The Second of Kings
or, according to the Greek Septuagint, THE FOURTH OF KINGS
1 And Moʹab+ began to revolt+ against Israel after the death of Aʹhab.+
2 Then A·ha·ziʹah fell down+ through the grating in his roof chamber+ that was in Sa·marʹi·a and got sick. So he sent messengers and said to them: “Go, inquire+ of Baʹal-zeʹbub*+ the god* of Ekʹron+ whether I shall revive from this sickness.”+ 3 As for the angel+ of Jehovah, he spoke to E·liʹjah* the Tishʹbite:+ “Rise up, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Sa·marʹi·a and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God+ at all in Israel that YOU are going to inquire of Baʹal-zeʹbub the god of Ekʹron? 4 So therefore this is what Jehovah has said: “As regards the couch upon which you have gone up, you will not come down off it, because you will positively die.”’”+ With that E·liʹjah went off.
5 When the messengers came back to him, he immediately said to them: “Why is it that YOU have come back?” 6 So they said to him: “There was a man that came up to meet us, and he proceeded to say to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent YOU, and YOU must speak to him: “This is what Jehovah has said,+ ‘Is it because there is no God at all in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baʹal-zeʹbub the god of Ekʹron? Therefore, as regards the couch upon which you have gone up, you will not come down off it, because you will positively die.’”’”+ 7 At this he spoke to them: “What was the appearance of the man that came up to meet YOU and then spoke these words to YOU?” 8 So they said to him: “A man possessing a hair garment,*+ with a leather belt girded about his loins.”+ Immediately he said: “It was E·liʹjah the Tishʹbite.”
9 And he proceeded to send to him a chief* of fifty with his fifty.+ When he went up to him, there he was sitting upon the top of the mountain. He now spoke to him: “Man of the [true] God,*+ the king himself has spoken, ‘Do come down.’” 10 But E·liʹjah answered and spoke to the chief of the fifty: “Well, if I am a man of God,* let fire+ come down from the heavens and eat up you and your fifty.” And fire came descending from the heavens and went eating up him and his fifty.+
11 So he sent again to him another chief of fifty with his fifty.+ In turn he answered and spoke to him: “Man of the [true] God, this is what the king has said, ‘Do come down quickly.’”+ 12 But E·liʹjah answered and spoke to them: “If I am a man of the [true] God, let fire come down from the heavens and eat up you and your fifty.” And fire of God came descending from the heavens and went eating up him and his fifty.
13 And he went sending again a third chief of fifty and his fifty.+ But the third chief of fifty went up and came and bent down upon his knees+ in front of E·liʹjah* and began to implore+ favor of him and speak to him: “Man of the [true] God, please let my soul+ and the soul of these fifty servants of yours be precious+ in your eyes. 14 Here fire came down from the heavens and went eating up+ the two former chiefs of fifty and their fifties, but now let my soul be precious in your eyes.”
15 At that the angel of Jehovah spoke to E·liʹjah: “Go down with him. Do not be afraid because of him.”+ So he rose and went down with him to the king. 16 Then he spoke to him: “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘For the reason that you have sent messengers+ to inquire of Baʹal-zeʹbub the god* of Ekʹron,+ is it because there is no God at all in Israel of whose word to inquire? Therefore as regards the couch upon which you have gone up, you will not come down off it, because you will positively die.’” 17 And he gradually died,+ according to the word+ of Jehovah that E·liʹjah had spoken; and Je·hoʹram*+ began to reign in place of him, in the second year of Je·hoʹram+ the son of Je·hoshʹa·phat the king of Judah, because he had not come to have a son.
18 As for the rest of A·ha·ziʹah’s+ things that he did, are they not written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Israel?
2 And it came about that when Jehovah was to take E·liʹjah+ in a windstorm up to the heavens,+ E·liʹjah and E·liʹsha*+ proceeded to go from Gilʹgal.*+ 2 And E·liʹjah began to say to E·liʹsha: “Sit here, please, because Jehovah himself has sent me clear to Bethʹel.” But E·liʹsha said: “As Jehovah is living+ and as your soul is living,+ I will not leave you.”+ So they went down to Bethʹel.+ 3 Then the sons of the prophets+ that were at Bethʹel came out to E·liʹsha and said to him: “Do you really know that today Jehovah is taking your master* from headship over you?”+ At this he said: “I, too, well know it.+ BE silent.”
4 E·liʹjah now said to him: “E·liʹsha, sit here, please, because Jehovah himself has sent me to Jerʹi·cho.”+ But he said: “As Jehovah is living and as your soul is living, I will not leave you.” So they came on to Jerʹi·cho. 5 Then the sons of the prophets that were at Jerʹi·cho approached E·liʹsha and said to him: “Do you really know that today Jehovah is taking your master from headship over you?” At this he said: “I, too, well know it. BE silent.”+
6 E·liʹjah now said to him: “Sit here, please, because Jehovah himself has sent me to the Jordan.”+ But he said: “As Jehovah is living and as your soul is living, I will not leave you.”+ So both of them went on. 7 And there were fifty men of the sons of the prophets that went and kept standing in view at a distance;+ but, as for both of them, they stood by the Jordan. 8 Then E·liʹjah took his official garment+ and wrapped it up and struck the waters, and gradually they were divided this way and that way, so that both of them went across on the dry ground.+
9 And it came about that as soon as they had gone across E·liʹjah himself said to E·liʹsha: “Ask what I should do for you before I am taken from you.”+ To this E·liʹsha said: “Please, that two parts+ in your spirit+ may come to me.”+ 10 At that he said: “You have asked+ a difficult thing. If you see me when taken from you, it will happen to you that way; but if [you do] not, it will not happen.”
11 And it came about that as they were walking along, speaking as they walked, why, look! a fiery war chariot+ and fiery horses, and they proceeded to make a separation between them both; and E·liʹjah went ascending in the windstorm to the heavens.+ 12 All the while E·liʹsha was seeing it, and he was crying out: “My father, my father,+ the war chariot* of Israel and his horsemen!”+ And he did not see him anymore. Consequently he took hold of his own garments and ripped them into two pieces.+ 13 After that he picked up the official garment+ of E·liʹjah that had fallen off him, and went back and stood by the shore of the Jordan. 14 Then he took the official garment of E·liʹjah that had fallen off him and struck the waters+ and said: “Where is Jehovah the God of E·liʹjah, even He?”+ When he struck the waters, then they were gradually divided this way and that way, so that E·liʹsha went across.
15 When the sons of the prophets that were at Jerʹi·cho saw him some way off, they began to say: “The spirit+ of E·liʹjah has settled down upon E·liʹsha.” Accordingly they came to meet him and bowed down*+ to him to the earth. 16 And they went on to say to him: “Here, now, there are with your servants fifty men, valiant persons. Let them go, please, and look for your master. It may be that the spirit*+ of Jehovah has lifted him up and then thrown him upon one of the mountains or in one of the valleys.” But he said: “YOU must not send them.” 17 And they kept urging him until he was embarrassed, so that he said: “Send.” They now sent fifty men; and they kept looking for three days, but they did not find him. 18 When they returned to him, he was dwelling in Jerʹi·cho.+ Then he said to them: “Did I not say to YOU, ‘Do not go’?”
19 In time the men of the city said to E·liʹsha: “Here, now, the situation of the city is good,+ just as my master is seeing; but the water+ is bad, and the land is causing miscarriages.”+ 20 At that he said: “Fetch me a small new bowl and put salt in it.” So they fetched it for him. 21 Then he went on out to the source of the water and threw salt in it+ and said: “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘I do make this water healthful.+ No more will death or any causing of miscarriages result from it.’” 22 And the water continues healed down to this day,+ according to E·liʹsha’s word that he spoke.
23 And he proceeded to go up from there to Bethʹel.+ As he was going up on the way, there were small boys+ that came out from the city and began to jeer+ him and that kept saying to him: “Go up, you baldhead!+ Go up, you baldhead!” 24 Finally he turned behind him and saw them and called down evil+ upon them in the name of Jehovah. Then two she-bears+ came out from the woods and went tearing to pieces forty-two children of their number.+ 25 And he kept going from there to Mount Carʹmel,+ and from there he returned to Sa·marʹi·a.
3 As for Je·hoʹram+ the son of Aʹhab, he became king over Israel in Sa·marʹi·a in the eighteenth year of Je·hoshʹa·phat the king of Judah, and he continued to reign for twelve years. 2 And he kept on doing what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes,+ only not like his father+ or like his mother, but he removed the sacred pillar+ of Baʹal that his father had made.+ 3 Only he stuck to the sins of Jer·o·boʹam+ the son of Neʹbat, with which he caused Israel to sin.+ He did not depart from them.
4 As regards Meʹsha+ the king of Moʹab, he became a sheep raiser, and he paid to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand unshorn male sheep.* 5 And it came about that as soon as Aʹhab died,+ the king of Moʹab began to revolt+ against the king of Israel. 6 Consequently King Je·hoʹram went out on that day from Sa·marʹi·a and mustered+ all Israel. 7 He went farther and now sent to Je·hoshʹa·phat the king of Judah, saying: “The king of Moʹab himself has revolted against me. Will you go with me to Moʹab in war?” To this he said: “I shall go.+ I am the same as you are; my people are the same as your people;+ my horses are the same as your horses.” 8 And he went on to say: “By which particular way shall we go up?” So he said: “By the way of the wilderness of Eʹdom.”+
9 And the king of Israel and the king of Judah and the king of Eʹdom+ proceeded to go, and they kept going their way around for seven days, and there proved to be no water for the camp and for the domestic animals that were following their steps. 10 At length the king of Israel said: “How unfortunate that Jehovah has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moʹab!”+ 11 At that Je·hoshʹa·phat said:+ “Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah?+ Then let us inquire of Jehovah through him.”+ So one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said: “There is here E·liʹsha+ the son of Shaʹphat, who poured out water upon the hands of E·liʹjah.”+ 12 Then Je·hoshʹa·phat said: “The word of Jehovah exists with him.” Accordingly the king of Israel and Je·hoshʹa·phat and the king of Eʹdom went down to him.
13 And E·liʹsha proceeded to say to the king of Israel: “What do I have to do with you?*+ Go to the prophets+ of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him: “No, for Jehovah has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moʹab.”+ 14 To this E·liʹsha said: “As Jehovah of armies before whom I do stand* is living,+ if it were not that it is the face of Je·hoshʹa·phat the king of Judah for which I am having consideration,+ I would not look at you or see you.+ 15 And now YOU men fetch me a string-instrument player.”+ And it occurred that, as soon as the string-instrument player played, the hand+ of Jehovah came to be upon him. 16 And he went on to say: “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘Let there be a making* of this torrent valley full of ditches;*+ 17 for this is what Jehovah has said: “YOU men will not see a wind, and YOU will not see a downpour; yet that torrent valley will be filled with water,+ and YOU men will certainly drink [from it],+ YOU and YOUR livestock and YOUR domestic animals.”’ 18 And this will indeed be a trivial thing in the eyes of Jehovah,+ and he will certainly give Moʹab into YOUR hand.+ 19 And YOU must strike down every fortified city+ and every choice city, and every good+ tree YOU should fell,+ and all the springs of water YOU should stop up, and every good tract of land YOU should mar with stones.”
20 And it came about in the morning,+ at the time of the going up of the grain offering,+ that, look! water was coming from the direction of Eʹdom, and the land came to be filled with the water.
21 As regards all the Moʹab·ites, they heard that the kings had come up to fight against them. Consequently they called together [men] from as many as were girding+ on a belt and upward, and they began standing at the boundary. 22 When they got up early in the morning, the sun itself flashed upon the water, so that the Moʹab·ites from the opposite side saw the water red like blood. 23 And they began to say: “This is blood! The kings have unquestionably been put to the sword, and they went striking one another down. So now, to the spoil,+ O Moʹab!” 24 When they came into the camp of Israel, the Israelites+ immediately rose up and began striking the Moʹab·ites down so that they took to flight from before them.+ Hence they came into Moʹab,* striking the Moʹab·ites down as they came.* 25 And the cities they went throwing down,+ and, as for every good tract of land, they would pitch each one his stone and actually fill it; and every spring of water they would stop+ up, and every good tree they would fell,+ until they left only the stones of Kir-harʹe·seth+ remaining in it; and the slingers began going around it and striking it down.
26 When the king of Moʹab saw that the battle had proved too strong for him, he at once took with him seven hundred men drawing sword to break through to the king of Eʹdom;+ but they were not able to. 27 Finally he took his firstborn son who was going to reign in place of him and offered+ him up as a burnt sacrifice upon the wall. And there came to be great indignation against Israel, so that they pulled away from against him and returned to their land.
4 Now there was a certain woman of the wives of the sons+ of the prophets that cried out to E·liʹsha, saying: “Your servant, my husband, is dead; and you yourself well know that your own servant had continually feared+ Jehovah, and the creditor+ himself has come to take both my children for his slaves.” 2 At this E·liʹsha said to her: “What shall I do for you?+ Tell me; what do you have in the house?” To this she said: “Your maidservant has nothing at all in the house but a spouted jar of oil.”+ 3 Then he said: “Go, ask for vessels for yourself from outside, from all your neighbors, empty vessels. Do not hold yourself to a few. 4 And you must go and close the door behind yourself and your sons, and you must pour out into all these vessels, and the full ones you should set aside.” 5 Upon that she went away from him.
When she closed the door behind herself and her sons, they were bringing [the vessels]* near to her, and she was doing the pouring out.+ 6 And it came about that as soon as the vessels were full she went on to say to her son: “Do bring still another vessel near to me.”+ But he said to her: “There is no other vessel.” At that the oil stopped.+ 7 So she came in and told the man of the [true] God, and he now said: “Go, sell the oil and pay off your debts,+ and you [and] your sons should live from what is left.”+
8 And it came about one day that E·liʹsha went passing along to Shuʹnem,+ where there was a prominent woman, and she began to constrain+ him to eat bread. And it came about that as often as he would pass by, he would turn aside there to eat bread. 9 At length she said to her husband:+ “Here, now, I well know that it is a holy man of God+ that is passing by us constantly. 10 Please, let us make a little roof chamber+ on the wall and put there for him a couch and a table and a chair and a lampstand;+ and it must occur that whenever he comes in to us he can turn aside there.”+
11 And it came about one day that as usual he came in there and turned aside to the roof chamber and lay down there. 12 So he said to Ge·haʹzi+ his attendant: “Call this Shuʹnam·mite+ woman.” At that he called her that she might stand before him. 13 Then he said to him: “Please, say to her, ‘Here you have restricted yourself for us with all this restriction.+ What is there to be done for you?+ Is there anything to speak to the king+ or to the chief+ of the army for you?’” To this she said: “In among my own people I am dwelling.”+ 14 And he went on to say: “What, then, is there to be done for her?” Ge·haʹzi now said: “For a fact, a son she does not have,+ and her husband is old.” 15 Immediately he said: “Call her.” So he called her, and she kept standing at the entrance. 16 Then he said: “At this appointed time next year* you will be embracing a son.”+ But she said: “No, my master, O man of the [true] God! Do not tell lies in connection with your maidservant.”
17 However, the woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son+ at this appointed time the next year, just as E·liʹsha had spoken to her.+ 18 And the child kept on growing up, and it came about one day that he went out as usual to his father with the reapers.+ 19 And he kept saying to his father: “My head, O my head!”+ At last he said to the attendant: “Carry him to his mother.”+ 20 Accordingly he carried him and brought him to his mother. And he kept sitting upon her knees until noon, and gradually he died.+ 21 Then she went up and laid him upon the couch+ of the man of the [true] God+ and closed the door upon him and went out. 22 She now called her husband and said: “Do send me, please, one of the attendants and one of the she-asses, and let me run as far as the man of the [true] God and return.”+ 23 But he said: “Why are you going to him today? It is not a new moon+ nor a sabbath.” However, she said: “It is all right.” 24 So she saddled up the she-ass+ and said to her attendant: “Drive and go ahead. Do not hold back for my sake from riding unless I shall have said so to you.”
25 And she proceeded to go and come to the man of the [true] God at Mount Carʹmel. And it came about that, as soon as the man of the [true] God saw her out ahead, he immediately said to Ge·haʹzi his attendant:+ “Look! The Shuʹnam·mite woman over there. 26 Now run, please, to meet her and say to her, ‘Is it all right with you? Is it all right with your husband? Is it all right with the child?’” To this she said: “It is all right.” 27 When she came to the man of the [true] God at the mountain, she at once took hold of him by his feet.+ At this Ge·haʹzi came near to push her away,+ but the man of the [true] God+ said: “Let her alone,+ for her soul is bitter+ within her; and Jehovah himself has hidden+ it from me and not told me.” 28 She now said: “Did I ask for a son through my lord? Did I not say, ‘You must not lead me to a false hope’?”+
29 Immediately he said to Ge·haʹzi:+ “Gird up your loins+ and take my staff+ in your hand and go. In case you encounter anyone, you must not greet him;+ and in case anyone should greet you, you must not answer him. And you must place my staff upon the face of the boy.”+ 30 At this the mother of the boy said: “As Jehovah is living+ and as your soul is living,+ I will not leave you.”+ Therefore he got up and went with her.* 31 And Ge·haʹzi himself passed along before them and then put the staff upon the boy’s face, but there was no voice nor paying of attention.+ So he went back to meet him and told him, saying: “The boy did not wake up.”+
32 At last E·liʹsha came into the house, and there the boy was dead, being laid upon his couch.+ 33 Then he came in and closed the door behind them both+ and began to pray to Jehovah.+ 34 Finally he went up and lay down upon the child+ and put his own mouth upon his mouth and his own eyes upon his eyes and his own palms upon his palms and kept bent over him, and gradually the child’s flesh grew warm. 35 Then he began walking again in the house, once this way and once that way, after which he went up and bent over him. And the boy began to sneeze* as many as seven times, after which the boy opened his eyes.+ 36 He now called Ge·haʹzi and said: “Call this Shuʹnam·mite+ woman.” So he called her and she came in to him. Then he said: “Lift up your son.”+ 37 And she proceeded to come in and fall at his feet and bow down to him to the earth,+ after which she lifted up her son and went out.+
38 And E·liʹsha himself returned to Gilʹgal,*+ and there was famine+ in the land. As the sons+ of the prophets were sitting before him,+ he in time said to his attendant:+ “Put the large cooking pot on and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”+ 39 Accordingly a certain one went out to the field to pick mallows,+ and he got to find a wild vine and went picking wild gourds from it, his garment full, and then came and sliced them into the stewpot, for they were not acquainted with them. 40 Later they poured it out for the men to eat. And it came about that, as soon as they ate from the stew, they themselves cried out and began saying: “There is death in the pot,+ O man of the [true] God.”+ And they were not able to eat. 41 So he said: “FETCH, then, flour.” After he threw it into the pot, he went on to say: “Pour out for the people that they may eat.” And nothing injurious proved to be in the pot.+
42 And there was a man that came from Baʹal-shalʹi·shah,+ and he came bringing+ to the man of the [true] God bread of the first ripe fruits,+ twenty barley loaves,+ and new grain in his bread bag. Then he said: “Give it to the people that they may eat.”+ 43 However, his waiter said: “How shall I put this before a hundred men?”+ To this he said: “Give it to the people that they may eat, for this is what Jehovah has said, ‘There will be an eating and a having of leftovers.’”*+ 44 At that he put it before them, and they began to eat, and they had leftovers according to the word of Jehovah.+
5 Now a certain Naʹa·man,+ the chief of the army of the king of Syria, had become a great man before his lord* and held in esteem,* because it was by him that Jehovah had given salvation* to Syria;+ and the man himself had proved to be a valiant, mighty man, though a leper.* 2 And the Syrians, for their part, had gone out as marauder bands,+ and they got to take captive from the land of Israel a little girl,+ and she came to be before Naʹa·man’s wife. 3 In time she said+ to her mistress: “If only my lord were before the prophet+ that is in Sa·marʹi·a! In that case he would recover him from his leprosy.”+ 4 Subsequently someone came and reported to his lord, saying: “It was like this and that that the girl spoke+ who is from the land of Israel.”
5 Then the king of Syria said: “Get going! Come, and let me send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he proceeded to go and take in his hand+ ten talents of silver and six thousand pieces of gold+ and ten changes of garments.+ 6 And he came bringing the letter+ to the king of Israel, saying: “And now at the same time that this letter comes to you, here I do send to you Naʹa·man my servant, that you may recover him from his leprosy.” 7 And it came about that as soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he immediately ripped+ his garments apart and said: “Am I God,+ to put to death and to preserve alive?+ For this person is sending to me to recover a man from his leprosy; for just take note, please, YOU men, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”+
8 And it came about that, as soon as E·liʹsha the man of the [true] God heard that the king of Israel had ripped his garments apart,+ he at once sent to the king, saying: “Why did you rip your garments apart? Let him come, please, to me that he may know that there exists a prophet in Israel.”+ 9 So Naʹa·man came with his horses and his war chariots and stood at the entrance of the house of E·liʹsha. 10 However, E·liʹsha sent a messenger to him, saying: “Going there,* you must bathe+ seven times+ in the Jordan that your flesh may come back to you;+ and be clean.” 11 At this Naʹa·man grew indignant+ and began to go away and say: “Here I had said [to myself],+ ‘To me he will come out all the way and will certainly stand and call upon the name of Jehovah his God and move his hand to and fro over the place and actually give the leper recovery.’ 12 Are not the A·baʹnah* and the Pharʹpar, the rivers of Damascus,+ better than all the waters+ of Israel? Can I not bathe in them and certainly be clean?”+ With that he turned and went away in a rage.+
13 His servants now approached and spoke to him and said: “My father,+ had it been a great thing that the prophet himself had spoken to you, would you not do it? How much more, then, since he said to you, ‘Bathe and be clean’?” 14 At that he went down and began to plunge* into the Jordan seven times according to the word of the man of the [true] God;+ after which his flesh came back like the flesh of a little boy+ and he became clean.+
15 Then he went back to the man of the [true] God,+ he with all his camp, and came and stood before him and said: “Here, now, I certainly know that there is no God anywhere in the earth but in Israel.+ And now accept, please, a blessing gift+ from your servant.” 16 However, he said: “As Jehovah before whom I do stand* is living,+ I will not accept it.”+ And he began to urge him to accept it, but he kept refusing. 17 Finally Naʹa·man said: “If not, please, let there be given to your servant some ground,+ the load of a pair of mules; because your servant will no more render up a burnt offering or a sacrifice to any other gods but to Jehovah.+ 18 In this thing may Jehovah forgive your servant: When my lord comes into the house of Rimʹmon+ to bow down there, and he is supporting himself+ upon my hand, and I have to bow down+ at the house of Rimʹmon, when I bow down at the house of Rimʹmon may Jehovah, please, forgive your servant in this respect.”+ 19 At this he said to him: “Go in peace.”+ Accordingly he went away from him for a good stretch of the land.
20 Then Ge·haʹzi+ the attendant of E·liʹsha the man of the [true] God+ said: “Here my master* has spared Naʹa·man+ this Syrian by not accepting from his hand what he brought. As Jehovah is living,+ I will run after him and take something from him.”+ 21 And Ge·haʹzi went chasing after Naʹa·man. When Naʹa·man saw someone running after him, he at once got down from his chariot to meet him and then said: “Is all well?”+ 22 To this he said: “All is well. My master+ himself has sent me,+ saying, ‘Look! Just now there have come to me two young men from the mountainous region of Eʹphra·im from the sons of the prophets.+ Do give them, please, a talent* of silver and two changes of garments.’”+ 23 At that Naʹa·man said: “Go on, take two talents.” And he kept urging+ him and finally bound up two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and gave them to two of his attendants, that they might carry them before him.
24 When he came to Oʹphel,* he immediately took them from their hand and deposited them in the house+ and sent the men away. So off they went. 25 And he himself came in and then stood by his master.+ E·liʹsha now said to him: “Where [did you come] from, Ge·haʹzi?” But he said: “Your servant did not go anywhere at all.”+ 26 At that he said to him: “Did not my heart itself go along just as the man turned [to get down] off his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to accept silver or to accept garments or olive groves or vineyards or sheep or cattle or menservants or maidservants?+ 27 So the leprosy+ of Naʹa·man will stick to you and your offspring to time indefinite.”+ Immediately he went out from before him, a leper white as snow.+
6 And the sons+ of the prophets began to say to E·liʹsha: “Look, now! The place+ where we are dwelling before you is too cramped+ for us. 2 Let us go, please, as far as the Jordan and take from there each one a beam and make for ourselves+ there a place in which to dwell.” So he said: “Go.” 3 And a certain one went on to say: “Come on, please, and go with your servants.” At that he said: “I myself shall go.” 4 Accordingly he went with them, and they finally came to the Jordan and began to cut down the trees.+ 5 And it came about that a certain one was felling his beam, and the axhead*+ itself fell into the water. And he began to cry out and say: “Alas, my master,+ for it was borrowed!”+ 6 Then the man of the [true] God said: “Where did it fall?” So he showed him the place. Immediately he cut off a piece of wood and threw it there and made the axhead float.+ 7 He now said: “Lift it up for yourself.” At once he thrust his hand out and took it.
8 And the king of Syria,+ for his part, became involved in war against Israel. Accordingly he took counsel with his servants,+ saying: “At such and such a place YOU will encamp with me.”*+ 9 Then the man of the [true] God+ sent to the king of Israel, saying: “Guard yourself against passing by this place,+ because there is where the Syrians are coming down.”+ 10 So the king of Israel sent to the place that the man of the [true] God had said to him.+ And he warned+ him, and he kept away from there, not once or twice.
11 Consequently the heart of the king of Syria became enraged over this matter,+ so that he called his servants and said to them: “Will YOU not tell me who from those who belong to us is for the king of Israel?”+ 12 Then one of his servants said: “None, my lord the king, but it is E·liʹsha+ the prophet who is in Israel that tells+ the king of Israel the things that you speak in your inner bedroom.”+ 13 So he said: “YOU men go and see where he is, that I may send and take him.”+ Later the report was made to him, saying: “There he is in Doʹthan.”+ 14 Immediately he sent horses and war chariots and a heavy military force+ there; and they proceeded to come by night and close in upon the city.
15 When the minister+ of the man of the [true] God rose early to get up, and went out, why, there a military force was surrounding the city with horses and war chariots. At once his attendant said to him: “Alas, my master!+ What shall we do?” 16 But he said: “Do not be afraid,+ for there are more who are with us than those who are with them.”+ 17 And E·liʹsha began to pray+ and say: “O Jehovah, open his eyes,+ please, that he may see.” Immediately Jehovah opened the attendant’s eyes, so that he saw; and, look! the mountainous region was full of horses and war chariots+ of fire all around E·liʹsha.+
18 When they began to come down to him, E·liʹsha went on to pray to Jehovah and say: “Please, strike this nation* with blindness.”+ So he struck them with blindness according to the word of E·liʹsha. 19 E·liʹsha now said to them: “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and let me conduct YOU to the man YOU look for.” However, he conducted them to Sa·marʹi·a.+
20 And it came about that as soon as they arrived at Sa·marʹi·a, E·liʹsha then said: “O Jehovah, open the eyes of these that they may see.”+ Immediately Jehovah opened their eyes, and they got to see; and here they were in the middle of Sa·marʹi·a. 21 The king of Israel now said to E·liʹsha as soon as he saw them: “Shall I strike [them] down, shall I strike [them] down,+ my father?”+ 22 But he said: “You must not strike [them] down. Are those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow the ones that you are striking down?+ Set bread and water before them that they may eat and drink+ and go to their lord.” 23 Accordingly he spread a great feast for them; and they began to eat and drink, after which he sent them away and they went to their lord. And not once did the marauding bands+ of the Syrians come again into the land of Israel.
24 And it came about afterward that Ben-haʹdad the king of Syria proceeded to collect all his camp together and to go up and besiege+ Sa·marʹi·a. 25 In time a great famine arose in Sa·marʹi·a,+ and, look! they were besieging it until an ass’s head+ got to be worth eighty silver pieces, and the fourth of a cab* measure of dove’s dung+ was worth five silver pieces. 26 And it came about as the king of Israel was passing along upon the wall that a certain woman cried out to him, saying: “Do save, O my lord the king!”+ 27 To this he said: “If Jehovah does not save you, from what [source] shall I save you?+ either from the threshing floor or from the wine or oil press?” 28 And the king went on to say to her: “What is the matter with you?” So she said: “This very woman said to me, ‘Give your son that we may eat him today, and my own son we shall eat tomorrow.’+ 29 Accordingly we boiled+ my son and ate him.+ Then I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son that we may eat him.’ But she hid her son.”
30 And it came about that as soon as the king heard the woman’s words, he immediately ripped+ his garments apart; and as he was passing along upon the wall, the people got to see, and, look! sackcloth was underneath upon his flesh. 31 And he went on to say: “So may God do to me, and so may he add to it, if the head of E·liʹsha the son of Shaʹphat continues standing upon him today!”+
32 And E·liʹsha was sitting in his own house, and the older men* were sitting with him,+ when he sent a man from before him. Before the messenger could come in to him, he himself said to the older men: “Have YOU seen how this son of a murderer+ has sent to take off my head? See to it: as soon as the messenger comes, close the door, and YOU must press him back with the door. Is there not the sound+ of the feet of his lord behind him?” 33 While he was yet speaking with them, here was the messenger* coming down to him, and [the king]* proceeded to say: “Here this is the calamity from Jehovah.+ Why should I wait any longer for Jehovah?”+
7 E·liʹsha now said: “Listen, YOU men, to the word of Jehovah.+ This is what Jehovah has said, ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah* measure of fine flour will be worth a shekel,* and two seah measures of barley worth a shekel in the gateway of Sa·marʹi·a.’”+ 2 At that the adjutant upon whose hand the king was supporting+ himself answered the man of the [true] God and said: “If Jehovah were making floodgates in the heavens,+ could this thing take place?”+ To this he said: “Here you are seeing it with your own eyes,+ but from it you will not eat.”+
3 And there were four men, lepers, that happened to be at the entrance of the gate;+ and they began to say the one to the other: “Why are we sitting here until we have died? 4 If we had said, ‘Let us enter the city,’ when the famine is in the city, we would also have to die there.+ And if we do sit here, we shall also have to die. So now come and let us invade the camp of the Syrians. If they preserve us alive, we shall live; but if they put us to death, then we shall have to die.”+ 5 Accordingly they rose up in the evening darkness to enter the camp of the Syrians; and they got to come as far as the outskirts of the camp of the Syrians, and, look! nobody was there.
6 And Jehovah* himself had caused the camp of the Syrians to hear+ the sound of war chariots, the sound of horses, the sound of a great military force,+ so that they said to one another: “Look! The king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hitʹtites+ and the kings of Egypt+ to come against us!” 7 Immediately they got up and went fleeing in the evening darkness+ and leaving their tents and their horses+ and their asses—the camp just as it was—and they kept fleeing for their soul.*+
8 When these lepers came as far as the outskirts of the camp, they then entered into one tent and began to eat and drink and carry from there silver and gold and garments and go off and stick them away. After that they returned and entered into another tent and carried things from there and went off and stuck them away.+
9 Finally they began to say the one to the other: “It is not right what we are doing. This day is a day of good news!+ If we are hesitating, and we actually wait until the morning light, guilt must also catch up with us.+ So now come and let us enter and make report at the king’s house.” 10 So they came and called to the gatekeepers+ of the city and reported to them, saying: “We came into the camp of the Syrians, and, look! there was nobody there nor sound of a man, but only the horses tied and the asses tied and the tents just as they were.”+ 11 At once the gatekeepers called out and they reported to the king’s house inside.
12 Immediately the king rose up by night and said to his servants:+ “Let me tell YOU, please, what the Syrians have done to us.+ They well know that we are hungry;+ and so they went out from the camp to hide themselves in the field,+ saying, ‘They will come out from the city, and we shall catch them alive, and into the city we shall enter.’” 13 Then one of his servants answered and said: “Let them take, please, five of the remaining horses that have remained in the city.+ Look! They are the same as all the crowd of Israel that have remained in it. Look! They are the same as all the crowd of Israel that have perished.+ And let us send out and see.” 14 Accordingly they took two chariots with horses and the king sent them out after the camp of the Syrians, saying: “Go and see.” 15 At that they went following them as far as the Jordan; and, look! all the way was full of garments and utensils+ that the Syrians had thrown away as they were hurrying away.+ Then the messengers returned and reported to the king.
16 And the people proceeded to go out and plunder+ the camp of the Syrians; and so a seah measure of fine flour came to be worth a shekel, and two seah measures of barley worth a shekel, according to the word+ of Jehovah. 17 And the king himself had appointed the adjutant upon whose hand he was supporting+ himself to have charge of the gateway; and the people kept trampling+ him in the gateway, so that he died, just as the man of the [true] God had spoken,+ when he spoke at the time that the king came down to him. 18 Thus it came about just as the man of the [true] God had spoken to the king, saying: “Two seah measures of barley worth a shekel and a seah measure of fine flour worth a shekel it will come to be tomorrow at this time in the gateway of Sa·marʹi·a.”+ 19 But the adjutant answered the man of the [true] God and said: “Even if Jehovah were making floodgates in the heavens, could it take place according to this word?”+ To this he said: “Here you are seeing it with your own eyes, but from it you will not eat.”+ 20 Thus it happened to him like that,+ when the people kept trampling+ him in the gateway, so that he died.
8 And E·liʹsha himself had spoken to the woman whose son he had revived,+ saying: “Rise up and go, you with your household, and reside as an alien wherever you can reside as an alien;+ for Jehovah has called for a famine,+ and, besides, it must come* upon the land for seven years.”+ 2 So the woman got up and did according to the word of the man of the [true] God and went,+ she with her household,+ and took up residence as an alien in the land of the Phi·lisʹtines+ for seven years.
3 And it came about at the end of seven years that the woman proceeded to return from the land of the Phi·lisʹtines and go forth to cry out to the king+ for her house and for her field. 4 Now the king was speaking to Ge·haʹzi+ the attendant of the man of the [true] God, saying: “Do relate to me, please, all the great things that E·liʹsha has done.”+ 5 And it came about that as he was relating to the king how he had revived the dead one,+ why, here the woman whose son he had revived was crying out to the king for her house and for her field.+ At once Ge·haʹzi said: “My lord+ the king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom E·liʹsha revived.” 6 At that the king asked the woman, and she went on to relate to him the story.+ Then the king gave her a court official,+ saying: “Return all that belongs to her and all the products of the field from the day of her leaving the land until now.”+
7 And E·liʹsha proceeded to come to Damascus;+ and Ben-haʹdad+ the king of Syria was sick. Accordingly the report was made to him, saying: “The man of the [true] God+ has come as far as here.” 8 At that the king said to Hazʹa·el:+ “Take a gift+ in your hand and go and meet the man of the [true] God, and you must inquire+ of Jehovah through him, saying, ‘Shall I revive from this sickness?’” 9 So Hazʹa·el went to meet him and took a gift in his hand, even every sort of good thing of Damascus, the load of forty camels, and came and stood before him and said: “Your son,+ Ben-haʹdad, the king of Syria, has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I revive from this sickness?’” 10 Then E·liʹsha said to him: “Go, say to him, ‘You will* positively revive,’ and Jehovah has shown me+ that he will positively die.”+ 11 And he kept a fixed look and kept it set to the point of embarrassment. Then the man of the [true] God gave way to weeping.+ 12 At this Hazʹa·el said: “Why is my lord weeping?” To this he said: “Because I well know what injury+ you will do to the sons of Israel. Their fortified places you will consign to the fire, and their choice men you will kill with the sword, and their children you will dash to pieces,+ and their pregnant women you will rip up.”+ 13 Upon that Hazʹa·el said: “What is your servant, [who is a mere] dog,+ that he could do this great thing?” But E·liʹsha said: “Jehovah has shown me you as king over Syria.”+
14 After that he went from E·liʹsha and came to his own lord, who then said to him: “What did E·liʹsha say to you?” To this he said: “He said to me, ‘You will positively revive.’”+ 15 And it came about on the next day that he proceeded to take a coverlet* and dip* it in water and spread it out over his face,+ so that he died.+ And Hazʹa·el+ began to reign in place of him.
16 And in the fifth year of Je·hoʹram*+ the son of Aʹhab the king of Israel, while Je·hoshʹa·phat was king of Judah, Je·hoʹram+ the son of Je·hoshʹa·phat the king of Judah became king. 17 Thirty-two years old he happened to be when he became king, and for eight years he reigned in Jerusalem.+ 18 And he went walking in the way of the kings of Israel,+ just as those of the house of Aʹhab had done;+ for it was Aʹhab’s daughter that became his wife,+ and he kept doing what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes. 19 And Jehovah did not want to bring Judah+ to ruin for the sake of David his servant,+ just as he had promised him to give a lamp+ to him [and] to his sons* always.*
20 In his days Eʹdom+ revolted from under the hand of Judah, and then made a king+ reign over them. 21 Consequently Je·hoʹram passed over to Zaʹir, also all the chariots with him. And it came about that he himself rose up by night and got to strike down the Eʹdom·ites that were surrounding him and the chiefs of the chariots; and the people went fleeing to their tents. 22 But Eʹdom kept up its revolt from under the hand of Judah down to this day. It was then that Libʹnah*+ began to revolt at that time.
23 And the rest of the affairs of Je·hoʹram and all that he did, are they not written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah? 24 Finally Je·hoʹram lay down with his forefathers+ and was buried with his forefathers in the City of David.+ And A·ha·ziʹah*+ his son began to reign in place of him.
25 In the twelfth year of Je·hoʹram the son of Aʹhab the king of Israel, A·ha·ziʹah the son of Je·hoʹram the king of Judah became king.+ 26 Twenty-two years old was A·ha·ziʹah when he began to reign, and for one year he reigned in Jerusalem.+ And his mother’s name was Ath·a·liʹah+ the granddaughter* of Omʹri+ the king of Israel. 27 And he went walking in the way of the house of Aʹhab+ and kept doing what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes,+ like the house of Aʹhab, for he was a relative of the house of Aʹhab by marriage.+ 28 Accordingly he went with Je·hoʹram the son of Aʹhab to the war against Hazʹa·el+ the king of Syria at Raʹmoth-gilʹe·ad,+ but the Syrians struck+ down Je·hoʹram. 29 So Je·hoʹram+ the king returned to get healed at Jezʹre·el+ from the wounds that the Syrians got to inflict upon him at Raʹmah* when he fought Hazʹa·el the king of Syria. As for A·ha·ziʹah+ the son of Je·hoʹram the king of Judah, he went down to see Je·hoʹram the son of Aʹhab in Jezʹre·el, for he was sick.
9 And E·liʹsha the prophet, for his part, called one of the sons+ of the prophets and then said to him: “Gird up your loins+ and take this flask*+ of oil in your hand and go to Raʹmoth-gilʹe·ad.+ 2 When you have come in there, see Jeʹhu+ the son of Je·hoshʹa·phat the son of Nimʹshi there; and you must come in and make him get up from the midst of his brothers and bring him into the innermost chamber.+ 3 And you must take the flask of oil and pour it out upon his head+ and say, ‘This is what Jehovah has said: “I do anoint+ you as king+ over Israel.”’ And you must open the door and flee and not wait.”
4 And the attendant, the prophet’s attendant, got on his way to Raʹmoth-gilʹe·ad. 5 When he came in, why, there the chiefs of the military force were seated. He now said: “There is a word I have for you,+ O chief.” At this Jeʹhu said: “For which one of all of us?” Then he said: “For you, O chief.” 6 So he got up and came into the house; and he proceeded to pour the oil out upon his head and say to him: “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, ‘I do anoint you as king+ over Jehovah’s people,+ that is, over Israel. 7 And you must strike down the house of Aʹhab your lord, and I must avenge+ the blood* of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of Jehovah at the hand of Jezʹe·bel.+ 8 And the whole house of Aʹhab must perish; and I must cut off from Aʹhab+ anyone urinating against a wall*+ and any helpless and worthless one*+ in Israel. 9 And I must constitute the house of Aʹhab like the house of Jer·o·boʹam+ the son of Neʹbat and like the house of Baʹa·sha+ the son of A·hiʹjah. 10 And Jezʹe·bel the dogs will eat+ up in the tract of land at Jezʹre·el, and there will be no one burying her.’” With that he opened the door and went fleeing.+
11 As for Jeʹhu, he went out to the servants of his lord, and they began to say to him: “Is everything all right?+ Why did this crazy+ man come in to you?” But he said to them: “YOU yourselves well know the man and his sort of talk.” 12 But they said: “It is false!* Tell us, please.” Then he said: “It was like this and like that that he talked to me, saying, ‘This is what Jehovah has said: “I do anoint you as king over Israel.”’”+ 13 At this they hurriedly took each one his garment+ and put it under him upon the bare steps, and they began to blow the horn+ and say: “Jeʹhu has become king!”+ 14 And Jeʹhu+ the son of Je·hoshʹa·phat the son of Nimʹshi+ proceeded to conspire+ against Je·hoʹram.*
And Je·hoʹram himself had happened to be keeping guard at Raʹmoth-gilʹe·ad,+ he with all Israel, because of Hazʹa·el+ the king of Syria. 15 Later Je·hoʹram+ the king returned to get healed at Jezʹre·el+ from the wounds that the Syrians got to inflict upon him when he fought Hazʹa·el the king of Syria.+
Jeʹhu now said: “If YOUR soul agrees,*+ do not let anyone go out in escape from the city to go and make report in Jezʹre·el.” 16 And Jeʹhu began to ride and go to Jezʹre·el; for Je·hoʹram was lying there, and A·ha·ziʹah*+ the king of Judah himself had gone down to see Je·hoʹram. 17 And the watchman+ was standing upon the tower+ in Jezʹre·el,+ and he got to see the heaving mass of Jeʹhu’s [men] as he was coming, and he at once said: “There is a heaving mass [of men] that I am seeing.” At that Je·hoʹram said: “Take a cavalryman and send him to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is there peace?’”+ 18 Accordingly a rider on a horse went to meet him and said: “This is what the king has said, ‘Is there peace?’” But Jeʹhu said: “What do you have to do with ‘peace’?*+ Get around to my rear!”
And the watchman+ went on to report, saying: “The messenger came as far as to them, but he has not returned.” 19 So he sent out a second rider on a horse, who, when he came to them, proceeded to say: “This is what the king has said, ‘Is there peace?’” But Jeʹhu said: “What do you have to do with ‘peace’?+ Get around to my rear!”
20 And the watchman went on to report, saying: “He came as far as to them, but he has not returned; and the driving is like the driving of Jeʹhu+ the grandson* of Nimʹshi,+ for it is with madness that he drives.”+ 21 At that Je·hoʹram said: “Hitch up!”+ So his war chariot was hitched up and Je·hoʹram the king of Israel and A·ha·ziʹah+ the king of Judah went out, each in his own war chariot. As they continued on out to meet Jeʹhu, they got to find him in the tract of land of Naʹboth+ the Jezʹre·el·ite.
22 And it came about that as soon as Je·hoʹram saw Jeʹhu, he immediately said: “Is there peace, Jeʹhu?” But he said: “What peace+ could there be as long as there are the fornications of Jezʹe·bel+ your mother and her many sorceries?”+ 23 At once Je·hoʹram made a turn with his hands, that he might flee, and said to A·ha·ziʹah: “There is trickery,+ A·ha·ziʹah!” 24 And Jeʹhu himself filled his hand with a bow+ and proceeded to shoot Je·hoʹram between the arms, so that the arrow came out at his heart, and he collapsed in his war chariot.+ 25 He now said to Bidʹkar* his adjutant:+ “Lift him up; throw him into the tract of the field of Naʹboth the Jezʹre·el·ite;+ for remember: I and you were riding teams behind Aʹhab his father, and Jehovah himself lifted up this pronouncement+ against him: 26 ‘“Certainly the blood+ of Naʹboth and the blood of his sons+ I saw yesterday,” is the utterance of Jehovah, “and I shall certainly repay+ you in this tract of land,” is the utterance of Jehovah.’ So now, lift him up; throw him into the tract of land according to the word of Jehovah.”+
27 And A·ha·ziʹah+ the king of Judah himself saw it and took to flight by the way of the garden house.+ (Later* Jeʹhu went in pursuit of him and said: “Him also! STRIKE him down!” So they struck him down* while in the chariot on the way up to Gur, which is by Ibʹle·am.+ And he continued his flight to Me·gidʹdo+ and got to die there.+ 28 Then his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and so they buried him in his grave with his forefathers in the City of David.+ 29 And it was in the eleventh year of Je·hoʹram+ the son of Aʹhab that A·ha·ziʹah+ had become king over Judah.)
30 At length Jeʹhu came to Jezʹre·el,+ and Jezʹe·bel+ herself heard of it. And she proceeded to paint+ her eyes with black paint and do her head up beautifully+ and to look down through the window.+ 31 And Jeʹhu himself came in by the gate. She now said: “Did it go all right with Zimʹri+ the killer of his lord?” 32 At that he raised his face toward the window and said: “Who is with me? Who?”+ Immediately two or three court officials+ looked down at him. 33 So he said: “Let her drop!”+ Then they let her drop, and some of her blood went spattering upon the wall and upon the horses; and he now trampled+ upon her. 34 After that he came on in and ate and drank and then said: “YOU men, please, take care of this accursed+ one and bury her, for she is the daughter of a king.”+ 35 When they went to bury her, they did not find anything of her but the skull and the feet and the palms of the hands.+ 36 When they returned and told him, he went on to say: “It is the word of Jehovah that he spoke by means+ of his servant E·liʹjah* the Tishʹbite, saying, ‘In the tract of land of Jezʹre·el the dogs will eat the flesh of Jezʹe·bel.+ 37 And the dead body of Jezʹe·bel will certainly become as manure+ upon the face of the field in the tract of land of Jezʹre·el, that they may not say: “This is Jezʹe·bel.”’”+
10 Now Aʹhab had seventy+ sons in Sa·marʹi·a.+ Therefore Jeʹhu wrote letters and sent them to Sa·marʹi·a to the princes+ of Jezʹre·el, the older men+ and the caretakers of Aʹhab,* saying: 2 “Now, then, at the very time that this letter comes to YOU there are with YOU the sons of YOUR lord, and there are with YOU the war chariots and the horses+ and a fortified city and the armor. 3 And YOU must see which is the best and most upright of the sons of YOUR lord and put him upon the throne of his father.+ Then fight for the house of YOUR lord.”
4 And they became very greatly afraid and began to say: “Look! Two kings+ themselves did not stand before him, and how shall we ourselves stand?”+ 5 Consequently the one who was over the house and the one who was over the city and the older men and the caretakers+ sent to Jeʹhu, saying: “We are your servants, and everything that you say to us we shall do. We shall not make anyone king. What is good in your own eyes do.”
6 At that he wrote them a second letter, saying: “If YOU belong to me,+ and it is my voice that YOU are obeying, take the heads of the men that are sons+ of YOUR lord and come to me tomorrow at this time at Jezʹre·el.”+
Now the sons of the king, seventy men, were with the distinguished men of the city that were bringing them up. 7 And it came about that as soon as the letter came to them, they went taking the sons of the king and slaughtering [them], seventy men,+ after which they put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezʹre·el. 8 Then the messenger+ came in and told him, saying: “They have brought the heads+ of the sons of the king.” So he said: “PUT them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning.”+ 9 And it came about in the morning that he proceeded to go out. Then he stood still and said to all the people: “YOU are righteous.*+ Here I myself conspired+ against my lord, and I got to kill him;+ but who struck down all these? 10 Know, then, that nothing of Jehovah’s word will fall [unfulfilled] to the earth+ that Jehovah has spoken against the house of Aʹhab;+ and Jehovah himself has done what he spoke by means of his servant E·liʹjah.”+ 11 Moreover, Jeʹhu went on to strike down all who were left over of the house of Aʹhab in Jezʹre·el and all his distinguished men+ and his acquaintances and his priests,+ until he had let no survivor of his remain.+
12 And he proceeded to rise and come in, then get on his way to Sa·marʹi·a. The binding house of the shepherds was on the way.* 13 And Jeʹhu himself encountered the brothers+ of A·ha·ziʹah+ the king of Judah. When he said to them, “Who are YOU?” then they said: “We are the brothers of A·ha·ziʹah, and we are on our way down to ask if all is well with* the sons of the king and the sons of the lady.” 14 Immediately he said: “Seize them alive,+ YOU men!” So they seized them alive and slaughtered them at the cistern of the binding house,* forty-two men, and he did not let a single one of them remain.+
15 As he was going along from there he got to encounter Je·honʹa·dab*+ the son of Reʹchab+ [coming] to meet him. When he blessed+ him, he accordingly said to him: “Is your heart upright with me, just as my own heart is with your heart?”+
To this Je·honʹa·dab said: “It is.”
“If it is, do give me your hand.”
So he gave him his hand. At that he made him get up into the chariot with him.+ 16 Then he said: “Do go along with me and look upon my toleration of no rivalry+ toward Jehovah.” And they* kept him riding with him in his war chariot. 17 Finally he came to Sa·marʹi·a. Now he went striking down all who were left over of Aʹhab’s in Sa·marʹi·a, until he had annihilated them,+ according to Jehovah’s word that he had spoken to E·liʹjah.+
18 Further, Jeʹhu collected all the people together and said to them: “Aʹhab, on the one hand, worshiped* Baʹal* a little.+ Jeʹhu, on the other hand, will worship him a great deal. 19 So now call all the prophets+ of Baʹal, all his worshipers+ and all his priests+ to me. Do not let a single one be missing, because I have a great sacrifice for Baʹal. Anyone that is missing will not keep living.” As for Jeʹhu, he acted slyly,+ for the purpose of destroying the worshipers of Baʹal.
20 And Jeʹhu went on to say: “Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baʹal.” Accordingly they proclaimed it. 21 After that Jeʹhu sent through all Israel,+ so that all the worshipers of Baʹal came in. And not a single one was left over that did not come in. And they kept coming into the house of Baʹal,+ and the house of Baʹal came to be full from end to end.* 22 He now said to the one who was over the wardrobe: “Bring out garments for all the worshipers of Baʹal.” So he brought the attire out for them. 23 Then Jeʹhu entered with Je·honʹa·dab+ the son of Reʹchab into the house of Baʹal. He now said to the worshipers of Baʹal: “Search carefully and see that there may be here with YOU none of the worshipers of Jehovah, but only the worshipers of Baʹal.”+ 24 Finally they came in to render up sacrifices and burnt offerings, and Jeʹhu himself stationed eighty* men outside at his disposal and went on to say: “As for the man that escapes from the men whom I am bringing into YOUR hands, the one’s soul will go for the other’s soul.”+
25 And it came about that as soon as he finished rendering up the burnt offering, Jeʹhu immediately said to the runners and the adjutants: “Come in, strike them down! Do not let a single one go out.”+ And the runners and the adjutants+ began to strike them down with the edge of the sword and to throw them out, and they kept going as far as the city of the house of Baʹal. 26 Then they brought out the sacred pillars*+ of the house of Baʹal and burned+ each one.* 27 Further, they pulled down the sacred pillar of Baʹal+ and pulled down the house of Baʹal,+ and they kept it set aside for privies+ down to this day.
28 Thus Jeʹhu annihilated Baʹal out of Israel. 29 It was only the sins of Jer·o·boʹam+ the son of Neʹbat, with which he caused Israel to sin,+ that Jeʹhu did not turn aside from following them, [that is,] the golden calves+ of which one was in Bethʹel and one in Dan.+ 30 Consequently Jehovah said to Jeʹhu: “For the reason that you have acted well in doing what is right in my eyes,+ [and] according to all that was in my heart you have done to the house of Aʹhab,+ sons themselves to the fourth generation will sit for you upon the throne of Israel.”+ 31 And Jeʹhu himself did not take care to walk in the law of Jehovah the God of Israel with all his heart.+ He did not turn aside from the sins of Jer·o·boʹam with which he caused Israel to sin.+
32 In those days Jehovah started to cut off Israel piece by piece; and Hazʹa·el+ kept striking them in all the territory of Israel, 33 from the Jordan toward the rising of the sun, all the land of Gilʹe·ad,+ the Gadʹites+ and the Reuʹben·ites+ and the Ma·nasʹsites,+ from A·roʹer,+ which is by the torrent valley of Arʹnon, even Gilʹe·ad and Baʹshan.+
34 And the rest of the affairs of Jeʹhu and all that he did and all his mightiness, are they not written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Israel? 35 Finally Jeʹhu lay down with his forefathers,+ and they buried him in Sa·marʹi·a; and Je·hoʹa·haz+ his son began to reign in place of him. 36 And the days that Jeʹhu had reigned over Israel were twenty-eight years in Sa·marʹi·a.
11 Now as regards Ath·a·liʹah+ the mother of A·ha·ziʹah,+ she saw that her son had died. So she rose up and destroyed all the offspring of the kingdom.+ 2 However, Je·hoshʹe·ba+ the daughter of King Je·hoʹram, the sister of A·ha·ziʹah, took Je·hoʹash*+ the son of A·ha·ziʹah and stole him from among the sons of the king that were to be put to death, even him and his nursing woman, into the inner room for the couches, and they* kept him concealed+ from the face of Ath·a·liʹah, and he was not put to death. 3 And he continued with her at the house of Jehovah in hiding for six years, while Ath·a·liʹah was reigning over the land.+
4 And in the seventh year Je·hoiʹa·da+ sent and then took the chiefs of hundreds of the Caʹri·an+ bodyguard and of the runners+ and brought them to himself at the house of Jehovah and concluded a covenant+ with them and made them swear+ at the house of Jehovah, after which he showed them the son of the king. 5 And he went on to command them, saying: “This is the thing that YOU will do: One third of YOU are coming in on the sabbath and keeping strict watch over the king’s house;+ 6 and one third will be at the Gate+ of the Foundation,* and one third will be at the gate behind the runners; and YOU must keep strict watch over the house+ by turns. 7 And there are two divisions among YOU that are all going out on the sabbath, and they must keep strict watch over the house of Jehovah in behalf of the king. 8 And YOU must encircle the king all around, each one with his weapons in his hand; and anyone entering within the rows will be put to death. And continue with the king when he goes out and when he comes in.”
9 And the chiefs of hundreds+ proceeded to do according to all that Je·hoiʹa·da the priest had commanded. So they took each one his men that were coming in on the sabbath,+ together with those that were going out on the sabbath, and then came in to Je·hoiʹa·da the priest. 10 The priest now gave the chiefs of hundreds the spears and the circular shields that had belonged to King David, which were in the house of Jehovah.+ 11 And the runners+ kept standing each one with his weapons in his hand, from the right side* of the house clear to the left side* of the house, by the altar+ and by the house, all around near the king. 12 Then he brought the son+ of the king out and put upon him the diadem+ and the Testimony;+ and so they made* him king+ and anointed* him.+ And they began to clap their hands+ and say: “Let the king live!”+
13 When Ath·a·liʹah heard the sound of the people running, she at once came to the people at the house of Jehovah.+ 14 Then she saw, and there the king was standing by the pillar+ according to the custom, and the chiefs and the trumpets*+ by the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing+ and blowing the trumpets. Immediately Ath·a·liʹah+ ripped her garments apart and began crying: “Conspiracy! Conspiracy!”+ 15 But Je·hoiʹa·da the priest commanded the chiefs of hundreds, the appointed ones of the military force,+ and said to them: “Take her out from inside the rows, and, as for anyone coming after her, let there be an execution of death* with the sword!”+ For the priest had said: “Do not let her be put to death in the house of Jehovah.” 16 So they laid their hands upon her and she came by the way of the horse entry+ of the king’s house,+ and she got put to death there.+
17 Then Je·hoiʹa·da concluded the covenant+ between Jehovah+ and the king+ and the people, that they should prove themselves the people of Jehovah; and also between the king and the people.+ 18 After that all the people of the land came to the house of Baʹal and pulled down his altars;+ and his images they broke up thoroughly,+ and Matʹtan+ the priest of Baʹal they killed before the altars.+
And the priest proceeded to put overseers* over the house of Jehovah.+ 19 Further, he took the chiefs of hundreds and the Caʹri·an+ bodyguard and the runners+ and all the people of the land, that they might bring the king down from the house of Jehovah; and they came gradually by the way of the gate+ of the runners to the king’s house; and he began to sit upon the throne+ of the kings. 20 And all the people of the land continued to rejoice;+ and the city, for its part, had no disturbance, and Ath·a·liʹah herself they had put to death with the sword at the king’s house.*+
21 Seven years old Je·hoʹash*+ was when he began to reign.+
12 In the seventh year of Jeʹhu,+ Je·hoʹash+ became king, and for forty years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zibʹi·ah from Beʹer-sheʹba. 2 And Je·hoʹash continued doing what was right in Jehovah’s eyes all the days of his that Je·hoiʹa·da the priest instructed him.+ 3 It was only the high places that did not disappear.+ The people were still sacrificing and making sacrificial smoke on the high places.
4 And Je·hoʹash proceeded to say to the priests:+ “All the money* for the holy offerings+ that is brought to the house of Jehovah,+ the money at which each one is assessed,*+ the money for the souls according to individual valuation,+ all the money that it comes up on the heart of each one to bring to the house of Jehovah,+ 5 let the priests take for themselves, each one from his acquaintance;+ and let them, for their part, repair the cracks of the house wherever any crack is found.”+
6 And it came about that by the twenty-third year of King Je·hoʹash, the priests had not yet repaired the cracks of the house.+ 7 So King Je·hoʹash called Je·hoiʹa·da+ the priest and the priests and said to them: “Why is it that YOU are not repairing the cracks of the house? Now, then, do not take any more money from YOUR acquaintances, but for the cracks of the house YOU should give it.”+ 8 At that the priests consented not to take any more money from the people and not to repair the cracks of the house.
9 Je·hoiʹa·da the priest now took a chest*+ and bored a hole in its lid and put it beside the altar on the right as a person comes into the house of Jehovah, and there the priests, the doorkeepers,*+ put all the money+ that was being brought into the house of Jehovah. 10 And it came about that as soon as they saw that there was a great deal of money in the chest, the secretary+ of the king and the high priest* would come up, and they would bind it up and count the money that was being found at the house of Jehovah.+ 11 And they gave the money that had been counted off over to the hands of doers+ of the work that were appointed [to] the house of Jehovah. In turn they paid it out to the workers in wood and to the builders that were working at the house of Jehovah, 12 and to the masons and to the hewers of stone,+ and to buy timbers and hewn stones for repairing the cracks of the house of Jehovah and for all that was expended upon the house to repair it.
13 Only as respects the house of Jehovah there were not made basins of silver, extinguishers,+ bowls,+ trumpets,+ any sort of gold article and article of silver from the money that was being brought to the house of Jehovah;+ 14 for it was to the doers of the work that they would give it, and with it they repaired the house of Jehovah.+ 15 And they would not call for an accounting+ with the men into whose hand they would give the money to give to the doers of the work,+ because it was with faithfulness+ that they were working. 16 As for the money for guilt offerings+ and the money for sin offerings, it was not being brought to the house of Jehovah. So it came to belong to the priests.+
17 Then it was that Hazʹa·el+ the king of Syria proceeded to go up and fight against Gath+ and capture it, after which Hazʹa·el set his face+ to go up against Jerusalem.+ 18 At that Je·hoʹash the king of Judah took all the holy offerings+ that Je·hoshʹa·phat and Je·hoʹram and A·ha·ziʹah his forefathers, the kings of Judah, had sanctified and his own holy offerings and all the gold to be found in the treasures of the house of Jehovah and the house of the king and sent+ them to Hazʹa·el the king of Syria. So he withdrew from against Jerusalem.
19 As for the rest of the affairs of Je·hoʹash* and all that he did, are they not written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah? 20 However, his servants+ rose up and leagued together in a conspiracy+ and struck Je·hoʹash down at the house+ of the Mound,*+ [on the way] that goes down to Silʹla. 21 And Joʹza·car* the son of Shimʹe·ath and Je·hozʹa·bad+ the son of Shoʹmer, his servants, were the ones that struck him down, so that he died. Accordingly they buried him with his forefathers in the City of David; and Am·a·ziʹah+ his son began to reign in place of him.
13 In the twenty-third year of Je·hoʹash+ the son of A·ha·ziʹah+ the king of Judah, Je·hoʹa·haz+ the son of Jeʹhu+ became king over Israel in Sa·marʹi·a for seventeen years. 2 And he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes+ and went walking in pursuit of the sin of Jer·o·boʹam+ the son of Neʹbat, with which he caused Israel to sin.+ He did not turn aside from it. 3 And Jehovah’s anger+ became hot against Israel, so that he gave them into the hand of Hazʹa·el+ the king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-haʹdad+ the son of Hazʹa·el all their days.
4 In time Je·hoʹa·haz softened+ the face of Jehovah, so that Jehovah listened+ to him; for he had seen the oppression upon Israel,+ because the king of Syria had oppressed them.+ 5 Consequently Jehovah gave Israel a savior,+ so that they came out from under the hand of Syria, and the sons of Israel continued to dwell in their homes* as formerly.+ 6 (Only they did not depart from the sin of the house of Jer·o·boʹam, with which he caused Israel to sin.+ In it he walked;+ and even the sacred pole*+ itself stood in Sa·marʹi·a.) 7 For he had not left to Je·hoʹa·haz any people but fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand men on foot,+ because the king of Syria had destroyed them,+ that he might make them like the dust at threshing.+
8 As for the rest of the affairs of Je·hoʹa·haz and all that he did and his mightiness, are they not written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Israel? 9 Finally Je·hoʹa·haz lay down with his forefathers, and they buried him in Sa·marʹi·a;+ and Je·hoʹash+ his son began to reign in place of him.
10 In the thirty-seventh year of Je·hoʹash the king of Judah, Je·hoʹash+ the son of Je·hoʹa·haz became king over Israel in Sa·marʹi·a for sixteen years. 11 And he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes.+ He did not depart from all the sins of Jer·o·boʹam the son of Neʹbat, with which he made Israel sin.+ In them he walked.
12 As for the rest of the affairs of Je·hoʹash and all that he did and his mightiness [and] how he fought+ against Am·a·ziʹah the king of Judah, are they not written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Israel? 13 Finally Je·hoʹash lay down with his forefathers, and Jer·o·boʹam*+ himself sat upon his throne. In turn Je·hoʹash was buried in Sa·marʹi·a with the kings of Israel.+
14 As regards E·liʹsha,+ he had taken sick with the sickness with which he was to die.+ So Je·hoʹash the king of Israel came down to him and began to weep over his face and say: “My father,+ my father, the war chariot* of Israel and his horsemen!”+ 15 And E·liʹsha proceeded to say to him: “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took to himself a bow and arrows. 16 And he went on to say to the king of Israel: “Put your hand to the bow.”* Accordingly he put his hand to it, after which E·liʹsha laid his hands upon the hands+ of the king. 17 Then he said: “Open the window to the east.” So he opened it. Finally E·liʹsha said: “Shoot!” So he shot. He now said: “Jehovah’s arrow of salvation, even the arrow of salvation+ against Syria! And you will certainly strike down Syria at Aʹphek+ to the finishing point.”
18 And he went on to say: “Take the arrows.” At that he took [them]. Then he said to the king of Israel: “Strike on the earth.” So he struck three times and stopped.+ 19 And the man of the [true] God+ grew indignant at him; hence he said: “It was meant to strike five or six times!* In that case you would certainly be striking down Syria to the finishing point, but now it is three times that you will strike down Syria.”+
20 After that E·liʹsha died and they buried him.+ And there were marauding bands+ of the Moʹab·ites+ that regularly came into the land at the coming in of the year. 21 And it came about that as they were burying a man, why, here they saw the marauding band. At once they threw the man into E·liʹsha’s burial place and went off. When the man touched the bones of E·liʹsha, he immediately came to life+ and stood upon his feet.+
22 As for Hazʹa·el+ the king of Syria, he oppressed+ Israel all the days of Je·hoʹa·haz. 23 However, Jehovah showed them favor+ and had mercy+ upon them and turned to them for the sake of his covenant+ with Abraham,+ Isaac+ and Jacob;+ and he did not want to bring them to ruin,+ and he did not cast them away from before his face until now. 24 Finally Hazʹa·el the king of Syria died, and Ben-haʹdad his son began to reign in place of him. 25 And Je·hoʹash the son of Je·hoʹa·haz proceeded to take back again from the hand of Ben-haʹdad the son of Hazʹa·el the cities that he had taken from the hand of Je·hoʹa·haz his father in war. Three times Je·hoʹash struck him down, and he got to recover the cities of Israel.+
14 In the second year of Je·hoʹash+ the son of Je·hoʹa·haz* the king of Israel, Am·a·ziʹah*+ the son of Je·hoʹash the king of Judah became king. 2 Twenty-five years old he happened to be when he began to reign, and for twenty-nine years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Je·ho·adʹdin+ of Jerusalem. 3 And he continued to do what was upright in Jehovah’s eyes,+ only not like David his forefather.+ According to all that Je·hoʹash his father had done, he did.+ 4 It was only the high places that did not disappear.+ The people were still sacrificing and making sacrificial smoke on the high places.+ 5 And it came about that as soon as the kingdom had become firm in his hand, he began to strike down+ his servants that had struck down the king his father.+ 6 And the sons of the strikers he did not put to death, according to what is written in the book of Moses’ law that Jehovah gave in command, saying:+ “Fathers should not be put to death for sons, and sons themselves should not be put to death for fathers; but for his own sin should each one be put to death.”+ 7 He himself struck down the Eʹdom·ites+ in the Valley of Salt,+ ten thousand men, and got to seize Seʹla in the war, and its name came to be called Jokʹthe·el down to this day.
8 Then it was that Am·a·ziʹah sent messengers to Je·hoʹash the son of Je·hoʹa·haz the son of Jeʹhu the king of Israel, saying: “Do come. Let us look each other in the face.”+ 9 At that Je·hoʹash the king of Israel sent to Am·a·ziʹah the king of Judah, saying: “The thorny weed itself that was in Lebʹa·non sent to the cedar+ that was in Lebʹa·non, saying, ‘Do give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ However, a wild beast of the field that was in Lebʹa·non passed by and trampled the thorny weed down.+ 10 You have unmistakably struck down+ Eʹdom, and your heart has lifted you up.+ Enjoy your honor+ and dwell in your own house. Why, then, should you engage in strife+ under unfavorable conditions+ and have to fall, you and Judah with you?” 11 And Am·a·ziʹah did not listen.+
So Je·hoʹash the king of Israel came up, and they proceeded to look each other in the face,+ he and Am·a·ziʹah the king of Judah, at Beth-sheʹmesh,+ which belongs to Judah. 12 And Judah came to be defeated before Israel,+ so that they took to flight, each one to his tent. 13 And it was Am·a·ziʹah the king of Judah the son of Je·hoʹash the son of A·ha·ziʹah that Je·hoʹash the king of Israel captured at Beth-sheʹmesh, after which they came to Jerusalem and he made a breach in the wall of Jerusalem at the Gate of Eʹphra·im+ clear to the Corner Gate,+ four hundred cubits.* 14 And he took all the gold and silver and all the articles to be found at the house of Jehovah+ and in the treasures of the house of the king and the hostages* and then returned to Sa·marʹi·a.
15 As for the rest of the affairs of Je·hoʹash, what he did and his mightiness and how he fought against Am·a·ziʹah the king of Judah, are they not written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Israel? 16 Finally Je·hoʹash lay down with his forefathers+ and was buried in Sa·marʹi·a+ with the kings of Israel, and Jer·o·boʹam*+ his son began to reign in place of him.
17 And Am·a·ziʹah+ the son of Je·hoʹash the king of Judah continued to live after the death of Je·hoʹash+ the son of Je·hoʹa·haz the king of Israel for fifteen years.+ 18 As for the rest of the affairs of Am·a·ziʹah, are they not written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah?+ 19 At length they leagued against him in a conspiracy+ at Jerusalem, and he went fleeing to Laʹchish;+ but they sent in pursuit of him to Laʹchish and put him to death there.+ 20 So they carried him upon horses and he was buried+ in Jerusalem with his forefathers in the City of David.+ 21 Then all the people of Judah took Az·a·riʹah,+ he at the time being sixteen years old,+ and they made him king in place of his father Am·a·ziʹah.+ 22 He himself built Eʹlath+ and got to restore it to Judah after the king lay down with his forefathers.
23 In the fifteenth year of Am·a·ziʹah the son of Je·hoʹash the king of Judah, Jer·o·boʹam+ the son of Je·hoʹash the king of Israel became king in Sa·marʹi·a for forty-one years. 24 And he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes. He did not depart from all the sins of Jer·o·boʹam the son of Neʹbat, with which he caused Israel to sin.+ 25 He it was that restored the boundary of Israel from the entering in of Haʹmath+ clear to the sea of the Arʹa·bah,+ according to the word of Jehovah the God of Israel who spoke by means of his servant Joʹnah+ the son of A·mitʹtai, the prophet that was from Gath-heʹpher.+ 26 For Jehovah had seen the very bitter affliction of Israel.+ There was neither any helpless one nor any worthless one,* nor was there a helper for Israel.+ 27 And Jehovah had promised not to wipe out the name of Israel from under the heavens.+ Consequently he saved+ them by the hand of Jer·o·boʹam the son of Je·hoʹash.
28 As for the rest of the affairs of Jer·o·boʹam and all that he did and his mightiness, how he fought and how he restored Damascus+ and Haʹmath+ to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the book of the affairs of the days of the kings of Israel? 29 Finally Jer·o·boʹam lay down with his forefathers, with the kings of Israel, and Zech·a·riʹah+ his son began to reign in place of him.
15 In the twenty-seventh year of Jer·o·boʹam the king of Israel, Az·a·riʹah+ the son of Am·a·ziʹah+ the king of Judah became king. 2 Sixteen years old he happened to be when he began to reign, and for fifty-two years he reigned in Jerusalem.+ And his mother’s name was Je·co·liʹah* of Jerusalem. 3 And he continued to do what was upright in Jehovah’s eyes, according to all that Am·a·ziʹah his father had done.+ 4 It was only that the high places did not disappear.+ The people were still sacrificing and making sacrificial smoke on the high places.+ 5 Finally Jehovah plagued the king,+ and he continued to be a leper+ until the day of his death, and he kept dwelling in his house exempt from duties,+ while Joʹtham+ the king’s son was over the house, judging+ the people of the land.* 6 As for the rest of the affairs of Az·a·riʹah* and all that he did, are they not written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah? 7 At length Az·a·riʹah lay down with his forefathers,+ and they buried him with his forefathers in the City of David; and Joʹtham his son began to reign in place of him.+
8 In the thirty-eighth year of Az·a·riʹah+ the king of Judah, Zech·a·riʹah*+ the son of Jer·o·boʹam became king over Israel in Sa·marʹi·a for six months. 9 And he went on doing what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, just as his forefathers had done.+ He did not depart from the sins of Jer·o·boʹam+ the son of Neʹbat, with which he caused Israel to sin.+ 10 Then Shalʹlum the son of Jaʹbesh conspired+ against him and struck+ him down at Ibʹle·am*+ and put him to death and began to reign in place of him. 11 As for the rest of the affairs of Zech·a·riʹah, there they are written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Israel. 12 That was Jehovah’s word+ that he had spoken to Jeʹhu, saying:+ “Sons+ themselves to the fourth generation will sit for you upon the throne of Israel.” And it came to be that way.+
13 As for Shalʹlum the son of Jaʹbesh, he became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uz·ziʹah*+ the king of Judah, and he continued to reign for a full lunar month* in Sa·marʹi·a.+ 14 Then Menʹa·hem+ the son of Gaʹdi came up from Tirʹzah+ and came to Sa·marʹi·a and struck down Shalʹlum+ the son of Jaʹbesh in Sa·marʹi·a and put him to death; and he began to reign in place of him. 15 As for the rest of the affairs of Shalʹlum and his conspiracy+ with which he conspired, there they are written in the book of the affairs of the days of the kings of Israel. 16 It was then that Menʹa·hem proceeded to strike down Tiphʹsah and all that was in it and its territory out from Tirʹzah, because it did not open up,* and he went striking it down. All its pregnant women he ripped up.+
17 In the thirty-ninth+ year of Az·a·riʹah* the king of Judah, Menʹa·hem the son of Gaʹdi became king over Israel for ten years in Sa·marʹi·a. 18 And he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes.+ He did not depart from all the sins of Jer·o·boʹam+ the son of Neʹbat, with which he caused Israel to sin,+ all his days. 19 Pul+ the king of As·syrʹi·a+ came into the land. Consequently Menʹa·hem gave+ Pul a thousand talents of silver,+ that his hands might prove to be with him to strengthen the kingdom in his own hand.+ 20 So Menʹa·hem brought forth the silver at the expense of Israel, at the expense of all the valiant, mighty men,+ to give to the king of As·syrʹi·a fifty silver shekels* for each man. At that the king of As·syrʹi·a turned back, and he did not stay there in the land. 21 As for the rest of the affairs of Menʹa·hem+ and all that he did, are they not written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Israel? 22 Finally Menʹa·hem lay down with his forefathers, and Pek·a·hiʹah+ his son began to reign in place of him.
23 In the fiftieth year of Az·a·riʹah the king of Judah, Pek·a·hiʹah the son of Menʹa·hem became king over Israel in Sa·marʹi·a for two+ years. 24 And he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes.+ He did not depart from the sins of Jer·o·boʹam+ the son of Neʹbat, with which he caused Israel to sin.+ 25 Then Peʹkah+ the son of Rem·a·liʹah* his adjutant+ conspired+ against him and struck him down in Sa·marʹi·a in the dwelling tower of the king’s house+ with Arʹgob and A·riʹeh, and with him there were fifty men of the sons of Gilʹe·ad.* So he put him to death and began to reign in place of him. 26 As for the rest of the affairs of Pek·a·hiʹah and all that he did, there they are written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Israel.
27 In the fifty-second year of Az·a·riʹah the king of Judah, Peʹkah+ the son of Rem·a·liʹah+ became king over Israel in Sa·marʹi·a for twenty years. 28 And he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes.+ He did not depart from the sins of Jer·o·boʹam+ the son of Neʹbat, with which he caused Israel to sin.+ 29 In the days of Peʹkah the king of Israel, Tigʹlath-pil·eʹser+ the king of As·syrʹi·a+ came in and proceeded to take Iʹjon+ and Aʹbel-beth-maʹa·cah+ and Ja·noʹah and Keʹdesh+ and Haʹzor+ and Gilʹe·ad+ and Galʹi·lee,*+ all the land of Naphʹta·li,+ and to carry them into exile in As·syrʹi·a.+ 30 Finally Ho·sheʹa+ the son of Eʹlah formed a conspiracy+ against Peʹkah the son of Rem·a·liʹah and struck him+ and put him to death; and he began to reign in place of him in the twentieth year of Joʹtham+ the son of Uz·ziʹah.* 31 As for the rest of the affairs of Peʹkah and all that he did, there they are written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Israel.
32 In the second year of Peʹkah the son of Rem·a·liʹah the king of Israel, Joʹtham+ the son of Uz·ziʹah+ the king of Judah became king. 33 Twenty-five years old he happened to be when he began to reign, and for sixteen years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Je·ruʹsha the daughter of Zaʹdok.+ 34 And he continued to do what was right in Jehovah’s eyes.+ According to all that Uz·ziʹah his father had done, he did.+ 35 It was only that the high places did not disappear. The people were still sacrificing and making sacrificial smoke on the high places.+ He it was that built the upper gate of the house of Jehovah.+ 36 As for the rest of the affairs of Joʹtham, what he did, are they not written in the book of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah?+ 37 In those days Jehovah started to send+ against Judah Reʹzin+ the king of Syria and Peʹkah+ the son of Rem·a·liʹah. 38 Finally Joʹtham lay down with his forefathers and was buried with his forefathers in the City of David his forefather;+ and Aʹhaz+ his son began to reign in place of him.
16 In the seventeenth year of Peʹkah the son of Rem·a·liʹah, Aʹhaz+ the son of Joʹtham the king of Judah became king. 2 Twenty years old was Aʹhaz when he began to reign, and for sixteen years he reigned in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the eyes of Jehovah his God like David his forefather.+ 3 And he went walking in the way of the kings of Israel,+ and even his own son he made pass through the fire,+ according to the detestable+ things of the nations whom Jehovah drove out because of the sons of Israel. 4 And he kept sacrificing and making sacrificial smoke on the high places+ and upon the hills+ and under every luxuriant tree.+
5 It was then that Reʹzin+ the king of Syria and Peʹkah+ the son of Rem·a·liʹah the king of Israel proceeded to come up against Jerusalem in war and laid siege against Aʹhaz, but they were not able to fight.+ 6 At that time Reʹzin the king of Syria restored Eʹlath+ to Eʹdom,* after which he cleared out the Jews from Eʹlath; and the Eʹdom·ites, for their part, entered Eʹlath and kept dwelling there down to this day. 7 So Aʹhaz sent messengers to Tigʹlath-pil·eʹser+ the king of As·syrʹi·a, saying: “I am your servant+ and your son. Come up and save+ me out of the palm of the king of Syria and out of the palm of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” 8 Accordingly Aʹhaz took the silver and the gold that was to be found at the house of Jehovah and in the treasures of the king’s house+ and sent the king of As·syrʹi·a a bribe.+ 9 At that the king of As·syrʹi·a listened to him and the king of As·syrʹi·a went up to Damascus+ and captured it+ and led its [people] into exile at Kir,+ and Reʹzin+ he put to death.
10 Then King Aʹhaz+ went to meet Tigʹlath-pil·eʹser+ the king of As·syrʹi·a at Damascus, and he got to see the altar+ that was in Damascus. So King Aʹhaz sent U·riʹjah the priest the design* of the altar and its pattern as respects all its workmanship.+ 11 And U·riʹjah+ the priest proceeded to build the altar.+ According to all that King Aʹhaz had sent from Damascus was the way that U·riʹjah the priest made it, pending the time that King Aʹhaz came from Damascus. 12 When the king came from Damascus, the king got to see the altar; and the king began to go near to the altar+ and make offerings upon it.+ 13 And he continued to make his burnt offering+ and his grain offering+ smoke+ and to pour out his drink offering+ and to sprinkle the blood of the communion sacrifices that were his upon the altar. 14 And the copper altar+ that was before Jehovah he now brought near from in front of the house, from between his altar and the house+ of Jehovah, and put it at the north side of his altar. 15 And King Aʹhaz went on to command him, even U·riʹjah+ the priest, saying: “Upon the great altar make the burnt offering of the morning smoke,+ also the grain offering of the evening+ and the burnt offering of the king+ and his grain offering and the burnt offering of all the people of the land and their grain offering and their drink offerings; and all the blood of burnt offering and all the blood of a sacrifice you should sprinkle upon it. As for the copper altar, it will become something for me to take under consideration.” 16 And U·riʹjah+ the priest went doing according to all that King Aʹhaz had commanded.+
17 Furthermore, King Aʹhaz cut+ the sidewalls+ of the carriages+ in pieces and removed from off them the basins;+ and the sea+ he took down off the copper bulls+ that were underneath it and then put it upon a stone pavement. 18 And the covered structure for the sabbath that they had built in the house and the king’s outer entryway he shifted from the house of Jehovah because of the king of As·syrʹi·a.
19 As for the rest of the affairs of Aʹhaz, what he did, are they not written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah? 20 Finally Aʹhaz lay down with his forefathers and was buried with his forefathers in the City of David;+ and Hez·e·kiʹah*+ his son began to reign in place of him.
17 In the twelfth year of Aʹhaz the king of Judah, Ho·sheʹa+ the son of Eʹlah became king in Sa·marʹi·a+ over Israel for nine years. 2 And he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, only not as the kings of Israel that happened to be prior to him.+ 3 It was against him that Shal·man·eʹser+ the king of As·syrʹi·a+ came up, and Ho·sheʹa came to be his servant and began to pay tribute+ to him. 4 However, the king of As·syrʹi·a got to find conspiracy+ in Ho·sheʹa’s case, in that he had sent messengers to So the king of Egypt+ and did not bring the tribute up to the king of As·syrʹi·a as in former years. Hence the king of As·syrʹi·a shut him up and kept him bound in the house of detention.+
5 And the king of As·syrʹi·a proceeded to come up against all the land and to come up to Sa·marʹi·a and lay siege+ against it for three years. 6 In the ninth year of Ho·sheʹa, the king of As·syrʹi·a captured Sa·marʹi·a+ and then led Israel into exile+ in As·syrʹi·a and kept them dwelling in Haʹlah+ and in Haʹbor at the river Goʹzan+ and in the cities of the Medes.+
7 And it came about because the sons of Israel had sinned+ against Jehovah their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharʹaoh the king of Egypt,+ and they began to fear other gods;+ 8 and they kept walking in the statutes+ of the nations whom Jehovah had driven out from before the sons of Israel, and [in the statutes of] the kings of Israel that they had made; 9 and the sons of Israel went searching into the things that were not right toward Jehovah their God+ and kept building themselves high places+ in all their cities, from the tower+ of the watchmen clear to the fortified city; 10 and they kept setting up for themselves sacred pillars+ and sacred poles+ upon every high hill+ and under every luxuriant tree;+ 11 and there on all the high places they continued to make sacrificial smoke the same as the nations+ whom Jehovah had taken into exile because of them, and they kept doing bad things to offend+ Jehovah;
12 And they continued to serve* dungy idols,+ concerning which Jehovah had said to them: “YOU must not do this thing”;+ 13 and Jehovah kept warning+ Israel+ and Judah+ by means of all his prophets+ [and] every visionary,+ saying: “Turn back from YOUR bad ways+ and keep my commandments,+ my statutes,+ according to all the law+ that I commanded YOUR forefathers+ and that I have sent to YOU by means of my servants the prophets”;+ 14 and they did not listen but kept hardening their necks+ like the necks of their forefathers that had not exercised faith+ in Jehovah their God; 15 and they continued rejecting his regulations and his covenant+ that he had concluded with their forefathers and his reminders*+ with which he had warned them, and they went following vain idols+ and became vain+ themselves, even in imitation of the nations that were all around them, concerning whom Jehovah had commanded them not to do like them;+
16 And they kept leaving all the commandments+ of Jehovah their God and proceeded to make for themselves molten statues,+ two calves,+ and to make a sacred pole,+ and they began to bow down to all the army of the heavens+ and to serve Baʹal;+ 17 and they continued to make their sons and their daughters pass through the fire+ and to practice divination+ and to look for omens,+ and they kept selling+ themselves to do what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah, to offend+ him;
18 Therefore Jehovah got very incensed+ against Israel, so that he removed them from his sight.+ He did not let any remain but the tribe of Judah alone.+
19 Even Judah itself did not keep the commandments of Jehovah their God,+ but they went walking in the statutes of Israel+ that they had made. 20 Consequently Jehovah rejected all the seed*+ of Israel and kept afflicting them and giving them into the hand of pillagers, until he had cast them away from before him.+ 21 For he ripped Israel off from the house of David, and they proceeded to make Jer·o·boʹam the son of Neʹbat king; and Jer·o·boʹam+ proceeded to part Israel from following Jehovah, and he caused them to sin with a great sin.+ 22 And the sons of Israel went walking in all the sins of Jer·o·boʹam that he had done.+ They did not depart from them, 23 until Jehovah removed Israel from his sight,+ just as he had spoken by means of all his servants the prophets.+ So Israel went off its own soil into exile in As·syrʹi·a down to this day.+
24 Subsequently the king of As·syrʹi·a brought people from Babylon*+ and Cuʹthah and Avʹva+ and Haʹmath+ and Seph·ar·vaʹim+ and had them dwell in the cities of Sa·marʹi·a+ instead of the sons of Israel; and they began to take possession of Sa·marʹi·a and to dwell in its cities. 25 And it came about at the start of their dwelling there that they did not fear+ Jehovah. Therefore Jehovah sent lions+ among them, and they came to be killers among them. 26 So they sent word to the king of As·syrʹi·a, saying: “The nations that you have taken into exile and then settled in the cities of Sa·marʹi·a have not known the religion* of the God* of the land, so that he keeps sending lions among them;+ and, look! they are putting them to death, inasmuch as there are none knowing the religion of the God of the land.”
27 At that the king of As·syrʹi·a commanded, saying: “Have one of the priests+ go there whom YOU led into exile from there, that he may go and dwell there and teach them the religion of the God of the land.” 28 Accordingly one of the priests whom they had led into exile from Sa·marʹi·a came and began dwelling in Bethʹel,+ and he came to be a teacher of them as to how they ought to fear Jehovah.+
29 However, each different nation came to be a maker of its own god,*+ which they then deposited in the house of the high places that the Sa·marʹi·tans* had made, each different nation,* in their cities where they were dwelling. 30 And the men of Babylon, for their part, made Sucʹcoth-beʹnoth, and the men of Cuth,+ for their part, made Nerʹgal, and the men of Haʹmath, for their part, made A·shiʹma. 31 As for the Avʹvites,+ they made Nibʹhaz and Tarʹtak; and the Seʹphar·vites+ were burning their sons in the fire+ to A·dramʹme·lech and A·namʹme·lech the gods of Seph·ar·vaʹim. 32 And they came to be fearers of Jehovah and went making for themselves from the people in general priests+ of high places, and they came to be functionaries for them in the house of the high places. 33 It was of Jehovah that they became fearers,+ but it was of their own gods that they proved to be worshipers,+ according to the religion of the nations from among whom they had led them into exile.+
34 Down to this day they are doing according to their former religions.+ There were none fearing Jehovah+ and none doing according to his* statutes and his judicial decisions+ and the law+ and the commandment+ that Jehovah had commanded the sons of Jacob,+ whose name he made Israel;+ 35 when Jehovah concluded a covenant+ with them and commanded them, saying: “YOU must not fear other gods,+ and YOU must not bow down to them nor serve them* nor sacrifice to them.+ 36 But Jehovah, who brought YOU up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched-out arm,+ is the One whom YOU should fear,+ and to him YOU should bow down,+ and to him YOU should sacrifice.+ 37 And the regulations+ and the judicial decisions+ and the law and the commandment that he wrote for YOU,+ YOU should take care to do always;+ and YOU must not fear other gods. 38 And the covenant that I have concluded with YOU, YOU must not forget;+ and YOU must not fear other gods.+ 39 But it is Jehovah+ YOUR God that YOU should fear, as he is the one that will deliver YOU out of the hand of all YOUR enemies.”+
40 And they did not obey, but it was according to their former religion that they were doing.+ 41 And these nations came to be fearers of Jehovah,+ but it was their own graven images that they proved to be serving. As for both their sons and their grandsons, it was just as their forefathers had done that they themselves are doing down to this day.
18 And it came about in the third year of Ho·sheʹa+ the son of Eʹlah the king of Israel that Hez·e·kiʹah+ the son of Aʹhaz+ the king of Judah became king. 2 Twenty-five years old he happened to be when he began to reign, and for twenty-nine years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Aʹbi* the daughter of Zech·a·riʹah.+ 3 And he continued to do what was right in Jehovah’s eyes,+ according to all that David his forefather had done.+ 4 He it was that removed the high places+ and broke the sacred pillars+ to pieces and cut down the sacred+ pole and crushed to pieces the copper serpent+ that Moses had made;+ for down to those days the sons of Israel had continually been making sacrificial+ smoke to it, and it used to be called the copper serpent-idol.*+ 5 In Jehovah the God of Israel he trusted;+ and after him there proved to be no one like him among all the kings of Judah,+ even those who had happened to be prior to him.+ 6 And he kept sticking to Jehovah.+ He did not turn aside from following him, but he continued keeping his commandments that Jehovah had commanded Moses.+ 7 And Jehovah proved to be with him.+ Wherever he would go out, he would act prudently;+ and he proceeded to rebel against the king of As·syrʹi·a and did not serve him.+ 8 It was he that struck down the Phi·lisʹtines+ clear to Gaʹza+ and also its territories, from the tower+ of the watchmen clear to the fortified city.
9 And it came about in the fourth year of King Hez·e·kiʹah,* that is, the seventh year of Ho·sheʹa+ the son of Eʹlah the king of Israel, that Shal·man·eʹser+ the king of As·syrʹi·a came up against Sa·marʹi·a and began to lay siege to it.+ 10 And they got to capture it+ at the end of three years; in the sixth year of Hez·e·kiʹah, that is, the ninth year of Ho·sheʹa the king of Israel, Sa·marʹi·a was captured.+ 11 After that the king of As·syrʹi·a+ took Israel into exile+ in As·syrʹi·a and set them down in Haʹlah+ and in Haʹbor+ at the river Goʹzan+ and in the cities of the Medes,+ 12 over the fact that they had not listened+ to the voice of Jehovah their God, but kept overstepping his covenant,+ even all that Moses+ the servant of Jehovah had commanded.+ They neither listened nor performed.
13 And in the fourteenth year of King Hez·e·kiʹah, Sen·nachʹer·ib+ the king of As·syrʹi·a+ came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and proceeded to seize them. 14 So Hez·e·kiʹah the king of Judah sent to the king of As·syrʹi·a at Laʹchish, saying: “I have sinned. Turn back from against me. Whatever you may impose upon me I shall carry.”+ Accordingly the king of As·syrʹi·a laid upon Hez·e·kiʹah the king of Judah three hundred silver talents*+ and thirty gold talents. 15 Therefore Hez·e·kiʹah gave all the silver that was to be found at the house of Jehovah+ and in the treasures of the king’s house.+ 16 At that time Hez·e·kiʹah cut off the doors of the temple* of Jehovah+ and the doorposts that Hez·e·kiʹah the king of Judah had overlaid+ and then gave them to the king of As·syrʹi·a.
17 And the king of As·syrʹi·a+ proceeded to send Tarʹtan*+ and Rabʹsa·ris* and Rabʹsha·keh*+ from Laʹchish+ to King Hez·e·kiʹah with a heavy military force to Jerusalem, that they might go up and come to Jerusalem. So they went up and came and stood still by the conduit+ of the upper pool,+ which is at the highway of the laundryman’s field.+ 18 And they began to call out to the king, but there came out to them E·liʹa·kim+ the son of Hil·kiʹah,* who was over the household, and Shebʹnah+ the secretary and Joʹah the son of Aʹsaph the recorder.
19 Accordingly Rabʹsha·keh+ said to them: “Please, say to Hez·e·kiʹah, ‘This is what the great king,+ the king of As·syrʹi·a, has said: “What is this confidence in which you have trusted?+ 20 You have said (but it is the word of lips), ‘There are counsel+ and mightiness for the war.’ Now in whom have you put your trust, that you have rebelled+ against me? 21 Now, look! you have put your trust in the support of this crushed reed,+ Egypt,+ which, if a man should brace himself upon it, would certainly enter into his palm and pierce it. That is the way Pharʹaoh+ the king of Egypt is to all those putting their trust in him. 22 And in case YOU men should say to me, ‘It is Jehovah+ our God in whom we have put our trust,’+ is he not the one whose high places+ and whose altars Hez·e·kiʹah+ has removed, while he says to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘Before this altar YOU should bow down in Jerusalem’?”’+ 23 Now, then, make a wager,+ please, with my lord the king of As·syrʹi·a, and let me give you two thousand horses [to see] whether you are able, on your part, to put riders upon them.+ 24 How, then, could you turn back the face of one governor of the smallest servants of my lord,+ while you, for your part, put your trust in Egypt for chariots+ and for horsemen?+ 25 Now is it without authorization from Jehovah that I have come up against this place to bring it to ruin? Jehovah himself said to me,+ ‘Go up against this land, and you must bring it to ruin.’”
26 At this E·liʹa·kim+ the son of Hil·kiʹah and Shebʹnah+ and Joʹah+ said to Rabʹsha·keh:+ “Speak with your servants, please, in the Syrian language,*+ for we can listen;* and do not speak with us in the Jews’ language*+ in the ears of the people that are on the wall.” 27 But Rabʹsha·keh said to them: “Is it to your lord and to you that my lord has sent me to speak these words? Is it not to the men sitting upon the wall, that they may eat their own excrement+ and drink their own urine with YOU men?”+
28 And Rabʹsha·keh continued to stand and call out in a loud voice in the Jews’ language;+ and he went on to speak and say: “HEAR the word of the great king,+ the king of As·syrʹi·a. 29 This is what the king has said, ‘Do not let Hez·e·kiʹah deceive YOU people, for he is not able to deliver YOU out of my hand.+ 30 And do not let Hez·e·kiʹah cause YOU to trust in Jehovah,+ saying: “Without fail Jehovah will deliver+ us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of As·syrʹi·a.”+ 31 Do not listen to Hez·e·kiʹah; for this is what the king of As·syrʹi·a has said: “Make a capitulation to me,* and come out to me, and eat each one from his own vine and each one from his own fig tree+ and drink each one the water of his own cistern,+ 32 until I come and I actually take YOU to a land like YOUR own land,+ a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread+ and vineyards,+ a land of oil-olive trees and honey;+ and keep living that YOU may not die. And do not listen to Hez·e·kiʹah, for he allures YOU, saying, ‘Jehovah himself will deliver us.’+ 33 Have the gods of the nations at all delivered+ each one his own land out of the hand of the king of As·syrʹi·a?+ 34 Where are the gods of Haʹmath+ and Arʹpad?+ Where are the gods of Seph·ar·vaʹim,+ Heʹna+ and Ivʹvah?+ Have they delivered Sa·marʹi·a out of my hand?+ 35 Who are there among all the gods of the lands that have delivered their land out of my hand,+ so that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?”’”+
36 And the people kept+ silent and did not answer him+ a word, for the commandment of the king was, saying: “YOU must not answer him.”+ 37 But E·liʹa·kim+ the son of Hil·kiʹah, who was over the household, and Shebʹnah+ the secretary and Joʹah+ the son of Aʹsaph the recorder came to Hez·e·kiʹah with their garments ripped apart+ and told him the words of Rabʹsha·keh.
19 And it came about that as soon as King Hez·e·kiʹah+ heard, he immediately ripped his garments apart+ and covered himself with sackcloth+ and came into the house of Jehovah.+ 2 Further, he sent E·liʹa·kim,+ who was over the household, and Shebʹnah+ the secretary and the older men of the priests covered with sackcloth to Isaiah*+ the prophet the son of Aʹmoz.+ 3 And they proceeded to say to him: “This is what Hez·e·kiʹah has said, ‘This day is a day of distress+ and of rebuke+ and of scornful insolence;+ for the sons have come as far as the womb’s mouth,+ and there is no power to give birth.+ 4 Perhaps Jehovah your God will hear+ all the words of Rabʹsha·keh, whom the king of As·syrʹi·a his lord sent to taunt+ the living God, and he will actually call him to account for the words that Jehovah your God has heard.+ And you must lift up prayer+ in behalf of the remnant+ that are to be found.’”
5 So the servants of King Hez·e·kiʹah came in to Isaiah.+ 6 Then Isaiah said to them: “This is what YOU should say to YOUR lord, ‘This is what Jehovah has said:+ “Do not be afraid+ because of the words that you have heard with which the attendants+ of the king of As·syrʹi·a spoke abusively of me. 7 Here I am putting a spirit+ in him, and he must hear a report+ and return to his own land; and I shall certainly cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”’”+
8 After that Rabʹsha·keh+ returned and found the king of As·syrʹi·a fighting against Libʹnah;+ for he had heard that he had pulled away from Laʹchish.+ 9 He heard it said respecting Tir·haʹkah the king of E·thi·oʹpi·a:* “Here he has come out to fight against you.” Therefore he sent messengers+ again to Hez·e·kiʹah, saying: 10 “This is what YOU men should say to Hez·e·kiʹah the king of Judah, ‘Do not let your God in whom you are trusting deceive you,+ saying: “Jerusalem+ will not be given into the hand of the king of As·syrʹi·a.”+ 11 Look! You yourself have heard what the kings of As·syrʹi·a did to all the lands by devoting them to destruction;+ and will you yourself be delivered?+ 12 Have the gods+ of the nations that my forefathers brought to ruin delivered them, even Goʹzan+ and Haʹran+ and Reʹzeph and the sons of Eʹden+ that were in Tel-asʹsar?+ 13 Where is he—the king of Haʹmath+ and the king of Arʹpad+ and the king of the cities of Seph·ar·vaʹim, Heʹna and Ivʹvah?’”+
14 Then Hez·e·kiʹah took the letters out of the hand of the messengers and read them,+ after which Hez·e·kiʹah went up to the house of Jehovah and spread it out before Jehovah.+ 15 And Hez·e·kiʹah began to pray+ before Jehovah and say: “O Jehovah the God of Israel,+ sitting upon the cherubs,+ you alone are the [true] God of all the kingdoms+ of the earth.+ You yourself have made the heavens+ and the earth.+ 16 Incline your ear, O Jehovah, and hear.+ Open your eyes,+ O Jehovah, and see, and hear the words of Sen·nachʹer·ib that he has sent to taunt+ the living God.* 17 It is a fact, O Jehovah, the kings of As·syrʹi·a have devastated the nations and their land.+ 18 And they have consigned their gods to the fire, because they were no gods,*+ but the workmanship of man’s hands,+ wood and stone; so that they destroyed them. 19 And now, O Jehovah our God,+ save us,+ please, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Jehovah, are God alone.”+
20 And Isaiah the son of Aʹmoz proceeded to send to Hez·e·kiʹah, saying: “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said,+ ‘The prayer+ that you have made to me concerning Sen·nachʹer·ib the king of As·syrʹi·a I have heard.+ 21 This is the word that Jehovah has spoken against him:
22 Whom have you taunted+ and spoken of abusively?+
And against whom have you lifted up your voice+
And do you raise your eyes on high?+
It is against the Holy One of Israel!+
23 By means of your messengers+ you have taunted Jehovah* and you say,+
‘With the multitude* of my war chariots I myself+—
I shall certainly ascend the height of mountainous regions,+
The remotest parts of Lebʹa·non;+
And I shall cut down its lofty cedars,+ its choice juniper trees.+
And I will enter its final lodging place, the forest of its orchard.+
24 I myself shall certainly dig and drink strange waters,
And I shall dry up with the soles of my feet all the Nile canals of Egypt.’+
25 Have you not heard?+ From remote times it is what I will do.+
From bygone days I have even formed it.+
Now I will bring it in.+
And you will serve to make fortified cities desolate as piles of ruins.+
26 And their inhabitants will be feeble-handed;+
They will simply be terrified and will be ashamed.+
They must become as vegetation of the field and green tender grass,+
Grass of the roofs,+ when there is a scorching before the east wind.+
27 And your sitting quiet and your going out+ and your coming in I well know,+
And your exciting yourself against me,+
28 Because your exciting yourself against me+ and your roaring have come up into my ears.+
And I shall certainly put my hook in your nose and my bridle between your lips,+
And I shall indeed lead you back by the way by which you have come.”+
29 “‘And this will be the sign for you:+ There will be an eating* this year of the growth from spilled kernels,+ and in the second year grain that shoots up of itself; but in the third year sow seed,+ you people, and reap and plant vineyards and eat their fruitage.+ 30 And those who escape of the house of Judah, those who are left,+ will certainly take root downward and produce fruitage upward.+ 31 For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go forth,+ and those who escape from Mount Zion.+ The very zeal+ of Jehovah of armies* will do this.
32 “‘That is why this is what Jehovah has said concerning the king of As·syrʹi·a:+ “He will not come into this city+ nor will he shoot an arrow+ there nor confront it with a shield nor cast up a siege rampart+ against it. 33 By the way by which he proceeded to come, he will return, and into this city he will not come, is the utterance of Jehovah.+ 34 And I shall certainly defend+ this city to save it for my own+ sake and for the sake of David my servant.”’”+
35 And it came about on that night that the angel of Jehovah proceeded to go out and strike down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp+ of the As·syrʹi·ans.+ When people rose up early in the morning, why, there all of them were dead carcasses.+ 36 Therefore Sen·nachʹer·ib+ the king of As·syrʹi·a pulled away and went and returned,+ and he took up dwelling in Ninʹe·veh.+ 37 And it came about that as he was bowing down at the house of Nisʹroch+ his god,*+ A·dramʹme·lech and Shar·eʹzer, his sons,* themselves struck him down with the sword,+ and they themselves escaped to the land of Arʹa·rat.*+ And Eʹsar-hadʹdon+ his son began to reign in place of him.
20 In those days Hez·e·kiʹah got sick to the point of dying.+ Accordingly Isaiah+ the son of Aʹmoz the prophet came in to him and said to him: “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘Give commands to your household,+ for you yourself will indeed die and will not live.’”+ 2 At that he turned his face to the wall+ and began to pray to Jehovah,+ saying: 3 “I beseech you, O Jehovah, remember,+ please, how I have walked+ before you in truthfulness+ and with a complete heart,+ and what was good in your eyes I have done.”+ And Hez·e·kiʹah began to weep profusely.*+
4 And it came about that Isaiah himself had not yet gone out to the middle court* when Jehovah’s word itself came to him,+ saying: 5 “Go back, and you must say to Hez·e·kiʹah the leader+ of my people, ‘This is what Jehovah the God+ of David your forefather has said: “I have heard+ your prayer.+ I have seen your tears.+ Here I am healing+ you.+ On the third day you will go up to the house of Jehovah.+ 6 And I shall certainly add fifteen years to your days, and out of the palm of the king of As·syrʹi·a I shall deliver you and this city, and I will defend+ this city for my own sake and for the sake of David my servant.”’”+
7 And Isaiah went on to say: “YOU men, take a cake of pressed+ dried figs.” So they took and put it upon the boil,+ after which he gradually revived.+
8 Meantime, Hez·e·kiʹah said to Isaiah: “What is the sign+ that Jehovah will heal me and I shall certainly go up on the third day to the house of Jehovah?” 9 To this Isaiah said: “This is the sign+ for you from Jehovah that Jehovah will perform the word that he has spoken: Shall the shadow actually go forward ten steps [of the stairs] or should it go back ten steps?” 10 Then Hez·e·kiʹah* said: “It is an easy thing for the shadow to extend itself ten steps,+ but not that the shadow should go backward ten steps.” 11 At that Isaiah the prophet began to call out to Jehovah; and he made the shadow that had gone down gradually go back on the steps, that is, on the steps [of the stairs] of Aʹhaz, ten steps backward.+
12 At that time Be·roʹdach-balʹa·dan+ the son of Balʹa·dan the king of Babylon*+ sent letters+ and a gift to Hez·e·kiʹah;* for he had heard that Hez·e·kiʹah had been sick. 13 And Hez·e·kiʹah proceeded to listen to them* and show them all his treasure-house,+ the silver and the gold+ and the balsam oil+ and the good oil and his armory and all that was to be found in his treasures. There proved to be nothing that Hez·e·kiʹah did not show them in his own house and in all his dominion.+
14 After that Isaiah the prophet came in to King Hez·e·kiʹah and said to him:+ “What did these men say and from where did they proceed to come to you?”+ So Hez·e·kiʹah said: “From a distant land they came, from Babylon.” 15 And he went on to say: “What did they see in your house?” To this Hez·e·kiʹah said: “Everything that is in my house they saw. There proved to be nothing that I did not show them in my treasures.”+
16 Isaiah now said to Hez·e·kiʹah: “Hear the word of Jehovah,+ 17 ‘“Look! Days are coming, and all that is in your own house+ and that your forefathers have stored up down to this day will actually be carried to Babylon.+ Nothing will be left,”+ Jehovah has said. 18 “And some of your own sons that will come forth from you to whom you will become father will themselves be taken+ and actually become court officials+ in the palace* of the king of Babylon.”’”+
19 At that Hez·e·kiʹah said to Isaiah: “The word of Jehovah that you have spoken is good.”+ And he went on to say: “Is it not so, if peace and truth+ themselves will continue in my own days?”+
20 As for the rest of the affairs of Hez·e·kiʹah and all his mightiness and how he made the pool+ and the conduit+ and then brought the water into the city, are they not written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah? 21 Finally Hez·e·kiʹah lay down with his forefathers;+ and Ma·nasʹseh+ his son began to reign in place of him.
21 Twelve years old was Ma·nasʹseh+ when he began to reign, and for fifty-five years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephʹzi·bah.+ 2 And he proceeded to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes,+ according to the detestable things of the nations+ that Jehovah had driven out from before the sons of Israel. 3 So he built again the high places that Hez·e·kiʹah his father had destroyed,+ and set up altars to Baʹal and made a sacred pole, just as Aʹhab+ the king of Israel had done; and he began to bow+ down to all the army of the heavens+ and to serve* them.+ 4 And he built altars in the house of Jehovah,+ respecting which Jehovah had said: “In Jerusalem I shall put my name.”+ 5 And he went on to build altars to all the army of the heavens+ in two courtyards of the house of Jehovah.+ 6 And he made his own son pass through the fire,+ and he practiced magic+ and looked for omens and made spirit mediums+ and professional foretellers+ of events. He did on a large scale what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, to offend him.
7 Further, he put the carved image+ of the sacred pole that he had made in the house+ of which Jehovah had said to David and to Solʹo·mon his son: “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I shall put my name to time indefinite.+ 8 And I shall not again make the foot of Israel wander from the ground that I gave to their forefathers,+ provided only they are careful to do according to all that I have commanded them,+ even concerning all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.” 9 And they did not listen,+ but Ma·nasʹseh kept seducing them to do what was bad+ more than the nations+ whom Jehovah had annihilated from before the sons of Israel.
10 And Jehovah kept speaking by means of his servants the prophets,+ saying: 11 “For the reason that Ma·nasʹseh+ the king of Judah has done these detestable+ things, he has acted more wickedly than all that the Amʹor·ites+ did that were prior to him, and he proceeded to make even Judah sin+ with his dungy idols. 12 That is why this is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, ‘Here I am bringing a calamity upon Jerusalem+ and Judah, of which if anyone hears both his ears will tingle.+ 13 And I shall certainly stretch upon Jerusalem the measuring line+ applied to Sa·marʹi·a+ and also the leveling instrument applied to the house of Aʹhab;+ and I shall simply wipe+ Jerusalem clean just as one wipes the handleless bowl clean, wiping it clean and turning it upside down.*+ 14 And I shall indeed forsake the remnant+ of my inheritance+ and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they will simply become plunder and pillage to all their enemies,+ 15 for the reason that they did what was bad in my eyes and were continually offending me from the day that their forefathers came out from Egypt down to this day.’”+
16 And there was also innocent blood that Ma·nasʹseh shed+ in very great quantity, until he had filled Jerusalem from end to end,* besides his sin with which he caused Judah to sin by doing what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah.+ 17 As for the rest of the affairs of Ma·nasʹseh and all that he did and his sin with which he sinned, are they not written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah? 18 Finally Ma·nasʹseh lay down with his forefathers+ and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzʹza;+ and Aʹmon his son began to reign in place of him.
19 Twenty-two years old was Aʹmon+ when he began to reign, and for two years+ he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Me·shulʹle·meth the daughter of Haʹruz from Jotʹbah. 20 And he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, just as Ma·nasʹseh his father had done.+ 21 And he kept walking in all the way that his father had walked,+ and he continued serving the dungy idols+ that his father had served and bowing down to them. 22 Thus he left Jehovah+ the God of his forefathers, and he did not walk in the way of Jehovah.+ 23 Eventually servants of Aʹmon conspired against him and put the king to death+ in his own house. 24 But the people of the land struck down all the conspirators+ against King Aʹmon. Then the people of the land made Jo·siʹah+ his son king in place of him. 25 As for the rest of the affairs of Aʹmon, what he did, are they not written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah? 26 So they* buried him in his grave in the garden of Uzʹza;+ and Jo·siʹah+ his son began to reign in place of him.
22 Eight years old was Jo·siʹah+ when he began to reign, and for thirty-one years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Je·diʹdah the daughter of A·daiʹah from Bozʹkath.+ 2 And he proceeded to do what was right in Jehovah’s eyes+ and to walk in all the way of David his forefather,+ and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.+
3 And it came about in the eighteenth year of King Jo·siʹah that the king sent Shaʹphan+ the son of Az·a·liʹah the son of Me·shulʹlam the secretary* to the house of Jehovah, saying: 4 “Go up to Hil·kiʹah*+ the high priest,*+ and let him complete* the money+ that is being brought into the house of Jehovah+ that the doorkeepers+ have gathered from the people; 5 and let them put it into the hand of those doing the work,+ the appointed ones, in the house of Jehovah, that they may give it to those doing the work who are in the house of Jehovah to repair the cracks of the house,+ 6 to the craftsmen and the builders and the masons, and to buy timbers and hewn stones to repair the house.+ 7 Only no accounting should be taken of the money with them into whose hand it is being put,+ for it is in faithfulness+ that they are working.”
8 Later Hil·kiʹah+ the high priest* said to Shaʹphan+ the secretary:+ “The very book of the law+ I have found in the house of Jehovah.” So Hil·kiʹah gave the book to Shaʹphan, and he began to read it. 9 Then Shaʹphan the secretary came in to the king and replied to the king and said: “Your servants have poured out the money that was to be found in the house, and they keep putting it into the hand of the doers of the work, the ones appointed, in the house of Jehovah.”+ 10 And Shaʹphan the secretary went on to tell the king, saying: “There is a book+ that Hil·kiʹah the priest has given me.” And Shaʹphan began to read it before the king.
11 And it came about that as soon as the king heard the words of the book of the law, he immediately ripped his garments apart.+ 12 Then the king commanded Hil·kiʹah the priest and A·hiʹkam+ the son of Shaʹphan and Achʹbor the son of Mi·caiʹah and Shaʹphan the secretary and A·saiʹah+ the king’s servant, saying: 13 “Go, inquire+ of Jehovah in my own behalf and in behalf of the people and in behalf of all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is Jehovah’s rage+ that has been set afire against us over the fact that our forefathers+ did not listen to the words of this book by doing according to all that is written concerning us.”+
14 Accordingly Hil·kiʹah the priest and A·hiʹkam and Achʹbor and Shaʹphan and A·saiʹah went to Hulʹdah the prophetess+ the wife of Shalʹlum the son of Tikʹvah the son of Harʹhas, the caretaker of the garments,+ as she was dwelling in Jerusalem in the second quarter; and they proceeded to speak to her.+ 15 In turn she said to them: “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said,+ ‘Say to the man that has sent YOU men to me: 16 “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘Here I am bringing calamity+ upon this place and upon its inhabitants,+ even all the words+ of the book that the king of Judah has read;+ 17 due to the fact that they have left me and have gone making sacrificial smoke to other gods+ in order to offend me with all the work of their hands,+ and my rage has been set afire against this place and will not be extinguished.’”’+ 18 And as to the king of Judah who is sending YOU to inquire of Jehovah, this is what YOU should say to him, ‘This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said: “As regards the words that you have heard,+ 19 for the reason that your heart+ was soft so that you humbled+ yourself because of Jehovah at your hearing what I have spoken against this place and its inhabitants [for it]* to become an object of astonishment and a malediction,+ and then you ripped+ your garments apart and began weeping before me, I, even I, have heard,” is the utterance of Jehovah.+ 20 “That is why here I am gathering+ you to your forefathers, and you will certainly be gathered to your own graveyard* in peace,+ and your eyes will not look upon all the calamity that I am bringing upon this place.”’” And they proceeded to bring the king the reply.
23 Then the king sent and they gathered together to him all the older men of Judah and Jerusalem.+ 2 After that the king went up to the house of Jehovah, and also all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and also the priests+ and the prophets and all the people, from small to great;+ and he began to read+ in their ears all the words of the book+ of the covenant+ that had been found in the house of Jehovah.+ 3 And the king kept standing by the pillar+ and now concluded the covenant+ before Jehovah, to walk+ after Jehovah and to keep his commandments+ and his testimonies*+ and his statutes+ with all the heart+ and with all the soul+ by carrying out the words of this covenant that were written in this book.+ Accordingly all the people took their stand in the covenant.+
4 And the king went on to command Hil·kiʹah+ the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the doorkeepers+ to bring out from the temple of Jehovah all the utensils made for Baʹal+ and for the sacred pole+ and for all the army of the heavens.+ Then he burned them outside Jerusalem on the terraces of Kidʹron,+ and he brought the dust of them to Bethʹel.+ 5 And he put out of business the foreign-god priests,* whom the kings of Judah had put in that they might make sacrificial smoke on the high places in the cities of Judah and the surroundings of Jerusalem, and also those making sacrificial smoke to Baʹal,+ to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations of the zodiac and to all the army of the heavens.+ 6 Furthermore, he brought out the sacred pole+ from the house of Jehovah to the outskirts of Jerusalem, to the torrent valley of Kidʹron, and burned it+ in the torrent valley of Kidʹron and ground it to dust and cast its dust upon the burial place+ of the sons of the people. 7 Further, he pulled down the houses of the male temple prostitutes+ that were in the house of Jehovah, where the women were weaving tent shrines for the sacred pole.
8 Then he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, that he might make unfit for worship the high places where the priests had made sacrificial smoke, from Geʹba+ as far as Beʹer-sheʹba;+ and he pulled down the high places of the gates* that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the chief of the city, which was at the left as a person came into* the gate of the city. 9 Only the priests+ of the high places would not come up to the altar of Jehovah in Jerusalem, but they ate unfermented+ cakes in among their brothers. 10 And he made unfit for worship Toʹpheth,*+ which is in the valley of the sons of Hinʹnom,*+ that no one might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire+ to Moʹlech.+ 11 Further, he caused the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun to cease from entering the house of Jehovah by the dining room+ of Naʹthan-melʹech the court official, which was in the porticoes; and the chariots of the sun+ he burned in the fire. 12 And the altars that were upon the roof of the roof+ chamber of Aʹhaz that the kings of Judah had made, and the altars+ that Ma·nasʹseh had made in two courtyards of the house of Jehovah,* the king pulled down, after which he crushed them there,* and he cast their dust into the torrent valley of Kidʹron. 13 And the high places that were in front+ of Jerusalem, that were to the right* of the Mount of Ruination,* that Solʹo·mon+ the king of Israel had built to Ashʹto·reth+ the disgusting thing of the Si·doʹni·ans and to Cheʹmosh+ the disgusting thing of Moʹab and to Milʹcom+ the detestable thing of the sons of Amʹmon, the king made unfit for worship. 14 And he broke+ the sacred pillars to pieces and went on to cut down the sacred poles and to fill their places with human bones. 15 And also the altar that was in Bethʹel,+ the high place that Jer·o·boʹam+ the son of Neʹbat, who caused Israel to sin,+ had made, even that altar and the high place he pulled down. Then he burned the high place; he ground [it] to dust* and burned the sacred pole.
16 When Jo·siʹah* turned, he got to see the burial places that were there in the mountain. So he sent and took the bones from the burial places and burned+ them upon the altar, that he might make it unfit for worship, according to Jehovah’s* word+ that the man of the [true] God had proclaimed,+ who proclaimed these things. 17 Then he said: “What is the gravestone over there that I am seeing?” At this the men of the city said to him: “It is the burial+ place of the man of the [true] God that came from Judah+ and proceeded to proclaim these things that you have done against the altar of Bethʹel.”+ 18 So he said: “Let him rest.+ Do not let anyone disturb his bones.” Consequently they let his bones alone along with the bones of the prophet+ that had come from Sa·marʹi·a.
19 And also all the houses+ of the high places that were in the cities+ of Sa·marʹi·a that the kings+ of Israel had built to cause offense*+ Jo·siʹah removed, and he went on to do to them according to all the doings that he had done at Bethʹel.+ 20 Accordingly he sacrificed all the priests+ of the high places that were there upon the altars and burned human bones upon them.+ After that he returned to Jerusalem.
21 The king now commanded all the people, saying: “Hold a passover+ to Jehovah* YOUR God according to what is written in this book of the covenant.”+ 22 For no passover like this had been held from the days of the judges that had judged Israel,+ nor all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.+ 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Jo·siʹah this passover was held to Jehovah* in Jerusalem.+
24 And also the spirit mediums+ and the professional foretellers+ of events and the teraphim*+ and the dungy idols+ and all the disgusting+ things that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem Jo·siʹah cleared out, in order that he might actually carry out the words of the law+ that were written in the book+ that Hil·kiʹah the priest had found at the house of Jehovah.+ 25 And like him there did not prove to be a king prior to him who returned+ to Jehovah* with all his heart and with all his soul+ and with all his vital force, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him has there risen up one like him.
26 Nevertheless, Jehovah* did not turn back from the great burning of his anger, with which his anger burned against Judah+ over all the offensive things with which Ma·nasʹseh had made them offend.+ 27 But Jehovah* said: “Judah,+ too, I shall remove from my sight,+ just as I have removed Israel;+ and I shall certainly reject this city that I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I have said, ‘My name will continue there.’”+
28 As for the rest of the affairs of Jo·siʹah and all that he did, are they not written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah? 29 In his days Pharʹaoh Neʹchoh*+ the king of Egypt came up to the king of As·syrʹi·a* by the river Eu·phraʹtes,+ and King Jo·siʹah proceeded to go to meet him;+ but he put him to death+ at Me·gidʹdo+ as soon as he saw him. 30 So his servants conveyed him dead in a chariot from Me·gidʹdo and brought him to Jerusalem+ and buried him in his grave. Then the people of the land took Je·hoʹa·haz+ the son of Jo·siʹah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.
31 Twenty-three years old was Je·hoʹa·haz+ when he began to reign, and for three months he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Ha·muʹtal+ the daughter of Jeremiah from Libʹnah. 32 And he began to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, according to all that forefathers of his had done.+ 33 And Pharʹaoh Neʹchoh+ got to put him in bonds+ at Ribʹlah+ in the land of Haʹmath, to keep him from reigning* in Jerusalem, and then imposed a fine+ upon the land of a hundred silver+ talents* and a gold talent.+ 34 Furthermore, Pharʹaoh Neʹchoh made E·liʹa·kim+ the son of Jo·siʹah king in place of Jo·siʹah his father and changed his name to Je·hoiʹa·kim; and Je·hoʹa·haz he took and then brought to Egypt, where he eventually died.+ 35 And the silver+ and the gold Je·hoiʹa·kim gave to Pharʹaoh. Only he taxed+ the land, to give the silver at the order of Pharʹaoh. According to each one’s individual tax+ rate he exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land, to give it to Pharʹaoh Neʹchoh.
36 Twenty-five years old was Je·hoiʹa·kim+ when he began to reign, and for eleven years he reigned in Jerusalem.+ And his mother’s name was Ze·biʹdah the daughter of Pe·daiʹah from Ruʹmah. 37 And he continued to do what was bad+ in Jehovah’s eyes, according to all that forefathers of his had done.+
24 In his days Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar+ the king of Babylon* came up, and so Je·hoiʹa·kim became his servant+ for three years. However, he turned back and rebelled against him. 2 And Jehovah began to send against him marauder bands of Chal·deʹans+ and marauder bands of Syrians* and marauder bands of Moʹab·ites+ and marauder bands of the sons of Amʹmon, and he kept sending them against Judah to destroy it, according to Jehovah’s word+ that he had spoken by means of his servants the prophets. 3 It was only by the order of Jehovah that it took place against Judah, to remove+ it from his sight for the sins of Ma·nasʹseh,+ according to all that he had done; 4 and also [for] the innocent blood+ that he had shed, so that he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and Jehovah did not consent to grant forgiveness.+
5 As for the rest of the affairs of Je·hoiʹa·kim+ and all that he did, are they not written in the book+ of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah? 6 Finally Je·hoiʹa·kim lay down with his forefathers,+ and Je·hoiʹa·chin his son began to reign in place of him.
7 And never again+ did the king of Egypt come out from his land,+ for the king of Babylon had taken all that happened to belong to the king of Egypt+ from the torrent valley+ of Egypt up to the river Eu·phraʹtes.+
8 Eighteen years old was Je·hoiʹa·chin+ when he began to reign, and for three months he reigned in Jerusalem.+ And his mother’s name was Ne·hushʹta the daughter of El·naʹthan of Jerusalem. 9 And he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, according to all that his father had done.+ 10 During that time the servants of Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar the king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, so that the city came under siege.+ 11 And Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar the king of Babylon proceeded to come against the city, while his servants were laying siege against it.+
12 At length Je·hoiʹa·chin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon,+ he with his mother+ and his servants and his princes and his court officials; and the king of Babylon got to take him in the eighth+ year of his being king. 13 Then he brought out from there all the treasures of the house of Jehovah and the treasures of the king’s house,+ and went on to cut to pieces all the gold utensils+ that Solʹo·mon the king of Israel had made in the temple of Jehovah, just as Jehovah had spoken. 14 And he took into exile+ all Jerusalem and all the princes+ and all the valiant, mighty+ men—ten thousand he was taking into exile—and also every craftsman+ and builder of bulwarks. No one had been left behind except the lowly class+ of the people of the land. 15 Thus he took Je·hoiʹa·chin+ into exile to Babylon;+ and the king’s mother+ and the king’s wives and his court officials+ and the foremost men of the land he led away as exiled people from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 As for all the valiant men, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the builders of bulwarks, a thousand, all the mighty men carrying on war, the king of Babylon proceeded to bring them as exiled people to Babylon.+ 17 Further, the king of Babylon+ made Mat·ta·niʹah his uncle+ king in place of him. Then he changed his name to Zed·e·kiʹah.*+
18 Twenty-one years old was Zed·e·kiʹah*+ when he began to reign, and for eleven years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Ha·muʹtal+ the daughter of Jeremiah* from Libʹnah. 19 And he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, according to all that Je·hoiʹa·kim had done.+ 20 For on account of the anger+ of Jehovah it took place in Jerusalem and in Judah, until he had cast them out of his sight.+ And Zed·e·kiʹah began to rebel against the king of Babylon.+
25 And it came about in the ninth+ year of his being king, in the tenth month on the tenth+ day of the month, that Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar+ the king of Babylon came,+ yes, he and all his military force, against Jerusalem and began camping against it and building against it a siege wall all around.+ 2 And the city came to be under siege until the eleventh year of King Zed·e·kiʹah. 3 On the ninth+ day of the [fourth] month* the famine+ was severe in the city, and there proved to be no bread+ for the people of the land. 4 And the city got to be breached,+ and all the men of war [fled]* by night by the way of the gate between the double wall that is by the king’s garden,+ while the Chal·deʹans+ were all around against the city; and [the king]* began to go+ in the direction of the Arʹa·bah.+ 5 And a military force of Chal·deʹans+ went chasing after the king, and they got to overtake him+ in the desert plains of Jerʹi·cho;+ and all his own military force was scattered from his side. 6 Then they seized the king+ and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Ribʹlah,+ that they might pronounce a judicial decision upon him. 7 And Zed·e·kiʹah’s sons they slaughtered before his eyes,+ and Zed·e·kiʹah’s eyes he blinded,+ after which he bound him with copper fetters+ and brought him to Babylon.+
8 And in the fifth month on the seventh [day] of the month, that is to say, the nineteenth+ year of King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar the king of Babylon, Neb·uʹzar·adʹan+ the chief of the bodyguard, the servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.+ 9 And he proceeded to burn the house+ of Jehovah and the king’s house+ and all the houses of Jerusalem;+ and the house of every great man* he burned with fire.+ 10 And the walls of Jerusalem, all around, the entire military force of Chal·deʹans that were with the chief of the bodyguard pulled down.+ 11 And the rest of the people+ that were left behind in the city and the deserters that had gone over* to the king of Babylon and the rest of the crowd Neb·uʹzar·adʹan the chief of the bodyguard took into exile.+ 12 And some of the lowly people+ of the land the chief of the bodyguard let remain as vinedressers and compulsory laborers.+ 13 And the pillars+ of copper that were in the house of Jehovah, and the carriages+ and the copper sea+ that were in the house of Jehovah, the Chal·deʹans broke in pieces and went carrying the copper of them to Babylon.+ 14 And the cans and the shovels and the extinguishers and the cups and all the utensils+ of copper with which they used to minister they took. 15 And the chief of the bodyguard took the fire holders and the bowls that were of genuine gold+ and those that were of genuine silver.+ 16 As for the two pillars, the one sea and the carriages that Solʹo·mon had made for the house of Jehovah, there happened to be no way to tell the weight of the copper of all these utensils.+ 17 Eighteen cubits+ was the height of each pillar, and the capital+ upon it was of copper; and the height of the capital was three* cubits; and the network and the pomegranates+ all around upon the capital, the whole of it, was copper; and the second pillar had the same as these upon the network.
18 Furthermore, the chief of the bodyguard took Se·raiʹah+ the chief priest* and Zeph·a·niʹah*+ the second priest and three doorkeepers;+ 19 and from the city he took one court official that had a command over the men of war, and five men from those having access to the king* that were found in the city; and the secretary of the chief of the army, the one mustering the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land that were to be found in the city;+ 20 and Neb·uʹzar·adʹan+ the chief of the bodyguard then took them+ and conducted them to the king of Babylon at Ribʹlah.+ 21 And the king of Babylon proceeded to strike them down+ and put them to death at Ribʹlah in the land of Haʹmath.+ Thus Judah went into exile from off its soil.+
22 As for the people+ left behind in the land of Judah, whom Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar the king of Babylon had left behind, he now appointed over them Ged·a·liʹah*+ the son of A·hiʹkam+ the son of Shaʹphan.+ 23 When all the chiefs of the military forces,+ they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Ged·a·liʹah, they immediately came to Ged·a·liʹah at Mizʹpah,+ that is, Ishʹma·el the son of Neth·a·niʹah and Jo·haʹnan the son of Ka·reʹah and Se·raiʹah the son of Tan·huʹmeth the Ne·tophʹa·thite and Ja·az·a·niʹah* the son of the Ma·acʹa·thite, they and their men. 24 Then Ged·a·liʹah swore+ to them and their men and said to them: “Do not be afraid of [being] servants to the Chal·deʹans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with YOU.”+
25 And it came about in the seventh+ month that Ishʹma·el+ the son of Neth·a·niʹah the son of E·lishʹa·ma of the royal offspring came, and also ten men with him, and they got to strike down Ged·a·liʹah,+ so that he died, and also the Jews and the Chal·deʹans that happened to be with him in Mizʹpah.+ 26 After that all the people, from small to great, and the chiefs of the military forces rose up and came into Egypt;+ for they had become afraid because of the Chal·deʹans.+
27 And it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Je·hoiʹa·chin+ the king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Eʹvil-merʹo·dach+ the king of Babylon, in the year of his becoming king, raised up the head+ of Je·hoiʹa·chin the king of Judah out of the house of detention; 28 and he began to speak good things with him, and then put his throne higher than the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon.+ 29 And he took off his prison garments;+ and he ate bread+ constantly before him all the days of his life. 30 As for his allowance,+ an allowance was constantly given him from the king, daily as due,* all the days of his life.
“Of Baal-zebub.” Heb., beVaʹʽal Zevuvʹ, meaning “Owner (Lord) of Flies.” Compare Mt 12:24 ftn.
“The god of.” Heb., ʼelo·hehʹ, pl. of ʼelohʹah, to denote excellence, applied to Baal-zebub. Compare Jg 16:23 ftn.
“Elijah.” Heb., ʼE·li·yahʹ, meaning “My God Is Jah”; LXXBagster(Gr.), E·li·ouʹ; Vgc(Lat.), E·liʹam. Compare vs 13 ftn.
Lit., “A man an owner [Heb., baʹʽal] of hair.”
“Chief of.” Heb., sar; Lat., prinʹci·pem.
“Man of the [true] God.” Heb., ʼish ha·ʼElo·himʹ. See App 1F.
“Man of God.” Heb., ʼish ʼElo·himʹ.
Meaning “My God Is Jehovah.” Heb., ʼE·li·yaʹhu, as in the rest of the account through 10:17 and in 2Ch 21:12.
“The god of.” Heb., ʼelo·hehʹ. See vs 2 ftn, “God.”
Meaning “Jehovah Is High (Exalted).” Heb., Yehoh·ramʹ; LXXLSyVg, “Jehoram his brother.”
Meaning “God Is Salvation.” LXXBagster(Gr.), He·li·sai·eʹ; Vgc(Lat.), E·li·seʹus.
Not the Gilgal near Jericho in the low Jordan valley but the Gilgal in the hilly region near Bethel from which they could go “down” to Bethel as stated in vs 2. See 4:38.
“Your master (lord).” Heb., ʼadho·neyʹkha, pl. of ʼa·dhohnʹ, to denote excellence.
Or, “war chariots.” Heb., reʹkhev, sing., possibly in a collective sense, as also in vs 11.
“They . . . bowed down.” Gr., pro·se·kyʹne·san. Compare Heb 1:6 ftn.
Or, “wind.” Heb., ruʹach; Gr., pneuʹma; Lat., spiʹri·tus.
Or, “the wool of a hundred thousand male sheep.”
Lit., “What [is there] to me and to you?” A Heb. idiom; a repellent question indicating objection. See App 7B.
Or, “upon whom I do attend.”
“Let there be a making.” In Heb. this is a verb in the infinitive absolute, indefinite as to time and impersonal.
Lit., “ditches, ditches.”
Lit., “it.”
“Hence they came to Moab, striking . . . as they came,” by an emendation of M in agreement with LXX.
Lit., “them.”
“At this appointed time next year.” Compare Ge 18:10 ftn.
Or, “after her.” Instead of saying “together with her,” the Hebrews said, “behind her; after her.”
Or, “wink.”
See 2:1 ftn, “Gilgal.”
“There will be an eating and a having of leftovers.” In Heb. these are verbs in the infinitive absolute, indefinite as to time and impersonal.
“His lord (master).” Heb., ʼadho·navʹ, pl. of ʼa·dhohnʹ, to denote excellence.
Lit., “lifted up of face.”
Or, “rescue; deliverance.”
Or, “struck with skin disease.” The Biblical term for leprosy includes what is today medically called Hansen’s disease.
Or, “Let there be a going.” In Heb. this is a verb in the infinitive absolute, indefinite as to time and impersonal.
“Abanah,” MLXXVg; MmarginTSy, “Amanah.”
Or, “and began to dive (dip himself).” Heb., wai·yit·bolʹ; Gr., e·ba·ptiʹsa·to (from ba·ptiʹzo, “baptize”).
Or, “upon whom I attend.”
Or, “my lord.” Heb., ʼadho·niʹ.
A talent weighed 34.2 kg (1101 oz t).
Meaning “Bulge; Swelling; Projection; Eminence.” Located in Samaria.
Lit., “the iron.”
“You will encamp with me,” by a slight change in M.
Or, “these Gentiles (heathens).”
A cab equaled 1.22 L (2.2 dry pt).
“And the older men (elders).” Heb., wehaz·zeqe·nimʹ; Gr., pre·sbyʹte·roi. See Ac 15:2 ftn.
Possibly, “the king.” Compare 7:2.
Lit., “he.” See 7:2.
A seah equaled 7.33 L (6.66 dry qt).
See App 8A.
One of 134 scribal changes from YHWH to ʼAdho·naiʹ. See App 1B.
Or, “life.”
Or, “it has come.”
“Say to him, ‘You will,’ ” MmarginLXXSyVg and 18 Heb. mss; M, “say, ‘You will not.’ ”
Or, “netted cloth.”
“And dip.” Heb., wai·yit·bolʹ; Gr., eʹba·psen. Compare 5:14 ftn.
“Give him a lamp and to his sons,” TLXXVg and about 60 Heb. mss. Compare 2Ch 21:7.
Lit., “all the days.”
“Libnah,” a priests’ city. See Jos 21:13.
“Ahaziah.” Heb., ʼAchaz·yaʹhu. Compare 1Ki 22:40 ftn.
Lit., “daughter.”
A shortened form for “Ramoth-gilead.”
Or, “juglet,” of ceramic ware.
Lit., “bloods.”
“Urinating against a wall.” A Heb. idiom for males.
Lit., “one restrained and one let go (abandoned).” See De 32:36 ftn, “One.”
Lit., “Falsehood!”
“Jehoram.” Heb., Yoh·ramʹ, as in 8:16.
Lit., “If there is your soul.”
“And Ahaziah.” Heb., wa·ʼAchaz·yahʹ. Compare 1Ki 22:40 ftn.
Lit., “What [is there] to you and to peace?” See App 7B.
Lit., “son.”
“Bidkar,” M; Syr., Bar deqer, “Ben-deker.”
See 2Ch 22:7-9.
“So they struck him down,” SyVgc; M omits.
“Elijah.” Heb., ʼE·li·yaʹhu. See 1:13 ftn.
Or, “the trustees of Ahab,” M; LXX, “the caretakers of the sons of Ahab.”
Or, “innocent.”
Or, “Beth-eked of the Shepherds was on the way.”
Lit., “on our way down for the welfare of.”
Or, “cistern of Beth-eked.”
Meaning “Jehovah Is Willing; Jehovah Is Noble.” Compare 2Sa 13:3 ftn.
“They,” M; LXXSy, “he.”
Or, “rendered sacred service to.” Lit., “served.” Heb., ʽa·vadhʹ.
Lit., “the Baal.” Heb., hab·Baʹʽal. Compare Nu 22:41 ftn, “Bamoth-baal.”
Lit., “full, mouth to mouth.” Possibly meaning standing very close to one another.
“Eighty,” MLXXVg; Sy, “three hundred and eighty”; LXXLItLegionensis(margin), “three thousand.”
“Sacred pillars,” M; LXXSyVg, “sacred pillar.” Possibly the sacred pole or Asherah.
Lit., “it,” fem., that is, each sacred pillar (pole) individually.
Lit., “Joash.” Compare vs 21 ftn.
“They,” M; LXXSyVg, “she.”
“Foundation,” in harmony with 2Ch 23:5. Lit., “Sur.”
Lit., “the right shoulder,” that is, the south side, when one faces east.
Lit., “the left shoulder,” that is, the north side, when one faces east.
“And so they made,” MSyVg; LXX, “and he made.”
“And (they) anointed,” MSyVg; LXX, “and he anointed.”
Or, “and the straight trumpets.” Heb., weha·chatso·tserohthʹ; not the shohpharʹ, “shofar,” which was an animal’s curved horn. See Nu 10:2 ftn.
“Let there be an execution of death.” In Heb. this is a verb in the infinitive absolute, indefinite as to time and impersonal.
Lit., “oversights; charges.” Heb., pequd·dohthʹ. The Heb. abstract noun for “oversights” is translated by the concrete designation “overseers.”
MLXX end chapter 11 here.
Meaning “Jehovah Is Strong; Jehovah Has Bestowed.” Heb., Yehoh·ʼashʹ.
Lit., “silver.” Heb., keʹseph.
Lit., “the silver of each one passing by.”
“Chest.” Heb., ʼarohnʹ. See Ex 25:10 ftn, “Ark.”
Lit., “keepers of the threshold.”
Or, “and the chief priest.” Lit., “and the great[est] priest.” Heb., wehak·ko·henʹ hag·ga·dhohlʹ.
Lit., “Joash.” But see vss 1-7, 18.
Or, “Millo.” Heb., mil·loʼʹ.
“Jozacar,” AlCaLXXVg and some Heb. mss; Leningrad B 19A, “Jozabad”; in 2Ch 24:26, “Zabad.”
Lit., “tents.”
Or, “the Asherah.”
That is, Jeroboam II.
See 2:12 ftn.
Lit., “Make your hand ride upon the bow.”
“If you had struck five or six times,” LXX; Vg, “If you had struck five or six or seven times.”
“Jehoahaz.” Heb., Yoh·ʼa·chazʹ.
Meaning “Jehovah Is Mighty.” Heb., ʼAmats·yaʹhu.
About 178 m (584 ft).
Lit., “and the sons of the pledges.”
That is, Jeroboam II.
Lit., “neither anyone restrained nor anyone let go (abandoned).” Compare De 32:36 ftn, “One.”
Meaning “Jehovah Has Been Able.” Heb., Yekhol·yaʹhu.
“The people of the land.” Heb., ʽam ha·ʼaʹrets. See Ge 23:7 ftn.
Meaning “Jehovah Has Helped.” Heb., ʽAzar·yaʹhu. In vs 13; 2Ch 26:1-23; Isa 6:1; Zec 14:5, “Uzziah.”
Meaning “Jehovah Has Remembered.” Heb., Zekhar·yaʹhu.
“At Ibleam,” LXXL; M, “before the people”; Vg, “publicly.”
“Of Uzziah.” Heb., leʽU·zi·yahʹ, meaning “My Strength Is Jah”; in vs 1, “Azariah.” See vs 6 ftn.
Lit., “a lunar month of days.”
“Because they did not open up (the gate) to him,” LXXSyVg.
“Of Azariah.” Heb., la·ʽAzar·yahʹ; in vs 13, “Uzziah.” See vs 6 ftn.
See App 8A.
Meaning “Jehovah Has Adorned.” Heb., Remal·yaʹhu.
Lit., “sons of Gileadites.”
Lit., “[the] Galilee.” Heb., hag·Ga·liʹlah; Gr., Ga·li·laiʹan; Lat., Ga·li·leʹam. See Jos 20:7 ftn, “Galilee.”
“Azariah” in vs 1.
“Edom” should evidently be read here instead of “Syria” (ʼAramʹ).
Or, “likeness.”
Meaning “Jehovah Strengthens.” Heb., Chiz·qi·yaʹhu.
Or, “And they continued to render sacred service to (worship).” Heb., wai·ya·ʽav·dhuʹ; Gr., e·laʹtreu·san. See Ex 3:12 ftn.
Or, “testimonies.”
Or, “offspring; posterity.”
“From Babylon,” LXXVg; Heb., mib·Ba·velʹ, “from Babel.”
Lit., “judgment; judicial decision.” Heb., mish·patʹ; Gr., kriʹma; Lat., le·giʹti·ma.
“God of.” Heb., ʼElo·hehʹ; Gr., The·ouʹ; Lat., Deʹi.
“Its own god [or, gods].” Heb., ʼelo·havʹ; Gr., the·ousʹ, pl.; Lat., deʹum.
“The Samaritans.” Heb., hash·Sho·mero·nimʹ; the only occurrence in M.
Lit., “nation, nation.” Heb., gohy gohy, used distributively, as in the preceding part of the vs.
Lit., “their”; likely referring to the “sons of Jacob.”
Or, “render them sacred service; worship them.” Heb., tha·ʽav·dhumʹ; Gr., la·treuʹse·te. See Ex 3:12 ftn.
“Abi” (an abbreviation for Abijah), MSyVg; in 2Ch 29:1, “Abijah”; Gr., Aʹbou.
Lit., “he (one) began to call it Nehushtan.”
“Hezekiah.” Heb., Chiz·qi·yaʹhu, as in 16:20.
See App 8A.
Or, “the commander.”
Or, “the chief court official.”
Or, “the chief cupbearer.”
Meaning “My Portion Is Jehovah.” Heb., Chil·qi·yaʹhu.
“The Syrian language.” Or, “the Aramaic language.” Heb., ʼAra·mithʹ; the first occurrence of this word. See Ezr 4:7; Isa 36:11; Da 2:4.
Or, “understand.”
“The Jews’ language.” Heb., Yehu·dhithʹ; the first occurrence of this word.
Lit., “Make with me a blessing [that is, what will be a blessing].”
Meaning “Salvation of Jehovah.” Heb., Yesha·ʽeyaʹhu; LXX, “Esaias”; Vg, “Isaias.” The first occurrence of this name.
“Ethiopia,” LXXVg; Heb., Kush.
“Living God.” Heb., ʼElo·himʹ, pl., followed by the sing. adjective chai, “living”; as in vs 4.
Or, “not God.” Heb., loʼ ʼelo·himʹ; LXXVg, “no gods.”
One of 134 scribal changes from YHWH to ʼAdho·naiʹ. See App 1B.
“With the multitude,” MmarginLXXSyVg and Isa 37:24.
“There will be an eating.” In Heb. this is a verb in the infinitive absolute, indefinite as to time and impersonal.
“Jehovah of armies,” MmarginLXXSyVg, many Heb. mss and Isa 37:32. A qere but not kethib (read but not written) where the vowel points for the word “armies” are found without consonants in M.
“His god.” Heb., ʼelo·havʹ, pl. of ʼelohʹah, applied to the false god Nisroch to denote excellence.
“His sons,” MmarginLXXSyVg, many Heb. mss and Isa 37:38. A qere but not kethib (read but not written). See vs 31 ftn.
“Ararat,” MLXXSy; Vg, “the Armenians.”
Lit., “with a great weeping.”
“Court,” MmarginLXXSyVg; M, “city.”
Meaning “Jehovah Strengthens.” Heb., Yechiz·qi·yaʹhu. Compare 16:20 ftn.
“The king of Babylon,” LXX; Heb., me·lekh-Ba·velʹ, “the king of Babel”; Lat., rex Ba·by·lo·ni·oʹrum, “the king of the Babylonians.” The first occurrence of this expression.
“Hezekiah.” Heb., Chiz·qi·yaʹhu, the same spelling as in 16:20.
“Listen to them,” M; LXXSyVg and Isa 39:2, “rejoice over them.”
“In the palace of.” Heb., beheh·khalʹ, “in the habitation (dwelling; temple) of”; Lat., pa·laʹti·o. Compare 1Sa 1:9 ftn, “Temple”; Mt 23:16 ftn.
Or, “and to worship (render sacred service to).” Heb., wai·ya·ʽavodhʹ.
Lit., “upon its face.”
Lit., “mouth to mouth.” Compare 10:21 ftn.
“They,” TLagardianLXXSyVg; M, “one (he).”
Or, “the scribe.” Heb., has·so·pherʹ.
Meaning “My Portion Is Jehovah.” Heb., Chil·qi·yaʹhu.
Lit., “the great priest,” MLXXVg. See 12:10 ftn.
“Complete,” M; T, “pour out.”
Lit., “the great priest,” MLXX; Lat., ponʹti·fex.
Or, “[for them].”
Lit., “burial places.”
Or, “reminders.”
“The foreign-god priests.” Heb., hak·kema·rimʹ.
Possibly, “goat-shaped demons,” by a slight change in M. See KB, p. 926.
“As a person (man) came into,” LXXL.
“Topheth,” M(Heb., hat·Toʹpheth)Vg; the first occurrence of this name.
According to M; MmarginLXXSyVg and many Heb. mss, “the valley of the son of Hinnom.” See App 4C.
See App 1C §7.
“He crushed them there,” by a correction of M.
That is, south, when one faces east.
“The Mount of Ruination.” Heb., leHar-ham·Mash·chithʹ. That is, the Mount of Olives, particularly the southern extremity known also as the Mount of Offense.
“He pulled down and ground its stones and reduced [them] to dust,” LXX.
“Josiah.” Heb., Yoʼ·shi·yaʹhu, as in 22:1.
See App 1C §7.
“To cause offense,” M; LXXSyVg, “to offend Jehovah.”
See App 1C §7.
See App 1C §7.
“Teraphim,” MLXX; Sy, “idols”; Vg, “figures of idols.” See Ge 31:19 ftn.
See App 1C §7.
See App 1C §7.
See App 1C §7.
Or, “Nekaw (Nekau).”
That is, the Babylonian conqueror of Assyria.
According to MmarginTLXXVg; MSy, “while he was reigning.”
See App 8A.
“Babylon,” LXXVg; MSy, “Babel.”
“Syrians,” MLXXVg; Sy, “Edomites.”
Or, “his name was changed to Zedekiah.”
Meaning “Jehovah Is Righteousness.” Heb., Tsidh·qi·yaʹhu.
See Jer 1:1 ftn, “Jeremiah.”
“Fourth month” in Jer 52:6; M, “month.”
“Fled,” in agreement with Sy and Jer 52:7; M omits.
“He,” M; Vgc, “Zedekiah”; Sy, some Heb. mss and Jer 52:7, “they.”
“Every great house,” according to a few mss.
Or, “that had deserted.” Lit., “that had fallen.”
“Three,” M; TLagardian, “five,” as in Jer 52:22.
Lit., “the head priest.” Heb., ko·henʹ ha·roʼshʹ; LXXVg, “the first priest”; Sy, “the great priest.”
Meaning “Jehovah Has Concealed [or, Treasured].” Heb., Tsephan·yaʹhu.
Lit., “from those seeing the king’s face.”
Meaning “Great Is Jehovah.” Heb., Gedhal·yaʹhu.
“And Jaazaniah.” Heb., weYa·ʼazan·yaʹhu, meaning “Jehovah Gives Ear.”
Lit., “a thing of a day on its day.”