Open English Translation 2KI Chapter 15

15 In the twenty-seventh year of King Yarave’am’s reign over Israel, Amatsyah’s son Azaryah[fn] became king of Yehudah. 2 He was sixteen when he became king, and he reigned from Yerushalem for fifty-two years. (His mother’s name was Jeholyah from Yerushalem.) 3 He did what Yahweh had said was correct behaviour like his father Amatsyah had done, 4 although the hilltop shrines weren’t removed—the people continued to sacrifice at them and burn incense. 5 Yahweh caused Azaryah to become a leper and he had to live separately from others for the rest of his life, so his son Yotam ran the palace and dealt with the people’s problems.

6 Everything else that Azaryah said and did is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yehudah. 7 Azaryah died and was buried in the ancestral tomb in the city of David, and his son Yotam replaced him as king.[ref]

8 In the thirty-eighth year of King Azaryah’s reign over Yehudah, Yarave’am’s son Zekaryah became king over Israel and ruled for six months from Shomron (Samaria). 9 He did what Yahweh had said was evil, just as his ancestors had done—he didn’t avoid the kinds of behaviour that had been done by Nebat’s son Yarave’am who had caused Israel to sin. 10 Then Yavesh’s son Shallum plotted to assassinate him, and he attacked him in front of the people and killed him, and he replaced him as king.

11 Everything else that Zekaryah said and did is written in the book of the events of the kings of Israel.

12 Previously Yahweh had told King Yehu that his descendants would sit on the throne for four generations, and that had come true.[ref]

13 Yavesh’s son Shallum became king in the thirty-ninth year of King Azaryah’s reign over Yehudah, but he only reigned from Shomron for one month. 14 Then Gadi’s son Menahem came to Shomron from Tirtsah, and he attacked Yabesh’s son Shallum there in Shomron and killed him, replacing him as king. 15 Everything else that Shallum said, including his assassination plot, is written in the book of the events of the kings of Israel. 16 At that time, Menahem attacked Tifsah and everyone in the city, and its borders from Tirtsah, because they wouldn’t open their gates. Then he ripped open the bellies of all the pregnant women there.

17 In the thirty-ninth year of King Azaryah’s reign over Yehudah, Gadi’s son Menahem became king over Israel and he reigned from Shomron (Samaria) for ten years. 18 He did what Yahweh had said was evil—he didn’t avoid the kinds of behaviour that had been done by Nebat’s son Yarave’am who had caused Israel to sin.

During his reign, 19 King Pul (Tiglat-Pileser) of Assyria attacked Israel, and Menahem gave Pul over thirty tonnes of silver, so he would support Menahem’s reign. 20 (Menahem had taxed all the wealthy families across Israel—fifty silver coins per adult male.) As a result, the Assyrian king cancelled his plans to attack and returned home.

21 Everything else that Menahem said and did is written in the book of the events of the kings of Israel. 22 Then Menahem died and was buried, and his son Pekahyah replaced him as king.

23 In the fiftieth year of King Azaryah’s reign over Yehudah, Menahem’s son Pekahyah became king over Israel and reigned from Shomron (Samaria) for two years. 24 He did what Yahweh had said was evil—he didn’t avoid the kinds of behaviour that had been done by Nebat’s son Yarave’am who had caused Israel to sin. 25 But Pekah the son of Remalyah, Pekahyah’s third officer, plotted to assassinate him, and he attacked him in the palace in Shomron with the assistance of Argov and Aryeh and fifty Gileadites. So Pekah he killed King Pekahyah and replaced him as king. 26 Everything else that Pekahyah said and did is written in the book of the events of the kings of Israel—look at it.

27 In the fifty-second year of King Azaryah’s reign over Yehudah, Remalyah’s son Pekah became king over Israel and reigned from Shomron (Samaria) for twenty years. 28 He did what Yahweh had said was evil—he didn’t avoid the kinds of behaviour that had been done by Nebat’s son Yarave’am who had caused Israel to sin.

29 During the reign of King Pekah over Israel, Assyria’s King Tiglat-Pileser came, and he captured the cities of Iyyon, Abel-Beyt-Maakah, Yanoah, Kedesh, and Hatsor, and the regions of Gilead, Galilee, and Naftali, and he exiled their people to Assyria.

30 Then Elah’s son Hoshea plotted to assassinate Remalyah’s son Pekah, and he attacked him, killing him and replacing him as king in the twentieth year of King Yotam’s reign over Yehudah. 31 Everything else that Pekah said and did is written in the book of the events of the kings of Israel.

32 In the second year of Remalyah’s son Pekah’s reign over Israel, Azaryah’s son Yotam began to reign over Yehudah. 33 He was twenty-five when he became king, and he reigned from Yerushalem for sixteen years. (His mother’s name was Yerusha, the daughter of Tsadok.) 34 He did what Yahweh had said was correct behaviour like his father Azaryah/Uzziyyah had done, 35 although the hilltop shrines weren’t removed—the people continued to sacrifice at them and burn incense. Yotam built the upper gate to Yahweh’s temple.

36 Everything else that Yotam said and did is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yehudah. 37 In those days, Yahweh began to send Aram’s King Retsin and Remalyah’s son Pekah against Yehudah. 38 Then Yotam died and was buried in their ancestral tomb in the city of his ancestor David, and his son Ahaz replaced him as king.