The Book of 2 Kings

Chapter 1
1 Moab transgressed against Israel after the death of Ahab.
2 Then Ahaziah fell through the grating of his upper chamber in Samaria and was ailing. So he sent messengers and said to them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub elohim of Ekron whether I shall remain alive from this illness.
3 But a messenger of Yahweh, he spoke to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and speak to them: Is it because there is no Elohim in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub elohim of Ekron?
4 Therefore (thus says Yahweh), from the couch on which you lie there, you shall not descend from it, for you shall die, yea die. And Elijah went away.
5 When the messengers returned to him, he said to them, Why is this that you have returned?
6 They replied to him, There was a man, he came up to meet us, and he said to us, Go, return to the king who sent you. And you will speak to him, Thus says Yahweh: Is it because there is no Elohim in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub elohim of Ekron? Therefore, from the couch on which you lie there, you shall not descend from it, for you shall die, yea die.
7 Now he asked them, What type of man was he who came up to meet you and spoke to you these words?
8 They said to him, A man possessing a hair garment and a belt of leather belted about his waist. He replied, That was Elijah the Tishbite.
9 Then he sent to him a chief of fifty with his fifty. He ascended to him, and behold, Elijah was sitting at the top of the hill. He spoke to him, Man of Elohim, the king himself has spoken, Do come down!
10 Elijah answered and spoke to the chief of the fifty. Now if I am a man of Elohim, may fire descend from the heavens, and may it devour you and your fifty. And fire descended from the heavens and devoured him and his fifty.
11 Then he sent again to him another chief of fifty with his fifty. He ascended and spoke to him, Man of Elohim, thus says the king: Quickly, do come down!
12 Elijah answered and spoke to him, If I am a man of Elohim, may fire descend from the heavens, and may it devour you and your fifty. And the fire of Elohim descended from the heavens and devoured him and his fifty.
13 Then he sent again a third chief of fifty with his fifty. The chief of the third fifty ascended and came and bowed on his knees in front of Elijah. He supplicated to him and spoke to him, Man of Elohim, I pray, let my soul and the soul of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your eyes.
14 Behold, fire descended from the heavens and devoured the two former chiefs of fifty and their fifties. Now let the soul of your servants be precious in your eyes.
15 Then a messenger of Yahweh spoke to Elijah, Go down with him; do not fear because of his presence. So he arose and went down with him to the king.
16 And Elijah spoke to him, Thus says Yahweh: Inasmuch as you sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub elohim of Ekron, is it because there is no Elohim in Israel to inquire of His word? Therefore, from the couch on which you lie there, you shall not descend from it, for you shall die, yea die.
17 And he died according to the word of Yahweh that He had spoken by means of Elijah. Then Jehoram his brother reigned in his stead (in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah), for he had not come to have a son.
18 The rest of the affairs of Ahaziah, what he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?

Chapter 2
1 It came to pass, when Yahweh would take Elijah in a tempest up to the heavens, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
2 Then Elijah said to Elisha, Dwell here now, for Yahweh Himself has sent me unto Bethel. Yet Elisha replied, As Yahweh lives, and your soul lives, I ought not to forsake you. So they went down to Bethel.
3 Now the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came forth to Elisha and asked him, Do you know that today Yahweh is taking your lord from headship over you? He replied, I myself know it too; hush!
4 Then Elijah said to him, Elisha, dwell here now, for Yahweh Himself has sent me to Jericho. Yet he replied, As Yahweh lives, and your soul lives, I ought not to forsake you. So they came to Jericho.
5 Now the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho, came close to Elisha and asked him, Do you know that today Yahweh is taking your lord from headship over you? He replied, I myself know it too; hush!
6 Then Elijah said to him, Dwell here now, for Yahweh Himself has sent me to the Jordan. Yet he replied, As Yahweh lives, and your soul lives, I ought not to forsake you. So both of them went on.
7 There were fifty men, sons of the prophets; they went and stayed aloof, far off. Yet both of them stood by the Jordan.
8 Now Elijah took his mantle, folded it up and smote the waters; they were divided this way and that way, so that both of them went across on the drained strip.
9 It came to be as they had gone across that Elijah himself said to Elisha, Ask what I should do for you ere I am taken from you. Elisha replied, I pray, let a double share of your spirit come to me.
10 Elijah answered, You made it hard in asking. If you see me taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if you do not, it shall not come to pass.
11 Now it occurred while they were walking, and speaking as they walked that, behold, a fiery chariot with fiery horses appeared; they caused the two of them to part, and Elijah ascended in a tempest to the heavens.
12 Elisha was seeing it, and he was crying, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen! Then he saw him no more. Now he took fast hold of his own garments and tore them into two torn pieces.
13 He raised up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen off him, returned and stood on the ridge of the Jordan.
14 He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen off him and smote the waters and said, Where is Yahweh Elohim of Elijah? When he also had smitten the waters, then they were divided this way and that way, so that Elisha went across.
15 When the sons of the prophets at Jericho saw him from a distance, they said, The spirit of Elijah has settled on Elisha. So they came to meet him and prostrated themselves before him to the earth.
16 They said to him, Behold now, there are with your servants fifty men, sons of valor. Let them go now and seek your lord, lest the spirit of Yahweh has lifted him up and flung him on one of the mountains or in one of the ravines. Yet he replied, You should not send them.
17 Now they were urging him until he was ashamed and said, Send them. So they sent out fifty men who sought for three days; but they did not find him.
18 When they returned to him, he was dwelling in Jericho. Then he said to them, Did I not say to you, You must not go?
19 The men of the city said to Elisha, Behold, indeed, the location of the city is good, just as my lord is seeing; but the water is bad, and the earth causes bereavement.
20 Elisha replied, Take for me a new pan and put salt therein. So they procured it for him.
21 Then he went forth to the flowing well of the water and flung there the salt and said, Thus says Yahweh, I have healed this water. No longer shall death come from there or cause bereavement.
22 And the water is healed until this day, according to the word of Elisha that he had spoken.
23 Then he went from there up to Bethel. As he was going up on the road, there were young lads; they came forth from the city, scoffed at him and said to him, Go up, baldhead, go up, baldhead!
24 When he turned around behind him and saw them, he maledicted them in the Name of Yahweh. Then two she-bears came forth from the wildwood and mangled forty-two boys of them.
25 From there he went to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

Chapter 3
1 As for Jehoram son of Ahab, he became king over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah and reigned twelve years.
2 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, but not like his father or like his mother; for he took away the monument of Baal that his father had made.
3 But he clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat with which he caused Israel to sin; he did not withdraw from them.
4 As for Mesha king of Moab, he was a herdsman and rendered the wool of 100,000 butting lambs and 100,000 rams to the king of Israel.
5 Now it came to be when Ahab was dead, then the king of Moab transgressed against the king of Israel.
6 On that day king Jehoram went forth from Samaria and mustered all of Israel.
7 While he went, he sent to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab, he has transgressed against me. Are you going with me to the battle against Moab? He replied, I shall go up, I likewise, such as you; my people likewise, such as your people; my horses likewise, such as your horses.
8 And he asked, Just where is the way that we shall go up? He said, The wilderness road of Edom.
9 So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. They marched around, a journey of seven days; and there was no water for the force and for the domestic beasts that followed in their footsteps.
10 Then the king of Israel said, Alas, that Yahweh has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab!
11 Yet Jehoshaphat asked, Is there no prophet of Yahweh here that we may inquire of Yahweh through him? One of the officials of the king of Israel answered; he said, Elisha son of Shaphat is here who poured out water on the hands of Elijah.
12 Jehoshaphat replied, The word of Yahweh is with him. So they went down to him, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah and the king of Edom.
13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have you to do with me? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother. But the king of Israel replied to him, Certainly not, for Yahweh has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.
14 Elisha answered, As Yahweh of hosts lives, before Whom I stand, except that I am prompted by the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would assuredly not look at you and not see you.
15 Yet now procure for me a player of music. Then it came to pass as the player played, that the hand of Yahweh came over him,
16 and he said, Thus speaks Yahweh: I will provide pools in this wadi, yea pools.
17 For thus speaks Yahweh, You shall neither see a wind, nor shall you see a downpour. Yet this wadi shall be filled with water, so that you will drink, you and your cattle and your domestic beasts.
18 And this is but a slight thing in the eyes of Yahweh; for He will also give Moab into your hand.
19 You will smite every fortress city and every choice city; you shall fell every good tree, stop up all springs of water and mar every good land portion with stones.
20 It came to be in the morning when the approach present was offered up that, behold, water was coming from the direction of Edom, and the countryside was filled with water.
21 As for all of Moab, they had heard that the kings had come up to fight against them. So they summoned all able to gird on a girdle, and upward; and they were staying on the boundary.
22 When they rose early in the morning, the sun was radiant over the water, so that the Moabites saw the water from the distance red like blood.
23 They said, This is blood! The kings were put to the sword, yea sword; they smote, each man his associate. So now to the loot, Moab!
24 When they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites arose and smote the Moabites who fled from before them. They smote them so as to smite Moab altogether.
25 They demolished the cities; as for every good land portion, they flung, each man his stone, and filled it up. They stopped up every spring of water and felled every good tree, until Kir-hareseth alone remained; yet the slingers surrounded it and smote it.
26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle was unyielding against him, then he took with him seven hundred men drawing the sword to break through to the king of Edom; but they did not prevail.
27 Now he took his firstborn son who would become king in his stead and offered him up on the wall as an ascent offering. Then there came to be great wrath against Israel, so that they decamped, withdrew from against him and returned to their own land.

Chapter 4
1 There was a certain woman among the wives of the sons of the prophets; she cried out to Elisha, saying, Your servant, my husband, he is dead. And you yourself know that your servant was fearing Yahweh. Now the creditor has come to take my two boys as servants for himself.
2 Elisha replied to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me what you have in the house. She said, Your maidservant has nothing at all in the house save a jug of oil.
3 He replied, Go, ask for vessels for yourself from outside, from all your neighbors, empty vessels; do not get only a few.
4 Then you will enter and close the door about you and about your sons. You will pour oil into all these vessels, and you shall put aside that which is full.
5 So she went away from him and closed the door about her and about her sons; they were bringing vessels close to her, and she was pouring oil.
6 It came to be as the vessels were full that she said to her son, Do bring close to me another vessel. Yet he said to her, There is no other vessel. And the oil stayed.
7 Then she came and told the man of Elohim. He replied, Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons should live from what is left.
8 It occurred one day that Elisha passed along to Shunem. There was a great woman who encouraged him to eat bread. And it came to be as often as he would pass along, he would turn in there to eat bread.
9 Once the woman said to her husband, Behold now, I know that he is a holy man of Elohim who is regularly passing by us.
10 I pray, let us make a small upper chamber of sidewalls and put there for him a couch and a table, a covered seat and a lampstand. So it will come to pass that he may withdraw there when he comes to us.
11 There was one day that he entered there, withdrew to the upper chamber and lay down there.
12 He said to Gehazi his lad, Call this Shunammitess; so he called her, and she stood before him.
13 He said to him, Now tell her: Behold, you have been overanxious about us with all this solicitude. What can be done for you? Is it to speak for you to the king or to the chief of the military host? She replied, I am dwelling in the midst of my people.
14 Now he said to Gehazi, And what is to be done for her? Gehazi answered, Verily, she has no son; as for her husband, he is old.
15 Now he said, Call her. So he called her, and she was standing at the opening.
16 Elisha said, At this appointed time according to the season of life, you will be embracing a son. But she replied, Certainly not, my lord, O man of the One, Elohim! You must not lie to your maidservant.
17 Yet the woman became pregnant and bore a son at this appointed time according to the season of life, just as Elisha had spoken to her.
18 The boy grew up. There was one day when he went forth to his father among the reapers.
19 Then he was saying to his father, My head, my head! So he said to his lad, Carry him to his mother.
20 Now he lifted him up and brought him to his mother. There he sat on her knees until noon; then he died.
21 She went up and laid him on the couch of the man of Elohim; she closed the door about him and went forth.
22 Now she called her husband and said, I pray, do send me one of the lads and one of the jennies, and let me run as far as the man of Elohim and then let me return.
23 Yet he replied, For what reason are you going to him today? It is neither a new moon nor a sabbath. She answered, All is well.
24 So she saddled the jenny and said to her lad, Lead on and go. You must not restrain my riding save I say so to you.
25 Then she went on and came to the man of Elohim at Mount Carmel. It came to be, as the man of Elohim saw her in the distance, he said to Gehazi his lad, Behold, this Shunammitess!
26 Now run, I pray, to meet her and say to her, Is all well with you? Is all well with your husband? Is all well with the child? She said, All is well.
27 When she came to the man of Elohim at the mountain, she held fast to his feet. Then Gehazi came close to thrust her away. But the man of Elohim said, Hold yourself back from her; for her soul is bitter in her. Yet Yahweh Himself has obscured it from me and not told me.
28 Now she said, Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, you should not put me at ease?
29 So Elisha said to Gehazi, Gird your waist, take my support-staff in your hand and go. In case you should come upon anyone, you must not bless him; in case anyone should bless you, you must not answer him. And you must place my support-staff on the face of the lad.
30 Then the mother of the lad replied, As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I shall not leave you. So Elisha arose and went behind her.
31 As for Gehazi, he passed on before them and placed the support-staff on the face of the lad. Since there was no voice and no attention, he returned to meet him and told him, saying, The lad did not awake.
32 When Elisha came to the house, behold, the lad was dead, lying on his couch.
33 So he came in, closed the door about the two of them and prayed to Yahweh.
34 Then he got up and lay on the child and placed his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, his palms on his palms. As he lay prone on him, the boy’s flesh became warm.
35 Then he turned away, walked once here and once there in the house, got up and lay prone on him. Now the lad sneezed as many as seven times. And the lad was unclosing his eyes.
36 Elisha called Gehazi and said: Call this Shunammitess. So he called her, and she came to him. Now he said, Lift up your son.
37 When she entered, she fell at his feet and prostrated herself to the earth. Then she lifted up her son and went forth.
38 As for Elisha, he returned to Gilgal. There was the famine in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. Elisha said to his lad, Set the large pot on the hearthstones and cook a stew for the sons of the prophets.
39 Then one of them went forth into the field to glean herbs. He found a field vine and gleaned field colocynth gourds from it, fully filling the fold of his cloak. When he came back, he sliced them into the pot of stew; for they were not acquainted with them.
40 So they poured it out for the men to eat. Yet it came to be as they ate from the stew that they cried out and said, Death is in the pot, O man of the One, Elohim! And they were not able to eat.
41 He replied, Then procure meal. He flung it into the pot and said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was nothing evil in the pot.
42 A man was coming from Baal-shalishah, and he brought to the man of Elohim bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley bread, and new crop grain, in his knapsack. And Elisha said, Give it to the people that they may eat.
43 Yet the one ministering to him replied, How shall I put this before a hundred men? He answered, Give it to the people that they may eat; for thus said Yahweh: They are to eat and to have surplus.
44 So he put it before them, and they ate. They had a surplus according to the word of Yahweh.

Chapter 5
1 Naaman was chief of the military host of the king of Syria; he had become a great man before his lord and reputable; for through him Yahweh had given safety to Syria. As for this man, he was a valorous master, though a leper.
2 Once Syrian raiders went forth and captured a young maiden from the land of Israel; and she came to be before Naaman’s wife.
3 She said to her mistress, Oh that my lord were before the prophet who is in Samaria. Then he would recover him from his leprosy.
4 So he came and told his lord, saying, Like this and like that spoke the maiden who is from the land of Israel.
5 The king of Syria replied, Go. Set out and let me send a scroll to the king of Israel. Then he went and took in his hand ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold and ten changes of garments.
6 He brought the scroll to the king of Israel, saying, Now as this scroll comes to you, behold, I send my official Naaman to you that you may recover him from his leprosy.
7 It came to be when the king of Israel had read the scroll that he tore his garments and said, Am I Elohim to put to death and to keep alive? For this one is sending to me to recover a man from his leprosy. Only realize and see now for yourselves that he is seeking an occasion against me.
8 It came to pass when Elisha the man of Elohim heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments, then he sent to the king, saying, Why did you tear your garments? I pray, let him come to me, and he shall realize that there is a prophet in Israel.
9 So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the opening of the house of Elisha.
10 Now Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying: Go, and you will bathe in the Jordan seven times that your flesh may be restored to you; and be clean.
11 Yet Naaman was wrathful and walked away. He said, Behold, I had thought to myself that he would come forth, yea come forth; and he would stand and call on the Name of Yahweh his Elohim; he would wave his hand toward the place and recover the leprous spot.
12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the streams of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Should I not bathe in them, and I would be clean? So he turned around and went away in a fury.
13 But his servants came close and spoke to him. They said: My father, had the prophet spoken to you of a great thing, would you not do it? Yet, indeed, he has but said to you, Bathe and be clean!
14 So he went down and dipped in the Jordan seven times according to the word of the man of Elohim. Then his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young lad, and he was clean.
15 Now he returned to the man of Elohim, he and all his camp. He came and stood before him and said: Behold, now I realize that there is no Elohim in all the earth save in Israel. And now, I pray, take a blessing gift from your servant.
16 Yet he replied, As Yahweh lives before Whom I stand, I shall not take it. Though he was urging him to take it, he still refused.
17 Then Naaman said: If not, let, I pray, your servant be given a pair of mules’ load of soil of the ground. For no longer shall your servant make an ascent offering or sacrifice to any other elohim, but rather to Yahweh.
18 As for this matter may Yahweh pardon your servant: When my lord enters the house of Rimmon to bow down there and he is leaning on my hand so that I must bow down at the house of Rimmon when I have to bow down at the house of Rimmon, may Yahweh I pray, pardon your servant on this score.
19 Elisha said to him, Go in peace. So he went away from him some distance in the land.
20 Then Gehazi the lad of Elisha the man of Elohim said: Behold, my lord has kept back this Syrian Naaman so as not to take from his hand what he brought. As Yahweh lives, but rather will I run after him and take anything from him.
21 So Gehazi pursued following Naaman. When Naaman saw him running after him, he swooped down from the chariot to meet him and said, Is it well?
22 He replied, It is well. My lord has sent me, saying: Behold, just now two lads of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Do give them, I pray, a talent of silver and two changes of garments.
23 Naaman said, Be disposed and take the two talents. He was urging him and bundled two talents of silver in two handbags with two changes of garments. Then he gave them to two of his lads that they might carry them before him.
24 When he came to the fort, he took them from their hand, laid them up in the house, dismissed the men, and they went away.
25 When he was entering and stood before his lord, Elisha said to him, From where are you coming, Gehazi? He replied, Your servant went neither whither nor thither.
26 Then Elisha said to him: Did not my heart go with you just as the man turned to get off his chariot to meet you? Is this a time to procure silver and to procure garments, olive groves and vineyards, flocks and herds, menservants and maidservants?
27 Now Naaman’s leprosy, it shall cling to you and to your seed for the eon. Then he went forth from his presence, leprous as snow.

Chapter 6
1 The sons of the prophets said to Elisha: Behold now, the place where we are dwelling before you is too narrow for us.
2 Let us go, we pray, as far as the Jordan, and let us take from there, each man, one rafter. Let us build there for ourselves a place to dwell there. He replied, Go.
3 Then one of them said, Be disposed, I pray, and go with your servants. He replied, I myself shall go;
4 and he went with them. So they came to the Jordan and severed timber.
5 It came to be while one of them was felling his rafter that the iron ax head fell into the water. He cried out and said, Alas, my lord, it was loaned.
6 The man of Elohim asked, Whither did it fall? So he showed him the place; and he fashioned a piece of wood, flung it there and caused the iron to float.
7 Then he said, Lift it for yourself; so he put forth his hand and took it out.
8 As for the king of Syria, he came to fight against Israel; and he counseled with his officials, saying, At such and such a place shall be my camp.
9 Yet the man of Elohim sent to the king of Israel, saying, Beware of passing this place, for there the Syrians are settled.
10 So the king of Israel sent word to the place of which the man of Elohim had spoken to him. He warned him that he be on guard there, not once and not twice.
11 The heart of the king of Syria was tossed by a tempest over this matter; and he called his officials and said to them, Will you not tell me who quoted us to the king of Israel?
12 One of his officials replied, No one, my lord the king; yet Elisha the prophet in Israel is telling the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.
13 So he said, Go and see where he is. Then I shall send and take him. When one told him, saying, Behold, in Dothan,
14 he sent there horses and chariots, a heavy army. They came at night and encompassed the city.
15 Now the one ministering to the man of Elohim rose early to get up, and he went forth, and behold, an army was surrounding the city with horses and chariots. Alas, my lord, his lad asked him, how shall we act?
16 Elisha replied, Do not fear, for those with us are more than those with them.
17 Now Elisha prayed and said, O Yahweh, unclose, I pray, his eyes so that he may see. Yahweh unclosed the eyes of the lad, and he saw, behold, the hill was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
18 When they came down toward him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh and said: Smite, I pray, this nation with dazzled perception. So He smote them with dazzled perception according to the word of Elisha.
19 Then Elisha said to them, This is not the road, and this is not the city. Follow after me, and let me lead you to the man whom you are seeking. So he led them to Samaria.
20 It came to be as they entered Samaria that Elisha said, O Yahweh, unclose the eyes of these men so that they may see. Yahweh unclosed their eyes, and they saw; behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
21 Now the king of Israel said to Elisha, as he saw them, Shall I smite, shall I smite, my father?
22 He replied, You must not smite them. Did you capture those with your sword and with your bow that you would smite them? Place bread and water before them that they may eat and drink and then go back to their lord.
23 So he made a dinner for them, a great dinner. They ate and drank; then he dismissed them, and they went back to their lord. Syrian raiders did no longer continue to come into the land of Israel.
24 After this it came to pass that Ben-hadad king of Syria convened his entire force and marched up and besieged Samaria.
25 There came to be a great famine in Samaria; and behold, they were besieging it until a donkey’s head came to eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a cab of seed pods to five shekels of silver.
26 When the king of Israel came to pass along on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, Do save us, my lord the king!
27 He said, Must not Yahweh save you! From where should I save you? From the threshing floor or from the winevat?
28 The king asked her, What have you to say? She replied, That woman said to me, Give up your son, and we shall eat him today. And my son we shall eat tomorrow.
29 So we cooked my son and ate him. Then I said to her on the next day, Give up your son, and we shall eat him. But she hid her son.
30 It came to be when the king heard the woman’s words that he tore his garments as he was passing along on the wall; and the people saw, behold, sackcloth was about his flesh inside.
31 And he said, Thus may Elohim do to me, and thus may he add, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat stays on him today.
32 Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him, when the king sent ahead a man from his presence. Ere the messenger came to him, he himself said to the elders, Do you see how that son of a murderer sends to take my head away? See, as the messenger comes, close the door. And you will keep the door pressed close against him. Is there not the sound of his lord’s feet behind him?
33 While he was speaking with them, behold, the king was coming down to him and said, Behold, this is the evil from Yahweh. Why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?

Chapter 7
1 Elisha replied, Hear the word of Yahweh! Thus speaks Yahweh: About this time tomorrow a seah of flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel in the gateway of Samaria.
2 The adjutant on whose hand the king was leaning answered the man of Elohim and said, Even if Yahweh were making crevices in the heavens, could this thing come to pass? Elisha replied, Behold, you will be seeing it with your own eyes; yet you shall not eat from what will be there.
3 Now four men who were lepers were at the portal of the gateway. They said, each man to his associate, Why are we sitting here until we die?
4 If we had said, Let us enter the city, with the famine in the city, we would have died there. Yet if we sit here, we will also die. So now come and let us swoop down to the Syrian camp. If they keep us alive, we shall live. If they put us to death, then we will die.
5 So they got up in the twilight to enter the Syrian camp. When they came as far as the outposts of the Syrian camp, behold, there was no one there.
6 For Yahweh Himself had caused the Syrian camp to hear the sound of chariots, the sound of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said, each man to his brother, Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Musri to come against us.
7 So they got up and fled in the twilight. They forsook their tents, their horses and their donkeys, the entire camp just as it was, and they fled for their souls.
8 When those lepers had come as far as the outposts of the camp, then they entered one tent; they ate and drank; they carried from there silver, gold and garments and went off and buried them. They returned and entered another tent and carried off what was there. Again they went and buried it.
9 Then they said, each man to his associate, What we are doing is surely not right. This day, it is a day of good tidings, and we are hushing it up. If we tarry until the morning light, then depravity will come upon us. So now come, let us enter and tell the king’s household.
10 Then they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, saying, We came into the Syrian camp, and behold, no one was there or human sound, but only the tethered horses and the tethered donkeys, and the tents just as they were.
11 Then the gatekeepers called out and told this inside the king’s household.
12 The king arose by night and said to his officials, Now let me tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are famishing. So they went forth from the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they are coming forth from the city, then we shall apprehend them alive, and we shall enter into the city.
13 One of his officials answered and said, Now let them take five of the remaining horses that have remained here. Behold, they are doomed like the whole throng of Israel who remain in it. Behold, they are like the whole throng of Israel who will come to end. So let us send, and let us see.
14 Now they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them out after the Syrian camp, saying, Go and see.
15 They went following them as far as the Jordan; and behold, the entire road was full of garments and implements which the Syrians had flung away as they were hurrying away. Then the messengers returned and told the king.
16 Now the people went forth and plundered the Syrian camp. So a seah of flour was sold for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of Yahweh.
17 The king himself gave supervision over the gateway to the adjutant on whose hand he was leaning; and the people tramped him down in the gateway, so that he died, just as the man of Elohim had said when he spoke as the king came down to him.
18 Thus it came to be as the man of Elohim had spoken to the king, saying, Two seahs of barley will be sold for a shekel, and a seah of flour for a shekel about this time tomorrow in the gateway of Samaria.
19 Yet the adjutant had answered the man of Elohim and said, Even if Yahweh were making crevices in the heavens, could this thing come to pass? and Elisha had replied, Behold, you will be seeing it with your own eyes; yet you shall not eat from what will be there.
20 And so it came to be for him; for the people tramped him down in the gateway, so that he died.

Chapter 8
1 Elisha himself had spoken to the woman whose son he had revived, saying, Arise and go away, you and your household, and sojourn in a place wherein you can sojourn; for Yahweh has called for a famine; besides, it will come on the land for seven years.
2 So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of Elohim. She went away, she and her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines for seven years.
3 It came to be at the end of the seven years that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went forth to cry out to the king for her house and for her fields.
4 Now the king was speaking to Gehazi the lad of the man of Elohim, saying, Oh do recount to me all the great things that Elisha has done.
5 And it came to pass while he was recounting to the king how he had revived the dead, that, behold, the woman whose son Elisha had revived was crying out to the king for her house and for her fields. Now Gehazi said, My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha revived.
6 The king asked the woman, and she recounted it to him. Then the king appointed a certain court official for her, saying, Restore all that belonged to her and all the yield of the field from the day she forsook the land until now.
7 Elisha came to Damascus when Ben-hadad king of Syria was ill. It was told to him, saying, The man of Elohim has come as far as here.
8 So the king said to Hazael, Take an approach present in your hand, and go to meet the man of Elohim. You will inquire of Yahweh through him, saying, Shall I revive from this illness?
9 So Hazael went to meet him; he took an approach present in his hand, even every sort of good thing of Damascus, a load of forty camels. He came and stood before him and said, Your son, Ben-hadad king of Syria, he has sent me to you, saying, Shall I revive from this illness?
10 Elisha replied to him, Go, say to him that you shall live, yea live, and that Yahweh has shown me that he shall die, yea die.
11 And he stood with his countenance fixed and kept it until Hazael was ashamed. Then the man of Elohim lamented.
12 Now Hazael said, for what reason is my lord lamenting? He replied, Because I know what evil you shall do to the sons of Israel. Their fortresses shall you consign to fire; their choice young men shall you kill with the sword; their infants shall you dash to pieces; and their pregnant women shall you rend open.
13 Then Hazael said, Indeed, what is your servant, a mere dog, that he might perform this great thing? Elisha replied, Yahweh has shown me you as king over Syria.
14 He went from Elisha and came to his lord, who asked him, What did Elisha say to you? He replied, He said to me that you shall live, yea live.
15 But it came to pass on the morrow that he took the gauze, dipped it in water and spread it out over his face, so that he died. And Hazael reigned in his stead.
16 In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, while Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah became king.
17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
18 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done; for Ahab’s daughter had become his wife; so he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.
19 Yet Yahweh would not cause ruin to Judah on account of His servant David, just as He had promised him to give him a lamp for his sons all the days.
20 In his days Edom transgressed from under the hand of Judah and raised a king to reign over them.
21 So Joram advanced toward Zair and all the chariots with him. Now it came to pass that he himself arose by night and smote the Edomites who were surrounding him and the chariot chiefs. Yet his people fled to their tents.
22 Edom has been transgressing from under the hand of Judah until this day. Then Libnah transgressed at the same time.
23 The rest of the affairs of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?
24 Joram lay down with his fathers and was entombed with his fathers in the city of David; his son Ahaziah reigned in his stead.
25 In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah became king.
26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Athaliah granddaughter of Omri king of Israel.
27 He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, like the house of Ahab, for he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab.
28 He went with Joram son of Ahab to the battle against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead; yet the Syrians smote Joram.
29 So king Joram returned to get healed at Jezreel from the smiting with which the Syrians smote him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. As for Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah, he went down to see Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he was wounded.

Chapter 9
1 As for Elisha the prophet, he called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, Gird your waist, take a vial of this oil in your hand and go to Ramoth-gilead.
2 When you come in there, see Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi there. You will enter and make him arise from the midst of his brothers. Then you will bring him into the chamber inside a chamber.
3 You will take the vial of oil and pour it on his head. You will say, Thus speaks Yahweh: I anoint you king over Israel. Then you must open the door and flee and not tarry.
4 So the lad, the prophet’s lad, went to Ramoth-gilead.
5 When he came in, behold, the chiefs of the army were sitting together. He said, I have a word for you, O chief. Jehu replied, For which one of all of us? He answered, For you, O chief.
6 So he got up and entered into the house; and he poured the oil on his head and said to him, Thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel: I anoint you king over the people of Yahweh, over Israel.
7 You will smite the house of Ahab your lord. Thus will I avenge the blood of My servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of Yahweh at the hand of Jezebel.
8 The whole house of Ahab must perish; and I will cut off from Ahab any man-child, restrained or set free, in Israel.
9 I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nabat, and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah.
10 As for Jezebel, the dogs shall devour her in the portion of Jezreel, and there will be no one entombing her. Then he opened the door and fled.
11 As for Jehu, he came forth to the servants of his lord; and they said to him, Is all well? For what reason did this mad fellow come to you? He replied to them, You yourselves know the man and his concern.
12 Yet they said, It is false! Tell us now. Then he replied, Like this and like that he spoke to me, saying, Thus speaks Yahweh: I anoint you king over Israel.
13 So they hastily took each man his garment and placed it under him on the landing of the stairs. Then they blew the trumpet and said, Jehu is king.
14 Now Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. As for Joram, he was keeping guard at Ramoth-gilead, he and all of Israel, because of the presence of Hazael king of Syria.
15 Yet king Joram had returned to get healed at Jezreel from the smiting with which the Syrians smote him when he made war against Hazael king of Syria. Jehu said to the men, If this is your soul’s desire let not anyone seeking deliverance go forth from the city, to go and tell it in Jezreel.
16 Then Jehu mounted a chariot and went to Jezreel; for Joram was lying there, and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see Joram.
17 Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel and saw the concourse of Jehu as he came near. He said, I am seeing a concourse. Joram ordered, Take a rider, send him to meet them and let him say, Is there peace?
18 Then a rider on his horse went out to meet him; he said, Thus inquires the king, Is there peace? Jehu replied What have you to do with peace? Turn around to my rear. Now the watchman told, saying, The messenger came unto them, but he did not return.
19 So Joram sent a second rider on his horse. When he came to them, he said, Thus inquires the king, Is there peace? Jehu replied, What have you to do with peace? Turn around to my rear.
20 And the watchman told, saying, He came unto them, but he did not return. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu grandson of Nimshi, for he drives with madness.
21 Now Joram ordered, Hitch up! So they hitched up his chariot, and Joram king of Israel rode forth with Ahaziah king of Judah, each man in his chariot. They rode forth to meet Jehu. They found him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.
22 It came to be as Joram saw Jehu that he said, Is there peace, Jehu? He replied, What peace is there as long as the prostitutions of your mother Jezebel and her enchantments are so many?
23 So Joram turned his hands around and fled; he said to Ahaziah, Deceit, Ahaziah!
24 As for Jehu, he filled his hand with the bow and smote Joram between his arms, so that the arrow came forth from his heart, and he crouched in his chariot.
25 Jehu said to Bidkar his adjutant, Lift him up! Fling him into the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember, I and you were riding teams behind his father Ahab when Yahweh Himself lifted up this oracle against him, saying,
26 Assuredly I saw yesternight the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons (this is the averring of Yahweh), and I will repay you in this portion, is the averring of Yahweh. So now lift him up! Fling him into the portion, according to the word of Yahweh.
27 When Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he fled by way of Beth-haggan. Yet Jehu pursued after him and said, Him too! And one smote him while in the chariot on the ascent to Gur which is by Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo and died there.
28 His servants conveyed him by chariot to Jerusalem and entombed him in his tomb with his fathers in the city of David.
29 In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king over Judah.
30 Jehu came to Jezreel, and Jezebel herself heard of it. She applied pigment to her eyes, did her head up well and gazed out through the window.
31 When Jehu himself entered at the gate, she said, Was there peace, Zimri, killer of his lord?
32 He lifted up his face to the window and inquired, Who is with me? Who? Now two or three eunuchs gazed down at him.
33 And he said, Throw her down! So they threw her down; and some of her blood spattered the sidewall and the horses; and they tramped her down.
34 Then he entered and ate and drank. He said, Now look after that accursed woman and entomb her; for she was a king’s daughter
35 When they went to entomb her, they found nothing of her save the skull, the feet and the palms of the hands.
36 So they returned and told him. He replied, This is the word of Yahweh that He spoke by means of His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel the dogs shall devour the flesh of Jezebel.
37 And the carcass of Jezebel will come to be like manure on the surface of the field in the portion of Jezreel that they may not say, This is Jezebel.

Chapter 10
1 Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. So Jehu wrote scrolls and sent them to Samaria to the chiefs of the city and to the elders and to the foster fathers of Ahab’s children, saying,
2 Now then, upon the coming of this scroll to you, there are with you the sons of your lord; and with you are chariots and horses and a fortress city and weapons.
3 You will select which is the best and the most upright of the sons of your lord, and you will place him on the throne of his father. Then fight for the house of your lord.
4 But they became very intensely fearful and said, Behold the two kings, they did not stand before him. How shall we ourselves stand?
5 So the one over the house and the one over the city, the elders and the foster fathers sent to Jehu, saying, We are your servants, and whatever you say to us we shall do. We shall not make anyone king. What is good in your eyes, do.
6 Then he wrote them a second scroll, saying, If you are on my side and you are hearkening to my voice, take the heads of the men who are sons of your lord, and come to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow. Now the king’s sons, seventy men, were with the great men of the city who were bringing them up.
7 It came to pass as the scroll came to them, that they took the king’s sons and slew them, seventy men. Then they put their heads in large pots and sent them to him at Jezreel.
8 When the messenger came in and told him, saying, They brought the heads of the king’s sons, he replied, Place them in two piles at the portal of the gateway until morning.
9 It came to be in the morning that he went forth and stood in the gateway of the city; he said to all the people, You are just. Behold, I myself conspired against my lord and killed him. Yet who smote all of these?
10 Know indeed that nothing from Yahweh’s word shall fall to the earth that Yahweh spoke against the house of Ahab; for Yahweh Himself has done what He spoke by means of His servant Elijah.
11 And Jehu smote all who had remained from the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his redeemers and his close acquaintances and his priests until he had let no survivor remain for him.
12 Then he arose and set out and went to Samaria. On the way when he was at Beth-eked of the shepherds,
13 Jehu himself came upon the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah. He said, Who are you? And they replied, We are brothers of Ahaziah. We are going down to bid peace to the sons of the king and the sons of the queen-mother.
14 He said, Grab them alive. So they grabbed them alive and slew them at the cistern of Beth-eked, forty-two men; and he let not one of them remain.
15 He went on from there and came upon Jehonadab son of Rechab who was on the road to meet him. He blessed him and said to him, Is your heart upright with my heart just as my own heart is with your heart? Jehonadab replied, It is. So Jehu said, If it is, do give me your hand. He gave him his hand; and he made him get up into the chariot with him.
16 He said to him, Do come with me and see my zeal for Yahweh. And he let him ride in his chariot.
17 When he came to Samaria, he smote all who had remained from the house of Ahab in Samaria until he had exterminated it, according to the word of Yahweh that He had spoken to Elijah.
18 Then Jehu convened all the people and said to them, Ahab, he served Baal a little; Jehu, he shall serve him much more.
19 So call now to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants and all his priests. Let no one be missing, because I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Everyone who should be missing shall not live. As for Jehu, he acted furtively in order to destroy the servants of Baal.
20 When Jehu ordered, Hallow a day of restraint for Baal, they called it out.
21 Then Jehu sent word through all of Israel, and all the servants of Baal came, and no one remained who did not come. They entered the house of Baal so that the house of Baal was full, end to end.
22 Jehu said to the one over the wardrobe, Bring forth clothing for all the servants of Baal; and he brought forth the clothing for them.
23 Then Jehu entered the house of Baal with Jehonadab son of Rechab; he said to the servants of Baal, Search and see lest any one be here with you from the servants of Yahweh, save the servants of Baal, they alone.
24 Then he came in to make sacrifices and ascent offerings. Jehu himself had posted eighty of his men outside and had ordered, The man who should allow escape to anyone from the men whom I am bringing into your hands, his soul shall be instead of his soul.
25 It came to be as he finished making the ascent offering that Jehu ordered the runners and the adjutants, Come, smite them! No one must come forth. So they smote them with the edge of the sword. The runners and the adjutants flung the bodies out and went into the innermost sanctuary of the house of Baal.
26 They brought forth the monument of the house of Baal and burned it.
27 They tore down the altar of Baal; they also tore down the house of Baal and turned it into latrines until this day.
28 Thus Jehu exterminated the house of Baal in Israel.
29 But as for the sins of Jeroboam son of Nabat with which he caused Israel to sin, Jehu did not withdraw from following them: the calves of gold that were in Bethel and in Dan.
30 So Yahweh said to Jehu, Because you did well in doing what is upright in My eyes and you did to the house of Ahab according to all that was in My heart, sons of yours to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.
31 Yet Jehu, he was not on guard to walk in the law of Yahweh Elohim of Israel with all his heart. He did not withdraw from the sins of Jeroboam with which he caused Israel to sin.
32 In those days Yahweh started to cut away parts of Israel; and Hazael smote them in all the territory of Israel
33 from the Jordan toward sunrise, all the land of Gilead, the Gadite, the Reubenite and the Manassite, from Aroer that is on the ridge of Wadi Arnon, up to Gilead and Bashan.
34 As for the rest of the affairs of Jehu, all that he did, and all his masterful deeds, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?
35 Then Jehu lay down with his fathers, and they entombed him in Samaria; his son Jehoahaz reigned in his stead.
36 The days that Jehu was king over Israel were twenty-eight years in Samaria.

Chapter 11
1 As for Ahaziah’s mother Athaliah, when she saw that her son was dead, she set out and destroyed all the royal seed.
2 Yet king Joram’s daughter Jehosheba, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from the midst of the king’s sons who were to be put to death; and she put him and his wetnurse into the chamber of couches. Thus she concealed him from the face of Athaliah; and he was not put to death.
3 He stayed with her at the house of Yahweh in hiding for six years, while Athaliah was reigning over the land.
4 In the seventh year Jehoiada the priest sent word and took the chief officers of hundreds of the Carite and of the runners and had them brought to him in the house of Yahweh. He contracted a covenant with them and adjured them at the house of Yahweh; then he showed them the king’s son.
5 He instructed them, saying, This is the instruction of what you are to do: One third of you who are coming on duty on this sabbath shall be keeping charge of the king’s house,
6 another third shall be at the Foundation Gateway and the other third at the gateway behind the runners. You will keep charge of the house alternately.
7 The two companies of yours that are all going forth off duty this sabbath, they will keep charge of the house of Yahweh on behalf of the king.
8 You will encompass round about the king, each man with his gear in his hand. Anyone entering within the ranks shall be put to death. And stay with the king when he goes forth and when he comes in.
9 The chief officers of hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest had instructed. Each one took his men, those coming on duty in this sabbath with those going forth off duty this sabbath; and they came to Jehoiada the priest.
10 Then the priest gave the chief officers of hundreds the spears and the cuirasses that had been king David’s and that were now in the house of Yahweh.
11 The runners, each man with his gear in his hand, were standing from the right flank of the house to the left flank of the house, by the altar and by the house, round about on behalf of the king.
12 Then he brought forth the king’s son; he put the insignia on him and gave him the testimony. They proclaimed him king and anointed him. They smote the palm and said, Long live the king!
13 When Athaliah heard the voice of the runners and the people, she came out to the people at the house of Yahweh.
14 Then she saw there the king standing by the column according to the custom. The chiefs with the bugles were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing bugles. Athaliah tore her garments and called out, Conspiracy, conspiracy!
15 Jehoiada the priest instructed the chief officers of hundreds, the officers of the armed unit, and said to them, Bring her forth, out from inside the ranks. Anyone coming after her shall be put to death with the sword. For the priest thought, She must not be put to death in the house of Yahweh.
16 So they laid hands on her when she came by way of the horses’ entry to the king’s house; and she was put to death there.
17 Then Jehoiada contracted the covenant between Yahweh and the king and the people that they would be Yahweh’s people; and also between the king and the people.
18 Then all the people of the land came to the house of Baal and tore it down. They broke his altars and his images for good; and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. Jehoiada the priest posted supervisors over the house of Yahweh.
19 He took the chief officers of hundreds, the Carite, the runners and all the people of the land that they might bring the king down from the house of Yahweh. They came by way of the gate of the runners to the king’s house; and he took his seat on the throne of the kings.
20 All the people of the land rejoiced; the city itself was quiet since they had put Athaliah to death with the sword in the king’s house.
21 Jehoash was seven years old when he became king.

Chapter 12
1 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king. He reigned forty years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.
2 Jehoash did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh all the days in which Jehoiada the priest directed him.
3 But they did not take away the high-places; the people were continually sacrificing and fuming incense on the high-places.
4 Jehoash said to the priests, All the silver of the holy donations that is brought to the house of Yahweh, the silver passed along by each man, his appraisal silver of souls, all the silver that comes up on a man’s heart to bring it to the house of Yahweh,
5 let the priest take, each of them from his parishoner, and let them repair any gap in the house wherever any gap may be found there.
6 Now it came to be that by the twenty-third year of king Jehoash, the priests had not yet repaired any gap in the house.
7 So king Jehoash called Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, For what reason are you not repairing any gap in the house? Now you must not take silver from your parishoners any more; but for any gap in the house should you grant it.
8 The priests consented to take by no means any silver from the people and not to repair any gap in the house.
9 Now Jehoiada the priest took one coffer and pierced a hole in its lid and set it beside the jamb at the right as one entered the house of Yahweh. And there the priests who guarded the threshold put all the silver that was brought into the house of Yahweh.
10 It came to be whenever they saw that the silver was abundant in the coffer, the king’s scribe came up with the great priest; and they would pouch and count the silver that was found at the house of Yahweh.
11 Then they would render the silver that was weighed out over to the hands of those doing the work who had been given supervision of the house of Yahweh. And they brought it forth to the carpenters and builders who were working in the house of Yahweh,
12 to the wall builders and the stone hewers, and to buy timbers and hewn stones for repairing any gap in the house of Yahweh, and for all that went forth for repair on the house.
13 Indeed, from the silver brought into the house of Yahweh, no basins of silver were made, no snippers, sprinkling bowls or bugles, nor any other article of gold or article of silver for the house of Yahweh;
14 for they gave it to those doing the work, and with it they repaired the house of Yahweh.
15 They would not require an accounting from the men into whose hands they would render the silver to give it to those doing the work, because they were performing it in faithfulness.
16 Silver shekels as guilt offerings and silver shekels as sin offerings however were not brought to the house of Yahweh, for they came to be for the priests.
17 Then Hazael king of Syria marched up and fought against Gath and seized it. Hazael also set his face to go up against Jerusalem.
18 But Jehoash king of Judah took all the holy donations that Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had sanctified, together with his own holy donations and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of Yahweh and the house of the king; and he sent them to Hazael king of Syria, who then went up from against Jerusalem.
19 As for the rest of the affairs of Joash and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?
20 His courtiers arose and conspired in a conspiracy and smote Joash in the house, the Millo bulwark at the descent to Silla.
21 Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer, his courtiers, they smote him so that he died. They entombed him with his fathers in the city of David; and his son Amaziah reigned in his stead.

Chapter 13
1 In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria for seventeen years.
2 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. He walked in pursuit of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, with which he caused Israel to sin; he did not withdraw from them.
3 So Yahweh’s anger burned hot against Israel, and He gave them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadad son of Hazael all these days.
4 Yet Jehoahaz beseeched the face of Yahweh; and Yahweh hearkened to him; for He had seen the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them. (
5 Now Yahweh provided a saviour for Israel, so that they came forth from under the hand of Syria; and the sons of Israel dwelt in their tents as heretofore.
6 Indeed they did not withdraw from the sins of the house of Jeroboam with which he caused Israel to sin. They walked in them; and even the Asherah pole stood in Samaria.)
7 For He had let no armed people remain to Jehoahaz save fifty horsemen, ten chariots and ten thousand men on foot, because the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like dust under threshing.
8 As for the rest of the affairs of Jehoahaz, all that he did and his masterful deeds, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?
9 Then Jehoahaz lay down with his fathers, and they entombed him in Samaria; his son Joash reigned in his stead.
10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria for sixteen years.
11 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh; he did not withdraw from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat with which he had caused Israel to sin; he walked in them.
12 As for the rest of the affairs of Joash, all that he did and his masterful deeds when he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?
13 Then Joash lay down with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne. Joash was entombed in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
14 As for Elisha, he had become ill with his illness of which he was dying. So Joash king of Israel came down to him. He wept over his face and recited, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!
15 Then Elisha said to him, Take a bow and arrows. So he took to him a bow and arrows.
16 Then he said to the king of Israel, Let your hand ride on the bow. When he let his hand ride, Elisha placed his hands over the king’s hands
17 and said, Open the window eastward. So he opened it, and Elisha ordered, Shoot. And he shot. Now he stated, An arrow of victory for Yahweh and an arrow of victory over Syria! You will smite Syria at Aphek unto the finish.
18 Then he added, Take the arrows. When he took them, he said to the king of Israel, Smite earthward. So he smote three times and stayed.
19 Now the man of Elohim was wrathful with him and stated, If you had smitten five or six times, then you would have smitten Syria unto the finish. But now you shall smite Syria only three times.
20 Elisha died, and they entombed him. Now there were Moabite raiders who entered into the land whenever a year came to its end.
21 It came to pass as they were entombing a man, behold, they saw the raiding party, and they flung the man into Elisha’s tomb. When the man came to touch the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood firm on his feet.
22 As for Hazael king of Syria, he oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.
23 Yet Yahweh was gracious to them. He had compassion on them and turned around to them on account of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He would not ruin them, and He did not fling them away from His face until now.
24 When Hazael king of Syria died, his son Ben-hadad reigned in his stead.
25 Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz restored and took from the hand of Ben-hadad son of Hazael the cities that he had taken from the hand of his father Jehoahaz in war. Three times Jehoash smote him and restored the cities of Israel.

Chapter 14
1 In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel, Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah became king.
2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.
3 He did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh, but not like his father David. He performed according to all that his father Joash had done.
4 But they did not take away the high-places; the people were continually sacrificing and fuming incense on the high-places.
5 It came to pass just as the kingship was held fast in his hand that he smote his courtiers who had smitten the king his father.
6 Yet the sons of the smiters he did not put to death, according to what is written in the scroll of the law of Moses in which Yahweh gave instruction, saying, Fathers shall not be put to death on account of their sons’ sins, nor shall sons be put to death on account of their fathers’ sins, but rather shall each man be put to death for his own sin.
7 He himself smote Edom in the salt ravine, ten thousand men, and took possession of Sela in battle. He called it Joktheel; that has been its name until this day.
8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu king of Israel, saying, Do come, let us stare each other in the face.
9 Yet Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon, it sent word to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Do give your daughter to my son as a wife. But an animal of the field that was in Lebanon passed by and tramped down the thistle.
10 You smote, yea smote Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Glory in it and stay in your own house. Now why should you stir yourself up for evil, so that you will fall, you and Judah with you?
11 Yet Amaziah did not hearken. So Jehoash king of Israel marched up; and they stared each other in the face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh in Judah.
12 And Judah was stricken before Israel, so that they fled, each man to his tent.
13 It was Amaziah king of Judah son of Jehoash son of Ahaziah whom Jehoash king of Israel apprehended at Beth-shemesh. Then he came to Jerusalem and made a breach of four hundred cubits in the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gateway unto the Corner Gateway.
14 He took all the gold and the silver, all the vessels found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasuries of the house of the king, and the hostages. Then he returned to Samaria.
15 As for the rest of the affairs of Jehoash, all that he did, and his masterful deeds how he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?
16 Then Jehoash lay down with his fathers and was entombed in Samaria with the kings of Israel; his son Jeroboam reigned in his stead.
17 Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel.
18 As for the rest of the affairs of Amaziah, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?
19 They conspired against him in a conspiracy in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent in pursuit of him to Lachish, and they put him to death there.
20 Then they carried him back on horses, and he was entombed in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.
21 Now all the people of Judah took Azariah ( he was sixteen years old), and they proclaimed him king in place of his father Amaziah.
22 It was he who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after the king lay down with his fathers.
23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria for forty-one years.
24 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. He did not withdraw from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, with which he caused Israel to sin.
25 It was he who restored the boundary of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Yahweh Elohim of Israel that He spoke by means of His servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath-hepher.
26 For Yahweh had seen the exceedingly bitter humiliation of Israel. There was nobody under restraint and nobody set free, and there was no helper for Israel.
27 Yet Yahweh had not thought to wipe out the name of Israel from under the heavens. So He saved them by means of Jeroboam son of Joash.
28 The rest of the affairs of Jeroboam, all that he did, and his masterful deeds, how he fought and how he restored for Israel Damascus and Hamath of Judah, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?
29 Then Jeroboam lay down with his fathers, with the kings of Israel; and his son Zechariah reigned in his stead.

Chapter 15
1 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah became king.
2 He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.
3 He did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.
4 But they did not take away the high-places; the people were continually sacrificing and fuming incense on the high-places.
5 Yahweh touched the king, and he remained leprous until the day of his death. He dwelt in another house divested of his duties, while Jotham the king’s son was over the royal house, judging the people of the land.
6 As for the rest of the affairs of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?
7 Then Azariah lay down with his fathers, and they entombed him with his fathers in the city of David; his son Jotham reigned in his stead.
8 In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in Samaria for six months.
9 Yet he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, just as his fathers had done. He did not withdraw from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, with which he caused Israel to sin.
10 Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against him and smote him at Ibleam. He put him to death and reigned in his stead.
11 As for the rest of the affairs of Zechariah, behold they are written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel.
12 This was in accord with the word of Yahweh that He had spoken to Jehu, saying, Sons of yours to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. And so it came to pass.
13 As for Shallum son of Jabesh, he became king in the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, and he reigned a month of days in Samaria.
14 Then Menahem son of Gadi marched up from Tirzah, came to Samaria and smote Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria. He put him to death and reigned in his stead.
15 The rest of the affairs of Shallum and his conspiracy in which he conspired, behold, they are written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel.
16 Then, out from Tirzah, Menahem smote Tiphsah and all who were in it, and its territories; because it did not open up to him, he smote its people and rent open all its pregnant women.
17 In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel for ten years in Samaria.
18 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh; and he did not withdraw from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, with which he caused Israel to sin. In his days
19 King Pul of Assyria invaded the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, so that his hands might be with him to hold the kingdom fast in his own hand.
20 Menahem took forth the silver from Israel, from all the masters of ability, to give to the king of Assyria fifty shekels of silver from each one. So the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay there in the land.
21 As for the rest of the affairs of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?
22 Then Menahem lay down with his fathers, and his son Pekahiah reigned in his stead.
23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria for two years.
24 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh; he did not withdraw from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, with which he caused Israel to sin.
25 His adjutant Pekah son of Remaliah conspired against him and smote him in the citadel of the king’s house in Samaria along with Argob and Arieh. And with him were fifty men from the sons of the Gileadites. He put him to death and reigned in his stead.
26 As for the rest of the affairs of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold, they are written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel.
27 In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria for twenty years.
28 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh; he did not withdraw from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, with which he caused Israel to sin.
29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abelbeth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he deported them to Assyria.
30 Hoshea son of Elah conspired in a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah and smote him. He put him to death and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Azariah.
31 As for the rest of the affairs of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel.
32 In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham son of Azariah king of Judah became king.
33 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years; his mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok.
34 He did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh. He performed according to all that his father Azariah had done.
35 But they did not take away the high-places. The people were continually sacrificing and fuming incense on the high-places. It was he who rebuilt the Upper Gateway of the house of Yahweh.
36 As for the rest of the affairs of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?
37 In those days Yahweh started to send Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah.
38 Then Jotham lay down with his fathers. He was entombed with his fathers in the city of his father David, and his son Ahaz reigned in his stead.

Chapter 16
1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham king of Judah became king.
2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Yet he did not do what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh his Elohim like his father David.
3 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel; he even caused his sons to pass through fire, according to the abhorrences of the nations whom Yahweh had evicted before the sons of Israel.
4 He sacrificed and fumed incense on the high-places, on the hills and under every flourishing tree.
5 Then Rezin king of Syria with Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to the battle against Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz; but they did not prevail in fighting.
6 In that season Rezin king of Syria restored Elath to Edom and eased the Jews away from Elath. Then the Edomites entered Elath; and they have been dwelling there until this day.
7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the palm of the king of Syria and from the palm of the king of Israel who are arising against me.
8 And Ahaz took the silver and the gold that was found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasuries of the king’s house and sent it to the king of Assyria as a bribe.
9 The king of Assyria hearkened to him. The king of Assyria marched up to Damascus and took possession of it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and put Rezin to death.
10 When king Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria at Damascus, then he saw the altar that was in Damascus. And king Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a likeness of the altar, a model of it for all its workmanship.
11 Uriah the priest built the altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus. So Uriah the priest was busy until king Ahaz set out from Damascus.
12 When the king came from Damascus, and when the king saw the altar, then the king drew near to the altar and offered up on it.
13 He made his ascent offering and his approach present fume. He libated his libation and sprinkled the blood of the peace offerings that were his, against the altar.
14 As for the copper altar that had been before Yahweh, he now brought it near from the facade of the house from between the new altar and the house of Yahweh and put it on the flank of the new altar northward.
15 Then king Ahaz instructed Uriah the priest, saying, On the large new altar make the morning ascent offering and the evening approach present fume, also the king’s ascent offering and his approach present, with the ascent offering of all the people of the land, their approach present and their libations. All the blood of the ascent offering and all the blood of the sacrifice shall you sprinkle against it. As for the copper altar, it shall be for me to make my quest.
16 And Uriah the priest did according to all that king Ahaz had instructed him.
17 King Ahaz cut away the insets of the bases, and he took away the laver off them; and the sea he took down off the copper oxen that were beneath it, and put it on a stone pavement.
18 The covert of the sabbath that they had built at the house and the king’s entry outside he turned about from the house of Yahweh because of the king of Assyria.
19 As for the rest of the affairs of Ahaz and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?
20 Then Ahaz lay down with his fathers, and he was entombed with his fathers in the city of David; his son Hezekiah reigned in his stead.

Chapter 17
1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king in Samaria over Israel for nine years.
2 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him.
3 It was against him that Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched up. Hoshea became his servant and rendered tributary presents to him.
4 Yet the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, since he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and had not brought up tributary presents to the king of Assyria as he had done year by year. Hence the king of Assyria put him under restraint and bound him in a house of detention.
5 Then the king of Assyria marched up against the whole land; he came up to Samaria and besieged it for three years.
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria seized Samaria and deported Israel to Assyria. He made them dwell in Halah, and at the Habor, the stream of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7 This came to pass because the sons of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their Elohim Who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had feared other elohim
8 and had walked in the statutes of the nations whom Yahweh had evicted from before the sons of Israel and in the statutes that the kings of Israel had practiced.
9 The sons of Israel surreptitiously did things against Yahweh their Elohim that were not proper. They built for themselves high-places in all their cities, from the tower of field-keepers to the city fortress.
10 They set up for themselves monuments and Asherah poles on every lofty hill and under every flourishing tree.
11 There they were fuming incense on all the high-places like the nations whom Yahweh had deported from before them. They did evil things to provoke Yahweh to vexation.
12 They were serving the idol clods of which Yahweh had said to them, You must not do this thing.
13 Yahweh testified against Israel and against Judah by means of every prophet and every vision seer, saying, Turn back from your evil ways, and keep My instructions and My statutes, according to all the law that I enjoined on your fathers and that I sent to you by means of My servants the prophets.
14 Yet they did not hearken, and they stiffened the scruffs of their necks more than the scruff of their fathers who did not believe in Yahweh their Elohim.
15 They rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had contracted with their fathers, and His testimonies with which He had testified against them. They went after the idols of vanity of which they were vain, thus following the nations who were round about them, concerning whom Yahweh had enjoined them, by no means to act like them.
16 They forsook all instructions of Yahweh their Elohim; they made molten images for themselves two calves and made an Asherah pole, and they bowed themselves down to all the host of the heavens, and they served Baal.
17 They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through fire and divined by divinations; they practiced augury and sold themselves to do what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke Him to vexation.
18 So Yahweh showed Himself exceedingly angered with Israel and put them away, out of His presence. None remained but the tribe of Judah by itself alone.
19 Even Judah did not keep the instructions of Yahweh their Elohim and walked in the statutes that Israel had practiced.
20 So Yahweh rejected all the seed of Israel; He humbled them and gave them into the hand of robbers until He had flung them away, out of His presence.
21 When He tore Israel off the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Jeroboam caused Israel to founder in following Yahweh, and he caused them to sin with a great sin.
22 The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam that he had done. They did not withdraw from it,
23 until Yahweh put Israel away, out of His presence, just as He had spoken by means of all His servants the prophets. So Israel was deported from its own ground to Assyria until this day.
24 Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, from Cuthah, from Avva, from Hamath and Sepharvaim; he made them dwell in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel, and they took over Samaria and dwelt in its cities.
25 It came to pass at the start of their dwelling there that they did not fear Yahweh. Hence Yahweh sent lions among them, and they became killers among them.
26 So they complained to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations that you deported and made dwell in the cities of Samaria do not know the customs of the elohim of the land. Hence he sent lions among them. And behold, they are putting them to death, since there are none among them knowing the customs of the elohim of the land.
27 Then the king of Assyria gave instruction, saying, Have one of the priests go back there whom you had deported from there; let him go and let him dwell there; let him direct them as to the customs of the elohim of the land.
28 So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel; he was directing them how they should fear Yahweh.
29 Yet they came to make, nation by nation, each its own elohim, which they let rest in the house of the high-places that the Samaritans had made. So they did, nation by nation, in their cities where they were dwelling.
30 As for the men of Babylon, they made Succoth-benoth; the men of Cuthah made Nergal; the men of Hamath made Ashima.
31 As for the Avvites, they made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites were burning their sons in the fire for Adrammelech and Anammelech, the elohim of Sepharvaim.
32 They came to fear Yahweh; yet they also appointed for themselves priests of the high-places from their outmost ranks. They were officiating for them in the house of the high-places.
33 It was Yahweh Whom they came to fear, while they were serving their own elohim according to the customs of the nations from where they had deported them.
34 Unto this day they are performing according to their former customs: None of them are fearing Yahweh properly. None of them are doing according to their statutes and according to their ordinances, or according to the law and according to the instruction that Yahweh enjoined on the sons of Jacob whose name He made Israel.
35 When Yahweh contracted a covenant with them, He instructed them, saying, You shall not fear other elohim; you shall not bow yourselves down to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them,
36 but rather to Yahweh Who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great vigor and with an outstretched arm: Him shall you fear, to Him shall you bow yourselves down, and to Him shall you sacrifice.
37 As for the statutes and the ordinances, the law and the instruction that He wrote for you, you shall observe to do all the days; and you shall not fear other elohim.
38 And the covenant that I have contracted with you, you shall not forget; and you shall not fear other elohim,
39 but rather Yahweh your Elohim shall you fear, and He shall rescue you from the hand of all your enemies.
40 Yet they did not hearken, but rather according to their former customs were they performing.
41 So these nations came to fear Yahweh while they were serving their carvings. Even their sons and their sons’ sons, just as their fathers had done, so are they doing until this day.

Chapter 18
1 It was in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel that Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah became king.
2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years; his mother’s name was Abi daughter of Zechariah.
3 He did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his father David had done.
4 It was he who took away the high-places and broke down the monuments; he also cut down the Asherah pole and pounded to pieces the serpent of copper that Moses had made; for until those days the sons of Israel had been fuming incense to it, and one called it Nehushtan.
5 In Yahweh Elohim of Israel he trusted; and after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor was there among those before him.
6 He clung to Yahweh and did not withdraw from following Him; he kept His instructions that Yahweh had enjoined on Moses.
7 And Yahweh came to be with him; in all wherein he went forth, he proceeded intelligently. He revolted against the king of Assyria and would not serve him.
8 It was he who smote the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territories, from the tower of field-keepers to the city fortress.
9 It came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, that is, the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that king Shalmaneser of Assyria marched up against Samaria and besieged it.
10 They seized it at the end of three years. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was seized.
11 Then the king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and had them guided to Halah, and to the Habor, the stream of Gozan, and to the cities of the Medes,
12 because they had not hearkened to the voice of Yahweh their Elohim, but had trespassed against His covenant all that Moses the servant of Yahweh had instructed. They neither hearkened nor did them.
13 In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria marched up against all the fortressed cities of Judah and took possession of them.
14 So Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, I was at fault. Turn back from against me. Whatever you may impose on me I shall bear. Then the king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasuries of the king’s house.
16 At that time Hezekiah cut away the doors of the temple of Yahweh and the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave them to the king of Assyria.
17 And the king of Assyria sent the tartan, the rab-saris and the rab-shakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a massive army. So they marched up and came to Jerusalem. They went up and came to stand by the trench of the uppermost reservoir that is at the highway of the field of the launderer.
18 They called out for the king. Yet there came forth to them Eliakim son of Hilkiah who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder.
19 The rab-shakeh said to them, Now you tell Hezekiah, Thus speaks the great king, the king of Assyria: What is this trust in which you have trusted?
20 You claim to have counsel and mastery for the war, yet this is only a word of lips. Now on whom have you trusted that you revolted against me?
21 Now behold, you, for your part, have trusted on the support-staff of this fractured reed, on Egypt, which, if a man should support himself on it, would enter into his palm and pierce it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all those trusting on him.
22 And in case you should say to me, On Yahweh our Elohim we trust, is He not the One Whose high-places and Whose altars Hezekiah took away and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Before this altar shall you worship in Jerusalem?
23 Now then, negotiate with my lord the king of Assyria. Let me give you two thousand horses, if you are able for your part to put any riders on them.
24 Then how could you reverse the face of one viceroy of my lord’s least significant officials, when you, for your part, trusted on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
25 And now, is it apart from Yahweh that I have come up against this place to ruin it? Yahweh Himself said to me, March up against this land and ruin it.
26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah replied to the rab-shakeh: Speak, we pray, to your servants in Syrian, for we can make it out. Do not speak with us in Judean, in the ears of the people who are on the wall.
27 Yet the rab-shakeh said to them: Was it to your lord and to you that my lord has sent me to speak these words? Was it not rather to the men sitting on the wall, who shall eat their own excrement and drink their urine with you?
28 Then the rab-shakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in Judean. He spoke and said, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.
29 Thus speaks the king: Let not Hezekiah lure you, for he is not able to rescue you from my hand.
30 Let not Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, Yahweh shall rescue, yea rescue us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
31 Do not hearken to Hezekiah. For thus speaks the king of Assyria: Make of me a blessing, and come forth to me, and eat each man of his vine and each man of his fig tree, and drink each man the water of his cistern,
32 until I come and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and grape juice, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of clarified olive oil and honey, so that you may live and you may not die. Do not hearken to Hezekiah, for he shall allure you, saying, Yahweh Himself shall rescue us.
33 Did the elohim of the nations rescue, yea rescue any man’s land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
34 Where are the elohim of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the elohim of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? When have they rescued Samaria from my hand?
35 Which among all the elohim of these lands rescued their land from my hand, assuring you that Yahweh shall rescue Jerusalem from my hand?
36 Yet the people kept silence and did not answer him a word: for this had been the king’s instruction, saying, You shall not answer him.
37 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah who was over the household and Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph the recorder came to Hezekiah, with their garments torn, and told him the words of the rab-shakeh.

Chapter 19
1 It came to be when king Hezekiah heard it that he tore his garments, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of Yahweh.
2 He also 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.
3 They said to him, Thus speaks Hezekiah: A day of distress, reproof and indignity is this day, as when sons have come to the point of breaking forth, yet there is no vigor to give birth.
4 Perhaps Yahweh your Elohim shall hearken to all the words of the rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his lord has sent to reproach the living Elohim, and He will reprove him for the words that Yahweh your Elohim has heard. Now lift up a prayer in behalf of the remnant that is found.
5 When the officials of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah,
6 Isaiah said to them, Thus you shall say to your lord, Thus speaks Yahweh: Do not stand in fear because of the words that you have heard with which the retainers of the king of Assyria taunted Me.
7 Behold, I am putting a spirit in him; he will hear a report and return to his land; and I will fell him by the sword in his own land.
8 Now the rab-shakeh had turned back and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that he had decamped from Lachish.
9 Yet he heard a report about Tirhakah king of Cush, saying, Behold, he had marched forth to fight against you. Then he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: Let not your Elohim, in Whom you are trusting, lure you into thinking that Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11 Behold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands to doom them; and shall you be rescued?
12 Have the elohim of the nations rescued them, those which my fathers ruined, Gozan and Charan, Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Tel-assar?
13 Where is he the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?
14 Hezekiah took the scrolls from the hand of the messengers and read them and went up to the house of Yahweh. Then Hezekiah spread them out before Yahweh,
15 and Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh and said: O Yahweh Elohim of Israel, dwelling over the cherubim, You by Yourself alone are He, Who is the One Elohim over all the kingdoms of the earth. You Yourself have made the heavens and the earth.
16 Stretch out Your ear, O Yahweh, and hear! Unclose Your eyes, O Yahweh, and see! And hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to reproach the living Elohim.
17 It is true, O Yahweh, the kings of Assyria did drain the nations and their land
18 and put their elohim into the fire and destroyed them; for they were no elohim, but rather the work of human hands, wood and stone.
19 And now, O Yahweh our Elohim, save us, I pray, from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You, Yahweh, by Yourself alone are Elohim.
20 Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel: What you prayed to Me as to Sennacherib king of Assyria, have I heard.
21 This is the word that Yahweh has spoken against him: She despises you! She derides you! The virgin daughter of Zion. Behind you, she wags her head! The daughter of Jerusalem.
22 Whom have you reproached and taunted? And against Whom have you raised high your voice And lifted up your eyes to the height? Against the Holy One of Israel!
23 By means of your messengers you have reproached Yahweh. And you said, With the multitude of my chariots I myself have ascended the height of mountains, The flanks of Lebanon, And I have cut down its tall stand of cedars, Its choicest firs, I have entered its outmost lodging, Its Carmel wildwood.
24 I myself scooped and drank alien waters, And I have drained with the sole of my feet all the waterways of lower Egypt.
25 Have you not heard? From of old I purposed it; From days aforetime also I formed it. Now I have brought it to pass that you have come into being To decimate fortressed cities into crumbled mounds.
26 Their dwellers are shorthanded, Are dismayed and ashamed. They have become like herbage of the field And green verdure, Grass of the housetops, Blasted before the east wind.
27 Your rising and your sitting down, Your going forth and your coming in, I know, And your ranting against Me.
28 Because your ranting against Me And your self-satisfaction have ascended into My ears, So I will place My gaff in your nose And My bit in your lips, And I will reverse you in the way by which you came.
29 Now this is the sign for you: Eat this year the self-sown and in the second year spontaneous growth. Yet in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
30 The salvage that remains of the house of Judah will proceed to take root downward and will yield fruit upward.
31 For from Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant And a salvage from Mount Zion. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts, it shall achieve this.
32 Wherefore thus speaks Yahweh as to the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor confront it with a shield, Nor pour out earthwork against it.
33 By the way which he came, by it he shall return, Yet into this city he shall not enter. This is the averring of Yahweh.
34 I will protect this city to save it on My own account and on account of My servant David.
35 It came to pass on that night that a messenger of Yahweh went forth and smote 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. When the king’s men rose early in the morning, behold, there were all their dead corpses.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria decamped and went home; he returned and dwelt in Nineveh.
37 Then it came to pass while he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his elohim that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer smote him with the sword. As for them, they escaped to the land of Ararat; and his son Esarhaddon reigned in his stead.

Chapter 20
1 In those days Hezekiah was ill to death. So Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, Thus speaks Yahweh: Give instruction to your household, for you are going to die; and you shall not remain alive.
2 Hezekiah turned his face around to the sidewall and prayed to Yahweh, saying,
3 Oh, Yahweh! Remember, I pray, how I walked before You in faithfulness and wholeheartedly, and I have done what is good in Your eyes. Then Hezekiah lamented with great lamentation.
4 Now this occurred to Isaiah: He had not yet gone forth from the middle court when Yahweh’s word came to him, saying,
5 Turn back and say to Hezekiah, the governor of My people, Thus speaks Yahweh, the Elohim of your father David: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I am healing you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of Yahweh.
6 And I will add to your days fifteen years; and from the palm of the king of Assyria I shall rescue you and this city. I will protect this city on My own account and on account of My servant David.
7 Then Isaiah said to the servants, Procure pressed dried figs, let them take and place them on the boil that he may revive.
8 Now Hezekiah asked Isaiah, What is the sign that Yahweh shall heal me, and I will go up on the third day to the house of Yahweh?
9 Isaiah said, This is the sign for you from Yahweh that Yahweh shall perform this word that He has spoken: The shadow has gone on ten steps; should it return ten steps?
10 Hezekiah replied, It is but a slight thing for the shadow to decline ten steps, but not that the shadow returns back again ten steps.
11 So Isaiah the prophet called out to Yahweh; and He reversed the shadow on the steps (that had descended on the stairs of Ahaz) back again ten steps.
12 In that era, Merodach-baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent scrolls and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been ill.
13 Hezekiah rejoiced over them and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold, the aromatics and the good oil, his whole house of weapons and all that was to be found in his treasuries. There was not a thing that Hezekiah did not show them in his house and in all his realm.
14 Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah and demanded of him, What did these men say to you? And from where did they come to you? Hezekiah replied, They came from a far land to me, from Babylon.
15 Isaiah asked, What did they see in your house? Hezekiah said, They saw everything that is in my house. There is not a thing that I did not show them in my treasuries.
16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Yahweh of hosts:
17 Behold, days are coming, this is the averring of Yahweh, when all that is in your house and that your fathers treasured until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Not a thing shall be left, says Yahweh.
18 And some of your sons, who shall come forth from you, whom you shall beget, they shall be taken away. And they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
19 Hezekiah replied to Isaiah, Good is the word of Yahweh that you have spoken. For he thought, Is it not so, if peace and faithfulness shall come to be in my days?
20 As for the rest of the affairs of Hezekiah, all his masterful deeds, how he built the reservoir and the trench and brought the water into the city, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?
21 Then Hezekiah lay down with his fathers and was entombed with his fathers in the city of David; his son Manasseh reigned in his stead.

Chapter 21
1 Twelve years old was Manasseh when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Hephzi-bah.
2 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, according to the abhorrences of the nations which Yahweh had evicted from before the sons of Israel.
3 So he rebuilt again the high-places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just as king Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed himself down to all the host of the heavens and served them.
4 He built altars for them in the house of Yahweh of which Yahweh had said, In Jerusalem I shall place My Name.
5 He built altars to all the host of the heavens in the two courts of the house of Yahweh.
6 He also caused his own son to pass through fire; he consulted clouds, practiced augury and dealt with mediums and wizards. He performed much more to do what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke Him to vexation.
7 The carved Asherah pole that he had made, he placed in the house of which Yahweh had said to David and to Solomon his son: In this house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I shall place My Name for the eon.
8 And I shall not again cause the foot of Israel to wander from the ground that I gave to their fathers, but only if they observe to do according to all that I instructed them, according to the whole law that My servant Moses enjoined on them.
9 Yet they did not hearken, and Manasseh led them astray to do greater evil than the nations which Yahweh had exterminated from before the sons of Israel.
10 So Yahweh spoke by means of His servants the prophets, saying,
11 Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abhorrences and has done more evil than all that the Amorite did before him, and has caused even Judah to sin with his idol clods,
12 wherefore thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such evil on Jerusalem and Judah, if anyone hears of it, both his ears shall tingle.
13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring tape of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem just as one wipes a pan, wiping it and turning it on its face.
14 I will abandon the remnant of My allotment and will give them into the hand of their enemies; and they will come to be for plunder and for robbery to all their enemies,
15 because they have done what is evil in My eyes and were provoking Me to vexation from the day when their fathers came forth from Egypt, even until this day.
16 Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from end to end, besides his sin with which he caused Judah to sin by doing what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.
17 As for the rest of the affairs of Manasseh, all that he did, and his sin with which he sinned, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?
18 Then Manasseh lay down with his fathers and was entombed in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza; and his son Amon reigned in his stead.
19 Twenty-two years old was Amon when he became king; he reigned two years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz from Jotbah.
20 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, just as his father Manasseh had done.
21 He walked in all the way in which his father had walked; he served the idol clods that his father had served, and he bowed down to them.
22 He forsook Yahweh Elohim of his fathers and did not walk in the way of Yahweh.
23 Then Amon’s courtiers conspired against him and put the king to death in his own house.
24 But the people of the land smote all who had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land proclaimed his son Josiah king in his stead.
25 As for the rest of the affairs of Amon and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?
26 They entombed him in his tomb in the garden of Uzza; and his son Josiah reigned in his stead.

Chapter 22
1 Eight years old was Josiah when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah from Bozkath.
2 He did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh and walked in all the way of his father David; he did not withdraw to the right or left.
3 It came to be in the eighteenth year of king Josiah that the king sent the scribe Shaphan son of Azaliah son of Meshullam to the house of Yahweh, saying:
4 Go up to Hilkiah the great priest and let him pour out the silver brought into the house of Yahweh, that the keepers of the threshold had gathered from the people,
5 and let them put it into the hands of those doing the work who had been given supervision in the house of Yahweh, that they may give it to those doing the work who are in the house of Yahweh to repair any gap in the house,
6 to the craftsmen and the builders and wall builders, and to buy timbers and hewn stones for repairing the house.
7 However no accounting should be required from them of the silver given into their hands, because they are performing in faithfulness.
8 Then Hilkiah the great priest said to Shaphan the scribe: A scroll of the law have I found in the house of Yahweh. And Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan, who read it.
9 Shaphan the scribe then came to the king and rendered a report on the matter to the king; he said: Your officials have poured forth the silver that was found in the house; and they put it into the hands of those doing the work who had been given supervision in the house of Yahweh.
10 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, There is a scroll that Hilkiah the priest has given to me. And Shaphan read it before the king.
11 It came to pass as the king heard the words of the scroll of the law, he tore his garments.
12 Then the king instructed Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe and Asaiah the king’s attendant, saying,
13 Go, inquire of Yahweh about me and about the people and about all Judah concerning the words of this scroll that has been found; for great is the fury of Yahweh which ravages against us because our fathers did not hearken to the words of this scroll and do according to all that is written concerning us.
14 So Hilkiah the priest, with Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan and Asaiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah son of Harhas, the keeper of the garments. She was dwelling in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter; and they spoke to her.
15 She replied to them, Thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel. Say to the man who sent you to me,
16 Thus speaks Yahweh: Behold, I am bringing evil on this place and on its dwellers, all the words of the scroll that the king of Judah has read;
17 insomuch as they have forsaken Me and fumed incense to other elohim that they might provoke Me to vexation with all the deeds of their hands, My fury ravages against this place, and it shall not be quenched.
18 Regarding the king of Judah who is sending you to inquire of Yahweh, thus shall you say to him, Thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel: As for the words that you have heard,
19 because your heart was tender and you were submissive before the face of Yahweh when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its dwellers, that it will become an appalling object and a malediction, because you tore your garments and wept before Me, I for My part have heard you too; this is the averring of Yahweh.
20 Wherefore, behold Me, I shall gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your tombs in peace. Your eyes shall not see all the evil which I am bringing on this place. So they brought back this decree to the king.

Chapter 23
1 Then the king sent word, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
2 The king went up to the house of Yahweh, and every man of Judah and all the dwellers of Jerusalem with him, also the priests, the prophets and all the people from the small unto the great. Then he read into their ears all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the house of Yahweh.
3 The king stood by the column and contracted the covenant before Yahweh: to walk after Yahweh, to keep His instructions, His testimonies and His statutes with all the heart and with all the soul, and to carry out the words of this covenant as they were written on this scroll. Then all the people ratified the covenant.
4 The king instructed Hilkiah the great priest, the priests of the second in rank and the keepers of the threshold to bring forth from the temple of Yahweh all the furnishings made for Baal, for Asherah and for all the host of the heavens. He burned them outside Jerusalem on the Kidron terraces and carried their dust to Bethel.
5 He caused the idolatrous priests to cease (whom the kings of Judah had appointed to fume incense on the high-places at the cities of Judah and round about Jerusalem), and those fuming incense to Baal, to the sun and to the moon, to the zodiac and to all the host of the heavens.
6 He brought forth the Asherah pole from the house of Yahweh outside Jerusalem to Wadi Kidron and burned it in Wadi Kidron; he had it pulverized to dust and had its dust flung over the tombs of the sons of the people.
7 He tore down the cubicles of the cult-prostitutes that were in the house of Yahweh, where the women were weaving tunics for Asherah.
8 He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high-places where the priests had fumed incense, from Geba unto Beer-sheba. He broke down the high-places of the hairy goat demons that were beside the portal of the gateway of Joshua, the city chief, which were on one’s left at the city gateway.
9 The priests of the high-places, however, did not go up to the altar of Yahweh in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread in the midst of their brothers.
10 He defiled Topheth, which is in the ravine of the sons of Hinnom, so as to lure no one to make his son or his daughter pass through fire to Moloch.
11 He eradicated the horses (that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun) at the entrance of the house of Yahweh by the room of Nathan-melech the eunuch, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
12 As for the altars on the housetop of the upper chamber of Ahaz that the kings of Judah had built, and the altars that Manasseh had built in the two courts of the house of Yahweh, the king tore them down. He fractured them there and had their dust flung into Wadi Kidron.
13 As for the high-places adjoining Jerusalem, at the right of the mount of corruption, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abhorrence of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled them.
14 He broke the monuments to pieces, cut down the Asherah poles and filled their place with human bones.
15 Also the altar in Bethel, the high-place that Jeroboam son of Nebat had built, who caused Israel to sin, that altar too and the high-place he broke down. Then he burned the high-place, pulverized it to dust and burned the Asherah pole.
16 Josiah turned around and saw the tombs that were there on the hillside. So he sent and took the bones from the tombs and burned them on the altar. He defiled it according to the word of Yahweh that the man of Elohim had called out, when Jeroboam stood by the altar at the celebration; and he turned back and lifted his eyes to the tomb of the man of Elohim who had proclaimed these things.
17 Then he said, What is this cairn that I am seeing? Now the men of the city replied to him, It is the tomb of the man of Elohim who came from Judah, and he proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.
18 He replied, Leave him alone; do not let any man move his bones. So they left his bones undisturbed together with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.
19 Josiah also put away all the houses of the high-places in the cities of Samaria that the kings of Israel had built to provoke Yahweh to vexation; he dealt with them according to all the deeds that he had done at Bethel.
20 He sacrificed all priests of the high-places that were there, on the altars, and he burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
21 The king instructed all the people, saying, Observe the Passover for Yahweh your Elohim according to what is written on the scroll of this covenant.
22 Indeed no Passover like this had been observed since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.
23 For only in the eighteenth year of king Josiah was this Passover observed to Yahweh in Jerusalem in that manner.
24 As for the mediums and the wizards, the household idols, the idol clods and all the abominations which were to be seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah took them out too in order to carry out the words of the law, written on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of Yahweh.
25 There was no king such as he before him who turned back to Yahweh with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his intensity according to all the law of Moses; nor did anyone such as he arise after him.
26 However Yahweh did not turn back from the great heat of His anger when His anger burned hot against Judah on account of all the vexations with which Manasseh had provoked Him to vexation.
27 Yahweh said, I shall also put away Judah from My presence, just as I put away Israel; and I will reject this city that I chose, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My Name shall be there.
28 As for the rest of the affairs of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?
29 In his days, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria on the stream Euphrates. And king Josiah went out to meet him in battle; yet Neco caused him to die at Megiddo when he saw him.
30 Then his servants conveyed him by chariot from Megiddo and brought him dying to Jerusalem. They entombed him in his tomb. The people of the land took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz, anointed him and proclaimed him king instead of his father.
31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.
32 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his fathers had done.
33 Pharaoh Neco made him prisoner at Riblah in the land of Hamath to keep him from reigning in Jerusalem, and he imposed on the land a fine of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
34 Then Pharaoh Neco made Josiah’s son Eliakim king instead of his father Josiah and turned his name around to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz who came to Egypt; and there he died.
35 Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; however he had the land appraised to give the silver at the bidding of Pharaoh. Of each man, according to his appraisal, he exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land in order to give it to Pharaoh Neco.
36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah.
37 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his fathers had done.

Chapter 24
1 In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; yet he turned back and revolted against him.
2 Yahweh sent Chaldean raiders and Syrian raiders, Moabite raiders and raiders of the sons of Ammon against him. And He sent them against the land of Judah in order to destroy it, according to Yahweh’s word that He had spoken by means of His servants the prophets.
3 It was only at the bidding of Yahweh that this occurred to Judah, to put it away from His presence for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done,
4 and also for the innocent blood which he had shed, so that he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and Yahweh would not pardon.
5 As for the rest of the affairs of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?
6 Then Jehoiakim lay down with his fathers, and his son Jehoiachin reigned in his stead.
7 The king of Egypt never again proceeded to march forth from his land; for the king of Babylon had taken all the territory that had been under the king of Egypt, from the wadi of Egypt as far as the stream Euphrates.
8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king; and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem.
9 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his father had done.
10 At that time the servants of king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched up against Jerusalem, so that the city came under siege.
11 When Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city while his servants were besieging it,
12 Jehoiachin king of Judah went forth and surrendered to the king of Babylon, he and his mother, his officials, his chiefs and his eunuchs. The king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign.
13 Then he brought forth from there all the treasures of the house of Yahweh and the treasures of the king’s house; he cut away all the gold furnishings in the temple of Yahweh which Solomon king of Israel had made, just as Yahweh had decreed.
14 And he deported all of Jerusalem: all the chiefs and all the masters of valor (ten thousand deportees), every craftsman and metalworker. No one remained except the poorest people of the land.
15 He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon with the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his eunuchs and the arbiters of the land; he made them go into deportation from Jerusalem to Babylon.
16 As for all the men of valor (seven thousand), craftsmen and metalworkers (a thousand), all of them masters prepared for war, the king of Babylon brought them as deportees to Babylon.
17 The king of Babylon made Mattaniah his uncle king in his stead and turned his name around to Zedekiah.
18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.
19 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
20 For it was on account of Yahweh’s anger that this occurred in Jerusalem and in Judah, until He had flung them away from His presence. Zedekiah revolted against the king of Babylon.

Chapter 25
1 It came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month on the tenth day of the month that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, he and his whole army, came up against Jerusalem. He encamped outside it, and he built siege work against it all around.
2 Thus the city came under siege until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
3 On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was unyielding in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
4 When the city was broken into all the men trained for war went forth at night by way of the gate between the two walls that were at the king’s garden, while the Chaldeans were all around against the city. When he advanced by way of the Arabah,
5 the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered away from him.
6 Then they apprehended the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon by Riblah, and he pronounced judgment on him.
7 He slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with two bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.
8 In the fifth month on the seventh day of the month, that is, the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the grandee of the imperial guard, Nebuzaradan, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
9 He burned the house of Yahweh and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down every house of a great man with fire.
10 All the army of the Chaldeans that was with the grandee of the imperial guard tore down the walls around Jerusalem.
11 As for the rest of the people who were remaining in the city, and those who had fallen away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the throng, Nebuzaradan the grandee of the imperial guard deported them.
12 Yet the grandee of the imperial guard let some of the poorest people of the land remain as vinedressers and as field hands.
13 As for the columns of bronze that were in the house of Yahweh, and the bases and the sea of bronze that were in the house of Yahweh, the Chaldeans broke them up and carried their bronze to Babylon;
14 they also took away the pots and the shovels, the snippers, the spoons and all the articles of bronze with which they had been ministering.
15 The firepans and the sprinkling bowls, whatever were of gold, the grandee of the imperial guard took away as gold, and whatever of silver, as silver.
16 The two columns, the one sea and the bases that Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was not estimated.
17 Eighteen cubits in rise was one column, and the capital on it was of bronze; the rise of the capital was three cubits; and the meshing and the pomegranates all around on the capital, the whole of it was of bronze. And the second column was like these on the meshing.
18 The grandee of the imperial guard took Seraiah the principal priest and Zephaniah the second priest and three of the keepers of the threshold.
19 From the city he took one eunuch who had been supervisor over the men of war, and five men of those appearing in the king’s presence who were found in the city, and the chief scribe of the military host who had been mustering the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.
20 The grandee of the imperial guard Nebuzaradan took them captive and made them go to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
21 The king of Babylon smote them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was deported, away from its ground.
22 As for the people who were remaining in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon let remain, he gave supervision over them to Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan.
23 When all the chief officials of the armed units, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had given supervision to Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah with Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their men.
24 Then Gedaliah adjured them and their men and said to them Do not fear to be servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
25 Yet it occurred in the seventh month that Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, who was of royal seed, came and ten men with him; they smote Gedaliah, so that he died, and also the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
26 Now all the people, from the small unto the great, and the chief officials of the armed units got up and came to Egypt, for they were fearful because of the Chaldeans.
27 It came to be in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of king Jehoiachin of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year he became king, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him forth out of the house of detention.
28 He spoke good things to him and put his covered seat above the covered seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.
29 He made him exchange the clothes of his detention, and he ate bread before him continually, all the days of his life.
30 As for his ration, a continual ration was given to him by the king, the menu of a day in its day, all the days of his life.