| 1:2 |
Then Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, to the judges, and to every leader in all Israel — the family heads of the families. |
| 1:5 |
but he put the bronze altar, which Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, had made, in front of the Lord’s tabernacle. Solomon and the assembly inquired of Himhim there. |
| 1:6 |
Solomon offered sacrifices there in the Lord’s presence on the bronze altar at the tent of meeting; he offered 1,000a thousand burnt offerings on it. |
| 1:7 |
That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him:, “Ask. What should I give you?” |
| 1:8 |
And Solomon said to God:, “You have shown great and faithful love to my father David, and Youyou have made me king in his place. |
| 1:9 |
Lord God, let Youryour promise to my father David now come true. For Youyou have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. |
| 1:10 |
Now grant me wisdom and knowledge so that I may lead these people, for who can judge this great people of Yoursyours?” |
| 1:11 |
God said to Solomon, “Since this was in your heart, and you have not requested riches, wealth, or glory, or for the life of those who hate you, and you have not even requested long life, but you have requested for yourself wisdom and knowledge that you may judge Mymy people over whom I have made you king, |
| 1:17 |
A chariot could be imported from Egypt for 15fifteen pounds of silver and a horse for aboutnearly four pounds. In the same way, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram through their agents. |
| 2:1 |
Solomon decided to build a temple for the name of Yahwehthe Lord and a royal palace for himself, |
| 2:4 |
Now I am building a temple for the name of Yahwehthe Lord my God in order to dedicate it to Himhim for burning fragrant incense before Himhim, for displaying the rows of the breadBread of the Presence continuously, and for sacrificing burnt offerings for the morning and the evening, the Sabbaths and the New Moons, and the appointed festivals of the Lord our God. This is ordained for Israel foreverpermanently. |
| 2:6 |
But who is able to build a temple for Himhim, since even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Himhim? Who am I then that I should build a temple for Himhim except as a place to burn incense before Himhim? |
| 2:7 |
Therefore, send me aan craftsmanartisan who is skilled in engraving to work with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and with purple, crimson, and blue yarn. He will work with the craftsmenartisans who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, appointed by my father David. |
| 2:9 |
to prepare logs for me in abundance because the temple I am building will be great and wonderfulwondrous. |
| 2:10 |
I will give your servants, the woodcutters who cut the trees, 100,000one hundred twenty thousand bushels of wheat flour, 100,000one hundred twenty thousand bushels of barley, 110,000one hundred twenty thousand gallons of wine, and 110,000one hundred twenty thousand gallons of oil. |
| 2:11 |
Then King Hiram of Tyre wrote a letter and sent it to Solomon: Because the Lord loves Hishis people, Hehe set you over them as king. |
| 2:12 |
Hiram also said: MayBlessed be the Lord God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth, be praised! He gave King David a wise son with insight and understanding, who will build a temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself. |
| 2:14 |
He is the son of a woman from the daughters of Dan. His father is a man of Tyre. He knows how to work with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, with purple, blue, crimson yarn, and fine linen. He knows how to do all kinds of engraving and to execute any design that may be given him. I have sent him to be with your craftsmenartisans and the craftsmenartisans of my lord, your father David. |
| 2:17 |
Solomon took a census of all the foreignresident alien men in the land of Israel, after the census that his father David had conducted, and the total was 153,600. |
| 3:3 |
These are Solomon’s foundations for building God’s temple: the length was 90ninety feet, and the width 30thirty feet. |
| 3:4 |
The portico, which was across the front extending across the width of the temple, was 30thirty feet wide; its height was 30thirty feet; he overlaid its inner surface with pure gold. |
| 3:7 |
He overlaid the temple — the beams, the thresholds, its walls and doors — with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls. |
| 3:8 |
Then he made the most holy place; its length corresponded to the width of the temple, 30 feet, and its width was 30 feet. He overlaid it with 45,000forty-five thousand pounds of fine gold. |
| 3:9 |
The weight of the nails was 20twenty ounces of gold, and he overlaid the ceiling with gold. |
| 3:14 |
He made the veilcurtain of blue, purple, and crimson yarn and fine linen, and he wove cherubim into it. |
| 3:16 |
He had made chainwork in the inner sanctuary and also put it on top of the pillars. He made 100a hundred pomegranates and fastened them into the chainwork. |
| 4:2 |
Then he made the cast metal reservoirbasin, 15 feet from brim to brim, perfectly round. It was 7½ feet high and 45 feet in circumference. |
| 4:3 |
The likeness of oxen was below it, completely encircling it, 10ten every half yard, completely surrounding the reservoirbasin. The oxen were cast in two rows when the reservoirbasin was cast. |
| 4:4 |
It stood on 12twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The reservoirbasin was on top of them and all their hindquarters were toward the center. |
| 4:5 |
The reservoirbasin was three inches thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup or a lily blossom. It could hold 11,000eleven thousand gallons. |
| 4:6 |
He made 10ten basins for washing and he put five on the right and five on the left. The parts of the burnt offering were rinsed in them, but the reservoirbasin was used by the priests for washing. |
| 4:7 |
He made the 10ten gold lampstands according to their specifications and put them in the sanctuary, five on the right and five on the left. |
| 4:8 |
He made 10ten tables and placed them in the sanctuary, five on the right and five on the left. He also made 100a hundred gold bowls. |
| 4:10 |
He put the reservoirbasin on the right side, toward the southeast. |
| 4:13 |
the 400four hundred pomegranates for the two gratings (two rows of pomegranates for each grating covering both capitals’ bowls on top of the pillars). |
| 4:15 |
The one reservoirbasin and the 12twelve oxen underneath it, |
| 4:16 |
the pots, the shovels, the forks, and all their utensils — Huram-abi made them for King Solomon for the Lord’s temple. All these were made of polished bronze. |
| 4:19 |
Solomon also made all the equipment in God’s temple: the gold altar; the tables on which to put the breadBread of the Presence; |
| 4:21 |
the flowers, lamps, and gold tongs — of purest gold; |
| 4:22 |
the wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, ladles, and firepans — of purest gold; and the entryway to the temple, its inner doors to the most holy place, and the doors of the temple sanctuary — of gold. |
| 5:1 |
So all the work Solomon did for the Lord’s temple was completed. Then Solomon brought the consecrated things of his father David — the silver, the gold, and all the utensils — and put them in the treasuries of God’s temple. |
| 5:2 |
At that time Solomon assembled at Jerusalem the elders of Israel — all the tribal heads, the ancestral chiefs of the Israelites — in order to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord up from the city of David, that is, Zion. |
| 5:6 |
King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel who had gathered around him were in front of the ark sacrificing sheep, goats, and cattle that could not be counted or numbered because there were so many. |
| 5:9 |
The poles were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen from outside; they are still there to this very daytoday. |
| 5:13 |
The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the Lord with one voice. They raised their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to the Lord: For Hehe is good; Hishis faithful love endures forever. The temple, the Lord’s temple, was filled with a cloud. |
| 6:1 |
Then Solomon said: The Lord said Hehe would dwell in thicktotal darkness, |
| 6:2 |
but I have built an exalted temple for Youyou, a place for Youryour residencedwelling forever. |
| 6:4 |
He said: MayBlessed be the Lord God of Israel be praised! He spoke directly to my father David, and Hehe has fulfilled the promise by Hishis power. He said, |
| 6:5 |
“Since the day I brought Mymy people Israel out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city to build a temple in among any of the tribes of Israel, so that Mymy name would be there, and I have not chosen a man to be ruler over Mymy people Israel. |
| 6:6 |
But I have chosen Jerusalem so that Mymy name will be there, and I have chosen David to be over Mymy people Israel.” |
| 6:7 |
NowMy itfather wasDavid inhad thehis heart ofset myon fatherbuilding David to build a temple for the name of Yahwehthe Lord, the God of Israel. |
| 6:8 |
However, Yahwehthe Lord said to my father David, “Since it was your desire to build a temple for Mymy name, you have done well to have this desire. |
| 6:9 |
Yet, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own offspring, will build the temple for Mymy name.” |
| 6:10 |
So Yahwehthe Lord has fulfilled what Hehe promised. I have taken the place of my father David and I sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahwehthe Lord promised. I have built the temple for the name of Yahwehthe Lord, the God of Israel. |
| 6:11 |
I have put the ark there, where Yahwehthe Lord’s covenant is that Hehe made with the Israelites. |
| 6:14 |
He said: Lord God of Israel, there is no God like Youyou in heaven or on earth, keepingwho Hiskeeps his gracious covenant with Youryour servants who walk before Youyou with all their whole heart. |
| 6:15 |
You have kept what Youyou promised to Youryour servant, my father David. You spoke directly to him, and Youyou fulfilled Youryour promise by Youryour power, as it is today. |
| 6:16 |
Therefore, Lord God of Israel, keep what Youyou promised to Youryour servant, my father David: “You will never fail to have a man to sit before Meme on the throne of Israel, if only your sons guardtake theircare way to walk in Mymy Law as you have walked before Meme.” |
| 6:17 |
Now, Lord God of Israel, please confirm what Youyou promised to Youryour servant David. |
| 6:18 |
But will God indeed live on earth with manhumans? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain Youyou, much less this temple I have built. |
| 6:19 |
Listen to Youryour servant’s prayer and his petition, Lord my God, so that Youyou may hear the cry and the prayer that Youryour servant prays before Youyou, |
| 6:20 |
so that Youryour eyes watch over this temple day and night, toward the place where Youyou said Youyou would put Youryour name; and so that Youyou may hear the prayer Youryour servant prays toward this place. |
| 6:21 |
Hear the petitions of Youryour servant and Youryour people Israel, which they pray toward this place. May Youyou hear in Youryour dwelling place in heaven. May Youyou hear and forgive. |
| 6:22 |
If a man sins against his neighbor and is forced to take an oath and he comes to take an oath before Youryour altar in this temple, |
| 6:23 |
may Youyou hear in heaven and act. May Youyou judge Youryour servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing what he has done on his own head and providing justice for the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness. |
| 6:24 |
If Youryour people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against Youyou, and they return to Youyou and praise Youryour name, and they pray and plead for mercy before Youyou in this temple, |
| 6:25 |
may Youyou hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Youryour people Israel. May Youyou restore them to the land Youyou gave them and their ancestors. |
| 6:26 |
When the skies are shut and there is no rain because they have sinned against Youyou, and they pray toward this place and praise Youryour name, and they turn from their sins because Youyou are afflicting them, |
| 6:27 |
may Youyou hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Youryour servants and Youryour people Israel, so that Youyou may teach them the good way they should walk in. May Youyou send rain on Youryour land that Youyou gave Youryour people for an inheritance. |
| 6:28 |
When there is famine onin the earthland, when there is pestilence, when there is blight, or mildew, locust, or grasshopper, when their enemies besiege them in the regionland ofand theirits fortified cities, when there is any plague or illness, |
| 6:29 |
whateverevery prayer or petition anyonethat fromany person or that all your people Israel mightmay have — they each manknow knowingtheir his own affliction and suffering, and— spreadingas they spread out histheir hands toward this temple—, |
| 6:30 |
may Youyou hear in heaven, Youryour dwelling place, and may Youyou forgive and repaygive theto maneveryone according to all histheir ways, since Youyou know hiseach heart, for Youyou alone know the human heart, |
| 6:31 |
so that they may fear Youyou and walk in Youryour ways all the days they live on the land Youyou gave our ancestors. |
| 6:32 |
Even for the foreigner who is not of Youryour people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Youryour great name and Youryour mightystrong hand and outstretched arm: when he comes and prays toward this temple, |
| 6:33 |
may Youyou hear in heaven in Youryour dwelling place, and do all the foreigner asks Youyou. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Youryour name, to fear Youyou as Youryour people Israel do and know that this temple I have built isbears calledyour by Your name. |
| 6:34 |
When Youryour people go out to fight against their enemies, wherever Youyou send them, and they pray to Youyou in the direction of this city Youyou have chosen and the temple that I have built for Youryour name, |
| 6:35 |
may Youyou hear their prayer and petition in heaven and uphold their cause. |
| 6:36 |
When they sin against Youyou — for there is no one who does not sin — and Youyou are angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, and their captors deport them to a distant or nearby country, |
| 6:37 |
and when they come to their senses in the land where they were deported and repent and petition Youyou in their captors’ land, saying:, “We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked,” |
| 6:38 |
and when they return to Youyou with all their whole mind and all their heart in the land of their captivity where they were taken captive, and when they pray in the direction of their land that Youyou gave their ancestors, and the city Youyou have chosen, and toward the temple I have built for Youryour name, |
| 6:39 |
may Youyou hear their prayer and petitions in heaven, Youryour dwelling place, and uphold their cause. May Youyou forgive Youryour people who sinned against Youyou. |
| 6:40 |
Now, my God, please let Youryour eyes be open and Youryour ears attentive to the prayer of this place. |
| 6:41 |
Now therefore: Arise, Lord God, come to Youryour resting place, Youyou and Youryour powerful ark. May Youryour priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and may Youryour godlyfaithful people rejoice in goodness. |
| 6:42 |
Lord God, do not reject Youryour anointed one; remember theyour loyaltyservant David’s acts of Yourfaithful servant Davidlove. |
| 7:3 |
All the Israelites were watching when the fire descended and the glory of the Lord came on the temple. They bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground. They worshiped and praised the Lord: For Hehe is good, for Hishis faithful love endures forever. |
| 7:5 |
King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000twenty-two thousand cattle and 120,000one hundred twenty thousand sheep and goats. In this manner the king and all the people dedicated God’s temple. |
| 7:6 |
The priests and the Levites were standing at their stations. The Levites had the musical instruments of the Lord, which King David had made to praisegive thanks to the Lord—“ — “for Hishis faithful love endures forever”—” — when he offered praise with them. Across from the Levites, the priests were blowing trumpets, and all the people were standing. |
| 7:8 |
So Solomon and all Israel with him — a very great assembly, from the entrance to Hamath to the Brook of Egypt — observed the festival at that time for seven days. |
| 7:9 |
On the eighth day they held a sacredsolemn assembly, for the dedication of the altar lasted seven days and the festival seven days. |
| 7:10 |
On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tentshome, rejoicing and with happy hearts for the goodness the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for Hishis people Israel. |
| 7:12 |
Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him: I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myselfmyself as a temple of sacrifice. |
| 7:13 |
If I closeshut the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on Mymy people, |
| 7:14 |
and Mymy people, who arebear calledmy by My name, humble themselves, pray and seek Mymy face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. |
| 7:15 |
My eyes will now be open and Mymy ears attentive to prayer from this place. |
| 7:16 |
And I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that Mymy name may be there forever; Mymy eyes and Mymy heart will be there at all times. |
| 7:17 |
As for you, if you walk before Meme as your father David walked, doing everything I have commanded you, and if you keep Mymy statutes and ordinances, |
| 7:19 |
However, if you turn away and abandon Mymy statutes and Mymy commands that I have set before you and if you go and serve other gods and bow in worship to them, |
| 7:20 |
then I will uproot Israel from the soil that I gave them, and this temple that I have sanctified for Mymy name I will banish from Mymy presence; I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples. |
| 7:21 |
As for this temple, which was exalted, everyone who passes by will be appalled and will say:, “Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple??” |
| 7:22 |
Then they will say:, “Because they abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They clung to other gods and worshipedbowed in worship to them and served them. Because of this, Hehe brought all this ruin on them..” |
| 8:1 |
At the end of 20twenty years during which Solomon had built the Lord’s temple and his own palace — |
| 8:2 |
Solomon had rebuilt the cities Hiram gave him and settled Israelites there — |
| 8:5 |
He built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon — fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars — |
| 8:7 |
As for all the peoples who remained of the HittitesHethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not from Israel — |
| 8:8 |
their descendants who remained in the land after them, those the Israelites had not completely destroyed — Solomon imposed forced labor on them; it is this way today. |
| 8:10 |
These were King Solomon’s deputies: 250 who ruledsupervised over the people. |
| 8:11 |
Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh from the city of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the house of King David king of Israel because the places the ark of the Lord has come into are holy.” |
| 8:13 |
He followed the daily requirement for offerings according to the commandment of Moses for Sabbaths, New Moons, and the three annual appointed festivals: the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of BoothsShelters. |
| 8:14 |
According to the ordinances of his father David, he appointed the divisions of the priests over their service, of the Levites over their responsibilities to offer praise and to minister before the priests following the daily requirement, and of the gatekeepers by their divisions with respect to each temple gate, for this had been the command of David, the man of God. |
| 8:18 |
So Hiram sent ships to him by his servants along with crews of experienced seamen. They went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir, took from there 17seventeen tons of gold, and delivered it to King Solomon. |
| 9:8 |
MayBlessed be the Lord your God be praised! He delighted in you and put you on Hishis throne as king for the Lord your God. Because Youryour God loved Israel enough to establish them forever, Hehe has set you over them as king to carry out justice and righteousness.” |
| 9:12 |
King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba her every desire, whatever she asked — far more than she had brought the king. Then she, along with her servants, returned to her own country. |
| 9:13 |
The weight of gold that came to Solomon annually was 25twenty-five tons, |
| 9:15 |
King Solomon made 200two hundred large shields of hammered gold; 15 pounds of hammered gold went into each shield. |
| 9:16 |
He made 300three hundred small shields of hammered gold; about7½ eight pounds of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. |
| 9:24 |
Each of them would bring his own gift — items of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, and horses and mules — as an annual tribute. |
| 9:25 |
Solomon had 4,000four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and 12,000twelve thousand horsemen. He stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. |
| 9:29 |
The remaining events of Solomon’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the Events of Nathan the Prophet Nathan, the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the Visions of Iddo the Seer Iddo concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat. |
| 9:30 |
Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for 40forty years. |
| 9:31 |
Solomon rested with his fathersancestors and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam became king in his place. |
| 10:2 |
When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about it — for he was in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon’s presence — Jeroboam returned from Egypt. |
| 10:4 |
“Your father made our yoke difficultharsh. Therefore, lighten your father’s harsh service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.” |
| 10:6 |
Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had servedattended his father Solomon when he was alive, asking, “How do you advise me to respond to thesethis people?” |
| 10:7 |
They replied, “If you will be kind to thesethis people and please them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.” |
| 10:8 |
But he rejected the advice of the elders who had advised him, and he consulted with the young men who had grown up with him, the ones servingattending him. |
| 10:9 |
He asked them, “What message do you advise we send back to thesethis people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?” |
| 10:10 |
Then the young men who had grown up with him told him, “This is what you should say to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter on us!’! ’ This is what you should say to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins.waist! |
| 10:15 |
The king did not listen to the people because the turn of events came from God, in order that the Lord might carry out Hishis word that Hehe had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat. |
| 10:16 |
When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people answered the king: What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Israel, each man to your tent; David, look after your own house now! So all Israel went to their tents. |
| 11:1 |
When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized the house of Judah and Benjamin —180,000 choiceone warriorshundred eighty thousand fit young soldiers — to fight against Israel to restore the reign to Rehoboam. |
| 11:3 |
“Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people:, |
| 11:4 |
‘This is what the Lord says: You are not to march up and fight against your brothers. Each of you must return home, for this incident has come from Meme.’” So they listened to what the Lord said and turned back from going against Jeroboam. |
| 11:14 |
for the Levites left their pasturelands and their possessions and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons refused to let them serve as priests of Yahwehthe Lord. |
| 11:16 |
Those from every tribe of Israel who had determined in their hearts to seek Yahwehthe Lord their God followed the Levites to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Yahwehthe Lord, the God of their ancestors. |
| 11:17 |
So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years, because they walked in the wayways of David and Solomon for three years. |
| 11:21 |
Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines. He acquired 18eighteen wives and 60sixty concubines and was the father of 28twenty-eight sons and 60sixty daughters. |
| 12:1 |
When Rehoboam had established his sovereignty and royal power, he abandoned the law of the Lord — he and all Israel with him. |
| 12:2 |
Because they were unfaithful to the Lord, in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, King Shishak king of Egypt went to war against Jerusalem |
| 12:3 |
with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 cavalrymen, and countless people who came with him from Egypt — Libyans, Sukkiim, and Cushites. |
| 12:5 |
Then Shemaiah the prophet Shemaiah went to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who were gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them:, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have abandoned Meme; therefore, I have abandoned you intoto theShishak.” hand of Shishak.’” |
| 12:6 |
So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “YahwehThe Lord is righteous.” |
| 12:8 |
However, they will become his servants so that they may recognize the difference between serving Meme and serving the kingdoms of other lands.” |
| 12:10 |
King Rehoboam made bronze shields into theirreplace placethem and committed them into the care of the captains of the royalguards escorts who guardedprotected the entrance to the king’s palace. |
| 12:11 |
Whenever the king entered the Lord’s temple, the royalguards escorts would carry the shields and take them back to the royal escorts’ armory. |
| 12:12 |
When Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord’s anger turned away from him, and Hehe did not destroy him completely. Besides that, conditions were good in Judah. |
| 12:13 |
King Rehoboam established his royal power in Jerusalem. Rehoboam was 41forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned 17seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put Hishis name. Rehoboam’s mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. |
| 12:15 |
The events of Rehoboam’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the Events of Shemaiah the Prophet Shemaiah and of Iddo the Seer Iddo concerning genealogies. There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their reigns. |
| 12:16 |
Rehoboam rested with his fathersancestors and was buried in the city of David. His son Abijah became king in his place. |
| 13:1 |
In the eighteenth year of Israel’s King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah, |
| 13:2 |
and he reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah daughter of Uriel; she was from Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. |
| 13:3 |
Abijah set his army of warriors in order with 400,000four choicehundred thousand fit young men. Jeroboam arranged his mighty army of 800,000eight choicehundred thousand fit young men in battle formation against him. |
| 13:9 |
Didn’t you banish the priests of Yahwehthe Lord, the descendants of Aaron and the Levites, and make your own priests like the peoples of other lands do? Whoever comes to ordain himself with a young bull and seven rams may become a priest of what are not gods. |
| 13:10 |
“But as for us, Yahwehthe Lord is our God. We have not abandoned Himhim; the priests ministering to the Lord are descendants of Aaron, and the Levites serve at their tasks. |
| 13:11 |
They offer a burnt offering and fragrant incense to the Lord every morning and every evening, and they set the rows of the breadBread of the Presence on the ceremonially clean table. They light the lamps of the gold lampstand every evening. We are carrying out the requirements of Yahwehthe Lord our God, while you have abandoned Himhim. |
| 13:12 |
Look, God and Hishis priests are with us at our head. The trumpets are ready to sound the charge against you. Israelites, don’t fight against the Lord God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed.” |
| 13:17 |
Then Abijah and his people struck them with a mighty blow, and 500,000five choicehundred thousand fit young men of Israel were killed. |
| 13:19 |
Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured some cities from him: Bethel and its villages, Jeshanah, and its villagesEphron, andalong Ephronwith andtheir itssurrounding villages. |
| 13:21 |
However, Abijah grew strong, acquired 14fourteen wives, and fathered 22twenty-two sons and 16sixteen daughters. |
| 14:1 |
Abijah rested with his fathersancestors and was buried in the city of David. His son Asa became king in his place. During his reign the land experienced peace for 10ten years. |
| 14:5 |
He also removed the high places and the incenseshrines altars from all the cities of Judah, and the kingdom experienced peace under him. |
| 14:7 |
So he said to the people of Judah, “Let’s build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, with doors and bars. The land is still ours because we sought the Lord our God. We sought Himhim and Hehe gave us rest on every side.” So they built and succeeded. |
| 14:8 |
Asa had an army of 300,000three hundred thousand from Judah bearing large shields and spears, and 280,000two hundred eighty thousand from Benjamin bearing regular shields and drawing the bow. All these were bravevaliant warriors. |
| 14:9 |
Then Zerah the Cushite came against them with an army of one million men and 300three hundred chariots. They came as far as Mareshah. |
| 14:10 |
So Asa marched out against him and lined up in battle formation in theZephathah Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. |
| 14:11 |
Then Asa cried out to the Lord his God:, “Lord, there is no one besides Youyou to help the mighty and those without strength. Help us, Lord our God, for we depend on Youyou, and in Youryour name we have come against this large army. YahwehLord, Youyou are our God. Do not let a mere mortal hinder Youyou.” |
| 14:13 |
Then Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar. The Cushites fell until they had no survivors, for they were crushed before Yahwehthe Lord and Hishis army. So the people of Judah carried off a great supply of loot. |
| 15:2 |
So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Asa and all Judah and Benjamin, hear me. The Lord is with you when you are with Himhim. If you seek Himhim, Hehe will be found by you, but if you abandon Himhim, Hehe will abandon you. |
| 15:4 |
but when they turned to the Lord God of Israel in their distress and sought Himhim, Hehe was found by them. |
| 15:7 |
But as for you, be strong; don’t begive discouragedup, for your work has a reward.” |
| 15:8 |
When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the detestableabhorrent idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He renovated the altar of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord’s temple. |
| 15:9 |
Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, as well as those from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who hadwere settledresiding among them, for they had defected to him from Israel in great numbers when they saw that Yahwehthe Lord his God was with him. |
| 15:11 |
At that time they sacrificed to the Lord 700seven hundred cattle and 7,000seven thousand sheep and goats from all the plunder they had brought. |
| 15:12 |
Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their ancestors with all their mindheart and all their heartsoul. |
| 15:15 |
All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it with all their mindwholeheartedly. They had sought Himhim with all their heartsincerity, and Hehe was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest on every side. |
| 15:17 |
The high places were not taken away from Israel; nevertheless, Asa was wholeheartedwholeheartedly devoted his entire life. |
| 16:1 |
In the thirty-sixth year of Asa, Israel’s King Baasha went to war against Judah. He built Ramah in order to denykeep accessanyone tofrom anyone—goingleaving or coming— to Judah’s King Asa of Judah. |
| 16:7 |
At that time, Hanani the seer Hanani came to King Asa of Judah and said to him, “Because you depended on the king of Aram and have not depended on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your handyou. |
| 16:8 |
Were not the Cushites and Libyans a vast army with many chariots and horsemen? When you depended on Yahwehthe Lord, Hehe handed them over to you. |
| 16:9 |
For the eyes of Yahwehthe Lord roam throughout the earth to show Himselfhimself strong for those whosewho hearts are completelywholeheartedly Hisdevoted to him. You have been foolish in this matter. Therefore, you will have wars from now on.” |
| 16:10 |
Asa was angryenraged with the seer and put him in prison because of his anger over this. And Asa mistreated some of the people at that time. |
| 16:13 |
Asa rested with his ancestors; he died in the forty-first year of his reign and rested with his fathers. |
| 17:3 |
Now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the former ways of his fatherancestor David. He did not seek the Baals |
| 17:4 |
but sought the God of his father and walked by Hishis commands, not according to the practices of Israel. |
| 17:6 |
HisHe mindtook rejoicedgreat pride in the Lord’s ways, and he again removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah. |
| 17:7 |
In the third year of his reign, Jehoshaphat sent his officials — Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah — to teach in the cities of Judah. |
| 17:13 |
and carried out great works in the towns of Judah. He had fighting men, bravevaliant warriors, in Jerusalem. |
| 17:14 |
These are their numbers according to their ancestral families. For Judah, the commanders of thousands: Adnah the commander and 300,000three bravehundred thousand valiant warriors with him; |
| 17:15 |
next to him, Jehohanan the commander and 280,000two hundred eighty thousand with him; |
| 17:16 |
next to him, Amasiah son of Zichri, the volunteer of the Lord, and 200,000two bravehundred thousand valiant warriors with him; |
| 17:17 |
from Benjamin, Eliada, a bravevaliant warrior, and 200,000two hundred thousand with him armed with bow and shield; |
| 17:18 |
next to him, Jehozabad and 180,000one hundred eighty thousand with him equipped for war. |
| 18:2 |
Then after some years, he went down to visit Ahab in Samaria. Ahab sacrificedslaughtered many sheep, goats, and cattle for him and for the people who were with him., Thenand he persuaded him to marchattack up to Ramoth-gilead, |
| 18:5 |
So the king of Israel gathered the prophets, 400four hundred men, and asked them, “Should we go to Ramoth-gilead for war or should I refrain?” They replied, “March up, and God will hand it over to the king.” |
| 18:6 |
But Jehoshaphat asked, “Isn’t there a prophet of Yahwehthe Lord here anymore? Let’s ask him.” |
| 18:7 |
The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man who can askinquire Yahwehof the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king shouldn’t say that,” Jehoshaphat replied. |
| 18:10 |
Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made iron horns and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You will gore the Arameans with these until they are finished off.’”.” |
| 18:15 |
But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of Yahwehthe Lord?” |
| 18:18 |
Then Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on Hishis throne, and the whole heavenly hostarmy was standing at Hishis right hand and at Hishis left hand. |
| 18:19 |
And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice King Ahab king of Israel to march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’? ’ So one was saying this and another was saying that. |
| 18:21 |
“So he said, ‘I will go and become a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ “Then Hehe said, ‘You will entice him and also prevail. Go and do that.’ |
| 18:23 |
Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came up, hit Micaiah inon the facecheek, and demanded, “Which way did the spirit from the Lord leave me to speak to you?” |
| 18:24 |
Micaiah replied, “You will soon see when you go to hide yourself in an inner chamber on that day.” |
| 18:26 |
and say, ‘This is what the king says: Put this guy in prison and feed him only a little bread and water until I come back safely.’” |
| 18:30 |
Now the king of Aram had ordered his chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, smallat orall great, except the king of Israel.” |
| 19:1 |
King Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned to his home in Jerusalem in peace. |
| 19:2 |
Then Jehu son of Hanani the seer Hanani went out to confront him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Do you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, the Lord’s wrath is on you. |
| 19:3 |
However, some good is found in you, for you have removederadicated the Asherah poles from the land and have decideddetermined in your heart to seek God.” |
| 19:4 |
Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and once again he went out among the people from Beer-sheba to the hill country of Ephraim and brought them back to Yahwehthe Lord, the God of their ancestors. |
| 19:6 |
Then he said to the judges, “Consider what you are doing, for you do not judge for a man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the matter of judgment. |
| 19:8 |
Jehoshaphat also appointed in Jerusalem some of the Levites and priests and some of the headsIsraelite offamily theheads Israelite families for deciding the Lord’s will and for settling disputes of the residents of Jerusalem. |
| 19:9 |
He commanded them, saying, “In the fear of the Lord, with integrity, and with a whole heartwholeheartedly, you are to do the following: |
| 19:10 |
forFor every dispute that comes to you from your brothers who dwell in their cities — whether it regards differences of bloodguilt, law, commandment, statutes, or judgments — you are to warn them, so they will not incur guilt before the Lord and wrath will not come on you and your brothers. Do this, and you will not incur guilt. |
| 20:4 |
who gathered to seek the Lord. They even came from all the cities of Judah to seek Himhim. |
| 20:6 |
He said: YahwehLord, the God of our ancestors, are Youyou not the God who is in heaven, and do Youyou not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Youryour hand, and no one can stand against Youyou. |
| 20:7 |
Are Youyou not our God who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Youryour people Israel and who gave it forever to the descendants of Abraham Youryour friend? |
| 20:8 |
They have lived in the land and have built Youyou a sanctuary in it for Youryour name and have said, |
| 20:9 |
“If disaster comes on us — sword or judgment, pestilence or famine — we will stand before this temple and before Youyou, for Youryour name is in this temple. We will cry out to Youyou because of our distress, and Youyou will hear and deliver.” |
| 20:11 |
Look how they repay us by coming to drive us out of Youryour possession that Youyou gave us as an inheritance. |
| 20:12 |
Our God, will Youyou not judge them? For we are powerless before this vast number that comes to fight against us. We do not know what to do, but we look to Youyou. |
| 20:13 |
All Judah was standing before the Lord with their infantsdependents, their wives, and their children. |
| 20:17 |
You do not have to fight this battle. Position yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. He is with you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Tomorrow, go out to face them, for Yahwehthe Lord is with you.’” |
| 20:18 |
Then Jehoshaphat bowedknelt low with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord to worship Himhim. |
| 20:19 |
Then the Levites from the sons of the Kohathites and the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel shouting withloudly. a loud voice. |
| 20:20 |
In the morning they got up early and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa. As they were about to go out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in Yahwehthe Lord your God, and you will be established; believe in Hishis prophets, and you will succeed.” |
| 20:21 |
Then he consulted with the people and appointed some to sing for the Lord and some to praise the splendor of Hishis holiness. When they went out in front of the armed forces, they kept singing: Give thanks to the Lord, for Hishis faithful love endures forever. |
| 20:26 |
They assembled in the Valley of Beracah on the fourth day, for there they praisedblessed the Lord. Therefore, that place is still called the Valley of Beracah today. |
| 20:29 |
The terror of God was on all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that Yahwehthe Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. |
| 20:31 |
Jehoshaphat became king over Judah. He was 35thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned 25twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. |
| 20:32 |
He walked in the wayways of Asa his father; he did not turn away from it but did what was right in the Lord’s sight. |
| 21:1 |
Jehoshaphat rested with his fathersancestors and was buried with his fathersancestors in the city of David. His son Jehoram became king in his place. |
| 21:2 |
He had brothers, sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were the sons of King Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. |
| 21:5 |
Jehoram was 32thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. |
| 21:6 |
He walked in the wayways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for Ahab’s daughter was his wife. He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, |
| 21:7 |
but becausefor the sake of the covenant the Lord had made with David, Hehe was unwilling to destroy the house of David since the Lord had promised to give a lamp to David and to his sons forever. |
| 21:8 |
During Jehoram’s reign, Edom rebelled against Judah’s dominationcontrol and appointed their own king. |
| 21:10 |
And now Edom is still in rebellion against Judah’s dominationcontrol today. Libnah also rebelled at that time against his dominationcontrol because he had abandoned Yahwehthe Lord, the God of his ancestors. |
| 21:12 |
Then a letter came to Jehoram from Elijah the prophet Elijah, saying: This is what Yahwehthe Lord, the God of your ancestor David says: “Because you have not walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or in the ways of King Asa king of Judah |
| 21:13 |
but have walked in the wayways of the kings of Israel, have caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves like the house of Ahab prostituted itself, and also have killed your brothers, your father’s family, who were better than you, |
| 21:14 |
Yahwehthe Lord is now about to strike your people, your sons, your wives, and all your possessions with a horrible affliction. |
| 21:16 |
The Lord putroused it into the mindspirit of the Philistines and the Arabs who livelived near the Cushites to attack Jehoram. |
| 21:19 |
This continued day after day until two full years passed. Then his intestines came out because of his disease, and he died from severe illnesses. But his people did not hold a fire in his honor like the fire in honor of his fatherspredecessors. |
| 21:20 |
Jehoram was 32thirty-two years old when he became king; he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He died to no one’s regret and was buried in the city of David but not in the tombs of the kings. |
| 22:2 |
Ahaziah was 22twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, granddaughter of Omri. |
| 22:5 |
He also followed their advice and went with Joram son of Israel’s King Ahab to fight against King Hazael, king of Aram, in Ramoth-gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram, |
| 22:6 |
so he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds they inflicted on him in Ramoth-gilead when he fought against Aram’s King Hazael of Aram. Then Judah’s King Ahaziah son of Jehoram went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab since Joram was ill. |
| 22:11 |
Jehoshabeath, the king’s daughter, rescued Joash son of Ahaziah from the king’s sons who were being killed and put him and the one who nursed him in a bedroom. Now Jehoshabeath was the daughter of King Jehoram and the wife of Jehoiada the priest Jehoiada. Since she was Ahaziah’s sister, she hid Joash from Athaliah so that she did not kill him. |
| 22:12 |
WhileHe Athaliah ruled over the land, he was hiding with them in God’s temple for six years while Athaliah reigned over the land. |
| 23:2 |
They made a circuit throughout Judah. They gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the family heads of the families of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. |
| 23:3 |
Then the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in God’s temple. Jehoiada said to them, “Here is the king’s son! He mustwill reign, just as the Lord promised concerning David’s sons. |
| 23:7 |
YouThe mustLevites are to completely surround the king with weapons in hand. Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death. YouAccompany must be with the king in all his daily tasks.” |
| 23:8 |
So the commanders of hundreds did everything Jehoiada the priest Jehoiada commanded. They each brought their men — those coming on duty on the Sabbath and those going off duty on the Sabbath — for Jehoiada the priest Jehoiada did not release the divisions. |
| 23:9 |
JehoiadaThe the priest Jehoiada gave to the commanders of hundreds King David’s spears, shields, and quivers that were in God’s temple. |
| 23:10 |
Then he stationed all the troops with their weapons in hand surrounding the king — from the right side of the temple to the left side, by the altar and by the temple. |
| 23:13 |
As she looked, there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance. The commanders and the trumpeters were by the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets while the singers with musical instruments were leading the praise. Athaliah tore her clothes and screamed, “Treason,! treasonTreason!” |
| 23:14 |
Then Jehoiada the priest Jehoiada sent out the commanders of hundreds, those in charge of the army, saying, “Take her out between the ranks, and put anyone who follows her to death by the sword,” for the priest had said, “Don’t put her to death in the Lord’s temple.” |
| 23:15 |
So they arrested her, and she went by the entrance of the Horses’Horse Gate to the king’s palace, where they put her to death. |
| 23:17 |
So all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They brokesmashed its altars and images into pieces and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, at the altars. |
| 24:1 |
Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned 40forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beer-sheba. |
| 24:2 |
Throughout the time of Jehoiada the priest Jehoiada, Joash did what was right in the Lord’s sight. |
| 24:5 |
So he gathered the priests and Levites and said, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect moneysilver from all Israel to repair the temple of your God as needed year by year, and do it quickly.” However, the Levites did not hurry. |
| 24:11 |
Whenever the chest was brought by the Levites to the king’s overseers, and when they saw that there was a large amount of moneysilver, the king’s secretary and the high priest’s deputy came and emptied the chest, picked it up, and returned it to its place. They did this daily and gathered the moneysilver in abundance. |
| 24:14 |
When they finished, they presented the rest of the moneysilver to the king and Jehoiada, who made articles for the Lord’s temple with it — articles for ministry and for making burnt offerings, and ladles and articles of gold and silver. They regularly offered burnt offerings in the Lord’s temple throughout Jehoiada’s life. |
| 24:16 |
He was buried in the city of David with the kings because he had done what was good in Israel with respect to God and Hishis temple. |
| 24:18 |
and they abandoned the temple of Yahwehthe Lord, the God of their ancestors, and served the Asherah poles and the idols. So there was wrath against Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. |
| 24:19 |
Nevertheless, Hehe sent them prophets to bring them back to the Lord; they admonished them, but the people would not listen. |
| 24:20 |
The Spirit of God tookenveloped control of Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood above the people and said to them, “This is what God says, ‘Why are you transgressing the Lord’s commands andso that you do not prosper? Because you have abandoned the Lord, Hehe has abandoned you.’” |
| 24:23 |
At the turn of the year, an Aramean army wentattacked to war against Joash. They entered Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people among them and sent all the plunder to the king of Damascus. |
| 24:24 |
Although the Aramean army came with only a few men, the Lord handed over a vast army to them because the people of Judah had abandoned Yahwehthe Lord, the God of their ancestors. So they executed judgment on Joash. |
| 24:25 |
When the Arameans saw that Joash had many wounds, they left him. His servants conspired against him, and killed him on his bed, because he had shed the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest Jehoiada. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings. |
| 24:27 |
ConcerningThe accounts concerning his sons, the many oraclesdivine pronouncements about him, and the restoration of the LordGod’s temple, they are recorded in the Writing of the Book of the Kings. His son Amaziah became king in his place. |
| 25:1 |
Amaziah became king when he was 25twenty-five years old, and he reigned 29twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem. |
| 25:3 |
As soon as the kingdom was firmly in his grasp, he executed his servants who had murderedkilled his father the king. |
| 25:4 |
However, he did not put their children to death, because — as it is written in the Law, in the book of Moses, where the Lord commanded—“ — “Fathers mustare not to die because of children, and children mustare not to die because of fathers, but each one will die for his own sin.” |
| 25:5 |
Then Amaziah gathered Judah and assembled them according to ancestral housefamilies, according to commanders of thousands, and according to commanders of hundreds. He numbered those 20twenty years old or more for all Judah and Benjamin. He found there to be 300,000three choicehundred thousand fit young men who could serve in the army, bearing spear and shield. |
| 25:6 |
Then for 7,500 pounds of silver he hired 100,000one bravehundred thousand valiant warriors from Israel. |
| 25:7 |
However, a man of God came to him and said, “King, do not let Israel’s army go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel — all the Ephraimites. |
| 25:11 |
Amaziah strengthened his position and led his people to the Salt Valley of Salt. He struck down 10,000ten thousand Seirites, |
| 25:12 |
and the Judahites captured 10,000ten thousand alive. They took them to the top of a cliff where they threw them off, and all of them were dashed to pieces. |
| 25:13 |
As for the men of the division that Amaziah sent back so they would not go with him into battle, they raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon, struck down 3,000three thousand of their people, and took a great deal of plunder. |
| 25:15 |
So the Lord’s anger was against Amaziah, and Hehe sent a prophet to him, who said, “Why have you sought a people’s gods that could not deliverrescue their own people from youryou?” hand?” |
| 25:17 |
King Amaziah of Judah took counsel and sent word to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying,and challenged him: “Come, let’s us meet face to face.” |
| 25:18 |
King Jehoash of Israel sent word to King Amaziah of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent a message to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle. |
| 25:21 |
So King Jehoash of Israel advanced. He and King Amaziah of Judah facedmet offface to face at Beth-shemesh inthat belonged to Judah. |
| 25:22 |
Judah was routed before Israel, and each man fled to his own tent. |
| 25:23 |
King Jehoash of Israel captured Judah’s King Amaziah son of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh. Then Jehoash took him to Jerusalem and broke down 200two hundred yards of Jerusalem’s wall from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. |
| 25:25 |
Judah’s King Amaziah son of Joash lived 15fifteen years after the death of Israel’s King Jehoash son of Jehoahaz. |
| 25:28 |
They carried him back on horses and buried him with his fathersancestors in the city of Judah. |
| 26:1 |
All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was 16sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. |
| 26:2 |
HeAfter rebuiltAmaziah Eloththe andking restoredrested itwith tohis Judahancestors, afterUzziah Amaziahrebuilt theEloth kingand restedrestored withit histo fathersJudah. |
| 26:3 |
Uzziah was 16sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned 52fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. |
| 26:4 |
He did what was right in the Lord’s sight just as his father Amaziah had done. |
| 26:8 |
The Ammonites gavepaid Uzziah tribute moneyto Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for God made him very powerful. |
| 26:12 |
The total number of family heads of families was 2,600 bravevaliant warriors. |
| 26:14 |
Uzziah provided the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and slingstones. |
| 26:15 |
He made skillfully designed devices in Jerusalem to shoot arrows and catapult large stones for use on the towers and on the corners. So his fame spread even to distant places, for he was marvelouslywondrously helped until he became strong. |
| 26:16 |
But when he became strong, he grew arrogant, and it led to his own destruction. He acted unfaithfully against the Lord his God by going into the Lord’s sanctuary to burn incense on the incense altar. |
| 26:17 |
AzariahThe thepriest priestAzariah, along with 80eighty brave priests of the Lord, went in after him. |
| 26:18 |
They took their stand against King Uzziah and said, “Uzziah, you have no right to offer incense to the Lord — only the consecrated priests, the descendants of Aaron, have the right to offer incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have acted unfaithfully! You will not receive honor from the Lord God.” |
| 26:23 |
Uzziah rested with his fathersancestors, and he was buried with his fathersancestors in the burial ground of the kings’ cemetery, for they said, “He has a skin disease.” His son Jotham became king in his place. |
| 27:1 |
Jotham was 25twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned 16sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerushah daughter of Zadok. |
| 27:2 |
He did what was right in the Lord’s sight just as his father Uzziah had done. In addition, he didn’t enter the Lord’s sanctuary, but the people still behaved corruptly. |
| 27:5 |
He waged war against the king of the Ammonites. He overpowered the Ammonites, and that year they gave him 7,500 pounds of silver, 5060,000 bushels of wheat, and 5060,000 bushels of barley. They paid him the same in the second and third years. |
| 27:6 |
So Jotham strengthened himselfhis position because he did not waver in obeying the Lord his God. |
| 27:8 |
He was 25twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned 16sixteen years in Jerusalem. |
| 27:9 |
Jotham rested with his fathersancestors and was buried in the city of David. His son Ahaz became king in his place. |
| 28:1 |
Ahaz was 20twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned 16sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the Lord’s sight like his ancestor David, |
| 28:3 |
He burned incense in theBen Hinnom Valley of Hinnom and burned his children in the fire, imitating the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites. |
| 28:6 |
Pekah son of Remaliah killed 120,000one hundred twenty thousand in Judah in one day — all brave men — because they had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors. |
| 28:8 |
Then the Israelites took 200,000two hundred thousand captives from their brothers — women, sons, and daughters. They also took a great deal of plunder from them and brought it to Samaria. |
| 28:9 |
A prophet of the Lord named Oded was there. He went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Look, the Lord God of your ancestors handed them over to you because of Hishis wrath against Judah, but you slaughtered them in a rage that has reached heaven. |
| 28:10 |
Now you plan to reduce the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, to slavery. Are you not also guilty before Yahwehthe Lord your God? |
| 28:12 |
So some men who were leaders of the Ephraimites — Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai — stood in opposition to those coming from the war. |
| 28:18 |
The Philistines also raided the cities of the Judean foothills and the Negev of Judah. andThey captured and occupied Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, and Gederoth, Socoas andwell itsas villagesSoco, Timnah, and itsGimzo villages,with Gimzotheir andsurrounding its villages, and they lived there. |
| 28:20 |
Then King Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came against Ahaz; he oppressed him and did not give him support. |
| 28:25 |
He made high places in every city of Judah to offer incense to other gods, and he provokedangered the Lord, the God of his ancestors. |
| 28:27 |
Ahaz rested with his fathersancestors and was buried in the city, in Jerusalem, but they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah became king in his place. |
| 29:1 |
Hezekiah was 25twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned 29twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. |
| 29:5 |
He said to them, “Hear me, Levites. Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of Yahwehthe Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove everything impure from the holy place. |
| 29:6 |
For our fathersancestors were unfaithful and did what is evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They abandoned Himhim, turned their faces away from the Lord’s tabernacledwelling place, and turned their backs on Himhim. |
| 29:8 |
Therefore, the wrath of the Lord was on Judah and Jerusalem, and Hehe made them an object of terror, horror, and mockery, as you see with your own eyes. |
| 29:10 |
It is in my heart now to make a covenant with Yahwehthe Lord, the God of Israel so that Hishis burning anger may turn away from us. |
| 29:11 |
My sons, don’t be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in Hishis presence, to serve Himhim, and to be Hishis ministers and burners of incense.” |
| 29:18 |
Then they went inside to King Hezekiah and said, “We have cleansed the whole temple of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the rows of the breadBread of the Presence and all its utensils. |
| 29:22 |
So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received the blood and sprinkledsplattered it on the altar. They slaughtered the rams and sprinkledsplattered the blood on the altar. They slaughtered the lambs and sprinkledsplattered the blood on the altar. |
| 29:25 |
Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the Lord’s temple with cymbals, harps, and lyres according to the command of David, Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet Nathan. For the command was from the Lord through Hishis prophets. |
| 29:27 |
Then Hezekiah ordered that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. When the burnt offerings began, the song of the Lord and the trumpets began, accompanied by the instruments of King David king of Israel. |
| 29:28 |
The whole assembly was worshiping, singing the song, and blowing the trumpets — all of this continued until the burnt offering was completed. |
| 29:30 |
Then King Hezekiah and the officials told the Levites to sing praise to the Lord in the words of David and of Asaph the seer Asaph. So they sang praises with rejoicing and bowedknelt downlow and worshiped. |
| 29:31 |
Hezekiah concluded, “Now you are consecrated to the Lord. Come near and bring sacrifices and thankthanksgiving offerings to the Lord’s temple.” So the congregation brought sacrifices and thankthanksgiving offerings, and all those with willing hearts brought burnt offerings. |
| 29:32 |
The number of burnt offerings the congregation brought was 70seventy bulls, 100one hundred rams, and 200two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. |
| 29:33 |
Six hundred bulls and 3,000three thousand sheep and goats were consecrated. |
| 30:1 |
Then Hezekiah sent word throughout all Israel and Judah, and he also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh to come to the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem to observe the Passover of Yahwehthe Lord, the God of Israel. |
| 30:3 |
because they were not able to observe it at the appropriate time. Not enough of the priests had consecrated themselves, and the people hadn’t been gathered together in Jerusalem. |
| 30:5 |
so they affirmed the proposal and spread the message throughout all Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, to come to observe the Passover of Yahwehthe Lord, the God of Israel in Jerusalem, for they hadn’t observed it often, as prescribed. |
| 30:6 |
So the couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the hand of the king and his officials, and according to the king’s command, saying, “Israelites, return to Yahwehthe Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel so that Hehe may return to those of you who remain, who have escaped from the grasp of the kings of Assyria. |
| 30:7 |
Don’t be like your fathersancestors and your brothers who were unfaithful to Yahwehthe Lord, the God of their ancestors so that Hehe made them an object of horror as you yourselves see. |
| 30:8 |
Don’t become obstinate now like your fathersancestors did. Give your allegiance to Yahwehthe Lord, and come to Hishis sanctuary that Hehe has consecrated forever. Serve the Lord your God so that Hehe may turn Hishis burning anger away from you, |
| 30:9 |
for when you return to Yahwehthe Lord, your brothers and your sons will receive mercy in the presence of their captors and will return to this land. For Yahwehthe Lord your God is gracious and merciful; Hehe will not turn Hishis face away from you if you return to Himhim.” |
| 30:16 |
They stood at their prescribed posts, according to the law of Moses, the man of God. The priests sprinkledsplattered the blood received from the hand of the Levites, |
| 30:18 |
A large number of the people — many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun — were ritually unclean, yet they had eaten the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah had interceded for them, saying, “May the good Lord provide atonement on behalf of |
| 30:19 |
whoever sets his whole heart on seeking God, Yahwehthe Lord, the God of his ancestors, even though not according to the purification rules of the sanctuary.” |
| 30:22 |
Then Hezekiah encouraged all the Levites who performed skillfully before the Lord. They ate at the appointed festival for seven days, sacrificing fellowship offerings and giving thanks to Yahwehthe Lord, the God of their ancestors. |
| 30:24 |
for King Hezekiah king of Judah contributed 1,000one thousand bulls and 7,000seven thousand sheep for the congregation. Also, the officials contributed 1,000one thousand bulls and 10,000ten thousand sheep for the congregation, and many priests consecrated themselves. |
| 30:25 |
Then the whole assembly of Judah with the priests and Levites, the whole assembly that came from Israel, the foreignersresident aliens who came from the land of Israel, and those who were living in Judah, rejoiced. |
| 30:27 |
Then the priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard their voicethem, and their prayer came into Hishis holy dwelling place in heaven. |
| 31:5 |
When the word spread, the Israelites gave liberally of the best of the grain, new wine, fresh oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field, and they brought in an abundance, a tenth of everything. |
| 31:6 |
As for the Israelites and Judahites who lived in the cities of Judah, they also brought a tenth of the cattleherds and sheepflocks, and a tenth of the dedicated things that were consecrated to the Lord their God. They gathered them into large piles. |
| 31:8 |
When Hezekiah and his officials came and viewed the piles, they praisedblessed the Lord and Hishis people Israel. |
| 31:10 |
Azariah,The the chief priest Azariah, of the household of Zadok, answered him, “Since they began bringing the offering to the Lord’s temple, we eathave been eating and are satisfied and there is plenty left over because the Lord has blessed Hishis people; this abundance is what is left over.” |
| 31:15 |
Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah in the cities of the priests were to faithfully distribute it faithfully under his authority to their brothers by divisions, whether large or small. |
| 31:17 |
They distributed also to those recorded by genealogy of the priests by their ancestral families and the Levites 20twenty years old and above, by their responsibilities in their divisions; |
| 31:18 |
to those registered by genealogy — with all their infantsdependents, wives, sons, and daughters — of the whole assembly (for they had faithfully consecrated themselves as holy); |
| 32:1 |
After theseHezekiah’s faithful deeds, King Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities and intended to break into them. |
| 32:3 |
so he consulted with his officials and his warriors about stopping up the waterswater of the springs that were outside the city, and they helped him. |
| 32:4 |
Many people gathered and stopped up all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land; they said, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plentyabundant of water?” |
| 32:8 |
He has only human strength, but we have Yahwehthe Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” So the people relied on the words of King Hezekiah of Judah. |
| 32:9 |
After this, while King Sennacherib king of Assyria with all his armed forces besieged Lachish, he sent his servants to Jerusalem against King Hezekiah of Judah and against all those of Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying, |
| 32:11 |
Isn’t Hezekiah misleading you to give you over to death by famine and thirst when he says, “YahwehThe Lord our God will deliverkeep us from the powergrasp of the king of Assyria”? |
| 32:12 |
Didn’t Hezekiah himself remove Hishis high places and Hishis altars and say to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before one altar, and you must burn incense on it”? |
| 32:13 |
“‘Don’t you know what I and my fatherspredecessors have done to all the peoples of the lands? Have any of the national gods of the lands been able to deliverrescue their land from my power? |
| 32:14 |
Who among all the gods of these nations that my predecessors completely destroyed was able to deliverrescue his people from my power, that your God should be able to dodeliver theyou samefrom formy youpower? |
| 32:15 |
So now, don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, and don’t let him mislead you like this. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliverrescue his people from my power or the power of my fatherspredecessors. How much less will your God deliverrescue you from my power!’”! ’” |
| 32:16 |
His servants said more against the Lord God and against Hishis servant Hezekiah. |
| 32:17 |
He also wrote letters to mock Yahwehthe Lord, the God of Israel, saying against Himhim: Just like the national gods of the lands that did not deliverrescue their people from my power, so Hezekiah’s God will not deliverrescue Hishis people from my power. |
| 32:21 |
and the Lord sent an angel who annihilated every bravevaliant warrior, leader, and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned in disgrace to his land. He went to the temple of his god, and there some of his own children struck him down with the sword. |
| 32:24 |
In those days Hezekiah became sick to the point of death, so he prayed to the Lord, andwho He spoke to him and gave him a miraculous sign. |
| 32:26 |
Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart — he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem — so the Lord’s wrath didn’t come on them during Hezekiah’s lifetime. |
| 32:28 |
He made warehouses for the harvest of grain, new wine, and fresh oil, and stalls for all kinds of cattle, and pens for flocks. |
| 32:29 |
He made cities for himself, and he acquired herdsvast numbers of sheepflocks and cattle in abundanceherds, for God gave him abundant possessions. |
| 32:30 |
This same Hezekiah blocked the upper outlet of the water offrom the Upper Gihon Spring and channeled it smoothly downward and westward to the city of David. Hezekiah succeeded in everything he did. |
| 32:33 |
Hezekiah rested with his fathersancestors and was buried on the ascent to the tombs of David’s descendants. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem paid him honor at his death. His son Manasseh became king in his place. |
| 33:1 |
Manasseh was 12twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned 55fifty-five years in Jerusalem. |
| 33:3 |
He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down and reestablished the altars for the Baals. He made Asherah poles, and he worshipedbowed in worship to all the wholestars heavenlyin hostthe sky and served them. |
| 33:4 |
He built altars in the Lord’s temple, where Yahwehthe Lord had said, “Jerusalem is where Mymy name will remain forever.” |
| 33:5 |
He built altars to all the wholestars heavenlyin hostthe sky in both courtyards of the Lord’s temple. |
| 33:6 |
He passed his sons through the fire in theBen Hinnom Valley of Hinnom. He practiced witchcraft, divination, and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did a greathuge dealamount of evil in the Lord’s sight, provokingangering Himhim. |
| 33:7 |
Manasseh set up a carved image of the idol, which he had made, in God’s temple, aboutthat which God had saidspoken about to David and his son Solomon,: “I will establish Mymy name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. |
| 33:8 |
I will never again remove the feet of the Israelites from the land where I stationed your ancestors, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them through Moses — all the law, statutes, and judgments.” |
| 33:11 |
So Hehe brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria. They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon. |
| 33:12 |
When he was in distress, he sought the favor of Yahwehthe Lord his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. |
| 33:13 |
He prayed to Himhim, soand Hethe heardLord was receptive to his petitionprayer. andHe granted his request, and brought him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom. So Manasseh came to know that Yahwehthe Lord is God. |
| 33:14 |
After this, he built the outer wall of the city of David from west of Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate; he brought it around the Ophel, and he heightened it considerably. He also placed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah. |
| 33:16 |
He built the altar of the Lord and offered fellowship and thankthanksgiving offeringssacrifices on it. Then he told Judah to serve Yahwehthe Lord, the God of Israel. |
| 33:17 |
However, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to Yahwehthe Lord their God. |
| 33:18 |
The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign, along with his prayer to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of Yahwehthe Lord, the God of Israel, are written in the RecordsEvents of Israel’s Kings. |
| 33:19 |
His prayer and how God grantedwas receptive to his requestprayer, and all his sin and unfaithfulness and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and carved images before he humbled himself, they are written in the RecordsEvents of Hozai. |
| 33:20 |
Manasseh rested with his fathersancestors, and he was buried in his own house. His son Amon became king in his place. |
| 33:21 |
Amon was 22twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. |
| 33:22 |
He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the carved images that his father Manasseh had made, and he served them. |
| 33:25 |
ThenThe the common people executedkilled all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place. |
| 34:1 |
Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned 31thirty-one years in Jerusalem. |
| 34:4 |
Then in his presence the altars of the Baals were torn down, and he chopped down the incenseshrines altars that were above them. He shattered the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images, crushed them to dust, and scattered them over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. |
| 34:7 |
He tore down the altars, and he smashed the Asherah poles and the carved images to powder. He chopped down all the incenseshrines altars throughout the land of Israel and returned to Jerusalem. |
| 34:9 |
So they went to Hilkiah the high priest, Hilkiah and gave him the moneysilver brought into God’s temple. The Levites and the doorkeepers had collected moneyit from Manasseh, Ephraim, and from the entire remnant of Israel, and from all Judah, Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. |
| 34:10 |
They putgave it intoto the hands of those doing the work — those who oversaw the Lord’s temple. They gave it to the workmen who were working in the Lord’s temple, to repair and restore the temple; |
| 34:11 |
they gave it to the carpenters and builders and also used it to buy quarried stone and timbers — for joining and making beams — for the buildings that Judah’s kings had destroyed. |
| 34:14 |
When they brought out the moneysilver that had been deposited in the Lord’s temple, Hilkiah the priest Hilkiah found the book of the law of the Lord written by the hand of Moses. |
| 34:15 |
Consequently, Hilkiah told Shaphan the court secretary Shaphan, “I have found the book of the law in the Lord’s temple,” and he gave the book to Shaphan. |
| 34:17 |
They have emptied out the moneysilver that was found in the Lord’s temple and have putgiven it intoto the hand of the overseers and theto hand of those doing the work.” |
| 34:18 |
Then Shaphan the court secretary Shaphan told the king, “HilkiahThe the priest Hilkiah gave me a book,” and Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. |
| 34:20 |
Then he commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the court secretary Shaphan, and the king’s servant Asaiah, |
| 34:21 |
“Go. Askand Yahwehinquire of the Lord for me and for those remaining in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the book that was found. For great is the Lord’s wrath that is poured out on us because our fathersancestors have not kept the word of the Lord in order to do everything written in this book.” |
| 34:23 |
She said to them, “This is what Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel says: Say to the man who sent you to Meme, |
| 34:24 |
‘This is what Yahwehthe Lord says: I am about to bring disaster on this place and on its inhabitants, fulfilling all the curses written in the book that they read in the presence of the king of Judah, |
| 34:25 |
because they have abandoned Meme and burned incense to other gods inso orderas to provokeanger Meme with all the works of their hands. My wrath will be poured out on this place, and it will not be quenched.’ |
| 34:26 |
Say this to the king of Judah who sent you to askinquire Yahweh,of the Lord: ‘This is what Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel says: As for the words that you heard, |
| 34:27 |
because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard Hishis words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Meme, and you tore your clothes and wept before Meme, I Myselfmyself have heard’—’ — this is the Lord’s declaration. |
| 34:28 |
‘I will indeed gather you to your fathersancestors, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster that I am bringing on this place and on its inhabitants.’” Then they reported to the king. |
| 34:30 |
The king went up to the Lord’s temple with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the Levites — all the people from greatthe oldest to smallthe youngest. He read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the Lord’s temple. |
| 34:31 |
Then the king stood at his post and made a covenant in the Lord’s presence to follow the Lord and to keep Hishis commands, Hishis decrees, and Hishis statutes with all his heart and with all his soul in order to carry out the words of the covenant written in this book. |
| 34:33 |
So Josiah removed everything that was detestable from all the lands belonging to the Israelites, and he required all who were present in Israel to serve the Lord their God. Throughout his reign they did not turn aside from following Yahwehthe Lord, the God of their ancestors. |
| 35:3 |
He said to the Levites who taught all Israel the holy things of the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the temple built by Solomon son of David king of Israel. Since you do not have to carry it on your shoulders, now serve Yahwehthe Lord your God and Hishis people Israel. |
| 35:4 |
“Organize your ancestral housesfamilies by your divisions according to the written instruction of King David king of Israel and that of his son Solomon. |
| 35:5 |
Serve in the holy place by the divisionsgroupings of the ancestral housesfamilies for your brothers, the lay people, and theaccording distributionto of the tribaldivision household of the Levites by family. |
| 35:7 |
Then Josiah donated 30,000thirty thousand sheep, lambs, and young goats, plus 3,000three bullsthousand cattle from his own possessions, for the Passover sacrifices for all the lay people who were present. |
| 35:8 |
His officials also donated willingly for the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, chief officials of God’s temple, gave 2,600twenty-six hundred Passover sacrifices and 300three bullshundred cattle for the priests. |
| 35:9 |
Conaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, officers of the Levites, donated 5,000five thousand Passover sacrifices for the Levites, plus 500five bullshundred cattle. |
| 35:11 |
Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs, and while the Levites were skinning the animals, the priests sprinkledsplattered the blood they had been given. |
| 35:12 |
They removed the burnt offerings so that they might be given to the divisionsgroupings of the ancestral housesfamilies of the lay people to offer to the Lord, according to what is written in the book of Moses; they did the same with the bullscattle. |
| 35:15 |
The singers, the descendants of Asaph, were at their stations according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer. Also, the gatekeepers were at each temple gate. None of them left their tasks because their Levite brothers had made preparations for them. |
| 35:18 |
No Passover had been observed like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet Samuel. None of the kings of Israel ever observed a Passover like the one that Josiah observed with the priests, the Levites, all Judah, the Israelites who were present in Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. |
| 35:20 |
After all this that Josiah had prepared for the temple, King Neco king of Egypt marched up to fight at Carchemish by the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to confront him. |
| 35:21 |
But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “What is the issue between you and me, king of Judah? I have not come against you today but I am fighting another dynasty. God told me to hurry. Stop opposing God who is with me; don’t make Himhim destroy you!” |
| 35:24 |
So his servants took him out of the war chariot, carried him in his second chariot, and brought him to Jerusalem. Then he died, and they buried him in the tomb of his fathersancestors. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. |
| 35:25 |
Jeremiah chanted a dirge over Josiah, and all the singingmale men and singingfemale womensingers still speak of Josiah in their dirges to this very daytoday. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Dirges. |
| 36:2 |
Jehoahaz was 23twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. |
| 36:3 |
The king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and fined the land 7,500seventy-five hundred pounds of silver and 75seventy-five pounds of gold. |
| 36:4 |
Then King Neco king of Egypt made Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took his brother Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt. |
| 36:5 |
Jehoiakim was 25twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned 11eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. |
| 36:6 |
Now King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked him and bound him in bronze shackles to take him to Babylon. |
| 36:7 |
Also Nebuchadnezzar took some of the utensilsarticles of the Lord’s temple to Babylon and put them in his temple in Babylon. |
| 36:8 |
The rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim, the detestable thingsactions he didcommitted, and what was found against him, are written in the Book of Israel’s Kings. His son Jehoiachin became king in his place. |
| 36:9 |
Jehoiachin was 18eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and 10ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. |
| 36:10 |
In the spring Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and brought him to Babylon along with the valuable utensilsarticles of the Lord’s temple. Then he made Jehoiachin’s brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem. |
| 36:11 |
Zedekiah was 21twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned 11eleven years in Jerusalem. |
| 36:12 |
He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet Jeremiah at the Lord’s command. |
| 36:13 |
He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear allegiance by God. He became obstinate and hardened his heart against returning to Yahwehthe Lord, the God of Israel. |
| 36:14 |
All the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, imitating all the detestable practices of the nations, and they defiled the Lord’s temple that Hehe had consecrated in Jerusalem. |
| 36:15 |
But Yahwehthe Lord, the God of their ancestors sent word against them by the hand of Hishis messengers, sending them time and time again, for Hehe had compassion on Hishis people and on Hishis dwelling place. |
| 36:16 |
But they kept ridiculing God’s messengers, despising Hishis words, and scoffing at Hishis prophets, until the Lord’s wrath was so stirred up against Hishis people that there was no remedy. |
| 36:17 |
So Hehe brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their choicefit young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary. He had no pity on young men or young women, elderly or aged; Hehe handed them all over to him. |
| 36:18 |
He took everything to Babylon — all the articles of God’s temple, large and small, the treasures of the Lord’s temple, and the treasures of the king and his officials. |
| 36:19 |
Then the Chaldeans burned God’s temple. They tore down Jerusalem’s wall, burned down all its palaces, and destroyed all its valuable articles. |
| 36:21 |
This fulfilled the word of the Lord through Jeremiah, and the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation until 70seventy years were fulfilled. |
| 36:22 |
In the first year of King Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah, wasthe fulfilled. The Lord putroused it into the mindspirit of King Cyrus of Persia to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and also to put it in writing: |
| 36:23 |
This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: The Lord, the God of heaventhe heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build Himhim a temple at Jerusalem in Judah. WhoeverAny among you of Hishis people among you may go up, and may the Lord his God be with him. |