1 After the death of Yisrael’s King Ahab, Moab rebelled against Yisrael.

2 One day, King Ahazyah fell through a lattice in his upper room in Shomron (Samaria) and was injured, ≈so he sent messengers to go and ask Ekron’s God Baal-Zevuv if he would recover. 3 ≈But Yahweh’s messenger told Eliyyah (from Tishbe), “≈Leave here and go and meet the Shomron king’s messengers and ≈ask them, ‘Is it because there’s no God in Yisrael that you’re all going to inquire from Ekron’s God Baal-Zevuv? 4 ≈Because of that, Yahweh says that the king won’t get out of the bed that he’s lying in—he’s definitely going to die.”

≈So Eliyyah told them and ≈continued on his way. 5 ≈When the messengers returned to @the king, he ≈asked them, “What’s this? ≈Why are you back here so soon?”

6 “A man ≈came to meet us,” they told him, “and he said to us, ‘Go and return to the king who sent you, and tell him that Yahweh says this: Is it because there’s no God in Yisrael that you are sending messengers to inquire from Ekron’s God Baal-Zevuv? Therefore you’ll never leave that bed that you’re lying in but you’ll certainly die in it.’ ”

7 “What was the man ≈like,” the king ≈asked them, “who met you and ≈gave you all that message?”

8 “≈He had a cloak made of animal hair,” they ≈answered, “and ≈was wearing a leather belt.”

“Ah,” said @the king. “That’s Eliyyah ≈from Tishbe.”

9 ≈So he sent a captain with his fifty soldiers to look for @Eliyyah and they found him sitting on the top of a hill. The captain ≈called out, “Man of God, the king ≈wants to see you.”

10 ≈But Eliyyah replied, “≈Well, if I am a man of God, let fire come down from the sky and consume you and your ≈men,” and fire came down from the sky, and it ≈burnt up the captain and his men.

11 ≈So @the king sent another captain with his fifty men and they went to where Eliyyah was and called out to him, “Prophet, the king commands that you come ≈with us right now.”

12 Again Eliyyah replied, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from the sky and consume you and your ≈men,” and God’s fire came down from the sky, and it ≈burnt up the captain and his men.

13 ≈So @the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. They went to where Eliyyah was and the officer knelt down in front of him and ≈pleaded, “Prophet, I ≈beg you, be kind to me and my fifty soldiers, and don’t kill us. 14 Listen, fire came down from the sky and burnt up the first two captains and their ≈men, but please treat my life as valuable in your sight.”

15 Then Yahweh’s messenger told Eliyyah, “Go with #them. Don’t be afraid of him.”

So Eliyyah went with #them to the king 16 and told him, “Yahweh says that you sent messengers to inquire from Ekron’s God Baal-Zevuv, ≈as if there’s no God in Yisrael to ≈ask. Therefore, he says, ≈you certainly won’t get off that bed that you’re on because you’ll die in it.”

Death of Ahaziah

17 ≈So @King Ahazyah died ≈just as Yahweh had said via Eliyyah. Then Ahazyah’s younger brother Yehoram (Joram) became king in his place, because @Ahazyah ≈didn’t have any sons. This happened in the second year of the reign of Yehoshafat’s son King Yehoram over Yehudah. 18 ≈Everything else that Ahazyah said and did is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yisrael.

2 ≈One day as Eliyyah and Elisha ≈had left Gilgal, Yahweh took Eliyyah up to heaven in a storm. 2 Eliyyah had told Elisha, “Now, you stay here because Yahweh has ≈told me to go to Beyt-El.”

“By the life of Yahweh,” Elisha ≈had responded, “and by the life of your spirit, I won’t leave you.” ≈So they’d headed to Beyt-El.

3 ≈Also the ≈prophets-in-training who were in Beyt-El had gone out to Elisha and told him, “Do you know that today Yahweh is going to take your master ≈away from you?”

“I ≈already know that,” he’d ≈replied. “≈Don’t say anything.”

4 Then Eliyyah ≈had informed Elisha, “Yahweh has sent me to Yericho (Jericho). You stay here.”

He’d ≈answered, “By the life of Yahweh and the life of your spirit, I won’t leave you.” ≈So they’d gone to Yericho.

5 The ≈prophets-in-training who were in Yericho ≈had approached Elisha and ≈briefed him, “Do you know that today Yahweh is taking your master ≈away from you?”

“≈Yes, I realise that,” he’d ≈responded. “≈Say no more.”

6 ≈Again Eliyyah had told him, “You stay here, because Yahweh has sent me to the Yordan.”

And he’d ≈countered, “By the life of Yahweh and the life of your spirit, I won’t leave you.” ≈So the two of them had gone there together. 7 ≈Fifty of the prophets-in-training had also gone, but they’d stood back watching from a distance, so the two of them had stood there by the Yordan. 8 Then Eliyyah had taken off his cloak and ≈doubled it over and hit the river with it. The water divided ≈leaving a dry path and the two of them had walked across to the other side. 9 As they’d crossed over, Eliyyah had told Elisha, “≈Tell me what you’d like me to do for you before I get taken away.”

“Please,” Elisha ≈had answered, “≈I’d like a double amount of ≈the spirit that you have.”

10 “Oh, ≈that’s a difficult request,” @Eliyyah ≈had responded. “Well, if you see me being taken ≈away from you, ≈then you’ll get what you asked for, but if you miss seeing me go, you won’t.”

11 Then it had happened while they were walking and talking together. Wow, a chariot of fire and horses of fire drove between the two of them, ≈separating them. Then Eliyyah went up to the heavens in the gale. 12 Elisha was watching, and he cried out, “My father, my father, Yisrael’s chariot and its horsemen!”

Elisha Succeeds Elijah

≈But then @Elisha could no longer see him, and he grabbed his own ≈cloak, and tore #it in half, 13 and he picked up Eliyyah’s cloak that had fallen ≈down to the ground. Then he went back and stood on the bank of the Yordan, 14 and he took Eliyyah’s cloak and ≈hit the river with it, saying, “Where is Eliyyah’s God Yahweh?” ≈Then as he hit the water, ≈the river divided into two parts and Elisha crossed ≈through the middle. 15 The ≈prophets-in-training who were ≈on the Yericho side, affirmed, “≈Elisha now has the spirit that Eliyyah had.” Then they came forward to meet him and ≈knelt down in front of him as a sign of respect, 16 and they ≈requested, “Listen please, ≈fifty of us here have military training. Please, let them go to search for your master, in case Yahweh’s spirit lifted him and ≈dropped him on ≈a hill somewhere or into one of the valleys.”

“≈Don’t waste your time,” he ≈replied. 17 But they ≈kept insisting so much that Elisha was embarrassed and he said, “≈Ok then.”

≈So they sent fifty men, and they searched for three days, but they didn’t find @Eliyyah. 18 ≈When they returned to @Elisha (he was staying in Yericho), he said to them, “Didn’t I ≈tell you not to bother?”

Miracles of Elisha; Healing of the Water; Elisha Performs Miracles; Elisha’s First Miracles

19 Then the ≈leaders of Yericho city said to Elisha, “Please, ≈this city is a good place to live, just as my master can see, but the water supplies around here are bad ≈so our crops don’t thrive.”

20 “Bring me a brand new bowl,” he said, “and put salt there.” ≈So they brought ≈one to him, 21 and he went out to the ≈spring and threw the salt at it, and ≈announced, “Yahweh says that he’s healed these water supplies and ≈they’ll no longer cause death or barrenness.” 22 ≈So now those water supplies have been healthy and beneficial until this day, just as Elisha had said.

Elisha Is Jeered

23 From there @Elisha went to Beyt-El, and as he was going up on the road, some young men came out from the city, and ≈started mocking him, saying, “≈Keep moving, baldy. Keep moving, baldy.”

24 Then @Elisha turned ≈back around and ≈looked at them, and he cursed them in Yahweh’s name. ≈Just then, two female bears came out from the forest and mauled forty-two of *them.

25 @Elisha carried on from there to Mt. Karmel, and from there, he returned to Shomron (Samaria).

3 Ahab’s son Yehoram (Jehoram) became king over Yisrael in the eighteenth year of King Yehoshafat’s reign over Yehudah, and he reigned from Shomron (Samaria) for twelve years. 2 He did ≈what Yahweh had said was evil, ≈but not as bad as his father and mother had been, and he did remove the pillar of Baal that his father had made. 3 ≈However, he ≈committed similar sins to those of Nebat’s son Yarave’am who had caused Yisrael to sin and didn’t ≈stop doing them.

War with Moab

4 ≈Now Moab’s King Mesha was a sheep breeder, and he would ≈pay an annual tribute to Yisrael’s king of a hundred thousand young rams, plus the wool of a hundred thousand rams. 5 ≈However, after King Ahab died, Moab’s king rebelled against Yisrael’s ≈control over them. 6 ≈So King Yehoram set out from Shomron and mustered all ≈of Yisrael’s fighters. 7 Then he sent this message to King Yehoshafat of Yehudah, “Moab’s king has rebelled against me. Will you ≈join in battle with me against them?”

“I’ll ≈join you,” he ≈replied. “≈You and me are together. My people are your people, and my horses are your horses. 8 ≈What’s our strategy? Which way should we go in?” he ≈asked.

“≈Through the Edom wilderness,” he ≈replied.

9 ≈So the kings of Yisrael, Yehudah, and Edom took their armies on a seven day trip circling around, but they ≈didn’t find enough water for the men or their animals, 10 and Yisrael’s king ≈complained, “Oh dear, ≈it seems that Yahweh ≈has sent in us three kings to ≈allow Moab to defeat us.” 11 ≈But Yehoshafat ≈asked, “Isn’t there one of Yahweh’s prophets here, so we might inquire from Yahweh through him?”

“There’s Elisha,” one of the servants of Yisrael’s king answered, “Shafat’s son, the prophet who ≈was Eliyyah’s assistant.”

12 “Yes, ≈he receives Yahweh’s messages,” said Yehoshafat.

So the kings of Yisrael, Yehudah, and Edom, went to see him. 13 ≈But Elisha ≈asked Yisrael’s king, “What ≈do you and me have in common? Go and inquire from your father’s prophets and your mother’s prophets.”

“No,” the king of Yisrael said. “We came because Yahweh has called for ≈us three kings to ≈allow us to be defeated by Moab.”

14 “≈As army commander Yahweh lives,” Elisha ≈responded, “≈the one who I serve, I wouldn’t ≈be talking to you or even face you, if I hadn’t recognised King Yehoshafat of Yehudah. 15 ≈So now bring me a ≈musician.

Then while the musician played, Yahweh ≈spoke to him 16 and he said, “Yahweh says that this valley ≈will store lots of water.[fn] 17 *He says that you all won’t see any wind or rain, ≈yet this valley will be filled with water, and you and your animals will have plenty to drink. 18 ≈That’s a piece of cake for Yahweh. ≈What’s more, he’ll give you victory over Moab. 19 You’ll all ≈attack every important city, including their fortified ones. You can chop down their fruit trees, block up their springs, and ruin their good land with stones.”

20 ≈The next day at the time of the morning sacrifice, ≈to their amazement there was water flowing from Edom and covering the ground.

21 By then, ≈the people of Moab had heard that the kings had come to battle them, ≈so they summoned ≈everyone who could wear a sword and stationed them beside the border. 22 ≈But when they got up early the next morning and the sun rose, from ≈the direction where they were, the water appeared to be red like blood. 23 “That’s blood,” they ≈exclaimed. “Those three kings ≈must have turned against each other and killed each other. So let’s go, Moab, and collect the spoil.”

24 ≈But when they reached the ≈allied camp, the ≈allies attacked and they fled ≈away. Then the ≈allies entered Moab and attacked there. 25 They tore down the cities, and ≈each person threw a stone onto the good land, making it useless. They ≈blocked up every spring, and they ≈chopped down every good tree. Eventually, only their capital city of Kir-Hareset remained standing ≈with its stone walls, but they attacked that as well using slingshots.

26 ≈When Moab’s king saw that the ≈attackers were stronger than them, he took a team of seven hundred swordsmen to try to break through to the king of Edom, ≈but they failed. 27 ≈So he took his oldest son (who would have become the next king) and sacrificed him publicly on top of the city wall. ≈This made their people crazy furious against Yisrael, so they left and returned home.

4 One day a woman ≈who was a wife of one of the prophets-in-training, called out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, died, and you yourself know that your servant ≈served Yahweh. ≈Now the moneylender has come to take two of my children ≈in payment to become his slaves.”

2 “Hmmh, what could I do to help you?” Elisha ≈responded. “Tell me, what have you got in your house?”

“Your servant’s got nothing in the house except a flask of oil,” she ≈replied.

3 He told her, “Go and ask for empty containers from all of your neighbours. ≈Make sure you get plenty of them. 4 Then go and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour oil into all those containers. ≈Once each one’s full, set it aside.” 5 ≈So she went and she shut the door of her house ≈with her and her sons inside. They would bring the empty containers to her, and she poured the oil. 6 ≈Eventually when she told one of her sons to bring the next container, he told her that there wasn’t any more, and at that point, the oil stopped flowing.

7 Then she went and informed the man of God, and he told her, “Go and sell the oil and pay off your debt. Then you and your sons can live on the rest.”

8 ≈One day, Elisha went to Shunem, and there was a ≈wealthy woman there who ≈invited him in for a meal. ≈After that, he dropped in there for a meal whenever he was going past, 9 and the woman said to her husband, “≈You know, I’m sure that this man who often drops in on us is a holy man of God. 10 Please, ≈can we make a small upstairs room on our flat roof? And we could put a bed and a lampstand in it for him, plus a table and chair. ≈Then whenever he’s passing through here, he’ll have his own spot to stay.”

11 ≈Another day when Elisha arrived, he went up to his room and lay down. 12 Then he told his servant Gehazi to call the Shunammite woman, ≈so he called her and she came and stood in front of @Elisha. 13 He told @Gehazi, “Now tell her ≈that we’ve noticed how she looks after us, and ask her what we can do for her? Can we speak to the king for her or to the captain of the army?”

≈But she ≈replied, “≈I have family and friends all around me.”

14 After she’d left again, he asked Gehazi, “Well, what can I do for her?”

“Hmmh,” Gehazi ≈replied. “She doesn’t have a son, and her husband is old.”

15 “Call her then,” Elisha said. ≈So he called her and she came and stood in the doorway, 16 and @Elisha told her, “≈In due course after the normal months, you’ll have a son to hold.”

“No, my master, man of God,” she ≈stammered. “Don’t lie to your female servant.”

17 Then the woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son after the normal time, just as Elisha had told her.

18 The child grew up and ≈one day he went out to his father who was with the harvesters, 19 and he ≈called to his father, “My head, my head.”

@His father told one of the servants, “Carry him home to his mother.”

20 ≈So @the servant ≈carried him back to his mother, and he sat on her knees until noon when he died. 21 @His mother ≈carried him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, ≈shutting the door behind her as she went out. 22 Then she called her husband and told >him, “Please send one of the young men and one of the donkeys to me ≈so I can run and see the man of God and ≈then come back.” 23 “Why are you going there today?” he ≈asked. “It’s not a ≈religious holiday.”

“≈It’ll be okay,” she ≈answered, 24 and she saddled the donkey, and told the young man, “Now, let’s go! You lead and don’t ≈slacken off for my comfort unless I tell you to.” 25 So #they ≈set off to seek out the man of God at Mt. Karmel.

When @Elisha saw her coming from a distance, he told Gehazi, “Look, there’s the Shunammite woman. 26 Now, please, run to meet her and ≈ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’ ”

“≈Everything’s all right,” she ≈answered. 27 Then she got to the mountain and to the man of God, and she knelt and grabbed his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, ≈but the man of God said, “Leave her because ≈she’s upset, but Yahweh has hidden @the problem from me—he hasn’t informed me.”

28 “Did I ask for a son from you, my master?” she said. “No, but didn’t I say, ‘Don’t ≈mislead me?’ ” 29 Then he told Gehazi, “≈Tuck in your robe and take my staff in your hand, and go quickly. If you ≈meet anyone, just keep going and don’t stop to bless them, and if someone blesses you, don’t stop to answer them. When you get there, lay my staff on the young man’s face.”

30 ≈But the mother of the young man said, “By the life of Yahweh and the life of your spirit, I won’t leave without you.” ≈So he got ≈ready, and went ≈with her. 31 ≈However, Gehazi ≈had gone ahead and he put the staff on the young man’s face, but he didn’t ≈open his eyes or make a sound. ≈So he returned to meet @Elisha and told him that the young man didn’t wake up.

32 ≈When Elisha reached the house, ≈it was a shock to see the young man lying on his bed, dead. 33 He went in and he shut the door behind the ≈other two, and he prayed to Yahweh. 34 Then he ≈got on the bed, and he lay on the child and bent down near him, putting his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his palms on his palms. Then the child’s body ≈started getting warmer, 35 and he ≈got down and walked ≈around the room several times. Then he ≈got on the bed again, and bent down near him. The young man gasped ≈several times, and then opened his eyes. 36 Then he called to Gehazi, and ≈told him to call the Shunammite woman, and he called her, and she came and @Elisha told >her, “≈Here, take your son.” 37 Then she came in and ≈fell to her knees in front of him with her face to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out, 38 and Elisha returned to Gilgal.

At that time, there was a drought and the ≈prophets-in-training were sitting facing him, and Elisha told his servant, “Get the large pot and boil a stew for ≈these prophets-in-training.” 39 One person went out to the countryside to gather herbs, and he found a ≈wild vine, and he collected ≈wild fruit from it—≈as many as he could hold in the fold of his robe. Then ≈not realising that they were poisonous, he came and he ≈sliced them into the pot of stew. 40 Then they ≈served it up for the men to eat, ≈but when they ate it, they called out, “Man of God, there’s ≈poison in that pot!” 41 “Bring me some flour,” @Elisha said. Then he threw it into the pot, and said, “≈Serve it up for the people to eat,” and no one was harmed.

Elisha Feeds One Hundred Men; Feeding of a Hundred

42 One day a man came from Baal-Shalishah, and he brought to the man of God ≈an offering from the beginning of his harvest: twenty loaves of barley bread, and ≈newly-harvested corn in his sack, and @Elisha said to his servant, “Give it to &our people ≈so they can eat.”

43 “How ≈can I divide that out to one hundred men?” asked his servant.

“Give them to the people ≈so they can eat,” he ≈replied, “because Yahweh says ≈that they can eat and have left-overs.” 44 ≈So he ≈laid it out in front of them and they ate and had left-overs, ≈just like Yahweh had said would happen.

5 ≈Now Na’aman was the captain in Aram’s army. He was ≈highly respected by Aram’s king, and was ≈promoted to a high position because ≈Yahweh had helped Aram (Syria) win many battles because of him. ≈However, despite his military prowess, ≈he suffered from a serious skin disease called leprosy.[ref] 2 Previously troops that had been sent out from Aram, had taken a young Israeli girl captive and she ≈had become Na’aman’s wife’s servant. 3 One day she said to her mistress, “≈I wish that my master would go and see the prophet who lives in Shomron, and then he would ≈cure him of his leprosy.” 4 In due course, Na’aman heard and went and told ≈his master what the young Israeli girl had said. 5 The king of Aram ≈responded, “≈Ok, I’ll write a letter to the king of Yisrael for you to take.”

≈So @Na’aman ≈set off, taking along 70kg of gold, 300kg of silver, and ten sets of fine clothes, 6 and he took the letter to the king of Yisrael. The letter said, “≈Greetings. When this letter gets to you, see, I’ve sent my servant Na’aman to you ≈so that you can heal his skin disease.”

7 ≈However when Yisrael’s king read the letter, he tore his clothes in despair, and he said, “≈Do they think that I’m God who ends people’s lives and gives life to others? Why’s this person sending a man here for me to take away his skin disease? Surely ≈he must be creating a situation so he has an excuse to attack me!”

8 ≈Later when Elisha the man of God heard that Yisrael’s king had torn his clothes, he sent ≈a message to the king, “Why did you tear your clothes? Please, let ≈that man come to me ≈so he can know that there is a prophet in Yisrael.” 9 ≈So Na’aman came on his chariots and horses, and he stood at the entrance to Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger out to him to tell him, “Go and wash seven times in the Yordan river, and ≈then you’ll be better and your skin will go back to normal.

11 ≈But Na’aman was furious, and he left, saying, “Listen, I said to myself that he’d surely come out and stand there and call on the name of his God Yahweh, then he’d wave his hand ≈over my body and take away the skin disease. 12 Aren’t the Damascus rivers Abanah and Pharpar better than ≈any river in Yisrael? Can’t I bathe in them instead and ≈get healed?” ≈So he turned and he went ≈off angrily. 13 Then some of his servants ≈approached him and suggested, “My ≈master, if the prophet ≈had told you to do something more significant, wouldn’t you have done it? ≈So maybe you could do the simple thing that he told you: wash and ≈get better.”

14 ≈So @Na’aman went down to the Yordan river and dipped in *it seven times ≈like the man of God had told him to. Then his skin ≈became clear again, like the skin of a young boy, and he was ≈healed. 15 Then he returned to the man of God ≈along with his entire retinue. ≈Standing in front of him, he said, “Look, please. I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Yisrael. Now, please, ≈accept a blessing from your servant.”

16 “By the life of Yahweh ≈who I serve,” he ≈responded, “I won’t take anything.”

@Na’aman urged him to take >something, but he kept refusing. 17 Then Na’aman said, “≈Well if not, please, at least may ≈we load a pair of mules with some soil to take back with us, because from now on, your servant will no longer make a burnt offering or a sacrifice to other gods—only to Yahweh. 18 ≈However, I’ll ask in advance: May Yahweh forgive your servant when my master goes to the house of the god Rimmon to prostrate himself there, and he’s leaning on my hand, and I prostrate myself in the house of Rimmon. When I prostrate myself in the house of Rimmon, please may Yahweh forgive your servant ≈for this one activity.”

19 “Go in peace,” @Elisha ≈replied.

Gehazi’s Greed; The Greed of Gehazi

≈After they’d gone a short distance, 20 Elisha’s servant said to himself, “≈Hmmh, my master ≈wouldn’t take anything from that Na’aman the Aramean. By the life of Yahweh, ≈I think I should run after him and take something that he brought.” 21 ≈So Gehazi ≈hurried after Na’aman. ≈When Na’aman saw a person running after him, he got down from his chariot to meet him, and he said, “≈Is there a problem?”

22 “Peace,” he said, “My master sent me to tell you that two young ≈prophets-in-training arrived from the hill country of Efrayim. Can we please have 30kg of silver and two sets of clothing for them?”

23 “≈Sure,” said Na’aman. “Take 60kg,” he urged him. Then he ≈separated 60kg of silver into two bags along with two sets of clothes, then he gave them to two of his young men ≈to carry back for him. 24 When @Gehazi reached the hill, he sent the men back and they ≈returned to Na’aman. Then he took @the sacks that they’d brought and ≈hid them in the house. 25 ≈When he went back in to his master, Elisha ≈asked him, “≈Where did you go, Gehazi?”

“Your servant ≈hasn’t been anywhere,” he ≈replied.

26 “≈Wasn’t I there in spirit when a man turned from on his chariot to meet you?” @Elisha said to him, “Is this a time to take silver or clothing, or to take olive trees or vineyards, or sheep or cattle, or male or female servants? 27 Because of that, Na’aman’s leprosy will ≈transfer to you and to your offspring forever.” When @Gehazi ≈left the room, his skin had gone white as snow and he was now a leper.

6 One day, the ≈prophets-in-training said to Elisha, “Please look, The place where we’re sitting ≈to learn from you is too narrow ≈to fit us all in. 2 Please, let us go ≈down by the Yordan river, and let ≈each of us cut down and bring back a log from there ≈to make a new classroom for us to sit in.”

“Go ahead,” he ≈answered.

3 One of them ≈insisted, “Please, ≈say that you’ll come with your servants.”

“Okay then, I’ll come,” he said. 4 ≈So he went with them to the Yordan valley to cut down some trees, 5 ≈but while one of them was chopping down a tree, suddenly the axe head separated from the handle and ≈went flying into the water. @The man called out to Elisha, “Oh, Master, what should I do? ≈It’s not my axe—I borrowed it!”

6 “Where did it fall in?” the man of God ≈asked. ≈After the man had shown him the place, @Elisha cut off a stick and threw it there, and the iron axe head ≈rose to the surface. 7 “≈Now get it out,” he said, and the man stretched out and grabbed it.

8 In those days, the king of Aram was fighting against Yisrael, and he’d instruct his servants, “≈Set up #our camp in such and such a place.” 9 ≈However, the man of God sent to Yisrael’s king ≈to warn him, “Beware of passing by such and such a place, because the Aramean army ≈will be attacking there.” 10 ≈So the king would send messengers to the people at that place ≈to warn them to watch and be prepared.

≈That happened several times 11 and the Aramean king ≈got very upset about it. He called in his servants and demanded, “≈Which one of you is a traitor—passing military intelligence to the king of Yisrael?”

12 “No, my master the king,” a servant ≈answered. “It’s the prophet Elisha in Yisrael who tells their king the things that you say even in your bedroom.”

13 “Go and find out where he is,” he instructed, “and I’ll send some men there to capture him.”

“He’s in Dothan,” he was told later. 14 ≈So he sent chariots and horses and a large contingent, and they ≈arrived there at night and surrounded the town.

15 Early the next morning, the man of God’s servant got up, and going outside he was ≈shocked to see chariots and horses and an army surrounding the town, ≈so he called @Elisha, “Oh, my master! What will we do?”

16 “Don’t ≈be afraid,” he said, “because ≈we have many more than that on our side.” 17 Then Elisha prayed, “Yahweh, please ≈enable his ≈sight so he can see.” Then Yahweh ≈enabled the eyes of the young man, and he ≈was stunned to see that the hill was ≈covered with chariots of fire and horses all around Elisha.

18 ≈When the Arameans approached to swoop in, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, “Please, strike ≈those warriors with blinding light.” ≈So @Yahweh struck them with blinding light ≈just as Elisha had requested, 19 and Elisha told them, “This isn’t the right way, and this isn’t the town. ≈Follow me, and let me lead you to the man you’re looking for.”

Then he led them to Shomron (Samaria), 20 and when they’d entered *the city, Elisha said, “Yahweh, open the eyes of these people ≈so they can see.” ≈So Yahweh opened their eyes, and then they ≈were stunned to see that they were in the middle of Shomron.

21 When he saw them, the king of Yisrael ≈asked Elisha, “Should I ≈kill them? Should I ≈kill them, my father?” 22 “No, don’t ≈kill them,” he ≈replied. “≈Would you cold-bloodedly kill your prisoners of war? No, ≈give them bread and water and ≈let them eat and drink, and then they can ≈return to their master.” 23 ≈So @the king prepared a ≈large meal for them, and they ate and drank, and he sent them ≈off to return to their master. ≈After that, the Aramean troops didn’t continue ≈their ventures into Yisrael.

24 ≈Sometime after that, King Ben-Hadad of Aram assembled all of his ≈warriors and ≈attacked Shomron (Samaria), and besieged it. 25 ≈Being surrounded like that caused a terrible famine inside *the city, until a donkey’s head would be ≈sold for eighty silver coins, and a ≈cup of doves’¦175183 droppings was ≈sold for five silver coins.

26 ≈One day as the king of Yisrael was ≈walking past on the top of the city wall, a woman cried out to him, “Save me, my master, the king!”

27 “If Yahweh won’t save you, ≈how could I possibly save you?” he ≈snapped. “Some grain from the threshing floor or some wine from the winepress?” 28 Then he ≈asked her, “Okay, ≈what’s your problem?”

“This woman said to me, ‘≈Let’s have your son and we’ll eat him today, then we’ll eat my son tomorrow,’ ” she ≈answered. 29 “≈So we boiled my son and ate him, and then the next day I said, ‘≈Hand over your son and we’ll eat him,’ but she’d hidden *him.”

30 When he heard *that, the king (standing up on the wall) tore his clothes, and the people could see ≈to their astonishment that he was wearing sackcloth underneath, 31 and he said, “May God do that to me and more, if Shafat’s son Elisha ≈still has his head on him by the end of the day.”

32 ≈Meanwhile, Elisha was sitting ≈at home, joined by the city elders. @The king ≈had sent a warrior ahead of him, ≈and before he’d arrived at the house, @Elisha had told the elders, “Well now, ≈that son of a murderer has sent an assassin to separate me from my head. Listen, when that ≈hit-man arrives, shut the door and ≈lean against *it. ≈His master won’t be far behind him.” 33 He was still talking with them, when, ≈wow, the warrior was coming towards the house soon followed by the king who said, “≈Listen, Yahweh caused this disaster so why should I trust *him any longer?”

7 “≈Listen to what Yahweh says,” Elisha ≈responded, “Yahweh says that at this time tomorrow, a ≈drum of flour will be ≈sold for a shekel, and two ≈drums of barley will be ≈sold for for a shekel at the ≈city gate.”

2 “≈That’s impossible,” ≈interjected the captain ≈at the king’s side. “Yahweh ≈would have to make windows in the sky.”

“Oh, it’ll happen,” the man of God ≈answered, “and you’ll see it with your own eyes, but you won’t get to eat any of it.”

The Siege Lifted; The Arameans Flee; The Syrian Army Leaves; Lepers Visit the Enemy Camp

3 That day, four men who were isolated due to a skin disease ≈were at the city gate, and they ≈asked each other, “Why are we just sitting here until we ≈starve? 4 If we ≈go into the city, we’ll starve to death in there, but if we sit here, we’ll die anyway. ≈Why don’t we go into the Aramean army camp—if they kill us then we’ll die, but if they let us live, then we’ll live.” 5 ≈So as it was getting dark, they went to go into the camp, ≈but as they came to the edge of *it, ≈to their surprise there wasn’t a person in sight. 6 It turned out that the master had caused the Aramean ≈army to hear the sounds of chariots and horses and a large army, ≈so they’d said ≈to each other that the king of Yisrael must have hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to join together to fight them. 7 ≈As a result, they’d taken off and fled in the twilight. They’d abandoned their tents and horses and donkeys—leaving the camp just as it was, and fled for their lives.

8 ≈So those four ≈men with leprosy approached the edge of the camp and went ≈into the first tent, and ate and drank. Then they ≈took some gold and silver and clothes out, and they went and hid it. Then they returned and went into another tent, and ≈stole some stuff from that one, and went and hid that. 9 Then they said ≈to each other, “≈We shouldn’t really be doing this today. It’s a day of good news, but we’ve been ≈keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until the light of the morning, ≈we’ll get punished for it, ≈so let’s go now and inform the king’s household.” 10 ≈So they went and called out to one of the city gatekeepers, and they informed them, “We went to the Aramean camp, but listen, there ≈wasn’t anyone there, or any voices. The horses and donkeys were still tethered, and the tents were left just as they were.”

11 The gatekeepers called out, and ≈the news was reported to the palace.

Israel Plunders the Camp

12 ≈Although it was already night-time, the king got up and ≈warned his servants, “≈I’ll tell you what’s going on here: The Arameans know that we’re hungry, ≈so they left their camp to go and hide in the countryside, ≈thinking that we’d go out from the city, and then they could capture us and take over the city.”

13 ≈But one of his servants answered, “Sir, please, let us take five of the remaining horses. ≈They’re pretty much finished anyway, like the remaining population of Yisrael, so there’s not much to lose. Let us ≈go and investigate.” 14 ≈So with the king’s permission, they took two chariot horses and ≈went to check out the Aramean camp. 15 They went ≈as far as the Yordan river, and ≈were amazed that the whole road was full of clothing and equipment that the Arameans had thrown off in their rush, and the messengers returned and informed the king. 16 ≈So the people went out and plundered the camp. Then it happened: a ≈drum of fine flour was ≈sold for a shekel, and two ≈drums of barley ≈for the same amount, just as Yahweh had said would happen.

17 The king had appointed the captain who ≈had argued with Elisha to be in charge at the city gate, but the people trampled him *there and he died, just as the man of God had said when the king ≈had gone to his place. 18 When the man of God had told the king that two ≈drums of barley ≈would be sold for a shekel, and a ≈drum of flour ≈also sold for a shekel the next morning at the *city gate, 19 the captain was the one who’d answered the man of God and had said that Yahweh would have to make windows in the sky to do that, and @Elisha had told him that he’d see it, but wouldn’t be able to eat any of it. 20 That’s exactly what happened, ≈because he got trampled by the rush of people at the gate and died.

8 ≈One day Elisha spoke to the Shunammite woman whose son he’d ≈brought back to life, “≈Pack up and leave here, you and your household, and ≈go and stay somewhere else, because Yahweh’s ≈going to send a seven-year drought.” 2 ≈So the woman got up, and she did ≈what the man of God told her: She ≈packed up her household and left to go and live in the Philistines’ ≈region for seven years.

3 ≈Then eventually after seven years, the woman returned from the Philistines’ ≈region and she went ≈to petition the king ≈about her house and land. 4 When she arrived, the king ≈had asked Gehazi, the man of God’s servant, “Please tell me all the ≈incredible things that Elisha has done.” 5 Then @Gehazi was telling the king that @Elisha had made the dead live, and how the woman who he made her son live was ≈petitioning the king on behalf of her house and her field. Then Gehazi ≈exclaimed, “My master, the king, this is the woman, and that’s her son, who Elisha made live!” 6 ≈So the king questioned the woman and she told him her story. Then the king appointed a court official to ≈attend to her case, saying, “Return everything that belongs to her ≈plus the profit from her field from the day she left until now.”

7 Elisha went to Aram’s capital Damascus at a time when King Ben-Hadad of Aram (Syria) was very sick, and someone told him that the man of God was in town. 8 The king ≈instructed an official named Haza’el, “Take a gift ≈with you and go ≈and meet the man of God. Then inquire from Yahweh through him ≈to find out if I’ll recover from this sickness.” 9 ≈So Haza’el went to meet @Elisha and ≈took presents with him loaded on forty camels—some of every good thing that he could find in Damascus. He went and stood in front of him and ≈asked, “Your servant, King Ben-Hadad sent me to ≈ask you if he’ll recover from his sickness?”

10 “Go and tell him that he’ll surely live,” Elisha ≈answered. “But Yahweh has shown me that he’ll definitely die.” 11 Then @Elisha ≈stared at him until @Haza’el ≈felt embarrassed, and then the man of God started to cry.

12 “Why are you crying, my master?” Haza’el asked.

“Because I know what evil things you’ll do to the ≈Israelis,” he said. “You’ll ≈burn down their fortresses and kill their young men with the sword. You’ll smash their children’s heads on rocks, and rip open the bellies of their pregnant women.”

13 Haza’el ≈asked, “But ≈how could your servant be in a position to do such a major thing when he’s only minor, like a dog in the palace?”

“Yahweh has let me see you as king over Aram.” Elisha ≈replied.

14 Then he left Elisha and ≈went back to his master ≈who asked him, “What did Elisha tell you?”

And he ≈answered, “He told me ≈that you’ll certainly live.” 15 ≈the very next day, @Haza’el dipped @Ben-Hadad’s blanket in water and held it over his face until he died, and then Haza’el ≈started to reign in his place.

16 In the fifth year of the reign of Ahab’s son Yoram as king of Yisrael, Yehoshafat’s son Yehoram became king of Yehudah. 17 He was thirty-two when he became king and he reigned from Yerushalem for eight years. 18 He ≈followed in the evil ways of the kings of the northern kingdom of Yisrael, just as Ahab’s ≈descendants had done, because ≈he’d married one of Ahab’s daughters. He did what Yahweh ≈had said was evil, 19 ≈but Yahweh wasn’t willing to destroy Yehudah, for the sake of his servant David—he’d ≈promised David that ≈his descendants would always rule Yehudah.

20 It was ≈during @King Yehoram’s ≈time that Edom rebelled from Yehudah’s ≈control, and they ≈appointed their own king. 21 So Yehoram took his army and chariots and crossed the valley towards Zair in Edom. ≈They attacked at night, ≈but as the Edomite army and chariots started to surround them, *they had to ≈retreat back to their tents. 22 ≈So Edom has been out from under the control of Yehudah to this day. Then Livnah revolted at the same time.

23 ≈Everything else that Yehoram said and did is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yehudah. 24 Then Yehoram ≈died and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David, and his son Ahazyah ≈replaced him as king.

25 In the twelfth year of Ahab’s son Yoram’s reign over Yisrael, Yehoram’s son Ahazyah (Ahaziah) became the king of Yehudah. 26 Ahazyah was twenty-two when he became king, and he ≈reigned from Yerushalem for one year. (His mother’s name was Atalyah (Athaliah), the daughter of King Omri of Yisrael.) 27 He ≈followed Ahab’s customs and did what Yahweh ≈had said was evil like Ahab’s descendants, because he was a son-in-law of ≈a descendant of Ahab. 28 He ≈joined Ahab’s son Yoram to ≈battle against Aram’s King Haza’el at Ramot-Gilead, but the Arameans ≈wounded Yoram. 29 King Yoram returned to Yizre’el (Jezreel) to ≈recover from the wounds that Arameans had ≈given him at Ramah when he’d fought with Aram’s King Haza’el. Later, King Ahazyah of Yehudah (Yehoram’s son), went down to see (Ahab’s son) Yoram in Yizre’el because he was wounded.

9 Then the prophet Elisha called to one of the ≈prophets-in-training and told him, “≈Tuck your robe in, take this flask of oil, and ≈hurry to Ramot-Gilead. 2 ≈When you get there, you’ll see Yehu (Jehu) (the son of Nimshi’s son Yehoshafat) there. ≈Take him into a private inner room, away from his brothers, 3 and pour some of the olive oil over his head and tell him that Yahweh says that he’s anointed him as king over Yisrael. Then open the door and ≈get out of there fast.” 4 ≈So the young prophet went to Ramot-Gilead, 5 and ≈when he arrived, he was surprised to see the army captains sitting there. He said, “≈I need to talk to you, captain.”

“≈Which one of us?” Yehu ≈asked.

“≈It’s a message for you, captain,” he said. 6 ≈So @Yehu got up, and ≈went over to the house ≈where @the prophet poured the oil on his head and told him, “Yisrael’s God Yahweh says that he’s anointed you as king over Yahweh’s people—over Yisrael. 7 You should attack the house of Ahab your master so @Yahweh can avenge the ≈murder of his servants, the prophets, and ≡avenge the ≈murder of all his servants ≈who were killed by Izevel (Jezebel). 8 All of Ahab’s household ≈should be killed, and @Yahweh ≈won’t allow any of his male descendants to live, either before or after they’ve left home. 9 @Yahweh ≈wants Ahab’s descendants to be eliminated like the descendants of Nebat’s son Yarave’am and Ahiyah’s son Baasha were. 10 The dogs will eat Izevel’s body ≈where she dies in Yizre’el—≈she won’t be buried.” Then he opened the door and ≈rushed away.

11 ≈When Yehu came back to the room where the servants of his masters were, and #they ≈asked him, “≈Is everything okay? ≈What did that madman want with you?”

“You yourselves know ≈that man and the sort of stuff that he says,” he said.

12 “≈You’re lying,” they insisted. “Tell us what he told you.”

“Well, he said ≈several things,” @Yehu ≈answered, “≈and then he told me that Yahweh says he’s anointed me as king over Yisrael.”

13 Then they all spread their cloaks on the steps of the building ≈for Yehu to walk out on, and they blew a trumpet and ≈shouted, “Yehu is now the king!”

14 ≈So Yehu (the son of Nimshi’s son, Yehoshafat) conspired against Yoram. Yoram was busy ≈with the army guarding Ramot-Gilead from King Haza’el of Aram. 15 Then King Yoram returned to Yizre’el to heal from the wounds from the Arameans when he’d fought with their King Haza’el.

≈So Yehu told >his men, “If ≈you all want me as king, then don’t let anyone leave this city of Ramot-Gilead ≈in case they go to Yizre’el city and tell them >our plans.” 16 Then Yehu rode to Yizre’el himself because Yoram ≈was recuperating there in bed, and King Ahazyah had gone up north from Yehudah to visit *him.

17 The watchman was standing on the watchtower in Yizre’el, and he could see Yehu’s party in the distance as they ≈began approaching the city, and he ≈reported, “I can see a ≈large group.”

King Yoram ≈ordered, “≈Send out a chariot and go and ask them if they’re coming in peace.” 18 ≈So the horse and chariot went ≈out to meet them and called out, “The king ≈wants to know if you’re all coming in peace?”

≈But Yehu ≈answered, “What’s ≈that got to do with you? Turn around ≈and follow us.”

≈Meanwhile the watchman ≈announced, “The messenger has ≈met them, but he isn’t returning.”

19 ≈So @the king sent out a second horse and chariot, and he ≈approached and ≈asked, “≈The king wants to know if you’re all coming in peace?”

≈Again Yehu ≈replied, “What’s ≈that got to do with you? Turn around ≈and follow us.”

20 Then the watchman declared, “He also ≈met with them but didn’t return. ≈The leader is riding like Nimshi’s son Yehu, because he’s riding ≈like crazy.”

21 “Quick, get ≈my chariot ready!” Yoram ≈ordered. #They harnessed his chariot and King Yoram of Yisrael and Yehudah’s King Ahazyah both went out—each man in his chariot. They went out to ≈meet Yehu and they found him at Navot’s field (the Yizre’elite). 22 When Yoram saw Yehu, he ≈asked, “Have you come in peace, Yehu?”

“How ≈could there be peace,” he ≈answered, “≈when your mother Izevel is serving idols and embracing witchcraft?”

23 Then Yoram ≈swung the chariot reigns around and fled, ≈shouting to Ahazyah, “≈It’s treason, Ahazyah!” 24 Yehu ≈grabbed his bow, and the arrow struck Yoram between his ≈shoulder blades and came out from his heart, and he slumped down dead in his chariot. 25 Then @Yehu said to his third officer Bidkar, “≈Pick up his body and throw it out into the field of Navot, the Yizre’elite. ≈I’m sure you remember how you and I were riding as pairs after his father Ahab, when Yahweh ≈said this against him: 26 ‘Yesterday I saw Navot and his sons ≈killed here, declared Yahweh, and I will repay you in this ≈very place, declares Yahweh.’ ≈So now, throw his body down here because Yahweh declared that it would happen.”

Ahaziah of Judah Killed; King Ahaziah of Judah Is Killed

27 Yehudah’s King Ahazyah saw that happen, and he ≈sped away through the garden by a house ≈with Yehu chasing after him shouting, “≈Get him too in his chariot when he starts climbing upwards to Gur near Yibleam.” ≈So as he fled towards Megiddo, he ≈was killed there, 28 and his servants ≈took his body to Yerushalem, ≈where they buried him in his ancestral tomb in the City of David.

29 (Ahazyah had become king over Yehudah in the eleventh year of the reign of Ahab’s son Yoram over Israel.)

30 Then Yehu came to Yizre’el and Queen Izevel (Jezebel) heard about it. She ≈painted her eyelids and ≈did her hair nicely, then she looked down through the window, 31 and when Yehu came in the gate, she said, “Greetings, Zimri the second,[ref] murderer of his master.” 32 @Yehu ≈looked up at the window and ≈called out, “Who is with me? Who?” And two or three servants poked their heads out windows and looked down to him. 33 “Okay,” he ≈called up, “≈toss her out!”

≈So they tossed her out the window, and some of her blood splashed onto the wall and onto the horses ≈as she was trampled by them. 34 Then @Yehu and his men went in and ate and drank, and then he said, “≈Now, you all better attend to that ≈evil woman and bury her, because she’s a king’s daughter.” 35 ≈But when they went to bury her, they ≈could only find her skull and her hands and feet. 36 They ≈came back inside and told him, “It’s just like what Yahweh said via his servant the Tishbite Eliyyah, when he said that the dogs would eat Izevel’s flesh ≈just outside Yizre’el, 37 and then *her body would become like dung on the ≈ground and no one would be able to recognise her specific bones.”

10 King Ahab had seventy sons who lived in Shomron (Samaria), ≈so Yehu sent letters to the leaders and elders of Yizre’el, and to the guardians of Ahab’s children, saying, 2 “When you all ≈receive this letter, ≈you’ll have the sons of your masters ≈with you, as well as chariots and horses, and weapons within your fortified city. 3 ≈So select the best and the most honest one out of your masters’ sons or nephews, and ≈establish him on his father’s throne, and then ≈be prepared to defend your masters’ family.” 4 ≈But they were extremely frightened and said, “Listen—those two kings couldn’t stand ≈against Yehu, so how could we?” 5 Then the man who was now in charge of the household and leading the city elders sent a message to Yehu, “We are your servants and we’ll do whatever you tell us to. We don’t ≈plan to select a king. Do ≈whatever you think best.”

6 ≈So @Yehu ≈sent a second letter saying, “If you’re all ≈on my side and ready to follow me, come and meet me at Yizre’el tomorrow with the heads of your masters’ sons.”

≈The late King Ahab had seventy sons ≈who were being brought up by the city leaders, 7 and when that letter ≈arrived, they killed and beheaded all of them, put the heads in baskets, and sent them to him at Yizre’el.

8 A messenger went and informed @Yehu that the heads had been brought, and he instructed them to pile them up in two piles at the city gate until the next morning. 9 In the morning he went out and stood there, and he told all the people, “You are innocent. Listen—it was me myself who conspired against my master and killed him. But who killed all these? 10 You all should know that ≈when Yahweh says something will happen, then it will happen. *He ≈said via his servant Eliyyah that this is what would happen to Ahab’s family, and so it has.” 11 Then Yehu ≈killed all Ahab’s remaining family members in Yizre’el, and all ≈his chosen leaders, and his associates and priests, leaving no survivors.

12 Then @Yehu left Yizre’el and headed towards Shomron (Samaria). ≈When he reached the shepherds’ shearing house, 13 *he ≈met the late King Ahazyah’s brothers there, and he ≈asked >them, “Who are you?”

“We’re King Ahazyah’s brothers,” they said, “and we’re coming ≈to look after the sons of the king and of the queen mother.”

14 “≈Arrest them,” he ≈ordered, so they ≈grabbed and slaughtered them near the pit at the shearing house. There were forty-two men and ≈none were spared.

15 Then ≈continuing on from there, @Yehu found Rekav’s son Yonadav coming to meet him. Yehu ≈greeted him and asked, “≈Are you wanting to do what is right just like I am?” IS THAT WHAT HE WAS REALLY ASKING???

“Yes, ≈I am.” Yonadav ≈replied.

“≈Great,” @Yehu said. “Give me your hand,” and he gave him his hand, and @Yehu ≈pulled him up to join him in the chariot, 16 telling >him, “Come with me and see my zeal for Yahweh.” ≈So they rode together in the chariot. 17 ≈When they got to Shomron, @Yehu ≈killed the remainder of Ahab’s family who were there, until ≈they were finally exterminated, ≈just as Yahweh had said via Eliyyah.

The Worshippers of Baal Are Killed; Slaughter of Worshippers of Baal; Jehu Kills the Priests of Baal; Ministers of Baal Killed

18 Then Yehu assembled all the people and told them, “Ahab served Baal a little, but Yehu will serve him ≈a lot. 19 ≈So now, call all the prophets of Baal to come here—all his servants and all his priests. Don’t let ≈anyone stay away because I’m going to make a large sacrifice to Baal. ≈Anyone who’s absent will be executed.” ≈However Yehu ≈was being cunning in order to destroy Baal’s ≈followers. 20 Yehu ≈ordered, “≈Announce a special holiday to assemble and worship Baal,” and ≈so they did. 21 On that day, Yehu brought in all ≈the people, and all the servants of the Baal came, ≈leaving no one out. They entered the ≈temple of the Baal and *it was ≈packed full. 22 He ≈told the wardrobe supervisor, “Bring out ≈uniforms for all the servants of the Baal,” so he brought robes out for them. 23 Then Yehu and Rekav’s son Yonadab entered the ≈temple of the Baal and ≈instructed the servants of the Baal, “≈Make sure that it’s only the servants of Baal in here—we don’t want any servants of Yahweh.” 24 ≈So they entered to make sacrifices and burnt offerings.

≈Meanwhile, Yehu ≈had stationed eighty men outside, and had told >them, “≈Don’t let any of the ones I send you escape, or it will be your life in place of theirs.”

25 Then when he finished making the burnt offering in the outer area, Yehu told the ≈guards and officers, “Come in now and strike them down. Don’t let ≈any of them get out.” ≈So they ≈attacked them with swords, and the ≈guards and officers threw ≈the bodies over the fence. Then they went ≈inside the temple, 26 and pulled the ≈sacred posts outside and burnt #them. 27 They broke down the pillar of the Baal, and they broke down the ≈temple. ≈Since then it’s been used as an out-house.

28 That’s how Yehu ≈put an end to Baal worship in Yisrael. 29 ≈There was only one of the things with which Nebat’s son Yarave’am had caused Yisrael to sin that Yehu didn’t destroy: the golden calves at Beyt-El and Dan. 30 Then Yahweh told Yehu, “Because you did good by ≈following my principles and doing what I’ve said is right, including what you did to Ahab’s family, you’ll have four generations sitting on Yisrael’s throne.” 31 ≈But Yehu didn’t take care ≈to follow the instructions of Yisrael’s God Yahweh whole-heartedly—he didn’t ≈reject all of Yarave’am’s evil customs which had caused Yisrael to sin.

32 ≈During that period, Yahweh began to ≈reduce the size of Yisrael’s territory and Aram’s King Haza’el ≈attacked along their border 33 from the Yordan ≈river in the east as far south as Aroer city on the Arnon river—capturing ≈the Gilead and Bashan regions where the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and Menashsheh lived.

34 ≈Everything else that Yehu said and did is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yisrael. 35 Then Yehu ≈died and was buried in their ancestral tomb in Shomron (Samaria), and his son Yehoahaz ≈replaced him as king. 36 Yehu had ruled from Shomron as the king of Yisrael for twenty-eight years.

11 When Ahazyah’s mother Atalyah saw that her son ≈had been killed, she went and had all ≈of his descendants executed so that none of them could claim the throne. 2 ≈However, King Yehoram’s daughter Yehosheva took Yoash, the son of her sister Ahazyah, and hid him in the bedroom along with his wet-nurse. ≈Although he was on the list of the king’s sons to be executed, they hid him from Atalyah, and so he wasn’t killed. 3 Then he was able to stay hidden with her in the ≈temple for the six years while Atalyah ruled @Yehudah.

Revolt against Athaliah; Jehoiada Anoints the Child Joash

4 In the seventh year, Yehoyada the priest sent for the ≈officers over the royal bodyguards and the palace bodyguards to come to him inside Yahweh’s temple. ≈He made them agree to take an oath of secrecy and loyalty ≈in the temple, then he let them see the king’s son. 5 Then he commanded them, “This is ≈what you all need to do: On the Rest Day, one third of you ≈must go and guard the king’s palace. 6 The second third ≈must guard the Sur gate, and ≈the remainder must stay behind the others roaming back and forth, 7 and the two ≈off-duty groups must guard the temple and protect the young king. 8 You’ll surround the king—each man ≈holding his weapons at the ready right around him—killing any person who approaches your ranks, and ≈accompanying the king when he goes out or comes in.

9 ≈So the officers over the royal bodyguards did ≈everything that the priest Yehoyada had commanded. ≈Both the on-duty and the off-duty men fulfilled their roles under Yehoyada’s direction that Rest Day. 10 The priest had taken the spears and the shields out of the temple that had belonged to King David and given them to the ≈officers over the royal bodyguards, 11 and ≈they all stood in position, each man holding his weapons ready in his hand, ≈right around the palace and the temple and the altar, and the king. 12 Then @the priest brought young Yoash out and put the crown on his head. He ≈handed him the official scroll, and they anointed him and made him king. Then they ≈clapped their hands and shouted, “≈Long live the king!”

Death of Athaliah; The Death of Athaliah

13 ≈When Atalyah heard the sound of the people ≈and the guards, she came to the people gathered at Yahweh’s temple 14 and ≈was stunned to see the young, new king standing near the pillar as was the custom, with the captains and the trumpeters near the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and ≈sounding trumpets. Then Atalyah tore her clothes and ≈shouted out, “Treachery! Treason!” 15 Then Yehoyada the priest commanded the ≈officials over the bodyguards and the army officers, “Bring her out away from ≈these public buildings. Don’t kill her in the temple, but kill anyone who ≈tries to rescue her. 16 ≈So they ≈grabbed her by each arm and took her out through the entrance for the horses to the palace, and she was ≈executed there.

17 Then Yehoyada ≈led the making of an agreement between Yahweh and the king and the people, ≈for the people to serve Yahweh, and also between the king and between the people. 18 Then people ≈from all over the country went to the temple of Baal and broke down the altars. They smashed his images ≈to pieces and killed Mattan the priest of the Baal ≈in front of the altars. ≈Meanwhile, Yehoyada the priest ≈placed guards over Yahweh’s temple. 19 Then he ≈organised the officers over the royal guard and the palace guards to bring the king down from the ≈temple of Yahweh, and along with all the people, they entered the ≈palace via the gate usually used by the king’s bodyguards, and he sat on the throne. 20 All the people celebrated and the city was quiet ≈because Atalyah had been put to death with the sword at the palace.

21 Yoash was only seven when he became king of Yehudah.

(2 Chronicles 24.1-16)

12 Yoash became king in Yerushalem in the seventh year of Yehu’s reign over Israel. (His mother was Tsivyah from Be’er-Sheva.) He reigned for forty years 2 and all his life, *he did ≈what Yahweh had said was correct because he was instructed by Yehoyada the priest. 3 ≈However, they didn’t remove the ≈hilltop shrines where the people continued sacrificing and burning incense.

4 Then Yoash told the priests, “≈You all must collect all the ≈money that’s donated to Yahweh’s temple, whether it’s the money they’re required to pay or the money that they themselves decide to give as sacred offerings to buy things for the temple. 5 ≈Each priest must bring what they’ve collected from their acquaintances, and use it to make repairs wherever they find that there’s been damage to the temple.”

6 ≈However, when the priests still hadn’t repaired the damaged portions by the twenty-third year of Yoash’s reign, 7 *he sent for Yehoyada the priest and the other priests, and ≈questioned them, “Why aren’t you all strengthening the ≈temple where it was damaged? ≈From now on, you all won’t take any money from acquaintances, but you’ll give it directly for repairing the damage.” 8 ≈So the priests agreed to not accept ≈money from the people, and ≈that they themselves wouldn’t be the ones to repair the temple.

9 Then Yehoyada the priest took a wooden chest and he made a hole in ≈the top, and he ≈placed it at the right of the altar. When a person came into the ≈temple, the priests guarding the ≈entrance would ≈place any donated money into the chest. 10 ≈Whenever they noticed the chest getting full, the king’s secretary and the high priest ≈would go and count the money as they bagged it up. 11 They ≈used the funds to pay the supervisors and inspectors and the tradesmen doing the repair work: carpenters and builders, 12 and ≈the masons and stone-cutters. ≈They also paid for the timber and stones, and everything else that was needed for the temple repairs. 13 However, ≈they didn’t use the donated silver coins that were brought to the temple to make silver bowls, snuffers, basins, or trumpets, or for any other gold or silver instruments within the temple, 14 because they ≈passed on the donations to the people doing the work, and ≈in this way Yahweh’s residence got repaired. 15 They didn’t audit the men who ≈took the silver coins to the workers because the whole system was based on trust. 16 The silver coins that came as part of the guilt offering and the sin offerings were not ≈used for temple repairs—they belonged to the priests.

Hazael Threatens Jerusalem; The End of Joash’s Reign

17 Then Aram’s King Haza’el ≈attacked Gat and captured it, ≈after which *he ≈decided to attack Yerushalem. 18 Yehudah’s King Yoash took all the sacred things that his ancestors Yehoshafat and Yehoram and Ahazyah, the previous kings of Yehudah, had consecrated and his sacred things, and all of the gold that was found in Yahweh’s ≈temple treasuries and in the king’s ≈palace, and he sent them to Aram’s King Haza’el ≈who then cancelled his planned attack on Yerushalem.

Death of Joash

19 ≈Everything else that Yoash said and did is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yehudah.

20 ≈However, his servants got ≈together and planned his assassination, and they ≈ambushed Yoash in Bet-Millo on the road going down to Silla. 21 His servants Yozavad (Shimeat’s son) and Yehozabad (Shomer’s son) struck him and he died, and they buried him ≈in his ancestral tomb in the city of David, and his son Amatsyah ≈replaced him as king.

13 In the twenty-third year of Ahazyah’s son Yoash reigning over Yehudah, Yehu’s son Yehoahaz became king over Yisrael ≈and reigned seventeen years from Shomron (Samaria). 2 He did what Yahweh ≈had said was evil and he ≈imitated the customs of Nebat’s son Yarave’am who had caused Yisrael to sin—@Yehoahaz didn’t ≈end them. 3 ≈So Yahweh ≈got angry with Yisrael and he ≈allowed them to be defeated by Aram’s King Haza’el and his son Ben-Hadad throughout Yehoahaz’s reign. 4 Then Yehoahaz ≈prayed to Yahweh for help, and Yahweh listened to him because he saw ≈how much Yisrael was being oppressed by the Aramean king. 5 ≈So Yahweh ≈sent a saviour to Yisrael, and they ≈were able to stand up against the Arameans, and only then were the ≈Israelis able to live peacefully again from day to day. 6 ≈Despite that, they didn’t ≈stop imitating the sins of Yarave’am’s family who caused Yisrael to sin—no, @Yehoahaz ≈kept doing them, and even the Asherah pole remained standing in Shomron.

7 The Aramean king had ≈thoroughly destroyed much of Yisrael’s forces only leaving fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers for Yehoahaz.

8 ≈Everything else that Yehoahaz said and did, ≈including his great achievements, is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yisrael. 9 Then Yehoahaz ≈died and was buried in Shomron, and his son Yehoash ≈replaced him as king.

10 In the thirty-seventh year of King Yoash reigning over Yehudah, Yehoahaz’s son Yehoash became king over Yisrael and reigned sixteen years from Shomron (Samaria). 11 He did what Yahweh ≈had said was evil and he ≈imitated the customs of Nebat’s son Yarave’am who had caused Yisrael to sin—@Yehoash didn’t ≈end them. 12 ≈Everything else that Yehoash said and did, ≈including his great achievements fighting along with Yehudah’s King Amatsyah, is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yisrael. 13 Then Yehoash ≈died and was buried in Shomron with the former kings of Yisrael, and his son Yarave’am ≈replaced him on the throne.

14 ≈Meanwhile Elisha ≈had been sick and heading for his last days, ≈so Yisrael’s king Yehoash had been ≈to see him, and ≈cried as he stood in front of him and said, “My father, my father, Yisrael’s chariot and its horsemen!”[fn]

15 Then Elisha had told him, “Bring a bow and arrows.” ≈So he’d brought *them, 16 and he’d told Yisrael’s king, “≈Grab the bow ready to draw.” ≈So he did that, and then Elisha put his hands over the king’s hands. 17 Then he said, “Open that window facing east.” @The king opened it and Elisha said, “Shoot.” ≈So he shot >the arrow and @Elisha said, “That’s an arrow of victory for Yahweh and an arrow of victory against Aram. You will ≈thoroughly defeat Aram at Afek.” 18 Then he ≈continued, “Take the rest of the arrows.” Yisrael’s king took >them, and @Elisha told him, “Strike the ground with them.” ≈So he banged the arrows on the ground three times. 19 ≈But the man of God was angry with him, and said, “≈You should have bashed them five or six times, then you would have bashed Aram up ≈completely, ≈but now you’ll defeat *them three times.”

20 Then Elisha died and was buried.

≈Every year in the spring, bands of Moabites ≈would make raids on Yisrael, 21 and once there was a group of Israelis burying a man. When they saw the raiding party, they quickly threw ≈the body into Elisha’s tomb, and when *it touched his bones, the man ≈came back to life and stood up.

22 Aram’s King Haza’el oppressed Yisrael all ≈through Yehoahaz’s reign, 23 ≈but Yahweh showed favour ≈to the Israelis and ≈felt compassionate towards them. ≈Because of his agreement with Abraham, Yitshak, and Yacob, he ≈didn’t want to destroy them, and he ≈hasn’t tossed them out even to this day.

24 ≈When Aram’s King Haza’el died, his son Ben-Hadad ≈replaced him as king. 25 Then Yehoahaz’s son Yehoash ≈attacked Aram three times, and he took back the cities from Haza’el’s son Ben-Hadad that had been taken in the war in his father Yehoahaz’s time.

14 In the second year of ≈the reign of Yehoahaz’s son Yehoash over Yisrael, Amatsyah ≈replaced his father Yoash as king of Yehudah. 2 He was twenty-five when he became king, and he ≈reigned from Yerushalem for twenty-nine years. (His mother’s name was Yehoaddan from Yerushalem.) 3 He did what Yahweh ≈had said was correct behaviour, ≈although not as thoroughly as his ancestor David—≈his behaviour was more like that of his father Yoash. 4 ≈However, the ≈hilltop shrines weren’t removed—people were still sacrificing and burning incense at *them.

5 ≈Once he was firmly established as king, @Amatsyah had the servants executed who had assassinated his father Yoash,[ref] 6 ≈but he didn’t have their sons executed, because in the scroll where Mosheh had written the laws, Yahweh had commanded, “Fathers shouldn’t be executed for what their sons do, nor should sons be executed for the crimes of their ancestors—rather an individual should only be executed for their own crime.”

7 ≈He led the victory over ten thousand Edomites in the Salt Valley, seizing Sela in the battle and renaming it as Yokthe’el which it’s still called today.

8 Then Amatsyah sent messengers to Yisrael’s King Yehoash (the son of Yehoahaz, the son of Yehu) ≈challenging, “Come on, let’s ≈have it out with each other.” 9 ≈But King Yehoash ≈replied to Yehudah’s King Amatsyah, “The thistle that was in the Lebanon forest sent to the cedar that was in the Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ ≈But a ≈wild animal that was in the Lebanon passed by and it trampled the thistle. 10 ≈It’s true that you won a battle with Edom and you’re feeling encouraged. ≈Accept that honour, but stay ≈home now. Why would you stir up trouble ≈only to fall again—you and all Yehudah with you?”

11 ≈But Amatsyah wouldn’t listen ≈so the armies of Yisrael’s King Yehoash and Yehudah’s King Amatsyah ≈faced each other in Yehudah at Beyt-Shemesh. 12 ≈However, Yehudah was ≈overcome by Yisrael, and ≈its warriors had to flee ≈home from the battlefield. 13 ≈So Yisrael’s King Yehoash captured Yehudah’s King Amatsyah (the son of Yehoash, the son of Ahazyah) in Beyt-Shemesh. Then he went to Yerushalem, and he broke down the *city wall from the Efrayim Gate up to the Corner Gate—≈almost two hundred metres of it. 14 He took all the gold and silver, and all the equipment that was found in Yahweh’s ≈temple and in the ≈palace treasuries. Then ≈taking some hostages as well, he returned to Shomron (Samaria).

15 ≈Everything else that Yehoash said and did, ≈including his battle with Yehudah’s King Amatsyah, is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yisrael. 16 Then Yehoash ≈died and was buried in Shomron with the former kings of Yisrael, and his son Yarave’am ≈replaced him as king.

17 Yehudah’s King Amatsyah (Yoash’s son) lived another fifteen years after the death of Yisrael’s King Yehoash (Yehoahaz’s son). 18 ≈Everything else that Amatsyah said is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yehudah.

19 Some people in Yerushalem ≈had plotted to assassinate him, ≈but he fled to Lakish. ≈However, they followed him *there and killed him ≈in the city. 20 ≈His body was carried back on horses, and he was buried ≈in his ancestral tomb in Yerushalem in the city of David. 21 Then all the people of Yehudah took sixteen year old Azaryah and made him king ≈to replace his late father Amatsyah. 22 @Azaryah built up Eylat and he ≈reestablished it as part of Yehudah ≈before he died.

23 In the fifteenth year of Yoash’s son King Amatsyah’s reign over Yehudah, Yehoash’s son Yarave’am became king of Yisrael and reigned from Shomron (Samaria) for forty-one years. 24 He did what Yahweh ≈had said was evil—he ≈imitated the customs of Nebat’s son Yarave’am who’d caused Yisrael to sin. 25 @Yarave’am restored Yisrael’s border from Lebo-Hamat through to the Sea of the Desert, as Yisrael’s God Yahweh had foretold via his servant Yonah (Jonah)—the son of the prophet Amittai from Gat-Hefer. 26 That was because Yahweh had seen ≈how Yisrael had suffered badly and had been unable to control their own destinies, and that ≈no other country would help *them. 27 ≈But Yahweh had ≈said that he wouldn’t allow Yisrael to be destroyed, so he’d used Yehoash’s son Yarave’am to save them.

28 ≈Everything else that Yarave’am said and did, ≈including how he fought and restored Damascus and Hamat to Yisrael, is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yisrael. 29 Then Yarave’am died and was buried with the former kings of Yisrael, and his son Zekaryah ≈replaced him as king.

15 In the twenty-seventh year of King Yarave’am’s reign over Yisrael, 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 Yisrael 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 Yisrael 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 Yisrael.

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 Yisrael.

Menahem Rules in 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 Yisrael 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 Yisrael 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 Yisrael—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 Yisrael. 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 Yisrael 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 Yisrael 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 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 Yisrael—≈look at it.

27 In the fifty-second year of King Azaryah’s reign over Yehudah, Remalyah’s son Pekah became king over Yisrael 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 Yisrael to sin.

29 ≈During the reign of King Pekah over Yisrael, 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 Yisrael.

32 In the second year of Remalyah’s son Pekah’s reign over Yisrael, 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/Uzziyah 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.

16 In the seventeenth year of Remaliah’s son Pekah’s reign over Israel, Yotam’s son Ahaz ≈began to reign over Yehudah. 2 Ahaz was twenty when he became king and he ≈reigned from Yerushalem for sixteen years, ≈but he didn’t ≈follow what his God Yahweh ≈had said was correct behaviour like his ancestor David had done. 3 Actually he ≈followed the behaviour of the kings of Yisrael, and he even ≈sacrificed his son ≈as a burnt offering like ≈they do in the nations that Yahweh hated and which Yahweh had driven out ≈of the land as the Israelis had entered.[ref] 4 ≈Also he sacrificed on the ≈hilltop shrines and burnt incense on them, and on the hills and under every large tree.

5 Then Aram’s King Retsin and Yisrael’s King Pekah (Remalyah’s son) came uphill to ≈attack Yerushalem, and they laid siege against King Ahaz but they weren’t able to conquer the city.[ref] 6 At that time, Aram’s King Retsin recaptured Elat City for Aram, then he drove the Yehudans out of Elat and Arameans ≈moved in instead and they have lived there to this day. 7 ≈So Ahaz sent messengers to Assyria’s King Tiglat-Pileser, “I’m your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the kings of Aram and Yisrael ≈who are here attacking me.” 8 Ahaz took the gold and silver from Yahweh’s ≈temple and from the ≈palace treasuries, and sent it as a gift to the Assyrian king. 9 The king of Assyria listened to him and ≈went in and attacked Damascus, and he captured it and exiled @its people to Kir, and he executed King Retsin.

10 King Ahaz went to meet the Assyrian King Tiglat-Pileser in Damascus, and he saw the altar that was *there. ≈So he sent ≈a drawing and the detailed measurements of the altar to the priest Uriyyah. 11 ≈So Uriyyah built the altar according to *the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus ≈and had it finished before King Ahaz returned from Damascus. 12 ≈When the king ≈got back to Yerushalem and saw the altar, he went up onto it 13 and made his burnt offering and his grain offering, and he poured out his drink offering, and he sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings onto the altar. 14 He got the bronze altar that ≈had been dedicated to Yahweh moved ≈back away from the temple and placed beside the newer, bigger altar.[ref] 15 Then King Ahaz ordered Uriyyah, “≈Use the large altar for the morning burnt offerings and the evening grain offerings, and for the king’s burnt offerings and grain offerings, and for the people’s burnt offerings and grain offerings and drink offerings. ≈Use it for sprinkling all the blood of the burnt offerings and of the sacrifices on. ≈But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.” 16 ≈So Uriyyah the priest ≈put everything into effect that King Ahaz had commanded.

17 Then King Ahaz cut the frames off the stands outside the temple, and he removed the basins off them. He took down ‘The Sea’ ≈that had been sitting on top of bronze bulls and put it on the stone floor.[ref] 18 He ≈also removed the ≈canopy that had been built at the temple for use on the Rest Days, and blocked up the king’s outer entrance to the ≈temple so that the Assyrian king couldn’t use it.

19 ≈Everything else that Ahaz said and did is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yehudah. 20 Then Ahaz ≈died and was buried in ≈their ancestral tomb in the city of David, and his son Hizkiyah (Hezekiah) ≈replaced him as king.[ref]

17 In the twelfth year of King Ahaz’s reign over Yehudah, Elah’s son Hoshea became king over Yisrael and he reigned from Shomron (Samaria) for nine years. 2 He did what Yahweh ≈had said was evil, ≈although nothing like the Israeli kings who’d preceded him. 3 Assyria’s King Shalmaneser ≈attacked and defeated him, and Hoshea became his servant and paid tribute to him. 4 ≈But the Assyrian king ≈discovered that Hoshea was planning a revolt and had sent messengers to the Egyptian King So and hadn’t ≈kept up the annual tribute payment. ≈So the Assyrian king arrested @Hoshea and ≈imprisoned him.

5 Then the Assyrian king ≈attacked the whole country, including besieging Shomron (Samaria) for three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign, the Assyrian king captured Shomron. He exiled the Israelis to Assyria and settled them in Halah, and in Havor along the Gozan River, and in the cities of the Medes.

Samaria Falls to Assyria; Israel Exiled Because of Sin

7 That happened because the ≈Israelis had sinned against their God Yahweh who had rescued them from King Far-oh in Egypt. They had ≡sinned by worshipping other gods 8 and ≈imitating the customs of the people groups who Yahweh had driven out of the country ahead of them. ≈They had also followed their kings in doing evil things. 9 The ≈Israelis had done things secretly that their God Yahweh ≈had said weren’t right, and they’d built ≈hilltop shrines everywhere from the largest fortified cities to the smallest towns. 10 They’d also erected stone pillars to honour gods and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every large tree,[ref] 11 and they’d burnt incense there on all ≈those hilltops just like the ≈people groups that Yahweh ≈had driven off the land ahead of them—doing those evil things had made Yahweh angry. 12 They’d served idols even when Yahweh had ≈forbidden them from doing that.

13 ≈So Yahweh had warned Yisrael and Yehudah by the ≈proclamations of all of his prophets who said, “Turn from your evil ways and ≈obey my commands and statutes, ≈following all of the ≈instructions that I gave your ancestors and which I delivered to you ≈through my servants, the prophets.” 14 ≈However, they hadn’t listened and had ≈hardened their attitudes just like their ancestors who ≈wouldn’t put their trust in their God Yahweh. 15 They rejected his statutes and the agreement that he ≈made with their ancestors, and ≈the warning that he gave them. They ≈chose to worship lifeless objects, and they became ≈hollow and empty themselves, just like the people of the ≈surrounding countries which Yahweh had commanded them not to ≈imitate. 16 They ≈disobeyed the instructions given to them by their God Yahweh ≈by molding two metal calves for themselves and making an Asherah pole. Then they ≈bowed down and worshipped the sun, moon, and stars, and they served Baal.[ref] 17 They ≈sacrificed their sons and daughters, and used fortune-tellers and witchcraft—making themselves slaves to evil by doing what Yahweh ≈had forbidden, and so making him angry.[ref] 18 ≈So that’s why Yahweh had become very angry at the northern kingdom of Yisrael and ≈caused them to be removed from the land. Only the Southern kingdom of Yehudah ≈remained, 19 ≈but even they didn’t ≈obey the commands of their God Yahweh, ≈but copied much of the bad behaviour of the northern kingdom. 20 ≈So Yahweh rejected all the ≈Israelis and he ≈caused them to suffer, including being plundered by enemy armies, until he banished them from his presence.

21 ≈Firstly he’d torn the northern kingdom out from the leadership of David’s descendants and they’d made Nebat’s son Yarave’am king. Then Yarave’am had driven them away from following Yahweh, and had ≈induced them into serious sin. 22 ≈So the ≈Israelis had followed Yarave’am into sin and then didn’t ≈turn away from it, 23 ≈and finally Yahweh had removed the people of the northern kingdom of Yisrael from ≈his presence just like he’d warned he would through the messages of his servants, the prophets. ≈So the people were deported to Assyria where they remain to this day.

24 Then the Assyrian king sent people from Babylon and from Kutah and from Avva and from Hamat and Sefarvayim, and he settled them in the cities of ≈the northern kingdom in place of the ≈Israelis. And they possessed Shomron (Samaria) and lived in its towns. 25 ≈At first the new inhabitants living there didn’t respect Yahweh, ≈however *he sent lions among them and they ≈started killing them. 26 They told the Assyrian king, “The ≈people groups that you exiled from their own countries and settled in the towns around Shomron, don’t know the customs of the God of the land. ≈So he’s sent lions against them, and look at them—killing them because they don’t know the customs of the God of the land.” 27 “≈Send one of the priests back that was brought from there,” the Assyrian king commanded. “He can go back there and settle there again, then he can teach them the customs of the God of that place.” 28 ≈So they found one of the priests who had been exiled from Shomron and sent him back to Israel. He settled in Beyt-El and taught the people how Yahweh wanted to be served.

29 ≈But each people group had made their own gods and put them in the ≈hilltop shrines that the ≈Israelis had made before being exiled. ≈Each people group did that in the area where they’d been resettled. 30 ≈Those from Babylon made their god Succot-Benot, ≈those from Kutah made Nergal, ≈those from Hamat made their god Ashima, 31 and the Avvites made Nivhaz and Tartak. The Sefarvites ≈sacrificed their own sons in the fire to *their gods Adrammelek and Anammelek. 32 At the same time, they ≈tried placating Yahweh, ≈but they also made their own priests to make sacrifices for them in their ≈hilltop shrines. 33 ≈So they were ≈worshipping Yahweh along with their own gods—they’d brought those customs with them from the countries they’d been exiled from 34 and which they still follow to this day.[ref]

They’re not actually ≈obeying Yahweh ≈because they’re not ≈obeying the statutes or laws, or instructions or behaviour that Yahweh commanded the descendants of Yakob (who he’d renamed to ‘Yisrael’). 35 Yahweh had ≈made an agreement with them and had commanded them, “You all must not ≈honour other gods or ≈bow to them. You all must not serve them or sacrifice to them.[ref] 36 Only ≡serve Yahweh who ≈used his incredible power to rescue you all out of Egypt. ≈Honour him, and only bow to him and sacrifice to him.[ref] 37 ≈Always take care to obey the statutes and customs, and the law and the instructions that he wrote for you, and you all must not ≈honour other gods. 38 Don’t forget the agreement that I made with you all, and don’t ≈honour other gods—39 only your God Yahweh, and then he himself will rescue you from all your enemies.” 40 ≈However, they didn’t listen, ≈preferring to follow the customs from their former places of residence.

41 ≈So those ≈people groups honoured Yahweh, but also served their idols. ≈This continued through the generations with their descendants continuing the same behaviour.

18 In the third year of Elah’s son King Hoshea’s reign over Yisrael, Ahaz’s son Hizkiyah (Hezekiah) became king of Yehudah. 2 He was twenty-five when he became king and he reigned from Yerushalem for twenty-nine years. (His mother was Zekaryah’s daughter Abi.) 3 He did what Yahweh ≈had said was correct behaviour like his ancestor King David had done. 4 He ≈demolished the hilltop shrines and shattered their pillars, and he cut down the Asherah #poles. He crushed the bronze serpent that Mosheh had made, because the ≈Israelis had named it ‘Nehushtan’ and had been offering incense to it until then.[ref] 5 @Hizkiyah fully trusted in Yisrael’s God Yahweh, and no other king was like him among all the kings of Yehudah that ≈either preceded or followed him. 6 He ≈relied completely on Yahweh—not turning away from ≈following him, and he ≈obeyed the ≈instructions that Yahweh had commanded Mosheh. 7 ≈So Yahweh ≈helped him and he ≈was successful in everything he did. He rebelled against the Assyrian king and refused to submit to his demands. 8 He ≈attacked and defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its borders—≈both the smaller towns and the fortified city.

9 Then in the fourth year of King Hizkiyah’s reign (it was the seventh year of Elah’s son Hoshea’s reign over Yisrael), the Assyrian King Shalmaneser ≈had attacked Shomron (Samaria) and ≈besieged it. 10 They had finally captured @the city ≈after three years. That was the sixth year of Hizkiyah’s reign over Yehudah and the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign over Yisrael. 11 ≈So that was when the Assyrian king had exiled the people of ≈the northern kingdom of Yisrael to Halah and to Havor along the Gozan River, and to the cities of the Medes. 12 That happened because they didn’t ≈obey their God Yahweh, but instead they ≈broke the agreement with him—everything that Yahweh’s servant Mosheh had commanded. They didn’t take ≈notice of it and they didn’t ≈obey it.

13 In the fourteenth year of King Hizkiyah’s reign, Assyrian King Sanheriv ≈attacked all the fortified cities in Yehudah and captured them. 14 ≈So King Hizkiyah of Yehudah sent messengers to the Assyrian king at Lakish, saying, “I ≈apologise for my mistake. ≈Stop attacking me and ≈I’ll give you whatever you demand of us.” Then the Assyrian king ≈demanded a tribute of ≈ten tonnes of gold and ten tonnes of silver. 15 ≈So Hizkiyah gave him all the silver out of the ≈temple and from the ≈palace treasuries. 16 He cut the doors off Yahweh’s temple and the pillars that he’d overlaid gold onto, and gave them to the Assyrian king.

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

17 ≈However, the Assyrian king still sent his general and ≈some of his top officials from Lakish to King Hizkiyah in Yerushalem. They ≈arrived at Yerushalem with a large army and ≈camped by the aquifer supplying the upper pool that was ≈near the field where the people washed their clothes. 18 They called out to the king, and Hilkiyyah’s son Elyakim who was ≈the palace manager, and the scribe Shebna, and Asaf’s son Yoah the secretary, went out to them.

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

19 Then the top Assyrian commander said to them, “Now, tell Hizkiyah ≈that the great Assyrian king asks him who he think’s he’s trusting in. 20 He claims to be powerful enough to fight us. Who is he trusting to help you all that gives you confidence to rebel against us? 21 Listen, @your king’s trusting in a ≈broken stick to lean on ≈which will just splinter and pierce his hand. That’s what King Far-oh of Egypt is like to everyone who puts their trust in him. 22 Ah, but he might tell me that he’s trusting in your god Yahweh to help you all. If so, I’d ask him if he isn’t the one whose ≈hilltop shrines King Hizkiyah demolished when he told you people in Yerushalem and all Yehudah that you have to worship at the altar there?

23 “≈So now ask your king if he’ll make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria: He’ll give you two thousand horses, ≈on the condition that you can supply two thousand horsemen who can ride them. 24 If you can’t do that, ≈how could you all possibly repel even one of our army units? Haha, but of course you trust in Egypt to supply chariots and horsemen. 25 ≈Do you think that we’ve come here to destroy this place without Yahweh’s permission? No, no, ≈it was Yahweh himself who told us to attack and destroy you.”

26 ≈But Elyakim and Shebna and Yoah asked the Assyrian commander, “Please speak Aramaic to your servants because ≈we understand it. Don’t speak ≈our language because our people on the nearby city wall will be able to understand it.”

27 “≈Ha ha, ≈do you think my master sent this message just to you three and your king?” he ≈replied. “No, ≈don’t you think that this message is also for the hungry people sitting on the wall ≈who’ll soon have to eat their own dung and drink their own urine along with you?”

28 Then *he stood up and called out loudly in ≈Hebrew, “Everyone ≈listen to what the great king from Assyria says: 29 ≈He’s warning you all not to let Hizkiyah deceive you, because he’s unable to save you all from our army. 30 And don’t let him force you all to trust in Yahweh ≈thinking that we won’t capture your city and that Yahweh will somehow rescue you all. 31 Don’t listen to Hizkiyah because the Assyrian king is ≈offering you all a chance to come out of the city and surrender. In exchange for saving me some trouble, you’ll be able to drink fresh water again and enjoy the fruit off your own trees out here 32 until ≈he comes here. Then ≈he’ll take you to another country like your own—with grain and wine, and bread and vineyards, olive oil and honey. ≈That way you’ll live and not die of starvation. ≈So don’t listen to Hizkiyah when he misleads you saying ≈that Yahweh will rescue you all.” 33 Did the gods of any of the other countries ≈rescue their people from the power of the Assyrian king? 34 Where were the gods of Hamat and Arpad? Where were the gods of Sefarvayim, Hena, and Ivvah? ≈Were they able to save Shomron from ≈the king’s power? 35 ≈From all the other countries, which of their gods was able to save their people, that might give confidence that Yahweh ≈might be able to rescue Yerushalem from ≈the king’s power?”

36 ≈But the people on the wall listening remained silent—they didn’t ≈say a word because the king ≈had already ordered them not to answer the Assyrians. 37 Then Hilkiyyah’s son Elyakim ≈the palace manager, Shebna the scribe and Asaf’s son Yoah the secretary ≈went back in the city to Hizkiyah, ≈tearing their clothes as they went, and they ≈relayed the words of the chief commander to him.

19 When King Hizkiyah heard the threats from the Assyrian king, he tore his clothes and ≈dressed in sackcloth, and went into Yahweh’s ≈temple. 2 He sent ≈his palace manager Elyakim and the scribe Shebna, ≈along with the elders of the priests, all ≈dressed in sackcloth, to Amots’s son Yeshayah (Isaiah) the prophet 3 to tell him, “Hizkiyah says: ‘Today is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, ≈as if the baby is right there ready to be delivered, but the mother has lost all her strength. 4 Perhaps your God Yahweh has heard everything that the chief commander said when his master the Assyrian king sent him: he defied the living God, and ≈so maybe your God Yahweh will punish him for his words. Lift up a prayer on behalf of the ≈people that are still left here.’ ”

5 ≈When King Hizkiyah’s servants got to Yeshayah, 6 *he told them, “This is what you all should tell your master: Yahweh says that you needn’t be afraid of what you heard when those young men from the Assyrian king insulted him. 7 Listen, @Yahweh will cause him to hear a report and he’ll place a fearful spirit in him ≈so he’ll decide to return to his own country where he’ll ≈be assassinated.”

8 ≈When the chief commander returned to the Assyrian king, he ≈discovered that they’d pulled out of Lakish and were now fighting against Livnah city. 9 ≈Then the king heard that the Ethiopian King Tirhakah ≈was preparing to attack, so he decided to return home ≈but he sent messengers to Hizkiyah to say, 10 “Tell Yehudah’s King Hizkiyah not to let the God he trusts in deceive him by telling him that Yerushalem won’t be captured by the king of Assyria. 11 ≡Tell him that he must have heard how the Assyrian armies have completely devastated other countries, ≈so he shouldn’t think that he will be saved from it. 12 The gods of the countries destroyed by my ancestors never saved them—those in Gozan, Haran, Retsef, or Eden’s descendants in Telassar. 13 Where’s the king of Hamat, or the king of Arpad, or the kings of the cities of Sefarvayim, Hena, or Ivvah now?”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

14 Hizkiyah took the letter ≈that the messengers had brought and read it, then he went up to the temple and spread it out ≈in front of Yahweh 15 and ≈prayed to him, “Yahweh the God of Yisrael, who lives above the winged creatures. You alone are God—the one over all the kingdoms of the earth. You yourself made the heavens and the earth.[ref] 16 ≈Lean this way, Yahweh, and look, and listen to Sanheriv’s words mocking the living God. 17 Yes Yahweh, the Assyrian kings have certainly destroyed many countries and their lands. 18 @The Assyrians burnt @the peoples’ gods because they weren’t living gods, but rather gods of wood and stone ≈made by people and they’ve destroyed them. 19 ≈But now Yahweh our God, please save us from his ≈army, then all the kingdoms ≈in the world will know that you, Yahweh, are God—you alone.”

20 Then Amots’s son Yeshayah (Isaiah) sent ≈this message to Hizkiyah: Yisrael’s God Yahweh says, “Because you prayed to me concerning the Assyrian King Sanheriv, I have listened. 21 This is what Yahweh says about @that king:

Tsiyyon’s daughter despises you and derides you.

≈Yerushalem’s daughter shakes her head at you.

22 Who did you think you were teasing and insulting?

Who did you think you were shouting at?

≈Did you raise your eyebrows against Yisrael’s holy one?

23 ≈You sent messengers that mocked *me.

You said that you went over the highest mountains with your many chariots.

≈That you went to the highest parts of Lebanon and harvested its tallest cedars—its best trees.

That you’ve been ≈to the end of the inhabited world with its densest forest.

24 You said that you’ve dug wells far away and drunk their water,

yet with your own feet you dried up all of Egypt’s rivers.

25 Haven’t you heard that I ≈made plans long ago—

that what I previously planned, I’m now ≈making it happen?

Fortified cities will collapse into heaps of rubble.

26 Their inhabitants will be powerless—dismayed and ashamed.

They’ll be as vulnerable as plants in the countryside,

or like the grass that grows on the rooftops—

they ≈wilt and wither before they can grow tall. DOUBLE-CHECK

27 Yes, I know when you sit down and when you go out.

When you come in and rage against me.

28 Because you’ve raged against me and your arrogance has come to my ears,

I’ll put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth,

and I’ll lead you back on the road that you came here on.

29 “≈So this will be a sign to you Hizkiyah:

This year you’ll eat what grew by itself,

and next year whatever seeded by itself,

but in the third year you’ll sow crops and plant vineyards, and eat what you harvest.

30 Yehudah’s surviving descendants will send their roots downwards and will produce fruit above,

31 because a remnant will ≈survive Yerushalem’s siege,

≈and Mt. Tsiyyon will have survivors

because Yahweh’s enthusiasm will ≈make sure it happens.

32 “≈So this is what Yahweh says to the Assyrian king:

He won’t enter this city or shoot an arrow into it.

He won’t push a large shield towards it or make a ramp up into it.

33 He’ll return on the same road that he arrived on,

and Yahweh declares that he won’t enter this city,

34 because Yahweh will defend this city

to save it for his own sake

and for the sake of his servant David.”

Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death

35 ≈That very night, Yahweh sent ≈an angel out to kill 185,000 warriors, so when the army got up early the next morning there were dead bodies ≈all over the place. 36 ≈So the Assyrian King Sanheriv pulled out and went back to live in Nineveh. 37 ≈While he was bowing in the temple of his god Nisrok, Adrammelek and Sharezer ≈ran him through with a sword ≈before escaping to the Ararat region, and so his son Esarhaddon ≈replaced him as king.

20 ≈By that time, King Hizkiyah was ≈terminally ill and Amots’s son the prophet Yeshayah (Isaiah) came to him and told him, “Yahweh says to ≈get your affairs in order because you’re dying and ≈won’t recover.”

2 ≈But Hizkiyah rolled over to face the wall and prayed to Yahweh, 3 “Oh Yahweh, please remember that I’ve ≈served you faithfully, and done what you asked with total sincerity.” Then Hizkiyah ≈cried loudly.

4 ≈As Yeshayah was leaving, Yahweh gave him this message before he’d even reached the middle courtyard, 5 “Go back and tell Hizkiyah, the leader of my people, ‘Your ancestor David’s God Yahweh says that he’s heard your prayer and seen your tears. ≈He’s decided to heal you and you’ll be well enough to go to the temple within three days. 6 He’s added fifteen years to your life, plus he’ll rescue you and this city from the Assyrian king. @Yahweh will defend @Yerushalem for his own sake and for the sake of his servant David.”

7 Then Yeshayah told them ≈to bring some pressed figs, and they brought them and placed them on the sore, and @Hizkiyah ≈started getting better.

8 Hizkiyah ≈asked Yeshayah, “What’s the sign that Yahweh will heal me and that I’ll ≈be able to go to the temple on the third day?”

9 “Yes, Yahweh ≈will give you a sign that he’ll do what he said,” Yeshayah ≈replied. “Do you want the shadows to ≈advance suddenly or go back?”

10 “It’s easy for the shadows go forward,” said Hizkiyah. “≈So make them go backwards ten steps.”

11 ≈So the prophet Yeshayah called to Yahweh, and he made the shadow go back on the steps made by King Ahaz—the shadow went ten steps backward.

12 At that time, Baladan’s son former King Berodak-Baladan of Babylon heard that Hizkiyah was sick and sent him letters and a gift. 13 When the messengers arrived, Hizkiyah listened to them, then he showed them his entire treasure house: the gold and silver, the spices and the best oil, the house of his armour, and everything that was in his treasuries. He ≈didn’t keep anything in his palace or in his kingdom secret from them. 14 ≈Later the prophet Yeshayah came to King Hizkiyah and he ≈asked him, “Where were those men from and what did they say?”

“They came from a distant land—from Babylon,” *he ≈replied.

15 “What did they see in your house?” @Yeshayah ≈asked.

“They saw everything that’s in my house,” *he ≈replied. “There wasn’t anything in my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”

16 Then Yeshayah told Hizkiyah, “Listen to Yahweh’s message: 17 He says that days are coming when everything in your house, and ≡everything that your ancestors stored carefully away until this day will be ≈carried to Babylon. ≈Nothing will be left behind.[ref] 18 What’s more, some of your own biological descendants will be taken and they’ll ≈be castrated to become servants of the Babylonian king.”

19 “≈What you said from Yahweh is fine,” Hizkiyah ≈replied to Yeshayah. “≈At least I might have peace and stability in my time.”

20 ≈Everything else that Hizkiyah said and did, including his making the pool and tunnel to bring water into the city, is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yehudah. 21 ≈In due course, Hizkiyah ≈died and his son Menashsheh ≈replaced him as king.

21 Menashsheh was twelve when he became king, and he reigned over Yehudah from Yerushalem for fifty-five years. (His mother was Heftsivah.) 2 He did ≈what Yahweh had said was evil like the ≈evil behaviour of the people groups that Yahweh had driven out of the region ahead of the Israelis.[ref] 3 In fact he ≈went backwards from his father and rebuilt the ≈hilltop shrines that Hizkiyah had destroyed, and he made altars for Baal, and he made an Asherah pole, just like Yisrael’s King Ahab had, and he ≈worshipped the constellations and ≈followed astrology. 4 ≈Also he built altars in Yahweh’s residence, where Yahweh had said, “I will ≈establish my ≈reputation in Yerushalem.”[ref] 5 @Menashsheh built altars to all the ≈constellations in the two courts of the ≈temple. 6 He ≈even sacrificed his own son as a burnt offering. He practised divination and read omens, and consulted mediums and fortune-tellers. He did ≈so much that Yahweh had said was evil, provoking Yahweh to get angry. 7 He placed the Asherah idol that he’d made in the ≈temple about which Yahweh had said to David and to his son Shelomoh (Solomon), “I will ≈establish my ≈reputation forever in this house and in Yerushalem in Yehudah, which I’ve chosen out of all the tribes of Yisrael.[ref] 8 If only the Israelis will take care to obey everything that I’ve commanded them, and all the instructions that my servant Mosheh gave them, then I won’t continue to ≈cause them to leave the area that I gave to their ancestors.” 9 ≈But they didn’t listen and Menashsheh led them astray to do more evil things even than the people groups that Yahweh had destroyed as the people had entered the region.

10 ≈So Yahweh announced via his servants the prophets, 11 “Because Yehudah’s King Menashsheh has done ≈such terribly evil things, ≈worse even than the Amorites who were there before him, and ≡because he’s even made Yehudah sin with his idols, 12 then Yisrael’s God Yahweh says: Listen, ≈I’ll bring such terrible disaster to Yehudah including Yerushalem that people won’t even be able to handle hearing the news about it. 13 I’ll ≈use the same tape measure for Yerushalem that I used for Shomron (Samaria), and ≡I’ll use the same plumb line ≡that I used for Ahab’s ≈extended family. I’ll wipe Yerushalem away, just like someone ≈dries a bowl—they wipe it dry and then turn it ≈upside down. 14 I’ll abandon the ≈small remainder of my people here, and I’ll ≈hand them over to their enemies—they’ll become the spoil and plunder of all their enemies, 15 because they’ve done what ≈I told them was evil, and they’ve been making me angry from the time that their ancestors ≈were brought out of Egypt ≈right up to this day.”

16 Menashsheh even poured out so much innocent blood that he filled Yerushalem with it ≈from one side to the other, ≈and that was on top of his other sin of leading Yehudah into doing what Yahweh ≈had said was evil.

17 ≈Everything else that Menashsheh said and did, including the sins that he committed, is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yehudah. 18 Then Menashsheh ≈died and was buried in the palace garden (made by Uzza), and his son Amon ≈replaced him as king.

19 Amon was twenty-two when he became king, and he reigned from Yerushalem for two years. (His mother was Haruts’s daughter Meshullemet from Yotvah.) 20 He did what Yahweh ≈had said was evil, just like his father Menashsheh had done. 21 In fact, he followed everything that his father had done, including serving the ≈same idols and bowing to them. 22 He abandoned Yahweh, the God of his ancestors, and didn’t ≈obey his instructions.

23 ≈But Amon’s servants ≈plotted to assassinate him, and they killed him in the ≈palace. 24 ≈However, the people ≈executed everyone who’d been involved in the conspiracy against King Amon, and they ≈installed his son Yoshiyyah as king in his place.

25 ≈Everything else that Amon said and did is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yehudah. 26 He was buried in his tomb in the garden made by Uzzah, and his son Yoshiyyah ≈replaced him as king.

22 Yoshiyyah was eight when he became king, and he reigned from Yerushalem for thirty-one years. (His mother was Adayah’s daughter Yedidah from Batskat.)[ref] 2 He did what Yahweh ≈had said was correct behaviour, ≈following all the customs of his ancestor King David, and ≈obeying Yahweh’s instructions.

3 In the eighth month of the eighteenth year of King Yoshiyyah’s reign, *he sent the scribe Shafan (the son of Atsalyah the son of Meshullam) to the ≈temple, saying 4 “Go to the high priest Hilkiyyah and ≈get him to count the silver that was brought into Yahweh’s ≈temple, which the ≈door-keepers collected from the people. 5 Then ≈have it given to the supervisors of the temple repairs, and then they can pay the workers who are repairing the damage—6 the craftsmen, builders, and masons, as well as buying wood and quarried stones ≈for the repairs.” 7 They won’t need ≈to submit detailed accounts for it because ≈they’re trustworthy people.[ref]

Hilkiah Discovers God’s Law

8 During the repairs, the hight priest Hilkiyyah told the scribe Shafan, “I found a scroll in the temple ≈with Yahweh’s instructions written on it.” ≈So Hilkiyyah gave the scroll to Shafan ≈to read. 9 Then Shafan the scribe went to the king ≈with this report, “Your servants ≈handed over the money that had been collected in the temple, and they gave it to the ≈supervisors of the workers doing the repairs.” 10 Then he ≈added, “And the priest Hilkiyyah gave me a scroll.” Then he read it out loud to King Yoshiyyah.

11 When the king heard the contents of the scroll, he tore his clothes 12 and commanded the priest Hilkiyyah, Shafan’s son Ahikam, Mikayah’s son Akbor, the scribe Shafan, and the king’s servant Asayah, 13 “Go and ≈inquire from Yahweh on my behalf and on behalf of the people and all Yehudah, concerning the words of this scroll that was found. Because it sounds like Yahweh ≈must be very angry at us because our predecessors didn’t listen to ≈what’s written on this scroll ≈and didn’t do what was expected of us.”

14 ≈So Hilkiyyah the priest and Ahikam, Akbor, Shafan, and Asayah went to the prophetess Huldah (the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the ≈one in charge of looking after the priests’ uniforms who lived in ≈the newer part of Yerushalem), and they spoke to her. 15 She told them that Yisrael’s God Yahweh had said, “Tell the man who sent you all to me 16 that Yahweh says this: I’m going to bring disaster to this place and its inhabitants, ≈just like it’s written in the scroll that the king read 17 because they abandoned me. They ≈offered sacrifices to other gods in order to make me angry ≈at everything they do, so now my anger will be directed against this place and it’s ≈not stoppable. 18 But to the king of Yehudah who sent you all to seek Yahweh, tell him that Yisrael’s God Yahweh says: The words that you heard from the scroll, 19 because ≈you’re open to learn and ≡because you humbled yourself ≈in front of Yahweh when you heard ≈my promise that this place and its inhabitants would become a horror and a curse, and ≡because you’ve torn your clothes and wept ≈in front of me, then Yahweh ≈said that he’s taken notice of you. 20 ≈Because of that, he’ll allow you to die and be buried peacefully, and you yourself won’t witness the destruction that will come to this place.”

≈So they relayed those messages back to King Yoshiyyah.

23 Then King Yoshiyyah ≈summoned all the elders of Yerushalem and across Yehudah, 2 and *he went to the ≈temple, and all the inhabitants of Yerushalem and from all across Yehudah went with him, along with the priests and prophets, and all the people from the ≈most to the least important. Then he read ≈to them every word on the scroll of the agreement that had been found in Yahweh’s residence. 3 Then the king stood by the pillar and he ≈made a commitment in front of Yahweh to ≈follow Yahweh and to ≈obey his commands and testimonies and statutes with all ≈sincerity, and with ≈every desire to respect the words of that agreement that had been written on that scroll. All the people ≈were also included in that commitment.

4 Then the king commanded the high priest Hilkiyyah and the ≈other priests, and the ≈temple guards to bring out all the utensils that were made for Baal and Asherah and for all the ≈constellations, and he burnt them outside Yerushalem in the Kidron countryside, and carried their ashes to Beyt-El. 5 He ≈got rid of the pagan priests that the kings of Yehudah had appointed to burn incense in the ≈hilltop shrines around Yerushalem and across the rest of Yehudah, and the ones who burnt incense to Baal, and to the sun and moon and to the planets and constellations. 6 He got the Asherah pole out from Yahweh’s ≈temple and burnt it in the Kidron valley outside Yerushalem, then he ≈pounded the ashes to dust and threw it over ≈people’s graves. 7 He ≈demolished the ≈cubicles of the male temple prostitutes that were inside Yahweh’s ≈temple where the women were weaving Asherah ≈coverings.[fn] 8 He brought all the priests to Yerushalem from the cities of Yehudah, and he desecrated the ≈hilltop shrines where the priests had burnt incense, from Geba to Beer-Sheva. He ≈demolished the ≈hilltop shrines that Yehoshua (a city official) had built near the city gate (on the left of the gate as you entered the city). 9 However those priests ≈from those hilltop shrines weren’t allowed to ≈serve at the altar in Yerushalem, ≈but they were allowed to eat unleavened bread ≈like the other priests.

10 @Yoshiyyah also desecrated the Tofet, which was in the Ben-Hinnom valley, so that ≈the people couldn’t sacrifice their children to Molek. 11 The horses that the kings of Yehudah ≈had offered to the sun, he ≈prevented from approaching the hall of the ≈official Natan-Melek that was in the courtyards of Yahweh’s ≈temple, and he ≈set fire to the chariots of the sun. 12 Then the king tore down the altars that were on the roof in Ahaz’s upper chamber that the kings of Yehudah made, and the altars that Menashsheh made in the two courts of Yahweh’s ≈temple and he threw ≈the rubble into the Kidron valley. 13 The king desecrated the ≈hilltop shrines that faced Yerushalem—they were ≈south of the ‘Mount of Destruction’ (the Mount of Olives). King Shelomoh had built ≡shrines for Ashtarot (the disgusting god of the Sidonians) and for Kemosh (the disgusting god of Moab) and for Molek (the disgusting god of the ≈Ammonites). 14 He also smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles, then he desecrated those places ≈by filling them with human bones.

15 He also ≈demolished the altar that was in Beyt-El—the ≈hilltop shrine that Nebat’s son Yarave’am had made when he’d caused Yisrael to sin. He ≈demolished both that altar and the ≈hilltop shrine, then he burnt the ≈shrine. He crushed ≈everything to dust, and he burnt the Asherah pole. 16 ≈As Yoshiyyah turned around, he ≈noticed some graves that were there on the hillside, ≈so he ≈had some bones removed from the graves, and he burnt them on the altar ≈to desecrate it. ≈This fulfilled what Yahweh had said through the man of God who’d proclaimed these things.[ref] 17 @Yoshiyyah turned again and ≈asked, “≈Whose tomb is that?”

“It’s the prophet’s tomb,” the people of Beyt-El replied, “The one who came from Yehudah and predicted that ≈what you just did to that altar would happen.” 18 “≈Don’t disturb it then,” @the king ≈ordered. “Don’t let anyone ≈remove his bones.”

≈So they ≈left his bones ≈alone, along with the bones of the other prophet who came from Shomron. 19 ≈So King Yoshiyyah removed all the ≈hilltop shrines that the Israeli kings had made in the cities of Shomron, provoking Yahweh’s anger. @The king ≈destroyed them just like he’d done ≈to the ones in Beyt-El. 20 He ≈executed all the priests ≈from those hilltop shrines on the altars there, and then he burnt human bones on them to desecrate them. Then he returned to Yerushalem.

21 Then the king commanded all the people, “≈Celebrate ‘pass-over’ for your God Yahweh according to what’s written on this scroll with the agreement.” 22 Since the days of the leaders who judged Yisrael, or in all the days of the kings of Yisrael and Yehudah, ≈a ‘pass-over’ had never been celebrated like that one 23 in the eighteenth year of King Yoshiyyah’s reign. That ‘pass-over’ celebration in Yerushalem was to honour Yahweh.

24 King Yoshiyyah also removed the ritual pits and the soothsayers, and the images and idols, and all the abhorrences that were seen in Yerushalem and in the Yehudah ≈region, ≈in his diligence to obey everything that was written on the scroll that the priest Hilkiyyah found in ≈the temple. 25 No other king had been like @Yoshiyyah who’d ≈led the people back to obeying Yahweh—≈following Mosheh’s written instructions with all his heart and all his spirit and all his ≈energy. What’s more, there’s never been a king like him since then either.

26 However, ≈Yahweh’s anger against Yehudah hadn’t cooled down after everything that King Menashsheh had done[ref] to make him angry, 27 and Yahweh said, “I will also remove Yehudah ≈out of my sight, just like I removed Yisrael. I’ll ≈also reject this city of Yerushalem that I chose, as well as the house where I’d said that my name would be ≈established.”

Josiah Dies in Battle; The End of Josiah’s Reign

(2 Chronicles 35.20—36.1)

28 ≈Everything else that Yoshiyyah said and did is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yehudah. 29 ≈While he was still king, the Egyptian king Far-oh Nekoh ≈attacked the Assyrian king near the Euphrates River. King Yoshiyyah went to meet him, but @Nekoh killed him at Megiddo when he saw him. 30 His servants ≈brought his body back to Yerushalem from Megiddo, and they buried him in his own tomb. Then the people got *his son Yehoahaz, and they anointed him and made him king in place of his father.

31 Yehoahaz was twenty-three when he became king, and he reigned from Yerushalem for only three months. (His mother was Yirmeyah’s daughter Hamutal from Livnah.) 32 He did what Yahweh ≈had said was evil like many of his ancestors had done. 33 Far-oh Nekoh took him from Yerushalem and imprisoned him at Rivlah in the Hamat ≈region, and he ≈forced the residents of Yehudah to pay him thirty kilograms of gold and three tonnes of silver. 34 Then Nekoh appointed @Yoshiyyah’s son Elyakim as the new king ≈but changed his name to Yehoyakim. Then he took Yehoahaz to Egypt ≈where he eventually died.

Jehoiakim Rules in Judah; King Jehoiakim of Judah

(2 Chronicles 36.5-8)

35 ≈So Yehoyakim paid the gold and silver to Far-oh ≈by assessing the wealth of the people and then forcibly collecting the gold and silver ≈from them to ≈send to Far-oh Nekoh.

36 Yehoyakim was twenty-five when he became king, and he reigned from Yerushalem for eleven years. (His mother was Pedayah’s daughter Zebudah from Rumah.) 37 He did what Yahweh ≈had said was evil like many of his ancestors had done.

Judah Overrun by Enemies

24 ≈During his reign, the Babylonian King Nevukadnetstsar ≈attacked, and Yehoyakim ≈ruled under him for three years ≈before rebelling against him. 2 Then Yahweh sent troops of Chaldeans, troops from Aram, troops from Moab, and ≈Ammonite troops against Yehudah at different times to destroy them, ≈just as Yahweh had said through his servants the prophets. 3 ≈Those things troubled Yehudah at Yahweh’s command to remove them ≈out of his sight because of all of King Menashsheh’s sins 4 and ≈because he’d killed innocent people—Yahweh wouldn’t forgive him because he’d filled Yerushalem with innocent blood.

5 ≈Everything else that Yehoyakim said and did is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yehudah. 6 Then Yehoyakim ≈died and his son Yehoyakin ≈replaced him as king.

7 The Egyptian king didn’t continue ≈his attacks on other countries, because the Babylonian king ≈captured land all the way from the Egyptian river as far as the Euphrates River—everything that had ≈been controlled by Egypt.

8 Yehoyakin was eighteen when he became king, ≈but he reigned from Yerushalem for only three months. 9 He did what Yahweh ≈had said was evil just like his father had done.

10 At that time, the Babylonian king Nevukadnetstsar ≈sent his army to besiege Yerushalem, 11 and Nevukadnetstsar ≈himself travelled there to observe the operation. 12 Yehudah’s King Yehoyakin went out to surrender to the Babylonian king, along with his mother, his servants, his captains, and his ≈officials. So the Babylonian king took him captive in the eighth year of his ≈reign.

Capture of Jerusalem

13 Then all the valuables were brought out of Yahweh’s ≈temple and the ≈palace. All the gold ≈furnishings that had been made for the ≈temple by King Shelomoh were cut into pieces. 14 Then all the army leaders and officials, and all the craftsmen and blacksmiths from Yerushalem (some ten thousand people) were taken into exile, leaving only the poorer people behind.

15 King Yehoyakin was exiled from Yerushalem to Babylon, along with his mother and wives, his officials, 16 seven thousand top soldiers, and a thousand skilled craftsmen and blacksmiths—≈leaving no one behind to fight or make weapons.

17 Then the Babylonian king ≈appointed Yehoyakin’s uncle Mattanyah as king in his place and he changed his name to Tsedkiyyah (Zedekiah).

18 Tsedkiyyah (Zedekiah) was twenty-one when he became king and he reigned from Yerushalem for eleven years. (His mother was Yirmeyah’s daughter Hamutal from Livnah.) 19 He did what Yahweh ≈had said was evil, just like Yehoyakin had done. 20 Because Yahweh ≈was still very angry, he had the people of Yerushalem and all Yehudah driven away out of his sight.

The Fall of Jerusalem; The Fall and Captivity of Judah

Then Tsedkiyyah rebelled against the Babylonian king.

25 In the ninth year of Tsedkiyyah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, the Babylonian King Nevukadnetstsar brought all his army to Yerushalem. ≈They made their camp outside the city, and then built attack structures all around it 2 and ≈besieged the city for two years. 3 The people ≈didn’t have enough to eat and the famine became severe. 4 Then the ≈Babylonians began breaking into the city, but the local fighters sneaked out at night through a gate between two walls near the king’s garden and ≈escaped down to the desert plain. 5 ≈However, the ≈Babylonian soldiers chased after the king and they overtook him on the Yericho plains, and his army scattered. 6 King Tsedkiyyah ≈was captured and taken to the Babylonian king at Rivlah, where ≈he was sentenced—7 *He ≈was forced to watch as his sons were slaughtered, then ≈his eyes were gouged out and he was taken to Babylon restrained with two bronze chains.

8 On the seventh day of the fifth month of Babylonian King Nevukadnetstsar’s nineteenth year as king, his servant Nevuzaradan, who was his chief bodyguard, went to Yerushalem. 9 He ≈set fire to Yahweh’s temple and the palace, and all of Yerushalem’s houses, ≈so no important building remained. 10 Then the army ≈under the command of @Nevuzaradan ≈tore down the walls surrounding Yerushalem. 11 *He exiled all the rest of the people from the city, ≈all the surrendered soldiers, and the rest of the population, 12 ≈but *he let some of the poorest people ≈remain on the land to look after the vineyards and as farmers.

13 The Babylonians smashed the bronze pillars and the bases and the bronze ‘sea’ from the ≈temple, and took all the bronze to Babylon. 14 They also took the pots and shovels, the snuffers and spoons, and all the bronze utensils ≈used in the temple activities. 15 #They took the fire-pans and the gold and silver bowls. 16 The bronze from the two pillars, the ‘sea’, and the bases that had been made for the ≈temple by Shelomoh (Solomon) was ≈too heavy to be weighed. 17 ≈Each pillar was over eight metres high, plus a bronze capital on top that was over a metre high. They were decorated with latticework with bronze pomegranates all around.

18 @Nevuzaradan ≈exiled to Babylon the high priest Serayah, the second priest Tsefanyah, and the three temple entrance guards. 19 From the city, he took one official who was a ≈military inspector, five ≈of the king’s advisors, and the army commander’s secretary ≈in charge of recruitment, plus sixty ≈other important men. 20 Nevuzaradan took them all to the Babylonian king at Rivlah 21 in ≈the Hamat region, ≈but the king ≈had them all executed there.

≈So the large majority of the people of Yehudah were exiled ≈out of their country. 22 From those who the Babylonian King Nevukadnetstsar allowed to remain, he appointed Gedalyah (son of Shafan’s son Ahikam) over them. 23 ≈When all the army captains and their men heard that the Babylonian king had appointed Gedalyah, they came to Gedalyah at Mitspah. This was Netanyah’s son Yishmael, Kareah’s son Yohanan, Tanhumet’s son Serayah the Netofatite, and the Maakatite’s son Yaazanyah, ≈along with their men. 24 Gedaliah ≈made an agreement with them and their men, ≈telling them, “Don’t be afraid of the ≈Babylonian officials. Stay in the land and serve the Babylonian king, and he’ll be good to you.” 25 ≈But in the seventh month, Yishmael (the son of Netanyah, the son of Elishama ≈who was a descendant of King David) brought ten men with him and attacked Gedalyah, and ≈killed him, along with the Yehudans and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mitspah. 26 ≈After that, all the people, ≈with or without any official status, along with the army commanders ≈fled to Egypt because they were afraid ≈of what the Babylonians might do to them.

27 Thirty-seven years after Yehudah’s King Yehoyakin had been exiled to Babylon, Evil-Merodak ≈had just become the new king of Babylon ≈and he released Yehoyakin from prison on the 27th of the twelfth month. 28 He ≈spoke kindly to @Yehoyakin and ≈honoured him more than the other kings who’d been taken to Babylon. 29 He ≈was allowed to change out of his prison clothes, and was permitted to eat at the king’s table for the rest of his life, 30 ≈as well as being given a daily monetary allowance.