4 REIGNS

(KAIGE)

1 And Moab rebelled against Israel after Achaab died.

2 And Ochozias fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria and was sick, and he sent messengers and told them, “Go, and inquire by the goddess Baal, fly god of Akkaron, whether I shall recover from this my sickness.” And they went to inquire through him. ³And an angel of the Lord spoke to Eliou the Thesbite, saying, “Get up, go to meet the messengers of Ochozias, king of Samaria, and you shall say to them, ‘Is it because there is no god in Israel that you are going to inquire by the goddess Baal, fly god of Akkaron?’ ⁴And not so, for this is what the Lord says, ‘The bed upon which you went up there, you shall not come down from it, for there by death you shall die.’ ” And Eliou went and spoke to them.

5 And the messengers returned to him, and he said to them, “Why is it that you returned?” ⁶And they said to him, “A man came up to meet us and said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you, and you shall say to him: This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no god in Israel that you are going to inquire by the goddess Baal, fly god of Akkaron? Not so; the bed upon which you went up there, you shall not come down from it, for by death you shall die.’ ” ⁷And he spoke to them, saying, “What was the judgment^a of the man who went up to meet you and told you these words?” ⁸And they said to him, “A hairy man, and wearing a leather belt around his waist.” And he said, “This is Eliou the Thesbite.”

9 And he sent to him a leader, an officer of fifty, and his fifty men. And he went up and came to him, and behold, Eliou was sitting on the top of the mountain. And the officer of fifty spoke to him and said, “O man of God, the king has summoned you, come down.” ¹⁰And Eliou answered and said to the officer of fifty, “And if I am a man of God, fire will come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

11 And the king proceeded and sent to him another officer of fifty and his fifty. And he went up, and the officer of fifty spoke to him and said, “O man of God, this is what the king says: Come down quickly!” ¹²And Eliou answered and spoke to him and said, “If I am a man of God, fire will come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

13 And the king proceeded still to send a third leader, an officer of fifty, and his fifty. And the third officer of fifty went to him and knelt on his knees before Eliou and entreated him and spoke to him and said, “O man of God, do let my life and the life of these fifty slaves of yours be precious in your sight. ¹⁴Look, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former officers of fifties and their fifties, but now do let the life of your slaves be precious in your sight.” ¹⁵And an angel of the Lord spoke to Eliou and said, “Go down with him; do not be afraid from before them.” And Eliou set out and went down with him to the king. ¹⁶And he spoke to him, and Eliou said, “This is what the Lord says: Why is it that you sent messengers to inquire by the goddess Baal, fly god of Akkaron? Not so; the bed upon which you went up there, you shall not come down from it, for by death you shall die.”

17 And he died according to the word of the Lord that Eliou had spoken. ¹⁸And the rest of the histories of Ochozias, what he did, behold, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Israel?

18a And Ioram son of Achaab reigns over Israel in Samaria twelve years in the eighteenth year of Iosaphat, king of Iouda. ^18bAnd he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not like his brothers nor like his mother. ^18cAnd he removed the steles of Baal that his father had made and broke them in pieces. Yet, he clung to the sins of the house of Ieroboam who made Israel sin; he did not depart from them. ^18dAnd the Lord was inflamed with anger against the house of Achaab.

2 And it happened, when the Lord was about to take Eliou up by a whirlwind as into heaven, that Eliou and Elisaie went from Galgala. ²And Eliou said to Elisaie, “Do stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Baithel.” And Elisaie said, “The Lord lives, and your soul lives, if I will leave you!” And they came to Baithel. ³And the sons of the prophets who were in Baithel came to Elisaie and said to him, “Did you know that today the Lord is taking your master from above your head?” And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent.”

4 And Eliou said to Elisaie, “Do stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Iericho.” And Elisaie said, “The Lord lives, and your soul lives, if I will abandon you!” And they came to Iericho. ⁵And the sons of the prophets who were in Iericho drew near to Elisaie and said to him, “Did you know that today the Lord is taking your master from above your head?” And he said, “And indeed I know; be silent.”

6 And Eliou said to him, “Do stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as the Jordan.” And Elisaie said, “The Lord lives, and your soul lives, if I will abandon you!” And they both went on. ⁷And fifty men, sons of the prophets, also stood opposite at a distance, and they both stood by the Jordan. ⁸And Eliou took his sheepskin and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was divided here and there, and they both crossed in ^aa wilderness^a.

9 And it happened, when they had crossed, that Eliou said to Elisaie, “Ask what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisaie said, “Do let twofold in your spirit be on me.” ¹⁰And Eliou said, “You made hard to ask this for yourself; if you see me as I am being taken up from you, then it will be so for you, and if not, it will not be.” ¹¹And it happened, as they walked, that they were walking and talking, and behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and they separated between both, and Eliou was taken up in a whirlwind as into heaven. ¹²And Elisaie kept watching and crying out, “Father, Father! Chariot of Israel and its horseman!” And he saw him no longer, and he grasped his clothes and tore them into two tears.

13 And he picked up the sheepskin of Eliou that fell from upon Elisaie, and Elisaie went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴And he took the sheepskin of Eliou that fell from upon him and struck the water, and it did not part, and he said, “Where is the God of Eliou—aphpho^b?” And he struck the waters, and they burst here and there, and Elisaie went over. ¹⁵And the sons of the prophets who were in Iericho saw him opposite and said, “The spirit of Eliou rests on Elisaie.” And they came to meet him and did obeisance to him on the ground. ¹⁶And they said to him, “See now, with your servants there are fifty men, sons of power; as they go, do let them seek your master; it may be that a spirit of the Lord picked him up and threw him in the Jordan or on one of the mountains or on one of the hills.” And Elisaie said, “You shall not send.” ¹⁷And they urged him until he was ashamed, and he said, “Send.” And they sent fifty men, and they searched for three days but did not find him. ¹⁸And they came back to him (and he had remained in Iericho), and Elisaie said, “Did I not say to you, Do not go?”

19 And the men of the city said to Elisaie, “Behold, the location of the city is good, as our lord sees, but the waters are bad, and the land is deprived of children.” ²⁰And Elisaie said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt there.” And they brought it to him. ²¹And Elisaie went out to the outlet of the waters and threw the salt there and said, “This is what the Lord says, I have healed these waters; no longer shall there be death nor a lack of children from there.” ²²And the waters have been healed to this day, according to the word of Elisaie that he spoke.

23 And he went up from there to Baithel, and while he was going up on the way, small children also came out of the city and jeered at him and said to him, “Go up, baldhead! Go up!” ²⁴And he turned aside after them and saw them and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And behold, two bears came out of the wood and tore open forty-two children of them. ²⁵And he went on from there to the Carmelite mountain and from there returned to Samaria.

3 And Ioram son of Achaab became king in Israel in the eighteenth year of Iosaphat, king of Iouda, and he reigned twelve years. ²And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not like his father and not like his mother, and he removed the steles of Baal that his father had made. ³Yet, he clung to the sin of Ieroboam son of Nabat, who made Israel sin; he did not depart from it.

4 And Mosa, king of Moab, was noked^c, and he used to return to the king of Israel ^dat the rising^d one hundred thousand lambs and one hundred thousand rams, based on wool. ⁵And it happened, after Achaab died, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. ⁶And King Ioram went out of Samaria in that day and inspected Israel. ⁷And he went and sent to Iosaphat, king of Iouda, saying, “The king of Moab rebelled against me; will you go with me to Moab to battle?” And he said, “I will go up; like me, like you; as my people are your people, as my horses are your horses.” ⁸And he said, “By which way should I go up?” And he said, “The way of the wilderness of Edom.”

9 And the king of Israel set out, and the king of Iouda and the king of Edom, and they circled around a journey of seven days, and there was no water for the camp or for the animals that were at their feet. ¹⁰And the king of Israel said, “O, for the Lord has summoned the three kings passing by, to give them into the hand of Moab.” ¹¹And Iosaphat said, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here? And let us inquire of the Lord through him.” And one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, “Elisaie son of Saphat, who poured water on the hands of Eliou, is here.” ¹²And Iosaphat said, “He has a word of the Lord.” And the king of Israel and Iosaphat, king of Iouda, and the king of Edom went down to him.

13 And Elisaie said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father.” And the king of Israel said to him, “No, for the Lord has summoned the three kings to hand them over to the hands of Moab.” ¹⁴And Elisaie said, “The Lord of hosts before whom I stand lives, unless I regard the person of Iosaphat, king of Iouda, if I had looked at you and seen you! ¹⁵But as it is, get me a harpist.” And it happened, as the harpist was playing, that the hand of the Lord came upon him. ¹⁶And he said, “This is what the

Lord says, ‘Make this wadi atroughs by troughs^a.’ ¹⁷For this is what the Lord says, ‘You shall not see wind, and you shall not see rain, and this wadi shall be filled with water, and you shall drink, you and your possessions and your animals. ¹⁸And this^b is easy in the sight of the Lord, and I will hand over Moab in your hand. ¹⁹And you shall strike every strong city, and every good tree you shall fell, and all springs of water you shall stop up, and every good portion ^cof land^c you shall ruin with stones.’ ” ²⁰And it happened in the morning, when the offering was going up, and behold, waters were coming from the way of Edom, and the land was filled with water.

21 And all Moab heard that the kings had come up to fight them, and they called out, from everyone ^dwearing a belt^d and upward, and they stood at the frontier. ²²And they rose early in the morning, and the sun rose over the waters, and Moab saw the waters opposite, red as blood. ²³And they said, “This is blood of the sword; the kings had a fight, and they struck, a man his neighbor. And now, to the spoils, Moab!” ²⁴And they entered into the camp of Israel, and Israel rose up, and they struck Moab, and they fled from before them, and they entered Moab, going in and beating. ²⁵And the cities they overturned, and on every good portion ^cof land^c they threw, a man his stone, and they filled it, and every spring of water they stopped up, and every good tree they felled until they left the stones of the wall overturned, and the slingers surrounded and struck it^b. ²⁶And the king of Moab saw that the battle prevailed over him, and he took with him seven hundred men who drew sword to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not. ²⁷And he took his firstborn son who became king in his stead and offered him up as a whole burnt offering on the wall. And great regret came upon Israel, and they withdrew from him and returned to their land.

4 And one woman from the sons of the prophets cried to Elisaie, saying, “Your slave, my husband, died, and you knew that he was a slave who feared the Lord, and the creditor came to take my two sons for himself as slaves.” ²And Elisaie said, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your slave has nothing in the house, but for oil with which I shall anoint myself.” ³And he said to her, “Come on, ask for yourself vessels outside from all your neighbors, empty vessels; don’t make them few. ⁴And you shall enter and shut the door upon you and upon your sons, and you shall pour out into these vessels, and that which has been filled, you shall remove.” ⁵And she departed from him and did so and shut the door upon her and upon her sons; they kept coming near to her, and she kept pouring in ⁶until the vessels were filled. And she said to her sons, “Bring yet to me a vessel.” And they said to her, “There is no longer a vessel.” And the oil stopped. ⁷And she came and told the man of God, and Elisaie said, “Come on, and sell the oil, and you shall pay your interests, and you and your sons shall live by the remaining oil.”

8 And a day came, and Elisaie passed through to Souman, and a great woman was there, and she prevailed on him to eat bread. And it happened after enough of his entrances that he turned aside to eat there. ⁹And the woman said to her husband, “Look, indeed I knew that this man was a holy man of God; he regularly passes through to us. ¹⁰Let us now make for him an upper chamber, a small place, and put for him there a bed and a table and a chair and a lampstand, and it shall be, when he enters to us, that he shall turn aside there.”

11 And a day came, and he entered there and turned aside to the upper chamber and lay down there. ¹²And he said to Giezi, his lad, “Call to me this Somanite woman.” And he called her, and she stood before him. ¹³And he said to him, “Do say to her, Behold, you amazed us with all this amazement; what must be done for you? Is it a word on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the force?” And she said, “I am—I live among my own people.” ¹⁴And he said, “What must be done for her?” And Giezi, his lad, said, “Actually, she has no son, and her husband is old.” ¹⁵And he called her, and she stood at the door. ¹⁶And Elisaie said to her, “At this season, as the time is ripe, you shall have embraced a son.” But she said, “No, my lord, do not deceive your slave.”

17 And the woman conceived and bore a son at this season, as the time was ripe, as Elisaie said to her.

18 And the child matured, and it happened, when the child went out to his father to the reapers, ¹⁹that he said to his father, “My head, my head!” And he said to his lad, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰And he carried him to his mother, and he lay down on her knees until noon, and he died. ²¹And she carried him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and closed upon him and went out. ²²And she called her husband and said, “Do send me one of the lads and one of the donkeys, and I shall go quickly to the man of God and come back.” ²³And he said, “Why is it that you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath.” And she said, “Peace.” ²⁴And she saddled the donkey and said to her lad, “Lead, go; do not hold back for me to mount, for if I tell you . . . ! ²⁵Come on, and you shall go and come to the man of God at the Carmelite mountain.”

And it happened, as Elisaie saw her coming, that he said to Giezi, his lad, “Look, indeed there is that Somanite woman; ²⁶now run to meet her, and you shall say, Do you have peace? Does your husband have peace? Does the child have peace?” And she said, “Peace.” ²⁷And she came to Elisaie at the mountain, and she caught hold of his feet. And Giezi approached to push her away. And Elisaie said, “Let her alone, for her soul is painful to her, and the Lord hid it from me and did not tell me.” ²⁸Then she said, “Did I ask for a son from my lord?

Did I not say, You shall not go astray with me?” ²⁹And Elisaie said to Giezi, “Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go, for if you meet a man, you shall not bless him, and if a man blesses you, you shall not answer him, and you shall lay my staff on the face of the child.” ³⁰And the mother of the child said, “The Lord lives, and your soul lives, if I will abandon you!” And Elisaie rose up and went after her. ³¹And Giezi went on ahead of her and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound, and there was no hearing. And he went back to meet him and told him, saying, “The child was not awakened.”

32 And Elisaie entered into the house, and behold, the child was lying dead on his bed. ³³And Elisaie entered into the house and closed the door upon the two of them and prayed to the Lord. ³⁴And he went up and lay upon the child, and he put his mouth upon his mouth and his eyes upon his eyes and his hands upon his hands, and he bent over him, and the flesh of the child was warmed. ³⁵And he turned around and walked to and fro in the house and went up and bent over the child until seven times, and the child opened his eyes. ³⁶And Elisaie cried out to Giezi and said, “Call this Somanite woman.” And he called, and she came in to him. And Elisaie said, “Take your son.” ³⁷And the woman came in and fell at his feet and did obeisance on the ground, and she took her son and went out.

38 And Elisaie returned to Galgala, and the famine was in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. And Elisaie said to his lad, “Put the large cauldron on, and boil boiled stuff for the sons of the prophets.” ³⁹And one went out into the field to gather arioth^a, and he found a vine in the field and gathered from it a wild gourd, his garment full, and he threw it into the cauldron of boiled stuff, for they knew it not. ⁴⁰And he poured it in for the men to eat. And it happened, while they were eating from the boiled stuff, that behold, they cried out and said, “O man of God, there is death in the cauldron!” And they could not eat it. ⁴¹And he said, “Bring flour, and throw it into the cauldron.” And Elisaie said to Giezi the lad, “Pour for the people, and let them eat.” And there was no longer any harmful thing there in the cauldron.

42 And a man passed through from Baithsarisa, and he brought to the man of God from the first products: twenty barley loaves and fruitcakes. And he said, “Give it to the people, and let them eat.” ⁴³And his attendant said, “Why should I set this before a hundred men?” And he said, “Give it to the people, and let them eat, for this is what the Lord says, ‘They shall eat and leave some behind.’ ” ⁴⁴And they ate and left some behind, according to the word of the Lord.

5 And Naiman, the commander of the force of Syria, was a great man before his master and was ^bmarveled at in face^b, because by him the Lord gave deliverance to Syria. And the man was powerful in strength—leprous. ²And as for Syria, they went out lightly armed and took captive from the land of Israel a little girl, and she was in the presence of the wife of Naiman. ³And she said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were in the presence of the prophet of God who is in Samaria! Then he will recover him from his leprosy.” ⁴And she went in and told her own lord and said, “Thus and so said the girl from the land of Israel.” ⁵And the king of Syria said to Naiman, “Come here, enter, and I will send out a document to the king of Israel.”

And he went and took in his hand ten talents of silver and six thousand gold pieces and ten changes of robes. ⁶And he brought the document to the king of Israel, saying, “And now, as soon as this document comes to you, behold, I sent to you Naiman my slave, and you shall recover him from his leprosy.” ⁷And it happened, as the king of Israel read the document, that he tore his clothes and said, “Am I a god, to put to death and to make alive, that this man sends to me to recover a man from his leprosy? For only know now, and see, that this man is setting me up as an excuse.”

8 And it happened, as Elisaie heard that the king of Israel had torn his own clothes, that he sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Why did you tear your clothes? Do let Naiman come to me, and let him know that there is a prophet in Israel.” ⁹And Naiman came in horse and chariot and stood at the door of the house of Elisaie. ¹⁰And Elisaie sent a messenger to him, saying, “Going, wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh shall return to you, and you shall be cleansed.” ¹¹And Naiman became angry and went away and said, “Behold now, I kept saying that he will come out to me and stand and call out in the name of his god and lay his hand on the place and recover the leprosy! ¹²Are not Abana and Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, better than the Jordan and all the waters of Israel? Going, shall I not wash in them and be cleansed?” And he turned and went away in a rage. ¹³And his servants approached and said to him, “The prophet spoke a great word to you; shall you not do it?—even because he said to you, ‘Wash, and be cleansed.’ ” ¹⁴And Naiman went down and immersed himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of Elisaie, and his flesh returned like the flesh of a small child, and he was cleansed.

15 And he returned to Elisaie, he and all his camp, and he came and stood and said, “Behold, indeed I know that there is no god in all the earth but only in Israel, and now accept the blessing from your slave.” ¹⁶And Elisaie said, “The Lord lives, before whom I stand, if I will accept it!” And he urged him to accept, but he refused. ¹⁷And Naiman said, “And if not, do let there be given to your slave a load of a pair of mules, and you shall give me from the red earth, for your slave will no longer make whole burnt offering and sacrifice to other gods except to the Lord alone. ¹⁸And the Lord will have mercy on your slave when my master enters into Remman’s house to do obeisance to him, and he will rest on my arm, and I will do obeisance in Remman’s house, when he does obeisance in Remman’s house, and then the Lord will have mercy on your slave in this matter.” ¹⁹And Elisaie said to Naiman, “Go in peace.” And he went away from him for debratha^a of the land.

20 And Giezi, the lad of Elisaie, said, “Behold, my master spared Naiman, this Syrian, by not accepting from his hand what he brought. The Lord lives, for I will surely run after him and get something from him.” ²¹And Giezi hurried after Naiman. And Naiman saw him running after him, and he turned around from the chariot to meet him. ²²And he said, “Peace. My master sent me, saying, ‘Behold now, there came to me two lads from Mount Ephraim from the sons of the prophets; do give them a talent of silver and two changes of robes.’ ” ²³And Naiman said, “Accept two talents of silver.” And he accepted it in two bags, with two changes of robes, and put them on two of his lads, and they carried them in front of him. ²⁴And they came into the darkness^b, and he took from their hands and stored the things in a house, and he dismissed the men.

25 And he went in and stood near by his master, and Elisaie said to him, “Where have you come from, Giezi?” And Giezi said, “Your slave has not gone here or there.” ²⁶And Elisaie said to him, “Did my heart not go with you when the man turned around from the chariot to meet you? Even now you accepted the silver; even now you accepted the clothing, and shall you receive by him gardens and olive orchards and vineyards and sheep and cattle and male servants and female servants? ²⁷And the leprosy of Naiman shall cling to you and to your offspring forever.” And he went out of his presence leprous, as if snow.

6 And the sons of the prophets said to Elisaie, “See now, the place where we live in your presence is too narrow for us. ²Do let us go to the Jordan, and let us take from there, one man, one beam, and build for ourselves there to live there.” And he said, “Go.” ³And the one said, “Kindly come with your slaves.” And he said, “I will go.” ⁴And he went with them. And they came to the Jordan and cut down trees. ⁵And behold, the one was felling the beam, and the iron fell into the water, and he cried out, “O master! And it was borrowed!” ⁶And the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And he showed him the place. And he cut off a stick and threw it there, and the iron floated. ⁷And he said, “Raise it for yourself.” And he reached out his hand and took it.

8 And the king of Syria was at war with Israel, and he took counsel with his servants, saying, “I will encamp at this certain place, Elmoni.” ⁹And Elisaie sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Take care not to pass by this place, because Syria is hidden there.” ¹⁰And the king of Israel sent to the place which Elisaie told him. And he avoided it not once or twice.

11 And the mind of the king of Syria was perturbed about this matter, and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not tell me who is betraying me to the king of Israel?” ¹²And one of his servants said, “No one, my lord O king, for Elisaie the prophet in Israel tells the king of Israel all the words that you might speak in the chamber of your bedroom.” ¹³And he said, “Go, see where this man is, and after I send, I will seize him.” And they reported to him, saying, “Behold, he is in Dothaim.” ¹⁴And he sent there horse and chariot and a heavy force, and they came by night and surrounded the city.

15 And the attendant of Elisaie rose early in the morning and went out, and behold, a force was all around the city with horse and chariot. And the lad said to him, “O master! What shall we do?” ¹⁶And Elisaie said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” ¹⁷And Elisaie prayed and said, “O Lord, open the eyes of the lad, and let him see.” And the Lord opened his eyes, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses, and there was a chariot of fire all around Elisaie. ¹⁸And they came down against him. And Elisaie prayed to the Lord and said, “Do strike this nation with blindness.” And he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisaie. ¹⁹And Elisaie said to them, “This is not the city, and this is not the way; come after me, and I will lead you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria.

20 And it happened, as they entered into Samaria, that Elisaie said, “O Lord, do open their eyes, and let them see.” And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw, and behold, they were in the middle of Samaria. ²¹And the king of Israel said, when he saw them, “Father, striking shall I strike?” ²²And he said, “You shall not strike; if you did not capture them with your sword and your bow, would you strike them? Serve up food and water before them, and let them eat and drink, and let them go to their master.” ²³And he served up before them a great serving, and they ate and drank, and he sent them, and they went to their master. And lightly armed men of Syria no longer continued to come into the land of Israel.

24 And it happened after this that the son of Hader, king of Syria, mustered all his camp and went up and besieged Samaria. ²⁵And there was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, they besieged it until a donkey’s head was fifty shekels of silver, and ^cthe fourth of a kab^c of doves’ dung was five shekels of silver. ²⁶And the king of Israel was passing by on the city wall, and a woman cried out to him, saying, “Save, O lord king!” ²⁷And he said to her, “No! May the Lord save you. How can I save you? Surely not from the threshing floor or from the wine press?” ²⁸And the king said to her, “What is it with you?” And she said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son, and we will eat him today, and my son, we will also eat him tomorrow.’ ²⁹And we boiled my son and ate him, and I said to her on the second day, ‘Give up your son, and let us eat him.’ But she hid her son.” ³⁰And it happened, when the king of Israel heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes—and he was passing by on the city wall—and the people saw the sackcloth on his flesh underneath. ³¹And he said, “This is what God may do to me, and this is what he may add, if the head of Elisaie shall stand firm upon him today.”

32 And Elisaie was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And he^a sent a man before his presence. Before the messenger came to him, he also said to the elders, “Are you aware that this son of the murderer sent someone to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and detain him at the door. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?” ³³He was still speaking with them, and behold, a messenger came down to him and said, “Behold, this trouble is from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

7 And Elisaie said, “Hear a word of the Lord; this is what the Lord says, About this time tomorrow a measure of fine flour for a shekel and a double measure of barley for a shekel, in the gates of Samaria.” ²And the number-three man, on whose hand the king rested on it, answered Elisaie and said, “Behold, the Lord will make cataracts in heaven; this thing will not be, will it?” And Elisaie said, “Behold, you shall see with your own eyes, but you shall not eat from there.”

3 And there were four leprous men by the gate of the city, and a man said to his neighbor, “Why should we sit here until we die? ⁴If we say, ‘Let us enter into the city,’ and the famine is in the city, and we shall die there, and if we sit here, we shall also die. And now come, and let us fall into the camp of Syria; if they keep us alive, we shall also live, and if they put us to death, we shall also die.” ⁵And they arose in the darkness, to enter into the camp of Syria, and they came into a part of the camp of Syria, and behold, there was no man there. ⁶And the Lord caused the camp of Syria to hear a sound of chariot and a sound of horse and a sound of a great force, and a man said to his brother, “Now the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Chettites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.” ⁷And they arose and fled in the darkness and abandoned their tents and their horses and their donkeys in the camp as it was and fled for their own life. ⁸And these leprous men entered to a part of the camp, and they entered into one tent and ate and drank and carried away from there silver and gold and clothing and went, and they came back and entered into another tent and took from there and went and hid it.

9 And a man said to his neighbor, “Not in this manner we are acting. This day is a day of good news, and we are silent and waiting until the morning light, and we will find lawlessness, and now come, and let us enter and report in the house of the king.” ¹⁰And they entered and called toward the gate of the city and reported to them, saying, “We entered into the camp of Syria, and behold, there is no man nor human voice there but only a tied horse and a donkey and their tents as they are.” ¹¹And the gatekeepers called out and reported to the house of the king within. ¹²And the king got up at night and said to his servants, “I will now tell you what Syria did to us. They know that we are hungry, and they went out of the camp and hid in the field, saying, ‘They will come out of the city, and we shall take them alive and enter into the city.’ ” ¹³And one of his servants answered and said, “Do let them take five of the remaining horses, which were left here; behold, it is for all the departed multitude of Israel, and we shall send there and look.” ¹⁴And they took two mounted on horses, and the king of Israel sent them after the king of Syria, saying, “Go, and see.” ¹⁵And they went after them as far as the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of garments and vessels which Syria had thrown away in their alarm. And the messengers returned and told the king.

16 And the people went out and plundered the camp of Syria. And there was a measure of fine flour for a shekel and a double measure of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. ¹⁷And the king appointed the number-three man, on whose hand the king rested on it, over the gate, and the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had spoken, who spoke when the messenger came down to him. ¹⁸And it happened just as Elisaie had spoken to the king, saying, “A double measure of barley for a shekel and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, and it will be about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria.” ¹⁹And the number-three man answered Elisaie and said, “Behold, the Lord makes cataracts in heaven; this thing will not be, will it?” And Elisaie said, “Behold, you shall see with your own eyes, but you shall not eat from there.” ²⁰And it happened thus, and the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.

8 And Elisaie spoke to the woman whose son he sparked to life, saying, “Get up, and go, you and your household, and sojourn wherever you may sojourn, for the Lord has called for a famine upon the land.” And indeed it came upon the land for seven years. ²And the woman got up and did according to the word of Elisaie, and she went, she and her household, and sojourned in the land of the allophyles seven years. ³And it happened after the end of the seven years that the woman returned from the land of the allophyles into the city, and she came to cry out to the king for her own house and for her own fields. ⁴And the king was speaking to Giezi, the lad of Elisaie the man of God, saying, “Do tell me all the great things that Elisaie did.” ⁵And it happened, while he was telling the king the fact that he sparked to life a dead son, that behold the woman whose son Elisaie sparked to life was crying out to the king for her own house and for her own fields. And Giezi said, “O lord king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisaie sparked to life.” ⁶And the king inquired of the woman, and she told him. And the king appointed one eunuch for her, saying, “Return all that was hers and all the produce of her field from the day that she left the land until now.”

7 And Elisaie went to Damascus, and Hader’s son, king of Syria, was ill. And they reported to him, saying, “The man of God has come here.” ⁸And the king said to Hazael, “Take manaa^a in your hand, and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the Lord through him, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this my illness?’ ” ⁹And Hazael went to meet him and took manaa^a in his hand and all the good things of Damascus, a load of forty camels. And he came and stood before him and said to Elisaie, “Your son, Hader’s son, king of Syria, sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this my illness?’ ” ¹⁰And Elisaie said, “Go, say to him, ‘By life you shall live, but the Lord showed me that by death you shall die.’ ” ¹¹And he stood before his face and fixed ^bhis gaze^b until shame, and the man of God wept. ¹²And Hazael said, “Why is it that my lord weeps?” And he said, “Because I know what evil you will do to the sons of Israel; you will dispatch their fortresses by fire and kill their choice men by sword and drive into their infants and rip open their pregnant women.” ¹³And Hazael said, “What is your slave, the dead dog, that he shall do this thing?” And Elisaie said, “The Lord showed me you reigning over Syria.” ¹⁴And he departed from Elisaie and went in to his master, and he said to him, “What did Elisaie say to you?” And he said, “He told me, ‘By life you shall live.’ ” ¹⁵And it happened the next day that he took the machma^c and dipped it in the water and put it on his face, and he died. And Hazael reigned in his stead.

16 In the fifth year of Ioram son of Achaab, king of Israel, Ioram son of Iosaphat, king of Iouda, became king. ¹⁷He was a son of thirty-two years when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Ierousalem. ¹⁸And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Achaab, for a daughter of Achaab was his wife, and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁹But the Lord did not want to destroy Iouda^d, for the sake of Dauid his slave, since he had said to give a lamp to him and to his sons all the days.

20 In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Iouda, and they made a king over themselves. ²¹And Ioram went up to Sior, and all the chariots with him, and it happened, when he arose, that he struck Edom, who had surrounded him, and the commanders of the chariots, and the people fled to their coverts. ²²And Edom revolted from under the hand of Iouda until this day. Then Lobena revolted at that time. ²³And the rest of the histories of Ioram and all that he did, behold, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Iouda? ²⁴And Ioram slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of Dauid his father, and Ochozias his son reigned in his stead.

25 In the twelfth year of Ioram son of Achaab king of Israel, Ochozias son of Ioram became king. ²⁶Ochozias was a son of twenty-two years when he became king, and he reigned one year in Ierousalem. And his mother’s name was Gotholia, daughter of Ambri, king of Israel. ²⁷And he walked in the way of the house of Achaab and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as did the house of Achaab.

28 And he went with Ioram son of Achaab into battle with Hazael, king of the allophyles, at Rem-moth Galaad, and the Syrians struck Ioram. ²⁹And King Ioram returned to be healed in Iezrael of the wounds with which they struck him at Remmoth, when he fought with Hazael, king of Syria. And Ochozias son of Ioram went down to see Ioram son of Achaab in Iezrael, because he was ill.

9 And the prophet Elisaie called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Gird up your loins, and take the jug of this oil in your hand, and go to Remmoth Galaad. ²And you shall enter there and see there Iou son of Iosaphat son of Namessi, and you shall enter and stand him up from among his brothers and lead him into the chamber in the chamber. ³And you shall take the jug of oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘This is what the Lord says: I have anointed you as king over Israel.’ And you shall open the door and flee and not linger.”

4 And the lad, the prophet, went to Remmoth Galaad. ⁵And he entered, and behold, the commanders of the force were sitting, and he said, “I have a message for you, commander.” And Iou said, “For which one of all of us?” And he said, “For you, commander.” ⁶And he got up and entered into the house, and he poured the oil on his head and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have anointed you as king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. ⁷And you shall utterly destroy the house of Achaab, your master, from before me and avenge the blood of my slaves the prophets and the blood of all the slaves of the Lord from the hand of Iezabel ⁸and from the hand of the whole house of Achaab, and you shall utterly destroy from the house of Achaab ^eone urinating against a walle, both bond and left behind in Israel. ⁹And I will make the house of Achaab like the house of Ieroboam son of Nabat and like the house of Baasa son of Achia. ¹⁰And the dogs shall devour Iezabel in the portion of Iezrael, and there is no one to bury her.” And he opened the door and fled.

11 And Iou came out to the servants of his master, and they said to him, “Is it peace? Why is it that this epileptic entered to you?” And he said to them, “You know the man and his babble.” ¹²And they said, “Wrong! Do tell us!” And Iou said to them,

“Thus and so he spoke to me, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: I have anointed you as king over Israel.’ ” ¹³And when they heard this, they hurried, and they took each man his garment and put it under him on garem^a of the steps, and they trumpeted with a horn and said, “Iou has become king.”

14 And Iou son of Iosaphat son of Namessi conspired against Ioram. And Ioram, he was guarding at Remmoth Galaad, he and all Israel, from before Hazael, king of Syria, ¹⁵and King Ioram returned to be healed in Iezrael of the wounds with which the Syrians struck him, when he fought with Hazael, king of Syria. And Iou said, “If your soul is with me, let no one go out of the city escaping to go and tell in Iezrael.” ¹⁶And Iou rode and proceeded and went down to Iezrael, because Ioram, king of Israel, was being healed in Iezrael from the arrows with which the Aramin shot him down in Rammath in the battle with Hazael, king of Syria, for he was powerful and a man of power. And Ochozias, king of Iouda, went down to see Ioram.

17 And the lookout went up on the tower in Iezrael and saw the cloud of dust of Iou as he drew near and said, “I see a cloud of dust.” And Ioram said, “Take a rider, and send him before them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’ ” ¹⁸And a horse rider went to meet them, and he said, “This is what the king says, ‘Is it peace?’ ” And Iou said, “What have you to do with peace? Fall in behind me.” And the lookout reported, saying, “The messenger came to them, but he did not come back.” ¹⁹And he sent a second horse rider, and he came to him and said, “This is what the king says, ‘Is it peace?’ ” And Iou said, “What have you to do with peace? Fall in behind me.” ²⁰And the lookout reported, saying, “He came to them, but he did not come back. And he that was bringing was bringing Iou son of Namessias, for it happened in perturbation.”

21 And Ioram said, “Get ready.” And he got a chariot ready. And Ioram, king of Israel, went out, and Ochozias, king of Iouda, a man in his chariot, and they went out to meet Iou, and they found him in the portion of Nabouthai the Iezraelite. ²²And it happened, when Ioram saw Iou, that he said, “Is it peace, Iou?” And Iou said, “What peace? The whoredoms of Iezabel your mother and her sorceries are still many.” ²³And Ioram turned his hands to flee and said to Ochozias, “Treachery, Ochozias!” ²⁴And Iou filled his hand with his bow and struck Ioram between his arms, and the arrow came out through his heart, and he bent on his knees. ²⁵And Iou said to Badekar his number-three man, “Throw him in the portion of field of Nabouthai the Iezraelite, for I remember, when I and you were mounted on teams behind Achaab his father, and the Lord took this issue against him, saying, ²⁶‘Surely with the blood of Nabouthai and the blood of his sons that I saw yesterday, says the Lord, I will also repay him in this portion, says the Lord.’ And now, do lift him up, and throw him in the portion, in accordance with the word of the Lord.”

27 And Ochozias, king of Iouda, saw and fled on Baithaggan road. And Iou pursued after him and said, “And indeed him!” And he struck him in the chariot at the ascent of Gai, which is Ieblaam. And he fled to Mageddon and died there. ²⁸And his servants put him on the chariot and brought him to Ierousalem and buried him in his tomb in the city of Dauid.

29 And in the eleventh year of Ioram, king of Israel, Ochozias became king over Iouda^b.

30 And Iou came to Iezrael, and Iezabel heard, and she painted her eyes black and adorned her head and peeked through the window. ³¹And Iou entered into the city, and she said, “Is it peace, Zambri, the murderer of his master?” ³²And he lifted up his face toward the window and saw her and said, “Who are you? Come down with me!” And two eunuchs peered down towards him. ³³And he said, “Roll her.” And they rolled her, and some of her blood was spattered to the wall and to the horses, and they trampled on her. ³⁴And Iou went in and ate and drank, and he said, “Do see to this cursed woman, and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.” ³⁵And they went to bury her, and they found nothing in connection with her other than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. ³⁶And they went back and told him, and he said, “The word of the Lord, which he spoke by the hand of his slave Eliou the Thesbite, saying, ‘In the portion of Iezrael the dogs shall devour the flesh of Iezabel, ³⁷and the carcass of Iezabel shall be like dung on the surface of the field in the portion of Iezrael so that they shall not say, It is Iezabel.’ ”

10 And Achaab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Iou wrote a letter and sent it into Samaria, to the rulers of Samaria and to the elders and to the guardians of the sons of Achaab, saying, ²“And now, whenever this letter comes to you—with you are the sons of your master, and with you are the chariot and the horses and strong cities and the weapons—3and you shall notice the good and the upright one among the sons of your master, and you shall set him on the throne of his father and fight for the house of your master.” ⁴And they were extremely afraid and said, “Look, the two kings did not stand before him, and how shall we stand?” ⁵And those over the house and those over the city and the elders and the guardians sent to Iou, saying, “We are your servants, and whatever you say to us, we will do. We will not make a man king; we will do what is good in your sight.” ⁶And he wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are for me and you listen to my voice, take the heads^c of the men of the sons of your master, and bring them to me around this time tomorrow in Iezrael.” And the sons of the king were seventy men. These^d as prominent men of the city were ^ebringing them up^e. ⁷And it happened, when the letter came to them, that they took the sons of the king and slaughtered them, seventy men, and they put their heads in baskets and sent them to him in Iezrael.

⁸And the messenger came and reported, saying, “They brought the heads of the sons of the king.” And he said, “Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning.” ⁹And it happened in the morning that he went out and stood in the gateway of the city and said to all the people, “You are righteous. Behold, I am—I conspired against my master and killed him, but who struck all these? ¹⁰Know aphpho^a that there shall fall to the earth nothing from the word of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Achaab, and the Lord did what he said by the hand of his slave Eliou.” ¹¹And Iou struck all who were left in the house of Achaab in Iezrael, and all his prominent men and his acquaintances and his priests, so as not to leave a remnant of him.

12 And he set out and went to Samaria. He was in Baithakad of the shepherds, on the way, ¹³and Iou found the brothers of Ochozias, king of Iouda, and said, “Who are you?” And they said, “We are the brothers of Ochozias, and we came down for the peace of the sons of the king and the sons of the woman who holds power.” ¹⁴And he said, “Take them alive.” And they took them alive and slaughtered them at Baithakad, forty-two men; he left not a man of them.

15 And he went from there and found Ionadab son of Rechab on the way to meet him, and he blessed him. And Iou said to him, “Is your heart right with my heart as my heart is with your heart?” And Ionadab said, “It is.” And Iou said, “And if it is, give me your hand.” And he gave him his hand, and he brought him up to him on the chariot. ¹⁶And he said to him, “Come with me, and see while I am zealous for the Lord Sabaoth.” And he sat him down in his chariot. ¹⁷And he entered into Samaria and struck all who were left to Achaab in Samaria until he wiped them out, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke to Eliou.

18 And Iou assembled all the people and said to them, “Achaab was subject to Baal a little, and indeed Iou will be subject to him much. ¹⁹And now, all you prophets of Baal summon to me all his slaves and his priests; let a man not be inspected, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal; every one who is not inspected shall not live.” But Iou acted with trickery in order to destroy the slaves of Baal. ²⁰And Iou said, “Sanctify a solemn festival for Baal.” And they proclaimed it. ²¹And Iou sent in all Israel, saying, “And now, all the slaves of Baal and all his priests and all his prophets, let not one remain, for I am making a great sacrifice; whoever remains shall not live.” And all the slaves of Baal and all his priests and all his prophets came; not a man was left behind who did not come. And they entered into the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled ^bmouth to mouth^b. ²²And Iou said to the man over the house of mesthaal^c, “Bring out garments for all the slaves of Baal.” And the keeper of the sacred robes brought them out for them. ²³And Iou and Ionadab son of Rechab entered into the house of Baal, and he said to the slaves of Baal, “Search, and see if there is among you any of the slaves of the Lord, but only the slaves of Baal all alone.” ²⁴And he entered to make the sacrifices and the whole burnt offerings.

And Iou arranged for himself eighty men outside and said, “A man, whoever is rescued from the men whom I bring into your hands—his life in place of his life.” ²⁵And it happened, as he finished making the whole burnt offering, that Iou said to the runners and to the number-three men, “As you enter, strike them; let not a man come out from them.” And they struck them with an edge of a sword. And the runners and the number-three men threw them out, and they proceeded to a city of a house of Baal. ²⁶And they brought out the stele of Baal and burned it. ²⁷And they pulled down the steles of Baal and tore down the house of Baal and arranged it into latrines to this day.

28 And Iou wiped out Baal from Israel. ²⁹Yet, from the sins of Ieroboam son of Nabat, who made Israel sin, Iou did not depart from behind them—the golden heifers in Baithel and in Dan. ³⁰And the Lord said to Iou, “Because of what you did well in doing what is right in my sight, and all that was in my heart you did to the house of Achaab, fourth^d sons shall sit for you on the throne of Israel.” ³¹But Iou did not take care to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with his whole heart; he did not depart from upon the sins of Ieroboam son of Nabat, who made Israel sin.

32 In those days the Lord began to cut off parts^e in Israel. And Hazael struck them within every boundary of Israel: ³³from the Jordan to the rising of the sun, all the land of Galaad, of Gaddi and of Rouben and of Manasses from Aroer, which is by the bank of the wadi Arnon, and Galaad and Basan. ³⁴And the rest of the histories of Iou and all that he did and all his dominance and the collusions in which he colluded, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Israel? ³⁵And Iou slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria, and Ioachas his son reigned in his stead. ³⁶And the days that Iou reigned over Israel in Samaria were twenty-eight years.

11 And Gotholia, the mother of Ochozias, saw that her sons had died, she then destroyed all the ^fseed of the kingdom^f. ²And Iosabee daughter of King Ioram, sister of Ochozias, took Ioas son of her brother and stole him from among the sons of the king who were being put to death, him and his nurse—in the chamber of the beds—and she hid him from before Gotholia, and he was not put to death. ³And he was with her in the Lord’s house, hidden for six years, and Gotholia was reigning over the land.

4 And in the seventh year Iodae the priest sent and took the officers of hundreds, Chorri and Rasim, and brought them to him into the

Lord’s house. And he made a covenant of the Lord with them and made them swear in the sight of the Lord, and Iodae showed them the son of the king. ⁵And he commanded them, saying, “This is the thing that you shall do: let one-third of you enter on the sabbath, and you shall keep watch of the king’s house in the gateway, ⁶and one-third in the gate of the roads, and one-third at the gate behind the runners, and you shall keep the watch of the house, ⁷and two hands^a are among you—every one who goes out on the sabbath—and they shall keep the watch of the Lord’s house for the king, ⁸and you, surround the king all round, a man and his weapon in his hand. And he who enters into the saderoth^b shall die.” And he^c was with the king in his going out and in his going in.

9 And the officers of hundreds did all that Iodae the wise commanded, and a man took his men who were going in on the sabbath with those who were going out on the sabbath and entered to Iodae the priest. ¹⁰And the priest gave to the officers of hundreds the barbed lances and the thirds^d of King Dauid, which were in the Lord’s house, ¹¹and the runners stood, a man and his weapon in his hand, from the right shoulder of the house to the left shoulder of the house, by the altar and the house, near the king all round. ¹²And he sent out the son of the king and put on him the nezer^e and the testimony, and he made him king and anointed him, and they clapped with the hand and said, “Let the king live!”

13 And Gotholia heard the noise of the running of the people, and she entered into the Lord’s house to the people. ¹⁴And she looked, and behold, the king stood near the pillar, according to the judgment, and the singers and the trumpets by the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and trumpeting with trumpets. And Gotholia tore her own clothes and shouted, “Collusion! Collusion!” ¹⁵And Iodae the priest commanded the officers of hundreds who watch over the force and said to them, “Bring her out from inside the saderoth^b, and he who goes in behind her, by death he shall be put to death by sword.” For the priest said, “Indeed she should not die in the Lord’s house.” ¹⁶And they laid hands on her, and she entered by way of the horses’ entrance of the king’s house, and she died there.

17 And Iodae made a covenant between the Lord and between the king and between the people, that they should be the Lord’s people, also between the king and between the people. ¹⁸And all the people of the land entered into a house of Baal and pulled it down, and his altars and his images they smashed well, and they killed Matthan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars. And the priest appointed overseers for the house of the Lord. ¹⁹And he took the officers of hundreds, both Chorri and Rasim, and all the people of the land, and they brought down the king from the Lord’s house, and he entered by way of the runners’ gate of the king’s house, and they sat him on the throne of the kings. ²⁰And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet, and Gotholia they had put to death by sword in the king’s house.

12 ^(11.21)Ioas was a son of seven years when he became king.

2(12.1) In the seventh year of Iou, Ioas became king, and he reigned forty years in Ierousalem. And his mother’s name was Abia of Bersabee. ³⁽²⁾And Ioas did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days that Iodae the priest enlightened him. ⁴⁽³⁾Yet, some of the high places were not removed, and the people were still sacrificing there and making incense offerings on the high places.

5(4) And Ioas said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things that is brought into the house of the Lord, assessment money—when a man receives assessment money—all money, whatever arises in a man’s heart to bring into the Lord’s house, ⁶⁽⁵⁾let the priests take for themselves, a man from their sale, and they shall secure the bedek^f of the house in everything, there wherever a bedek^f is discovered.” ⁷⁽⁶⁾And it happened in the twenty-third year of King Ioas that the priests had not strengthened the bedek^f of the house. ⁸⁽⁷⁾And Ioas the king summoned Iodae the priest and the priests and said to them, “Why is it that you were not strengthening the bedek^f of the house? And now, do not take money from your sales, because you shall donate it for the bedek^f of the house.” ⁹⁽⁸⁾And the priests agreed not to take money from the people and not to strengthen the bedek^f of the house.

10(9) And Iodae the priest took one chest and bored a hole on its lid and set it beside iamibin^g in the house of a man of the Lord’s house, and the priests who guard the threshold gave all the money that was found in the Lord’s house. ¹¹⁽¹⁰⁾And it happened, when they saw that the money in the chest was much, that the secretary of the king went up, and the great priest and they bundled and counted the money that was found in the Lord’s house. ¹²⁽¹¹⁾And they gave the money that had been prepared into the hands of those doing the work of the overseers of the Lord’s house, and they paid it out to the workers in wood and to the builders who were working in the Lord’s house ¹³⁽¹²⁾and to the wall-builders and to the quarriers of stone to buy wood and quarried stone to restrain the bedek^f of the Lord’s house, for all that was paid on the house to strengthen it. ¹⁴⁽¹³⁾Yet, there shall not be made for the Lord’s house silver doors, nails, saucers and trumpets, any golden vessel and silver vessel, from the money that was brought into the Lord’s house, ¹⁵⁽¹⁴⁾for they shall give it^h to those doing the work, and they strengthened the Lord’s house with it. ¹⁶⁽¹⁵⁾And they were not computing the men into whose hands they were giving the money to give to those doing the work, for they dealt honestly. ¹⁷⁽¹⁶⁾Money for sin and money for error, whatever was brought into the Lord’s house, belonged to the priests.

18(17) Then Hazael, king of Syria, went up and fought against Geth and seized it in advance for himself. And Hazael fixed his face to go up against Ierousalem. ¹⁹⁽¹⁸⁾And Ioas, king of Iouda, took all the holy things that Iosaphat and Ioram and Ochozias, his fathers and kings of Iouda, had dedicated, and his own holy things and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the Lord’s house and of the king’s house and sent these^a to Hazael, king of Syria, and he went up from Ierousalem.

20(19) And the rest of the histories of Ioas and all that he did, behold, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Iouda? ²¹⁽²⁰⁾And his slaves arose and bound an entire bond^b and struck Ioas in Mallo’s house in Gaalla. ²²⁽²¹⁾And Iezichar son of Iemouath and Iezebouth, his son Somer, his slaves, struck him, and he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the city of Dauid and Amessias his son reigned in his stead.

13 In a year, the twenty-third year of Ioas son of Ochozias, king of Iouda, Ioachas son of Iou became king in Samaria for seventeen years. ²And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and went after the sins of Ieroboam son of Nabat, who made Israel sin; he did not depart from them. ³And the Lord grew angry with rage in Israel and gave them into the hand of Hazael, king of Syria, and into the hand of Hader’s son, son of Hazael, all the days. ⁴And Ioachas entreated the face of the Lord, and the Lord heeded him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, that Syria’s king oppressed them. ⁵And the Lord gave Israel deliverance, and they went out from under the hand of Syria, and the sons of Israel sat in their coverts as yesterday and the day before. ⁶Yet, they did not depart from the sins of the house of Ieroboam, who made Israel sin; they walked in them, and indeed the grove stood in Samaria. ⁷For there was not left to Ioachas a people^c, except fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen, for Syria’s king had destroyed them, and they made them like dust for trampling. ⁸And the rest of the histories of Ioachas and all that he did and all his acts of dominance, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Israel? ⁹And Ioachas slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in Samaria, and Ioas his son reigned in his stead.

10 In a year, the thirty-seventh year of Ioas, king of Iouda, Ioas son of Ioachas became king over Israel in Samaria for sixteen years. ¹¹And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sin of Ieroboam son of Nabat, who made Israel sin; he walked in them. ¹²And the rest of the histories of Ioas and all that he did and all his acts of dominance which he exercised with Amessias, king of Iouda, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Israel? ¹³And Ioas slept with his fathers, and Ieroboam sat upon his throne in Samaria with the sons of Israel.

14 And Elisaie had become sick with his sickness by which he died. And Ioas, king of Israel, went down to him and wept on his face and said, “Father, Father! Chariot of Israel and its horseman!” ¹⁵And Elisaie said to him, “Take a bow and arrows,” and he took to himself a bow and arrows. ¹⁶And he said to the king, “Put your hand on the bow,” and Ioas put his hand on the bow. And Elisaie laid his hands on the hands of the king. ¹⁷And he said, “Open the window eastward,” and he opened it. And Elisaie said, “Shoot,” and he shot. And he said, “The Lord’s arrow of deliverance, and arrow of deliverance in Syria! And you shall strike Syria in Aphek until completion.” ¹⁸And Elisaie said to him, “Take bows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and the king struck three times and stopped. ¹⁹And the man of God was grieved at him and said, “If you had struck five times or six times, then you would have struck Syria until completion, but now you will strike Syria three times.”

20 And Elisaie died, and they buried him. And lightly armed men of Moab came in the land ^dwhen the year came^d. ²¹And it happened, when they were burying the man, that behold, they saw the lightly armed man, and they threw the man in the grave of Elisaie, and he went and touched the bones of Elisaie, and he revived and stood up on his feet.

22 And Hazael oppressed Israel all the days of Ioachas. ²³But the Lord had mercy on them and had compassion on them and had regard for them, because of his covenant with Abraam and Isaak and Iakob, and the Lord did not want to destroy them, and he did not banish them from his face.

24 And Hazael, king of Syria, died, and Hader’s son, his son, reigned in his stead. ²⁵And Ioas son of Ioachas returned and took from the hand of Hader’s son, son of Hazael, the towns that he had taken from the hand of Ioachas his father in the war. Three times Ioas struck him and returned the towns of Israel.

14 In the second year of Ioas son of Ioachas, king of Israel, Amessias son of Ioas, king of Iouda, also became king. ²He was a son of twenty-five years when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Ierousalem. And his mother’s name was Ioadin of Ierousalem. ³And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like Dauid his father; he did according to all things that Ioas his father had done. ⁴Yet, he did not remove the high places; the people were still sacrificing and making incense offerings on the high places. ⁵And it happened, when the royal power was firmly in his hand, that he struck his slaves who had struck his father. ⁶And he did not put to death the sons of those who had struck, just as it is written in the book of the laws of Moyses, as the Lord com manded, saying, “Fathers shall not be put to death for sons, and sons shall not be put to death for fathers, but only each one shall be put to death by his own sins.”

7 He struck Edom in Gaimele—ten thousand—and seized the Rock in the battle, and he called its name Kathoel—until this day.

8 Then Amessias sent messengers to Ioas son of Ioachas son of Iou, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us be seen by faces.” ⁹And Ioas, king of Israel, sent to Amessias, king of Iouda, saying, “The akan^a that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ and the wild animals of the field that were in Lebanon passed through and trampled down the akana^a. ¹⁰Wounding you struck Idumea, and your heart lifted you up. Be glorified sitting in your house, and why do you strive in your wickedness? And you shall fall, you and Iouda^b with you.”

11 And Amessias did not listen. And the king of Israel went up, and he and Amessias, king of Iouda, were seen by faces in Baithsamys, which belongs to Iouda. ¹²And Iouda^b fell from before Israel, and a man fled to his covert. ¹³And Ioas son of Ioachas, king of Israel, captured Amessias son of Ioas son of Ochozias, king of Iouda, in Baithsamys. And he came to Ierousalem and tore down in the wall of Ierousalem in the gate of Ephraim as far as a gate of the corner, four hundred cubits. ¹⁴And he took the gold and the silver and all the vessels that were found in the Lord’s house and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and the sons of the comminglings^c, and he returned to Samaria.

15 And the rest of the histories of Ioas, what he did in his dominance, which things he fought about with Amessias, king of Iouda, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Israel? ¹⁶And Ioas slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Ieroboam his son reigned in his stead.

17 And Amessias son of Ioas, king of Iouda, lived fifteen years after Ioas son of Ioachas, king of Israel, died. ¹⁸And the rest of the histories of Amessias and all that he did, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Iouda? ¹⁹And they conspired a conspiracy against him in Ierousalem, and he fled to Lachis. And they sent after him to Lachis and put him to death there. ²⁰And they took him up on horses, and he was buried in Ierousalem with his fathers in the city of Dauid. ²¹And all the people of Iouda took Azarias—and he was a son of sixteen years—and made him king instead of his father Amessias. ²²He built Ailoth and returned it to Iouda, after the king slept with his fathers.

23 In the fifteenth year of Amessias son of Ioas, king of Iouda, Ieroboam son of Ioas became king over Israel in Samaria, forty and one year. ²⁴And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from any of the sins of Ieroboam son of Nabat, who made Israel sin. ²⁵He removed the border of Israel from the entrance of Haimath as far as the Sea of the Araba, according to the word of the Lord, God of Israel, which he spoke by the hand of his slave Ionas son of Amathi, the prophet who was from Gethchober. ²⁶For the Lord saw that the humiliation of Israel was very bitter and that they were few, bound and in want and abandoned, and there was no one to help Israel. ²⁷And the Lord had not said that he would wipe out the seed of Israel from under heaven, and he saved them by the hand of Ieroboam son of Ioas.

28 And the rest of the histories of Ieroboam and all that he did and all his acts of dominance, what he fought about and how he turned against Damascus and Haimath belonging to Iouda in Israel, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Israel? ²⁹And Ieroboam slept with his fathers, with the kings of Israel, and Azarias son of Amessias reigned in his father’s stead.

15 In the twenty-seventh year of Ieroboam, king of Israel, Azarias son of Amessias, king of Iouda, became king. ²He was a son of sixteen years when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Ierousalem. And his mother’s name was Chalia of Ierousalem. ³And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all things that Amessias his father had done. ⁴Yet, he did not remove any of the high places; the people were still sacrificing and making incense offerings on the high places. ⁵And the Lord touched the king, and he was leprous to the day of his death, and he reigned in a house aphphousoth^d. And Ioatham, the king’s son, was in charge of the house, judging the people of the land. ⁶And the rest of the histories of Azarias and all that he did, behold, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Iouda? ⁷And Azarias slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of Dauid, and Ioatham his son reigned in his stead.

8 In the thirty-eighth year of Azarias, king of Iouda, Zacharias son of Ieroboam became king over Israel in Samaria for six months. ⁹And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of Ieroboam son of Nabat, who made Israel sin. ¹⁰And Selloum son of Iabis and Keblaam conspired against him, and they struck him and put him to death, and Selloum reigned in his stead. ¹¹And the rest of the histories of Zacharias, behold, they are written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Israel. ¹²The word of the Lord it was, that he spoke to Iou, saying, “Fourth^e sons shall sit for you on the throne of Israel.” And so it happened.

13 And Selloum son of Iabis became king, and in the thirty-ninth year of Azarias, king of Iouda, Selloum reigned a month of days in Samaria. ¹⁴And Manaem son of Gaddi went up from Tharsila and came to Samaria, and he struck Selloum son of Iabis in Samaria and put him to death.

¹⁵ And the rest of the histories of Selloum and his conspiracy that he conspired, behold, they are written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Israel. ¹⁶Then Manaem struck Thersa and all that was in it and its territory from Thersa on, because they did not open it to him, and he struck it and ripped open the pregnant women.

17 In the thirty-ninth year of Azarias, king of Iouda, Manaem son of Gaddi also became king over Israel for ten years in Samaria. ¹⁸And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from any of the sins of Ieroboam son of Nabat, who made Israel sin. ¹⁹In his days Phoul, king of the Assyrians, went up against the land, and Manaem gave Phoul a thousand talents of silver for his hand to be with him. ²⁰And Manaem brought out the money against^a Israel, against^a every powerful man with strength, to give to the king of the Assyrians, fifty shekels for one man. And the Assyrians’ king turned back and did not stay there in the land. ²¹And the rest of the histories of Manaem and all that he did, behold, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Israel? ²²And Manaem slept with his fathers, and Phakeias his son reigned in his stead.

23 In the fiftieth year of Azarias, king of Iouda, Phakeias son of Manaem became king over Israel in Samaria for two years. ²⁴And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Ieroboam son of Nabat, who made Israel sin. ²⁵And Phakee son of Romelias, his number-three man, conspired against him and struck him in Samaria in front of the king’s house with Argob and with Aria, and with him were fifty men from the four hundred, and he put him to death and reigned in his stead. ²⁶And the rest of the histories of Phakeias and all that he did, behold, they are written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Israel.

27 In the fifty-second year of Azarias, king of Iouda, Phakee son of Romelias became king over Israel in Samaria for twenty years. ²⁸And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from any of the sins of Ieroboam son of Nabat, who made Israel sin.

29 In the days of Phakee, king of Israel, Thaglathphellasar, king of the Assyrians, came and took Ain and Abelbaithamaacha and Ianoch and Kenez and Hasor and Galaad and Galilee, all the land of Nephthali, and he exiled them to the Assyrians. ³⁰And Hosee son of Ela conspired a conspiracy against Phakee son of Romelias and struck him and put him to death, and he reigned in his stead in the twentieth year of Ioatham son of Azarias. ³¹And the rest of the histories of Phakee and all that he did, behold, they are written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Israel.

32 In the second year of Phakee son of Romelias, king of Israel, Ioatham son of Azarias, king of Iouda, became king. ³³He was a son of twenty-five years when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Ierousalem. And his moth-er’s name was Ierousa daughter of Zadok. ³⁴And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Azarias^b his father had done. ³⁵Yet, he did not remove the high places; the people were still sacrificing and making incense offerings on the high places. He built the upper gate of the Lord’s house. ³⁶And the rest of the histories of Ioatham and all that he did, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Iouda? ³⁷In those days the Lord began to send out in Iouda Raasson, king of Syria, and Phakee son of Romelias. ³⁸And Ioatham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of Dauid his father and Achaz his son reigned in his stead.

16 In the seventeenth year of Phakee son of Romelias, Achaz son of Ioatham, king of Iouda, became king. ²Achaz was a son of twenty years when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Ierousalem. And he did not faithfully do what was right in the sight of the Lord, his God, as Dauid his father did, ³but he walked in the way of Ieroboam son of Nabat, king of Israel. And indeed he conducted his son into fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out from before the sons of Israel. ⁴And he was sacrificing and making incense offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every woodland tree.

5 Then Raasson, king of Syria, went up, and Phakee son of Romelias, king of Israel, against Ierousalem to war, and they were laying siege against Achaz but could not wage war. ⁶At that time Raasson, king of Syria, returned Ailath to Syria and drove out the Judeans from Ailath, and the Idumeans came to Ailath and lived there to this day. ⁷And Achaz sent messengers to Thaglathphellasar, king of the Assyrians, saying, “I am your slave and your son. Come up, and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” ⁸And Achaz took the silver and the gold that was found in the treasuries of the Lord’s house and the king’s house and sent presents to the king. ⁹And the Assyrians’ king listened to him, and the Assyrians’ king went up against Damascus and captured it and exiled it^c, and he put Raasson to death.

10 And King Achaz went to meet Thaglathphellasar, king of the Assyrians, in Damascus and saw the altar in Damascus. And King Achaz sent to Ourias the priest the likeness of the altar and its pattern for its entire construction. ¹¹And Ourias the priest built the altar in accordance with all that King Achaz had sent from Damascus. ¹²And the king saw the altar and went up on it ¹³and burnt for smoke his whole burnt offering and his sacrifice and his libation and poured the blood of his peace items on the altar. ¹⁴And the bronze altar that was before the Lord he also brought forward from the front of the house of the Lord, from the one between the altar and from the one between the house of the Lord, and put it near the thigh of the altar on the north. ¹⁵And King Achaz commanded Ourias the priest, saying, “Upon the great altar offer the morning whole burnt offering and the evening sacrifice and the whole burnt offering of the king and his sacrifice and the whole burnt offering of all the people and their sacrifice and their libation, and you shall pour on it all blood of whole burnt offering and all blood of sacrifice, and the bronze altar shall be for me in the morning.” ¹⁶And Ourias the priest did according to everything that King Achaz commanded him.

17 And King Achaz cut off the borders of the mechonoth^a and removed the washbasin from them, and he took down the sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pediment. ¹⁸And he built the foundation of the seat in the Lord’s house, and he turned the outer entrance of the king in the Lord’s house from before the Assyrians’ king. ¹⁹And the rest of the histories of Achaz, what he did, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Iouda? ²⁰And Achaz slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of Dauid, and Hezekias his son reigned in his stead.

17 In the twelfth year of Achaz, king of Iouda, Hosee son of Ela became king in Samaria over Israel for nine years. ²And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not like the kings of Israel who were before him. ³Salamanasar, king of the Assyrians, went up against him, and Hosee became his slave and returned to him manaa^b. ⁴And the Assyrians’ king found injustice in Hosee, for he had sent messengers to Segor, king of Egypt, and brought no manaa^b to the king of the Assyrians in that year, and the king of the Assyrians besieged him and bound him in a prison house.

5 And the king of the Assyrians went up in all the land and went up against Samaria and laid siege against it for three years. ⁶In the ninth year of Hosee the Assyrians’ king captured Samaria, and he exiled Israel to the Assyrians and made them dwell ^cin Halae and in Habor, at rivers^c of Gozan and Ore^d of Medes.

7 And it happened, because the sons of Israel had sinned against the Lord, their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharao, king of Egypt. And they feared other gods ⁸and walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord drove out from before the sons of Israel, both the kings of Israel, as many as did it, ⁹and the sons of Israel, as many as clothed themselves with words, not just against the Lord, their God. And they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from tower for watchers to strong city. ¹⁰And they erected for themselves steles and groves on every high hill and under every woodland tree, ¹¹and there they made incense offerings on all high places, just as the nations whom the Lord exiled from before them. And they made partners and engraved^e to provoke the Lord to anger, ¹²and they served the idols of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this thing to the Lord.” ¹³And the Lord testified in Israel and in Iouda by the hand of all his prophets, every seer, saying, “Turn away from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes and all the law that I commanded your fathers, which I sent to you by the hand of my slaves the prophets.” ¹⁴But they did not listen, but hardened their back more than the back of their fathers. ¹⁵And his testimonies that he testified to them they did not keep but went after the worthless things and were rendered worthless and after the nations that were around them of whom he had commanded them not to do in accordance with these. ¹⁶They forsook the commandments of the Lord, their God, and made for themselves something cast, two heifers, and made groves and did obeisance to all the host of heaven and served Baal. ¹⁷And they conducted their sons and their daughters into fire, and they were divining and practicing ornithomancy, and they were sold to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. ¹⁸And the Lord became very angry with Israel and removed them from his face, and none was left except Iouda’s tribe alone.

19 And indeed Iouda^f did not keep the commandments of the Lord, their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel, which they practiced, ²⁰and they^g rejected the Lord among all the offspring of Israel, and he shook them and gave them into the hand of those who plundered them until he had banished them from his presence, ²¹for only Israel was ^hfrom upon^h Dauid’s house. And they made Ieroboam son of Nabat king. And Ieroboam drove out Israel from behind the Lord and made them sin great sin. ²²And the sons of Israel walked in all the sin of Ieroboam that he committed; they did not depart from it ²³until the Lord removed Israel from his sight, just as the Lord had spoken by the hand of all his slaves the prophets. And Israel was exiled from upon its own land to the Assyrians until this day.

24 And the Assyrians’ king brought from Babylon the peopleⁱ from Chountha and from Aia and from Haimath and Seppharouain, and they were made to dwell in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel, and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities. ²⁵And it happened, at the beginning of their sitting^j, that they did not fear the Lord, and the Lord sent lions among them, and they were killing among them. ²⁶And they told the king of the Assyrians, saying, “The nations that you exiled and placed instead in the cities of Samaria did not know the judgment of the god of the land, and he sent lions against them, and behold, they are putting them to death, because they do not know the judgment of the god of the land.” ²⁷And the king of the Assyrians commanded, saying, “Bring from yonder, and let them go and dwell there, and they shall enlighten them about the judgment of the god of the land.” ²⁸And they brought one of the priests whom they had exiled from Samaria, and he stayed in Baithel, and he was enlightening them how they should fear the Lord.

29 And nations by nations were making their own gods, and they put them in the house of the high places that the Samaritans had made, nations in their cities, them in which they dwelt, ³⁰and the men of Babylon made Sokchothbainith, and the men of Chouth made Nerigel, and the men of Haimath made Asimath, ³¹and the Euites made Eblazer and Tharthak, and the Seppharouain burned up their sons in fire to Adramelech and Anemelech, gods of Seppharouain. ³²And they were fearing the Lord, and they caused their abominations to dwell in the houses of the high places that they had made in Samaria, nation by nation in a city, that in which they dwelt, and they were fearing the Lord, and they made for themselves priests of the high places, and they acted for them in the house of the high places. ³³They were fearing the Lord and serving their own gods according to the judgment of the nations, there where he had exiled them.

34 To this day they were acting according to their judgment. They fear, and they act according to their statutes and according to their judgment and according to the law and according to the commandment that the Lord commanded the sons of Iakob, him whose name he made Israel. ³⁵And the Lord had made a covenant with them and commanded them, saying, “You shall not fear other gods, and you shall not do obeisance to them, and you shall not serve them, and you shall not sacrifice to them, ³⁶but only to the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great strength and with a high arm, him you shall fear, and to him you shall do obeisance, and to him you shall sacrifice. ³⁷And the statutes and the judgments and the law and the commandments that he wrote for you, be careful to observe them all the days. And you shall not fear other gods, ³⁸and the covenant that he made with you, you shall not forget. And you shall not fear other gods, ³⁹but only the Lord, your God, you shall fear, and he will deliver you from all your enemies. ⁴⁰And you shall not listen to their judgment that they practice.”

41 But these nations were fearing the Lord, and they were subject to their carved images, and indeed the sons and the sons of their sons do to this day as their fathers did.

18 And it happened in the third year of Hosee son of Ela, king of Israel, that Hezekias son of Achaz, king of Iouda, became king. ²He was a son of twenty-five years when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Ierousalem. And his mother’s name was Abou daughter of Zacharias. ³And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that Dauid his father had done. ⁴He removed the high places and smashed all the steles and utterly destroyed the groves and the bronze snake that Moyses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel had been making incense offerings to it, and he called it Neesthan. ⁵He hoped in the Lord God of Israel, and there was no one like him among the kings of Iouda after him or among those who were before him. ⁶And he clung to the Lord; he did not depart from behind him but kept his commandments that he had commanded Moyses. ⁷And the Lord was with him; in all that he was doing he understood. And he rebelled against the king of the Assyrians and was not subject to him. ⁸He struck the allophyles as far as Gaza and as far as its territory, from a tower of watchers even to a strong city.

9 And it happened in the fourth year of King Hezekias (it was the seventh year of Hosee son of Ela, king of Israel) that Salamanassar, king of the Assyrians, went up against Samaria and was laying siege against it, ¹⁰and he seized it at the end of three years, in the sixth year of Hezekias (it was the ninth year of Hosee, king of Israel), and Samaria was captured. ¹¹And the Assyrians’ king exiled Samaria to the Assyrians and put them ^a in Halae and in Habor, at a river^a of Gozan and Ore^b of Medes, ¹²because they did not obey the voice of the Lord, their God, but transgressed his covenant—all that Moyses the slave of the Lord had commanded, and they did not listen and did not act.

13 And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekias, Sennacherim, king of the Assyrians, went up against the strong cities of Iouda and captured them. ¹⁴And Hezekias, king of Iouda, sent messengers to the Assyrians’ king to Lachis, saying, “I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will bear.” And the king of the Assyrians imposed on Hezekias, king of Iouda, three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵And Hezekias gave him all the silver that was found in the Lord’s house and in the treasuries of the king’s house. ¹⁶At that time Hezekias cut off the doors of the Lord’s shrine and the door-posts that Hezekias, king of Iouda, had gilded and gave them to the Assyrians’ king. ¹⁷And the Assyrians’ king sent Tharthan and Raphis and Rapsakes from Lachis to King Hezekias with a heavy force against Ierousalem. And they went up and came to Ierousalem and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is by the way of the fuller’s field. ¹⁸And they shouted to Hezekias, and there came out to him Eliakim son of Chelkias, the household manager, and Somnas, the secretary, and Ioas son of Asaph, the recorder.

19 And Rapsakes said to them, “Do say to Hezekias: This is what the king, the great king of the Assyrians, says: What is this confidence on which you rely? ²⁰You said, ‘Mere words of lips are strategy and power for war.’ Now then, on whom do you rely, that you rebelled against me? ²¹Now behold, you have entrusted yourself to this broken reed rod, to Egypt; whatever man is supported on it, it will also enter into his hand and pierce it. Thus is Pharao, king of Egypt, to all who rely on him. ²²And since you said to me, ‘We rely on the Lord God,’ is not he this one whose high places and altars Hezekias removed, and he said to Iouda and to Ierousalem, ‘You shall do obeisance before this altar in Ierousalem’? ²³And now, do be joined with my master, king of the Assyrians, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you will be able on your part to put riders on them. ²⁴And how will you turn away the face of a single district governor of the least of the slaves of my master? And you hoped for yourself on Egypt for chariots and horsemen. ²⁵And now, is it without the Lord that we came up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’ ”

26 And Eliakim son of Chelkias, and Somnas and Ioas, said to Rapsakes, “Do speak to your servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it, but you shall not speak with us in Judean, and why do you speak within the hearing of the people who are on the wall?” ²⁷And Rapsakes said to them, “Did my master send me to speak these words to your master and to you, not to the men sitting on the wall, to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine together with you?”

28 And Rapsakes stood and called out in a loud voice in Judean and spoke and said, “Hear the words of the great king of the Assyrians! ²⁹This is what the king says: ‘Do not let Hezekias stir you up with words, for he shall not be able to deliver you out of my hand. ³⁰And do not let Hezekias buoy you up with hope in the Lord by saying: Delivering the Lord will deliver us; this city shall not be given in the hand of the Assyrians’ king.’ ³¹Do not listen to Hezekias, for this is what the king of the Assyrians says: ‘Make a blessing with me, and come out to me, and a man shall drink his own vine, and a man shall eat his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern ³²until I come and take you to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine and bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey, and you shall live and not die. And do not listen to Hezekias, for he misleads you by saying, The Lord will deliver us. ³³Did the gods of the nations, each by delivering, deliver his own land out of the hand of the Assyrians’ king? ³⁴Where is the god of Haimath and Arphad? Where is the god of Seppharouain? And is it that they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ³⁵Who is there among all the gods of the lands who delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord shall deliver Ierousalem out of my hand?’ ”

36 And they were silent and answered him not a word, for there was the king’s command, saying, “You shall not answer him.” ³⁷And Eliakim son of Chelkias, the household manager, and Somnas, the secretary, and Ioas son of Asaph, the recorder, entered to Hezekias with their clothes torn and reported to him the words of Rapsakes.

19 And it happened, when King Hezekias heard it, that he tore his own clothes and put on sackcloth and entered into the Lord’s house. ²And he sent Eliakim, the household manager, and Somnas, the secretary, and the elders of the priests, clothed in sackcloth, to Esaias the prophet son of Amos. ³And they said to him, “This is what Hezekias says, This day is a day of distress and of rebuke and of provocation, for sons came to the point of birth pains, but she who gives birth has no strength. ⁴If somehow the Lord, your God, will hear all the words of Rapsakes, whom his master, king of the Assyrians, sent to mock a living god and to blaspheme with words that the Lord, your God, heard, you shall also undertake prayer for the remnant that is found.” ⁵And the servants of King Hezekias came to Esaias, ⁶and Esaias said to them, “This is what you shall say to your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid because of the words that you heard, with which the lads of the Assyrians’ king blasphemed. ⁷Behold, I myself am putting a spirit in him, and he shall hear a message and return to his own land, and I will strike him down by a sword in his own land.’ ”

8 And Rapsakes returned and found the king of the Assyrians fighting against Lomna, for he had heard that he had departed from Lachis. ⁹And he heard concerning Tharaka, king of the Ethiopians, saying, “Behold, he went out to fight with you.” And he returned and sent messengers to Hezekias, saying, ¹⁰“Do not let your God, him on whom you rely upon, stir you up by saying, Ierousalem shall not be given into the hands of the Assyrians’ king. ¹¹Behold, you heard everything that the Assyrians’ kings did to all the lands to anathematize them. And shall you be rescued? ¹²Did the gods of the nations that my fathers destroyed deliver them: both Gozan and Charran and Raphes and Edem’s sons, who were in Thaesthen? ¹³Where is the king of Haimath and the king of Arphad, and where is Seppharouain, Hana and Aua?”

14 And Hezekias took the documents from the hand of the messengers and read them, and he went up to the Lord’s house, and Hezekias unrolled them before the Lord. ¹⁵And he said: “O Lord God of Israel, who sits on the cheroubin, you alone are God in all the kingdoms of the earth; you made heaven and earth. ¹⁶Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see, and hear the words of Sennacherim, which he sent to mock a living god. ¹⁷For truly, O Lord, the Assyrians’ kings laid waste the nations ¹⁸and gave their gods into the fire, for they were no gods but works of human hands—wood and stone—and they destroyed them. ¹⁹And now, O Lord, our God, save us from his hand, and all the kingdoms of the earth shall know that ^ayou are the Lord, God alone^a.”

20 And Esaias son of Amos sent to Hezekias, saying, “This is what the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, says: I heard what you prayed to me about Sennacherim, king of the Assyrians. ²¹This is the word that the Lord spoke against him:

Virgin daughter Sion made nothing of you and sneered at you;

daughter Ierousalem shook her head at you.

²² Whom did you mock and revile?
And against whom did you raise your voice

and lift your eyes on high?
Against the Holy One of Israel!

²³ By the hand of your messengers you
         mocked the Lord

and said, ‘With the multitude of my
chariots

I shall ascend to a height of mountains,
thighs of Lebanon,

and I felled the greatness of its cedar,
the choicest of its cypresses,

and I came to a melon^a of its end,
forest of his^b Carmel.

²⁴ I sought the cool air
and drank foreign waters,

and I made desolate with the sole of my foot
all the streams of enclosure.

²⁵ I shaped it^c;
now I brought it^c,

and it^c turned into risings of warlike colonies,
strong cities.

²⁶ And the inhabitants in them were weak with
         the hand;

they cowered and were put to shame;

they became fodder of the field,
or green pasture,

grass on the housetops,
and trodden opposite him who stands.’

²⁷ And I knew your sitting
and your exiting and your entering
and your rage against me.

²⁸ Because you grew angry against me
and your wantonness came up in my ears,

and I will put my hooks in your nostrils
and a bit in your lips;

I will turn you back in the way,
in that by which you came.

29 “And this shall be the sign for you: You shall eat this year what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs up, and in the third year, sowing and reaping and planting of vineyards, and you shall eat their fruit. ³⁰And the saved remainder of Iouda’s house shall add root downward and bear fruit upward; ³¹for from Ierousalem a remnant shall go out, and from Mount Sion he who is being returned safe. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.

32 “Not so! This is what the Lord says to the Assyrians’ king: He shall not enter into this city, and he shall not shoot an arrow there, and a shield shall not anticipate it, and he shall not pour out a mound against it! ³³By the way that he came, by it he shall return, and he shall not enter into this city, says the Lord. ³⁴And I will hold a shield over this city, for my own sake and for the sake of Dauid my slave.”

35 And it happened, while it was night, that an angel of the Lord went out and struck one hundred eighty-five thousands in the camp of the Assyrians, and they rose early in the morning, and behold, all were dead bodies. ³⁶And Sennacherim, king of the Assyrians, left and went and returned and lived in Nineue. ³⁷And it happened, as he was doing obeisance in the house of Neserach his god, that his sons Adramelech and Sarasar struck him with a dagger, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Asordan his son reigned in his stead.

20 In those days Hezekias became sick unto death. And Esaias son of Amos, the prophet, entered to him and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: Command your house, for you are dying; you shall not live.” ²And Hezekias turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying: ³“Do, O Lord, do remember how I walked before you in truth and with a full heart and did what is good in your sight.” And Hezekias wept with a great weeping. ⁴And Esaias was in the middle court, and a word of the Lord came to him, saying: ⁵“Turn back, and you shall say to Hezekias, the leader of my people, This is what the Lord, the God of Dauid your father says: I heard your prayer; I saw your tears; behold, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the Lord’s house. ⁶And I will add to your days fifteen years. And I will save you and this city out of the hand of the Assyrians’ king, and I will hold a shield over this city, for my own sake and for the sake of Dauid my slave.” ⁷And he said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it on the festering sore, and it shall cure him^d.”

8 And Hezekias said to Esaias, “What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and I shall go up to the Lord’s house on the third day?” ⁹And Esaias said, “This is the sign from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he spoke: Shall the shadow advance ten steps, if it turns ten steps?” ¹⁰And Hezekias said, “It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps; no, but let the shadow return ten steps backwards.” ¹¹And Esaias the prophet cried to the Lord, and the shadow on the stairs returned backwards ten steps.

12 At that time Marodachbaladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent documents and manaa^e to Hezekias, for he had heard that Hezekias was sick. ¹³And Hezekias rejoiced over them, and he showed them the whole house of the nechotha^f, the silver and the gold, the spices and the precious oil and the house of the vessels and as much as was found in his storehouses; there was nothing that Hezekias did not show them in his house and in all his realm. ¹⁴And Esaias the prophet entered to King Hezekias and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” And Hezekias said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” ¹⁵And he said, “What did they see in your house?” And he said, “They saw all that is in my house; there was nothing in my house that I did not show them, but also what is in my storehouses.”

16 And Esaias said to Hezekias, “Hear a word of the Lord: ¹⁷Behold, days are coming, and all that is in your house and as much as your fathers stored up until this day shall be taken to Babylon, and no word which the Lord said shall fail. ¹⁸And your own sons, who will come out of you, whom you will father, shall be taken, and they shall be eunuchs in the house of the king of Babylon.” ¹⁹And Hezekias said to Esaias, “The word of the Lord that he spoke is good; let there be peace in my days.”

20 And the rest of the histories of Hezekias and all his dominance and what he made: the fountain and the conduit and brought water into the city, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Iouda? ²¹And Hezekias slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of Dauid, and Manasses his son reigned in his stead.

21 Manasses was a son of twelve years when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Ierousalem. And his mother’s name was Hopsiba. ²And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out from before the sons of Israel. ³And he turned back and built the high places that Hezekias his father had pulled down, and he erected an altar to the goddess Baal and made groves, just as Achaab, king of Israel, had done, and did obeisance to all the host of heaven and was subject to them. ⁴And he built an altar in the Lord’s house, as he had said, “In Ierousalem I will put my name.” ⁵And he built an altar to all the host of heaven in the two courts of the Lord’s house. ⁶And he conducted his sons into fire, and he was acting as diviner and practicing ornithomancy, and he made one who wills and people that know. And he multiplied to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. ⁷And he put the carved image of the grove in the house of which the Lord had said to Dauid and to Salomon his son, “In this house and in Ierousalem, which I chose out of all the tribes of Israel, I will also put my name there forever. ⁸And I will not add to shake the foot of Israel from the land that I gave to their fathers—whoever will observe everything that I commanded, according to every commandment that my slave Moyses commanded them.” ⁹And they did not listen, and Manasses misled them to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord, more than the nations that the Lord had annihilated from before the sons of Israel.

10 And the Lord spoke by the hand of his slaves the prophets, saying, ¹¹“Forasmuch as Manasses, the king of Iouda, committed these abominations, evil things from^a all that the erstwhile Amorrite did, and indeed made Iouda sin with their idols. ¹²Not so! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, Behold, I am bringing evil upon Ierousalem and upon Iouda so that both his ears, of everyone who hears, will echo. ¹³And I will stretch out over Ierousalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of Achaab’s house, and I will wipe Ierousalem as the alabaster jar is wiped, when it is wiped, and it is turned over on its face. ¹⁴And I will cast off the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hands of their enemies, and they shall become rapine and plunder to all their enemies, ¹⁵forasmuch as they did what is evil in my sight and were provoking me to anger, from the day that I brought their fathers out of Egypt, even to this day.”

16 And indeed Manasses shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Ierousalem ^bmouth to mouth^b, besides some of his sins that he made Iouda^c sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

17 And the rest of the histories of Manasses and all that he did and his sin that he sinned, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Iouda? ¹⁸And Manasses slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Oza. And Amon his son reigned in his stead.

19 Amon was a son of twenty-two years when he became king, and he reigned two years in Ierousalem. And his mother’s name was Mesollam daughter of Harous from Ieteba. ²⁰And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as Manasses his father had done. ²¹And he walked in all the way in which his father walked and served the idols that his father served and did obeisance to them, ²²and he abandoned the Lord, God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord. ²³And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house. ²⁴And all the people of the land struck all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Iosias his son king in his stead. ²⁵And the rest of the histories of Amon, what he did, behold, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Iouda? ²⁶And they buried him in his tomb in the garden of Oza, and Iosias his son reigned in his stead.

22 Iosias was a son of eight years when he became king, and he reigned thirty and one year in Ierousalem. And his mother’s name was Iedida daughter of Edeia from Basouroth. ²And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the way of Dauid his father; he did not depart to the right or to the left.

3 And it happened in the eighteenth year of King Iosias, in the eighth month, that the king sent Saphphan son of Eselias son of Mesollam, the secretary of the Lord’s house, saying, ⁴“Go up to Chelkias the great priest, and seal the money that was brought into the Lord’s house, which those who guard the threshold collected from the people, ⁵and let them give it into the hand of those doing the work of those in charge in the Lord’s house.” And he gave it to those doing the work who were in the Lord’s house, to strengthen the bedek^a of the house, ⁶to the craftsmen and to the builders and to the wall-builders, and to buy wood and quarried stone to strengthen the bedek^a of the house. ⁷Yet, they were not computing for them the money that was given to them, for they dealt honestly.

8 And Chelkias the great priest said to Saphphan the secretary, “I found a book of the law in the Lord’s house.” And Chelkias gave the book to Saphphan, and he read it. ⁹And he brought it in to King Iosias and returned word to the king and said, “Your slaves ^bmelted down^b the silver that was found in the Lord’s house and gave it into the hand of those doing the work of those in charge in the Lord’s house.” ¹⁰And Saphphan the secretary spoke to the king, saying, “Chelkias the priest gave me a book.” And Saphphan read it aloud in the presence of the king.

11 And it happened, when the king heard the words of the book of the law, that he tore his own clothes. ¹²And the king commanded Chelkias the priest and Achikam son of Saphphan, and Achobor son of Michaias and Saphphan the secretary and Asaias the king’s slave, saying, ¹³“Go, seek out the Lord for me and for all of the people and for all of Iouda, concerning the words of this book that was found, for great is the wrath of the Lord that is blazed out against us, because our fathers did not obey the words of this book, to do according to all that is written against us.”

14 And Chelkias the priest and Achikam and Achobor and Saphphan and Asaias went to Holda the prophetess, wife of Sellem son of Thekoue son of Haraas, keeper of the wardrobe, and she was residing in Ierousalem in the masena^c, and they spoke to her. ¹⁵And she said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, ¹⁶This is what the Lord says, Behold, I am bringing evil on this place and on those who dwell in it—all the words of the book that the king of Iouda read, ¹⁷because they abandoned me and were making incense offerings to other gods so that they provoked me to anger with the works of their hands, and my wrath will be blazed out against this place, and it will not be quenched. ¹⁸And to the king of Iouda, who sent you to seek after the Lord, this is what you shall say to him, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: As for the words that you heard—19because your heart was softened and you felt shame from before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against those who dwell in it, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before me, and indeed I heard, says the Lord. ²⁰Not so! Behold, I am adding you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and there shall not be seen by your eyes among all the evils that I am—I am bringing on this place.” And they returned the message to the king.

23 And the king sent and gathered to himself all the elders of Iouda and Ierousalem. ²And the king went up to the Lord’s house, and every man of Iouda and all those who dwelt in Ierousalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people from small and to great, and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the Lord’s house. ³And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk behind the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, to uphold the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood firm in the covenant.

4 And the king commanded Chelkias the great priest and the priests of the second order and those who guard the threshold to bring out of the Lord’s shrine all the vessels made for Baal and for the grove and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them outside Ierousalem in sademoth^d of Kedron and took their dust to Baithel. ⁵And he put an end to the chomarim^e whom kings of Iouda had appointed—and they were making incense offerings in the high places and in the cities of Iouda and those around Ierousalem—and those who made incense offerings to Baal and to the sun and to the moon and to the mazouroth^f and to all the host of heaven. ⁶And he brought out the grove from the Lord’s house, outside Ierousalem, to the Wadi Kedron, and burned it in the wadi and pulverized it into dust and threw the dust of it into the grave of the sons of the people. ⁷And he tore down the house of the kadesim^g that were in the house of the Lord, there where the women were weaving chettiin^h for the grove. ⁸And he brought up all the priests out of the towns of Iouda and defiled the high places, there where the priests had made incense offerings from Gabaa and as far as Bersabee, and he tore down the house of the gates that was at the entrance of the gate of Iesous, governor of the city, which were from a man’s left in the gate of the city. ⁹Yet the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Ierousalem but only ate unleavened bread in the midst of their brothers. ¹⁰And he defiled Tapheth, which is in the ravine of Son of Hennom, which was for a man to conduct his son and a man to conduct his daughter to Moloch in fire. ¹¹And he put an end to the horses that the kings of Iouda had dedicated to the sun, in the entrance of the Lord’s house, by the treasury of Nathan, the king’s eunuch, in pharourimⁱ, and he burned the chariot of the sun with fire. ¹²And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Achaz, which the kings of Iouda had made, and the altars that Manasses had made in the two courts of the Lord’s house the king also tore down and pulled down from there and threw their dust into the Wadi Kedron. ¹³And the king defiled the house that was in front of Ierousalem, on the right^j of the Mount of Mosoath^k, which Salomon, king of Israel, had built for Astarte, offense of the Sidonians, and for Chamos, of fense of Moab, and for Molchol, abomination of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁴And he smashed the steles and utterly destroyed the groves and filled their sites with human bones.

15 And indeed the altar in Baithel, the high place that Ieroboam son of Nabat made, who made Israel sin—and indeed that altar and the high place he pulled down. And he smashed its stones and pulverized them into dust and burned the grove. ¹⁶And Iosias turned aside and saw the tombs that were there in the city, and he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the Lord that the man of God spoke, when Ieroboam stood in the feast by the altar. And turning, he lifted his eyes on the tomb of the man of God who had spoken these words. ¹⁷And he said, “What is that mound that I see?” And the men of the city said to him, “It is the man of God who came out from Iouda and invoked these words that you invoked against the altar of Baithel.” ¹⁸And he said, “Leave it; let no man move his bones.” And they preserved his bones with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. ¹⁹And indeed regarding all the houses of the high places that were in the towns of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger—Iosias removed them and did among them^a all the works that he had done in Baithel. ²⁰And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there on the altars and burned the bones of human beings on them. And he returned to Ierousalem.

21 And the king commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the pascha^b to the Lord, our God, just as it is written in the book of this covenant.” ²²For this pascha^b had not taken place since the days of the judges who were judging Israel and all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Iouda, ²³but only in the eighteenth year of King Iosias the pascha^b to the Lord took place in Ierousalem.

24 And indeed King Iosias removed those that want and those that know and the theraphin^c and the idols and all the offences that were made in the land of Iouda and in Ierousalem so that he established the words of the law that were written in the book that Chelkias the priest had found in the Lord’s house. ²⁵Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with his whole heart and with his whole soul and with his whole strength, according to all the law of Moyses, and after him none arose like him.

26 Yet the Lord did not turn away from the fierceness of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Iouda, because of the provocations with which Manasses had provoked him. ²⁷And the Lord said, “And indeed I will remove Iouda^d from my sight, just as I removed Israel, and I will reject this city that I chose, Ierousalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”

28 And the rest of the histories of Iosias and all that he did, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Iouda? ²⁹But in his days Pharao Nechao, king of Egypt, went up against the Assyrians’ king to the river Euphrates. And Iosias went to meet him, but Nechao put him to death in Mageddo when he saw him. ³⁰And his servants made him ride dead from Mageddo and brought him to Ierousalem and buried him in his own tomb in the city of Dauid. And the people of the land took Ioachas son of Iosias and anointed him and made him king instead of his father.

31 Ioachas was a son of twenty-three years when he became king, and he reigned three months in Ierousalem. And his mother’s name was Hamital daughter of Ieremias from Lemna. ³²And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. ³³And Pharao Nechao removed him into Deblatha in the land of Hemath, so that he might not reign in Ierousalem, and imposed a penalty on the land, one hundred talents of silver and one hundred talents of gold. ³⁴And Pharao Nechao made Eliakim son of Iosias, king of Iouda, king over them instead of Iosias his father, and he turned his name into Ioakim. And he took Ioachas and brought him into Egypt, and he died there. ³⁵And Ioakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharao; yet he taxed the land in order to give the money at the mouth^e of Pharao. They gave the silver and the gold, a man according to his assessment together with the people of the land, to give to Pharao Nechao.

36 Ioakim was a son of twenty-five years when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Ierousalem. And his mother’s name was Ieldaph daughter of Pedeia from Rouma. ³⁷And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.

24 In his days Nabouchodonosor, king of Babylon, went up, and Ioakim became his slave for three years, and he turned and rebelled against him. ²And he sent against him the lightly armed men of the Chaldeans and the lightly armed men of Syria and the lightly armed men of Moab and the lightly armed men of the sons of Ammon, and he sent them out against the land of Iouda to prevail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by the hand of his slaves the prophets. ³Only it was because of the Lord’s wrath against Iouda, to remove him from his sight, because of the sins of Manasses, according to all that he had committed, ⁴and indeed he shed innocent blood and filled Ierousalem with innocent blood, and the Lord did not want to be conciliated. ⁵And the rest of the histories of Ioakim and all that he did, behold, are these things not written in a book of Histories of the Days for the Kings of Iouda? ⁶And Ioakim slept with his fathers, and Ioakim his son reigned in his stead. ⁷And the king of Egypt did not continue further to come out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Wadi of Egypt to the River Euphrates.

8 Ioakim was a son of eighteen years when he became king, and he reigned three months in Ierousalem. And his mother’s name was Nestha daughter of Ellanathan from Ierousalem. ⁹And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.

10 At that time Nabouchodonosor, king of Babylon, went up to Ierousalem, and the city came under enclosure. ¹¹And Nabouchodonosor, king of Babylon, entered into the city, and his servants were besieging it. ¹²And Ioakim, king of Iouda, came out against the king of Babylon, he and his servants and his mother and his commanders and his eunuchs, and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

13 And he carried out from there all the treasures of the Lord’s house and the treasures of the king’s house, and he cut up all the golden vessels that Salomon, king of Israel, had made in the shrine of the Lord, according to the word of the Lord. ¹⁴And he exiled Ierousalem and all the commanders and those mighty in power, taking captive ten thousand captives, and every craftsman and ^ahe that encloses^a, and no one remained, except the poor of the land. ¹⁵And he exiled Ioakim to Babylon, and the mother of the king and the wives of the king and his eunuchs. And the strong men of the land he led away as a colony from Ierousalem to Babylon, ¹⁶and all the men of power, seven thousand, and the craftsman and ^ahe that encloses^a, one thousand. As for all mighty ones fit for war, the king of Babylon also led them away as a migration to Babylon. ¹⁷And the king of Babylon made Maththanias his son king in his stead and changed his name to Sedekias.

18 Sedekias was a son of twenty-one years when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Ierousalem. And his mother’s name was Hamital daughter of Ieremias. ¹⁹And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Ioakim had done, ²⁰for it was on account of the anger of the Lord against Ierousalem and in Iouda until he drove them away from his presence.

And Sedekias rebelled against the king of Babylon.

25 And it happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, that Nabouchodonosor, king of Babylon, and all his force came against Ierousalem and encamped against it and built a surrounding wall against it all around. ²And the city came under enclosure until the eleventh year of King Sedekias. ³On the ninth of the month the famine also grew strong in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land. ⁴And the city was breached, and all the men of war went out by night by way of the gate between the walls; this is the one of the garden of the king, and the Chaldeans were at the city all around. And he^b went by way of the Araba. ⁵And the force of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and they overtook him in Araboth Iericho, and all his force was scattered from about him. ⁶And they captured the king and brought him to the king of Babylon in Deblatha, and he spoke judgment with him. ⁷And he slaughtered the sons of Sedekias before his eyes and made blind the eyes of Sedekias and bound him in fetters and led him to Babylon.

8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month—that is the nineteenth year of Nabouchodonosor, king of Babylon—Nabouzardan, the chief cook, since he stood before the king of Babylon, came to Ierousalem. ⁹-10And he burned the house of the Lord and the house of the king and all the houses of Ierousalem, and every house the chief cook burned. ¹¹And Nabouzardan, the chief cook, removed the residue of the people who were left in the city and the fallen men who had ^cfallen in with^c the king of Babylon and the rest of the support. ¹²But the chief cook left some of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and gabin^d.

13 And the bronze pillars that were in the Lord’s house and the mechonoth^e and the bronze sea that was in the Lord’s house the Chaldeans smashed and carried their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴And the cauldrons and the iamin^f and the saucers and the censers and all the bronze utensils, with which they would minister with them, he took; ¹⁵and the chief cook took the fire-pans and the gold and silver saucers, ¹⁶two pillars, the one sea and the mechonoth^e, which Salomon had made for the Lord’s house—there was no weight of the bronze of all the utensils. ¹⁷The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and on it was the bronze chothar^g, and the height of the chothar^g was three cubits; sabacha^h and pomegranates, all of bronze, were on the chothar^g all around. And the second pillar had the same on the sabacha^h.

18 And the chief cook took Saraias the first priest and Sophonias son of the second order and the three who guard the threshold, ¹⁹and from the city he took one eunuch who had been overseer over the warrior men and five men of ⁱthose who see the face of the kingⁱ who were found in the city, and the secretary of the commander of the force, who draws out in battle-order the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city. ²⁰And Nabouzardan, the chief cook, took them and led them away to the king of Babylon in Deblatha. ²¹And the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death in Deblatha in the land of Haimath. And Iouda^j was exiled from upon its own land.

22 And as for the people who were left behind in the land of Iouda, whom Nabouchodonosor, king of Babylon, had left behind—he also appointed over them Godolias son of Achikam son of Saphan. ²³And all the commanders of the force, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Godolias, and they came to Godolias in Massephath, they and their men: both Ismael son of Nathanias and Ioanan son of Karee and Saraias son of Thanemath the Netophathite and Iezonias son of the Machathi. ²⁴And Godolias swore to them and to their men and said to them, “Fear not a passing^a of the Chaldeans; stay in the land, and be subject to the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.” ²⁵And it happened in the seventh month that Ismael son of Nathanias son of Elisama of the offspring of the kings came, and ten men with him, and he struck Godolias, and he died, and the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him, in Massephath. ²⁶And all the people, from small even to great, and the commanders of the forces set out and entered into Egypt, for they were afraid from before the Chaldeans.

27 And it happened in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Ioakim, king of Iouda, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh of the month, that Euilmarodach, king of Babylon, in the year of his reign, lifted up the head of Ioakim, king of Iouda, and brought him out from his prison house, ²⁸and he spoke with him good things and put his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹And he changed his prison clothes and would eat food continually before him all the days of his life. ³⁰And his allowance, an allowance continually, was given to him from the king’s house, ^bby reckoning of a day in its day^b, all the days of his life.