watchman gave notice, saying, The messenger came to them, but he does not return.

9:19  Then he sent out another on horseback, who came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is there peace? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? Turn behind me.

9:20  And the watchman gave notice again, saying, He also came unto them and does not return, and the pace of him who is coming [is] like the pace of Jehu, the son of Nimshi, for he comes impetuously.

9:21  And Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu and found him in the portion of Naboth of Jezreel.

9:22  And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, Is there peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the fornications of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts [are so] many?

9:23  Then Joram turned his hands and fled and said to Ahaziah, [There is] treachery, O Ahaziah.

9:24  But Jehu drew his bow with his full strength and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot.

9:25  Then said [Jehu] to Bidkar, his captain, Take him [and] cast him in the edge of the portion of the field of Naboth of Jezreel. Remember that when thou and I went together after Ahab, his father, the LORD pronounced this sentence upon him, saying,

9:26  Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, said the LORD, and I will requite thee in this portion, said the LORD. Now, therefore, take [and] cast him into the portion, according to the word of the LORD.

9:27  But when Ahaziah, the king of Judah, saw [this], he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him and said, Smite him also in the chariot. [And they did so] at the ascent to Gur, which [is] by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo and died there.

9:28  And his servants carried him to Jerusalem and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David.

9:29  In the eleventh year of Joram, the son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah.

9:30  And Jehu came to Jezreel, and when Jezebel heard [of it], she painted her face and tired her head and looked out of a window.

9:31  And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, [Had] Zimri peace, who slew his master?

9:32  And he lifted up his face to the window and said, Who [is] on my side? Who? And two [or] three eunuchs looked at him.

9:33  And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down, and [some] of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses; and he trode her under foot.

9:34  And he entered in, and after he ate and drank, he said, Go, see now this cursed [woman] and bury her; for [after all] she [is] a king's daughter.

9:35  But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of [her] hands.

9:36  And they returned and told him. And he said, This [is] the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Elijah, the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel.

9:37  And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel so that no one shall be able to say, This [is] Jezebel.:

Chapter 10

10:1  And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters and sent to Samaria unto the princes of Jezreel, to the elders, and to those that brought up Ahab's [children], saying,

10:2  Now as soon as this letter comes to you, unto those who have your master's sons and who have chariots and horsemen and who have the arms and munitions of the city,

10:3  see [which] is the best and most upright of your master's sons and set [him] on his father's throne and fight for your master's house.

10:4  But they were exceedingly afraid and said, Behold, two kings could not stand before him; how then shall we stand?

10:5  And he that [was] over the house and he that [was] over the city, the elders also, and those who had brought up [the children] sent to Jehu, saying, We [are] thy servants and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not make any king; thou shalt do [that which is] good in thy eyes.

10:6  Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye [are] mine and [if] ye will hearken unto my voice, take the heads of the male sons of your master and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time. Now the king's sons, [being] seventy males, [were] with the great men of the city, who had brought them up.

10:7  And when the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and slew seventy males and put their heads in baskets and sent him [them] to Jezreel.

10:8  And a messenger came and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.

10:9  And in the morning, he went out and stood and said to all the people, Ye [are] righteous; behold, I conspired against my master and slew him; but who slew all these?

10:10  Know now that of the word of the LORD which the LORD spoke concerning the house of Ahab, nothing shall fall to the ground, for the LORD has done [that] which he spoke by his servant Elijah.

10:11  So Jehu slew all that had remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men and all his kinsfolk and all his priests until he left him none remaining.

10:12  And he arose and departed and came to Samaria. [And] as he [was] at a pastor's shearing house in the way,

10:13  Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and said, Who [are] ye? And they answered, We [are] the brethren of Ahaziah, and we go down to salute the sons of the king and the sons of the queen.

10:14  So he said, Take them alive. And after they took them alive, they slew them at the well of the shearing house, forty-two men, without leaving any of them.

10:15  And when he had departed from there, he met Jehonadab, the son of Rechab; and after he saluted him, he said to him, Is thy heart right as my heart [is] with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it is, give [me] thy hand. And he gave [him] his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot.

10:16  And he said, Come with me, and thou shalt see my zeal for the LORD. So they had him ride in his chariot.

10:17  And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that had remained of Ahab in Samaria, until he had [completely] destroyed him, according to the word of the LORD which he had spoken to Elijah.

10:18  And Jehu gathered all the people together and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little [but] Jehu shall serve him much.

10:19  Now, therefore, call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let no one be lacking, for I have a great sacrifice [to do] to Baal; whoever is lacking shall not live. But Jehu did [it] in subtilty to the intent that he might destroy those that served Baal.

10:20  And Jehu said, Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed [it].

10:21  And Jehu sent through all Israel, and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was no one lacking that did not come. And they came into the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was full from one end to another.

10:22  And he said to the one that [was] over the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all those that served Baal. And he brought them forth vestments.

10:23  And Jehu went with Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal and said unto the servants of Baal, Search and make sure that none of the servants of the LORD are here with you, but only the servants of Baal.

10:24  And when they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, Jehu put eighty men outside and said, Whoever leaves alive any of the men whom I have brought into your hands, his life shall be for that of the other.

10:25  And after they had finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to those of his guard and to the captains, Go in, [and] slay them; let none escape. And they smote them with the edge of the sword, and the guard and the captains left them where they fell and went to the city of the house of Baal,

10:26  and they removed the images out of the house of Baal and burned them.

10:27  And they broke down the image of Baal and broke down the house of Baal and made it a latrine unto this day.

10:28  Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.

10:29  However with all this, Jehu did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin [with] the golden calves that [were] in Bethel and in Dan.

10:30  And the LORD said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing [that which is] right in my eyes [and] hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that [was] in my heart, thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth [generation].

10:31  But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart; neither did he depart from the sins of Jeroboam, who had caused Israel to sin.

10:32  In those days the LORD began to cut Israel short, and Hazael smote them in all the borders of Israel,

10:33  from the Jordan toward the rising of the sun, all the land of Gilead, of Gad, of Reuben, and of Manasses, from Aroer, which [is] by the river Arnon, to Gilead and to Bashan.

10:34  Now the rest of the acts of Jehu and all that he did and all his might, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

10:35  And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz, his son, reigned in his stead.

10:36  The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria [was] twenty-eight years.:

Chapter 11

11:1  And Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, seeing that her son was dead, arose and destroyed all the royal seed.

11:2  But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons [which were] slain; and they hid him, [even] him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain.

11:3  And he was with her hid in the house of the LORD six years, and Athaliah was queen over the land.

11:4  But the seventh year Jehoiada sent and took rulers over hundreds, captains and people of the guard, and brought them to him into the house of the LORD and made a covenant with them, causing them to swear an oath in the house of the LORD, and he showed them the king's son.

11:5  And he commanded them, saying, This [is] the thing that ye shall do; a third part of you that shall enter in on the sabbath shall be the keepers of the watch of the king's house;

11:6  and a third part [shall be] at the gate of Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard; so ye shall have the watch of the house of Mesah.

11:7  And two parts of all you that go forth on the sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of the house of the LORD about the king.

11:8  And ye shall compass the king round about, each man with his weapons in his hand; and he that comes within these orders shall be slain. Ye must be with the king as he goes out and as he comes in.

11:9  And the captains over the hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada, the priest, commanded; and each man took his men that were to come in on the sabbath with those that should go out on the sabbath and came to Jehoiada, the priest.

11:10  And the priest gave the captains over hundreds King David's spears and shields that [were] in the house of the LORD.

11:11  And the guard stood, each man with his weapons in his hand, round about the king, from the right corner of the house to the left corner of the house, next to the altar and the house.

11:12  Then he brought forth the king's son and put the crown upon him and [gave him] the testimony, and they made him king by anointing him; and they clapped their hands and said, [Long] live the king.

11:13  And when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running, she came to the people into the house of the LORD;

11:14  and when she looked, behold, the king stood by the pillar, as was his right, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced and blew with trumpets. Then Athaliah rent her clothes and cried, Treason, Treason.

11:15  Then Jehoiada, the priest, commanded the captains of the hundreds that governed the host and said unto them, Take her forth outside the order of the house and kill with the sword any that follow her. (For the priest had said, Let her not be slain in the house of the LORD.)

11:16  And they laid hands on her, and she went by the way by which the horsemen enter into the king's house, and there she was slain.

11:17  Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they should be the LORD'S people; and likewise between the king and the people.

11:18  And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal and broke it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces thoroughly and slew Mattan, the priest of Baal, before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the LORD.

11:19  And he took the rulers over hundreds and the captains and the guard and all the people of the land, and they brought down the king from the house of the LORD and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king's house. And he sat on the throne of the kings.

11:20  And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was at rest [after] they slew Athaliah with the sword [beside] the king's house.

11:21  Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.:

Chapter 12

12:1  In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name [was] Zibiah of Beersheba.

12:2  And Jehoash did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD all the time that Jehoiada, the priest, instructed him.

12:3  But with all this, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

12:4  And Jehoash said to the priests, All the money of the sanctified things that is brought into the house of the LORD, the money of the [redemptions of] each one that passes [the account], the money of each soul according to the estimation of each one, [and] all the money that comes into any man's heart to bring into the house of the LORD,

12:5  let the priests receive it, each man of his kinsmen; and let them repair the breaches of the house, wherever any breach shall be found.

12:6  But it was so [that], in the year twenty-three of King Jehoash, the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house.

12:7  Then King Jehoash called for Jehoiada, the priest, and the [other] priests and said unto them, Why do ye not repair the breaches of the house? Now, therefore, receive no [more] money of your kinsmen, but deliver it to repair the breaches of the house.

12:8  And the priests consented to receive no [more] money from the people, neither to be responsible to repair the breaches of the house.

12:9  Then Jehoiada, the priest, took an ark and bored a hole in the lid of it and set it beside the altar, on the right side of the entrance to the house of the LORD; and the priests that kept the door put all the money [that was] brought into the house of the LORD in it.

12:10  And when they saw that there was much money in the ark, the king's scribe and the high priest came up and counted the money that was found in the house of the LORD and guarded it.

12:11  And they gave sufficient money into the hands of those that did the work and of those that had the responsibility of the house of the LORD; and they laid it out to the carpenters and builders that repaired the house of the LORD,

12:12  and to the masons and hewers of stone and to buy timber and hewed stone to repair the breaches of the house of the LORD and for all that was laid out for the house to repair [it].

12:13  But of that money that was brought into the house of the LORD, they did not make bowls of silver nor snuffers nor basins nor trumpets nor any vessels of gold or vessels of silver for house of the LORD

12:14  because they gave it to the workmen and repaired the house of the LORD with it.

12:15  Moreover they did not require accounts from the men into whose hands they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen, for they dealt faithfully.

12:16  The guilt money and sin money was not brought into the house of the LORD, for it was the priests'.

12:17  Then Hazael, king of Syria, went up, and fought against Gath and took it; and Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem.

12:18  And Jehoash, king of Judah, took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated and his own holy things and all the gold [that was] found in the treasury of the house of the LORD and in the king's house and sent [it] to Hazael, king of Syria; and he went away from Jerusalem.

12:19  And the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

12:20  And his servants arose and made a conspiracy and slew Joash in the house of Millo, as he was going down to Silla.

12:21  For Jozachar, the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of Shomer, his servants, smote him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David; and Amaziah, his son, reigned in his stead.:

Chapter 13

13:1  In the year twenty-three of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu, began to reign over Israel in Samaria [and reigned] seventeen years.

13:2  And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin; and he did not depart from them.

13:3  And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael, king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad, the son of Hazael, all [their] days.

13:4  But Jehoahaz grieved [before] the LORD, and the LORD hearkened unto him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.

13:5  (And the LORD gave Israel a saviour so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians, and the sons of Israel dwelt in their tents as beforetime.

13:6  With all this, they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin, [but] walked in them; and the grove also remained in Samaria.)

13:7  Neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like dust to be tread upon.

13:8  Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did and his might, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

13:9  And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria; and Joash, his son, reigned in his stead.

13:10  In the year thirty-seven of Joash, king of Judah, Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, began to reign over Israel in Samaria [and reigned] sixteen years.

13:11  And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin; he walked in them.

13:12  And the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah, king of Judah, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

13:13  And Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat upon his throne; and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

13:14  Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness of which he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!

13:15  And Elisha said unto him, Take the bow and the arrows. And he took unto him the bow and the arrows.

13:16  And he said to the king of Israel, Put thy hand upon the bow. And he put his hand [upon it]; and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands.

13:17  And he said, Open the window towards the east. And when he opened it Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the LORD'S salvation, and the arrow of salvation from Syria; for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, until thou have consumed [them].

13:18  And he said again, Take the arrows. And he took [them]. Then he said to the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote three times, and stopped.

13:19  Then the man of God was angry with him, and said, If thou would have smitten five or six times; then thou would have smitten Syria until thou had consumed [it]; whereas now thou shalt smite Syria three times.

13:20  And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.

13:21  And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band [of men]; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha; and when the dead man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.

13:22  So Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.

13:23  But the LORD was merciful unto them, and had compassion on them, and looked upon them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and did not desire to destroy them or to cast them from his presence as yet.

13:24  And Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his stead.

13:25  And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities, which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz, his father, by war. Three times did Joash smite him, and he recovered the cities of Israel.:

Chapter 14

14:1  In the second year of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign.

14:2  He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign and reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name [was] Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.

14:3  And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father; he did according to all things as Joash his father did.

14:4  With all this, the high places were not taken away; as yet the people sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places.

14:5  And as soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hand, he slew his servants which had slain the king, his father.

14:6  But the sons of those who had slain him he slew not; according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses where the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but each one shall die for their own sin.

14:7  He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand and took Selah by war and called the name of it Joktheel unto this day.

14:8  Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look each other in the face.

14:9  And Jehoash, the king of Israel, sent to Amaziah, king of Judah, this reply, The thistle that [was] in Lebanon sent to the cedar that [was] in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife. And the wild beasts that [were] in Lebanon passed by and trode down the thistle.

14:10  Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thy heart has lifted thee up; glory [in this], but tarry at home. Why should thou meddle in evil that thou should fall, [even] thou, and Judah with thee?

14:11  But Amaziah would not hear. Therefore Jehoash, king of Israel, went up; and he and Amaziah, king of Judah, looked each other in the face at Bethshemesh, which [is] in Judah.

14:12  But Judah fell before Israel, and they fled each man to their tents.

14:13  Furthermore, Jehoash, king of Israel, took Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, the son of Ahaziah, at Bethshemesh and came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim unto the corner gate, four hundred cubits.

14:14  And he took all the gold and silver and all the vessels that were found in the house of the LORD and in the treasury of the king's house and the sons as hostages and returned to Samaria.

14:15  Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash, which he did, and his might and how he fought with Amaziah, king of Judah, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

14:16  And Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam, his son, reigned in his stead.

14:17  And Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived after the death of Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, fifteen years.

14:18  And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

14:19  Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and slew him there.

14:20  And they brought him on horses, and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.

14:21  Then all the people of Judah took Azariah, who [was] sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.

14:22  He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers.

14:23  In the fifteenth year of Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria [and reigned] forty-one years.

14:24  And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.

14:25  He restored the borders of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he had spoken by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, who [was] of Gathhepher.

14:26  For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, [that it was] very bitter, for [there was] no one shut up nor any left nor any to help Israel;

14:27  and the LORD had not yet determined to blot out the name of Israel from under heaven; therefore, he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash.

14:28  Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did and his might, how he warred and how he recovered Damascus and Hamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

14:29  And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, with the kings of Israel, and Zachariah, his son, reigned in his stead.:

Chapter 15

15:1  In the year twenty-seven of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Azariah, son of Amaziah, king of Judah, began to reign.

15:2  He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name [was] Jecholiah of Jerusalem.

15:3  And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.

15:4  But with all this, the high places were not removed; the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places.

15:5  And the LORD smote the king so that he was a leper unto the day of his death and dwelt in a separate house. And Jotham, the king's son, [was] over the house, judging the people of the land.

15:6  And the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

15:7  So Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David; and Jotham, his son, reigned in his stead.

15:8  In the year thirty-eight of Azariah, king of Judah, Zachariah, the son of Jeroboam, began to reign over Israel in Samaria six months.

15:9  And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.

15:10  And Shallum, the son of Jabesh, conspired against him, and smote him before the people and slew him, and reigned in his stead.

15:11  And the rest of the acts of Zachariah, behold, they [are] written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

15:12  This [was] the word of the LORD which he spoke unto Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth [generation]. And so it came to pass.

15:13  Shallum, the son of Jabesh, began to reign in the year thirty-nine of Uzziah, king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria.

15:14  For Menahem, the son of Gadi, went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria and smote Shallum, the son of Jabesh, in Samaria and slew him and reigned in his stead.

15:15  And the rest of the acts of Shallum and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they [are] written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

15:16  Then Menahem smote Tiphsah and all that [were] therein and the borders thereof from Tirzah because they had not opened [to him], therefore, he smote [it]; [and] all the women therein that were with child he ripped up.

15:17  In the year thirty-nine of Azariah, king of Judah, Menahem, the son of Gadi, began to reign over Israel [and reigned] ten years in Samaria.

15:18  And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.

15:19  [And] Pul, the king of Assyria, came against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.

15:20  And Menahem exacted the money upon Israel, from all the mighty men of virtue, from each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay there in the land.

15:21  And the rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

15:22  And Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah, his son, reigned in his stead.

15:23  In the year fifty of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekahiah, the son of Menahem, began to reign over Israel in Samaria [and reigned] two years.

15:24  And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.

15:25  But Pekah, the son of Remaliah a captain of his, conspired against him and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king's house, with Argob and Arieh and with him fifty men of the sons of Gilead; and he killed him and reigned in his place.

15:26  And the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold, they [are] written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

15:27  In the year fifty-two of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekah, the son of Remaliah, began to reign over Israel in Samaria [and reigned] twenty years.

15:28  And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.

15:29  In the days of Pekah, king of Israel, came Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, and took Ijon, Abelbethmaachah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, Galilee, and all the land of Naphtali and carried them captive to Assyria.

15:30  And Hosea, the son of Elah, made a conspiracy against Pekah, the son of Remaliah, and smote him and slew him and reigned in his stead, in the year twenty of Jotham, the son of Uzziah.

15:31  And the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they [are] written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

15:32  In the second year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign.

15:33  He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name [was] Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.

15:34  And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.

15:35  With all this, the high places were not removed; the people sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the LORD.

15:36  Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

15:37  In those days the LORD began to send against Judah Rezin, the king of Syria and Pekah, the son of Remaliah.

15:38  And Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, his father; and Ahaz, his son, reigned in his stead.:

Chapter 16

16:1  In the year seventeen of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz, the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign.

16:2  Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem and did not do [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD his God like David, his father.

16:3  But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel and even made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the Gentiles, whom the LORD cast out from before the sons of Israel.

16:4  Likewise he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

16:5  Then Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to war; and they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome [him].

16:6  At that time Rezin, king of Syria, recovered Elath to Syria and drove the Jews from Elath; and the Syrians came to Elath and dwelt there unto this day.

16:7  So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, saying, I [am] thy servant and thy son; come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who have risen up against me.

16:8  And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasury of the king's house and sent [it for] a bribe to the king of Assyria.

16:9  And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him, for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it and carried [the people of] it captive to Kir and slew Rezin.

16:10  And King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser, King of Assyria, and saw the altar that [was] at Damascus; and king Ahaz sent to Urijah, the priest, the fashion of the altar and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship of it.

16:11  And Urijah, the priest, built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus; so Urijah, the priest, made [it] while King Ahaz returned from Damascus.

16:12  And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king came near to the altar and offered upon it.

16:13  And he burnt his burnt offering and his present and poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace [offerings], next to the altar.

16:14  And the brasen altar which [had been] before the LORD, he cause to be moved in front of the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the LORD, and he put it beside the altar towards the Aquilon.

16:15  And King Ahaz commanded Urijah, the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening present and the king's burnt sacrifice and his present, and likewise the burnt offering of all the people of the land and their present and their drink offerings, and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice; and the brasen altar shall be mine to enquire [by].

16:16  Thus did Urijah, the priest, according to all that King Ahaz commanded him.

16:17  And King Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases and removed the lavers from off them and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that [were] under it and put it upon a pavement of stones.

16:18  And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house and the king's entry outside, he moved behind the house of the LORD, for the sake of the king of Assyria.

16:19  Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

16:20  And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Hezekiah, his son, reigned in his stead.:

Chapter 17

17:1  In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hosea, the son of Elah, began to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.

17:2  And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.

17:3  Against him came up Shalmaneser, king of Assyria; and Hosea became his servant and gave him presents.

17:4  And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hosea; for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as [he had done] year by year; therefore, the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.

17:5  Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years.

17:6  In the ninth year of Hosea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria and placed them in Halah and in Habor [by] the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes.

17:7  For [so] it was that the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods

17:8  and walked in the statutes of the Gentiles, whom the LORD had cast out from before the sons of Israel, and in the [statutes] of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

17:9  And the sons of Israel had secretly done [those] things that [were] not right against the LORD their God, building themselves high places in all their cities, from the towers of the watchmen to the fenced cities.

17:10  And they had set themselves up images and groves in every high hill and under every green tree;

17:11  and there they burnt incense in all the high places like the Gentiles, whom the LORD had carried away before them, and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:

17:12  serving idols, of which the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this.

17:13  Yet the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah, by all the prophets [and by] all the seers, saying, Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments [and] my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets.

17:14  Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, who had never believed in the LORD their God.

17:15  And they rejected his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and his testimonies which he testified against them, and they followed vanity and became vain and went after the Gentiles that [were] round about them, [concerning] whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.

17:16  And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God and made themselves molten images, [even] two calves, and made groves and worshipped all the host of heaven and served Baal;

17:17  and they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire and used divination and enchantments and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

17:18  Therefore, the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

17:19  But not even Judah kept the commandments of the LORD their God; to the contrary, they walked in the statutes of Israel which [they themselves] had made.

17:20  And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel and afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of spoilers until he had cast them out of his presence.

17:21  For he rent Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, king; and Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD and made them commit a great sin.

17:22  For the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them

17:23  until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.

17:24  And the king of Assyria brought [Gentiles] from Babylon and from Cuthah and from Ava and from Hamath and from Sepharvaim, and placed [them] in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof.

17:25  And [so] it was at the beginning of their dwelling there [that] they did not fear the LORD; therefore, the LORD sent lions against them, which slew [some] of them.

17:26  Therefore, they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The Gentiles, which thou hast removed and placed in the cities of Samaria, do not know the judgment of the God of that land; therefore, he has sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them because they do not know the judgment of the God of the land.

17:27  Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry there one of the priests whom ye brought from there; and let them go and dwell there and teach them the judgment of the God of the land.

17:28  Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

17:29  However each nation made gods of their own and put [them] in the houses of the high places which those of Samaria had made, each nation in their city in which they dwelt.

17:30  And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,

17:31  and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

17:32  So they feared the LORD and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

17:33  They feared the LORD and served their own gods after the manner of the gentiles whom they carried away from there.

17:34  Unto this day they do after the former manners; they do not fear the LORD, neither do they keep his statutes nor his ordinances nor the law and the commandments which the LORD commanded the sons of Jacob, whom he named Israel,

17:35  with whom the LORD had made a covenant and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods nor worship them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them,

17:36  but only the LORD your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.

17:37  And the statutes and rights and the law and the commandments, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do every day; and ye shall not fear other gods.

17:38  And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.

17:39  But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.

17:40  Howbeit they did not hearken; to the contrary they did after their former manner.

17:41  So these Gentiles feared the LORD and served their graven images, and likewise their sons and their grandsons; as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.:

Chapter 18

18:1  Now it came to pass in the third year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel, [that] Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.

18:2  He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also [was] Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.

18:3  And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David, his father, did.

18:4  He removed the high places and broke the images and cut down the groves and broke in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days, the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan.

18:5  He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that neither after him nor before was there any like him among all the kings of Judah.

18:6  For he cleaved unto the LORD [and] did not depart from following him, but kept his commandments which the LORD commanded Moses.

18:7  And the LORD was with him, [and] he prospered in all things in which he went forth; and he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

18:8  He smote the Philistines, [even] unto Gaza and the borders thereof, from the towers of the watchmen to the fenced city.

18:9  And in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which [was] the seventh year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria and besieged it.

18:10  And at the end of three years, they took it; [even] in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that [is] the ninth year of Hosea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken.

18:11  And the king of Assyria carried away Israel unto Assyria and put them in Halah and in Habor [by] the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes:

18:12  because they had not hearkened unto the voice of the LORD their God, but had broken his covenant [and] all that Moses, the servant of the LORD, commanded and would not hear [them] nor do [them].

18:13  Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them.

18:14  And Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent unto the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have sinned; return from me; that which thou puttest on me I will bear. Then the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah, king of Judah, three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

18:15  And Hezekiah gave [him] all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasury of the king's house.

18:16  At that time Hezekiah cut off [the gold from] the doors of the temple of the LORD and [from] the hinges which Hezekiah, king of Judah, had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria.

18:17  And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which [is] in the highway of the washer's field.

18:18  And they called the king, and Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who [was] over the household, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the writer of chronicles went out to them.

18:19  And Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence [is] this in which thou dost trust?

18:20  Thou sayest (but [they are but] vain words), [I have] counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me?

18:21  Now, behold, thou dost trust upon the staff of this bruised reed, [even] upon Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it; so [is] Pharaoh, king of Egypt unto all that trust in him.

18:22  But if ye say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: is he not the one whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?

18:23  Now therefore, I pray thee, give hostages unto my lord, the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou art able on thy part to set riders upon them.

18:24  How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, even though thou dost trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

18:25  Furthermore, Have I now come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.

18:26  Then said Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language, for we understand [it], and do not talk with us in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that [are] on the wall.

18:27  But Rabshakeh said unto them, Has my master sent me to thy master and to thee, to speak these words and not rather to the men who sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung and drink their own piss with you?

18:28  Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language and spoke, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.

18:29  Thus hath the king said, Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you out of my hand.

18:30  Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

18:31  Do not hearken unto Hezekiah, for thus saith the king of Assyria, Give me a blessing and come out to me, and [then] each one of you shall eat of their own vine and of their own fig tree, and each one shall drink the waters of their own well,

18:32  until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olives, of oil, and of honey, that ye may live, and not die. Do not heark unto Hezekiah, for he deceives you, saying, The LORD will deliver us.

18:33  Peradventure have any of the gods of the Gentiles delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

18:34  Where [is] the god of Hamath and of Arpad? Where [is] the god of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and of Ivah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

18:35  What god out of all the gods of the lands has delivered their land out of my hand that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

18:36  But the people remained silent and did not answer him a word, for the king had commanded, saying, Do not answer him.

18:37  Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who [was] over the household, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the writer of chronicles, came to Hezekiah with [their] clothes rent and told him the words of Rabshakeh.:

Chapter 19

19:1  And when King Hezekiah heard [it], he rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD.

19:2  And he sent Eliakim, who [was] over the household, and Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz,

19:3  to say unto him, Thus hath Hezekiah said, This day [is] a day of trouble and of rebuke and blasphemy, for the sons are come to the place of breaking forth, and she that gives birth has no strength.

19:4  Peradventure, the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to reproach the living God and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God has heard; therefore, lift up [thy] prayer for the remnant that is left.

19:5  So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

19:6  And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus hath the LORD said, Do not be afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

19:7  Behold, I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumour and shall return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

19:8  So Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.

19:9  And when he heard it said of Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee; he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,

19:10  Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah, king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou dost trust deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

19:11  Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?

19:12  Peradventure have the gods of the Gentiles delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, [as] Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden, who [were] in Thelasar?

19:13  Where [is] the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?

19:14  And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD.

19:15  And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, saying, O LORD God of Israel, who dwellest [above] the cherubim, thou alone art the God unto all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

19:16  Incline, O LORD, thy ear and hear; open, O LORD, thine eyes and see and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.

19:17  Of a truth, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the Gentiles and their lands

19:18  and have cast their gods into the fire, for they [were] not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood or stone; therefore, they have destroyed them.

19:19  Now, therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save us now out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou alone [art] the LORD God.

19:20  Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus hath the LORD God of Israel said, [That] which thou hast prayed to me regarding Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.

19:21  This [is] the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him: Has he despised thee? Has he laughed thee to scorn, O virgin daughter of Zion? He has moved his head behind thy back, O daughter of Jerusalem.

19:22  Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? And against whom hast thou exalted [thy] voice and lifted up thine eyes on high? Against the Holy [One] of Israel.

19:23  By the hand of thy messengers, thou hast reproached the Lord and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof [and] the choice fir trees thereof; and I will enter into the habitation of his borders [and into] the forest of his Carmel.

19:24  I have dug and drunk the waters of others, and with the sole of my feet I have dried up all the rivers of defended places.

19:25  Hast thou never heard that from a long time [ago] I made her, [and] from ancient times I have formed her? Now I have made her come, and it shall be to lay waste fenced cities [into] ruinous heaps.

19:26  Therefore their inhabitants' hands were too short; dismayed and confounded, they shall be [as] the grass of the field and [as] the green herb, [as] the hay on the housetops, that is dried up before it comes to maturity.

19:27  But I know thy abode and thy going out and thy coming in and thy rage against me.

19:28  Because thou hast raged against me and thy tumult has come up into my ears, therefore, I will put my hook in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou didst come.

19:29  And this [shall be] a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year such things as grow [again] of themselves; and in the third year ye shall sow and reap and plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.

19:30  And that which has escaped, that which is left of the house of Judah, shall yet again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

19:31  For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant and deliverance out of Mount Zion; the zeal of the LORD of the hosts shall do this.

19:32  Therefore, thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with shield nor cast a bank against it.

19:33  By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not enter into this city, saith the LORD.

19:34  For I will defend this city, to save it, for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.

19:35  And it came to pass that night that the angel of the LORD went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand [men]; and when they arose early in the morning, behold, the corpses of the dead.

19:36  So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh.

19:37  And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, smote him with the sword and fled into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead.:

Chapter 20

20:1  In those days Hezekiah became sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, came to him and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thy house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live.

20:2  Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the LORD, saying,

20:3  I beseech thee, O LORD, remember how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done [that which is] good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept with great weeping.

20:4  And before Isaiah had gone out into the middle of the court, the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

20:5  Turn again and tell Hezekiah, prince of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David, thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold, I will heal thee; on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.

20:6  And I will add unto thy days fifteen years, and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.

20:7  And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid [it] on the boil, and he recovered.

20:8  And Hezekiah had said unto Isaiah, What [shall be] the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I shall go up into the house of the LORD the third day?

20:9  And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go back ten degrees?

20:10  And Hezekiah answered, It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees, but not for the shadow to return backward ten degrees.

20:11  Then Isaiah, the prophet, cried unto the LORD, and he caused the shadow to return by the degrees by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.

20:12  At that time Berodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and presents unto Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

20:13  And Hezekiah hearkened unto them and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious ointment and [all] the house of his weapons and all that was found in his treasury; there was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

20:14  Then Isaiah, the prophet, came unto King Hezekiah and said unto him, What did these men say, and where did they come from unto thee? And Hezekiah replied, They are come from a far country, [even] from Babylon.

20:15  And he said, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah answered, All [the things] that [are] in my house they have seen; there is nothing among my treasury that I have not showed them.

20:16  Then Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD.

20:17  Behold, the days come that all that [is] in thy house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day shall be carried into Babylon; nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.

20:18  And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, they shall take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

20:19  Then Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, The word of the LORD which thou hast spoken is good. And he said, For shall there not be peace and truth in my days?

20:20  The rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made a pool and a conduit and brought water into the city, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

20:21  And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh, his son reigned in his stead.:

Chapter 21

21:1  Manasseh [was] twelve years old when he began to reign and reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name [was] Hephzibah.

21:2  And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the Gentiles, whom the LORD cast out before the sons of Israel.

21:3  For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah, his father, had destroyed, and he raised up altars for Baal and made a grove, as Ahab, king of Israel, had done; and he worshipped all the host of heaven and served those things.

21:4  Likewise, he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, In Jerusalem I will put my name.

21:5  And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.

21:6  And he made his son pass through the fire and observed times and used enchantments and dealt with spiritists and diviners and multiplied much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke [him] to anger.

21:7  And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD had said to David and to Solomon, his son, In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever;

21:8  neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.

21:9  But they did not hearken, and Manasseh caused them to err and to do more evil than did the Gentiles whom the LORD destroyed before the sons of Israel.

21:10  And the LORD spoke by his servants, the prophets, saying,

21:11  Because Manasseh, king of Judah, has done these abominations [and] has done more evil than all that the Amorites did, who [were] before him and has also made Judah sin with his idols;

21:12  therefore, thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I [am] bringing [such] evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle.

21:13  And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as [a man] wipes a dish, wiping [it] and turning [it] upside down.

21:14  And I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies

21:15  because they have done [that which was] evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.

21:16  Moreover, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another besides his sin with which he made Judah sin so that they would do [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD.

21:17  Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did and his sin with which he sinned, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

21:18  And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

21:19  Amon [was] twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name [was] Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.

21:20  And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done.

21:21  And he walked in all the way that his father walked in and served the idols that his father had served and worshipped them;

21:22  and he forsook the LORD God of his fathers and did not walk in the way of the LORD.

21:23  And the servants of Amon conspired against him and slew the king in his own house.

21:24  [Then] the people of the land slew all those that had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah, his son, king in his stead.

21:25  Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

21:26  And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah, his son, reigned in his stead.:

Chapter 22

22:1  Josiah [was] eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name [was] Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.

22:2  And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD and walked in all the way of David, his father, and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

22:3  And in the year eighteen of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,

22:4  Go up to Hilkiah, the high priest, that he may sum the silver which has been brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people;

22:5  and let them deliver it into the hands of those that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD; and let them give it to those that do the work in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house,

22:6  unto carpenters and builders and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house;

22:7  and there is to be no accounting required of those unto whom the money is delivered because they deal faithfully.

22:8  Then Hilkiah, the high priest, said unto Shaphan, the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

22:9  And Shaphan, the scribe, came to the king and brought the king word again and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of those that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD.

22:10  Likewise, Shaphan, the scribe, declared unto the king, saying, Hilkiah, the priest, has delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.

22:11  And when the king heard the words of the book of the law, he rent his clothes.

22:12  And the king commanded Hilkiah, the priest, and Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Achbor, the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan, the scribe, and Asahiah, a servant of the king's, saying,

22:13  Go and enquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found, for great [is] the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.

22:14  So Hilkiah, the priest, and Ahikam and Achbor and Shaphan and Asahiah went unto Huldah, the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe, who dwelt in Jerusalem in the house of doctrine; and they spoke with her.

22:15  And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me,

22:16  Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants, [even] all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read,

22:17  because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore, my wrath is kindled against this place and shall not be quenched.

22:18  But to the king of Judah who sent you to enquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Because thou didst hear the words [of the book],

22:19  and thy heart became tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD when thou didst hear what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become desolate and cursed, and hast rent thy clothes and wept before me; I also have heard [thee], saith the LORD.

22:20  Behold, therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.:

Chapter 23

23:1  And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.

23:2  And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, from the smallest to the greatest; and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of the LORD.

23:3  And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, that they would walk after the LORD and keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all [their] heart and all [their] soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in that book. And all the people confirmed the covenant.

23:4  And the king commanded Hilkiah, the high priest, and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that had been made for Baal and for the grove and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and caused their dust to be carried unto Bethel.

23:5  And he put down the religious [persons] whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places round about Jerusalem; likewise, those that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.

23:6  And he brought out the [graven image of the] grove from the house of the LORD outside Jerusalem unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and stamped [it] small to powder and cast the powder of it upon the graves of the sons of the people.

23:7  He likewise broke down the houses of the male [cult] prostitutes that [were] by the house of the LORD where the women wove hangings for the grove.

23:8  And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and broke down the high places of the gates that [were] in the entering in of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which [were] on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.

23:9  Nevertheless, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.

23:10  And he defiled Tophet, which [is] in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.

23:11  And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech, the chamberlain who [was] in charge of the Parbar, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.

23:12  And the king cast down the altars that [were] on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD and made haste and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.

23:13  Likewise, the king defiled the high places that [were] before Jerusalem, which [were] on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon, the king of Israel, had built unto Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Zidonians, and unto Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites, and unto Milcom, the abomination of the sons of Ammon.

23:14  And he broke the images in pieces and cut down the groves and filled their places with the bones of men.

23:15  Likewise, the altar that [was] at Bethel [and] the high place which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made: both that altar and the high place he broke down and burned the high place [and] stamped [it] small to powder and burned the grove.

23:16  And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that [were] there in the mount and sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres and burned [them] upon the altar and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who had proclaimed these words.

23:17  Then he said, What title [is] this that I see? And the men of the city told him, [It is] the sepulchre of the man of God, who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.

23:18  And he said, Let him alone; let no one move his bones. So his bones were saved along with the bones of the prophet that had come out of Samaria.

23:19  And all the houses also of the high places that [were] in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke [the LORD] to anger, Josiah took away and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.

23:20  And he slew all the priests of the high places that [were] there upon the altars and burned men's bones upon them and returned to Jerusalem.

23:21  Then] the king commanded all the people, saying, Make the passover unto the LORD your God, as [it is] written in the book of this covenant.

23:22  Such a passover had not been made since the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah.

23:23  In the year eighteen of King Josiah, this passover was made unto the LORD in Jerusalem.

23:24  In the same manner Josiah burned the spiritists, the diviners, the teraphim, the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD.

23:25  There was no king before him that converted [like this] to the LORD with all his heart and all his soul and all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither did any like him arise after him.

23:26  Even with all this the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him to wrath.

23:27  And the LORD said, I must also remove Judah out of my sight as I have removed Israel, and I must reject this city Jerusalem which I had chosen and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.

23:28  Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

23:29  In his days Pharaohnechoh, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him; but as soon as he saw him, he slew him at Megiddo.

23:30  And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own sepulchre. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and anointed him and made him king in his father's stead.

23:31  Jehoahaz [was] twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name [was] Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

23:32  And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

23:33  And Pharaohnechoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, as he was reigning in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

23:34  Then Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim, the son of Josiah, king in the place of Josiah his father and changed his name to Jehoiakim and took Jehoahaz and carried him to Egypt, and he died there.

23:35  And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he caused the land to be valued to give [this] money according to the commandment of Pharaoh; he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of each one according to the estimation of [his worth], to give [it] unto Pharaohnechoh.

23:36  Jehoiakim [was] twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name [was] Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.

23:37  And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.:

Chapter 24

24:1  In his time Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.

24:2  And the LORD sent against him armies of the Chaldees and armies of the Syrians and armies of the Moabites and armies of the sons of Ammon and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servants the prophets.

24:3  Surely at the commandment of the LORD [this] came upon Judah, to remove [them] out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did

24:4  and also for the innocent blood that he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the LORD would not pardon.

24:5  Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

24:6  So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin, his son, reigned in his stead.

24:7  And the king of Egypt never came out of his land again, for the king of Babylon had taken all that pertained to the king of Egypt from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates.

24:8  Jehoiachin [was] eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother's name [was] Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

24:9  And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.

24:10  At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.

24:11  Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, also came against the city [when] his servants had besieged it.

24:12  So Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his princes and his eunuchs; and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

24:13  And he carried out of there all the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.

24:14  And he carried away all Jerusalem and all the princes and all the mighty men of valour, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths; none remained except the poorest sort of the people of the land.

24:15  He likewise carried Jehoiachin away to Babylon and the king's mother and the king's wives and his officers, and the mighty of the land; he carried them all into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.

24:16  All the men of might, [which were] seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths [which were] one thousand, all [that were] strong [and] apt for war, the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

24:17  And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, his father's brother, king in his stead and changed his name to Zedekiah.

24:18  Zedekiah [was] twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name [was] Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

24:19  And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

24:20  For the anger of the LORD was against Jerusalem and Judah until he cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.:

Chapter 25

25:1  And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth [day] of the month, [that] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came, he and all his host, against Jerusalem and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about.

25:2  And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

25:3  And on the ninth of the month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

25:4  And the city was broken up, and all the men of war [fled] by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which is by the king's garden, with the Chaldees round about the city; and they went by the way of the plain.

25:5  And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, after all his army had been scattered from him.

25:6  So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah, and they sentenced him.

25:7  And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with fetters of brass and carried him to Babylon.

25:8  And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month, which [was] the year nineteen of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

25:9  And he burnt the house of the LORD and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great [man's] house he burnt with fire.

25:10  And all the army of the Chaldees, that [were with] the captain of the guard, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about.

25:11  Now the rest of the people [that were] left in the city and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away.

25:12  But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land [to be] vinedressers and husbandmen.

25:13  And the Chaldees broke in pieces the pillars of brass that [were] in the house of the LORD and the bases and the brasen sea that [was] in the house of the LORD and carried the brass of them to Babylon.

25:14  They also took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the spoons and all the vessels of brass, with which they ministered.

25:15  And the censers and the bowls [and] such things as [were] of gold [in] gold and of silver [in] silver the captain of the guard took away, also

25:16  the two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD; the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

25:17  The height of the one pillar [was] eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it [was] brass; and the height of the chapiter three cubits, and network and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass; and the second pillar was like [the first] with network.

25:18  And the captain of the guard took Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three keepers of the door;

25:19  and out of the city he took a eunuch, that was set over the men of war, and five men of those that were in the king's presence, who were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land, with sixty men of the people of the land [that were] found in the city.

25:20  Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, took these and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.

25:21  And the king of Babylon smote and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land.

25:22  And [as for] the people whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, left in the land of Judah, he made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor over them.

25:23  And when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, [even] Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth, the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah, the son of Maachathi, they and their men.

25:24  Then Gedaliah swore to them and to their men and said unto them, Do not fear the servants of the Chaldees; dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

25:25  But in the seventh month, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama of the royal seed, came and ten men with him and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah.

25:26  Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldees.

25:27  And it came to pass after thirty-seven years of the captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh [day] of the month, [that] Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of the prison house;

25:28  and he spoke kindly to him and set his seat above the seats of the kings that [were] with him in Babylon.

25:29  And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread continually before him all the days of his life.

25:30  And the king caused him to be given his food continually, each thing in its time, all the days of his life.: