¹So Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and Yahweh his God was with him and exalted him greatly.
  ²Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and to the judges and to every leader in all Israel, the heads of the families.
  ³So Solomon and all the assembly with him went to the shrine that was at Gibeon because the Tent of Meeting of God that Moses the servant of Yahweh had made in the wilderness was there.
  ⁴However, David had brought the ark of God up from Kiriath-jearim to the place David had prepared for it, because he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem.
  ⁵But the bronze altar that Bezalel the son of Uri the son of Hur had made was there in front of the tabernacle of Yahweh, and Solomon and the assembly sought Yahweh at it.
  ⁶Solomon went up there to the bronze altar that was at the Tent of Meeting, in the presence of Yahweh, and offered 1,000 burnt offerings on it.
 

⁷In that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask what you would like me to give you.”
 

⁸Solomon said to God, “You have shown great covenant faithfulness to David my father and have made me king in his place.
  ⁹Now, Yahweh God, let your word to David my father be established, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.
  ¹⁰Now give me wisdom and knowledge, so that I can go out and come in before this people, for who can judge this great people of yours?”
 

¹¹Then God said to Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for riches, wealth, or honor, nor for the life of those who hate you, and also you have not asked for a long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself so that you can judge my people over whom I have made you king,
  ¹²wisdom and knowledge have been given to you. I will give you riches, wealth, and honor, such as none of the kings who have been before you have had, nor will any of those who come after you.”
  ¹³So Solomon came from the shrine that was at Gibeon—from the Tent of Meeting—to Jerusalem, and he reigned over Israel.
 

¹⁴Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen, and he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen that he placed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.
  ¹⁵The king made silver and gold to be in Jerusalem as common as stones, and he made cedars to be as abundant as the sycamore trees that are in the Shephelah.
  ¹⁶The horses that Solomon had were brought out of Egypt and from Kue; the king’s merchants purchased them from Kue.
  ¹⁷They imported and then exported a chariot from Egypt for 600 pieces of silver and a horse for 150: and thus through them they were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.
 

¹Now Solomon gave orders to build a house for the name of Yahweh and a house for his kingdom.
  ²Solomon counted out 70,000 men to carry burdens and 80,000 men who were stone cutters in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors.
 

³Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, “You once dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build himself a house to live in.
  ⁴Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, to dedicate it to him and to burn fragrant incense before him, and for the regular arrangement of the Bread of the Presence, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of Yahweh our God. This is an ordinance for Israel forever.
  ⁵The house that I am building is great, for our God is greater than all gods.
  ⁶But who is able to build him a house, since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him? Who am I then, that I should build him a house, except just to burn incense before him?
  ⁷So now send me a man who is skillful to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, and in iron, and in purple and crimson and blue dye, and who knows how to engrave engravings, so he can be with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father provided.
  ⁸Send me also cedar trees, cypress, and algum trees from Lebanon, for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon, and behold, my servants will be with your servants,
  ⁹to prepare timber in abundance for me, because the house that I am about to build will be great and wonderful.
  ¹⁰Behold, I will give for your servants, the cutters who cut timber, 20,000 cors of beaten wheat,^a and 20,000 cors of barley, and 20,000 baths of wine,^b and 20,000 baths of oil.”
 

¹¹Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, and he sent it to Solomon, “Because of Yahweh’s love for his people, he has made you king over them.”
 

¹²Huram continued, “Blessed be Yahweh the God of Israel that made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son who has discretion and understanding, who will build a house for Yahweh and a house for his kingdom.
  ¹³Now I have sent a skillful man, one who has understanding, Huram-abi,
  ¹⁴the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold and in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue and in fine linen and in crimson, also to engrave any kind of engraving and to execute any design that he is assigned with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father.
  ¹⁵So now the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine that my lord has spoken of, let him send it to his servants:
  ¹⁶and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as you need, and we will bring it to you as rafts by sea to Joppa, and you can carry it up to Jerusalem.”
 

¹⁷Solomon counted all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel according to the counting with which David his father had counted them, and they were found to be 153,600.
  ¹⁸He set 70,000 of them to carry burdens and 80,000 who were stone cutters in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors to make the people work.
 

¹Then Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah where Yahweh appeared to David his father, which he had prepared in the place that David had appointed at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
  ²He began to build on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.
  ³Now these are the measurements that Solomon set for the building of God’s house. The length in cubits (according to the old standard) was 60 cubits^a and the width 20 cubits.^b
 

⁴The vestibule that was at the front: its width was 20 cubits,^c equal to the width of the house, and the height 120, and he overlaid it inside with pure gold.
  ⁵The greater house he paneled with fir wood that he overlaid with fine gold, and ornamented it with palm trees and chains.
  ⁶He decorated the house with precious stones for beauty, and the gold was gold from Parvaim.
  ⁷He also overlaid the house, the beams, the thresholds, and its walls and its doors with gold, and carved cherubim on the walls.
 

⁸He made the room of the Holy of Holies; its width was equal to the width of the house, 20 cubits,^d and its depth was 20 cubits, and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to 600 talents.^{e
  9}The weight of the nails was 50 shekels of gold.^f He overlaid the upper rooms with gold.
 

¹⁰For the room of the Holy of Holies he made two sculptured cherubim and overlaid them with gold.
  ¹¹The wings of the cherubim totaled 20 cubits long;^g one wing of one cherub was five cubits,^h reaching to the wall of the house, and the other wing was five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub.
  ¹²The wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house, and the other wing was five cubits, reaching the wing of the other cherub.
  ¹³The wings of these cherubim spread themselves out 20 cubits, and they stood on their feet and their faces were toward the main room.
 

¹⁴He made the curtain of blue and purple and crimson and fine linen, and he embroidered cherubim on it.
 

¹⁵He also made two pillars 35 cubits highⁱ in front of the house, and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits high.
  ¹⁶He made encircling chains^j and put them on the tops of the pillars, and he made 100 pomegranates and put them on the chains.
  ¹⁷He set up the pillars in front of the Temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left, and he called the name of the one on the right hand Jachin and the name of the one on the left hand Boaz.
 

¹Then he made an altar of bronze, 20 cubits long^a and 20 cubits wide, and ten cubits^b high.
 

²Also he made a sea of cast metal, ten cubits^c from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits^d and its circumference was 30 cubits.^{e
  3}Under it were the images of gourds that encircled it, ten per cubit, encircling the sea. The gourds were in two rows, cast when it was cast.
  ⁴It stood on 12 oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east, and the sea was set on top of them, and all their hindquarters were inward.
  ⁵It was a handbreadth thick and its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it could hold 3,000 baths.
 

⁶He made ten basins and put five on the right hand and five on the left, to wash in them. They rinsed the items used for burnt sacrifices in them, but the sea was for the priests to wash in.
 

⁷He made the ten menorahs of gold in the way prescribed for them, and he set them in the Temple, five on the right hand and five on the left.
  ⁸And he made ten tables and placed them in the Holy Place, five on the right hand and five on the left. He made 100 basins of gold.
 

⁹Also, he made the courtyard of the priests, and he made the great court and doors for the court, and he overlaid their doors with bronze.
  ¹⁰He set the sea on the right side of the court toward the southeast.
  ¹¹Huram made the pots and the shovels and the basins.

So Huram finished doing the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of God:
  ¹²the two pillars and the bowls, and the two capitals that were on the top of the pillars, and the two latticeworks that covered the two bowl-shaped capitals that were on the top of the pillars,
  ¹³and the 400 pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework that covered the two bowl-shaped capitals that were on the top of the pillars.
  ¹⁴He made the stands and he made the basins that were on the stands,
  ¹⁵and the one sea, and the 12 oxen under it.
  ¹⁶Huram-abi made the pots, the shovels, the forks, and all the articles for King Solomon for the house of Yahweh out of polished bronze.
  ¹⁷The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the thick ground between Sukkoth and Zeredah.
  ¹⁸Solomon made all these articles in great abundance, so the weight of the bronze was not measured.
 

¹⁹Solomon made all the articles that were in the house of God, the golden altar, and the tables on which the Bread of the Presence was placed,
  ²⁰and the menorahs with their lamps, to burn them in the way prescribed, in front of the Holy of Holies, of pure gold;
  ²¹and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold, of purest gold;
  ²²and the snuffers, and the sprinkling bowls, and the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold. And as for the entrance of the house, the inner doors of the Holy of Holies and the doors of the main hall of the Temple were of gold.
 

¹So all the work that Solomon did for the house of Yahweh was finished. And Solomon brought in the holy items that belonged to David his father; the silver and the gold and all the articles, and put them in the treasuries of the house of God.
 

²Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ households of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of the city of David, which is Zion.
  ³And all the men of Israel assembled together to the king at the feast that was in the seventh month.
 

⁴All the elders of Israel came, and the Levites lifted up the ark,
  ⁵and they brought up the ark and the Tent of Meeting and all the holy items that were in the Tent; the priests and the Levites brought these up.
  ⁶King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who assembled to him in front of the ark were sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they were neither counted nor numbered.
  ⁷The priests brought the ark of the covenant of Yahweh into its place, into the inner sanctuary^a of the house, into the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim.
  ⁸For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles from above.
  ⁹The poles were so long that the ends of the poles coming from the ark could be seen from in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside; and it is there to this day.
  ¹⁰There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses put there^b at Horeb when Yahweh cut a covenant with the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt.
 

¹¹And when the priests had come out of the Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves without regard for their divisions,
  ¹²and also the Levites who were the singers, all of them, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and their relatives, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals and lyres and harps, stood at the east side of the altar, and with them 120 priests blowing trumpets)
  ¹³the trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to Yahweh. And when they lifted up their voices along with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised Yahweh, saying, “For he is good; for his covenant faithfulness endures forever,” then the house—the house of Yahweh—was filled with a cloud,
  ¹⁴and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, because the glory of Yahweh filled God’s house.
 

¹Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick cloud.
  ²I have built you a magnificent house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”
 

³The king turned his face around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, and all the assembly of Israel stood.
  ⁴And he said, “Blessed is Yahweh, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he spoke with his mouth to my father David saying,
  ⁵‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen any city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house for my name to be there, and I did not choose any man to be ruler over my people Israel;
  ⁶but now I have chosen Jerusalem for my name to be there, and I chose David to be over my people Israel.’
 

⁷“Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
  ⁸But Yahweh said to David my father, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.
  ⁹Nevertheless, you are not to build the house, but your son who will come from your body, he will build the house for my name.’
  ¹⁰Yahweh has established his word that he spoke, for I have risen up in the place of David my father and I sit on the throne of Israel as Yahweh promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
  ¹¹I have placed the ark there, in which is the covenant of Yahweh, which he cut with the children of Israel.”
 

¹²Then he stood before the altar of Yahweh in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands
  ¹³(for Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, and five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the middle of the court, and he stood on it and kneeled down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven)
  ¹⁴and he said, “O Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth, who keeps the covenant and covenant faithfulness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart.
  ¹⁵You have kept what you spoke to your servant David my father. You spoke with your mouth and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day.
  ¹⁶So now may Yahweh the God of Israel keep for your servant David my father what you have spoken to him, saying, ‘You will not fail to have a man sit in my presence on the throne of Israel, if only your sons guard their way, to walk in my Law as you have walked before me.’
  ¹⁷So now, Yahweh, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you spoke to your servant David.
 

¹⁸“But will God actually dwell with humankind on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
  ¹⁹Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant and for his supplication, O Yahweh my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer that your servant is praying before you,
  ²⁰that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day— toward the place of which you said, that you would put your name— to listen to the prayer that your servant will pray toward this place.
  ²¹Listen to the petitions of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear from your dwelling place, from heaven, and when you hear, forgive.
 

²²“If a person sins against his neighbor and he lifts up an oath-curse upon him, to put him under the oath-curse, and he comes with the oath-curse before your altar in this house,
  ²³then hear in heaven, and act, and judge your servants, bringing retribution to the wicked person by bringing his way on his own head, and declaring the righteous person to be righteous by giving to him according to his righteousness.
 

²⁴“If your people Israel are struck down before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and return to you and praise your name and pray and make supplication before you in this house,
  ²⁵then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land that you gave to them and to their fathers.
 

²⁶“When heaven is shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and praise your name, and turn from their sin because you afflict them,
  ²⁷then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel— since you teach them the good way in which they should walk— and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as an inheritance.
 

²⁸“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever affliction or whatever sickness there is,
  ²⁹whatever prayer and supplication is made by any person, or by all your people Israel, everyone who knows his own affliction and his own sorrow and spreads out his hands toward this house,
  ³⁰then you hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive, and give to every person, whose heart you know, according to all his ways (because you, you only, know the hearts of the children of men),
  ³¹that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.
 

³²“Also, concerning the foreigner who is not of your people Israel, when he comes out of a far away country because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house,
  ³³then you hear from heaven, from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner asks you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you like your people Israel, and so that they know that this house that I have built is called by your name.
 

³⁴“If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,
  ³⁵then from heaven, hear their prayer and their supplication and do what is right for them.
 

³⁶“If they sin against you (for there is no person who does not sin) and you are angry with them and give them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to a land far away or near,
  ³⁷yet if they will turn their heart in the land where they are carried captive, and repent and plead to you for mercy in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and have committed iniquity; we have acted wickedly,’
  ³⁸if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity—the land to which they have carried them captive— and they pray toward their land that you gave to their fathers, and the city that you have chosen, and toward the house that I have built for your name,
  ³⁹then hear from heaven, from your dwelling place, their prayer and their petitions, and do what is right for them, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.
 

⁴⁰“Now, my God, let your eyes be open and let your ears be attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.
 

⁴¹“Now therefore, arise, Yahweh God, into your resting place, you and the ark of your strength. Let your priests, Yahweh God, be clothed with salvation, and let your faithful people rejoice in good things.
  ⁴²Yahweh God, do not reject the face of your anointed. Remember the covenant faithfulness of David your servant.”
 

¹Now when Solomon had finished praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of Yahweh filled the house.
  ²The priests could not enter into the house of Yahweh because the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh.
  ³All the children of Israel looked on when the fire came down and the glory of Yahweh was upon the house, and they kneeled down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to Yahweh, saying, “For he is good, for his covenant faithfulness endures forever.”
 

⁴Then the king and all the people were offering sacrifices before Yahweh.
  ⁵King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 head of cattle and a 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.
  ⁶The priests stood according to their positions, the Levites also stood with the instruments of music of Yahweh that David the king had made to give thanks to Yahweh when David offered praise through them, saying, “For his covenant faithfulness endures forever.” The priests blew the trumpets before them and all Israel stood.
  ⁷Then Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of Yahweh because he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings there because the bronze altar that Solomon had made was not able to contain the burnt offerings and the grain offerings and the fat portions.
 

⁸So Solomon held the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt.
  ⁹On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, because they had kept the dedication of the altar for seven days and the Feast seven days.
  ¹⁰On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart because of the good things that Yahweh had done for David and for Solomon and for his people Israel.
 

¹¹Thus Solomon finished the house of Yahweh and the house of the king. Everything that came into Solomon’s heart to make for the house of Yahweh and for his own house he successfully completed.
 

¹²Yahweh appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.
  ¹³If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land or if I send pestilence among my people,
  ¹⁴if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
  ¹⁵Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
  ¹⁶For now have I chosen and made this house holy in order for my name to be there forever, and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually.
 

¹⁷“As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked and do according to all that I have commanded you and keep my statutes and my ordinances,
  ¹⁸then I will establish the throne of your kingdom as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘There will not fail you a man to be ruler in Israel.’
 

¹⁹“But if you^a turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,
  ²⁰then I will pluck them up by the roots out of my land that I have given them, and this house, which I have made holy for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a taunt among all peoples.
  ²¹And this house that was so exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will say, ‘Why has Yahweh done this to this land and to this house?’
  ²²Then they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned Yahweh the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they embraced other gods and worshiped them and served them. That is why he has brought all this evil on them.’”
 

¹Now it was at the end of 20 years, during which time Solomon had built the house of Yahweh and his own house
  ²that the cities that Huram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them up and settled the children of Israel there.
  ³Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and prevailed against it.
  ⁴He built Tadmor in the wilderness, along with all the storage cities he built in Hamath.
  ⁵Also, he built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars,
  ⁶and Baalath, and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his dominion.
 

⁷As for all the people who remained of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel,
  ⁸of their children who remained in the land after them, whom the children of Israel did not destroy, from them Solomon conscripted forced laborers to this day.
  ⁹But Solomon did not make any slaves of the children of Israel for his work, but they were men of war, and commanders of his captains, and commanders of his chariots and of his horsemen.
  ¹⁰These were the commanders of the officers of King Solomon, 250 men who ruled over the people.
 

¹¹Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up out of the city of David to the house that he had built for her, because he said, “My wife must not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places where the ark of Yahweh has come are holy.”
 

¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to Yahweh on the altar of Yahweh that he had built in front of the vestibule
  ¹³as the tasks of each day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses; on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times in the year, in the Feast of Unleavened Bread and in the Feast of Weeks and in the Feast of Booths.
  ¹⁴According to the decree of David his father, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their terms of duty to praise and to serve before the priests as the task of every day required. He also appointed the gatekeepers by their divisions at every gate, because this was the commandment of David the man of God.
  ¹⁵They did not depart from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the treasuries.
  ¹⁶Now all the work of Solomon was carried out from the day of the foundation of the house of Yahweh and until it was finished. So the house of Yahweh was completed.
 

¹⁷Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth on the shore of the sea in the land of Edom.
  ¹⁸Huram sent him, by the hand of his servants, ships and servants who had knowledge of the sea, and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir and took 450 talents of gold from there and brought them to King Solomon.
 

¹When the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came into Jerusalem to test Solomon with difficult questions. She came with a very large entourage, and with camels carrying spices and gold in abundance, and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about everything that was on her heart.
  ²Solomon told her the answer to all her questions; there was not anything hidden from Solomon that he did not tell her.
  ³When the Queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built
  ⁴and the food of his table, and the seating of his servants, and the attendance of his waiters and their clothing, and his cupbearers and their clothing, and his burnt offering that he offered up at the house of Yahweh, she was left breathless.
 

⁵And she said to the king, “It is a true report that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom.
  ⁶But I did not believe their words until I came and my eyes had seen it. But behold, half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told to me; you have exceeded the report that I heard.
  ⁷Happy are your men and happy are these your servants who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom.
  ⁸May Yahweh your God be blessed, who has delighted in you to set you on his throne to be king for Yahweh your God because your God loved Israel to establish them forever. Therefore he made you king over them, to carry out justice and righteousness.”
 

⁹She gave the king 120 talents of gold, and spices in great abundance, and precious stones. There were never any such spices as the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
  ¹⁰Also, the servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones.
  ¹¹The king made staircases for the house of Yahweh and for the king’s house from the algum wood, and harps and lyres for the musicians, and none had been seen like them before in the land of Judah.
 

¹²King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, more than what she had brought to the king. So she turned and went to her own land, she and her servants.
 

¹³Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in a single year was 666 talents of gold,
  ¹⁴in addition to what the traders and merchants brought, and all the kings of Arabia, and the governors of the country, who were bringing gold and silver to Solomon.
 

¹⁵And King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold; 600 shekels of beaten gold went to each large shield.
  ¹⁶And he made 300 shields of beaten gold; 300 shekels of gold^a went into each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
 

¹⁷And the king made a large throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.
  ¹⁸And the throne had six steps and a footstool of gold that was attached to the throne, and there were armrests on either side of the seat and two lions standing beside the armrests.
  ¹⁹Twelve lions stood there, on the one side and on the other on the six steps: there was nothing like it made in any kingdom.
 

²⁰All king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was not considered of any value in the days of Solomon.
  ²¹For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came, bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks.
 

²²So King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
  ²³And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom that God had put in his heart.
  ²⁴And each one of them brought his tribute, articles of silver, and articles of gold, and clothing, and armor, and spices, horses and mules—that which was due year after year.
 

²⁵Solomon had 4,000 stalls for horses and chariots, and 12,000 horsemen that he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.
  ²⁶He ruled over all the kings from the River to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.
  ²⁷The king made silver to be as abundant in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars to be as abundant as the sycamore trees that are in the Shephelah.
  ²⁸And they brought horses for Solomon out of Egypt and out of all lands.
 

²⁹Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the chronicles of Nathan the prophet and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?
  ³⁰And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem 40 years over all Israel.
  ³¹Then Solomon slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.
 

¹Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king.
  ²And when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), Jeroboam returned from Egypt.
  ³They sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all Israel came and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying,
  ⁴“Your father made our yoke hard, but now lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he put on us, and we will serve you.”
 

⁵And he said to them, “Come back to me after three days.” So the people departed.
 

⁶Then King Rehoboam sought advice from the old men who had stood before Solomon his father while he was still alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”
 

⁷They spoke to him, saying, “If you are kind to this people and are favorable to them and speak good words to them, then they will always be your servants.”
 

⁸But he rejected the advice that the old men had given him, and he asked the advice of the young men who had grown up with him and who stood before him.
  ⁹He said to them, “How do you advise that we should answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?”
 

¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him spoke with him, saying, “This is what you should tell the people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but lighten it for us.’” You should say to them, ‘My little thing is thicker than my father’s waist.
  ¹¹And now, although my father loaded a heavy yoke upon you, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”
 

¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day as the king had spoken, saying, “Come back to me on the third day.”
  ¹³And the king answered them harshly, and King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the old men
  ¹⁴and spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “I will make your yoke heavier, and I will add to it. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”
 

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of events brought about from God in order for Yahweh to establish his word that he spoke by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
 

¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion do we have in David? And there is no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Everyone to your tents, O Israel! Now see to your own house, David.” So all Israel departed to their tents.
  ¹⁷But as for the children of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
 

¹⁸Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, but the children of Israel pelted him with stones so that he died. But King Rehoboam managed to get up into his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.
  ¹⁹So Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day.
 

¹When Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen men who were warriors, to fight against Israel to bring the kingdom back to Rehoboam.
  ²But the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
  ³“Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying,
  ⁴‘This is what Yahweh says: “You are not to go up, nor fight against your brothers! Everyone return to his house, because this thing is from me.” So they listened to the words of Yahweh and turned back from going against Jeroboam.
 

⁵Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and he fortified cities for defense in Judah.
  ⁶He built up Bethlehem, and Etam, and Tekoa,
  ⁷and Beth-zur, and Soco, and Adullam,
  ⁸and Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph,
  ⁹and Adoraim, and Lachish, and Azekah,
  ¹⁰and Zorah, and Aijalon, and Hebron, which are fortified cities in Judah and in Benjamin.
  ¹¹He fortified the strongholds and put commanders in them, and supplies of food and oil and wine.
  ¹²He also put shields and spears in every city and made them exceedingly strong. So Judah and Benjamin were his.
 

¹³And the priests and the Levites from all their territories throughout all Israel presented themselves to him.
  ¹⁴The Levites left their open land and their property and came to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons prohibited them from serving as priests to Yahweh,
  ¹⁵and he had appointed priests for himself for the shrines, and for the goat demons, and for the golden calves that he had made,
  ¹⁶so those people from every tribe of Israel who had set their heart on seeking Yahweh, the God of Israel, followed them to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Yahweh the God of their fathers.
  ¹⁷So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years because they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon.
 

¹⁸Rehoboam took a wife for himself, Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse;
  ¹⁹and she bore him sons: Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham.
  ²⁰After her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom, and she bore him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith.
  ²¹Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and his concubines (for he took 18 wives and 60 concubines and fathered 28 sons and 60 daughters).
 

²²Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be head and leader among his brothers, for he planned to make him king.
  ²³He acted wisely and dispersed some of his many sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to every fortified city, and he gave them food in abundance, and he acquired many wives for them.
 

¹But when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and he was strong, he abandoned the law of Yahweh, and all Israel with him.
  ²And in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to Yahweh, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem
  ³with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And there was also a countless number of people who came with him out of Egypt: the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians.
  ⁴He captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.
 

⁵Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the officials of Judah who were gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘You have abandoned me, therefore I also have abandoned you into the hand of Shishak.’”
 

⁶Then the officials of Israel and the king humbled themselves and they said, “Yahweh is righteous.”
 

⁷When Yahweh saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them a measure of deliverance, and my wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.
  ⁸Nevertheless, they will be his slaves, so that they will know the difference between serving me and serving the kingdoms of the other countries.”
 

⁹So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem and he took away the treasures of the house of Yahweh and the treasures of the king’s house. He took it all away. He also took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made.
  ¹⁰So King Rehoboam made shields of bronze to replace them and committed them to the hands of the commanders of the guard who protected the entrance of the king’s house.
  ¹¹And whenever the king entered the house of Yahweh, the guard came and carried them, and then brought them back into the guard’s room.
  ¹²When he humbled himself, the wrath of Yahweh turned from him so as not to entirely destroy him, and in Judah there were good things.
 

¹³So King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city that Yahweh had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there, and his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess.
  ¹⁴He did what was evil, because he did not set his heart to seek Yahweh.
 

¹⁵Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer concerning the genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.
  ¹⁶Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David, and Abijah his son reigned in his place.
 

¹In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah.
  ²He reigned three years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
  ³Abijah went out to battle with valiant men of war, 400,000 chosen men; and Jeroboam set his army in order against him, having 800,000 chosen men who were mighty men of valor.
  ⁴Abijah stood up on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel,
  ⁵don’t you know that Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave the kingship over Israel to David forever, to him and to his sons, by a covenant of salt?
  ⁶Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord.
  ⁷Worthless men, sons of Belial, gathered around him and they strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted and could not withstand them.
 

⁸“And now you intend to stand against the kingship of Yahweh that is in the hand of the sons of David. You are indeed a great multitude, and you have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods.
  ⁹But haven’t you driven out the priests of Yahweh, the sons of Aaron, and also the Levites, and made for yourselves priests just like the peoples of other lands do? Whoever comes to ordain himself with a young bull and seven rams, he can become a priest of what are not gods.
 

¹⁰“But as for us, Yahweh is our God, and we have not abandoned him, and we have priests—the sons of Aaron—serving Yahweh, and the Levites doing their work,
  ¹¹and every morning and every evening they burn burnt offerings and sweet incense into smoke to Yahweh. They also set the Bread of the Presence in order on the ceremonially clean table and the menorah of gold with its lamps is prepared to burn every evening, for we keep the instruction of Yahweh our God, but you have abandoned him.
  ¹²Behold, God is with us at our head, and also his priests who have the battle trumpets to sound an attack against you. Sons of Israel, do not fight against Yahweh, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”
 

¹³But Jeroboam had sent an ambush to come around behind them, so that they were in front of Judah and the ambush was behind them.
  ¹⁴When Judah turned around, behold, the battle was in front of them and behind them, so they cried out to Yahweh, and the priests blew the trumpets.
  ¹⁵Then the men of Judah shouted, and as the men of Judah shouted, God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
  ¹⁶The sons of Israel fled before Judah, and God gave them into their hand.
  ¹⁷Abijah and his people struck them down with a great slaughter, so 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell down slain.
  ¹⁸Thus the sons of Israel were subdued at that time, and the sons of Judah prevailed because they relied on Yahweh, the God of their fathers.
 

¹⁹Abijah pursued after Jeroboam and took cities from him, Bethel with its daughter-towns and Jeshanah with its daughter-towns and Ephron with its daughter-towns.
  ²⁰Jeroboam did not regain power again in the days of Abijah. Yahweh struck him, and he died.
 

²¹But Abijah grew strong and took for himself 14 wives and fathered 22 sons and 16 daughters.
  ²²And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his sayings, are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo.
 

¹And Abijah slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city of David, and Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet ten years.
 

²Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of Yahweh his God,
  ³because he took away the foreign altars and the shrines, and broke down the standing-stones, and cut down the Asherah poles,
  ⁴and commanded Judah to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and to obey the law and the commandment.
  ⁵Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the shrines and the sun images, and the kingdom was quiet before him.
 

⁶He built fortified cities in Judah, because the land was quiet, and he did not have any war in those years because Yahweh had given him rest.
  ⁷For he said to Judah, “Let’s build these cities and make walls around them with towers, gates, and bars. The land is still ours because we have sought Yahweh our God; we have sought him, and he has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.
 

⁸Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah who carried large shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin who carried shields and bows. All these were mighty men of valor.
  ⁹However, Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of thousands upon thousands and 300 chariots, and he came to Mareshah.
  ¹⁰Then Asa went out against him, and they set up battle formations in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.
 

¹¹Asa cried out to Yahweh his God and said, “Yahweh, there is none besides you to help the one who has no strength against the mighty. Help us, Yahweh our God, for we rely on you, and in your name are we come against this multitude. Yahweh, you are our God. Do not let man prevail against you.”
 

¹²So Yahweh struck the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.
  ¹³Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar, and there fell of the Ethiopians so many that they could not recover themselves, for they were broken before Yahweh and before his army. And Judah^a carried away very much spoil.
  ¹⁴They struck all the cities around Gerar because the fear of Yahweh had come on those cities, and they plundered all the cities because there was much spoil in them.
  ¹⁵They also struck the tents of those who had livestock and carried away many sheep and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.
 

¹The spirit of God was upon Azariah the son of Oded,
  ²and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin! Yahweh is with you while you are with him, and if you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.
  ³For a long time Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law.
  ⁴But when in their distress they turned to Yahweh the God of Israel and sought him, he was found by them.
  ⁵In those times there was no peace for the one who went out, nor for the one who came in, but great troubles were on all the inhabitants of the lands.
  ⁶They were crushed, nation against nation and city against city, for God troubled them with every kind of adversity.
  ⁷But as for you, be strong and do not let your hands be slack, because your work will be rewarded.”
 

⁸When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he strengthened himself and removed the abominations from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim, and he renewed the altar of Yahweh that was in front of the vestibule of the house of Yahweh.
  ⁹He gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those who lived with them from Ephraim and Manasseh and from Simeon, for a great number of them defected to him from Israel when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him.
 

¹⁰So they gathered at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
  ¹¹They sacrificed to Yahweh on that day some of the spoil. They brought 700 head of cattle and 7,000 sheep.
  ¹²They entered into a covenant to seek Yahweh the God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul,
  ¹³and that whoever would not seek Yahweh the God of Israel would be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
  ¹⁴They swore to Yahweh with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with shophars.
  ¹⁵All Judah rejoiced at the oath, because they had sworn with all their heart and with all their desire they sought him, and he was found by them. And Yahweh gave them rest all around.
 

¹⁶Also Maacah, the grandmother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen mother, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image and smashed and burned it in the brook Kidron.
  ¹⁷But the local shrines were not taken away out of Israel even though the heart of Asa was wholly devoted all his days.
  ¹⁸He brought into God’s house the things that his father had dedicated and that he himself had dedicated, silver and gold and other articles.
 

¹⁹There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.
 

¹In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.
  ²Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of Yahweh and of the king’s house and sent to Ben-hadad king of Syria who lived at Damascus, saying,
  ³“There is a treaty between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will depart from me.”
 

⁴Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they struck Ijon and Dan and Abel-maim and all the storage cities of Naphtali.
  ⁵And when Baasha heard of it, he quit fortifying Ramah and stopped his work there.
  ⁶Then Asa the king brought all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and with it he built up Geba and Mizpah.
 

⁷At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you have relied on the king of Syria and have not relied on Yahweh your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped out of your hand.
  ⁸Weren’t the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge army, with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on Yahweh, he delivered them into your hand.
  ⁹For the eyes of Yahweh go around throughout the whole earth in order to give strong support to those whose heart is wholly devoted to him. You have acted foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”
  ¹⁰Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in the stocks in prison because he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.
 

¹¹And behold, the acts of Asa, the first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
  ¹²In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa was diseased in his feet. His disease was very severe, yet in his disease he did not seek Yahweh, but sought the physicians.
  ¹³Asa slept with his fathers and died in the forty-first year of his reign.
  ¹⁴They buried him in his tombs that he had cut out for himself in the city of David, and they laid him in the bed, which was filled with sweet spices of various kinds blended by the perfumers' art, and they made a very large burning for him.
 

¹Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place, and he strengthened himself against Israel.
  ²He placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that Asa his father had captured.
 

³Yahweh was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the early ways of his father David and did not seek the Baals,
  ⁴but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments and not according to the practices of Israel.
  ⁵Therefore Yahweh established the kingdom in his hand, and all Judah brought Jehoshaphat tribute, and he had riches and honor in abundance.
  ⁶His heart exalted in the ways of Yahweh, and furthermore, he took away the pagan shrines and the Asherah poles out of Judah.
 

⁷Also in the third year of his reign he sent his officials, Ben-hail, and Obadiah, and Zechariah, and Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah;
  ⁸and with them were the Levites, Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah; and with the Levites were Elishama and Jehoram the priests.
  ⁹They taught in Judah, having the book of the law of Yahweh with them, and they went throughout all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.
 

¹⁰The fear of Yahweh came on all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat.
  ¹¹Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and silver as tribute. The Arabians also brought him flocks, 7,700 rams and 7,700 male goats.
 

¹²Jehoshaphat grew greater and greater, and he built fortresses and storage cities in Judah.
  ¹³He carried out great works in the cities of Judah. And he had men of war, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem,
  ¹⁴and this was their enrollment according to their fathers’ houses: from Judah, the commanders of thousands were: Adnah the commander, and with him were 300,000 mighty men of valor;
  ¹⁵and next to him was Jehohanan the commander, and with him were 280,000;
  ¹⁶and next to him was Amasiah the son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself to Yahweh, and with him were 200,000 mighty men of valor.
  ¹⁷From Benjamin: Eliada a mighty man of valor, and with him were 200,000 armed with bow and shield;
  ¹⁸and next to him was Jehozabad, and with him were 180,000 men prepared for war.
 

¹⁹These were those who served the king, besides those whom the king put in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.
 

¹Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor, and^a he formed a marriage alliance with Ahab.
  ²After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. Ahab killed very many sheep and cattle for him and for the people who were with him, and tried to persuade him to go up with him to Ramoth-gilead.
  ³Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” He answered him, “I am as you are, and my people are as your people. We will be with you in the war.”
  ⁴But Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please first seek the word of Yahweh.”
 

⁵Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, 400 men, and said to them, “Should we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or should I refrain?” They said, “Go up, for God will give it into the hand of the king.”
 

⁶But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there another prophet of Yahweh here, that we may inquire of him?”
 

⁷The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is one more man by whom we may inquire of Yahweh, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but always evil. He is Micaiah the son of Imla.” Jehoshaphat said, “The king should not say such a thing.”
 

⁸Then the king of Israel called an officer and said, “Quickly! Bring Micaiah the son of Imlah.”
 

⁹Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting, each on his throne and dressed in royal robes, and they were sitting at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them.
  ¹⁰And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made horns of iron for himself and said, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘With these you will gore the Syrians until they are finished off.’”
  ¹¹All the prophets prophesied the same, saying, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and succeed, for Yahweh will give it into the hand of the king!”
 

¹²The messenger who went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, “See now, the words of the prophets are as one mouth declaring good for the king. So, let your word be like one of theirs, and speak that which is good.”
 

¹³But Micaiah said, “As Yahweh lives, whatever my God says, that is what I will speak.”
 

¹⁴When he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, should we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or should I refrain?” He said, “Go up, and succeed. They will be given into your hand.”
 

¹⁵But the king said to him, “How many times do I have to make you swear that you are not to speak to me anything but the truth in the name of Yahweh?”
 

¹⁶Then he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep that have no shepherd. And Yahweh said, ‘These have no lord. Let them each return to his house in peace.’”
 

¹⁷The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but only evil?”
 

¹⁸Micaiah said, “That being the case, hear the word of Yahweh. I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne and all the army of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left.
  ¹⁹Yahweh said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, king of Israel, so that he will go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ One spoke saying in this way, and another spoke saying in that way.
 

²⁰“A spirit came out, stood before Yahweh and said, ‘I will entice him.’ “And Yahweh said to him, ‘How?’
 

²¹And he said, ‘I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You will entice him and will also prevail. Go out and do so.’
 

²²“So now, behold, Yahweh has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all of these prophets of yours, and Yahweh has spoken evil concerning you.”
 

²³Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “Which way did the spirit of Yahweh cross over from me to speak to you?”
 

²⁴Then Micaiah said, “Behold, you will see on that day when you go into an inner room to hide!”
 

²⁵Then the king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah and turn him over to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the son of the king
  ²⁶and say, ‘This is what the king says, “Put this man in the prison and feed him with only a little bread and water^b until I come back in peace.”’”
 

²⁷But Micaiah said, “If you return, yes, return in peace, Yahweh has not spoken by me.” He said, “Listen, all you people!”
 

²⁸But the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.
  ²⁹The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into the battle, but you put on your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle.
 

³⁰Now the king of Syria had commanded the commanders of his chariots, saying, “Do not fight with small or great, but only with the king of Israel.”
 

³¹And when the commanders of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat they said, “It is the king of Israel!” So they turned to fight against him. But Jehoshaphat cried out for help, and Yahweh helped him; and God drew them away from him.
  ³²And when the commanders of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel they turned away from pursuing him.
 

³³A certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the joints of the armor. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn your hand and take me out of the battle, for I am severely wounded.”
  ³⁴The battle increased that day. However the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Syrians until the evening, and about the time of the going down of the sun, he died.
 

¹Then Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned in peace to his house in Jerusalem.
  ²But Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate Yahweh? Because of this, wrath is on you from the presence of Yahweh.
  ³Nevertheless, there are good things with you, because you have purged the Asherahs from the land and have set your heart to seek God.”
 

⁴Jehoshaphat lived at Jerusalem, and he went out again among the people from Beer-sheba to the hill country of Ephraim and brought them back to Yahweh, the God of their fathers.
  ⁵He appointed judges in the land in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city,
  ⁶and he said to the judges, “Consider what you do, for you are not pronouncing judgments on behalf of a man, but on behalf of Yahweh, and he is with you in your judgment.
  ⁷So now let the fear of Yahweh be on you. Be careful and do it right, because there is no injustice with Yahweh our God, nor partiality, nor taking of bribes.”
 

⁸Also, in Jerusalem Jehoshaphat appointed some Levites and priests and some of the heads of the fathers’ households of Israel to give Yahweh’s judgment and to settle disputes, and they lived in Jerusalem.
  ⁹And he commanded them, saying, “Do this judging in the fear of Yahweh, faithfully and with a wholly devoted heart.
  ¹⁰Whenever any dispute comes to you from your brothers who dwell in their cities concerning bloodshed, law or commandment, statutes or ordinances, you are to warn them so that they will not be guilty before Yahweh and so that there will not be wrath on you and on your brothers. Do this and you will not be guilty.
 

¹¹“Behold, Amariah the head priest is over you in all matters concerning Yahweh, and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael the ruler of the house of Judah, in all the king’s matters; also the Levites are to be officers in your presence. Deal courageously and may Yahweh be with the upright.”
 

¹And after this the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.
  ²Then some men came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the Dead Sea, from Edom. Behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, En-gedi).
  ³And Jehoshaphat was afraid, and he set his face to seek Yahweh. He proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
  ⁴Judah gathered together to seek help from Yahweh. They came out of all the cities of Judah to seek Yahweh.
 

⁵Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of Yahweh, before the new court;
  ⁶and he said, “Yahweh, the God of our fathers, are you not he, the God in heaven? Aren’t you ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in your hand, so that no one is able to withstand you.
  ⁷Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it permanently to the seed of Abraham your friend?
  ⁸They have lived in it and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying,
  ⁹‘If evil comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this house and before you, for your name is in this house, and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save us.’
 

¹⁰“And now look! The children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned aside from them and did not destroy them,
  ¹¹look how they repay us by coming to cast us out of your possession that you have given to us to inherit.
  ¹²Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no might against this great multitude that comes against us, nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
 

¹³All Judah stood before Yahweh, with their little ones, their wives and their children.
  ¹⁴Then the spirit of Yahweh came on Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly;
  ¹⁵and he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat. This is what Yahweh says to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
  ¹⁶Tomorrow go down against them. Look, they are coming up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley before the wilderness of Jeruel.
  ¹⁷You will not need to fight this battle. Position yourselves, stand firm, and see the salvation of Yahweh on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Go out against them tomorrow, for Yahweh is with you.’”
 

¹⁸Then Jehoshaphat knelt down with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before Yahweh, worshiping Yahweh.
  ¹⁹The Levites, of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites, stood up to praise Yahweh the God of Israel with an exceedingly loud voice.
 

²⁰They rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa, and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in Yahweh your God and you will be established! Believe his prophets and you will succeed.”
  ²¹When he had consulted with the people, he appointed men to sing to Yahweh and give praise in holy attire as they went out in front of the army, and say, “Give thanks to Yahweh; for his covenant faithfulness endures forever.”
 

²²When they began to sing and to praise, Yahweh set an ambush against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated.
  ²³For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction, and when they had made an end of destroying the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy each other.
 

²⁴And when Judah came to the place that overlooks the wilderness, they looked at the multitude and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the ground. And there were none who escaped.
  ²⁵When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil, they found among them an abundance of personal property and clothing^a and desirable things that they took away for themselves, more than they could carry away, and they were three days in taking the spoil because it was so much.
  ²⁶On the fourth day they gathered together in the valley of Beracah^b and there they blessed Yahweh. So the name of that place was called the Valley of Beracah to this day.
 

²⁷Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat at their front, returning to Jerusalem with joy, for Yahweh had caused them to rejoice over their enemies.
  ²⁸So they came to Jerusalem with lyres and harps and trumpets, coming to the house of Yahweh.
 

²⁹And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that Yahweh had fought against the enemies of Israel.
  ³⁰So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.
 

³¹Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was 35 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 25 years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.
  ³²He walked in the way of Asa his father and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the eyes of Yahweh.
  ³³However the local shrines were not taken away, and the people had not yet set their hearts on the God of their fathers.
 

³⁴Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the history of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is included in the book of the kings of Israel.
 

³⁵After this, Jehoshaphat king of Judah made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel, who acted very wickedly,
  ³⁶and he made an alliance with him to build ships to go to Tarshish, and they built the ships at Ezion-geber.
  ³⁷Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, Yahweh has broken out against your works.” And the ships were broken, so they were not able to go to Tarshish.
 

¹Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place.
  ²He had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah. All these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.
  ³Their father gave them many gifts of silver and of gold and of valuable things, with fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram because he was the firstborn.
  ⁴Now when Jehoram had risen up as king over the kingdom of his father and had strengthened himself, he killed all his brothers with the sword, and also some of the officials of Israel.
 

⁵Jehoram was 32 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
  ⁶He walked in the way of the kings of Israel just as the house of Ahab had done because he had the daughter of Ahab as a wife. He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.
  ⁷However Yahweh was not willing to destroy the house of David because of the covenant that he had made with David, since he had promised to give to him a lamp and to his children always.
 

⁸In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah and enthroned a king over themselves.
  ⁹Then Jehoram crossed over with his commanders and all his chariots with him, and he rose up by night and struck the Edomites who surrounded him and the commanders of the chariots.
  ¹⁰So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time from under his hand because he had forsaken Yahweh, the God of his fathers.
  ¹¹Also, he made pagan shrines in the mountains of Judah and made the inhabitants of Jerusalem prostitute themselves, and he led Judah astray.
 

¹²A letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, “This is what Yahweh, the God of David your father, says: ‘Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,
  ¹³but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem prostitute themselves like the house of Ahab prostituted itself, and also have killed your brothers, members of the house of your father, who were better than you,
  ¹⁴behold, Yahweh will afflict^a your people, and your children, and your wives, and all your personal property, with a great affliction,
  ¹⁵and you will have severe sickness with a disease of your bowels day after day until your bowels come out because of the sickness.’”
 

¹⁶Yahweh stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and also of the Arabians who are near the Ethiopians,
  ¹⁷and they came up against Judah and broke into it, and carried away all the personal property that was found in the king’s house, and also his sons and his wives, so that there was not a son left him, except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
 

¹⁸After all this Yahweh struck him in his bowels with an incurable disease.
  ¹⁹Then it happened, as time passed, at the end of two years, his bowels came out because of his sickness and he died of severe diseases. His people did not make a memorial fire for him like the fire for his fathers.
 

²⁰Jehoram was 32 years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem, and he departed to no one’s regret,^b and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
 

¹The inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his place, for the band of men who came with the Arabians to the camp had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned.
  ²Ahaziah was 22 years old^a when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri.
 

³He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in doing wickedly.
  ⁴He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, as did the house of Ahab, for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction.
  ⁵Also, he walked according to their counsel and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead, and the Syrians wounded Jehoram.^{b
  6}He returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that they had struck him with at Ramah^c when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. So Azariah^d the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.
 

⁷God brought about the downfall of Ahaziah through his going to Jehoram,^e for when he arrived he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom Yahweh had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.
  ⁸And when Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he found the officials of Judah and the sons of the brothers of Ahaziah who served Ahaziah, and killed them.
  ⁹He searched for Ahaziah, and they caught him while he was hiding in Samaria, and they brought him to Jehu and killed him. And they buried him, for they said, “He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought Yahweh with all his heart.” There was no one of the house of Ahaziah powerful enough to rule the kingdom in his place.
 

¹⁰Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose up and eliminated all the royal seed^f of the house of Judah.
  ¹¹But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah so that she did not kill him.
  ¹²He was with them, hiding in the house of God for six years, while Athaliah reigned over the land.
 

¹And in the seventh year, Jehoiada took courage and he entered into a covenant with the commanders of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri.
  ²And they went around throughout Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the heads of fathers’ households of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.
 

³And all the assembly cut a covenant with the king in the house of God. He said to them, “Behold, the king’s son must reign as Yahweh has spoken concerning the sons of David.
  ⁴This is the thing that you are to do. A third part of you who come in on the Sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, are to be guards at the gates.
  ⁵A third part are to be at the king’s house and a third part at the Foundation Gate, and all the people will be in the courts of the house of Yahweh.
  ⁶But let no one come into the house of Yahweh except the priests and those who minister of the Levites. They may come in, for they are holy, but all the people are to follow Yahweh’s instructions.
  ⁷The Levites are to surround the king, every man with his weapons in his hand. Whoever comes into the house is to be put to death. Be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.”
 

⁸So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and they each brought his men, those who were to come in on the Sabbath along with those who were to go out on the Sabbath, for Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss the shifts of priests.
  ⁹Jehoiada the priest gave to the commanders of hundreds the spears and shields and small shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of God.
  ¹⁰He set all the people, each man with his weapon in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, in front of the altar and in front of the house, all around the king.
 

¹¹Then they brought out the king’s son and and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony and made him king; and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and they said, “Long live the king!”
 

¹²When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she went to the people into the house of Yahweh,
  ¹³and she looked, and behold, the king stood by his pillar at the entrance with the commanders and the trumpeters by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced and blew trumpets; the singers also played musical instruments and led the singing of praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and said, “Treason! Treason!”
 

¹⁴Jehoiada the priest brought out the commanders of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them, “Bring her outside of the Temple, to the ranks, and whoever follows her is to be put to death by the sword.” For the priest said, “Do not kill her in the house of Yahweh.”
  ¹⁵So they seized her, and when she came to the entrance of the horse gate to the king’s house, they killed her there.
 

¹⁶Then Jehoiada cut a covenant between himself and all the people and the king, to be Yahweh’s people.
  ¹⁷All the people went to the house of Baal and broke it down and smashed his altars and his images into pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.
 

¹⁸Jehoiada appointed the officers of the house of Yahweh to be under the authority of the Levitical priests, whom David had assigned over the house of Yahweh, to offer the burnt offerings of Yahweh as it is written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing according to the order of David.
  ¹⁹And he stationed the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of Yahweh so that no one who was unclean in anything could enter.
  ²⁰He took the commanders of hundreds, and the nobles, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of Yahweh, and they went through the Upper Gate to the king’s house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom.
  ²¹So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet now that they had killed Athaliah with the sword.
 

¹Joash^a was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba.
  ²Joash did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh all the days of Jehoiada the priest,
  ³and Jehoiada acquired two wives for him^b and he fathered sons and daughters.
 

⁴Some time later, Joash determined to restore the house of Yahweh.
  ⁵He gathered together the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah annually and gather money from all Israel to repair the house of your God. Be quick about this matter.” But the Levites were not quick about it.
  ⁶So the king called for Jehoiada the head priest and said to him, “Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring in the tax of Moses the servant of Yahweh and of the assembly of Israel from Judah and from Jerusalem for the tent of the testimony?
  ⁷For that wicked Athaliah and her sons had broken into the house of God, and they also gave all the dedicated things of the house of Yahweh to the Baals.”
 

⁸So the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of the house of Yahweh.
  ⁹Then they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for Yahweh the tax that Moses the servant of God required of Israel in the wilderness.
  ¹⁰All the officials and all the people rejoiced and brought their contribution and threw it into the chest until it was full.
  ¹¹And so whenever the chest was brought by the hand of the Levites to the king’s officers and they saw that there was much money, then the king’s scribe and the head priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it and returned it to its place. They did this day after day, and gathered money in abundance.
  ¹²The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of Yahweh, and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of Yahweh, and also to those who worked iron and bronze to strengthen the house of Yahweh.
 

¹³So the workmen worked, and the work of repairing went forward in their hands, and they set up the house of God according to its specifications and strengthened it.
  ¹⁴When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, from which were made articles for the house of Yahweh: articles for service and for the burnt offerings, and spoons, and articles of gold and silver. They offered burnt offerings in the house of Yahweh regularly all the days of Jehoiada.
 

¹⁵But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died. He was 130 years old when he died.
  ¹⁶They buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel and toward God and his house.
 

¹⁷Now after the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and bowed down to the king. And the king listened to them.
  ¹⁸They abandoned the house of Yahweh the God of their fathers and served the Asherah poles and the idols, and wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.
  ¹⁹Yet he sent prophets to them to bring them back to Yahweh, and they testified against them but they would not listen.
 

²⁰And the spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people and said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you disobey the commandments of Yahweh? You will not be prosperous! Because you have forsaken Yahweh, he has also forsaken you.’”
  ²¹They conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of Yahweh.
  ²²So Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. When he died, he said, “May Yahweh see this and repay it.”
 

²³And then at the turn of the year, the army of the Syrians came up against him, and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the officials of the people from among the people, and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus.
  ²⁴For the army of the Syrians came with a small number of men, and Yahweh gave into their hand a very great army because they had forsaken Yahweh the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment on Joash.
 

²⁵When they had departed from him (for they left him very sick), his own servants conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him on his bed. So he died and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.
 

²⁶These are those who conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess.
  ²⁷Now concerning his sons, and the many prophecies against him, and the rebuilding of the house of God, behold, they are written in the commentary of the Book of the Kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.
 

¹Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.
  ²He did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, but not with a wholly devoted heart.
 

³Now when the kingdom was firmly under his control, he killed his servants who had killed his father the king.
  ⁴But he did not put their children to death, but did according to what is written in the law in the book of Moses as Yahweh commanded, saying, “The fathers are not to be put to death for the children, nor are the children to be put to death for the fathers, but every person is to be put to death for his own sin.”^a
 

⁵Amaziah gathered Judah together—all Judah and Benjamin—and arranged them according to their fathers’ houses, under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. And he numbered them from 20 years old and upward and found them to be 300,000 chosen men able to go out to war, who could handle spears and shields.
  ⁶And he hired 100,000 mighty men of valor out of Israel for 100 talents^b of silver.
 

⁷But a man of God came to him, saying, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you because Yahweh is not with Israel—not with any of the children of Ephraim.
  ⁸Rather, you go and act; be strong for the battle. Will God overthrow you before the enemy? For God has power to help and to overthrow.”
 

⁹Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what should we do about the 100 talents that I have given to the army of Israel?” The man of God answered, “Yahweh is able to give you much more than this.”
 

¹⁰Then Amaziah separated them—the army that had come to him out of Ephraim—and told them to go home. So their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in fierce anger.
 

¹¹Amaziah strengthened himself and led out his people and went to the Valley of Salt, and struck down 10,000 of the children of Seir.
  ¹²The children of Judah carried away 10,000 alive and brought them to the top of the rock, and threw them down from the top of the rock so that they were all split open.
 

¹³But the men of the army whom Amaziah sent back (so that they would not go with him to battle) raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon, and struck down 3,000 of them and took much spoil.
 

¹⁴Now after Amaziah had come from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought the gods of the children of Seir and set them up to be his gods and bowed down to them^c and burned incense to them.
  ¹⁵Therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him who said to him, “Why have you consulted the gods of the people that have not delivered their own people out of your hand?”
 

¹⁶And as he talked with him, the king said to him, “Have we made you one of the king’s counselors? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” Then the prophet stopped and said, “I know that God has given counsel to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”
 

¹⁷Then Amaziah king of Judah consulted with his advisers and sent to Joash the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let’s look one another in the face.”
 

¹⁸Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle.
  ¹⁹Behold, you say you have struck down Edom, and so your heart lifts you up to boast. But now stay at home. Why stir up trouble and fall, you and Judah with you?”
 

²⁰But Amaziah would not listen, for it was from God so that he would give them into the hand of their enemies, because they consulted the gods of Edom.
  ²¹So Joash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth-shemesh that belongs to Judah.
  ²²And Judah was defeated by Israel and they fled, each man to his tent.
  ²³Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh and brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, 400 cubits.^{d
  24}And he took all the gold and silver and all the articles that were found in the house of God under the care of Obed-edom, and the treasures of the king’s house, along with hostages, and returned to Samaria.
 

²⁵Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived 15 years after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel.
  ²⁶Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, behold, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?
 

²⁷Now from the time that Amaziah turned away from following after Yahweh, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem. So he fled to Lachish, but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there.
  ²⁸They carried him back on horses and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.^e
 

¹Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was 16 years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah.
  ²He built Eloth and restored it to Judah after King Amaziah slept with his fathers.
 

³Uzziah was 16 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Jechiliah of Jerusalem.
  ⁴He did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh just as all that his father Amaziah had done.
  ⁵And he continued to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought Yahweh, God made him to prosper.
 

⁶He went out and battled against the Philistines and broke down the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod, and he built cities in the area of Ashdod and among the Philistines.
  ⁷God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians who lived in Gur-baal, and against the Meunim.
  ⁸The Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah, and his fame^a spread as far as the border of Egypt, for he grew exceeding strong.
  ⁹And Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate and at the Valley Gate and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them.
  ¹⁰He built towers in the wilderness and dug many cisterns, for he had much livestock in the Shephelah and also in the plain, and he had farmers and vineyard keepers in the mountains and in the fruitful fields, for he loved farming.
 

¹¹And Uzziah had an army of fighting men who went out to war by divisions, according to the number of the ordering made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s commanders.
  ¹²The whole number of the heads of fathers’ households, the mighty men of valor, was 2,600.
  ¹³Under their authority was an army, 307,500 who made war with mighty power to help the king against the enemy.
  ¹⁴Uzziah prepared for them—for all the army—shields, and spears, and helmets, and coats of mail, and bows, and stones for slinging.
  ¹⁵In Jerusalem he made war machines designed by skillful men, to be on the towers and on the corners, for shooting arrows and large stones. His fame spread out far and wide, for he was wonderfully helped until he was strong.
 

¹⁶But when he was strong his heart was lifted up to his destruction; and he was unfaithful to Yahweh his God and went into the Temple of Yahweh to burn incense on the altar of incense.
  ¹⁷Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him were 80 priests of Yahweh who were valiant men,
  ¹⁸and they stood up against Uzziah the king and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to Yahweh, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful, and you will have no honor from Yahweh God.”
 

¹⁹Then Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand to burn incense, became angry. But while he was angry at the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of Yahweh beside the altar of incense.
  ²⁰Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked at him and, behold, he was leprous on his forehead. So they thrust him out of there quickly, and also he hurried to go out, because Yahweh had struck him.
  ²¹Uzziah the king was a leper to the day of his death and being a leper he lived in a separate house, for he was cut off from the house of Yahweh. And Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.
 

²²Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, are recorded by Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.
  ²³So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the burial field that belonged to the kings, for they said, “He is a leper.” And Jotham his son reigned in his place.
 

¹Jotham was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok.
  ²He did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his father Uzziah had done (but he did not enter the Temple of Yahweh like Uzziah did), nevertheless, the people continued acting corruptly.
 

³He built the Upper Gate of the house of Yahweh, and he built extensively at the wall of Ophel.
  ⁴And he built cities in the hill country of Judah and he built fortresses and towers in the forests.
  ⁵He fought with the king of the children of Ammon and prevailed against them. That year the children of Ammon gave him 100 talents of silver,^a and 10,000 cors^b of wheat and 10,000 of barley. The children of Ammon also paid him that much in the second year and in the third.
  ⁶So Jotham became strong because he established his ways before Yahweh his God.
 

⁷Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars and his ways, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
  ⁸He was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem.
  ⁹And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.
 

¹Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, like David his father,
  ²but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and also made cast metal images for the Baals.
  ³And he burned incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his children in the fire just like the abominations of the nations that Yahweh had driven out from before the children of Israel.
  ⁴He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local shrines and on the hills and under every green tree.
 

⁵Therefore Yahweh his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria, and they struck him and carried away from him a great multitude of captives and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel who struck him with a great slaughter.
  ⁶For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed in Judah 120,000 in one day, all of them valiant men, because they had forsaken Yahweh the God of their fathers.
  ⁷Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king’s son and Azrikam the Ruler of the House, and Elkanah who was second in command to the king.
  ⁸The children of Israel carried away captive of their brothers 200,000, women, sons, and daughters, and also took away much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria.
 

⁹But a prophet of Yahweh was there whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria, and said to them, “Behold, because Yahweh the God of your fathers was angry with Judah, he has given them into your hand, and you have killed them in a rage that has reached up to heaven.
  ¹⁰And now you intend to subjugate the children of Judah and Jerusalem as your own male and female slaves. But don’t you have transgressions of your own against Yahweh your God?
  ¹¹So now hear me, and send back the captives that you have taken captive from your brothers, for the fierce wrath of Yahweh is hanging over you.”
 

¹²Then some of the heads of the children of Ephraim—Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai—stood up against those who came from the war
  ¹³and said to them, “You must not bring the captives here, for you are intending something that will bring guilt on us before Yahweh, which will add to our sins and to our guilt, because our guilt is great, and there is fierce wrath hanging over Israel.”
 

¹⁴So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the officials and all the assembly.
  ¹⁵The men who have been mentioned by name rose up and took the captives, and then took the spoil and clothed all who were naked among them—dressed them—and gave them sandals, and gave them something to eat and to drink, anointed them, carried all the feeble of them on donkeys and brought them to Jericho, the City of Date Palms trees, back to their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria.
 

¹⁶At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria to help him.
  ¹⁷For the Edomites had again come and struck Judah and carried away captives.
  ¹⁸And the Philistines had invaded the cities of the Shephelah and of the Negev of Judah, and they had taken Beth-shemesh, and Aijalon, and Gederoth, and Soco with its towns and Timnah with its towns, and Gimzo and its towns, and they settled there.
  ¹⁹For Yahweh brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, who caused a lack of restraint in Judah, and was unfaithful, yes, unfaithful to Yahweh.
  ²⁰Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came to him and afflicted him but did not support him.
  ²¹Although Ahaz had taken part of the treasures out of the house of Yahweh and out of the house of the king and from the officials and gave it to the king of Assyria, that did not help him.
 

²²In the time of his affliction he was even more unfaithful to Yahweh, this King Ahaz.
  ²³For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus who defeated him, and he said, “Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them so that they will help me.” But they caused him and all Israel to stumble.
 

²⁴Ahaz gathered the articles of God’s house and cut in pieces the articles of God’s house and shut the doors of the house of Yahweh, and he made altars for himself in every corner in Jerusalem.
  ²⁵In every city of Judah he made shrines to burn incense to other gods, and he made Yahweh, the God of his fathers, angry.
 

²⁶Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, the first and the last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
  ²⁷Ahaz slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel; and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.
 

¹Hezekiah began to reign when he was 25 years old, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
  ²He did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that David his father had done.
 

³In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of Yahweh and repaired them.
  ⁴He brought the priests and the Levites and gathered them together in the public square on the east
  ⁵and said to them, “Listen to me, O Levites! Now sanctify yourselves and sanctify the house of Yahweh the God of your fathers, and remove the filth out of the holy place.
  ⁶For our fathers were unfaithful and did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh our God, and have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the dwelling place of Yahweh, and turned their backs on him.
  ⁷Also they have closed the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.
  ⁸Therefore the wrath of Yahweh was on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of terror, of horror, and a hissing, as you see with your eyes.
  ⁹For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity because of this.
  ¹⁰Now it is in my heart to cut a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger turns away from us.
  ¹¹My sons, do not be negligent now, for Yahweh has chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and to be his servants and burn incense.”
 

¹²Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah;
  ¹³and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;
  ¹⁴and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.
 

¹⁵They gathered their brothers and sanctified themselves, and went to cleanse the house of Yahweh according to the commandment of the king by the words of Yahweh.
 

¹⁶The priests went in to the inner part of the house of Yahweh to cleanse it, and brought all the uncleanness that they found in the Temple of Yahweh out into the court of the house of Yahweh. The Levites took it and carried it outside to the Kidron Valley.
  ¹⁷Now they began to make the Temple holy on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of Yahweh, and then they sanctified the house of Yahweh in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished the work.
 

¹⁸Then they went inside the palace to Hezekiah the king and said, “We have cleansed all the house of Yahweh, and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table of the Bread of the Presence with all its utensils.
  ¹⁹And we have prepared and made holy all the utensils that King Ahaz neglected during his reign when he was unfaithful, and behold, they are in front of the altar of Yahweh.”
 

²⁰Then Hezekiah the king got up early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of Yahweh.
  ²¹They brought seven bulls and seven rams and seven lambs and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. He commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of Yahweh.
  ²²So they killed the bulls, and the priests took the blood and threw it on the altar, and they killed the rams and threw the blood on the altar, and they also killed the lambs and threw the blood on the altar.
  ²³They brought the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them,
  ²⁴and the priests killed them and they made a sin offering with their blood on the altar to make atonement for all Israel, because the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering were to be made for all Israel.
 

²⁵He set the Levites in the house of Yahweh with cymbals, with lyres, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet; this commandment was from Yahweh by his prophets.
  ²⁶The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests stood with the trumpets.
 

²⁷Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the singing to Yahweh began also, and the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel.
  ²⁸The whole assembly worshiped, and the singers sang and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
  ²⁹When the burnt offering was finished, the king and all who were present with him kneeled and worshiped.
  ³⁰And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to Yahweh with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. They sang praises with joy, and they bowed down and worshiped.
 

³¹Then Hezekiah answered, “Now you have dedicated yourselves to Yahweh. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of Yahweh.” The assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings.
  ³²The number of the burnt offerings that the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams and 200 lambs; all of these were for a burnt offering to Yahweh.
  ³³The holy offerings were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep.
 

³⁴But the priests were too few and they could not skin all the burnt offerings, so their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was finished, and until the priests had sanctified themselves, because the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.
  ³⁵There was a large number of burnt offerings, along with the fat of the peace offerings and with the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. So the service of the house of Yahweh was established again.
  ³⁶Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced, because of what God had brought about for the people, for the situation had come about so quickly.
 

¹Hezekiah sent messengers to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem to keep the Passover to Yahweh, the God of Israel.
  ²For the king and his officials and all the assembly in Jerusalem decided to keep the Passover in the second month.
  ³For they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient numbers and the people had not gathered at Jerusalem.
  ⁴The thing was right in the eyes of the king and of all the assembly.
  ⁵So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, to come to keep the Passover to Yahweh the God of Israel at Jerusalem, because they had not kept it in great numbers^a according to what was written.
 

⁶So the messengers went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the king and his officials, according to the commandment of the king, saying, “O children of Israel, turn again to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he will return to you, the remnant who have escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
  ⁷Do not be like your fathers and like your brothers, who were unfaithful to Yahweh the God of their fathers, so that he gave them up to desolation as you see.
  ⁸Now do not be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but stretch out your hand to Yahweh and come to his Temple that he has made holy forever, and serve Yahweh your God so that his fierce anger will turn away from you.
  ⁹For if you return to Yahweh, your brothers and your children will find mercy before those who led them captive and will return to this land, because Yahweh your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you if you return to him.”
 

¹⁰So the messengers traveled from city to city throughout the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun, but they laughed at them and mocked them.
  ¹¹But some people from Asher and Manasseh and from Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
  ¹²Also, the hand of God came on Judah to give them one heart to carry out the commandment of the king and of the officials in accordance with the word of Yahweh.
 

¹³Many people assembled in Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month; there was a very great assembly.
  ¹⁴They set to work and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the incense altars and threw them into the Brook Kidron.
  ¹⁵Then they slaughtered the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month, and the priests and the Levites were ashamed of themselves, and sanctified themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of Yahweh.
  ¹⁶They stood in their place according to their requirement, according to the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests were throwing on the altar the blood that they received from the hand of the Levites.
  ¹⁷For there were many in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves, so the Levites were in charge of the slaughter of the Passover sacrifices for everyone who was not clean, to make them holy to Yahweh.
  ¹⁸For a multitude of the people—many from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun—had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover but contrary to what was written in the Law. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May Yahweh, who is good, make atonement for
  ¹⁹everyone who sets his heart to seek God, Yahweh, the God of his fathers, even if they are not pure according to the purity required by the sanctuary.”
  ²⁰Yahweh listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.
  ²¹The children of Israel who were present in Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great joy, and the Levites and the priests praised Yahweh day after day, along with loud instruments to Yahweh.
  ²²And Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who were well skilled in the service of Yahweh. So they ate at the appointed feast for the seven days, offering sacrifices of peace offerings and giving thanks to Yahweh the God of their fathers.
 

²³The whole assembly decided to keep the feast another seven days, so they kept it another seven days with joy.
  ²⁴For Hezekiah king of Judah supplied to the assembly 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep, and the officials supplied to the assembly 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep, and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.
  ²⁵The whole assembly of Judah, with the priests and the Levites and the whole assembly who came out of Israel, and the foreigners who came out of the land of Israel and those who lived in Judah, rejoiced.
  ²⁶So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.
 

²⁷Then the Levitical priests stood up and blessed the people, and their voice was heard and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, to heaven.
 

¹Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke in pieces the standing-stones, and cut down the Asherah poles and broke down the shrines and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim also and Manasseh until they had destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his property, to their own cities.
 

²Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and the Levites according to their divisions, every man according to his service, both the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the camp of Yahweh.
  ³And the king appointed a portion of his property for the burnt offerings, for the morning and evening burnt offerings and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the designated feasts as it is written in the law of Yahweh.
  ⁴And he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the required portion of the priests and the Levites, so that they could give themselves to the law of Yahweh.
  ⁵As soon as the commandment went out, the children of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, new wine and oil and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and they brought in an abundance, the tithe of everything.
  ⁶The children of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep and the tithe of dedicated things that had been dedicated to Yahweh their God, and placed them in large piles.
  ⁷In the third month they began to make the piles, and they finished them in the seventh month.
  ⁸When Hezekiah and the officials came and saw the piles, they blessed Yahweh and his people Israel.
 

⁹Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the piles.
  ¹⁰Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him and said, “Since people began to bring the offerings into the house of Yahweh, we have eaten and had enough and have plenty remaining, for Yahweh has blessed his people, and this great abundance remains.”
 

¹¹Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare storerooms in the house of Yahweh, and they prepared them.
  ¹²They faithfully brought in the offerings and the tithes and the dedicated things, and Conaniah the Levite was ruler over them, and Shimei his brother was second.
  ¹³Jehiel and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers under the authority of Conaniah and Shimei his brother by the appointment of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the ruler of the house of God.
 

¹⁴Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the gatekeeper at the east gate, was over the freewill offerings of God, to give the contribution reserved for Yahweh, even the most holy offerings.
  ¹⁵Under him were Eden, and Miniamin, and Jeshua, and Shemaiah, Amariah and Shecaniah in the cities of the priests, faithfully giving to their brothers by divisions, to the old and young alike,
  ¹⁶in addition to those who were reckoned by genealogy, males from three years old and upward, everyone who entered into the house of Yahweh for their service in their responsibilities according to their divisions, as the duty of every day required;
  ¹⁷and those who were reckoned by genealogy of the priests according to their fathers’ houses, and the Levites from 20 years old and upward, in their responsibilities according to their divisions;
  ¹⁸and those who were reckoned by genealogy—along with all their small children, their wives and their sons and their daughters, throughout the whole congregation: for they faithfully sanctified themselves as holy.
  ¹⁹And as for the sons of Aaron the priests who were in the fields of the open land belonging to their cities, in every city there were men who were mentioned by name to give portions to all the males among the priests and to everyone who was reckoned by genealogy among the Levites.
 

²⁰Hezekiah did this throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and faithful before Yahweh his God.
  ²¹In every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in accordance with the law and the commandments to seek his God, he did it with all his heart and prospered.
 

¹After these things and these faithful acts, Sennacherib king of Assyria came into Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, and intended to break into them and capture them for himself.
  ²When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and his face was set to fight against Jerusalem,
  ³he took counsel with his officials and his mighty men to block off the water of the springs that were outside of the city, and they supported him.
  ⁴So many people gathered together, and they blocked off all the springs and the brook that flowed through the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water?”
  ⁵He strengthened himself and built up all of the wall that had been broken down and raised it up to the towers, and the other wall outside, and strengthened Millo in the city of David and made an abundance of weapons and shields.
  ⁶He set commanders of war over the people and gathered them together to himself in the open space at the gate of the city, and spoke encouragingly to them, saying,
  ⁷“Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or distressed because of the king of Assyria, nor because of all the multitude who is with him, for with us is One greater than whoever is with him.
  ⁸With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is Yahweh our God to help us and to fight our battles.” The people relied upon on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
 

⁹After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria (who was at Lachish, and all his forces with him) sent his servants to Jerusalem to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying,
  ¹⁰“This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says, ‘On what are you trusting while you sit under siege in Jerusalem?’
  ¹¹Isn’t Hezekiah misleading you, to allow you to die by famine and by thirst, by saying, “Yahweh our God will rescue us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?”
  ¹²Hasn’t this same Hezekiah taken away his^a shrines and his altars and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, “You must worship before one altar, and only on it you are to burn incense?
 

¹³Don’t you know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands able, yes, able to rescue their land out of my hand?
  ¹⁴Who among all the gods of those nations that my fathers devoted to destruction could rescue his people out of my hand, such that your god will be able to rescue you out of my hand?
  ¹⁵So now do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you in this way, and do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to rescue his people out of my hand and out of the hand of my fathers. How much less will your god rescue you out of my hand?”
 

¹⁶And his servants said even more against Yahweh God and against his servant Hezekiah.
  ¹⁷He also wrote letters to insult Yahweh the God of Israel and to speak against him, saying, “Just as the gods of the nations of the other lands have not rescued their people out of my hand, so the god of Hezekiah will not rescue his people out of my hand.”
 

¹⁸And they shouted out with a loud voice in the language of the Judeans to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them and to terrify them so that they could capture the city.
  ¹⁹And they spoke about the God of Jerusalem like they did about the gods of the other peoples of the earth, which are the work of human hands.
 

²⁰Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed about this, and cried out to heaven.
  ²¹So Yahweh sent an angel, who wiped out all the mighty men of valor and the leaders and commanders in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. When he had come into the house of his god, some of his own sons struck him down there with the sword.
 

²²So Yahweh saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria and from the hand of all his enemies, and he gave them rest on every side.^{b
  23}And many brought gifts to Jerusalem to Yahweh, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah, such that he was exalted in the eyes of all nations from that time onward.
 

²⁴In those days Hezekiah was sick to the point of death, and he prayed to Yahweh, and Yahweh^c spoke to him and gave him a sign.
  ²⁵But Hezekiah did not respond according to the benefit he received,^d for his heart was proud, so there was wrath hanging over him and over Judah and Jerusalem.
  ²⁶But then Hezekiah humbled himself for being proud of heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of Yahweh did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.
 

²⁷Hezekiah had very great riches and honor, and he made for himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all kinds of valuable articles,
  ²⁸and storehouses for the harvest of grain and new wine and oil, and stalls for all kinds of livestock, and sheepfolds for the flocks.
  ²⁹And he made for himself cities and had flocks and herds in abundance, for God had given him very many possessions.
 

³⁰And he, Hezekiah, blocked off the upper spring of the waters of Gihon and brought them directly down to the west side of the city of David. Hezekiah succeeded in all his works.
  ³¹However, in the matter of the ambassadors whom the officials of Babylon sent to him to inquire about the sign that was done in the land, God left him to himself to test him, in order to know all that was in his heart.
 

³²Now the rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign and his faithful acts, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
  ³³Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the ascent to the tombs of the sons of David. And all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his place.
 

¹Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem.
  ²He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, following after the abominations of the nations that Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel.
  ³For he rebuilt the local shrines that Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he erected altars for the Baals and made Asherahs, and he worshiped all the army of heaven and served them.
  ⁴He built altars in the house of Yahweh about which Yahweh said, “My name will be in Jerusalem forever.”
  ⁵He built altars for all the army of heaven in the two courts of the house of Yahweh.
  ⁶He made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and he practiced sorcery and used enchantments and practiced soothsaying and made contact with spirits and familiar spirits. He did much evil in the eyes of Yahweh, making him angry.
 

⁷And the engraved image of the idol that he had made, he set in the house of God, about which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever,
  ⁸nor will I again remove the foot of Israel off of the land that I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, that is, all the law and the statutes and the ordinances given by the hand of Moses.”
  ⁹But Manasseh led astray Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that they did evil; more than the nations that Yahweh destroyed before the children of Israel.
 

¹⁰Yahweh spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they did not listen.
  ¹¹Therefore Yahweh brought on them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks, and bound him with bronze chains and took him away to Babylon.
  ¹²When he was in distress, he begged Yahweh his God, and greatly humbled himself before the God of his fathers.
  ¹³And he prayed to him, and Yahweh^a responded to him and heard his supplication and brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God.
 

¹⁴Now after this he built an outer wall for the city of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, to the entrance at the Fish Gate; and he encircled Ophel with it and raised it up to a very great height, and he put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities of Judah.
 

¹⁵He took away the foreign gods and the idol out of the house of Yahweh, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of Yahweh and in Jerusalem, and threw them out of the city.
  ¹⁶He restored the altar of Yahweh and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and thanksgiving, and he told Judah to serve Yahweh the God of Israel.
  ¹⁷Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the local shrines, but only to Yahweh their God.
 

¹⁸Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of Yahweh the God of Israel, behold, they are written in the records of the kings of Israel.
  ¹⁹His prayer and its acceptance, and all his sin and his unfaithfulness and the places where he built shrines and set up the Asherah poles and the carved images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the chronicles of the seers.^{b
  20}And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house, and Amon his son reigned in his place.
 

²¹Amon was 22 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.
  ²²He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had done. And Amon sacrificed to all the carved images that Manasseh his father had made, and served them.
  ²³He did not humble himself before Yahweh as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but as for Amon, he increased his wrongdoing more and more.
 

²⁴His servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house.
  ²⁵But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.
 

¹Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem.
  ²He did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh and walked in the ways of David his father, and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
 

³And in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the shrines and the Asherah poles and the carved images and the cast metal images.
  ⁴They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and he cut down the incense altars that were high above them, and he broke in pieces the Asherah poles and the carved images and the cast metal images and made dust of them, and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
  ⁵He burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
  ⁶And in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali—in their ruins all around—
  ⁷he broke down the altars and beat the Asherah poles and the carved images into powder. He cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.
 

⁸Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had cleansed the land and the house of God, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah and Maaseiah the governor of the city and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder to repair the house of Yahweh his God.
 

⁹They came to Hilkiah the high priest and delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the guards of the threshold, had gathered from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin, and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
  ¹⁰They delivered it into the hand of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of Yahweh and the workmen who were working in the house of Yahweh to repair and restore the house;
  ¹¹that is, they gave it to the carpenters and to the builders to buy hewn stone and timber for binders and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had let go into ruin.
 

¹²The men did the work faithfully, and over them, appointed to oversee them, were Jahath and Obadiah the Levites of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam of the sons of the Kohathites. And some of the Levites, all who were skillful with instruments of music,
  ¹³were also over the burden-bearers and over all who did the work in every kind of service. And some of the Levites were scribes, and officers, and gatekeepers.
 

¹⁴When they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of Yahweh given by the hand of Moses.
  ¹⁵Hilkiah told Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of Yahweh.” And Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan.
 

¹⁶Shaphan brought the scroll to the king, and reported to the king, saying, “All that was committed to your servants, they are doing.
  ¹⁷They have emptied out the money^a that was present in the house of Yahweh and have given it into the hand of the overseers and into the hand of the workmen.”
  ¹⁸Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.