2 CHRONICLES
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6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 -
12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 -
18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 -
23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 -
28 - 29 - 30 - 31 - 32 -
33 - 34 - 35 - 36
TOC
Maps
Solomon son of David established himself in his
kingdom; the LORD his God was with him and made him exceedingly great. 2 Solomon
summoned all Israel, the commanders of the thousands and of the hundreds, the
judges, and all the leaders of all Israel, the heads of families. 3 Then
Solomon, and the whole assembly with him, went to the high place that was at
Gibeon; for God's tent of meeting, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made
in the wilderness, was there. 4 (But David had brought the ark of God up from
Kiriath-jearim to the place that David had prepared for it; for he had pitched a
tent for it in Jerusalem.) 5 Moreover the bronze altar that Bezalel son of Uri,
son of Hur, had made, was there in front of the tabernacle of the LORD. And
Solomon and the assembly inquired at it. 6 Solomon went up there to the bronze
altar before the LORD, which was at the tent of meeting, and offered a thousand
burnt offerings on it. 7 That night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him,
"Ask what I should give you." 8 Solomon said to God, "You have shown great and
steadfast love to my father David, and have made me succeed him as king. 9 O
LORD God, let your promise to my father David now be fulfilled, for you have
made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. 10 Give me now
wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can rule
this great people of yours?" 11 God answered Solomon, "Because this was in your
heart, and you have not asked for possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of
those who hate you, and have not even asked for long life, but have asked for
wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may rule my people over whom I have
made you king, 12 wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you
riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before
you, and none after you shall have the like." 13 So Solomon came from the high
place at Gibeon, from the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem. And he reigned over
Israel. 14 Solomon gathered together chariots and horses; he had fourteen
hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he stationed in the chariot
cities and with the king in Jerusalem. 15 The king made silver and gold as
common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of
the Shephelah. 16 Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and Kue; the king's
traders received them from Kue at the prevailing price. 17 They imported from
Egypt, and then exported, a chariot for six hundred shekels of silver, and a
horse for one hundred fifty; so through them these were exported to all the
kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.
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Solomon decided to build a temple for the name of the LORD,
and a royal palace for himself. 2 Solomon conscripted seventy thousand laborers
and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hill country, with three thousand six
hundred to oversee them. 3 Solomon sent word to King Huram of Tyre: "Once you
dealt with my father David and sent him cedar to build himself a house to live
in. 4 I am now about to build a house for the name of the LORD my God and
dedicate it to him for offering fragrant incense before him, and for the regular
offering of the rows of bread, and for burnt offerings morning and evening, on
the sabbaths and the new moons and the appointed festivals of the LORD our God,
as ordained forever for Israel. 5 The house that I am about to build will be
great, for our God is greater than other gods. 6 But who is able to build him a
house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build
a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him? 7 So now send
me an artisan skilled to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple,
crimson, and blue fabrics, trained also in engraving, to join the skilled
workers who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided. 8
Send me also cedar, cypress, and algum timber from Lebanon, for I know that your
servants are skilled in cutting Lebanon timber. My servants will work with your
servants 9 to prepare timber for me in abundance, for the house I am about to
build will be great and wonderful. 10 I will provide for your servants, those
who cut the timber, twenty thousand cors of crushed wheat, twenty thousand cors
of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil." 11
Then King Huram of Tyre answered in a letter that he sent to Solomon, "Because
the LORD loves his people he has made you king over them." 12 Huram also said,
"Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given
King David a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, who will build
a temple for the LORD, and a royal palace for himself. 13 "I have dispatched
Huram-abi, a skilled artisan, endowed with understanding, 14 the son of one of
the Danite women, his father a Tyrian. He is trained to work in gold, silver,
bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and in purple, blue, and crimson fabrics and fine
linen, and to do all sorts of engraving and execute any design that may be
assigned him, with your artisans, the artisans of my lord, your father David. 15
Now, as for the wheat, barley, oil, and wine, of which my lord has spoken, let
him send them to his servants. 16 We will cut whatever timber you need from
Lebanon, and bring it to you as rafts by sea to Joppa; you will take it up to
Jerusalem." 17 Then Solomon took a census of all the aliens who were residing in
the land of Israel, after the census that his father David had taken; and there
were found to be one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred. 18 Seventy
thousand of them he assigned as laborers, eighty thousand as stonecutters in the
hill country, and three thousand six hundred as overseers to make the people
work.
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Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on
Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place that
David had designated, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2 He began
to build on the second day of the second month of the fourth year of his reign.
3 These are Solomon's measurements for building the house of God: the length, in
cubits of the old standard, was sixty cubits, and the width twenty cubits. 4 The
vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, across the
width of the house; and its height was one hundred twenty cubits. He overlaid it
on the inside with pure gold. 5 The nave he lined with cypress, covered it with
fine gold, and made palms and chains on it. 6 He adorned the house with settings
of precious stones. The gold was gold from Parvaim. 7 So he lined the house with
gold--its beams, its thresholds, its walls, and its doors; and he carved
cherubim on the walls. 8 He made the most holy place; its length, corresponding
to the width of the house, was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits;
he overlaid it with six hundred talents of fine gold. 9 The weight of the nails
was fifty shekels of gold. He overlaid the upper chambers with gold. 10 In the
most holy place he made two carved cherubim and overlaid them with gold. 11 The
wings of the cherubim together extended twenty cubits: one wing of the one, five
cubits long, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, five cubits
long, touched the wing of the other cherub; 12 and of this cherub, one wing,
five cubits long, touched the wall of the house, and the other wing, also five
cubits long, was joined to the wing of the first cherub. 13 The wings of these
cherubim extended twenty cubits; the cherubim stood on their feet, facing the
nave. 14 And Solomon made the curtain of blue and purple and crimson fabrics and
fine linen, and worked cherubim into it. 15 In front of the house he made two
pillars thirty-five cubits high, with a capital of five cubits on the top of
each. 16 He made encircling chains and put them on the tops of the pillars; and
he made one hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains. 17 He set up the
pillars in front of the temple, one on the right, the other on the left; the one
on the right he called Jachin, and the one on the left, Boaz.
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He made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long, twenty
cubits wide, and ten cubits high. 2 Then he made the molten sea; it was round,
ten cubits from rim to rim, and five cubits high. A line of thirty cubits would
encircle it completely. 3 Under it were panels all around, each of ten cubits,
surrounding the sea; there were two rows of panels, cast when it was cast. 4 It
stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south,
and three facing east; the sea was set on them. The hindquarters of each were
toward the inside. 5 Its thickness was a handbreadth; its rim was made like the
rim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held three thousand baths. 6 He also
made ten basins in which to wash, and set five on the right side, and five on
the left. In these they were to rinse what was used for the burnt offering. The
sea was for the priests to wash in. 7 He made ten golden lampstands as
prescribed, and set them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the
north. 8 He also made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the
right side and five on the left. And he made one hundred basins of gold. 9 He
made the court of the priests, and the great court, and doors for the court; he
overlaid their doors with bronze. 10 He set the sea at the southeast corner of
the house. 11 And Huram made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. Thus Huram
finished the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of God: 12 the two
pillars, the bowls, and the two capitals on the top of the pillars; and the two
latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the
pillars; 13 the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of
pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that
were on the pillars. 14 He made the stands, the basins on the stands, 15 the one
sea, and the twelve oxen underneath it. 16 The pots, the shovels, the forks, and
all the equipment for these Huram-abi made of burnished bronze for King Solomon
for the house of the LORD. 17 In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in
the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah. 18 Solomon made all these things in
great quantities, so that the weight of the bronze was not determined. 19 So
Solomon made all the things that were in the house of God: the golden altar, the
tables for the bread of the Presence, 20 the lampstands and their lamps of pure
gold to burn before the inner sanctuary, as prescribed; 21 the flowers, the
lamps, and the tongs, of purest gold; 22 the snuffers, basins, ladles, and
firepans, of pure gold. As for the entrance to the temple: the inner doors to
the most holy place and the doors of the nave of the temple were of gold.
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Thus all the work that Solomon did for the house of the LORD
was finished. Solomon brought in the things that his father David had dedicated,
and stored the silver, the gold, and all the vessels in the treasuries of the
house of God. 2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of
the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral houses of the people of Israel, in
Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of
David, which is Zion. 3 And all the Israelites assembled before the king at the
festival that is in the seventh month. 4 And all the elders of Israel came, and
the Levites carried the ark. 5 So they brought up the ark, the tent of meeting,
and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites
brought them up. 6 King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had
assembled before him, were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen
that they could not be numbered or counted. 7 Then the priests brought the ark
of the covenant of the LORD to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house,
in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. 8 For the cherubim
spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a
covering above the ark and its poles. 9 The poles were so long that the ends of
the poles were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary; but
they could not be seen from outside; they are there to this day. 10 There was
nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses put there at Horeb, where
the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel after they came out of Egypt.
11 Now when the priests came out of the holy place (for all the priests who were
present had sanctified themselves, without regard to their divisions, 12 and all
the levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kindred,
arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar
with one hundred twenty priests who were trumpeters). 13 It was the duty of the
trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and
thanksgiving to the LORD, and when the song was raised, with trumpets and
cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the LORD, "For he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever," the house, the house of the LORD, was
filled with a cloud, 14 so that the priests could not stand to minister because
of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.
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Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would reside
in thick darkness. 2 I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to
reside in forever." 3 Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly
of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. 4 And he said, "Blessed be
the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised
with his mouth to my father David, saying, 5 'Since the day that I brought my
people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any of the tribes
of Israel in which to build a house, so that my name might be there, and I chose
no one as ruler over my people Israel; 6 but I have chosen Jerusalem in order
that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.'
7 My father David had it in mind to build a house for the name of the LORD, the
God of Israel. 8 But the LORD said to my father David, 'You did well to consider
building a house for my name; 9 nevertheless you shall not build the house, but
your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.' 10 Now the
LORD has fulfilled his promise that he made; for I have succeeded my father
David, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the
house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 11 There I have set the ark,
in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with the people of Israel." 12
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of the whole
assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands. 13 Solomon had made a bronze
platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set
it in the court; and he stood on it. Then he knelt on his knees in the presence
of the whole assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven. 14 He
said, "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth,
keeping covenant in steadfast love with your servants who walk before you with
all their heart-- 15 you who have kept for your servant, my father David, what
you promised to him. Indeed, you promised with your mouth and this day have
fulfilled with your hand. 16 Therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your
servant, my father David, that which you promised him, saying, 'There shall
never fail you a successor before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only
your children keep to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before
me.' 17 Therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you
promised to your servant David. 18 "But will God indeed reside with mortals on
earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this
house that I have built! 19 Regard your servant's prayer and his plea, O LORD my
God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you. 20 May your
eyes be open day and night toward this house, the place where you promised to
set your name, and may you heed the prayer that your servant prays toward this
place. 21 And hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they
pray toward this place; may you hear from heaven your dwelling place; hear and
forgive. 22 "If someone sins against another and is required to take an oath and
comes and swears before your altar in this house, 23 may you hear from heaven,
and act, and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing their conduct
on their own head, and vindicating those who are in the right by rewarding them
in accordance with their righteousness. 24 "When your people Israel, having
sinned against you, are defeated before an enemy but turn again to you, confess
your name, pray and plead with you in this house, 25 may you hear from heaven,
and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land that
you gave to them and to their ancestors. 26 "When heaven is shut up and there is
no rain because they have sinned against you, and then they pray toward this
place, confess your name, and turn from their sin, because you punish them, 27
may you hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel,
when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send down rain
upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance. 28 "If
there is famine in the land, if there is plague, blight, mildew, locust, or
caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in any of the settlements of the
lands; whatever suffering, whatever sickness there is; 29 whatever prayer,
whatever plea from any individual or from all your people Israel, all knowing
their own suffering and their own sorrows so that they stretch out their hands
toward this house; 30 may you hear from heaven, your dwelling place, forgive,
and render to all whose heart you know, according to all their ways, for only
you know the human heart. 31 Thus may they fear you and walk in your ways all
the days that they live in the land that you gave to our ancestors. 32 "Likewise
when foreigners, who are not of your people Israel, come from a distant land
because of your great name, and your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm,
when they come and pray toward this house, 33 may you hear from heaven your
dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigners ask of you, in order that all the
peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel,
and that they may know that your name has been invoked on this house that I have
built. 34 "If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever
way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have
chosen and the house that I have built for your name, 35 then hear from heaven
their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause. 36 "If they sin against
you--for there is no one who does not sin--and you are angry with them and give
them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near;
37 then if they come to their senses in the land to which they have been taken
captive, and repent, and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying,
'We have sinned, and have done wrong; we have acted wickedly'; 38 if they repent
with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity, to which they were
taken captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their ancestors,
the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, 39
then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, maintain
their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you. 40 Now, O my
God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to prayer from this place. 41
"Now rise up, O LORD God, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your
might. Let your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let your
faithful rejoice in your goodness. 42 O LORD God, do not reject your anointed
one. Remember your steadfast love for your servant David."
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When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from
heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the
LORD filled the temple. 2 The priests could not enter the house of the LORD,
because the glory of the LORD filled the Lord's house. 3 When all the people of
Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they
bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and worshiped and
gave thanks to the LORD, saying, "For he is good, for his steadfast love endures
forever." 4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the LORD.
5 King Solomon offered as a sacrifice twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred
twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of
God. 6 The priests stood at their posts; the Levites also, with the instruments
for music to the LORD that King David had made for giving thanks to the
LORD--for his steadfast love endures forever--whenever David offered praises by
their ministry. Opposite them the priests sounded trumpets; and all Israel
stood. 7 Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the
house of the LORD; for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the
offerings of well-being because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold
the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat parts. 8 At that time
Solomon held the festival for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great
congregation, from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. 9 On the eighth day they
held a solemn assembly; for they had observed the dedication of the altar seven
days and the festival seven days. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh
month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and in good spirits because
of the goodness that the LORD had shown to David and to Solomon and to his
people Israel. 11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king's
house; all that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the LORD and in his
own house he successfully accomplished. 12 Then the LORD appeared to Solomon in
the night and said to him: "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place
for myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up the heavens so that there
is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among
my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray,
seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and
will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my
ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 16 For now I have
chosen and consecrated this house so that my name may be there forever; my eyes
and my heart will be there for all time. 17 As for you, if you walk before me,
as your father David walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you
and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, 18 then I will establish your royal
throne, as I made covenant with your father David saying, 'You shall never lack
a successor to rule over Israel.' 19 "But if you turn aside and forsake my
statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other
gods and worship them, 20 then I will pluck you up from the land that I have
given you; and this house, which I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out
of my sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21 And
regarding this house, now exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished, and
say, 'Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this house?' 22
Then they will say, 'Because they abandoned the LORD the God of their ancestors
who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods, and
worshiped them and served them; therefore he has brought all this calamity upon
them.'"
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) At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon had built
the house of the LORD and his own house, 2 Solomon rebuilt the cities that Huram
had given to him, and settled the people of Israel in them. 3 Solomon went to
Hamath-zobah, and captured it. 4 He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the
storage towns that he built in Hamath. 5 He also built Upper Beth-horon and
Lower Beth-horon, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars, 6 and Baalath,
as well as all Solomon's storage towns, and all the towns for his chariots, the
towns for his cavalry, and whatever Solomon desired to build, in Jerusalem, in
Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 7 All the people who were left of
the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who
were not of Israel, 8 from their descendants who were still left in the land,
whom the people of Israel had not destroyed--these Solomon conscripted for
forced labor, as is still the case today. 9 But of the people of Israel Solomon
made no slaves for his work; they were soldiers, and his officers, the
commanders of his chariotry and cavalry. 10 These were the chief officers of
King Solomon, two hundred fifty of them, who exercised authority over the
people. 11 Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter from the city of David to the
house that he had built for her, for he said, "My wife shall not live in the
house of King David of Israel, for the places to which the ark of the LORD has
come are holy." 12 Then Solomon offered up burnt offerings to the LORD on the
altar of the LORD that he had built in front of the vestibule, 13 as the duty of
each day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses for the
sabbaths, the new moons, and the three annual festivals--the festival of
unleavened bread, the festival of weeks, and the festival of booths. 14
According to the ordinance of his father David, he appointed the divisions of
the priests for their service, and the Levites for their offices of praise and
ministry alongside the priests as the duty of each day required, and the
gatekeepers in their divisions for the several gates; for so David the man of
God had commanded. 15 They did not turn away from what the king had commanded
the priests and Levites regarding anything at all, or regarding the treasuries.
16 Thus all the work of Solomon was accomplished from the day the foundation of
the house of the LORD was laid until the house of the LORD was finished
completely. 17 Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and Eloth on the shore of the
sea, in the land of Edom. 18 Huram sent him, in the care of his servants, ships
and servants familiar with the sea. They went to Ophir, together with the
servants of Solomon, and imported from there four hundred fifty talents of gold
and brought it to King Solomon.
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When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she
came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions, having a very great retinue
and camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. When she came
to Solomon, she discussed with him all that was on her mind. 2 Solomon answered
all her questions; there was nothing hidden from Solomon that he could not
explain to her. 3 When the queen of Sheba had observed the wisdom of Solomon,
the house that he had built, 4 the food of his table, the seating of his
officials, and the attendance of his servants, and their clothing, his valets,
and their clothing, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the
LORD, there was no more spirit left in her. 5 So she said to the king, "The
report was true that I heard in my own land of your accomplishments and of your
wisdom, 6 but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes saw it.
Not even half of the greatness of your wisdom had been told to me; you far
surpass the report that I had heard. 7 Happy are your people! Happy are these
your servants, who continually attend you and hear your wisdom! 8 Blessed be the
LORD your God, who has delighted in you and set you on his throne as king for
the LORD your God. Because your God loved Israel and would establish them
forever, he has made you king over them, that you may execute justice and
righteousness." 9 Then she gave the king one hundred twenty talents of gold, a
very great quantity of spices, and precious stones: there were no spices such as
those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. 10 Moreover the servants of
Huram and the servants of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir brought algum wood
and precious stones. 11 From the algum wood, the king made steps for the house
of the LORD and for the king's house, lyres also and harps for the singers;
there never was seen the like of them before in the land of Judah. 12 Meanwhile
King Solomon granted the queen of Sheba every desire that she expressed, well
beyond what she had brought to the king. Then she returned to her own land, with
her servants. 13 The weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six
hundred sixty-six talents of gold, 14 besides that which the traders and
merchants brought; and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land
brought gold and silver to Solomon. 15 King Solomon made two hundred large
shields of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of beaten gold went into each large
shield. 16 He made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three hundred shekels
of gold went into each shield; and the king put them in the House of the Forest
of Lebanon. 17 The king also made a great ivory throne, and overlaid it with
pure gold. 18 The throne had six steps and a footstool of gold, which were
attached to the throne, and on each side of the seat were arm rests and two
lions standing beside the arm rests, 19 while twelve lions were standing, one on
each end of a step on the six steps. The like of it was never made in any
kingdom. 20 All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the
vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was not
considered as anything in the days of Solomon. 21 For the king's ships went to
Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years the ships of
Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. 22 Thus
King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. 23 All
the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which
God had put into his mind. 24 Every one of them brought a present, objects of
silver and gold, garments, weaponry, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by
year. 25 Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve
thousand horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in
Jerusalem. 26 He ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates to the land of the
Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. 27 The king made silver as common in
Jerusalem as stone, and cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah. 28
Horses were imported for Solomon from Egypt and from all lands. 29 Now the rest
of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, are they not written in the history
of the prophet Nathan, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the
visions of the seer Iddo concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat? 30 Solomon reigned in
Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. 31 Solomon slept with his ancestors and
was buried in the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam succeeded him.
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Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to
Shechem to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of it (for he was
in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from
Egypt. 3 They sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came and said to
Rehoboam, 4 "Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard
service of your father and his heavy yoke that he placed on us, and we will
serve you." 5 He said to them, "Come to me again in three days." So the people
went away. 6 Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the older men who had attended
his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, "How do you advise me to
answer this people?" 7 They answered him, "If you will be kind to this people
and please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants
forever." 8 But he rejected the advice that the older men gave him, and
consulted the young men who had grown up with him and now attended him. 9 He
said to them, "What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to
me, 'Lighten the yoke that your father put on us'?" 10 The young men who had
grown up with him said to him, "Thus should you speak to the people who said to
you, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must lighten it for us'; tell
them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. 11 Now, whereas my
father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined
you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'" 12 So Jeroboam and
all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had said, "Come to me
again the third day." 13 The king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam rejected
the advice of the older men; 14 he spoke to them in accordance with the advice
of the young men, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my
father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions." 15
So the king did not listen to the people, because it was a turn of affairs
brought about by God so that the LORD might fulfill his word, which he had
spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat. 16 When all Israel saw
that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king, "What
share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Each of
you to your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David." So all Israel
departed to their tents. 17 But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who
were living in the cities of Judah. 18 When King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was
taskmaster over the forced labor, the people of Israel stoned him to death. King
Rehoboam hurriedly mounted his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has
been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
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When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled one hundred
eighty thousand chosen troops of the house of Judah and Benjamin to fight
against Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. 2 But the word of the LORD
came to Shemaiah the man of God: 3 Say to King Rehoboam of Judah, son of
Solomon, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, 4 "Thus says the LORD: You
shall not go up or fight against your kindred. Let everyone return home, for
this thing is from me." So they heeded the word of the LORD and turned back from
the expedition against Jeroboam. 5 Rehoboam resided in Jerusalem, and he built
cities for defense in Judah. 6 He built up Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, 7 Beth-zur,
Soco, Adullam, 8 Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, 9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, 10 Zorah,
Aijalon, and Hebron, fortified cities that are in Judah and in Benjamin. 11 He
made the fortresses strong, and put commanders in them, and stores of food, oil,
and wine. 12 He also put large shields and spears in all the cities, and made
them very strong. So he held Judah and Benjamin. 13 The priests and the Levites
who were in all Israel presented themselves to him from all their territories.
14 The Levites had left their common lands and their holdings and had come to
Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had prevented them from
serving as priests of the LORD, 15 and had appointed his own priests for the
high places, and for the goat-demons, and for the calves that he had made. 16
Those who had set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came after them
from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of
their ancestors. 17 They strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and for three years
they made Rehoboam son of Solomon secure, for they walked for three years in the
way of David and Solomon. 18 Rehoboam took as his wife Mahalath daughter of
Jerimoth son of David, and of Abihail daughter of Eliab son of Jesse. 19 She
bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. 20 After her he took Maacah daughter
of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. 21 Rehoboam loved
Maacah daughter of Absalom more than all his other wives and concubines (he took
eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and became the father of twenty-eight sons
and sixty daughters). 22 Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maacah as chief prince
among his brothers, for he intended to make him king. 23 He dealt wisely, and
distributed some of his sons through all the districts of Judah and Benjamin, in
all the fortified cities; he gave them abundant provisions, and found many wives
for them.
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When the rule of Rehoboam was established and he grew
strong, he abandoned the law of the LORD, he and all Israel with him. 2 In the
fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, King
Shishak of Egypt came up against Jerusalem 3 with twelve hundred chariots and
sixty thousand cavalry. A countless army came with him from Egypt--Libyans,
Sukkiim, and Ethiopians. 4 He took the fortified cities of Judah and came as far
as Jerusalem. 5 Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the officers
of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them,
"Thus says the LORD: You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of
Shishak." 6 Then the officers of Israel and the king humbled themselves and
said, "The LORD is in the right." 7 When the LORD saw that they humbled
themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying: "They have humbled
themselves; I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and
my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8
Nevertheless they shall be his servants, so that they may know the difference
between serving me and serving the kingdoms of other lands." 9 So King Shishak
of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; he took away the treasures of the house of
the LORD and the treasures of the king's house; he took everything. He also took
away the shields of gold that Solomon had made; 10 but King Rehoboam made in
place of them shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers
of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house. 11 Whenever the king went
into the house of the LORD, the guard would come along bearing them, and would
then bring them back to the guardroom. 12 Because he humbled himself the wrath
of the LORD turned from him, so as not to destroy them completely; moreover,
conditions were good in Judah. 13 So King Rehoboam established himself in
Jerusalem and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign;
he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the LORD had chosen out
of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother's name was Naamah
the Ammonite. 14 He did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD. 15
Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the
records of the prophet Shemaiah and of the seer Iddo, recorded by genealogy?
There were continual wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. 16 Rehoboam slept with
his ancestors and was buried in the city of David; and his son Abijah succeeded
him.
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In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah began to
reign over Judah. 2 He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name
was Micaiah daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. Now there was war between Abijah and
Jeroboam. 3 Abijah engaged in battle, having an army of valiant warriors, four
hundred thousand picked men; and Jeroboam drew up his line of battle against him
with eight hundred thousand picked mighty warriors. 4 Then Abijah stood on the
slope of Mount Zemaraim that is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said,
"Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel! 5 Do you not know that the LORD God of
Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant
of salt? 6 Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rose up
and rebelled against his lord; 7 and certain worthless scoundrels gathered
around him and defied Rehoboam son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and
irresolute and could not withstand them. 8 "And now you think that you can
withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David, because you
are a great multitude and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made as
gods for you. 9 Have you not driven out the priests of the LORD, the descendants
of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of
other lands? Whoever comes to be consecrated with a young bull or seven rams
becomes a priest of what are no gods. 10 But as for us, the LORD is our God, and
we have not abandoned him. We have priests ministering to the LORD who are
descendants of Aaron, and Levites for their service. 11 They offer to the LORD
every morning and every evening burnt offerings and fragrant incense, set out
the rows of bread on the table of pure gold, and care for the golden lampstand
so that its lamps may burn every evening; for we keep the charge of the LORD our
God, but you have abandoned him. 12 See, God is with us at our head, and his
priests have their battle trumpets to sound the call to battle against you. O
Israelites, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your ancestors; for you
cannot succeed." 13 Jeroboam had sent an ambush around to come on them from
behind; thus his troops were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them.
14 When Judah turned, the battle was in front of them and behind them. They
cried out to the LORD, and the priests blew the trumpets. 15 Then the people of
Judah raised the battle shout. And when the people of Judah shouted, God
defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 16 The Israelites fled
before Judah, and God gave them into their hands. 17 Abijah and his army
defeated them with great slaughter; five hundred thousand picked men of Israel
fell slain. 18 Thus the Israelites were subdued at that time, and the people of
Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD, the God of their ancestors. 19
Abijah pursued Jeroboam, and took cities from him: Bethel with its villages and
Jeshanah with its villages and Ephron with its villages. 20 Jeroboam did not
recover his power in the days of Abijah; the LORD struck him down, and he died.
21 But Abijah grew strong. He took fourteen wives, and became the father of
twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. 22 The rest of the acts of Abijah, his
behavior and his deeds, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.
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So Abijah slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in
the city of David. His son Asa succeeded him. In his days the land had rest for
ten years. 2 Asa did what was good and right in the sight of the LORD his God. 3
He took away the foreign altars and the high places, broke down the pillars,
hewed down the sacred poles, 4 and commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of
their ancestors, and to keep the law and the commandment. 5 He also removed from
all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom
had rest under him. 6 He built fortified cities in Judah while the land had
rest. He had no war in those years, for the LORD gave him peace. 7 He said to
Judah, "Let us build these cities, and surround them with walls and towers,
gates and bars; the land is still ours because we have sought the LORD our God;
we have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side." So they built and
prospered. 8 Asa had an army of three hundred thousand from Judah, armed with
large shields and spears, and two hundred eighty thousand troops from Benjamin
who carried shields and drew bows; all these were mighty warriors. 9 Zerah the
Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred
chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. 10 Asa went out to meet him, and they
drew up their lines of battle in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11 Asa
cried to the LORD his God, "O LORD, there is no difference for you between
helping the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you,
and in your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, you are our God;
let no mortal prevail against you." 12 So the LORD defeated the Ethiopians
before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. 13 Asa and the army with
him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until no one remained
alive; for they were broken before the LORD and his army. The people of Judah
carried away a great quantity of booty. 14 They defeated all the cities around
Gerar, for the fear of the LORD was on them. They plundered all the cities; for
there was much plunder in them. 15 They also attacked the tents of those who had
livestock, and carried away sheep and goats in abundance, and camels. Then they
returned to Jerusalem.
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The spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded. 2 He went
out to meet Asa and said to him, "Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The
LORD is with you, while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by
you, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you. 3 For a long time Israel was
without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law; 4 but when
in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, he
was found by them. 5 In those times it was not safe for anyone to go or come,
for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 They were
broken in pieces, nation against nation and city against city, for God troubled
them with every sort of distress. 7 But you, take courage! Do not let your hands
be weak, for your work shall be rewarded." 8 When Asa heard these words, the
prophecy of Azariah son of Oded, he took courage, and put away the abominable
idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns that he had
taken in the hill country of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the LORD that was
in front of the vestibule of the house of the LORD. 9 He gathered all Judah and
Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing as
aliens with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they
saw that the LORD his God was with him. 10 They were gathered at Jerusalem in
the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 They sacrificed to
the LORD on that day, from the booty that they had brought, seven hundred oxen
and seven thousand sheep. 12 They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the
God of their ancestors, with all their heart and with all their soul. 13 Whoever
would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether
young or old, man or woman. 14 They took an oath to the LORD with a loud voice,
and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with horns. 15 All Judah rejoiced over
the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and had sought him with their
whole desire, and he was found by them, and the LORD gave them rest all around.
16 King Asa even removed his mother Maacah from being queen mother because she
had made an abominable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it,
and burned it at the Wadi Kidron. 17 But the high places were not taken out of
Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was true all his days. 18 He brought into
the house of God the votive gifts of his father and his own votive
gifts--silver, gold, and utensils. 19 And there was no more war until the
thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.
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In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, King Baasha
of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, to prevent anyone from going
out or coming into the territory of King Asa of Judah. 2 Then Asa took silver
and gold from the treasures of the house of the LORD and the king's house, and
sent them to King Ben-hadad of Aram, who resided in Damascus, saying, 3 "Let
there be an alliance between me and you, like that between my father and your
father; I am sending to you silver and gold; go, break your alliance with King
Baasha of Israel, so that he may withdraw from me." 4 Ben-hadad listened to King
Asa, and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. They
conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtali. 5 When
Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah, and let his work cease. 6 Then
King Asa brought all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its
timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built up Geba and
Mizpah. 7 At that time the seer Hanani came to King Asa of Judah, and said to
him, "Because you relied on the king of Aram, and did not rely on the LORD your
God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped you. 8 Were not the Ethiopians and
the Libyans a huge army with exceedingly many chariots and cavalry? Yet because
you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand. 9 For the eyes of the LORD
range throughout the entire earth, to strengthen those whose heart is true to
him. You have done foolishly in this; for from now on you will have wars." 10
Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in the stocks, in prison, for he
was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties on some of
the people at the same time. 11 The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written
in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 12 In the thirty-ninth year of his
reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe; yet even in
his disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians. 13 Then
Asa slept with his ancestors, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. 14
They buried him in the tomb that he had hewn out for himself in the city of
David. They laid him on a bier that had been filled with various kinds of spices
prepared by the perfumer's art; and they made a very great fire in his honor.
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His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him, and strengthened himself
against Israel. 2 He placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set
garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa
had taken. 3 The LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier
ways of his father; he did not seek the Baals, 4 but sought the God of his
father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the ways of Israel.
5 Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand. All Judah brought
tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor. 6 His heart was
courageous in the ways of the LORD; and furthermore he removed the high places
and the sacred poles from Judah. 7 In the third year of his reign he sent his
officials, Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the
cities of Judah. 8 With them were the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah,
Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah; and with
these Levites, the priests Elishama and Jehoram. 9 They taught in Judah, having
the book of the law of the LORD with them; they went around through all the
cities of Judah and taught among the people. 10 The fear of the LORD fell on all
the kingdoms of the lands around Judah, and they did not make war against
Jehoshaphat. 11 Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and silver
for tribute; and the Arabs also brought him seven thousand seven hundred rams
and seven thousand seven hundred male goats. 12 Jehoshaphat grew steadily
greater. He built fortresses and storage cities in Judah. 13 He carried out
great works in the cities of Judah. He had soldiers, mighty warriors, in
Jerusalem. 14 This was the muster of them by ancestral houses: Of Judah, the
commanders of the thousands: Adnah the commander, with three hundred thousand
mighty warriors, 15 and next to him Jehohanan the commander, with two hundred
eighty thousand, 16 and next to him Amasiah son of Zichri, a volunteer for the
service of the LORD, with two hundred thousand mighty warriors. 17 Of Benjamin:
Eliada, a mighty warrior, with two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield,
18 and next to him Jehozabad with one hundred eighty thousand armed for war. 19
These were in the service of the king, besides those whom the king had placed in
the fortified cities throughout all Judah.
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Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor; and he made a
marriage alliance with Ahab. 2 After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria.
Ahab slaughtered an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who
were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead. 3 King Ahab of
Israel said to King Jehoshaphat of Judah, "Will you go with me to
Ramoth-gilead?" He answered him, "I am with you, my people are your people. We
will be with you in the war." 4 But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel,
"Inquire first for the word of the LORD." 5 Then the king of Israel gathered the
prophets together, four hundred of them, and said to them, "Shall we go to
battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?" They said, "Go up; for God
will give it into the hand of the king." 6 But Jehoshaphat said, "Is there no
other prophet of the LORD here of whom we may inquire?" 7 The king of Israel
said to Jehoshaphat, "There is still one other by whom we may inquire of the
LORD, Micaiah son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies anything
favorable about me, but only disaster." Jehoshaphat said, "Let the king not say
such a thing." 8 Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, "Bring
quickly Micaiah son of Imlah." 9 Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of
Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes; and they were
sitting at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all
the prophets were prophesying before them. 10 Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made for
himself horns of iron, and he said, "Thus says the LORD: With these you shall
gore the Arameans until they are destroyed." 11 All the prophets were
prophesying the same and saying, "Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the LORD
will give it into the hand of the king." 12 The messenger who had gone to summon
Micaiah said to him, "Look, the words of the prophets with one accord are
favorable to the king; let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak
favorably." 13 But Micaiah said, "As the LORD lives, whatever my God says, that
I will speak." 14 When he had come to the king, the king said to him, "Micaiah,
shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I refrain?" He answered, "Go up
and triumph; they will be given into your hand." 15 But the king said to him,
"How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the
name of the LORD?" 16 Then Micaiah said, "I saw all Israel scattered on the
mountains, like sheep without a shepherd; and the LORD said, 'These have no
master; let each one go home in peace.'" 17 The king of Israel said to
Jehoshaphat, "Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy anything favorable
about me, but only disaster?" 18 Then Micaiah said, "Therefore hear the word of
the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, with all the host of heaven
standing to the right and to the left of him. 19 And the LORD said, 'Who will
entice King Ahab of Israel, so that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?'
Then one said one thing, and another said another, 20 until a spirit came
forward and stood before the LORD, saying, 'I will entice him.' The LORD asked
him, 'How?' 21 He replied, 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of
all his prophets.' Then the LORD said, 'You are to entice him, and you shall
succeed; go out and do it.' 22 So you see, the LORD has put a lying spirit in
the mouth of these your prophets; the LORD has decreed disaster for you." 23
Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came up to Micaiah, slapped him on the cheek, and
said, "Which way did the spirit of the LORD pass from me to speak to you?" 24
Micaiah replied, "You will find out on that day when you go in to hide in an
inner chamber." 25 The king of Israel then ordered, "Take Micaiah, and return
him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son; 26 and say,
'Thus says the king: Put this fellow in prison, and feed him on reduced rations
of bread and water until I return in peace.'" 27 Micaiah said, "If you return in
peace, the LORD has not spoken by me." And he said, "Hear, you peoples, all of
you!" 28 So the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah went up to
Ramoth-gilead. 29 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will disguise
myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes." So the king of Israel
disguised himself, and they went into battle. 30 Now the king of Aram had
commanded the captains of his chariots, "Fight with no one small or great, but
only with the king of Israel." 31 When the captains of the chariots saw
Jehoshaphat, they said, "It is the king of Israel." So they turned to fight
against him; and Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him. God drew them
away from him, 32 for when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the
king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. 33 But a certain man drew
his bow and unknowingly struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and
the breastplate; so he said to the driver of his chariot, "Turn around, and
carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded." 34 The battle grew hot that day,
and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Arameans
until evening; then at sunset he died.
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King Jehoshaphat of Judah returned in safety to his house
in Jerusalem. 2 Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to
King Jehoshaphat, "Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD?
Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the LORD. 3 Nevertheless,
some good is found in you, for you destroyed the sacred poles out of the land,
and have set your heart to seek God." 4 Jehoshaphat resided at Jerusalem; then
he went out again among the people, from Beer-sheba to the hill country of
Ephraim, and brought them back to the LORD, the God of their ancestors. 5 He
appointed judges in the land in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city,
6 and said to the judges, "Consider what you are doing, for you judge not on
behalf of human beings but on the Lord's behalf; he is with you in giving
judgment. 7 Now, let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take care what you do,
for there is no perversion of justice with the LORD our God, or partiality, or
taking of bribes." 8 Moreover in Jerusalem Jehoshaphat appointed certain Levites
and priests and heads of families of Israel, to give judgment for the LORD and
to decide disputed cases. They had their seat at Jerusalem. 9 He charged them:
"This is how you shall act: in the fear of the LORD, in faithfulness, and with
your whole heart; 10 whenever a case comes to you from your kindred who live in
their cities, concerning bloodshed, law or commandment, statutes or ordinances,
then you shall instruct them, so that they may not incur guilt before the LORD
and wrath may not come on you and your kindred. Do so, and you will not incur
guilt. 11 See, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the LORD;
and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the governor of the house of Judah, in all the
king's matters; and the Levites will serve you as officers. Deal courageously,
and may the LORD be with the good!"
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After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some
of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. 2 Messengers came and told
Jehoshaphat, "A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the
sea; already they are at Hazazon-tamar" (that is, En-gedi). 3 Jehoshaphat was
afraid; he set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all
Judah. 4 Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the towns of Judah
they came to seek the LORD. 5 Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and
Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, 6 and said, "O LORD,
God of our ancestors, are you not God in heaven? Do you not rule over all the
kingdoms of the nations? In your hand are power and might, so that no one is
able to withstand you. 7 Did you not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of
this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of
your friend Abraham? 8 They have lived in it, and in it have built you a
sanctuary for your name, saying, 9 'If disaster comes upon us, the sword,
judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before
you, for your name is in this house, and cry to you in our distress, and you
will hear and save.' 10 See now, the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom
you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom
they avoided and did not destroy-- 11 they reward us by coming to drive us out
of your possession that you have given us to inherit. 12 O our God, will you not
execute judgment upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude
that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you."
13 Meanwhile all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their
wives, and their children. 14 Then the spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel son
of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the
sons of Asaph, in the middle of the assembly. 15 He said, "Listen, all Judah and
inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the LORD to you: 'Do
not fear or be dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but
God's. 16 Tomorrow go down against them; they will come up by the ascent of Ziz;
you will find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. 17
This battle is not for you to fight; take your position, stand still, and see
the victory of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.' Do not fear or
be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you." 18
Then Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. 19 And
the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD,
the God of Israel, with a very loud voice. 20 They rose early in the morning and
went out into the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood
and said, "Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the
LORD your God and you will be established; believe his prophets." 21 When he had
taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the LORD
and praise him in holy splendor, as they went before the army, saying, "Give
thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever." 22 As they began to
sing and praise, the LORD set an ambush against the Ammonites, Moab, and Mount
Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. 23 For the Ammonites
and Moab attacked the inhabitants of Mount Seir, destroying them utterly; and
when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy
one another. 24 When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked
toward the multitude; they were corpses lying on the ground; no one had escaped.
25 When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the booty from them, they found
livestock in great numbers, goods, clothing, and precious things, which they
took for themselves until they could carry no more. They spent three days taking
the booty, because of its abundance. 26 On the fourth day they assembled in the
Valley of Beracah, for there they blessed the LORD; therefore that place has
been called the Valley of Beracah to this day. 27 Then all the people of Judah
and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat at their head, returned to Jerusalem with joy,
for the LORD had enabled them to rejoice over their enemies. 28 They came to
Jerusalem, with harps and lyres and trumpets, to the house of the LORD. 29 The
fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the
LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel. 30 And the realm of Jehoshaphat
was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around. 31 So Jehoshaphat reigned over
Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he began to reign; he reigned
twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.
32 He walked in the way of his father Asa and did not turn aside from it, doing
what was right in the sight of the LORD. 33 Yet the high places were not
removed; the people had not yet set their hearts upon the God of their
ancestors. 34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, from first to last, are
written in the Annals of Jehu son of Hanani, which are recorded in the Book of
the Kings of Israel. 35 After this King Jehoshaphat of Judah joined with King
Ahaziah of Israel, who did wickedly. 36 He joined him in building ships to go to
Tarshish; they built the ships in Ezion-geber. 37 Then Eliezer son of Dodavahu
of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, "Because you have joined
with Ahaziah, the LORD will destroy what you have made." And the ships were
wrecked and were not able to go to Tarshish.
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Jehoshaphat slept with his ancestors and was buried with
his ancestors in the city of David; his son Jehoram succeeded him. 2 He had
brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael,
and Shephatiah; all these were the sons of King Jehoshaphat of Judah. 3 Their
father gave them many gifts, of silver, gold, and valuable possessions, together
with fortified cities in Judah; but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram, because he
was the firstborn. 4 When Jehoram had ascended the throne of his father and was
established, he put all his brothers to the sword, and also some of the
officials of Israel. 5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he began to reign;
he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 6 He walked in the way of the kings of
Israel, as the house of Ahab had done; for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. He
did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. 7 Yet the LORD would not destroy the
house of David because of the covenant that he had made with David, and since he
had promised to give a lamp to him and to his descendants forever. 8 In his days
Edom revolted against the rule of Judah and set up a king of their own. 9 Then
Jehoram crossed over with his commanders and all his chariots. He set out by
night and attacked the Edomites, who had surrounded him and his chariot
commanders. 10 So Edom has been in revolt against the rule of Judah to this day.
At that time Libnah also revolted against his rule, because he had forsaken the
LORD, the God of his ancestors. 11 Moreover he made high places in the hill
country of Judah, and led the inhabitants of Jerusalem into unfaithfulness, and
made Judah go astray. 12 A letter came to him from the prophet Elijah, saying:
"Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David: Because you have not walked
in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or in the ways of King Asa of Judah, 13
but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have led Judah and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem into unfaithfulness, as the house of Ahab led Israel
into unfaithfulness, and because you also have killed your brothers, members of
your father's house, who were better than yourself, 14 see, the LORD will bring
a great plague on your people, your children, your wives, and all your
possessions, 15 and you yourself will have a severe sickness with a disease of
your bowels, until your bowels come out, day after day, because of the disease."
16 The LORD aroused against Jehoram the anger of the Philistines and of the
Arabs who are near the Ethiopians. 17 They came up against Judah, invaded it,
and carried away all the possessions they found that belonged to the king's
house, along with his sons and his wives, so that no son was left to him except
Jehoahaz, his youngest son. 18 After all this the LORD struck him in his bowels
with an incurable disease. 19 In course of time, at the end of two years, his
bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great agony. His people
made no fire in his honor, like the fires made for his ancestors. 20 He was
thirty-two years old when he began to reign; he reigned eight years in
Jerusalem. He departed with no one's regret. They buried him in the city of
David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
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The inhabitants of Jerusalem made his youngest son Ahaziah
king as his successor; for the troops who came with the Arabs to the camp had
killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram reigned as king of Judah. 2
Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he began to reign; he reigned one year in
Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri. 3 He also
walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in
doing wickedly. 4 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as the house of
Ahab had done; for after the death of his father they were his counselors, to
his ruin. 5 He even followed their advice, and went with Jehoram son of King
Ahab of Israel to make war against King Hazael of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. The
Arameans wounded Joram, 6 and he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds
that he had received at Ramah, when he fought King Hazael of Aram. And Ahaziah
son of King Jehoram of Judah went down to see Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel,
because he was sick. 7 But it was ordained by God that the downfall of Ahaziah
should come about through his going to visit Joram. For when he came there he
went out with Jehoram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to
destroy the house of Ahab. 8 When Jehu was executing judgment on the house of
Ahab, he met the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's brothers, who
attended Ahaziah, and he killed them. 9 He searched for Ahaziah, who was
captured while hiding in Samaria and was brought to Jehu, and put to death. They
buried him, for they said, "He is the grandson of Jehoshaphat, who sought the
LORD with all his heart." And the house of Ahaziah had no one able to rule the
kingdom. 10 Now when Athaliah, Ahaziah's mother, saw that her son was dead, she
set about to destroy all the royal family of the house of Judah. 11 But
Jehoshabeath, the king's daughter, took Joash son of Ahaziah, and stole him away
from among the king's children who were about to be killed; she put him and his
nurse in a bedroom. Thus Jehoshabeath, daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the
priest Jehoiada--because she was a sister of Ahaziah--hid him from Athaliah, so
that she did not kill him; 12 he remained with them six years, hidden in the
house of God, while Athaliah reigned over the land.
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But in the seventh year Jehoiada took courage, and entered
into a compact with the commanders of the hundreds, Azariah son of Jeroham,
Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and
Elishaphat son of Zichri. 2 They went around through Judah and gathered the
Levites from all the towns of Judah, and the heads of families of Israel, and
they came to Jerusalem. 3 Then the whole assembly made a covenant with the king
in the house of God. Jehoiada said to them, "Here is the king's son! Let him
reign, as the LORD promised concerning the sons of David. 4 This is what you are
to do: one third of you, priests and Levites, who come on duty on the sabbath,
shall be gatekeepers, 5 one third shall be at the king's house, and one third at
the Gate of the Foundation; and all the people shall be in the courts of the
house of the LORD. 6 Do not let anyone enter the house of the LORD except the
priests and ministering Levites; they may enter, for they are holy, but all the
other people shall observe the instructions of the LORD. 7 The Levites shall
surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand; and whoever enters the
house shall be killed. Stay with the king in his comings and goings." 8 The
Levites and all Judah did according to all that the priest Jehoiada commanded;
each brought his men, who were to come on duty on the sabbath, with those who
were to go off duty on the sabbath; for the priest Jehoiada did not dismiss the
divisions. 9 The priest Jehoiada delivered to the captains the spears and the
large and small shields that had been King David's, which were in the house of
God; 10 and he set all the people as a guard for the king, everyone with weapon
in hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around
the altar and the house. 11 Then he brought out the king's son, put the crown on
him, and gave him the covenant; they proclaimed him king, and Jehoiada and his
sons anointed him; and they shouted, "Long live the king!" 12 When Athaliah
heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she went into the
house of the LORD to the people; 13 and when she looked, there was the king
standing by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpeters
beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets,
and the singers with their musical instruments leading in the celebration.
Athaliah tore her clothes, and cried, "Treason! Treason!" 14 Then the priest
Jehoiada brought out the captains who were set over the army, saying to them,
"Bring her out between the ranks; anyone who follows her is to be put to the
sword." For the priest said, "Do not put her to death in the house of the LORD."
15 So they laid hands on her; she went into the entrance of the Horse Gate of
the king's house, and there they put her to death. 16 Jehoiada made a covenant
between himself and all the people and the king that they should be the Lord's
people. 17 Then all the people went to the house of Baal, and tore it down; his
altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan, the priest
of Baal, in front of the altars. 18 Jehoiada assigned the care of the house of
the LORD to the levitical priests whom David had organized to be in charge of
the house of the LORD, to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, as it is written in
the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, according to the order of
David. 19 He stationed the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so
that no one should enter who was in any way unclean. 20 And he took the
captains, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the
land, and they brought the king down from the house of the LORD, marching
through the upper gate to the king's house. They set the king on the royal
throne. 21 So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after
Athaliah had been killed with the sword.
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Joash was seven years old when he began to reign; he
reigned forty years in Jerusalem; his mother's name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. 2
Joash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of the priest
Jehoiada. 3 Jehoiada got two wives for him, and he became the father of sons and
daughters. 4 Some time afterward Joash decided to restore the house of the LORD.
5 He assembled the priests and the Levites and said to them, "Go out to the
cities of Judah and gather money from all Israel to repair the house of your
God, year by year; and see that you act quickly." But the Levites did not act
quickly. 6 So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief, and said to him, "Why have
you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied
by Moses, the servant of the LORD, on the congregation of Israel for the tent of
the covenant?" 7 For the children of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken
into the house of God, and had even used all the dedicated things of the house
of the LORD for the Baals. 8 So the king gave command, and they made a chest,
and set it outside the gate of the house of the LORD. 9 A proclamation was made
throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the LORD the tax that Moses the
servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness. 10 All the leaders and all the
people rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it into the chest until it was
full. 11 Whenever the chest was brought to the king's officers by the Levites,
when they saw that there was a large amount of money in it, the king's secretary
and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and take it
and return it to its place. So they did day after day, and collected money in
abundance. 12 The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who had charge of the work
of the house of the LORD, and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the
house of the LORD, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of
the LORD. 13 So those who were engaged in the work labored, and the repairing
went forward at their hands, and they restored the house of God to its proper
condition and strengthened it. 14 When they had finished, they brought the rest
of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and with it were made utensils for the
house of the LORD, utensils for the service and for the burnt offerings, and
ladles, and vessels of gold and silver. They offered burnt offerings in the
house of the LORD regularly all the days of Jehoiada. 15 But Jehoiada grew old
and full of days, and died; he was one hundred thirty years old at his death. 16
And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done
good in Israel, and for God and his house. 17 Now after the death of Jehoiada
the officials of Judah came and did obeisance to the king; then the king
listened to them. 18 They abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their
ancestors, and served the sacred poles and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah
and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. 19 Yet he sent prophets among them to
bring them back to the LORD; they testified against them, but they would not
listen. 20 Then the spirit of God took possession of Zechariah son of the priest
Jehoiada; he stood above the people and said to them, "Thus says God: Why do you
transgress the commandments of the LORD, so that you cannot prosper? Because you
have forsaken the LORD, he has also forsaken you." 21 But they conspired against
him, and by command of the king they stoned him to death in the court of the
house of the LORD. 22 King Joash did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada,
Zechariah's father, had shown him, but killed his son. As he was dying, he said,
"May the LORD see and avenge!" 23 At the end of the year the army of Aram came
up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the
officials of the people from among them, and sent all the booty they took to the
king of Damascus. 24 Although the army of Aram had come with few men, the LORD
delivered into their hand a very great army, because they had abandoned the
LORD, the God of their ancestors. Thus they executed judgment on Joash. 25 When
they had withdrawn, leaving him severely wounded, his servants conspired against
him because of the blood of the son of the priest Jehoiada, and they killed him
on his bed. So he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they did
not bury him in the tombs of the kings. 26 Those who conspired against him were
Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonite, and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabite.
27 Accounts of his sons, and of the many oracles against him, and of the
rebuilding of the house of God are written in the Commentary on the Book of the
Kings. And his son Amaziah succeeded him.
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Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddan
of Jerusalem. 2 He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, yet not with a
true heart. 3 As soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand he killed his
servants who had murdered his father the king. 4 But he did not put their
children to death, according to what is written in the law, in the book of
Moses, where the LORD commanded, "The parents shall not be put to death for the
children, or the children be put to death for the parents; but all shall be put
to death for their own sins." 5 Amaziah assembled the people of Judah, and set
them by ancestral houses under commanders of the thousands and of the hundreds
for all Judah and Benjamin. He mustered those twenty years old and upward, and
found that they were three hundred thousand picked troops fit for war, able to
handle spear and shield. 6 He also hired one hundred thousand mighty warriors
from Israel for one hundred talents of silver. 7 But a man of God came to him
and said, "O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the LORD is
not with Israel--all these Ephraimites. 8 Rather, go by yourself and act; be
strong in battle, or God will fling you down before the enemy; for God has power
to help or to overthrow." 9 Amaziah said to the man of God, "But what shall we
do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?" The man
of God answered, "The LORD is able to give you much more than this." 10 Then
Amaziah discharged the army that had come to him from Ephraim, letting them go
home again. But they became very angry with Judah, and returned home in fierce
anger. 11 Amaziah took courage, and led out his people; he went to the Valley of
Salt, and struck down ten thousand men of Seir. 12 The people of Judah captured
another ten thousand alive, took them to the top of Sela, and threw them down
from the top of Sela, so that all of them were dashed to pieces. 13 But the men
of the army whom Amaziah sent back, not letting them go with him to battle, fell
on the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon; they killed three thousand
people in them, and took much booty. 14 Now after Amaziah came from the
slaughter of the Edomites, he brought the gods of the people of Seir, set them
up as his gods, and worshiped them, making offerings to them. 15 The LORD was
angry with Amaziah and sent to him a prophet, who said to him, "Why have you
resorted to a people's gods who could not deliver their own people from your
hand?" 16 But as he was speaking the king said to him, "Have we made you a royal
counselor? Stop! Why should you be put to death?" So the prophet stopped, but
said, "I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this
and have not listened to my advice." 17 Then King Amaziah of Judah took counsel
and sent to King Joash son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu of Israel, saying, "Come, let
us look one another in the face." 18 King Joash of Israel sent word to King
Amaziah of Judah, "A thornbush on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying,
'Give your daughter to my son for a wife'; but a wild animal of Lebanon passed
by and trampled down the thornbush. 19 You say, 'See, I have defeated Edom,' and
your heart has lifted you up in boastfulness. Now stay at home; why should you
provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?" 20 But Amaziah would
not listen--it was God's doing, in order to hand them over, because they had
sought the gods of Edom. 21 So King Joash of Israel went up; he and King Amaziah
of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 22
Judah was defeated by Israel; everyone fled home. 23 King Joash of Israel
captured King Amaziah of Judah, son of Joash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh;
he brought him to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the
Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, a distance of four hundred cubits. 24 He seized
all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of
God, and Obed-edom with them; he seized also the treasuries of the king's house,
also hostages; then he returned to Samaria. 25 King Amaziah son of Joash of
Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of King Joash son of Jehoahaz of
Israel. 26 Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, from first to last, are they
not written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel? 27 From the time that
Amaziah turned away from the LORD they made a conspiracy against him in
Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish, and
killed him there. 28 They brought him back on horses; he was buried with his
ancestors in the city of David.
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Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen
years old, and made him king to succeed his father Amaziah. 2 He rebuilt Eloth
and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his ancestors. 3 Uzziah was
sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in
Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. 4 He did what was right
in the sight of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done. 5 He set himself
to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God; and
as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper. 6 He went out and made war
against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh
and the wall of Ashdod; he built cities in the territory of Ashdod and elsewhere
among the Philistines. 7 God helped him against the Philistines, against the
Arabs who lived in Gur-baal, and against the Meunites. 8 The Ammonites paid
tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread even to the border of Egypt, for he
became very strong. 9 Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner
Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the Angle, and fortified them. 10 He built
towers in the wilderness and hewed out many cisterns, for he had large herds,
both in the Shephelah and in the plain, and he had farmers and vinedressers in
the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil. 11 Moreover Uzziah
had an army of soldiers, fit for war, in divisions according to the numbers in
the muster made by the secretary Jeiel and the officer Maaseiah, under the
direction of Hananiah, one of the king's commanders. 12 The whole number of the
heads of ancestral houses of mighty warriors was two thousand six hundred. 13
Under their command was an army of three hundred seven thousand five hundred,
who could make war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. 14
Uzziah provided for all the army the shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail,
bows, and stones for slinging. 15 In Jerusalem he set up machines, invented by
skilled workers, on the towers and the corners for shooting arrows and large
stones. And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped until he became
strong. 16 But when he had become strong he grew proud, to his destruction. For
he was false to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to make
offering on the altar of incense. 17 But the priest Azariah went in after him,
with eighty priests of the LORD who were men of valor; 18 they withstood King
Uzziah, and said to him, "It is not for you, Uzziah, to make offering to the
LORD, but for the priests the descendants of Aaron, who are consecrated to make
offering. Go out of the sanctuary; for you have done wrong, and it will bring
you no honor from the LORD God." 19 Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer
in his hand to make offering, and when he became angry with the priests a
leprous disease broke out on his forehead, in the presence of the priests in the
house of the LORD, by the altar of incense. 20 When the chief priest Azariah,
and all the priests, looked at him, he was leprous in his forehead. They hurried
him out, and he himself hurried to get out, because the LORD had struck him. 21
King Uzziah was leprous to the day of his death, and being leprous lived in a
separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the LORD. His son Jotham
was in charge of the palace of the king, governing the people of the land. 22
Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, from first to last, the prophet Isaiah son
of Amoz wrote. 23 Uzziah slept with his ancestors; they buried him near his
ancestors in the burial field that belonged to the kings, for they said, "He is
leprous." His son Jotham succeeded him.
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Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; he
reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerushah daughter of
Zadok. 2 He did what was right in the sight of the LORD just as his father
Uzziah had done--only he did not invade the temple of the LORD. But the people
still followed corrupt practices. 3 He built the upper gate of the house of the
LORD, and did extensive building on the wall of Ophel. 4 Moreover he built
cities in the hill country of Judah, and forts and towers on the wooded hills. 5
He fought with the king of the Ammonites and prevailed against them. The
Ammonites gave him that year one hundred talents of silver, ten thousand cors of
wheat and ten thousand of barley. The Ammonites paid him the same amount in the
second and the third years. 6 So Jotham became strong because he ordered his
ways before the LORD his God. 7 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his
wars and his ways, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. 8
He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; he reigned sixteen years in
Jerusalem. 9 Jotham slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in the city of
David; and his son Ahaz succeeded him.
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Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; he
reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of
the LORD, as his ancestor David had done, 2 but he walked in the ways of the
kings of Israel. He even made cast images for the Baals; 3 and he made offerings
in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and made his sons pass through fire,
according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out
before the people of Israel. 4 He sacrificed and made offerings on the high
places, on the hills, and under every green tree. 5 Therefore the LORD his God
gave him into the hand of the king of Aram, who defeated him and took captive a
great number of his people and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into
the hand of the king of Israel, who defeated him with great slaughter. 6 Pekah
son of Remaliah killed one hundred twenty thousand in Judah in one day, all of
them valiant warriors, because they had abandoned the LORD, the God of their
ancestors. 7 And Zichri, a mighty warrior of Ephraim, killed the king's son
Maaseiah, Azrikam the commander of the palace, and Elkanah the next in authority
to the king. 8 The people of Israel took captive two hundred thousand of their
kin, women, sons, and daughters; they also took much booty from them and brought
the booty to Samaria. 9 But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was
Oded; he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria, and said to them,
"Because the LORD, the God of your ancestors, was angry with Judah, he gave them
into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage that has reached up to
heaven. 10 Now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male
and female, as your slaves. But what have you except sins against the LORD your
God? 11 Now hear me, and send back the captives whom you have taken from your
kindred, for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you." 12 Moreover, certain
chiefs of the Ephraimites, Azariah son of Johanan, Berechiah son of
Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai, stood up
against those who were coming from the war, 13 and said to them, "You shall not
bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring on us guilt against the
LORD in addition to our present sins and guilt. For our guilt is already great,
and there is fierce wrath against Israel." 14 So the warriors left the captives
and the booty before the officials and all the assembly. 15 Then those who were
mentioned by name got up and took the captives, and with the booty they clothed
all that were naked among them; they clothed them, gave them sandals, provided
them with food and drink, and anointed them; and carrying all the feeble among
them on donkeys, they brought them to their kindred at Jericho, the city of palm
trees. Then they returned to Samaria. 16 At that time King Ahaz sent to the king
of Assyria for help. 17 For the Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah,
and carried away captives. 18 And the Philistines had made raids on the cities
in the Shephelah and the Negeb of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon,
Gederoth, Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its
villages; and they settled there. 19 For the LORD brought Judah low because of
King Ahaz of Israel, for he had behaved without restraint in Judah and had been
faithless to the LORD. 20 So King Tilgath-pilneser of Assyria came against him,
and oppressed him instead of strengthening him. 21 For Ahaz plundered the house
of the LORD and the houses of the king and of the officials, and gave tribute to
the king of Assyria; but it did not help him. 22 In the time of his distress he
became yet more faithless to the LORD--this same King Ahaz. 23 For he sacrificed
to the gods of Damascus, which had defeated him, and said, "Because the gods of
the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them so that they may help
me." But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel. 24 Ahaz gathered together
the utensils of the house of God, and cut in pieces the utensils of the house of
God. He shut up the doors of the house of the LORD and made himself altars in
every corner of Jerusalem. 25 In every city of Judah he made high places to make
offerings to other gods, provoking to anger the LORD, the God of his ancestors.
26 Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, are written in
the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 Ahaz slept with his ancestors, and
they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem; but they did not bring him into the
tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah succeeded him.
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Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old;
he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah daughter
of Zechariah. 2 He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, just as his
ancestor David had done. 3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month,
he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them. 4 He brought in
the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east. 5 He
said to them, "Listen to me, Levites! Sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the
house of the LORD, the God of your ancestors, and carry out the filth from the
holy place. 6 For our ancestors have been unfaithful and have done what was evil
in the sight of the LORD our God; they have forsaken him, and have turned away
their faces from the dwelling of the LORD, and turned their backs. 7 They also
shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps, and have not offered
incense or made burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. 8
Therefore the wrath of the LORD came upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made
them an object of horror, of astonishment, and of hissing, as you see with your
own eyes. 9 Our fathers have fallen by the sword and our sons and our daughters
and our wives are in captivity for this. 10 Now it is in my heart to make a
covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger may turn
away from us. 11 My sons, do not now be negligent, for the LORD has chosen you
to stand in his presence to minister to him, and to be his ministers and make
offerings to him." 12 Then the Levites arose, Mahath son of Amasai, and Joel son
of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish son
of Abdi, and Azariah son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah son of
Zimmah, and Eden son of Joah; 13 and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel;
and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14 and of the sons of Heman,
Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. 15 They
gathered their brothers, sanctified themselves, and went in as the king had
commanded, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD. 16 The
priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD to cleanse it, and
they brought out all the unclean things that they found in the temple of the
LORD into the court of the house of the LORD; and the Levites took them and
carried them out to the Wadi Kidron. 17 They began to sanctify on the first day
of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the
vestibule of the LORD; then for eight days they sanctified the house of the
LORD, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished. 18 Then they
went inside to King Hezekiah and said, "We have cleansed all the house of the
LORD, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the
rows of bread and all its utensils. 19 All the utensils that King Ahaz
repudiated during his reign when he was faithless, we have made ready and
sanctified; see, they are in front of the altar of the LORD." 20 Then King
Hezekiah rose early, assembled the officials of the city, and went up to the
house of the LORD. 21 They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and
seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and
for Judah. He commanded the priests the descendants of Aaron to offer them on
the altar of the LORD. 22 So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests
received the blood and dashed it against the altar; they slaughtered the rams
and their blood was dashed against the altar; they also slaughtered the lambs
and their blood was dashed against the altar. 23 Then the male goats for the sin
offering were brought to the king and the assembly; they laid their hands on
them, 24 and the priests slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their
blood at the altar, to make atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded
that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel. 25
He stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and
lyres, according to the commandment of David and of Gad the king's seer and of
the prophet Nathan, for the commandment was from the LORD through his prophets.
26 The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the
trumpets. 27 Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the
altar. When the burnt offering began, the song to the LORD began also, and the
trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of King David of Israel. 28 The whole
assembly worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this
continued until the burnt offering was finished. 29 When the offering was
finished, the king and all who were present with him bowed down and worshiped.
30 King Hezekiah and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the
LORD with the words of David and of the seer Asaph. They sang praises with
gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped. 31 Then Hezekiah said, "You have
now consecrated yourselves to the LORD; come near, bring sacrifices and thank
offerings to the house of the LORD." The assembly brought sacrifices and thank
offerings; and all who were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. 32 The
number of the burnt offerings that the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one
hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the
LORD. 33 The consecrated offerings were six hundred bulls and three thousand
sheep. 34 But the priests were too few and could not skin all the burnt
offerings, so, until other priests had sanctified themselves, their kindred, the
Levites, helped them until the work was finished--for the Levites were more
conscientious than the priests in sanctifying themselves. 35 Besides the great
number of burnt offerings there was the fat of the offerings of well-being, and
there were the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the
house of the LORD was restored. 36 And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced
because of what God had done for the people; for the thing had come about
suddenly.
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Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah, and wrote
letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the
LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the passover to the LORD the God of Israel. 2 For the
king and his officials and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to
keep the passover in the second month 3 (for they could not keep it at its
proper time because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient
number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem). 4 The plan seemed right to
the king and all the assembly. 5 So they decreed to make a proclamation
throughout all Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, that the people should come and
keep the passover to the LORD the God of Israel, at Jerusalem; for they had not
kept it in great numbers as prescribed. 6 So couriers went throughout all Israel
and Judah with letters from the king and his officials, as the king had
commanded, saying, "O people of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Israel, so that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have
escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. 7 Do not be like your ancestors
and your kindred, who were faithless to the LORD God of their ancestors, so that
he made them a desolation, as you see. 8 Do not now be stiff-necked as your
ancestors were, but yield yourselves to the LORD and come to his sanctuary,
which he has sanctified forever, and serve the LORD your God, so that his fierce
anger may turn away from you. 9 For as you return to the LORD, your kindred and
your children will find compassion with their captors, and return to this land.
For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face
from you, if you return to him." 10 So the couriers went from city to city
through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun; but they
laughed them to scorn, and mocked them. 11 Only a few from Asher, Manasseh, and
Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. 12 The hand of God was also on
Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the officials commanded by
the word of the LORD. 13 Many people came together in Jerusalem to keep the
festival of unleavened bread in the second month, a very large assembly. 14 They
set to work and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars
for offering incense they took away and threw into the Wadi Kidron. 15 They
slaughtered the passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The
priests and the Levites were ashamed, and they sanctified themselves and brought
burnt offerings into the house of the LORD. 16 They took their accustomed posts
according to the law of Moses the man of God; the priests dashed the blood that
they received from the hands of the Levites. 17 For there were many in the
assembly who had not sanctified themselves; therefore the Levites had to
slaughter the passover lamb for everyone who was not clean, to make it holy to
the LORD. 18 For a multitude of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh,
Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the passover
otherwise than as prescribed. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "The good
LORD pardon all 19 who set their hearts to seek God, the LORD the God of their
ancestors, even though not in accordance with the sanctuary's rules of
cleanness." 20 The LORD heard Hezekiah, and healed the people. 21 The people of
Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the festival of unleavened bread seven
days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day
by day, accompanied by loud instruments for the LORD. 22 Hezekiah spoke
encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good skill in the service of the
LORD. So the people ate the food of the festival for seven days, sacrificing
offerings of well-being and giving thanks to the LORD the God of their
ancestors. 23 Then the whole assembly agreed together to keep the festival for
another seven days; so they kept it for another seven days with gladness. 24 For
King Hezekiah of Judah gave the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand
sheep for offerings, and the officials gave the assembly a thousand bulls and
ten thousand sheep. The priests sanctified themselves in great numbers. 25 The
whole assembly of Judah, the priests and the Levites, and the whole assembly
that came out of Israel, and the resident aliens who came out of the land of
Israel, and the resident aliens who lived in Judah, rejoiced. 26 There was great
joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon son of King David of Israel
there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. 27 Then the priests and the
Levites stood up and blessed the people, and their voice was heard; their prayer
came to his holy dwelling in heaven.
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Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present
went out to the cities of Judah and broke down the pillars, hewed down the
sacred poles, and pulled down the high places and the altars throughout all
Judah and Benjamin, and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them
all. Then all the people of Israel returned to their cities, all to their
individual properties. 2 Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and of
the Levites, division by division, everyone according to his service, the
priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and offerings of well-being, to
minister in the gates of the camp of the LORD and to give thanks and praise. 3
The contribution of the king from his own possessions was for the burnt
offerings: the burnt offerings of morning and evening, and the burnt offerings
for the sabbaths, the new moons, and the appointed festivals, as it is written
in the law of the LORD. 4 He commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give
the portion due to the priests and the Levites, so that they might devote
themselves to the law of the LORD. 5 As soon as the word spread, the people of
Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all
the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of
everything. 6 The people of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah
also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep, and the tithe of the dedicated
things that had been consecrated to the LORD their God, and laid them in heaps.
7 In the third month they began to pile up the heaps, and finished them in the
seventh month. 8 When Hezekiah and the officials came and saw the heaps, they
blessed the LORD and his people Israel. 9 Hezekiah questioned the priests and
the Levites about the heaps. 10 The chief priest Azariah, who was of the house
of Zadok, answered him, "Since they began to bring the contributions into the
house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat and have plenty to spare; for the
LORD has blessed his people, so that we have this great supply left over." 11
Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare store-chambers in the house of the LORD;
and they prepared them. 12 Faithfully they brought in the contributions, the
tithes and the dedicated things. The chief officer in charge of them was
Conaniah the Levite, with his brother Shimei as second; 13 while Jehiel,
Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and
Benaiah were overseers assisting Conaniah and his brother Shimei, by the
appointment of King Hezekiah and of Azariah the chief officer of the house of
God. 14 Kore son of Imnah the Levite, keeper of the east gate, was in charge of
the freewill offerings to God, to apportion the contribution reserved for the
LORD and the most holy offerings. 15 Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah,
and Shecaniah were faithfully assisting him in the cities of the priests, to
distribute the portions to their kindred, old and young alike, by divisions, 16
except those enrolled by genealogy, males from three years old and upwards, all
who entered the house of the LORD as the duty of each day required, for their
service according to their offices, by their divisions. 17 The enrollment of the
priests was according to their ancestral houses; that of the Levites from twenty
years old and upwards was according to their offices, by their divisions. 18 The
priests were enrolled with all their little children, their wives, their sons,
and their daughters, the whole multitude; for they were faithful in keeping
themselves holy. 19 And for the descendants of Aaron, the priests, who were in
the fields of common land belonging to their towns, town by town, the people
designated by name were to distribute portions to every male among the priests
and to everyone among the Levites who was enrolled. 20 Hezekiah did this
throughout all Judah; he did what was good and right and faithful before the
LORD his God. 21 And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of
God, and in accordance with the law and the commandments, to seek his God, he
did with all his heart; and he prospered.
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After these things and these acts of faithfulness, King
Sennacherib of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified
cities, thinking to win them for himself. 2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib
had come and intended to fight against Jerusalem, 3 he planned with his officers
and his warriors to stop the flow of the springs that were outside the city; and
they helped him. 4 A great many people were gathered, and they stopped all the
springs and the wadi that flowed through the land, saying, "Why should the
Assyrian kings come and find water in abundance?" 5 Hezekiah set to work
resolutely and built up the entire wall that was broken down, and raised towers
on it, and outside it he built another wall; he also strengthened the Millo in
the city of David, and made weapons and shields in abundance. 6 He appointed
combat commanders over the people, and gathered them together to him in the
square at the gate of the city and spoke encouragingly to them, saying, 7 "Be
strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of
Assyria and all the horde that is with him; for there is one greater with us
than with him. 8 With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God,
to help us and to fight our battles." The people were encouraged by the words of
King Hezekiah of Judah. 9 After this, while King Sennacherib of Assyria was at
Lachish with all his forces, he sent his servants to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah
of Judah and to all the people of Judah that were in Jerusalem, saying, 10 "Thus
says King Sennacherib of Assyria: On what are you relying, that you undergo the
siege of Jerusalem? 11 Is not Hezekiah misleading you, handing you over to die
by famine and by thirst, when he tells you, 'The LORD our God will save us from
the hand of the king of Assyria'? 12 Was it not this same Hezekiah who took away
his high places and his altars and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying,
'Before one altar you shall worship, and upon it you shall make your offerings'?
13 Do you not know what I and my ancestors have done to all the peoples of other
lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands at all able to save their
lands out of my hand? 14 Who among all the gods of those nations that my
ancestors utterly destroyed was able to save his people from my hand, that your
God should be able to save you from my hand? 15 Now therefore do not let
Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you in this fashion, and do not believe him, for
no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to save his people from my hand or
from the hand of my ancestors. How much less will your God save you out of my
hand!" 16 His servants said still more against the Lord GOD and against his
servant Hezekiah. 17 He also wrote letters to throw contempt on the LORD the God
of Israel and to speak against him, saying, "Just as the gods of the nations in
other lands did not rescue their people from my hands, so the God of Hezekiah
will not rescue his people from my hand." 18 They shouted it with a loud voice
in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to
frighten and terrify them, in order that they might take the city. 19 They spoke
of the God of Jerusalem as if he were like the gods of the peoples of the earth,
which are the work of human hands. 20 Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah
son of Amoz prayed because of this and cried to heaven. 21 And the LORD sent an
angel who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the
camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned in disgrace to his own land. When he
came into the house of his god, some of his own sons struck him down there with
the sword. 22 So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from
the hand of King Sennacherib of Assyria and from the hand of all his enemies; he
gave them rest on every side. 23 Many brought gifts to the LORD in Jerusalem and
precious things to King Hezekiah of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight
of all nations from that time onward. 24 In those days Hezekiah became sick and
was at the point of death. He prayed to the LORD, and he answered him and gave
him a sign. 25 But Hezekiah did not respond according to the benefit done to
him, for his heart was proud. Therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and
Jerusalem. 26 Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come
upon them in the days of Hezekiah. 27 Hezekiah had very great riches and honor;
and he made for himself treasuries for silver, for gold, for precious stones,
for spices, for shields, and for all kinds of costly objects; 28 storehouses
also for the yield of grain, wine, and oil; and stalls for all kinds of cattle,
and sheepfolds. 29 He likewise provided cities for himself, and flocks and herds
in abundance; for God had given him very great possessions. 30 This same
Hezekiah closed the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them down
to the west side of the city of David. Hezekiah prospered in all his works. 31
So also in the matter of the envoys of the officials of Babylon, who had been
sent to him to inquire about the sign that had been done in the land, God left
him to himself, in order to test him and to know all that was in his heart. 32
Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his good deeds, are written in the
vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz in the Book of the Kings of Judah and
Israel. 33 Hezekiah slept with his ancestors, and they buried him on the ascent
to the tombs of the descendants of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem did him honor at his death. His son Manasseh succeeded him.
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Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; he
reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 He did what was evil in the sight of
the LORD, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD
drove out before the people of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places that his
father Hezekiah had pulled down, and erected altars to the Baals, made sacred
poles, worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4 He built altars in
the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem shall my name
be forever." 5 He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of
the house of the LORD. 6 He made his son pass through fire in the valley of the
son of Hinnom, practiced soothsaying and augury and sorcery, and dealt with
mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking
him to anger. 7 The carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the
house of God, of which God said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this house,
and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will
put my name forever; 8 I will never again remove the feet of Israel from the
land that I appointed for your ancestors, if only they will be careful to do all
that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the ordinances given
through Moses." 9 Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so
that they did more evil than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the
people of Israel. 10 The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they gave
no heed. 11 Therefore the LORD brought against them the commanders of the army
of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh captive in manacles, bound him with
fetters, and brought him to Babylon. 12 While he was in distress he entreated
the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his
ancestors. 13 He prayed to him, and God received his entreaty, heard his plea,
and restored him again to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that
the LORD indeed was God. 14 Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of
David west of Gihon, in the valley, reaching the entrance at the Fish Gate; he
carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put
commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. 15 He took away the
foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he
had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he
threw them out of the city. 16 He also restored the altar of the LORD and
offered on it sacrifices of well-being and of thanksgiving; and he commanded
Judah to serve the LORD the God of Israel. 17 The people, however, still
sacrificed at the high places, but only to the LORD their God. 18 Now the rest
of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who
spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, these are in the Annals of
the Kings of Israel. 19 His prayer, and how God received his entreaty, all his
sin and his faithlessness, the sites on which he built high places and set up
the sacred poles and the images, before he humbled himself, these are written in
the records of the seers. 20 So Manasseh slept with his ancestors, and they
buried him in his house. His son Amon succeeded him. 21 Amon was twenty-two
years old when he began to reign; he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22 He did
what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. Amon
sacrificed to all the images that his father Manasseh had made, and served them.
23 He did not humble himself before the LORD, as his father Manasseh had humbled
himself, but this Amon incurred more and more guilt. 24 His servants conspired
against him and killed him in his house. 25 But the people of the land killed
all those who had conspired against King Amon; and the people of the land made
his son Josiah king to succeed him.
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Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; he
reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 2 He did what was right in the sight of
the LORD, and walked in the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn aside to
the right or to the left. 3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was
still a boy, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth
year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the sacred poles,
and the carved and the cast images. 4 In his presence they pulled down the
altars of the Baals; he demolished the incense altars that stood above them. He
broke down the sacred poles and the carved and the cast images; he made dust of
them and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. 5 He
also burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and purged Judah and
Jerusalem. 6 In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as
Naphtali, in their ruins all around, 7 he broke down the altars, beat the sacred
poles and the images into powder, and demolished all the incense altars
throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem. 8 In the
eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent
Shaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah son of
Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God. 9 They came to
the high priest Hilkiah and delivered the money that had been brought into the
house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected
from Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel and from all Judah
and Benjamin and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They delivered it to the
workers who had the oversight of the house of the LORD, and the workers who were
working in the house of the LORD gave it for repairing and restoring the house.
11 They gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stone, and
timber for binders, and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had let
go to ruin. 12 The people did the work faithfully. Over them were appointed the
Levites Jahath and Obadiah, of the sons of Merari, along with Zechariah and
Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to have oversight. Other Levites, all
skillful with instruments of music, 13 were over the burden bearers and directed
all who did work in every kind of service; and some of the Levites were scribes,
and officials, and gatekeepers. 14 While they were bringing out the money that
had been brought into the house of the LORD, the priest Hilkiah found the book
of the law of the LORD given through Moses. 15 Hilkiah said to the secretary
Shaphan, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD"; and
Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. 16 Shaphan brought the book to the king, and
further reported to the king, "All that was committed to your servants they are
doing. 17 They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the
LORD and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and the workers." 18
The secretary Shaphan informed the king, "The priest Hilkiah has given me a
book." Shaphan then read it aloud to the king. 19 When the king heard the words
of the law he tore his clothes. 20 Then the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam son
of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, the secretary Shaphan, and the king's servant
Asaiah: 21 "Go, inquire of the LORD for me and for those who are left in Israel
and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found; for the
wrath of the LORD that is poured out on us is great, because our ancestors did
not keep the word of the LORD, to act in accordance with all that is written in
this book." 22 So Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to the prophet
Huldah, the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe
(who lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter) and spoke to her to that effect.
23 She declared to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Tell the man
who sent you to me, 24 Thus says the LORD: I will indeed bring disaster upon
this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book
that was read before the king of Judah. 25 Because they have forsaken me and
have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked me to anger with
all the works of their hands, my wrath will be poured out on this place and will
not be quenched. 26 But as to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the
LORD, thus shall you say to him: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel:
Regarding the words that you have heard, 27 because your heart was penitent and
you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and
its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me, and have torn your
clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the LORD. 28 I will
gather you to your ancestors and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace;
your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring on this place and its
inhabitants." They took the message back to the king. 29 Then the king sent word
and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30 The king went up
to the house of the LORD, with all the people of Judah, the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites, all the people both great and small; he
read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been
found in the house of the LORD. 31 The king stood in his place and made a
covenant before the LORD, to follow the LORD, keeping his commandments, his
decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the
words of the covenant that were written in this book. 32 Then he made all who
were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin pledge themselves to it. And the
inhabitants of Jerusalem acted according to the covenant of God, the God of
their ancestors. 33 Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory
that belonged to the people of Israel, and made all who were in Israel worship
the LORD their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the LORD
the God of their ancestors.
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Josiah kept a passover to the LORD in Jerusalem; they
slaughtered the passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He
appointed the priests to their offices and encouraged them in the service of the
house of the LORD. 3 He said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were
holy to the LORD, "Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon son of David, king
of Israel, built; you need no longer carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the
LORD your God and his people Israel. 4 Make preparations by your ancestral
houses by your divisions, following the written directions of King David of
Israel and the written directions of his son Solomon. 5 Take position in the
holy place according to the groupings of the ancestral houses of your kindred
the people, and let there be Levites for each division of an ancestral house. 6
Slaughter the passover lamb, sanctify yourselves, and on behalf of your kindred
make preparations, acting according to the word of the LORD by Moses." 7 Then
Josiah contributed to the people, as passover offerings for all that were
present, lambs and kids from the flock to the number of thirty thousand, and
three thousand bulls; these were from the king's possessions. 8 His officials
contributed willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites.
Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the chief officers of the house of God, gave to
the priests for the passover offerings two thousand six hundred lambs and kids
and three hundred bulls. 9 Conaniah also, and his brothers Shemaiah and
Nethanel, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave
to the Levites for the passover offerings five thousand lambs and kids and five
hundred bulls. 10 When the service had been prepared for, the priests stood in
their place, and the Levites in their divisions according to the king's command.
11 They slaughtered the passover lamb, and the priests dashed the blood that
they received from them, while the Levites did the skinning. 12 They set aside
the burnt offerings so that they might distribute them according to the
groupings of the ancestral houses of the people, to offer to the LORD, as it is
written in the book of Moses. And they did the same with the bulls. 13 They
roasted the passover lamb with fire according to the ordinance; and they boiled
the holy offerings in pots, in caldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly
to all the people. 14 Afterward they made preparations for themselves and for
the priests, because the priests the descendants of Aaron were occupied in
offering the burnt offerings and the fat parts until night; so the Levites made
preparations for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron. 15
The singers, the descendants of Asaph, were in their place according to the
command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and the king's seer Jeduthun. The
gatekeepers were at each gate; they did not need to interrupt their service, for
their kindred the Levites made preparations for them. 16 So all the service of
the LORD was prepared that day, to keep the passover and to offer burnt
offerings on the altar of the LORD, according to the command of King Josiah. 17
The people of Israel who were present kept the passover at that time, and the
festival of unleavened bread seven days. 18 No passover like it had been kept in
Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; none of the kings of Israel had
kept such a passover as was kept by Josiah, by the priests and the Levites, by
all Judah and Israel who were present, and by the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19
In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this passover was kept. 20 After
all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, King Neco of Egypt went up to
fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him. 21 But
Neco sent envoys to him, saying, "What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I
am not coming against you today, but against the house with which I am at war;
and God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me, so that
he will not destroy you." 22 But Josiah would not turn away from him, but
disguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of
Neco from the mouth of God, but joined battle in the plain of Megiddo. 23 The
archers shot King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, "Take me away, for
I am badly wounded." 24 So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried
him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. There he died, and was
buried in the tombs of his ancestors. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for
Josiah. 25 Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah, and all the singing men
and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made
these a custom in Israel; they are recorded in the Laments. 26 Now the rest of
the acts of Josiah and his faithful deeds in accordance with what is written in
the law of the LORD, 27 and his acts, first and last, are written in the Book of
the Kings of Israel and Judah.
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The people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made
him king to succeed his father in Jerusalem. 2 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years
old when he began to reign; he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 Then the
king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and laid on the land a tribute of one
hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. 4 The king of Egypt made his
brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to
Jehoiakim; but Neco took his brother Jehoahaz and carried him to Egypt. 5
Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; he reigned eleven
years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. 6
Against him King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up, and bound him with fetters
to take him to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried some of the vessels of the
house of the LORD to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon. 8 Now the
rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations that he did, and what was
found against him, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah; and
his son Jehoiachin succeeded him. 9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began
to reign; he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was
evil in the sight of the LORD. 10 In the spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar
sent and brought him to Babylon, along with the precious vessels of the house of
the LORD, and made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem. 11
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; he reigned eleven
years in Jerusalem. 12 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. He
did not humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah who spoke from the mouth of
the LORD. 13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him
swear by God; he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to
the LORD, the God of Israel. 14 All the leading priests and the people also were
exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations; and they
polluted the house of the LORD that he had consecrated in Jerusalem. 15 The
LORD, the God of their ancestors, sent persistently to them by his messengers,
because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place; 16 but they
kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words, and scoffing at his
prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against his people became so great that
there was no remedy. 17 Therefore he brought up against them the king of the
Chaldeans, who killed their youths with the sword in the house of their
sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or young woman, the aged or the
feeble; he gave them all into his hand. 18 All the vessels of the house of God,
large and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures
of the king and of his officials, all these he brought to Babylon. 19 They
burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its
palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious vessels. 20 He took into exile
in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him
and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill
the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had made up for
its sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfill
seventy years. 22 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in fulfillment of
the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of King
Cyrus of Persia so that he sent a herald throughout all his kingdom and also
declared in a written edict: 23 "Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The LORD, the
God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me
to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of
all his people, may the LORD his God be with him! Let him go up."
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