2 Chronicles 4-26

Darby Translation

4 And he made a brazen altar: its length was twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits, and its height ten cubits.

² And he made the sea, molten, ten cubits from brim to brim, round all about; and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encompassed it round about.

³ And under it was the similitude of oxen, encompassing it round about, ten in a cubit enclosing the sea round about, two rows of oxen, cast when it was cast.

⁴ It stood upon 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 above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.

⁵ And its thickness was a hand-breadth, and its brim like the work of the brim of a cup, with lily-blossoms; in capacity it held three thousand baths.

⁶ And he made ten lavers, and put five on the right and five on the left, to wash in them: they rinsed in them what they prepared for the burnt-offering; and the sea was for the priests to wash in.

⁷ And he made ten candlesticks of gold according to the ordinance respecting them, and set them in the temple, five on the right hand and five on the left.

⁸ And he made ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right hand and five on the left. And he made a hundred golden bowls.

⁹ And he made the court of the priests, and the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid the doors thereof with bronze.

¹⁰ And he set the sea on the right side eastward, over against the south.

¹¹ And Huram made the pots and the shovels and the bowls. So Huram ended doing the work that he made for king Solomon in the house of God:

¹² two pillars, and the globes and the capitals on the top of the pillars, two; and the two networks, to cover the two globes of the capitals which were on the top of the pillars;

¹³ and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for one network, to cover the two globes of the capitals which were upon the pillars.

¹⁴ And he made the bases, and he made the lavers on the bases;

¹⁵ one sea, and the twelve oxen under it.

¹⁶ And the pots, and the shovels, and the forks, and all their instruments did Huram Abiv make king Solomon for the house of Jehovah, of bright brass.

¹⁷ In the plain of the Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay-ground between Succoth and Zeredathah.

¹⁸ And Solomon made all these vessels in great number; for the weight of the brass was not ascertained.

¹⁹ And Solomon made all the vessels that were [in] the house of God: the golden altar; and the tables whereon was the shewbread;

²⁰ and the candlesticks with their lamps to burn according to the ordinance before the oracle, of pure gold;

²¹ and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold (it was perfect gold);

²² and the knives, and the bowls, and the cups, and the censers, of pure gold; and the entrance of the house, the inner folding-doors thereof for the most holy place, and the doors of the house, of the temple, of gold.

5 And all the work was finished that Solomon made for the house of Jehovah. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated; and the silver, and the gold, and all the vessels he put among the treasures of the house of God.

² Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David, which is Zion.

³ And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, that of the seventh month.

⁴ And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark.

⁵ And they brought up the ark, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent: the priests, the Levites, brought them up.

⁶ And king Solomon, and all the assembly of Israel, that were assembled to him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen which could not be counted nor numbered for multitude.

⁷ And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah to its place, into the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim;

⁸ and the cherubim stretched forth [their] wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its staves above.

⁹ And the staves were long, so that the ends of the staves were seen outside the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there they are to this day.

¹⁰ There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put there at Horeb, when Jehovah made [a covenant] with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

¹¹ And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place (for all the priests that were present were hallowed without observing the courses;

¹² and the Levites the singers, all they of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, clad in byssus, with cymbals and lutes and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets),

¹³ —it came to pass when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one voice to be heard in praising and thanking Jehovah; and when they lifted up their voice with trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments of music, and praised Jehovah: For he is good, for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever; that then the house, the house of Jehovah, was filled with a cloud,

¹⁴ and the priests could not stand to do their service because of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of God.

6 Then said Solomon: Jehovah said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

² But I have built a house of habitation for thee, even a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.

³ And the king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel; and the whole congregation of Israel stood.

⁴ And he said: Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hands fulfilled it, saying,

⁵ Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be prince over my people Israel:

⁶ but I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.

⁷ And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house unto the name of Jehovah the God of Israel.

⁸ But Jehovah said to David my father, Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thy heart;

⁹ nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house unto my name.

¹⁰ And Jehovah has performed his word which he spoke; and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah promised, and I have built the house unto the name of Jehovah the God of Israel.

¹¹ And in it have I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of Jehovah, which he made with the children of Israel.

¹² And he stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of the whole congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands.

¹³ For Solomon had made a platform of bronze, five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and upon it he stood, and he kneeled down on his knees before the whole congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward the heavens,

¹⁴ and said, Jehovah, God of Israel! there is no God like thee, in the heavens or on the earth, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart;

¹⁵ who hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou didst promise him; thou spokest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled [it] with thy hand as at this day.

¹⁶ And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy sons take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me.

¹⁷ And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, let thy word be verified which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David.

¹⁸ But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!

¹⁹ Yet have respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, Jehovah, my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee;

²⁰ that thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place in which thou hast said thou wouldest put thy name: to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place.

²¹ And hearken unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall pray toward this place, and hear thou from thy dwelling-place, from the heavens, and when thou hearest, forgive.

²² If a man have sinned against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to adjure him, and the oath come before thine altar in this house;

²³ then hear thou from the heavens, and do, and judge thy servants, requiting the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head; and justifying the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness.

²⁴ And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication before thee in this house;

²⁵ then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land that thou gavest to them and to their fathers.

²⁶ When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, because thou hast afflicted them;

²⁷ then hear thou in the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

²⁸ If there be famine in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their gates; whatever plague or whatever sickness there be:

²⁹ what prayer, what supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, when they shall know every man his own plague, and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house;

³⁰ then hear thou from the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, and forgive, and render unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest (for thou, thou only, knowest the hearts of the children of men),

³¹ that they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, all the days that they live upon the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

³² And as to the stranger also, who is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand and thy stretched-out arm; when they shall come and pray toward this house,

³³ then hear thou from the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; in order that all peoples of the earth may know thy name, and may fear thee as do thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

³⁴ If thy people go out to battle against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name;

³⁵ then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their right.

³⁶ If they have sinned against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not), and thou be angry with them, and give them up to the enemy, and they have carried them away captives unto a land far off or near;

³⁷ and if they shall take it to heart in the land whither they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done iniquity and have dealt perversely;

³⁸ and if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers, and the city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name;

³⁹ then hear thou from the heavens, from the settled place of thy dwelling, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their right, and forgive thy people their sin against thee.

⁴⁰ Now, my God, I beseech thee, let thine eyes be open and let thine ears be attentive unto the prayer [that is made] in this place.

⁴¹ And now, arise, Jehovah Elohim, into thy resting-place, thou and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, Jehovah Elohim, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in [thy] goodness.

⁴² Jehovah Elohim, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember mercies to David thy servant.

7 And when Solomon had ended praying, the fire came down from the heavens and consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of Jehovah filled the house.

² And the priests could not enter into the house of Jehovah, because the glory of Jehovah filled Jehovah's house.

³ And all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of Jehovah upon the house, and bowed themselves with their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshipped and thanked Jehovah: For he is good, for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever.

⁴ And the king and all the people offered sacrifices before Jehovah.

⁵ And king Solomon sacrificed a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

⁶ And the priests stood in their charges, and the Levites with Jehovah's instruments of music, which David the king had made to praise Jehovah, for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever, when David praised by their means; and the priests sounded the trumpets opposite to them, and all Israel stood.

⁷ And Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of Jehovah; for there he offered the 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 oblations and the fat.

⁸ And at that time Solomon held the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entrance of Hamath unto the torrent of Egypt.

⁹ And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly; for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.

¹⁰ And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that Jehovah had done to David and to Solomon, and to Israel his people.

¹¹ And Solomon completed the house of Jehovah, and the king's house; and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of Jehovah, and in his own house, he did prosperously.

¹² Then Jehovah appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: I have heard thy prayer, and I have chosen for myself this place for a house of sacrifice.

¹³ If I shut up the heavens that there be no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;

¹⁴ and my people, who are called by my name, humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from the heavens, and forgive their sin, and heal their land.

¹⁵ Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attentive to the prayer [made] in this place;

¹⁶ for I have now chosen and hallowed this house, that my name may be there for ever; and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.

¹⁷ And [as for] thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and mine ordinances;

¹⁸ then will I establish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to rule over Israel.

¹⁹ But if ye turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them;

²⁰ then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed to my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

²¹ And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passes by it; so that he shall say, Why has Jehovah done thus to this land and to this house?

²² And they shall say, Because they forsook Jehovah the God of their fathers, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and have attached themselves to other gods, and have worshipped them and served them; therefore he has brought upon them all this evil.

8 And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the house of Jehovah and his own house,

² that the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them and caused the children of Israel to dwell there.

³ And Solomon went to Hamath-Zobah, and overcame it.

⁴ And he built Tadmor, in the wilderness, and all the store-cities, which he built in Hamath.

⁵ And he built upper Beth-Horon and lower Beth-Horon, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars;

⁶ and Baalath, and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for chariots, and the cities for the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and on Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

⁷ All the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel,

⁸ their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel had not destroyed, upon them did Solomon impose tribute-service until this day.

⁹ But of the children of Israel, of them did Solomon make no bondmen for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and captains of his chariots and his horsemen.

¹⁰ And these were the chief of king Solomon's superintendents, two hundred and fifty, that ruled over the people.

¹¹ And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David to the house which 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 Jehovah has come.

¹² Then Solomon offered up burnt-offerings to Jehovah on the altar of Jehovah, which he had built before the porch;

¹³ even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and at the set feasts, three times in the year,—at the feast of unleavened bread, and at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of tabernacles.

¹⁴ And he appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their charges, to praise and serve before the priests, as the duty of every day required; and the doorkeepers by their divisions at every gate: for such was the commandment of David the man of God;

¹⁵ and they did not depart from the commandment of the king to the priests and the Levites concerning any matter, nor concerning the treasures.

¹⁶ And all the work of Solomon was prepared, to the day of the foundation of the house of Jehovah and to its completion. [So] the house of Jehovah was finished.

¹⁷ Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, on the seashore in the land of Edom.

¹⁸ And Huram sent him by his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and fetched thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.

9 And the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, and came to Jerusalem to prove Solomon with enigmas; with a very great train, and camels that bore spices and gold in great abundance, and precious stones; and she came to Solomon, and spoke with him of all that was in her heart.

² And Solomon explained to her all she spoke of, and there was not a thing hidden from Solomon that he did not explain to her.

³ And when the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,

⁴ and the food of his table, and the deportment of his servants, and the order of service of his attendants and their apparel, and his cupbearers and their apparel, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of Jehovah, there was no more spirit in her.

⁵ And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine affairs and of thy wisdom;

⁶ but I gave no credit to their words, until I came and mine eyes had seen; and behold, the half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: thou exceedest the report that I heard.

⁷ Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, who stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom!

⁸ Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who delighted in thee, to set thee on his throne, to be king to Jehovah thy God! Because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore did he make thee king over them, to do judgment and justice.

⁹ And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in very great abundance, and precious stones; neither was there any such spice as that which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

¹⁰ (And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought sandal-wood and precious stones.

¹¹ And the king made of the sandal-wood stairs for the house of Jehovah, and for the king's house, and harps and lutes for the singers. And there were none such seen before in the land of Judah.)

¹² And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides what she had brought to the king. And she turned and went to her own land, she and her servants.

¹³ And the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold,

¹⁴ besides [what] dealers and merchants brought, and [what] all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought of gold and silver to Solomon.

¹⁵ And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold,—he applied six hundred [shekels] of beaten gold to one target;

¹⁶ and three hundred shields of beaten gold,—he applied three hundred [shekels] of gold to one shield; and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷ And the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold;

¹⁸ and the throne had six steps, with a footstool of gold fastened to the throne; and there were arms on each side at the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the arms;

¹⁹ and twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.

²⁰ And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of precious gold: silver was not of the least account in the days of Solomon.

²¹ For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: once in three years came the ships of Tarshish, bringing gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

²² And king Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

²³ And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.

²⁴ And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and clothing, armour, and spices, horses and mules, a rate year by year.

²⁵ And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; and he placed them in the chariot-cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.

²⁶ And he ruled over all the kings from the river as far as the land of the Philistines, and up to the border of Egypt.

²⁷ And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he as the sycamores that are in the lowland for abundance.

²⁸ And they brought to Solomon horses out of Egypt, and out of all lands.

²⁹ And the rest of the acts of Solomon first and last, are they not written in the words of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?

³⁰ And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.

³¹ And Solomon slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David his father; and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

10 And Rehoboam went to Shechem; for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

² And it came to pass when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (now he was in Egypt, whither he had fled from the presence of king Solomon) that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.

³ And they sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam saying,

⁴ Thy father made our yoke grievous; and now lighten the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee.

⁵ And he said to them, Come again to me after three days. And the people departed.

⁶ And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, How do ye advise to return answer to this people?

⁷ And they spoke to him saying, If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be thy servants for ever.

⁸ But he forsook the advice of the old men which they had given him, and consulted with the young men, who had grown up with him, that stood before him.

⁹ And he said to them, What advice give ye that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me saying, Lighten the yoke which thy father put upon us?

¹⁰ And the young men that had grown up with him spoke to him saying, Thus shalt thou say to the people who have spoken to thee saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, and lighten thou it for us,—thus shalt thou say to them: My little [finger] is thicker than my father's loins;

¹¹ and whereas my father laid a heavy yoke upon you, *I* will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but *I* [will chastise you] with scorpions.

¹² And Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed saying, Come again to me on the third day.

¹³ And the king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam forsook the advice of the old men,

¹⁴ and spoke to them according to 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.

¹⁵ So the king hearkened not to the people; for it was brought about by God, that Jehovah might give effect to his word, which he spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ And all Israel saw that the king hearkened not to them; and 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. Now see to thine own house, David! And all Israel went to their tents.

¹⁷ But as for the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

¹⁸ And king Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the levy; but the children of Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. And king Rehoboam hastened to mount his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.

¹⁹ And Israel rebelled against the house of David, unto this day.

11 And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem; and he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men apt for war, to fight against Israel, that he might bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam.

² But the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

³ Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying,

⁴ Thus saith Jehovah: Go not up, nor fight with your brethren; return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. And they hearkened to the words of Jehovah, and returned from going against Jeroboam.

⁵ And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defence in Judah.

⁶ And he built Bethlehem, and Etam, and Tekoa,

⁷ and Beth-zur, and Soco, and Adullam,

⁸ and Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph,

⁹ and Adoraim, and Lachish, and Azekah,

¹⁰ and Zorah, and Ajalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and in Benjamin, fortified cities.

¹¹ And he fortified the strongholds, and put captains in them, and stores of victuals, and of oil and wine;

¹² and in every several city, targets and spears, and made them exceedingly strong. And Judah and Benjamin were his.

¹³ And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their districts;

¹⁴ for the Levites left their suburbs and their possessions, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from exercising the priesthood to Jehovah;

¹⁵ and he ordained for himself priests for the high places, and for the he-goats and for the calves that he had made.

¹⁶ —And after them, those out of all the tribes of Israel that set their heart to seek Jehovah the God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to Jehovah the God of their fathers.

¹⁷ And they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong three years; for during three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon.

¹⁸ And Rehoboam took Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David as wife, [and of] Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse.

¹⁹ And she bore him children: Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham.

²⁰ And after her he took Maachah the daughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith.

²¹ And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines; for he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he begot twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

²² And Rehoboam established Abijah the son of Maachah at the head, to be ruler among his brethren; for [he thought] to make him king.

²³ And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to all the fortified cities; and he gave them food in abundance. And he desired [for them] a multitude of wives.

12 And it came to pass when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and when he had become strong, [that] he forsook the law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him.

² And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, because they had transgressed against Jehovah, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem,

³ with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen; and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt: Libyans, Sukkites, and Ethiopians.

⁴ And he took the fortified cities that belonged to Judah, and came to Jerusalem.

⁵ And Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and [to] the princes of Judah that had gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, Thus saith Jehovah: Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.

⁶ And the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, Jehovah is righteous.

⁷ And when Jehovah saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves: I will not destroy them, but I will grant them a little deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

⁸ Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.

⁹ And Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house; he took away all; and he took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made.

¹⁰ And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the chief of the couriers who kept the entrance of the king's house.

¹¹ And it was so, that as often as the king entered into the house of Jehovah, the couriers came and fetched them, and brought them again into the chamber of the couriers.

¹² And when he humbled himself, the anger of Jehovah turned away from him, that he would not destroy him altogether; and also in Judah there were good things.

¹³ And 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 that Jehovah had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess.

¹⁴ And he did evil, for he applied not his heart to seek Jehovah.

¹⁵ And the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the words of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer, in the genealogical registers? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

¹⁶ And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. And Abijah his son reigned in his stead.

13 In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah.

² He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

³ And Abijah began the war with an army of men of war, four hundred thousand chosen men; and Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, mighty men of valour.

⁴ And Abijah stood up on the top of mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, Jeroboam, and all Israel!

⁵ Ought ye not to know that Jehovah the God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, to him and to his sons [by] a covenant of salt?

⁶ But Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord.

⁷ And vain men, sons of Belial, gathered to him and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, and Rehoboam was young and faint-hearted, and did not shew himself strong against them.

⁸ And now ye think to shew yourselves strong against the kingdom of Jehovah in the hand of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude, and ye have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods.

⁹ Have ye not cast out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made you priests as the peoples of the lands? whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, he becomes a priest of what is not God.

¹⁰ But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests that serve Jehovah are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites are at their work:

¹¹ and they burn to Jehovah every morning and every evening burnt-offerings and sweet incense; the loaves also are set in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with its lamps to burn every evening: for *we* keep the charge of Jehovah our God; but *ye* have forsaken him.

¹² And behold, we have God with us at our head, and his priests, and the loud-sounding trumpets to sound an alarm against you. Children of Israel, do not fight with Jehovah the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.

¹³ But Jeroboam caused an ambush to come about behind them; and they were before Judah, and the ambush behind them.

¹⁴ And Judah looked back, and behold, they had the battle in front and behind; and they cried to Jehovah, and the priests sounded with the trumpets.

¹⁵ And the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

¹⁶ And the children of Israel fled before Judah; and God delivered them into their hand.

¹⁷ And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter; and there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.

¹⁸ And the children of Israel were humbled at that time, and the children of Judah were strengthened, because they relied upon Jehovah the God of their fathers.

¹⁹ And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him: Bethel with its dependent villages, and Jeshanah with its dependent villages, and Ephron with its dependent villages.

²⁰ And Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and Jehovah smote him, and he died.

²¹ But Abijah strengthened himself, and took fourteen wives, and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

²² And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his sayings, are written in the treatise of the prophet Iddo.

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

² And Asa did what was good and right in the sight of Jehovah his God;

³ and he took away the altars of the strange [gods] and the high places, and broke the columns, and cut down the Asherahs;

⁴ and commanded Judah to seek Jehovah the God of their fathers, and to practise the law and the commandment.

⁵ And he removed out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images; and the kingdom was quiet before him.

⁶ And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because Jehovah had given him rest.

⁷ And he said to Judah, Let us build these cities, and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars, while the land is yet before us; for we have sought Jehovah our God; we have sought him, and he has given us rest on every side. And they built and prospered.

⁸ And Asa had an army that bore targets and spears: out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew the bow, two hundred and eighty thousand: all these, mighty men of valour.

⁹ And Zerah the Ethiopian came out against him with a host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah.

¹⁰ And Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.

¹¹ And Asa cried unto Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, it maketh no difference to thee to help, whether there be much or no power: help us, O Jehovah our God, for we rely on thee, and in thy name have we come against this multitude. Jehovah, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.

¹² And Jehovah smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.

¹³ And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them to Gerar; and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that none of them was left alive; for they were crushed before Jehovah and before his army. And they carried away very much spoil.

¹⁴ And they smote all the cities round about Gerar, for the terror of Jehovah came upon them; and they spoiled all the cities, for there was very much spoil in them.

¹⁵ They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.

15 And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded.

² And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Jehovah is with you while ye are with him; and if ye seek him he will be found of you, but if ye forsake him he will forsake you.

³ Now for a long while Israel [was] without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law;

⁴ but in their trouble they turned to Jehovah the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found of them.

⁵ And in those times there [was] no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in, but great disturbances were amongst all the inhabitants of the countries.

⁶ And nation was broken against nation, and city against city; for God disturbed them with all manner of distress.

⁷ But as for you, be firm and let not your hands be weak; for there is a reward for your deeds.

⁸ And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities that he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of Jehovah, that was before the porch of Jehovah.

⁹ And he assembled all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon; for they fell away to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him.

¹⁰ And they assembled themselves at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

¹¹ And they sacrificed to Jehovah in that day, of the spoil that they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.

¹² And they entered into a covenant to seek Jehovah the God of their fathers, with all their heart, and with all their soul,

¹³ and that whoever would not seek Jehovah the God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

¹⁴ And they swore to Jehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.

¹⁵ And all Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they took the oath with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them. And Jehovah gave them rest round about.

¹⁶ And also Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol for the Asherah; and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burned it in the valley Kidron.

¹⁷ But the high places were not removed from Israel; only, Asa's heart was perfect all his days.

¹⁸ And he brought into the house of God the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.

¹⁹ And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

16 In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, in order to let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

² And Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of Jehovah and of the king's house, and sent to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who dwelt at Damascus, saying,

³ There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: behold, I send thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.

⁴ And Ben-hadad hearkened to king Asa, and sent the captains of his forces against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon and Dan and Abelmaim, and all the store-magazines of the cities of Naphtali.

⁵ And it came to pass when Baasha heard of it, that he left off building Ramah, and let his work cease.

⁶ And king Asa took all Judah; and they carried away the stones and the timber from Ramah, with which Baasha had been building, and he built with them Geba and Mizpah.

⁷ And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on Jehovah thy God, therefore has the army of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand.

⁸ Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army, with very many chariots and horsemen? but when thou didst rely on Jehovah, he delivered them into thy hand.

⁹ For the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro through the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars.

¹⁰ And Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in the prison; for he was enraged with him because of this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.

¹¹ And behold the acts of Asa, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

¹² And Asa in the thirty-ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was extremely great; yet in his disease he did not seek Jehovah, but the physicians.

¹³ And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one-and-fortieth year of his reign.

¹⁴ And they buried him in his own sepulchre, which he had excavated for himself in the city of David, and laid him in a bed filled with spices, a mixture of divers kinds prepared by the perfumer's art; and they made a very great burning for him.

17 And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel.

² And he placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim that Asa his father had taken.

³ And Jehovah was with Jehoshaphat, for he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto the Baals;

⁴ but he sought the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.

⁵ And Jehovah established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah gave gifts to Jehoshaphat; and he had riches and honour in abundance.

⁶ And he took courage in the ways of Jehovah; moreover, he removed the high places and Asherahs out of Judah.

⁷ And in the third year of his reign he sent his princes, Ben-hail, and Obadiah, and Zechariah, and Nethaneel, and Micah, to teach in the cities of Judah;

⁸ and with them the Levites: Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tob-Adonijah, Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests.

⁹ And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of Jehovah with them; and they went about through all the cities of Judah, and taught among the people.

¹⁰ And the terror of Jehovah was upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, and they made no war against Jehoshaphat.

¹¹ And some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and tribute-silver. The Arabians also brought him flocks, seven thousand seven hundred rams, and seven thousand seven hundred he-goats.

¹² And Jehoshaphat waxed exceeding great; and he built in Judah castles and store-cities.

¹³ And he had much business in the cities of Judah; and men of war, strong and valiant, in Jerusalem.

¹⁴ And these are the numbers of them according to their fathers' houses. Of Judah the captains of thousands: Adnah the captain, and with him three hundred thousand mighty men of valour;

¹⁵ and next to him was Johanan the captain, and with him two hundred and eighty thousand;

¹⁶ and next to him, Amasiah the son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself to Jehovah; and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valour.

¹⁷ And of Benjamin: Eliada, a mighty man of valour, and with him two hundred thousand, armed with bow and shield;

¹⁸ and next to him was Jehozabad, and with him a hundred and eighty thousand ready prepared for war.

¹⁹ These were they that waited on the king, besides those that the king had put in the fortified cities throughout Judah.

18 And Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance; and he allied himself with Ahab by marriage.

² And after [certain] years he went down to Ahab, to Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that were with him, and urged him to go up against Ramoth-Gilead.

³ And Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Wilt thou go with me to Ramoth-Gilead? And he said to him, I am as thou, and my people as thy people; and [I will be] with thee in the war.

⁴ And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Inquire, I pray thee, this day of the word of Jehovah.

⁵ And the king of Israel assembled the prophets, four hundred men, and said to them, Shall we go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, and God will give it into the king's hand.

⁶ But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah besides, that we might inquire of him?

⁷ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Jehovah; but I hate him, for he prophesies no good concerning me, but always evil: [it is] Micah the son of Imlah. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

⁸ Then the king of Israel called a chamberlain, and said, Fetch quickly Micah the son of Imlah.

⁹ And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, having put on their robes, sat each on his throne; and they sat in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.

¹⁰ And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron, and he said, Thus saith Jehovah: With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have exterminated them.

¹¹ And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-Gilead, and prosper; for Jehovah will give it into the king's hand.

¹² And the messenger that went to call Micah spoke to him saying, Behold, the words of the prophets [declare] good to the king with one assent: let thy word therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs, and declare good.

¹³ And Micah said, As Jehovah liveth, even what my God shall say, that will I declare.

¹⁴ And he came to the king. And the king said to him, Micah, shall we go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go ye up, and prosper; and they will be given into your hands.

¹⁵ And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but truth in the name of Jehovah?

¹⁶ And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And Jehovah said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.

¹⁷ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he prophesies no good concerning me, but evil?

¹⁸ And he said, Hear ye therefore the word of Jehovah: I saw Jehovah sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left;

¹⁹ and Jehovah said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead? And one spoke saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner.

²⁰ And there came forth a spirit, and stood before Jehovah and said, I will entice him. And Jehovah said unto him, Wherewith?

²¹ And he said, I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt entice [him], and also succeed: go forth, and do so.

²² And now, behold, Jehovah has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets; and Jehovah has spoken evil concerning thee.

²³ Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micah upon the cheek, and said, Which way now went the Spirit of Jehovah from me to speak to thee?

²⁴ And Micah said, Behold, thou shalt see on that day when thou shalt go from chamber to chamber to hide thyself.

²⁵ And the king of Israel said, Take ye Micah, and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son;

²⁶ and ye shall 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.

²⁷ And Micah said, If thou return at all in peace, Jehovah has not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O peoples, all of you!

²⁸ And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-Gilead.

²⁹ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and will enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself; and they went into the battle.

³⁰ And the king of Syria commanded the captains of his chariots saying, Fight neither with small nor great, but with the king of Israel only.

³¹ And it came to pass when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, That is the king of Israel; and they surrounded him to fight; and Jehoshaphat cried out, and Jehovah helped him; and God diverted them from him.

³² And it came to pass that when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.

³³ And a man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the fastenings and the corslet. And he said to the charioteer, Turn thy hand and drive me out of the camp; for I am wounded.

³⁴ And the battle increased that day; and the king of Israel stayed himself up in his chariot against the Syrians until the even; and about the time of the going down of the sun he died.

19 And Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem.

² And Jehu the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate Jehovah? Therefore is wrath upon thee from Jehovah.

³ Nevertheless there are good things found in thee; for thou hast put away the Asherahs out of the land, and hast directed thy heart to seek God.

⁴ And Jehoshaphat dwelt in Jerusalem; and he went out again among the people from Beer-sheba to mount Ephraim, and brought them back to Jehovah the God of their fathers.

⁵ And he set judges in the land throughout the fortified cities of Judah, city by city.

⁶ And he said to the judges, Take heed what ye do; for ye judge not for man, but for Jehovah, who will be with you in the matter of judgment.

⁷ And now, let the terror of Jehovah be upon you; be careful what ye do, for there is no iniquity with Jehovah, nor respect of persons, nor taking of presents.

⁸ —And moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set some of the Levites and priests, and of the chief fathers of Israel, for the judgment of Jehovah and for causes.—And they returned to Jerusalem.

⁹ And he charged them saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of Jehovah faithfully and with a perfect heart.

¹⁰ And what cause soever comes to you of your brethren that dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and ordinances, ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against Jehovah, and so wrath come upon you and upon your brethren: this do and ye shall not trespass.

¹¹ And behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of Jehovah, and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, prince of the house of Judah, in all the king's matters; and ye have the Levites before you as officers. Be strong and do it, and Jehovah will be with the good.

20 And it came to pass after this [that] the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them certain of the Maonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.

² And they came and told Jehoshaphat saying, A great multitude is come against thee from beyond the sea, from Syria; and behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar, which is Engedi.

³ And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek Jehovah, and proclaimed a fast throughout Judah.

⁴ And Judah gathered themselves together to ask [help] of Jehovah: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek Jehovah.

⁵ And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of Jehovah, before the new court;

⁶ and he said, Jehovah, God of our fathers, art not thou God in the heavens, and rulest thou not over all the kingdoms of the nations? And in thy hand there is power and might, and none can withstand thee.

⁷ Hast not thou, our God, dispossessed the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and given it for ever to the seed of Abraham, thy friend?

⁸ And they have dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,

⁹ If evil come upon us, sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, and we stand before this house and before thee—for thy name is in this house—and cry unto thee in our distress, then thou wilt hear and save.

¹⁰ And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab, and those of mount Seir, amongst whom thou wouldest not let Israel go when they came out of the land of Egypt, (for they turned from them, and destroyed them not,)

¹¹ behold, they reward us, in coming to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to possess.

¹² Our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might in presence of this great company which cometh against us, neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon thee.

¹³ And all Judah stood before Jehovah, with their little ones, their wives, and their sons.

¹⁴ And upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, upon him came the Spirit of Jehovah, in the midst of the congregation;

¹⁵ and he said, Be attentive, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat! Thus saith Jehovah unto you: Fear not, nor be dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.

¹⁶ To-morrow go down against them: behold, they come up by the ascent of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel.

¹⁷ Ye shall not have to fight on this occasion: set yourselves, stand and see the salvation of Jehovah [who is] with you! Judah and Jerusalem, fear not nor be dismayed; to-morrow go out against them, and Jehovah will be with you.

¹⁸ And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before Jehovah, worshipping Jehovah.

¹⁹ And the Levites, of the sons of the Kohathites, and of the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise Jehovah the God of Israel with an exceeding loud voice.

²⁰ And they rose early in the morning, and went forth towards the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in Jehovah your God, and ye shall be established; believe his prophets, and ye shall prosper!

²¹ And he consulted with the people, and appointed singers to Jehovah, and those that should praise in holy splendour, as they went forth before the armed men, and say, Give thanks to Jehovah; for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever!

²² And when they began the song of triumph and praise, Jehovah set liers-in-wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, who had come against Judah, and they were smitten.

²³ And the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, to exterminate and destroy [them]; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

²⁴ And Judah came on to the mountain-watch in the wilderness, and they looked toward the multitude; and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none had escaped.

²⁵ And Jehoshaphat and his people came to plunder the spoil of them, and they found among them in abundance, both riches with the dead bodies, and precious things, and they stripped off for themselves more than they could carry away; and they were three days in plundering the spoil, it was so much.

²⁶ And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah, for there they blessed Jehovah; therefore the name of that place was called The valley of Berachah, to this day.

²⁷ And they returned, all the men of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat at their head, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for Jehovah had made them to rejoice over their enemies.

²⁸ And they came to Jerusalem with lutes and harps and trumpets, to the house of Jehovah.

²⁹ And the terror of God was on all the kingdoms of the lands, when they had heard that Jehovah fought against the enemies of Israel.

³⁰ And the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet; and his God gave him rest round about.

³¹ And 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, daughter of Shilhi.

³² And he walked in the way of Asa his father, and turned not aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of Jehovah.

³³ Only, the high places were not removed; and as yet the people had not directed their hearts to the God of their fathers.

³⁴ And the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the words of Jehu the son of Hanani, which are inserted in the book of the kings of Israel.

³⁵ And after this Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly.

³⁶ And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish; and they made the ships in Ezion-geber.

³⁷ And Eliezer the son of Dodavah, of Mareshah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, Jehovah has broken thy works. And the ships were broken, and could not go to Tarshish.

21 And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.

² And he had brethren, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah: all these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.

³ And their father had given them great gifts of silver and of gold and of precious things, besides fortified cities in Judah; but the kingdom he gave to Jehoram, for he was the firstborn.

⁴ And Jehoram established himself over the kingdom of his father, and strengthened himself; and he slew all his brethren with the sword, and [certain] also of the princes of Israel.

⁵ Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

⁶ And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the sight of Jehovah.

⁷ But Jehovah would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he had promised to give to him always a lamp, and to his sons.

⁸ In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and they set a king over themselves.

⁹ And Jehoram went over with his captains, and all the chariots with him; and he rose up by night, and smote the Edomites who had surrounded him, and the captains of the chariots.

¹⁰ But the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time from under his hand, because he had forsaken Jehovah the God of his fathers.

¹¹ Moreover he made high places on the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah [thereto].

¹² And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet saying, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David thy father: Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

¹³ but hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, like the fornications of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren, thy father's house who were better than thyself:

¹⁴ behold, Jehovah will smite with a great stroke thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy substance,

¹⁵ and thyself with sore sicknesses, with a disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day.

¹⁶ And Jehovah stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, who [are] near the Ethiopians;

¹⁷ and 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 no son left him, except Jehoahaz the youngest of his sons.

¹⁸ And after all this, Jehovah smote him in his bowels with an incurable sickness.

¹⁹ And it came to pass, from day to day, and at the time when the second year was drawing to a close, that his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness, and he died in cruel sufferings. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.

²⁰ He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being regretted. And they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.

22 And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead; for the band of men that came in the camp with the Arabians had slain all the elder ones. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned.

² Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri.

³ He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab; for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.

⁴ And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah like the house of Ahab; for they were his counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction.

⁵ He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, to the war against Hazael the king of Syria at Ramoth-Gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram.

⁶ And he returned to be healed in Jizreel because of the wounds that 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 Jizreel; for he was sick.

⁷ But his coming to Joram was from God the complete ruin of Ahaziah. And when he had come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom Jehovah had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.

⁸ And it came to pass when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, that he found the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, that attended upon Ahaziah, and he slew them.

⁹ And he sought Ahaziah; and they caught him (for he had hid himself in Samaria), and brought him to Jehu, and slew him; and they buried him, for they said, He is a son of Jehoshaphat, who sought Jehovah with all his heart. And in the house of Ahaziah there was no one who was able to [hold] the kingdom.

¹⁰ And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose up and exterminated all the royal seed of the house of Judah.

¹¹ But Jehoshabeath the daughter of the king took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in the 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 slay him;

¹² and he was with them hid in the house of God six years. And Athaliah reigned over the land.

23 And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of the 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.

² And they went about in Judah and gathered together the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the chief fathers of Israel; and they came to Jerusalem.

³ And 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 Jehovah has said of the sons of David.

⁴ This is the thing which ye shall do: a third part of you that come in on the sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be keepers of the doors;

⁵ and 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 Jehovah.

⁶ But let none come into the house of Jehovah except the priests and those of the Levites that do the service; they shall go in, for they are holy; but all the people shall keep the watch of Jehovah.

⁷ And the Levites shall encompass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and he that comes into the house shall be put to death; and ye shall be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.

⁸ And the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and they took every man his men, those that were to come in on the sabbath, with them that were to go forth on the sabbath; for Jehoiada the priest did not liberate the divisions.

⁹ And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of the hundreds king David's spears and shields and targets, which were in the house of God.

¹⁰ And he set all the people, every man with his javelin in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, toward the altar and the house, by the king round about.

¹¹ And they brought forth the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and [gave him] the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, Long live the king!

¹² And Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, and she came to the people into the house of Jehovah.

¹³ And she looked, and behold, the king stood on his dais at the entrance, and the princes and the trumpets were by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets; and the singers [were there] with the instruments of music, and such as taught to sing praise. And Athaliah rent her garments, and said, Conspiracy! Conspiracy!

¹⁴ And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of the hundreds that were set over the host, and said to them, Lead her forth without the ranks; and whosoever follows her, let him be slain with the sword; for the priest said, Ye shall not put her to death in the house of Jehovah.

¹⁵ And they made way for her, and she went through the entrance of the horse-gate into the king's house, and they put her to death there.

¹⁶ And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king, that they should be the people of Jehovah.

¹⁷ And all the people went into the house of Baal, and broke it down; and they broke his altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.

¹⁸ And Jehoiada appointed the offices of the house of Jehovah under the hand of the priests, the Levites, whom David had set by classes over the house of Jehovah to offer up Jehovah's burnt-offerings, as it is written in the law of Moses,—with rejoicing and with singing according to the directions of David.

¹⁹ And he set the doorkeepers at the gates of the house of Jehovah, that no one unclean in anything should enter in.

²⁰ And he took the captains of the 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 Jehovah; and they came through the upper gate into the king's house, and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom.

²¹ And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet; and they had slain Athaliah with the sword.

24 Joash was seven years old when he began to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba.

² And Joash did what was right in the sight of Jehovah all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

³ And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begot sons and daughters.

⁴ And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to renew the house of Jehovah.

⁵ And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah and collect of all Israel money for the repair of the house of your God from year to year, and ye shall hasten the matter. But the Levites hastened it not.

⁶ And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said to him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the tribute of Moses the servant of Jehovah [laid upon] the congregation of Israel, for the tent of the testimony?

⁷ For the wicked Athaliah [and] her sons had devastated the house of God; and also all the hallowed things of the house of Jehovah had they employed for the Baals.

⁸ And the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it at the gate of the house of Jehovah without,

⁹ and they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring to Jehovah the tribute of Moses the servant of God [laid upon] Israel in the wilderness.

¹⁰ And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in and cast into the chest, until they had finished.

¹¹ And it came to pass at the time the chest was brought for the king's control by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king's scribe and high priest's officer came, and they emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance.

¹² And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of Jehovah, and they hired masons and carpenters to renew the house of Jehovah, and also such as wrought in iron and bronze, to repair the house of Jehovah.

¹³ So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in its state, and strengthened it.

¹⁴ And when they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada; and they made of it vessels for the house of Jehovah, utensils to minister, and with which to offer up, and cups, and utensils of gold and silver. And they offered up burnt-offerings in the house of Jehovah continually all the days of Jehoiada.

¹⁵ And Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died; he was a hundred and thirty years old when he died.

¹⁶ And 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.

¹⁷ And after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and made obeisance to the king; then the king hearkened to them.

¹⁸ And they forsook the house of Jehovah the God of their fathers, and served the Asherahs and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.

¹⁹ And he sent prophets among them to bring them again to Jehovah, and they testified against them; but they would not give ear.

²⁰ And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood up above the people and said unto them, Thus saith God: Wherefore do ye transgress the commandments of Jehovah? And ye cannot prosper; for ye have forsaken Jehovah, and he hath forsaken you.

²¹ And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the command of the king in the court of the house of Jehovah.

²² And king Joash remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, Jehovah see and require [it]!

²³ And it came to pass at the end of the year [that] the army of Syria came up against him; and they entered into Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them to the king at Damascus.

²⁴ Truly with a small company of men came the army of the Syrians, but Jehovah delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken Jehovah the God of their fathers; and they executed judgment upon Joash.

²⁵ And when they had departed from him (for they left him in great diseases), his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the sepulchres of the kings.

²⁶ And these are they that conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess.

²⁷ And as to his sons, and the greatness of the burdens [laid] upon him, and the building of the house of God, behold, they are written in the treatise of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

25 Amaziah was twenty-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.

² And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, yet not with a perfect heart.

³ And it came to pass when the kingdom was established unto him, that he killed his servants who had smitten the king his father.

⁴ But their children he did not put to death, but [did] according to that which is written in the law in the book of Moses, wherein Jehovah commanded saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, nor shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.

⁵ And Amaziah gathered Judah together and arranged them according to the fathers' houses, according to the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, throughout Judah and Benjamin; and he numbered them from twenty years old and upwards, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able for military service, that could handle spear and target.

⁶ He hired also a hundred thousand mighty men of valour out of Israel for a hundred talents of silver.

⁷ But there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the host of Israel go with thee; for Jehovah is not with Israel, [with] all the children of Ephraim.

⁸ But if thou wilt go, do [it]; be strong for the battle: God will make thee fall before the enemy, for there is with God power to help and to cast down.

⁹ And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what is to be done for the hundred talents which I have given to the troop of Israel? And the man of God said, Jehovah is able to give thee much more than this.

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

¹¹ But Amaziah strengthened himself, and led forth his people, and went to the valley of salt, and smote of the children of Seir ten thousand.

¹² And the children of Judah took ten thousand captive, alive, and brought them to the top of the cliff, and cast them down from the top of the cliff, so that they all were broken in pieces.

¹³ But those of the troop that Amaziah had sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah from Samaria as far as Beth-horon, and smote three thousand of them, and took much spoil.

¹⁴ And 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 himself down before them, and burned incense to them.

¹⁵ And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent to him a prophet, who said to him, Why dost thou seek after the gods of a people who have not delivered their own people out of thy hand?

¹⁶ And it came to pass as he talked with him, that [Amaziah] said to him, Hast thou been made the king's counsellor? Forbear; why shouldest thou be smitten? Then the prophet forbore, and said, I know that God has determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened to my counsel.

¹⁷ And Amaziah king of Judah took counsel, and sent to Joash the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face.

¹⁸ And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thorn-bush that is in Lebanon sent to the cedar that is in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son as wife; and there passed by the wild beast that is in Lebanon, and trode down the thorn-bush.

¹⁹ Thou thinkest, Lo, thou hast smitten Edom; and thy heart has lifted thee up to boast: abide now at home; why shouldest thou contend with misfortune, that thou shouldest fall, thou and Judah with thee?

²⁰ But Amaziah would not hear; for it was of God, that he might deliver them into [the enemy's] hand, because they had sought after the gods of Edom.

²¹ And Joash king of Israel went up; and they looked one another in the face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh, which is in Judah.

²² And Judah was routed before Israel; and they fled every man to his tent.

²³ And Joash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.

²⁴ And he [took] all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God with Obed-Edom, and the treasures of the king's house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria.

²⁵ And Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, fifteen years.

²⁶ And 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?

²⁷ And from the time that Amaziah turned aside from following Jehovah, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish; and they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.

²⁸ And they brought him on horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.

26 And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.

² It was he that built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers.

³ Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem.

⁴ And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.

⁵ And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and in the days that he sought Jehovah, God made him to prosper.

⁶ And he went forth and fought 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.

⁷ And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gur-Baal, and the Maonites.

⁸ And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad to the entrance of Egypt; for he became exceeding strong.

⁹ And Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the angle, and fortified them.

¹⁰ And he built towers in the desert and digged many cisterns; for he had much cattle, both in the lowland and on the plateau, husbandmen [also] and vinedressers on the mountains and in Carmel; for he loved husbandry.

¹¹ And Uzziah had an army of fighting men, that 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.

¹² The whole number of the chief fathers of the mighty men of valour was two thousand six hundred.

¹³ And under their hand was an army-host of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred, that made war with mighty power to help the king against the enemy.

¹⁴ And Uzziah prepared for them, throughout the host, shields, and spears, and helmets, and coats of mail, and bows, and even slinging-stones.