Bible (Literal Standard Version)/2 Kings

For other versions of this work, see 2 Kings (Bible).

Chapter 1

¹ And Moab transgresses against Israel after the death of Ahab, ² and Ahaziah falls through the lattice in his upper chamber that [is] in Samaria, and is sick, and sends messengers, and says to them, "Go, inquire of Ba'al-Zebub god of Ekron if I recover from this sickness." ³ And a messenger of YHWH has spoken to Elijah the Tishbite, "Rise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and speak to them, Is it because there is not a God in Israel—you are going to inquire of Ba'al-Zebub god of Ekron? ⁴ And therefore, thus said YHWH: The bed to where you have gone up, you do not come down from it, for you certainly die"; and Elijah goes on. ⁵ And the messengers return to him, and he says to them, "What [is] this—you have turned back!" ⁶ And they say to him, "A man has come up to meet us and says to us, Go, return to the king who sent you, and you have said to him, Thus said YHWH: Is it because there is not a God in Israel—you are sending to inquire of Ba'al-Zebub god of Ekron? Therefore, the bed to where you have gone up, you do not come down from it, for you certainly die." ⁷ And he says to them, "What [is] the fashion of the man who has come up to meet you, and speaks these words to you?" ⁸ And they say to him, "A hairy man, and a girdle of skin girt around his loins"; and he says, "He [is] Elijah the Tishbite." ⁹ And he sends to him a head of fifty and his fifty, and he goes up to him (and behold, he is sitting on the top of the hill), and he speaks to him, "O man of God, the king has spoken, Come down." ¹⁰ And Elijah answers and speaks to the head of the fifty, "And if I [am] a man of God, fire comes down from the heavens and consumes you and your fifty"; and fire comes down from the heavens and consumes him and his fifty. ¹¹ And he turns and sends to him another head of fifty and his fifty, and he answers and speaks to him, "O man of God, thus said the king: Hurry, come down." ¹² And Elijah answers and speaks to them, "If I [am] a man of God, fire comes down from the heavens and consumes you and your fifty"; and fire of God comes down from the heavens and consumes him and his fifty. ¹³ And he turns and sends a third head of fifty and his fifty, and the third head of fifty goes up, and comes in, and bows on his knees before Elijah, and makes supplication to him, and speaks to him, "O man of God, please let my soul and the soul of your servants—these fifty—be precious in your eyes. ¹⁴ Behold, fire has come down from the heavens and consumes the two heads of the former fifties and their fifties; and now, let my soul be precious in your eyes." ¹⁵ And a messenger of YHWH speaks to Elijah, "Go down with him, do not be afraid of him"; and he rises and goes down with him to the king, ¹⁶ and speaks to him, "Thus said YHWH: Because that you have sent messengers to inquire of Ba'al-Zebub god of Ekron—is it because there is not a God in Israel to inquire of His word? Therefore, the bed to where you have gone up—you do not come down from it, for you certainly die." ¹⁷ And he dies, according to the word of YHWH that Elijah spoke, and Jehoram reigns in his stead, in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, for he had no son. ¹⁸ And the rest of the matters of Ahaziah that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

Chapter 2

¹ And it comes to pass, at YHWH's taking up Elijah to the heavens in a whirlwind, that Elijah goes, and Elisha, from Gilgal, ² and Elijah says to Elisha, "Please abide here, for YHWH has sent me to Beth-El"; and Elisha says, "YHWH lives, and your soul lives, if I leave you"; and they go down to Beth-El. ³ And sons of the prophets who [are] in Beth-El come out to Elisha, and say to him, "Have you known that today YHWH is taking your lord from your head?" And he says, "I also have known—keep silent." ⁴ And Elijah says to him, "Elisha, please abide here, for YHWH has sent me to Jericho"; and he says, "YHWH lives, and your soul lives, if I leave you"; and they come to Jericho. ⁵ And sons of the prophets who [are] in Jericho come near to Elisha, and say to him, "Have you known that today YHWH is taking your lord from your head?" And he says, "I also have known—keep silent." ⁶ And Elijah says to him, "Please abide here, for YHWH has sent me to the Jordan"; and he says, "YHWH lives, and your soul lives, if I leave you"; and both of them go on— ⁷ and fifty men of the sons of the prophets have gone on, and stand opposite [them] far off—and both of them have stood by the Jordan. ⁸ And Elijah takes his robe, and wraps [it] together, and strikes the waters, and they are halved, here and there, and both of them pass over on dry land. ⁹ And it comes to pass, at their passing over, that Elijah has said to Elisha, "Ask what I do for you before I am taken from you." And Elisha says, "Indeed, please let there be a double portion of your spirit to me"; ¹⁰ and he says, "You have asked a hard thing; if you see me taken from you, it is to you so; and if not, it is not." ¹¹ And it comes to pass, they are going, going on and speaking, and behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire [appear], and they separate between them both, and Elijah goes up to the heavens in a whirlwind. ¹² And Elisha is seeing, and he is crying, "My father! My father! The chariot of Israel and its horsemen!" And he has not seen him again; and he takes hold on his garments and tears them into two pieces. ¹³ And he takes up the robe of Elijah that fell from off him, and turns back and stands on the edge of the Jordan, ¹⁴ and he takes the robe of Elijah that fell from off him, and strikes the waters, and says, "Where [is] YHWH, God of Elijah—even He?" And he strikes the waters, and they are halved, here and there, and Elisha passes over. ¹⁵ And they see him—the sons of the prophets who [are] in Jericho—from opposite [them], and they say, "The spirit of Elijah has rested on Elisha"; and they come to meet him, and bow themselves to him to the earth, ¹⁶ and say to him, "Now behold, there are fifty men with your servants, sons of valor: please let them go, and they seek your lord, lest the Spirit of YHWH has taken him up, and casts him on one of the hills or into one of the valleys"; and he says, "You do not send." ¹⁷ And they press on him, until he is ashamed, and he says, "Send"; and they send fifty men, and they seek three days, and have not found him; ¹⁸ and they return to him—and he is abiding in Jericho—and he says to them, "Did I not say to you, Do not go?" ¹⁹ And the men of the city say to Elisha, "Now behold, the site of the city [is] good, as my lord sees, and the waters [are] bad, and the earth sterile." ²⁰ And he says, "Bring a new dish to me, and place salt there"; and they bring [it] to him, ²¹ and he goes out to the source of the waters, and casts salt there, and says, "Thus said YHWH: I have given healing to these waters; there is not anymore death and sterility there." ²² And the waters are healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha that he spoke. ²³ And he goes up from there to Beth-El, and he is going up in the way, and little youths have come out from the city, and scoff at him, and say to him, "Go up, bald-head! Go up, bald-head!" ²⁴ And he looks behind him, and sees them, and declares them vile in the Name of YHWH, and two bears come out of the forest and ripped apart forty-two of the boys. ²⁵ And he goes from there to the hill of Carmel, and from there he has turned back to Samaria.

Chapter 3

¹ And Jehoram son of Ahab has reigned over Israel, in Samaria, in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigns twelve years, ² and does evil in the eyes of YHWH, only not like his father, and like his mother, and he turns aside the standing-pillar of Ba'al that his father made; ³ surely he has cleaved to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin; he has not turned aside from it. ⁴ And Mesha king of Moab was a sheep-master, and he rendered to the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs and one hundred thousand rams, [with] wool, ⁵ and it comes to pass at the death of Ahab, that the king of Moab transgresses against the king of Israel. ⁶ And King Jehoram goes out from Samaria in that day, and inspects all Israel, ⁷ and goes and sends to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, "The king of Moab has transgressed against me; do you go with me to Moab for battle?" And he says, "I go up, as I, so you; as my people, so your people; as my horses, so your horses." ⁸ And he says, "Where [is] this—the way we go up?" And he says, "The way of the wilderness of Edom." ⁹ And the king of Israel goes, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom, and they turn around the way seven days, and there has been no water for the camp, and for the livestock that [are] at their feet, ¹⁰ and the king of Israel says, "Aah! For YHWH has called for these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab." ¹¹ And Jehoshaphat says, "Is there not a prophet of YHWH here, and we seek YHWH by him?" And one of the servants of the king of Israel answers and says, "Here [is] Elisha son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah." ¹² And Jehoshaphat says, "The word of YHWH is with him"; and the king of Israel goes down to him, and Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom. ¹³ And Elisha says to the king of Israel, "And what do I [have to do] with you? Go to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your mother"; and the king of Israel says to him, "No, for YHWH has called for these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab." ¹⁴ And Elisha says, "YHWH of Hosts lives, before whom I have stood; for unless I am lifting up the face of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I do not look to you, nor see you; ¹⁵ and now, bring a musician to me"; and it has been, at the playing of the musician, that the hand of YHWH is on him, ¹⁶ and he says, "Thus said YHWH: Make this valley ditches—ditches; ¹⁷ for thus said YHWH: You do not see wind, nor do you see rain, and that valley is full of water, and you have drunk—you, and your livestock, and your beasts. ¹⁸ And this has been light in the eyes of YHWH, and he has given Moab into your hand, ¹⁹ and you have struck every fortified city, and every choice city, and you cause every good tree to fall, and you stop all fountains of waters, and you mar every good portion with stones." ²⁰ And it comes to pass in the morning, at the ascending of the [morning] present, that behold, waters are coming in from the way of Edom, and the land is filled with the waters, ²¹ and all of Moab has heard that the kings have come up to fight against them, and they are called together, from everyone girding on a girdle and upward, and they stand by the border. ²² And they rise early in the morning, and the sun has shone on the waters, and the Moabites see, from opposite [them], [that] the waters [are] red as blood, ²³ and say, "This [is] blood; the kings have been surely destroyed, and they each strike his neighbor; and now for spoil, Moab!" ²⁴ And they come to the camp of Israel, and Israel rises, and strikes the Moabites, and they flee from their face; and they enter into Moab, so as to strike Moab, ²⁵ and they break down the cities, and they each cast his stone [on] every good portion, and have filled it, and they stop every fountain of water, and they cause every good tree to fall—until one had left its stones in Kir-Haraseth, and the slingers go around and strike it. ²⁶ And the king of Moab sees that the battle has been too strong for him, and he takes with him seven hundred men drawing sword, to cleave through to the king of Edom, and they have not been able, ²⁷ and he takes his son, the firstborn who reigns in his stead, and causes him to ascend [as] a burnt-offering on the wall, and there is great wrath against Israel, and they journey from off him, and return to the land.

Chapter 4

¹ And a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets has cried to Elisha, saying, "Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you have known that your servant was fearing YHWH, and the lender has come to take my two children to himself for servants." ² And Elisha says to her, "What do I do for you? Declare to me, what do you have in the house?" And she says, "Your maidservant has nothing in the house except a pot of oil." ³ And he says, "Go, ask [for] vessels for yourself from outside, from all your neighbors—empty vessels—let [them] not be few; ⁴ and you have entered, and have shut the door on you, and on your sons, and have poured it into all these vessels, and the full ones you remove." ⁵ And she goes from him, and shuts the door on her, and on her sons; they are bringing [them] near to her, and she is pouring [it] out, ⁶ and it comes to pass, at the filling of the vessels, that she says to her son, "Bring another vessel near to me," and he says to her, "There is not another vessel"; and the oil stays. ⁷ And she comes and declares [it] to the man of God, and he says, "Go, sell the oil, and repay your loan; and you [and] your sons live off the rest." ⁸ And the day comes that Elisha passes over to Shunem, and there [is] a great woman, and she lays hold on him to eat bread, and it comes to pass, at the time of his passing over, he turns aside there to eat bread, ⁹ and she says to her husband, "Now behold, I have known that he is a holy man of God, passing over by us continually; ¹⁰ please let us make a little upper chamber of the wall, and we set for him there a bed, and a table, and a high seat, and a lampstand; and it has been, in his coming to us, he turns aside there." ¹¹ And the day comes that he comes in there, and turns aside to the upper chamber, and lies there, ¹² and he says to his young man Gehazi, "Call for this Shunammite"; and he calls for her, and she stands before him. ¹³ And he says to him, "Now say to her, Behold, you have troubled yourself concerning us with all this trouble; what can [I] do for you? Is it to speak for you to the king, or to the head of the host?" And she says, "I am dwelling in the midst of my people." ¹⁴ And he says, "And what can [I] do for her?" And Gehazi says, "Truly she has no son, and her husband [is] aged." ¹⁵ And he says, "Call for her"; and he calls for her, and she stands at the opening, ¹⁶ and he says, "At this season, according to the time of life, you are embracing a son"; and she says, "No, my lord, O man of God, do not lie to your maidservant." ¹⁷ And the woman conceives and bears a son, at this season, according to the time of life that Elisha spoke of to her. ¹⁸ And the boy grows, and the day comes that he goes out to his father, to the reapers, ¹⁹ and he says to his father, "My head, my head"; and he says to the young man, "Carry him to his mother"; ²⁰ and he carries him, and brings him to his mother, and he sits on her knees until the noon, and dies. ²¹ And she goes up, and lays him on the bed of the man of God, and shuts [the door] on him, and goes out, ²² and calls to her husband and says, "Please send one of the young men and one of the donkeys to me, and I run to the man of God, and return." ²³ And he says, "Why are you going to him today? [It is] neither new moon nor Sabbath!" And she says, "Peace [to you]!" ²⁴ And she saddles the donkey and says to her young man, "Lead, and go, do not restrain riding for me, except I have commanded [so] to you." ²⁵ And she goes, and comes to the man of God, to the hill of Carmel, and it comes to pass, at the man of God's seeing her from within view, that he says to his young man Gehazi, "Behold, this Shunammite; ²⁶ now please run to meet her, and say to her, Is there peace to you? Is there peace to your husband? Is there peace to the boy?" And she says, "Peace." ²⁷ And she comes to the man of God, to the hill, and lays hold on his feet, and Gehazi comes near to thrust her away, and the man of God says, "Leave her alone, for her soul [is] bitter to her, and YHWH has hidden [it] from me, and has not declared [it] to me." ²⁸ And she says, "Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, Do not deceive me?" ²⁹ And he says to Gehazi, "Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go; when you meet a man, you do not greet him; and when a man greets you, you do not answer him; and you have laid my staff on the face of the youth." ³⁰ And the mother of the youth says, "YHWH lives, and your soul lives—if I leave you"; and he rises and goes after her. ³¹ And Gehazi has passed on before them, and lays the staff on the face of the youth, and there is no voice, and there is no attention, and he turns back to meet him, and declares to him, saying, "The youth has not awoken." ³² And Elisha comes into the house, and behold, the youth is dead, laid on his bed, ³³ and he goes in and shuts the door on them both, and prays to YHWH. ³⁴ And he goes up, and lies down on the boy, and puts his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands, and stretches himself on him, and the flesh of the boy becomes warm; ³⁵ and he turns back and walks in the house, once here and once there, and goes up and stretches himself on him, and the youth sneezes until seven times, and the youth opens his eyes. ³⁶ And he calls to Gehazi and says, "Call to this Shunammite"; and he calls her, and she comes to him, and he says, "Lift up your son." ³⁷ And she goes in, and falls at his feet, and bows herself to the earth, and lifts up her son, and goes out. ³⁸ And Elisha has turned back to Gilgal, and the famine [is] in the land, and the sons of the prophets are sitting before him, and he says to his young man, "Set on the great pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets." ³⁹ And one goes out to the field to gather herbs, and finds a vine of the field, and gathers gourds of the field from it—the fullness of his garment—and comes in and splits [them] into the pot of stew, for they did not know [them]; ⁴⁰ and they pour out for the men to eat, and it comes to pass at their eating of the stew, that they have cried out, and say, "Death [is] in the pot, O man of God!" And they have not been able to eat. ⁴¹ And he says, "Then bring a meal"; and he casts into the pot and says, "Pour out for the people, and they eat"; and there was no bad thing in the pot. ⁴² And a man has come from Ba'al-Shalishah, and brings to the man of God bread of first-fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of grain in its husk, and he says, "Give to the people, and they eat." ⁴³ And his minister says, "How do I give this before one hundred men?" And he says, "Give to the people, and they eat, for thus said YHWH: Eat and leave"; ⁴⁴ and he gives before them, and they eat and leave, according to the word of YHWH.

Chapter 5

¹ And Naaman, head of the host of the king of Aram, was a great man before his lord, and accepted of face, for YHWH had given salvation to Aram by him, and the man was mighty in valor, [but] leprous. ² And the Arameans have gone out [by] troops, and they take a little girl captive out of the land of Israel, and she is before the wife of Naaman, ³ and she says to her mistress, "O that my lord [were] before the prophet who [is] in Samaria; then he recovers him from his leprosy." ⁴ And [one] goes in and declares [it] to his lord, saying, "Thus and thus the girl who [is] from the land of Israel has spoken." ⁵ And the king of Aram says, "Go, enter, and I send a letter to the king of Israel"; and he goes and takes in his hand ten talents of silver, and six thousand [pieces] of gold, and ten changes of garments. ⁶ And he brings in the letter to the king of Israel, saying, "And now, at the coming in of this letter to you, behold, I have sent my servant Naaman to you, and you have recovered him from his leprosy." ⁷ And it comes to pass, at the king of Israel's reading the letter, that he tears his garments and says, "Am I God, to put to death and to keep alive, that this [one] is sending to me to recover a man from his leprosy? For surely know now, and see, for he is presenting himself to me." ⁸ And it comes to pass, at Elisha the man of God's hearing that the king of Israel has torn his garments, that he sends to the king, saying, "Why have you torn your garments? Please let him come to me, and he knows that there is a prophet in Israel." ⁹ And Naaman comes, with his horses and with his chariot, and stands at the opening of the house for Elisha; ¹⁰ and Elisha sends a messenger to him, saying, "Go, and you have washed seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh turns back to you—and be clean." ¹¹ And Naaman is angry, and goes on and says, "Behold, I said, He certainly comes out to me, and has stood and called in the Name of his God YHWH, and waved his hand over the place, and recovered the leper. ¹² Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Do I not wash in them and I have been clean?" And he turns and goes on in fury. ¹³ And his servants come near, and speak to him, and say, "My father, the prophet had spoken a great thing to you—do you not do [it]? And surely, when he has said to you, Wash, and be clean." ¹⁴ And he goes down and dips in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh turns back as the flesh of a little youth, and is clean. ¹⁵ And he turns back to the man of God, he and all his camp, and comes in, and stands before him, and says, "Now behold, I have known that there is not a God in all the earth except in Israel; and now, please take a blessing from your servant." ¹⁶ And he says, "YHWH lives, before whom I have stood—if I take [it]"; and he presses on him to take, and he refuses. ¹⁷ And Naaman says, "If not, please let a couple of mules' burden of earth be given to your servant, for your servant makes no more burnt-offering and sacrifice to other gods, but [only sacrifices] to YHWH. ¹⁸ For in this thing may YHWH be propitious to your servant, in the coming in of my lord into the house of Rimmon to bow himself there, and he was supported by my hand, and I bowed myself [in] the house of Rimmon; for my bowing myself in the house of Rimmon, may YHWH now be propitious to your servant in this thing." ¹⁹ And he says to him, "Go in peace." And he goes from him a distance of land, ²⁰ and Gehazi, servant of Elisha the man of God, says, "Behold, my lord has spared this Aramean Naaman, not to receive from his hand that which he brought; for YHWH lives; if I have run after him, then I have taken something from him." ²¹ And Gehazi pursues after Naaman, and Naaman sees one running after him, and comes down off the chariot to meet him, and says, "Is there peace?" ²² And he says, "Peace; my lord has sent me, saying, Behold, now, this, two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill-country of Ephraim; please give a talent of silver and two changes of garments to them." ²³ And Naaman says, "Be pleased, take two talents"; and he urges him, and binds two talents of silver in two purses, and two changes of garments, and gives [them] to two of his young men, and they carry [them] before him; ²⁴ and he comes to the high place, and takes [them] out of their hand, and lays [them] up in the house, and sends the men away, and they go. ²⁵ And he has come in, and stands by his lord, and Elisha says to him, "From where—Gehazi?" And he says, "Your servant did not go here or there." ²⁶ And he says to him, "My heart did not go when the man turned from off his chariot to meet you; is it a time to take silver, and to take garments, and olives, and vines, and flock, and herd, and menservants, and maidservants? ²⁷ Indeed, the leprosy of Naaman cleaves to you and to your seed for all time"; and he goes out from before him—leprous as snow.

Chapter 6

¹ And sons of the prophet say to Elisha, "Now behold, the place where we are dwelling before you is too narrow for us; ² please let us go to the Jordan, and we each take one beam from there, and we make a place there for ourselves to dwell there"; and he says, "Go." ³ And the one says, "Please be willing, and go with your servants"; and he says, "I go." ⁴ And he goes with them, and they come to the Jordan, and cut down the trees, ⁵ and it comes to pass, the one is felling the beam, and the iron [ax head] has fallen into the water, and he cries and says, "Aah! My lord, for it was borrowed!" ⁶ And the man of God says, "To where has it fallen?" And he shows him the place, and he cuts a stick, and casts [it] there, and causes the iron to swim, ⁷ and says, "Raise [it] up for yourself"; and he puts forth his hand and takes it. ⁸ And the king of Aram has been fighting against Israel, and takes counsel with his servants, saying, "At such and such a place [is] my encamping." ⁹ And the man of God sends to the king of Israel, saying, "Take heed of passing by this place, for the Arameans are coming down there"; ¹⁰ and the king of Israel sends to the place of which the man of God spoke to him, and warned him, and he is preserved there not [just] once and not [just] twice. ¹¹ And the heart of the king of Aram is tossed about concerning this thing, and he calls to his servants and says to them, "Do you not declare to me who of us [is] for the king of Israel?" ¹² And one of his servants says, "No, my lord, O king, for Elisha the prophet, who [is] in Israel, declares to the king of Israel the words that you speak in the inner part of your bed-chamber." ¹³ And he says, "Go and see where he [is], and I send and take him"; and it is declared to him, saying, "Behold—in Dothan." ¹⁴ And he sends horses and chariot, and a heavy force there, and they come in by night, and go around against the city. ¹⁵ And the servant of the man of God rises early, and goes out, and behold, a force is surrounding the city, and horse and chariot, and his young man says to him, "Aah! My lord, how do we do?" ¹⁶ And he says, "Do not fear, for more [are] they who [are] with us than they who [are] with them." ¹⁷ And Elisha prays and says, "YHWH, please open his eyes, and he sees"; and YHWH opens the eyes of the young man, and he sees, and behold, the hill is full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha. ¹⁸ And they come down to it, and Elisha prays to YHWH and says, "Please strike this nation with blindness"; and He strikes them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha. ¹⁹ And Elisha says to them, "This [is] not the way, nor [is] this the city; come after me, and I lead you to the man whom you seek"; and he leads them to Samaria. ²⁰ And it comes to pass, at their coming to Samaria, that Elisha says, "YHWH, open the eyes of these, and they see"; and YHWH opens their eyes, and they see, and behold, [they are] in the midst of Samaria! ²¹ And the king of Israel says to Elisha at his seeing them, "My father, do I strike, do I strike?" ²² And he says, "You do not strike; are you striking those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, and they eat, and drink, and go to their lord." ²³ And he prepares great provision for them, and they eat and drink, and he sends them away, and they go to their lord: and troops of Aram have not added to come into the land of Israel anymore. ²⁴ And it comes to pass afterward, that Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathers all his camp, and goes up, and lays siege to Samaria, ²⁵ and there is a great famine in Samaria, and behold, they are laying siege to it, until the head of a donkey is at eighty pieces of silver, and a forth of the cab of dove's dung at five pieces of silver. ²⁶ And it comes to pass, the king of Israel is passing by on the wall, and a woman has cried to him, saying, "Save, my lord, O king." ²⁷ And he says, "YHWH does not save you—from where do I save you? Out of the threshing-floor or out of the wine-vat?" ²⁸ And the king says to her, "What is [troubling] you?" And she says, "This woman said to me, Give your son, and we eat him today, and we eat my son tomorrow; ²⁹ and we boil my son and eat him, and I say to her on the next day, Give your son, and we eat him; and she hides her son." ³⁰ And it comes to pass, at the king's hearing the words of the woman, that he tears his garments, and he is passing by on the wall, and the people see, and behold, the sackcloth [is] within on his flesh. ³¹ And he says, "Thus God does to me and thus He adds, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on him this day." ³² And Elisha is sitting in his house, and the elderly are sitting with him, and [the king] sends a man from before him; before the messenger comes to him, even he himself said to the elderly, "Have you seen that this son of the murderer has sent [him] to turn aside my head? See, at the coming in of the messenger, shut the door, and you have held him fast at the door, is not the sound of the feet of his lord behind him?" ³³ He is yet speaking with them, and behold, the messenger is coming down to him, and he says, "Behold, this [is] the calamity from YHWH; why do I wait for YHWH anymore?"

Chapter 7

¹ And Elisha says, "Hear a word of YHWH! Thus said YHWH: About this time tomorrow, a measure of fine flour [is] at a shekel, and two measures of barley at a shekel, in the Gate of Samaria." ² And the captain whom the king has, by whose hand he has been supported, answers the man of God and says, "Behold, YHWH is making windows in the heavens—will this thing be?" And he says, "Behold, you are seeing it with your eyes, and you do not eat thereof." ³ And four men have been leprous at the opening of the gate, and they say to one another, "Why are we sitting here until we have died? ⁴ If we have said, We go into the city, then the famine [is] in the city and we have died there; and if we have sat here, then we have died; and now, come and we go down to the camp of Aram; if they keep us alive, we live, and if they put us to death—we have died." ⁵ And they rise in the twilight, to go to the camp of Aram, and they come to the extremity of the camp of Aram, and behold, there is not a man there, ⁶ seeing YHWH has caused the camp of Aram to hear a noise of chariot and a noise of horse—a noise of great force, and they say to one another, "Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of Egypt, to come against us." ⁷ And they rise and flee in the twilight, and forsake their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys—the camp as it [is]—and flee for their life. ⁸ And these lepers come to the extremity of the camp, and come into one tent, and eat, and drink, and lift up silver, and gold, and garments from there, and go and hide; and they turn back and go into another tent, and lift up from there, and go and hide. ⁹ And they say to one another, "We are not doing right this day; it [is] a day of tidings, and we are keeping silent; and we have waited until the morning light, then punishment has found us; and now, come and we go in and declare [it] to the house of the king." ¹⁰ And they come in, and call to the gatekeeper of the city, and declare for themselves, saying, "We have come to the camp of Aram, and behold, there is no man or sound of man there, but the bound horse, and the bound donkey, and tents as they [are]." ¹¹ And he calls the gatekeepers, and they declare [it] to the house of the king within. ¹² And the king rises by night and says to his servants, "Now let me declare to you that which the Arameans have done to us; they have known that we are famished, and they go out from the camp to be hidden in the field, saying, When they come out from the city, then we catch them alive, and we enter into the city." ¹³ And one of his servants answers and says, "Then please let them take five of the horses that are left, that have been left in it—behold, they [are] as all the multitude of Israel who have been left in it; behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel who have been consumed—and we send and see." ¹⁴ And they take two chariot-horses, and the king sends [them] after the camp of Aram, saying, "Go, and see." ¹⁵ And they go after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way is full of garments and vessels that the Arameans have cast away in their haste, and the messengers return and declare [it] to the king. ¹⁶ And the people go out and spoil the camp of Aram, and there is a measure of fine flour at a shekel, and two measures of barley at a shekel, according to the word of YHWH. ¹⁷ And the king has appointed the captain, by whose hand he is supported, over the gate, and the people tread him down in the gate, and he dies, as the man of God spoke, which he spoke in the coming down of the king to him, ¹⁸ indeed, it comes to pass, according to the speaking of the man of God to the king, saying, "Two measures of barley at a shekel, and a measure of fine flour at a shekel are, at this time tomorrow, in the Gate of Samaria"; ¹⁹ and the captain answers the man of God and says, "And behold, YHWH is making windows in the heavens—will this thing be?" And he says, "Behold, you are seeing it with your eyes, and you do not eat thereof"; ²⁰ and it comes to him so, and the people tread him down in the gate, and he dies.

Chapter 8

¹ And Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had revived, saying, "Rise and go, you and your household, and sojourn where you sojourn, for YHWH has called for a famine, and also, it is coming to the land [for] seven years." ² And the woman rises, and does according to the word of the man of God, and goes, she and her household, and sojourns in the land of the Philistines [for] seven years. ³ And it comes to pass, at the end of seven years, that the woman turns back from the land of the Philistines, and goes out to cry to the king for her house and for her field. ⁴ And the king is speaking to Gehazi, servant of the man of God, saying, "Please recount to me the whole of the great things that Elisha has done." ⁵ And it comes to pass, he is recounting to the king how he had revived the dead, and behold, the woman whose son he had revived is crying to the king for her house and for her field, and Gehazi says, "My lord, O king, this [is] the woman, and this [is] her son, whom Elisha revived." ⁶ And the king inquires of the woman, and she recounts to him, and the king appoints a certain eunuch to her, saying, "Give back all that she has, and all the increase of the field from the day of her leaving the land even until now." ⁷ And Elisha comes to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram is sick, and it is declared to him, saying, "The man of God has come here." ⁸ And the king says to Hazael, "Take a present in your hand, and go to meet the man of God, and you have sought YHWH by him, saying, Do I revive from this sickness?" ⁹ And Hazael goes to meet him, and takes a present in his hand, even of every good thing of Damascus, a burden of forty camels, and he comes in and stands before him, and says, "Your son Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, has sent me to you, saying, Do I revive from this sickness?" ¹⁰ And Elisha says to him, "Go, say, You certainly do not revive, seeing [that] YHWH has showed me that he surely dies." ¹¹ And he sets his face, indeed, he sets [it] until he is ashamed, and the man of God weeps. ¹² And Hazael says, "Why is my lord weeping?" And he says, "Because I have known the evil that you do to the sons of Israel—you send their fortifications into fire, and you slay their young men with sword, and you dash their sucklings to pieces, and you rip up their pregnant women." ¹³ And Hazael says, "But what [is] your servant—the dog, that he does this great thing?" And Elisha says, "YHWH has showed me you—king of Aram." ¹⁴ And he goes from Elisha, and comes to his lord, and he says to him, "What did Elisha say to you?" And he says, "He said to me, You certainly recover." ¹⁵ And it comes to pass on the next day, that he takes the coarse cloth, and dips [it] in water, and spreads [it] on his face, and he dies, and Hazael reigns in his stead. ¹⁶ And in the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel—and Jehoshaphat [is] king of Judah—Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, has reigned; ¹⁷ he was a son of thirty-two years in his reigning, and he has reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ And he walks in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab did, for a daughter of Ahab was to him for a wife, and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH, ¹⁹ and YHWH was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of His servant David, as He said to him, to give a lamp to him—to his sons [for] all the days. ²⁰ In his days Edom has revolted from under the hand of Judah, and they cause a king to reign over them, ²¹ and Joram passes over to Zair, and all the chariots with him, and he himself has risen by night, and strikes Edom that is coming around to him, and the heads of the chariots, and the people flee to their tents; ²² and Edom revolts from under the hand of Judah until this day; then Libnah revolts at that time. ²³ And the rest of the matters of Joram and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁴ And Joram lies with his fathers, and is buried with his fathers in the City of David, and his son Ahaziah reigns in his stead. ²⁵ In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram, king of Judah, has reigned; ²⁶ Ahaziah [is] a son of twenty-two years in his reigning, and he has reigned one year in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Athaliah daughter of Omri, king of Israel, ²⁷ and he walks in the way of the house of Ahab, and does evil in the eyes of YHWH, like the house of Ahab, for he [is] son-in-law of the house of Ahab. ²⁸ And he goes with Joram son of Ahab to battle with Hazael king of Aram in Ramoth-Gilead, and the Arameans strike Joram, ²⁹ and Joram the king turns back to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds with which the Arameans strike him in Ramah, in his fighting with Hazael king of Aram, and Ahaziah son of Jehoram, king of Judah, has gone down to see Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he is sick.

Chapter 9

¹ And Elisha the prophet has called to one of the sons of the prophets and says to him, "Gird up your loins, and take this vial of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-Gilead, ² and you have gone in there, and see Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, there, and you have gone in, and caused him to rise out of the midst of his brothers, and brought him into the inner part of an inner-chamber, ³ and taken the vial of oil, and poured [it] on his head, and said, Thus said YHWH: I have anointed you for king to Israel; and you have opened the door, and fled, and do not wait." ⁴ And the young man goes—the young man the prophet—to Ramoth-Gilead, ⁵ and comes in, and behold, chiefs of the force are sitting, and he says, "I have a word for you, O chief!" And Jehu says, "To which of all of us?" And he says, "To you, O chief." ⁶ And he rises and comes into the house, and he pours the oil on his head, and says to him, "Thus said YHWH, God of Israel: I have anointed you for king to the people of YHWH, to Israel, ⁷ and you have struck the house of your lord Ahab, and I have required the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of YHWH, from the hand of Jezebel; ⁸ and all the house of Ahab has perished, and I have cut off from Ahab those sitting on the wall, and restrained, and left, in Israel, ⁹ and I have given up the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and as the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, ¹⁰ and dogs eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there is none burying"; and he opens the door and flees. ¹¹ And Jehu has gone out to the servants of his lord, and [one] says to him, "Is there peace? Why did this madman come to you?" And he says to them, "You have known the man and his talk." ¹² And they say, "False! Declare to us now"; and he says, "He spoke thus and thus to me, saying, Thus said YHWH: I have anointed you for king to Israel." ¹³ And they hurry—each [one]—and take his garment, and put [it] under him at the top of the stairs, and blow with a horn, and say, "Jehu has reigned!" ¹⁴ And Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspires against Joram. And Joram was keeping in Ramoth-Gilead, he and all Israel, from the presence of Hazael king of Aram, ¹⁵ and King Joram turns back to be healed in Jezreel, of the wounds with which the Arameans strike him in his fighting with Hazael king of Aram. And Jehu says, "If it is your mind, do not let an escaped one go out from the city, to go to declare [it] in Jezreel." ¹⁶ And Jehu rides, and goes to Jezreel, for Joram is lying there, and Ahaziah king of Judah has gone down to see Joram. ¹⁷ And the watchman is standing on the tower in Jezreel, and sees the company of Jehu in his coming, and says, "I see a company"; and Joram says, "Take a rider and send [him] to meet them, and let him say, Is there peace?" ¹⁸ And the rider on the horse goes to meet him and says, "Thus said the king: Is there peace?" And Jehu says, "And what is peace to you? Turn around behind me." And the watchman declares, saying, "The messenger came to them, and he has not returned." ¹⁹ And he sends a second rider on a horse, and he comes to them and says, "Thus said the king: Is there peace?" And Jehu says, "And what is peace to you? Turn around behind me." ²⁰ And the watchman declares, saying, "He came to them, and he has not returned, and the driving [is] like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi, for he drives with madness." ²¹ And Jehoram says, "Harness"; and his chariot is harnessed, and Jehoram king of Israel goes out, and Ahaziah king of Judah, each in his chariot, and they go out to meet Jehu, and find him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. ²² And it comes to pass, at Jehoram's seeing Jehu, that he says, "Is there peace, Jehu?" And he says, "What [is] the peace, while the whoredoms of your mother Jezebel, and her witchcrafts, are many?" ²³ And Jehoram turns his hands and flees, and says to Ahaziah, "Deceit, O Ahaziah!" ²⁴ And Jehu has filled his hand with a bow, and strikes Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow goes out from his heart, and he bows down in his chariot. ²⁵ And [Jehu] says to his captain Bidkar, "Lift up, cast him into the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite—for remember, you and I were riding together after his father Ahab, and YHWH lifted this burden on him: ²⁶ Have I not seen the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons last night—a declaration of YHWH—indeed, I have repaid to you in this portion—a declaration of YHWH—and now, lift up, cast him into the portion, according to the word of YHWH." ²⁷ And Ahaziah king of Judah has seen, and flees the way of the garden-house, and Jehu pursues after him, and says, "Strike him—also him—in the chariot," in the going up to Gur, that [is] Ibleam, and he flees to Megiddo, and dies there, ²⁸ and his servants carry him to Jerusalem in a chariot, and bury him in his burying-place with his fathers in the City of David. ²⁹ And in the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah reigned over Judah. ³⁰ And Jehu comes to Jezreel, and Jezebel has heard, and puts her eyes in paint and beautifies her head, and looks out through the window. ³¹ And Jehu has come into the gate, and she says, "Was there peace [for] Zimri—slayer of his lord?" ³² And he lifts up his face to the window and says, "Who [is] with me? Who?" And two [or] three eunuchs look out to him; ³³ and he says, "Let her go"; and they let her go, and [some] of her blood is sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses, and he treads her down. ³⁴ And he comes in, and eats, and drinks, and says, "Now look after this cursed one and bury her, for she [is] a king's daughter." ³⁵ And they go to bury her, and have not found [anything] of her except the skull, and the feet, and the palms of the hands. ³⁶ And they turn back, and declare [it] to him, and he says, "It [is] the word of YHWH that He spoke by the hand of this servant, Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel the dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel, ³⁷ and the carcass of Jezebel has been as dung on the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, that they do not say, This [is] Jezebel."

Chapter 10

¹ And Ahab has seventy sons in Samaria, and Jehu writes letters, and sends [them] to Samaria, to the heads of Jezreel, the elderly, and to those supporting Ahab, saying, ² "And now, at the coming in of this letter to you, and sons of your lord [are] with you, and the chariots and the horses, and a fortified city, and the armor, [are] with you, ³ that you have seen the best and the most upright of the sons of your lord, and have set [him] on the throne of his father, and fight for the house of your lord." ⁴ And they fear very greatly, and say, "Behold, the two kings have not stood before him, and how do we stand—we?" ⁵ And he who [is] over the house, and he who [is] over the city, and the elderly, and those supporting, send to Jehu, saying, "We [are] your servants, and all that you say to us we do; we do not make anyone king—do that which [is] good in your eyes." ⁶ And he writes a letter to them a second time, saying, "If you [are] for me, and are listening to my voice, take the heads of the men—the sons of your lord, and come to me about this time tomorrow, to Jezreel"; and the sons of the king [are] seventy men, with the great ones of the city—those bringing them up. ⁷ And it comes to pass, at the coming in of the letter to them, that they take the sons of the king, and slaughter seventy men, and put their heads in baskets, and send [them] to him at Jezreel, ⁸ and the messenger comes in, and declares [it] to him, saying, "They have brought in the heads of the sons of the king," and he says, "Make them two heaps at the opening of the gate until the morning." ⁹ And it comes to pass in the morning, that he goes out, and stands, and says to all the people, "You are righteous; behold, I have conspired against my lord, and slay him—and who struck all these? ¹⁰ Now you know that nothing falls of the word of YHWH to the earth that YHWH spoke against the house of Ahab, and YHWH has done that which He spoke by the hand of His servant Elijah." ¹¹ And Jehu strikes all those left to the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his acquaintances, and his priests, until he has not left a remnant to him. ¹² And he rises, and comes in and goes to Samaria; he [is] at the shepherds' shearing-house in the way, ¹³ and Jehu has found the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah and says, "Who [are] you?" And they say, "We [are] brothers of Ahaziah, and we go down to greet the sons of the king and the sons of the mistress." ¹⁴ And he says, "Catch them alive"; and they catch them alive, and slaughter them at the pit of the shearing-house, forty-two men, and he has not left [even one] man of them. ¹⁵ And he goes there, and finds Jehonadab son of Rechab to meet him, and blesses him, and says to him, "Is your heart right, as my heart [is] with your heart?" And Jehonadab says, "It is." "Then it is; give your hand"; and he gives his hand, and he causes him to come up into the chariot to him, ¹⁶ and says, "Come with me, and look on my zeal for YHWH"; and they cause him to ride in his chariot. ¹⁷ And he comes to Samaria, and strikes all those left to Ahab in Samaria, until his destroying him, according to the word of YHWH that He spoke to Elisha. ¹⁸ And Jehu gathers the whole of the people and says to them, "Ahab served Ba'al a little—Jehu serves him much: ¹⁹ and now, all the prophets of Ba'al, all his servants, and all his priests, call to me; do not let a man be lacking, for I have a great sacrifice for Ba'al; everyone who is lacking—he does not live"; and Jehu has done [it] in subtlety, in order to destroy the servants of Ba'al. ²⁰ And Jehu says, "Sanctify a restraint for Ba'al"; and they proclaim [it]. ²¹ And Jehu sends into all Israel, and all the servants of Ba'al come in, and there has not been left a man who has not come in; and they come into the house of Ba'al, and the house of Ba'al is full—mouth to mouth. ²² And he says to him who [is] over the wardrobe, "Bring out clothing for all those serving Ba'al"; and he brings out the clothing to them. ²³ And Jehu goes in—and Jehonadab son of Rechab—to the house of Ba'al, and says to the servants of Ba'al, "Search and see, lest there be [any] from the servants of YHWH here with you—but [only] the servants of Ba'al by themselves." ²⁴ And they come in to make sacrifices and burnt-offerings, and Jehu has set eighty men for himself in an out-place, and says, "The man who lets [any] of the men whom I am bringing into your hand escape—his soul for his soul." ²⁵ And it comes to pass, at his finishing to make the burnt-offering, that Jehu says to the runners and to the captains, "Go in, strike them, let none come out"; and they strike them by the mouth of the sword, and the runners and the captains cast [them] out; and they go to the city, to the house of Ba'al, ²⁶ and bring out the standing-pillars of the house of Ba'al, and burn them, ²⁷ and break down the standing-pillar of Ba'al, and break down the house of Ba'al, and appoint it for a latrine to this day. ²⁸ And Jehu destroys Ba'al out of Israel, ²⁹ only [not]—the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, that he caused Israel to sin, Jehu has not turned aside from after them—the calves of gold that [are] at Beth-El and in Dan. ³⁰ And YHWH says to Jehu, "Because that you have done well, to do that which [is] right in My eyes—according to all that [is] in My heart you have done to the house of Ahab—the sons of the fourth [generation] sit on the throne of Israel for you." ³¹ And Jehu has not taken heed to walk in the Law of YHWH, God of Israel, with all his heart; he has not turned aside from the sins of Jeroboam that he caused Israel to sin. ³² In those days YHWH has begun to cut off [some] in Israel, and Hazael strikes them in all the border of Israel, ³³ from the Jordan, at the sun-rising: the whole land of Gilead, of the Gadite, and the Reubenite, and the Manassite (from Aroer, that [is] by the Brook of Arnon), even Gilead and Bashan. ³⁴ And the rest of the matters of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ³⁵ And Jehu lies with his fathers, and they bury him in Samaria, and his son Jehoahaz reigns in his stead. ³⁶ And the days that Jehu has reigned over Israel in Samaria [are] twenty-eight years.

Chapter 11

¹ And Athaliah [is] mother of Ahaziah, and she has seen that her son [is] dead, and she rises, and destroys all the seed of the kingdom; ² and Jehosheba daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, takes Joash son of Ahaziah, and steals him out of the midst of the sons of the king who are put to death, him and his nurse, in the inner part of the bed-chambers, and they hide him from the presence of Athaliah, and he has not been put to death, ³ and he is with her, in the house of YHWH, hiding himself, six years, and Athaliah is reigning over the land. ⁴ And in the seventh year Jehoiada has sent and takes the heads of the hundreds, of the executioners and of the runners, and brings them to him, into the house of YHWH, and makes a covenant with them, and causes them to swear in the house of YHWH, and shows them the son of the king, ⁵ and commands them, saying, "This [is] the thing that you do; the third of you [are] going in on the Sabbath, and keepers of the charge of the house of the king, ⁶ and the third [is] at the Gate of Sur, and the third at the gate behind the runners, and you have kept the charge of the house pulled down; ⁷ and two parts of you, all going out on the Sabbath—they have kept the charge of the house of YHWH about the king, ⁸ and you have surrounded the king all around, each with his weapons in his hand, and he who is coming to the ranges is put to death; and be with the king in his going out and in his coming in." ⁹ And the heads of the hundreds do according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and take—each [one]—his men going in on the Sabbath, with those going out on the Sabbath, and come to Jehoiada the priest, ¹⁰ and the priest gives to the heads of the hundreds the spears and the shields that King David had, that [are] in the house of YHWH. ¹¹ And the runners stand, each with his weapons in his hand, from the right shoulder of the house to the left shoulder of the house, by the altar and by the house, by the king all around; ¹² and he brings out the son of the king, and puts the crown on him, and the Testimony, and they make him king, and anoint him, and strike the hand, and say, "Let the king live." ¹³ And Athaliah hears the voice of the runners [and] of the people, and she comes to the people [in] the house of YHWH, ¹⁴ and looks, and behold, the king is standing by the pillar, according to the ordinance, and the heads and the trumpets [are] by the king, and all the people of the land are rejoicing and blowing with trumpets, and Athaliah tears her garments, and calls, "Conspiracy! Conspiracy!" ¹⁵ And Jehoiada the priest commands the heads of the hundreds, inspectors of the force, and says to them, "Bring her out to the outside of the ranges, and him who is going after her, put to death by the sword": for the priest had said, "Do not let her be put to death in the house of YHWH." ¹⁶ And they make sides for her, and she enters the way of the entering in of the horses to the house of the king, and is put to death there. ¹⁷ And Jehoiada makes the covenant between YHWH and the king and the people, to be for a people to YHWH, and between the king and the people. ¹⁸ And all the people of the land go to the house of Ba'al, and break it down; they have thoroughly broken its altars and its images, and they have slain Mattan priest of Ba'al before the altars; and the priest sets inspectors over the house of YHWH, ¹⁹ and takes the heads of the hundreds, and the executioners, and the runners, and all the people of the land, and they bring down the king from the house of YHWH, and come by the way of the gate of the runners, to the house of the king, and he sits on the throne of the kings. ²⁰ And all the people of the land rejoice, and the city [is] quiet, and they have put Athaliah to death by the sword in the house of the king; ²¹ Jehoash is a son of seven years in his reigning.

Chapter 12

¹ In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash has reigned, and he has reigned forty years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Zibiah of Beer-Sheba, ² and Jehoash does that which is right in the eyes of YHWH all his days in which Jehoiada the priest directed him, ³ only, the high places have not been removed—the people are still sacrificing and making incense in high places. ⁴ And Jehoash says to the priests, "All the money of the sanctified things that is brought into the house of YHWH, the money of him who is passing over, the money of each of the souls—his valuation, all the money that goes up on the heart of a man to bring into the house of YHWH, ⁵ the priests take to themselves, each from his acquaintance, and they strengthen the breach of the house in all [places] there where a breach is found." ⁶ And it comes to pass, in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests have not strengthened the breach of the house, ⁷ and King Jehoash calls to Jehoiada the priest, and to the priests, and says to them, "Why are you not strengthening the breach of the house? And now, receive no money from your acquaintances, but give it for the breach of the house." ⁸ And the priests do not consent to receive money from the people, nor to strengthen the breach of the house, ⁹ and Jehoiada the priest takes a chest, and pierces a hole in its lid, and puts it near the altar, on the right side, as one comes into the house of YHWH, and the priests keeping the threshold have put all the money there that is brought into the house of YHWH. ¹⁰ And it comes to pass, at their seeing that the money [is] abundant in the chest, that there goes up a scribe of the king, and of the high priest, and they bind [it] up, and count the money that is found [in] the house of YHWH, ¹¹ and have given the weighed money into the hands of those doing the work, those inspecting the house of YHWH, and they bring it out to those working in the wood, and to builders who are working in the house of YHWH, ¹² and to those [repairing] the wall, and to hewers of stone, and to buy wood and hewn stones to strengthen the breach of the house of YHWH, and for all that goes out on the house, to strengthen it. ¹³ Only, there is not made for the house of YHWH basins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, any vessel of gold, and vessel of silver, out of the money that is brought into the house of YHWH; ¹⁴ for they give it to those doing the work, and they have strengthened the house of YHWH with it, ¹⁵ and they do not reckon with the men into whose hand they give the money to give to those doing the work, for they are dealing in faithfulness. ¹⁶ The money of a trespass-offering and the money of sin-offerings is not brought into the house of YHWH—it is for the priests. ¹⁷ Then Hazael king of Aram goes up and fights against Gath, and captures it, and Hazael sets his face to go up against Jerusalem; ¹⁸ and Jehoash king of Judah takes all the sanctified things that Jehoshaphat, and Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had sanctified, and his own sanctified things, and all the gold that is found in the treasures of the house of YHWH and of the house of the king, and sends [them] to Hazael king of Aram, and he goes up from off Jerusalem. ¹⁹ And the rest of the matters of Joash and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁰ And his servants rise, and make a conspiracy, and strike Joash in the house of Millo, that is going down to Silla. ²¹ Indeed, Jozachar son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad son of Shemer, his servants, have struck him, and he dies, and they bury him with his fathers in the City of David, and his son Amaziah reigns in his stead.

Chapter 13

¹ In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu has reigned over Israel in Samaria, seventeen years, ² and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH, and goes after the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, that he caused Israel to sin—he did not turn aside from it, ³ and the anger of YHWH burns against Israel, and He gives them into the hand of Hazael king of Aram, and into the hand of Ben-Hadad son of Hazael, all the days. ⁴ And Jehoahaz appeases the face of YHWH, and YHWH listens to him, for He has seen the oppression of Israel, for the king of Aram has oppressed them— ⁵ and YHWH gives a savior to Israel, and they go out from under the hand of Aram, and the sons of Israel dwell in their tents as before; ⁶ only, they have not turned aside from the sins of the house of Jeroboam that he caused Israel to sin, therein they walked, and also, the Asherah has remained in Samaria— ⁷ for he did not leave to Jehoahaz of the people except fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Aram has destroyed them, and makes them as dust for threshing. ⁸ And the rest of the matters of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ⁹ And Jehoahaz lies with his fathers, and they bury him in Samaria, and his son Joash reigns in his stead. ¹⁰ In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz has reigned over Israel in Samaria, sixteen years, ¹¹ and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH, he has not turned aside from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin, therein he walked. ¹² And the rest of the matters of Joash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ¹³ And Joash lies with his fathers, and Jeroboam has sat on his throne, and Joash is buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. ¹⁴ And Elisha has been sick with his sickness in which he dies, and Joash king of Israel comes down to him and weeps on his face, and says, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and its horsemen." ¹⁵ And Elisha says to him, "Take bow and arrows": and he takes bow and arrows for himself. ¹⁶ And he says to the king of Israel, "Place your hand on the bow"; and he places his hand, and Elisha puts his hands on the hands of the king, ¹⁷ and says, "Open the window eastward"; and he opens, and Elisha says, "Shoot," and he shoots; and he says, "An arrow of salvation from YHWH, and an arrow of salvation against Aram, and you have struck Aram, in Aphek, until consuming." ¹⁸ And he says, "Take the arrows," and he takes; and he says to the king of Israel, "Strike to the earth"; and he strikes three times, and stays. ¹⁹ And the man of God is angry against him and says, "By striking five or six times then you had struck Aram until consuming; but now you [only] strike Aram three times." ²⁰ And Elisha dies, and they bury him, and troops of Moab come into the land at the coming in of the year, ²¹ and it comes to pass, they are burying a man, and behold, they have seen the troop, and cast the man into the grave of Elisha, and the man goes and comes against the bones of Elisha, and lives, and rises on his feet. ²² And Hazael king of Aram has oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz, ²³ and YHWH favors them, and pities them, and turns to them for the sake of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and has not been willing to destroy them, nor to cast them from His presence as yet. ²⁴ And Hazael king of Aram dies, and his son Ben-Hadad reigns in his stead, ²⁵ and Jehoash son of Jehoahaz turns and takes the cities out of the hand of Ben-Hadad son of Hazael that he had taken out of the hand of his father Jehoahaz in war; Joash has struck him three times, and he brings back the cities of Israel.

Chapter 14

¹ In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, has reigned; ² he was a son of twenty-five years in his reigning, and he has reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Jehoaddan of Jerusalem, ³ and he does that which [is] right in the eyes of YHWH, only not like his father David; he has done according to all that his father Joash did, ⁴ only, the high places have not been removed—the people are still sacrificing and making incense in high places. ⁵ And it comes to pass, when the kingdom has been strong in his hand, that he strikes his servants, those striking his father the king, ⁶ and the sons of those striking [him] he has not put to death, as it is written in the Scroll of the Law of Moses that YHWH commanded, saying, "Fathers are not put to death for sons, and sons are not put to death for fathers, but each is put to death for his own sin." ⁷ He has struck ten thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt, and seized Selah in war, and [one] calls its name Joktheel to this day, ⁸ then Amaziah has sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, "Come, we look one another in the face." ⁹ And Jehoash king of Israel sends to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, "The thorn that [is] in Lebanon has sent to the cedar that [is] in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son for a wife; and a beast of the field that [is] in Lebanon passes by, and treads down the thorn. ¹⁰ You have certainly struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up; be honored, and abide in your house; and why do you stir yourself up in evil, that you have fallen, you and Judah with you?" ¹¹ And Amaziah has not listened, and Jehoash king of Israel goes up, and they look one another in the face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, in Beth-Shemesh, that [is] Judah's, ¹² and Judah is struck before Israel, and they each flee to his tent. ¹³ And Jehoash king of Israel caught Amaziah king of Judah, son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, in Beth-Shemesh, and they come to Jerusalem, and he bursts through the wall of Jerusalem, at the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits, ¹⁴ and has taken all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that are found in the house of YHWH, and in the treasures of the house of the king, and the sons of the pledges, and turns back to Samaria. ¹⁵ And the rest of the matters of Jehoash that he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ¹⁶ And Jehoash lies with his fathers, and is buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and his son Jeroboam reigns in his stead. ¹⁷ And Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, lives after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, fifteen years, ¹⁸ and the rest of the matters of Amaziah, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ¹⁹ And they make a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he flees to Lachish, and they send after him to Lachish, and put him to death there, ²⁰ and lift him up on the horses, and he is buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the City of David. ²¹ And all the people of Judah take Azariah, and he [is] a son of sixteen years, and cause him to reign instead of his father Amaziah; ²² he has built Elath, and brings it back to Judah, after the lying of the king with his fathers. ²³ In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel, has reigned in Samaria, forty-one years, ²⁴ and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH; he has not turned aside from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin. ²⁵ He has brought back the border of Israel, from the entering in of Hamath to the sea of the desert, according to the word of YHWH, God of Israel, that He spoke by the hand of His servant Jonah son of Amittai the prophet, who [is] of Gath-Hepher, ²⁶ for YHWH has seen the very bitter affliction of Israel, and there is none restrained, and there is none left, and there is no helper for Israel; ²⁷ and YHWH has not spoken to blot out the name of Israel from under the heavens, and saves them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Joash. ²⁸ And the rest of the matters of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought, and with which he brought back Damascus, and Hamath of Judah, into Israel, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ²⁹ And Jeroboam lies with his fathers, with the kings of Israel, and his son Zechariah reigns in his stead.

Chapter 15

¹ In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah, king of Judah, has reigned; ² he was a son of sixteen years in his reigning, and he has reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Jecholiah of Jerusalem, ³ and he does that which [is] right in the eyes of YHWH, according to all that his father Amaziah did, ⁴ only, the high places have not been removed—the people are still sacrificing and making incense in high places. ⁵ And YHWH strikes the king, and he is a leper to the day of his death, and he dwells in a separate house, and Jotham son of the king [is] over the house, judging the people of the land. ⁶ And the rest of the matters of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ⁷ And Azariah lies with his fathers, and they bury him with his fathers in the city of David, and his son Jotham reigns in his stead. ⁸ In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam has reigned over Israel in Samaria, six months, ⁹ and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH as his fathers did; he has not turned aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin. ¹⁰ And Shallum son of Jabesh conspires against him, and strikes him before the people, and puts him to death, and reigns in his stead. ¹¹ And the rest of the matters of Zechariah, behold, they are written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ¹² It [is] the word of YHWH that He spoke to Jehu, saying, "Sons of the fourth [generation] sit on the throne of Israel for you"; and it is so. ¹³ Shallum son of Jabesh has reigned in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigns a month of days in Samaria; ¹⁴ and Menahem son of Gadi goes up from Tirzah and comes to Samaria, and strikes Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria, and puts him to death, and reigns in his stead. ¹⁵ And the rest of the matters of Shallum and his conspiracy that he made, behold, they are written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ¹⁶ Then Menahem strikes Tiphsah, and all who [are] in it, and its borders from Tirzah, for it did not open [to him], and he strikes [it], [and] he has ripped up all its pregnant women. ¹⁷ In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi has reigned over Israel in Samaria, ten years. ¹⁸ And he does evil in the eyes of YHWH; he has not turned aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin, all his days. ¹⁹ Pul king of Asshur has come against the land, and Menahem gives one thousand talents of silver to Pul, for his hand being with him to strengthen the kingdom in his hand. ²⁰ And Menahem brings out the silver [from] Israel, [from] all the mighty men of wealth, to give to the king of Asshur, fifty shekels of silver for each one, and the king of Asshur turns back and has not stayed there in the land. ²¹ And the rest of the matters of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ²² And Menahem lies with his fathers, and his son Pekahiah reigns in his stead. ²³ In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem has reigned over Israel in Samaria, two years, ²⁴ and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH; he has not turned aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin. ²⁵ And Pekah son of Remaliah, his captain, conspires against him, and strikes him in Samaria, in the high place of the house of the king with Argob and Arieh; and fifty men of the sons of the Gileadites [were] with him, and he puts him to death, and reigns in his stead. ²⁶ And the rest of the matters of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold, they are written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ²⁷ In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah has reigned over Israel in Samaria, twenty years, ²⁸ and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH, he has not turned aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin. ²⁹ In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Asshur has come, and takes Ijon, and Abel-Beth-Maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and removes them to Asshur. ³⁰ And Hoshea son of Elah makes a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah, and strikes him, and puts him to death, and reigns in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah. ³¹ And the rest of the matters of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ³² In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, has reigned. ³³ He was a son of twenty-five years in his reigning, and he has reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Jerusha daughter of Zadok, ³⁴ and he does that which [is] right in the eyes of YHWH; he has done according to all that his father Uzziah did. ³⁵ Only, the high places have not been removed—the people are still sacrificing and making incense in high places; he has built the high gate of the house of YHWH. ³⁶ And the rest of the matters of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ³⁷ In those days YHWH has begun to send Rezin king of Amram and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah. ³⁸ And Jotham lies with his fathers, and is buried with his fathers in the city of his father David, and his son Ahaz reigns in his stead.

Chapter 16

¹ In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham, king of Judah, has reigned. ² Ahaz [is] a son of twenty years in his reigning, and he has reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and he has not done that which [is] right in the eyes of his God YHWH, like his father David, ³ and he walks in the way of the kings of Israel, and he has also caused his son to pass over into fire, according to the abominations of the nations that YHWH dispossessed from the presence of the sons of Israel, ⁴ and he sacrifices and makes incense in high places, and on the heights, and under every green tree. ⁵ Then Rezin king of Aram, and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, go up to Jerusalem, to battle, and they lay siege to Ahaz, and they have not been able to fight. ⁶ At that time Rezin king of Aram has brought back Elath to Aram, and casts out the Jews from Elath, and the Arameans have come to Elath, and dwell there to this day. ⁷ And Ahaz sends messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Asshur, saying, "I [am] your servant and your son; come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me." ⁸ And Ahaz takes the silver and the gold that is found in the house of YHWH, and in the treasures of the house of the king, and sends to the king of Asshur [as] a bribe. ⁹ And the king of Asshur listens to him, and the king of Asshur goes up to Damascus, and seizes it, and removes [the people of] it to Kir, and he has put Rezin to death. ¹⁰ And King Ahaz goes to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Asshur [at] Damascus, and sees the altar that [is] in Damascus, and King Ahaz sends to Urijah the priest the likeness of the altar, and its pattern, according to all its work, ¹¹ and Urijah the priest builds the altar according to all that King Ahaz has sent from Damascus; so Urijah the priest did until the coming in of King Ahaz from Damascus. ¹² And the king comes in from Damascus, and the king sees the altar, and the king draws near on the altar, and offers on it, ¹³ and burns his burnt-offering and his present as incense, and pours out his drink-offering, and sprinkles the blood of the peace-offerings that he has, on the altar. ¹⁴ As for the altar of bronze that [is] before YHWH—he brings [it] near from the front of the house, from between the altar and the house of YHWH, and puts it on the side of the altar, northward. ¹⁵ And King Ahaz commands him—Urijah the priest—saying, "On the great altar burn as incense the burnt-offering of the morning, and the present of the evening, and the burnt-offering of the king, and his present, and the burnt-offering of all the people of the land, and their present, and their drink-offerings; and all the blood of the burnt-offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice, you sprinkle on it, and the altar of bronze is for me to inquire [by]." ¹⁶ And Urijah the priest does according to all that King Ahaz commanded. ¹⁷ And King Ahaz cuts off the borders of the bases, and turns aside the laver from off them, and he has taken down the sea from off the bronze oxen that [are] under it, and puts it on a pavement of stones. ¹⁸ And the covered place for the Sabbath that they built in the house, and the entrance of the king outside, he turned [from] the house of YHWH, because of the king of Asshur. ¹⁹ And the rest of the matters of Ahaz that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁰ And Ahaz lies with his fathers, and is buried with his fathers in the City of David, and his son Hezekiah reigns in his stead.

Chapter 17

¹ In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah has reigned over Israel in Samaria, nine years, ² and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH, only, not as the kings of Israel who were before him; ³ Shalmaneser king of Asshur came up against him, and Hoshea is a servant to him, and renders a present to him. ⁴ And the king of Asshur finds in Hoshea a conspiracy, in that he has sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and has not caused a present to go up to the king of Asshur, as year by year, and the king of Asshur restrains him, and binds him in a house of restraint. ⁵ And the king of Asshur goes up into all the land, and he goes up to Samaria, and lays siege against it [for] three years; ⁶ in the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Asshur has captured Samaria, and removes Israel to Asshur, and causes them to dwell in Halah, and in Habor, [by] the river Gozan, and [in] the cities of the Medes. ⁷ And it comes to pass, because the sons of Israel have sinned against their God YHWH—who brings them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt—and fear other gods, ⁸ and walk in the statutes of the nations that YHWH dispossessed from the presence of the sons of Israel, and of the kings of Israel that they made; ⁹ and the sons of Israel covertly do things that [are] not right against their God YHWH, and build high places for themselves in all their cities, from a tower of the watchers to the fortified city, ¹⁰ and set up standing-pillars and Asherim for themselves on every high height, and under every green tree, ¹¹ and make incense there in all high places, like the nations that YHWH removed from their presence, and do evil things to provoke YHWH, ¹² and serve the idols, of which YHWH said to them, "You do not do this thing." ¹³ And YHWH testifies against Israel, and against Judah, by the hand of every prophet, and every seer, saying, "Turn back from your evil ways, and keep My commands, My statutes, according to all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by the hand of My servants the prophets"; ¹⁴ and they have not listened, and harden their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who did not remain steadfast in their God YHWH, ¹⁵ and reject His statutes and His covenant that He made with their fathers, and His testimonies that He testified against them, and go after the vain thing, and become vain, and after the nations that are around them, of whom YHWH commanded them not to do like them. ¹⁶ And they forsake all the commands of their God YHWH, and make a molten image for themselves—two calves, and make an Asherah, and bow themselves to all the host of the heavens, and serve Ba'al, ¹⁷ and cause their sons and their daughters to pass over through fire, and divine divinations, and use enchantments, and sell themselves to do evil in the eyes of YHWH, to provoke Him. ¹⁸ And YHWH shows Himself very angry against Israel, and turns them aside from His presence; none has been left, only the tribe of Judah by itself. ¹⁹ Also Judah has not kept the commands of their God YHWH, and they walk in the statutes of Israel that they had made. ²⁰ And YHWH kicks against all the seed of Israel, and afflicts them, and gives them into the hand of spoilers, until He has cast them out of His presence, ²¹ for He has torn Israel from the house of David, and they make Jeroboam son of Nebat king, and Jeroboam drives Israel from after YHWH, and has caused them to sin a great sin, ²² and the sons of Israel walk in all the sins of Jeroboam that he did, they have not turned aside from them, ²³ until YHWH has turned Israel aside from His presence, as He spoke by the hand of all His servants the prophets, and Israel is removed from off its land to Asshur, to this day. ²⁴ And the king of Asshur brings in [people] from Babylon and from Cutha, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and causes [them] to dwell in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel, and they possess Samaria, and dwell in its cities; ²⁵ and it comes to pass, at the commencement of their dwelling there, they have not feared YHWH, and YHWH sends the lions among them, and they are destroying among them. ²⁶ And they speak to the king of Asshur, saying, "The nations that you have removed and place in the cities of Samaria have not known the custom of the God of the land, and He sends the lions among them, and behold, they are destroying them, as they do not know the custom of the God of the land." ²⁷ And the king of Asshur commands, saying, "Cause one of the priests to go there whom you removed from there, and they go and dwell there, and he teaches them the custom of the God of the land." ²⁸ And one of the priests whom they removed from Samaria comes in, and dwells in Beth-El, and he is teaching them how they fear YHWH, ²⁹ and each nation is making its gods, and they place [them] in the houses of the high places that the Samaritans have made—each nation in their cities where they are dwelling. ³⁰ And the men of Babylon have made Succoth-Benoth, and the men of Cuth have made Nergal, and the men of Hamath have made Ashima, ³¹ and the Avites have made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites are burning their sons with fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, gods of Sepharvim. ³² And they are fearing YHWH, and make for themselves from their extremities priests of high places, and they are working for them in the house of the high places. ³³ They are fearing YHWH, and they are serving their gods, according to the custom of the nations from where they removed them. ³⁴ To this day they are doing according to the former customs—they are not fearing YHWH, and are not doing according to their statutes, and according to their ordinances, and according to the Law, and according to the command, that YHWH commanded the sons of Jacob whose name He made Israel, ³⁵ and YHWH makes a covenant with them and charges them, saying, "You do not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them, ³⁶ but YHWH who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with an outstretched arm, Him you fear, and to Him you bow yourselves, and to Him you sacrifice; ³⁷ and the statutes, and the judgments, and the Law, and the command, that He wrote for you, you observe to do all the days, and you do not fear other gods; ³⁸ and you do not forget the covenant that I have made with you, and you do not fear other gods; ³⁹ but you fear your God YHWH, and He delivers you out of the hand of all your enemies"; ⁴⁰ and they have not listened, but they are doing according to their former custom, ⁴¹ and these nations are fearing YHWH, and they have served their carved images, both their sons and their sons' sons; as their fathers did, they are doing to this day.

Chapter 18

¹ And it comes to pass, in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz, king of Judah, has reigned; ² he was a son of twenty-five years in his reigning, and he has reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Abi daughter of Zechariah. ³ And he does that which [is] right in the eyes of YHWH, according to all that his father David did, ⁴ he has turned aside the high places, and broken in pieces the standing-pillars, and cut down the Asherah, and beaten down the bronze serpent that Moses made, for up to these days the sons of Israel were making incense to it, and he calls it "a piece of bronze." ⁵ In YHWH, God of Israel, he has trusted, and after him there has not been like him among all the kings of Judah, nor [among any] who were before him; ⁶ and he cleaves to YHWH, he has not turned aside from after Him, and keeps His commands that YHWH commanded Moses. ⁷ And YHWH has been with him; in every place where he goes out he acts wisely, and he rebels against the king of Asshur, and has not served him; ⁸ he has struck the Philistines, even to Gaza and its borders, from a tower of watchers to the fortified city. ⁹ And it comes to pass, in the fourth year of King Hezekiah—it [is] the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel—Shalmaneser king of Asshur has come up against Samaria and lays siege to it, ¹⁰ and they capture it at the end of three years; in the sixth year of Hezekiah—it [is] the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel—Samaria has been captured, ¹¹ and the king of Asshur removes Israel to Asshur, and placed them in Halah, and in Habor [by] the river Gozan, and [in] cities of the Medes, ¹² because that they have not listened to the voice of their God YHWH, and transgress His covenant—all that He commanded Moses, servant of YHWH—indeed, they have not listened nor done [it]. ¹³ And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Asshur has come up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and seizes them, ¹⁴ and Hezekiah king of Judah sends to the king of Asshur at Lachish, saying, "I have sinned, turn back from off me; that which you put on me I bear"; and the king of Asshur lays on Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold, ¹⁵ and Hezekiah gives all the silver that is found in the house of YHWH and in the treasures of the house of the king; ¹⁶ at that time Hezekiah has cut off the doors of the temple of YHWH, and the pillars that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gives them to the king of Asshur. ¹⁷ And the king of Asshur sends Tartan, and the chief of the eunuchs, and the chief of the butlers, from Lachish, to King Hezekiah, with a heavy force, to Jerusalem, and they go up and come to Jerusalem, and they go up, and come in and stand by the conduit of the upper pool that [is] in the highway of the fuller's field. ¹⁸ And they call to the king, and Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who [is] over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the remembrancer, go out to them. ¹⁹ And the chief of the butlers says to them, "Now say to Hezekiah, Thus said the great king, the king of Asshur: What [is] this confidence in which you have confided? ²⁰ You have said: Only a word of the lips! Counsel and might [are] for battle; now, on whom have you trusted that you have rebelled against me? ²¹ Now behold, you have trusted for yourself on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; which a man leans on, and it has gone into his hand and pierced it! So [is] Pharaoh king of Egypt to all those trusting on him. ²² And when you say to me, We have trusted in our God YHWH, is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has turned aside, and says to Judah and to Jerusalem, You bow yourselves before this altar in Jerusalem? ²³ And now, please give a pledge for yourself to my lord the king of Asshur, and I give two thousand horses to you, if you are able to give riders for yourself on them. ²⁴ And how do you turn back the face of one captain of the least of the servants of my lord, that you trust for yourself on Egypt for chariot and for horsemen? ²⁵ Have I now come up without YHWH against this place to destroy it? YHWH said to me, Go up against this land, and you have destroyed it." ²⁶ And Eliakim son of Hilkiah says—and Shebna and Joah—to the chief of the butlers, "Please speak to your servants [in] Aramaic, for we are understanding, but do not speak with us [in] Jewish, in the ears of the people who [are] on the wall." ²⁷ And the chief of the butlers says to them, "For your lord, and to you, has my lord sent me to speak these words? Is it not for the men—those sitting on the wall—to eat their own dung and to drink their own water, with you?" ²⁸ And the chief of the butlers stands and calls with a great voice [in] Jewish, and speaks and says, "Hear a word of the great king, the king of Asshur— ²⁹ thus said the king: Do not let Hezekiah lift you up, for he is not able to deliver you out of his hand; ³⁰ and do not let Hezekiah make you trust in YHWH, saying, YHWH certainly delivers us, and this city is not given into the hand of the king of Asshur. ³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus said the king of Asshur: Make a blessing with me, and come out to me, and each eat of his vine, and each [eat] of his fig tree, and each drink the waters of his own well, ³² until my coming in, and I have taken you to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil, and honey; and live, and do not die; and do not listen to Hezekiah when he persuades you, saying, YHWH delivers us. ³³ Have each of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Asshur? ³⁴ Where [are] the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where [are] the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah, that they have delivered Samaria out of my hand? ³⁵ Who [are they] among all the gods of the lands that have delivered their land out of my hand, that YHWH delivers Jerusalem out of my hand?" ³⁶ And the people have kept silent, and have not answered him a word, for the command of the king is, saying, "Do not answer him." ³⁷ And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who [is] over the house, comes in, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the remembrancer, to Hezekiah, with torn garments, and they declare to him the words of the chief of the butlers.

Chapter 19

¹ And it comes to pass, at King Hezekiah's hearing, that he tears his garments, and covers himself with sackcloth, and enters the house of YHWH, ² and sends Eliakim, who [is] over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the elderly of the priests, covering themselves with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz, ³ and they say to him, "Thus said Hezekiah: This day [is] a day of distress, and rebuke, and despising; for sons have come to the birth, and there is not power to bring forth. ⁴ It may be your God YHWH hears all the words of the chief of the butlers with which the king of Asshur his lord has sent him to reproach the living God, and has decided concerning the words that your God YHWH has heard, and you have lifted up prayer for the remnant that is found." ⁵ And the servants of King Hezekiah come to Isaiah, ⁶ and Isaiah says to them, "Thus you say to your lord, Thus said YHWH: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Asshur have reviled Me. ⁷ Behold, I am giving a spirit in him, and he has heard a report, and has turned back to his land, and I have caused him to fall by the sword in his land." ⁸ And the chief of the butlers turns back and finds the king of Asshur fighting against Libnah, for he has heard that he has journeyed from Lachish. ⁹ And he hears concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, saying, "Behold, he has come out to fight with you"; and he turns and sends messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ "Thus you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Do not let your God in whom you are trusting lift you up, saying, Jerusalem is not given into the hand of the king of Asshur. ¹¹ Behold, you have heard that which the kings of Asshur have done to all the lands—to devote them; and are you delivered? ¹² Did the gods of the nations deliver them whom my fathers destroyed—Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden, who [are] in Thelassar? ¹³ Where [is] the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?" ¹⁴ And Hezekiah takes the letters out of the hand of the messengers and reads them, and goes up to the house of YHWH, and Hezekiah spreads it before YHWH. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prays before YHWH and says, "O YHWH, God of Israel, inhabiting the cherubim, You [are] God Himself—You alone—to all the kingdoms of the earth: You have made the heavens and the earth. ¹⁶ Incline, O YHWH, Your ear, and hear; open, O YHWH, Your eyes, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib with which he has sent him to reproach the living God. ¹⁷ Truly, O YHWH, kings of Asshur have laid waste the nations and their land, ¹⁸ and have put their gods into fire, for they [are] no gods, but work of the hands of man, wood and stone, and destroy them. ¹⁹ And now, O our God YHWH, please save us out of his hand, and all kingdoms of the earth know that You [are] YHWH God—You alone." ²⁰ And Isaiah son of Amoz sends to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus said YHWH, God of Israel: That which you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Asshur I have heard; ²¹ this [is] the word that YHWH spoke concerning him: Trampled on you—laughed at you || Has the virgin daughter of Zion; Shaken the head behind you || Has the daughter of Jerusalem! ²² Whom have you reproached and reviled? And against whom lifted up a voice? Indeed, you lift up your eyes on high—Against the Holy One of Israel! ²³ By the hand of your messengers || You have reproached the Lord, and say, || In the multitude of my chariots I have come up to a high place of mountains—The sides of Lebanon, || And I cut down the height of its cedars, || The choice of its firs, || And I enter the lodging of its extremity, || The forest of its Carmel. ²⁴ I have dug, and drunk strange waters, || And I dry up with the sole of my steps || All floods of a bulwark. ²⁵ Have you not heard from afar [that] I made it, || From days of old that I formed it? Now I have brought it in, || And it becomes a desolation, || Ruinous heaps [are] fortified cities, ²⁶ And their inhabitants [are] feeble-handed, || They were broken down, and are dried up, || They have been the herb of the field, || And the greenness of the tender grass, || Grass of the roofs, || And blasted grain—before it has risen up! ²⁷ And your sitting down, and your going out, || And your coming in, I have known, || And your anger toward Me; ²⁸ Because of your anger toward Me, || And your noise—it came up into My ears, || I have put My hook in your nose, || And My bridle in your lips, || And have caused you to turn back || In the way in which you came. ²⁹ And this [is] the sign to you, || Food of the year [is] the spontaneous growth, || And in the second year the self-produced, || And in the third year you sow, and reap, || And plant vineyards, and eat their fruits. ³⁰ And it has continued—The escaped of the house of Judah || That has been left—to take root beneath, || And has made fruit upward. ³¹ For a remnant goes out from Jerusalem, || And an escape from Mount Zion; The zeal of YHWH [of Hosts] does this. ³² Therefore, thus said YHWH, || Concerning the king of Asshur: He does not come into this city, || Nor does he shoot an arrow there, || Nor does he come before it with shield, || Nor does he pour out a mound against it. ³³ In the way that he comes in—In it he turns back, || And to this city he does not come in, || A declaration of YHWH— ³⁴ And I have covered over this city, || To save it for My own sake, || And for the sake of My servant David." ³⁵ And it comes to pass, in that night, that a messenger of YHWH goes out, and strikes one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of Asshur, and they rise early in the morning, and behold, all of them [are] dead corpses. ³⁶ And Sennacherib king of Asshur journeys, and goes, and turns back, and dwells in Nineveh; ³⁷ and it comes to pass, he is bowing himself in the house of his god Nisroch, and [his sons] Adramelech and Sharezar have struck him with the sword, and they have escaped to the land of Ararat, and his son Esar-Haddon reigns in his stead.

Chapter 20

¹ In those days Hezekiah has been sick to death, and Isaiah son of Amoz the prophet comes to him and says to him, "Thus said YHWH: Give a charge to your house, for you are dying, and do not live." ² And he turns around his face to the wall, and prays to YHWH, saying, ³ "Ah, now, O YHWH, please remember how I have habitually walked before You in truth and with a perfect heart, and I have done that which [is] good in Your eyes"; and Hezekiah weeps [with] a great weeping. ⁴ And it comes to pass, [when] Isaiah has not [yet] gone out to the middle court, that the word of YHWH has been to him, saying, ⁵ "Return, and you have said to Hezekiah, leader of My people, Thus said YHWH, God of your father David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tear, behold, I give healing to you. On the third day you go up to the house of YHWH; ⁶ and I have added fifteen years to your days, and I deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Asshur, and have covered over this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David." ⁷ And Isaiah says, "Take a cake of figs"; and they take and lay [it] on the boil, and he revives. ⁸ And Hezekiah says to Isaiah, "What [is] the sign that YHWH gives healing to me, that I have gone up to the house of YHWH on the third day?" ⁹ And Isaiah says, "This [is] the sign to you from YHWH, that YHWH does the thing that He has spoken—[will] the shadow have gone on ten degrees, or does it turn back ten degrees?" ¹⁰ And Hezekiah says, "It has been light for the shadow to incline ten degrees; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten degrees." ¹¹ And Isaiah the prophet calls to YHWH, and He brings back the shadow by the degrees that it had gone down in the degrees of Ahaz—backward ten degrees. ¹² At that time Berodach-Baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, has sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick; ¹³ and Hezekiah listens to them, and shows them all the house of his treasury, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the good ointment, and all the house of his vessels, and all that has been found in his treasuries; there has not been a thing that Hezekiah has not showed them in his house and in all his dominion. ¹⁴ And Isaiah the prophet comes to King Hezekiah and says to him, "What did these men say? And from where do they come to you?" And Hezekiah says, "They have come from a far-off land—from Babylon." ¹⁵ And he says, "What did they see in your house?" And Hezekiah says, "They saw all that [is] in my house; there has not been a thing that I have not showed them among my treasures." ¹⁶ And Isaiah says to Hezekiah, "Hear a word of YHWH: ¹⁷ Behold, days are coming, and all that [is] in your house, and [all] that your father has treasured up until this day, has been carried to Babylon; there is not a thing left, said YHWH; ¹⁸ and of your sons who go out from you, whom you beget, they take away, and they have been eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." ¹⁹ And Hezekiah says to Isaiah, "The word of YHWH that you have spoken [is] good"; and he says, "Why not, if there is peace and truth in my days?" ²⁰ And the rest of the matters of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brings in the waters to the city, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²¹ And Hezekiah lies with his fathers, and his son Manasseh reigns in his stead.

Chapter 21

¹ Manasseh [is] a son of twelve years in his reigning, and he has reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Hephzi-Bah; ² and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH, according to the abominations of the nations that YHWH dispossessed from the presence of the sons of Israel, ³ and he turns and builds the high places that his father Hezekiah destroyed, and raises altars for Ba'al, and makes an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel did, and bows himself to all the host of the heavens, and serves them. ⁴ And he has built altars in the house of YHWH, of which YHWH said, "In Jerusalem I put My Name." ⁵ And he builds altars to all the host of the heavens in the two courts of the house of YHWH; ⁶ and he has caused his son to pass through fire, and observed clouds, and used enchantment, and dealt with a familiar spirit and wizards; he has multiplied to do evil in the eyes of YHWH—to provoke to anger. ⁷ And he sets the carved image of the Asherah that he made in the house of which YHWH said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I put My Name for all time; ⁸ and I do not add to cause the foot of Israel to move from the ground that I gave to their fathers, only, if they observe to do according to all that I commanded them, and to all the Law that My servant Moses commanded them." ⁹ And they have not listened, and Manasseh causes them to err, to do evil above the nations that YHWH destroyed from the presence of the sons of Israel. ¹⁰ And YHWH speaks by the hand of his servants the prophets, saying, ¹¹ "Because that Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations—he has done evil above all that the Amorites have done who [are] before him, and also causes Judah to sin by his idols— ¹² therefore, thus said YHWH, God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing in calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, his two ears tingle. ¹³ And I have stretched out the line of Samaria over Jerusalem, and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and wiped Jerusalem as one wipes the dish—he has wiped, and has turned [it] on its face. ¹⁴ And I have left the remnant of My inheritance, and given them into the hand of their enemies, and they have been for a prey and for a spoil to all their enemies, ¹⁵ because that they have done evil in My eyes, and are provoking Me to anger from the day that their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day." ¹⁶ And also, Manasseh has shed very much innocent blood, until he has filled Jerusalem mouth to mouth, apart from his sin that he has caused Judah to sin, to do evil in the eyes of YHWH. ¹⁷ And the rest of the matters of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ¹⁸ And Manasseh lies with his fathers, and is buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza, and his son Amon reigns in his stead. ¹⁹ Amon [is] a son of twenty-two years in his reigning, and he has reigned two years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz of Jotbah, ²⁰ and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH, as his father Manasseh did, ²¹ and walks in all the way that his father walked in, and serves the idols that his father served, and bows himself to them, ²² and forsakes YHWH, God of his fathers, and has not walked in the way of YHWH. ²³ And the servants of Amon conspire against him, and put the king to death in his own house, ²⁴ and the people of the land strike all those conspiring against King Amon, and the people of the land cause his son Josiah to reign in his stead. ²⁵ And the rest of the matters of Amon that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁶ And [one] buries him in his burying-place in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah reigns in his stead.

Chapter 22

¹ Josiah [is] a son of eight years in his reigning, and he has reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Jedidah daughter of Adaiah of Boskath, ² and he does that which is right in the eyes of YHWH, and walks in all the way of his father David, and has not turned aside [to] the right or left. ³ And it comes to pass, in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king has sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of YHWH, saying, ⁴ "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, and he completes the silver that is brought into the house of YHWH, that the keepers of the threshold have gathered from the people, ⁵ and they give it into the hand of those doing the work, the overseers, in the house of YHWH, and they give it to those doing the work, that [are] in the house of YHWH, to strengthen the breach of the house, ⁶ to craftsmen, and to builders, and [to repairers of] the wall, and to buy wood and hewn stones to strengthen the house; ⁷ only, the silver that is given into their hand is not reckoned with them, for they are dealing in faithfulness." ⁸ And Hilkiah the high priest says to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found [the] Scroll of the Law in the house of YHWH"; and Hilkiah gives the scroll to Shaphan, and he reads it. ⁹ And Shaphan the scribe comes to the king, and brings the king back word, and says, "Your servants have poured out the silver that has been found in the house, and give it into the hand of those doing the work, the inspectors, in the house of YHWH." ¹⁰ And Shaphan the scribe declares to the king, saying, "Hilkiah the priest has given a scroll to me"; and Shaphan reads it before the king. ¹¹ And it comes to pass, at the king's hearing the words of the Scroll of the Law, that he tears his garments, ¹² and the king commands Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam son of Shaphan, and Achbor son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah servant of the king, saying, ¹³ "Go, seek YHWH for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this scroll that is found, for great [is] the fury of YHWH that is kindled against us, because that our fathers have not listened to the words of this scroll, to do according to all that is written for us." ¹⁴ And Hilkiah the priest goes, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, to Huldah the prophetess, wife of Shallum, son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the garments, and she is dwelling in Jerusalem in the second [quarter], and they speak to her. ¹⁵ And she says to them, "Thus said YHWH, God of Israel: Say to the man who has sent you to me, ¹⁶ Thus said YHWH: Behold, I am bringing in calamity to this place and on its inhabitants, all the words of the scroll that the king of Judah has read, ¹⁷ because that they have forsaken Me, and make incense to other gods, so as to provoke Me to anger with every work of their hands, and My wrath has been kindled against this place, and it is not quenched. ¹⁸ And to the king of Judah, who is sending you to seek YHWH, thus you say to him, Thus said YHWH, God of Israel: The words that you have heard— ¹⁹ because your heart [is] tender, and you are humbled because of YHWH, in your hearing that which I have spoken against this place, and against its inhabitants, to be for a desolation, and for a reviling, and you tear your garments and weep before Me—I also have heard—a declaration of YHWH— ²⁰ therefore, behold, I am gathering you to your fathers, and you have been gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes do not look on any of the calamity that I am bringing in on this place"; and they bring the king back word.

Chapter 23

¹ And the king sends, and they gather all [the] elderly of Judah and Jerusalem to him, ² and the king goes up to the house of YHWH, and every man of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, from small to great, and he reads in their ears all the words of the Scroll of the Covenant that is found in the house of YHWH. ³ And the king stands by the pillar, and makes the covenant before YHWH, to walk after YHWH, and to keep His commands, and His testimonies, and His statutes, with all the heart, and with all the soul, to establish the words of this covenant that are written on this scroll, and all the people stand in the covenant. ⁴ And the king commands Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out from the temple of YHWH all the vessels that are made for Ba'al, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of the heavens, and he burns them at the outside of Jerusalem, in the fields of Kidron, and has carried their ashes to Beth-El. ⁵ And he has caused to cease the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah have appointed (and they make incense in high places, in cities of Judah and outskirts of Jerusalem), and those making incense to Ba'al, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the twelve signs, and to all the host of the heavens. ⁶ And he brings out the Asherah from the house of YHWH to the outside of Jerusalem, to the Brook of Kidron, and burns it at the Brook of Kidron, and beats it small to dust, and casts its dust on the grave of the sons of the people. ⁷ And he breaks down the houses of the whoremongers that [are] in the house of YHWH, where the women are weaving houses for the Asherah. ⁸ And he brings in all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiles the high places where the priests have made incense, from Geba to Beer-Sheba, and has broken down the high places of the gates that [are] at the opening of the Gate of Joshua, head of the city, that [is] on a man's left hand at the gate of the city; ⁹ only, the priests of the high places do not come up to the altar of YHWH in Jerusalem, but they have eaten unleavened things in the midst of their brothers. ¹⁰ And he has defiled Topheth that [is] in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, so that no man causes his son and his daughter to pass over through fire to Molech. ¹¹ And he causes to cease the horses that the kings of Judah have given to the sun from the entering in of the house of YHWH, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech the eunuch, that [is] in the outskirts; and he has burned the chariots of the sun with fire. ¹² And the altars that [are] on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, that the kings of Judah made, and the altars that Manasseh made in the two courts of the house of YHWH, the king has broken down, and removes from there, and has cast their dust into the Brook of Kidron. ¹³ And the high places that [are] on the front of Jerusalem, that [are] on the right of the Mount of Corruption, that Solomon king of Israel had built to Ashtoreth, abomination of the Zidonians, and Chemosh, abomination of Moab, and to Milcom, abomination of the sons of Ammon, the king has defiled. ¹⁴ And he has broken the standing-pillars in pieces, and cuts down the Asherim, and fills their place with bones of men; ¹⁵ and also the altar that [is] in Beth-El, the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat made, by which he made Israel sin, both that altar and the high place he has broken down, and burns the high place—he has beat it small to dust, and has burned the Asherah. ¹⁶ And Josiah turns, and sees the graves that [are] there on the mountain, and sends and takes the bones out of the graves, and burns [them] on the altar, and defiles it, according to the word of YHWH that the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things. ¹⁷ And he says, "What [is] this sign that I see?" And the men of the city say to him, "The grave of the man of God who has come from Judah, and proclaims these things that you have done concerning the altar of Beth-El." ¹⁸ And he says, "Leave him alone, let no man touch his bones"; and they let his bones escape with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. ¹⁹ And also all the houses of the high places that [are] in the cities of Samaria, that the kings of Israel made to provoke to anger, Josiah has turned aside, and does to them according to all the deeds that he did in Beth-El. ²⁰ And he slays all the priests of the high places who [are] there by the altars, and burns the bones of man on them, and turns back to Jerusalem. ²¹ And the king commands the whole of the people, saying, "Make a Passover to your God YHWH, as it is written on this scroll of the covenant." ²² Surely there has not been made like this Passover from the days of the ones judging who judged Israel, even all the days of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Judah; ²³ but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover has been made to YHWH in Jerusalem. ²⁴ And also, those having familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah, and in Jerusalem, Josiah has put away, in order to establish the words of the Law that are written on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest has found in the house of YHWH. ²⁵ And like him there has not been before him a king who turned back to YHWH with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, and after him there has none risen like him. ²⁶ Only, YHWH has not turned back from the fierceness of His great anger with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh provoked him, ²⁷ and YHWH says, "I also turn Judah aside from my presence, as I turned Israel aside, and I have rejected this city that I have chosen—Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My Name is there." ²⁸ And the rest of the matters of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁹ In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt has come up against the king of Asshur, by the Euphrates River, and King Josiah goes out to meet him, and [Pharaoh Necho] puts him to death in Megiddo when he sees him. ³⁰ And his servants cause him to ride dying from Megiddo, and bring him to Jerusalem, and bury him in his own grave, and the people of the land take Jehoahaz son of Josiah, and anoint him, and cause him to reign instead of his father. ³¹ Jehoahaz [is] a son of twenty-three years in his reigning, and he has reigned three months in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, ³² and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH, according to all that his fathers did, ³³ and Pharaoh Necho binds him in Riblah, in the land of Hamath, from reigning in Jerusalem, and he puts a fine on the land—one hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. ³⁴ And Pharaoh Necho causes Eliakim son of Josiah to reign instead of his father Josiah, and turns his name to Jehoiakim, and he has taken Jehoahaz away, and he comes to Egypt, and dies there. ³⁵ And Jehoiakim has given the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; only he valued the land to give the silver by the command of Pharaoh; from each, according to his valuation, he exacted the silver and the gold, from the people of the land, to give to Pharaoh Necho. ³⁶ Jehoiakim [is] a son of twenty-five years in his reigning, and he has reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Zebudah daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah, ³⁷ and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH, according to all that his fathers did.

Chapter 24

¹ In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has come up, and Jehoiakim is a servant to him [for] three years; and he turns and rebels against him, ² and YHWH sends against him the troops of the Chaldeans, and the troops of Aram, and the troops of Moab, and the troops of the sons of Ammon, and He sends them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of YHWH that He spoke by the hand of His servants the prophets; ³ only, by the command of YHWH it has been against Judah to turn [them] aside from His presence, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did, ⁴ and also the innocent blood that he has shed, and he fills Jerusalem with innocent blood, and YHWH was not willing to forgive. ⁵ And the rest of the matters of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ⁶ And Jehoiakim lies with his fathers, and his son Jehoiachin reigns in his stead. ⁷ And the king of Egypt has not added anymore to go out from his own land, for the king of Babylon has taken, from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River, all that had been to the king of Egypt. ⁸ Jehoiachin [is] a son of eighteen years in his reigning, and he has reigned three months in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Nehushta daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem, ⁹ and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH, according to all that his fathers did. ¹⁰ At that time servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon have come up to Jerusalem, and the city goes into siege, ¹¹ and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon comes against the city, and his servants are laying siege to it, ¹² and Jehoiachin king of Judah goes out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his chiefs, and his eunuchs, and the king of Babylon takes him in the eighth year of his reign, ¹³ and brings out from there all the treasures of the house of YHWH, and the treasures of the house of the king, and cuts in pieces all the vessels of gold that Solomon king of Israel made in the temple of YHWH, as YHWH had spoken. ¹⁴ And he has removed all Jerusalem, and all the chiefs, and all the mighty men of valor—ten thousand [is] the expulsion—and every craftsman and smith; none has been left except the poor of the people of the land. ¹⁵ And he removes Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the mother of the king, and the wives of the king, and his eunuchs, and the mighty ones of the land—he has caused a removal to go from Jerusalem to Babylon, ¹⁶ and all the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, the whole [are] mighty men, warriors; and the king of Babylon brings them in a captivity to Babylon. ¹⁷ And the king of Babylon causes his father's brother Mattaniah to reign in his stead, and turns his name to Zedekiah. ¹⁸ Zedekiah [is] a son of twenty-one years in his reigning, and he has reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, ¹⁹ and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH according to all that Jehoiakim did, ²⁰ for by the anger of YHWH it has been against Jerusalem and against Judah, until He [finally] cast them out from His presence. And Zedekiah rebels against the king of Babylon.

Chapter 25

¹ And it comes to pass, in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has come, he and all his force, against Jerusalem, and encamps against it, and builds a surrounding fortification against it. ² And the city enters into siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ³ On the ninth of the month, when the famine is severe in the city, then there has not been bread for the people of the land. ⁴ And the city is broken up, and all the men of war [go] by night the way of the gate, between the two walls that [are] by the garden of the king, and the Chaldeans [are] against the city all around, and [the king] goes the way of the plain. ⁵ And the force of the Chaldeans pursue after the king, and overtake him in the plains of Jericho, and all his force have been scattered from him; ⁶ and they seize the king, and bring him up to the king of Babylon, to Riblah, and they speak judgment with him. ⁷ And they have slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he has blinded the eyes of Zedekiah, and binds him with bronze chains, and they bring him to Babylon. ⁸ And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month (it [is] the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan chief of the executioners, servant of the king of Babylon, has come to Jerusalem, ⁹ and he burns the house of YHWH, and the house of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, indeed, he has burned every great house with fire; ¹⁰ and all the forces of the Chaldeans, who [are] with the chief of the executioners, have broken down the walls of Jerusalem all around. ¹¹ And the rest of the people, those left in the city, and those falling who have fallen to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan chief of the executioners has removed; ¹² and of the poor of the land the chief of the executioners has left for vinedressers and for farmers. ¹³ And the pillars of bronze that [are] in the house of YHWH, and the bases, and the sea of bronze, that [is] in the house of YHWH, the Chaldeans have broken in pieces, and carry away their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they minister, they have taken; ¹⁵ and the fire-pans, and the bowls that [are] wholly of silver, the chief of the executioners has taken. ¹⁶ The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases that Solomon made for the house of YHWH, there was no weighing of the bronze of all these vessels; ¹⁷ eighteen cubits [is] the height of the one pillar, and the capital on it [is] of bronze, and the height of the capital [is] three cubits, and the net and the pomegranates [are] on the capital all around—the whole [is] of bronze; and the second pillar has like these, with the net. ¹⁸ And the chief of the executioners takes Seraiah the head priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold; ¹⁹ and he has taken out of the city a certain eunuch who is appointed over the men of war, and five men of those seeing the king's face who have been found in the city, and the head scribe of the host who musters the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who are found in the city; ²⁰ and Nebuzaradan chief of the executioners takes them, and causes them to go to the king of Babylon, to Libnah, ²¹ and the king of Babylon strikes them, and puts them to death in Riblah, in the land of Hamath, and he removes Judah from off its land. ²² And the people that are left in the land of Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has left—he appoints Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, over them. ²³ And all the heads of the forces hear—they and the men—that the king of Babylon has appointed Gedaliah, and they come to Gedaliah, to Mizpah, even Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and Johanan son of Kareah, and Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maachathite—they and their men; ²⁴ and Gedaliah swears to them and to their men, and says to them, "Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans, dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it is good for you." ²⁵ And it comes to pass, in the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nathaniah has come, son of Elishama of the seed of the kingdom, and ten men with him, and they strike Gedaliah, and he dies, and the Jews and the Chaldeans who have been with him in Mizpah. ²⁶ And all the people rise, from small even to great, and the heads of the forces, and come to Egypt, for they have been afraid of the presence of the Chaldeans. ²⁷ And it comes to pass, in the thirty-seventh year of the expulsion of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh of the month, Evil-Merodach king of Babylon has lifted up, in the year of his reigning, the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, out of the house of restraint, ²⁸ and speaks good things with him and puts his throne above the throne of the kings who [are] with him in Babylon, ²⁹ and has changed the garments of his restraint, and he has eaten bread continually before him all [the] days of his life, ³⁰ and his allowance—a continual allowance—has been given to him from the king, the matter of a day in its day, all [the] days of his life.

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