nkjv 2Chronicles:10-36 SEEK
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*
And Rehoboam went to Shechem ,
for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king .
*
So it happened ,
when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (
he was in Egypt ,
where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon ),
that Jeroboam returned from Egypt .
*
Then they sent for him and called him .
And Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam ,
saying ,
* "
Your father made our yoke heavy ;
now therefore ,
lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us ,
and we will serve you ."
*
So he said to them , "
Come back to me after three days ."
And the people departed .
*
Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived ,
saying , "
How do you advise me to answer these people ?"
*
And they spoke to him ,
saying , "
If you are kind to these people ,
and please them ,
and speak good words to them ,
they will be your servants forever ."
*
But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him ,
and consulted the young men who had grown up with him ,
who stood before him .
*
And he said to them , "
What advice do you give ?
How should we answer this people who have spoken to me ,
saying , "
Lighten the yoke which your father put on us '?"
*
Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him ,
saying , "
Thus you should speak to the people who have spoken to you ,
saying , "
Your father made our yoke heavy ,
but you make it lighter on us '--
thus you shall say to them : "
My little finger shall be thicker than my father '
s waist !
*
And now ,
whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you ,
I will add to your yoke ;
my father chastised you with whips ,
but I will chastise you with scourges !"'
*
So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day ,
as the king had directed ,
saying , "
Come back to me the third day ."
*
Then the king answered them roughly .
King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders ,
*
and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men ,
saying , "
My father made your yoke heavy ,
but I will add to it ;
my father chastised you with whips ,
but I will chastise you with scourges !"
*
So the king did not listen to the people ;
for the turn of events was from God ,
that the LORD might fulfill His word ,
which He had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat .
*
Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them ,
the people answered the king ,
saying : "
What share have we in David ?
We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse .
Every man to your tents ,
O Israel !
Now see to your own house ,
O David !"
So all Israel departed to their tents .
*
But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah .
*
Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram ,
who was in charge of revenue ;
but the children of Israel stoned him with stones ,
and he died .
Therefore King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem .
*
So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day .
*
Now when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem ,
he assembled from the house of Judah and Benjamin one hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors ,
to fight against Israel ,
that he might restore the kingdom to Rehoboam .
*
But the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah the man of God ,
saying ,
* "
Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon ,
king of Judah ,
and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin ,
saying ,
* "
Thus says the LORD : "
You shall not go up or fight against your brethren !
Let every man return to his house ,
for this thing is from Me ."
*
So Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem ,
and built cities for defense in Judah .
*
And he built Bethlehem ,
Etam ,
Tekoa ,
*
Beth Zur ,
Sochoh ,
Adullam ,
*
Gath ,
Mareshah ,
Ziph ,
*
Adoraim ,
Lachish ,
Azekah ,
*
Zorah ,
Aijalon ,
and Hebron ,
which are in Judah and Benjamin ,
fortified cities .
*
And he fortified the strongholds ,
and put captains in them ,
and stores of food ,
oil ,
and wine .
*
Also in every city he put shields and spears ,
and made them very strong ,
having Judah and Benjamin on his side .
*
And from all their territories the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel took their stand with him .
*
For the Levites left their common-lands and their possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem ,
for Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests to the LORD .
*
Then he appointed for himself priests for the high places ,
for the demons ,
and the calf idols which he had made .
*
And after the Levites left ,
those from all the tribes of Israel ,
such as set their heart to seek the LORD God of Israel ,
came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD God of their fathers .
*
So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah ,
and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years ,
because they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years .
*
Then Rehoboam took for himself as wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David ,
and of Abihail the daughter of Eliah the son of Jesse .
*
And she bore him children :
Jeush ,
Shamariah ,
and Zaham .
*
After her he took Maachah the granddaughter of Absalom ;
and she bore him Abijah ,
Attai ,
Ziza ,
and Shelomith .
*
Now Rehoboam loved Maachah the granddaughter of Absalom more than all his wives and his concubines ;
for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines ,
and begot twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters .
*
And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maachah as chief ,
to be leader among his brothers ;
for he intended to make him king .
*
He dealt wisely ,
and dispersed some of his sons throughout all the territories of Judah and Benjamin ,
to every fortified city ;
and he gave them provisions in abundance .
He also sought many wives for them .
*
Now it came to pass ,
when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself ,
that he forsook the law of the LORD ,
and all Israel along with him .
*
And it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem ,
because they had transgressed against the LORD ,
*
with twelve hundred chariots ,
sixty thousand horsemen ,
and people without number who came with him out of Egypt--the Lubim and the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians .
*
And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came to Jerusalem .
*
Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah ,
who were gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak ,
and said to them , "
Thus says the LORD : "
You have forsaken Me ,
and therefore I also have left you in the hand of Shishak ."'
*
So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves ;
and they said , "
The LORD is righteous ."
*
Now when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves ,
the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah ,
saying , "
They have humbled themselves ;
therefore I will not destroy them ,
but I will grant them some deliverance .
My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak .
*
Nevertheless they will be his servants ,
that they may distinguish My service from the service of the kingdoms of the nations ."
*
So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem ,
and took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king '
s house ;
he took everything .
He also carried away the gold shields which Solomon had made .
*
Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place ,
and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard ,
who guarded the doorway of the king '
s house .
*
And whenever the king entered the house of the LORD ,
the guard would go and bring them out ;
then they would take them back into the guardroom .
*
When he humbled himself ,
the wrath of the LORD turned from him ,
so as not to destroy him completely ;
and things also went well in Judah .
*
Thus King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned .
Now Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king ;
and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem ,
the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel ,
to put His name there .
His mother '
s name was Naamah ,
an Ammonitess .
*
And he did evil ,
because he did not prepare his heart to seek the LORD .
*
The acts of Rehoboam ,
first and last ,
are they not written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet ,
and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies ?
And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days .
*
So Rehoboam rested with his fathers ,
and was buried in the City of David .
Then Abijah his son reigned in his place .
*
In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam ,
Abijah became king over Judah .
*
He reigned three years in Jerusalem .
His mother '
s name was Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah .
And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam .
*
Abijah set the battle in order with an army of valiant warriors ,
four hundred thousand choice men .
Jeroboam also drew up in battle formation against him with eight hundred thousand choice men ,
mighty men of valor .
*
Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim ,
which is in the mountains of Ephraim ,
and said , "
Hear me ,
Jeroboam and all Israel :
*
Should you not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the dominion over Israel to David forever ,
to him and his sons ,
by a covenant of salt ?
*
Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat ,
the servant of Solomon the son of David ,
rose up and rebelled against his lord .
*
Then worthless rogues gathered to him ,
and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon ,
when Rehoboam was young and inexperienced and could not withstand them .
*
And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD ,
which is in the hand of the sons of David ;
and you are a great multitude ,
and with you are the gold calves which Jeroboam made for you as gods .
*
Have you not cast out the priests of the LORD ,
the sons of Aaron ,
and the Levites ,
and made for yourselves priests ,
like the peoples of other lands ,
so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of things that are not gods ?
*
But as for us ,
the LORD is our God ,
and we have not forsaken Him ;
and the priests who minister to the LORD are the sons of Aaron ,
and the Levites attend to their duties .
*
And they burn to the LORD every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense ;
they also set the showbread in order on the pure gold table ,
and the lampstand of gold with its lamps to burn every evening ;
for we keep the command of the LORD our God ,
but you have forsaken Him .
*
Now look ,
God Himself is with us as our head ,
and His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you .
O children of Israel ,
do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers ,
for you shall not prosper !"
*
But Jeroboam caused an ambush to go around behind them ;
so they were in front of Judah ,
and the ambush was behind them .
*
And when Judah looked around ,
to their surprise the battle line was at both front and rear ;
and they cried out to the LORD ,
and the priests sounded the trumpets .
*
Then the men of Judah gave a shout ;
and as the men of Judah shouted ,
it happened that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah .
*
And the children of Israel fled before Judah ,
and God delivered them into their hand .
*
Then Abijah and his people struck them with a great slaughter ;
so five hundred thousand choice men of Israel fell slain .
*
Thus the children of Israel were subdued at that time ;
and the children of Judah prevailed ,
because they relied on the LORD God of their fathers .
*
And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took cities from him :
Bethel with its villages ,
Jeshanah with its villages ,
and Ephrain with its villages .
*
So Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah ;
and the LORD struck him ,
and he died .
*
But Abijah grew mighty ,
married fourteen wives ,
and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters .
*
Now the rest of the acts of Abijah ,
his ways ,
and his sayings are written in the annals of the prophet Iddo .
*
So Abijah rested with his fathers ,
and they buried him in the City of David .
Then Asa his son reigned in his place .
In his days the land was quiet for ten years .
*
Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God ,
*
for he removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places ,
and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images .
*
He commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers ,
and to observe the law and the commandment .
*
He also removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah ,
and the kingdom was quiet under him .
*
And he built fortified cities in Judah ,
for the land had rest ;
he had no war in those years ,
because the LORD had given him rest .
*
Therefore he said to Judah , "
Let us build these cities and make walls around them ,
and towers ,
gates ,
and bars ,
while the land is yet before us ,
because we have sought the LORD our God ;
we have sought Him ,
and He has given us rest on every side ."
So they built and prospered .
*
And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand from Judah who carried shields and spears ,
and from Benjamin two hundred and eighty thousand men who carried shields and drew bows ;
all these were mighty men of valor .
*
Then Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots ,
and he came to Mareshah .
*
So Asa went out against him ,
and they set the troops in battle array in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah .
*
And Asa cried out to the LORD his God ,
and said , "
LORD ,
it is nothing for You to help ,
whether with many or with those who have no power ;
help us ,
O LORD our God ,
for we rest on You ,
and in Your name we go against this multitude .
O LORD ,
You are our God ;
do not let man prevail against You !"
*
So the LORD struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah ,
and the Ethiopians fled .
*
And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar .
So the Ethiopians were overthrown ,
and they could not recover ,
for they were broken before the LORD and His army .
And they carried away very much spoil .
*
Then they defeated all the cities around Gerar ,
for the fear of the LORD came upon them ;
and they plundered all the cities ,
for there was exceedingly much spoil in them .
*
They also attacked the livestock enclosures ,
and carried off sheep and camels in abundance ,
and returned to Jerusalem .
*
Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded .
*
And he went out to meet Asa ,
and said to him : "
Hear me ,
Asa ,
and all Judah and Benjamin .
The LORD is with you while you are with Him .
If you seek Him ,
He will be found by you ;
but if you forsake Him ,
He will forsake you .
*
For a long time Israel has been without the true God ,
without a teaching priest ,
and without law ;
*
but when in their trouble they turned to the LORD God of Israel ,
and sought Him ,
He was found by them .
*
And in those times there was no peace to the one who went out ,
nor to the one who came in ,
but great turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the lands .
*
So nation was destroyed by nation ,
and city by city ,
for God troubled them with every adversity .
*
But you ,
be strong and do not let your hands be weak ,
for your work shall be rewarded !"
*
And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet ,
he took courage ,
and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had taken in the mountains of Ephraim ;
and he restored the altar of the LORD that was before the vestibule of the LORD .
*
Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin ,
and those who dwelt with them from Ephraim ,
Manasseh ,
and Simeon ,
for they came over to him in great numbers from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him .
*
So they gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month ,
in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa .
*
And they offered to the LORD at that time seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep from the spoil they had brought .
*
Then they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul ;
*
and whoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel was to be put to death ,
whether small or great ,
whether man or woman .
*
Then they took an oath before the LORD with a loud voice ,
with shouting and trumpets and rams '
horns .
*
And all Judah rejoiced at the oath ,
for they had sworn with all their heart and sought Him with all their soul ;
and He was found by them ,
and the LORD gave them rest all around .
*
Also he removed Maachah ,
the mother of Asa the king ,
from being queen mother ,
because she had made an obscene image of Asherah ;
and Asa cut down her obscene image ,
then crushed and burned it by the Brook Kidron .
*
But the high places were not removed from Israel .
Nevertheless the heart of Asa was loyal all his days .
*
He also brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated and that he himself had dedicated :
silver and gold and utensils .
*
And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa .
*
In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa ,
Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and built Ramah ,
that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah .
*
Then Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king '
s house ,
and sent to Ben-Hadad king of Syria ,
who dwelt in Damascus ,
saying ,
* "
Let there be a treaty between you and me ,
as there was between my father and your father .
See ,
I have sent you silver and gold ;
come ,
break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel ,
so that he will withdraw from me ."
*
So Ben-Hadad heeded King Asa ,
and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel .
They attacked Ijon ,
Dan ,
Abel Maim ,
and all the storage cities of Naphtali .
*
Now it happened ,
when Baasha heard it ,
that he stopped building Ramah and ceased his work .
*
Then King Asa took all Judah ,
and they carried away the stones and timber of Ramah ,
which Baasha had used for building ;
and with them he built Geba and Mizpah .
*
And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah ,
and said to him : "
Because you have relied on the king of Syria ,
and have not relied on the LORD your God ,
therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand .
*
Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen ?
Yet ,
because you relied on the LORD ,
He delivered them into your hand .
*
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth ,
to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him .
In this you have done foolishly ;
therefore from now on you shall have wars ."
*
Then Asa was angry with the seer ,
and put him in prison ,
for he was enraged at him because of this .
And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time .
*
Note that the acts of Asa ,
first and last ,
are indeed written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel .
*
And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign ,
Asa became diseased in his feet ,
and his malady was severe ;
yet in his disease he did not seek the LORD ,
but the physicians .
*
So Asa rested with his fathers ;
he died in the forty-first year of his reign .
*
They buried him in his own tomb ,
which he had made for himself in the City of David ;
and they laid him in the bed which was filled with spices and various ingredients prepared in a mixture of ointments .
They made a very great burning for him .
*
Then Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place ,
and strengthened himself against Israel .
*
And he placed troops in all the fortified cities of Judah ,
and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim which Asa his father had taken .
*
Now the LORD was with Jehoshaphat ,
because he walked in the former ways of his father David ;
he did not seek the Baals ,
*
but sought the God of his father ,
and walked in His commandments and not according to the acts of Israel .
*
Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand ;
and all Judah gave presents to Jehoshaphat ,
and he had riches and honor in abundance .
*
And his heart took delight in the ways of the LORD ;
moreover he removed the high places and wooden images from Judah .
*
Also in the third year of his reign he sent his leaders ,
Ben-Hail ,
Obadiah ,
Zechariah ,
Nethanel ,
and Michaiah ,
to teach in the cities of Judah .
*
And with them he sent Levites :
Shemaiah ,
Nethaniah ,
Zebadiah ,
Asahel ,
Shemiramoth ,
Jehonathan ,
Adonijah ,
Tobijah ,
and Tobadonijah--the Levites ;
and with them Elishama and Jehoram ,
the priests .
*
So they taught in Judah ,
and had the Book of the Law of the LORD with them ;
they went throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people .
*
And the fear of the LORD fell on all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah ,
so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat .
*
Also some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and silver as tribute ;
and the Arabians brought him flocks ,
seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred male goats .
*
So Jehoshaphat became increasingly powerful ,
and he built fortresses and storage cities in Judah .
*
He had much property in the cities of Judah ;
and the men of war ,
mighty men of valor ,
were in Jerusalem .
*
These are their numbers ,
according to their fathers '
houses .
Of Judah ,
the captains of thousands :
Adnah the captain ,
and with him three hundred thousand mighty men of valor ;
*
and next to him was Jehohanan the captain ,
and with him two hundred and eighty thousand ;
*
and next to him was Amasiah the son of Zichri ,
who willingly offered himself to the LORD ,
and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valor .
*
Of Benjamin :
Eliada a mighty man of valor ,
and with him two hundred thousand men armed with bow and shield ;
*
and next to him was Jehozabad ,
and with him one hundred and eighty thousand prepared for war .
*
These served the king ,
besides those the king put in the fortified cities throughout all Judah .
*
Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance ;
and by marriage he allied himself with Ahab .
*
After some years he went down to visit Ahab in Samaria ;
and Ahab killed sheep and oxen in abundance for him and the people who were with him ,
and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth Gilead .
*
So Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah , "
Will you go with me against Ramoth Gilead ?"
And he answered him , "
I am as you are ,
and my people as your people ;
we will be with you in the war ."
*
Also Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel , "
Please inquire for the word of the LORD today ."
*
Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together ,
four hundred men ,
and said to them , "
Shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead ,
or shall I refrain ?"
So they said , "
Go up ,
for God will deliver it into the king '
s hand ."
*
But Jehoshaphat said , "
Is there not still a prophet of the LORD here ,
that we may inquire of Him ?"
*
So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat , "
There is still one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD ;
but I hate him ,
because he never prophesies good concerning me ,
but always evil .
He is Micaiah the son of Imla ."
And Jehoshaphat said , "
Let not the king say such things !"
*
Then the king of Israel called one of his officers and said , "
Bring Micaiah the son of Imla quickly !"
*
The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah ,
clothed in their robes ,
sat each on his throne ;
and they sat at a threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria ;
and all the prophets prophesied before them .
*
Now Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah had made horns of iron for himself ;
and he said , "
Thus says the LORD : "
With these you shall gore the Syrians until they are destroyed ."'
*
And all the prophets prophesied so ,
saying , "
Go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper ,
for the LORD will deliver it into the king '
s hand ."
*
Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him ,
saying , "
Now listen ,
the words of the prophets with one accord encourage the king .
Therefore please let your word be like the word of one of them ,
and speak encouragement ."
*
And Micaiah said , "
As the LORD lives ,
whatever my God says ,
that I will speak ."
*
Then he came to the king ;
and the king said to him , "
Micaiah ,
shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead ,
or shall I refrain ?"
And he said , "
Go and prosper ,
and they shall be delivered into your hand !"
*
So the king said to him , "
How many times shall I make you swear that you tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD ?"
*
Then he said , "
I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains ,
as sheep that have no shepherd .
And the LORD said , "
These have no master .
Let each return to his house in peace ."'
*
And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat , "
Did I not tell you he would not prophesy good concerning me ,
but evil ?"
*
Then Micaiah said , "
Therefore hear the word of the LORD :
I saw the LORD sitting on His throne ,
and all the host of heaven standing on His right hand and His left .
*
And the LORD said , "
Who will persuade Ahab king of Israel to go up ,
that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead ?'
So one spoke in this manner ,
and another spoke in that manner .
*
Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD ,
and said , "
I will persuade him .'
The LORD said to him , "
In what way ?'
*
So he said , "
I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets .'
And the LORD said , "
You shall persuade him and also prevail ;
go out and do so .'
*
Therefore look !
The LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours ,
and the LORD has declared disaster against you ."
*
Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near and struck Micaiah on the cheek ,
and said , "
Which way did the spirit from the LORD go from me to speak to you ?"
*
And Micaiah said , "
Indeed you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide !"
*
Then the king of Israel said , "
Take Micaiah ,
and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king '
s son ;
*
and say , "
Thus says the king : "
Put this fellow in prison ,
and feed him with bread of affliction and water of affliction ,
until I return in peace .""'
*
But Micaiah said , "
If you ever return in peace ,
the LORD has not spoken by me ."
And he said , "
Take heed ,
all you people !"
*
So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead .
*
And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat , "
I will disguise myself and go into battle ;
but you put on your robes ."
So the king of Israel disguised himself ,
and they went into battle .
*
Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of the chariots who were with him ,
saying , "
Fight with no one small or great ,
but only with the king of Israel ."
*
So it was ,
when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat ,
that they said , "
It is the king of Israel !"
Therefore they surrounded him to attack ;
but Jehoshaphat cried out ,
and the LORD helped him ,
and God diverted them from him .
*
For so it was ,
when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel ,
that they turned back from pursuing him .
*
Now a certain man drew a bow at random ,
and struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor .
So he said to the driver of his chariot , "
Turn around and take me out of the battle ,
for I am wounded ."
*
The battle increased that day ,
and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Syrians until evening ;
and about the time of sunset he died .
*
Then Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned safely to his house in Jerusalem .
*
And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him ,
and said to King Jehoshaphat , "
Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD ?
Therefore the wrath of the LORD is upon you .
*
Nevertheless good things are found in you ,
in that you have removed the wooden images from the land ,
and have prepared your heart to seek God ."
*
So Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem ;
and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the mountains of Ephraim ,
and brought them back to the LORD God of their fathers .
*
Then he set judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah ,
city by city ,
*
and said to the judges , "
Take heed to what you are doing ,
for you do not judge for man but for the LORD ,
who is with you in the judgment .
*
Now therefore ,
let the fear of the LORD be upon you ;
take care and do it ,
for there is no iniquity with the LORD our God ,
no partiality ,
nor taking of bribes ."
*
Moreover in Jerusalem ,
for the judgment of the LORD and for controversies ,
Jehoshaphat appointed some of the Levites and priests ,
and some of the chief fathers of Israel ,
when they returned to Jerusalem .
*
And he commanded them ,
saying , "
Thus you shall act in the fear of the LORD ,
faithfully and with a loyal heart :
*
Whatever case comes to you from your brethren who dwell in their cities ,
whether of bloodshed or offenses against law or commandment ,
against statutes or ordinances ,
you shall warn them ,
lest they trespass against the LORD and wrath come upon you and your brethren .
Do this ,
and you will not be guilty .
*
And take notice :
Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the LORD ;
and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael ,
the ruler of the house of Judah ,
for all the king '
s matters ;
also the Levites will be officials before you .
Behave courageously ,
and the LORD will be with the good ."
*
It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon ,
and others with them besides the Ammonites ,
came to battle against Jehoshaphat .
*
Then some came and told Jehoshaphat ,
saying , "
A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea ,
from Syria ;
and they are in Hazazon Tamar " (
which is En Gedi ).
*
And Jehoshaphat feared ,
and set himself to seek the LORD ,
and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah .
*
So Judah gathered together to ask help from the LORD ;
and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD .
*
Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem ,
in the house of the LORD ,
before the new court ,
*
and said : "
O LORD God of our fathers ,
are You not God in heaven ,
and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations ,
and in Your hand is there not power and might ,
so that no one is able to withstand You ?
*
Are You not our God ,
who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel ,
and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever ?
*
And they dwell in it ,
and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name ,
saying ,
* "
If disaster comes upon us--sword ,
judgment ,
pestilence ,
or famine--we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (
for Your name is in this temple ),
and cry out to You in our affliction ,
and You will hear and save .'
*
And now ,
here are the people of Ammon ,
Moab ,
and Mount Seir--whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt ,
but they turned from them and did not destroy them --
*
here they are ,
rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit .
*
O our God ,
will You not judge them ?
For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us ;
nor do we know what to do ,
but our eyes are upon You ."
*
Now all Judah ,
with their little ones ,
their wives ,
and their children ,
stood before the LORD .
*
Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah ,
the son of Benaiah ,
the son of Jeiel ,
the son of Mattaniah ,
a Levite of the sons of Asaph ,
in the midst of the assembly .
*
And he said , "
Listen ,
all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem ,
and you ,
King Jehoshaphat !
Thus says the LORD to you : "
Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude ,
for the battle is not yours ,
but God '
s .
*
Tomorrow go down against them .
They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz ,
and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel .
*
You will not need to fight in this battle .
Position yourselves ,
stand still and see the salvation of the LORD ,
who is with you ,
O Judah and Jerusalem !'
Do not fear or be dismayed ;
tomorrow go out against them ,
for the LORD is with you ."
*
And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground ,
and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the LORD ,
worshiping the LORD .
*
Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with voices loud and high .
*
So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa ;
and as they went out ,
Jehoshaphat stood and said , "
Hear me ,
O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem :
Believe in the LORD your God ,
and you shall be established ;
believe His prophets ,
and you shall prosper ."
*
And when he had consulted with the people ,
he appointed those who should sing to the LORD ,
and who should praise the beauty of holiness ,
as they went out before the army and were saying : "
Praise the LORD ,
For His mercy endures forever ."
*
Now when they began to sing and to praise ,
the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon ,
Moab ,
and Mount Seir ,
who had come against Judah ;
and they were defeated .
*
For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them .
And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir ,
they helped to destroy one another .
*
So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness ,
they looked toward the multitude ;
and there were their dead bodies ,
fallen on the earth .
No one had escaped .
*
When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil ,
they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies ,
and precious jewelry ,
which they stripped off for themselves ,
more than they could carry away ;
and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much .
*
And on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berachah ,
for there they blessed the LORD ;
therefore the name of that place was called The Valley of Berachah until this day .
*
Then they returned ,
every man of Judah and Jerusalem ,
with Jehoshaphat in front of them ,
to go back to Jerusalem with joy ,
for the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies .
*
So they came to Jerusalem ,
with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets ,
to the house of the LORD .
*
And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel .
*
Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet ,
for his God gave him rest all around .
*
So Jehoshaphat was king over Judah .
He was thirty-five years old when he became king ,
and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem .
His mother '
s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi .
*
And he walked in the way of his father Asa ,
and did not turn aside from it ,
doing what was right in the sight of the LORD .
*
Nevertheless the high places were not taken away ,
for as yet the people had not directed their hearts to the God of their fathers .
*
Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat ,
first and last ,
indeed they are written in the book of Jehu the son of Hanani ,
which is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel .
*
After this Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel ,
who acted very wickedly .
*
And he allied himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish ,
and they made the ships in Ezion Geber .
*
But Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat ,
saying , "
Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah ,
the LORD has destroyed your works ."
Then the ships were wrecked ,
so that they were not able to go to Tarshish .
*
And Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers ,
and was buried with his fathers in the City of David .
Then Jehoram his son reigned in his place .
*
He had brothers ,
the sons of Jehoshaphat :
Azariah ,
Jehiel ,
Zechariah ,
Azaryahu ,
Michael ,
and Shephatiah ;
all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel .
*
Their father gave them great gifts of silver and gold and precious things ,
with fortified cities in Judah ;
but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram ,
because he was the firstborn .
*
Now when Jehoram was established over the kingdom of his father ,
he strengthened himself and killed all his brothers with the sword ,
and also others of the princes of Israel .
*
Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king ,
and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem .
*
And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel ,
just as the house of Ahab had done ,
for he had the daughter of Ahab as a wife ;
and he did evil in the sight of the LORD .
*
Yet the LORD would not destroy the house of David ,
because of the covenant that He had made with David ,
and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever .
*
In his days Edom revolted against Judah '
s authority ,
and made a king over themselves .
*
So Jehoram went out with his officers ,
and all his chariots with him .
And he rose by night and attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of the chariots .
*
Thus Edom has been in revolt against Judah '
s authority to this day .
At that time Libnah revolted against his rule ,
because he had forsaken the LORD God of his fathers .
*
Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah ,
and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit harlotry ,
and led Judah astray .
*
And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet ,
saying ,
4 Thus says the LORD God of your father David :
4 Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father ,
or in the ways of Asa king of Judah ,
*
but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel ,
and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot like the harlotry of the house of Ahab ,
and also have killed your brothers ,
those of your father '
s household ,
who were better than yourself ,
*
behold ,
the LORD will strike your people with a serious affliction--your children ,
your wives ,
and all your possessions ;
*
and you will become very sick with a disease of your intestines ,
until your intestines come out by reason of the sickness ,
day by day .
*
Moreover the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabians who were near the Ethiopians .
*
And they came up into Judah and invaded it ,
and carried away all the possessions that were found in the king '
s house ,
and also his sons and his wives ,
so that there was not a son left to him except Jehoahaz ,
the youngest of his sons .
*
After all this the LORD struck him in his intestines with an incurable disease .
*
Then it happened in the course of time ,
after the end of two years ,
that his intestines came out because of his sickness ;
so he died in severe pain .
And his people made no burning for him ,
like the burning for his fathers .
*
He was thirty-two years old when he became king .
He reigned in Jerusalem eight years and ,
to no one '
s sorrow ,
departed .
However they buried him in the City of David ,
but not in the tombs of the kings .
*
Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his place ,
for the raiders who came with the Arabians into the camp had killed all the older sons .
So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram ,
king of Judah ,
reigned .
*
Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he became king ,
and he reigned one year in Jerusalem .
His mother '
s name was Athaliah the granddaughter of Omri .
*
He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab ,
for his mother advised him to do wickedly .
*
Therefore he did evil in the sight of the LORD ,
like the house of Ahab ;
for they were his counselors after the death of his father ,
to his destruction .
*
He also followed their advice ,
and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead ;
and the Syrians wounded Joram .
*
Then he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which he had received at Ramah ,
when he fought against Hazael king of Syria .
And Azariah the son of Jehoram ,
king of Judah ,
went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab in Jezreel ,
because he was sick .
*
His going to Joram was God '
s occasion for Ahaziah '
s downfall ;
for when he arrived ,
he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi ,
whom the LORD had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab .
*
And it happened ,
when Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab ,
and found the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah '
s brothers who served Ahaziah ,
that he killed them .
*
Then he searched for Ahaziah ;
and they caught him (
he was hiding in Samaria ),
and brought him to Jehu .
When they had killed him ,
they buried him , "
because ,"
they said , "
he is the son of Jehoshaphat ,
who sought the LORD with all his heart ."
So the house of Ahaziah had no one to assume power over the kingdom .
*
Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead ,
she arose and destroyed all the royal heirs of the house of Judah .
*
But Jehoshabeath ,
the daughter of the king ,
took Joash the son of Ahaziah ,
and stole him away from among the king '
s sons who were being murdered ,
and put him and his nurse in a bedroom .
So Jehoshabeath ,
the daughter of King Jehoram ,
the wife of Jehoiada the priest (
for she was the sister of Ahaziah ),
hid him from Athaliah so that she did not kill him .
*
And he was hidden with them in the house of God for six years ,
while Athaliah reigned over the land .
*
In the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself ,
and made a covenant with the captains of hundreds :
Azariah the son of Jeroham ,
Ishmael the son of Jehohanan ,
Azariah the son of Obed ,
Maaseiah the son of Adaiah ,
and Elishaphat the son of Zichri .
*
And they went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah ,
and the chief fathers of Israel ,
and they came to Jerusalem .
*
Then all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God .
And he said to them , "
Behold ,
the king '
s son shall reign ,
as the LORD has said of the sons of David .
*
This is what you shall do :
One-third of you entering on the Sabbath ,
of the priests and the Levites ,
shall be keeping watch over the doors ;
*
one-third shall be at the king '
s house ;
and one-third at the Gate of the Foundation .
All the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LORD .
*
But let no one come into the house of the LORD except the priests and those of the Levites who serve .
They may go in ,
for they are holy ;
but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD .
*
And the Levites shall surround the king on all sides ,
every man with his weapons in his hand ;
and whoever comes into the house ,
let him be put to death .
You are to be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out ."
*
So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded .
And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath ,
with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath ;
for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions .
*
And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David ,
that were in the temple of God .
*
Then he set all the people ,
every man with his weapon in his hand ,
from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple ,
along by the altar and by the temple ,
all around the king .
*
And they brought out the king '
s son ,
put the crown on him ,
gave him the Testimony ,
and made him king .
Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him ,
and said , "
Long live the king !"
*
Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king ,
she came to the people in the temple of the LORD .
*
When she looked ,
there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance ;
and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king .
All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets ,
also the singers with musical instruments ,
and those who led in praise .
So Athaliah tore her clothes and said , "
Treason !
Treason !"
*
And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army ,
and said to them , "
Take her outside under guard ,
and slay with the sword whoever follows her ."
For the priest had said , "
Do not kill her in the house of the LORD ."
*
So they seized her ;
and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the king '
s house ,
and they killed her there .
*
Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself ,
the people ,
and the king ,
that they should be the LORD '
s people .
*
And all the people went to the temple of Baal ,
and tore it down .
They broke in pieces its altars and images ,
and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars .
*
Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the LORD to the hand of the priests ,
the Levites ,
whom David had assigned in the house of the LORD ,
to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD ,
as it is written in the Law of Moses ,
with rejoicing and with singing ,
as it was established by David .
*
And he set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD ,
so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter .
*
Then he took the captains of hundreds ,
the nobles ,
the governors of the people ,
and all the people of the land ,
and brought the king down from the house of the LORD ;
and they went through the Upper Gate to the king '
s house ,
and set the king on the throne of the kingdom .
*
So all the people of the land rejoiced ;
and the city was quiet ,
for they had slain Athaliah with the sword .
*
Joash was seven years old when he became king ,
and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem .
His mother '
s name was Zibiah of Beersheba .
*
Joash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest .
*
And Jehoiada took two wives for him ,
and he had sons and daughters .
*
Now it happened after this that Joash set his heart on repairing the house of the LORD .
*
Then he gathered the priests and the Levites ,
and said to them , "
Go out to the cities of Judah ,
and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year ,
and see that you do it quickly ."
However the Levites did not do it quickly .
*
So the king called Jehoiada the chief priest ,
and said to him , "
Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and from Jerusalem the collection ,
according to the commandment of Moses the servant of the LORD and of the assembly of Israel ,
for the tabernacle of witness ?"
*
For the sons of Athaliah ,
that wicked woman ,
had broken into the house of God ,
and had also presented all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD to the Baals .
*
Then at the king '
s command they made a chest ,
and set it outside at the gate of the house of the LORD .
*
And they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring to the LORD the collection that Moses the servant of God had imposed on Israel in the wilderness .
*
Then all the leaders and all the people rejoiced ,
brought their contributions ,
and put them into the chest until all had given .
*
So it was ,
at that time ,
when the chest was brought to the king '
s official by the hand of the Levites ,
and when they saw that there was much money ,
that the king '
s scribe and the high priest '
s officer came and emptied the chest ,
and took it and returned it to its place .
Thus they did day by day ,
and gathered money in abundance .
*
The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of the LORD ;
and they hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the LORD ,
and also those who worked in iron and bronze to restore the house of the LORD .
*
So the workmen labored ,
and the work was completed by them ;
they restored the house of God to its original condition and reinforced it .
*
When they had finished ,
they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada ;
they made from it articles for the house of the LORD ,
articles for serving and offering ,
spoons and vessels of gold and silver .
And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the LORD continually all the days of Jehoiada .
*
But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days ,
and he died ;
he was one hundred and thirty years old when he died .
*
And they buried him in the City of David among the kings ,
because he had done good in Israel ,
both toward God and His house .
*
Now after the death of Jehoiada the leaders of Judah came and bowed down to the king .
And the king listened to them .
*
Therefore they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers ,
and served wooden images and idols ;
and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their trespass .
*
Yet He sent prophets to them ,
to bring them back to the LORD ;
and they testified against them ,
but they would not listen .
*
Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest ,
who stood above the people ,
and said to them , "
Thus says God : "
Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD ,
so that you cannot prosper ?
Because you have forsaken the LORD ,
He also has forsaken you ."'
*
So they conspired against him ,
and at the command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the LORD .
*
Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him ,
but killed his son ;
and as he died ,
he said , "
The LORD look on it ,
and repay !"
*
So it happened in the spring of the year that the army of Syria came up against him ;
and they came to Judah and Jerusalem ,
and destroyed all the leaders of the people from among the people ,
and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus .
*
For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men ;
but the LORD delivered a very great army into their hand ,
because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers .
So they executed judgment against Joash .
*
And when they had withdrawn from him (
for they left him severely wounded ),
his own servants conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest ,
and killed him on his bed .
So he died .
And they buried him in the City of David ,
but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings .
*
These are the ones who conspired against him :
Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess ,
and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess .
*
Now concerning his sons ,
and the many oracles about him ,
and the repairing of the house of God ,
indeed they are written in the annals of the book of the kings .
Then Amaziah his son reigned in his place .
*
Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king ,
and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem .
His mother '
s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem .
*
And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD ,
but not with a loyal heart .
*
Now it happened ,
as soon as the kingdom was established for him ,
that he executed his servants who had murdered his father the king .
*
However he did not execute their children ,
but did as it is written in the Law in the Book of Moses ,
where the LORD commanded ,
saying , "
The fathers shall not be put to death for their children ,
nor shall the children be put to death for their fathers ;
but a person shall die for his own sin ."
*
Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together and set over them captains of thousands and captains of hundreds ,
according to their fathers '
houses ,
throughout all Judah and Benjamin ;
and he numbered them from twenty years old and above ,
and found them to be three hundred thousand choice men ,
able to go to war ,
who could handle spear and shield .
*
He also hired one hundred thousand mighty men of valor from Israel for one hundred talents of silver .
*
But a man of God came to him ,
saying , "
O king ,
do not let the army of Israel go with you ,
for the LORD is not with Israel--not with any of the children of Ephraim .
*
But if you go ,
be gone !
Be strong in battle !
Even so ,
God shall make you fall before the enemy ;
for God has power to help and to overthrow ."
*
Then Amaziah said to the man of God , "
But what shall we do about the hundred talents which I have given to the troops of Israel ?"
And the man of God answered , "
The LORD is able to give you much more than this ."
*
So Amaziah discharged the troops that had come to him from Ephraim ,
to go back home .
Therefore their anger was greatly aroused against Judah ,
and they returned home in great anger .
*
Then Amaziah strengthened himself ,
and leading his people ,
he went to the Valley of Salt and killed ten thousand of the people of Seir .
*
Also the children of Judah took captive ten thousand alive ,
brought them to the top of the rock ,
and cast them down from the top of the rock ,
so that they all were dashed in pieces .
*
But as for the soldiers of the army which Amaziah had discharged ,
so that they would not go with him to battle ,
they raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon ,
killed three thousand in them ,
and took much spoil .
*
Now it was so ,
after Amaziah came from the slaughter of the Edomites ,
that he brought the gods of the people of Seir ,
set them up to be his gods ,
and bowed down before them and burned incense to them .
*
Therefore the anger of the LORD was aroused against Amaziah ,
and He sent him a prophet who said to him , "
Why have you sought the gods of the people ,
which could not rescue their own people from your hand ?"
*
So it was ,
as he talked with him ,
that the king said to him , "
Have we made you the king '
s counselor ?
Cease !
Why should you be killed ?"
Then the prophet ceased ,
and said , "
I know that God has determined to destroy you ,
because you have done this and have not heeded my advice ."
*
Now Amaziah king of Judah asked advice and sent to Joash the son of Jehoahaz ,
the son of Jehu ,
king of Israel ,
saying , "
Come ,
let us face one another in battle ."
*
And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah ,
saying , "
The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon ,
saying , "
Give your daughter to my son as wife ';
and a wild beast that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle .
*
Indeed you say that you have defeated the Edomites ,
and your heart is lifted up to boast .
Stay at home now ;
why should you meddle with trouble ,
that you should fall--you and Judah with you ?"
*
But Amaziah would not heed ,
for it came from God ,
that He might give them into the hand of their enemies ,
because they sought the gods of Edom .
*
So Joash king of Israel went out ;
and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another at Beth Shemesh ,
which belongs to Judah .
*
And Judah was defeated by Israel ,
and every man fled to his tent .
*
Then Joash the king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah ,
the son of Joash ,
the son of Jehoahaz ,
at Beth Shemesh ;
and he brought him to Jerusalem ,
and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate--four hundred cubits .
*
And he took all the gold and silver ,
all the articles that were found in the house of God with Obed-Edom ,
the treasures of the king '
s house ,
and hostages ,
and returned to Samaria .
*
Amaziah the son of Joash ,
king of Judah ,
lived fifteen years after the death of Joash the son of Jehoahaz ,
king of Israel .
*
Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah ,
from first to last ,
indeed are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel ?
*
After the time that Amaziah turned away from following the LORD ,
they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem ,
and he fled to Lachish ;
but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there .
*
Then they brought him on horses and buried him with his fathers in the City of Judah .
*
Now all the people of Judah took Uzziah ,
who was sixteen years old ,
and made him king instead of his father Amaziah .
*
He built Elath and restored it to Judah ,
after the king rested with his fathers .
*
Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king ,
and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem .
His mother '
s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem .
*
And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD ,
according to all that his father Amaziah had done .
*
He sought God in the days of Zechariah ,
who had understanding in the visions of God ;
and as long as he sought the LORD ,
God made him prosper .
*
Now he went out and made war against the Philistines ,
and broke down the wall of Gath ,
the wall of Jabneh ,
and the wall of Ashdod ;
and he built cities around Ashdod and among the Philistines .
*
God helped him against the Philistines ,
against the Arabians who lived in Gur Baal ,
and against the Meunites .
*
Also the Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah .
His fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt ,
for he became exceedingly strong .
*
And Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate ,
at the Valley Gate ,
and at the corner buttress of the wall ;
then he fortified them .
*
Also he built towers in the desert .
He dug many wells ,
for he had much livestock ,
both in the lowlands and in the plains ;
he also had farmers and vinedressers in the mountains and in Carmel ,
for he loved the soil .
*
Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men who went out to war by companies ,
according to the number on their roll as prepared by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer ,
under the hand of Hananiah ,
one of the king '
s captains .
*
The total number of chief officers of the mighty men of valor was two thousand six hundred .
*
And under their authority was an army of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred ,
that made war with mighty power ,
to help the king against the enemy .
*
Then Uzziah prepared for them ,
for the entire army ,
shields ,
spears ,
helmets ,
body armor ,
bows ,
and slings to cast stones .
*
And he made devices in Jerusalem ,
invented by skillful men ,
to be on the towers and the corners ,
to shoot arrows and large stones .
So his fame spread far and wide ,
for he was marvelously helped till he became strong .
*
But when he was strong his heart was lifted up ,
to his destruction ,
for he transgressed against the LORD his God by entering the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense .
*
So Azariah the priest went in after him ,
and with him were eighty priests of the LORD--valiant men .
*
And they withstood King Uzziah ,
and said to him , "
It is not for you ,
Uzziah ,
to burn incense to the LORD ,
but for the priests ,
the sons of Aaron ,
who are consecrated to burn incense .
Get out of the sanctuary ,
for you have trespassed !
You shall have no honor from the LORD God ."
*
Then Uzziah became furious ;
and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense .
And while he was angry with the priests ,
leprosy broke out on his forehead ,
before the priests in the house of the LORD ,
beside the incense altar .
*
And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him ,
and there ,
on his forehead ,
he was leprous ;
so they thrust him out of that place .
Indeed he also hurried to get out ,
because the LORD had struck him .
*
King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death .
He dwelt in an isolated house ,
because he was a leper ;
for he was cut off from the house of the LORD .
Then Jotham his son was over the king '
s house ,
judging the people of the land .
*
Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah ,
from first to last ,
the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz wrote .
*
So Uzziah rested with his fathers ,
and they buried him with his fathers in the field of burial which belonged to the kings ,
for they said , "
He is a leper ."
Then Jotham his son reigned in his place .
*
Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king ,
and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem .
His mother '
s name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok .
*
And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD ,
according to all that his father Uzziah had done (
although he did not enter the temple of the LORD ).
But still the people acted corruptly .
*
He built the Upper Gate of the house of the LORD ,
and he built extensively on the wall of Ophel .
*
Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Judah ,
and in the forests he built fortresses and towers .
*
He also fought with the king of the Ammonites and defeated them .
And the people of Ammon gave him in that year one hundred talents of silver ,
ten thousand kors of wheat ,
and ten thousand of barley .
The people of Ammon paid this to him in the second and third years also .
*
So Jotham became mighty ,
because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God .
*
Now the rest of the acts of Jotham ,
and all his wars and his ways ,
indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah .
*
He was twenty-five years old when he became king ,
and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem .
*
So Jotham rested with his fathers ,
and they buried him in the City of David .
Then Ahaz his son reigned in his place .
*
Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king ,
and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem ;
and he did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD ,
as his father David had done .
*
For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel ,
and made molded images for the Baals .
*
He burned incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom ,
and burned his children in the fire ,
according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel .
*
And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places ,
on the hills ,
and under every green tree .
*
Therefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria .
They defeated him ,
and carried away a great multitude of them as captives ,
and brought them to Damascus .
Then he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel ,
who defeated him with a great slaughter .
*
For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed one hundred and twenty thousand in Judah in one day ,
all valiant men ,
because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers .
*
Zichri ,
a mighty man of Ephraim ,
killed Maaseiah the king '
s son ,
Azrikam the officer over the house ,
and Elkanah who was second to the king .
*
And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand women ,
sons ,
and daughters ;
and they also took away much spoil from them ,
and brought the spoil to Samaria .
*
But a prophet of the LORD was there ,
whose name was Oded ;
and he went out before the army that came to Samaria ,
and said to them : "
Look ,
because the LORD God of your fathers was angry with Judah ,
He has delivered them into your hand ;
but you have killed them in a rage that reaches up to heaven .
*
And now you propose to force the children of Judah and Jerusalem to be your male and female slaves ;
but are you not also guilty before the LORD your God ?
*
Now hear me ,
therefore ,
and return the captives ,
whom you have taken captive from your brethren ,
for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you ."
*
Then some of the heads of the children of Ephraim ,
Azariah the son of Johanan ,
Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth ,
Jehizkiah the son of Shallum ,
and Amasa the son of Hadlai ,
stood up against those who came from the war ,
*
and said to them , "
You shall not bring the captives here ,
for we already have offended the LORD .
You intend to add to our sins and to our guilt ;
for our guilt is great ,
and there is fierce wrath against Israel ."
*
So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the leaders and all the assembly .
*
Then the men who were designated by name rose up and took the captives ,
and from the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them ,
dressed them and gave them sandals ,
gave them food and drink ,
and anointed them ;
and they let all the feeble ones ride on donkeys .
So they brought them to their brethren at Jericho ,
the city of palm trees .
Then they returned to Samaria .
*
At the same time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria to help him .
*
For again the Edomites had come ,
attacked Judah ,
and carried away captives .
*
The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the lowland and of the South of Judah ,
and had taken Beth Shemesh ,
Aijalon ,
Gederoth ,
Sochoh with its villages ,
Timnah with its villages ,
and Gimzo with its villages ;
and they dwelt there .
*
For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel ,
for he had encouraged moral decline in Judah and had been continually unfaithful to the LORD .
*
Also Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came to him and distressed him ,
and did not assist him .
*
For Ahaz took part of the treasures from the house of the LORD ,
from the house of the king ,
and from the leaders ,
and he gave it to the king of Assyria ;
but he did not help him .
*
Now in the time of his distress King Ahaz became increasingly unfaithful to the LORD .
This is that King Ahaz .
*
For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him ,
saying , "
Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them ,
I will sacrifice to them that they may help me ."
But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel .
*
So Ahaz gathered the articles of the house of God ,
cut in pieces the articles of the house of God ,
shut up the doors of the house of the LORD ,
and made for himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem .
*
And in every single city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods ,
and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers .
*
Now the rest of his acts and all his ways ,
from first to last ,
indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel .
*
So Ahaz rested with his fathers ,
and they buried him in the city ,
in Jerusalem ;
but they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel .
Then Hezekiah his son reigned in his place .
*
Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old ,
and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem .
His mother '
s name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah .
*
And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD ,
according to all that his father David had done .
*
In the first year of his reign ,
in the first month ,
he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them .
*
Then he brought in the priests and the Levites ,
and gathered them in the East Square ,
*
and said to them : "
Hear me ,
Levites !
Now sanctify yourselves ,
sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers ,
and carry out the rubbish from the holy place .
*
For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the eyes of the LORD our God ;
they have forsaken Him ,
have turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the LORD ,
and turned their backs on Him .
*
They have also shut up the doors of the vestibule ,
put out the lamps ,
and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel .
*
Therefore the wrath of the LORD fell upon Judah and Jerusalem ,
and He has given them up to trouble ,
to desolation ,
and to jeering ,
as you see with your eyes .
*
For indeed ,
because of this our fathers have fallen by the sword ;
and our sons ,
our daughters ,
and our wives are in captivity .
* "
Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel ,
that His fierce wrath may turn away from us .
*
My sons ,
do not be negligent now ,
for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him ,
to serve Him ,
and that you should minister to Him and burn incense ."
*
Then these Levites arose :
Mahath the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah ,
of the sons of the Kohathites ;
of the sons of Merari ,
Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel ;
of the Gershonites ,
Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah ;
*
of the sons of Elizaphan ,
Shimri and Jeiel ;
of the sons of Asaph ,
Zechariah and Mattaniah ;
*
of the sons of Heman ,
Jehiel and Shimei ;
and of the sons of Jeduthun ,
Shemaiah and Uzziel .
*
And they gathered their brethren ,
sanctified themselves ,
and went according to the commandment of the king ,
at the words of the LORD ,
to cleanse the house of the LORD .
*
Then the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD to cleanse it ,
and brought out all the debris that they found in the temple of the LORD to the court of the house of the LORD .
And the Levites took it out and carried it to the Brook Kidron .
*
Now they began to sanctify on the first day of the first month ,
and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the LORD .
So they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days ,
and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished .
*
Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said , "
We have cleansed all the house of the LORD ,
the altar of burnt offerings with all its articles ,
and the table of the showbread with all its articles .
*
Moreover all the articles which King Ahaz in his reign had cast aside in his transgression we have prepared and sanctified ;
and there they are ,
before the altar of the LORD ."
*
Then King Hezekiah rose early ,
gathered the rulers of the city ,
and went up to the house of the LORD .
*
And they brought seven bulls ,
seven rams ,
seven lambs ,
and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom ,
for the sanctuary ,
and for Judah .
Then he commanded the priests ,
the sons of Aaron ,
to offer them on the altar of the LORD .
*
So they killed the bulls ,
and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar .
Likewise they killed the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar .
They also killed the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar .
*
Then they brought out the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly ,
and they laid their hands on them .
*
And the priests killed them ;
and they presented their blood on the altar as a sin offering to make an atonement for all Israel ,
for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering be made for all Israel .
*
And he stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals ,
with stringed instruments ,
and with harps ,
according to the commandment of David ,
of Gad the king '
s seer ,
and of Nathan the prophet ;
for thus was the commandment of the LORD by His prophets .
*
The Levites stood with the instruments of David ,
and the priests with the trumpets .
*
Then Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar .
And when the burnt offering began ,
the song of the LORD also began ,
with the trumpets and with the instruments of David king of Israel .
*
So all the assembly worshiped ,
the singers sang ,
and the trumpeters sounded ;
all this continued until the burnt offering was finished .
*
And when they had finished offering ,
the king and all who were present with him bowed and worshiped .
*
Moreover King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer .
So they sang praises with gladness ,
and they bowed their heads and worshiped .
*
Then Hezekiah answered and said , "
Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD ,
come near ,
and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the LORD ."
So the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings ,
and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings .
*
And the number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls ,
one hundred rams ,
and two hundred lambs ;
all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD .
*
The consecrated things were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep .
*
But the priests were too few ,
so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings ;
therefore their brethren the Levites helped them until the work was ended and until the other priests had sanctified themselves ,
for the Levites were more diligent in sanctifying themselves than the priests .
*
Also the burnt offerings were in abundance ,
with the fat of the peace offerings and with the drink offerings for every burnt offering .
So the service of the house of the LORD was set in order .
*
Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people ,
since the events took place so suddenly .
*
And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah ,
and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh ,
that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem ,
to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel .
*
For the king and his leaders and all the assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to keep the Passover in the second month .
*
For they could not keep it at the regular time ,
because a sufficient number of priests had not consecrated themselves ,
nor had the people gathered together at Jerusalem .
*
And the matter pleased the king and all the assembly .
*
So they resolved to make a proclamation throughout all Israel ,
from Beersheba to Dan ,
that they should come to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem ,
since they had not done it for a long time in the prescribed manner .
*
Then the runners went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the king and his leaders ,
and spoke according to the command of the king : "
Children of Israel ,
return to the LORD God of Abraham ,
Isaac ,
and Israel ;
then He will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria .
*
And do not be like your fathers and your brethren ,
who trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers ,
so that He gave them up to desolation ,
as you see .
*
Now do not be stiff-necked ,
as your fathers were ,
but yield yourselves to the LORD ;
and enter His sanctuary ,
which He has sanctified forever ,
and serve the LORD your God ,
that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you .
*
For if you return to the LORD ,
your brethren and your children will be treated with compassion by those who lead them captive ,
so that they may come back to this land ;
for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful ,
and will not turn His face from you if you return to Him ."
*
So the runners passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh ,
as far as Zebulun ;
but they laughed at them and mocked them .
*
Nevertheless some from Asher ,
Manasseh ,
and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem .
*
Also the hand of God was on Judah to give them singleness of heart to obey the command of the king and the leaders ,
at the word of the LORD .
*
Now many people ,
a very great assembly ,
gathered at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month .
*
They arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem ,
and they took away all the incense altars and cast them into the Brook Kidron .
*
Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the second month .
The priests and the Levites were ashamed ,
and sanctified themselves ,
and brought the burnt offerings to the house of the LORD .
*
They stood in their place according to their custom ,
according to the Law of Moses the man of God ;
the priests sprinkled the blood received from the hand of the Levites .
*
For there were many in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves ;
therefore the Levites had charge of the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean ,
to sanctify them to the LORD .
*
For a multitude of the people ,
many from Ephraim ,
Manasseh ,
Issachar ,
and Zebulun ,
had not cleansed themselves ,
yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written .
But Hezekiah prayed for them ,
saying , "
May the good LORD provide atonement for everyone
*
who prepares his heart to seek God ,
the LORD God of his fathers ,
though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary ."
*
And the LORD listened to Hezekiah and healed the people .
*
So the children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness ;
and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day ,
singing to the LORD ,
accompanied by loud instruments .
*
And Hezekiah gave encouragement to all the Levites who taught the good knowledge of the LORD ;
and they ate throughout the feast seven days ,
offering peace offerings and making confession to the LORD God of their fathers .
*
Then the whole assembly agreed to keep the feast another seven days ,
and they kept it another seven days with gladness .
*
For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep ,
and the leaders gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep ;
and a great number of priests sanctified themselves .
*
The whole assembly of Judah rejoiced ,
also the priests and Levites ,
all the assembly that came from Israel ,
the sojourners who came from the land of Israel ,
and those who dwelt in Judah .
*
So there was great joy in Jerusalem ,
for since the time of Solomon the son of David ,
king of Israel ,
there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem .
*
Then the priests ,
the Levites ,
arose and blessed the people ,
and their voice was heard ;
and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place ,
to heaven .
*
Now when all this was finished ,
all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke the sacred pillars in pieces ,
cut down the wooden images ,
and threw down the high places and the altars--from all Judah ,
Benjamin ,
Ephraim ,
and Manasseh--until they had utterly destroyed them all .
Then all the children of Israel returned to their own cities ,
every man to his possession .
*
And Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and the Levites according to their divisions ,
each man according to his service ,
the priests and Levites for burnt offerings and peace offerings ,
to serve ,
to give thanks ,
and to praise in the gates of the camp of the LORD .
*
The king also appointed a portion of his possessions for the burnt offerings :
for the morning and evening burnt offerings ,
the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths and the New Moons and the set feasts ,
as it is written in the Law of the LORD .
*
Moreover he commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to contribute support for the priests and the Levites ,
that they might devote themselves to the Law of the LORD .
*
As soon as the commandment was circulated ,
the children of Israel brought in abundance the firstfruits of grain and wine ,
oil and honey ,
and of all the produce of the field ;
and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything .
*
And the children of Israel and Judah ,
who dwelt in the cities of Judah ,
brought the tithe of oxen and sheep ;
also the tithe of holy things which were consecrated to the LORD their God they laid in heaps .
*
In the third month they began laying them in heaps ,
and they finished in the seventh month .
*
And when Hezekiah and the leaders came and saw the heaps ,
they blessed the LORD and His people Israel .
*
Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps .
*
And Azariah the chief priest ,
from the house of Zadok ,
answered him and said , "
Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the LORD ,
we have had enough to eat and have plenty left ,
for the LORD has blessed His people ;
and what is left is this great abundance ."
*
Now Hezekiah commanded them to prepare rooms in the house of the LORD ,
and they prepared them .
*
Then they faithfully brought in the offerings ,
the tithes ,
and the dedicated things ;
Cononiah the Levite had charge of them ,
and Shimei his brother was the next .
*
Jehiel ,
Azaziah ,
Nahath ,
Asahel ,
Jerimoth ,
Jozabad ,
Eliel ,
Ismachiah ,
Mahath ,
and Benaiah were overseers under the hand of Cononiah and Shimei his brother ,
at the commandment of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the ruler of the house of God .
*
Kore the son of Imnah the Levite ,
the keeper of the East Gate ,
was over the freewill offerings to God ,
to distribute the offerings of the LORD and the most holy things .
*
And under him were Eden ,
Miniamin ,
Jeshua ,
Shemaiah ,
Amariah ,
and Shecaniah ,
his faithful assistants in the cities of the priests ,
to distribute allotments to their brethren by divisions ,
to the great as well as the small .
*
Besides those males from three years old and up who were written in the genealogy ,
they distributed to everyone who entered the house of the LORD his daily portion for the work of his service ,
by his division ,
*
and to the priests who were written in the genealogy according to their father '
s house ,
and to the Levites from twenty years old and up according to their work ,
by their divisions ,
*
and to all who were written in the genealogy--their little ones and their wives ,
their sons and daughters ,
the whole company of them--for in their faithfulness they sanctified themselves in holiness .
*
Also for the sons of Aaron the priests ,
who were in the fields of the common-lands of their cities ,
in every single city ,
there were men who were designated by name to distribute portions to all the males among the priests and to all who were listed by genealogies among the Levites .
*
Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah ,
and he did what was good and right and true before the LORD his God .
*
And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God ,
in the law and in the commandment ,
to seek his God ,
he did it with all his heart .
So he prospered .
*
After these deeds of faithfulness ,
Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah ;
he encamped against the fortified cities ,
thinking to win them over to himself .
*
And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come ,
and that his purpose was to make war against Jerusalem ,
*
he consulted with his leaders and commanders to stop the water from the springs which were outside the city ;
and they helped him .
*
Thus many people gathered together who stopped all the springs and the brook that ran through the land ,
saying , "
Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water ?"
*
And he strengthened himself ,
built up all the wall that was broken ,
raised it up to the towers ,
and built another wall outside ;
also he repaired the Millo in the City of David ,
and made weapons and shields in abundance .
*
Then he set military captains over the people ,
gathered them together to him in the open square of the city gate ,
and gave them encouragement ,
saying ,
* "
Be strong and courageous ;
do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria ,
nor before all the multitude that is with him ;
for there are more with us than with him .
*
With him is an arm of flesh ;
but with us is the LORD our God ,
to help us and to fight our battles ."
And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah .
*
After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem (
but he and all the forces with him laid siege against Lachish ),
to Hezekiah king of Judah ,
and to all Judah who were in Jerusalem ,
saying ,
* "
Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria : "
In what do you trust ,
that you remain under siege in Jerusalem ?
*
Does not Hezekiah persuade you to give yourselves over to die by famine and by thirst ,
saying , "
The LORD our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria "?
*
Has not the same Hezekiah taken away His high places and His altars ,
and commanded Judah and Jerusalem ,
saying , "
You shall worship before one altar and burn incense on it "?
*
Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands ?
Were the gods of the nations of those lands in any way able to deliver their lands out of my hand ?
*
Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed that could deliver his people from my hand ,
that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand ?
*
Now therefore ,
do not let Hezekiah deceive you or persuade you like this ,
and do not believe him ;
for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand or the hand of my fathers .
How much less will your God deliver you from my hand ?"'
*
Furthermore ,
his servants spoke against the LORD God and against His servant Hezekiah .
*
He also wrote letters to revile the LORD God of Israel ,
and to speak against Him ,
saying , "
As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people from my hand ,
so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my hand ."
*
Then they called out with a loud voice in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall ,
to frighten them and trouble them ,
that they might take the city .
*
And they spoke against the God of Jerusalem ,
as against the gods of the people of the earth--the work of men '
s hands .
*
Now because of this King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah ,
the son of Amoz ,
prayed and cried out to heaven .
*
Then the LORD sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor ,
leader ,
and captain in the camp of the king of Assyria .
So he returned shamefaced to his own land .
And when he had gone into the temple of his god ,
some of his own offspring struck him down with the sword there .
*
Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria ,
and from the hand of all others ,
and guided them on every side .
*
And many brought gifts to the LORD at Jerusalem ,
and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah ,
so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations thereafter .
*
In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death ,
and he prayed to the LORD ;
and He spoke to him and gave him a sign .
*
But Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him ,
for his heart was lifted up ;
therefore wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem .
*
Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart ,
he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem ,
so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah .
*
Hezekiah had very great riches and honor .
And he made himself treasuries for silver ,
for gold ,
for precious stones ,
for spices ,
for shields ,
and for all kinds of desirable items ;
*
storehouses for the harvest of grain ,
wine ,
and oil ;
and stalls for all kinds of livestock ,
and folds for flocks .
*
Moreover he provided cities for himself ,
and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance ;
for God had given him very much property .
*
This same Hezekiah also stopped the water outlet of Upper Gihon ,
and brought the water by tunnel to the west side of the City of David .
Hezekiah prospered in all his works .
*
However ,
regarding the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon ,
whom they sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land ,
God withdrew from him ,
in order to test him ,
that He might know all that was in his heart .
*
Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah ,
and his goodness ,
indeed they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet ,
the son of Amoz ,
and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel .
*
So Hezekiah rested with his fathers ,
and they buried him in the upper tombs of the sons of David ;
and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death .
Then Manasseh his son reigned in his place .
*
Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king ,
and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem .
*
But he did evil in the sight of the LORD ,
according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel .
*
For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down ;
he raised up altars for the Baals ,
and made wooden images ;
and he worshiped all the host of heaven and served them .
*
He also built altars in the house of the LORD ,
of which the LORD had said , "
In Jerusalem shall My name be forever ."
*
And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD .
*
Also he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom ;
he practiced soothsaying ,
used witchcraft and sorcery ,
and consulted mediums and spiritists .
He did much evil in the sight of the LORD ,
to provoke Him to anger .
*
He even set a carved image ,
the idol which he had made ,
in the house of God ,
of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son , "
In this house and in Jerusalem ,
which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel ,
I will put My name forever ;
*
and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed for your fathers--only if they are careful to do all that I have commanded them ,
according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses ."
*
So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel .
*
And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people ,
but they would not listen .
*
Therefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria ,
who took Manasseh with hooks ,
bound him with bronze fetters ,
and carried him off to Babylon .
*
Now when he was in affliction ,
he implored the LORD his God ,
and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers ,
*
and prayed to Him ;
and He received his entreaty ,
heard his supplication ,
and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom .
Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God .
*
After this he built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of Gihon ,
in the valley ,
as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate ;
and it enclosed Ophel ,
and he raised it to a very great height .
Then he put military captains in all the fortified cities of Judah .
*
He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD ,
and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem ;
and he cast them out of the city .
*
He also repaired the altar of the LORD ,
sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it ,
and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel .
*
Nevertheless the people still sacrificed on the high places ,
but only to the LORD their God .
*
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh ,
his prayer to his God ,
and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel ,
indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Israel .
*
Also his prayer and how God received his entreaty ,
and all his sin and trespass ,
and the sites where he built high places and set up wooden images and carved images ,
before he was humbled ,
indeed they are written among the sayings of Hozai .
*
So Manasseh rested with his fathers ,
and they buried him in his own house .
Then his son Amon reigned in his place .
*
Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king ,
and he reigned two years in Jerusalem .
*
But he did evil in the sight of the LORD ,
as his father Manasseh had done ;
for Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which his father Manasseh had made ,
and served them .
*
And he did not humble himself before the LORD ,
as his father Manasseh had humbled himself ;
but Amon trespassed more and more .
*
Then his servants conspired against him ,
and killed him in his own house .
*
But the people of the land executed all those who had conspired against King Amon .
Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place .
*
Josiah was eight years old when he became king ,
and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem .
*
And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD ,
and walked in the ways of his father David ;
he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left .
*
For in the eighth year of his reign ,
while he was still young ,
he began to seek the God of his father David ;
and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places ,
the wooden images ,
the carved images ,
and the molded images .
*
They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence ,
and the incense altars which were above them he cut down ;
and the wooden images ,
the carved images ,
and the molded images he broke in pieces ,
and made dust of them and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them .
*
He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars ,
and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem .
*
And so he did in the cities of Manasseh ,
Ephraim ,
and Simeon ,
as far as Naphtali and all around ,
with axes .
*
When he had broken down the altars and the wooden images ,
had beaten the carved images into powder ,
and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel ,
he returned to Jerusalem .
*
In the eighteenth year of his reign ,
when he had purged the land and the temple ,
he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah ,
Maaseiah the governor of the city ,
and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder ,
to repair the house of the LORD his God .
*
When they came to Hilkiah the high priest ,
they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God ,
which the Levites who kept the doors had gathered from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim ,
from all the remnant of Israel ,
from all Judah and Benjamin ,
and which they had brought back to Jerusalem .
*
Then they put it in the hand of the foremen who had the oversight of the house of the LORD ;
and they gave it to the workmen who worked in the house of the LORD ,
to repair and restore the house .
*
They gave it to the craftsmen and builders to buy hewn stone and timber for beams ,
and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed .
*
And the men did the work faithfully .
Their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah the Levites ,
of the sons of Merari ,
and Zechariah and Meshullam ,
of the sons of the Kohathites ,
to supervise .
Others of the Levites ,
all of whom were skillful with instruments of music ,
*
were over the burden bearers and were overseers of all who did work in any kind of service .
And some of the Levites were scribes ,
officers ,
and gatekeepers .
*
Now when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD ,
Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD given by Moses .
*
Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe , "
I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD ."
And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan .
*
So Shaphan carried the book to the king ,
bringing the king word ,
saying , "
All that was committed to your servants they are doing .
*
And they have gathered the money that was found in the house of the LORD ,
and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen ."
*
Then Shaphan the scribe told the king ,
saying , "
Hilkiah the priest has given me a book ."
And Shaphan read it before the king .
*
Thus it happened ,
when the king heard the words of the Law ,
that he tore his clothes .
*
Then the king commanded Hilkiah ,
Ahikam the son of Shaphan ,
Abdon the son of Micah ,
Shaphan the scribe ,
and Asaiah a servant of the king ,
saying ,
* "
Go ,
inquire of the LORD for me ,
and for those who are left in Israel and Judah ,
concerning the words of the book that is found ;
for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out on us ,
because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD ,
to do according to all that is written in this book ."
*
So Hilkiah and those the king had appointed went to Huldah the prophetess ,
the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath ,
the son of Hasrah ,
keeper of the wardrobe . (
She dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter .)
And they spoke to her to that effect .
*
Then she answered them , "
Thus says the LORD God of Israel , "
Tell the man who sent you to Me ,
* "
Thus says the LORD : "
Behold ,
I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants ,
all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah ,
*
because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods ,
that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands .
Therefore My wrath will be poured out on this place ,
and not be quenched .""
*
But as for the king of Judah ,
who sent you to inquire of the LORD ,
in this manner you shall speak to him , "
Thus says the LORD God of Israel : "
Concerning the words which you have heard --
*
because your heart was tender ,
and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants ,
and you humbled yourself before Me ,
and you tore your clothes and wept before Me ,
I also have heard you ,"
says the LORD .
* "
Surely I will gather you to your fathers ,
and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace ;
and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place and its inhabitants .""'
So they brought back word to the king .
*
Then the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem .
*
The king went up to the house of the LORD ,
with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem--the priests and the Levites ,
and all the people ,
great and small .
And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the LORD .
*
Then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD ,
to follow the LORD ,
and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul ,
to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book .
*
And he made all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin take a stand .
So the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God ,
the God of their fathers .
*
Thus Josiah removed all the abominations from all the country that belonged to the children of Israel ,
and made all who were present in Israel diligently serve the LORD their God .
All his days they did not depart from following the LORD God of their fathers .
*
Now Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem ,
and they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month .
*
And he set the priests in their duties and encouraged them for the service of the house of the LORD .
*
Then he said to the Levites who taught all Israel ,
who were holy to the LORD : "
Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David ,
king of Israel ,
built .
It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders .
Now serve the LORD your God and His people Israel .
*
Prepare yourselves according to your fathers '
houses ,
according to your divisions ,
following the written instruction of David king of Israel and the written instruction of Solomon his son .
*
And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers '
houses of your brethren the lay people ,
and according to the division of the father '
s house of the Levites .
*
So slaughter the Passover offerings ,
consecrate yourselves ,
and prepare them for your brethren ,
that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses ."
*
Then Josiah gave the lay people lambs and young goats from the flock ,
all for Passover offerings for all who were present ,
to the number of thirty thousand ,
as well as three thousand cattle ;
these were from the king '
s possessions .
*
And his leaders gave willingly to the people ,
to the priests ,
and to the Levites .
Hilkiah ,
Zechariah ,
and Jehiel ,
rulers of the house of God ,
gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand six hundred from the flock ,
and three hundred cattle .
*
Also Conaniah ,
his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel ,
and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad ,
chief of the Levites ,
gave to the Levites for Passover offerings five thousand from the flock and five hundred cattle .
*
So the service was prepared ,
and the priests stood in their places ,
and the Levites in their divisions ,
according to the king '
s command .
*
And they slaughtered the Passover offerings ;
and the priests sprinkled the blood with their hands ,
while the Levites skinned the animals .
*
Then they removed the burnt offerings that they might give them to the divisions of the fathers '
houses of the lay people ,
to offer to the LORD ,
as it is written in the Book of Moses .
And so they did with the cattle .
*
Also they roasted the Passover offerings with fire according to the ordinance ;
but the other holy offerings they boiled in pots ,
in caldrons ,
and in pans ,
and divided them quickly among all the lay people .
*
Then afterward they prepared portions for themselves and for the priests ,
because the priests ,
the sons of Aaron ,
were busy in offering burnt offerings and fat until night ;
therefore the Levites prepared portions for themselves and for the priests ,
the sons of Aaron .
*
And the singers ,
the sons of Asaph ,
were in their places ,
according to the command of David ,
Asaph ,
Heman ,
and Jeduthun the king '
s seer .
Also the gatekeepers were at each gate ;
they did not have to leave their position ,
because their brethren the Levites prepared portions for them .
*
So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day ,
to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD ,
according to the command of King Josiah .
*
And the children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time ,
and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days .
*
There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the days of Samuel the prophet ;
and none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah kept ,
with the priests and the Levites ,
all Judah and Israel who were present ,
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem .
*
In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept .
*
After all this ,
when Josiah had prepared the temple ,
Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates ;
and Josiah went out against him .
*
But he sent messengers to him ,
saying , "
What have I to do with you ,
king of Judah ?
I have not come against you this day ,
but against the house with which I have war ;
for God commanded me to make haste .
Refrain from meddling with God ,
who is with me ,
lest He destroy you ."
*
Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him ,
but disguised himself so that he might fight with him ,
and did not heed the words of Necho from the mouth of God .
So he came to fight in the Valley of Megiddo .
*
And the archers shot King Josiah ;
and the king said to his servants , "
Take me away ,
for I am severely wounded ."
*
His servants therefore took him out of that chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had ,
and they brought him to Jerusalem .
So he died ,
and was buried in one of the tombs of his fathers .
And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah .
*
Jeremiah also lamented for Josiah .
And to this day all the singing men and the singing women speak of Josiah in their lamentations .
They made it a custom in Israel ;
and indeed they are written in the Laments .
*
Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his goodness ,
according to what was written in the Law of the LORD ,
*
and his deeds from first to last ,
indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah .
*
Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah ,
and made him king in his father '
s place in Jerusalem .
*
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king ,
and he reigned three months in Jerusalem .
*
Now the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem ;
and he imposed on the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold .
*
Then the king of Egypt made Jehoahaz '
s brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem ,
and changed his name to Jehoiakim .
And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him off to Egypt .
*
Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king ,
and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem .
And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God .
*
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him ,
and bound him in bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon .
*
Nebuchadnezzar also carried off some of the articles from the house of the LORD to Babylon ,
and put them in his temple at Babylon .
*
Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim ,
the abominations which he did ,
and what was found against him ,
indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah .
Then Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place .
*
Jehoiachin was eight years old when he became king ,
and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days .
And he did evil in the sight of the LORD .
*
At the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar summoned him and took him to Babylon ,
with the costly articles from the house of the LORD ,
and made Zedekiah ,
Jehoiakim '
s brother ,
king over Judah and Jerusalem .
*
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king ,
and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem .
*
He did evil in the sight of the LORD his God ,
and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet ,
who spoke from the mouth of the LORD .
*
And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar ,
who had made him swear an oath by God ;
but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD God of Israel .
*
Moreover all the leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more ,
according to all the abominations of the nations ,
and defiled the house of the LORD which He had consecrated in Jerusalem .
*
And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers ,
rising up early and sending them ,
because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place .
*
But they mocked the messengers of God ,
despised His words ,
and scoffed at His prophets ,
until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people ,
till there was no remedy .
*
Therefore He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans ,
who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary ,
and had no compassion on young man or virgin ,
on the aged or the weak ;
He gave them all into his hand .
*
And all the articles from the house of God ,
great and small ,
the treasures of the house of the LORD ,
and the treasures of the king and of his leaders ,
all these he took to Babylon .
*
Then they burned the house of God ,
broke down the wall of Jerusalem ,
burned all its palaces with fire ,
and destroyed all its precious possessions .
*
And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon ,
where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia ,
*
to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah ,
until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths .
As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath ,
to fulfill seventy years .
*
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia ,
that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled ,
the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia ,
so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom ,
and also put it in writing ,
saying ,
*
Thus says Cyrus king of Persia :
All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me .
And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah .
Who is among you of all His people ?
May the LORD his God be with him ,
and let him go up !