The Second of Chronicles*

1 And Solʹo·mon the son of David continued to get strength in his kingship,+ and Jehovah his God was with him+ and kept making him surpassingly great.+

2 And Solʹo·mon proceeded to say the word to all Israel, to the chiefs of the thousands+ and of the hundreds+ and to the judges+ and to all the chieftains of all Israel,+ the heads of the paternal houses.+ 3 Then Solʹo·mon and all the congregation* with him went to the high place that was at Gibʹe·on;+ for there was where the tent of meeting+ of the [true] God,* which Moses the servant+ of Jehovah had made in the wilderness, happened to be. 4 However, the ark+ of the [true] God David had brought up from Kirʹi·ath-jeʹa·rim+ to the place that David had prepared for it,+ for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.+ 5 And the copper altar+ that Bezʹal·el+ the son of Uʹri the son of Hur+ had made had been put* before the tabernacle of Jehovah; and Solʹo·mon and the congregation applied as usual to it. 6 Solʹo·mon now made offerings there before Jehovah upon the copper altar that belonged to the tent of meeting, and he proceeded to offer upon it a thousand burnt offerings.+

7 During that night God appeared to Solʹo·mon and then said to him: “Ask! What shall I give you?”+ 8 At that Solʹo·mon said to God: “You are the One that exercised great loving-kindness* toward David my father+ and that have made me king in place of him.+ 9 Now, O Jehovah God, let your promise with David my father prove faithful,+ for you yourself have made me king+ over a people as numerous as the dust particles of the earth.+ 10 Give me now wisdom and knowledge+ that I may go out before this people and that I may come in,+ for who could judge this great people of yours?”+

11 Then God said to Solʹo·mon: “For the reason that this has proved to be close to your heart+ and you have not asked for wealth, riches and honor or for the soul* of those hating you, neither is it even many days that you have asked for,+ but you ask for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may judge my people over whom I have made you king,+ 12 the wisdom and the knowledge are being given you;+ also wealth and riches and honor I shall give you such as no kings that were prior to you happened to have,+ and such as no one after you will come to have.”+

13 So Solʹo·mon came [from]* the high place that was at Gibʹe·on,+ from before the tent of meeting,+ to Jerusalem and continued to reign over Israel.+ 14 And Solʹo·mon kept gathering chariots and steeds* so that he came to have a thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand steeds,+ and he kept them stationed in chariot cities+ and close by the king at Jerusalem. 15 And the king came to make the silver and the gold in Jerusalem like the stones;+ and cedarwood he made like the sycamore trees+ that are in the She·pheʹlah*+ for great quantity. 16 And there was the export of the horses that Solʹo·mon had from Egypt,+ and the company of the king’s merchants would themselves take the horse drove for a price.+ 17 And they customarily brought up and exported from Egypt a chariot for six hundred silver pieces and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and that was the way it was for all the kings of the Hitʹtites and the kings of Syria.+ It was by means of them that they did the exporting.

2 Solʹo·mon now gave the word to build a house+ to Jehovah’s name+ and a house for his kingship.*+ 2 Accordingly Solʹo·mon counted off seventy thousand men as burden bearers and eighty thousand men as cutters in the mountain,+ and as overseers over them three thousand six hundred.+ 3 Further, Solʹo·mon sent to Hiʹram*+ the king of Tyre, saying: “Just as you dealt with David+ my father and you kept sending him cedarwood to build himself a house in which to dwell,— 4 here I am building+ a house to the name+ of Jehovah my God to sanctify+ it to him, to burn perfumed incense+ before him, with the constant layer bread+ and burnt offerings in the morning and in the evening,+ on the sabbaths+ and on the new moons+ and at the festival seasons+ of Jehovah our God. To time indefinite+ this will be upon Israel. 5 And the house that I am building will be great,+ for our God* is greater than all the [other] gods.*+ 6 And who could retain power to build him a house?+ For the heavens and the heaven of the heavens cannot contain him,+ and who am I+ that I should build him a house except for making sacrificial smoke before him?+ 7 And now send me a skillful man to work in gold and in silver and in copper+ and in iron and in wool dyed reddish purple and crimson and blue thread, and knowing how to cut engravings, along with the skillful ones that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father has prepared.+ 8 And send me timbers of cedar,+ juniper+ and algum*+ from Lebʹa·non,+ for I myself well know that your servants are experienced* at cutting down the trees of Lebʹa·non,+ (and here my servants are together with your servants,) 9 even for preparing timbers for me in great number, for the house that I am building will be great, yes, in a wonderful way. 10 And, look! to the gatherers of wood, the cutters of the trees, I do give wheat as food* for your servants, twenty thousand cors,+ and barley twenty thousand cors, and wine+ twenty thousand baths, and oil twenty thousand baths.”

11 At that Hiʹram the king of Tyre+ said [the word] in writing and sent [it] to Solʹo·mon: “Because Jehovah loved+ his people he has constituted you king over them.”+ 12 And Hiʹram* went on to say: “Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel,+ who made the heavens and the earth,+ because he has given to David the king a wise son, experienced in discretion and understanding,+ who will build a house to Jehovah and a house for his kingship.+ 13 And now I do send a skillful man, experienced in understanding, belonging to Hiʹram-aʹbi,*+ 14 the son of a woman of the sons of Dan but whose father was a man of Tyre, experienced, to work in gold and in silver, in copper,+ in iron, in stones+ and in timbers, in wool dyed reddish purple,+ in blue thread+ and in fine+ fabric and in crimson+ and at cutting every sort of engraving+ and at designing every sort of device+ that may be given to him along with your own skillful men and the skillful men of my lord David your father. 15 And now the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine that my lord has promised, let him send to his servants.+ 16 As for ourselves, we shall cut down trees+ from Lebʹa·non according to all your need,+ and we shall bring them to you as rafts by sea+ to Jopʹpa,+ and you, for your part, will take them up to Jerusalem.”

17 Then Solʹo·mon took a count of all the men that were alien residents,* who were in the land of Israel,+ after the census that David his father had taken of them;+ and there came to be found a hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred. 18 So he made seventy thousand of them burden bearers+ and eighty thousand cutters+ in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers for keeping the people in service.+

3 Finally Solʹo·mon started to build the house of Jehovah+ in Jerusalem on Mount Mo·riʹah,+ where [Jehovah]* had appeared to David his father,+ in the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Orʹnan+ the Jebʹu·site. 2 Accordingly he started to build in the second month on the second [day], in the fourth year of his reign.+ 3 And these things Solʹo·mon laid as a foundation for building the house of the [true] God, the length in cubits by the former measurement* being sixty cubits, and the width twenty cubits.+ 4 And the porch+ that was in front of the length was twenty cubits in front of the width of the house, and its height was a hundred and twenty;* and he proceeded to overlay it inside with pure gold. 5 And the great house+ he covered with juniper wood, after which he covered it with good gold,+ and then he brought up upon it palm-tree+ figures and chains.+ 6 Further, he overlaid the house with precious stone* for beauty;+ and the gold+ was gold from the gold country.* 7 And he went on to cover the house, the rafters, the thresholds and its walls and its doors with gold;+ and he engraved cherubs upon the walls.+

8 And he proceeded to make the house of the Most Holy,+ its length in relation to the width of the house being twenty cubits, and its own width being twenty cubits;+ and then he covered it with good gold to the amount of six hundred talents. 9 And the weight for the nails+ was fifty gold shekels;* and the roof chambers he covered with gold.

10 Then he made in the house of the Most Holy two cherubs+ in the workmanship of images, and overlaid them with gold.+ 11 As for the wings of the cherubs,+ their length was twenty cubits, the one wing of five cubits reaching to the wall of the house, and the other wing of five cubits reaching to the wing of the other cherub.+ 12 And the wing of the one cherub of five cubits was reaching to the wall of the house, and the other wing of five cubits was in contact with the wing of the other cherub.+ 13 The wings of these cherubs were spread out twenty cubits; and they were standing upon their feet with their faces inward.

14 Further, he made the curtain+ of blue thread+ and wool dyed reddish purple and crimson and fine fabric, and worked in cherubs upon it.+

15 Then he made before the house two pillars,+ thirty-five cubits in length,* and the capital+ that was upon the top of each one was five cubits. 16 Further, he made chains+ in necklace style* and put them upon the tops of the pillars, and made a hundred pomegranates+ and put them on the chains. 17 And he proceeded to set up the pillars in front of the temple, one to the right and one to the left, after which he called the name of the right-hand one Jaʹchin* and the name of the left-hand one Boʹaz.*+

4 Then he made the copper altar,+ twenty cubits being its length, and twenty cubits its width, and ten cubits its height.+

2 And he proceeded to make the molten sea+ ten cubits from its one brim to its other brim, circular all around, and its height was five cubits, and it took a line of thirty cubits to circle all around it.+ 3 And there was the likeness of gourd-shaped+ ornaments* under it clear around, surrounding it, ten in a cubit, enclosing the sea all around.+ The gourd-shaped ornaments were in two rows, being cast in its casting. 4 It was standing upon twelve bulls,+ three facing the north and three facing the west and three facing the south and three facing the east; and the sea was above upon them, and all their hind parts were inward.+ 5 And its thickness was a handbreadth;* and its brim was like the workmanship of the brim of a cup, a lily blossom.+ As a receptacle, three thousand bath+ measures* were what it could contain.+

6 Further, he made ten basins, and put five to the right and five to the left,+ to wash in them.+ Things having to do with the burnt offering+ they would rinse in them. But the sea was for the priests to wash in it.+

7 He then made lampstands+ of gold, ten of them of the same plan,+ and put them in the temple, five to the right and five to the left.+

8 Further, he made ten tables, and stationed them in the temple, five to the right and five to the left,+ and made a hundred bowls of gold.

9 Then he made the courtyard+ of the priests+ and the great enclosure+ and the doors belonging to the enclosure, and their doors he overlaid with copper. 10 And the sea he placed at the right side, to the east, toward the south.+

11 Finally Hiʹram* made the cans+ and the shovels+ and the bowls.+

So Hiʹram finished doing the work that he did for King Solʹo·mon on the house of the [true] God. 12 The two pillars+ and the round capitals+ upon the top of the two pillars and the two networks+ to cover the two round capitals that were upon the top of the pillars 13 and the four hundred pomegranates+ for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two round capitals that were upon the pillars,*+ 14 and the ten carriages+ and the ten basins+ upon the carriages; 15 the one sea+ and the twelve bulls under it,+ 16 and the cans and the shovels+ and the forks+ and all their utensils+ Hiʹram-aʹbiv*+ made for King Solʹo·mon for the house of Jehovah, of polished copper. 17 In the District of the Jordan the king cast them in the thick ground* between Sucʹcoth+ and Zerʹe·dah.+ 18 Thus Solʹo·mon made all these utensils in very great quantity, for the weight of the copper was not ascertained.+

19 And Solʹo·mon proceeded to make all the utensils+ that were at the house of the [true] God and the golden altar+ and the tables+ with the showbread* upon them, 20 and the lampstands+ and their lamps+ of pure gold, to light them up before the innermost room+ according to the rule; 21 and the blossoms and the lamps and the snuffers,+ of gold, (it was the purest gold,) 22 and the extinguishers and the bowls and the cups and the fire holders, of pure gold,+ and the entrance of the house,+ its inner doors for the Most Holy and the doors+ of the house of the temple, of gold.

5 Finally all the work that Solʹo·mon had to do for the house of Jehovah was at its completion,+ and Solʹo·mon began to bring in the things made holy by David his father;+ and the silver and the gold and all the utensils he put in the treasures of the house of the [true] God.+ 2 It was then that Solʹo·mon proceeded to congregate the older men* of Israel+ and all the heads of the tribes,+ the chieftains of the paternal+ houses of the sons of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring the ark+ of the covenant of Jehovah up from+ the City of David,+ that is to say, Zion.+ 3 So all the men of Israel congregated themselves to the king at the festival, that of the seventh month.+

4 So all the older men of Israel came,+ and the Levites began to carry the Ark.+ 5 And they came bringing up the Ark+ and the tent of meeting+ and all the holy utensils+ that were in the tent. The priests the Levites* brought them up.+ 6 And King Solʹo·mon and all the assembly of Israelites that were keeping their appointment with him before the Ark were sacrificing+ sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. 7 Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of Jehovah into its place, into the innermost+ room of the house, into the Most Holy,+ to underneath the wings of the cherubs.+ 8 Thus the cherubs were continually spreading out their wings over the place of the Ark, so that the cherubs covered over the Ark and its poles+ from above.+ 9 But the poles were long, so that the tips of the poles were visible at the Holy* in front of the innermost room, but they were not visible outside, and they* continue there down to this day.+ 10 There was nothing in the Ark but the two tablets+ that Moses had given at Hoʹreb,+ when Jehovah covenanted+ with the sons of Israel while they were coming out from Egypt.+

11 And it came about when the priests came out from the holy place (for all the priests that were to be found had, for their part, sanctified+ themselves—there was no need to observe the divisions);+ 12 and the Levites+ that were singers belonging to all of them, namely, to Aʹsaph,+ to Heʹman,+ to Je·duʹthun+ and to their sons and to their brothers clothed in fine fabric with cymbals+ and with stringed instruments+ and harps,+ were standing to the east of the altar and along with them priests to [the number of] a hundred and twenty sounding the trumpets;+ 13 and it came about that as soon as the trumpeters and the singers were as one+ in causing one sound to be heard in praising and thanking Jehovah, and as soon as they lifted up the sound with the trumpets and with the cymbals and with the instruments of song+ and with praising+ Jehovah, “for he is good,+ for to time indefinite is his loving-kindness,”*+ the house itself was filled with a cloud,+ the very house of Jehovah,+ 14 and the priests were not able to stand to minister because of the cloud;+ for the glory+ of Jehovah filled the house of the [true] God.

6 It was then that Solʹo·mon said:+ “Jehovah himself said he was to reside in the thick gloom;+ 2 and I, for my part, have built a house of lofty abode for you+ and an established place for you to dwell in to time indefinite.”*+

3 Then the king turned his face and began to bless+ all the congregation* of Israel, while all the congregation of Israel were standing up.+ 4 And he went on to say: “Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel,+ who spoke with his own mouth with David my father+ and by his own hands has given fulfillment,+ saying, 5 ‘From the day that I brought my people out from the land of Egypt I have not chosen a city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house for my name+ to prove to be there, and I have not chosen a man to become leader over my people Israel.+ 6 But I shall choose Jerusalem+ for my name to prove to be there, and I shall choose David to come to be over my people Israel.’+ 7 And it came to be close to the heart of David my father to build a house to the name of Jehovah the God of Israel.+ 8 But Jehovah said to David my father, ‘For the reason that it proved to be close to your heart to build a house to my name, you did well because it proved to be close to your heart.+ 9 Only you yourself will not build the house,+ but your son who is coming forth from your loins is the one that will build the house to my name.’+ 10 And Jehovah proceeded to carry out his word+ that he had spoken, that I might rise up in the place of David my father+ and sit upon the throne+ of Israel, just as Jehovah had spoken,+ and that I might build the house to the name of Jehovah the God of Israel,+ 11 and that I might place there the ark+ where the covenant of Jehovah is that he concluded with the sons of Israel.”+

12 And he began standing before the altar of Jehovah in front of all the congregation of Israel,+ and he now spread out his palms.+ 13 (For Solʹo·mon had made a platform+ of copper and then put it in the middle of the enclosure.+ Its length was five cubits,* and its width five cubits, and its height three cubits; and he kept standing upon it.) And he proceeded to kneel+ upon his knees in front of all the congregation of Israel and to spread his palms out to the heavens.+ 14 And he went on to say: “O Jehovah the God of Israel,+ there is no God* like you+ in the heavens or on the earth, keeping the covenant+ and the loving-kindness toward your servants who are walking before you with all their heart;+ 15 you who have kept toward your servant David my father what you promised him,+ so that you made the promise* with your mouth, and with your own hand you have made fulfillment as at this day.+ 16 And now, O Jehovah the God of Israel, keep toward your servant David my father what you promised him, saying, ‘There will not be cut off a man of yours from before me to sit upon the throne of Israel,+ if only your sons+ will take care of their way by walking in my law,+ just as you have walked before me.’+ 17 And now, O Jehovah the God of Israel,+ let your promise*+ that you have promised to your servant David prove trustworthy.+

18 “But will God truly dwell with mankind* upon the earth?+ Look! Heaven, yes, the heaven of the heavens themselves, cannot contain you;+ how much less, then, this house that I have built?+ 19 And you must turn toward the prayer of your servant+ and to his request for favor,+ O Jehovah my God, by listening to the entreating cry+ and to the prayer with which your servant is praying before you,+ 20 that your eyes may prove to be opened+ toward this house day and night, toward the place where you said you would put your name,+ by listening to the prayer with which your servant prays toward this place.+ 21 And you must listen to the entreaties of your servant+ and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place,+ that you yourself may hear from the place of your dwelling, from the heavens;+ and you must hear and forgive.+

22 “If a man sins against his fellowman+ and he actually lays a cursing upon him to bring him under liability+ to the curse, and he actually comes [within] the curse before your altar in this house,+ 23 then may you yourself hear from the heavens,+ and you must act+ and judge your servants so as to pay back the wicked by putting his course* upon his own head+ and by pronouncing the righteous one righteous+ by giving to him according to his own righteousness.+

24 “And if your people Israel are defeated before an enemy+ because they kept sinning against you,+ and they indeed return+ and laud your name+ and pray+ and make request for favor before you in this house,+ 25 then may you yourself hear from the heavens,+ and you must forgive+ the sin of your people Israel and bring them back+ to the ground that you gave to them and their forefathers.+

26 “When the heavens are shut up so that no rain occurs+ because they kept sinning+ against you, and they actually pray toward this place+ and laud your name [and] from their sin they turn back because you kept afflicting them,+ 27 then may you yourself hear from the heavens, and you must forgive the sin of your servants, even of your people Israel, because you instruct+ them regarding the good way+ in which they should walk; and you must give rain+ upon your land that you have given to your people as a hereditary possession.+

28 “In case a famine+ occurs in the land, in case a pestilence+ occurs, in case scorching+ and mildew,+ locusts+ and cockroaches+ occur; in case their enemies+ besiege them in the land of their gates*+—any sort of plague and any sort of malady+— 29 whatever prayer,+ whatever request for favor+ there may occur on the part of any man or of all your people Israel,+ because they know each one his own plague+ and his own pain; when he actually spreads out his palms toward this house,+ 30 then may you yourself hear from the heavens, the place of your dwelling,+ and you must forgive+ and give to each one according to all his ways,+ because you know his heart+ (for you yourself alone well know the heart of the sons of mankind);+ 31 to the end that they may fear+ you by walking in your ways all the days that they are alive upon the surface of the ground that you gave to our forefathers.+

32 “And also to the foreigner who is no part of your people Israel+ and who actually comes from a distant land by reason of your great name+ and your strong hand+ and your stretched-out arm,+ and they actually come and pray toward this house,+ 33 then may you yourself listen from the heavens, from your established place of dwelling,+ and you must do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you;+ in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name+ and may fear+ you the same as your people Israel do, and may know that your name has been called upon this house that I have built.+

34 “In case your people go out to the war+ against their enemies in the way that you send+ them, and they indeed pray+ to you in the direction of this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built to your name,+ 35 you must also hear from the heavens their prayer and their request for favor,+ and you must execute judgment for them.+

36 “In case they sin against you+ (for there is no man that does not sin),+ and you have to be incensed at them and abandon them to an enemy, and their captors actually carry them off captive to a land distant or nearby;+ 37 and they indeed come to their senses in the land where they have been carried off captive, and they actually return and make request to you for favor in the land where they are captives,+ saying, ‘We have sinned,+ we have erred+ and we have acted wickedly’;+ 38 and they indeed return to you with all their heart+ and with all their soul in the land where they are captives+ of those who carried them off captive, and they indeed pray in the direction of their land that you gave to their forefathers and the city that you have chosen+ and the house that I have built to your name;+ 39 you must also hear from the heavens, from your established place of dwelling,+ their prayer and their requests for favor,+ and you must execute judgment+ for them and forgive+ your people who have sinned against you.

40 “Now, O my God, please, let your eyes+ prove to be opened and your ears+ attentive to the prayer respecting this place. 41 And now do rise up,+ O Jehovah God, into your rest,+ you and the Ark of your strength.+ Let your priests themselves, O Jehovah God, be clothed with salvation, and let your loyal ones themselves rejoice in goodness.+ 42 O Jehovah God, do not turn back the face of your anointed one.*+ O do remember the loving-kindnesses* to David your servant.”+

7 Now as soon as Solʹo·mon finished praying,+ the fire itself came down from the heavens+ and proceeded to consume the burnt offering+ and the sacrifices, and Jehovah’s glory+ itself filled the house. 2 And the priests were unable to enter into the house of Jehovah+ because Jehovah’s glory had filled the house of Jehovah. 3 And all the sons of Israel were spectators when the fire came down and the glory of Jehovah was upon the house, and they immediately bowed+ low with their faces to the earth upon the pavement and prostrated+ themselves and thanked Jehovah, “for he is good,+ for his loving-kindness is to time indefinite.”+

4 And the king and all the people were offering sacrifice before Jehovah.+ 5 And King Solʹo·mon went on offering the sacrifice of twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep.+ Thus the king and all the people inaugurated+ the house of the [true] God. 6 And the priests+ were standing at their posts of duty, and the Levites+ with the instruments of song+ to Jehovah that David+ the king had made to thank Jehovah, “for his loving-kindness is to time indefinite,” when David would render praise by their hand; and the priests were loudly sounding the trumpets+ in front of them, while all the Israelites were standing.

7 Then Solʹo·mon sanctified+ the middle of the courtyard that was before the house of Jehovah, because there he rendered up the burnt offerings+ and the fat pieces of the communion sacrifices, for the copper altar+ that Solʹo·mon had made was itself not able to contain the burnt offering and the grain offering+ and the fat pieces.+ 8 And Solʹo·mon proceeded to hold the festival+ at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him,+ a very great congregation*+ from the entering in of Haʹmath+ down to the torrent valley of Egypt.+ 9 But on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly,+ because the inauguration of the altar they had held for seven days and the festival for seven days. 10 And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful+ and feeling good at heart over the goodness+ that Jehovah had performed toward David and toward Solʹo·mon and toward Israel his people.+

11 Thus Solʹo·mon finished the house of Jehovah+ and the house of the king;+ and in everything that had come into Solʹo·mon’s heart to do regarding the house of Jehovah and his own house he proved successful. 12 Jehovah now appeared+ to Solʹo·mon during the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer,+ and I have chosen+ this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.+ 13 When I shut up the heavens that no rain may occur+ and when I command the grasshoppers to eat up the land+ and if I send a pestilence among my people,+ 14 and my people+ upon whom my name+ has been called humble+ themselves and pray+ and seek my face+ and turn back from their bad ways,+ then I myself shall hear from the heavens+ and forgive their sin,+ and I shall heal their land.+ 15 Now my own eyes+ will prove to be opened and my ears+ attentive to prayer at this place. 16 And now I do choose+ and sanctify this house that my name+ may prove to be there to time indefinite,+ and my eyes and my heart will certainly prove to be there always.+

17 “And if you yourself will walk before me, just as David+ your father walked, even by doing according to all that I have commanded you,+ and you will keep my regulations+ and my judicial decisions,+ 18 I will also establish the throne of your kingship,+ just as I covenanted with David your father,+ saying, ‘There will not a man of yours be cut off from ruling over Israel.’+ 19 But if YOU yourselves turn back+ and actually leave my statutes+ and my commandments+ that I have put before YOU, and YOU actually go and serve other gods+ and bow down to them,+ 20 I will also uproot them from off my ground that I have given them;+ and this house that I have sanctified+ for my name, I shall throw away from before my face,+ and I shall make it a proverbial saying+ and a taunt among all the peoples.+ 21 As for this house that had become heaps of ruins,*+ everyone passing by it will stare in amazement+ and be certain to say, ‘For what reason did Jehovah do like that to this land and to this house?’+ 22 And they will have to say, ‘It was for the reason that they left Jehovah+ the God of their forefathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt,+ and they proceeded to take hold of other gods+ and bow down to them and serve them.+ That is why he brought upon them all this calamity.’”+

8 And it came about at the end of twenty years,+ in which Solʹo·mon had built the house of Jehovah+ and his own house,+ 2 that the cities that Hiʹram*+ had given to Solʹo·mon—Solʹo·mon rebuilt them and then caused the sons of Israel to dwell there. 3 Furthermore, Solʹo·mon went to Haʹmath-zoʹbah and prevailed over it. 4 Then he rebuilt Tadʹmor* in the wilderness and all the storage+ cities that he had built in Haʹmath.+ 5 And he went on to build Upper Beth-hoʹron+ and Lower Beth-hoʹron,+ fortified cities with walls,+ doors and bar,+ 6 and Baʹal·ath+ and all the storage cities that had become Solʹo·mon’s and all the chariot cities+ and the cities for the horsemen+ and every desirable thing of Solʹo·mon+ that he had desired to build in Jerusalem and in Lebʹa·non+ and in all the land of his dominion.

7 As for all the people that were left over of the Hitʹtites+ and the Amʹor·ites+ and the Perʹiz·zites+ and the Hiʹvites+ and the Jebʹu·sites,+ who were no part of Israel,+ 8 from their sons that had been left behind them in the land, whom the sons of Israel had not exterminated,+ Solʹo·mon kept levying+ men* for forced labor until this day.+ 9 But there were none out of the sons of Israel that Solʹo·mon constituted slaves for his work;+ for they were warriors+ and chiefs of his adjutants and chiefs of his charioteers+ and of his horsemen.+ 10 These were the chiefs of the deputies+ that belonged to King Solʹo·mon, two hundred and fifty, the foremen over the people.+

11 And Pharʹaoh’s daughter+ Solʹo·mon brought up out of the City of David+ to the house that he had built for her,+ for he said: “Although a wife of mine, she should not dwell in the house of David the king of Israel, for the places to which the ark of Jehovah has come are something holy.”+

12 It was then that Solʹo·mon offered up burnt sacrifices+ to Jehovah upon the altar+ of Jehovah that he had built before the porch,+ 13 even as a daily+ matter of course to make offerings according to the commandment of Moses for the sabbaths+ and for the new moons+ and for the appointed festivals+ three times in the year,+ at the festival of unfermented cakes+ and at the festival of the weeks+ and at the festival of the booths.+ 14 Further, he set the divisions+ of the priests over their services according to the rule of David his father,+ and the Levites+ at their posts of duty, to praise+ and to minister+ in front of the priests as a daily matter of course,+ and the gatekeepers in their divisions for the different gates,+ for such was the commandment of David the man of the [true] God.* 15 And they did not turn aside from the king’s commandment to the priests and the Levites concerning any matter and concerning the supplies.+ 16 So Solʹo·mon’s work was all in a prepared+ state from the day of the foundation-laying of the house of Jehovah until it was finished.+ [So] the house of Jehovah was complete.+

17 It was then that Solʹo·mon went to Eʹzi·on-geʹber+ and to Eʹloth+ upon the shore of the sea in the land of Eʹdom.+ 18 And Hiʹram+ regularly sent to him by means of his servants ships and servants having a knowledge of the sea,+ and they would come with Solʹo·mon’s servants to Oʹphir+ and take from there four hundred and fifty talents*+ of gold+ and bring it to King Solʹo·mon.+

9 And the queen of Sheʹba+ herself heard the report about Solʹo·mon, and she proceeded to come to test Solʹo·mon with perplexing questions+ at Jerusalem, along with a very impressive train and camels+ carrying balsam oil,+ and gold in great quantity, and precious stones.+ At length she came in to Solʹo·mon and spoke with him about everything that happened to be close to her heart.+ 2 Solʹo·mon, in turn, went on to tell her all her matters,+ and no matter was hidden from Solʹo·mon that he did not tell her.+

3 When the queen of Sheʹba got to see Solʹo·mon’s wisdom+ and the house that he had built,+ 4 and the food of his table+ and the sitting of his servants and the table service* of his waiters and their attire+ and his drinking service+ and their attire, and his burnt sacrifices+ that he regularly offered up at the house of Jehovah,+ then there proved to be no more spirit in her. 5 So she said to the king: “True was the word that I heard in my own land about your matters and about your wisdom.+ 6 And I did not put faith+ in their words until I had come that my own eyes might see;+ and, look! there has not been told me the half of the abundance of your wisdom.+ You have surpassed the report that I have heard.+ 7 Happy+ are your men, and happy are these servants of yours who are standing before you constantly and listening to your wisdom.+ 8 May Jehovah your God come to be blessed,+ who has taken delight+ in you by putting you upon his throne+ as king for Jehovah your God;+ because your God loved+ Israel, to make it stand to time indefinite, so that he put you over them as king+ to execute judicial decision+ and righteousness.”+

9 Then she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents* of gold,+ and balsam oil+ in very great quantity, and precious stones;+ and there had not come to be the like of that balsam oil which the queen of Sheʹba gave to King Solʹo·mon.+

10 And, besides, the servants of Hiʹram+ and the servants of Solʹo·mon who brought gold+ from Oʹphir brought timbers of algum trees+ and precious stones.+ 11 And the king proceeded to make out of the timbers of the algum trees stairs+ for the house of Jehovah and for the king’s house+ and also harps+ and stringed instruments+ for the singers,+ and the like of them had never been seen before in the land of Judah.

12 And King Solʹo·mon himself gave the queen+ of Sheʹba all her delight for which she had asked, besides [the value of] what she brought to the king. So she turned about and went to her own land, she together with her servants.+

13 And the weight of the gold that came to Solʹo·mon in one year amounted to six hundred and sixty-six talents* of gold,+ 14 aside from the men of travel* and the merchants+ who were bringing in and all the kings of the Arabs+ and the governors of the land who were bringing in gold and silver to Solʹo·mon.

15 And King Solʹo·mon went on to make two hundred large shields of alloyed gold+ (six hundred [shekels] of alloyed gold he proceeded to lay upon each large shield),+ 16 and three hundred bucklers of alloyed gold (three miʹnas* of gold he proceeded to lay upon each buckler).+ Then the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebʹa·non.+

17 Further, the king made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold.+ 18 And there were six steps to the throne, and there was a footstool in gold to the throne (they were attached), and there were armrests on this side and on that side by the place of sitting, and two lions+ were standing beside the armrests.+ 19 And there were twelve lions+ standing there upon the six steps on this side and on that side. No other kingdom had any made just like it.+ 20 And all the drinking vessels+ of King Solʹo·mon were of gold,+ and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebʹa·non+ were of pure gold. There was nothing of silver; it was considered as nothing at all+ in the days of Solʹo·mon. 21 For ships belonging to the king were going to Tarʹshish+ with the servants of Hiʹram.+ Once every three years ships of Tarʹshish would come in, carrying gold and silver,+ ivory,+ and apes+ and peacocks.

22 So King Solʹo·mon was greater than all the other kings of the earth in riches+ and wisdom.+ 23 And all the kings of the earth were seeking+ the face of Solʹo·mon to hear his wisdom,+ which the [true] God had put in his heart.+ 24 And they were bringing each his gift,+ articles of silver and articles of gold+ and garments,+ armor and balsam oil, horses and mules as a yearly matter of course.+ 25 And Solʹo·mon came to have four thousand stalls of horses+ and chariots+ and twelve thousand steeds,* and he kept them stationed in the chariot cities+ and close by the king in Jerusalem. 26 And he came to be ruler over all the kings from the River* down to the land of the Phi·lisʹtines and down to the boundary of Egypt.+ 27 Furthermore, the king made the silver in Jerusalem like the stones; and cedarwood he made like the sycamore+ trees that are in the She·pheʹlah*+ for abundance.+ 28 And there were those bringing out horses+ to Solʹo·mon from Egypt+ and from all the other lands.

29 As for the rest of the affairs of Solʹo·mon,+ the first and the last, are they not written among the words of Nathan+ the prophet and in the prophecy of A·hiʹjah+ the Shiʹlo·nite+ and in the record of visions of Idʹdo*+ the visionary concerning Jer·o·boʹam+ the son of Neʹbat?+ 30 And Solʹo·mon continued to reign in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. 31 Finally Solʹo·mon lay down with his forefathers. So they buried him in the City of David his father;+ and Re·ho·boʹam+ his son began to reign in place of him.+

10 And Re·ho·boʹam+ proceeded to go to Sheʹchem,+ for it was to Sheʹchem that all the Israelites came to make him king. 2 And it came about that as soon as Jer·o·boʹam+ the son of Neʹbat heard of it while he was yet in Egypt,+ (because he had run away on account of Solʹo·mon the king,) Jer·o·boʹam immediately came back from Egypt.+ 3 So they sent and called him, and Jer·o·boʹam and all Israel came and spoke to Re·ho·boʹam, saying:+ 4 “Your father, for his part, made our yoke hard;+ and now make the hard service of your father and the heavy yoke+ that he put upon us lighter, and we shall serve you.”+

5 At this he said to them: “Let there be yet three days. Then return to me.” So the people went away. 6 And King Re·ho·boʹam began to take counsel+ with the older men that were continually attending upon Solʹo·mon his father while he continued alive, saying: “How are YOU advising to reply to this people?”+ 7 Accordingly they spoke to him, saying: “If you would prove yourself good to this people and actually be pleasing to them and indeed speak good words to them,+ they also will certainly become your servants always.”+

8 However, he left the counsel+ of the older men with which they had advised him, and he began to take counsel with the young men that had grown up with him,+ who were the ones attending upon him.+ 9 And he went on to say to them: “What is it that YOU are offering in counsel+ that we may reply to this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Make the yoke that your father put upon us lighter’?”+ 10 In turn the young men that had grown up with him spoke with him, saying: “This is what you should say to the people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father, for his part, made our yoke heavy, but, as for you, make it lighter upon us’; this is what you should say to them,+ ‘My own little finger will certainly be thicker than my father’s hips.+ 11 And now my father, for his part, loaded upon YOU a heavy yoke, but I, for my part, shall add to YOUR yoke.+ My father, for his part, chastised YOU with whips, but I, for my part, with scourges.’”+

12 And Jer·o·boʹam and all the people proceeded to come to Re·ho·boʹam on the third+ day, just as the king had spoken, saying: “Return to me on the third day.” 13 And the king began to answer them harshly.+ Thus King Re·ho·boʹam left the counsel+ of the older men,+ 14 and he went on to speak to them according to the counsel of the young men,+ saying: “I shall make YOUR yoke heavier, and I, for my part, shall add to it. My father, for his part, chastised YOU with whips, but I, for my part, with scourges.”+ 15 And the king did not listen to the people; for it proved to be a turn of affairs from the [true] God+ in order that Jehovah might carry out his word+ that he had spoken by means of A·hiʹjah*+ the Shiʹlo·nite+ to Jer·o·boʹam the son of Neʹbat.+

16 As for all Israel, because the king did not listen to them, the people now replied to the king, saying: “What share do we have in David?+ And there is no inheritance in the son of Jesʹse.+ Each one to your gods,*+ O Israel! Now see to your own house, O David.”+ With that all Israel began to go to its tents.

17 As for the sons of Israel that were dwelling in the cities of Judah, Re·ho·boʹam continued to reign over them.+

18 Subsequently King Re·ho·boʹam sent Ha·doʹram,*+ who was over those conscripted for forced labor, but the sons of Israel pelted him with stones,+ so that he died. And King Re·ho·boʹam himself managed to get up into his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.+ 19 And the Israelites kept up their revolt+ against the house of David down to this day.

11 When Re·ho·boʹam arrived at Jerusalem,+ he immediately congregated the house of Judah and Benjamin,+ a hundred and eighty thousand choice men able-bodied for war,+ to fight against Israel so as to bring the kingdom back to Re·ho·boʹam. 2 Then the word of Jehovah came to She·maiʹah*+ the man of the [true] God, saying: 3 “Say to Re·ho·boʹam the son of Solʹo·mon the king of Judah+ and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, 4 ‘This is what Jehovah has said: “YOU must not go up and fight against YOUR brothers.+ Return each one to his house, for it is at my own instance that this thing has been brought about.”’”+ So they obeyed the word of Jehovah and returned from going against Jer·o·boʹam.+

5 And Re·ho·boʹam continued to dwell in Jerusalem and proceeded to build fortified cities in Judah. 6 Thus he rebuilt Bethʹle·hem+ and Eʹtam+ and Te·koʹa,+ 7 and Beth-zur+ and Soʹco+ and A·dulʹlam,+ 8 and Gath+ and Ma·reʹshah+ and Ziph,+ 9 and Ad·o·raʹim and Laʹchish+ and A·zeʹkah,+ 10 and Zoʹrah+ and Aiʹja·lon+ and Heʹbron,+ fortified cities, which were in Judah and Benjamin. 11 Further, he reinforced the fortified places+ and put leaders+ in them and supplies of food and oil and wine, 12 and in all the different cities large shields+ and lances;+ and he went on reinforcing them to a very great degree. And Judah and Benjamin continued his.

13 And the priests and the Levites themselves that were in all Israel took their stand by him out of all their territories. 14 For the Levites left their pasture grounds+ and their possession+ and then came to Judah and Jerusalem,+ because Jer·o·boʹam+ and his sons had discharged+ them from acting as priests to Jehovah. 15 And he proceeded to put in office for himself priests for the high places+ and for the goat-shaped demons*+ and for the calves that he had made.+ 16 And following them from all the tribes of Israel those that were giving their heart to seek Jehovah the God of Israel came themselves to Jerusalem+ to sacrifice+ to Jehovah the God of their forefathers. 17 And they kept strengthening the kingship of Judah+ and confirming Re·ho·boʹam the son of Solʹo·mon for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solʹo·mon for three years.+

18 Then Re·ho·boʹam took as his wife Maʹha·lath the daughter of Jerʹi·moth the son of David, and of Abʹi·ha·il the daughter of E·liʹab+ the son of Jesʹse. 19 In time she bore him sons, Jeʹush and Shem·a·riʹah and Zaʹham. 20 And after her he took Maʹa·cah+ the granddaughter of Abʹsa·lom.+ In time she bore him A·biʹjah+ and Atʹtai and Ziʹza and She·loʹmith. 21 And Re·ho·boʹam was more in love with Maʹa·cah the granddaughter of Abʹsa·lom than all his other wives+ and his concubines; for there were eighteen wives that he had taken, also sixty concubines, so that he became father to twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. 22 Consequently Re·ho·boʹam put A·biʹjah the son of Maʹa·cah in office as head, as leader among his brothers, for [he thought] of making him king. 23 However, he acted understandingly+ and distributed some out of all his sons to all the lands of Judah and of Benjamin,+ to all the fortified cities,+ and gave them food in abundance+ and procured a multitude of wives [for them].+

12 And it came about that, as soon as the kingship of Re·ho·boʹam was firmly established+ and as soon as he was strong, he left the law of Jehovah,+ and also all Israel+ with him. 2 And it came about in the fifth year of King Re·ho·boʹam+ that Shiʹshak+ the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, (for they had behaved unfaithfully toward Jehovah,)+ 3 with twelve hundred chariots+ and with sixty thousand horsemen; and there was no number+ to the people that came with him out of Egypt—Libʹy·ans,*+ Sukʹki·im and E·thi·oʹpi·ans.*+ 4 And he got to capture the fortified cities that belonged to Judah+ and finally came as far as Jerusalem.+

5 Now as for She·maiʹah+ the prophet, he came to Re·ho·boʹam and the princes of Judah who had gathered themselves at Jerusalem because of Shiʹshak, and he proceeded to say to them: “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘YOU, for your part, have left me,+ and I, too, for my part, have left YOU+ to the hand of Shiʹshak.’” 6 At that the princes of Israel and the king humbled+ themselves and said: “Jehovah is righteous.”+ 7 And when Jehovah saw+ that they had humbled themselves, the word of Jehovah came to She·maiʹah,+ saying: “They have humbled themselves. I shall not bring them to ruin, and in a little while I shall certainly give them an escape, and my rage+ will not pour forth upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shiʹshak.+ 8 But they will become servants of his,+ that they may know the difference between my service+ and the service of the kingdoms of the lands.”+

9 So Shiʹshak+ the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem and took the treasures of the house of Jehovah+ and the treasures of the king’s house.+ Everything he took; and so he took the gold shields that Solʹo·mon had made.+ 10 Consequently King Re·ho·boʹam made in their place copper shields, and he committed them to the control of the chiefs of the runners,+ the guards+ of the entrance of the king’s house.+ 11 And it would occur that as often as the king came to the house of Jehovah, the runners came in and carried them and returned them to the guard chamber of the runners.+ 12 And because he humbled himself, Jehovah’s anger turned back from him,+ and he [did] not [think] of bringing them to ruin completely.+ And, besides, there happened to be good things in Judah.+

13 And King Re·ho·boʹam continued to make his position strong in Jerusalem and kept reigning; for Re·ho·boʹam+ was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and for seventeen years he reigned 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 Naʹa·mah+ the Amʹmon·it·ess.+ 14 But he did what was bad,+ for he had not firmly established his heart to search for Jehovah.+

15 As for Re·ho·boʹam’s affairs, the first and the last,+ are they not written among the words of She·maiʹah+ the prophet and of Idʹdo+ the visionary by genealogical enrollment? And there were wars between Re·ho·boʹam+ and Jer·o·boʹam+ all the time. 16 Finally Re·ho·boʹam lay down with his forefathers+ and was buried in the City of David;+ and A·biʹjah*+ his son began to reign in place of him.

13 In the eighteenth year of King Jer·o·boʹam it was that A·biʹjah began to reign over Judah.+ 2 Three years he reigned in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Mi·caiʹah*+ the daughter of U·riʹel of Gibʹe·ah.+ And war itself took place between A·biʹjah and Jer·o·boʹam.+

3 So A·biʹjah engaged in the war with a military force of four hundred thousand mighty men of war,+ chosen men. And Jer·o·boʹam himself drew up in battle formation against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, valiant, mighty men.+ 4 A·biʹjah now rose up upon Mount Zem·a·raʹim, which is in the mountainous region of Eʹphra·im,+ and said: “Hear me, O Jer·o·boʹam and all Israel. 5 Is it not for YOU to know that Jehovah the God of Israel himself gave a kingdom to David+ over Israel to time indefinite,+ to him and to his sons,+ by a covenant of salt?+ 6 And Jer·o·boʹam+ the son of Neʹbat, the servant+ of Solʹo·mon the son of David, proceeded to rise up and rebel+ against his lord.*+ 7 And idle men,+ good-for-nothing fellows,+ kept collecting themselves together by him. Finally they proved superior to Re·ho·boʹam the son of Solʹo·mon, when Re·ho·boʹam+ himself happened to be young and fainthearted,+ and he did not hold his own against them.

8 “And now YOU men are thinking of holding YOUR own against the kingdom of Jehovah in the hand of the sons of David,+ when YOU are a large crowd+ and there are with YOU the golden calves that Jer·o·boʹam made for YOU as gods.*+ 9 Have YOU not driven out Jehovah’s priests,+ the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and do YOU not keep making priests for yourselves like the peoples of the lands?+ As for anyone that came and filled his hand with power* by means of a young bull* and seven rams, he became a priest of what are no gods.*+ 10 As for us, Jehovah is our God,+ and we have not left him; but priests are ministering to Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and also the Levites in the work.+ 11 And they are making burnt offerings smoke to Jehovah morning by morning and evening by evening+ and also perfumed incense;+ and the layers of bread are upon the table of pure [gold],+ and there are the golden lampstand+ and its lamps to light up evening by evening;+ because we are keeping the obligation+ to Jehovah our God, but YOU yourselves have left him.+ 12 And, look! with us there is at the head the [true] God+ with his priests+ and the signal trumpets+ for sounding the battle alarm against YOU. O sons of Israel, do not fight against Jehovah the God of YOUR forefathers,+ for YOU will not prove successful.”+

13 And Jer·o·boʹam, for his part, dispatched an ambush around to come behind them, so that they proved to be in front of Judah and the ambush behind them.+ 14 When those of Judah turned around, why, there they had the battle in front and behind.+ And they began to cry out to Jehovah,+ while the priests were loudly sounding the trumpets. 15 And the men of Judah broke out shouting a war cry.+ And it came about that, when the men of Judah shouted a war cry, then the [true] God himself defeated+ Jer·o·boʹam and all Israel before A·biʹjah+ and Judah. 16 And the sons of Israel took to flight from before Judah, and then God gave them into their hand.+ 17 And A·biʹjah and his people went striking them down with a vast slaughter; and the slain of Israel kept falling down, five hundred thousand chosen men. 18 Thus the sons of Israel were humbled at that time, but the sons of Judah proved superior because they leaned+ upon Jehovah the God of their forefathers. 19 And A·biʹjah kept chasing after Jer·o·boʹam and got to capture cities from him, Bethʹel+ and its dependent towns, and Jeshʹa·nah and its dependent towns, and Eʹphra·in* and its dependent towns.+ 20 And Jer·o·boʹam did not retain any more power+ in the days of A·biʹjah;* but Jehovah dealt him a blow,+ so that he died.

21 And A·biʹjah continued to strengthen himself.+ In time he got fourteen wives for himself,+ and became father to twenty-two sons+ and sixteen daughters. 22 And the rest of A·biʹjah’s affairs, even his ways and his words, are written in the exposition* of the prophet Idʹdo.+

14 Finally A·biʹjah lay down with his forefathers,+ and they buried him in the City of David;+ and Aʹsa+ his son began to reign in place of him. In his days the land had no disturbance+ for ten years.*

2 And Aʹsa proceeded to do what was good and right in the eyes of Jehovah his God. 3 So he removed the foreign altars*+ and the high places+ and broke up the sacred pillars+ and cut down the sacred poles.*+ 4 Further, he said to Judah to search+ for Jehovah the God of their forefathers and to do the law+ and the commandment.+ 5 Accordingly he removed from all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense stands;+ and the kingdom continued without disturbance+ before him. 6 And he went on to build fortified cities in Judah,+ for the land had no disturbance; and there was no war against him during these years, for Jehovah gave him rest.+ 7 So he said to Judah: “Let us build these cities and make walls+ around and towers,+ double doors and bars.+ For us the land is yet available, because we have searched for Jehovah our God.+ We have searched, and he gives us rest all around.”+ And they went building and proving successful.+

8 And Aʹsa came to have a military force bearing the large shield+ and lance,+ three hundred thousand out of Judah.+ And out of Benjamin those bearing the buckler and bending the bow+ were two hundred and eighty thousand.+ All these were valiant, mighty men.

9 Later Zeʹrah the E·thi·oʹpi·an*+ went out against them with a military force of a million* men+ and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Ma·reʹshah.+ 10 Then Aʹsa went out against him* and they drew up in battle formation in the valley of Zephʹa·thah at Ma·reʹshah. 11 And Aʹsa began to call to Jehovah his God+ and say: “O Jehovah, as to helping, it does not matter with you whether there are many or [those with] no power.+ Help us, O Jehovah our God, for upon you we do lean,+ and in your name+ we have come against this crowd. O Jehovah, you are our God.+ Do not let mortal man* retain strength against you.”+

12 At that Jehovah defeated+ the E·thi·oʹpi·ans before Aʹsa and before Judah, and the E·thi·oʹpi·ans took to flight. 13 And Aʹsa and the people that were with him kept pursuing them as far as Geʹrar,+ and those of the E·thi·oʹpi·ans continued falling down till there was no one alive of them; for they were broken to pieces before Jehovah+ and before his camp.+ Afterward they carried off a very great deal of spoil.+ 14 Further, they struck all the cities round about Geʹrar, for the dread+ of Jehovah had come to be upon them; and they went plundering all the cities, for there happened to be much to plunder in them.+ 15 And even the tents+ with livestock they struck so that they took captive+ flocks in great number and camels,+ after which they returned to Jerusalem.

15 Now for Az·a·riʹah* the son of Oʹded,+ the spirit+ of God came to be upon him. 2 Consequently he went out before Aʹsa and said to him: “Hear me, O Aʹsa and all Judah and Benjamin! Jehovah is with YOU as long as YOU prove to be with him;+ and if YOU search+ for him, he will let himself be found by YOU, but if YOU leave him he will leave YOU.+ 3 And many were the days that Israel+ had been without a true God* and without a priest teaching+ and without Law. 4 But when in their distress+ they returned to Jehovah the God of Israel+ and looked for him, then he let himself be found by them.+ 5 And in those times there was no peace for one going out or for one coming in,+ because there were many disorders among all the inhabitants of the lands.+ 6 And they were crushed to pieces, nation against nation+ and city against city, because God himself kept them in disorder with every sort of distress.+ 7 And YOU, be courageous+ and do not let YOUR hands drop down,+ because there exists a reward for YOUR activity.”+

8 And as soon as Aʹsa heard these words and the prophecy of Oʹded+ the prophet, he took courage and proceeded to cause the disgusting things+ to vanish from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had captured from the mountainous region of Eʹphra·im,+ and to renew Jehovah’s altar that was before the porch of Jehovah.+ 9 And he began to collect together all Judah and Benjamin+ and the alien residents*+ with them from Eʹphra·im and Ma·nasʹseh and Simʹe·on, for they had deserted to him from Israel in great number when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him.+ 10 So they were collected together at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Aʹsa’s reign. 11 Then they sacrificed to Jehovah on that day from the spoil they had brought, seven hundred cattle and seven thousand sheep. 12 Furthermore, they entered into a covenant+ to search for Jehovah the God of their forefathers with all their heart and with all their soul;+ 13 that anyone that would not search for Jehovah the God of Israel should be put to death,+ whether small or great,+ whether man or woman.+ 14 So they swore+ to Jehovah with a loud voice and with joyful shouting and with the trumpets and with horns.* 15 And all Judah gave way to rejoicing+ over the thing sworn; for it was with all their heart that they had sworn and with full pleasure on their part that they had looked for him, so that he let himself be found by them;+ and Jehovah continued to give them rest all around.+

16 As for even Maʹa·cah+ [his] grandmother,* Aʹsa the king himself+ removed her from [being] lady,+ because she had made a horrible idol for the sacred pole;+ and then Aʹsa cut down her horrible idol+ and pulverized it and burned+ it in the torrent valley of Kidʹron.+ 17 And the high places+ themselves did not disappear from Israel.+ Only Aʹsa’s heart itself proved to be complete all his days.+ 18 And he proceeded to bring the things made holy by his father and the things+ made holy by himself into the house of the [true] God, silver and gold and utensils.+ 19 As for war, it did not occur down to the thirty-fifth year of Aʹsa’s reign.+

16 In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Aʹsa, Baʹa·sha+ the king of Israel came up against Judah and began to build Raʹmah,+ so as not to allow anyone to go out or come in to Aʹsa the king of Judah.+ 2 Aʹsa now brought out silver and gold from the treasures of Jehovah’s house+ and the king’s house+ and sent to Ben-haʹdad+ the king of Syria,+ who was dwelling at Damascus,+ saying: 3 “There is a covenant between me and you and between my father and your father. Here I do send you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baʹa·sha+ the king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.”+

4 So Ben-haʹdad listened to King Aʹsa and sent the chiefs of the military forces that were his against the cities of Israel, so that they struck Iʹjon+ and Dan+ and Aʹbel-maʹim+ and all the storage places+ of the cities of Naphʹta·li.+ 5 And it came about that as soon as Baʹa·sha heard of it, he immediately quit building Raʹmah and stopped his work.+ 6 As for Aʹsa the king, he took all Judah,+ and they proceeded to carry away the stones of Raʹmah+ and its timbers with which Baʹa·sha had built,+ and he began to build with them Geʹba+ and Mizʹpah.+

7 And at that time Ha·naʹni+ the seer came to Aʹsa the king of Judah and then said to him: “Because you leaned upon the king of Syria+ and did not lean upon Jehovah your God,+ for that reason the military force of the king of Syria has escaped out of your hand. 8 Did not the E·thi·oʹpi·ans+ and the Libʹy·ans+ themselves happen to be a very great military force in multitude, in chariots and in horsemen;+ and because of your leaning upon Jehovah did he not give them into your hand?+ 9 For, as regards Jehovah, his eyes+ are roving about through all the earth+ to show his strength in behalf of those whose heart+ is complete toward him. You have acted foolishly+ respecting this, for from now on there will exist wars against you.”+

10 However, Aʹsa became offended at the seer and put him in the house of the stocks,+ because he was in a rage at him over this.+ And Aʹsa began to crush+ some others of the people at that same time. 11 And, look! the affairs of Aʹsa, the first and the last, there they are written in the Book+ of the Kings of Judah and of Israel.

12 And Aʹsa in the thirty-ninth year of his reign developed an ailment in his feet until he was very sick;+ and even in his sickness he searched not for Jehovah+ but for the healers.+ 13 Finally Aʹsa lay down with his forefathers+ and died in the forty-first year of his reigning. 14 So they buried him in his grand burial place*+ that he had excavated for himself in the City of David;+ and they laid him in the bed that had been filled with balsam oil+ and different sorts of ointment+ mixed in an ointment of special make.+ Further, they made an extraordinarily great funeral burning+ for him.*

17 And Je·hoshʹa·phat+ his son began to reign in place of him and to make his position strong over Israel. 2 And he proceeded to put military forces in all the fortified cities of Judah and to put garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Eʹphra·im that Aʹsa his father had captured.+ 3 And Jehovah continued with Je·hoshʹa·phat,+ because he walked in the former ways of David his forefather+ and did not search for the Baʹals.+ 4 For it was for the God of his father that he searched+ and in his commandment he walked,+ and not according to the doing of Israel.+ 5 And Jehovah kept the kingdom firmly established in his hand;+ and all Judah continued to give presents+ to Je·hoshʹa·phat, and he came to have riches and glory in abundance.+ 6 And his heart became bold in the ways+ of Jehovah, and he even removed the high places+ and the sacred poles+ from Judah.

7 And in the third year of his reigning he sent for his princes, namely, Ben-haʹil and O·ba·diʹah and Zech·a·riʹah and Ne·thanʹel and Mi·caiʹah, to teach in the cities of Judah, 8 and with them the Levites, She·maiʹah and Neth·a·niʹah and Zeb·a·diʹah and Asʹa·hel and She·mirʹa·moth and Je·honʹa·than and Ad·o·niʹjah and To·biʹjah and Tob-ad·o·niʹjah the Levites, and with them E·lishʹa·ma and Je·hoʹram the priests.+ 9 And they began teaching+ in Judah, and with them there was the book of Jehovah’s law;+ and they kept going around through all the cities of Judah and teaching among the people.

10 And the dread+ of Jehovah came to be upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were all around Judah, and they did not fight against Je·hoshʹa·phat.+ 11 And from the Phi·lisʹtines they were bringing to Je·hoshʹa·phat presents+ and money as tribute.+ The Arabs+ also were bringing to him flocks, seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred he-goats.+

12 And Je·hoshʹa·phat continued advancing and growing great+ to a superior degree; and he went on building fortified places+ and storage cities+ in Judah. 13 And there were many interests that became his in the cities of Judah; and warriors,+ valiant, mighty men,+ were in Jerusalem. 14 And these were their offices by the house of their forefathers: Of Judah the chiefs of thousands, Adʹnah the chief, and with him there were three hundred thousand valiant, mighty men.+ 15 And under his control there was Je·ho·haʹnan the chief, and with him there were two hundred and eighty thousand. 16 And under his control there was Am·a·siʹah the son of Zichʹri the volunteer+ for Jehovah, and with him there were two hundred thousand valiant, mighty men. 17 And out of Benjamin+ there was the valiant, mighty man E·liʹa·da, and with him there were two hundred thousand men equipped with the bow and shield.+ 18 And under his control there was Je·hozʹa·bad, and with him there were a hundred and eighty thousand men outfitted for the army. 19 These were the ones ministering to the king apart from those whom the king put in the fortified cities+ throughout all Judah.

18 And Je·hoshʹa·phat came to have riches and glory in abundance;+ but he formed a marriage alliance+ with Aʹhab.+ 2 So years later he went down to Aʹhab at Sa·marʹi·a;+ and Aʹhab proceeded to sacrifice sheep+ and cattle in abundance for him and for the people that were with him. And he began to allure+ him to go up against Raʹmoth-gilʹe·ad.+ 3 And Aʹhab the king of Israel went on to say to Je·hoshʹa·phat the king of Judah: “Will you go with me to Raʹmoth-gilʹe·ad?”+ At this he said to him: “I am the same as you are, and my people are like your people and with you in the war.”+

4 However, Je·hoshʹa·phat said to the king of Israel: “Please, inquire+ first of all for the word of Jehovah.” 5 So the king of Israel collected the prophets+ together, four hundred men, and said to them: “Shall we go against Raʹmoth-gilʹe·ad in war, or shall I refrain?”+ And they began to say: “Go up, and the [true] God will give [it] into the king’s hand.”

6 But Je·hoshʹa·phat said: “Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah still?+ Then let us inquire through him.”+ 7 At that the king of Israel said to Je·hoshʹa·phat:+ “There is still one man+ through whom to inquire of Jehovah, but I myself certainly hate him,+ for he is prophesying concerning me, not for good, but, all his days, for bad.+ He is Mi·caiʹah* the son of Imʹlah.”+ However, Je·hoshʹa·phat said: “Do not let the king say a thing like that.”+

8 Accordingly the king of Israel called a court official+ and said: “Bring Mi·caiʹah the son of Imʹlah quickly.”+ 9 Now the king of Israel and Je·hoshʹa·phat the king of Judah were sitting each one on his throne, clothed in garments,+ and were sitting in the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Sa·marʹi·a; and all the prophets were acting as prophets before them.+ 10 Then Zed·e·kiʹah the son of Che·naʹa·nah made for himself horns+ of iron and said: “This is what Jehovah has said,+ ‘With these you will push the Syrians until you exterminate them.’”+ 11 And all the other prophets were prophesying the same as that, saying: “Go up to Raʹmoth-gilʹe·ad and prove successful,+ and Jehovah will certainly give [it] into the king’s hand.”+

12 And the messenger that went to call Mi·caiʹah spoke to him, saying: “Look! The words of the prophets are unanimously* of good to the king; and let your word, please, become like one of them+ and you must speak good.”+ 13 But Mi·caiʹah* said: “As Jehovah is living,+ what my God will say, that is what I shall speak.”+ 14 Then he came in to the king, and the king proceeded to say to him: “Mi·caiʹah,* shall we go to Raʹmoth-gilʹe·ad in war, or shall I refrain?” At once he said: “Go up and prove successful; and they will be given into YOUR hand.”+ 15 At that the king said to him: “For how many times am I putting you under oath+ that you should not speak to me anything but truth in the name of Jehovah?”+ 16 So he said: “I certainly see all the Israelites scattered upon the mountains, like sheep that have no shepherd.+ And Jehovah went on to say: ‘These have no masters.+ Let them go back each one to his house in peace.’”+

17 Then the king of Israel said to Je·hoshʹa·phat: “Did I not say to you, ‘He will prophesy concerning me, not good things, but bad’?”+

18 And he went on to say: “Therefore HEAR the word of Jehovah:+ I certainly see Jehovah sitting upon his throne+ and all the army+ of the heavens standing at his right and his left.+ 19 And Jehovah proceeded to say, ‘Who will fool Aʹhab the king of Israel that he may go up and fall at Raʹmoth-gilʹe·ad?’ And there was talk, this one saying something like this, and that one saying something like that.+ 20 Finally a spirit+ came out and stood before Jehovah and said, ‘I myself shall fool him.’ At that Jehovah said to him, ‘By what means?’+ 21 To this he said, ‘I shall go forth and certainly become a deceptive spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’+ So he said, ‘You will fool him, and, what is more, you will come off the winner.+ Go out and do that way.’+ 22 And now here Jehovah has put a deceptive spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours;+ but Jehovah himself has spoken calamity concerning you.”+

23 Zed·e·kiʹah+ the son of Che·naʹa·nah+ now approached and struck Mi·caiʹah+ on the cheek+ and said: “In just which way did the spirit of Jehovah pass along from me to speak with you?”+ 24 At that Mi·caiʹah said: “Look! You are seeing [which way] on that day+ when you will enter the innermost chamber to hide yourself.”+ 25 Then the king of Israel said: “TAKE Mi·caiʹah and turn him back to Aʹmon the chief of the city and to Joʹash the king’s son.+ 26 And YOU men must say, ‘This is what the king has said: “PUT this fellow in the house of detention+ and feed him with a reduced allowance of bread+ and a reduced allowance of water until I return in peace.”’”+ 27 Upon that Mi·caiʹah said: “If you return at all in peace, Jehovah has not spoken with* me.”+ And he added: “Hear, all YOU peoples.”+

28 And the king of Israel and Je·hoshʹa·phat the king of Judah proceeded to go up to Raʹmoth-gilʹe·ad.+ 29 The king of Israel now said to Je·hoshʹa·phat: “There will be a disguising+ and entering* into the battle [for me], but you, for your part, put on your garments.”+ Accordingly the king of Israel disguised himself, after which they entered into the battle.+ 30 As for the king of Syria, he had commanded the chiefs of the chariots that were his, saying: “YOU must fight, neither with the small nor with the great, but with the king of Israel alone.”+ 31 And it came about that, as soon as the chiefs of the chariots saw Je·hoshʹa·phat, they, for their part, said to themselves: “It is the king of Israel.”+ So they turned around against him to fight; and Je·hoshʹa·phat began to cry for aid,+ and Jehovah himself helped him,+ and God at once allured them away from him.+ 32 And it came about that as soon as the chiefs of the chariots saw that it did not prove to be the king of Israel, they immediately came back from following him.+

33 And there was a man that bent the bow in his innocence, but he got to strike+ the king of Israel between the appendages and the coat of mail, so that he said to the charioteer:+ “Turn your hand around, and you must take me out from the camp, because I have been badly wounded.”+ 34 And the battle kept rising in intensity on that day, and the king of Israel himself had to be kept in a standing position in the chariot facing the Syrians until the evening; and gradually he died at the time of the setting of the sun.+

19 Then Je·hoshʹa·phat the king of Judah returned in peace+ to his own house at Jerusalem. 2 Jeʹhu+ the son of Ha·naʹni+ the visionary+ now went out before him and said to King Je·hoshʹa·phat: “Is it to the wicked that help is to be given,+ and is it for those hating+ Jehovah that you should have love?+ And for this there is indignation+ against you from the person of Jehovah. 3 Nevertheless, there are good+ things that have been found with you, because you have cleared out the sacred poles from the land+ and you have prepared your heart to search for the [true] God.”+

4 And Je·hoshʹa·phat continued dwelling in Jerusalem; and he began to go out again among the people from Beʹer-sheʹba+ to the mountainous region of Eʹphra·im,+ that he might bring them back to Jehovah the God of their forefathers.+ 5 And he proceeded to station judges throughout the land in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city.+ 6 And he went on to say to the judges: “See what YOU are doing,+ because it is not for man that YOU judge but it is for Jehovah;+ and he is with YOU in the matter of judgment.+ 7 And now let the dread+ of Jehovah come to be upon YOU.+ Be careful and act,+ for with Jehovah our God there is no unrighteousness+ or partiality+ or taking of a bribe.”+

8 And in Jerusalem also Je·hoshʹa·phat stationed some of the Levites+ and the priests+ and some of the heads of the paternal+ houses of Israel for the judgment+ of Jehovah and for the legal cases+ of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.* 9 Further, he laid a command upon them, saying: “This is how YOU should do in the fear+ of Jehovah with faithfulness and with a complete heart. 10 As for every legal case that will come to YOU of YOUR brothers who are dwelling in their cities, involving the shedding of blood,*+ involving law+ and commandment+ and regulations+ and judicial decisions,+ YOU must warn them that they may not do wrong against Jehovah and indignation+ may not have to take place against YOU and against YOUR brothers. This is how YOU should do that YOU may not incur guilt. 11 And here is Am·a·riʹah the chief priest* over YOU for every matter of Jehovah;+ and Zeb·a·diʹah the son of Ishʹma·el the leader of the house of Judah for every matter of the king; and as officers the Levites are available for YOU. Be strong+ and act, and let Jehovah+ prove to be with what is good.”+

20 And it came about afterward that the sons of Moʹab+ and the sons of Amʹmon+ and with them some of the Amʹmon·im*+ came against Je·hoshʹa·phat in war.+ 2 So people came and told Je·hoshʹa·phat, saying: “There has come against you a large crowd from the region of the sea,* from Eʹdom;*+ and there they are in Hazʹa·zon-taʹmar, that is to say, En-geʹdi.”+ 3 At that Je·hoshʹa·phat became afraid+ and set his face to search for Jehovah.+ So he proclaimed a fast+ for all Judah. 4 Eventually those of Judah were collected together to inquire of Jehovah.+ Even from all the cities of Judah they came to consult Jehovah.+

5 Then Je·hoshʹa·phat stood up in the congregation* of Judah and of Jerusalem in the house of Jehovah+ before the new courtyard,+ 6 and he proceeded to say:+

“O Jehovah the God of our forefathers,+ are you not God in the heavens,+ and are you not dominating over all the kingdoms of the nations,+ and are there not in your hand power and mightiness, with no one to hold his ground against you?+ 7 Did not you yourself, O God of ours,+ drive away the inhabitants of this land from before your people Israel+ and then give+ it to the seed of Abraham, your lover,*+ to time indefinite? 8 And they took up dwelling in it, and they proceeded to build in it for you a sanctuary for your name,+ saying, 9 ‘If there should come upon us calamity,+ sword, adverse judgment, or pestilence+ or famine,+ let us stand before this house+ and before you (for your name+ is in this house), that we may call to you for aid out of our distress, and may you hear and save.’+ 10 And now here the sons of Amʹmon,+ and Moʹab+ and the mountainous region of Seʹir,+ whom you did not allow Israel to invade when they were coming out of the land of Egypt, but they turned away from them and did not annihilate them,+ 11 yes, here they are rewarding+ us by coming in to drive us out from your possession that you caused us to possess.+ 12 O our God, will you not execute judgment upon them?+ For in us there is no power before this large crowd that is coming against us;+ and we ourselves do not know what we ought to do,+ but our eyes are toward you.”+

13 All the while all those of Judah were standing before Jehovah,+ even their little ones,+ their wives and their sons.

14 Now as for Ja·ha·ziʹel the son of Zech·a·riʹah the son of Be·naiʹah the son of Je·iʹel the son of Mat·ta·niʹah the Levite of the sons of Aʹsaph,+ the spirit+ of Jehovah came to be upon him in the middle of the congregation. 15 Consequently he said: “Pay attention, all Judah and YOU inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Je·hoshʹa·phat! Here is what Jehovah has said to YOU, ‘Do not YOU be afraid+ or be terrified because of this large crowd; for the battle is not YOURS, but God’s.+ 16 Tomorrow go down against them. There they are coming up by the pass of Ziz; and YOU will be certain to find them at the end of the torrent valley in front of the wilderness of Je·ruʹel. 17 YOU will not need to fight+ in this instance. Take YOUR position, stand still+ and see the salvation+ of Jehovah in YOUR behalf. O Judah and Jerusalem, do not be afraid or be terrified.+ Tomorrow go out against* them, and Jehovah will be with YOU.’”+

18 At once Je·hoshʹa·phat bowed low with his face to the earth,+ and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem themselves fell down before Jehovah to do obeisance to Jehovah.+ 19 Then the Levites+ of the sons of the Koʹhath·ites+ and of the sons of the Koʹrah·ites+ rose up to praise Jehovah the God of Israel with an extraordinarily loud voice.+

20 And they proceeded to rise early in the morning and go out to the wilderness+ of Te·koʹa.+ And as they went out, Je·hoshʹa·phat stood up and then said: “Hear me, O Judah and YOU inhabitants of Jerusalem!+ Put faith+ in Jehovah YOUR God that YOU may prove yourselves of long duration. Put faith in his prophets+ and so prove successful.”

21 Further, he took counsel+ with the people and stationed singers+ to Jehovah and those offering praise+ in holy adornment+ as they went out ahead of the armed men,+ and saying: “GIVE praise to Jehovah,+ for to time indefinite is his loving-kindness.”*+

22 And at the time that they started off with the joyful cry and praise, Jehovah set men in ambush+ against the sons of Amʹmon, Moʹab and the mountainous region of Seʹir who were coming into Judah, and they went smiting one another.+ 23 And the sons of Amʹmon and Moʹab proceeded to stand up against the inhabitants of the mountainous region of Seʹir+ to devote them to destruction and annihilate them; and as soon as they finished with the inhabitants of Seʹir, they helped each one to bring his own fellow to ruin.+

24 But as for Judah, it came to the watchtower of the wilderness.+ When they turned their faces toward the crowd, why, there they were, their carcasses fallen to the earth+ without anyone escaping. 25 So Je·hoshʹa·phat and his people came to plunder the spoil+ on them, and they got to find among them in abundance both goods and clothing* and desirable articles; and they went stripping them off for themselves until they could carry no more.+ And it came to be three days that they were plundering the spoil, for it was abundant. 26 And on the fourth day they congregated together at the low plain of Berʹa·cah, for there they blessed Jehovah.+ That is why they called the name+ of that place Low Plain of Berʹa·cah*—until today.

27 Then all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned, with Je·hoshʹa·phat at their head, to return to Jerusalem with rejoicing, for Jehovah had made them rejoice over their enemies.+ 28 So they came to Jerusalem with stringed instruments+ and with harps+ and with trumpets+ to the house of Jehovah.+ 29 And the dread+ of God came to be upon all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that Jehovah had fought against the enemies of Israel.+ 30 Thus the royal realm of Je·hoshʹa·phat had no disturbance, and his God continued to give him rest all around.+

31 And Je·hoshʹa·phat+ went on reigning over Judah. Thirty-five years old he was when he began to reign, and for twenty-five years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was A·zuʹbah+ the daughter of Shilʹhi. 32 And he kept walking in the way of his father Aʹsa,+ and he did not turn aside from it, by doing what was right in Jehovah’s eyes.+ 33 Only the high places+ themselves did not disappear; and the people themselves had not yet prepared their heart for the God of their forefathers.+

34 As for the rest of the affairs of Je·hoshʹa·phat, the first and the last, there they are written among the words of Jeʹhu+ the son of Ha·naʹni,+ which were inserted in the Book+ of the Kings of Israel. 35 And after this Je·hoshʹa·phat the king of Judah had partnership with A·ha·ziʹah+ the king of Israel, who acted wickedly.+ 36 So he made him a partner with himself in making ships to go to Tarʹshish+ and they made ships in Eʹzi·on-geʹber.+ 37 However, E·li·eʹzer the son of Dod·avʹa·hu of Ma·reʹsha spoke prophetically against Je·hoshʹa·phat, saying: “Inasmuch as you have had partnership with A·ha·ziʹah,+ Jehovah will certainly break down your works.”+ Accordingly the ships were wrecked,+ and they did not retain strength to go to Tarʹshish.+

21 Finally Je·hoshʹa·phat lay down with his forefathers+ and was buried with his forefathers+ in the City of David; and Je·hoʹram+ his son began to reign in place of him. 2 And he had brothers, Je·hoshʹa·phat’s sons, Az·a·riʹah* and Je·hiʹel and Zech·a·riʹah and Az·a·riʹah* and Miʹcha·el and Sheph·a·tiʹah, all these being the sons of Je·hoshʹa·phat the king of Israel.* 3 Consequently their father gave them many gifts+ in silver and in gold and in choice things along with fortified cities in Judah;+ but the kingdom he gave to Je·hoʹram,+ for he was the firstborn.+

4 When Je·hoʹram rose up over the kingdom of his father he proceeded to make his position strong, and so he killed all his brothers+ with the sword and also some of the princes of Israel. 5 Thirty-two years old was Je·hoʹram when he began to reign, and for eight years he reigned+ in Jerusalem. 6 And he went on walking in the way of the kings of Israel,+ just as those of the house of Aʹhab had done; for Aʹhab’s own daughter had become his wife,+ and he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes.+ 7 And Jehovah did not want to bring the house of David to ruin,+ for the sake of the covenant+ that he had concluded with David, and just as he had said he would give him+ and his sons a lamp always.+

8 In his days Eʹdom+ revolted from under the hand of Judah+ and then made a king to reign over them.+ 9 So Je·hoʹram together with his chiefs passed over and also all the chariots with him. And it came about that he rose up by night and went striking down the Eʹdom·ites that were surrounding him and also the chiefs of the chariots. 10 But Eʹdom kept up its revolt from under the hand of Judah down to this day. It was then that Libʹnah+ began to revolt at the same time from under his hand, because he had left Jehovah the God of his forefathers.+ 11 He himself also had made high places+ on the mountains of Judah, that he might cause the inhabitants of Jerusalem to have immoral intercourse,+ and that he might drive Judah away.+

12 Eventually there came a writing+ to him from E·liʹjah*+ the prophet, saying: “This is what Jehovah the God of David your forefather has said, ‘Due to the fact that you have not walked in the ways of Je·hoshʹa·phat+ your father or in the ways of Aʹsa+ the king of Judah, 13 but you walk in the way of the kings of Israel+ and cause Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to have immoral intercourse+ the same way that the house of Aʹhab caused the having of immoral intercourse,+ and even your own brothers, the household of your father, who were better than you, you have killed;+ 14 look! Jehovah is dealing a great blow+ to your people+ and to your sons+ and to your wives and to all your goods. 15 And you will be with many sicknesses,+ with a malady of your intestines, until your intestines have come out because of the sickness day by day.’”+

16 Accordingly Jehovah aroused against Je·hoʹram the spirit+ of the Phi·lisʹtines+ and the Arabs+ that were by the side* of the E·thi·oʹpi·ans.*+ 17 So they came up into Judah and forced it open and took captive all the goods that were to be found in the king’s house and also his sons+ and his wives,+ and there was not left to him a son but Je·hoʹa·haz,+ his youngest son. 18 And after all this Jehovah plagued him in his intestines with a sickness for which there was no healing.+ 19 And it came about that in the days to come, even when the term of two full years had expired, his intestines+ came out during his sickness, and he gradually died in his bad maladies; and his people did not make a burning for him like the burning+ for his forefathers. 20 Thirty-two years old he happened to be when he began to reign, and for eight years he reigned in Jerusalem. Finally he went away without being desired.+ So they buried him in the City of David,+ but not in the burial places of the kings.+

22 Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem made A·ha·ziʹah*+ his youngest son king in place of him, (for the marauder band that came with the Arabs+ to the camp had killed all the older ones,)+ and A·ha·ziʹah the son of Je·hoʹram began to reign as king of Judah. 2 Twenty-two* years old was A·ha·ziʹah when he began to reign,+ and for one year he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Ath·a·liʹah+ the granddaughter* of Omʹri.+

3 He himself also walked in the ways of the house of Aʹhab,+ for his mother+ herself became his counselor in doing wickedly. 4 And he went on doing what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, the same as the house of Aʹhab, for they themselves became counselors+ to him after the death of his father, to his ruination. 5 It was also in their counsel that he walked,+ so that he went with Je·hoʹram+ the son of Aʹhab the king of Israel to the war against Hazʹa·el+ the king of Syria at Raʹmoth-gilʹe·ad,+ at which the shooters got to strike Je·hoʹram.*+ 6 Hence he returned to get healed at Jezʹre·el+ from the wounds that they had inflicted upon him at Raʹmah+ when he fought Hazʹa·el the king of Syria.

As for Az·a·riʹah*+ the son of Je·hoʹram+ the king of Judah, he went down to see Je·hoʹram+ the son of Aʹhab in Jezʹre·el, for he was sick.+ 7 But it was from God+ that the downfall+ of A·ha·ziʹah occurred by [his] coming to Je·hoʹram; and when he came, he went out+ with Je·hoʹram to Jeʹhu+ the grandson* of Nimʹshi,+ whom Jehovah had anointed+ to cut off the house of Aʹhab.+ 8 And it came about that as soon as Jeʹhu had entered into controversy with the house of Aʹhab,+ he got to find the princes of Judah and the sons of the brothers of A·ha·ziʹah,+ ministers of A·ha·ziʹah, and he proceeded to kill them.+ 9 Then he went looking for A·ha·ziʹah, and they finally captured him,+ as he was hiding in Sa·marʹi·a,+ and brought him to Jeʹhu. Then they put him to death and buried him,+ for they said: “He is the grandson of Je·hoshʹa·phat,+ who searched for Jehovah with all his heart.”+ And there was no one of the house of A·ha·ziʹah to retain power for the kingdom.

10 As regards Ath·a·liʹah+ the mother of A·ha·ziʹah, she saw that her son had died. So she rose up and destroyed all the royal offspring of the house of Judah.+ 11 However, Je·ho·shabʹe·ath+ the daughter of the king took Je·hoʹash*+ the son of A·ha·ziʹah and stole him away from among the sons of the king that were to be put to death, and put him and his nursing woman in the inner room for the couches. And Je·ho·shabʹe·ath the daughter of King Je·hoʹram,+ the wife of Je·hoiʹa·da+ the priest, (for she herself happened to be the sister of A·ha·ziʹah,) kept him concealed because of Ath·a·liʹah, and she did not put him to death.+ 12 And he continued with them in the house of the [true] God hidden for six years,+ while Ath·a·liʹah was ruling as queen+ over the land.+

23 And in the seventh year Je·hoiʹa·da+ showed himself courageous and proceeded to take the chiefs of hundreds,+ namely, Az·a·riʹah the son of Je·roʹham, and Ishʹma·el the son of Je·ho·haʹnan and Az·a·riʹah the son of Oʹbed and Ma·a·seiʹah the son of A·daiʹah and E·li·shaʹphat the son of Zichʹri, with him into the covenant. 2 Afterward they went around throughout Judah and collected together the Levites+ from all the cities of Judah and the heads+ of the paternal+ houses of Israel. So they came to Jerusalem. 3 Then all the congregation concluded a covenant+ with the king in the house+ of the [true] God, after which he said to them:

“Look! The son+ of the king himself will reign,+ just as Jehovah promised concerning the sons of David.+ 4 This is the thing that YOU will do: one third of YOU who are coming in on the sabbath,+ of the priests+ and of the Levites,+ will be for doorkeepers;+ 5 and one third will be at the house of the king;+ and one third will be at the Gate of the Foundation;+ and all the people will be in the courtyards+ of the house of Jehovah. 6 And do not let anyone enter the house of Jehovah+ but the priests and those of the Levites ministering.+ These are the ones that will enter, because they are a holy group,+ and all the people themselves will keep the obligation to Jehovah. 7 And the Levites must encircle the king all around,+ each one with his weapons in his hands; and as for anyone coming into the house, he should be put to death. And continue with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.”

8 And the Levites and all Judah proceeded to do according to all that Je·hoiʹa·da+ the priest had commanded.+ So they took each one his men that were coming in on the sabbath together with those going out on the sabbath,+ for Je·hoiʹa·da the priest had not set the divisions+ free from duty. 9 Further, Je·hoiʹa·da the priest gave the chiefs of hundreds+ the spears and the shields and the circular shields+ that had belonged to King David,+ which were in the house of the [true] God.+ 10 And he went on to station all the people,+ even each one with his missile in his hand, from the right side of the house clear to the left side of the house, by the altar and by the house, all around near the king. 11 Then they brought the king’s son out+ and put upon him the diadem+ and the Testimony+ and made him king, and so Je·hoiʹa·da and his sons anointed+ him and said: “Let the king live!”+

12 When Ath·a·liʹah heard the sound of the people running and praising the king,+ she at once came to the people at the house of Jehovah. 13 Then she saw, and there was the king standing by his pillar*+ at the entry, and the princes+ and the trumpets+ by the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing+ and blowing+ the trumpets, and the singers+ with the instruments of song and those giving the signal for offering praise. Immediately Ath·a·liʹah ripped her garments apart and said: “Conspiracy! Conspiracy!”+ 14 But Je·hoiʹa·da the priest brought out the chiefs of hundreds, the appointed ones of the military force, and said to them: “Take her out from inside the rows;+ and as for anyone coming after her, he should be put to death with the sword!” For the priest had said: “YOU must not put her to death at the house of Jehovah.” 15 So they laid their hands upon her. When she came to the entry of the horse gate of the king’s house, they at once put her to death there.+

16 Then Je·hoiʹa·da concluded a covenant between himself* and all the people and the king that they would continue as the people+ of Jehovah. 17 After that all the people came to the house of Baʹal and pulled it down;+ and his altars+ and his images they broke up,+ and Matʹtan+ the priest of Baʹal they killed+ before the altars. 18 Further, Je·hoiʹa·da put the offices of the house of Jehovah in the hand of the priests [and] the Levites,* whom David+ had put in divisions over the house of Jehovah to offer up the burnt sacrifices of Jehovah according to what is written in the law of Moses,+ with rejoicing and with song by the hands of David. 19 So he stationed the gatekeepers+ by the gates+ of the house of Jehovah that no one unclean in any respect might enter. 20 He now took the chiefs of hundreds+ and the lordly ones and the rulers over the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of Jehovah.+ Then they came right through the upper gate to the king’s house and seated the king upon the throne+ of the kingdom. 21 And all the people of the land continued to rejoice;+ and the city itself had no disturbance, and Ath·a·liʹah they had put to death with the sword.+

24 Seven years old was Je·hoʹash* when he began to reign,+ and for forty years he reigned in Jerusalem.+ And his mother’s name was Zibʹi·ah from Beʹer-sheʹba.+ 2 And Je·hoʹash+ kept doing what was right in Jehovah’s eyes+ all the days of Je·hoiʹa·da the priest.+ 3 And Je·hoiʹa·da proceeded to get two wives for him, and he came to be father to sons and daughters.+

4 Now it occurred afterward that it became close to the heart of Je·hoʹash to renovate the house of Jehovah.+ 5 Accordingly he collected the priests+ and the Levites together and said to them: “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair+ the house of YOUR God from year to year;+ and YOU, for YOUR part, should act quickly in the matter.” And the Levites did not act quickly.+ 6 So the king called Je·hoiʹa·da the head and said to him:+ “Why is it that you have not required an account of the Levites for bringing in from Judah and Jerusalem the sacred tax ordered by Moses+ the servant of Jehovah, even that of the congregation of Israel, for the tent of the Testimony?+ 7 For as regards Ath·a·liʹah the wicked woman, her sons+ themselves had broken into the house of the [true] God,+ and even all the holy+ things of the house of Jehovah they had rendered up to the Baʹals.”+ 8 Then the king said [the word], and so they made a chest+ and put it outside at the gate of the house of Jehovah. 9 After that they issued a call throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring to Jehovah the sacred tax+ ordered by Moses+ the servant of the [true] God* upon Israel in the wilderness. 10 And all the princes+ and all the people began to rejoice,+ and they kept bringing and casting it into the chest+ until they all had given.

11 And it came about at the proper time he would bring the chest to the care of the king by the hand of the Levites,+ and, as soon as they saw that there was plenty of money,+ the secretary+ of the king and the commissioner of the chief priest came and then emptied the chest and lifted it up and returned it to its place. That was the way they did from day to day, so that they gathered money in abundance. 12 Then the king and Je·hoiʹa·da would give it to the doers+ of the work of the service of Jehovah’s house,+ and they came to be hirers of the stonecutters+ and of the craftsmen+ for renovating Jehovah’s house,+ and also of the workers in iron and copper for repairing Jehovah’s house.+ 13 And the doers of the work began operations,+ and the repair work kept advancing by their hand, and finally they made the house of the [true] God stand as it structurally should and made it strong. 14 And as soon as they had finished they brought before the king and Je·hoiʹa·da the rest of the money, and they proceeded to make utensils for the house of Jehovah, utensils for the ministry+ and for making offerings and cups+ and utensils of gold+ and of silver; and they came to be offerers of burnt sacrifices+ in the house of Jehovah constantly all the days of Je·hoiʹa·da.

15 And Je·hoiʹa·da got to be old and satisfied with years+ and gradually died, being a hundred and thirty years old at his death. 16 So they buried him in the City of David along with the kings,+ because he had done good in Israel+ and with the [true] God and His house.

17 And after Je·hoiʹa·da’s death the princes+ of Judah came in and proceeded to bow down to the king. At that time the king listened to them.+ 18 And gradually they left the house of Jehovah the God of their forefathers and began serving the sacred poles+ and the idols,+ so that there came to be indignation against Judah and Jerusalem because of this guilt of theirs.+ 19 And he kept sending prophets+ among them to bring them back to Jehovah; and they kept bearing witness* against them, but they did not give ear.+

20 And God’s spirit+ itself enveloped*+ Zech·a·riʹah+ the son of Je·hoiʹa·da+ the priest, so that he stood up above the people and said to them: “This is what the [true] God has said, ‘Why are YOU overstepping the commandments of Jehovah, so that YOU cannot prove successful?+ Because YOU have left Jehovah, he will, in turn, leave YOU.’”+ 21 Finally they conspired against him+ and pelted him with stones+ at the king’s commandment in the courtyard of Jehovah’s house. 22 And Je·hoʹash the king did not remember the loving-kindness that Je·hoiʹa·da his father had exercised toward him,+ so that he killed his son, who, when he was at the point of dying, said: “Let Jehovah see to it and ask it back.”+

23 And it came about at the turn+ of the year a military force of Syria+ came up against him,+ and they began to invade Judah and Jerusalem. Then they brought all the princes+ of the people to ruin from among the people, and all their spoil they sent to the king of Damascus.+ 24 For it was with a small number of men that the military force of the Syrians made an invasion,+ and Jehovah himself gave into their hand a military force of very great number,+ because they had left Jehovah the God of their forefathers; and upon Je·hoʹash they executed acts of judgment.+ 25 And when they went away from him (for they left him with many diseases),+ his own servants conspired+ against him because of the blood+ of the sons* of Je·hoiʹa·da+ the priest; and they got to kill him upon his own couch, so that he died.+ Then they buried him in the City of David,+ but they did not bury him in the burial places of the kings.+

26 And these were the conspirators against him: Zaʹbad+ the son of Shimʹe·ath the Amʹmon·it·ess and Je·hozʹa·bad the son of Shimʹrith the Moʹab·i·tess. 27 As for his sons and the abundance of the pronouncement against him+ and the founding+ of the house of the [true] God, there they are written in the exposition* of the Book+ of the Kings. And Am·a·ziʹah+ his son began to reign in place of him.

25 At the age of twenty-five years Am·a·ziʹah+ became king, and for twenty-nine years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Je·ho·adʹdan+ of Jerusalem. 2 And he continued to do what was right in Jehovah’s eyes,+ only not with a complete+ heart. 3 And it came about that as soon as the kingdom had become strong upon him, he promptly killed+ his servants+ who had struck down the king his father.+ 4 And their sons he did not put to death, but [did] according to what is written in the law, in the book of Moses,+ that Jehovah commanded, saying: “Fathers should not die for sons,+ neither should sons themselves die for fathers;+ but it is each one for his own sin that they should die.”+

5 And Am·a·ziʹah proceeded to collect Judah together and to have them stand according to the house of the forefathers,+ by the chiefs of thousands+ and by the chiefs of hundreds+ for all Judah and Benjamin; and he went on to register them from twenty+ years of age upward, and finally he found them [to be] three hundred thousand choice men going out to the army, handling lance+ and large shield.+ 6 Further, he hired from Israel a hundred thousand valiant, mighty men for a hundred silver talents.* 7 And a certain man of the [true] God+ came to him, saying: “O king, do not let the army of Israel come with you, for Jehovah is not with Israel,+ [that is,] all the sons of Eʹphra·im. 8 But come you yourself, act, be courageous for the war.+ The [true] God could cause you to stumble before an enemy; for there exists power with God* to help+ and to cause stumbling.”+ 9 At this Am·a·ziʹah+ said to the man of the [true] God: “But what is there to do about the hundred talents that I have given to the troops of Israel?”+ To this the man of the [true] God said: “There exists with Jehovah the means to give you much more than this.”+ 10 Accordingly Am·a·ziʹah separated them, namely, the troops that had come to him from Eʹphra·im, to go to their own place. However, their anger got very hot against Judah, so that they returned to their own place in the heat of anger.+

11 And Am·a·ziʹah, for his part, took courage and proceeded to lead his own people and go to the Valley of Salt;+ and he went striking down the sons of Seʹir,+ ten thousand [of them].+ 12 And there were ten thousand that the sons of Judah captured alive. So they brought them to the top of the crag, and proceeded to throw them from the top of the crag; and they, one and all, burst apart.+ 13 As for the members of the troop whom Am·a·ziʹah had sent back from going with him to the war,+ they began making raids upon the cities of Judah, from Sa·marʹi·a+ clear to Beth-hoʹron,+ and went striking down three thousand of them and taking a great plunder.

14 But it occurred after Am·a·ziʹah came from striking down the Eʹdom·ites that he now brought the gods+ of the sons of Seʹir and set them up for himself as gods,+ and before them he began to bow down,+ and to them he began to make sacrificial smoke.+ 15 Consequently Jehovah’s anger became hot against Am·a·ziʹah, and so he sent a prophet to him and said to him: “Why have you searched+ for the people’s gods+ that did not deliver their own people out of your hand?”+ 16 And it came about when he spoke to him that [the king] immediately said to him: “Was it a counselor of the king that we constituted you?+ Quit for your own sake.+ Why should they strike you down?” Accordingly the prophet quit, but he said: “I certainly know that God has resolved to bring you to ruin,+ because you have done this+ and you have not listened to my counsel.”+

17 Then Am·a·ziʹah the king of Judah took counsel and sent to Je·hoʹash the son of Je·hoʹa·haz the son of Jeʹhu the king of Israel,+ saying: “Come! Let us look each other in the face.”+ 18 At that Je·hoʹash the king of Israel sent to Am·a·ziʹah the king of Judah, saying:+ “The thorny weed itself that was in Lebʹa·non+ sent to the cedar that was in Lebʹa·non, saying, ‘Do give your daughter to my son as a wife.’+ However, a wild beast+ of the field that was in Lebʹa·non passed by and trampled the thorny weed down. 19 You have said to yourself, Here you have struck down Eʹdom.+ And your heart+ has lifted you up to be glorified.+ Now do keep dwelling in your own house.+ Why should you engage in strife in a bad position+ and have to fall, you and Judah with you?”+

20 But Am·a·ziʹah did not listen; for it was from the [true] God+ for the purpose of giving them into his hand, because they had searched for the gods of Eʹdom.+ 21 So Je·hoʹash the king of Israel went up,+ and they proceeded to look each other in the face,+ he and Am·a·ziʹah the king of Judah, at Beth-sheʹmesh,+ which belongs to Judah. 22 And Judah came to be defeated before Israel,+ so that they took to flight each one to his tent.*+ 23 And it was Am·a·ziʹah the king of Judah, the son of Je·hoʹash the son of Je·hoʹa·haz, that Je·hoʹash the king of Israel seized+ at Beth-sheʹmesh, after which he brought him to Jerusalem+ and made a breach in the wall of Jerusalem, from the Gate of Eʹphra·im+ clear to the Corner Gate,+ four hundred cubits.* 24 And [he took]* all the gold and the silver and all the articles that were to be found in the house of the [true] God with Oʹbed-eʹdom+ and the treasures of the king’s house+ and the hostages, and then returned to Sa·marʹi·a.+

25 And Am·a·ziʹah+ the son of Je·hoʹash the king of Judah continued to live after the death of Je·hoʹash+ the son of Je·hoʹa·haz the king of Israel fifteen years.+ 26 As for the rest of the affairs of Am·a·ziʹah, the first and the last,+ look! are they not written in the Book+ of the Kings of Judah and Israel?+ 27 And from the time that Am·a·ziʹah turned aside from following Jehovah, they proceeded to form a conspiracy+ against him in Jerusalem. At length he fled to Laʹchish;+ but they sent after him to Laʹchish and put him to death there.+ 28 So they carried him upon horses+ and buried him with his forefathers in the city of Judah.*+

26 Then all the people+ of Judah took Uz·ziʹah,*+ he being sixteen years old, and they made+ him king in place of his father Am·a·ziʹah.+ 2 He it was that rebuilt Eʹloth+ and then restored it to Judah after the king had lain down with his forefathers.+ 3 Sixteen years old was Uz·ziʹah+ when he began to reign, and for fifty-two years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Je·co·liʹah+ of Jerusalem. 4 And he kept doing what was right in Jehovah’s eyes,+ according to all that Am·a·ziʹah his father had done.+ 5 And he continually tended to search+ for God in the days of Zech·a·riʹah, the instructor in the fear of the [true] God;+ and, in the days of his searching for Jehovah, the [true] God made him prosperous.+

6 And he proceeded to go out and fight against the Phi·lisʹtines+ and break through the wall of Gath+ and the wall of Jabʹneh+ and the wall of Ashʹdod,+ after which he built cities in Ashʹdod+ [territory] and among the Phi·lisʹtines. 7 And the [true] God continued to help+ him against the Phi·lisʹtines and against the Arabians+ that were dwelling in Gur·baʹal and the Me·uʹnim.+ 8 And the Amʹmon·ites+ began to give tribute+ to Uz·ziʹah. Eventually his fame+ went even as far as Egypt, for he displayed strength to an extraordinary degree. 9 Moreover, Uz·ziʹah built towers+ in Jerusalem by the Corner Gate+ and by the Valley Gate+ and by the Buttress, and made them strong. 10 Further, he built towers+ in the wilderness, and hewed out many cisterns (for there was a great deal of livestock that became his), and also in the She·pheʹlah+ and on the tableland. There were farmers and vinedressers in the mountains and in Carʹmel, for a lover of agriculture he proved to be.

11 Moreover, Uz·ziʹah came to have a force engaging in war, those going out on military service in troops,+ by the number of their registration+ by the hand of Je·iʹel the secretary+ and Ma·a·seiʹah the officer under the control+ of Han·a·niʹah of the king’s princes.+ 12 The entire number of the heads of the paternal houses,+ of the valiant,+ mighty men,+ was two thousand six hundred. 13 And under their control the army forces were three hundred and seven thousand five hundred men engaging in war with the power of a military force to help the king against the enemy.+ 14 And Uz·ziʹah continued to prepare for them, for the entire army, shields+ and lances+ and helmets+ and coats of mail+ and bows+ and slingstones.+ 15 Further, he made in Jerusalem engines of war, the invention of engineers, that they might come to be upon the towers+ and upon the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones. Consequently his fame+ went out to a great distance, for he was helped wonderfully until he was strong.

16 However, as soon as he was strong, his heart became haughty+ even to the point of causing ruin,+ so that he acted unfaithfully against Jehovah his God and came into the temple of Jehovah to burn incense upon the altar of incense.+ 17 Immediately Az·a·riʹah the priest and with him priests of Jehovah, eighty valiant men, came in after him. 18 Then they stood up against Uz·ziʹah the king+ and said to him: “It is not your business,+ O Uz·ziʹah, to burn incense to Jehovah, but it is the business of the priests the sons of Aaron,+ the ones sanctified, to burn incense. Go out from the sanctuary; for you have acted unfaithfully, and it is not for any glory+ to you on the part of Jehovah God.”

19 But Uz·ziʹah became enraged+ while in his hand there was a censer+ for burning incense, and, during his rage against the priests, leprosy+ itself flashed up+ in his forehead before the priests in the house of Jehovah beside the altar of incense. 20 When Az·a·riʹah the chief priest* and all the priests turned toward him, why, there he was stricken with leprosy in his forehead!+ So they excitedly began to remove him from there, and he himself also hastened to go out, because Jehovah had smitten him.+

21 And Uz·ziʹah+ the king continued to be a leper until the day of his death, and he kept dwelling in a house exempt from duties, as a leper;+ for he had been severed from the house of Jehovah, while Joʹtham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.

22 And the rest of the affairs of Uz·ziʹah,+ the first and the last, Isaiah*+ the son of Aʹmoz+ the prophet has written. 23 Finally Uz·ziʹah lay down with his forefathers; and so they buried him with his forefathers, [but] in the burial field that belonged to the kings,+ for they said: “He is a leper.” And Joʹtham+ his son began to reign in place of him.

27 Twenty-five years old was Joʹtham+ when he began to reign, and for sixteen years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Je·ruʹshah+ the daughter of Zaʹdok. 2 And he kept doing what was right in Jehovah’s eyes,+ according to all that Uz·ziʹah* his father had done.+ Only he did not invade the temple of Jehovah.+ However, the people were yet acting ruinously.+ 3 He himself built the upper gate+ of Jehovah’s house, and on the wall of Oʹphel+ he did a great deal of building. 4 And cities+ he built in the mountainous region of Judah,+ and in the woodlands+ he built fortified places+ and towers.+ 5 And he himself warred against the king of the sons of Amʹmon+ and eventually proved stronger than they were, so that the sons of Amʹmon gave him in that year a hundred silver talents* and ten thousand cor*+ measures of wheat+ and ten thousand of barley.+ This was what the sons of Amʹmon paid to him, also in the second year and the third.+ 6 So Joʹtham kept strengthening himself, for he prepared his ways before Jehovah his God.+

7 As for the rest of the affairs of Joʹtham+ and all his wars and his ways, there they are written in the Book+ of the Kings of Israel and of Judah. 8 Twenty-five years old he happened to be when he began to reign, and for sixteen years he reigned in Jerusalem.+ 9 Finally Joʹtham lay down with his forefathers,+ and they buried him in the City of David.+ And Aʹhaz+ his son began to reign in place of him.

28 Twenty years old was Aʹhaz+ when he began to reign, and for sixteen years he reigned in Jerusalem,+ and he did not do what was right in Jehovah’s eyes like David his forefather.+ 2 But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel,+ and even molten+ statues he made of the Baʹals.+ 3 And he himself made sacrificial smoke+ in the valley of the son of Hinʹnom*+ and proceeded to burn up his sons*+ in the fire, according to the detestable+ things of the nations that Jehovah had driven out from before the sons of Israel.+ 4 And he regularly sacrificed+ and made sacrificial smoke on the high places+ and upon the hills+ and under every sort of luxuriant tree.+

5 Consequently Jehovah his God gave him into the hand+ of the king of Syria,+ so that they struck him and carried off from him a great number of captives and brought them to Damascus.+ And also into the hand of the king of Israel+ he was given, so that he struck him with a great slaughter. 6 Accordingly Peʹkah+ the son of Rem·a·liʹah+ killed in Judah a hundred and twenty thousand in one day, all valiant men, because of their leaving Jehovah+ the God of their forefathers. 7 Further, Zichʹri, a mighty man of Eʹphra·im,+ killed Ma·a·seiʹah the son of the king and Az·riʹkam the leader of the household and El·kaʹnah the one next to the king. 8 Moreover, the sons of Israel took two hundred thousand of their brothers captive, women, sons and daughters; and also a great deal of spoil they took from them as plunder, after which they brought the spoil to Sa·marʹi·a.+

9 And there happened to be a prophet of Jehovah there whose name was Oʹded. So he went out before the army that was coming to Sa·marʹi·a and said to them: “Look! It was because of the rage+ of Jehovah the God of YOUR forefathers against Judah that he gave them into YOUR hand, so that YOU did a killing among them with a raging+ that has reached clear to the heavens.+ 10 And now the sons of Judah and of Jerusalem YOU are thinking* of reducing to menservants+ and maidservants for yourselves. Nevertheless, are there not with YOU yourselves cases of guilt against Jehovah YOUR God? 11 And now listen to me and return the captives that you have captured from YOUR brothers,+ for Jehovah’s burning anger is against YOU.”+

12 At that [certain] men of the heads+ of the sons of Eʹphra·im,+ Az·a·riʹah the son of Je·ho·haʹnan, Ber·e·chiʹah the son of Me·shilʹle·moth and Je·hiz·kiʹah the son of Shalʹlum and A·maʹsa the son of Hadʹlai, rose up against those coming in from the military campaign, 13 and they said to them: “YOU must not bring in the captives here, for it will result in guilt against Jehovah on our part. YOU are thinking of adding to our sins and to our guilt, for abundant is the guilt we have,+ and there is burning anger+ against Israel.” 14 Accordingly the armed+ men left the captives+ and the plunder before the princes+ and all the congregation. 15 Then the men that were designated by their names+ rose up and took hold of the captives, and all their naked ones they clothed from the spoil. So they clothed them+ and furnished them with sandals and fed them+ and gave them drink+ and greased them. Furthermore, in the case of anyone tottering, they gave them transportation+ on the asses and brought them to Jerʹi·cho,+ the city of palm trees,+ beside their brothers. After that they returned to Sa·marʹi·a.+

16 At that time King Aʹhaz+ sent to the kings of As·syrʹi·a+ for them to help him. 17 And once again the Eʹdom·ites+ themselves came in and went striking down Judah and carrying off captives. 18 As for the Phi·lisʹtines,+ they made a raid upon the cities of the She·pheʹlah*+ and the Negʹeb*+ of Judah and got to capture Beth-sheʹmesh+ and Aiʹja·lon+ and Ge·deʹroth+ and Soʹco+ and its dependent towns and Timʹnah+ and its dependent towns and Gimʹzo and its dependent towns; and they took up dwelling there. 19 For Jehovah humbled+ Judah on account of Aʹhaz the king of Israel,* because he let unrestraint grow in Judah,+ and there was an acting with great unfaithfulness* toward Jehovah.

20 Eventually Tilʹgath-pil·neʹser+ the king of As·syrʹi·a came against him and caused him distress,+ and did not strengthen him. 21 For Aʹhaz stripped the house of Jehovah+ and the house of the king+ and of the princes+ and thus made a gift to the king of As·syrʹi·a;+ but it was of no assistance to him. 22 However, at the time that he was causing him distress, he acted unfaithfully still more toward Jehovah, that is, King Aʹhaz did.+ 23 And he began to sacrifice to the gods+ of Damascus+ that were striking him, and he went on to say: “Because the gods of the kings of Syria are helping them,+ to them I shall sacrifice, that they may help+ me.” And they themselves became to him a cause for making him and all Israel stumble.+ 24 Furthermore, Aʹhaz gathered together the utensils+ of the house of the [true] God and cut to pieces the utensils of the house of the [true] God,+ and closed the doors+ of the house of Jehovah, and made altars for himself at every corner in Jerusalem.+ 25 And in all cities, even the cities of Judah, he made high places+ for making sacrificial smoke to other gods,+ so that he offended+ Jehovah the God of his forefathers.

26 As for the rest of his affairs+ and all his ways, the first and the last, there they are written in the Book+ of the Kings of Judah and of Israel. 27 Finally Aʹhaz lay down with his forefathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him into the burial places of the kings of Israel.+ And Hez·e·kiʹah his son began to reign in place of him.

29 Hez·e·kiʹah*+ himself became king at the age of twenty-five years, and for twenty-nine years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was A·biʹjah the daughter of Zech·a·riʹah.+ 2 And he kept doing what was right in Jehovah’s eyes,+ according to all that David his forefather had done.+ 3 He himself, in the first year of his reigning, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of Jehovah and began to repair them.+ 4 Then he brought the priests and the Levites and gathered them to the open place+ to the east. 5 And he proceeded to say to them: “Listen to me, YOU Levites. Now sanctify+ yourselves and sanctify the house of Jehovah the God of YOUR forefathers, and bring the impure thing out from the holy place.+ 6 For our fathers have acted unfaithfully+ and have done what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah our God,+ so that they left him+ and turned around their face away from the tabernacle of Jehovah+ and offered the back of the neck. 7 They also closed the doors+ of the porch and kept the lamps extinguished,+ and incense they did not burn,+ and burnt sacrifice they did not offer up in the holy place to the God of Israel.+ 8 And Jehovah’s indignation+ came to be against Judah and Jerusalem, so that he constituted them an object at which to quake,+ an object of astonishment+ and a cause for whistling,+ just as YOU are seeing with YOUR own eyes. 9 And here our forefathers fell by the sword,+ and our sons and our daughters and our wives were in captivity for this.+ 10 Now it is close to my heart to conclude a covenant+ with Jehovah the God of Israel, that his burning anger may turn back from us. 11 Now, my sons, do not give yourselves up to rest,+ for YOU are the ones whom Jehovah has chosen to stand before him to minister to him+ and to continue as his ministers+ and makers of sacrificial smoke.”+

12 At that the Levites+ rose up, Maʹhath the son of A·maʹsai and Joel the son of Az·a·riʹah of the sons of the Koʹhath·ites;+ and from the sons of Me·rarʹi,+ Kish the son of Abʹdi and Az·a·riʹah the son of Je·halʹle·lel; and from the Gerʹshon·ites,+ Joʹah the son of Zimʹmah and Eʹden the son of Joʹah; 13 and from the sons of E·li·zaʹphan,+ Shimʹri and Je·uʹel; and from the sons of Aʹsaph,+ Zech·a·riʹah and Mat·ta·niʹah; 14 and from the sons of Heʹman,+ Je·hiʹel and Shimʹe·i; and from the sons of Je·duʹthun,+ She·maiʹah and Uzʹzi·el. 15 Then they gathered their brothers together and sanctified+ themselves and came according to the king’s commandment in the words+ of Jehovah, to cleanse+ the house of Jehovah. 16 The priests now came inside the house of Jehovah to do the cleansing and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of Jehovah to the courtyard+ of the house of Jehovah. In turn the Levites received it to take it out to the torrent valley of Kidʹron+ outside. 17 Thus they got started on the first [day] of the first month at sanctifying, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch+ of Jehovah; so that they sanctified the house of Jehovah in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first+ month they finished.

18 After that they came inside to Hez·e·kiʹah the king and said: “We have cleansed the whole house of Jehovah, the altar+ of burnt offering and all its utensils,+ and the table+ of the layer bread and all its utensils.+ 19 And all the utensils+ that King Aʹhaz+ removed from employment during his reign in his unfaithfulness*+ we have prepared, and have sanctified+ them; and there they are before the altar of Jehovah.”

20 And Hez·e·kiʹah+ the king proceeded to get up early+ and gather the princes+ of the city together and go up to the house of Jehovah. 21 And they came bringing seven bulls+ and seven rams and seven male lambs and seven male goats as a sin offering+ for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. So he said to the sons of Aaron the priests+ to offer them up upon the altar of Jehovah. 22 Accordingly they slaughtered+ the cattle and the priests received the blood+ and sprinkled+ it upon the altar; after which they slaughtered the rams+ and sprinkled the blood+ upon the altar, and they slaughtered the male lambs and sprinkled the blood upon the altar. 23 Then they brought the male goats+ of the sin offering near before the king and the congregation and laid their hands upon them.+ 24 The priests now slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their blood upon the altar, to make atonement for all Israel;+ because it was for all Israel+ that the king said the burnt offering and the sin offering [should+ be].

25 Meantime, he had the Levites+ stationed at the house of Jehovah, with cymbals,+ with stringed instruments+ and with harps,+ by the commandment of David+ and of Gad+ the king’s visionary and of Nathan+ the prophet, for it was by the hand of Jehovah that the commandment was by means of his prophets.+ 26 So the Levites kept standing with the instruments+ of David, and also the priests with the trumpets.+

27 Then Hez·e·kiʹah said to offer up the burnt sacrifice on the altar; and at the time that the burnt offering started, the song+ of Jehovah started and also the trumpets, even under the direction of the instruments of David the king of Israel. 28 And all the congregation* were bowing+ down while the song was resounding+ and the trumpets were blaring—all this until the burnt offering was finished. 29 And as soon as they finished offering it up, the king and all those found with him bowed low and prostrated themselves.+ 30 Hez·e·kiʹah the king and the princes+ now said to the Levites to praise Jehovah in the words of David+ and of Aʹsaph+ the visionary. So they began to offer praise even with rejoicing,+ and they kept bending down and prostrating themselves.+

31 Finally Hez·e·kiʹah answered and said: “Now YOU have filled+ YOUR hand with power for Jehovah. Approach, and bring sacrifices+ and thanksgiving+ sacrifices to the house of Jehovah.” And the congregation began to bring sacrifices and thanksgiving sacrifices,+ and also every one willing of heart, burnt offerings. 32 And the number of the burnt offerings that the congregation brought came to be seventy cattle, a hundred rams, two hundred male lambs—all these as a burnt offering to Jehovah;+ 33 and also the holy offerings, six hundred cattle and three thousand of the flock. 34 Only the priests+ themselves happened to be too few, and they were not able to skin all the burnt offerings.+ So their brothers+ the Levites helped them out until the work was finished+ and until the priests could sanctify themselves, for the Levites+ were more upright+ of heart for sanctifying themselves than the priests. 35 And, too, the burnt offerings+ were in great quantity with the fat+ pieces of the communion+ sacrifices and with the drink+ offerings for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of Jehovah was prepared.+ 36 Consequently Hez·e·kiʹah and all the people rejoiced over the fact that the [true] God had made preparation for the people,+ because it was all of a sudden that the thing had occurred.+

30 And Hez·e·kiʹah proceeded to send to all Israel+ and Judah, and even letters he wrote to Eʹphra·im+ and Ma·nasʹseh,+ to come to the house of Jehovah+ in Jerusalem to hold the passover+ to Jehovah the God of Israel. 2 However, the king and his princes+ and all the congregation+ in Jerusalem resolved to hold the passover in the second month;+ 3 for they had not been able to hold it at that time,+ because not enough priests,+ on the one hand, had sanctified themselves and the people, on the other hand, had not gathered themselves to Jerusalem. 4 And the thing was right in the eyes of the king and in the eyes of all the congregation.+ 5 So they decided to have the call*+ pass through all Israel, from Beʹer-sheʹba+ to Dan,+ to come and hold the passover to Jehovah the God of Israel at Jerusalem; for it was not as a multitude that they had done so+ according to what is written.+

6 Accordingly the runners+ with the letters from the hand of the king and of his princes+ went throughout all Israel and Judah, even according to the commandment of the king, saying: “YOU sons of Israel, return+ to Jehovah the God+ of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to the escaped+ ones that are left of YOU out of the palm of the kings of As·syrʹi·a.+ 7 And do not become like YOUR forefathers+ and like YOUR brothers that acted unfaithfully toward Jehovah the God of their forefathers, so that he constituted them an object of astonishment,+ just as YOU are seeing. 8 Now do not stiffen YOUR neck+ as YOUR forefathers did. Give place* to Jehovah+ and come to his sanctuary+ that he has sanctified+ to time indefinite and serve+ Jehovah YOUR God, that his burning anger+ may turn back from YOU. 9 For when YOU return+ to Jehovah, YOUR brothers and YOUR sons will be objects of mercy+ before those holding them captive, and be allowed to return to this land;+ for Jehovah YOUR God is gracious+ and merciful,+ and he will not turn away the face from YOU if YOU return to him.”+

10 So the runners+ continued on, passing along from city to city throughout the land of Eʹphra·im+ and Ma·nasʹseh, even to Zebʹu·lun; but they were continually speaking in mockery of them and deriding them.+ 11 Only individuals+ from Ashʹer and Ma·nasʹseh and from Zebʹu·lun humbled+ themselves so that they came to Jerusalem. 12 The hand of the [true] God proved to be also in Judah to give them one heart+ to perform the commandment+ of the king and the princes in the matter of Jehovah.+

13 And they proceeded to gather themselves together at Jerusalem,+ a numerous people, to hold the festival+ of the unfermented cakes in the second+ month, a congregation very multitudinous. 14 Then they rose up and removed the altars+ that were in Jerusalem, and all the incense altars+ they removed and then threw [them] into the torrent valley of Kidʹron.+ 15 After that they slaughtered the passover+ victim on the fourteenth [day] of the second month; and the priests and the Levites themselves had been humiliated, so that they sanctified+ themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of Jehovah. 16 And they kept standing+ at their place according to their rule, according to the law of Moses the man of the [true] God,* the priests+ sprinkling the blood received from the hand of the Levites. 17 For there were many in the congregation that had not sanctified themselves; and the Levites+ were in charge of slaughtering the passover victims+ for all that were not clean, to sanctify them to Jehovah. 18 For there was a great number of the people, many from Eʹphra·im+ and Ma·nasʹseh,+ Isʹsa·char and Zebʹu·lun,+ that had not cleansed+ themselves, for they did not eat the passover according to what is written;+ but Hez·e·kiʹah prayed for them,+ saying: “May the good+ Jehovah himself make allowance for 19 every one that has prepared his heart+ to search for the [true] God, Jehovah, the God of his forefathers, though without the purification for what is holy.”+ 20 Accordingly Jehovah listened to Hez·e·kiʹah and healed the people.+

21 So the sons of Israel that were found in Jerusalem held the festival+ of the unfermented cakes seven days with great rejoicing;+ and the Levites+ and the priests+ were offering praise to Jehovah day by day with loud instruments, even to Jehovah.+ 22 Moreover, Hez·e·kiʹah spoke to the heart+ of all the Levites who were acting with fine discretion toward Jehovah.+ And they proceeded to eat the appointed feast for seven days,+ sacrificing communion sacrifices+ and making confession+ to Jehovah the God of their forefathers.

23 Then all the congregation decided+ to hold it for seven more days,+ and so they held it for seven days with rejoicing. 24 For Hez·e·kiʹah the king of Judah himself contributed+ for the congregation a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep, and the princes+ themselves contributed for the congregation a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep; and priests+ kept sanctifying themselves in great number. 25 And all the congregation of Judah+ and the priests and the Levites+ and all the congregation that came from Israel+ and the alien residents*+ that came from the land of Israel+ and those dwelling in Judah continued rejoicing.+ 26 And there came to be great rejoicing in Jerusalem, for from the days of Solʹo·mon+ the son of David the king of Israel there was none like this in Jerusalem.+ 27 Finally the priests, the Levites, stood up and blessed+ the people; and a hearing was granted to their voice, so that their prayer came to his holy dwelling, the heavens.+

31 And as soon as they finished all this, all the Israelites+ that were found [there] went out to the cities of Judah,+ and they proceeded to break up the sacred pillars+ and cut down the sacred poles*+ and pull down the high places+ and the altars+ out of all Judah+ and Benjamin and in Eʹphra·im+ and Ma·nasʹseh+ until they had finished; after which all the sons of Israel returned to their cities, each one to his own possession.

2 Then Hez·e·kiʹah set the divisions+ of the priests and of the Levites+ in their divisions, each one in accordance with its service for the priests+ and for the Levites+ as regards the burnt offering+ and the communion sacrifices+ to minister+ and to give thanks+ and praise+ in the gates of the camps of Jehovah. 3 And there was a portion of the king from his own goods+ for the burnt offerings,+ for the burnt offerings of the morning+ and the evening, and also the burnt offerings for the sabbaths+ and for the new moons+ and for the festival seasons,+ according to what is written in the law of Jehovah.+

4 Furthermore, he said to the people, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to give the portion of the priests+ and of the Levites,+ in order that they might adhere+ strictly to the law of Jehovah.+ 5 And as soon as the word broke forth, the sons of Israel+ increased the firstfruits of the grain,+ new wine,+ and oil+ and honey+ and all the produce of the field,+ and the tenth of everything they brought in abundantly.+ 6 And the sons of Israel and of Judah that were dwelling in the cities of Judah,+ even they themselves [brought in]* the tenth of cattle and sheep and the tenth of the holy things,+ the things sanctified to Jehovah their God. They brought in and so gave heaps upon heaps. 7 In the third+ month they started the heaps by laying the lowest layer, and in the seventh+ month they finished. 8 When Hez·e·kiʹah and the princes+ came and saw the heaps, they proceeded to bless+ Jehovah and his people Israel.+

9 In time Hez·e·kiʹah inquired of the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps.+ 10 Then Az·a·riʹah*+ the chief priest of the house of Zaʹdok+ said to him, yes, he said: “From the time they started to bring the contribution+ into the house of Jehovah there has been an eating and getting satisfied+ and having a surplus in abundance;+ for Jehovah himself has blessed his people,+ and what has been left over is this great plenty.”*

11 At this Hez·e·kiʹah said to prepare dining rooms+ in the house of Jehovah. Accordingly they prepared [them]. 12 And they kept bringing in the contribution+ and the tenth+ and the holy things in faithfulness;+ and Con·a·niʹah* the Levite was in charge of them as leader, and Shimʹe·i his brother was second. 13 And Je·hiʹel and Az·a·ziʹah* and Naʹhath and Asʹa·hel and Jerʹi·moth and Joʹza·bad and Eʹli·el and Is·ma·chiʹah* and Maʹhath and Be·naiʹah* were commissioners at the side of Con·a·niʹah and Shimʹe·i his brother, by the order of Hez·e·kiʹah the king, and Az·a·riʹah+ was the leading one of the house of the [true] God. 14 And Koʹre the son of Imʹnah the Levite was the gatekeeper+ to the east,+ in charge of the voluntary+ offerings of the [true] God, to give Jehovah’s contribution+ and the most holy things.+ 15 And under his control there were Eʹden and Mi·niʹa·min and Jeshʹu·a* and She·maiʹah,* Am·a·riʹah* and Shec·a·niʹah,* in the cities of the priests,+ in office of trust,+ to give to their brothers in the divisions,+ equally to great and small;+ 16 apart from their genealogical+ enrollment of the males from three years of age upward,+ of all those coming to the house of Jehovah as a daily matter of course, for their service by their obligations according to their divisions.

17 This is* the genealogical enrollment of the priests by the house of their fathers+ and also of the Levites,+ from the age of twenty+ years upward, by their obligations in their divisions;+ 18 both for the genealogical enrollment among all their little ones, their wives and their sons and their daughters, for all the congregation, because in their office of trust+ they proceeded to sanctify+ themselves for what was holy; 19 and for the sons of Aaron,+ the priests, in the fields+ of pasture ground of their cities. In all the different cities there were men that had been designated by [their] names, to give portions to every male among the priests and to the entire genealogical enrollment among the Levites.

20 And Hez·e·kiʹah proceeded to do like this in all Judah, and he continued to do what was good+ and right+ and faithful+ before Jehovah his God. 21 And in every work that he started in the service+ of the house of the [true] God and in the law+ and in the commandment to search+ for his God, it was with all his heart+ that he acted, and he proved successful.+

32 After these things and this faithful course+ Sen·nachʹer·ib+ the king of As·syrʹi·a+ came and proceeded to invade Judah and camp against the fortified cities,+ and kept thinking of making them his by a breakthrough.

2 When Hez·e·kiʹah saw that Sen·nachʹer·ib had come with his face+ set for war against Jerusalem, 3 then he decided with his princes+ and his mighty men to stop up the waters of the springs that were outside the city;+ and so they helped him. 4 Accordingly many people were collected together, and they went stopping up all the fountains and the torrent+ that floods through the middle of the land, saying: “Why should the kings of As·syrʹi·a come and actually find a great deal of water?”

5 Furthermore, he took courage and built up all the broken-down wall+ and raised towers+ upon it, and on the outside another wall,+ and repaired the Mound*+ of the City of David, and made missiles+ in abundance and shields.+ 6 And he proceeded to put military chiefs+ over the people and collect them to him at the public square+ of the gate of the city and speak to the heart+ of them, saying: 7 “Be courageous and strong.+ Do not be afraid+ nor be terrified+ because of the king of As·syrʹi·a+ and on account of all the crowd that is with him;+ for with us there are more than there are with him. 8 With him there is an arm of flesh,+ but with us there is Jehovah our God to help us+ and to fight our battles.”+ And the people began to brace themselves upon the words of Hez·e·kiʹah the king of Judah.+

9 It was after this that Sen·nachʹer·ib+ the king of As·syrʹi·a sent his servants to Jerusalem, while he was at Laʹchish+ and all his imperial might with him,+ to Hez·e·kiʹah the king of Judah and to all the Ju·deʹans that were in Jerusalem, saying:

10 “This is what Sen·nachʹer·ib the king of As·syrʹi·a has said,+ ‘In what is it that YOU are trusting while sitting quiet under siege in Jerusalem?+ 11 Is not Hez·e·kiʹah+ alluring+ YOU so as to give YOU over to die by famine and by thirst, saying: “Jehovah our God himself will deliver us out of the palm of the king of As·syrʹi·a”?+ 12 Is it not Hez·e·kiʹah himself that removed his high places+ and his altars+ and then said to Judah and to Jerusalem: “Before one altar+ YOU should bow+ and upon it YOU should make sacrificial smoke”?+ 13 Do YOU not know what I myself and my forefathers did to all the peoples of the lands?+ Did the gods+ of the nations of the lands at all prove able to deliver their land out of my hand? 14 Who was there among all the gods of these nations that my forefathers devoted to destruction that proved able to deliver his people out of my hand, so that YOUR God should be able to deliver YOU out of my hand?+ 15 And now do not let Hez·e·kiʹah deceive YOU+ or allure+ YOU like this and do not put faith in him, for no god* of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand and out of the hand of my forefathers. How much less, then, will YOUR own God deliver* YOU out of my hand?’”+

16 And his servants spoke yet further against Jehovah the [true] God+ and against Hez·e·kiʹah his servant. 17 Even letters he wrote+ to reproach Jehovah the God of Israel+ and to talk against him, saying: “Like the gods+ of the nations of the lands who did not deliver their people out of my hand,+ so the God of Hez·e·kiʹah will not deliver his people out of my hand.” 18 And they+ kept calling with a loud voice+ in the Jews’+ language to the people of Jerusalem that were upon the wall, to make them afraid+ and to disturb them, in order that they might capture the city. 19 And they went on speaking against+ the God of Jerusalem+ the same way as against the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of man’s hands.+ 20 But Hez·e·kiʹah+ the king and Isaiah*+ the son of Aʹmoz,+ the prophet,+ kept praying over this+ and crying to the heavens for aid.+

21 And Jehovah proceeded to send an angel+ and efface every valiant, mighty man+ and leader and chief in the camp of the king of As·syrʹi·a,+ so that he went back with shame of face to his own land. Later on he entered the house of his god* and there certain ones that had come out of his own inward parts felled him with the sword.+ 22 Thus Jehovah saved Hez·e·kiʹah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem out of the hand of Sen·nachʹer·ib the king of As·syrʹi·a+ and out of the hand of all others and gave them rest all around.+ 23 And there were many bringing gifts+ to Jehovah at Jerusalem and choice things to Hez·e·kiʹah the king of Judah,+ and he came to be exalted+ in the eyes of all the nations after that.

24 In those days Hez·e·kiʹah fell sick to the point of dying,+ and he began to pray+ to Jehovah. So He talked to him,+ and a portent+ He gave him. 25 But according to the benefit rendered him Hez·e·kiʹah made no return,+ for his heart became haughty+ and there came to be indignation+ against him and against Judah and Jerusalem. 26 However, Hez·e·kiʹah humbled+ himself for the haughtiness of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and Jehovah’s indignation did not come upon them in the days+ of Hez·e·kiʹah.

27 And Hez·e·kiʹah came to have riches and glory to a very great amount;+ and storehouses he made for himself for silver and for gold+ and for precious stones+ and for balsam oil+ and for shields+ and for all the desirable articles;+ 28 and also storage+ places for the produce of grain and new wine+ and oil, and also stalls+ for all the different sorts of beasts and stalls for the droves. 29 And cities he acquired for himself, and also livestock of the flock+ and of the herd+ in abundance; for God gave him very many goods.+ 30 And Hez·e·kiʹah was the one that stopped up+ the upper source of the waters+ of Giʹhon+ and kept them directed straight along down to the west to the City of David,+ and Hez·e·kiʹah continued to prove successful in every work of his.+ 31 And thus it was that by the spokesmen of the princes of Babylon*+ that were sent to him+ to inquire about the portent+ that had happened in the land, the [true] God left him+ to put him to the test,+ to get to know everything in his heart.+

32 As for the rest of the affairs+ of Hez·e·kiʹah and his acts of loving-kindness,*+ there they are written in the vision of Isaiah* the prophet, the son of Aʹmoz,+ in the Book+ of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 33 Finally Hez·e·kiʹah lay down with his forefathers,+ and they buried him in the ascent to the burial places of the sons of David;+ and honor was what all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem rendered to him at his death.+ And Ma·nasʹseh+ his son began to reign in place of him.

33 Twelve years old was Ma·nasʹseh+ when he began to reign, and for fifty-five years he reigned in Jerusalem.+

2 And he proceeded to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes,+ according to the detestable+ things of the nations that Jehovah had driven out from before the sons of Israel.+ 3 So he built again the high places+ that Hez·e·kiʹah his father had pulled down,+ and set up altars+ to the Baʹals+ and made sacred poles,+ and he began to bow+ down to all the army of the heavens+ and serve them.+ 4 And he built altars+ in the house of Jehovah, respecting which Jehovah had said: “In Jerusalem my name will prove to be to time indefinite.”+ 5 And he went on to build altars to all the army of the heavens+ in two courtyards+ of the house of Jehovah.+ 6 And he himself made his own sons pass through the fire+ in the valley of the son of Hinʹnom,*+ and practiced magic+ and used divination+ and practiced sorcery+ and made spiritistic mediums+ and professional foretellers+ of events. He did on a grand scale what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah, to offend him.+

7 Furthermore, he put the carved image+ that he had made in the house of the [true] God,+ respecting which God had said to David and to Solʹo·mon his son: “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen+ out of all the tribes of Israel, I shall put my name+ to time indefinite.+ 8 And I shall not remove the foot of Israel again from off the ground that I assigned+ to their* forefathers,+ provided only that they take care to do all that I have commanded them+ concerning all the law+ and the regulations+ and the judicial decisions+ by the hand of Moses.”+ 9 And Ma·nasʹseh+ kept seducing Judah+ and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do worse+ than the nations that Jehovah had annihilated from before the sons of Israel.+

10 And Jehovah kept speaking to Ma·nasʹseh and his people, but they paid no attention.+ 11 Finally Jehovah brought against them+ the chiefs of the army that belonged to the king of As·syrʹi·a,+ and so they captured Ma·nasʹseh in the hollows+ and bound+ him with two fetters of copper and took him to Babylon. 12 And as soon as it caused him distress,+ he softened the face of Jehovah his God+ and kept humbling+ himself greatly because of the God of his forefathers. 13 And he kept praying to Him, so that He let himself be entreated+ by him and He heard his request for favor and restored him to Jerusalem to his kingship;+ and Ma·nasʹseh came to know that Jehovah is the [true] God.+

14 And after this he built an outer+ wall for the City of David+ to the west of Giʹhon+ in the torrent valley and as far as the Fish Gate,+ and he ran [it] around to Oʹphel+ and proceeded to make it very high. Further, he put chiefs of the military force in all the fortified cities in Judah.+ 15 And he proceeded to remove the foreign gods*+ and the idol image+ from the house of Jehovah and all the altars+ that he had built in the mountain of the house of Jehovah and in Jerusalem and then had them thrown outside the city. 16 Moreover, he prepared the altar of Jehovah+ and began to sacrifice upon it communion sacrifices+ and thanksgiving sacrifices+ and went on to say to Judah to serve Jehovah the God of Israel.+ 17 Nevertheless, the people were still sacrificing upon the high places;+ only it was to Jehovah their God.

18 As for the rest of the affairs of Ma·nasʹseh and his prayer+ to his God and the words of the visionaries+ that kept speaking to him in the name of Jehovah the God of Israel, there they are among the affairs of the kings of Israel.+ 19 As for his prayer+ and how his entreaty+ was granted him and all his sin+ and his unfaithfulness+ and the locations in which he built high places+ and set up the sacred poles*+ and the graven images+ before he humbled+ himself, there they are written among the words of his visionaries.* 20 Finally Ma·nasʹseh lay down with his forefathers,+ and they buried+ him at his house; and Aʹmon+ his son began to reign in place of him.

21 Twenty-two years old was Aʹmon+ when he began to reign, and for two years he reigned in Jerusalem.+ 22 And he proceeded to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes,+ just as Ma·nasʹseh his father had done;+ and to all the graven images+ that Ma·nasʹseh+ his father had made Aʹmon sacrificed,+ and he continued serving them.+ 23 And he did not humble+ himself because of Jehovah the same as Ma·nasʹseh his father humbled himself,+ for Aʹmon was one that made guiltiness increase.+ 24 Finally his servants conspired+ against him and put him to death in his own house.+ 25 But the people of the land struck down+ all the conspirators+ against King Aʹmon,+ and the people+ of the land then made Jo·siʹah+ his son king in place of him.

34 Eight+ years old was Jo·siʹah+ when he began to reign, and for thirty-one years he reigned in Jerusalem.+ 2 And he proceeded to do what was right in Jehovah’s eyes+ and walk in the ways of David his forefather;+ and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.+

3 And in the eighth year of his reigning, while he was still a boy,+ he started to search+ for the God of David his forefather; and in the twelfth year he started to cleanse+ Judah and Jerusalem from the high places+ and the sacred poles+ and the graven images+ and the molten statues. 4 Further, they pulled down before him the altars+ of the Baʹals;+ and the incense stands+ that were up above he cut down from off them; and the sacred poles+ and the graven images+ and the molten statues he broke in pieces and reduced to powder,+ and then sprinkled [it] upon the surface of the burial places of those that used to sacrifice to them.+ 5 And the bones+ of priests he burned upon their altars.+ Thus he cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

6 Also, in the cities of Ma·nasʹseh+ and Eʹphra·im+ and Simʹe·on and clear to Naphʹta·li, in their devastated places all around, 7 he even went pulling down the altars+ and the sacred poles,+ and the graven images+ he crushed and reduced to powder;+ and all the incense stands+ he cut down in all the land of Israel, after which he returned to Jerusalem.

8 And in the eighteenth+ year of his reigning, when he had cleansed the land and the house, he sent Shaʹphan+ the son of Az·a·liʹah and Ma·a·seiʹah the chief of the city and Joʹah the son of Joʹa·haz the recorder to repair+ the house of Jehovah his God. 9 And they proceeded to come to Hil·kiʹah*+ the high priest* and give the money that was being brought to the house of God, which the Levites the doorkeepers+ had gathered from the hand of Ma·nasʹseh+ and Eʹphra·im+ and from all the rest of Israel+ and from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.* 10 Then they put [it] into the hand of the doers* of the work that were appointed over* the house of Jehovah.+ In turn the doers of the work who were active in the house of Jehovah applied it to mending and repairing the house. 11 So they gave it to the craftsmen and the builders+ to buy hewn stones+ and timbers for clamps and to build with beams the houses that the kings+ of Judah had brought to ruin.

12 And the men were acting in faithfulness+ in the work; and over them there were appointed Jaʹhath and O·ba·diʹah the Levites, from the sons of Me·rarʹi,+ and Zech·a·riʹah and Me·shulʹlam, from the sons of the Koʹhath·ites,+ to act as overseers. And the Levites, each of whom was expert with the instruments of song,+ 13 were over the burden bearers,+ and the overseers+ of all the doers of the work for the different services; and from the Levites+ there were secretaries+ and officers and gatekeepers.+

14 Now while they were bringing out the money+ that was being brought to the house of Jehovah, Hil·kiʹah+ the priest found the book+ of Jehovah’s law+ by the hand of Moses.+ 15 So Hil·kiʹah answered and said to Shaʹphan+ the secretary: “The very book of the law I have found in the house of Jehovah.” With that Hil·kiʹah gave the book to Shaʹphan. 16 Then Shaʹphan brought the book to the king and replied further to the king, saying: “All that has been put in the hand of your servants they are doing. 17 And they pour out the money that is found in the house of Jehovah and put it in the hand of the appointed men and into the hand of the doers of the work.”+ 18 And Shaʹphan the secretary went on to report to the king, saying: “There is a book+ that Hil·kiʹah the priest gave me.”+ And Shaʹphan began to read out of it before the king.+

19 And it came about that as soon as the king heard the words of the law, he immediately ripped his garments apart.+ 20 Then the king commanded Hil·kiʹah+ and A·hiʹkam+ the son of Shaʹphan and Abʹdon the son of Miʹcah and Shaʹphan+ the secretary+ and A·saiʹah+ the king’s servant, saying: 21 “Go, inquire+ of Jehovah in my own behalf+ and in behalf of what is left in Israel and in Judah concerning the words of the book+ that has been found, for great is Jehovah’s rage+ that must be poured out against us because of the fact that our forefathers did not keep the word of Jehovah by doing according to all that is written in this book.”+

22 Accordingly Hil·kiʹah along with those whom the king [had said]* went to Hulʹdah+ the prophetess,+ the wife of Shalʹlum the son of Tikʹvah* the son of Harʹhas* the caretaker+ of the garments, as she was dwelling in Jerusalem in the second quarter; and they proceeded to speak to her like this. 23 In turn she said to them:

“This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, ‘SAY* to the man that sent YOU to me: 24 “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘Here I am bringing calamity+ upon this place and its inhabitants,+ all the curses+ that are written in the book that they read before the king of Judah,+ 25 due to the fact that they have left me+ and gone making sacrificial smoke to other gods,+ in order to offend+ me with all the doings of their hands+ and that my rage+ may pour forth upon this place and not be extinguished.’”+ 26 And to the king of Judah, who is sending YOU to inquire of Jehovah, this is what YOU should say to him: “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said,+ ‘As regards the words+ that you have heard, 27 for the reason that your heart+ was soft so that you humbled+ yourself because of God* at your hearing his words concerning this place and its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before me+ and ripped+ your garments apart and wept before me, I, even I, have heard,+ is the utterance of Jehovah. 28 Here I am gathering you to your forefathers, and you will certainly be gathered to your graveyard* in peace,+ and your eyes will not look upon all the calamity+ that I am bringing upon this place and its inhabitants.’”’”+

Then they brought the reply to the king. 29 And the king proceeded to send and gather all the older men of Judah and of Jerusalem.+ 30 The king now went up to the house of Jehovah+ with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests+ and the Levites and all the people, the great as well as the small; and he began to read+ in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant, which had been found at the house of Jehovah.+ 31 And the king kept standing in his place+ and proceeded to conclude the covenant+ before Jehovah to go following Jehovah and to keep his commandments+ and his testimonies+ and his regulations+ with all his heart+ and with all his soul,+ to perform+ the words of the covenant that were written in this book.+ 32 Furthermore, he had all those who were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to take their stand [to it]. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem proceeded to do according to the covenant of God, the God of their forefathers.+ 33 After that Jo·siʹah removed all the detestable+ things out of all the lands that belonged to the sons of Israel,+ and he had all who were found in Israel take up service, to serve Jehovah their God. All his days they did not turn aside from following Jehovah the God of their forefathers.+

35 Then Jo·siʹah+ held in Jerusalem a passover+ to Jehovah and they slaughtered the passover victim+ on the fourteenth+ day of the first+ month. 2 So he stationed the priests over the things under their care+ and encouraged+ them in the service of the house of Jehovah.+ 3 And he went on to say to the Levites, the instructors+ of all Israel, those holy to Jehovah: “Put the holy+ Ark in the house+ that Solʹo·mon the son of David the king of Israel built; it is not YOURS as a burden upon the shoulder.+ Now serve+ Jehovah YOUR God and his people Israel. 4 And make preparation by the house of YOUR forefathers+ according to YOUR divisions,+ by the writing+ of David the king of Israel and by the writing+ of Solʹo·mon his son. 5 And stand+ in the holy place by the classes* of the house of the forefathers for YOUR brothers, the sons of the people, and the portion of a paternal+ house belonging to the Levites.+ 6 And slaughter the passover+ victim and sanctify+ yourselves and make preparation for YOUR brothers to do according to the word of Jehovah by means of Moses.”+

7 Jo·siʹah now contributed to the sons of the people flocks, male lambs and male kids,* the whole for the passover victims for all who were to be found, to the number of thirty thousand, and cattle, three thousand.+ These were from the goods of the king.+ 8 And his princes+ themselves made a contribution as a voluntary offering for the people,+ for the priests and for the Levites. Hil·kiʹah*+ and Zech·a·riʹah and Je·hiʹel themselves as leaders of the house of the [true] God gave to the priests for the passover victims two thousand six hundred, and three hundred cattle. 9 And Con·a·niʹah and She·maiʹah and Ne·thanʹel his brothers and Hash·a·biʹah and Je·iʹel and Joʹza·bad, the chiefs of the Levites, contributed to the Levites for passover victims five thousand, and five hundred cattle.

10 And the service was prepared+ and the priests kept standing+ at their places,+ and the Levites by their divisions,+ according to the king’s commandment.+ 11 And they proceeded to slaughter the passover victim+ and the priests+ sprinkled+ [the blood] from their hand,* while the Levites were stripping the skins+ off. 12 Further, they prepared* the burnt offerings so as to give them to the classes+ by the paternal+ house, to the sons of the people, so as to make a presentation+ to Jehovah according to what is written in the book of Moses;+ and thus also with the cattle. 13 And they went boiling+ the passover+ offering over the fire according to the custom; and the things made holy they boiled+ in cooking pots and in round-bottomed pots and in banquet bowls, after which they brought it quickly to all the sons of the people.+ 14 And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests,+ because the priests the sons of Aaron were engaged in offering up the burnt sacrifices+ and the fat+ pieces until night, and the Levites, for their part, prepared+ for themselves and for the priests the sons of Aaron.

15 And the singers+ the sons of Aʹsaph+ were at their office according to the commandment of David+ and of Aʹsaph+ and of Heʹman+ and of Je·duʹthun+ the visionary+ of the king; and the gatekeepers+ were at the different gates.+ There was no need for them to turn aside from their service, because their brothers the Levites themselves prepared+ for them. 16 And all the service of Jehovah was prepared on that day to hold the passover+ and to offer up the burnt offerings upon the altar of Jehovah, according to the commandment of King Jo·siʹah.+

17 And the sons of Israel that were to be found proceeded to hold the passover+ at that time and also the festival of the unfermented cakes for seven days.+ 18 And there had never been held a passover like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet,+ neither had any of the other kings+ of Israel themselves held a passover like that which Jo·siʹah and the priests and the Levites and all Judah and Israel that were to be found and the inhabitants of Jerusalem held. 19 In the eighteenth year of Jo·siʹah’s reign this passover was held.+

20 After all this when Jo·siʹah had prepared the house, Neʹcho*+ the king of Egypt+ came up to fight at Carʹche·mish+ by the Eu·phraʹtes. Then Jo·siʹah+ went out to an encounter with him.+ 21 At that he sent messengers to him, saying: “What do I have to do with you,* O king of Judah? It is not against you that I am coming today,* but it is against another house that my fight is and that God himself said that I should cause disturbance. Refrain for your own sake because of God, who is with me, and do not let him bring you to ruin.”+ 22 And Jo·siʹah did not turn his face away from him,+ but to fight against him he disguised+ himself and did not listen to the words of Neʹcho+ from the mouth of God. So he came to fight in the valley plain of Me·gidʹdo.+

23 And the shooters+ got to shoot at King Jo·siʹah, so that the king said to his servants: “Take me down, for I have been very severely wounded.”+ 24 Accordingly his servants took him down from the chariot and had him ride in the second war chariot that was his and brought him to Jerusalem.+ Thus he died+ and was buried in the graveyard of his forefathers;+ and all Judah and Jerusalem were mourning+ over Jo·siʹah. 25 And Jeremiah*+ began to chant+ over Jo·siʹah; and all the male singers and female+ singers keep talking about Jo·siʹah in their dirges down till today; and they have them set as a regulation over Israel, and there they are written among the dirges.+

26 As for the rest of the affairs+ of Jo·siʹah and his acts of loving-kindness,*+ according to what is written in the law+ of Jehovah, 27 and his affairs, the first and the last,+ there they are written in the Book+ of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

36 Then the people of the land took Je·hoʹa·haz+ the son of Jo·siʹah and made him king in the place of his father in Jerusalem.+ 2 Twenty-three years old was Je·hoʹa·haz* when he began to reign, and for three months he reigned in Jerusalem.+ 3 However, the king of Egypt removed him in Jerusalem+ and fined the land a hundred silver+ talents* and a gold talent. 4 Furthermore, the king+ of Egypt made E·liʹa·kim+ his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Je·hoiʹa·kim; but his brother Je·hoʹa·haz, Neʹcho+ took and brought to Egypt.+

5 Twenty-five years old was Je·hoiʹa·kim+ when he began to reign, and for eleven years he reigned in Jerusalem;+ and he continued to do what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah his God.+ 6 Against him Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar+ the king of Babylon came up+ that he might bind him with two fetters of copper to carry him off to Babylon.+ 7 And some of the utensils+ of the house of Jehovah Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar+ brought to Babylon and then put them in his palace* in Babylon.+ 8 As for the rest of the affairs+ of Je·hoiʹa·kim and his detestable+ things that he did and what was to be found against* him, there they are written in the Book+ of the Kings of Israel and Judah; and Je·hoiʹa·chin+ his son began to reign in place of him.

9 Eighteen* years old was Je·hoiʹa·chin+ when he began to reign, and for three months+ and ten days he reigned in Jerusalem; and he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes.+ 10 And at the return+ of the year King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar sent+ and proceeded to bring him to Babylon+ with desirable articles of the house of Jehovah.+ Further, he made Zed·e·kiʹah+ his [father’s] brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.+

11 Twenty-one years old was Zed·e·kiʹah+ when he began to reign, and for eleven years he reigned in Jerusalem.+ 12 And he continued to do what was bad+ in the eyes of Jehovah his God. He did not humble+ himself on account of Jeremiah+ the prophet+ at the order of Jehovah. 13 And even against King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar he rebelled,+ who had made him swear by God;+ and he kept stiffening+ his neck and hardening+ his heart so as not to return to Jehovah the God of Israel. 14 Even all the chiefs of the priests+ and the people themselves committed unfaithfulness on a large scale, according to all the detestable+ things of the nations, so that they defiled the house of Jehovah which he had sanctified in Jerusalem.+

15 And Jehovah the God of their forefathers kept sending against them by means of his messengers,+ sending again and again,* because he felt compassion for his people+ and for his dwelling.+ 16 But they were continually making jest+ at the messengers of the [true] God and despising his words+ and mocking+ at his prophets, until the rage+ of Jehovah came up against his people, until there was no healing.+

17 So he brought up against them the king of the Chal·deʹans,+ who proceeded to kill their young men with the sword+ in the house of their sanctuary,+ neither did he feel compassion for young man or virgin, old or decrepit.+ Everything He gave into his hand. 18 And all the utensils,+ great+ and small, of the house of the [true] God and the treasures+ of the house of Jehovah and the treasures of the king+ and of his princes, everything he brought to Babylon. 19 And he proceeded to burn the house of the [true] God+ and pull down the wall+ of Jerusalem; and all its dwelling towers they burned with fire and also all its desirable articles,+ so as to cause ruin.+ 20 Furthermore, he carried off those remaining from the sword captive to Babylon,+ and they came to be servants to him+ and his sons until the royalty of Persia+ began to reign; 21 to fulfill Jehovah’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah,+ until the land had paid off its sabbaths.+ All the days of lying desolated it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.+

22 And in the first year of Cyrus*+ the king of Persia,+ that Jehovah’s word+ by the mouth of Jeremiah+ might be accomplished, Jehovah roused the spirit+ of Cyrus+ the king of Persia, so that he caused a cry to pass through all his kingdom, and also in writing,+ saying: 23 “This is what Cyrus the king of Persia+ has said, ‘All the kingdoms of the earth Jehovah the God of the heavens* has given me,+ and he himself has commissioned me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.+ Whoever there is among YOU of all his people,+ Jehovah his God be with him.+ So let him go up.’”+