2nd. CHRONICLES

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Fred Miller's Revised King James' Version

2nd. CHRONICLES

CHAPTERS: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36]

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2nd. Chronicles 1

¹And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom and the LORD his God was with him and magnified him exceedingly. ²Then Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds and to the judges and to every governor in all Israel, the chief of the fathers. ³So Solomon and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness, was there. ⁴But had David brought the ark of God up from Kirjathjearim to Jerusalem to the place which David had prepared for it: for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem. ⁵Also he put the brazen altar that Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur had made in front the tabernacle of the LORD at Gibeon and Solomon and the congregation enquired of it. ⁶And Solomon went up there to the brazen altar before the LORD, which was at the tabernacle of the congregation and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it. ⁷In that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, Ask what I shall give you. ⁸And Solomon said to God, You have shown great mercy to David my father and have made me to reign in his place. ⁹Now, O LORD God, let your promise to David my father be established: for you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. ¹⁰Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this your people, who are so great? ¹¹And God said to Solomon, Because this was in your heart and you have not asked riches, wealth, or honor, nor the life of your enemies, neither have you yet asked long life; but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge my people, over whom I have made you king: ¹²Wisdom and knowledge is granted to you; and I will give you riches and wealth and honor, such as none of the kings have had who have been before you, neither shall any after you have the like.
¹³Then Solomon returned to Jerusalem, from the presence of the tabernacle of the congregation at the high place at Gibeon and reigned over Israel. ¹⁴And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen: and he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he placed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. ¹⁵And the king made silver and gold at Jerusalem as plenteous as stones and cedar trees he made as the sycamore trees that are in the vale for abundance. ¹⁶And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt and linen yarn: the king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price. ¹⁷And they imported and brought out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred shekels of silver and a horse for a hundred fifty: and so they brought out horses for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Syria, by their means.
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Chapter 2
¹And Solomon determined to build a house for the name of the LORD and a house for his kingdom. ²And Solomon numbered out seventy thousand men to bear burdens and eighty thousand to hew in the mountain and three thousand six hundred to oversee them. ³And Solomon sent to Hiram the king of Tyre, saying, As you dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build a house to dwell in, even so deal with me. ⁴Behold, I am building a house to the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn sweet incense before him and for the continual show bread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance for ever to Israel. ⁵And the house which I am building is great: for great is our God above all gods. ⁶But who is able to build a house for him, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? What am I then, that I should build a house for him, save only to burn sacrifice before him? ⁷Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass, and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and who has skill to engrave with the cunning men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided. ⁸Send me also cedar trees, fir trees and algum trees, out of Lebanon: for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and, behold, my servants shall be with your servants, ⁹Even to prepare timber for me in abundance: for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderfully great. ¹⁰And, behold, I will give to your servants, the hewers who cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil.
¹¹Then Hiram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because the LORD has loved his people, he has made you king over them. ¹²Hiram said also, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding, who might build a house for the LORD and a house for his kingdom. ¹³And now I have sent a cunning man of Hiram my father's, endued with understanding,, ¹⁴The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone and in timber, in purple, in blue and in fine linen and in crimson; also to engrave any manner of engraving and to find out every device which shall be put to him, with your cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David your father. ¹⁵Now therefore the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants: ¹⁶And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as you shall need: and we will bring it to you in floats by sea to Joppa; and you shall carry it up to Jerusalem. ¹⁷And Solomon numbered all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, after the numbering with which David his father had numbered them; and they were found one hundred fifty three thousand six hundred. ¹⁸And he set seventy thousand of them to be bearers of burdens and eighty thousand to be hewers in the mountain, and three thousand six hundred overseers to set the people to work.
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Chapter 3
¹Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared to David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ²And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. ³Now these are the things in which Solomon was instructed for building the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was sixty cubits and the breadth twenty cubits. ⁴And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits and the height was a hundred twenty: and he overlaid it inside with pure gold. ⁵And the greater house he cieled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set on it palm trees and chains. ⁶And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim. ⁷He overlaid also the house, the beams, the posts and its walls and its doors with gold; and engraved cherubim on the walls. ⁸And he made the most holy house, the length which was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits and the breadth of it twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents. ⁹And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.
¹⁰And in the most holy house he made two cherubim of image work, and overlaid them with gold. ¹¹And the wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long: one wing of one cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing was likewise five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub. ¹²And one wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing was five cubits also, joining to the wing of the other cherub. ¹³The wings of these cherubim spread themselves to twenty cubits: and they stood on their feet and their faces were inward. ¹⁴And he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson and fine linen and worked cherubim on it. ¹⁵Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty five cubits high and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them was five cubits. ¹⁶And he made chains, as in the oracle and put them on the heads of the pillars; and made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains. ¹⁷And he reared up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin and the name of that on the left Boaz.
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Chapter 4
¹He also made an altar of brass, the length of it twenty cubits and twenty cubits the breadth of it and the height of it ten cubits. ²Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height of it; and a line of thirty cubits surrounded it round about. ³And under it was the similitude of oxen, which surrounded it round about: ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about. Two rows of oxen were cast, when it was cast. ⁴It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above on them and all their hind parts were inward. ⁵And the thickness of it was a hand breadth and the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies; and it received and held three thousand baths. ⁶He also made ten lavers and put five on the right hand and five on the left, to wash in them: such things as they offered for the burnt offering they washed in them; but the sea was for the priests to wash in. ⁷And he made ten lamp stands of gold according to their form and set them in the temple, five on the right hand and five on the left. ⁸He made also ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. And he made a hundred basins of gold. ⁹Furthermore he made the court of the priests and the great court, and doors for the court and overlaid the doors with brass. ¹⁰And he set the sea on the right side of the east end, opposite the south.
¹¹And Hiram made the pots and the shovels and the basins. And Hiram finished the work that he was to make for king Solomon for the house of God; ¹²Which was, the two pillars and the pommels and the chapiters which were on the top of the two pillars and the two wreaths to cover the two pommels of the chapiters which were on the top of the pillars; ¹³And four hundred pomegranates on the two wreaths; two rows of pomegranates on each wreath, to cover the two pommels of the chapiters which were on the pillars. ¹⁴He also made bases and he made lavers on the bases; ¹⁵One sea and twelve oxen under it. ¹⁶The pots also, and the shovels and the flesh hooks and Hiram his father made all their instruments of bright brass, for king Solomon for the house of the LORD. ¹⁷ The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah. ¹⁸Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance: for the weight of the brass could not be found out. ¹⁹And Solomon made all the vessels that were for the house of God, the golden altar also and the tables on which the show bread was set; ²⁰Also the lamp stands of pure gold with their lamps, that they should burn after the manner before the oracle; ²¹And the flowers and the lamps and the tongs, he made of gold, and that perfect gold; ²²And the snuffers and the basins and the spoons and the censers, of pure gold: and the entry of the house, its inner doors for the most holy place, and the doors of the house of the temple, were of gold.
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Chapter 5
¹Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the LORD was finished: and Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated; and the silver and the gold and all the instruments, he put among the treasures of the house of God. ²Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. ³Therefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king in the feast which was in the seventh month. ⁴And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark. ⁵And they brought up the ark and the tabernacle of the congregation and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, these the priests and the Levites brought up. ⁶Also king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled to him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be told nor numbered for multitude. ⁷And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim: ⁸For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark and the cherubim covered above the ark and its staves. ⁹And they drew out the staves of the ark, that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen out side. And there it is to this day. ¹⁰There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put in it at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.
¹¹And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests who were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course: ¹²Also the Levites who were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brothers, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar and with them one hundred twenty priests sounding with trumpets:) ¹³It then came to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endures for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; ¹⁴So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.
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Chapter 6
¹Then Solomon said , The LORD has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. ²But I have built a house of habitation for you and a place for your dwelling for ever. ³And the king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood. ⁴And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who has with his hands fulfilled that which he spoke with his mouth to my father David, saying, ⁵Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there; neither did I choose any man to be a ruler over my people Israel: ⁶But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel. ⁷Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel. ⁸But the LORD said to David my father, Forasmuch as it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart: ⁹But you shall not build the house; but your son who shall come out of your loins, he shall build the house for my name. ¹⁰The LORD therefore has performed his word that he has spoken: for I am risen up in the room of my father David and I am set on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised and have built the house for the name of the LORD God of Israel. ¹¹And in it I have put the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD, that he made with the children of Israel.
¹²And he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread out his hands: ¹³For Solomon had made a brazen scaffold, of five cubits long and five cubits broad and three cubits high and had set it in the midst of the court: and he stood on it and kneeled down on his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven, ¹⁴And said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like you in the heaven, nor in the earth; who keeps covenant and shows mercy to your servants, who walk before you with all their hearts: ¹⁵You who have kept with your servant David my father that which you have promised him; and spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day. ¹⁶Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, There shall not fail a man of you in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; if your children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as you have walked before me. ¹⁷Now then, O LORD God of Israel, let your word be verified, which you have spoken to your servant David. ¹⁸But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house which I have built! ¹⁹Have respect therefore to the prayer of your servant and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and the prayer which your servant prays before you: ²⁰That your eyes may be open on this house day and night, on the place where you have said that you would put your name there; to listen to the prayer which your servant prays toward this place. ²¹Listen therefore to the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear you from your dwelling place, even from heaven; and when you hear, forgive. ²²If a man sins against his neighbor and an oath is laid on him to make him swear and the oath comes before your altar in this house; ²³Then hear from heaven and do and judge your servants, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way on his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness. ²⁴And if your people Israel is put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against you; and shall return and confess your name and pray and make supplication before you in this house; ²⁵Then hear from the heavens and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land which you gave to them and to their fathers. ²⁶When the heaven is shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them; ²⁷Then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel, when you have taught them the good way, in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance. ²⁸If there is dearth in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillars; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatever sore or what ever sickness there is: ²⁹Then whatever prayer or whatever supplication shall be made of any man, or of all your people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief and shall spread out his hands in this house: ³⁰Then hear from heaven, your dwelling place and forgive and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; (for only you know the hearts of the children of men:) ³¹So that they may fear you, to walk in your ways, so long as they live in the land which you gave to our fathers. ³²Also concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, but has come from a far country for your great name's sake and your mighty hand and your stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house; ³³Then hear from the heavens, even from your dwelling place and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all people of the earth may know your name and fear you, as your people Israel do and may know that this house which I have built is called by your name. ³⁴If your people go out to war against their enemies by the way that you shall send them and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen and the house which I have built for your name; ³⁵Then hear their prayer and their supplication and maintain their cause from the heavens. ³⁶If they sin against you, (for there is no man who does not sin,) and you are angry with them and deliver them over before their enemies and they carry them away captives to a land far off or near; ³⁷Still if they consider themselves in the land where they are carried captive and turn and pray to you in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss and have dealt wickedly; ³⁸If they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have carried them captives and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers and toward the city which you have chosen and toward the house which I have built for your name: ³⁹Then hear from the heavens, even from your dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you. ⁴⁰Now, my God, I beseech you, let your eyes be open and your ears be attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. ⁴¹Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into your resting place, you and the ark of your strength: let your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation and let your saints rejoice in goodness. ⁴²O LORD God, turn not away the face of your anointed: remember the mercies of David your servant.
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Chapter 7
¹Now when Solomon had finished praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house. ²And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD'S house. ³And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the LORD on the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endures for ever. ⁴Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD. ⁵And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep: so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ⁶And the priests waited on their offices: the Levites also with instruments of music of the LORD, which David the king had made to praise the LORD, because his mercy endures for ever, when David praised by their ministry; and the priests sounded trumpets before them and all Israel stood. ⁷Also Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD: for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the brazen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings and the meat offerings and the fat. ⁸Also at the same time Solomon kept the feast seven days and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath to the river of Egypt. ⁹And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. ¹⁰And on the twenty third day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the LORD had shown to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people. ¹¹Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king's house: and he prosperously effected all that came into Solomon's heart, to make in the house of the LORD and in his own house.
¹²And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night and said to him, I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice. ¹³If I shut up heaven that there is no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; ¹⁴If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ¹⁵Now my eyes shall be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. ¹⁶For I have now chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. ¹⁷And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked and do according to all that I have commanded you and shall observe my statutes and my judgments; ¹⁸Then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, according as I covenanted with David your father, saying, There shall not fail a man from you to be ruler in Israel. ¹⁹But if you turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you and shall go and serve other gods and worship them; ²⁰Then I will pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name I will cast out of my sight and will make it a proverb and a byword among all nations. ²¹And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one who passes it by; so that he shall say, Why has the LORD done this to this land and to this house? ²²And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods, and worshiped them and served them: therefore he has brought all this evil on them.
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Chapter 8
¹And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the house of the LORD and his own house, ²That the cities which Hiram had restored to Solomon, Solomon rebuilt and caused the children of Israel to dwell there. ³And Solomon went to Hamathzobah and prevailed against it. ⁴And he built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath. ⁵Also he built Bethhoron the upper and Bethhoron the lower, fenced cities, with walls, gates and bars; ⁶And Baalath and all the store cities that Solomon had and all the chariot cities and the cities of the horsemen and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and throughout all the land of his dominion. ⁷As for all the people who were left of the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel, ⁸But of the children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel did not consume, Solomon made them to pay tribute until this day. ⁹But Solomon made no servants of the children of Israel for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains and captains of his chariots and horsemen. ¹⁰And these were the chief of king Solomon's officers, even two hundred fifty, who bore rule over the people. ¹¹And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David to the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, to which the ark of the LORD has come.
¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD, which he had built before the porch, ¹³Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. ¹⁴And he appointed the courses of the priests to their service, according to the order of David his father and the Levites to their charges, to praise and minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required: the porters also by their courses at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded. ¹⁵And they did not depart from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures. ¹⁶Now all the work of Solomon was prepared for the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD and until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was perfected. ¹⁷Then Solomon went to Eziongeber and to Eilath, at the sea side in the land of Edom. ¹⁸And Hiram sent ships to him by the hands of his servants and servants who had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir and took from there four hundred fifty talents of gold and brought them to king Solomon.
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Chapter 9
¹And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company and camels that bore spices and gold in abundance and precious stones: and when she had come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. ²And Solomon told her all her questions: and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he did not tell her. ³And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, ⁴And the food of his table and the sitting of his servants and the attendance of his ministers and their apparel; his cupbearers also and their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her. ⁵And she said to the king, It was a true report which I heard in my own land of your acts and of your wisdom: ⁶But I did not believe their words, until I came and my eyes have seen it: and, behold, the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told to me: for you exceed the fame that I heard. ⁷Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom. ⁸Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you to set you on his throne, to be king for the LORD your God: because your God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore he made you king over them, to do judgment and justice. ⁹And she gave the king one hundred twenty talents of gold and a great abundance of spices and precious stones: neither was there any other such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon. ¹⁰And the servants also of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones. ¹¹And the king made terraces for the algum trees for the house of the LORD and for the king's palace and harps and psalteries for singers: and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah. ¹²And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, what ever she asked, beside that which she had brought to the king. So she turned and went away to her own land, she and her servants.
¹³Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty six talents of gold; ¹⁴Beside that which explorers and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one target. ¹⁶And three hundred shields he made of beaten gold: three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. ¹⁷Also the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which was fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place and two lions standing by the stays: ¹⁹And twelve lions stood there on each side of the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom. ²⁰And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: none were of silver; it was not any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon. ²¹For the king's ships went to Carthage with the servants of Hiram: the ships of Carthage came once every three years bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks. ²²And king Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²³And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart. ²⁴And every man brought his present, vessels of silver and vessels of gold and raiment, harness and spices, horses and mules, a rate year by year. ²⁵And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. ²⁶And he reigned over all the kings from the river even to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. ²⁷And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones and he made cedar trees in abundance as the sycamore trees that are in the low plains. ²⁸And they brought to Solomon horses out of Egypt and out of all lands. ²⁹Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ³⁰And Solomon reigned forty years in Jerusalem over all Israel. ³¹And Solomon slept with his fathers and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.
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Chapter 10
¹And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ²And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of Solomon the king, heard it, that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt. ³That they sent and called him. So Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore ease somewhat the grievous servitude of your father and his heavy yoke that he put on us and we will serve you. ⁵And he said to them, Come again to me after three days. And the people departed. ⁶And king Rehoboam took counsel with the old men who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What counsel do you give me to return an answer to this people? ⁷And they spoke to him, saying, If you are kind to this people and please them and speak good words to them, they will be your servants for ever. ⁸But he forsook the counsel which the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who stood before him, who were brought up with him. ⁹And he said to them, What advice do you give that we may return an answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Ease somewhat the yoke that your father put on us? ¹⁰And the young men who were brought up with him spoke to him, saying, Thus shall you answer the people who spoke to you, saying, Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it somewhat lighter for us; thus shall you say to them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father's thighs. ¹¹For as my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will put more to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king asked, saying, Come again to me on the third day. ¹³And the king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men, ¹⁴And answered them after the advice of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. ¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people: for the cause was of God, that the LORD might perform his word, which he spoke by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ¹⁶And when all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to your tents, O Israel: and now, David, see to your own house. So all Israel went to their tents. ¹⁷But as for the children of Israel who dwelled in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. ¹⁸Then king Rehoboam sent Hadoram who was over the tribute; and the children of Israel stoned him with stones, so that he died. But king Rehoboam made speed to go up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹And Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day.
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Chapter 11
¹And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he gathered from the house of Judah and Benjamin one hundred eighty thousand chosen men, who were warriors, to fight against Israel, that he might bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam. ²But the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ³Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, ⁴Thus says the LORD, you shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers: return every man to his house: for this thing is done of me. And they obeyed the words of the LORD and returned from going against Jeroboam. ⁵And Rehoboam dwelled in Jerusalem and built cities for defense in Judah. ⁶He fortified even Bethlehem and Etam and Tekoa, ⁷And Bethzur and Shoco and Adullam, ⁸And Gath and Mareshah and Ziph, ⁹And Adoraim and Lachish and Azekah, ¹⁰And Zorah and Aijalon and Hebron, which are fenced cities in Judah and in Benjamin. ¹¹And he fortified the strong holds and put captains in them and store of victuals, and of oil and wine. ¹²And in every several city he put shields and spears and made them exceedingly strong, having Judah and Benjamin on his side.
¹³And the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts. ¹⁴For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest's office to the LORD: ¹⁵And he ordained for himself priests for the high places and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made. ¹⁶And after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to the LORD God of their fathers. ¹⁷So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years: for three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon. ¹⁸And Rehoboam took him Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David as a wife, and Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse; ¹⁹Who bore him children; Jeush and Shamariah and Zaham. ²⁰And after her he took Maachah the daughter of Absalom; who bore him Abijah and Attai and Ziza and Shelomith. ²¹And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines: (for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines; and sired twenty eight sons and sixty daughters.) ²²And Rehoboam made Abijah the son of Maachah the chief, to be ruler among his brothers: for he thought to make him king. ²³And he dealt wisely and dispersed all his children throughout all the countries of Judah and Benjamin, to every fenced city: and he gave them supplies in abundance. And he desired many wives.
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Chapter 12
¹And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the LORD and all Israel with him. ²And it came to pass, that in the fifth year of king Rehoboam Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the LORD, ³With twelve hundred chariots, and sixty thousand horsemen: and the people were without number who came with him out of Egypt; the Lubims, the Sukkiims and the Ethiopians. ⁴And he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah and came to Jerusalem. ⁵Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who were gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak and said to them, Thus says the LORD, you have forsaken me and therefore I have also left you in the hand of Shishak. ⁶Whereon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, The LORD is righteous. ⁷And when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and my anger shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. ⁸But they shall be his servants; so that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries. ⁹So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house; he took all: he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made. ¹⁰Instead of which king Rehoboam made shields of brass and committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard, who kept the entrance of the king's house. ¹¹And when the king entered into the house of the LORD, the guard came and brought them, and then returned them again into the guard chamber. ¹²And when he humbled himself, the anger of the LORD turned from him, so that he did not destroy him altogether: and also in Judah things went well.
¹³So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned: for Rehoboam was forty one years old when he began to reign and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen, to put his name there out of all the tribes of Israel. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess. ¹⁴And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the LORD. ¹⁵Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. ¹⁶And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David: and Abijah his son reigned in his place.
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Chapter 13
¹Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam Abijah began to reign over Judah. ²He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³And Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men: Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valor. ⁴And Abijah stood up on Mount Zemaraim, which is in Mount Ephraim and said, Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel; ⁵Should you not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? ⁶Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, has risen up and has rebelled against his lord. ⁷And there are vain men gathered to him of the children of Belial and had strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted and could not withstand them. ⁸And now do you think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David; and you are a great multitude and there are with you golden calves, which Jeroboam made gods for you. ⁹Have you not cast out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron and the Levites and have made priests after the manner of the nations of other lands? so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest for them who are no gods. ¹⁰But as for us, the LORD is our God and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, who minister to the LORD, are the sons of Aaron and the Levites wait on their business: ¹¹And they burn burnt sacrifices and sweet incense to the LORD every morning and every evening: also they set in order the show bread on the pure table; and the lamp stand of gold with its lamps, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of the LORD our God; but you have forsaken him. ¹²And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers; for you shall not prosper.
¹³But Jeroboam caused an ambush to come about behind them: so they were before Judah and the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind: and they cried to the LORD and the priests sounded with the trumpets. ¹⁵Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶And the children of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand. ¹⁷And Abijah and his people killed them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. ¹⁸Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD God of their fathers. ¹⁹And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam and took cities from him, Bethel with its towns and Jeshanah with its towns and Ephrain with its towns. ²⁰Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah: and the LORD struck him and he died. ²¹But Abijah grew mighty and married fourteen wives and was the father of twenty two sons and sixteen daughters. ²²And the rest of the acts of Abijah and his ways and his sayings, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.
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Chapter 14
¹So Abijah slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet ten years. ²And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God: ³For he took away the altars of the foreign gods, and the high places and broke down the images and cut down the groves: ⁴And commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandments. ⁵Also he took away the high places and the images out of all the cities of Judah: and the kingdom was quiet before him. ⁶And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest and he had no war in those years; because the LORD had given him rest. ⁷Therefore he said to Judah, Let us build these cities and make walls about them and towers, gates and bars, while the land is yet before us; because we have sought the LORD our God, we have sought him and he has given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered. ⁸And Asa had an army of men who bore targets and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, who bore shields and drew bows, two hundred eighty thousand: all these were mighty men of valor.
⁹And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with a host of one million and three hundred chariots; and came to Mareshah. ¹⁰Then Asa went out against him and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹And Asa cried to the LORD his God and said, LORD, it is nothing with you to help, whether with many, or with them who have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on you and in your name we go against this multitude. O LORD, you are our God; let not man prevail against you. ¹²So the LORD struck the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar: and the Ethiopians were overthrown, so that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before the LORD and before his host; and they carried away very much spoil. ¹⁴And they struck all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of the LORD came on them: and they spoiled all the cities; for there was an exceedingly great spoil in them. ¹⁵They struck also the tents of cattle and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.
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Chapter 15
¹And the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded: ²And he went out to meet Asa and said to him, Hear me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. ³Now for a long season Israel has been without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law. ⁴But when they in their trouble turned to the LORD God of Israel and sought him, he was found of them. ⁵And in those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him who came in, but great vexations were on all the inhabitants of the countries. ⁶And nation was destroyed of nation and city of city: for God vexed them with all adversity. ⁷Be strong therefore and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.
⁸And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin and out of the cities which he had taken from Mount Ephraim and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD. ⁹And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and the foreigners with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. ¹⁰So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. ¹¹And they offered to the LORD at the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. ¹²And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; ¹³That whoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. ¹⁴And they swore to the LORD with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with cornets. ¹⁵And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about. ¹⁶And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol and stamped it and burnt it at the brook Kidron. ¹⁷But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: but the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. ¹⁸And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated and that he himself had dedicated, silver and gold and vessels. ¹⁹And there was no more war to the thirty fifth year of the reign of Asa.
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Chapter 16
¹In the thirty sixth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let no one go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. ²Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the king's house and sent to Benhadad king of Syria, who dwelled at Damascus, saying, ³There is a league between me and you, as there was between my father and your father: behold, I have sent you silver and gold; go, break your league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. ⁴And Benhadad listened to king Asa and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they struck Ijon and Dan and Abelmaim and all the store cities of Naphtali. ⁵And it came to pass, when Baasha heard it, that he left off building Ramah and let his work cease. ⁶Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha was building; and he built Geba and Mizpah with it.
⁷And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, Because you have relied on the king of Syria and not relied on the LORD your God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of your hand. ⁸Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand. ⁹For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein you have done foolishly: therefore from now on you shall have wars. ¹⁰Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time. ¹¹And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ¹²And Asa in the thirty ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceedingly great: yet in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians. ¹³And Asa slept with his fathers and died in the forty first year of his reign. ¹⁴And they buried him in his own sepulcher, which he had made for himself in the city of David and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and different kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' art: and they made a very great burning for him.
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Chapter 17
¹And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place and strengthened himself against Israel. ²And he placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken. ³And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David and did not seek Baalim; ⁴But sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments and not after the doings of Israel. ⁵Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought presents to Jehoshaphat and he had riches and honor in abundance. ⁶And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD: also he took away the high places and groves out of Judah. ⁷Also in the third year of his reign he sent to his princes, even to Benhail and to Obadiah and to Zechariah and to Nethaneel and to Michaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah. ⁸And with them he sent Levites, even Shemaiah and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah and Asahel and Shemiramoth and Jehonathan and Adonijah and Tobijah and Tobadonijah, Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, priests. ⁹And they taught in Judah and had the book of the law of the LORD with them and went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people.
¹⁰And the fear of the LORD fell on all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹Also some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and tribute silver; and the Arabians brought him flocks, seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred male goats. ¹²And Jehoshaphat grew exceedingly great; and he built castles in Judah and store cities. ¹³And he had much business in the cities of Judah: and the men of war, mighty men of valor, were in Jerusalem. ¹⁴And these are the numbers of them according to the house of their fathers: Of Judah, the captains of thousands; Adnah the chief and with him mighty men of valor three hundred thousand. ¹⁵And next to him was Jehohanan the captain and with him two hundred eighty thousand. ¹⁶And next him was Amasiah the son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself to the LORD; and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valor. ¹⁷And of Benjamin; Eliada a mighty man of valor and with him armed men with bow and shield two hundred thousand. ¹⁸And next him was Jehozabad, and with him one hundred eighty thousand ready prepared for war. ¹⁹These waited on the king, beside those whom the king put in the fenced cities throughout all Judah.
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Chapter 18
¹Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance and made an affinity with Ahab. ²And after certain years he went down to Ahab to Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance and for the people whom he had with him and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramothgilead. ³And Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, will you go with me to Ramothgilead? And he answered him, I am as you are and my people as your people; and we will be with you in the war.
⁴And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Inquire, I beseech you, at the word of the LORD today. ⁵Therefore the king of Israel gathered together four hundred men of the prophets and said to them, Shall we go to Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for God will deliver it into the king's hand. ⁶But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not a prophet of the LORD here besides, that we might inquire of him? ⁷And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, by whom we may inquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he never prophesied good to me, but always evil: the same is Micaiah the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. ⁸And the king of Israel called for one of his officers and said, Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imla. ⁹And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah sat both of them on his throne, clothed in their robes and they sat in a void place at the entering in of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them. ¹⁰And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah had made horns of iron and said, Thus says the LORD, With these you shall push Syria until they are consumed. ¹¹And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramothgilead and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king. ¹²And the messenger who went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one assent; let your word therefore, I beseech you, be like one of theirs and speak good. ¹³And Micaiah said, As the LORD lives, even what my God says, that will I speak. ¹⁴And when he was come to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go up and prosper and they shall be delivered into your hand. ¹⁵And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure you that you say nothing but the truth to me in the name of the LORD? ¹⁶Then he said, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep who have no shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master; let them return therefore every man to his house in peace. ¹⁷And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good to me, but evil? ¹⁸Again he said, Therefore hear the word of the LORD; I saw the LORD sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. ¹⁹And the LORD said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one spoke saying after this manner and another saying after that manner. ²⁰Then a spirit came out and stood before the LORD and said, I will entice him. And the LORD said to him, With what? ²¹And he said, I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the LORD said, You shall entice him and you shall also prevail: go out and do even so. ²²Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets and the LORD has spoken evil against you. ²³Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak to you? ²⁴And Micaiah said, Behold, you shall see on that day when you shall go into an inner chamber to hide yourself. ²⁵Then the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son; ²⁶And say, Thus says the king, Put this man in the prison and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I return in peace. ²⁷And Micaiah said, If you certainly return in peace, then the LORD has not spoken by me. And he said, Hear this all you people.
²⁸So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramothgilead. ²⁹And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and will go to the battle; but you put on your robes. So the king of Israel disguised himself; and they went to the battle. ³⁰Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of the chariots that were with him, saying, Do not fight with small or great, save only with the king of Israel. ³¹And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they surrounded him to fight: but Jehoshaphat cried out and the LORD helped him; and God moved them to leave him. ³²For it came to pass, that, when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back again from pursuing him. ³³And a certain man drew a bow at a venture and struck the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: therefore he said to his chariot man, Turn your hand, that you may carry me out of the host; for I am wounded. ³⁴And the battle increased that day: but the king of Israel stayed himself up in his chariot against the Syrians until the evening: and about the time of the sun going down he died.
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Chapter 19
¹And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to Jerusalem to his house in peace. ²And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Should you help the ungodly and love those who hate the LORD? therefore anger is on you from before the LORD. ³But there are good things found in you, in that you have taken away the groves out of the land and have prepared your heart to seek God. ⁴And Jehoshaphat dwelled at Jerusalem: and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim and brought them back to the LORD God of their fathers.
⁵And he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city, ⁶And said to the judges, Take heed what you do: for you do not judge for man, but for the LORD, who is with you in the judgment. ⁷Therefore now let the fear of the LORD be on you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts. ⁸Also, when they returned to Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat set the Levites and the priests and the chief of the fathers of Israel for the judgment of the LORD and for controversies in Jerusalem. ⁹And he charged them, saying, Thus shall you do in the fear of the LORD, faithfully and with a perfect heart. ¹⁰And whatever cause shall come to you of your brothers who dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, you shall even warn them so that they do not trespass against the LORD and so anger come on you and on your brothers: this do and you shall not trespass. ¹¹And, behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the LORD; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, for all the king's matters: also the Levites shall be officers before you. Deal courageously and the LORD shall be with the good.
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Chapter 20
¹It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab and the children of Ammon and with them others beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. ²Then there came some who told Jehoshaphat, saying, A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they are in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi. ³And Jehoshaphat was afraid and set himself to seek the LORD and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help from the LORD: they came to seek the LORD even out of all the cities of Judah. ⁵And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, ⁶And said, O LORD God of our fathers, are not you God in heaven? and do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand you? ⁷Are you not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it to the seed of Abraham your friend for ever? ⁸And they dwelled in it and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying, ⁹If, when evil comes on us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine and we stand before this house and in your presence, (for your name is in this house,) and cry to you in our affliction, then you will hear and help. ¹⁰And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them; ¹¹Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. ¹²O our God, will you not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that comes against us; neither do we know what to do: but our eyes are on you. ¹³And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives and their children.
¹⁴Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the congregation; ¹⁵And he said, Listen, all Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem and you king Jehoshaphat, Thus says the LORD to you, Do not be afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. ¹⁶Tomorrow go down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and you shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷You shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you. ¹⁸And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. ¹⁹And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high.
²⁰And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall you be established; believe his prophets, so shall you prosper. ²¹And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers to the LORD and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endures for ever. ²²And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the children of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who were come against Judah; and they were struck. ²³For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to kill and destroy them: and when they had finished the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. ²⁴And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked to the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth and no one escaped. ²⁵And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them both riches in abundance with the dead bodies and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering the spoil, it was so much. ²⁶And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, to this day. ²⁷Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies. ²⁸And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets to the house of the LORD. ²⁹And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel. ³⁰So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about.
³¹And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah: he was thirty five years old when he began to reign and he reigned twenty five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. ³²And he walked in the way of Asa his father and departed not from it, doing that which was right in the sight of the LORD. ³³But the high places were not taken away: for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts to the God of their fathers. ³⁴Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Jehu the son of Hanani, who is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel. ³⁵And after this Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly: ³⁶And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Carthage: and they made the ships in Eziongeber. ³⁷Then Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because you have joined yourself with Ahaziah, the LORD has broken your works. And the ships were broken, so that they were not able to go to Carthage.
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Chapter 21
¹Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Jehoram his son reigned in his place. ²And he had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah and Jehiel and Zechariah and Azariah and Michael and Shephatiah: all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. ³And their father gave them great gifts of silver and of gold and of precious things, with fenced cities in Judah: but the kingdom he gave to Jehoram; because he was the firstborn. ⁴Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself and killed all his brothers with the sword and others also of the princes of Israel. ⁵Jehoram was thirty two years old when he began to reign and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like the house of Ahab did: for he had the daughter of Ahab as a wife: and he worked that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD. ⁷But the LORD would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a light to him and to his sons for ever. ⁸In his days the Edomites revolted from under the dominion of Judah and made themselves a king. ⁹Then Jehoram went out with his princes and all his chariots with him: and he rose up at night and struck the Edomites who surrounded him and the captains of the chariots. ¹⁰So the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day. The same time also Libnah revolted from under his hand; because he had forsaken the LORD God of his fathers. ¹¹Also he made high places in the mountains of Judah and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah to do so.
¹²And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus says the LORD God of David your father, Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, ¹³But have walked in the way of the kings of Israel and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go whoring, like the whoredom of the house of Ahab and also have killed your brothers of your father's house, who were better than yourself: ¹⁴Behold, the LORD will strike your people with a great plague and your children and your wives and all your goods: ¹⁵And you shall have great sickness by disease of your bowels, until your bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day. ¹⁶Also the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and of the Arabians, who were near the Ethiopians: ¹⁷And they came up into Judah and broke into it and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house and his sons also and his wives; so that there was not one son left to him, except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons. ¹⁸And after all this the LORD struck him in his bowels with an incurable disease. ¹⁹And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers. ²⁰He was thirty two years old when he began to reign and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years and departed without being desired. But they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchers of the kings.
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Chapter 22
¹And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his place: for the band of men who came with the Arabians to the camp had killed all the eldest. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned. ²Ahaziah was forty two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri. ³He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counselor to act wickedly. ⁴Therefore he did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab: for they were his counselors to his destruction after the death of his father. ⁵He walked also after their counsel and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramothgilead: and the Syrians struck Joram. ⁶And he returned to be healed in Jezreel because of the wounds which were given him at Ramah, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria. And Azariah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab at Jezreel, because he was sick. ⁷And the destruction of Ahaziah was of God by coming to Joram: for when he was come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab. ⁸And it came to pass, that, when Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab and found the princes of Judah and the sons of the brothers of Ahaziah, who ministered to Ahaziah, he killed them. ⁹And he sought Ahaziah: and they caught him, (for he was hidden in Samaria,) and brought him to Jehu: and when they had killed him, they buried him: Because, they said, he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart. So the house of Ahaziah had no power to still keep the kingdom.
¹⁰But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah. ¹¹But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king's sons who were killed and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah, so that she did not kill him. ¹²And he was with them hidden in the house of God six years: and Athaliah reigned over the land.
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Chapter 23
¹And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan and Azariah the son of Obed and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into covenant with him. ²And they went about in Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah and the chief of the fathers of Israel and they came to Jerusalem. ³And all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said to them, Behold, the king's son shall reign, as the LORD has said of the sons of David. ⁴This is the thing that you shall do; A third part of you, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be porters of the doors entering on the sabbath; ⁵And a third part shall be at the king's house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation: and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the LORD. ⁶But let no one come into the house of the LORD, save the priests and those of the Levites who minister; they shall go in, for they are holy: but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD. ⁷And the Levites shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whoever else comes into the house, he shall be put to death: but you will be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out. ⁸So the Levites and all Judah did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest had commanded and took every man his men who were to come in on the sabbath, with them who were to go out on the sabbath: for Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss the courses. ⁹Also Jehoiada the priest delivered spears and bucklers and shields to the captains of hundreds, that had been king David's, which were in the house of God. ¹⁰And he set all the people, every man having his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple by the king round about, along side the altar and the temple,. ¹¹Then they brought out the king's son, and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, God save the king.
¹²Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of the LORD: ¹³And she looked and, behold, the king stood at his pillar at the entering in and the princes and the trumpets by the king: and all the people of the land rejoiced and sounded with trumpets, also the singers with instruments of music and such as were taught to sing praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and said, Treason, Treason. ¹⁴Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the host and said to them, Take her out of the ranges: and whoever follows her, let him be killed with the sword. For the priest said, Do not kill her in the house of the LORD. ¹⁵So they laid hands on her; and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the king's house, they killed her there. ¹⁶And Jehoiada made a covenant between him and between all the people and between the king, that they should be the LORD'S people. ¹⁷Then all the people went to the house of Baal and broke it down and broke his altars and his images in pieces and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. ¹⁸Also Jehoiada appointed the offices of the house of the LORD by the hand of the priests the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the LORD, to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as it was ordained by David. ¹⁹And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the LORD, so that no one who was unclean in any thing would enter in. ²⁰And he took the captains of hundreds and the nobles and the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought down the king from the house of the LORD: and they came through the high gate into the king's house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom. ²¹And all the people of the land rejoiced: and the city was quiet, after they had killed Athaliah with the sword.
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Chapter 24
¹Joash was seven years old when he began to reign and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. Also his mother's namewas Zibiah of Beersheba. ²And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest. ³And Jehoiada took two wives for him; and sons and daughters were born to him. ⁴And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repair the house of the LORD. ⁵And he gathered together the priests and the Levites and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah and gather money from all Israel to repair the house of your God from year to year and see that you hurry the matter. But the Levites did not hurry.. ⁶And the king called for Jehoiada the chief and said to him, Why have you not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the collection, according to the commandment of Moses the servant of the LORD and of the congregation of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness? ⁷For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD they bestowed on Baalim. ⁸And at the king's commandment they made a chest and set it outside at the gate of the house of the LORD. ⁹And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in to the LORD the collection that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰And all the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought in and cast into the chest, until they had made an end. ¹¹Now it came to pass, that at the time the chest was brought to the king's office by the hand of the Levites and when they saw that there was much money, the king's scribe and the high priest's officer came and emptied the chest and took it and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day and gathered money in abundance. ¹²And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of the LORD and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the LORD and also those who worked iron and brass to mend the house of the LORD. ¹³So the workmen worked and the work was perfected by them and they set the house of God in its state and strengthened it. ¹⁴And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, from which vessels were made for the house of the LORD, even vessels to minister and to offer and spoons and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the LORD continually all the days of Jehoiada.
¹⁵But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days when he died; he was one hundred thirty years old when he died. ¹⁶And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward his house. ¹⁷Now after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and bowed to the king. Then the king listened to them. ¹⁸And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers and served groves and idols: and anger came on Judah and Jerusalem for their trespass. ¹⁹Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them to the LORD again; and they testified against them: but they would not listen. ²⁰And the Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people and said to them, Thus says God, Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD? so that you cannot prosper. Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has also forsaken you. ²¹And they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD. ²²Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. And when he died, he said, The LORD look on it and require it. ²³And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria came up against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people and sent all the spoil from them to the king of Damascus. ²⁴For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men and the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash. ²⁵And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest and killed him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the sepulchers of the kings. ²⁶And these are those who conspired against him; Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess. ²⁷Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid on him and the repairing of the house of God, behold, they are written in the story of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.
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Chapter 25
¹Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign and he reigned twenty nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. ²And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart. ³Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established to him, that he killed his servants who had killed his father the king. ⁴But he did not kill their children, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, where the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin. ⁵Also Amaziah gathered Judah together and made captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and Benjamin: and he numbered them from twenty years old and above and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go out to war, who could handle spear and shield. ⁶He hired also one hundred thousand mighty men of valor out of Israel for one hundred talents of silver. ⁷But a man of God came there to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with you; for the LORD is not with Israel, that is, with all the children of Ephraim. ⁸But if you will go, do it, be strong for the battle: God shall make you fall before the enemy: for God has power to help and to cast down. ⁹And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give you much more than this. ¹⁰Then Amaziah separated them, even, the army that was come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again: therefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger. ¹¹And Amaziah strengthened himself and led his people out and went to the valley of salt and struck ten thousand of the children of Seir. ¹²And the children of Judah carried away captive, another ten thousand who were left alive and brought them to the top of the rock and cast them down from the top of the rock, so that they all were broken in pieces. ¹³But the soldiers of the army who Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell on the cities of Judah, from Samaria even to Bethhoron and struck three thousand of them and took much spoil.
¹⁴Now it came to pass, after Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir and set them up to be his gods and bowed down himself before them and burned incense to them. ¹⁵Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against Amaziah and he sent a prophet to him, who said to him, Why have you sought after the gods of the people, who could not deliver their own people out of your hand? ¹⁶And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that the king said to him, are you made of the king's counsel? forbear; why should you be struck? Then the prophet forbear and said, I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.
¹⁷Then Amaziah king of Judah took advice and sent to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us see one another in the face. ¹⁸And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild animal that was in Lebanon and trod down the thistle. ¹⁹You say, Lo, you have struck the Edomites; and your heart lifts you up to boast: abide now at home; why should you meddle to your hurt, that you should fall, even you and Judah with you? ²⁰But Amaziah would not hear; for it came of God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they sought after the gods of Edom. ²¹So Joash the king of Israel went up; and they saw one another in the face, both he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Bethshemesh, which belongs to Judah. ²²And Judah was put to the worse before Israel and they fled every man to his tent. ²³And Joash the king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, at Bethshemesh and brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim four hundred cubits to the corner gate. ²⁴And he took all the gold and the silver and all the vessels that were found in the house of God with Obededom and the treasures of the king's house, the hostages also and returned to Samaria. ²⁵And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years. ²⁶Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, behold, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? ²⁷Now after the time that Amaziah turned away from following the LORD they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent to Lachish after him and killed him there. ²⁸And they brought him on horses and buried him with his fathers in a city of Judah.
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Chapter 26
¹Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. ²He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. ³Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign and he reigned fifty two years in Jerusalem. Also his mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. ⁴And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did. ⁵And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper. ⁶And he went forth and warred against the Philistines and broke down the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines. ⁷And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians who dwelled in Gurbaal and the Mehunims. ⁸And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly. ⁹Also Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate and at the valley gate and at the turning of the wall and fortified them. ¹⁰Also he built towers in the desert and dug many wells: for he had much cattle, both in the low country and in the plains: husbandmen also and vine dressers in the mountains and in Carmel: for he loved husbandry. ¹¹Also Uzziah had a host of fighting men, who went out to war by bands, according to the number of their account by the hand of Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king's captains. ¹²The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valor were two thousand six hundred. ¹³And under their hand was an army, three hundred seven thousand five hundred, who made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. ¹⁴And Uzziah prepared shields and spears for them throughout all the host and helmets and habergeons and bows and slings to cast stones. ¹⁵And he made engines in Jerusalem, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and on the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.
¹⁶But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. ¹⁷And Azariah the priest went in after him and with him eighty priests of the LORD, who were valiant men: ¹⁸And they withstood Uzziah the king and said to him, It does not pertains to you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for you have trespassed; neither shall it be for your honor from the LORD God. ¹⁹Then Uzziah was angry and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was angry with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar. ²⁰And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests, looked on him and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead and they thrust him out from there; yes, he hurried himself also to go out, because the LORD had struck him. ²¹And Uzziah the king was a leper to the day of his death and dwelled in a separate house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. ²²Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, wrote. ²³So Uzziah slept with his fathers and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his place.
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Chapter 27
¹Jotham was twenty five years old when he began to reign and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. Also his mother's name was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok. ²And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah did: but he entered not into the temple of the LORD. And the people still acted corruptly. ³He built the high gate of the house of the LORD and he built much on the wall of Ophel. ⁴Also he built cities in the mountains of Judah and in the forests he built castles and towers. ⁵He fought also with the king of the Ammonites and prevailed against them. And the children of Ammon gave him a hundred talents of silver the same year and ten thousand measures of wheat and ten thousand of barley. So much the children of Ammon paid to him, both the second year and the third. ⁶So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God. ⁷Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all his wars, and his ways, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. ⁸He was twenty five years old when he began to reign and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. ⁹And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.
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Chapter 28
¹Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not do that which was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father: ²For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and also made molten images for Baalim. ³Also he burned incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom and burned his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. ⁴He also sacrificed and burned incense in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. ⁵Therefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they struck him and carried away captives, a great multitude of them and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with a great slaughter.
⁶For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed one hundred twenty thousand in Judah in one day, who were all valiant men; because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. ⁷And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king's son and Azrikam the governor of the house and Elkanah who was next to the king. ⁸And the children of Israel carried away captive from their brothers two hundred thousand, women, sons and daughters and also took away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria. ⁹But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the host who came to Samaria and said to them, Behold, because the LORD God of your fathers was angry with Judah, he has delivered them into your hand and you have killed them in a rage that reaches up to heaven. ¹⁰And now you purpose to hold down the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen to you: but are there not with you, even with you, sins against the LORD your God? ¹¹Now hear me therefore and deliver the captives again, who you have taken captive from your brothers: for the fierce anger of the LORD is on you. ¹²Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against them who came from the war, ¹³And said to them, you shall not bring in the captives here: for as we have offended against the LORD already, you intend to add more to our sins and to our trespass: for our trespass is great and there is fierce anger against Israel. ¹⁴So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the congregation. ¹⁵And the men who were expressed by name rose up and took the captives and with the spoil clothed all who were naked among them and arrayed them and shod them and gave them to eat and to drink and anointed them and carried all the feeble of them on asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers: then they returned to Samaria.
¹⁶At that time king Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria to help him. ¹⁷For the Edomites had come again and struck Judah and carried away captives. ¹⁸The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah and had taken Bethshemesh and Ajalon and Gederoth and Shocho with their villages and Timnah with its villages, Gimzo also and its villages: and they dwelled there. ¹⁹For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked and transgressed sore against the LORD. ²⁰And Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria came to him and distressed him, but did not strengthen him. ²¹For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the LORD and out of the house of the king and of the princes and gave it to the king of Assyria: but he did not help him. ²²And in the time of his distress he trespassed yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz. ²³For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, who struck him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore I will sacrifice to them, so that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. ²⁴And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD and he made altars in every corner of Jerusalem. ²⁵And he made high places in every separate city of Judah to burn incense to other gods and provoked the LORD God of his fathers to anger . ²⁶Now the rest of his acts and of all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷And Ahaz slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem: but they did not bring him into the sepulchers of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.
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Chapter 29
¹Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty five years old and he reigned twenty nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. ²And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. ³He opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them in the first month of the first year of his reign,. ⁴And he brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them together into the east street, ⁵And said to them, Hear me, you Levites, sanctify yourselves now and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers and carry out the filthiness out of the holy place. ⁶For our fathers have trespassed and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our God and have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD and turned their backs. ⁷Also they have shut up the doors of the porch and put out the lamps and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. ⁸Therefore the anger of the LORD was on Judah and Jerusalem and he has delivered them to trouble, to astonishment and to hissing, as you see with your eyes. ⁹For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. ¹⁰Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us. ¹¹My sons, now do not be negligent: for the LORD has chosen you to stand before him, to serve him and that you should minister to him and burn incense.
¹²Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites: and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehalelel: and of the Gershonites; Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah: ¹³And of the sons of Elizaphan; Shimri and Jeiel: and of the sons of Asaph; Zechariah and Mattaniah: ¹⁴And of the sons of Heman; Jehiel and Shimei: and of the sons of Jeduthun; Shemaiah and Uzziel. ¹⁵And they gathered their brothers and sanctified themselves and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD. ¹⁶And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD, to cleanse it and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron. ¹⁷Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of the LORD: so they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they finished ¹⁸Then they went in to Hezekiah the king and said, We have cleansed all the house of the LORD and the altar of burnt offering, with all its vessels and the show bread table, with all its vessels. ¹⁹Also we have prepared and sanctified all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign cast away in his transgression, and, behold, they are before the altar of the LORD.
²⁰Then Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the rulers of the city and went up to the house of the LORD. ²¹And they brought seven bullocks and seven rams and seven lambs and seven male goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the LORD. ²²So they killed the bullocks and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar: likewise, when they had killed the rams, they sprinkled the blood on the altar: they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood on the altar. ²³And they brought forth the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands on them: ²⁴And the priests killed them and they made reconciliation with their blood on the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel. ²⁵And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries and with harps, according to the commandment of David and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the LORD by his prophets. ²⁶And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. ²⁷And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began also with the trumpets and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel. ²⁸And all the congregation worshiped and the singers sang and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. ²⁹And when they had finished offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped. ³⁰Also Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise to the LORD with the words of David and Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness and they bowed their heads and worshiped. ³¹Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the LORD. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a free heart offered burnt offerings. ³²And the number of the burnt offerings the congregation brought, was seventy bullocks, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD. ³³And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep. ³⁴But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: therefore their brothers the Levites helped them, till the work was ended and until the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests. ³⁵And also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings and the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the house of the LORD was set in order. ³⁶And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced, for the thing was done suddenly, for God had prepared the people:.
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Chapter 30
¹And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the passover to the LORD God of Israel. ²For the king had taken counsel and his princes and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month. ³For they could not keep it at the time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem. ⁴And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation. ⁵So they established a decree to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover to the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it for a long time in such sort as it was written. ⁶So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah and according to the commandment of the king, saying, you children of Israel, turn again to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel and he will return to the remnant of you, who are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. ⁷And do not be like your fathers and like your brothers, who trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation, as you see. ⁸Now do not be stiff necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his anger may turn away from you. ⁹For if you turn again to the LORD, your brothers and your children shall find compassion before them who lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you if you return to him. ¹⁰So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even to Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. ¹¹But divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. ¹²Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the LORD.
¹³And there assembled at Jerusalem a very great congregation of many people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month,. ¹⁴And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem and they took away all the altars for incense and cast them into the brook Kidron. ¹⁵Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month: and the priests and the Levites were ashamed and sanctified themselves and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the LORD. ¹⁶And they stood in their place after their manner, according to the law of Moses the man of God: the priests sprinkled the blood, which they received of the hand of the Levites. ¹⁷For there were many in the congregation who were not sanctified: therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the passovers to sanctify them to the LORD for every one who was not clean,. ¹⁸For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the passover other than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one ¹⁹Who prepares his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. ²⁰And the LORD listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.
²¹And the children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing with loud instruments to the LORD. ²²And Hezekiah spoke comfortably to all the Levites who taught the good knowledge of the LORD: and they ate throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings and making confession to the LORD God of their fathers. ²³And the whole assembly took counsel to keep another seven days: and they kept another seven days with gladness. ²⁴For Hezekiah king of Judah gave a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep to the congregation; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves. ²⁵And all the congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites and all the congregation who came out of Israel and the foreigners who came out of the land of Israel and who dwelled in Judah, rejoiced. ²⁶So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem. ²⁷Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even to heaven.
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Chapter 31
¹Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke the images in pieces and cut down the groves and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities. ²And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service, the priests and Levites for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the tents of the LORD. ³He appointed also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, that is, for the morning and evening burnt offerings and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths and for the new moons and for the set feasts, as it is written in the law of the LORD. ⁴Also he commanded the people who dwelled in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the LORD. ⁵And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in the abundance of the first fruits of corn, wine and oil and honey and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things they brought in abundantly. ⁶And concerning the children of Israel and Judah, who dwelled in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated to the LORD their God and laid them by heaps. ⁷In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps and finished them in the seventh month. ⁸And when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the LORD and his people Israel. ⁹Then Hezekiah questioned with the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. ¹⁰And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat and have left plenty: for the LORD has blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store.
¹¹Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of the LORD; and they prepared them, ¹²And brought in the offerings and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully: over which Cononiah the Levite was ruler and Shimei his brother was the next. ¹³And Jehiel and Azaziah and Nahath and Asahel and Jerimoth and Jozabad and Eliel, and Ismachiah and Mahath and Benaiah, were overseers under the hand of Cononiah and Shimei his brother, at the commandment of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the ruler of the house of God. ¹⁴And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the porter toward the east, was over the freewill offerings of God, to distribute the oblations of the LORD and the most holy things. ¹⁵And next him were Eden and Miniamin and Jeshua and Shemaiah, Amariah and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in their set office, to give to their brothers by courses, to the great as well as to the small: ¹⁶Beside the genealogy of males, from three years old and upward, even to every one who enters into the house of the LORD, his daily portion for their service in their charges according to their courses; ¹⁷Both to the genealogy of the priests by the house of their fathers and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, in their charges by their courses; ¹⁸And to the genealogy of all their little ones, their wives and their sons and their daughters, through all the congregation: for in their set office they sanctified themselves in holiness: ¹⁹Also of the sons of Aaron the priests, who were in the fields of the suburbs of their cities, in every several city, the men who were expressed by name, to give portions to all the males among the priests and to all who were reckoned by genealogies among the Levites. ²⁰And thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah and did that which was good and right and truth before the LORD his God. ²¹And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God and in the law and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart and prospered.
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Chapter 32
¹After these things and the establishment of it, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered into Judah and camped against the fenced cities and thought to win them for himself. ²And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he purposed to fight against Jerusalem, ³He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were outside the city: and they helped him. ⁴So many people was gathered together there, who stopped all the fountains and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water? ⁵Also he strengthened himself and built up all the wall that was broken and raised it up to the towers and another wall outside and repaired Millo in the city of David and made darts and shields in abundance. ⁶And he set captains of war over the people and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city and spoke comfortably to them, saying, ⁷Be strong and courageous, Do not be afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there are more with us than with him: ⁸With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
⁹After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem, (but he himself laid siege against Lachish and all his power with him,) to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying, ¹⁰Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, On what do you trust, that you abide in the siege in Jerusalem? ¹¹Does not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The LORD our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹²Has not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, you shall worship before one altar and burn incense on it? ¹³Do you not know you what I and my fathers have done to all the people of other lands? were the gods of the nations of those lands in any way able to deliver their lands out of my hand? ¹⁴What was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand? ¹⁵Now therefore do not let Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you on this manner, nor believe him: for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of my hand? ¹⁶And his servants spoke yet more against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷He also wrote letters to reproach the LORD God of Israel and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of my hand, so the God of Hezekiah shall not deliver his people out of my hand. ¹⁸Then they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' speech to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them and to trouble them so that they might take the city. ¹⁹And they spoke against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man. ²⁰And for this cause Hezekiah the king and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven. ²¹And the LORD sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they who came out of his own bowels killed him there with the sword. ²²Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria and from the hand of all others and guided them on every side. ²³And many brought gifts to the LORD to Jerusalem and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from then on.
²⁴In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death and prayed to the LORD: and he spoke to him and he gave him a sign. ²⁵But Hezekiah did not render again according to the benefit done to him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was anger on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁶Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the anger of the LORD did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah. ²⁷And Hezekiah had exceedingly many riches and honors: and he made himself treasuries for silver and for gold and for precious stones and for spices and for shields and for all manner of pleasant jewels; ²⁸Store houses also for the increase of corn and wine and oil; and stalls for all manner of animals, and cotes for flocks. ²⁹Also he provided cities and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance: for God had given him very much substance. ³⁰This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. ³¹But in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart. ³²Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ³³And Hezekiah slept with his fathers and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchers of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his place.
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Chapter 33
¹Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign and he reigned fifty five years in Jerusalem: ²But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, just like the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. ³For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down and he reared up altars for Baalim and made groves and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. ⁴Also he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, My name shall be in Jerusalem for ever. ⁵And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. ⁶And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times and used enchantments and used witchcraft and dealt with a familiar spirit and with wizards: he worked much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. ⁷And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for ever: ⁸Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses. ⁹So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel. ¹⁰And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people: but they would not listen.
¹¹Wherefore the LORD brought on them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon. ¹²And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, ¹³And prayed to him: and he was entreated of him and heard his supplication and he brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God. ¹⁴Now after this he built a wall outside the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate and surrounded Ophel and raised it up to a very great height and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah. ¹⁵And he took away the foreign gods and the idol out of the house of the LORD and all the altars that he had built in the Mount of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem and cast them out of the city. ¹⁶And he repaired the altar of the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel. ¹⁷But the people still sacrificed in the high places, to the LORD their God only. ¹⁸Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and his prayer to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. ¹⁹His prayer also and how God was entreated of him and all his sin and his trespass and the places in which he built high places and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers. ²⁰So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his place.
²¹Amon was twenty years two old when he began to reign and reigned two years in Jerusalem. ²²But he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as Manasseh his father did: for Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made and served them; ²³And did not humble himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more. ²⁴And his servants conspired against him and killed him in his own house. ²⁵But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.
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Chapter 34
¹Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign and he reigned thirty one years in Jerusalem. ²And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD and walked in the ways of David his father and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left. ³For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places and the groves and the carved images and the molten images. ⁴And they broke down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and he cut down the images that were on high above them and the groves and the carved images and the molten images, he broke in pieces and made dust of them and strewed it on the graves of them who had sacrificed to them. ⁵And he burnt the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶And he did so in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even to Naphtali, with their mattocks round about. ⁷And when he had broken down the altars and the groves and had beaten the graven images into powder and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
⁸Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah and Maaseiah the governor of the city and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God. ⁹And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites who kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim and of all the remnant of Israel and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁰And they put it in the hand of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the LORD and they gave it to the workmen who worked in the house of the LORD, to repair and amend the house: ¹¹ they gave it, even to the artificers and builders to buy hewn stone and timber for couplings and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. ¹²And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and others of the Levites, all who had skill with instruments of music. ¹³Also they were over the bearers of burdens and were overseers of all who worked the work in any manner of service: and there were scribes and officers and porters of the Levites.
¹⁴And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses. ¹⁵And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. ¹⁶And Shaphan carried the book to the king and brought the king word back again, saying, All that was committed to your servants, they do it. ¹⁷And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the LORD and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and to the hand of the workmen. ¹⁸Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. ¹⁹And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he tore his clothes. ²⁰And the king commanded Hilkiah and Ahikam the son of Shaphan and Abdon the son of Micah and Shaphan the scribe and Asaiah a servant of the king's, saying, ²¹Go, inquire of the LORD for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the anger of the LORD that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book. ²²And Hilkiah and they who the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelled in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spoke to her to that effect. ²³And she answered them, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man who sent you to me, ²⁴Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil on this place and on the inhabitants of it, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah: ²⁵Because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my anger shall be poured out on this place and shall not be quenched. ²⁶And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, you shall say thus to him, Thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the words which you have heard; ²⁷Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God, when you heard his words against this place and against the inhabitants of it and humbled yourself before me and tore your clothes and wept before me; I have even heard you also, says the LORD. ²⁸Behold, I will gather you to your fathers and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, neither shall your eyes see all the evil that I will bring on this place and on the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.
²⁹Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰And the king went up into the house of the LORD and all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the LORD. ³¹And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book. ³²And he caused all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. ³³And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel and made all who were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the LORD their God. And in all his days they did not depart from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.
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Chapter 35
¹Also Josiah kept a passover to the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. ²And he set the priests in their charges and encouraged them to the service of the house of the LORD, ³And said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built; it shall not be a burden on your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God and his people Israel, ⁴And prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel and according to the writing of Solomon his son. ⁵And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brothers the people and after the division of the families of the Levites. ⁶So kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves and prepare your brothers, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses. ⁷And Josiah gave to the people, from the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings, for all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king's substance. ⁸And his princes gave willingly to the people, to the priests and to the Levites: Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the passover offerings two thousand six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen. ⁹Conaniah also and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brothers and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave to the Levites for passover offerings five thousand small cattle and five hundred oxen. ¹⁰So the service was prepared and the priests stood in their place and the Levites in their courses, according to the king's commandment. ¹¹And they killed the passover and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands and the Levites flayed them. ¹²And they removed the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer to the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. And they did so with the oxen. ¹³And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: but they sod in pots the other holy offerings and in caldrons and in pans and divided them speedily among all the people. ¹⁴And afterward they made ready for themselves and for the priests: because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering of burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests the sons of Aaron. ¹⁵And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David and Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the porters waited at every gate; they might not depart from their service; for their brothers the Levites prepared for them. ¹⁶So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of king Josiah. ¹⁷And the children of Israel who were present kept the passover at that time and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. ¹⁸And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept and the priests and the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were present and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ This passover was kept in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah .
²⁰After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. ²¹But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with you, you king of Judah? I have not come against you this day, but against the house with which I have war: for God commanded me to hurry: forbear you from meddling with God, who is with me, so that he does not destroy you. ²²But Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him and did not listen to the words of Necho from the mouth of God and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. ²³And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. ²⁴His servants therefore took him out of that chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem and he died and was buried in one of the sepulchers of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. ²⁵And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations. ²⁶Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD, ²⁷And his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
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Chapter 36
¹Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in his father's place in Jerusalem. ²Jehoahaz was twenty three years old when he began to reign and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. ³And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem and condemned the land to one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. ⁴And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt. ⁵Jehoiakim was twenty five years old when he began to reign and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. ⁶Against him Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. ⁷Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon and put them in his temple at Babylon. ⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and his abominations which he did and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place. ⁹Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. ¹⁰And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
¹¹Zedekiah was twenty one years old when he began to reign and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹²And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and he did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD. ¹³And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning to the LORD God of Israel. ¹⁴Also all the chief of the priests and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. ¹⁵And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up frequently and sending; because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place: ¹⁶But they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his prophets, until the anger of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. ¹⁷Therefore he brought on them the king of the Chaldees, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or maiden, old man, or him who stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. ¹⁸And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small and the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. ¹⁹And they burnt the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burnt all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its goodly vessel ²⁰And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: ²¹To fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
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