2 Crónicas

¹ And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and Jehovah his God was with him and magnified him exceedingly. ² And Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to all the princes of all Israel, the chief fathers; ³ and Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place at Gibeon; for there was God's tent of meeting which Moses the servant of Jehovah had made in the wilderness. ⁴ But the ark of God had David brought up from Kirjath-jearim to the place that David had prepared for it; for he had spread a tent for it at Jerusalem. ⁵ And the brazen altar that Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the tabernacle of Jehovah; and Solomon and the congregation sought unto it. ⁶ And Solomon offered there upon the brazen altar before Jehovah which was at the tent of meeting; and he offered up a thousand burnt-offerings upon it. ⁷ In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, Ask what I shall give thee. ⁸ And Solomon said to God, Thou hast shewn unto David my father great loving-kindness, and hast made me king in his stead. ⁹ Now, Jehovah Elohim, let thy word unto David my father be firm; for thou hast made me king over a people numerous as the dust of the earth. ¹⁰ Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this thy great people? ¹¹ And God said to Solomon, Because this was in thy heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honour, nor the life of them that hate thee, neither yet hast asked long life; but hast asked for thyself wisdom and knowledge, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king: ¹² wisdom and knowledge are granted unto thee; and I will give thee riches and wealth and honour, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall any after thee have the like.

¹³ Then Solomon came back from the high place at Gibeon to Jerusalem, from before the tent of meeting, and reigned over Israel. ¹⁴ And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; and he had a thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen; and he placed them in the chariot-cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. ¹⁵ And the king made silver and gold in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he as the sycamores that are in the lowland for abundance. ¹⁶ And the exportation of horses that Solomon had was from Egypt: a caravan of the king's merchants fetched a drove of horses , at a price. ¹⁷ And they fetched up and brought forth out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and so they brought them by their means, for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Syria.

¹ And Solomon purposed to build a house for the name of Jehovah, and a house for his kingdom. ² And Solomon numbered seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand stone-masons in the mountain, and three thousand six hundred to superintend them. ³ And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre, saying, As thou didst deal with David my father, and didst send him cedars to build him a house to dwell therein so do for me . ⁴ Behold, I build a house unto the name of Jehovah my God to dedicate it to him, to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual arrangement of the shewbread , and for the morning and evening burnt-offerings and on the sabbaths and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of Jehovah our God. This is an ordinance for ever to Israel. ⁵ And the house that I will build is great; for great is our God above all gods. ⁶ But who is able to build him a house, seeing the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him? And who am I that I should build him a house, except to burn sacrifice before him? ⁷ And now send me a man skilful to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, and in iron, and in purple and crimson and blue, and experienced in carving, besides the skilful men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided. ⁸ Send me also cedar-trees, cypress-trees, and sandal-wood trees, out of Lebanon; for I know that thy servants are experienced in cutting timber in Lebanon; and behold, my servants shall be with thy servants, ⁹ even to prepare me timber in abundance: for the house that I build shall be great and wonderful. ¹⁰ And behold, I will give to thy servants the hewers that fell timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.

¹¹ And Huram king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because Jehovah loved his people, he made thee king over them. ¹² And Huram said, Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, that made the heavens and the earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding, who will build a house for Jehovah and a house for his kingdom. ¹³ And now, I send a skilful man, endued with understanding, Huram Abi, ¹⁴ the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and whose father was a man of Tyre, experienced in working in gold, and in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in byssus, and in crimson, and for doing any manner of engraving, and for inventing every device which shall be put to him, besides thy skilful men, and the skilful men of my lord David thy father. ¹⁵ And now the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his servants. ¹⁶ And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need; and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa, and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem. ¹⁷ And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the account that David his father had taken of them, and there were found a hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred. ¹⁸ And he set seventy thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and eighty thousand to be stone-masons in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to set the people to work.

¹ And Solomon began to build the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem on mount Moriah, where he appeared to David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ² And he began to build on the second of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. ³ And this was Solomon's foundation for the construction of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. ⁴ And the porch which was in front was twenty cubits in length, in front of the house broadways, and the height was a hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold. ⁵ And the greater house he boarded with cypress-wood, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set on it palm-trees and chains. ⁶ And he overlaid the house with precious stones for beauty; and the gold was gold of Parvaim. ⁷ And he covered the house, the beams, the threshold, and its walls, and its doors with gold, and engraved cherubim on the walls. ⁸ And he made the house of the most holy place, the length of which was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits; and he covered it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents. ⁹ And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he covered the upper chambers with gold.

¹⁰ And in the house of the most holy place he made two cherubim of image work, and they overlaid them with gold. ¹¹ And the wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long: one wing of five cubits touched the wall of the house; and the other wing of five cubits touched the wing of the other cherub. ¹² And the wing of the other cherub of five cubits touched the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits joining the wing of the other cherub. ¹³ The wings of these cherubim spread forth were twenty cubits; and they stood on their feet, and their faces were toward the house. ¹⁴ And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and byssus, and made cherubim upon it. ¹⁵ And before the house he made two pillars thirty-five cubits long; and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits. ¹⁶ And he made chains as in the oracle, and he put them on the top of the pillars; and he made a hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains. ¹⁷ And he set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left; and he called the name of that on the right Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.

¹ And he made a brazen altar: its length was twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits, and its height ten cubits. ² And he made the sea, molten, ten cubits from brim to brim, round all about; and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encompassed it round about. ³ And under it was the similitude of oxen, encompassing it round about, ten in a cubit enclosing the sea round about, two rows of oxen, cast when it was cast. ⁴ It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. ⁵ And its thickness was a hand-breadth, and its brim like the work of the brim of a cup, with lily-blossoms; in capacity it held three thousand baths. ⁶ And he made ten lavers, and put five on the right and five on the left, to wash in them: they rinsed in them what they prepared for the burnt-offering; and the sea was for the priests to wash in. ⁷ And he made ten candlesticks of gold according to the ordinance respecting them, and set them in the temple, five on the right hand and five on the left. ⁸ And he made ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right hand and five on the left. And he made a hundred golden bowls. ⁹ And he made the court of the priests, and the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid the doors thereof with bronze. ¹⁰ And he set the sea on the right side eastward, over against the south.

¹¹ And Huram made the pots and the shovels and the bowls. So Huram ended doing the work that he made for king Solomon in the house of God: ¹² two pillars, and the globes and the capitals on the top of the pillars, two; and the two networks, to cover the two globes of the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; ¹³ and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for one network, to cover the two globes of the capitals which were upon the pillars. ¹⁴ And he made the bases, and he made the lavers on the bases; ¹⁵ one sea, and the twelve oxen under it. ¹⁶ And the pots, and the shovels, and the forks, and all their instruments did Huram Abiv make king Solomon for the house of Jehovah, of bright brass. ¹⁷ In the plain of the Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay-ground between Succoth and Zeredathah. ¹⁸ And Solomon made all these vessels in great number; for the weight of the brass was not ascertained. ¹⁹ And Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of God: the golden altar; and the tables whereon was the shewbread; ²⁰ and the candlesticks with their lamps to burn according to the ordinance before the oracle, of pure gold; ²¹ and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold (it was perfect gold); ²² and the knives, and the bowls, and the cups, and the censers, of pure gold; and the entrance of the house, the inner folding-doors thereof for the most holy place, and the doors of the house, of the temple, of gold.

¹ And all the work was finished that Solomon made for the house of Jehovah. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated; and the silver, and the gold, and all the vessels he put among the treasures of the house of God. ² Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David, which is Zion. ³ And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, that of the seventh month. ⁴ And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark. ⁵ And they brought up the ark, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent: the priests, the Levites, brought them up. ⁶ And king Solomon, and all the assembly of Israel, that were assembled to him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen which could not be counted nor numbered for multitude. ⁷ And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah to its place, into the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim; ⁸ and the cherubim stretched forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its staves above. ⁹ And the staves were long, so that the ends of the staves were seen outside the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there they are to this day. ¹⁰ There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put there at Horeb, when Jehovah made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

¹¹ And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place (for all the priests that were present were hallowed without observing the courses; ¹² and the Levites the singers, all they of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, clad in byssus, with cymbals and lutes and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets), ¹³ --it came to pass when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one voice to be heard in praising and thanking Jehovah; and when they lifted up their voice with trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments of music, and praised Jehovah: For he is good, for his loving-kindness endureth for ever; that then the house, the house of Jehovah, was filled with a cloud, ¹⁴ and the priests could not stand to do their service because of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of God.

¹ Then said Solomon: Jehovah said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. ² But I have built a house of habitation for thee, even a settled place for thee to abide in for ever. ³ And the king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel; and the whole congregation of Israel stood. ⁴ And he said: Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hands fulfilled it, saying, ⁵ Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be prince over my people Israel: ⁶ but I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel. ⁷ And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house unto the name of Jehovah the God of Israel. ⁸ But Jehovah said to David my father, Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thy heart; ⁹ nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house unto my name. ¹⁰ And Jehovah has performed his word which he spoke; and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah promised, and I have built the house unto the name of Jehovah the God of Israel. ¹¹ And in it have I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of Jehovah, which he made with the children of Israel.

¹² And he stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of the whole congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands. ¹³ For Solomon had made a platform of bronze, five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and upon it he stood, and he kneeled down on his knees before the whole congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward the heavens, ¹⁴ and said, Jehovah, God of Israel! there is no God like thee, in the heavens or on the earth, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart; ¹⁵ who hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou didst promise him; thou spokest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thy hand as at this day. ¹⁶ And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy sons take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me. ¹⁷ And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, let thy word be verified which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David. ¹⁸ But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built! ¹⁹ Yet have respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, Jehovah, my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee; ²⁰ that thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place in which thou hast said thou wouldest put thy name: to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place. ²¹ And hearken unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall pray toward this place, and hear thou from thy dwelling-place, from the heavens, and when thou hearest, forgive. ²² If a man have sinned against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to adjure him, and the oath come before thine altar in this house; ²³ then hear thou from the heavens, and do, and judge thy servants, requiting the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head; and justifying the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness. ²⁴ And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication before thee in this house; ²⁵ then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land that thou gavest to them and to their fathers. ²⁶ When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, because thou hast afflicted them; ²⁷ then hear thou in the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance. ²⁸ If there be famine in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their gates; whatever plague or whatever sickness there be: ²⁹ what prayer, what supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, when they shall know every man his own plague, and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house; ³⁰ then hear thou from the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, and forgive, and render unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest (for thou, thou only, knowest the hearts of the children of men), ³¹ that they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, all the days that they live upon the land which thou gavest unto our fathers. ³² And as to the stranger also, who is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand and thy stretched-out arm; when they shall come and pray toward this house, ³³ then hear thou from the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; in order that all peoples of the earth may know thy name, and may fear thee as do thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name. ³⁴ If thy people go out to battle against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name; ³⁵ then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their right. ³⁶ If they have sinned against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not), and thou be angry with them, and give them up to the enemy, and they have carried them away captives unto a land far off or near; ³⁷ and if they shall take it to heart in the land whither they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done iniquity and have dealt perversely; ³⁸ and if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers, and the city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name; ³⁹ then hear thou from the heavens, from the settled place of thy dwelling, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their right, and forgive thy people their sin against thee. ⁴⁰ Now, my God, I beseech thee, let thine eyes be open and let thine ears be attentive unto the prayer that is made in this place. ⁴¹ And now, arise, Jehovah Elohim, into thy resting-place, thou and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, Jehovah Elohim, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in thy goodness. ⁴² Jehovah Elohim, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember mercies to David thy servant.

¹ And when Solomon had ended praying, the fire came down from the heavens and consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of Jehovah filled the house. ² And the priests could not enter into the house of Jehovah, because the glory of Jehovah filled Jehovah's house. ³ And all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of Jehovah upon the house, and bowed themselves with their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshipped and thanked Jehovah: For he is good, for his loving-kindness endureth for ever. ⁴ And the king and all the people offered sacrifices before Jehovah. ⁵ And king Solomon sacrificed a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ⁶ And the priests stood in their charges, and the Levites with Jehovah's instruments of music, which David the king had made to praise Jehovah, for his loving-kindness endureth for ever, when David praised by their means; and the priests sounded the trumpets opposite to them, and all Israel stood. ⁷ And Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of Jehovah; for there he offered the burnt-offerings, and the fat of the peace-offerings, because the brazen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt-offerings and the oblations and the fat. ⁸ And at that time Solomon held the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entrance of Hamath unto the torrent of Egypt. ⁹ And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly; for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. ¹⁰ And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that Jehovah had done to David and to Solomon, and to Israel his people. ¹¹ And Solomon completed the house of Jehovah, and the king's house; and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of Jehovah, and in his own house, he did prosperously.

¹² Then Jehovah appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: I have heard thy prayer, and I have chosen for myself this place for a house of sacrifice. ¹³ If I shut up the heavens that there be no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; ¹⁴ and my people, who are called by my name, humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from the heavens, and forgive their sin, and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attentive to the prayer made in this place; ¹⁶ for I have now chosen and hallowed this house, that my name may be there for ever; and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. ¹⁷ And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and mine ordinances; ¹⁸ then will I establish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to rule over Israel. ¹⁹ But if ye turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them; ²⁰ then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed to my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. ²¹ And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passes by it; so that he shall say, Why has Jehovah done thus to this land and to this house? ²² And they shall say, Because they forsook Jehovah the God of their fathers, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and have attached themselves to other gods, and have worshipped them and served them; therefore he has brought upon them all this evil.

¹ And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the house of Jehovah and his own house, ² that the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them and caused the children of Israel to dwell there. ³ And Solomon went to Hamath-Zobah, and overcame it. ⁴ And he built Tadmor, in the wilderness, and all the store-cities, which he built in Hamath. ⁵ And he built upper Beth-Horon and lower Beth-Horon, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars; ⁶ and Baalath, and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for chariots, and the cities for the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and on Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. ⁷ All the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel, ⁸ their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel had not destroyed, upon them did Solomon impose tribute-service until this day. ⁹ But of the children of Israel, of them did Solomon make no bondmen for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and captains of his chariots and his horsemen. ¹⁰ And these were the chief of king Solomon's superintendents, two hundred and fifty, that ruled over the people. ¹¹ And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David to the house which he had built for her; for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy to which the ark of Jehovah has come.

¹² Then Solomon offered up burnt-offerings to Jehovah on the altar of Jehovah, which he had built before the porch; ¹³ even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and at the set feasts, three times in the year, --at the feast of unleavened bread, and at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of tabernacles. ¹⁴ And he appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their charges, to praise and serve before the priests, as the duty of every day required; and the doorkeepers by their divisions at every gate: for such was the commandment of David the man of God; ¹⁵ and they did not depart from the commandment of the king to the priests and the Levites concerning any matter, nor concerning the treasures. ¹⁶ And all the work of Solomon was prepared, to the day of the foundation of the house of Jehovah and to its completion. So the house of Jehovah was finished. ¹⁷ Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, on the seashore in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ And Huram sent him by his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and fetched thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.

¹ And the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, and came to Jerusalem to prove Solomon with enigmas; with a very great train, and camels that bore spices and gold in great abundance, and precious stones; and she came to Solomon, and spoke with him of all that was in her heart. ² And Solomon explained to her all she spoke of, and there was not a thing hidden from Solomon that he did not explain to her. ³ And when the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, ⁴ and the food of his table, and the deportment of his servants, and the order of service of his attendants and their apparel, and his cupbearers and their apparel, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of Jehovah, there was no more spirit in her. ⁵ And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine affairs and of thy wisdom; ⁶ but I gave no credit to their words, until I came and mine eyes had seen; and behold, the half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: thou exceedest the report that I heard. ⁷ Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, who stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom! ⁸ Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who delighted in thee, to set thee on his throne, to be king to Jehovah thy God! Because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore did he make thee king over them, to do judgment and justice. ⁹ And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in very great abundance, and precious stones; neither was there any such spice as that which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. ¹⁰ (And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought sandal-wood and precious stones. ¹¹ And the king made of the sandal-wood stairs for the house of Jehovah, and for the king's house, and harps and lutes for the singers. And there were none such seen before in the land of Judah.) ¹² And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides what she had brought to the king. And she turned and went to her own land, she and her servants.

¹³ And the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, ¹⁴ besides what dealers and merchants brought, and what all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought of gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵ And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold, --he applied six hundred shekels of beaten gold to one target; ¹⁶ and three hundred shields of beaten gold, --he applied three hundred shekels of gold to one shield; and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. ¹⁷ And the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold; ¹⁸ and the throne had six steps, with a footstool of gold fastened to the throne; and there were arms on each side at the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the arms; ¹⁹ and twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom. ²⁰ And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of precious gold: silver was not of the least account in the days of Solomon. ²¹ For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: once in three years came the ships of Tarshish, bringing gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. ²² And king Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²³ And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. ²⁴ And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and clothing, armour, and spices, horses and mules, a rate year by year. ²⁵ And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; and he placed them in the chariot-cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. ²⁶ And he ruled over all the kings from the river as far as the land of the Philistines, and up to the border of Egypt. ²⁷ And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he as the sycamores that are in the lowland for abundance. ²⁸ And they brought to Solomon horses out of Egypt, and out of all lands. ²⁹ And the rest of the acts of Solomon first and last, are they not written in the words of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ³⁰ And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ³¹ And Solomon slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David his father; and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

¹ And Rehoboam went to Shechem; for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ² And it came to pass when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (now he was in Egypt, whither he had fled from the presence of king Solomon) that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt. ³ And they sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam saying, ⁴ Thy father made our yoke grievous; and now lighten the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee. ⁵ And he said to them, Come again to me after three days. And the people departed. ⁶ And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, How do ye advise to return answer to this people? ⁷ And they spoke to him saying, If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be thy servants for ever. ⁸ But he forsook the advice of the old men which they had given him, and consulted with the young men, who had grown up with him, that stood before him. ⁹ And he said to them, What advice give ye that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me saying, Lighten the yoke which thy father put upon us? ¹⁰ And the young men that had grown up with him spoke to him saying, Thus shalt thou say to the people who have spoken to thee saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, and lighten thou it for us, --thus shalt thou say to them: My little finger is thicker than my father's loins; ¹¹ and whereas my father laid a heavy yoke upon you, *I* will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but *I* will chastise you with scorpions.

¹² And Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed saying, Come again to me on the third day. ¹³ And the king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam forsook the advice of the old men, ¹⁴ and spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but *I* will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but *I* will chastise you with scorpions. ¹⁵ So the king hearkened not to the people; for it was brought about by God, that Jehovah might give effect to his word, which he spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ¹⁶ And all Israel saw that the king hearkened not to them; and the people answered the king saying, What portion have we in David? and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to your tents, O Israel. Now see to thine own house, David! And all Israel went to their tents. ¹⁷ But as for the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. ¹⁸ And king Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the levy; but the children of Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. And king Rehoboam hastened to mount his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ And Israel rebelled against the house of David, unto this day.

¹ And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem; and he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men apt for war, to fight against Israel, that he might bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam. ² But the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ³ Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, ⁴ Thus saith Jehovah: Go not up, nor fight with your brethren; return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. And they hearkened to the words of Jehovah, and returned from going against Jeroboam. ⁵ And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defence in Judah. ⁶ And he built Bethlehem, and Etam, and Tekoa, ⁷ and Beth-zur, and Soco, and Adullam, ⁸ and Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph, ⁹ and Adoraim, and Lachish, and Azekah, ¹⁰ and Zorah, and Ajalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and in Benjamin, fortified cities. ¹¹ And he fortified the strongholds, and put captains in them, and stores of victuals, and of oil and wine; ¹² and in every several city, targets and spears, and made them exceedingly strong. And Judah and Benjamin were his.

¹³ And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their districts; ¹⁴ for the Levites left their suburbs and their possessions, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from exercising the priesthood to Jehovah; ¹⁵ and he ordained for himself priests for the high places, and for the he-goats and for the calves that he had made. ¹⁶ --And after them, those out of all the tribes of Israel that set their heart to seek Jehovah the God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to Jehovah the God of their fathers. ¹⁷ And they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong three years; for during three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon. ¹⁸ And Rehoboam took Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David as wife, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse. ¹⁹ And she bore him children: Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ And after her he took Maachah the daughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines; for he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he begot twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. ²² And Rehoboam established Abijah the son of Maachah at the head, to be ruler among his brethren; for he thought to make him king. ²³ And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to all the fortified cities; and he gave them food in abundance. And he desired for them a multitude of wives.

¹ And it came to pass when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and when he had become strong, that he forsook the law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him. ² And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, because they had transgressed against Jehovah, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, ³ with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen; and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt: Libyans, Sukkites, and Ethiopians. ⁴ And he took the fortified cities that belonged to Judah, and came to Jerusalem. ⁵ And Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah that had gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, Thus saith Jehovah: Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak. ⁶ And the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, Jehovah is righteous. ⁷ And when Jehovah saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves: I will not destroy them, but I will grant them a little deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. ⁸ Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries. ⁹ And Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house; he took away all; and he took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made. ¹⁰ And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the chief of the couriers who kept the entrance of the king's house. ¹¹ And it was so, that as often as the king entered into the house of Jehovah, the couriers came and fetched them, and brought them again into the chamber of the couriers. ¹² And when he humbled himself, the anger of Jehovah turned away from him, that he would not destroy him altogether; and also in Judah there were good things.

¹³ And king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned; for Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that Jehovah had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess. ¹⁴ And he did evil, for he applied not his heart to seek Jehovah. ¹⁵ And the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the words of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer, in the genealogical registers? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. ¹⁶ And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. And Abijah his son reigned in his stead.

¹ In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah. ² He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³ And Abijah began the war with an army of men of war, four hundred thousand chosen men; and Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, mighty men of valour. ⁴ And Abijah stood up on the top of mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, Jeroboam, and all Israel! ⁵ Ought ye not to know that Jehovah the God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? ⁶ But Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord. ⁷ And vain men, sons of Belial, gathered to him and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, and Rehoboam was young and faint-hearted, and did not shew himself strong against them. ⁸ And now ye think to shew yourselves strong against the kingdom of Jehovah in the hand of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude, and ye have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods. ⁹ Have ye not cast out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made you priests as the peoples of the lands? whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, he becomes a priest of what is not God. ¹⁰ But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests that serve Jehovah are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites are at their work: ¹¹ and they burn to Jehovah every morning and every evening burnt-offerings and sweet incense; the loaves also are set in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with its lamps to burn every evening: for *we* keep the charge of Jehovah our God; but *ye* have forsaken him. ¹² And behold, we have God with us at our head, and his priests, and the loud-sounding trumpets to sound an alarm against you. Children of Israel, do not fight with Jehovah the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.

¹³ But Jeroboam caused an ambush to come about behind them; and they were before Judah, and the ambush behind them. ¹⁴ And Judah looked back, and behold, they had the battle in front and behind; and they cried to Jehovah, and the priests sounded with the trumpets. ¹⁵ And the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ And the children of Israel fled before Judah; and God delivered them into their hand. ¹⁷ And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter; and there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. ¹⁸ And the children of Israel were humbled at that time, and the children of Judah were strengthened, because they relied upon Jehovah the God of their fathers. ¹⁹ And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him: Bethel with its dependent villages, and Jeshanah with its dependent villages, and Ephron with its dependent villages. ²⁰ And Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and Jehovah smote him, and he died. ²¹ But Abijah strengthened himself, and took fourteen wives, and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²² And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his sayings, are written in the treatise of the prophet Iddo.

¹ And Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years. ² And Asa did what was good and right in the sight of Jehovah his God; ³ and he took away the altars of the strange gods and the high places, and broke the columns, and cut down the Asherahs; ⁴ and commanded Judah to seek Jehovah the God of their fathers, and to practise the law and the commandment. ⁵ And he removed out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images; and the kingdom was quiet before him. ⁶ And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because Jehovah had given him rest. ⁷ And he said to Judah, Let us build these cities, and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars, while the land is yet before us; for we have sought Jehovah our God; we have sought him, and he has given us rest on every side. And they built and prospered. ⁸ And Asa had an army that bore targets and spears: out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew the bow, two hundred and eighty thousand: all these, mighty men of valour.

⁹ And Zerah the Ethiopian came out against him with a host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah. ¹⁰ And Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah near Mareshah. ¹¹ And Asa cried unto Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, it maketh no difference to thee to help, whether there be much or no power: help us, O Jehovah our God, for we rely on thee, and in thy name have we come against this multitude. Jehovah, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. ¹² And Jehovah smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³ And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them to Gerar; and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that none of them was left alive; for they were crushed before Jehovah and before his army. And they carried away very much spoil. ¹⁴ And they smote all the cities round about Gerar, for the terror of Jehovah came upon them; and they spoiled all the cities, for there was very much spoil in them. ¹⁵ They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.

¹ And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded. ² And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Jehovah is with you while ye are with him; and if ye seek him he will be found of you, but if ye forsake him he will forsake you. ³ Now for a long while Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law; ⁴ but in their trouble they turned to Jehovah the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found of them. ⁵ And in those times there was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in, but great disturbances were amongst all the inhabitants of the countries. ⁶ And nation was broken against nation, and city against city; for God disturbed them with all manner of distress. ⁷ But as for you, be firm and let not your hands be weak; for there is a reward for your deeds.

⁸ And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities that he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of Jehovah, that was before the porch of Jehovah. ⁹ And he assembled all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon; for they fell away to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him. ¹⁰ And they assembled themselves at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. ¹¹ And they sacrificed to Jehovah in that day, of the spoil that they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. ¹² And they entered into a covenant to seek Jehovah the God of their fathers, with all their heart, and with all their soul, ¹³ and that whoever would not seek Jehovah the God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. ¹⁴ And they swore to Jehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets. ¹⁵ And all Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they took the oath with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them. And Jehovah gave them rest round about. ¹⁶ And also Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol for the Asherah; and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burned it in the valley Kidron. ¹⁷ But the high places were not removed from Israel; only, Asa's heart was perfect all his days. ¹⁸ And he brought into the house of God the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels. ¹⁹ And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

¹ In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, in order to let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. ² And Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of Jehovah and of the king's house, and sent to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who dwelt at Damascus, saying, ³ There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: behold, I send thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. ⁴ And Ben-hadad hearkened to king Asa, and sent the captains of his forces against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon and Dan and Abelmaim, and all the store-magazines of the cities of Naphtali. ⁵ And it came to pass when Baasha heard of it, that he left off building Ramah, and let his work cease. ⁶ And king Asa took all Judah; and they carried away the stones and the timber from Ramah, with which Baasha had been building, and he built with them Geba and Mizpah.

⁷ And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on Jehovah thy God, therefore has the army of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand. ⁸ Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army, with very many chariots and horsemen? but when thou didst rely on Jehovah, he delivered them into thy hand. ⁹ For the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro through the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars. ¹⁰ And Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in the prison; for he was enraged with him because of this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time. ¹¹ And behold the acts of Asa, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ¹² And Asa in the thirty-ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was extremely great; yet in his disease he did not seek Jehovah, but the physicians. ¹³ And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one-and-fortieth year of his reign. ¹⁴ And they buried him in his own sepulchre, which he had excavated for himself in the city of David, and laid him in a bed filled with spices, a mixture of divers kinds prepared by the perfumer's art; and they made a very great burning for him.

¹ And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel. ² And he placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim that Asa his father had taken. ³ And Jehovah was with Jehoshaphat, for he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto the Baals; ⁴ but he sought the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel. ⁵ And Jehovah established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah gave gifts to Jehoshaphat; and he had riches and honour in abundance. ⁶ And he took courage in the ways of Jehovah; moreover, he removed the high places and Asherahs out of Judah. ⁷ And in the third year of his reign he sent his princes, Ben-hail, and Obadiah, and Zechariah, and Nethaneel, and Micah, to teach in the cities of Judah; ⁸ and with them the Levites: Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tob-Adonijah, Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests. ⁹ And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of Jehovah with them; and they went about through all the cities of Judah, and taught among the people.

¹⁰ And the terror of Jehovah was upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, and they made no war against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹ And some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and tribute-silver. The Arabians also brought him flocks, seven thousand seven hundred rams, and seven thousand seven hundred he-goats. ¹² And Jehoshaphat waxed exceeding great; and he built in Judah castles and store-cities. ¹³ And he had much business in the cities of Judah; and men of war, strong and valiant, in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And these are the numbers of them according to their fathers' houses. Of Judah the captains of thousands: Adnah the captain, and with him three hundred thousand mighty men of valour; ¹⁵ and next to him was Johanan the captain, and with him two hundred and eighty thousand; ¹⁶ and next to him, Amasiah the son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself to Jehovah; and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valour. ¹⁷ And of Benjamin: Eliada, a mighty man of valour, and with him two hundred thousand, armed with bow and shield; ¹⁸ and next to him was Jehozabad, and with him a hundred and eighty thousand ready prepared for war. ¹⁹ These were they that waited on the king, besides those that the king had put in the fortified cities throughout Judah.

¹ And Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance; and he allied himself with Ahab by marriage. ² And after certain years he went down to Ahab, to Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that were with him, and urged him to go up against Ramoth-Gilead. ³ And Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Wilt thou go with me to Ramoth-Gilead? And he said to him, I am as thou, and my people as thy people; and I will be with thee in the war.

⁴ And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Inquire, I pray thee, this day of the word of Jehovah. ⁵ And the king of Israel assembled the prophets, four hundred men, and said to them, Shall we go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, and God will give it into the king's hand. ⁶ But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah besides, that we might inquire of him? ⁷ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Jehovah; but I hate him, for he prophesies no good concerning me, but always evil: it is Micah the son of Imlah. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. ⁸ Then the king of Israel called a chamberlain, and said, Fetch quickly Micah the son of Imlah. ⁹ And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, having put on their robes, sat each on his throne; and they sat in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them. ¹⁰ And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron, and he said, Thus saith Jehovah: With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have exterminated them. ¹¹ And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-Gilead, and prosper; for Jehovah will give it into the king's hand. ¹² And the messenger that went to call Micah spoke to him saying, Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one assent: let thy word therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs, and declare good. ¹³ And Micah said, As Jehovah liveth, even what my God shall say, that will I declare. ¹⁴ And he came to the king. And the king said to him, Micah, shall we go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go ye up, and prosper; and they will be given into your hands. ¹⁵ And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but truth in the name of Jehovah? ¹⁶ And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And Jehovah said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace. ¹⁷ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he prophesies no good concerning me, but evil? ¹⁸ And he said, Hear ye therefore the word of Jehovah: I saw Jehovah sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left; ¹⁹ and Jehovah said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead? And one spoke saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner. ²⁰ And there came forth a spirit, and stood before Jehovah and said, I will entice him. And Jehovah said unto him, Wherewith? ²¹ And he said, I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt entice him , and also succeed: go forth, and do so. ²² And now, behold, Jehovah has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets; and Jehovah has spoken evil concerning thee. ²³ Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micah upon the cheek, and said, Which way now went the Spirit of Jehovah from me to speak to thee? ²⁴ And Micah said, Behold, thou shalt see on that day when thou shalt go from chamber to chamber to hide thyself. ²⁵ And the king of Israel said, Take ye Micah, and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son; ²⁶ and ye shall say, Thus says the king: Put this man in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I return in peace. ²⁷ And Micah said, If thou return at all in peace, Jehovah has not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O peoples, all of you!

²⁸ And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-Gilead. ²⁹ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and will enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself; and they went into the battle. ³⁰ And the king of Syria commanded the captains of his chariots saying, Fight neither with small nor great, but with the king of Israel only. ³¹ And it came to pass when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, That is the king of Israel; and they surrounded him to fight; and Jehoshaphat cried out, and Jehovah helped him; and God diverted them from him. ³² And it came to pass that when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. ³³ And a man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the fastenings and the corslet. And he said to the charioteer, Turn thy hand and drive me out of the camp; for I am wounded. ³⁴ And the battle increased that day; and the king of Israel stayed himself up in his chariot against the Syrians until the even; and about the time of the going down of the sun he died.

¹ And Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. ² And Jehu the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate Jehovah? Therefore is wrath upon thee from Jehovah. ³ Nevertheless there are good things found in thee; for thou hast put away the Asherahs out of the land, and hast directed thy heart to seek God. ⁴ And Jehoshaphat dwelt in Jerusalem; and he went out again among the people from Beer-sheba to mount Ephraim, and brought them back to Jehovah the God of their fathers.

⁵ And he set judges in the land throughout the fortified cities of Judah, city by city. ⁶ And he said to the judges, Take heed what ye do; for ye judge not for man, but for Jehovah, who will be with you in the matter of judgment. ⁷ And now, let the terror of Jehovah be upon you; be careful what ye do, for there is no iniquity with Jehovah, nor respect of persons, nor taking of presents. ⁸ --And moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set some of the Levites and priests, and of the chief fathers of Israel, for the judgment of Jehovah and for causes. --And they returned to Jerusalem. ⁹ And he charged them saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of Jehovah faithfully and with a perfect heart. ¹⁰ And what cause soever comes to you of your brethren that dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and ordinances, ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against Jehovah, and so wrath come upon you and upon your brethren: this do and ye shall not trespass. ¹¹ And behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of Jehovah, and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, prince of the house of Judah, in all the king's matters; and ye have the Levites before you as officers. Be strong and do it, and Jehovah will be with the good.

¹ And it came to pass after this that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them certain of the Maonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. ² And they came and told Jehoshaphat saying, A great multitude is come against thee from beyond the sea, from Syria; and behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar, which is Engedi. ³ And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek Jehovah, and proclaimed a fast throughout Judah. ⁴ And Judah gathered themselves together to ask help of Jehovah: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek Jehovah. ⁵ And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of Jehovah, before the new court; ⁶ and he said, Jehovah, God of our fathers, art not thou God in the heavens, and rulest thou not over all the kingdoms of the nations? And in thy hand there is power and might, and none can withstand thee. ⁷ Hast not thou, our God, dispossessed the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and given it for ever to the seed of Abraham, thy friend? ⁸ And they have dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, ⁹ If evil come upon us, sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, and we stand before this house and before thee--for thy name is in this house--and cry unto thee in our distress, then thou wilt hear and save. ¹⁰ And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab, and those of mount Seir, amongst whom thou wouldest not let Israel go when they came out of the land of Egypt, (for they turned from them, and destroyed them not,) ¹¹ behold, they reward us, in coming to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to possess. ¹² Our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might in presence of this great company which cometh against us, neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon thee. ¹³ And all Judah stood before Jehovah, with their little ones, their wives, and their sons.

¹⁴ And upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, upon him came the Spirit of Jehovah, in the midst of the congregation; ¹⁵ and he said, Be attentive, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat! Thus saith Jehovah unto you: Fear not, nor be dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. ¹⁶ To-morrow go down against them: behold, they come up by the ascent of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷ Ye shall not have to fight on this occasion: set yourselves, stand and see the salvation of Jehovah who is with you! Judah and Jerusalem, fear not nor be dismayed; to-morrow go out against them, and Jehovah will be with you. ¹⁸ And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before Jehovah, worshipping Jehovah. ¹⁹ And the Levites, of the sons of the Kohathites, and of the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise Jehovah the God of Israel with an exceeding loud voice.

²⁰ And they rose early in the morning, and went forth towards the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in Jehovah your God, and ye shall be established; believe his prophets, and ye shall prosper! ²¹ And he consulted with the people, and appointed singers to Jehovah, and those that should praise in holy splendour, as they went forth before the armed men, and say, Give thanks to Jehovah; for his loving-kindness endureth for ever! ²² And when they began the song of triumph and praise, Jehovah set liers-in-wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, who had come against Judah, and they were smitten. ²³ And the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, to exterminate and destroy them ; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. ²⁴ And Judah came on to the mountain-watch in the wilderness, and they looked toward the multitude; and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none had escaped. ²⁵ And Jehoshaphat and his people came to plunder the spoil of them, and they found among them in abundance, both riches with the dead bodies, and precious things, and they stripped off for themselves more than they could carry away; and they were three days in plundering the spoil, it was so much. ²⁶ And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah, for there they blessed Jehovah; therefore the name of that place was called The valley of Berachah, to this day. ²⁷ And they returned, all the men of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat at their head, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for Jehovah had made them to rejoice over their enemies. ²⁸ And they came to Jerusalem with lutes and harps and trumpets, to the house of Jehovah. ²⁹ And the terror of God was on all the kingdoms of the lands, when they had heard that Jehovah fought against the enemies of Israel. ³⁰ And the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet; and his God gave him rest round about.

³¹ And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah: he was thirty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Azubah, daughter of Shilhi. ³² And he walked in the way of Asa his father, and turned not aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of Jehovah. ³³ Only, the high places were not removed; and as yet the people had not directed their hearts to the God of their fathers. ³⁴ And the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the words of Jehu the son of Hanani, which are inserted in the book of the kings of Israel. ³⁵ And after this Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly. ³⁶ And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish; and they made the ships in Ezion-geber. ³⁷ And Eliezer the son of Dodavah, of Mareshah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, Jehovah has broken thy works. And the ships were broken, and could not go to Tarshish.

¹ And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead. ² And he had brethren, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah: all these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. ³ And their father had given them great gifts of silver and of gold and of precious things, besides fortified cities in Judah; but the kingdom he gave to Jehoram, for he was the firstborn. ⁴ And Jehoram established himself over the kingdom of his father, and strengthened himself; and he slew all his brethren with the sword, and certain also of the princes of Israel. ⁵ Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶ And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the sight of Jehovah. ⁷ But Jehovah would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he had promised to give to him always a lamp, and to his sons. ⁸ In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and they set a king over themselves. ⁹ And Jehoram went over with his captains, and all the chariots with him; and he rose up by night, and smote the Edomites who had surrounded him, and the captains of the chariots. ¹⁰ But the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time from under his hand, because he had forsaken Jehovah the God of his fathers. ¹¹ Moreover he made high places on the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah thereto .

¹² And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet saying, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David thy father: Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, ¹³ but hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, like the fornications of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren, thy father's house who were better than thyself: ¹⁴ behold, Jehovah will smite with a great stroke thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy substance, ¹⁵ and thyself with sore sicknesses, with a disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day. ¹⁶ And Jehovah stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, who are near the Ethiopians; ¹⁷ and they came up into Judah, and broke into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was no son left him, except Jehoahaz the youngest of his sons. ¹⁸ And after all this, Jehovah smote him in his bowels with an incurable sickness. ¹⁹ And it came to pass, from day to day, and at the time when the second year was drawing to a close, that his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness, and he died in cruel sufferings. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers. ²⁰ He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being regretted. And they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.

¹ And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead; for the band of men that came in the camp with the Arabians had slain all the elder ones. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned. ² Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri. ³ He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab; for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly. ⁴ And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah like the house of Ahab; for they were his counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction. ⁵ He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, to the war against Hazael the king of Syria at Ramoth-Gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram. ⁶ And he returned to be healed in Jizreel because of the wounds that were given him at Ramah, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria. And Azariah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab at Jizreel; for he was sick. ⁷ But his coming to Joram was from God the complete ruin of Ahaziah. And when he had come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom Jehovah had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab. ⁸ And it came to pass when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, that he found the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, that attended upon Ahaziah, and he slew them. ⁹ And he sought Ahaziah; and they caught him (for he had hid himself in Samaria), and brought him to Jehu, and slew him; and they buried him, for they said, He is a son of Jehoshaphat, who sought Jehovah with all his heart. And in the house of Ahaziah there was no one who was able to hold the kingdom.

¹⁰ And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose up and exterminated all the royal seed of the house of Judah. ¹¹ But Jehoshabeath the daughter of the king took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in the bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah, so that she did not slay him; ¹² and he was with them hid in the house of God six years. And Athaliah reigned over the land.

¹ And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of the hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into covenant with him. ² And they went about in Judah and gathered together the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the chief fathers of Israel; and they came to Jerusalem. ³ And all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said to them, Behold, the king's son shall reign, as Jehovah has said of the sons of David. ⁴ This is the thing which ye shall do: a third part of you that come in on the sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be keepers of the doors; ⁵ and a third part shall be at the king's house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation; and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of Jehovah. ⁶ But let none come into the house of Jehovah except the priests and those of the Levites that do the service; they shall go in, for they are holy; but all the people shall keep the watch of Jehovah. ⁷ And the Levites shall encompass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and he that comes into the house shall be put to death; and ye shall be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out. ⁸ And the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and they took every man his men, those that were to come in on the sabbath, with them that were to go forth on the sabbath; for Jehoiada the priest did not liberate the divisions. ⁹ And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of the hundreds king David's spears and shields and targets, which were in the house of God. ¹⁰ And he set all the people, every man with his javelin in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, toward the altar and the house, by the king round about. ¹¹ And they brought forth the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, Long live the king!

¹² And Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, and she came to the people into the house of Jehovah. ¹³ And she looked, and behold, the king stood on his dais at the entrance, and the princes and the trumpets were by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets; and the singers were there with the instruments of music, and such as taught to sing praise. And Athaliah rent her garments, and said, Conspiracy! Conspiracy! ¹⁴ And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of the hundreds that were set over the host, and said to them, Lead her forth without the ranks; and whosoever follows her, let him be slain with the sword; for the priest said, Ye shall not put her to death in the house of Jehovah. ¹⁵ And they made way for her, and she went through the entrance of the horse-gate into the king's house, and they put her to death there. ¹⁶ And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king, that they should be the people of Jehovah. ¹⁷ And all the people went into the house of Baal, and broke it down; and they broke his altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. ¹⁸ And Jehoiada appointed the offices of the house of Jehovah under the hand of the priests, the Levites, whom David had set by classes over the house of Jehovah to offer up Jehovah's burnt-offerings, as it is written in the law of Moses, --with rejoicing and with singing according to the directions of David. ¹⁹ And he set the doorkeepers at the gates of the house of Jehovah, that no one unclean in anything should enter in. ²⁰ And he took the captains of the hundreds, and the nobles, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the house of Jehovah; and they came through the upper gate into the king's house, and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom. ²¹ And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet; and they had slain Athaliah with the sword.

¹ Joash was seven years old when he began to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. ² And Joash did what was right in the sight of Jehovah all the days of Jehoiada the priest. ³ And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begot sons and daughters. ⁴ And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to renew the house of Jehovah. ⁵ And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah and collect of all Israel money for the repair of the house of your God from year to year, and ye shall hasten the matter. But the Levites hastened it not. ⁶ And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said to him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the tribute of Moses the servant of Jehovah laid upon the congregation of Israel, for the tent of the testimony? ⁷ For the wicked Athaliah and her sons had devastated the house of God; and also all the hallowed things of the house of Jehovah had they employed for the Baals. ⁸ And the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it at the gate of the house of Jehovah without, ⁹ and they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring to Jehovah the tribute of Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰ And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in and cast into the chest, until they had finished. ¹¹ And it came to pass at the time the chest was brought for the king's control by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king's scribe and high priest's officer came, and they emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance. ¹² And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of Jehovah, and they hired masons and carpenters to renew the house of Jehovah, and also such as wrought in iron and bronze, to repair the house of Jehovah. ¹³ So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in its state, and strengthened it. ¹⁴ And when they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada; and they made of it vessels for the house of Jehovah, utensils to minister, and with which to offer up, and cups, and utensils of gold and silver. And they offered up burnt-offerings in the house of Jehovah continually all the days of Jehoiada.

¹⁵ And Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died; he was a hundred and thirty years old when he died. ¹⁶ And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward his house. ¹⁷ And after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and made obeisance to the king; then the king hearkened to them. ¹⁸ And they forsook the house of Jehovah the God of their fathers, and served the Asherahs and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass. ¹⁹ And he sent prophets among them to bring them again to Jehovah, and they testified against them; but they would not give ear. ²⁰ And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood up above the people and said unto them, Thus saith God: Wherefore do ye transgress the commandments of Jehovah? And ye cannot prosper; for ye have forsaken Jehovah, and he hath forsaken you. ²¹ And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the command of the king in the court of the house of Jehovah. ²² And king Joash remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, Jehovah see and require it ! ²³ And it came to pass at the end of the year that the army of Syria came up against him; and they entered into Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them to the king at Damascus. ²⁴ Truly with a small company of men came the army of the Syrians, but Jehovah delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken Jehovah the God of their fathers; and they executed judgment upon Joash. ²⁵ And when they had departed from him (for they left him in great diseases), his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the sepulchres of the kings. ²⁶ And these are they that conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess. ²⁷ And as to his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon him, and the building of the house of God, behold, they are written in the treatise of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

¹ Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. ² And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, yet not with a perfect heart. ³ And it came to pass when the kingdom was established unto him, that he killed his servants who had smitten the king his father. ⁴ But their children he did not put to death, but did according to that which is written in the law in the book of Moses, wherein Jehovah commanded saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, nor shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin. ⁵ And Amaziah gathered Judah together and arranged them according to the fathers' houses, according to the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, throughout Judah and Benjamin; and he numbered them from twenty years old and upwards, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able for military service, that could handle spear and target. ⁶ He hired also a hundred thousand mighty men of valour out of Israel for a hundred talents of silver. ⁷ But there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the host of Israel go with thee; for Jehovah is not with Israel, with all the children of Ephraim. ⁸ But if thou wilt go, do it ; be strong for the battle: God will make thee fall before the enemy, for there is with God power to help and to cast down. ⁹ And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what is to be done for the hundred talents which I have given to the troop of Israel? And the man of God said, Jehovah is able to give thee much more than this. ¹⁰ Then Amaziah separated them, --the troop that was come to him out of Ephraim, --to go home again. And their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in fierce anger. ¹¹ But Amaziah strengthened himself, and led forth his people, and went to the valley of salt, and smote of the children of Seir ten thousand. ¹² And the children of Judah took ten thousand captive, alive, and brought them to the top of the cliff, and cast them down from the top of the cliff, so that they all were broken in pieces. ¹³ But those of the troop that Amaziah had sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah from Samaria as far as Beth-horon, and smote three thousand of them, and took much spoil.

¹⁴ And it came to pass after Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed himself down before them, and burned incense to them. ¹⁵ And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent to him a prophet, who said to him, Why dost thou seek after the gods of a people who have not delivered their own people out of thy hand? ¹⁶ And it came to pass as he talked with him, that Amaziah said to him, Hast thou been made the king's counsellor? Forbear; why shouldest thou be smitten? Then the prophet forbore, and said, I know that God has determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened to my counsel.

¹⁷ And Amaziah king of Judah took counsel, and sent to Joash the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face. ¹⁸ And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thorn-bush that is in Lebanon sent to the cedar that is in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son as wife; and there passed by the wild beast that is in Lebanon, and trode down the thorn-bush. ¹⁹ Thou thinkest, Lo, thou hast smitten Edom; and thy heart has lifted thee up to boast: abide now at home; why shouldest thou contend with misfortune, that thou shouldest fall, thou and Judah with thee? ²⁰ But Amaziah would not hear; for it was of God, that he might deliver them into the enemy's hand, because they had sought after the gods of Edom. ²¹ And Joash king of Israel went up; and they looked one another in the face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh, which is in Judah. ²² And Judah was routed before Israel; and they fled every man to his tent. ²³ And Joash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits. ²⁴ And he took all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God with Obed-Edom, and the treasures of the king's house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria. ²⁵ And Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, fifteen years. ²⁶ And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, behold, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? ²⁷ And from the time that Amaziah turned aside from following Jehovah, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish; and they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there. ²⁸ And they brought him on horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.

¹ And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. ² It was he that built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers. ³ Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. ⁴ And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. ⁵ And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and in the days that he sought Jehovah, God made him to prosper. ⁶ And he went forth and fought against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod; and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines. ⁷ And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gur-Baal, and the Maonites. ⁸ And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad to the entrance of Egypt; for he became exceeding strong. ⁹ And Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the angle, and fortified them. ¹⁰ And he built towers in the desert and digged many cisterns; for he had much cattle, both in the lowland and on the plateau, husbandmen also and vinedressers on the mountains and in Carmel; for he loved husbandry. ¹¹ And Uzziah had an army of fighting men, that went out to war by bands, according to the number of their account by the hand of Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king's captains. ¹² The whole number of the chief fathers of the mighty men of valour was two thousand six hundred. ¹³ And under their hand was an army-host of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred, that made war with mighty power to help the king against the enemy. ¹⁴ And Uzziah prepared for them, throughout the host, shields, and spears, and helmets, and coats of mail, and bows, and even slinging-stones. ¹⁵ And he made in Jerusalem machines invented by skilful men, to be upon the towers and upon the bulwarks, wherewith to shoot arrows and great stones. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he became strong.

¹⁶ But when he became strong his heart was lifted up to his downfall; and he transgressed against Jehovah his God, and went into the temple of Jehovah to burn incense upon the altar of incense. ¹⁷ And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him priests of Jehovah, eighty valiant men; ¹⁸ and they withstood Uzziah the king, and said to him, It is not for thee, Uzziah, to burn incense to Jehovah, but for the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast transgressed; neither shall it be for thine honour from Jehovah Elohim. ¹⁹ And Uzziah was wroth; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense; and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of Jehovah, beside the incense altar. ²⁰ And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked upon him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; even he himself hasted to go out, because Jehovah had smitten him. ²¹ And Uzziah the king was a leper to the day of his death, and dwelt in a separate house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of Jehovah. And Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. ²² And the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz write. ²³ And Uzziah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the burial-ground of the kings, for they said, He is a leper. And Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

¹ Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jerushah, daughter of Zadok. ² And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father Uzziah had done; only he entered not into the temple of Jehovah. And the people still acted corruptly. ³ It was he who built the upper gate of the house of Jehovah, and on the wall of Ophel he built much. ⁴ And he built cities in the hill-country of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers. ⁵ And he fought against the king of the children of Ammon, and overcame them. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year a hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. This the children of Ammon brought again to him also in the second year, and in the third. ⁶ And Jotham became strong, for he prepared his ways before Jehovah his God. ⁷ And the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. ⁸ He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. ⁹ And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.

¹ Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not what was right in the sight of Jehovah, like David his father, ² but walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and even made molten images for the Baals; ³ and he burned incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burned his sons in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that Jehovah had dispossessed from before the children of Israel. ⁴ And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree. ⁵ Therefore Jehovah his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter.

⁶ And Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah a hundred and twenty thousand in one day, all valiant men, because they had forsaken Jehovah the God of their fathers. ⁷ And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king's son, and Azrikam the governor of the house, and Elkanah the second to the king. ⁸ And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took away also much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria. ⁹ But a prophet of Jehovah was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out before the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because Jehovah the God of your fathers was wroth with Judah, he gave them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage that reaches up to heaven. ¹⁰ And now ye think to subjugate the children of Judah and Jerusalem as your bondmen and bondwomen. Are there not with you, even with you, trespasses against Jehovah your God? ¹¹ And now hear me, and send back the captives again, whom ye have taken captive of your brethren; for the fierce wrath of Jehovah is upon you. ¹² And certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Hezekiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against them that came from the war, ¹³ and said to them, Ye shall not bring in the captives hither; because, for our guilt before Jehovah, ye think to increase our sins and our trespasses: for our trespass is great, and fierce wrath is upon Israel. ¹⁴ Then the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the congregation. ¹⁵ And the men that have been expressed by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them on asses, and brought them to Jericho the city of palm-trees, to their brethren. And they returned to Samaria.

¹⁶ At that time king Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria to help him. ¹⁷ And again the Edomites came and smote Judah, and carried away captives. ¹⁸ And the Philistines invaded the cities of the lowland, and of the south of Judah, and took Beth-shemesh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Socho and its dependent villages, and Timnah and its dependent villages, and Guimzo and its dependent villages; and they dwelt there. ¹⁹ For Jehovah humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had made Judah lawless, and transgressed much against Jehovah. ²⁰ And Tilgath-Pilneser king of Assyria came to him, and troubled him, and did not support him. ²¹ For Ahaz stripped the house of Jehovah, and the house of the king and of the princes, and gave to the king of Assyria; but he was of no help to him. ²² And in the time of his trouble he transgressed yet more against Jehovah, this king Ahaz. ²³ And he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which had smitten him; and he said, Since the gods of the kings of Syria help them, I will sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel. ²⁴ And Ahaz gathered the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and closed the doors of the house of Jehovah, and he made for himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. ²⁵ And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked to anger Jehovah the God of his fathers. ²⁶ And the rest of his acts, and all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷ And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem; but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

¹ Hezekiah began to reign being twenty-five years old; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah. ² And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that David his father had done. ³ He, in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of Jehovah, and repaired them. ⁴ And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them into the open place eastward; ⁵ and he said to them, Hear me, ye Levites: hallow yourselves now, and hallow the house of Jehovah the God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the sanctuary. ⁶ For our fathers have transgressed, and done evil in the sight of Jehovah our God, and have forsaken him and turned away their faces from the habitation of Jehovah, and have turned their backs. ⁷ Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered up burnt-offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel. ⁸ Therefore the wrath of Jehovah has been upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he has delivered them to vexation, to desolation, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes. ⁹ And behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. ¹⁰ Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with Jehovah the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us. ¹¹ My sons, be not now negligent; for Jehovah has chosen you to stand before him, to do service unto him, and to be his ministers and incense-burners.

¹² Then the Levites rose up, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehalleleel; and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah; ¹³ and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; ¹⁴ and of the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. ¹⁵ And they gathered their brethren, and hallowed themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king by the words of Jehovah, to cleanse the house of Jehovah. ¹⁶ And the priests went into the inner part of the house of Jehovah to cleanse it, and carried forth all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of Jehovah, into the court of the house of Jehovah. And the Levites took it to carry it forth into the brook Kidron. ¹⁷ And they began on the first of the first month to hallow, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of Jehovah; and they hallowed the house of Jehovah eight days; and on the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end. ¹⁸ And they went in to king Hezekiah, and said, We have cleansed all the house of Jehovah, and the altar of burnt-offering with all its vessels, and the table of the bread to be set in rows, and all its vessels; ¹⁹ and all the vessels that king Ahaz in his reign cast away in his transgression have we prepared and hallowed, and behold, they are before the altar of Jehovah.

²⁰ And Hezekiah the king arose early, and gathered the princes of the city, and went up to the house of Jehovah. ²¹ And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he-goats for a sin-offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them upon the altar of Jehovah. ²² And they slaughtered the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar; and they slaughtered the rams, and sprinkled the blood on the altar; and they slaughtered the lambs, and sprinkled the blood on the altar. ²³ And they brought near the he-goats of the sin-offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them. ²⁴ And the priests slaughtered them, and they made purification for sin with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel; because for all Israel, said the king, is the burnt-offering and the sin-offering. ²⁵ And he set the Levites in the house of Jehovah with cymbals, with lutes, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for the commandment was of Jehovah through his prophets. ²⁶ And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. ²⁷ And Hezekiah commanded to offer up the burnt-offering on the altar. And at the moment the burnt-offering began, the song of Jehovah began, and the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel. ²⁸ And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded, all the time until the burnt-offering was finished. ²⁹ And when they had ended offering the burnt-offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves and worshipped. ³⁰ And king Hezekiah and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise to Jehovah with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and bowed their heads and worshipped. ³¹ And Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves to Jehovah, come near and bring sacrifices and thank-offerings into the house of the Lord. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank-offerings; and as many as were of a willing heart, burnt-offerings. ³² And the number of the burnt-offerings, which the congregation brought, was seventy bullocks, a hundred rams, two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt-offering to Jehovah. ³³ And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep. ³⁴ Only the priests were too few, and they could not flay all the burnt-offerings; therefore their brethren the Levites helped them, until the work was ended, and until the priests had hallowed themselves; for the Levites were more upright in heart to hallow themselves than the priests. ³⁵ And also the burnt-offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace-offerings, and with the drink-offerings for the burnt-offering. And the service of the house of Jehovah was set in order. ³⁶ And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people; for the thing was done suddenly.

¹ And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem, to hold the passover to Jehovah the God of Israel. ² And the king took counsel, and his princes, and the whole congregation in Jerusalem, to hold the passover in the second month. ³ For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not hallowed themselves in sufficient number, neither had the people been gathered together to Jerusalem. ⁴ And the thing pleased the king and the whole congregation. ⁵ So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan, that they should come to hold the passover to Jehovah the God of Israel, at Jerusalem; because they had not held it for a long time as it was written. ⁶ And the couriers went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, return to Jehovah the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. ⁷ And be not like your fathers and like your brethren, who transgressed against Jehovah the God of their fathers, so that he gave them up to desolation, as ye see. ⁸ Now, harden not your necks, as your fathers; yield yourselves to Jehovah, and come to his sanctuary, which he has sanctified for ever; and serve Jehovah your God, that the fierceness of his anger may turn away from you. ⁹ For if ye return to Jehovah, your brethren and your children shall find compassion with those that have carried them captive, so that they shall come again unto this land; for Jehovah your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return to him. ¹⁰ And the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun; but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. ¹¹ Nevertheless certain of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. ¹² The hand of God was also upon Judah to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of Jehovah.

¹³ And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to hold the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation. ¹⁴ And they rose up and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem; and they took away all the incense-altars, and cast them into the torrent Kidron. ¹⁵ And they slaughtered the passover on the fourteenth of the second month; and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and hallowed themselves; and they brought the burnt-offerings into the house of Jehovah. ¹⁶ And they stood in their place after their custom, according to the law of Moses the man of God: the priests sprinkled the blood receiving it from the hand of the Levites. ¹⁷ For there were many in the congregation that were not hallowed; therefore the Levites had the charge of the slaughtering of the passover-lambs for every one not clean, to hallow them unto Jehovah. ¹⁸ For a multitude of the people, many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, and they ate the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them saying, Jehovah, who is good, forgive every one ¹⁹ that has directed his heart to seek God, Jehovah the God of his fathers, although not according to the purification of the sanctuary. ²⁰ And Jehovah hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.

²¹ And the children of Israel, that were present at Jerusalem, held the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised Jehovah day by day, with the instruments of praise to Jehovah. ²² And Hezekiah spoke consolingly to all the Levites that had understanding in the good knowledge of Jehovah; and they ate the feast-offerings the seven days, sacrificing peace-offerings, and extolling Jehovah the God of their fathers. ²³ And the whole congregation took counsel to observe other seven days; and they observed the seven days with gladness. ²⁴ For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the congregation as heave-offering: a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep; and a great number of priests hallowed themselves. ²⁵ And the whole congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah, rejoiced. ²⁶ And there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had not been the like in Jerusalem. ²⁷ And the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people; and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy habitation, to the heavens.

¹ And when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the columns, and hewed down the Asherahs, and demolished the high places and the altars in all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. And all the children of Israel returned every man to his possession, into their cities. ² And Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests, and the Levites after their divisions, every man according to his service, as well the priests as the Levites, for burnt-offerings and for peace-offerings, to serve and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the courts of Jehovah. ³ And he ordered that the king's portion should be taken from his substance for the burnt-offerings: for the morning and evening burnt-offerings, for the burnt-offerings of the sabbaths, and of the new moons, and of the set feasts, as it is written in the law of Jehovah. ⁴ And he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of Jehovah. ⁵ And as soon as the commandment was published, the children of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of corn, new wine and oil and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of all things . ⁶ And the children of Israel and of Judah, that dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated to Jehovah their God, and laid them by heaps. ⁷ In the third month they began to lay the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. ⁸ And Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, and they blessed Jehovah, and his people Israel. ⁹ And Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. ¹⁰ And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok spoke to him and said, Since they began to bring the heave-offerings into the house of Jehovah, we have eaten and been satisfied and have left plenty; for Jehovah has blessed his people; and what is left is this great store.

¹¹ And Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of Jehovah; and they prepared them , ¹² and brought in the heave-offerings and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully; and over these Cononiah the Levite was ruler, and Shimei his brother was second. ¹³ And Jehiel, and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Jismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers under the hand of Cononiah and Shimei his brother, at the command of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the ruler of the house of God. ¹⁴ And Kore the son of Jimnah the Levite, the doorkeeper toward the east, was over the voluntary-offerings of God, to distribute the heave-offerings of Jehovah, and the most holy things. ¹⁵ And under him were Eden and Miniamin and Jeshua and Shemaiah, Amariah and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in their set trust, to make distributions to their brethren by their divisions, to the great as to the small, ¹⁶ besides those from three years old and upward who as males were entered in the genealogical register, --all that came into the house of Jehovah, as the duty of every day required, for their service in their charges, according to their divisions, ¹⁷ --both to the priests enregistered according to their fathers' houses, and to the Levites from twenty years old and upward, in their charges, by their divisions; ¹⁸ and to all their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, the whole congregation of those entered in the register; for in their trust they hallowed themselves to be holy. ¹⁹ And for the sons of Aaron the priests who were in the country, in the suburbs of their cities, there were, in every several city, men expressed by name, to give portions to all the males among the priests, and to all the Levites that were entered in the register. ²⁰ And thus did Hezekiah throughout Judah, and wrought what was good and right and true before Jehovah his God. ²¹ And in every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart and prospered.

¹ After these things and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, and thought to break into them. ² And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was minded to fight against Jerusalem, ³ he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the fountains of waters that were outside the city; and they helped him. ⁴ And there was gathered together much people, and they stopped all the fountains, and the torrent that flows through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water? ⁵ And he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken down, and raised it up to the towers, and built another wall outside, and fortified the Millo of the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance. ⁶ And he set captains of war over the people, and assembled them to him on the open place at the gate of the city, and spoke consolingly to them saying, ⁷ Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him: ⁸ with him is an arm of flesh, but with us is Jehovah our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people depended upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

⁹ After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem (but he himself was before Lachish, and all his power with him), unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying, ¹⁰ Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria: On what do ye rely that ye abide in the siege in Jerusalem? ¹¹ Does not Hezekiah persuade you, to give yourselves over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, Jehovah our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹² Has not the same Hezekiah removed his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem saying, Ye shall worship before *one* altar, and burn incense upon it? ¹³ Do ye not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the countries? Were the gods of the nations of the countries in any wise able to deliver their country out of my hand? ¹⁴ Who is there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers have utterly destroyed, that was able to deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand? ¹⁵ And now, let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you in this manner, neither yet believe him; for no +god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, nor out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of my hand? ¹⁶ And his servants spoke yet more against Jehovah, the true God, and against his servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷ And he wrote a letter to rail at Jehovah the God of Israel, and to speak against him saying, As the gods of the nations of the countries have not delivered their people out of my hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of my hand. ¹⁸ And they cried with a loud voice in the Jewish language to the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to frighten them and to trouble them; that they might take the city. ¹⁹ And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of man's hand. ²⁰ And because of this, king Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz prayed and cried to heaven. ²¹ And Jehovah sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the princes and the captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. And he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels made him fall there with the sword. ²² And Jehovah saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all, and protected them on every side. ²³ And many brought gifts unto Jehovah to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah; and he was thenceforth magnified in the sight of all the nations.

²⁴ In those days Hezekiah was sick unto death, and he prayed to Jehovah; and he spoke to him and gave him a sign. ²⁵ But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was lifted up; and there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁶ And Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of Jehovah came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah. ²⁷ And Hezekiah had very much riches and honour; and he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant vessels; ²⁸ storehouses also for the increase of corn and new wine and oil, and stalls for all manner of beasts, and he procured flocks for the stalls. ²⁹ And he provided for himself cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance; for God gave him very much substance. ³⁰ And he, Hezekiah, stopped the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. ³¹ However in the matter of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart. ³² And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his good deeds, behold, they are written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ³³ And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the highest place of the sepulchres of the sons of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

¹ Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ² And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, like the abominations of the nations that Jehovah had dispossessed from before the children of Israel. ³ And he built again the high places that Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars to the Baals, and made Asherahs, and worshipped all the host of heaven and served them. ⁴ And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, of which Jehovah had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever. ⁵ And he built altars to all the host of heaven in both courts of the house of Jehovah. ⁶ He also caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and he used magic and divination and sorcery, and appointed necromancers and soothsayers: he wrought evil beyond measure in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger. ⁷ And he set the graven image of the idol that he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever; ⁸ neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land that I have appointed to your fathers; if they will only take heed to do all that I commanded them through Moses, according to all the law and the statutes and the ordinances. ⁹ And Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations that Jehovah had destroyed from before the children of Israel. ¹⁰ And Jehovah spoke to Manasseh and to his people; but they did not hearken.

¹¹ And Jehovah brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with fetters, and bound him with chains of brass, and carried him to Babylon. ¹² And when he was in affliction, he besought Jehovah his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, ¹³ and prayed to him. And he was intreated of him and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah, he was God. ¹⁴ And after this he built the outer wall of the city of David, on the west, toward Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance of the fish-gate, and carried it round Ophel, and raised it up a very great height; and he put captains of war in all the fortified cities of Judah. ¹⁵ And he removed the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of Jehovah, and all the altars that he had built on the mount of the house of Jehovah and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. ¹⁶ And he reinstated the altar of Jehovah, and sacrificed on it peace-offerings and thank-offerings, and commanded Judah to serve Jehovah the God of Israel. ¹⁷ Nevertheless, the people sacrificed still on the high places, although to Jehovah their God only. ¹⁸ And the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of Jehovah the God of Israel, behold, they are written in the acts of the kings of Israel. ¹⁹ And his prayer, and how God was intreated of him, and all his sin and his unfaithfulness, and the places in which he built high places, and set up Asherahs and graven images, before he was humbled, behold, they are written among the words of Hozai. ²⁰ And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house; and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

²¹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. ²² And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had done; and Amon sacrificed to all the graven images that Manasseh his father had made, and served them. ²³ And he did not humble himself before Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; for he, Amon, multiplied trespass. ²⁴ And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house. ²⁵ But the people of the land smote all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.

¹ Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ² And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, and walked in the ways of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand nor to the left. ³ And in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherahs, and the graven images, and the molten images. ⁴ And they broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and the sun-pillars that were on high above them he cut down; and the Asherahs and the graven images and the molten images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them and strewed it upon the graves of those that had sacrificed to them; ⁵ and he burned the bones of the priests upon their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶ And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even to Naphtali, in their ruins round about; ⁷ and he broke down the altars, and beat the Asherahs and the graven images into powder, and cut down all the sun-pillars throughout the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.

⁸ And in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the chronicler, to repair the house of Jehovah his God. ⁹ And they came to Hilkijah the high priest, and they delivered to them the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ And they gave it into the hand of them that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of Jehovah; and they gave it to the workmen who wrought in the house of Jehovah to reinstate and repair the house: ¹¹ they gave it to the carpenters and the builders, to buy hewn stone, and timber for the joists, and to floor the houses that the kings of Judah had destroyed. ¹² And the men did the work faithfully. And over them were appointed Jahath and Obadiah, Levites, of the children of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the children of the Kohathites, for the oversight; and all these Levites were skilled in instruments of music. ¹³ They were also over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all that worked in any manner of service. And of the Levites were the scribes, and officers, and doorkeepers.

¹⁴ And when they brought out the money that had been brought into the house of Jehovah, Hilkijah the priest found the book of the law of Jehovah by Moses. ¹⁵ Then Hilkijah spoke and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah. And Hilkijah gave the book to Shaphan. ¹⁶ And Shaphan carried the book to the king. And moreover he brought the king word again saying, All that was committed to the hand of thy servants, they do; ¹⁷ and they have emptied out the money that was found in the house of Jehovah, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and into the hand of the workmen. ¹⁸ And Shaphan the scribe informed the king saying, Hilkijah the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read out of it before the king. ¹⁹ And it came to pass when the king heard the words of the law, that he rent his garments. ²⁰ And the king commanded Hilkijah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, saying, ²¹ Go, inquire of Jehovah for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book which is found; for great is the wrath of Jehovah that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of Jehovah, to do according to all that is written in this book. ²² And Hilkijah and they that the king had appointed went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokehath, son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe: now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter of the town ; and they spoke with her to that effect. ²³ And she said to them, Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel: Tell the man that sent you to me, ²⁴ Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah. ²⁵ Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my fury shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched. ²⁶ But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Jehovah, thus shall ye say to him: Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel touching the words which thou hast heard: ²⁷ Because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy garments and weep before me, I also have heard thee , saith Jehovah. ²⁸ Behold, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof. And they brought the king word again.

²⁹ And the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. ³⁰ And the king went up into the house of Jehovah, and all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and the Levites, and all the people, great and small; and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of Jehovah. ³¹ And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that are written in this book. ³² And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it . And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. ³³ And Josiah removed all the abominations out of all the countries that belonged to the children of Israel, and made to serve all that were found in Israel, --to serve Jehovah their God: all his days they did not depart from following Jehovah, the God of their fathers.

¹ And Josiah held a passover to Jehovah in Jerusalem; and they slaughtered the passover on the fourteenth of the first month. ² And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of Jehovah. ³ And he said to the Levites, that taught all Israel, and who were holy to Jehovah, Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built; ye have not to carry it upon your shoulders. Serve now Jehovah your God, and his people Israel; ⁴ and prepare yourselves by your fathers' houses, in your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son; ⁵ and stand in the sanctuary for the classes of the fathers' houses, for your brethren, the children of the people, and according to the divisions of the fathers' houses of the Levites; ⁶ and slaughter the passover, and hallow yourselves, and prepare it for your brethren, that they may do according to the word of Jehovah through Moses. ⁷ And Josiah gave for the children of the people a heave-offering of the flocks, lambs and goats, all for the passover-offerings, for all that were present--to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king's substance. ⁸ And his princes gave a voluntary heave-offering for the people, for the priests, and for the Levites: Hilkijah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the passover-offerings two thousand six hundred small cattle and three hundred oxen; ⁹ and Conaniah, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave as heave-offering to the Levites for the passover-offerings five thousand small cattle and five hundred oxen. ¹⁰ And the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their divisions, according to the king's commandment. ¹¹ And they slaughtered the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hand, and the Levites flayed them. ¹² And they set apart the burnt-offerings to give them to the classes of the fathers' houses of the children of the people, to present them to Jehovah, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen. ¹³ And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance; and the consecrated things they boiled in pots and in cauldrons and in pans, and divided them speedily among all the children of the people. ¹⁴ And afterwards they made ready for themselves and for the priests; because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were engaged in offering up the burnt-offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. ¹⁵ And the singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the doorkeepers were at every gate; they had not to depart from their service, for their brethren the Levites prepared for them. ¹⁶ And all the service of Jehovah was prepared the same day, to hold the passover, and to offer burnt-offerings on the altar of Jehovah according to the commandment of king Josiah. ¹⁷ And the children of Israel that were present held the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. ¹⁸ And there was no passover like to that holden in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel hold such a passover as Josiah held, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover holden.

²⁰ After all this, when Josiah had arranged the house, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Karkemish at the Euphrates; and Josiah went out against him. ²¹ And he sent messengers to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house with which I have war; and God has told me to make haste: keep aloof from God who is with me, that he destroy thee not. ²² But Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight against him; and he hearkened not to the words of Necho from the mouth of God; and he came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. ²³ And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away, for I am sore wounded. ²⁴ And his servants took him out from the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died, and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. ²⁵ And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day; and they made them an ordinance for Israel. And behold, they are written in the lamentations. ²⁶ And the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds, according to that which is written in the law of Jehovah, ²⁷ and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

¹ And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead, in Jerusalem. ² Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. ³ And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and imposed a fine upon the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. ⁴ And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt. ⁵ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and he did evil in the sight of Jehovah his God. ⁶ Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him with chains of brass to carry him to Babylon. ⁷ And Nebuchadnezzar carried part of the vessels of the house of Jehovah to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. ⁸ And the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. ⁹ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem; and he did evil in the sight of Jehovah. ¹⁰ And at the turn of the year king Nebuchadnezzar sent and had him brought to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of Jehovah; and he made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

¹¹ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹² And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah his God; he humbled not himself before the prophet Jeremiah speaking from the mouth of Jehovah. ¹³ And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take oath by God; and he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from returning to Jehovah the God of Israel. ¹⁴ All the chiefs of the priests also, and the people, increased their transgressions, according to all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of Jehovah which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. ¹⁵ And Jehovah the God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending; because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling-place. ¹⁶ But they mocked at the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the fury of Jehovah rose against his people, and there was no remedy. ¹⁷ And he brought up against them the king of the Chaldees, and slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and spared not young man nor maiden, old man nor him of hoary head: he gave them all into his hand. ¹⁸ And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, he brought all to Babylon. ¹⁹ And they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire, and all the precious vessels thereof were given up to destruction. ²⁰ And them that had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they became servants to him and his sons, until the reign of the kingdom of Persia; ²¹ to fulfil the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath, to fulfil seventy years.

²² And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, and he made a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also in writing, saying, ²³ Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth has Jehovah the God of the heavens given to me, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you of all his people, Jehovah his God be with him, and let him go up.