The Second Book Melakhim

^1:1Mo'av rebelled against Yisra'el after the death of Ach'av. ^1:2Achazyah fell down through the lattice in his upper chamber that was in Shomron, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said to them, Go, inquire of Ba`al-Zevuv, the G-d of `Ekron, whether I shall recover of this sickness. ^1:3But the angel of the LORD said to Eliyah the Tishbi, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Shomron, and tell them, Is it because there is no G-d in Yisra'el, that you go to inquire of Ba`al-Zevuv, the G-d of `Ekron? ^1:4Now therefore thus says the LORD, You shall not come down from the bed where you are gone up, but shall surely die. Eliyah departed. ^1:5The messengers returned to him, and he said to them, Why is it that you have returned? ^1:6They said to him, There came up a man to meet us, and said to us, Go, turn again to the king who sent you, and tell him, Thus says the LORD, Is it because there is no G-d in Yisra'el, that you send to inquire of Ba`al-Zevuv, the G-d of `Ekron? therefore you shall not come down from the bed where you are gone up, but shall surely die. ^1:7He said to them, What manner of man was he who came up to meet you, and told you these words? ^1:8They answered him, He was a hairy man, and girt with a belt of leather about his loins. He said, It is Eliyah the Tishbi. ^1:9Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty. He went up to him: and, behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. He spoke to him, man of G-d, the king has said, Come down. ^1:10Eliyah answered to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of G-d, let fire come down from the sky, and consume you and your fifty. Fire came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty. ^1:11Again he sent to him another captain of fifty and his fifty. He answered him, man of G-d, thus has the king said, Come down quickly. ^1:12Eliyah answered them, If I be a man of G-d, let fire come down from the sky, and consume you and your fifty. The fire of G-d came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty. ^1:13Again he sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. The third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Eliyah, and begged him, and said to him, man of G-d, please let my life, and the life of these fifty your servants, be precious in your sight. ^1:14Behold, fire came down from the sky, and consumed the two former captains of fifty with their fifties; but now let my life be precious in your sight. ^1:15The angel of the LORD said to Eliyah, Go down with him: don't be afraid of him. He arose, and went down with him to the king. ^1:16He said to him, Thus says the LORD, Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Ba`al-Zevuv, the G-d of `Ekron, is it because there is no G-d in Yisra'el to inquire of his word? therefore you shall not come down from the bed where you are gone up, but shall surely die. ^1:17So he died according to the word of the LORD which Eliyah had spoken. Yehoram began to reign in his place in the second year of Yehoram the son of Yehoshafat king of Yehudah; because he had no son. ^1:18Now the rest of the acts of Achazyah which he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra'el?

^2:1It happened, when the LORD would take up Eliyah by a whirlwind into heaven, that Eliyah went with Elisha from Gilgal. ^2:2Eliyah said to Elisha, Please wait here, for the LORD has sent me as far as Beit-El. Elisha said, As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they went down to Beit-El. ^2:3The sons of the prophets who were at Beit-El came forth to Elisha, and said to him, "Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from your head today?"

He said, "Yes, I know it; hold your shalom."

^2:4Eliyah said to him, Elisha, please wait here, for the LORD has sent me to Yericho. He said, As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they came to Yericho. ^2:5The sons of the prophets who were at Yericho came near to Elisha, and said to him, "Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from your head today?"

He answered, "Yes, I know it. Hold your shalom."

^2:6Eliyah said to him, "Please wait here, for the LORD has sent me to the Yarden."

He said, "As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." They two went on. ^2:7Fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood over against them afar off: and they two stood by the Yarden. ^2:8Eliyah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that they two went over on dry ground. ^2:9It happened, when they had gone over, that Eliyah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you. Elisha said, please let a double portion of your spirit be on me. ^2:10He said, You have asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so to you; but if not, it shall not be so. ^2:11It happened, as they still went on, and talked, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, which parted them both apart; and Eliyah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. ^2:12Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariots of Yisra'el and the horsemen of it! He saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and tore them in two pieces. ^2:13He took up also the mantle of Eliyah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of the Yarden. ^2:14He took the mantle of Eliyah that fell from him, and struck the waters, and said, Where is the LORD, the G-d of Eliyah? and when he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha went over. ^2:15When the sons of the prophets who were at Yericho over against him saw him, they said, The spirit of Eliyah does rest on Elisha. They came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. ^2:16They said to him, See now, there are with your servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray you, and seek your master, lest the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up, and cast him on some mountain, or into some valley. He said, You shall not send. ^2:17When they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but didn't find him. ^2:18They came back to him, while he stayed at Yericho; and he said to them, "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't go?'" ^2:19The men of the city said to Elisha, Behold, we pray you, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees: but the water is bad, and the land miscarries. ^2:20He said, Bring me a new jar, and put salt therein. They brought it to him. ^2:21He went forth to the spring of the waters, and cast salt therein, and said, Thus says the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from there any more death or miscarrying. ^2:22So the waters were healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke. ^2:23He went up from there to Beit-El; and as he was going up by the way, there came forth young lads out of the city, and mocked him, and said to him, Go up, you baldy; go up, you baldhead. ^2:24He looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. There came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and mauled forty-two lads of them. ^2:25He went from there to Mount Karmel, and from there he returned to Shomron.

^3:1Now Yehoram the son of Ach'av began to reign over Yisra'el in Shomron in the eighteenth year of Yehoshafat king of Yehudah, and reigned twelve years. ^3:2He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not like his father, and like his mother; for he put away the pillar of Ba`al that his father had made. <sup>3:3</sup>Nevertheless he cleaved to the sins of Yarov`am the son of Nevat, with which he made Yisra'el to sin; he didn't depart from it. ^3:4Now Mesha king of Mo'av was a sheep-master; and he rendered to the king of Yisra'el the wool of one hundred thousand lambs, and of one hundred thousand rams. ^3:5But it happened, when Ach'av was dead, that the king of Mo'av rebelled against the king of Yisra'el. ^3:6King Yehoram went out of Shomron at that time, and mustered all Yisra'el. ^3:7He went and sent to Yehoshafat the king of Yehudah, saying, The king of Mo'av has rebelled against me: will you go with me against Mo'av to battle? He said, I will go up: I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses. ^3:8He said, Which way shall we go up? He answered, The way of the wilderness of Edom. ^3:9So the king of Yisra'el went, and the king of Yehudah, and the king of Edom; and they made a circuit of seven days' journey: and there was no water for the host, nor for the animals that followed them. ^3:10The king of Yisra'el said, Alas! for the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Mo'av. ^3:11But Yehoshafat said, Isn't there here a prophet of the LORD, that we may inquire of the LORD by him? One of the king of Yisra'el's servants answered, Elisha the son of Shafat is here, who poured water on the hands of Eliyah. ^3:12Yehoshafat said, The word of the LORD is with him. So the king of Yisra'el and Yehoshafat and the king of Edom went down to him. ^3:13Elisha said to the king of Yisra'el, What have I to do with you? get you to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your mother. The king of Yisra'el said to him, No; for the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Mo'av. ^3:14Elisha said, As the LORD of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Yehoshafat the king of Yehudah, I would not look toward you, nor see you. ^3:15But now bring me a minstrel. It happened, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the LORD came on him. ^3:16He said, Thus says the LORD, Make this valley full of trenches. ^3:17For thus says the LORD, You shall not see wind, neither shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, and you shall drink, both you and your cattle and your animals. ^3:18This is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD: he will also deliver the Mo`avim into your hand. <sup>3:19</sup>You shall strike every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones. <sup>3:20</sup>It happened in the morning, about the time of offering the offering, that behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. <sup>3:21</sup>Now when all the Mo`avim heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, they gathered themselves together, all who were able to put on armor, and upward, and stood on the border. ^3:22They rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Mo`avim saw the water over against them as red as blood: <sup>3:23</sup>and they said, This is blood; the kings are surely destroyed, and they have struck each man his fellow: now therefore, Mo'av, to the spoil. <sup>3:24</sup>When they came to the camp of Yisra'el, the Yisra'elites rose up and struck the Mo`avim, so that they fled before them; and they went forward into the land smiting the Mo`avim. ^3:25They beat down the cities; and on every good piece of land they cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped all the springs of water, and felled all the good trees, until in Kir-Hareset only they left the stones of it; however the men armed with slings went about it, and struck it. ^3:26When the king of Mo'av saw that the battle was too severe for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew sword, to break through to the king of Edom; but they could not. ^3:27Then he took his eldest son who would have reigned in his place, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. There was great wrath against Yisra'el: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.

^4:1Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets to Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take to him my two children to be bondservants. ^4:2Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? tell me; what have you in the house? She said, Your handmaid has nothing in the house, except a pot of oil. ^4:3Then he said, Go, borrow you vessels abroad of all your neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. ^4:4You shall go in, and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour out into all those vessels; and you shall set aside that which is full. ^4:5So she went from him, and shut the door on her and on her sons; they brought the vessels to her, and she poured out. ^4:6It happened, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, Bring me yet a vessel. He said to her, There isn't another vessel. The oil stayed. ^4:7Then she came and told the man of G-d. He said, Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt, and live you and your sons of the rest. ^4:8It fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. So it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread. ^4:9She said to her husband, See now, I perceive that this is a holy man of G-d, that passes by us continually. ^4:10Let us make, Please, a little chamber on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a seat, and a lamp stand: and it shall be, when he comes to us, that he shall turn in there. ^4:11It fell on a day, that he came there, and he turned into the chamber and lay there. ^4:12He said to Gechazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. When he had called her, she stood before him. ^4:13He said to him, Say now to her, Behold, you have been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for you? would you be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? She answered, I dwell among my own people. ^4:14He said, What then is to be done for her? Gechazi answered, Most assuredly she has no son, and her husband is old. ^4:15He said, Call her. When he had called her, she stood in the door. ^4:16He said, At this season, when the time comes round, you shall embrace a son. She said, No, my lord, you man of G-d, do not lie to your handmaid. ^4:17The woman conceived, and bore a son at that season, when the time came round, as Elisha had said to her. ^4:18When the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. ^4:19He said to his father, My head, my head. He said to his servant, Carry him to his mother. ^4:20When he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died. ^4:21She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of G-d, and shut the door on him, and went out. ^4:22She called to her husband, and said, Please send me one of the servants, and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of G-d, and come again. ^4:23He said, Why will you go to him today? it is neither new moon nor Shabbat. She said, It shall be well. ^4:24Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; don't slacken me the riding, except I bid you. ^4:25So she went, and came to the man of G-d to Mount Karmel. It happened, when the man of G-d saw her afar off, that he said to Gechazi his servant, Behold, yonder is the Shunammite: ^4:26please run now to meet her, and ask her, Is it well with you? is it well with your husband? is it well with the child? She answered, It is well. ^4:27When she came to the man of G-d to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gechazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of G-d said, Let her alone: for her soul is vexed within her; and the LORD has hid it from me, and has not told me. ^4:28Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? Didn't I say, Do not deceive me? ^4:29Then he said to Gechazi, Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go your way: if you meet any man, Don't greet him; and if anyone greets you, don't answer him again: and lay my staff on the face of the child. ^4:30The mother of the child said, As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. He arose, and followed her. ^4:31Gechazi passed on before them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Therefore he returned to meet him, and told him, saying, The child has not awakened. ^4:32When Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid on his bed. ^4:33He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to the LORD. ^4:34He went up, and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands: and he stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child grew warm. ^4:35Then he returned, and walked in the house once back and forth; and went up, and stretched himself on him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. ^4:36He called Gechazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. When she was come in to him, he said, Take up your son. ^4:37Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; and she took up her son, and went out. ^4:38Elisha came again to Gilgal. There was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, Set on the great pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets. ^4:39One went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered of it wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of stew; for they didn't recognize them. ^4:40So they poured out for the men to eat. It happened, as they were eating of the stew, that they cried out, and said, man of G-d, there is death in the pot. They could not eat of it. ^4:41But he said, Then bring meal. He cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. There was no harm in the pot. ^4:42There came a man from Ba`al-Shalishah, and brought the man of G-d bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain in his sack. He said, Give to the people, that they may eat. ^4:43His servant said, What, should I set this before a hundred men? But he said, Give the people, that they may eat; for thus says the LORD, They shall eat, and shall leave of it. ^4:44So he set it before them, and they ate, and left of it, according to the word of the LORD.

^5:1Now Na`aman, captain of the host of the king of Aram, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram: he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. <sup>5:2</sup>The Aram had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of Eretz-Yisra'el a little maiden; and she waited on Na`aman's wife. ^5:3She said to her mistress, Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Shomron! then would he recover him of his leprosy. ^5:4One went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maiden who is of Eretz-Yisra'el. ^5:5The king of Aram said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Yisra'el. He departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothing. ^5:6He brought the letter to the king of Yisra'el, saying, Now when this letter is come to you, behold, I have sent Na`aman my servant to you, that you may recover him of his leprosy. <sup>5:7</sup>It happened, when the king of Yisra'el had read the letter, that he tore his clothes, and said, Am I G-d, to kill and to make alive, that this man does send to me to recover a man of his leprosy? but consider, I pray you, and see how he seeks a quarrel against me. <sup>5:8</sup>It was so, when Elisha the man of G-d heard that the king of Yisra'el had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Why have you torn your clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Yisra'el. <sup>5:9</sup>So Na`aman came with his horses and with his chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. ^5:10Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Yarden seven times, and your flesh shall come again to you, and you shall be clean. ^5:11But Na`aman was angry, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his G-d, and wave his hand over the place, and recover the leper. <sup>5:12</sup>Aren't Amanah and Parpar, the rivers of Dammesek, better than all the waters of Yisra'el? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. <sup>5:13</sup>His servants came near, and spoke to him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid you do some great thing, wouldn't you have done it? how much rather then, when he says to you, Wash, and be clean? <sup>5:14</sup>Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in the Yarden, according to the saying of the man of G-d; and his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. <sup>5:15</sup>He returned to the man of G-d, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him; and he said, See now, I know that there is no G-d in all the earth, but in Yisra'el: now therefore, please take a present from your servant. <sup>5:16</sup>But he said, As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none. He urged him to take it; but he refused. <sup>5:17</sup>Na`aman said, If not, yet, please let there be given to your servant two mules' burden of earth; for your servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but to the LORD. ^5:18In this thing the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon your servant in this thing. ^5:19He said to him, Go in shalom. So he departed from him a little way. ^5:20But Gechazi the servant of Elisha the man of G-d, said, Behold, my master has spared this Na`aman the Arammian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: as the LORD lives, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him. <sup>5:21</sup>So Gechazi followed after Na`aman. When Na`aman saw one running after him, he alighted from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? <sup>5:22</sup>He said, All is well. My master has sent me, saying, Behold, even now there are come to me from the hill-country of Efrayim two young men of the sons of the prophets; please give them a talent of silver, and two changes of clothing. <sup>5:23</sup>Na`aman said, Be pleased to take two talents. He urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and laid them on two of his servants; and they bore them before him. ^5:24When he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house; and he let the men go, and they departed. ^5:25But he went in, and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, Whence come you, Gechazi? He said, Your servant went no where. ^5:26He said to him, Didn't my heart go with you, when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive groves and vineyards, and sheep and oxen, and men-servants and maid-servants? ^5:27The leprosy therefore of Na`aman shall cleave to you, and to your seed forever. He went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.

^6:1The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, See now, the place where we dwell before you is too strait for us. ^6:2Let us go, we pray you, to the Yarden, and take there every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. He answered, Go you. ^6:3One said, Be pleased, I pray you, to go with your servants. He answered, I will go. ^6:4So he went with them. When they came to the Yarden, they cut down wood. ^6:5But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water; and he cried, and said, Alas, my master! for it was borrowed. ^6:6The man of G-d said, Where fell it? He shown him the place. He cut down a stick, and cast it in there, and made the iron to swim. ^6:7He said, Take it up to you. So he put out his hand, and took it. ^6:8Now the king of Aram was warring against Yisra'el; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. ^6:9The man of G-d sent to the king of Yisra'el, saying, Beware that you not pass such a place; for there the Aram are coming down. ^6:10The king of Yisra'el sent to the place which the man of G-d told him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor twice. ^6:11The heart of the king of Aram was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said to them, Won't you show me which of us is for the king of Yisra'el? ^6:12One of his servants said, No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Yisra'el, tells the king of Yisra'el the words that you speak in your bedchamber. ^6:13He said, Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him. It was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dotan. ^6:14Therefore sent he there horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and surrounded the city. ^6:15When the servant of the man of G-d was risen early, and gone forth, behold, a host with horses and chariots was round about the city. His servant said to him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? ^6:16He answered, Don't be afraid; for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. ^6:17Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, Please open his eyes, that he may see. The LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. ^6:18When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, Please smite this people with blindness. He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. ^6:19Elisha said to them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek. He led them to Shomron. ^6:20It happened, when they were come into Shomron, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. The LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Shomron. ^6:21The king of Yisra'el said to Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I strike them? shall I strike them? ^6:22He answered, You shall not strike them: would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. ^6:23He prepared great provision for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. The bands of Aram came no more into Eretz-Yisra'el. ^6:24It happened after this, that Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Shomron. ^6:25There was a great famine in Shomron: and, behold, they besieged it, until a donkey's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. ^6:26As the king of Yisra'el was passing by on the wall, there cried a woman to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. ^6:27He said, If the LORD doesn't help you, whence shall I help you? out of the threshing floor, or out of the winepress? ^6:28The king said to her, What ails you? She answered, This woman said to me, Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. ^6:29So we boiled my son, and ate him: and I said to her on the next day, Give your son, that we may eat him; and she has hid her son. ^6:30It happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes (now he was passing by on the wall); and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within on his flesh. ^6:31Then he said, G-d do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shafat shall stand on him this day. ^6:32But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See you how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? behold, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door fast against him: isn't the sound of his master's feet behind him? ^6:33While he was yet talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; why should I wait for the LORD any longer?

^7:1Elisha said, Hear you the word of the LORD: thus says the LORD, Tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Shomron. ^7:2Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of G-d, and said, Behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might this thing be? He said, Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat of it. ^7:3Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? ^7:4If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall to the host of the Aram: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. ^7:5They rose up in the twilight, to go to the camp of the Aram; and when they were come to the outermost part of the camp of the Aram, behold, there was no man there. ^7:6For the Lord had made the host of the Aram to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Behold, the king of Yisra'el has hired against us the kings of the Chitti, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come on us. ^7:7Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. ^7:8When these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drink, and carried there silver, and gold, and clothing, and went and hid it; and they came back, and entered into another tent, and carried there also, and went and hid it. ^7:9Then they said one to another, We aren't doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we hold our shalom: if we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us; now therefore come, let us go and tell the king's household. ^7:10So they came and called to the porter of the city; and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Aram, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were. ^7:11He called the porters; and they told it to the king's household within. ^7:12The king arose in the night, and said to his servants, I will now show you what the Aram have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and get into the city. ^7:13One of his servants answered, Please let some take five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city (behold, they are as all the multitude of Yisra'el who are left in it; behold, they are as all the multitude of Yisra'el who are consumed); and let us send and see. ^7:14They took therefore two chariots with horses; and the king sent after the host of the Aram, saying, Go and see. ^7:15They went after them to the Yarden: and, behold, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Aram had cast away in their haste. The messengers returned, and told the king. ^7:16The people went out, and plundered the camp of the Aram. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD. ^7:17The king appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trod on him in the gate, and he died as the man of G-d had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. ^7:18It happened, as the man of G-d had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Shomron; ^7:19and that captain answered the man of G-d, and said, Now, behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? and he said, Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat of it: ^7:20it happened even so to him; for the people trod on him in the gate, and he died.

^8:1Now Elisha had spoken to the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go you and your household, and sojourn wherever you can sojourn: for the LORD has called for a famine; and it shall also come on the land seven years. ^8:2The woman arose, and did according to the word of the man of G-d; and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Pelishtim seven years. ^8:3It happened at the seven years' end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Pelishtim: and she went forth to cry to the king for her house and for her land. ^8:4Now the king was talking with Gechazi the servant of the man of G-d, saying, Please tell me all the great things that Elisha has done. ^8:5It happened, as he was telling the king how he had restored to life him who was dead, that behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. Gechazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life. ^8:6When the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed to her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now. ^8:7Elisha came to Dammesek; and Ben-Hadad the king of Aram was sick; and it was told him, saying, The man of G-d is come here. ^8:8The king said to Chaza'el, Take a present in your hand, and go, meet the man of G-d, and inquire of the LORD by him, saying, Shall I recover of this sickness? ^8:9So Chaza'el went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Dammesek, forty camels' burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, saying, Shall I recover of this sickness? ^8:10Elisha said to him, Go, tell him, You shall surely recover; however the LORD has shown me that he shall surely die. ^8:11He settled his gaze steadfastly on him, until he was ashamed: and the man of G-d wept. ^8:12Chaza'el said, Why weeps my lord? He answered, Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Yisra'el: their strongholds will you set on fire, and their young men will you kill with the sword, and will dash in pieces their little ones, and rip up their women with child. ^8:13Chaza'el said, But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing? Elisha answered, the LORD has shown me that you shall be king over Aram. ^8:14Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master; who said to him, What said Elisha to you? He answered, He told me that you would surely recover. ^8:15It happened on the next day, that he took the coverlet, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died: and Chaza'el reigned in his place. ^8:16In the fifth year of Yoram the son of Ach'av king of Yisra'el, Yehoshafat being then king of Yehudah, Yehoram the son of Yehoshafat king of Yehudah began to reign. ^8:17Thirty-two years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Yerushalayim. ^8:18He walked in the way of the kings of Yisra'el, as did the house of Ach'av: for he had the daughter of Ach'av as wife; and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. ^8:19However the LORD would not destroy Yehudah, for David his servant's sake, as he promised him to give to him a lamp for his children always. ^8:20In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Yehudah, and made a king over themselves. ^8:21Then Yoram passed over to Tza`ir, and all his chariots with him: and he rose up by night, and struck the Edom who surrounded him, and the captains of the chariots; and the people fled to their tents. <sup>8:22</sup>So Edom revolted from under the hand of Yehudah to this day. Then did Livna revolt at the same time. <sup>8:23</sup>The rest of the acts of Yoram, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? <sup>8:24</sup>Yoram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Achazyah his son reigned in his place. <sup>8:25</sup>In the twelfth year of Yoram the son of Ach'av king of Yisra'el did Achazyah the son of Yehoram king of Yehudah begin to reign. <sup>8:26</sup>Twenty-two years old was Achazyah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was `Atalyah the daughter of `Omri king of Yisra'el. <sup>8:27</sup>He walked in the way of the house of Ach'av, and did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ach'av; for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ach'av. <sup>8:28</sup>He went with Yoram the son of Ach'av to war against Chaza'el king of Aram at Ramot-Gil`ad: and the Aram wounded Yoram. ^8:29King Yoram returned to be healed in Yizre`el of the wounds which the Aram had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Chaza'el king of Aram. Achazyah the son of Yehoram king of Yehudah went down to see Yoram the son of Ach'av in Yizre`el, because he was sick.

^9:1Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, Gird up your loins, and take this vial of oil in your hand, and go to Ramot-Gil`ad. <sup>9:2</sup>When you come there, look out there Yehu the son of Yehoshafat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brothers, and carry him to an inner chamber. <sup>9:3</sup>Then take the vial of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus says the LORD, I have anointed you king over Yisra'el. Then open the door, and flee, and don't wait. <sup>9:4</sup>So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramot-Gil`ad. ^9:5When he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, I have an errand to you, captain. Yehu said, To which of us all? He said, To you, O captain. ^9:6He arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, Thus says the LORD, the G-d of Yisra'el, I have anointed you king over the people of the LORD, even over Yisra'el. ^9:7You shall strike the house of Ach'av your master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Izevel. ^9:8For the whole house of Ach'av shall perish; and I will cut off from Ach'av every man-child, and him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Yisra'el. ^9:9I will make the house of Ach'av like the house of Yarov`am the son of Nevat, and like the house of Ba`sha the son of Achiyah. ^9:10The dogs shall eat Izevel in the portion of Yizre`el, and there shall be none to bury her. He opened the door, and fled. <sup>9:11</sup>Then Yehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said to him, Is all well? why came this mad fellow to you? He said to them, You know the man and what his talk was. <sup>9:12</sup>They said, It is false; tell us now. He said, Thus and thus spoke he to me, saying, Thus says the LORD, I have anointed you king over Yisra'el. <sup>9:13</sup>Then they hurried, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew the shofar, saying, Yehu is king. <sup>9:14</sup>So Yehu the son of Yehoshafat the son of Nimshi conspired against Yoram. (Now Yoram was keeping Ramot-Gil`ad, he and all Yisra'el, because of Chaza'el king of Aram; ^9:15but king Yoram was returned to be healed in Yizre`el of the wounds which the Aram had given him, when he fought with Chaza'el king of Aram.) Yehu said, If this be your mind, then let none escape and go forth out of the city, to go to tell it in Yizre`el. ^9:16So Yehu rode in a chariot, and went to Yizre`el; for Yoram lay there. Achazyah king of Yehudah was come down to see Yoram. <sup>9:17</sup>Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Yizre`el, and he spied the company of Yehu as he came, and said, I see a company. Yoram said, Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it shalom? ^9:18So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus says the king, Is it shalom? Yehu said, What have you to do with shalom? turn you behind me. The watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he isn't coming back. ^9:19Then he sent out a second on horseback, who came to them, and said, Thus says the king, Is it shalom? Yehu answered, What have you to do with shalom? turn you behind me. ^9:20The watchman told, saying, He came even to them, and isn't coming back: and the driving is like the driving of Yehu the son of Nimshi; for he drives furiously. ^9:21Yoram said, Make ready. They made ready his chariot. Yoram king of Yisra'el and Achazyah king of Yehudah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet Yehu, and found him in the portion of Navot the Yizre`eli. <sup>9:22</sup>It happened, when Yoram saw Yehu, that he said, Is it shalom, Yehu? He answered, What shalom, so long as the prostitution of your mother Izevel and her witchcraft abound? <sup>9:23</sup>Yoram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Achazyah, There is treachery, Achazyah. <sup>9:24</sup>Yehu drew his bow with his full strength, and struck Yoram between his arms; and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. <sup>9:25</sup>Then said Yehu to Bidgar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Navot the Yizre`eli; for remember how that, when I and you rode together after Ach'av his father, the LORD laid this burden on him: ^9:26Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Navot, and the blood of his sons, says the LORD; and I will requite you in this plat, says the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the LORD. ^9:27But when Achazyah the king of Yehudah saw this, he fled by the way of the Beit-Haggan. Yehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot: and they struck him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Yivle`am. He fled to Megiddo, and died there. <sup>9:28</sup>His servants carried him in a chariot to Yerushalayim, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the city of David. <sup>9:29</sup>In the eleventh year of Yoram the son of Ach'av began Achazyah to reign over Yehudah. <sup>9:30</sup>When Yehu was come to Yizre`el, Izevel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and attired her head, and looked out at the window. ^9:31As Yehu entered in at the gate, she said, Is it shalom, you Zimri, your master's murderer? ^9:32He lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? There looked out to him two or three eunuchs. ^9:33He said, Throw her down. So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trod her under foot. ^9:34When he was come in, he ate and drink; and he said, See now to this cursed woman, and bury her; for she is a king's daughter. ^9:35They went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. ^9:36Therefore they came back, and told him. He said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Eliyah the Tishbi, saying, In the portion of Yizre`el shall the dogs eat the flesh of Izevel; <sup>9:37</sup>and the body of Izevel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the portion of Yizre`el, so that they shall not say, This is Izevel.

^10:1Now Ach'av had seventy sons in Shomron. Yehu wrote letters, and sent to Shomron, to the rulers of Yizre`el, even the elders, and to those who brought up the sons of Ach'av, saying, <sup>10:2</sup>Now as soon as this letter comes to you, seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fortified city also, and armor; <sup>10:3</sup>look you out the best and meet of your master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house. <sup>10:4</sup>But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, the two kings didn't stand before him: how then shall we stand? <sup>10:5</sup>He who was over the household, and he who was over the city, the elders also, and those who brought up the children, sent to Yehu, saying, We are your servants, and will do all that you shall bid us; we will not make any man king: you do that which is good in your eyes. <sup>10:6</sup>Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If you be on my side, and if you will listen to my voice, take the heads of the men your master's sons, and come to me to Yizre`el by tomorrow this time. Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up. ^10:7It happened, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and killed them, even seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Yizre`el. <sup>10:8</sup>There came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king's sons. He said, Lay you them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning. <sup>10:9</sup>It happened in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, You are righteous: behold, I conspired against my master, and killed him; but who struck all these? <sup>10:10</sup>Know now that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spoke concerning the house of Ach'av: for the LORD has done that which he spoke by his servant Eliyah. <sup>10:11</sup>So Yehu struck all that remained of the house of Ach'av in Yizre`el, and all his great men, and his familiar friends, and his kohanim, until he left him none remaining. ^10:12He arose and departed, and went to Shomron. As he was at the shearing-house of the shepherds in the way, ^10:13Yehu met with the brothers of Achazyah king of Yehudah, and said, Who are you? They answered, We are the brothers of Achazyah: and we go down to Greet the children of the king and the children of the queen. ^10:14He said, Take them alive. They took them alive, and killed them at the pit of the shearing-house, even two and forty men; neither left he any of them. ^10:15When he was departed there, he lighted on Yehonadav the son of Rechav coming to meet him; and he greeted him, and said to him, Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart? Yehonadav answered, It is. If it be, give me your hand. He gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot. ^10:16He said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD. So they made him ride in his chariot. ^10:17When he came to Shomron, he struck all who remained to Ach'av in Shomron, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke to Eliyah. ^10:18Yehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, Ach'av served Ba`al a little; but Yehu will serve him much. <sup>10:19</sup>Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Ba`al, all his worshippers, and all his kohanim; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Ba`al; whoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. But Yehu did it in subtlety, to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Ba`al. ^10:20Yehu said, Sanctify a solemn assembly for Ba`al. They proclaimed it. <sup>10:21</sup>Yehu sent through all Yisra'el: and all the worshippers of Ba`al came, so that there was not a man left that didn't come. They came into the house of Ba`al; and the house of Ba`al was filled from one end to another. ^10:22He said to him who was over the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Ba`al. He brought them forth vestments. <sup>10:23</sup>Yehu went, and Yehonadav the son of Rechav, into the house of Ba`al; and he said to the worshippers of Ba`al, Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the LORD, but the worshippers of Ba`al only. ^10:24They went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Yehu had appointed him eighty men outside, and said, If any of the men whom I bring into your hands escape, he who lets him go, his life shall be for the life of him. ^10:25It happened, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Yehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and kill them; let none come forth. They struck them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Ba`al. <sup>10:26</sup>They brought forth the pillars that were in the house of Ba`al, and burned them. ^10:27They broke down the pillar of Ba`al, and broke down the house of Ba`al, and made it a latrine, to this day. ^10:28Thus Yehu destroyed Ba`al out of Yisra'el. <sup>10:29</sup>However from the sins of Yarov`am the son of Nevat, with which he made Yisra'el to sin, Yehu didn't depart from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Beit-El, and that were in Dan. ^10:30The LORD said to Yehu, Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ach'av according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Yisra'el. ^10:31But Yehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD, the G-d of Yisra'el, with all his heart: he didn't depart from the sins of Yarov`am, with which he made Yisra'el to sin. <sup>10:32</sup>In those days the LORD began to cut off from Yisra'el: and Chaza'el struck them in all the borders of Yisra'el; <sup>10:33</sup>from the Yarden eastward, all the land of Gil`ad, the Gadi, and the Re'uveni, and the Manashshi, from `Aro`er, which is by the valley of the Arnon, even Gil`ad and Bashan. ^10:34Now the rest of the acts of Yehu, and all that he did, and all his might, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra'el? ^10:35Yehu slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Shomron. Yeho'achaz his son reigned in his place. ^10:36The time that Yehu reigned over Yisra'el in Shomron was twenty-eight years.

^11:1Now when `Atalyah the mother of Achazyah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal. <sup>11:2</sup>But Yehosheva, the daughter of king Yoram, sister of Achazyah, took Yo'ash the son of Achazyah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were slain, even him and his nurse, and put them in the bedchamber; and they hid him from `Atalyah, so that he was not slain; ^11:3He was with her hid in the house of the LORD six years. `Atalyah reigned over the land. <sup>11:4</sup>In the seventh year Yehoiada sent and fetched the captains over hundreds of the Kari and of the guard, and brought them to him into the house of the LORD; and he made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the LORD, and shown them the king's son. <sup>11:5</sup>He commanded them, saying, This is the thing that you shall do: a third part of you, who come in on the Shabbat, shall be keepers of the watch of the king's house; <sup>11:6</sup>A third part shall be at the gate Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard: so shall you keep the watch of the house, and be a barrier. <sup>11:7</sup>The two companies of you, even all who go forth on the Shabbat, shall keep the watch of the house of the LORD about the king. <sup>11:8</sup>You shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and he who comes within the ranks, let him be slain: and be you with the king when he goes out, and when he comes in. <sup>11:9</sup>The captains over hundreds did according to all that Yehoiada the kohen commanded; and they took every man his men, those who were to come in on the Shabbat, with those who were to go out on the Shabbat, and came to Yehoiada the kohen. <sup>11:10</sup>The kohen delivered to the captains over hundreds the spears and shields that had been king David's, which were in the house of the LORD. <sup>11:11</sup>The guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, by the king round about. <sup>11:12</sup>Then he brought out the king's son, and put the crown on him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, Long live the king. <sup>11:13</sup>When `Atalyah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into the house of the LORD: ^11:14and she looked, and, behold, the king stood by the pillar, as the manner was, and the captains and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets. Then `Atalyah tore her clothes, and cried, Treason! treason! <sup>11:15</sup>Yehoiada the kohen commanded the captains of hundreds who were set over the host, and said to them, Have her forth between the ranks; and him who follows her kill with the sword. For the kohen said, Don't let her be slain in the house of the LORD. <sup>11:16</sup>So they made way for her; and she went by the way of the horses' entry to the king's house: and there was she slain. <sup>11:17</sup>Yehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they should be the LORD's people; between the king also and the people. <sup>11:18</sup>All the people of the land went to the house of Ba`al, and broke it down; his altars and his images broke they in pieces thoroughly, and killed Mattan the kohen of Ba`al before the altars. The kohen appointed officers over the house of the LORD. <sup>11:19</sup>He took the captains over hundreds, and the Kari, and the guard, and all the people of the land; and they brought down the king from the house of the LORD, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king's house. He sat on the throne of the kings. <sup>11:20</sup>So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. `Atalyah they had slain with the sword at the king's house. ^11:21Yeho'ash was seven years old when he began to reign.

^12:1In the seventh year of Yehu began Yeho'ash to reign; and he reigned forty years in Yerushalayim: and his mother's name was Tzivyah of Be'er-Sheva. ^12:2Yeho'ash did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD all his days in which Yehoiada the kohen instructed him. ^12:3However the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. ^12:4Yeho'ash said to the kohanim, All the money of the holy things that is brought into the house of the LORD, in current money, the money of the persons for whom each man is rated, and all the money that it comes into any man's heart to bring into the house of the LORD, ^12:5let the kohanim take it to them, every man from his acquaintance; and they shall repair the breaches of the house, wherever any breach shall be found. ^12:6But it was so, that in the three and twentieth year of king Yeho'ash the kohanim had not repaired the breaches of the house. ^12:7Then king Yeho'ash called for Yehoiada the kohen, and for the other kohanim, and said to them, Why don't you repair the breaches of the house? now therefore take no more money from your acquaintance, but deliver it for the breaches of the house. ^12:8The kohanim consented that they should take no more money from the people, neither repair the breaches of the house. ^12:9But Yehoiada the kohen took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of the LORD: and the kohanim who kept the threshold put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the LORD. ^12:10It was so, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king's scribe and the kohen gadol came up, and they put up in bags and counted the money that was found in the house of the LORD. ^12:11They gave the money that was weighed out into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of the LORD: and they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders, who worked on the house of the LORD, ^12:12and to the masons and the stone cutters, and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the breaches of the house of the LORD, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it. ^12:13But there were not made for the house of the LORD cups of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into the house of the LORD; ^12:14for they gave that to those who did the work, and repaired therewith the house of the LORD. ^12:15Moreover they didn't demand an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to give to those who did the work; for they dealt faithfully. ^12:16The money for the trespass-offerings, and the money for the sin-offerings, was not brought into the house of the LORD: it was the kohanim'. ^12:17Then Chaza'el king of Aram went up, and fought against Gat, and took it; and Chaza'el set his face to go up to Yerushalayim. ^12:18Yeho'ash king of Yehudah took all the holy things that Yehoshafat and Yehoram and Achazyah, his fathers, kings of Yehudah, had dedicated, and his own holy things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and of the king's house, and sent it to Chaza'el king of Aram: and he went away from Yerushalayim. ^12:19Now the rest of the acts of Yo'ash, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? ^12:20His servants arose, and made a conspiracy, and struck Yo'ash at the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla. ^12:21For Yozakhar the son of Shim`at, and Yehozavad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Amatzyah his son reigned in his place.

^13:1In the three and twentieth year of Yo'ash the son of Achazyah, king of Yehudah, Yeho'achaz the son of Yehu began to reign over Yisra'el in Shomron, and reigned seventeen years. ^13:2He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Yarov`am the son of Nevat, with which he made Yisra'el to sin; he didn't depart from it. <sup>13:3</sup>The anger of the LORD was kindled against Yisra'el, and he delivered them into the hand of Chaza'el king of Aram, and into the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Chaza'el, continually. <sup>13:4</sup>Yeho'achaz begged the LORD, and the LORD listened to him; for he saw the oppression of Yisra'el, how that the king of Aram oppressed them. <sup>13:5</sup>(the LORD gave Yisra'el a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Aram; and the children of Yisra'el lived in their tents as before. <sup>13:6</sup>Nevertheless they didn't depart from the sins of the house of Yarov`am, with which he made Yisra'el to sin, but walked therein: and there remained the Asherah also in Shomron.) ^13:7For he didn't leave to Yeho'achaz of the people save fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Aram destroyed them, and made them like the dust in threshing. ^13:8Now the rest of the acts of Yeho'achaz, and all that he did, and his might, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra'el? ^13:9Yeho'achaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Shomron: and Yo'ash his son reigned in his place. ^13:10In the thirty-seventh year of Yo'ash king of Yehudah began Yeho'ash the son of Yeho'achaz to reign over Yisra'el in Shomron, and reigned sixteen years. ^13:11He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; he didn't depart from all the sins of Yarov`am the son of Nevat, with which he made Yisra'el to sin; but he walked therein. <sup>13:12</sup>Now the rest of the acts of Yo'ash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amatzyah king of Yehudah, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra'el? <sup>13:13</sup>Yo'ash slept with his fathers; and Yarov`am sat on his throne: and Yo'ash was buried in Shomron with the kings of Yisra'el. ^13:14Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness of which he died: and Yo'ash the king of Yisra'el came down to him, and wept over him, and said, My father, my father, the chariots of Yisra'el and the horsemen of it! ^13:15Elisha said to him, Take bow and arrows; and he took to him bow and arrows. ^13:16He said to the king of Yisra'el, Put your hand on the bow; and he put his hand on it. Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands. ^13:17He said, Open the window eastward; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot; and he shot. He said, the LORD's arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram; for you shall strike the Aram in Afek, until you have consumed them. ^13:18He said, Take the arrows; and he took them. He said to the king of Yisra'el, Smite on the ground; and he struck thrice, and stayed. ^13:19The man of G-d was angry with him, and said, You should have struck five or six times: then had you struck Aram until you had consumed it, whereas now you shall strike Aram but thrice. ^13:20Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Mo`avim invaded the land at the coming in of the year. <sup>13:21</sup>It happened, as they were burying a man, that behold, they spied a band; and they cast the man into the tomb of Elisha: and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet. <sup>13:22</sup>Chaza'el king of Aram oppressed Yisra'el all the days of Yeho'achaz. <sup>13:23</sup>But the LORD was gracious to them, and had compassion on them, and had respect to them, because of his covenant with Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya`akov, and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet. ^13:24Chaza'el king of Aram died; and Ben-Hadad his son reigned in his place. ^13:25Yeho'ash the son of Yeho'achaz took again out of the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Chaza'el the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Yeho'achaz his father by war. Three times did Yo'ash strike him, and recovered the cities of Yisra'el.

^14:1In the second year of Yo'ash son of Yo'achaz king of Yisra'el began Amatzyah the son of Yo'ash king of Yehudah to reign. ^14:2He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Yerushalayim: and his mother's name was Yeho`addan of Yerushalayim. <sup>14:3</sup>He did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not like David his father: he did according to all that Yo'ash his father had done. <sup>14:4</sup>However the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. <sup>14:5</sup>It happened, as soon as the kingdom was established in his hand, that he killed his servants who had slain the king his father: <sup>14:6</sup>but the children of the murderers he didn't put to death; according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moshe, as the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin. <sup>14:7</sup>He killed of Edom in the Valley of Salt ten thousand, and took Sela by war, and called the name of it Yokte'el, to this day. <sup>14:8</sup>Then Amatzyah sent messengers to Yeho'ash, the son of Yeho'achaz son of Yehu, king of Yisra'el, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face. <sup>14:9</sup>Yeho'ash the king of Yisra'el sent to Amatzyah king of Yehudah, saying, The thistle that was in Levanon sent to the cedar that was in Levanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son as wife: and there passed by a wild animal that was in Levanon, and trod down the thistle. <sup>14:10</sup>You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up: glory of it, and abide at home; for why should you meddle to your hurt, that you should fall, even you, and Yehudah with you? <sup>14:11</sup>But Amatzyah would not hear. So Yeho'ash king of Yisra'el went up; and he and Amatzyah king of Yehudah looked one another in the face at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Yehudah. <sup>14:12</sup>Yehudah was put to the worse before Yisra'el; and they fled every man to his tent. <sup>14:13</sup>Yeho'ash king of Yisra'el took Amatzyah king of Yehudah, the son of Yeho'ash the son of Achazyah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Yerushalayim, and broke down the wall of Yerushalayim from the gate of Efrayim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits. <sup>14:14</sup>He took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house, the hostages also, and returned to Shomron. <sup>14:15</sup>Now the rest of the acts of Yeho'ash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amatzyah king of Yehudah, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra'el? <sup>14:16</sup>Yeho'ash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Shomron with the kings of Yisra'el; and Yarov`am his son reigned in his place. ^14:17Amatzyah the son of Yo'ash king of Yehudah lived after the death of Yeho'ash son of Yeho'achaz king of Yisra'el fifteen years. ^14:18Now the rest of the acts of Amatzyah, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? ^14:19They made a conspiracy against him in Yerushalayim; and he fled to Lakhish: but they sent after him to Lakhish, and killed him there. ^14:20They brought him on horses; and he was buried at Yerushalayim with his fathers in the city of David. ^14:21All the people of Yehudah took `Azaryah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amatzyah. <sup>14:22</sup>He built Elat, and restored it to Yehudah, after that the king slept with his fathers. <sup>14:23</sup>In the fifteenth year of Amatzyah the son of Yo'ash king of Yehudah Yarov`am the son of Yo'ash king of Yisra'el began to reign in Shomron, and reigned forty-one years. ^14:24He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he didn't depart from all the sins of Yarov`am the son of Nevat, with which he made Yisra'el to sin. <sup>14:25</sup>He restored the border of Yisra'el from the entrance of Chamat to the sea of the `Aravah, according to the word of the LORD, the G-d of Yisra'el, which he spoke by his servant Yonah the son of Ammittai, the prophet, who was of Gat-Chefer. ^14:26For the LORD saw the affliction of Yisra'el, that it was very bitter; for there was none shut up nor left at large, neither was there any helper for Yisra'el. ^14:27The LORD didn't say that he would blot out the name of Yisra'el from under the sky; but he saved them by the hand of Yarov`am the son of Yo'ash. <sup>14:28</sup>Now the rest of the acts of Yarov`am, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Dammesek, and Chamat, which had belonged to Yehudah, for Yisra'el, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra'el? ^14:29Yarov`am slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Yisra'el; and Zekharyah his son reigned in his place.

^15:1In the twenty-seventh year of Yarov`am king of Yisra'el began `Azaryah son of Amatzyah king of Yehudah to reign. ^15:2Sixteen years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-two years in Yerushalayim: and his mother's name was Yekholyahu of Yerushalayim. ^15:3He did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Amatzyah had done. ^15:4However the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. ^15:5The LORD struck the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and lived in a separate house. Yotam the king's son was over the household, judging the people of the land. ^15:6Now the rest of the acts of `Azaryah, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? <sup>15:7</sup>`Azaryah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Yotam his son reigned in his place. ^15:8In the thirty-eighth year of `Azaryah king of Yehudah did Zekharyah the son of Yarov`am reign over Yisra'el in Shomron six months. ^15:9He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done: he didn't depart from the sins of Yarov`am the son of Nevat, with which he made Yisra'el to sin. <sup>15:10</sup>Shallum the son of Yavesh conspired against him, and struck him before the people, and killed him, and reigned in his place. <sup>15:11</sup>Now the rest of the acts of Zekharyah, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra'el. <sup>15:12</sup>This was the word of the LORD which he spoke to Yehu, saying, Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Yisra'el. So it came to pass. <sup>15:13</sup>Shallum the son of Yavesh began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of `Uzziyah king of Yehudah; and he reigned the space of a month in Shomron. ^15:14Menachem the son of Gadi went up from Tirtzah, and came to Shomron, and struck Shallum the son of Yavesh in Shomron, and killed him, and reigned in his place. ^15:15Now the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra'el. ^15:16Then Menachem struck Tifsach, and all who were therein, and the borders of it, from Tirtzah: because they didn't open to him, therefore he struck it; and all the women therein who were with child he ripped up. ^15:17In the nine and thirtieth year of `Azaryah king of Yehudah began Menachem the son of Gadi to reign over Yisra'el, and reigned ten years in Shomron. <sup>15:18</sup>He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he didn't depart all his days from the sins of Yarov`am the son of Nevat, with which he made Yisra'el to sin. ^15:19There came against the land Pul the king of Ashshur; and Menachem gave Pul one thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand. ^15:20Menachem exacted the money of Yisra'el, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Ashshur. So the king of Ashshur turned back, and didn't stay there in the land. ^15:21Now the rest of the acts of Menachem, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra'el? ^15:22Menachem slept with his fathers; and Pekachyah his son reigned in his place. ^15:23In the fiftieth year of `Azaryah king of Yehudah Pekachyah the son of Menachem began to reign over Yisra'el in Shomron, and reigned two years. <sup>15:24</sup>He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he didn't depart from the sins of Yarov`am the son of Nevat, with which he made Yisra'el to sin. ^15:25Pekach the son of Remalyahu, his captain, conspired against him, and struck him in Shomron, in the castle of the king's house, with Argov and Arye; and with him were fifty men of the Gil`adi: and he killed him, and reigned in his place. <sup>15:26</sup>Now the rest of the acts of Pekachyah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra'el. <sup>15:27</sup>In the two and fiftieth year of `Azaryah king of Yehudah Pekach the son of Remalyahu began to reign over Yisra'el in Shomron, and reigned twenty years. ^15:28He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he didn't depart from the sins of Yarov`am the son of Nevat, with which he made Yisra'el to sin. <sup>15:29</sup>In the days of Pekach king of Yisra'el came Tiglat-Pil'eser king of Ashshur, and took `Iyon, and Avel-Beit-Ma`akhah, and Yano`ach, and Kedesh, and Chatzor, and Gil`ad, and the Galil, all the land of Naftali; and he carried them captive to Ashshur. <sup>15:30</sup>Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekach the son of Remalyahu, and struck him, and killed him, and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Yotam the son of `Uzziyah. ^15:31Now the rest of the acts of Pekach, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra'el. ^15:32In the second year of Pekach the son of Remalyahu king of Yisra'el began Yotam the son of `Uzziyah king of Yehudah to reign. <sup>15:33</sup>He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Yerushalayim: and his mother's name was Yerusha the daughter of Tzadok. <sup>15:34</sup>He did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD; he did according to all that his father `Uzziyah had done. ^15:35However the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the LORD. ^15:36Now the rest of the acts of Yotam, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? ^15:37In those days the LORD began to send against Yehudah Retzin the king of Aram, and Pekach the son of Remalyahu. ^15:38Yotam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Achaz his son reigned in his place.

^16:1In the seventeenth year of Pekach the son of Remalyahu Achaz the son of Yotam king of Yehudah began to reign. ^16:2Twenty years old was Achaz when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Yerushalayim: and he didn't do that which was right in the eyes of the LORD his G-d, like David his father. ^16:3But he walked in the way of the kings of Yisra'el, yes, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Yisra'el. ^16:4He sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree. ^16:5Then Retzin king of Aram and Pekach son of Remalyahu king of Yisra'el came up to Yerushalayim to war: and they besieged Achaz, but could not overcome him. ^16:6At that time Retzin king of Aram recovered Elat to Aram, and drove the Yehudim from Elat; and the Aram came to Elat, and lived there, to this day. ^16:7So Achaz sent messengers to Tiglat-Pil'eser king of Ashshur, saying, I am your servant and your son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram, and out of the hand of the king of Yisra'el, who rise up against me. ^16:8Achaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Ashshur. ^16:9The king of Ashshur listened to him; and the king of Ashshur went up against Dammesek, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and killed Retzin. ^16:10King Achaz went to Dammesek to meet Tiglat-Pil'eser king of Ashshur, and saw the altar that was at Dammesek; and king Achaz sent to Uriyahu the kohen the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship of it. ^16:11Uriyahu the kohen built an altar: according to all that king Achaz had sent from Dammesek, so did Uriyahu the kohen make it against the coming of king Achaz from Dammesek. ^16:12When the king was come from Dammesek, the king saw the altar: and the king drew near to the altar, and offered thereon. ^16:13He burnt his burnt offering and his meal-offering, and poured his drink-offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace-offerings, on the altar. ^16:14The brazen altar, which was before the LORD, he brought from the forefront of the house, from between his altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of his altar. ^16:15King Achaz commanded Uriyahu the kohen, saying, On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meal-offering, and the king's burnt offering, and his meal-offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: but the brazen altar shall be for me to inquire by. ^16:16Thus did Uriyahu the kohen, according to all that king Achaz commanded. ^16:17King Achaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basin from off them, and took down the sea from off the brazen oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stone. ^16:18The covered way for the Shabbat that they had built in the house, and the king's entry outside, turned he to the house of the LORD, because of the king of Ashshur. ^16:19Now the rest of the acts of Achaz which he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? ^16:20Achaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Chizkiyahu his son reigned in his place.

^17:1In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Yehudah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Shomron over Yisra'el, and reigned nine years. ^17:2He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, yet not as the kings of Yisra'el who were before him. ^17:3Against him came up Shalman'eser king of Ashshur; and Hoshea became his servant, and brought him tribute. ^17:4The king of Ashshur found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Ashshur, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Ashshur shut him up, and bound him in prison. ^17:5Then the king of Ashshur came up throughout all the land, and went up to Shomron, and besieged it three years. ^17:6In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Ashshur took Shomron, and carried Yisra'el away to Ashshur, and placed them in Chalach, and on the Chavor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Madai. ^17:7It was so, because the children of Yisra'el had sinned against the LORD their G-d, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Par`oh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, <sup>17:8</sup>and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Yisra'el, and of the kings of Yisra'el, which they made. <sup>17:9</sup>The children of Yisra'el did secretly things that were not right against the LORD their G-d: and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city; <sup>17:10</sup>and they set them up pillars and Asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree; <sup>17:11</sup>and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom the LORD carried away before them; and they worked wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger; <sup>17:12</sup>and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, You shall not do this thing. <sup>17:13</sup>Yet the LORD testified to Yisra'el, and to Yehudah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, Turn you from your evil ways, and keep my mitzvot and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. <sup>17:14</sup>Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who didn't believe in the LORD their G-d. <sup>17:15</sup>They rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the nations that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged those who they should not do like them. <sup>17:16</sup>They forsook all the mitzvot of the LORD their G-d, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the host of the sky, and served Ba`al. ^17:17They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. ^17:18Therefore the LORD was very angry with Yisra'el, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Yehudah only. ^17:19Also Yehudah didn't keep the mitzvot of the LORD their G-d, but walked in the statutes of Yisra'el which they made. ^17:20The LORD rejected all the seed of Yisra'el, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. ^17:21For he tore Yisra'el from the house of David; and they made Yarov`am the son of Nevat king: and Yarov`am drove Yisra'el from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin. ^17:22The children of Yisra'el walked in all the sins of Yarov`am which he did; they didn't depart from them; <sup>17:23</sup>until the LORD removed Yisra'el out of his sight, as he spoke by all his servants the prophets. So Yisra'el was carried away out of their own land to Ashshur to this day. <sup>17:24</sup>The king of Ashshur brought men from Bavel, and from Kutah, and from Avva, and from Chamat and Sefarvayim, and placed them in the cities of Shomron instead of the children of Yisra'el; and they possessed Shomron, and lived in the cities of it. <sup>17:25</sup>So it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they didn't fear the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them. <sup>17:26</sup>Therefore they spoke to the king of Ashshur, saying, The nations which you have carried away, and placed in the cities of Shomron, don't know the law of the G-d of the land: therefore he has sent lions among them, and, behold, they kill them, because they don't know the law of the G-d of the land. <sup>17:27</sup>Then the king of Ashshur commanded, saying, Carry there one of the kohanim whom you brought from there; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the G-d of the land. <sup>17:28</sup>So one of the kohanim whom they had carried away from Shomron came and lived in Beit-El, and taught them how they should fear the LORD. <sup>17:29</sup>However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Shomroni had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived. <sup>17:30</sup>The men of Bavel made Sukkot-Benot, and the men of Kut made Nergal, and the men of Chamat made Ashima, <sup>17:31</sup>and the `Avvim made Niv'chaz and Tartak; and the Sefarvayim burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelekh and `Anammelekh, the gods of Sefarvayim. <sup>17:32</sup>So they feared the LORD, and made to them from among themselves kohanim of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. <sup>17:33</sup>They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. <sup>17:34</sup>To this day they do after the former manner: they don't fear the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law or after the mitzvah which the LORD commanded the children of Ya`akov, whom he named Yisra'el; ^17:35with whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them: ^17:36but the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, him shall you fear, and to him shall you bow yourselves, and to him shall you sacrifice: ^17:37and the statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the mitzvah, which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do forevermore; and you shall not fear other gods: ^17:38and the covenant that I have made with you you shall not forget; neither shall you fear other gods: ^17:39but the LORD your G-d shall you fear; and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. ^17:40However they did not listen, but they did after their former manner. ^17:41So these nations feared the LORD, and served their engraved images; their children likewise, and their children's children, as did their fathers, so do they to this day.

^18:1Now it happened in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Yisra'el, that Chizkiyahu the son of Achaz king of Yehudah began to reign. ^18:2He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Yerushalayim: and his mother's name was Avi the daughter of Zekharyah. ^18:3He did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. ^18:4He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah: and he broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moshe had made; for to those days the children of Yisra'el did burn incense to it; and he called it Nechushtan. ^18:5He trusted in the LORD, the G-d of Yisra'el; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Yehudah, nor among them that were before him. ^18:6For he joined with the LORD; he didn't depart from following him, but kept his mitzvot, which the LORD commanded Moshe. ^18:7The LORD was with him; wherever he went forth he prospered: and he rebelled against the king of Ashshur, and didn't serve him. ^18:8He struck the Pelishtim to `Aza and the borders of it, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city. <sup>18:9</sup>It happened in the fourth year of king Chizkiyahu, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Yisra'el, that Shalman'eser king of Ashshur came up against Shomron, and besieged it. <sup>18:10</sup>At the end of three years they took it: in the sixth year of Chizkiyahu, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Yisra'el, Shomron was taken. <sup>18:11</sup>The king of Ashshur carried Yisra'el away to Ashshur, and put them in Chalach, and on the Chavor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Madai, <sup>18:12</sup>because they didn't obey the voice of the LORD their G-d, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moshe the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear it, nor do it. <sup>18:13</sup>Now in the fourteenth year of king Chizkiyahu did Sancheriv king of Ashshur come up against all the fortified cities of Yehudah, and took them. <sup>18:14</sup>Chizkiyahu king of Yehudah sent to the king of Ashshur to Lakhish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which you put on me will I bear. The king of Ashshur appointed to Chizkiyahu king of Yehudah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. <sup>18:15</sup>Chizkiyahu gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house. <sup>18:16</sup>At that time did Chizkiyahu cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Chizkiyahu king of Yehudah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Ashshur. <sup>18:17</sup>The king of Ashshur sent Tartan and Rav-Saris and Ravshakeh from Lakhish to king Chizkiyahu with a great army to Yerushalayim. They went up and came to Yerushalayim. When they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field. <sup>18:18</sup>When they had called to the king, there came out to them Elyakim the son of Chilkiyah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe, and Yo'ach the son of Asaf the recorder. <sup>18:19</sup>Ravshakeh said to them, Say you now to Chizkiyahu, Thus says the great king, the king of Ashshur, What confidence is this in which you trust? <sup>18:20</sup>You say (but they are but vain words), There is counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? <sup>18:21</sup>Now, behold, you trust on the staff of this bruised reed, even on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Par`oh king of Egypt to all who trust on him. ^18:22But if you tell me, We trust in the LORD our G-d; isn't that he whose high places and whose altars Chizkiyahu has taken away, and has said to Yehudah and to Yerushalayim, You shall worship before this altar in Yerushalayim? ^18:23Now therefore, Please give pledges to my master the king of Ashshur, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. ^18:24How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ^18:25Am I now come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? the LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it. ^18:26Then said Elyakim the son of Chilkiyah, and Shebnah, and Yo'ach, to Ravshakeh, Please speak to your servants in the Arammian language; for we understand it: and don't speak with us in the Yehudim' language, in the ears of the people who are on the wall. ^18:27But Ravshakeh said to them, Has my master sent me to your master, and to you, to speak these words? Hasn't he sent me to the men who sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own water with you? ^18:28Then Ravshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Yehudim' language, and spoke, saying, Hear you the word of the great king, the king of Ashshur. ^18:29Thus says the king, Don't let Chizkiyahu deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand: ^18:30neither let Chizkiyahu make you trust in the LORD, saying, the LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Ashshur. ^18:31Don't listen to Chizkiyahu: for thus says the king of Ashshur, Make your shalom with me, and come out to me; and eat you everyone of his vine, and everyone of his fig tree, and everyone drink the waters of his own cistern; ^18:32Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and of honey, that you may live, and not die: and don't listen to Chizkiyahu, when he persuades you, saying, the LORD will deliver us. ^18:33Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Ashshur? ^18:34Where are the gods of Chamat, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sefarvayim, of Hena, and `Ivvah? have they delivered Shomron out of my hand? ^18:35Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Yerushalayim out of my hand? ^18:36But the people held their shalom, and answered him not a word; for the king's mitzvah was, saying, Don't answer him. ^18:37Then came Elyakim the son of Chilkiyah, who was over the household, and Shevna the scribe, and Yo'ach the son of Asaf the recorder, to Chizkiyahu with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Ravshakeh.

^19:1It happened, when king Chizkiyahu heard it, that he tore his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD. ^19:2He sent Elyakim, who was over the household, and Shevna the scribe, and the elders of the kohanim, covered with sackcloth, to Yesha`yahu the prophet the son of Amotz. <sup>19:3</sup>They said to him, Thus says Chizkiyahu, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. <sup>19:4</sup>It may be the LORD your G-d will hear all the words of Ravshakeh, whom the king of Ashshur his master has sent to defy the living G-d, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your G-d has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left. <sup>19:5</sup>So the servants of king Chizkiyahu came to Yesha`yahu. ^19:6Yesha`yahu said to them, Thus shall you tell your master, Thus says the LORD, Don't be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Ashshur have blasphemed me. <sup>19:7</sup>Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall hear news, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. <sup>19:8</sup>So Ravshakeh returned, and found the king of Ashshur warring against Livna; for he had heard that he was departed from Lakhish. <sup>19:9</sup>When he heard say of Tirhakah king of Kush, Behold, he is come out to fight against you, he sent messengers again to Chizkiyahu, saying, <sup>19:10</sup>Thus shall you speak to Chizkiyahu king of Yehudah, saying, Don't let your G-d in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Yerushalayim shall not be given into the hand of the king of Ashshur. <sup>19:11</sup>Behold, you have heard what the kings of Ashshur have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shall you be delivered? <sup>19:12</sup>Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Charan, and Retzef, and the children of `Eden that were in Telassar? ^19:13Where is the king of Chamat, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sefarvayim, of Hena, and `Ivvah? <sup>19:14</sup>Chizkiyahu received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Chizkiyahu went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. <sup>19:15</sup>Chizkiyahu prayed before the LORD, and said, LORD, the G-d of Yisra'el, who sit above the Keruvim, you are the G-d, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. <sup>19:16</sup>Incline your ear, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sancheriv, with which he has sent him to defy the living G-d. <sup>19:17</sup>Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Ashshur have laid waste the nations and their lands, <sup>19:18</sup>and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them. <sup>19:19</sup>Now therefore, LORD our G-d, save you us, I beg you, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you LORD are G-d alone. <sup>19:20</sup>Then Yesha`yahu the son of Amotz sent to Chizkiyahu, saying, Thus says the LORD, the G-d of Yisra'el, Whereas you have prayed to me against Sancheriv king of Ashshur, I have heard you. ^19:21This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Tziyon has despised you and ridiculed you; the daughter of Yerushalayim has shaken her head at you. ^19:22Whom have you defied and blasphemed? and against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Yisra'el. ^19:23By your messengers you have defied the Lord, and have said, With the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Levanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars of it, and the choice fir trees of it; and I will enter into his farthest lodging-place, the forest of his fruitful field. ^19:24I have dug and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt. ^19:25Haven't you heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? now have I brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. ^19:26Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as grain blasted before it is grown up. ^19:27But I know your sitting down, and your going out, and your coming in, and your raging against me. ^19:28Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance is come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came. ^19:29This shall be the sign to you: You shall eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs of the same; and in the third year sow you, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of it. ^19:30The remnant that has escaped of the house of Yehudah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. ^19:31For out of Yerushalayim shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Tziyon those who shall escape: the zeal of the LORD shall perform this. ^19:32Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Ashshur, He shall not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. ^19:33By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come to this city, says the LORD. ^19:34For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake. ^19:35It happened that night, that the angel of the LORD went forth, and struck in the camp of the Ashshur one hundred eighty-five thousand: and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ^19:36So Sancheriv king of Ashshur departed, and went and returned, and lived at Nineveh. ^19:37It happened, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisrokh his G-d, that Adrammelekh and Sar'etzer struck him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar-Chaddon his son reigned in his place.

^20:1In those days was Chizkiyahu sick to death. Yesha`yahu the prophet the son of Amotz came to him, and said to him, Thus says the LORD, Set your house in order: for you shall die, and not live. <sup>20:2</sup>Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying, <sup>20:3</sup>Remember now, LORD, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight. Chizkiyahu wept sore. <sup>20:4</sup>It happened, before Yesha`yahu was gone out into the middle part of the city, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, ^20:5Turn back, and tell Chizkiyahu the prince of my people, Thus says the LORD, the G-d of David your father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears: behold, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD. ^20:6I will add to your days fifteen years; and I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Ashshur; and I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake. ^20:7Yesha`yahu said, Take a cake of figs. They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. <sup>20:8</sup>Chizkiyahu said to Yesha`yahu, What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD the third day? ^20:9Yesha`yahu said, This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps? <sup>20:10</sup>Chizkiyahu answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to decline ten steps: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten steps. <sup>20:11</sup>Yesha`yahu the prophet cried to the LORD; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Achaz. ^20:12At that time Berodakh-Bal'adan the son of Bal'adan, king of Bavel, sent letters and a present to Chizkiyahu; for he had heard that Chizkiyahu had been sick. ^20:13Chizkiyahu listened to them, and shown them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Chizkiyahu didn't show them. ^20:14Then came Yesha`yahu the prophet to king Chizkiyahu, and said to him, What said these men? and from whence came they to you? Chizkiyahu said, They are come from a far country, even from Bavel. <sup>20:15</sup>He said, What have they seen in your house? Chizkiyahu answered, All that is in my house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them. <sup>20:16</sup>Yesha`yahu said to Chizkiyahu, Hear the word of the LORD. ^20:17Behold, the days come, that all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store to this day, shall be carried to Bavel: nothing shall be left, says the LORD. ^20:18Of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you shall father, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Bavel. ^20:19Then said Chizkiyahu to Yesha`yahu, Good is the word of the LORD which you have spoken. He said moreover, Isn't it so, if shalom and truth shall be in my days? ^20:20Now the rest of the acts of Chizkiyahu, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? ^20:21Chizkiyahu slept with his fathers; and Menashsheh his son reigned in his place.

^21:1Menashsheh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-five years in Yerushalayim: and his mother's name was Cheftzi-Bah. ^21:2He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the nations whom the LORD cast out before the children of Yisra'el. ^21:3For he built again the high places which Chizkiyahu his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Ba`al, and made an Asherah, as did Ach'av king of Yisra'el, and worshiped all the host of the sky, and served them. ^21:4He built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Yerushalayim will I put my name. ^21:5He built altars for all the host of the sky in the two courts of the house of the LORD. ^21:6He made his son to pass through the fire, and practiced sorcery, and used enchantments, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits, and with wizards: he worked much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. ^21:7He set the engraved image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which the LORD said to David and to Shlomo his son, In this house, and in Yerushalayim, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Yisra'el, will I put my name forever; ^21:8neither will I cause the feet of Yisra'el to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moshe commanded them. ^21:9But they didn't listen: and Menashsheh seduced them to do that which is evil more than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Yisra'el. ^21:10The LORD spoke by his servants the prophets, saying, ^21:11Because Menashsheh king of Yehudah has done these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amori did, who were before him, and has made Yehudah also to sin with his idols; ^21:12therefore thus says the LORD, the G-d of Yisra'el, Behold, I bring such evil on Yerushalayim and Yehudah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle. ^21:13I will stretch over Yerushalayim the line of Shomron, and the plummet of the house of Ach'av; and I will wipe Yerushalayim as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ^21:14I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; ^21:15because they have done that which is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even to this day. ^21:16Moreover Menashsheh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Yerushalayim from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Yehudah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. ^21:17Now the rest of the acts of Menashsheh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? ^21:18Menashsheh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his place. ^21:19Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Yerushalayim: and his mother's name was Meshullemet the daughter of Charutz of Yotvah. ^21:20He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Menashsheh his father. ^21:21He walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshiped them: ^21:22and he forsook the LORD, the G-d of his fathers, and didn't walk in the way of the LORD. ^21:23The servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in his own house. ^21:24But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Yoshiyahu his son king in his place. ^21:25Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? ^21:26He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza: and Yoshiyahu his son reigned in his place.

^22:1Yoshiyahu was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty-one years in Yerushalayim: and his mother's name was Yedidah the daughter of `Adayah of Botzkat. <sup>22:2</sup>He did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and didn't turn aside to the right hand or to the left. <sup>22:3</sup>It happened in the eighteenth year of king Yoshiyahu, that the king sent Shafan, the son of Atzalyahu the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying, <sup>22:4</sup>Go up to Chilkiyah the kohen gadol, that he may sum the money which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people: <sup>22:5</sup>and let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD; and let them give it to the workmen who are in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house, <sup>22:6</sup>to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the house. <sup>22:7</sup>However there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand; for they dealt faithfully. <sup>22:8</sup>Chilkiyah the kohen gadol said to Shafan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. Chilkiyah delivered the book to Shafan, and he read it. <sup>22:9</sup>Shafan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD. <sup>22:10</sup>Shafan the scribe told the king, saying, Chilkiyah the kohen has delivered me a book. Shafan read it before the king. <sup>22:11</sup>It happened, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he tore his clothes. <sup>22:12</sup>The king commanded Chilkiyah the kohen, and Achikam the son of Shafan, and `Akhbor the son of Mikhayahu, and Shafan the scribe, and `Asayah the king's servant, saying, <sup>22:13</sup>Go you, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Yehudah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that which is written concerning us. <sup>22:14</sup>So Chilkiyah the kohen, and Achikam, and `Akhbor, and Shafan, and `Asayah, went to Chuldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Charchas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Yerushalayim in the second quarter); and they talked with her. ^22:15She said to them, Thus says the LORD, the G-d of Yisra'el: Tell you the man who sent you to me, ^22:16Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil on this place, and on the inhabitants of it, even all the words of the book which the king of Yehudah has read. ^22:17Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched. ^22:18But to the king of Yehudah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall you tell him, Thus says the LORD, the G-d of Yisra'el: As touching the words which you have heard, ^22:19because your heart was tender, and you did humble yourself before the LORD, when you heard what I spoke against this place, and against the inhabitants of it, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you, says the LORD. ^22:20Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in shalom, neither shall your eyes see all the evil which I will bring on this place. They brought the king word again.

^23:1The king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Yehudah and of Yerushalayim. ^23:2The king went up to the house of the LORD, and all the men of Yehudah and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim with him, and the kohanim, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD. ^23:3The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his mitzvot, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book: and all the people stood to the covenant. ^23:4The king commanded Chilkiyah the kohen gadol, and the kohanim of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Ba`al, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of the sky, and he burned them outside of Yerushalayim in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Beit-El. <sup>23:5</sup>He put down the idolatrous kohanim, whom the kings of Yehudah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Yehudah, and in the places round about Yerushalayim; those also who burned incense to Ba`al, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of the sky. ^23:6He brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD, outside of Yerushalayim, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast the dust of it on the graves of the common people. ^23:7He broke down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. ^23:8He brought all the kohanim out of the cities of Yehudah, and defiled the high places where the kohanim had burned incense, from Geva to Be'er-Sheva; and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Yehoshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city. ^23:9Nevertheless the kohanim of the high places didn't come up to the altar of the LORD in Yerushalayim, but they ate matzah among their brothers. ^23:10He defiled Tofet, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molekh. ^23:11He took away the horses that the kings of Yehudah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Netan-Melekh the chamberlain, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. ^23:12The altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Achaz, which the kings of Yehudah had made, and the altars which Menashsheh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king break down, and beat them down from there, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. ^23:13The high places that were before Yerushalayim, which were on the right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Shlomo the king of Yisra'el had built for `Ashoret the abomination of the Tzidonim, and for Kemosh the abomination of Mo'av, and for Milkom the abomination of the children of `Ammon, did the king defile. ^23:14He broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men. ^23:15Moreover the altar that was at Beit-El, and the high place which Yarov`am the son of Nevat, who made Yisra'el to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah. <sup>23:16</sup>As Yoshiyahu turned himself, he spied the tombs that were there in the mountain; and he sent, and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them on the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of G-d proclaimed, who proclaimed these things. <sup>23:17</sup>Then he said, What monument is that which I see? The men of the city told him, It is the tomb of the man of G-d, who came from Yehudah, and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Beit-El. <sup>23:18</sup>He said, Let him be; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Shomron. <sup>23:19</sup>All the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Shomron, which the kings of Yisra'el had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Yoshiyahu took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Beit-El. <sup>23:20</sup>He killed all the kohanim of the high places that were there, on the altars, and burned men's bones on them; and he returned to Yerushalayim. <sup>23:21</sup>The king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the Pesach to the LORD your G-d, as it is written in this book of the covenant. <sup>23:22</sup>Surely there was not kept such a Pesach from the days of the judges who judged Yisra'el, nor in all the days of the kings of Yisra'el, nor of the kings of Yehudah; <sup>23:23</sup>but in the eighteenth year of king Yoshiyahu was this Pesach kept to the LORD in Yerushalayim. <sup>23:24</sup>Moreover those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the terafim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Yehudah and in Yerushalayim, did Yoshiyahu put away, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Chilkiyah the kohen found in the house of the LORD. <sup>23:25</sup>Like him was there no king before him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moshe; neither after him arose there any like him. <sup>23:26</sup>Notwithstanding, the LORD didn't turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger was kindled against Yehudah, because of all the provocation with which Menashsheh had provoked him. <sup>23:27</sup>The LORD said, I will remove Yehudah also out of my sight, as I have removed Yisra'el, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Yerushalayim, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. <sup>23:28</sup>Now the rest of the acts of Yoshiyahu, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? <sup>23:29</sup>In his days Par`oh-Nekho king of Egypt went up against the king of Ashshur to the river Perat: and king Yoshiyahu went against him; and Par`oh-Nekho killed him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. <sup>23:30</sup>His servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Yerushalayim, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Yeho'achaz the son of Yoshiyahu, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's place. <sup>23:31</sup>Yeho'achaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Yerushalayim: and his mother's name was Chamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu of Livna. <sup>23:32</sup>He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. <sup>23:33</sup>Par`oh-Nekho put him in bonds at Rivlah in the land of Chamat, that he might not reign in Yerushalayim; and put the land to a tribute of one hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. ^23:34Par`oh-Nekho made Elyakim the son of Yoshiyahu king in the room of Yoshiyahu his father, and changed his name to Yehoiakim: but he took Yeho'achaz away; and he came to Egypt, and died there. <sup>23:35</sup>Yehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Par`oh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the mitzvah of Par`oh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of everyone according to his taxation, to give it to Par`oh-Nekho. ^23:36Yehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Yerushalayim: and his mother's name was Zevudah the daughter of Pedayahu of Rumah. ^23:37He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

^24:1In his days Nevukhadnetztzar king of Bavel came up, and Yehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. ^24:2The LORD sent against him bands of the Kasdim, and bands of the Aram, and bands of the Mo`avim, and bands of the children of `Ammon, and sent them against Yehudah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servants the prophets. ^24:3Surely at the mitzvah of the LORD came this on Yehudah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Menashsheh, according to all that he did, ^24:4and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Yerushalayim with innocent blood: and the LORD would not pardon. ^24:5Now the rest of the acts of Yehoiakim, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? ^24:6So Yehoiakim slept with his fathers; and Yehoiakim his son reigned in his place. ^24:7The king of Egypt didn't come again out of his land any more; for the king of Bavel had taken, from the brook of Egypt to the river Perat, all that pertained to the king of Egypt. ^24:8Yehoiakim was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned in Yerushalayim three months: and his mother's name was Nechushta the daughter of Elnatan of Yerushalayim. ^24:9He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done. ^24:10At that time the servants of Nevukhadnetztzar king of Bavel came up to Yerushalayim, and the city was besieged. ^24:11Nevukhadnetztzar king of Bavel came to the city, while his servants were besieging it; ^24:12and Yehoiakim the king of Yehudah went out to the king of Bavel, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Bavel took him in the eighth year of his reign. ^24:13He carried out there all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Shlomo king of Yisra'el had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said. ^24:14He carried away all Yerushalayim, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. ^24:15He carried away Yehoiakim to Bavel; and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the chief men of the land, carried he into captivity from Yerushalayim to Bavel. ^24:16All the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths one thousand, all of them strong and apt for war, even them the king of Bavel brought captive to Bavel. ^24:17The king of Bavel made Mattanyah, Yehoiakim's father's brother, king is his place, and changed his name to Tzidkiyahu. ^24:18Tzidkiyahu was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Yerushalayim: and his mother's name was Chamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu of Livna. ^24:19He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Yehoiakim had done. ^24:20For through the anger of the LORD did it happen in Yerushalayim and Yehudah, until he had cast them out from his presence. Tzidkiyahu rebelled against the king of Bavel.

^25:1It happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nevukhadnetztzar king of Bavel came, he and all his army, against Yerushalayim, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about. ^25:2So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Tzidkiyahu. ^25:3On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. ^25:4Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden (now the Kasdim were against the city round about); and the king went by the way of the `Aravah. <sup>25:5</sup>But the army of the Kasdim pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Yericho; and all his army was scattered from him. <sup>25:6</sup>Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Bavel to Rivlah; and they gave judgment on him. <sup>25:7</sup>They killed the sons of Tzidkiyahu before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Tzidkiyahu, and bound him in fetters, and carried him to Bavel. <sup>25:8</sup>Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nevukhadnetztzar, king of Bavel, came Nevuzar'adan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Bavel, to Yerushalayim. <sup>25:9</sup>He burnt the house of the LORD, and the king's house; and all the houses of Yerushalayim, even every great house, burnt he with fire. <sup>25:10</sup>All the army of the Kasdim, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls of Yerushalayim round about. <sup>25:11</sup>The residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Bavel, and the residue of the multitude, did Nevuzar'adan the captain of the guard carry away captive. <sup>25:12</sup>But the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields. <sup>25:13</sup>The pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases and the brazen sea that were in the house of the LORD, did the Kasdim break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Bavel. <sup>25:14</sup>The pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered, took they away. <sup>25:15</sup>The fire pans, and the basins, that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away. <sup>25:16</sup>The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Shlomo had made for the house of the LORD, the brass of all these vessels was without weight. <sup>25:17</sup>The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of brass was on it; and the height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital round about, all of brass: and like to these had the second pillar with network. <sup>25:18</sup>The captain of the guard took Serayah the chief kohen, and Tzefanyah the second kohen, and the three keepers of the threshold: <sup>25:19</sup>and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and five men of those who saw the king's face, who were found in the city; and the scribe, the captain of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the city. <sup>25:20</sup>Nevuzar'adan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Bavel to Rivlah. <sup>25:21</sup>The king of Bavel struck them, and put them to death at Rivlah in the land of Chamat. So Yehudah was carried away captive out of his land. <sup>25:22</sup>As for the people who were left in the land of Yehudah, whom Nevukhadnetztzar king of Bavel had left, even over them he made Gedalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, governor. <sup>25:23</sup>Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Bavel had made Gedalyahu governor, they came to Gedalyahu to Mitzpah, even Yishma'el the son of Netanyah, and Yochanan the son of Kareach, and Serayah the son of Tanchumet the Netofatite, and Ya`azanyah the son of the Ma`akhatite, they and their men. ^25:24Gedalyahu swore to them and to their men, and said to them, Don't be afraid because of the servants of the Kasdim: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Bavel, and it shall be well with you. ^25:25But it happened in the seventh month, that Yishma'el the son of Netanyah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed came, and ten men with him, and struck Gedalyahu, so that he died, and the Yehudim and the Kasdim that were with him at Mitzpah. ^25:26All the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces, arose, and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Kasdim. ^25:27It happened in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Yehoiakim king of Yehudah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-Merodakh king of Bavel, in the year that he began to reign, did lift up the head of Yehoiakim king of Yehudah out of prison; ^25:28and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Bavel, ^25:29and changed his prison garments. Yehoiakim ate bread before him continually all the days of his life: ^25:30and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him of the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.

Notes:

[1] back to 9:13 trumpet

[2] back to 10:11 priests

[3] back to 10:19 priests

[4] back to 11:9 priest

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[9] back to 11:18 priest

[10] back to 11:18 priest

[11] back to 12:2 priest

[12] back to 12:4 priests

[13] back to 12:5 priests

[14] back to 12:6 priests

[15] back to 12:7 priest

[16] back to 12:7 priests

[17] back to 12:8 priests

[18] back to 12:9 priest

[19] back to 12:9 priests

[20] back to 12:10 high priest

[21] back to 12:16 priests

[22] back to 16:10 priest

[23] back to 16:11 priest

[24] back to 16:11 priest

[25] back to 16:15 priest

[26] back to 16:16 priest

[27] back to 17:13 commandments

[28] back to 17:16 commandments

[29] back to 17:19 commandments

[30] back to 17:27 priests

[31] back to 17:28 priests

[32] back to 17:32 priests

[33] back to 17:34 commandment

[34] back to 17:37 commandment

[35] back to 18:6 commandments

[36] back to 18:36 commandment

[37] back to 19:2 priests

[38] back to 22:4 high priest

[39] back to 22:8 high priest

[40] back to 22:10 priest

[41] back to 22:12 priest

[42] back to 22:14 priest

[43] back to 23:2 priests

[44] back to 23:3 commandments

[45] back to 23:4 high priest

[46] back to 23:4 priests

[47] back to 23:5 priests

[48] back to 23:8 priests

[49] back to 23:8 priests

[50] back to 23:9 priests

[51] back to 23:9 unleavened bread

[52] back to 23:20 priests

[53] back to 23:24 priest

[54] back to 23:35 commandment

[55] back to 24:3 commandment

[56] back to 25:18 priest

[57] back to 25:18 priest

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