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## Melachim Bet

### Chapter 1

1Moab rebelled against Yisrael after the death of Achav. 2Achazyahu fell down through the lattice in his upper room that was in Shomron, and was sick. So he sent messengers, and said to them, “Go, enquire of Ba'al Zevuv, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover of this sickness.” 3But YHWH’s malak said to Eliyahu the Tishbi, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Shomron, and tell them, ‘Is it because there is no Elohim in Yisrael that you go to enquire of Ba'al Zevuv, the god of Ekron? 4Now therefore YHWH says, “You will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely die.”’” Then Eliyahu departed. 5The messengers returned to him, and he said to them, “Why is it that you have returned?” 6They said to him, “A man came up to meet us, and said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you, and tell him, “YHWH says, ‘Is it because there is no Elohim in Yisrael that you send to enquire of Ba'al Zevuv, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely die.’”’” 7He said to them, “What kind of man was he who came up to meet you and told you these words?” 8They answered him, “He was a hairy man, and wearing a leather belt around his waist.” He said, “It’s Eliyahu the Tishbi.” 9Then the king sent a captain of fifty with his fifty to him. He went up to him; and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. He said to him, “Man of Elohim, the king has said, ‘Come down!’” 10Eliyahu answered to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of Elohim, then let fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty!” Then fire came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty. 11Again he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. He answered him, “Man of Elohim, the king has said, ‘Come down quickly!’” 12Eliyahu answered them, “If I am a man of Elohim, then let fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty!” Then Elohim’s fire came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty. 13Again he sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. The third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Eliyahu, and begged him, and said to him, “Man of Elohim, please let my life and the life of these fifty of your servants be precious in your sight. 14Behold, fire came down from the sky and consumed the last two captains of fifty with their fifties. But now let my life be precious in your sight.” 15YHWH’s malak said to Eliyahu, “Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.” Then he arose and went down with him to the king. 16He said to him, “YHWH says, ‘Because you have sent messengers to enquire of Ba'al Zevuv, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no Elohim in Yisrael to enquire of his word? Therefore you will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely die.’” 17So he died according to YHWH’s word which Eliyahu had spoken. Yehoram began to reign in his place in the second year of Yehoram the son of Yehoshafat king of Yehudah, because he had no son. 18Now the rest of the acts of Achazyahu which he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael?

### Chapter 2

1When YHWH was about to take Eliyahu up by a whirlwind into heaven, Eliyahu went with Elisha from Gilgal. 2Eliyahu said to Elisha, “Please wait here, for YHWH has sent me as far as Beit El.” Elisha said, “As YHWH lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Beit El. 3The sons of the prophets who were at Beit El came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that YHWH will take away your master from over you today?” He said, “Yes, I know it. Hold your peace.” 4Eliyahu said to him, “Elisha, please wait here, for YHWH has sent me to Jericho.” He said, “As YHWH lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. 5The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came near to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that YHWH will take away your master from over you today?” He answered, “Yes, I know it. Hold your peace.” 6Eliyahu said to him, “Please wait here, for YHWH has sent me to the Jordan.” He said, “As YHWH lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” Then they both went on. 7Fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood opposite them at a distance; and they both stood by the Jordan. 8Eliyahu took his mantle, and rolled it up, and struck the waters; and they were divided here and there, so that they both went over on dry ground. 9When they had gone over, Eliyahu said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be on me.” 10He said, “You have asked a hard thing. If you see me when I am taken from you, it will be so for you; but if not, it will not be so.” 11As they continued on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them; and Eliyahu went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12Elisha saw it, and he cried, “My father, my father, the chariots of Yisrael and its horsemen!” He saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. 13He also took up Eliyahu’s mantle that fell from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. 14He took Eliyahu’s mantle that fell from him, and struck the waters, and said, “Where is YHWH, the Elohim of Eliyahu?” When he also had struck the waters, they were divided apart, and Elisha went over. 15When the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho facing him saw him, they said, “The spirit of Eliyahu rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. 16They said to him, “See now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. Perhaps YHWH’s Ruach has taken him up, and put him on some mountain or into some valley.” He said, “Don’t send them.” 17When they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, “Send them.” Therefore they sent fifty men; and they searched for three days, but didn’t find him. 18They came back to him while he stayed at Jericho; and he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t go’?” 19The men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, please, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my adonai sees; but the water is bad, and the land is barren.” 20He said, “Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it.” Then they brought it to him. 21He went out to the spring of the waters, and threw salt into it, and said, “YHWH says, ‘I have healed these waters. There shall not be from there any more death or barren wasteland.’” 22So the waters were healed to this day, according to Elisha’s word which he spoke. 23He went up from there to Beit El. As he was going up by the way, some youths came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldy! Go up, you baldy!” 24He looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in YHWH’s name. Then two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of those youths. 25He went from there to Har Karmel, and from there he returned to Shomron.

### Chapter 3

1Now Yehoram the son of Achav began to reign over Yisrael in Shomron in the eighteenth year of Yehoshafat king of Yehudah, and reigned twelve years. 2He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, but not like his father and like his mother, for he put away the pillar of Ba'al that his father had made. 3Nevertheless he held to the sins of Yarov'am the son of Nebat, with which he made Yisrael to sin. He didn’t depart from them. 4Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder; and he supplied the king of Yisrael with one hundred thousand lambs and the wool of one hundred thousand rams. 5But when Achav was dead, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Yisrael. 6King Yehoram went out of Shomron at that time, and mustered all Yisrael. 7He went and sent to Yehoshafat the king of Yehudah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me against Moab to battle?” He said, “I will go up. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” 8Then he said, “Which way shall we go up?” Yehoram answered, “The way of the wilderness of Edom.” 9So the king of Yisrael went with the king of Yehudah and the king of Edom, and they marched for seven days along a circuitous route. There was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. 10The king of Yisrael said, “Alas! For YHWH has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.” 11But Yehoshafat said, “Isn’t there a prophet of YHWH here, that we may enquire of YHWH by him?” One of the king of Yisrael’s servants answered, “Elisha the son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Eliyahu, is here.” 12Yehoshafat said, “YHWH’s word is with him.” So the king of Yisrael and Yehoshafat and the king of Edom went down to him. 13Elisha said to the king of Yisrael, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your mother.” The king of Yisrael said to him, “No, for YHWH has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.” 14Elisha said, “As YHWH Tzeva'ot lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I respect the presence of Yehoshafat the king of Yehudah, I would not look towards you, nor see you. 15But now bring me a musician.” When the musician played, YHWH’s hand came on him. 16He said, “YHWH says, ‘Make this valley full of trenches.’ 17For YHWH says, ‘You will not see wind, neither will you see rain, yet that valley will be filled with water, and you will drink, both you and your livestock and your other animals. 18This is an easy thing in YHWH’s sight. He will also deliver the Moavim into your hand. 19You shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.’” 20In the morning, about the time of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. 21Now when all the Moavim heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, they gathered themselves together, all who were able to put on armour, young and old, and stood on the border. 22They rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moavim saw the water opposite them as red as blood. 23They said, “This is blood. The kings are surely destroyed, and they have struck each other. Now therefore, Moab, to the plunder!” 24When they came to the camp of Yisrael, the B'nei Yisrael rose up and struck the Moavim, so that they fled before them; and they went forward into the land attacking the Moavim. 25They beat down the cities; and on every good piece of land each man cast his stone, and filled it. They also stopped all the springs of water and cut down all the good trees, until in Kir Hareseth all they left was its stones; however the men armed with slings went around it and attacked it. 26When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too severe for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew a sword, to break through to the king of Edom; but they could not. 27Then he took his oldest son who would have reigned in his place, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. There was great wrath against Yisrael; and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.

### Chapter 4

1Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead. You know that your servant feared YHWH. Now the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be slaves.” 2Elisha said to her, “What should I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She said, “Your servant has nothing in the house, except a pot of oil.” 3Then he said, “Go, borrow empty containers from all your neighbours. Don’t borrow just a few containers. 4Go in and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour oil into all those containers; and set aside those which are full.” 5So she went from him, and shut the door on herself and on her sons. They brought the containers to her, and she poured oil. 6When the containers were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.” He said to her, “There isn’t another container.” Then the oil stopped flowing. 7Then she came and told the man of Elohim. He said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.” 8One day Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman; and she persuaded him to eat bread. So it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread. 9She said to her husband, “See now, I perceive that this is a kodesh man of Elohim who passes by us continually. 10Please, let’s make a little room on the roof. Let’s set a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp stand for him there. When he comes to us, he can stay there.” 11One day he came there, and he went to the room and lay there. 12He said to Geichazi his servant, “Call this Shunamit.” When he had called her, she stood before him. 13He said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Behold, you have cared for us with all this care. What is to be done for you? Would you like to be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the army?’” She answered, “I dwell amongst my own people.” 14He said, “What then is to be done for her?” Geichazi answered, “Most certainly she has no son, and her husband is old.” 15He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the door. 16He said, “At this season next year, you will embrace a son.” She said, “No, my adonai, you man of Elohim, do not lie to your servant.” 17The woman conceived, and bore a son at that season when the time came around, as Elisha had said to her. 18When the child was grown, one day he went out to his father to the reapers. 19He said to his father, “My head! My head!” He said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died. 21She went up and laid him on the man of Elohim’s bed, and shut the door on him, and went out. 22She called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants, and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of Elohim and come again.” 23He said, “Why would you want to go to him today? It is not a new moon or a Shabbat.” She said, “It’s all right.” 24Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “Drive, and go forward! Don’t slow down for me, unless I ask you to.” 25So she went, and came to the man of Elohim to Har Karmel. When the man of Elohim saw her afar off, he said to Geichazi his servant, “Behold, there is the Shunamit. 26Please run now to meet her, and ask her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with your child?’” She answered, “It is well.” 27When she came to the man of Elohim to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Geichazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of Elohim said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and YHWH has hidden it from me, and has not told me.” 28Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my adonai? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me’?” 29Then he said to Geichazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand, and go your way. If you meet any man, don’t greet him; and if anyone greets you, don’t answer him again. Then lay my staff on the child’s face.” 30The child’s mother said, “As YHWH lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose, and followed her. 31Geichazi went ahead of them, and laid the staff on the child’s face; but there was no voice and no hearing. Therefore he returned to meet him, and told him, “The child has not awakened.” 32When Elisha had come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and lying on his bed. 33He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to YHWH. 34He went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. He stretched himself on him; and the child’s flesh grew warm. 35Then he returned, and walked in the house once back and forth, then went up and stretched himself out on him. Then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. 36He called Geichazi, and said, “Call this Shunamit!” So he called her. When she had come in to him, he said, “Take up your son.” 37Then she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; then she picked up her son, and went out. 38Elisha came again to Gilgal. There was a famine in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, “Get the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.” 39One went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered a lap full of wild gourds from it, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew; for they didn’t recognise them. 40So they poured out for the men to eat. As they were eating some of the stew, they cried out and said, “Man of Elohim, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it. 41But he said, “Then bring meal.” He threw it into the pot; and he said, “Serve it to the people, that they may eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot. 42A man from Ba'al Shalishah came, and brought the man of Elohim some bread of the first fruits: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give to the people, that they may eat.” 43His servant said, “What, should I set this before a hundred men?” But he said, “Give it to the people, that they may eat; for YHWH says, ‘They will eat, and will have some left over.’” 44So he set it before them and they ate and had some left over, according to YHWH’s word.

### Chapter 5

1Now Na'aman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him YHWH had given victory to Aram; he was also a mighty man of valour, but he was a leper. 2The Aramim had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Yisrael a little girl, and she waited on Na'aman’s wife. 3She said to her mistress, “I wish that my adonai were with the prophet who is in Shomron! Then he would heal him of his leprosy.” 4Someone went in and told his Adonai, saying, “The girl who is from the land of Yisrael said this.” 5The king of Aram said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Yisrael.” He departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothing. 6He brought the letter to the king of Yisrael, saying, “Now when this letter has come to you, behold, I have sent Na'aman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.” 7When the king of Yisrael had read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I Elohim, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? But please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.” 8It was so, when Elisha the man of Elohim heard that the king of Yisrael had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Yisrael.” 9So Na'aman came with his horses and with his chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 10Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall come again to you, and you shall be clean.” 11But Na'aman was angry, and went away and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of YHWH his Elohim, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leper.’ 12Aren’t Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Dameshek, better than all the waters of Yisrael? Couldn’t I wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13His servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had asked you do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? How much rather then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of Elohim; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. 15He returned to the man of Elohim, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him; and he said, “See now, I know that there is no Elohim in all the earth, but in Yisrael. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.” 16But he said, “As YHWH lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.” He urged him to take it; but he refused. 17Na'aman said, “If not, then, please let two mules’ load of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will from now on offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but to YHWH. 18In this thing may YHWH pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimon. When I bow myself in the house of Rimon, may YHWH pardon your servant in this thing.” 19He said to him, “Go in peace.” So he departed from him a little way. 20But Geichazi the servant of Elisha the man of Elohim, said, “Behold, my master has spared this Na'aman the Arami, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought. As YHWH lives, I will run after him, and take something from him.” 21So Geichazi followed after Na'aman. When Na'aman saw one running after him, he came down from the chariot to meet him, and said, “Is all well?” 22He said, “All is well. My master has sent me, saying, ‘Behold, even now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.’” 23Na'aman said, “Be pleased to take two talents.” He urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and laid them on two of his servants; and they carried them before him. 24When he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and stored them in the house. Then he let the men go, and they departed. 25But he went in, and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, “Where did you come from, Geichazi?” He said, “Your servant went nowhere.” 26He said to him, “Didn’t my heart go with you when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive groves and vineyards, and sheep and cattle, and male servants and female servants? 27Therefore the leprosy of Na'aman will cling to you and to your offspring forever.” He went out from his presence a leper, as white as snow.

### Chapter 6

1The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See now, the place where we live and meet with you is too small for us. 2Please let us go to the Jordan, and each man take a beam from there, and let’s make us a place there, where we may live.” He answered, “Go!” 3One said, “Please be pleased to go with your servants.” He answered, “I will go.” 4So he went with them. When they came to the Jordan, they cut down wood. 5But as one was cutting down a tree, the axe head fell into the water. Then he cried out and said, “Alas, my master! For it was borrowed.” 6The man of Elohim asked, “Where did it fall?” He showed him the place. He cut down a stick, threw it in there, and made the iron float. 7He said, “Take it.” So he put out his hand and took it. 8Now the king of Aram was at war against Yisrael; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, “My camp will be in such and such a place.” 9The man of Elohim sent to the king of Yisrael, saying, “Beware that you not pass this place, for the Aramim are coming down there.” 10The king of Yisrael sent to the place which the man of Elohim told him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once or twice. 11The king of Aram’s heart was very troubled about this. He called his servants, and said to them, “Won’t you show me which of us is for the king of Yisrael?” 12One of his servants said, “No, my adonai, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Yisrael, tells the king of Yisrael the words that you speak in your bedroom.” 13He said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.” He was told, “Behold, he is in Dotan.” 14Therefore he sent horses, chariots, and a great army there. They came by night and surrounded the city. 15When the servant of the man of Elohim had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was around the city. His servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” 16He answered, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17Elisha prayed, and said, “YHWH, please open his eyes, that he may see.” YHWH opened the young man’s eyes, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha. 18When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to YHWH, and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” He struck them with blindness according to Elisha’s word. 19Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” He led them to Shomron. 20When they had come into Shomron, Elisha said, “YHWH, open these men’s eyes, that they may see.” YHWH opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, they were in the middle of Shomron. 21The king of Yisrael said to Elisha, when he saw them, “My father, shall I strike them? Shall I strike them?” 22He answered, “You shall not strike them. Would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, then go to their master.” 23He prepared a great feast for them. After they ate and drank, he sent them away and they went to their master. So the bands of Aram stopped raiding the land of Yisrael. 24After this, Benhadad king of Aram gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Shomron. 25There was a great famine in Shomron. Behold, they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. 26As the king of Yisrael was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, saying, “Help, my adonai, O king!” 27He said, “If YHWH doesn’t help you, where could I get help for you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?” 28Then the king asked her, “What is your problem?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29So we boiled my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him;’ and she has hidden her son.” 30When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. Now he was passing by on the wall, and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth underneath on his body. 31Then he said, “Elohim do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat stays on him today.” 32But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Then the king sent a man from before him; but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? Behold, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door shut against him. Isn’t the sound of his master’s feet behind him?” 33While he was still talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him. Then he said, “Behold, this evil is from YHWH. Why should I wait for YHWH any longer?”

### Chapter 7

1Elisha said, “Hear YHWH’s word. YHWH says, ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Shomron.’” 2Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of Elohim, and said, “Behold, if YHWH made windows in heaven, could this thing be?” He said, “Behold, you will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it.” 3Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. They said to one another, “Why do we sit here until we die? 4If we say, ‘We will enter into the city,’ then the famine is in the city, and we will die there. If we sit still here, we also die. Now therefore come, and let’s surrender to the army of the Aramim. If they save us alive, we will live; and if they kill us, we will only die.” 5They rose up in the twilight to go to the camp of the Aramim. When they had come to the outermost part of the camp of the Aramim, behold, no man was there. 6For Adonai had made the army of the Aramim to hear the sound of chariots and the sound of horses, even the noise of a great army; and they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Yisrael has hired against us the kings of the Chitim and the kings of the Mitzrim to attack us.” 7Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. 8When these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank, then carried away silver, gold, and clothing and went and hid it. Then they came back, and entered into another tent and carried things from there also, and went and hid them. 9Then they said to one another, “We aren’t doing right. Today is a day of good news, and we keep silent. If we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let’s go and tell the king’s household.” 10So they came and called to the city gatekeepers; and they told them, “We came to the camp of the Aramim, and, behold, there was no man there, not even a man’s voice, but the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.” 11Then the gatekeepers called out and told it to the king’s household within. 12The king arose in the night, and said to his servants, “I will now show you what the Aramim have done to us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and get into the city.’” 13One of his servants answered, “Please let some people take five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Yisrael who are left in it. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Yisrael who are consumed. Let’s send and see.” 14Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king sent them out to the Arami army, saying, “Go and see.” 15They went after them to the Jordan; and behold, all the path was full of garments and equipment which the Aramim had cast away in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king. 16The people went out and plundered the camp of the Aramim. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to YHWH’s word. 17The king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to be in charge of the gate; and the people trampled over him in the gate, and he died as the man of Elohim had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. 18It happened as the man of Elohim had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seahs of barley for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Shomron;” 19and that captain answered the man of Elohim, and said, “Now, behold, if YHWH made windows in heaven, might such a thing be?” and he said, “Behold, you will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it.” 20It happened like that to him, for the people trampled over him in the gate, and he died.

### Chapter 8

1Now Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise, and go, you and your household, and stay for a while wherever you can; for YHWH has called for a famine. It will also come on the land for seven years.” 2The woman arose, and did according to the man of Elohim’s word. She went with her household, and lived in the land of the Pelishtim for seven years. 3At the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Pelishtim. Then she went out to beg the king for her house and for her land. 4Now the king was talking with Geichazi the servant of the man of Elohim, saying, “Please tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” 5As he was telling the king how he had restored to life him who was dead, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life begged the king for her house and for her land. Geichazi said, “My Adonai, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.” 6When the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed to her a certain officer, saying, “Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.” 7Elisha came to Dameshek; and Benhadad the king of Aram was sick. He was told, “The man of Elohim has come here.” 8The king said to Chaza'el, “Take a present in your hand, and go meet the man of Elohim, and enquire of YHWH by him, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” 9So Chaza'el went to meet him and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Dameshek, forty camels’ burden, and came and stood before him and said, “Your son Benhadad king of Aram has sent me to you, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” 10Elisha said to him, “Go, tell him, ‘You will surely recover;’ however YHWH has shown me that he will surely die.” 11He settled his gaze steadfastly on him, until he was ashamed. Then the man of Elohim wept. 12Chaza'el said, “Why do you weep, my adonai?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Yisrael. You will set their strongholds on fire, and you will kill their young men with the sword, and will dash their little ones in pieces, and rip up their pregnant women.” 13Chaza'el said, “But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he could do this great thing?” Elisha answered, “YHWH has shown me that you will be king over Aram.” 14Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” He answered, “He told me that you would surely recover.” 15On the next day, he took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it on the king’s face, so that he died. Then Chaza'el reigned in his place. 16In the fifth year of Yoram the son of Achav king of Yisrael, Yehoshafat being king of Yehudah then, Yehoram the son of Yehoshafat king of Yehudah began to reign. 17He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign. He reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 18He walked in the way of the kings of Yisrael, as did Achav’s house, for he married Achav’s daughter. He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight. 19However, YHWH would not destroy Yehudah, for David his servant’s sake, as he promised him to give to him a lamp for his children always. 20In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Yehudah, and made a king over themselves. 21Then Yoram crossed over to Zair, and all his chariots with him; and he rose up by night and struck the Edomim who surrounded him with the captains of the chariots; and the people fled to their tents. 22So Edom revolted from under the hand of Yehudah to this day. Then Livnah revolted at the same time. 23The rest of the acts of Yoram, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? 24Yoram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in David’s city; and Achazyahu his son reigned in his place. 25In the twelfth year of Yoram the son of Achav king of Yisrael, Achazyahu the son of Yehoram king of Yehudah began to reign. 26Achazyahu was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Atalyah the daughter of Omri king of Yisrael. 27He walked in the way of Achav’s house and did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, as did Achav’s house, for he was the son-in-law of Achav’s house. 28He went with Yoram the son of Achav to war against Chaza'el king of Aram at Ramot Gilead, and the Aramim wounded Yoram. 29King Yoram returned to be healed in Yizre'el from the wounds which the Aramim had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Chaza'el king of Aram. Achazyahu the son of Yehoram, king of Yehudah, went down to see Yoram the son of Achav in Yizre'el, because he was sick.

### Chapter 9

1Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, “Put your belt on your waist, take this vial of oil in your hand, and go to Ramot Gilead. 2When you come there, find Yehu the son of Yehoshafat the son of Nimshi, and go in and make him rise up from amongst his brothers, and take him to an inner room. 3Then take the vial of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, ‘YHWH says, “I have anointed you king over Yisrael.”’ Then open the door, flee, and don’t wait.” 4So the young man, the young prophet, went to Ramot Gilead. 5When he came, behold, the captains of the army were sitting. Then he said, “I have a message for you, captain.” Yehu said, “To which one of us?” He said, “To you, O captain.” 6He arose, and went into the house. Then he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, “YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says, ‘I have anointed you king over the people of YHWH, even over Yisrael. 7You must strike your master Achav’s house, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of YHWH, at the hand of Izevel. 8For the whole house of Achav will perish. I will cut off from Achav everyone who urinates against a wall, both him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Yisrael. 9I will make Achav’s house like the house of Yarov'am the son of Nebat, and like the house of Ba'asha the son of Achiyah. 10The dogs will eat Izevel on the plot of ground of Yizre'el, and there shall be no one to bury her.’” Then he opened the door and fled. 11When Yehu came out to the servants of his Adonai and one said to him, “Is all well? Why did this madman come to you?” He said to them, “You know the man and how he talks.” 12They said, “That is a lie. Tell us now.” He said, “He said to me, ‘YHWH says, I have anointed you king over Yisrael.’” 13Then they hurried, and each man took his cloak, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew the trumpet, saying, “Yehu is king.” 14So Yehu the son of Yehoshafat the son of Nimshi conspired against Yoram. (Now Yoram was defending Ramot Gilead, he and all Yisrael, because of Chaza'el king of Aram; 15but King Yoram had returned to be healed in Yizre'el of the wounds which the Aramim had given him when he fought with Chaza'el king of Aram.) Yehu said, “If this is your thinking, then let no one escape and go out of the city to go to tell it in Yizre'el.” 16So Yehu rode in a chariot and went to Yizre'el, for Yoram lay there. Achazyahu king of Yehudah had come down to see Yoram. 17Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Yizre'el, and he spied the company of Yehu as he came, and said, “I see a company.” Yoram said, “Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’” 18So one went on horseback to meet him, and said, “the king says, ‘Is it peace?’” Yehu said, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me!” The watchman said, “The messenger came to them, but he isn’t coming back.” 19Then he sent out a second on horseback, who came to them and said, “The king says, ‘Is it peace?’” Yehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me!” 20The watchman said, “He came to them, and isn’t coming back. The driving is like the driving of Yehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.” 21Yoram said, “Get ready!” They got his chariot ready. Then Yoram king of Yisrael and Achazyahu king of Yehudah went out, each in his chariot; and they went out to meet Yehu, and found him on Navot the Yizre'eli’s land. 22When Yoram saw Yehu, he said, “Is it peace, Yehu?” He answered, “What peace, so long as the prostitution of your mother Izevel and her witchcraft abound?” 23Yoram turned his hands and fled, and said to Achazyahu, “This is treason, Achazyahu!” 24Yehu drew his bow with his full strength, and struck Yoram between his arms; and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. 25Then Yehu said to Bidkar his captain, “Pick him up, and throw him in the plot of the field of Navot the Yizre'eli; for remember how, when you and I rode together after Achav his father, YHWH laid this burden on him: 26‘Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Navot, and the blood of his sons,’ says YHWH; ‘and I will repay you in this plot of ground,’ says YHWH. Now therefore take and cast him onto the plot of ground, according to YHWH’s word.” 27But when Achazyahu the king of Yehudah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. Yehu followed after him, and said, “Strike him also in the chariot!” They struck him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Yivle'am. He fled to Megiddo, and died there. 28His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in David’s city. 29In the eleventh year of Yoram the son of Achav, Achazyahu began to reign over Yehudah. 30When Yehu had come to Yizre'el, Izevel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and adorned her head, and looked out at the window. 31As Yehu entered in at the gate, she said, “Do you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?” 32He lifted up his face to the window, and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked out at him. 33He said, “Throw her down!” So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses. Then he trampled her under foot. 34When he had come in, he ate and drank. Then he said, “See now to this cursed woman, and bury her; for she is a king’s daughter.” 35They went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands. 36Therefore they came back, and told him. He said, “This is YHWH’s word, which he spoke by his servant Eliyahu the Tishbi, saying, ‘The dogs will eat the flesh of Izevel on the plot of Yizre'el, 37and the body of Izevel will be as dung on the surface of the field on Yizre'el’s land, so that they won’t say, “This is Izevel.”’”

### Chapter 10

1Now Achav had seventy sons in Shomron. Yehu wrote letters and sent them to Shomron, to the rulers of Yizre'el, even the elders, and to those who brought up Achav’s sons, saying, 2“Now as soon as this letter comes to you, since your master’s sons are with you, and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city also, and armour, 3select the best and fittest of your master’s sons, set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.” 4But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, “Behold, the two kings didn’t stand before him! How then shall we stand?” 5He who was over the household, and he who was over the city, the elders also, and those who raised the children, sent to Yehu, saying, “We are your servants, and will do all that you ask us. We will not make any man king. You do that which is good in your eyes.” 6Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, “If you are on my side, and if you will listen to my voice, take the heads of the men who are your master’s sons, and come to me to Yizre'el by tomorrow this time.” Now the king’s sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up. 7When the letter came to them, they took the king’s sons and killed them, even seventy people, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Yizre'el. 8A messenger came and told him, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” He said, “Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.” 9In the morning, he went out and stood, and said to all the people, “You are righteous. Behold, I conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these? 10Know now that nothing will fall to the earth of YHWH’s word, which YHWH spoke concerning Achav’s house. For YHWH has done that which he spoke by his servant Eliyahu.” 11So Yehu struck all that remained of Achav’s house in Yizre'el, with all his great men, his familiar friends, and his priests, until he left him no one remaining. 12He arose and departed, and went to Shomron. As he was at the shearing house of the shepherds on the way, 13Yehu met with the brothers of Achazyahu king of Yehudah, and said, “Who are you?” They answered, “We are the brothers of Achazyahu. We are going down to greet the children of the king and the children of the queen.” 14He said, “Take them alive!” They took them alive, and killed them at the pit of the shearing house, even forty-two men. He didn’t leave any of them. 15When he had departed from there, he met Yehonadav the son of Rechav coming to meet him. He greeted him, and said to him, “Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?” Yehonadav answered, “It is.” “If it is, give me your hand.” He gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot. 16He said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for YHWH.” So they made him ride in his chariot. 17When he came to Shomron, he struck all who remained to Achav in Shomron, until he had destroyed them, according to YHWH’s word which he spoke to Eliyahu. 18Yehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, “Achav served Ba'al a little, but Yehu will serve him much. 19Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Ba'al, all of his worshippers, and all of his priests. Let no one be absent, for I have a great sacrifice to Ba'al. Whoever is absent, he shall not live.” But Yehu did deceptively, intending to destroy the worshippers of Ba'al. 20Yehu said, “Sanctify a solemn assembly for Ba'al!” So they proclaimed it. 21Yehu sent through all Yisrael; and all the worshippers of Ba'al came, so that there was not a man left that didn’t come. They came into the house of Ba'al; and the house of Ba'al was filled from one end to another. 22He said to him who kept the wardrobe, “Bring out robes for all the worshippers of Ba'al!” So he brought robes out to them. 23Yehu went with Yehonadav the son of Rechav into the house of Ba'al. Then he said to the worshippers of Ba'al, “Search, and see that none of the servants of YHWH are here with you, but only the worshippers of Ba'al.” 24So they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Yehu had appointed for himself eighty men outside, and said, “If any of the men whom I bring into your hands escape, he who lets him go, his life shall be for the life of him.” 25As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Yehu said to the guard and to the captains, “Go in and kill them! Let no one escape.” So they struck them with the edge of the sword. The guard and the captains threw the bodies out, and went to the inner shrine of the house of Ba'al. 26They brought out the pillars that were in the house of Ba'al and burnt them. 27They broke down the pillar of Ba'al, and broke down the house of Ba'al, and made it a latrine, to this day. 28Thus Yehu destroyed Ba'al out of Yisrael. 29However, Yehu didn’t depart from the sins of Yarov'am the son of Nebat, with which he made Yisrael to sin—the golden calves that were in Beit El and that were in Dan. 30YHWH said to Yehu, “Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to Achav’s house according to all that was in my heart, your descendants shall sit on the throne of Yisrael to the fourth generation.” 31But Yehu took no heed to walk in the law of YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, with all his heart. He didn’t depart from the sins of Yarov'am, with which he made Yisrael to sin. 32In those days YHWH began to cut away parts of Yisrael; and Chaza'el struck them in all the borders of Yisrael 33from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadim, and the Reuvenim, and the Menashim, from Aro'er, which is by the valley of the Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan. 34Now the rest of the acts of Yehu, and all that he did, and all his might, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael? 35Yehu slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Shomron. Yehoachaz his son reigned in his place. 36The time that Yehu reigned over Yisrael in Shomron was twenty-eight years.

### Chapter 11

1Now when Atalyah the mother of Achazyahu saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal offspring. 2But Yehoshev'a, the daughter of King Yoram, sister of Achazyahu, took Yoash the son of Achazyahu, and stole him away from amongst the king’s sons who were slain, even him and his nurse, and put them in the bedroom; and they hid him from Atalyah, so that he was not slain. 3He was with her hidden in YHWH’s house six years while Atalyah reigned over the land. 4In the seventh year Yehoyada sent and fetched the captains over hundreds of the Carites and of the guard, and brought them to him into YHWH’s house; and he made a Brit with them, and made a Brit with them in YHWH’s house, and showed them the king’s son. 5He commanded them, saying, “This is what you must do: a third of you, who come in on the Shabbat, shall be keepers of the watch of the king’s house; 6a third of you shall be at the gate Sur; and a third of you at the gate behind the guard. So you shall keep the watch of the house, and be a barrier. 7The two companies of you, even all who go out on the Shabbat, shall keep the watch of YHWH’s house around the king. 8You shall surround the king, every man with his weapons in his hand; and he who comes within the ranks, let him be slain. Be with the king when he goes out, and when he comes in.” 9The captains over hundreds did according to all that Yehoyada the priest commanded; and they each took his men, those who were to come in on the Shabbat with those who were to go out on the Shabbat, and came to Yehoyada the priest. 10The priest delivered to the captains over hundreds the spears and shields that had been King David’s, which were in YHWH’s house. 11The guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, around the king. 12Then he brought out the king’s son, and put the crown on him, and gave him the Brit; and they made him king and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, “Long live the king!” 13When Atalyah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into YHWH’s house; 14and she looked, and behold, the king stood by the pillar, as the tradition was, with the captains and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets. Then Atalyah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!” 15Yehoyada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds who were set over the army, and said to them, “Bring her out between the ranks. Kill anyone who follows her with the sword.” For the priest said, “Don’t let her be slain in YHWH’s house.” 16So they seized her; and she went by the way of the horses’ entry to the king’s house, and she was slain there. 17Yehoyada made a Brit between YHWH and the king and the people, that they should be YHWH’s people; also between the king and the people. 18All the people of the land went to the house of Ba'al, and broke it down. They broke his altars and his images in pieces thoroughly, and killed Matan the priest of Ba'al before the altars. The priest appointed officers over YHWH’s house. 19He took the captains over hundreds, and the Carites, and the guard, and all the people of the land; and they brought down the king from YHWH’s house, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king’s house. He sat on the throne of the kings. 20So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. They had slain Atalyah with the sword at the king’s house. 21Yehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.

### Chapter 12

1Yehoash began to reign in the seventh year of Yehu, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Tzivyah of Be'er Sheva. 2Yehoash did that which was right in YHWH’s eyes all his days in which Yehoyada the priest instructed him. 3However, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. 4Yehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the kodesh things that is brought into YHWH’s house, in current money, the money of the people for whom each man is evaluated, and all the money that it comes into any man’s heart to bring into YHWH’s house, 5let the priests take it to them, each man from his donor; and they shall repair the damage to the house, wherever any damage is found.” 6But it was so, that in the twenty-third year of King Yehoash the priests had not repaired the damage to the house. 7Then King Yehoash called for Yehoyada the priest, and for the other priests, and said to them, “Why aren’t you repairing the damage to the house? Now therefore take no more money from your treasurers, but deliver it for repair of the damage to the house.” 8The priests consented that they should take no more money from the people, and not repair the damage to the house. 9But Yehoyada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into YHWH’s house; and the priests who kept the threshold put all the money that was brought into YHWH’s house into it. 10When they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king’s scribe and the high priest came up, and they put it in bags and counted the money that was found in YHWH’s house. 11They gave the money that was weighed out into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of YHWH’s house; and they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked on YHWH’s house, 12and to the masons and the stone cutters, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the damage to YHWH’s house, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it. 13But there were not made for YHWH’s house cups of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into YHWH’s house; 14for they gave that to those who did the work, and repaired YHWH’s house with it. 15Moreover they didn’t demand an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to give to those who did the work; for they dealt faithfully. 16The money for the trespass offerings and the money for the sin offerings was not brought into YHWH’s house. It was the priests’. 17Then Chaza'el king of Aram went up and fought against Gat, and took it; and Chaza'el set his face to go up to Jerusalem. 18Yehoash king of Yehudah took all the kodesh things that Yehoshafat and Yehoram and Achazyahu, his fathers, kings of Yehudah, had dedicated, and his own kodesh things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of YHWH’s house, and of the king’s house, and sent it to Chaza'el king of Aram; and he went away from Jerusalem. 19Now the rest of the acts of Yoash, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? 20His servants arose and made a conspiracy, and struck Yoash at the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla. 21For Yozakhar the son of Shimeath, and Yehozavad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in David’s city; and Amatzyahu his son reigned in his place.

### Chapter 13

1In the twenty-third year of Yoash the son of Achazyahu, king of Yehudah, Yehoachaz the son of Yehu began to reign over Yisrael in Shomron for seventeen years. 2He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, and followed the sins of Yarov'am the son of Nebat, with which he made Yisrael to sin. He didn’t depart from it. 3YHWH’s anger burnt against Yisrael, and he delivered them into the hand of Chaza'el king of Aram, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Chaza'el, continually. 4Yehoachaz begged YHWH, and YHWH listened to him; for he saw the oppression of Yisrael, how the king of Aram oppressed them. 5(YHWH gave Yisrael a Saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Aramim; and the children of Yisrael lived in their tents as before. 6Nevertheless they didn’t depart from the sins of the house of Yarov'am, with which he made Yisrael to sin, but walked in them; and the Asherah also remained in Shomron.) 7For he didn’t leave to Yehoachaz of the people any more than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Aram destroyed them and made them like the dust in threshing. 8Now the rest of the acts of Yehoachaz, and all that he did, and his might, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael? 9Yehoachaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Shomron; and Yoash his son reigned in his place. 10In the thirty-seventh year of Yoash king of Yehudah, Yehoash the son of Yehoachaz began to reign over Yisrael in Shomron for sixteen years. 11He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight. He didn’t depart from all the sins of Yarov'am the son of Nebat, with which he made Yisrael to sin; but he walked in them. 12Now the rest of the acts of Yoash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amatzyahu king of Yehudah, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael? 13Yoash slept with his fathers; and Yarov'am sat on his throne. Yoash was buried in Shomron with the kings of Yisrael. 14Now Elisha became sick with the illness of which he died; and Yoash the king of Yisrael came down to him, and wept over him, and said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Yisrael and its horsemen!” 15Elisha said to him, “Take bow and arrows;” and he took bow and arrows for himself. 16He said to the king of Yisrael, “Put your hand on the bow;” and he put his hand on it. Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. 17He said, “Open the window eastward;” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” and he shot. He said, “YHWH’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram; for you will strike the Aramim in Aphek until you have consumed them.” 18He said, “Take the arrows;” and he took them. He said to the king of Yisrael, “Strike the ground;” and he struck three times, and stopped. 19The man of Elohim was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck Aram until you had consumed it, but now you will strike Aram just three times.” 20Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moavim invaded the land at the coming in of the year. 21As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a band of raiders; and they threw the man into Elisha’s tomb. As soon as the man touched Elisha’s bones, he revived, and stood up on his feet. 22Chaza'el king of Aram oppressed Yisrael all the days of Yehoachaz. 23But YHWH was gracious to them, and had compassion on them, and favoured them because of his Brit with Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov, and would not destroy them and he didn’t cast them from his presence as yet. 24Chaza'el king of Aram died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his place. 25Yehoash the son of Yehoachaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Chaza'el the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Yehoachaz his father by war. Yoash struck him three times, and recovered the cities of Yisrael.

### Chapter 14

1In the second year of Yoash, son of Yoachaz, king of Yisrael, Amatzyahu the son of Yoash king of Yehudah began to reign. 2He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Yeho'adin of Jerusalem. 3He did that which was right in YHWH’s eyes, yet not like David his father. He did according to all that Yoash his father had done. 4However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. 5As soon as the kingdom was established in his hand, he killed his servants who had slain the king his father, 6but the children of the murderers he didn’t put to death, according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moshe, as YHWH commanded, saying, “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin.” 7He killed ten thousand Edomim in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela by war, and called its name Yokte'el, to this day. 8Then Amatzyahu sent messengers to Yehoash, the son of Yehoachaz son of Yehu, king of Yisrael, saying, “Come, let’s look one another in the face.” 9Yehoash the king of Yisrael sent to Amatzyahu king of Yehudah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife.’ Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by, and trampled down the thistle. 10You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy the glory of it, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to your harm, that you fall, even you, and Yehudah with you?” 11But Amatzyahu would not listen. So Yehoash king of Yisrael went up; and he and Amatzyahu king of Yehudah looked one another in the face at Beit Shemesh, which belongs to Yehudah. 12Yehudah was defeated by Yisrael; and each man fled to his tent. 13Yehoash king of Yisrael took Amatzyahu king of Yehudah, the son of Yehoash the son of Achazyahu, at Beit Shemesh and came to Jerusalem, then broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits. 14He took all the gold and silver and all the vessels that were found in YHWH’s house and in the treasures of the king’s house, the hostages also, and returned to Shomron. 15Now the rest of the acts of Yehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amatzyahu king of Yehudah, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael? 16Yehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Shomron with the kings of Yisrael; and Yarov'am his son reigned in his place. 17Amatzyahu the son of Yoash king of Yehudah lived after the death of Yehoash son of Yehoachaz, king of Yisrael, fifteen years. 18Now the rest of the acts of Amatzyahu, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? 19They made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lakhish; but they sent after him to Lakhish and killed him there. 20They brought him on horses, and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in David’s city. 21All the people of Yehudah took Azaryah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amatzyahu. 22He built Eilat and restored it to Yehudah. After that the king slept with his fathers. 23In the fifteenth year of Amatzyahu the son of Yoash king of Yehudah, Yarov'am the son of Yoash king of Yisrael began to reign in Shomron for forty-one years. 24He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight. He didn’t depart from all the sins of Yarov'am the son of Nebat, with which he made Yisrael to sin. 25He restored the border of Yisrael from the entrance of Chamat to the sea of the Arava, according to YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael’s word, which he spoke by his servant Yonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gat Chefer. 26For YHWH saw the affliction of Yisrael, that it was very bitter for all, slave and free; and there was no helper for Yisrael. 27YHWH didn’t say that he would blot out the name of Yisrael from under the sky; but he saved them by the hand of Yarov'am the son of Yoash. 28Now the rest of the acts of Yarov'am, and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he recovered Dameshek, and Chamat, which had belonged to Yehudah, for Yisrael, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael? 29Yarov'am slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Yisrael; and Zecharyah his son reigned in his place.

### Chapter 15

1In the twenty-seventh year of Yarov'am king of Yisrael, Azaryah son of Amatzyahu king of Yehudah began to reign. 2He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Yekholyah of Jerusalem. 3He did that which was right in YHWH’s eyes, according to all that his father Amatzyahu had done. 4However, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. 5YHWH struck the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and lived in a separate house. Yotam, the king’s son, was over the household, judging the people of the land. 6Now the rest of the acts of Azaryah, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? 7Azaryah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in David’s city; and Yotam his son reigned in his place. 8In the thirty-eighth year of Azaryah king of Yehudah, Zecharyah the son of Yarov'am reigned over Yisrael in Shomron six months. 9He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, as his fathers had done. He didn’t depart from the sins of Yarov'am the son of Nebat, with which he made Yisrael to sin. 10Shalum the son of Yavesh conspired against him, and struck him before the people and killed him, and reigned in his place. 11Now the rest of the acts of Zecharyah, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael. 12This was YHWH’s word which he spoke to Yehu, saying, “Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Yisrael.” So it came to pass. 13Shalum the son of Yavesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uziyahu king of Yehudah, and he reigned for a month in Shomron. 14Menachem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, came to Shomron, struck Shalum the son of Yavesh in Shomron, killed him, and reigned in his place. 15Now the rest of the acts of Shalum, and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael. 16Then Menachem attacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its border areas, from Tirzah. He attacked it because they didn’t open their gates to him, and he ripped up all their women who were with child. 17In the thirty ninth year of Azaryah king of Yehudah, Menachem the son of Gadi began to reign over Yisrael for ten years in Shomron. 18He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight. He didn’t depart all his days from the sins of Yarov'am the son of Nebat, with which he made Yisrael to sin. 19Pul the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menachem gave Pul one thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand. 20Menachem exacted the money from Yisrael, even from all the mighty men of wealth, from each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and didn’t stay there in the land. 21Now the rest of the acts of Menachem, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael? 22Menachem slept with his fathers, and Pekachyah his son reigned in his place. 23In the fiftieth year of Azaryah king of Yehudah, Pekachyah the son of Menachem began to reign over Yisrael in Shomron for two years. 24He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight. He didn’t depart from the sins of Yarov'am the son of Nebat, with which he made Yisrael to sin. 25Pekach the son of Remalyahu, his captain, conspired against him and attacked him in Shomron, in the fortress of the king’s house, with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the Gil'adim. He killed him, and reigned in his place. 26Now the rest of the acts of Pekachyah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael. 27In the fifty-second year of Azaryah king of Yehudah, Pekach the son of Remalyahu began to reign over Yisrael in Shomron for twenty years. 28He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight. He didn’t depart from the sins of Yarov'am the son of Nebat, with which he made Yisrael to sin. 29In the days of Pekach king of Yisrael, Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beit Ma'akah, Yanoach, Kedesh, Chatzor, Gilead, and Galil, all the land of Naftali; and he carried them captive to Assyria. 30Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekach the son of Remalyahu, attacked him, killed him, and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Yotam the son of Uziyahu. 31Now the rest of the acts of Pekach, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael. 32In the second year of Pekach the son of Remalyahu king of Yisrael, Yotam the son of Uziyahu king of Yehudah began to reign. 33He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Yerushah the daughter of Tzadok. 34He did that which was right in YHWH’s eyes. He did according to all that his father Uziyahu had done. 35However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. He built the upper gate of YHWH’s house. 36Now the rest of the acts of Yotam, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? 37In those days, YHWH began to send Rezin the king of Aram and Pekach the son of Remalyahu against Yehudah. 38Yotam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in his father David’s city; and Achaz his son reigned in his place.

### Chapter 16

1In the seventeenth year of Pekach the son of Remalyahu, Achaz the son of Yotam king of Yehudah began to reign. 2Achaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He didn’t do that which was right in YHWH his Elohim’s eyes, like David his father. 3But he walked in the way of the kings of Yisrael, and even made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom YHWH cast out from before the children of Yisrael. 4He sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. 5Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekach son of Remalyahu king of Yisrael came up to Jerusalem to wage war. They besieged Achaz, but could not overcome him. 6At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Eilat to Aram, and drove the Yehudim from Eilat; and the Aramim came to Eilat, and lived there to this day. 7So Achaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and out of the hand of the king of Yisrael, who rise up against me.” 8Achaz took the silver and gold that was found in YHWH’s house, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. 9The king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Dameshek and took it, and carried its people captive to Kir, and killed Rezin. 10King Achaz went to Dameshek to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Dameshek; and King Achaz sent to Uriyah the priest a drawing of the altar and plans to build it. 11Uriyah the priest built an altar. According to all that King Achaz had sent from Dameshek, so Uriyah the priest made it for the coming of King Achaz from Dameshek. 12When the king had come from Dameshek, the king saw the altar; and the king came near to the altar, and offered on it. 13He burnt his burnt offering and his meal offering, poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14The bronze altar, which was before YHWH, he brought from the front of the house, from between his altar and YHWH’s house, and put it on the north side of his altar. 15King Achaz commanded Uriyah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, the evening meal offering, the king’s burnt offering and his meal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their meal offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; but the bronze altar will be for me to enquire by.” 16Uriyah the priest did so, according to all that King Achaz commanded. 17King Achaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basin from off them, and took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stone. 18He removed the covered way for the Shabbat that they had built in the house, and the king’s outer entrance to YHWH’s house, because of the king of Assyria. 19Now the rest of the acts of Achaz which he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? 20Achaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in David’s city; and Chizkiyahu his son reigned in his place.

### Chapter 17

1In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Yehudah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Shomron over Yisrael for nine years. 2He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, yet not as the kings of Yisrael who were before him. 3Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him; and Hoshea became his servant, and brought him tribute. 4The king of Assyria discovered a conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Mitzrayim, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria seized him, and bound him in prison. 5Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, went up to Shomron, and besieged it three years. 6In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Shomron and carried Yisrael away to Assyria, and placed them in Chalach, and on the Chavor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. 7It was so because the children of Yisrael had sinned against YHWH their Elohim, who brought them up out of the land of Mitzrayim from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Mitzrayim, and had feared other gods, 8and walked in the statutes of the nations whom YHWH cast out from before the children of Yisrael, and of the kings of Yisrael, which they made. 9The children of Yisrael secretly did things that were not right against YHWH their Elohim; and they built high places for themselves in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city; 10and they set up for themselves pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree; 11and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as the nations whom YHWH carried away before them did; and they did wicked things to provoke YHWH to anger; 12and they served idols, of which YHWH had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.” 13Yet YHWH testified to Yisrael and to Yehudah, by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep my mitzvot and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” 14Notwithstanding, they would not listen, but hardened their neck like the neck of their fathers who didn’t believe in YHWH their Elohim. 15They rejected his statutes and his Brit that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom YHWH had commanded them that they should not do like them. 16They abandoned all the mitzvot of YHWH their Elohim, and made molten images for themselves, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshipped all the army of the sky, and served Ba'al. 17They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, to provoke him to anger. 18Therefore YHWH was very angry with Yisrael, and removed them out of his sight. There was none left but the tribe of Yehudah only. 19Also Yehudah didn’t keep the mitzvot of YHWH their Elohim, but walked in the statutes of Yisrael which they made. 20YHWH rejected all the offspring of Yisrael, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hands of raiders, until he had cast them out of his sight. 21For he tore Yisrael from David’s house; and they made Yarov'am the son of Nebat king; and Yarov'am drove Yisrael from following YHWH, and made them sin a great sin. 22The children of Yisrael walked in all the sins of Yarov'am which he did; they didn’t depart from them 23until YHWH removed Yisrael out of his sight, as he said by all his servants the prophets. So Yisrael was carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day. 24The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, from Cuthah, from Avva, and from Chamat and Sefarvayim, and placed them in the cities of Shomron instead of the children of Yisrael; and they possessed Shomron and lived in its cities. 25So it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they didn’t fear YHWH. Therefore YHWH sent lions amongst them, which killed some of them. 26Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations which you have carried away and placed in the cities of Shomron don’t know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions amongst them; and behold, they kill them, because they don’t know the law of the god of the land.” 27Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Carry there one of the priests whom you brought from there; and let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the god of the land.” 28So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Shomron came and lived in Beit El, and taught them how they should fear YHWH. 29However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Shomronim had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived. 30The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Chamat made Ashima, 31and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adramelekh and Anammelech, the gods of Sefarvayim. 32So they feared YHWH, and also made from amongst themselves priests of the high places for themselves, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. 33They feared YHWH, and also served their own gods, after the ways of the nations from amongst whom they had been carried away. 34To this day they do what they did before. They don’t fear YHWH, and they do not follow the statutes, or the ordinances, or the law, or the mitzvah which YHWH commanded the children of Yaakov, whom he named Yisrael; 35with whom YHWH had made a Brit and commanded them, saying, “You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them; 36but you shall fear YHWH, who brought you up out of the land of Mitzrayim with great power and with an outstretched arm, and you shall bow yourselves to him, and you shall sacrifice to him. 37The statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the mitzvah which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever more. You shall not fear other gods. 38You shall not forget the Brit that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods. 39But you shall fear YHWH your Elohim, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.” 40However they didn’t listen, but they did what they did before. 41So these nations feared YHWH, and also served their engraved images. Their children did likewise, and so did their children’s children. They do as their fathers did to this day.

### Chapter 18

1Now in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Yisrael, Chizkiyahu the son of Achaz king of Yehudah began to reign. 2He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zecharyah. 3He did that which was right in YHWH’s eyes, according to all that David his father had done. 4He removed the high places, broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moshe had made, because in those days the children of Yisrael burnt incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan. 5He trusted in YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, so that after him was no one like him amongst all the kings of Yehudah, nor amongst them that were before him. 6For he joined with YHWH. He didn’t depart from following him, but kept his mitzvot, which YHWH commanded Moshe. 7YHWH was with him. Wherever he went, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria, and didn’t serve him. 8He struck the Pelishtim to Gaza and its borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city. 9In the fourth year of King Chizkiyahu, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Yisrael, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Shomron and besieged it. 10At the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Chizkiyahu, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Yisrael, Shomron was taken. 11The king of Assyria carried Yisrael away to Assyria, and put them in Chalach, and on the Chavor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12because they didn’t obey YHWH their Elohim’s voice, but transgressed his Brit, even all that Moshe the servant of YHWH commanded, and would not hear it or do it. 13Now in the fourteenth year of King Chizkiyahu, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Yehudah and took them. 14Chizkiyahu king of Yehudah sent to the king of Assyria at Lakhish, saying, “I have offended you. Withdraw from me. That which you put on me, I will bear.” The king of Assyria appointed to Chizkiyahu king of Yehudah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15Chizkiyahu gave him all the silver that was found in YHWH’s house and in the treasures of the king’s house. 16At that time, Chizkiyahu cut off the gold from the doors of YHWH’s Beit HaMikdash, and from the pillars which Chizkiyahu king of Yehudah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria. 17The king of Assyria sent Tartan, Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh from Lakhish to King Chizkiyahu with a great army to Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller’s field. 18When they had called to the king, Elyakim the son of Chilkiyahu, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe, and Yo'ach the son of Asaf the recorder came out to them. 19Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Chizkiyahu, ‘The great king, the king of Assyria, says, “What confidence is this in which you trust? 20You say (but they are but vain words), ‘There is counsel and strength for war.’ Now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? 21Now, behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Mitzrayim. If a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Mitzrayim to all who trust on him. 22But if you tell me, ‘We trust in YHWH our Elohim,’ isn’t that he whose high places and whose altars Chizkiyahu has taken away, and has said to Yehudah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? 23Now therefore, please give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 24How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust on Mitzrayim for chariots and for horsemen? 25Have I now come up without YHWH against this place to destroy it? YHWH said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’”’” 26Then Elyakim the son of Chilkiyahu, Shebnah, and Yo'ach, said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in the Arami language, for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Yehudim’ language, in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 27But Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you, to speak these words? Hasn’t he sent me to the men who sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own urine with you?” 28Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Yehudim’ language, and spoke, saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. 29The king says, ‘Don’t let Chizkiyahu deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand. 30Don’t let Chizkiyahu make you trust in YHWH, saying, “YHWH will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 31Don’t listen to Chizkiyahu.’ For the king of Assyria says, ‘Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and everyone of you eat from his own vine, and everyone from his own fig tree, and everyone drink water from his own cistern; 32until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and of honey, that you may live and not die. Don’t listen to Chizkiyahu when he persuades you, saying, “YHWH will deliver us.” 33Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 34Where are the gods of Chamat and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sefarvayim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Shomron out of my hand? 35Who are they amongst all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that YHWH should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’” 36But the people stayed quiet, and answered him not a word; for the king’s mitzvah was, “Don’t answer him.” 37Then Elyakim the son of Chilkiyahu, who was over the household, came with Shebna the scribe and Yo'ach the son of Asaf the recorder to Chizkiyahu with their clothes torn, and told him Rabshakeh’s words.

### Chapter 19

1When King Chizkiyahu heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into YHWH’s house. 2He sent Elyakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Yeshayahu the prophet the son of Amoz. 3They said to him, “Chizkiyahu says, ‘Today is a day of trouble, of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them. 4It may be YHWH your Elohim will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living Elohim, and will rebuke the words which YHWH your Elohim has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’” 5So the servants of King Chizkiyahu came to Yeshayahu. 6Yeshayahu said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘YHWH says, “Don’t be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”’” 8So Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Livnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lakhish. 9When he heard it said of Tirhakah king of Kush, “Behold, he has come out to fight against you,” he sent messengers again to Chizkiyahu, saying, 10“Tell Chizkiyahu king of Yehudah this: ‘Don’t let your Elohim in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Will you be delivered? 12Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed—Gozan, Charan, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? 13Where is the king of Chamat, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sefarvayim, of Hena, and Ivvah?’” 14Chizkiyahu received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Chizkiyahu went up to YHWH’s house, and spread it before YHWH. 15Chizkiyahu prayed before YHWH, and said, “YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are the Elohim, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16Incline your ear, YHWH, and hear. Open your eyes, YHWH, and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to defy the living Elohim. 17Truly, YHWH, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 18and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them. 19Now therefore, YHWH our Elohim, save us, I beg you, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, YHWH, are Elohim alone.” 20Then Yeshayahu the son of Amoz sent to Chizkiyahu, saying, “YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says ‘You have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, and I have heard you. 21This is the word that YHWH has spoken concerning him: ‘The virgin daughter of Tzion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. 22Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Kodesh One of Yisrael! 23By your messengers, you have defied Adonai, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots, I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon, and I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees; and I will enter into his farthest lodging place, the forest of his fruitful field. 24I have dug and drunk strange waters, and I will dry up all the rivers of Mitzrayim with the sole of my feet.” 25Haven’t you heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. 26Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops and like grain blasted before it has grown up. 27But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me. 28Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.’ 29“This will be the sign to you: This year, you will eat that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from that; and in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 30The remnant that has escaped of the house of Yehudah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. 31For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and out of Har Tzion those who shall escape. YHWH’s zeal will perform this. 32“Therefore YHWH says concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there. He will not come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. 33He will return the same way that he came, and he will not come to this city,’ says YHWH. 34‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.’” 35That night, YHWH’s malak went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Ashurim. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 36So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, went home, and lived at Ninveh. 37As he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adramelekh and Sharezer struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.

### Chapter 20

1In those days Chizkiyahu was sick and dying. Yeshayahu the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “YHWH says, ‘Set your house in order; for you will die, and not live.’” 2Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to YHWH, saying, 3“Remember now, YHWH, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” And Chizkiyahu wept bitterly. 4Before Yeshayahu had gone out into the middle part of the city, YHWH’s word came to him, saying, 5“Turn back, and tell Chizkiyahu the prince of my people, ‘YHWH, the Elohim of David your father, says, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you will go up to YHWH’s house. 6I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.”’” 7Yeshayahu said, “Take a cake of figs.” They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. 8Chizkiyahu said to Yeshayahu, “What will be the sign that YHWH will heal me, and that I will go up to YHWH’s house the third day?” 9Yeshayahu said, “This will be the sign to you from YHWH, that YHWH will do the thing that he has spoken: should the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” 10Chizkiyahu answered, “It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten steps. No, but let the shadow return backward ten steps.” 11Yeshayahu the prophet cried to YHWH; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Achaz. 12At that time Berodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Chizkiyahu, for he had heard that Chizkiyahu had been sick. 13Chizkiyahu listened to them, and showed them all the storehouse of his precious things—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, or in all his dominion, that Chizkiyahu didn’t show them. 14Then Yeshayahu the prophet came to King Chizkiyahu, and said to him, “What did these men say? From where did they come to you?” Chizkiyahu said, “They have come from a far country, even from Babylon.” 15He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Chizkiyahu answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing amongst my treasures that I have not shown them.” 16Yeshayahu said to Chizkiyahu, “Hear YHWH’s word. 17‘Behold, the days come that all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store to this day, will be carried to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says YHWH. 18‘They will take away some of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will father; and they will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” 19Then Chizkiyahu said to Yeshayahu, “YHWH’s word which you have spoken is good.” He said moreover, “Isn’t it so, if peace and truth will be in my days?” 20Now the rest of the acts of Chizkiyahu, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? 21Chizkiyahu slept with his fathers, and Menashe his son reigned in his place.

### Chapter 21

1Menashe was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Cheftziva. 2He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, after the abominations of the nations whom YHWH cast out before the children of Yisrael. 3For he built again the high places which Chizkiyahu his father had destroyed; and he raised up altars for Ba'al, and made an Asherah, as Achav king of Yisrael did, and worshipped all the army of the sky, and served them. 4He built altars in YHWH’s house, of which YHWH said, “I will put my name in Jerusalem.” 5He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of YHWH’s house. 6He made his son to pass through the fire, practised sorcery, used enchantments, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits and with wizards. He did much evil in YHWH’s sight, to provoke him to anger. 7He set the engraved image of Asherah that he had made in the house of which YHWH said to David and to Shlomo his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Yisrael, I will put my name forever; 8I will not cause the feet of Yisrael to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moshe commanded them.” 9But they didn’t listen, and Menashe seduced them to do that which is evil more than the nations did whom YHWH destroyed before the children of Yisrael. 10YHWH spoke by his servants the prophets, saying, 11“Because Menashe king of Yehudah has done these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Emorim did, who were before him, and has also made Yehudah to sin with his idols; 12therefore YHWH the Elohim of Yisrael says, ‘Behold, I will bring such evil on Jerusalem and Yehudah that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. 13I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Shomron, and the plumb line of Achav’s house; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance and deliver them into the hands of their enemies. They will become a prey and a plunder to all their enemies, 15because they have done that which is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Mitzrayim, even to this day.’” 16Moreover Menashe shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; in addition to his sin with which he made Yehudah to sin, in doing that which was evil in YHWH’s sight. 17Now the rest of the acts of Menashe, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? 18Menashe slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon his son reigned in his place. 19Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Yotbah. 20He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, as Menashe his father did. 21He walked in all the ways that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them; 22and he abandoned YHWH, the Elohim of his fathers, and didn’t walk in the way of YHWH. 23The servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in his own house. 24But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Ammon; and the people of the land made Yoshiyahu his son king in his place. 25Now the rest of the acts of Ammon which he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? 26He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Yoshiyahu his son reigned in his place.

### Chapter 22

1Yoshiyahu was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Yedidah the daughter of Adayah of Bozkath. 2He did that which was right in YHWH’s eyes, and walked in all the ways of David his father, and didn’t turn away to the right hand or to the left. 3In the eighteenth year of King Yoshiyahu, the king sent Shafan, the son of Atzalyah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to YHWH’s house, saying, 4“Go up to Chilkiyahu the high priest, that he may count the money which is brought into YHWH’s house, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people. 5Let them deliver it into the hand of the workers who have the oversight of YHWH’s house; and let them give it to the workers who are in YHWH’s house, to repair the damage to the house, 6to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the house. 7However, no accounting shall be asked of them for the money delivered into their hand, for they deal faithfully.” 8Chilkiyahu the high priest said to Shafan the scribe, “I have found the book of the law in YHWH’s house.” Chilkiyahu delivered the book to Shafan, and he read it. 9Shafan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hands of the workmen who have the oversight of YHWH’s house.” 10Shafan the scribe told the king, saying, “Chilkiyahu the priest has delivered a book to me.” Then Shafan read it before the king. 11When the king had heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. 12The king commanded Chilkiyahu the priest, Ahikam the son of Shafan, Achbor the son of Mikhayhu, Shafan the scribe, and Asayah the king’s servant, saying, 13“Go enquire of YHWH for me, and for the people, and for all Yehudah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is YHWH’s wrath that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that which is written concerning us.” 14So Chilkiyahu the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shafan, and Asayah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shalum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they talked with her. 15She said to them, “YHWH the Elohim of Yisrael says, ‘Tell the man who sent you to me, 16“YHWH says, ‘Behold, I will bring evil on this place and on its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Yehudah has read. 17Because they have forsaken me and have burnt incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched.’” 18But to the king of Yehudah, who sent you to enquire of YHWH, tell him, “YHWH the Elohim of Yisrael says, ‘Concerning the words which you have heard, 19because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before YHWH when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you,’ says YHWH. 20‘Therefore behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place.’”’” So they brought this message back to the king.

### Chapter 23

1The king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Yehudah and of Jerusalem. 2The king went up to YHWH’s house, and all the men of Yehudah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him—with the priests, the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the Brit which was found in YHWH’s house. 3The king stood by the pillar and made a Brit before YHWH to walk after YHWH and to keep his mitzvot, his testimonies, and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to confirm the words of this Brit that were written in this book; and all the people agreed to the Brit. 4The king commanded Chilkiyahu the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of YHWH’s Beit HaMikdash all the vessels that were made for Ba'al, for the Asherah, and for all the army of the sky; and he burnt them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Beit El. 5He got rid of the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Yehudah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Yehudah and in the places around Jerusalem; those also who burnt incense to Ba'al, to the sun, to the moon, to the planets, and to all the army of the sky. 6He brought out the Asherah from YHWH’s house, outside of Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burnt it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of the common people. 7He broke down the houses of the male shrine prostitutes that were in YHWH’s house, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. 8He brought all the priests out of the cities of Yehudah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burnt incense, from Geva to Be'er Sheva; and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Yehoshua the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city. 9Nevertheless the priests of the high places didn’t come up to YHWH’s altar in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread amongst their brothers. 10He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molekh. 11He took away the horses that the kings of Yehudah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance of YHWH’s house, by the room of Natan Melech the officer who was in the court; and he burnt the chariots of the sun with fire. 12The king broke down the altars that were on the roof of the upper room of Achaz, which the kings of Yehudah had made, and the altars which Menashe had made in the two courts of YHWH’s house, and beat them down from there, and cast their dust into the brook Kidron. 13The king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Shlomo the king of Yisrael had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Tzidonim, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milkom the abomination of the children of Ammon. 14He broke in pieces the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled their places with men’s bones. 15Moreover the altar that was at Beit El and the high place which Yarov'am the son of Nebat, who made Yisrael to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burnt the high place and beat it to dust, and burnt the Asherah. 16As Yoshiyahu turned himself, he spied the tombs that were there in the mountain; and he sent, and took the bones out of the tombs, and burnt them on the altar, and defiled it, according to YHWH’s word which the man of Elohim proclaimed, who proclaimed these things. 17Then he said, “What monument is that which I see?” The men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of Elohim who came from Yehudah and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Beit El.” 18He said, “Let him be! Let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Shomron. 19All the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Shomron, which the kings of Yisrael had made to provoke YHWH to anger, Yoshiyahu took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Beit El. 20He killed all the priests of the high places that were there, on the altars, and burnt men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem. 21The king commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the Pesach to YHWH your Elohim, as it is written in this book of the Brit.” 22Surely there was not kept such a Pesach from the days of the judges who judged Yisrael, nor in all the days of the kings of Yisrael, nor of the kings of Yehudah; 23but in the eighteenth year of King Yoshiyahu, this Pesach was kept to YHWH in Jerusalem. 24Moreover, Yoshiyahu removed those who had familiar spirits, the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Yehudah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Chilkiyahu the priest found in YHWH’s house. 25There was no king like him before him, who turned to YHWH with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moshe; and there was none like him who arose after him. 26Notwithstanding, YHWH didn’t turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger burnt against Yehudah, because of all the provocation with which Menashe had provoked him. 27YHWH said, “I will also remove Yehudah out of my sight, as I have removed Yisrael; and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’” 28Now the rest of the acts of Yoshiyahu, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? 29In his days Pharaoh Necoh king of Mitzrayim went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Yoshiyahu went against him, but Pharaoh Necoh killed him at Megiddo when he saw him. 30His servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Yehoachaz the son of Yoshiyahu, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place. 31Yehoachaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu of Livnah. 32He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, according to all that his fathers had done. 33Pharaoh Necoh put him in bonds at Rivlah in the land of Chamat, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34Pharaoh Necoh made Elyakim the son of Yoshiyahu king in the place of Yoshiyahu his father, and changed his name to Yehoyakim; but he took Yehoachaz away, and he came to Mitzrayim and died there. 35Yehoyakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the mitzvah of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necoh. 36Yehoyakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedayah of Rumah. 37He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, according to all that his fathers had done.

### Chapter 24

1In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Yehoyakim became his servant three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. 2YHWH sent against him bands of the Kasdim, bands of the Aramim, bands of the Moavim, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Yehudah to destroy it, according to YHWH’s word which he spoke by his servants the prophets. 3Surely at the mitzvah of YHWH this came on Yehudah, to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Menashe, according to all that he did, 4and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and YHWH would not pardon. 5Now the rest of the acts of Yehoyakim, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? 6So Yehoyakim slept with his fathers, and Yehoyachin his son reigned in his place. 7The king of Mitzrayim didn’t come out of his land any more; for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Mitzrayim to the river Euphrates, all that belonged to the king of Mitzrayim. 8Yehoyachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnatan of Jerusalem. 9He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, according to all that his father had done. 10At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. 11Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it, 12and Yehoyachin the king of Yehudah went out to the king of Babylon—he, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers; and the king of Babylon captured him in the eighth year of his reign. 13He carried out from there all the treasures of YHWH’s house and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Shlomo king of Yisrael had made in YHWH’s Beit HaMikdash, as YHWH had said. 14He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. No one remained except the poorest people of the land. 15He carried away Yehoyachin to Babylon, with the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the chief men of the land. He carried them into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16All the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths one thousand, all of them strong and fit for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. 17The king of Babylon made Matanyah, Yehoyachin’s father’s brother, king in his place, and changed his name to Tzidkiyahu. 18Tzidkiyahu was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu of Livnah. 19He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, according to all that Yehoyakim had done. 20For through the anger of YHWH, this happened in Jerusalem and Yehudah, until he had cast them out from his presence. Then Tzidkiyahu rebelled against the king of Babylon.

### Chapter 25

1In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it around it. 2So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Tzidkiyahu. 3On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. 4Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden (now the Kasdim were against the city around it); and the king went by the way of the Arava. 5But the Kasdi army pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 6Then they captured the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Rivlah; and they passed judgement on him. 7They killed Tzidkiyahu’s sons before his eyes, then put out Tzidkiyahu’s eyes, bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon. 8Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9He burnt YHWH’s house, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burnt every great house with fire. 10All the army of the Kasdim, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 11Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the rest of the people who were left in the city and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon—all the rest of the multitude. 12But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields. 13The Kasdim broke up the pillars of bronze that were in YHWH’s house and the bases and the bronze sea that were in YHWH’s house, and carried the bronze pieces to Babylon. 14They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered. 15The captain of the guard took away the fire pans, the basins, that which was of gold, for gold, and that which was of silver, for silver. 16The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Shlomo had made for YHWH’s house, the bronze of all these vessels was not weighed. 17The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of bronze was on it. The height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital around it, all of bronze; and the second pillar with its network was like these. 18The captain of the guard took Serayah the chief priest, Tzefaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold; 19and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and five men of those who saw the king’s face, who were found in the city; and the scribe, the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city. 20Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Rivlah. 21The king of Babylon attacked them and put them to death at Rivlah in the land of Chamat. So Yehudah was carried away captive out of his land. 22As for the people who were left in the land of Yehudah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedalyahu the son of Ahikam, the son of Shafan, governor. 23Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedalyahu governor, they came to Gedalyahu to Mitzpah, even Yishmael the son of Netanyah, Yochanan the son of Kareach, Serayah the son of Tanhumeth the Netofati, and Ya'azanyah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. 24Gedalyahu swore to them and to their men, and said to them, “Don’t be afraid because of the servants of the Kasdim. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.” 25But in the seventh month, Yishmael the son of Netanyah, the son of Elishama, of the royal offspring came, and ten men with him, and struck Gedalyahu so that he died, with the Yehudim and the Kasdim that were with him at Mitzpah. 26All the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose and came to Mitzrayim; for they were afraid of the Kasdim. 27In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Yehoyachin king of Yehudah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, released Yehoyachin king of Yehudah out of prison, 28and he spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon, 29and changed his prison garments. Yehoyachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life; 30and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him from the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.

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