Category:Second Book of Kings

THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS

2 Kings Chapter 1
Ochozias sends to consult Beelzebub: Elijah foretells his death: and causes fire to come down from heaven, upon two captains and their companies.

1:1. Moab rebelled against Israel, after the death of Ahab.

1:2. Ochozias fell through the lattices of his upper chamber, which he had in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, saying to them: Go, consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, whether I shall recover of this my illness.

1:3. An angel of the Lord spoke to Elijah, the Thesbite, saying: Arise, and go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them: Is there not a God in Israel, that you go to consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron?

'''1:4. Wherefore, thus says the Lord: From the bed, on which you are gone up, you shall not come down, but you shall surely die. And Elijah went away.'''

'''1:5. The messengers turned back to Ochozias. And he said to them: Why are you come back?'''



'''1:6. But they answered him: A man met us, and said to us: Go, and return to the king, that sent you, and you shall say to him: Thus says the Lord: Is it because there was no God in Israel, that you send to Beelzebub, the god of Accaron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed, on which you are gone up, but you shall surely die.'''

1:7. He said to them: What manner of man was he who met you, and spoke these words?

'''1:8. But they said: A hairy man, with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said: It is Elijah, the Thesbite.'''

'''1:9. He sent to him a captain of fifty, and the fifty men that were under him. He went up to him, and as he was sitting on the top of a hill, he said to him: Man of God, the king has commanded that you come down.'''

'''1:10. Elijah answering, said to the captain of fifty: If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you, and your fifty. There came down fire from heaven and consumed him, and the fifty that were with him.'''

'''1:11. He again sent to him another captain of fifty men, and his fifty with him. And he said to him: Man of God: Thus says the king: Make haste and come down.'''

'''1:12. Elijah answering, said: If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume you, and your fifty. And fire came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.'''

'''1:13. Again he sent a third captain of fifty men, and the fifty that were with him. When he was come, he fell upon his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said: Man of God, despise not my life, and the lives of your servants that are with me.'''

1:14. Behold fire came down from heaven, and consumed the two first captains of fifty men, and the fifties that were with them: but now I beseech you to spare my life.

'''1:15. The angel of the Lord spoke to Elijah, saying: Go down with him, fear not. He arose therefore, and went down with him to the king,'''

1:16. and said to him: Thus says the Lord: Because you have sent messengers to consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, as though there were not a God in Israel, of whom you might inquire the word; therefore, from the bed on which you are gone up, you shall not come down, but you shall surely die.

1:17. So he died, according to the word of the Lord, which Elijah spoke; and Joram, his brother, reigned in his stead, in the second year of Joram, the son of Josaphat, king of Judah, because he had no son.

The second year of Joram, etc. . .Counted from the time that he was associated to the throne by his father Josaphat.

1:18. But the rest of the acts of Ochozias, which he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

2 Kings Chapter 2
'Elisha will not part from Elijah. The water of the Jordan is divided by Elijah' cloak. Elijah is taken up in a fiery chariot, and his double spirit is given to Elisha. Elisha heals the waters by casting in salt. Boys are torn by bears for mocking Elisha.'

2:1. It came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah, into heaven, by a whirlwind, that Elijah and Elisha were going from Galgal.

'''2:2. Elijah said to Elisha: Stay you here, because the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel. Elisha said to him: As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. When they had come down to Bethel,'''

'''2:3. The sons of the prophets, that were at Bethel, came forth to Elisha, and said to him: Do you know that, this day, the Lord will take away your master from you? He answered: I also know it: hold your peace.'''

The sons of the prophets. . .That is, the disciples of the prophets; who seem to have had their schools, like colleges or communities, in Bethel, Jericho, and other places in the days of Elijah and Elisha.

'''2:4. Elijah said to Elisha: Stay here, because the Lord has sent me to Jericho. And he said: As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. And when they were come to Jericho,'''

'''2:5. The sons of the prophets, that were at Jericho, came to Elisha, and said to him: Do you know that, this day, the Lord will take away your master from you? And he said: I also know it: hold your peace.'''

'''2:6. Elijah said to him: Stay here, because the Lord has sent me as far as the Jordan. He said: as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. And they two went on together.'''

2:7. Fifty men, of the sons of the prophets, followed them, and stood in sight, at a distance: but they two stood by the Jordan.

2:8. Elijah took his mantle, and folded it together, and struck the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, and they both passed over on dry ground.



'''2:9. When they were gone over, Elijah said to Elisha: Ask what you will have me to do for you, before I be taken away from you. Elisha said: I beseech you, that in me may be your double spirit.'''

Double spirit. . .A double portion of your spirit, as the eldest son and heir: or your spirit which is double in comparison of that which God usually imparts to his prophets.

2:10. He answered: You have asked a hard thing; nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, you shall have what you have asked: but if you see me not, you shall not have it.



2:11. As they went on, walking and talking together, behold, a fiery chariot and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

'''2:12. Elisha saw him, and cried: My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and its driver. He saw him no more: and he took hold of his own garments, and rent them in two pieces.'''

2:13. He took up the mantle of Elijah, that fell from him: and going back, he stood on the bank of the Jordan;

'''2:14. He struck the waters with the mantle of Elijah, that had fallen from him, and they were not divided. And he said: Where is now the God of Elijah? He struck the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, and Elisha passed over.'''

'''2:15. The sons of the prophets, at Jericho, who were over against him, seeing it, said: The spirit of Elijah has rested upon Elisha. And coming to meet him, they worshipped him, falling to the ground.'''

They worshipped him. . .viz., with an inferior, yet religious veneration, not for any temporal, but spiritual excellence.

'''2:16. They said to him: Behold, there are with your servants, fifty strong men, that can go, and seek your master, lest, perhaps, the spirit of the Lord, has taken him up and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said: Do not send.'''

'''2:17. But they pressed him, until he consented, and said: Send. And they sent fifty men: and they sought three days, but found him not.'''

'''2:18. They came back to him: for he abode at Jericho, and he said to them: Did I not say to you? Do not send.'''

'''2:19. The men of the city, said to Elisha. Behold the situation of this city is very good, as you, my lord, see: but the waters are very bad, and the ground barren.'''

'''2:20. He said: Bring me a new vessel, and put salt into it. And when they had brought it,'''

2:21. He went out to the spring of the waters, and cast the salt into it, and said: Thus says the Lord: I have healed these waters, and there shall be no more in them death or barrenness.

2:22. The waters were healed unto this day, according to the word of Elisha, which he spoke.

2:23. He went up from thence to Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, little boys came out of the city and mocked him, saying: Go up, you bald head, go up, you bald head.



2:24. Looking back, he saw them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord: and there came forth two bears out of the forest, and tore of them, two and forty boys.

Cursed them. . .God punished in this manner the inhabitants of Bethel, (the chief seat of the calf worship,) who had trained up their children in a prejudice against the true religion and its ministers.

2:25. From there he went to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.

2 Kings Chapter 3
'The kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom, fight against the king of Moab. They want water, which Elisha procures without rain: and prophesies victory. The king of Moab is overthrown, his city is besieged: he sacrifices his firstborn son: so the Israelites raise the siege.'

'''3:1. Joram the son of Ahab, reigned over Israel, in Samaria, in the eighteenth year of Josaphat, king of Judah. He reigned twelve years.'''

3:2. He did evil before the Lord, but not like his father and his mother: for he took away the statues of Baal, which his father had made.

3:3. Nevertheless, he stuck to the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, nor did he depart from them.

3:4. Now Mesa, king of Moab, nourished many sheep, and he paid to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams, with their fleeces.

3:5. When Ahab was dead, he broke the league which he had made with the king of Israel.

3:6. King Joram went out that day from Samaria, and mustered all Israel.

'''3:7. He sent to Josaphat; king of Judah, saying: The king of Moab is revolted from me: come with me against him to battle. And he answered: I will come up: he that is mine, is yours: my people are your people: and my horses, your horses.'''

'''3:8. He said: Which way shall we go up? But he answered: By the desert of Edom.'''

3:9. So the king of Israel, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom, went, and they fetched a compass of seven days journey, and there was no water for the army, and for the beasts, that followed them.

3:10. The king of Israel said: Alas, alas, alas, the Lord has gathered us three kings together, to deliver us into the hands of Moab.

'''3:11. Josaphat said: Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may beseech the Lord by him? And one of the servants of the king of Israel answered: Here is Elisha, the son of Saphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.'''

'''3:12. Josaphat said: The word of the Lord is with him. The king of Israel, and Josaphat, king of Judah, and the king of Edom, went down to him.'''

'''3:13. Elisha said to the king of Israel: What have I to do with you? go to the prophets of your father, and your mother. And the king of Israel said to him: Why has the Lord gathered together these three kings, to deliver them into the hands of Moab?'''

3:14. Elisha said to him: As the Lord of hosts lives, in whose sight I stand, if I did not reverence the face of Josaphat, king of Judah, I would not have hearkened to you, nor looked on you.

'''3:15. But now bring me hither a minstrel. When the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came upon him, and he said:'''

3:16. Thus says the Lord: Make the channel of this torrent full of ditches.

3:17. For thus says the Lord: You shall not see wind, nor rain: and yet this channel shall be filled with waters, and you shall drink, you and your families, and your beasts.

3:18. This is a small thing in the sight of the Lord: moreover, he will deliver, also, Moab into your hands.

3:19. You shall destroy every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall cut down every fruitful tree, and shall stop up all the springs of waters, and every goodly field you shall cover with stones.

3:20. It came to pass, in the morning, when the sacrifices used to be offered, that behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.

3:21. All the Moabites hearing that the kings were come up to fight against them, gathered together all that were girded with a belt upon them, and stood in the borders.

3:22. They rose early in the morning, and the sun being now up, and shining upon the waters, the Moabites saw the waters over against them red, like blood,

3:23. They said: It is the blood of the sword: the kings have fought among themselves, and they have killed one another: go now, Moab, to the spoils.

'''3:24. They went into the camp of Israel: but Israel rising up, defeated Moab, who fled before them. And they being conquerors, went and smote Moab.'''

3:25. They destroyed the cities: And they filled every goodly field, every man casting his stone: and they stopped up all the springs of waters: and cut down all the trees that bore fruit, so that only Kir-hareseth remained: and the city was beset by the slingers, and a great part of it destroyed.

Kir-Haraseth was the capital city of the Moabites.

3:26. When the king of Moab saw this, to wit, that the enemies had prevailed, he took with him seven hundred men that drew the sword, to break in upon the king of Edom: but they could not.

3:27. Then he took his eldest son, that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall: and there was great indignation in Israel, and presently they departed from him, and returned into their own country.

2 Kings Chapter 4
'Miracles of Elisha. He raises a dead child to life.'

4:1. Now a certain woman of the wives of the prophets, cried to Elisha, saying: Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant was one that feared God, and behold the creditor is come to take away my two sons to serve him.

'''4:2. Elisha said to her: What will you have me do for you? Tell me, what have you in your house? She answered: I, your handmaid, have nothing in my house but a little oil, to anoint me.'''

4:3. He said to her: Go, borrow of all your neighbors empty vessels, not a few.

4:4. Go in, and shut your door, when you are within, and your sons: and pour out of it into all those vessels: and when they are full, take them away.

4:5. So the woman went, and shut the door upon her, and upon her sons: they brought her the vessels, and she poured in.

'''4:6. When the vessels were full, she said to her son: Bring me yet a vessel. And he answered: I have no more. And the oil stood.'''

'''4:7. She came, and told the man of God. He said: Go, sell the oil, and pay your creditor: and you and your sons live off the rest.'''

4:8. There was a day when Elisha passed by Sunam: now there was a great woman there, who detained him to eat bread: and as he passed often that way, he turned into her house to eat bread.

4:9. She said to her husband: I perceive that this is a holy man of God, who often passeth by us.

4:10. Let us, therefore, make him a little chamber, and put a little bed in it for him, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick, that when he cometh to us he may abide there.

4:11. Now, there was a certain day, when he came, and turned into the chamber, and rested there.

'''4:12. He said to Giezi, his servant: Call this Sunamitess. And when he had called her, and she stood before him,'''

'''4:13. He said to his servant: Say to her: Behold, you have diligently served us in all things; what will you have me to do for you? Have you any business, and will you, that I speak to the king, or to the general of the army? And she answered: I dwell in the midst of my own people.'''

'''4:14. He said: What will she then that I do for her? And Giezi said: Do not ask, for she has no son, and her husband is old.'''

'''4:15. Then he bid him call her. And when she was called, and stood before the door,'''

'''4:16. He said to her: At this time, and this same hour, if life be in company, you shall have a son in your womb. But she answered: Do not, I beseech you, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your handmaid.'''

4:17. The woman conceived, and brought forth a son in the time, and at the same hour that Elisha had said.

'''4:18. The child grew. And on a certain day, when he went out to his father to the reapers,'''

'''4:19. He said to his father: My head aches, my head aches. But he said to his servant. Take him, and carry him to his mother.'''

4:20. When he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, she sat him on her knees, until noon, and then he died.

4:21. She went up, and laid him upon the bed of the man of God, and shut the door: and going out,

4:22. She called her husband, and said: Send with me, I beseech you, one of your servants, and an ass, that I may run to the man of God, and come again.

'''4:23. He said to her: Why do you go to him? Today is neither new moon nor Sabbath. She answered: I will be going.'''

4:24. She saddled an ass, and commanded her servant: Drive, and make haste, make no stay in going: And do that which I bid you.

4:25. So she went forward, and came to the man of God, to mount Carmel: and when the man of God saw her coming towards, he said to Giezi, his servant: Behold that Sunamitess.

'''4:26. Go, therefore, to meet her, and say to her: Is all well with you, and with your husband, and with your son? She answered: Well.'''

'''4:27. When she came to the man of God, to the mount, she caught hold on his feet: and Giezi came to remove her. And the man of God said: Leave her alone for her soul is in anguish, and the Lord has hid it from me, and has not told me.'''

'''4:28. She said to him: Did I ask a son of my lord? Did I not say to you: Do not deceive me?'''

'''4:29. Then he said to Giezi: Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go. If any man meet you, do not salute him: and if any man salute you, answer him not: and lay my staff upon the face of the child.'''

Do not salute him. . .He that is sent to raise to life the sinner spiritually dead, must not suffer himself to be called off, or diverted from his enterprise, by the salutations or ceremonies of the world.

'''4:30. But the mother of the child said: As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. He arose, therefore, and followed her.'''

4:31. But Giezi was gone before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child, and there was no voice nor sense: and he returned to meet him, and told him, saying: The child is not risen.

St. Augustine considers a great mystery in this miracle wrought by the prophet Elisha, thus: By the staff sent by his servant is figured the rod of Moses, or the Old Law, which was not sufficient to bring mankind to life then dead in sin. It was necessary that Christ himself should come, and by taking on human nature, become flesh of our flesh, and restore us to life. In this Elisha was a figure of Christ, as it was necessary that he should come himself to bring the dead child to life and restore him to his mother, who is here, in a mystical sense, a figure of the Church.

4:32. Elisha, therefore, went into the house, and behold the child lay dead on his bed:

4:33. Going in, he shut the door upon him, and upon the child, and prayed to the Lord.

4:34. He went up, and lay upon the child: and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he bowed himself upon him, and the child's flesh grew warm.

4:35. Then he returned and walked in the house, once to and fro: and he went up, and lay upon him: and the child gaped seven times, and opened his eyes.

'''4:36. He called Giezi, and said to him: Call this Sunamitess. And she being called, went in to him: and he said: Take up your son.'''

4:37. She came and fell at his feet, and worshipped upon the ground: and took up her son, and went out.

4:38. Elisha returned to Galgal, and there was a famine in the land, and the sons of the prophets dwelt before him: and he said to one of his servants: Set on the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets.

4:39. One went out into the field to gather wild herbs: and he found something like a wild vine, and gathered of it wild gourds of the field, and filled his mantle, and coming back, he shred them into the pot of pottage; for he knew not what it was.

Wild gourds of the field. . .Colocynthidas. They are extremely bitter, and therefore are called the gall of the earth; and are poisonous if taken in a great quantity.

'''4:40. They poured it out for their companions to eat: and when they had tasted of the pottage, they cried out, saying: Death is in the pot, O man of God. They could not eat of it.'''

'''4:41. But he said: Bring some meal. When they had brought it, he cast it into the pot, and said: Pour out for the people, that they may eat. There was now no bitterness in the pot.'''

'''4:42. A certain man came from Baalsalisa, bringing to the man of God, bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and new corn in his scrip. He said: Give to the people, that they may eat.'''

'''4:43. His servant answered him: How much is this, that I should set it before a hundred men? He said again: Give to the people, that they may eat: for thus says the Lord: They shall eat, and there shall be left.'''

4:44. So he set it before them: and they ate, and there was left, according to the word of the Lord.

2 Kings Chapter 5
'Naaman the Syrian is cleansed of his leprosy. He professes his belief in one God, promising to serve him. Gehazi (Giezi) takes gifts of Naaman, and is struck with leprosy.' Gehazi is the current spelling for Giezi.

'''5:25. But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said: From where do you come, Gehazi? He answered: Your servant went nowhere.'''

'''5:26. But he said: Was not my heart present, when the man turned back, from his chariot, to meet you? So now you have received money, and received garments, to buy oliveyards and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and men-servants, and maid-servants.'''

'''5:27. But the leprosy of Naaman, shall also stick to you, and to your seed forever. He went out from him a leper, as white as snow.'''

2 Kings Chapter 6
'Elisha makes iron to swim upon the water: he leads the Syrians that were sent to apprehend him into Samaria, where their eyes being opened, they are courteously entertained. The Syrians besiege Samaria: the famine there causes a woman to eat her own child. Upon this the king commands Elisha to be put to death.'

6:1. The sons of the prophets said to Elisha: Behold, the place where we dwell with you is too strait for us.



'''6:2. Let us go as far as the Jordan, and take out of the wood every man a piece of timber, that we may build us there a place to dwell in. He said: Go.'''

'''6:3. One of them said: But come you also with your servants. He answered: I will come.'''

'''6:4. So he went with them. When they were come to the Jordan, they cut down wood.'''

6:5. It happened, as one was felling some timber, that the head of the ax fell into the water: and he cried out, and said: Alas, alas, alas, my lord, for this same was borrowed.

'''6:6. The man of God said: Where did it fall? He showed him the place: Then he cut off a piece of wood, and cast it in thither: and the iron swam.'''

'''6:7. He said: Take it up. He put out his hand, and took it.'''

6:8. The king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying: In such and such a place, let us lay an ambush.

6:9. The man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying: Beware that you pass not to such a place: for the Syrians are there in ambush.

6:15. The servant of the man of God, rising early went out, and saw an army round about the city, and horses and chariots: and he told him, saying: Alas, alas, alas, my lord, what shall we do?

6:16. But he answered: Fear not: for there are more with us than with them.

'''6:17. Elisha prayed, and said: Lord, open his eyes, that he may see. The Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses, and chariots of fire round about Elisha.'''

6:18. The enemies came down to him: but Elisha prayed to the Lord, saying: Strike, I beseech you, this people with blindness: and the Lord struck them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha.

Blindness. . .The blindness here spoken of was of a particular kind, which hindered them from seeing the objects that were really before them; and represented other different objects to their imagination: so that they no longer perceived the city of Dothan, nor were able to know the person of Elisha; but were easily led by him, whom they took to be another man, to Samaria. So that he truly told them, this is not the way, neither is this the city, etc., because he spoke with relation to the way and to the city, which was represented to them.

'''6:19. Elisha said to them: This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will show you the man whom you seek. So he led them into Samaria.'''

'''6:20. When they were come into Samaria, Elisha said: Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. The Lord opened their eyes, and they saw themselves to be in the midst of Samaria.'''

6:21. The king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw them: My father, shall I kill them?

6:22. He said: You shall not kill them: for you did not take them with your sword, or your bow, that you may kill them: but set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.

6:23. A great provision of meats was set before them, and they ate and drank; and he let them go: and they went away to their master: and the robbers of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.

6:24. It came to pass, after these things, that Benadad, king of Syria, gathered together all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria.

6:25. There was a great famine in Samaria: and so long did the siege continue, till the head of an ass was sold for fourscore pieces of silver *** .

6:26. As the king of Israel was passing by the wall, a certain woman cried out to him, saying: Save me, my lord, O king.

'''6:27. He said: If the Lord does not save you, how can I save you? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? And the king said to her: What ails you? And she answered:'''

6:28. This woman said to me: Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.

'''6:29. So we boiled my son, and ate him. I said to her on the next day: Give your son, that we may eat him. She has hid her son.'''

'''6:30. When the king heard this, he rent his garments, and passed by upon the wall. All the people saw the haircloth which he wore within next to his flesh.'''

6:31. The king said: May God do so and so to me, and may he add more, if the head of Elisha, the son of Saphat, shall stand on him this day.

'''6:32. But Elisha sat in his house, and the ancients sat with him. So he sent a man before: and before that messenger came, he said to the ancients: Do you know that this son of a murderer has sent to cut off my head? Look then when the messenger shall come, shut the door, and suffer him not to come in: for behold the sound of his master's feet is behind him.'''

'''6:33. While he was yet speaking to them, the messenger appeared, who was coming to him. He said: Behold, so great an evil is from the Lord: what shall I look for more from the Lord?'''

2 Kings Chapter 7
'Elisha prophesies a great plenty, which presently ensues upon the sudden flight of the Syrians; of which four lepers bring the news to the city. The incredulous nobleman is trod to death.'

7:1. Elisha said: Hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord: Tomorrow, about this time, a bushel of fine flour shall be sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, in the gate of Samaria.

A stater. . .It is the same as a sicle or shekel.

'''7:2. Then one of the lords, upon whose hand the king leaned, answering the man of God, said: If the Lord should make flood-gates in heaven, can that possibly be which you say? And he said: You shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat of it.'''

7:7. Wherefore they arose, and fled away in the dark, and left their tents, and their horses and asses in the camp, and fled, desiring to save their lives.

7:8. So when these lepers were come to the beginning of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank: and they took from thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went, and hid it: and they came again, and went into another tent, and carried from thence in like manner, and hid it.

'''7:9. Then they said one to another: We do not well: for this is a day of good tidings. If we hold our peace, and do not tell it till the morning, we shall be charged with a crime: come, let us go, and tell it in the king's court.'''

7:10. So they came to the gate of the city, and told them, saying: We went to the camp of the Syrians, and we found no man there, but horses, and asses tied, and the tents standing.

7:11. Then the guards of the gate went, and told it within in the king's palace.

7:12. He arose in the night, and said to his servants: I tell you what the Syrians have done to us: They know that we suffer great famine, and therefore they are gone out of the camp, and lie hid in the fields, saying: When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and then we may get into the city.

7:13. One of his servants answered: Let us take the five horses that are remaining in the city (because there are no more in the whole multitude of Israel, for the rest are consumed), and let us send and see.

7:14. They brought therefore two horses, and the king sent into the camp of the Syrians, saying: Go, and see.

7:15. They went after them, as far as the Jordan: and behold, all the way was full of garments, and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away, in their fright, and the messengers returned, and told the king.

7:16. The people going out, pillaged the camp of the Syrians: and a bushel of fine flour was sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, according to the word of the Lord.

7:17. The king appointed that lord on whose hand he leaned, to stand at the gate: and the people trod upon him in the entrance of the gate; and he died, as the man of God had said, when the king came down to him.

7:18. It came to pass, according to the word of the man of God, which he spoke to the king, when he said: Two bushels of barley shall be for a stater, and a bushel of fine flour for a stater, at this very time tomorrow, in the gate of Samaria.

'''7:19. When that lord answered the man of God, and said: Although the Lord should make flood-gates in heaven, could this which you say come to pass ? And he said to him: You shall see it with your eyes, and shall not eat of it.'''

7:20. So it fell out to him, as it was foretold, and the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died.

2 Kings Chapter 8
'After seven years' famine foretold by Elisha, the Sunamitess returning home, recovers her lands, and revenues. Elisha foreshows the death of Benadad, king of Syria, and the reign of Hazael. Joram's wicked reign in Judah. He dies, and his son Ochozias succeeds.'

8:1. Elisha spoke to the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying: Arise, and go you, and your household, and sojourn wherever you can find: for the Lord has called a famine, and it shall come upon the land seven years.

8:2. She arose, and did according to the word of the man of God: and going with her household, she sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.

8:3. When the seven years were ended, the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines, and she went forth to speak to the king for her house and for her lands.

8:4. The king talked with Giezi, the servant of the man of God, saying: Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.

'''8:5. When he was telling the king how he had raised one dead to life, the woman appeared, whose son he had restored to life, crying to the king for her house, and her lands. Giezi said: My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha raised to life.'''

'''8:6. The king asked the woman: and she told him. The king appointed her an eunuch, saying: Restore her all that is hers, and all the revenues of the lands, from the day that she left the land to this present.'''

8:7. Elisha also came to Damascus, and Benadad, king of Syria was sick; and they told him, saying: The man of God is come here.

8:8. The king said to Hazael: Take with you presents, and go to meet the man of God, and consult the Lord by him, saying: Can I recover of this my illness?



'''8:9. Hazael went to meet him, taking with him presents, and all the good things of Damascus, the burdens of forty camels. When he stood before him, he said: Your son, Benadad, the king of Syria, has sent me to you, saying: Can I recover of this my illness?'''

8:10. Elisha said to him: Go tell him: You shall recover: but the Lord has showed me that he shall surely die.

Tell him: you shall recover. . .By these words the prophet signified that the king's disease was not mortal: and that he would recover if no violence were used. Or he might only express himself in this manner, by way of giving Hazael to understand that he knew both what he would say and do; that he would indeed tell the king he should recover; but would be himself the instrument of his death.

8:11. He stood with him, and was troubled so far as to blush: and the man of God wept.

'''8:12. Hazael said to him: Why does my lord weep? He said: Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel. Their strong cities you will burn with fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword, and you will dash their children, and rip up their pregnant women.'''

'''8:13. Hazael said: But what am I, your servant, a dog, that I should do this great thing? Elisha said: The Lord has shown me that you shall be king of Syria.'''

'''8:14. When he was departed from Elisha he came to his master, who said to him: What said Elisha to you? He answered: He told me: You shall recover.'''

8:15. On the next day, he took a blanket, and poured water on it, and spread it upon his face: and he died, and Hazael reigned in his stead.

8:16. In the fifth year of Joram, son of Ahab, king of Israel, and of Josaphat, king of Judah, reigned Joram, son of Josaphat, king of Judah.

And of Josaphat, etc. . .That is, Josaphat being yet alive, who sometime before his death made his son Joram king, as David had done before by his own son Solomon.

8:17. He was two and thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

8:18. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had walked: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.

8:19. But the Lord would not destroy Judah, for David his servant's sake, as He had promised him, to give him a light, and to His children always.

8:20. In his days Edom revolted from being under Judah, and made themselves a king.

8:21. Joram came to Seira, and all the chariots with him: and he arose in the night, and defeated the Edomites that had surrounded him, and the captains of the chariots, but the people fled into their tents.

'''8.22. So Edom revolted from being under Judah, unto this day. Then Lobna also revolted at the same time.'''

8:23. But the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah?

8:24. Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David, and Ochozias, his son, reigned in his stead.

8:25. In the twelfth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, reigned Ochozias, son of Joram, king of Judah.

8:26. Ochozias was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Athalia the daughter of Amri king of Israel.

Daughter. . .That is, grand-daughter; for she was the daughter of Ahab's son of Amri, ver. 18.

8:27. He walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: and he did evil before the Lord, as did the house of Ahab: for he was the son in law of the house of Ahab.

8:28. He went also with Joram, son of Ahab, to fight against Hazael, king of Syria, in Ramoth Galaad, and the Syrians wounded Joram:

'''8:29. He went back to be healed, in Jezreel: because the Syrians had wounded him in Ramoth, when he fought against Hazael, king of Syria. Ochozias, the son of Joram, king of Judah, went down to visit Joram, the son of Ahab, in Jezrahel, because he was sick there.'''

2 Kings Chapter 9
'Jehu is anointed king of Israel, to destroy the house of Ahab and Jezebel. He kills Joram king of Israel, and Ochozias king of Judah. Jezebel is eaten by dogs.'

9:1. Elisha the prophet, called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him: Gird up your loins, and take this little bottle of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Galaad.

9:2. When you are come thither, you shall see Jehu the son of Josaphat the son of Namsi: and going in, you shall make him rise up from amongst his brethren, and carry him into an inner chamber.

'''9:3. Then taking the little bottle of oil, you shall pour it on his head, and shall say: Thus says the Lord: I have anointed you king over Israel. And you shall open the door and flee, and shall not stay there.'''

9:4. So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went away to Ramoth Galaad,

'''9:5. and went in thither: and behold, the captains of the army were sitting, and he said: I have a word to you, O prince. And Jehu said: Unto whom of us all? And he said: To you, O prince.'''

9:6. He arose, and went into the chamber: and he poured the oil upon his head, and said: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I have anointed you king over Israel, the people of the Lord.

9:7. You shall cut off the house of Ahab, your master, and I will revenge the blood of my servants, the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezabel.

9:8. I will destroy all the house of Ahab, and I will cut off the males from Ahab, and him that is shut up, and meanest in Israel.

9:9. I will make the house of Ahab, like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, and like the house of Baasa, the son of Ahias.

'''9:10. The dogs shall eat Jezebel, in the field of Jezrahel, and there shall be no one to bury her. And he opened the door and fled.'''

'''9:11. Then Jehu went forth to the servants of his Lord: and they said to him: Are all things well? why came this madman to you? And he said to them: You know the man, and what he said.'''

'''9:12. But they answered: It is false; but rather do you tell us. And he said to them: Thus and thus did he speak to me: and he said: Thus says the Lord: I have anointed you king over Israel.'''

9:13. Then they made haste, and taking every man his garment, laid it under his feet, after the manner of a judgment seat, and they sounded the trumpet, and said: Jehu is king.

'''9:14. So Jehu, the son of Josaphat, the son of Namsi, conspired against Joram. Now Joram had besieged Ramoth Galaad, he, and all Israel, fighting with Hazael, king of Syria:'''

'''9:15. and was returned to be healed in Jezrahel of his wounds; for the Syrians had wounded him, when he fought with Hazael, king of Syria. And Jehu said: If it please you, let no man go forth or flee out of the city, lest he go, and tell in Jezrahel.'''

9:16. He got up, and went into Jezrahel for Joram was sick there, and Ochozias king of Judah, was come down to visit Joram.

'''9:17. The watchman therefore, that stood upon the tower of Jezrahel, saw the troop of Jehu coming, and said: I see a troop. And Joram said: Take a chariot, and send to meet them, and let him that goes say: Is all well?'''

'''9:18. So there went one in a chariot to meet him, and said: Thus says the king: Are all things peaceable? And Jehu said: What have you to do with peace? Go behind and follow me. And the watchman told, saying: The messenger came to them, but he did not return.'''

'''9:19. He sent a second chariot of horses: and he came to them, and said: Thus says the king: Is there peace? And Jehu said: What have you to do with peace? Pass, and follow me.'''

9:20. The watchman told, saying: He came even to them, but did not return: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu, the son of Namsi; for he drives furiously.

'''9:21. Joram said: Prepare the chariot. They prepared his chariot: and Joram, king of Israel, and Ochozias, king of Judah, went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu, and met him in the field of Naboth, the Jezrahelite.'''

'''9:22. When Joram saw Jehu, he said: Is there peace, Jehu? He answered: What peace? so long as Jezabel, your mother, and her many sorceries, are in their vigour.'''

9:23. Joram turned his hand, and fleeing, said to Ochozias: There is treachery, Ochozias.

9:24. But Jehu bent his bow with his hand, and shot Joram between the shoulders: and the arrow went out through his heart, and immediately he fell in his chariot.

9:25. Jehu said to Badacer, his captain: Take him, and cast him into the field of Naboth, the Jezreelite: for I remember, when I and you, sitting in a chariot, followed Ahab, this man's father, that the Lord laid this burden upon him, saying:

'''9:26. If I do not requite you in this field, says the Lord, for the blood of Naboth, and for the blood of his children, which I saw yesterday, says the Lord. So now take him, and cast him into the field, according to the word of the Lord.'''

'''9:27. But Ochozias, king of Judah, seeing this, fled by the way of the garden house: and Jehu pursued him, and said: Strike him also in his chariot. They struck him in the going up to Gaver, which is by Jeblaam: and he fled into Mageddo, and died there.'''

9:28. His servants laid him upon his chariot, and carried him to Jerusalem: and they buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers, in the city of David.

9:29. In the eleventh year of Joram, the son of Ahab, Ochozias reigned over Judah;

'''9:30. Jehu came into Jezrahel. But Jezebel, hearing of his coming in, painted her face with stibic stone, and adorned her head, and looked out of a window.'''

9:31. At Jehu coming in at the gate, and said: Can there be peace for Zambri, that has killed his master?

'''9:32. Jehu lifted up his face to the window, and said: Who is this? And two or three eunuchs bowed down to him.'''

9:33. He said to them: Throw her down headlong; and they threw her down, and the wall was sprinkled with her blood, and the hoofs of the horses trod upon her.

9:34. When he was come in to eat, and to drink, he said: Go, and see after that cursed woman, and bury her; because she is a king's daughter.

9:35. When they went to bury her, they found nothing but the skull, and the feet, and the extremities of her hands.

'''9:36. Coming back they told him. And Jehu said: It is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elijah, the Thesbite, saying: In the field of Jezrahel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel.'''

9:37. The flesh of Jezebel shall be *** upon the face of the earth in the field of Jezrahel; so that they who pass by shall say: Is this that same Jezebel?

2 Kings Chapter 10
'Jehu destroys the house of Ahab: abolishes the worship of Baal, and kills the worshippers: but sticks to the calves of Jeroboam. Israel is afflicted by the Syrians.'

10:1. Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria: so Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, to the chief men of the city, and to the ancients, and to them that brought up Ahab's children, saying:

10:2. As soon as you receive these letters, you that have your master's sons, and chariots, and horses, and fenced cities, and armor,

10:3. Choose the best, and him that shall please you most of your master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for the house of your master.

10:4. But they were exceedingly afraid, and said: Behold two kings could not stand before him, and how shall we be able to resist?

10:5. Therefore they that were over the king's house, and the rulers of the city, and the ancients, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying: We are your servants: whatever you shall command us we will do; we will not make us any king: do you all that pleases you.

'''10:6. He wrote letters the second time to them, saying: If you be mine, and will obey me, take the heads of the sons of your master, and come to me to Jezrahel by tomorrow at this time. Now the king's sons, being seventy men, were brought up with the chief men of the city.'''

10:7. When the letters came to them, they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jezrahel.

'''10:8. A messenger came, and told him, saying: They have brought the heads of the king's sons. He said: Lay them in two heaps by the entering in of the gate until the morning.'''

10:9. When it was light, he went out, and standing, said to all the people: You are just: if I conspired against my master, and slew him; who has slain all these?

10:10. See therefore now that there has not fallen to the ground any of the words of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab, and the Lord has done that which he spoke in the hand of his servant Elijah.

10:11. So Jehu slew all that were left of the house of Ahab in Jezrahel, and all his chief men, and his friends, and his priests, till there were no remains left of him.

10:12. He arose, and went to Samaria: and when he was come to the shepherds' cabin in the way,

'''10:13. He met with the brethren of Ochozias, king of Judah, and he said to them: Who are you? They answered: We are the brethren of Ochozias, and are come down to salute the sons of the king, and the sons of the queen.'''

'''10:14. He said: Take them alive. They took them alive, and killed them at the pit by the cabin, two and forty men, and he left not any of them.'''

'''10:15. When he was departed thence, he found Jonadab, the son of Rechab, coming to meet him, and he blessed him. He said to him: Is your heart right as my heart is with your heart? Jonadab said: It is. If it be, said he, give me your hand. He gave him his hand. He lifted him up to him into the chariot,'''

'''10:16. and said to him: Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. So he made him ride in his chariot,'''

'''10:17. and brought him into Samaria. He slew all that were left of Ahab, in Samaria, to a man, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by Elijah.'''

10:18. Jehu gathered together all the people, and said to them: Ahab worshipped Baal a little, but I will worship him more.

'''10:19. Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, and all his servants, and all his priests: let none be wanting, for I have a great sacrifice to offer to Baal: whosoever shall be wanting, shall not live. Now Jehu did this craftily, that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.'''

'''10:20. He said: Proclaim a festival for Baal. And he called,'''

'''10:21. He sent into all the borders of Israel; and all the servants of Baal came: there was not one left that did not come. And they went into the temple of Baal: and the house of Baal was filled, from one end to the other.'''

'''10:22. He said to them that were over the wardrobe: Bring forth garments for all the servants of Baal. And they brought them forth garments.'''

10:23. Jehu, and Jonadab, the son of Rechab, went to the temple of Baal, and said to the worshippers of Baal: Search, and see that there be not any with you of the servants of the Lord, but that there be the servants of Baal only.

10:24. They went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings: but Jehu had prepared him fourscore men outside, and said to them: If any of the men escape, whom I have brought into your hands, he that lets him go, shall answer life for life.

'''10:25. It came to pass, when the burnt offering was ended, that Jehu commanded his soldiers and captains, saying: Go in, and kill them: let none escape. And the soldiers and captains slew them with the edge of the sword, and cast them out: and they went into the city of the temple of Baal,'''

10:26. and brought the statue out of Baal's temple, and burnt it,

'''10:27. and broke it in pieces. They destroyed also the temple of Baal, and made a jakes in its place unto this day.'''

10:28. So Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel:

10:29. But yet he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, nor did he forsake the golden calves that were in Bethel, and Dan.

10:30. The Lord said to Jehu: because you have diligently executed that which was right and pleasing in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart: your children shall sit upon the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.

10:31. But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart: for he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, who had made Israel to sin.

10:32. In those days the Lord began to be weary of Israel: and Hazael ravaged them in all the coasts of Israel,

10:33. From the Jordan eastward, all the land of Galaad, and Gad, and Reuben, and Manasseh, from Aroer, which is upon the torrent Arnon, and Galaad, and Basan.

10:34. But the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and his strength, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

10:35. Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria: and Joachaz, his son, reigned in his stead.

10:36. The time that Jehu reigned over Israel, in Samaria, was eight and twenty years.

2 Kings Chapter 11
'Athalia's usurpation and tyranny. Joash is made king. Athalia is slain.' Joash is the current spelling of Joas.

11:1. Now Athalia, the mother of Ochozias, seeing that her son was dead, arose and slew all the royal seed.

11:2. But Josaba the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ochozias, took Joash, the son of Ochozias, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, out of the bedchamber with his nurse: and hid him from the face of Athalia; so that he was not slain.

'''11:3. He was with her six years, hid in the house of the Lord. And Athalia reigned over the land.'''

11:4. In the seventh year Joiada sent, and taking the centurions and soldiers, brought them in to him into the temple of the Lord, and made a covenant with them: and taking an oath of them in the house of the Lord, showed them the king's son:

11:5. He commanded them, saying: This is the thing that you must do.

'''11:6. Let a third part of you go in on the Sabbath, and keep the watch of the king's house. And let a third part be at the gate of Sur; and let a third part be at the gate behind the dwelling of the shieldbearers; and you shall keep the watch of the house of Messa.'''

11:7. But let two parts of you all that go forth on the Sabbath, keep the watch of the house of the Lord about the king.

11:8. You shall compass him round about, having weapons in your hands: and if any man shall enter the precinct of the temple, let him be slain: and you shall be with the king, coming in and going out.

11:9. The centurions did according to all things that Joiada the priest, had commanded them: and taking every one their men, that went in on the Sabbath, with them that went out in the Sabbath, came to Joiada, the priest.

11:10. He gave them the spears, and the arms of king David, which were in the house of the Lord.

11:11. They stood, everyone having their weapons in their hands, from the right side of the temple, unto the left side of the altar, and of the temple, about the king.

11:12. He brought forth the king's son, and put the diadem upon him, and the testimony: and they made him king, and anointed him: and clapping their hands, they said: God save the king.

The testimony. . .The book of the law.

11:13. Athalia heard the noise of the people running: and going in to the people into the temple of the Lord,

11:14. She saw the king standing upon a tribunal, as the manner was, and the singers, and the trumpets near him, and all the people of the land rejoicing, and sounding the trumpets: and she rent her garments, and cried: A conspiracy, a conspiracy.

A tribunal. . .A tribune, or a place elevated above the rest.

'''11:15. But Joiada commanded the centurions that were over the army, and said to them: Have her forth without the precinct of the temple, and whosoever shall follow her, let him be slain with the sword. For the priest had said: Let her not be slain in the temple of the Lord.'''

11:16. They laid hands on her: and thrust her out by the way by which the horses go in, by the palace, and she was slain there.

11:17. Joiada made a covenant between the Lord, and the king, and the people, that they should be the people of the Lord; and between the king and the people.

'''11:18. All the people of the land went into the temple of Baal, and broke down his altars, and his images they broke in pieces thoroughly: they slew also Mathan the priest of Baal before the altar. And the priest set guards in the house of the Lord.'''

11:19. He took the centurions, and the bands of the Cerethi, and the Phelethi, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king from the house of the Lord: and they came by the way of the gate of the shieldbearers into the palace, and he sat on the throne of the kings.

11:20. All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet: but Athalia was slain with the sword in the king's house.

11:21. Now Joash was seven years old when he began to reign.

2 Kings Chapter 12
'The temple is repaired. Hazael is bought off from attacking Jerusalem. Joash is slain.'

'''12:1. In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash began to reign: and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Sebia, of Bersabee.'''

12:2. Joash did that which was right before the Lord all the days that Joiada, the priest, taught him.

12:3. But yet he took not away the high places: for the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

12:4. Joash said to the priests: all the money of the sanctified things, which is brought into the temple of the Lord by those that pass, which is offered for the price of a soul, and which of their own accord, and of their own free heart, they bring into the temple of the Lord:

Sanctified. . .That is, dedicated to God's service.--Ibid. The price of a soul. . .That is, the ordinary oblation, which every soul was to offer by the law. Ex. 30.

12:5. Let the priests take it according to their order and repair the house, wherever they shall see anything that needs repairing.

12:6. Now till the three and twentieth year of king Joash the priests did not make the repairs of the temple.

'''12:7. King Joash called Joiada, the high priest, and the priests, saying to them: Why do you not repair the temple? Take you, therefore, money no more according to your order, but restore it for the repairing of the temple.'''

12:8. The priests were forbidden to take any more money of the people, and to make the repairs of the house.

12:9. Joiada, the high priest, took a chest, and bored a hole in the top, and set it by the altar at the right hand of them that came into the house of the Lord; and the priests that kept the doors, put therein all the money that was brought to the temple of the Lord.

12:10. When they saw that there was very much money in the chest, the king's scribe, and the high priest, came up, and poured it out, and counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord.

12:11. They gave it out by number and measure into the hands of them that were over the builders of the house of the Lord: and they laid it out to the carpenters, and the masons, that wrought in the house of the Lord,

12:12. And made the repairs: and to them that cut stones, and to buy timber, and stones to be hewed, that the repairs of the house of the Lord might be completely finished, and wherever there was need of expenses to uphold the house.

12:13. But there were not made of the same money for the temple of the Lord, bowls, or fleshhooks, or censers, or trumpets, or any vessel of gold and silver, of the money that was brought into the temple of the Lord:

12:14. For it was given to them that did the work, that the temple of the Lord might be repaired.

12:15. They reckoned not with the men that received the money to distribute it to the workmen, but they bestowed it faithfully.

12:16. But the money for trespass, and the money for sins, they brought not into the temple of the Lord, because it was for the priests.

12:17. Then Hazael, king of Syria, went up, and fought against Geth, and took it, and set his face to go up to Jerusalem.

12:18. Wherefore Joash, king of Judah, took all the sanctified things, which Josaphat, and Joram, and Ochozias, his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated to holy uses, and which he himself had offered: and all the silver that could be found in the treasures of the temple of the Lord, and in the king's palace: and sent it to Hazael, king of Syria, and he went off from Jerusalem.

12:19. The rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah?

12:20. His servants arose, and conspired among themselves, and slew Joash, in the house of Mello, in the descent of Sella.

12:21. For Josachar the son of Semaath, and Jozabad the son of Somer his servant, struck him, and he died: and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David; and Amasias, his son, reigned in his stead.

The city of David. . .He was buried in the same city with his fathers, but not in the sepulchres of the kings. 2 Par. 14.

2 Kings Chapter 13
'The reign of Joachaz and of Joash, kings of Israel. The last acts and death of Elisha the prophet: a dead man is raised to life by the touch of his bones.' Jehoahaz is teh current spelling of Joachaz. 13:1. In the three and twentieth year of Joash, son of Ochozias, king of Judah, Jehoahaz (Joachaz), the son of Jehu, reigned over Israel, in Samaria, seventeen years.

13:2. He did evil before the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin; and he departed not from them.

13:3. The wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael, the king of Syria, and into the hand of Benadad, the son of Hazael, all days.

13:4. But Jehoahaz besought the face of the Lord, and the Lord heard him: for he saw the distress of Israel, because the king of Syria had oppressed them:

13:5. The Lord gave Israel a savior, and they were delivered out of the hand of the king of Syria: and the children of Israel dwelt in their pavilions as yesterday and the day before.

13:6. But yet they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin, but walked in them: and there still remained a grove also in Samaria.

A grove. . .Dedicated to the worship of idols.

13:7. Jehoahaz had no more left of the people than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen: for the king of Syria had slain them, and had brought them low as dust by threshing in the barnfloor.

13:8. But the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his valor, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

13:9. Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria: and Joas, his son, reigned in his stead.

13:10. In the seven and thirtieth year of Joash, king of Judah, Joash, the son of Jehoahaz reigned over Israel, in Samaria, sixteen years.

13:11. He did that which is evil in the sight of the Lord: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin; but he walked in them.

13:12. But the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his valor wherewith he fought against Amaziah (Amasias), king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

'''13:13. Joas slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat upon his throne. But Joash was buried in Samaria, with the kings of Israel.''' '''13:18. He said: Take the arrows. And when he had taken them, he said to him: Strike with an arrow upon the ground. And he struck three times, and stood still.'''

13:19. The man of God was angry with him, and said: If you had smitten five or six or seven times, you had smitten Syria even to utter destruction: but now three times shall you smite it.

If you had smitten, etc. . .By this it appears that God had revealed to the prophet that the king should overcome the Syrians as many times as he should then strike on the ground; but as he had not at the same time revealed to him how often the king would strike, the prophet was concerned to see that he struck but thrice.

'''13:20. Elisha died, and they buried him. And the rovers from Moab came into the land the same year.'''

'''13:21. Some that were burying a man, saw the rovers, and cast the body into the sepulchre of Elisha. And when it had touched the bones of Elisha, the man came to life and stood upon his feet.'''

13:22. Now Hazael, king of Syria, afflicted Israel all the days of Joachaz.

13:23. The Lord had mercy on them, and returned to them, because of his covenant, which he had made with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob: and he would not destroy them, nor utterly cast them away, unto this present time.

13:24. Hazael, king of Syria, died; and Benadad, his son, reigned in his stead.

13:25. Now Joash the son of Jehoahaz (Joachaz), took the cities out of the hand of Ben-hadad (Benadad), the son of Hazael, which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz (Joachaz), his father, by war; three times did Joash beat him, and he restored the cities to Israel.

2 Kings Chapter 14
'Amasias reigns in Judah: he overcomes the Edomites: but is overcome by Joas king of Israel. Jeroboam the second reigns in Israel.'

14:1. In the second year of Joas son of Joachaz, king of Israel, reigned Amasias son of Joas, king of Judah.

14:2. He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign; and nine and twenty years he reigned in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Joadan, of Jerusalem.

'''14:3. He did that which was right before the Lord, but yet not like David his father. He did according to all things that Joas his father, did:'''

14:4. But this only, that he took not away the high places; for yet the people sacrificed, and burnt incense in the high places:

14:5. When he had possession of the kingdom, he put his servants to death that had slain the king, his father.

14:6. But the children of the murderers he did not put to death, according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the Lord commanded, saying: The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: but every man shall die for his own sin.

14:7. He slew of Edom in the valley of the Saltpits, ten thousand men, and took the rock by war, and called its name Jectehel, unto this day.

14:8. Then Amasias sent messengers to Joas, son of Joachaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying: Come, let us see one another.

Let us see one another. . .This was a challenge to fight.

'''14:9. Joas, king of Israel, sent again to Amasias, king of Judah, saying: A thistle of Lebanon sent to a cedar tree, which is in Lebanon, saying: Give your daughter to my son to wife. And the beasts of the forest, that are in Lebanon, passed, and trod down the thistle.'''

14:10. You have beaten and prevailed over Edom, and your heart has lifted you up; be content with this glory, and sit at home; why do you provoke evil, that you should fall, and Judah with you?

'''14:11. But Amasias did not rest satisfied. So Joas, king of Israel, went up; and he and Amasias, king of Judah, saw one another in Bethsames, a town in Judah.'''

14:12. Judah was put to the worse before Israel, and they fled every man to their dwellings.

14:13. But Joas, king of Israel, took Amasias, king of Judah, the son of Joas, the son of Ochozias, in Bethsames, and brought him into Jerusalem; and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem, from the gate of Ephraim to the gate of the corner, four hundred cubits.

14:14. He took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord, and in the king's treasures, and hostages, and returned to Samaria.

14:15. But the rest of the acts of Joas, which he did, and his valor, wherewith he fought against Amasias, king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

14:16. Joas slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria, with the kings of Israel: and Jeroboam, his son, reigned in his stead.

14:17. Amasias, the son of Joas, king of Judah, lived after the death of Joas, son of Joachaz, king of Israel, fifteen years.

14:18. The rest of the acts of Amasias, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah?

'''14:19. Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachis. And they sent after him to Lachis, and killed him there.'''

14:20. They brought him away upon horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers, in the city of David.

14:21. All the people of Judah took Azarias, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father, Amasias.

14:22. He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.

14:23. In the fifteenth year of Amasias, son of Joas, king of Judah, reigned Jeroboam, the son of Joas, king of Israel, in Samaria, one and forty years:

'''14:24. He did that which is evil before the Lord. He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin.'''

14:25. He restored the borders of Israel from the entrance of Emath, unto the sea of the wilderness, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant, Jonah, the son of Amathi, the prophet, who was of Geth, which is in Opher.

Opher. . .The tribe of Zebulon.

14:26. For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was exceedingly bitter, and that they were consumed even to them that were shut up in prison, and the lowest persons, and that there was no one to help Israel.

14:27. The Lord did not say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven; but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joas.

14:28. But the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his valor, wherewith he fought, and how he restored Damascus and Emath to Judah, in Israel, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

14:29. Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel; and Zacharias, his son, reigned in his stead.

2 Kings Chapter 15
The reign of Azarias, and Joatham in Judah: and of Zacharias, Sellum, Manahem, Phaceia, and Phacee in Israel.

15:1. In the seven and twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, reigned Azarias, son of Amasias, king of Judah.

Azarias. . .Otherwise called Ozias.

15:2. He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Jechelia, of Jerusalem.

15:3. He did that which was pleasing before the Lord, according to all that his father, Amasias, had done.

15:4. But the high places he did not destroy, for the people sacrificed, and burnt incense in the high places.

15:5. The Lord struck the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and he dwelt in a free house apart: but Joatham, the king's son, governed the palace, and judged the people of the land.

A leper. . .In punishment of his usurping the priestly function. 2 Par. 26.

15:6. And the rest of the acts of Azarias, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah?

15:7. Azarias slept with his fathers: and they buried him with his ancestors in the city of David, and Joatham, his son, reigned in his stead.

15:8. In the eight and thirtieth year of Azarias, king of Judah, reigned Zacharias, son of Jeroboam, over Israel, in Samaria, six months:

15:9. and he did that which is evil before the Lord, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin.

15:10. Sellum, the son of Jabes, conspired against him: and struck him publicly, and killed him, and reigned in his place.

15:11. Now the rest of the acts of Zacharias, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

'''15:12. This was the word of the Lord, which he spoke to Jehu, saying: Your children, to the fourth generation, shall sit upon the throne of Israel. And so it came to pass.'''

15:13. Sellum, the son of Jabes, began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of Azarias, king of Judah: and reigned one month in Samaria.

15:14. Manahem, the son of Gadi, went up from Thersa, and he came into Samaria, and struck Sellum, the son of Jabes, in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead.

15:15. The rest of the acts of Sellum, and his conspiracy which he made, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

15:16. Then Manahem destroyed Thapsa and all that were in it, and the borders of it from Thersa, because they would not open to him: and he slew all its pregnant women, and ripped them up.

15:17. In the nine and thirtieth year of Azarias, king of Judah, reigned Manahem, son of Gadi, over Israel, ten years, in Samaria.

15:18. He did that which was evil before the Lord: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, all his days.

15:19. Phul, king of the Assyrians, came into the land, and Manahem gave Phul a thousand talents of silver to aid him and to establish him in the kingdom.

15:20. Manahem laid a tax upon Israel, on all that were mighty and rich, to give the king of the Assyrians, each man fifty sicles of silver: so the king of the Assyrians turned back, and did not stay in the land.

15:21. The rest of the acts of Manahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

15:22. Manahem slept with his fathers: and Phaceia, his son, reigned in his stead.

15:23. In the fiftieth year of Azarias, king of Judah, reigned Phaceia, the son of Manahem, over Israel, in Samaria, two years.

15:24. He did that which was evil before the Lord: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin.



15:25. Phacee the son of Romelia, his captain, conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the tower of the king's house, near Argob, and near Arie, and with him fifty men of the sons of the Galaadites, and he slew him, and reigned in his stead.

15:26. The rest of the acts of Phaceia, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

15:27. In the two and fiftieth year of Azarias, king of Judah, reigned Phacee, the son of Romelia, over Israel, in Samaria, twenty years.

15:28. He did that which was evil before the Lord: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin.

15:29. In the days of Phacee, king of Israel, came Theglathphalasar, king of Assyria, and took Aion, and Abel Domum Maacha, and Janoe, and Cedes, and Asor, and Galaad, and Galilee, and all the land of Naphtali: and carried them captives into Assyria.

15:30. Now Osee, son of Ela, conspired, and formed a plot against Phacee, the son of Romelia, and struck him, and slew him: and reigned in his stead in the twentieth year of Joatham, the son of Ozias.

In the twentieth year of Joatham. . .That is, in the twentieth year, from the beginning of Joatham's reign. The sacred writer chooses rather to follow here this date than to speak of the years of Achaz, who had not yet been mentioned.

15:31. But the rest of the acts of Phacee, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

15:32. In the second year of Phacee, the son of Romelia king of Israel, reigned Joatham, son of Ozias, king of Judah.

15:33. He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Jerusa, the daughter of Sadoc.

15:34. He did that which was right before the Lord: according to all that his father Ozias had done, so did he.

15:35. But the high places he took not away: the people still sacrificed, and burnt incense in the high places: he built the highest gate of the house of the Lord.

15:36. But the rest of the acts of Joatham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah?

15:37. In those days the Lord began to send into Judah, Rasin king of Syria, and Phacee the son of Romelia.

15:38. Joatham slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David, his father; and Achaz, his son, reigned in his stead.

2 Kings Chapter 16
King Ahaz was previously spelled Achaz.

The wicked reign of Ahaz: the kings of Syria and Israel war against him: he hires the king of the Assyrians to assist him: he causes an altar to be made after the pattern of that of Damascus.

16:1. In the seventeenth year of Phacee, the son of Romelia reigned Ahaz, the son of Joatham, king of Judah.

16:2. Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: he did not that which was pleasing in the sight of the Lord, his God, as David, his father.

16:3. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel: moreover, he consecrated also his son, making him pass through the fire, according to the idols of the nations which the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.

16:4. He sacrificed also, and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

16:5. Then Rasin, king of Syria, and Phacee, son of Romelia, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to fight: and they besieged Ahaz, but were not able to overcome him.

16:6. At that time Rasin, king of Syria, restored Aila to Syria, and drove the men of Judah out of Aila: and the Edomites came into Aila, and dwelt there unto this day.

16:7. Ahaz sent messengers to Theglathphalasar, king of the Assyrians, saying: I am your servant, and your son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who are risen up together against me.

16:8. When he had gathered together the silver and gold that could be found in the house of the Lord, and in the king's treasures, he sent it for a present to the king of the Assyrians.

16:9. He agreed to his desire: for the king of the Assyrians went up against Damascus, and laid it waste: and he carried away its inhabitants to Cyrene; but Rasin he slew.

16:10. King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Theglathphalasar, king of the Assyrians, and when he had seen the altar of Damascus, king Ahaz sent to Urias, the priest, a pattern of it, and its likeness, according to all the work of it.

16:11. Urias, the priest, built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had commanded from Damascus so did Urias, the priest, until king Ahaz came from Damascus.

16:12. When the king was come from Damascus, he saw the altar and worshipped it: and went up and offered holocausts, and his own sacrifice;



16:13. He offered libations, and poured the blood of the peace offerings, which he had offered, upon the altar.

16:14. But the altar of brass that was before the Lord, he removed from the face of the temple, and from the place of the altar, and from the place of the temple of the Lord: and he set it at the side of the altar towards the north.

16:15. King Ahaz commanded Urias, the priest, saying: Upon the great altar offer the morning holocaust, and the evening sacrifice, and the king's holocaust, and his sacrifice, and the holocaust of the whole people of the land, and their sacrifices, and their libations: and all the blood of the holocaust, and all the blood of the victim, you shall pour out upon it: but the altar of brass shall be ready at my pleasure.

16:16. So Urias, the priest, did according to all that king Ahaz had commanded him.

16:17. King Ahaz took away the graven bases, and the laver that was upon them: and he took down the sea from the brazen oxen that held it up, and put it upon a pavement of stone.

16:18. The Musach also for the Sabbath, which he had built in the temple, and the king's entry from without, he turned into the temple of the Lord, because of the king of the Assyrians.

Musach. . .The covert, or pavilion, or tribune, for the king.

16:19. Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the of the days of the kings of Judah?

16:20. Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David, and Hezekiah, his son, reigned in his stead.

2 Kings Chapter 17
'The reign of Osee. The Israelites for their sins are carried into captivity: other inhabitants are sent to Samaria, who make a mixture of religion.'

17:1. In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Judah, Osee the son of Ela reigned in Samaria, over Israel, nine years.

In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Judah. . .He began to reign before: but was not in quiet possession of the kingdom to the twelfth year of Achaz.

17:2. He did evil before the Lord: but not as the kings of Israel that had been before him.

17:3. Against him came up Salmanasar, king of the Assyrians; and Osee became his servant, and paid him tribute.

17:4. When the king of the Assyrians found that Osee, endeavouring to rebel, had sent messengers to Sua, the king of Egypt, that he might not pay tribute to the king of the Assyrians, as he had done every year, he besieged him, bound him, and cast him into prison. 17:5. And he went through all the land: and going up to Samaria, he besieged it three years.

17:6. In the ninth year of Osee, the king of the Assyrians took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria: and he placed them in Hala, and Habor, by the river of Gozan, in the cities of the Medes.

17:7. For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord, their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and they worshipped strange gods.

17:8. They walked according to the way of the nations which the Lord had destroyed in the sight of the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel: because they had done in like manner.

17:9. The children of Israel offended the Lord, their God, with things that were not right: and built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

17:10. They made them statues and groves on every high hill, and under every shady tree:

17:11. They burnt incense there upon altars, after the manner of the nations which the Lord had removed from their face: and they did wicked things, provoking the Lord.

17:12. They worshipped abominations, concerning which the Lord had commanded them that they should not do this thing.

17:13. The Lord testified to them in Israel, and in Judah, by the hand of all the prophets and seers, saying: Return from your wicked ways, and keep my precepts, and ceremonies, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers: and as I have sent to you in the hand of my servants the prophets.

17:14. They hearkened not, but hardened their necks like to the neck of their fathers, who would not obey the Lord, their God.

17:15. They rejected his ordinances, and the covenant that he made with their fathers, and the testimonies which he testified against them: and they followed vanities, and acted vainly: and they followed the nations that were round about them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them that they should not do as they did.

17:16. They forsook all the precepts of the Lord, their God: and made to themselves two molten calves, and groves, and adored all the host of heaven: and they served Baal,

17:17. and consecrated their sons, and their daughters, through fire: and they gave themselves to divinations, and soothsayings: and they delivered themselves up to do evil before the Lord, to provoke him.

17:18. The Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from his sight, and there remained only the tribe of Judah.

17:19. But neither did Judah itself keep the commandments of the Lord, their God: but they walked in the errors of Israel, which they had wrought.

17:20. The Lord cast off all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, till he cast them away from his face:

17:21. Even from that time, when Israel was rent from the house of David, and made Jeroboam, son of Nabat, their king: for Jeroboam separated Israel from the Lord, and made them commit a great sin.

17:22. The children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, which he had done: and they departed not from them,

17:23. until the Lord removed Israel from his face, as he had spoken in the hand of all his servants, the prophets: and Israel was carried away out of their land to Assyria, unto this day.

17:24. The king of the Assyrians brought people from Babylon, and from Cutha, and from Avah, and from Emath, and from Sepharvaim: and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in its cities.



17:25. When they began to dwell there, they feared not the Lord: and the Lord sent lions among them, which killed them.

17:26. It was told the king of the Assyrians, and it was said: The nations which you have removed, and made to dwell in the cities of Samaria, know not the ordinances of the God of the land: and the Lord has sent lions among them: and behold they kill them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.

17:27. The king of the Assyrians commanded, saying: Carry thither one of the priests whom you brought from thence captive, and let him go, and dwell with them: and let him teach them the ordinances of the God of the land.

17:28. So one of the priests, who had been carried away captive from Samaria, came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should worship the Lord.

17:29. Every nation made gods of their own and put them in the temples of the high places, which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities where they dwelt.

17:30. For the men of Babylon made Sochothbenoth: and the Cuthites made Nergel: and the men of Emath made Asima.

'''17:31. The Hevites made Nebahaz, and Tharthac. And they that were of Sepharvaim burnt their children in fire, to Adramelech and Anamelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.'''

'''17:32. Nevertheless they worshipped the Lord. And they made to themselves, of the lowest of the people, priests of the high places, and they placed them in the temples of the high places.'''

17:33. When they worshipped the Lord, they served also their own gods, according to the custom of the nations out of which they were brought to Samaria:

17:34. Unto this day they follow the old manner: they fear not the Lord, neither do they keep his ceremonies, and judgments, and law, and the commandment, which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he surnamed Israel:

17:35. With whom he made a covenant, and charged them, saying: You shall not fear strange gods, nor shall you adore them, nor worship them, nor sacrifice to them.

17:36. But the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, with great power, and a stretched out arm, him shall you fear, and him shall you adore, and to him shall you sacrifice.

17:37. The ceremonies, and judgments, and law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do them always: and you shall not fear strange gods.

17:38. The covenant that he made with you, you shall not forget: neither shall you worship strange gods,

17:39. But fear the Lord, your God, and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.

17:40. But they did not hearken to them, but did according to their old custom.

17:41. So these nations feared the Lord, but nevertheless served also their idols: their children also, and grandchildren, as their fathers did, so do they unto this day.

2 Kings Chapter 18
'The reign of Hezekiah: he abolishes idolatry and prospers. Sennacherib cometh up against him: Rabsaces solicits the people to revolt; and blasphemes the Lord.'

18:1. In the third year of Osee, the son of Ela, king of Israel, reigned Hezekiah, the son of Achaz, king of Judah.

18:2. He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Abi, the daughter of Zacharias.

18:3. He did that which was good before the Lord, according to all that David, his father, had done

18:4. He destroyed the high places, and broke the statues in pieces, and cut down the groves, and broke the brazen serpent, which Moses had made: for till that time the children of Israel burnt incense to it: and he called its name Nehushtan.

And he called its name Nehushtan. . .That is, their brass; or a little brass. So he called it in contempt, because they had made an idol of it.

18:5. He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel: so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any of them that were before him:

18:6. He stuck to the Lord, and departed not from his steps, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.

'''18:7. Wherefore the Lord also was with him, and in all things, to which he went forth, he behaved himself wisely. And he rebelled against the king of the Assyrians, and served him not.'''

18:8. He smote the Philistines as far as Gaza, and all their borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

18:9. In the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Osee, the son of Ela, king of Israel, Salmanasar, king of the Assyrians, came up to Samaria, and besieged it,

'''18:10. and took it. For after three years, in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, in the ninth year of Osee, king of Israel, Samaria was taken:'''

18:11. and the king of the Assyrians carried away Israel into Assyria, and placed them in Hala, and in Habor, by the rivers of Gozan, in the cities of the Medes.

18:12. Because they hearkened not to the voice of the Lord, their God, but transgressed his covenant: all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded, they would not hear, nor do.

18:13. In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, came up against the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.

'''18:14. Then Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent messengers to the king of the Assyrians, to Lachis, saying: I have offended, depart from me: and all that you shall put upon me, I will bear. The king of the Assyrians put a tax upon Hezekiah, king of Judah, of three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold.'''

18:15. Hezekiah gave all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the king's treasures.

18:16. At that time Hezekiah broke the doors of the temple of the Lord, and the plates of gold which he had fastened on them, and gave them to the king of the Assyrians.

18:17. The king of the Assyrians sent Tharthan, and Rabsaris, and Rabsaces, from Lachis, to king Hezekiah, with a strong army, to Jerusalem: and they went up and came to Jerusalem, and they stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the way of the fuller's field.

18:18. They called for the king: and there went out to them Eliacim, the son of Helcias, who was over the house, and Sobna, the scribe, and Joahe, the son of Asaph, the recorder.

18:19. Rabsaces said to them: Speak to Hezekiah: Thus says the great king, the king of the Assyrians: What is this confidence, wherein you trust?

'''18:20. Perhaps you have taken counsel, to prepare yourself for battle. On whom do you trust, that you dare to rebel?'''

'''18:21. Do you trust in Egypt a staff of a broken reed, upon which if a man lean, it will break and go into his hand, and pierce it? So is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all that trust in him.'''

18:22. But if you say to me: We trust in the Lord, our God: is it not he, whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away: and has commanded Judah and Jerusalem: You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?

18:23. Now therefore come over to my master, the king of the Assyrians, and I will give you two thousand horses, and see whether you be able to have riders for them.

'''18:24. How can you stand against one lord of the least of my master's servants? Do you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?'''

'''18:25. Is it without the will of the Lord that I am come up to this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me: Go up to this land, and destroy it.'''

18:26. Then Eliacim, the son of Helcias, and Sobna, and Joahe, said to Rabsaces: We pray you, speak to us, your servants, in Syriac: for we understand that tongue: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the hearing of the people that are upon the wall.

18:27. Rabsaces answered them, saying: Has my master sent me to your master, and to you, to speak these words, and not rather to the men that sit upon the wall *** ?

18:28. Then Rabsaces stood, and cried out with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said: Hear the word of the great king, the king of the Assyrians.

18:29. Thus says the king: Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of my hand.

18:30. Neither let him make you trust in the Lord, saying: The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of the Assyrians.

'''18:31. Do not hearken to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of the Assyrians: Do with me that which is for your advantage, and come out to me: and every man of you shall eat of his own vineyard, and of his own fig tree: and you shall drink water of your own cisterns,'''

'''18:32. until I come, and take you away, to a land, like to your own land, a fruitful land, and plentiful in wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olives, and oil, and honey, and you shall live, and not die. Hearken not to Hezekiah, who deceives you, saying: The Lord will deliver us.'''

18:33. Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

'''18:34. Where is the god of Emath, and of Arphad? Where is the god of Sepharvaim, of Ana, and of Ava? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?'''

18:35. Who are they among all the gods of the nations that have delivered their country out of my hand, that the Lord may deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

18:36. But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for they had received commandment from the king that they should not answer him.

18:37. Eliacim, the son of Helcias, who was over the house, and Sobna, the scribe, and Joahe, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah, with their garments rent, and told him the words of Rabsaces.

2 Kings Chapter 19
'Hezekiah is assured of God's help by Isaiah the prophet. The king of the Assyrians still threatens and blasphemes. Hezekiah prays, and God promises to protect Jerusalem. An angel destroys the army of the Assyrians, their king returns to Nineveh, and is slain by his two sons.'

19:1. And when king Hezekiah heard these words, he rent his garments, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.



19:2. He sent Eliacim, who was over the house, and Sobna, the scribe, and the ancients of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amos.

19:3. They said to him: Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: the children are come to the birth, and the woman in travail has not strength.

19:4. It may be the Lord, your God, will hear all the words of Rabsaces, whom the king of the Assyrians, his master, has sent to reproach the living God, and to reprove with words, which the Lord, your God, has heard: and do you offer prayer for the remnants that are found.

19:5. So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

19:6. Isaiah said to them: Thus shall you say to your master: Thus says the Lord: Be not afraid for the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me.

19:7. Behold I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a message, and shall return into his own country, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own country.

19:8. Rabsaces returned, and found the king of the Assyrians besieging Lobna: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachis.

19:9. When he heard of Tharaca, king of Ethiopia: Behold, he is come out to fight with you: and was going against him, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying:

19:10. Thus shall you say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: Do not let your God deceive you, in whom you trust: and do not say: Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.

19:11. Behold, you have heard what the kings of the Assyrians have done to all countries, how they have laid them waste: and can you alone be delivered?

19:12. Have the gods of the nations delivered any of them, whom my fathers have destroyed, to wit, Gozan, and Haran, and Reseph, and the children of Eden, that were in Thelassar?

19:13. Where is the king of Emath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Ana, and of Ava?

19:14. When Hezekiah had received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and had read it, he went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord,

19:15. He prayed in his sight, saying: O Lord God of Israel, who sits upon the cherubims, you alone are the God of all the kings of the earth: you made heaven and earth:

19:16. Incline your ear, and hear: open, O Lord, your eyes and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to upbraid unto us the living God.

19:17. Of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have destroyed nations, and the lands of them all.

19:18. They have cast their gods into the fire: for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, of wood and stone, and they destroyed them.

19:19. Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the Lord, the only God.

19:20. Isaiah, the son of Amos, sent to Hezekiah, saying: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I have heard the prayer you have made to me concerning Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians.

19:21. This is the word that the Lord has spoken of him: The virgin, the daughter of Zion, has despised you, and laughed you to scorn: the daughter of Jerusalem has wagged her head behind your back.

'''19:22. Whom have you reproached, and whom have you blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the holy one of Israel.'''

'''19:23. By the hand of your servants you have reproached the Lord, and have said: With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, to the top of Lebanon, and have cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees. And I have entered into its furthest parts, and the forest of its Carmel.'''

Carmel. . .A pleasant fruitful hill in the forest. These expressions are figurative, signifying under the names of mountains and forests, the kings and provinces whom the Assyrians had triumphed over.

19:24. I have cut down, and I have drunk strange waters, and have dried up with the soles of my feet all the shut up waters.

'''19:25. Have you not heard what I have done from the beginning? from the days of old I have formed it, and now I have brought it to effect: that fenced cities of fighting men should be turned to heaps of ruins:'''

I have formed it, etc. . .All your exploits, in which you take pride, are no more than what I have decreed; and are not to be ascribed to your wisdom or strength, but to my will and ordinance: who have given to you to take and destroy so many fenced cities, and to carry terror wherever you come.--Ibid. Heaps of ruin. . .Literally ruin of the hills.

19:26. The inhabitants of them were weak of hand, they trembled and were confounded, they became like the grass of the field, and the green herb on the tops of houses, which withered before it came to maturity.

19:27. Your dwelling, and your going out, and your coming in, and your way I knew before, and your rage against me.

19:28. You have been mad against me, and your pride has come up to my ears: therefore I will put a ring in your nose, and a bit between your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.

19:29. To you, O Hezekiah, this shall be a sign: Eat this year what you shall find: and in the second year, such things as spring of themselves: but in the third year sow and reap: plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.

19:30. Whatsoever shall be left of the house of Judah, shall take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

19:31. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and that which shall be saved out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. 19:32. Wherefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of the Assyrians: He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow into it, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a trench about it.

19:33. By the way that he came he shall return: and into this city he shall not come, says the Lord.

19:34. I will protect this city, and will save it for my own sake, and for David, my servant's sake.

'''19:35. It came to pass that night, that an angel of the Lord came, and slew in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when he arose early in the morning, he saw all the bodies of the dead.'''

19:36. Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, departing, went away, and he returned and abode in Nineveh.

19:37. As he was worshipping in the temple of Nesroch, his god, Adramelech and Sarasar, his sons, slew him with the sword, and they fled into the land of the Armenians, and Asarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead.

2 Kings Chapter 20
'Hezekiah being sick, is told by Isaiah that he shall die; but praying to God, he obtains longer life, and in confirmation of it receives a sign by the sun's returning back. He shows all his treasures to the ambassadors of the king of Babylon: Isaiah reproving him for it, foretells the Babylonian captivity.' 20:1. In those days Hezekiah was sick unto death: and Isaiah, the son of Amos, the prophet, came and said to him: Thus says the Lord God: Give charge concerning your house, for you shall die, and not live.

20:2. He turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying:

'''20:3. I beseech you, O Lord, remember how I have walked before you in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is pleasing before you. And Hezekiah wept with much weeping.'''

20:4. Before Isaiah was gone out of the middle of the court, the word of the Lord came to him, saying:

20:5. Go back, and tell Hezekiah, the captain of my people: Thus says the Lord, the God of David, your father: I have heard your prayer, and I have seen your tears: and behold I have healed you: on the third day you shall go up to the temple of the Lord.

20:6. I will add to your days fifteen years: and I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and I will protect this city for my own sake, and for David, my servant's sake.

'''20:7. Isaiah said: Bring me a lump of figs. And when they had brought it, and laid it upon his boil, he was healed.'''

20:8. Hezekiah had said to Isaiah: What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I will go up to the temple of the Lord the third day?

20:9. Isaiah said to him: This shall be the sign from the Lord, that the Lord will do the word which he has spoken: Will you that the shadow go forward ten lines, or that it go back so many degrees?

20:10. Hezekiah said: It is an easy matter for the shadow to go forward ten lines: and I do not desire that this be done, but let it return back ten degrees.

20:11. Isaiah, the prophet, called upon the Lord, and he brought the shadow ten degrees backwards by the lines, by which it had already gone down on the dial of Achaz.

20:12. At that time Berodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of the Babylonians, sent letters and presents to Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

'''20:13. Hezekiah rejoiced at their coming, and he showed them the house of his aromatical spices, and the gold, and the silver, and diverse precious odors, and ointments, and the house of his vessels, and all that he had in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominions, that Hezekiah showed them not.'''



'''20:14. Isaiah, the prophet, came to king Hezekiah, and said to him: What said these men? Or from whence came they to you? And Hezekiah said to him: From a far country, they came to me out of Babylon.'''

'''20:15. He said: What did they see in your house? Hezekiah said: They saw all the things that are in my house: There is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them.'''

20:16. Isaiah said to Hezekiah: Hear the word of the Lord.

20:17. Behold the days shall come, that all that is in your house, and that your fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, says the Lord.

20:18. Of your sons also that shall issue from you, whom you shall beget, they shall take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

20:19. Hezekiah said to Isaiah: The word of the Lord, which you have spoken, is good: let peace and truth be in my days.

20:20. The rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought waters into the city, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah?

20:21. Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh, his son reigned in his stead.

2 Kings Chapter 21
'The wickedness of Manasseh: God's threats by his prophets. His wicked son Amon succeeds him, and is slain by his servants.'

21:1. Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned five and fifty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Haphsiba.

21:2. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the idols of the nations, which the Lord destroyed from before the face of the children of Israel.

21:3. He turned, and built up the high places, which Hezekiah, his father, had destroyed: and he set up altars to Baal, and made groves, as Ahab, the king of Israel, had done: and he adored all the host of heaven, and served them.

21:4. He built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said: In Jerusalem I will put my name.

21:5. He built altars for all the host of heaven, in the two courts of the temple of the Lord.

21:6. He made his son pass through fire: and he used divinations, and observed omens, and appointed pythons, and multiplied soothsayers, to do evil before the Lord, and to provoke him.

Pythons. . .That is, diviners by spirits.

21:7. He set also an idol of the grove, which he had made, in the temple of the Lord: concerning which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son: In this temple, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.

21:8. I will no more make the feet of Israel to be moved out of the land, which I gave to their fathers: only if they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, according to the law which my servant Moses commanded them.

21:9. But they hearkened not: but were seduced by Manasseh, to do evil more than the nations which the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.

21:10. The Lord spoke in the hand of his servants, the prophets, saying:

21:11. Because Manasseh, king of Judah, has done these most wicked abominations, beyond all that the Amorrhites did before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his filthy doings:

21:12. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring on evils upon Jerusalem and Judah: that whosoever shall hear of them, both his ears shall tingle.

21:13. I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the weight of the house of Ahab: and I will efface Jerusalem, as writings tables are wont to be effaced, and I will erase and turn it, and draw the pencil often over its face.

21:14. I will leave the remnants of my inheritance, and will deliver them into the hands of their enemies: and they shall become a prey, and a spoil to all their enemies.

21:15. Because they have done evil before me, and have continued to provoke me, from the day that their fathers came out of Egypt, even unto this day.

21:16. Moreover, Manasseh shed also very much innocent blood, till he filled Jerusalem up to the mouth: besides his sins, wherewith he made Judah to sin, to do evil before the Lord.

21:17. Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin, which he sinned, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah?

21:18. Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Oza: and Amon, his son, reigned in his stead.

21:19. Two and twenty years old was Amon when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Messalemeth, the daughter of Harus, of Jeteba.

21:20. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh, his father, had done.

21:21. He walked in all the ways in which his father had walked: and he served the abominations which his father had served, and he adored them.

21:22. He forsook the Lord, the God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the Lord.

21:23. His servants plotted against him, and slew the king in his own house.

21:24. But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon: and made Josiah, his son, their king in his stead.

21:25. But the rest of the acts of Amon, which he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah?

21:26. They buried him in his sepulchre, in the garden of Oza: and his son, Josiah, reigned in his stead.

2 Kings Chapter 22
'Josiah repairs the temple. The book of the law is found, upon which they consult the Lord, and are told that great evils shall fall upon them, but not in the time of Josiah.'



22:1. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign: he reigned one and thirty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Idida, the daughter of Hadaia, of Besecath.

22:2. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of David, his father: he turned not aside to the right hand, or to the left.

22:3. In the eighteenth year of king Josiah, the king sent Saphan, the son of Assia, the son of Messulam, the scribe of the temple of the Lord, saying to him:

22:4. Go to Helcias, the high priest, that the money may be put together which is brought into the temple of the Lord, which the doorkeepers of the temple have gathered of the people.

22:5. Let it be given to the workmen by the overseers of the house of the Lord: and let them distribute it to those that work in the temple of the Lord, to repair the temple:

22:6. That is, to carpenters and masons, and to such as mend breaches: and that timber may be bought, and stones out of the quarries, to repair the temple of the Lord.

22:7. But let there be no reckoning made with them of the money which they receive, but let them have it in their power, and in their trust.

22:8. Helcias, the high priest, said to Saphan, the scribe: I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord: and Helcias gave the book to Saphan, and he read it.

The book of the law. . .That is, Deuteronomy.

22:9. Saphan, the scribe, came to the king, and brought him word again concerning that which he had commanded, and said: Your servants have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the Lord: and they have given it to be distributed to the workmen, by the overseers of the works of the temple of the Lord.

'''22:10. Saphan, the scribe, told the king, saying: Helcias, the priest, has delivered to me a book. And when Saphan had read it before the king,'''

22:11. The king had heard the words of the law of the Lord, he rent his garments.

22:12. He commanded Helcias, the priest, and Ahicam, the son of Saphan, and Achobor, the son of Micha, and Saphan, the scribe, and Asaia, the king's servant, saying:

22:13. Go and consult the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book which is found: for the great wrath of the Lord is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened to the words of this book, to do all that is written for us.

22:14. So Helcias, the priest, and Ahicam, and Achobor, and Sapham, and Asaia, went to Holda, the prophetess, the wife of Sellum, the son of Thecua, the son of Araas, keeper of the wardrobe, who dwelt in Jerusalem, in the Second: and they spoke to her.

The Second. . .A street, or part of the city, so called; in Hebrew, Massem.

22:15. She said to them: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Tell the man that sent you to me:

22:16. Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will bring evils upon this place, and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the law which the king of Judah has read:

22:17. Because they have forsaken me, and have sacrificed to strange gods, provoking me by all the works of their hands: therefore my indignation shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.

22:18. But to the king of Judah, who sent you to consult the Lord, thus shall you say: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: for as much as you have heard the words of the book,

22:19. and your heart has been moved to fear, and you have humbled yourself before the Lord, hearing the words against this place, and its inhabitants, to wit, that they should become a wonder and a curse: and you have rent your garments, and wept before me; I also have heard you; says the Lord.

22:20. Therefore I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your sepulchre in peace; that your eyes may not see all the evils which I will bring upon this place.

2 Kings Chapter 23
'Josiah reads the law before all the people. They promise to observe it. He abolishes all idolatry, celebrates the phase: is slain in battle by the king of Egypt. The short reign of Joachaz, in whose place Joakim is made king.'

'''23:1. They brought the king word again what she had said. And he sent: and all the ancients of Judah and Jerusalem were assembled to him.'''

23:2. The king went up to the temple of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both little and great: and in the hearing of them all he read all the words of the book of the covenant, which was found in the house of the Lord.

23:3. The king stood upon the step: and he made a covenant with the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his ceremonies, with all their heart, and with all their soul, and to perform the words of this covenant, which were written in that book: and the people agreed to the covenant.

The king stood upon the step. . .That is, his tribune, or tribunal, a more eminent place, from whence he might be seen and heard by the people.

23:4. The king commanded Helcias, the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to cast out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that had been made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burnt them without Jerusalem, in the valley of Cedron, and he carried the ashes of them to Bethel.

23:5. He destroyed the soothsayers, whom the kings of Judah had appointed to sacrifice in the high places in the cities of Judah, and round about Jerusalem: them also that burnt incense to Baal, and to the sun, and to the moon, and to the twelve signs, and to all the host of heaven.

23:6. He caused the grove to be carried out from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, to the valley of Cedron, and he burnt it there, and reduced it to dust, and cast the dust upon the graves of the common people.

23:7. He destroyed also the pavilions of the effeminate, which were in the house of the Lord, for which the women wove as it were little dwellings for the grove.

23:8. He gathered together all the priests out of the cities of Judah: and he defiled the high places, where the priests offered sacrifice, from Gabaa to Bersabee: and he broke down the altars of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Josue, governor of the city, which was on the left hand of the gate of the city.

23:9. However, the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord, in Jerusalem: but only eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.

23:10. He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Ennom: that no man should consecrate there his son, or his daughter, through fire, to Moloch.

23:11. He took away the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the temple of the Lord, near the chamber of Nathanmelech the eunuch, who was in Pharurim: and he burnt the chariots of the sun with fire.

23:12. The altars that were upon the top of the upper chamber of Achaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the temple of the Lord, the king broke down: and he ran from thence, and cast the ashes of them into the torrent Cedron.

23:13. The high places also that were at Jerusalem, on the right side of the Mount of Offence, which Solomon, king of Israel, had built to Astaroth, the idol of the Sidonians, and to Chamos, the scandal of Moab, and to Melchom, the abomination of the children of Ammon, the king defiled.

23:14. He broke in pieces the statues, and cut down the groves: and he filled their places with the bones of dead men.

23:15. Moreover, the altar also that was at Bethel, and the high place, which Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, had made: both the altar, and the high place, he broke down and burnt, and reduced to powder, and burnt the grove.

23:16. As Josiah turned himself, he saw there the sepulchres that were in the mount: and he sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burnt them upon the altar, and defiled it according to the word of the Lord, which the man of God spoke, who had foretold these things.

'''23:17. He said: What is that monument which I see? And the men of that city answered: It is the sepulchre of the man of God, who came from Judah, and foretold these things which you have done upon the altar of Bethel.'''

'''23:18. He said: Let him alone, let no man move his bones. So his bones were left untouched with the bones of the prophet, that came out of Samaria.'''

23:19. Moreover all the temples of the high places which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord, Josiah took away: and he did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.

23:20. He slew all the priests of the high places, that were there, upon the altars; and he burnt men's bones upon them: and returned to Jerusalem.

23:21. He commanded all the people, saying: Keep the Phase to the Lord your God, according as it is written in the book of this covenant.

23:22. Now there was no such a Phase kept from the days of the judges, who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Judah,

23:23. As was this Phase, that was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem, in the eighteenth year of king Josiah.

23:24. Moreover the diviners by spirits, and soothsayers, and the figures of idols, and the uncleannesses, and the abominations, that had been in the land of Judah and Jerusalem, Josiah took away: that he might perform the words of the law, that were written in the book, which Helcias the priest had found in the temple of the Lord.

23:25. There was no king before him like unto him, that returned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his strength, according to all the law of Moses: neither after him did there arise any like unto him.

23:26. But yet the Lord turned not away from the wrath of his great indignation, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah: because of the provocations, wherewith Manasseh had provoked him.

23:27. The Lord said: I will remove Judah also from before my face, as I have removed Israel: and I will cast off this city Jerusalem, which I chose, and the house, of which I said: My name shall be there.

23:28. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah?

23:29. In his days Pharaoh Nechao, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went to meet him: and was slain at Mageddo, when he had seen him.

'''23:30. His servants carried him dead from Mageddo: and they brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Joachaz, the son of Josiah: and they anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead.'''

23:31. Joachaz was three and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Jeremiah, of Lobna.

23:32. He did evil before the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.

23:33. And Pharaoh Nechao bound him at Rebla, which is in the land of Emath, that he should not reign in Jerusalem: and he set a fine upon the land, of a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.

'''23:34. Pharaoh Nechao made Eliacim, the son of Josiah, king in the room of Josiah his father: and turned his name to Joakim. He took Joachaz away and carried him into Egypt, and he died there.'''

23:35. Joakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, after he had taxed the land for every man, to contribute according to the commandment of Pharaoh: and he exacted both the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every man according to his ability: to give to Pharaoh Nechao.

23:36. Joakim was five and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Zebida, the daughter of Phadaia, of Ruma.

23:37. He did evil before the Lord according to all that his fathers had done.

2 Kings Chapter 24
The reign of Joakim, Joachin, and Sedecias. Nebuchadnezzar is the current spelling of Nabuchodonosor. (A.D. 2011)

24:1. In his days Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon came up, and Joakim became his servant three years: then again he rebelled against him.

24:2. The Lord sent against him the rovers of the Chaldees, and the rovers of Syria, and the rovers of Moab, and the rovers of the children of Ammon: and he sent them against Judah, to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by his servants, the prophets.

The Lord sent against him the rovers. . .Latrunculos. Bands or parties of men, who pillaged and plundered wherever they came.

24:3. This came by the word of the Lord against Judah, to remove them from before him for all the sins of Manasseh which he did;

24:4. and for the innocent blood that he shed, filling Jerusalem with innocent blood: and therefore the Lord would not be appeased.

'''24:5. But the rest of the acts of Joakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah? Joakim slept with his fathers:'''

24:6. Joachin, his son, reigned in his stead.

24:7. The king of Egypt came not again any more out of his own country: for the king of Babylon had taken all that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt, unto the river Euphrates.

24:8. Joachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Nohesta, the daughter of Elnathan, of Jerusalem.

24:9. He did evil before the Lord, according to all that his father had done.

24:10. At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against Jerusalem, and the city was surrounded with their forts.

24:11. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to the city, with his servants, to assault it.

24:12. Joachin, king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his nobles, and his eunuchs: and the king of Babylon received him in the eighth year of his reign.

24:13. He brought out from thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house: and he cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the temple of the Lord, according to the word of the Lord.

24:14. He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the valiant men of the army, to the number of ten thousand, into captivity: and every artificer and smith: and none were left, but the poor sort of the people of the land.

24:15. He carried away Joachin into Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his eunuchs: and the judges of the land he carried into captivity, from Jerusalem, into Babylon.

24:16. All the strong men, seven thousand, and the artificers, and the smiths, a thousand, all that were valiant men, and fit for war: and the king of Babylon led them captives into Babylon.

24:17. He appointed Matthanias, his uncle, in his stead: and called his name Zedekiah.

24:18. Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Jeremiah, of Lobna.

24:19. He did evil before the Lord, according to all that Joakim had done.

24:20. For the Lord was angry against Jerusalem and against Judah, till he cast them out from his face: and Zedekiah revolted from the king of Babylon.

2 Kings Chapter 25
'Jerusalem is besieged and taken by Nebuchadnezzar: Zedekiah is taken: the city and temple are destroyed. Godolias, who is left governor, is slain. Joachin is exalted by Evilmerodach.' 25:8. In the fifth month, the seventh day of the month, the same is the nineteenth year of the king of Babylon, came Nabuzardan, commander of the army, a servant of the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem.

25:9. He burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burnt with fire.

25:10. All the army of the Chaldeans, which was with the commander of the troops, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about.

25:11. Nabuzardan, the commander of the army, carried away the rest of the people, that remained in the city, and the fugitives, that had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the remnant of the common people.

25:12. But of the poor of the land he left some dressers of vines and husbandmen.

25:13. The pillars of brass that were in the temple of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass, which was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.

25:14. They took away also the pots of brass, and the mazers, and the forks, and the cups, and the mortars, and all the vessels of brass, with which they ministered.

25:15. Moreover also the censers, and the bowls, such as were of gold in gold: and such as were of silver in silver, the general of the army took away.

25:16. That is, two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made in the temple of the Lord: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

25:17. One pillar was eighteen cubits high: and the chapiter of brass, which was upon it, was three cubits high: and the network, and the pomegranates that were upon the chapiter of the pillar, were all of brass: and the second pillar had the like adorning.

25:18. The general of the army took Seraias, the chief priest, and Sophonias, the second priest, and three doorkeepers:

25:19. Out of the city one eunuch, who was captain over the men of war: and five men of them who had stood before the king, whom he found in the city, and Sopher, the captain of the army, who exercised the young soldiers of the people of the land: and threescore men of the common people, who were found in the city:

25:20. These Nabuzardan, the general of the army, took away, and carried them to the king of Babylon, to Reblatha.

25:21. The king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Reblatha, in the land of Emath: so Judah was carried away out of their land.

25:22. But over the people that remained in the land of Judah, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had left, he gave the government to Godolias, the son of Ahicam, the son of Saphan.

25:23. When all the captains of the soldiers had heard this, they and the men that were with them, to wit, that the king of Babylon had made Godolias governor they came to Godolias to Maspha, Ismael, the son of Nathanias, and Johanan, the son of Caree, and Saraia, the son of Thanehumeth, the Netophathite, and Jezonias, the son of Maachathi, they and their men.

25:24. Godolias swore to them and to their men, saying: Be not afraid to serve the Chaldeans: stay in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

25:25. But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ismael, the son of Nathanias, the son of Elisama, of the seed royal came, and ten men with him, and smote Godolias; so that he died: and also the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him in Maspha.

25:26. All the people, both little and great, and the captains of the soldiers, rising up, went to Egypt, fearing the Chaldeans.

25:27. It came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Joachin, king of Judah, in the twelfth month, the seven and twentieth day of the month: Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Joachin, king of Judah, out of prison.

25:28. He spoke kindly to him: and he set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon.

25:29. He changed his garments which he had in prison, and he ate bread always before him, all the days of his life.

25:30. He appointed him a continual allowance, which was also given him by the king, day by day, all the days of his life.