DASV:  Digital American Standard Version

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 1

¹ Solomon son of David was established in his kingdom, and the LORD his God was with him and made him very great.
² Solomon summoned all Israel, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, and the judges, all the leaders of Israel, and the heads of the ancestral families.

³ So Solomon and the entire assembly with him, went to the high place at Gibeon; for the tent of meeting of God was there which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness.

⁴ But the ark of God David brought up from Kiriath-jearim to the place that David had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent in Jerusalem for it.

⁵ But the bronze altar that Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, had made was there in front of the tabernacle of the LORD. So Solomon and the assembly prayed to God there.

⁶ Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the LORD, which was at the tent of meeting. He offered 1,000 burnt offerings on it.

⁷ That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

⁸ Solomon replied to God, “You have shown great loyal love to my father David, and have made me king in his place.

⁹ Now, O LORD God, let your promise to David my father be realized, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.

¹⁰ Give me wisdom and knowledge, so that I may lead this people; for who can govern this great people of yours?”

¹¹ God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for riches, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, nor have you asked for long life; but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may govern my people, over whom I have made you king,

¹² wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, wealth, honor, such as none of the kings have had before you, and no one will have after you.”

¹³ So Solomon left the high place at Gibeon and the tent of meeting, to return to Jerusalem where he reigned over Israel.

¹⁴ Solomon accumulated chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots, and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.

¹⁵ The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as abundant as sycamore-fig trees are in the Shephelah foothills.

¹⁶ Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue [Cilicia], the king's merchants purchased them from Kue at the prevailing price.

¹⁷ They imported a chariot from Egypt for 600 silver shekels, and a horse for 150; then they were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and of Aram.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 2

¹ Now Solomon decided to build a temple for the name of the LORD, and a royal palace for himself.

² Solomon conscripted 70,000 men as laborers, 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 to oversee them.

³ Solomon sent to King Huram of Tyre, “Do for me as you did for my father David, when you sent him cedars to build a palace to live in.

⁴ I am about to build a temple for the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn fragrant incense before him, and for the regular arrangement of the showbread, and for the morning and evening burnt offerings, on the Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and the appointed feasts of the LORD our God. This is a permanent ordinance for Israel.

⁵ The temple I intend to build will be great; for our God is greater than all other gods.

⁶ But who is able to build a temple for him, seeing heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him? Who am I then, that I should build a temple for him, except as a place to burn offerings before him?

⁷ Now then, send me a man skillful in working with gold, silver, brass, iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue, and who knows how to engrave. He will work with the craftsmen who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, provided by my father David.

⁸ Send me also cedar, pine, and algum wood from Lebanon; for I know that your servants in Lebanon know how to cut timber. My servants will work with your servants

⁹ to prepare a large amount of timber for me; for the temple which I am about to build will be great and magnificent.

¹⁰ I will give to your servants, who cut the timber, 100,000 bushels of crushed wheat, and 100,000 bushels of barley, and 110,000 gallons of wine, and 110,000 gallons of olive oil.”

¹¹ Then Huram, the king of Tyre, answered in a letter to Solomon, “Because the LORD loves his people, he has made you king over them.”

¹² Huram continued, “Praise the LORD, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given to King David a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, who will build a temple for the LORD, and a royal palace for himself.

¹³ I am sending a master craftsman, Huram-abi; he is very skilled.

¹⁴ His mother is from Dan and his father was from Tyre. He is skillful in working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, wood, and with purple, blue, crimson, and fine linen. He is also able to engrave any type of engraving, and to understand any design presented to him. He will work with your skilled artisans and with the craftsmen of my lord, David your father.

¹⁵ Now regarding the wheat and barley, olive oil and wine, that my lord has spoken of, let him send it to his servants.

¹⁶ We will cut as much timber as you need out of Lebanon, and we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa. Then you can haul it up to Jerusalem.

¹⁷ Solomon counted all the foreigners in the land of Israel, after the census that his father David had taken. There was a total of 153,600.

¹⁸ He designated 70,000 of them as laborers, and 80,000 as stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 as overseers to make sure the people worked.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 3

¹ Then Solomon began to build the temple of the LORD at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David had designated, on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

² He began to build on the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

³ Now these are the foundation measurements which Solomon laid for the building of the temple of God. Using the length by cubits after the old standard of measurement, it was 60 cubits [90 feet] long, and 20 cubits [30 feet] wide.

⁴ The porch that was in front of the temple was 30 feet wide matching the width of the temple, and the height was 20 cubits [30 feet]. He overlaid the inside with pure gold.

⁵ He paneled the main room with pine, which he overlaid with fine gold, and decorated it with carvings of palm trees and chains.

⁶ He decorated the temple with beautiful precious stones and gold from Parvaim.

⁷ He also overlaid the temple’s beams, thresholds, walls, and doors with gold; with carved cherubim on the walls.

⁸ He made the most holy place. Its length matched its width at 30 feet. He overlaid it with 600 talents [23 tons] of fine gold.

⁹ The weight of the nails was 50 shekels [20 ounces] of gold. He also overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

¹⁰ In the most holy place he made two cherubim of carved wood and overlaid them with gold.

¹¹ The wings of the cherubim were 30 feet long. One wing was 7 ½ feet, reaching to the wall of the temple. The other wing was also 7 ½ feet, so that it touched the wing of the other cherub.

¹² The wing of the other cherub was also 7 ½ feet, reaching to the wall of the temple. The other wing was 7 ½ feet, joining to the wing of the other cherub.

¹³ The wingspan of these cherubim was 30 feet. They stood on their feet, facing toward the nave of the temple.

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

¹⁵ In front of the temple he made two pillars 27 feet tall, and the capital on the top of each of them was an additional 7 ½ feet high.

¹⁶ He made ornamental chains and put them on the tops of the pillars; and he made 100 decorative pomegranates, and attached them to the chains.

¹⁷ He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right side, and the other on the left. He named the one on the right [south] Jachin, and the one on the left [north], Boaz.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 4

¹ He made an altar of bronze, 30 feet long, and 30 feet wide, and 15 feet high.

² Also he made the cast metal basin called “The Sea.” It was circular 15 feet across from rim to rim; and 7 ½ feet deep and about 45 feet around.

³ Under it were figures like bulls each 15 feet all around the Sea. The bulls were in two rows, cast with the basin itself.

⁴ It stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing toward the east. The Sea was set on top of them, and all their backsides were toward the inside.

⁵ It was 3 inches thick; and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily.  It could hold 17,500 gallons.

⁶ He made also ten wash basins, and put five on the right hand and five on the left. They were used for rinsing for the burnt offering; but the Sea was exclusively for the priests to wash in.

⁷ He made ten lampstands of gold according to the specifications concerning them. He set them in the temple, five on the right hand and five on the left.

⁸ He made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. He also made a 100 gold basins.

⁹ He made the court of the priests and the great court and doors for the court. He overlaid their doors with bronze.

¹⁰ He set the sea on the right side, near the southeast corner.

¹¹ Huram-abi also made the pots, shovels, and bowls. So Huram-abi finished the work that he did for King Solomon on the temple of God,

¹² the two pillars, and two bowl-shaped capitals that were on the top of the pillars, and the two chain networks covering the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars,

¹³ the four hundred pomegranates for the two chain networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to decorate the two bowls of the capitals that were on top of the pillars.

¹⁴ He made also the stands, and the basins to be set on the stands,

¹⁵ the Sea, and the twelve oxen under it,

¹⁶ pots and shovels, and the meat-hooks. All its items, Huram-abi made for King Solomon for the house of the LORD of polished bronze.

¹⁷ In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.

¹⁸ Solomon made all these items in great quantities so much that its weight of the bronze  could not be ascertained.

¹⁹ So Solomon made all the items that were in the house of God, the golden altar, the tables for the bread of the Presence,

²⁰ and the lampstands with their gold lamps, to burn according to the regulations before the inner sanctuary;

²¹ the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of pure gold;

²² the snuffers, basins, ladles, and the firepans were all of pure gold. As for the entry of the temple, its inner doors for the most holy place, and for the doors of the main Temple, were all of gold.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 5

¹ So all the work that Solomon did for the temple of the LORD was finished. Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, the silver and gold, and all the articles, and put them in the treasuries of the temple of God.

² Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the leaders of the tribes, and the chiefs of the ancestral families of the Israelites, to Jerusalem, in order to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, that is, Zion.

³ All the men of Israel assembled themselves before the king at the festival, that is in the seventh month.

⁴ When all the elders of Israel had come, the Levites took up the ark.

⁵ The priests and Levites brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent.

⁶ King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled with him, went before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be counted or numbered.

⁷ The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the most holy place and put it under the wings of the cherubim.

⁸ For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles from above.

⁹ The poles were so long that the ends protruding out from the ark were seen from in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside the Holy Place. They remain there to this day.

¹⁰ There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses put in there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.

¹¹ The priests came out of the holy place, for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, regardless of their division.

¹² All the levitical musicians, including Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and their relatives, wore fine linen, with cymbals, harps and lyres. They stood at the east side of the altar, and with them a 120 priests blowing the trumpets.

¹³ When the trumpeters and singers played in unison, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets, cymbals and instruments of music, they praised the LORD singing, “For he is good, for his loyal love endures forever.” Then the temple, the temple of the LORD, was filled with a cloud.

¹⁴ The priests could not continue to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 6

¹ Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.

² I have built you a fabulous temple, a place for you to dwell in forever.”

³ The king turned around, and blessed all the assembly of Israel, as the entire assembly of Israel stood there.
⁴ He said, “Praise be the LORD, the God of Israel, because he has fulfilled what he promised to my father David, saying,
⁵ ‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a temple in, so that my name might be there, neither did I choose anyone to be ruler over my people Israel.

⁶ But now I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there, and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’

⁷ It was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁸ But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a temple for my name, you did well to have this intention in your heart.

⁹ Nevertheless you shall not build the temple; but your son who will be born to you, he will build the temple for my name.’

¹⁰ The LORD has kept his word that he promised; for I have succeeded my father David, and now sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised and I have built the temple for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹¹ I have put the ark there, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with the Israelites.”

¹² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.

¹³ He had made a bronze platform, 7 ½ feet long by 7 ½ feet wide, and 4 ½ feet high, and had set it in the middle of the court.  He stood on it, and kneeled down before the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.

¹⁴ Then he said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven, or on earth; who keeps the covenant and loyal love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart.

¹⁵ You have kept your promise with your servant my father David. Yes, you promised with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, just as it is this day.

¹⁶ Now therefore, O LORD, the God of Israel, fulfill with your servant my father David what you have promised him, saying, ‘You will not fail to have a successor before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children are careful in their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’

¹⁷ Now therefore, O LORD, the God of Israel, let your promise be fulfilled that you swore to your servant David.

¹⁸ But will God really dwell with humans on the earth? Even highest heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

¹⁹ Yet listen favorably to the prayer of your servant, and to his plea for help, O LORD my God. Listen to the cry and prayer that your servant prays before you.

²⁰ May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, even toward the place of which you have promised that you would put your name there. May you listen to the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.

²¹ Listen to the requests of your servant and your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.

²² If someone sins against his neighbor, and is made to take an oath pronouncing a curse against himself, and he come and swears before your altar in this house,

²³ then hear from heaven, and act, and judge your servants, repaying the guilty bringing what he has done back on his own head. But vindicate the righteous giving him what his righteousness deserves.

²⁴ If your people Israel are defeated before the enemy, because they have sinned against you, and will turn again and confess your name, pray and plead for help before you in this temple,

²⁵ then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land you have given to them and to their forefathers.

²⁶ When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin when you punish them,

²⁷ then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and your people Israel. Teach them the good way in which they should walk, and then send rain on your land you have given to your people for an inheritance.

²⁸ If there is a famine in the land, of plague, blight, mildew, locusts, or caterpillars; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their gates, whatever plague or sickness occurs

²⁹ whatever prayer and request is made by anyone, or by all your people Israel, who each acknowledge his individual plague and sorrow, and shall spread out his hands toward this temple;

³⁰ then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive. Render to everyone according to all his ways, for you know each heart, for truly you alone know the human heart.

³¹ so that they may fear you by walking in your ways, as long as they live in the land you gave to our forefathers.

³² Concerning the foreigner, who is not part of your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for your great name's sake and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house,

³³ then hear from heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner asks you for; so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple I have built is called by your name.

³⁴ If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatsoever way you send them, and they pray to you toward this city you have chosen, and the temple I have built for your name;

³⁵ then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and support their cause.

³⁶ If they sin against you--for there is no one who does not sin--and you are angry with them, and deliver them over to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to a land far away or near;

³⁷ yet if they come to their senses in the land where they are carried captive, and repent, and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have acted wickedly;’

³⁸ if they return to you with all their heart and all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captive, and pray toward their land you gave to their forefathers, and the city you have chosen, and toward the temple I have built for your name,

³⁹ then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, their prayer and their pleas, and support their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.

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

⁴¹ Now arise, O LORD God, come to your resting place, and the ark of your strength; let your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in your goodness.

⁴² O LORD God, do not reject your anointed one. Remember your loyal love to your servant David.”

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 7

¹ When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
² The priests could not enter into the temple of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD's house.

³ All the Israelites looked on, when the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD was on the temple; and they bowed with their faces down to the pavement and worshipped. They gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good; for his loyal love endures forever.”

⁴ Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD.

⁵ King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen, and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God.

⁶ The priests stood at their posts; the Levites also with musical instruments dedicated to the LORD, which David the king had made to give thanks to the LORD, for his loyal love endures forever.  The priests sounded trumpets opposite the Levites, and all Israel stood.

⁷ Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the temple of the LORD; for there he offered the burnt offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to hold the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat.

⁸ So Solomon celebrated the festival for seven days, and all Israel with him. It was a very great assembly, from Lebo-Hamath to the Brook of Egypt.

⁹ On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly; for they held a dedication of the altar for seven days, and the festival was seven days.

¹⁰ On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and happy for the goodness that the LORD had shown to David, Solomon, and to his people Israel.

¹¹ So Solomon finished the temple of the LORD, and the royal palace.  Solomon successfully completed all that he had planned to make in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace.

¹² The LORD appeared to Solomon at night, and said to him, “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself as a house for sacrifices.

¹³ When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people,

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

¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open, and my ears alert to the prayer that is made in this place.

¹⁶ For now have I chosen and consecrated this house, that my name may be there forever; and my eyes and my heart will be there always.

¹⁷ As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father did, and do everything I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my regulations;

¹⁸ then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, just as I promised your father David, saying, ‘You will never fail to have a descendant to rule over Israel.’

¹⁹ But if you turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commands that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,

²⁰ then I will pluck them up by the roots out of my land that I have given them; and this temple, I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a mocking proverb and ridicule among all peoples.

²¹ And this house, which is now so awesome, everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and say, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this land and to this temple?’

²² They will answer, ‘Because they forsook the LORD, the God of their forefathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, worshipped and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 8

¹ After twenty years, in which Solomon built the house of the LORD and his own house,
² Solomon rebuilt the cities which Huram had given to him, and had Israelites relocated there.

³ Then Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and conquered it.

⁴ He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities he built in Hamath.

⁵ He also rebuilt Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, fortifying these cities with walls, gates, and bars.

⁶ He rebuilt Baalath, and all the storage cities that Solomon had as well as all the cities for his chariots and his horsemen. Whatever Solomon wanted to build  he built in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and in any territory of his kingdom.

⁷ As for all the non-Israelite people who were left from the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, who were not of Israel;

⁸ from their descendants who still remained in the land, whom the Israelites had not wiped out, Solomon conscripted them into forced labor, as is still the case to this day.

⁹ But Solomon did not make any of the Israelites slaves for his work; rather they served as soldiers, officers, and commanders of his chariots and horsemen.

¹⁰ These were the chief officers of King Solomon, 250 of them ruled over the people.

¹¹ Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up out of the city of David to the palace he had built for her; for he said, “My wife should not live in the house of David king of Israel, because the places where the ark of the LORD has entered are holy.”

¹² Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD, which he had built in front of the temple porch.

¹³ He performed the daily duty, offering according to the commandment of Moses for the Sabbaths, new moons, and the three annual feasts--the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of Tabernacles.

¹⁴ According to the ordinance of David his father, he appointed the divisions of priests to their service, and the Levites to their offices, to praise, and to serve the priests, as the daily tasks required. He also assigned the gatekeepers by their divisions at every gate for this is what David, the man of God, had commanded.

¹⁵ They did not deviate from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasuries.

¹⁶ Now all the work of Solomon was prepared from the day of the foundation of the temple of the LORD until it was finished. So the temple of the LORD was completed.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and Elath, on the Red Sea coast in the land of Edom.

¹⁸ Huram sent him ships and experienced sailors who had knowledge of the sea. They along with the servants of Solomon went to Ophir, and brought back 450 talents [about 17 tons] of gold, and gave it to king Solomon.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 9

¹ When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with hard questions. She arrived with a great caravan including camels carrying spices, large amounts of gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she consulted with him on all that was on her mind.

² Solomon answered all her questions; and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he did not explain to her.

³ After the queen of Sheba had witnessed the wisdom of Solomon, and the palace he had built,

⁴ and the food on his table, and the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, and their clothes, his cupbearers and their robes, and his burnt sacrifices which he offered at the temple of the LORD; it took her breath away.

⁵ She said to the king, “The report that I heard in my own country of your accomplishments and of your wisdom is true.

⁶ Although I did not believe their words, until I had come and seen it with my own eyes. Indeed, I was not told of half of the greatness of your wisdom. You have exceeded the report that I had heard.

⁷ Happy are your attendants, and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you, and get to hear your wisdom.

⁸ Praise be the LORD your God, who delights in you, to set you on his throne, to be king for the LORD your God. Because your God loved Israel and wanted to establish them forever, he has made you king over them to rule with justice and righteousness.”

⁹ Then she gave the king 120 talents [9,000 pounds] of gold, and a large quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never has there been any such special spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰ The servants of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, brought gold from Ophir, and also brought algum wood and precious stones.

¹¹ The king made algum wood steps for the temple of the LORD, and for the king's palace as well as lyres and harps for the singers. Nothing like them had ever been seen before in the land of Judah.

¹² King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she wanted, whatever she asked for, more than she had brought to the king. So she left, and returned to her own land, both she and her attendants.

¹³ Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents [25 tons] of gold,

¹⁴ besides that which the traders and merchants brought. All the kings of Arabia and the governors of that country also brought gold and silver to Solomon.

¹⁵ King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold; 600 shekels [15 pounds] of beaten gold went into each shield.

¹⁶ He made 300 shields of beaten gold of three hundred shekels [7 ½ pounds] of gold going into each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷ The king made a large throne decorated with ivory, and overlaid with pure gold.

¹⁸ There were six steps up to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and on both sides of the seat there were armrests and two lions statutes beside the armrests.

¹⁹ Twelve lion statues stood, one on each side of the six steps. There was nothing like it made in any other kingdom.

²⁰ All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was considered as nothing in the days of Solomon.

²¹ The king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram. Once every three years the ships came from Tarshish bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

²² So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

²³ All the kings of the earth sought an audience with Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.

²⁴ They each brought gifts, vessels of silver and gold, and clothes, weapons, spices, horses, and mules, at set rate year by year.

²⁵ Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his horses and chariots, and 12,000 horsemen, which he kept in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.

²⁶ He ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates River even to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.

²⁷ The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars he made to be as plentiful as the sycamore trees that are in the Shephelah foothills.

²⁸ They brought horses for Solomon out of Egypt, and out of all lands.

²⁹ Now the rest of the deeds of Solomon, from first to last, are they not written in The History of Nathan the Prophet, and in The Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in The Visions of Iddo the Seer, concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?

³⁰ Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.

³¹ Then Solomon slept with his forefathers, and he was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam succeeded him.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 10

¹ Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

² When Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard about it, for he was in Egypt where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon, he returned from Egypt.

³ They sent and called for him. Then Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam:

⁴ “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the heavy yoke and harsh labor that he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵ Rehoboam replied, “Come back to me in three days.” So the people left.

⁶ King Rehoboam consulted with the older men, who had advised his father Solomon while he was still alive, asking, “How would you advise me to respond to this people?”

⁷ They told him, “If you are kind to this people and please them, and speak pleasant words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”

⁸ But Rehoboam rejected the counsel the old men gave him, and took counsel instead with the young men who had grown up with him and were now advising him.

⁹ He asked them, “What advice would you give how we should answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter’?”

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him replied, “This is what you should say to the people who spoke to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter for us” tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.

¹¹ My father put a heavy yoke on you, but I will make it even heavier. My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions!’”

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had requested, saying, “Come back to me on the third day.”

¹³ The king answered them harshly and King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the old men.

¹⁴ Instead he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will make it even heavier. My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.”

¹⁵ So the king refused to listen to the people; for it was brought about by God, so that the LORD might establish his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Everyone to your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, David.” So all Israel left to their tents.
¹⁷ But as for the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam continued to reign over them.

¹⁸ When King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the men conscripted into forced labor, the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam quickly jumped into his chariot, and fled to Jerusalem.

¹⁹ So Israel, the northern tribes, have been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 11

¹ When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin. He chose 180,000 chosen troops who were warriors, to fight against Israel in order to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.
² But the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah the man of God:

³ “Tell Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah and all Israel in Judah and Benjamin,

⁴ this is what the LORD says, ‘Do not go up and fight against your brothers. Everyone go home; for this thing is from me.’” So they obeyed the words of the LORD and turned away from attacking Jeroboam.

⁵ Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and fortified towns in defense of Judah.

⁶ He built up Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,

⁷ Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam,

⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,

⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah,

¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, which were fortified towns in Judah and Benjamin.

¹¹ He fortified these strongholds, and put commanders in them, along with stores of food, olive oil and wine.

¹² He also put shields and spears in every town, and made them very strong. So Judah and Benjamin remained his.

¹³ The priests and Levites who were in all Israel supported him from all their territories.

¹⁴ For the Levites left their pasturelands and their possession, and immigrated to Judah and Jerusalem for Jeroboam and his sons had prohibited them from executing the priest's office to the LORD.

¹⁵ Instead he appointed his own priests for the high places, and for the goat and calf idols that he had made.

¹⁶ Those out of all the tribes of Israel, who had set their hearts to seek the LORD, the God of Israel, migrated to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their forefathers.

¹⁷ So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and strengthened Rehoboam the son of Solomon for three years. For those three years they followed in the way of David and Solomon.

¹⁸ Rehoboam married Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse.

¹⁹ She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.

²⁰ After her he married Maacah the daughter of Absalom, and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.

²¹ Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and his concubines, for he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines. He fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

²² Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief prince over his brothers; for he intended to make him king.

²³ He dealt wisely, and distributed many of his sons throughout all the districts of Judah and Benjamin, and to every fortified town. He gave them plenty of provisions and he arranged many wives for them.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 12

¹ Once the rule of Rehoboam was firmly established and strong, he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him.

² In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt came to attack Jerusalem.

³ He had 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen and an innumerable army came with him from Egypt including the Libyans, Sukkites, and Ethiopians.

⁴ He captured the fortified towns of Judah and then came to attack Jerusalem.

⁵ Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the officers of Judah who were huddled together in Jerusalem because of Shishak and told them, “This is what the LORD says, ‘You have abandoned me, therefore I have abandoned you into the hand of Shishak.’”

⁶ Then the officers of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is right.”

⁷ When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; so I will not destroy them. I will soon grant them deliverance, and my wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

⁸ However they will be his servants, so that they may know the difference between serving me and serving the kingdoms of other countries.”

⁹ So Shishak king of Egypt came up to attack Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the temple of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's palace. He took everything even the gold shields which Solomon had made.

¹⁰ King Rehoboam replaced them with bonze shields and committed them to the hands of the commanders of the guard, who guarded the door of the king's palace.

¹¹ Whenever the king entered into the temple of the LORD, the guards would come carrying them, and later would bring them back to the guardroom.

¹² Because he humbled himself, the wrath of the LORD was turned away from him, so he did not totally destroy him. Even so there were still some good things found in Judah.

¹³ So King Rehoboam established himself in Jerusalem, and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother's name was Naamah and she was an Ammonite.

¹⁴ He did that which was evil, because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.

¹⁵ Now the acts of Rehoboam, from the first to the last, are they not written in the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer, as part of the genealogical record? There were continual wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

¹⁶ Rehoboam slept with his forefathers, and was buried in the city of David. His son Abijah reigned in his place.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 13

¹ In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah.

² He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Micaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

³ Abijah went out to battle with an army of valiant warriors, 400,000 select men.  Jeroboam deployed his troops of 800,000 select and valiant warriors against him.

⁴ Abijah stood up on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill-country of Ephraim, and declared, “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel!

⁵ Don’t you realize that the LORD, the God of Israel, gave the kingship over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons by a covenant of salt?

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

⁷ Worthless scoundrels gathered around him, who defied Rehoboam the son of Solomon when Rehoboam was young and inexperienced and could not withstand them.

⁸ Now you think you can withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David. You are a great multitude and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods.

⁹ Have you not driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, along with the Levites, and made priests for yourselves after the manner of the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull or seven rams, can become a priest for those which are not gods.

¹⁰ But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him. We have priests serving the LORD, who are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites aid them in their service.
¹¹ They offer to the LORD every morning and every evening burnt offerings and sweet incense. They also set the showbread in order on a purified table, and the lampstand of gold with its lamps every evening, for we keep the charge of the LORD our God, but you have abandoned him.

¹² God is with us as our leader. His priests with the trumpets will sound the alarm against you. O Israelites, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your forefathers; for you will not succeed.”

¹³ Jeroboam, however, had set an ambush in order to come from behind them while he was in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them.

¹⁴ When Judah looked back, they discovered the battle was both in front of them and behind. So they cried out to the LORD, and the priests blew their trumpets.

¹⁵ Then the men of Judah gave a shout and as the men of Judah shouted, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

¹⁶ The Israelites fled before Judah and God handed them over to Judah.

¹⁷ Abijah and his people defeated them with a great slaughter. There were 500,000 killed in action from Israel’s chosen men.

¹⁸ So the Israelites were defeated at that time, and the people of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD, the God of their forefathers.

¹⁹ Abijah pursued Jeroboam, and took towns from him, Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages, and Ephron with its villages.

²⁰ After that Jeroboam never recovered power in the days of Abijah; and the LORD struck him, and he died.

²¹ But Abijah grew strong, and married fourteen wives, and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

²² The rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in The Midrash of the Prophet Iddo.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 14

¹ So Abijah slept with his forefathers, and they buried him in the city of David. His son Asa succeeded him. In his days the land had rest for ten years.

² Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God.

³ He took away the foreign altars and the high places, demolished the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles.

⁴ He commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their forefathers, and to keep the law and its commands.

⁵ He also took away the high places and the incense altars from all the towns of Judah. The kingdom had rest during his reign.

⁶ He built fortified cities in Judah during that time when the land was at rest. He had no war in those years, because the LORD had given him peace.

⁷ For he said to Judah, “Let us fortify these cities, and make walls surrounding them, with towers, gates, and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the LORD our God; we have sought him, and he has given us secure tranquility on every side.” So they built and prospered.

⁸ Asa had an army from Judah of 300,000 men armed with large shields and spears, and from Benjamin 280,000 who carried shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.

⁹ Zerah the Ethiopian came out to attack them with an army of a million with 300 chariots, and he came to Mareshah.

¹⁰ Then Asa went out to engage him in battle, and they drew up their battle lines in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

¹¹ Asa cried out to the LORD his God: “O LORD, there is no one but you to help, between the mighty and the one who has no strength. Help us, O LORD our God; for we rely on you, and in your name are we come against this tremendous army. O LORD, you are our God; let no mere human prevail against you.”

¹² So the LORD defeated the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.

¹³ Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar. There fell so many of the Ethiopians that they could not recover; for they were wiped out before the LORD, and before his army. The Judean troops carried off much plunder.

¹⁴ They defeated all the towns around Gerar; for the fear of the LORD came on them. They plundered all the towns for there was a lot of spoil in them as well.

¹⁵ They also attacked the tents of those tending the livestock, and carried off a great number of sheep and camels and then returned to Jerusalem.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 15

¹ The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded.
² He went out to meet Asa, and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you, while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

³ Now for a long time Israel had no true God, and was without a teaching priest, and without law.

⁴ But when in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.

⁵ In those days it was not safe to travel abroad or at home, but there was absolute chaos for all the inhabitants of the lands.

⁶ They were shattered with one nation being against another, and city against city; for God brought all types of trouble on them.

⁷ But be strong, and do not let your hands relax; for your work will be rewarded.”

⁸ When Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he was encouraged, and removed the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the towns which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the LORD, that was in front of the porch of the temple of the LORD.

⁹ He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for many had fled to him there out of Israel, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.

¹⁰ So they gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

¹¹ They sacrificed to the LORD at that time, from the plunder which they had brought back, 700 cattle and 7,000 sheep and goats.

¹² They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their forefathers, with all their heart and with all their soul.

¹³ Whoever refused to seek the LORD, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.

¹⁴ They swore an oath to the LORD with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with rams’ horns.

¹⁵ All Judah rejoiced at the oath for they had made the vow with all their heart. They sought him with their whole desire and he was found of them. The LORD gave them rest on every side.

¹⁶ King Asa removed his grandmother Maacah from being queen mother, because she had made an abominable idol for an Asherah pole. Asa cut down her idolatrous pole, and ground it to dust and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

¹⁷ But the high places were not taken away out of Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was totally faithful all his days.

¹⁸ He brought into the temple of God the sacred items that his father had consecrated, and that he himself had dedicated--silver, gold, and utensils.

¹⁹ There was no more war until the thirtieth-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 16

¹ In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel attacked Judah, and fortified Ramah, in an attempt to prevent anyone going out or coming in to the land of Asa king of Judah.

² Then Asa took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the temple of the LORD and from the king's palace, and sent it to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who ruled in Damascus, saying,

³ “Let there be a treaty between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Look, I have sent you silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from attacking me.

⁴ Ben-hadad listened to King Asa, and sent the commanders of his armies against the towns of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, and Abel-maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali.

⁵ When Baasha heard about it, he stopped fortifying Ramah, and abandoned this project.

⁶ Then King Asa mustered all Judah and they carried off the stones of Ramah, and its timber, with which Baasha had used to fortify it. Asa used the materials to fortify Geba and Mizpah.

⁷ At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa of Judah, and told him, “Because you have relied on the king of Aram, and have not relied on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has slipped out of your hands.

⁸ Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge force, with a tremendous number of chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand.

⁹ For the eyes of the LORD run back and forth throughout the whole earth, to strengthen those whose hearts are totally committed to him. You have acted foolishly, for from now on you will have wars.”

¹⁰ Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in prison; for he was enraged against him because of this matter. Asa also oppressed some of the people at that time.

¹¹ The acts of Asa, from first to last, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa developed a disease in his feet. This disease was very severe yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but went to the physicians instead.

¹³ Asa slept with his forefathers, and died in the forty-first year of his reign.

¹⁴ They buried him in his own tomb, which he had dug out for himself in the city of David, and they laid him on a bed filled with sweet odors and all kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s art. They made a very great fire to honor him.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 17

¹ His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him, and strengthened himself against Israel.

² He stationed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the towns of Ephraim that Asa his father had captured.

³ The LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David, and did not seek the Baals,

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

⁵ Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor.

⁶ His heart was committed to following the ways of the LORD; and he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah.

⁷ In the third year of his reign he sent his officials Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the towns of Judah.

⁸ Along with them were the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah, and along with them the priests Elishama and Jehoram.

⁹ They taught in Judah, taking copies of book of the law of the LORD with them. They went around to all the towns of Judah, and taught among the people.

¹⁰ The fear of the LORD fell on all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah, so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat.

¹¹ Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and silver for tribute; the Arabs also brought him flocks: 7,700 rams, and 7,700 male goats.

¹² Jehoshaphat’s power increased. He built fortresses and storage cities in Judah.

¹³ He implemented many projects in the towns of Judah. He recruited soldiers and valiant warriors to Jerusalem.

¹⁴ This was the list of them according to their ancestral families: From Judah, the commanders of thousands: Adnah the commander, and with him 300,000 mighty warriors;

¹⁵ and next to him Jehohanan the commander, and with him 280,000 troops.

¹⁶ Next to him was Amasiah the son of Zikri, who willingly offered himself to the LORD; and with him 200,000 troops.

¹⁷ From Benjamin: Eliada, a valiant warrior, and with him 200,000 men armed with bows and shields,

¹⁸ and next to him Jehozabad, and with him 180,000 trained warriors.

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

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 18

¹ Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor; and he made an alliance with Ahab and ratified it by marriage.

² After several years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. Ahab slaughtered many sheep and oxen for a banquet in his honor, and for the people who were with him. Ahab persuaded him to join his attack of Ramoth-gilead.

³ Ahab king of Israel asked Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to attack Ramoth-gilead?” He answered him, “I am as you are, and my people as your people; we join with you in the war.”

⁴ Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please, let’s inquire first for a word from the LORD.”

⁵ Then the king of Israel gathered four hundred prophets together, and asked them, “Should we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or should I hold back?” They replied, “Go up; for God will deliver it into the hand of the king.”

⁶ But Jehoshaphat objected, “Is there not a prophet of the LORD here that we may ask him?”

⁷ The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is only one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always disaster. He is Micaiah the son of Imla.” Then Jehoshaphat replied, “King, don’t talk like that.”

⁸ Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, “Quickly, get Micaiah the son of Imla.”

⁹ Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah each sat on their thrones, dressed in their royal robes. They were sitting in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

¹⁰ Zedekiah the son of Kenaanah made horns of iron, and said, “This is what the LORD says, ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.’”

¹¹ All the prophets prophesied the same, saying, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and be successful; for the LORD will deliver it into the hand of the king.”

¹² The messenger that went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, “Look, the words of the prophets are in absolute agreement predicting the king’s success. Let your word agree with theirs; and speak favorably.”

¹³ Micaiah retorted, “As surely as the LORD lives, whatever my God says, that is what I must say.”
¹⁴ When Micaiah was brought to the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or should I hold back?” He said, “Go up, and succeed! They will be delivered into your hand.”

¹⁵ But the king lectured him, “How many times must I make you promise to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?”

¹⁶ Then Micaiah replied, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd, and the LORD said, ‘These have no master; let them return everyone to his own home in peace.’”

¹⁷ The king of Israel demurred to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he would not prophesy anything good about me, but only disaster?”

¹⁸ Then Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing at his right hand and at his left.

¹⁹ Then the LORD asked, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel, so that he will go up and be killed at Ramoth-gilead?’ One suggested this and another that.
²⁰ Finally, a spirit came forward, and stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ The LORD asked him, ‘How?’

²¹ He replied, ‘I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ The LORD said, ‘You will indeed entice him, and will succeed. Go out and do it.’

²² So you see, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours. The LORD has spoken disaster against you.”

²³ Then Zedekiah the son of Kenaanah came near, and slapped Micaiah on the cheek, and asked, “Which way did the Spirit of the LORD go when he went from me to speak to you?”

²⁴ Micaiah said, “Look, you will see on that day you go into an inner room to hide yourself.”

²⁵ The king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah, and take him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son.

²⁶ and tell him, “This is what the king says, ‘Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with meager rations of bread and water, until I return safely.’”

²⁷ Micaiah declared, “If you return safely, the LORD has not spoken by me.” He said, “Listen, every one of you.”

²⁸ So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to attack Ramoth-gilead.

²⁹ The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I am going to disguise myself and go into the battle. But you put on your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and they went into the battle.

³⁰ Now the king of Aram had ordered the commanders of his chariots, “Do not attack anyone small nor great, except the king of Israel.”

³¹ When the commanders of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they assumed, “It is the king of Israel.” Therefore they turned about to attack him. But Jehoshaphat cried out and the LORD helped him.  God diverted them away from him.

³² When the commanders of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned away from pursuing him.

³³ But someone randomly drew his bow and shot the king of Israel between the joints of his armor; so he told the driver of the chariot, “Turn around and get me out of the battle, for I am severely wounded.”

³⁴ The battle raged that day, although the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot against the Arameans until the evening. Then at sundown he died.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 19

¹ King Jehoshaphat of Judah returned safely to his home in Jerusalem.

² Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you have helped the wicked, and love those that hate the LORD? Because of this, the LORD is angry with you.”

³ Nevertheless there are some good things you have done, for you have removed the Asherah poles out of the land, and have set your heart to seek God.”

⁴ Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem. He went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and brought them back to the LORD, the God of their forefathers.

⁵ He appointed judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city,

⁶ and said to the judges, “Think carefully about what you do, for you are not judging for man, but for the LORD. He will be with you as you render each verdict.

⁷ Now therefore let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for the LORD our God does not accept injustice, favoritism or the taking of bribes.”

⁸ Moreover in Jerusalem Jehoshaphat appointed special Levites, priests, and the heads of the ancestral families of Israel, to render judgment for the LORD, and to settle civil disputes among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

⁹ He charged them: “This is how you are to carry out your duties:  in the fear of the LORD, faithfully, and with integrity of heart.

¹⁰ Whenever any controversy comes to you from your kindred who dwell in their cities, whether it involves bloodshed, or matters of law, commandments, statutes or regulations, you shall warn them so that they not sin against the LORD, resulting in his wrath coming on you and on your kindred. Do this and you will not be guilty.

¹¹ Amariah the chief priest will preside over you in all matters of the LORD; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, will preside over all of the king's matters. The Levites will serve as your officials. Deal courageously, and may the LORD be with those who do what is good.”

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 20

¹ After this, the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came to attack Jehoshaphat.

² Some messenger came who told Jehoshaphat, “A large army is coming to attack you from beyond the Sea from the direction of Edom. They are already in Hazazon-tamar (that is, En-gedi).

³ Jehoshaphat was terrified, and set himself to seek the LORD. He even proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

⁴ Judah assembled, to ask for help of the LORD; from all the towns of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

⁵ Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the temple of the LORD, in front of the new courtyard.

⁶ He prayed, “O LORD, the God of our forefathers, are you not God in heaven? Are you not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? In your hand are power and might, so that no one is able to stand against you.

⁷ Did you not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?

⁸ They lived in it, and have built a sanctuary for your name in it, saying,
⁹ ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this temple and before you, for your name is in this house, and cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear and save us.’

¹⁰ But now, look, the Ammonites, Moabites and Mount Seir, whom you refused to let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they went around them, and did not destroy them.

¹¹ Look how they are repaying us. They are coming to throw us out of your possession that you have given for us to inherit.

¹² O our God, will you not judge them? For we are powerless against this great army that comes against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you?”

¹³ All Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, wives, and children.

¹⁴ Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the descendants of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly.

¹⁵ He said, “Listen, all Judah, you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat: This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Do not be afraid, or be troubled because of this great army; for the battle is not yours, but God's.

¹⁶ Tomorrow go down against them. They are coming up by the Ascent of Ziz; and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel.

¹⁷ You will not need to fight in this battle. Take up your positions, stand still, and see the LORD’s victory.  He is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem; do not be afraid, or be troubled. Tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.”

¹⁸ Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD and worshiped the LORD.

¹⁹ Then the Levites, from the Kohathites and Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

²⁰ They rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. As they deployed, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, O Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be secure. Believe his prophets, and you will be successful.”

²¹ When he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the LORD, and give praise in holy splendor, as they went ahead of the army, saying, “Give thanks to the LORD; for his loyal love endures forever.”

²² When they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the Ammonites, Moabites, and Mount Seir, who were invading Judah; and they were routed.

²³ For the Ammonites and Moabites attacked the inhabitants of Mount Seir, totally destroying them. When they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all began destroying each other.

²⁴ When Judah came to the site overlooking the wilderness, they looked on the large army; and they saw dead corpses strewn on the ground, and there were no survivors.

²⁵ When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil off them, they found among them great quantities of goods, clothing and valuables. They stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away. There was so much there that they were three days in taking the spoil.

²⁶ On the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Beracah, for there they praised the LORD.  So that place was called the Valley of Beracah [Blessing] to this day.

²⁷ Then everyone from Judah and Jerusalem led by Jehoshaphat in front of them returned to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies.

²⁸ They came to Jerusalem with lyres, harps and trumpets to the house of the LORD.

²⁹ The fear of God was on all the kingdoms of the countries, when they heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel.

³⁰ So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat enjoyed tranquility; for his God gave him rest all around.

³¹ Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he began to reign and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.

³² He walked in the ways of Asa his father, and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the eyes of the LORD.

³³ However the high places were not removed; neither had the people set their hearts on the God of their forefathers.

³⁴ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, from the first to last, are written in The History of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is recorded in The book of the Kings of Israel.

³⁵ After this Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel; who was very wicked.

³⁶ He allied himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish. They also built ships in Ezion-geber.

³⁷ Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the LORD has destroyed what you have made.” The ships were wrecked, so that they were unable to go to Tarshish.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 21

¹ Jehoshaphat slept with his forefathers, and was buried with his forefathers in the city of David; and his son Jehoram reigned in his place.

² He had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.

³ Their father gave them many gifts, of silver, gold, and valuable items, along with some fortified cities in Judah, but the kingdom itself he gave to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn.

⁴ Now when Jehoram had risen to power over the kingdom of his father, and had established himself, he murdered all his brothers with the sword, and also many of the officials of Israel.

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

⁶ He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done; for he was married to the daughter of Ahab. He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.

⁷ But the LORD would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant he had made with David. He had promised to give a lamp to him and to his descendants forever.

⁸ In his days Edom revolted from the rule of Judah, and set up a king for themselves.

⁹ Then Jehoram passed over with his commanders and all his chariots. The Edomites had him and the commanders of his chariots surrounded, but he got up at night and was able to escape.

¹⁰ So Edom revolted from under the rule of Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time from under his rule because he had forsaken the LORD, the God of his forefathers.

¹¹ Moreover he built high places in the mountains of Judah, and led the inhabitants of Jerusalem into idolatrous prostitution, and led Judah astray.

¹² Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet, saying, “This is what the LORD says, the God of David your forefather, Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

¹³ but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into idolatrous prostitution, just as the house of Ahab did, and also have slain your brothers of your father's house, who were better than you,

¹⁴ the LORD will strike you, your people, your children, your wives, and all your substance with a great plague.

¹⁵ You yourself will become very sick with a chronic disease in your intestines, daily worsening until your intestines fall out because of the sickness.”

¹⁶ The LORD stirred up against Jehoram the anger of the Philistines and Arabs who reside near the Cushites.

¹⁷ They attacked Judah, and invaded it, and carried off everything that was found in the king's palace, as well as his sons and wives; so that there was not a son left to him, except Jehoahaz, the youngest.

¹⁸ After all this, the LORD smote him in his intestines with an incurable disease.

¹⁹ In course of time, after two years, his intestines fell out as a result of his sickness, and he died of a chronic disease. His people made no honorific burning for him, like the burning they made in honor of his fathers.

²⁰ He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He died to no one’s regret; and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 22

¹ The inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, Jehoram’s youngest son, king in his place; for the raiding troops who came with the Arabs to the camp had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram reigned as king of Judah.

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

³ He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab; for his mother was his counselor in advocating wickedness.

⁴ He did evil in the sight of the LORD, as the house of Ahab did.  They became his counselors, after the death of his father, leading to his destruction.

⁵ He followed their advice, and went with Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel to attack Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram.

⁶ He returned to recover in Jezreel of the wounds he had sustained at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was wounded.

⁷ Now the downfall of Ahaziah was ordained by God. When he went to visit Joram he went out with Joram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.

⁸ When Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he discovered the officials of Judah, and the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers accompanying Ahaziah, so he killed them.

⁹ He searched for Ahaziah, and they caught him while he was hiding in Samaria, and they brought him to Jehu and they executed him. Then they buried him, for they said, “He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart.” The house of Ahaziah had no ability to rule the kingdom.

¹⁰ Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she attempted to destroy all the royal family of the house of Judah.

¹¹ But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and hid him away from among the king's sons who were being killed, and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram was the wife of Jehoiada the priest and the sister of Ahaziah. She hid Joash from Athaliah, so that she could not kill him.

¹² He was hidden by them in the temple of God for six years, while Athaliah reigned over the land.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 23

¹ In the seventh year Jehoiada became courageous and made a pact with the commanders of hundreds, Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zikri, to covenant with him.

² They went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the towns of Judah, and the heads of ancestral families of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.

³ The entire assembly made a covenant with the king in the temple of God. Jehoiada said to them, “The king's son will reign, as the LORD has promised concerning the descendants of David.

⁴ Here’s what you must do: a third of you priests and Levites who come on duty on the Sabbath, will be gatekeepers guarding the entrances,

⁵ and a third of you will be stationed at the king's palace; and a third part of you at the Foundation Gate. All the people will be in the courts of the temple of the LORD.

⁶ But let no one enter the temple of the LORD, except the priests and those Levites who minister. They will enter because they are consecrated, but all the rest of the people must observe the instructions of the LORD.

⁷ The Levites will surround the king, everyone with his weapons in his hand. Whoever tries to forcibly enter the temple must be killed. Stick with the king whether he goes in or out.”

⁸ So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest had ordered. Each of them took his men, those who were on duty on the Sabbath; along with those who were off duty on the Sabbath.  Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss any of the priestly divisions.

⁹ Jehoiada the priest gave the commanders of hundreds the spears, large and small shields, that had been king David's that were stored in the temple of God.

¹⁰ He set all the people, everyone with his weapon in his hand, from the right or south side of the temple to the left or north side, near the altar and the temple, surrounding the king.

¹¹ Then they brought out the king's son, and put the crown on him, and gave him a copy of God’s covenant, and made him king.  Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and they shouted, “Long live the king.”

¹² When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she went with the people into the temple of the LORD.

¹³ She looked, and there stood the king by his pillar at the entrance, with the commanders and the trumpets beside the king. All the people of the land rejoiced and blew trumpets, and the singers also with their instruments of music led the celebratory singing. Then Athaliah tore her clothes, and screamed, “Treason! treason!”

¹⁴ Jehoiada the priest brought out the commanders of hundreds that were set over the troops, and told them, “Bring her out between the ranks and whoever follows her, let them be put to the sword.” For the priest said, “Do not kill her in the temple of the LORD.”

¹⁵ So they made way for her; and she went to the entrance of the Horse Gate to the king's palace where they executed her.

¹⁶ Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, and all the people, and the king that they should be the LORD's people.

¹⁷ All the people went to the temple of Baal, and tore it down, and smashed its altars and its images in pieces. They also killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.

¹⁸ Jehoiada put the priests and Levites in charge of the temple of the LORD, whom David had assigned duties in the temple of the LORD, to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD, as is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, according to the edict of David.

¹⁹ He set gatekeepers at the gates of the temple of the LORD, so that no one who was unclean in any way would enter.

²⁰ He took the commanders of hundreds, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought the king down from the temple of the LORD and they came through the Upper Gate to the king's house. Then they installed the king upon the royal throne.

²¹ So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been slain with the sword.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 24

¹ Joash was seven years old when he began to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah from Beersheba.

² Joash did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

³ Jehoiada arranged two wives for him; and he fathered sons and daughters.

⁴ After this, Joash decided to restore the temple of the LORD.

⁵ He assembled the priests and Levites, and told them, “Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather from all Israel funds to repair the temple of your God annually; and see that you act quickly.” However the Levites did not respond quickly.

⁶ The king summoned Jehoiada the chief, and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax of Moses the servant of the LORD, and from the assembly of Israel for the Tent of the Testimony?”

⁷ For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the temple of God; and all the dedicated things from the temple of the LORD they used for the Baals.

⁸ So the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside the gate of the temple of the LORD.

⁹ They made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in for the LORD the tax that Moses the servant of God required of Israel in the wilderness.

¹⁰ All the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in funds, and dropped them into the chest, until it was full.

¹¹ Whenever the chest was brought to the king's officers by the Levites, and they saw that there was a lot of money in it, the king's scribe and the chief priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it and carried it back again. They did this daily and collected a great deal of money.

¹² The king and Jehoiada gave it to those doing the work of repairing the temple of the LORD. They hired masons and carpenters to restore the temple of the LORD, including those who could work in iron and bronze to repair the temple of the LORD.

¹³ So the workmen labored, and the work of repairing went forward by their hands. They restored the temple of God to its original state and reconditioned it.

¹⁴ When they had completed it, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, from the surplus made vessels for the temple of the LORD, utensils with which to serve and to make burnt offerings, ladles, and items of gold and silver. So they offered burnt offerings in the temple of the LORD regularly all the days of Jehoiada.

¹⁵ But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died at 130 years of age.

¹⁶ They buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his temple.

¹⁷ Now after the death of Jehoiada the officials of Judah came and made obeisance to the king. The king listened to them.

¹⁸ They abandoned the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and the idols. As a result, wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.

¹⁹ Yet he sent prophets to them to bring them back to the LORD; and they testified against them, but they would not listen.

²⁰ Then the Spirit of God came on Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up in front of the people, and declared to them, “This is what God says, ‘Why are you violating the commandments of the LORD so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has also forsaken you.’”

²¹ They conspired against Zechariah, and stoned him on order from the king in the court of the temple of the LORD.

²² King Joash did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada his father had shown him, but killed his son. As Zechariah was dying, he said, “Let the LORD look on this, and avenge it.”

²³ At the end of the year, the army of Aram attacked Joash. They invaded Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the officials of the people. They sent all their plunder back to the king of Damascus.

²⁴ For the army of Aram had come with just a few men, and the LORD delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their forefathers. So they executed judgment on Joash.

²⁵ When Aram had withdrawn, they left him severely wounded. His own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest. They murdered him on his bed, and they buried him in the city of David. They did not, however, bury him in the tombs of the kings.

²⁶ These are the ones who conspired against Joash: Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabitess.

²⁷ Now concerning his sons, and the many oracles proclaimed against him, and the rebuilding of the temple of God, they are written in The Commentary of the Book of the Kings. Amaziah his son succeeded him.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 25

¹ Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddan from Jerusalem.

² He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not with a whole heart.

³ Now when he had firmly secured the kingdom, he executed his servants who had killed his father the king.

⁴ But he did not put their children to death, but did according to that which is written in the law in the book of Moses, as the LORD had commanded, “Fathers should not die for the children, nor should children die for the fathers; but everyone should die for their own sin.”

⁵ Amaziah assembled Judah together, and ordered them according to their ancestral families, under commanders of thousands and of hundreds, all Judah and Benjamin. He numbered those from twenty years old and up, and found that there were 300,000 chosen men, fit for military duty, who could handle spear and shield.

⁶ He also hired a 100,000 warriors out of Israel for a hundred talents [7,500 pounds] of silver.

⁷ But a man of God came to him, saying, “O king, do not let the army of Israel join you; for the LORD is not with Israel, that is, with all the Ephraimites.

⁸ But if you do go and bravely fight the battle, God will defeat you before your enemy; for God has power to help and to defeat.”

⁹ Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what about the hundred talents I paid for this army of Israel?” The man of God answered, “The LORD is able to give you much more than that.”

¹⁰ So Amaziah discharged the army that had come to him out of Ephraim to go home again. This made them furious at Judah, and they returned home in rage.

¹¹ Amaziah took courage, and led his army to the Valley of Salt, and defeated 10,000 Edomites from Seir.

¹² The troops of Judah captured 10,000 alive, and brought them to the top of a cliff, and threw them off the top of the cliff, so that they were dashed to pieces.

¹³ But the men of the army Amaziah had sent back, whom he would not allow to go with him into battle, attacked the cities of Judah, from Samaria to Beth-horon, and killed 3,000 people and carried off much plunder.

¹⁴ Now after Amaziah returned from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought the gods of the people of Seir, and set them up to be his gods. He bowed down before them and burned incense to them.

¹⁵ Therefore the LORD became angry with Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who asked him, “Why have you pursued the gods of this people who have not even been able to deliver their own people out of your hand?”

¹⁶ While he was talking with him, the king said to him, “Have we made you one of the king's royal advisors? Stop it, why should you be killed?” Then the prophet stopped, and said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and because you have not listened to my advice.”

¹⁷ Then Amaziah king of Judah consulted his advisors, and sent to Joash, son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us meet face to face in battle.”

¹⁸  Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thorn bush that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Let your daughter marry my son. There passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon and trampled down the thorn bush.”

¹⁹ You think, ‘Look, I have defeated Edom,’ and your heart is arrogant. Boast about your success but stay at home. Why should you stir up trouble for yourself only to harm yourself and Judah along with you?”

²⁰ But Amaziah would not listen; for it was God’s intention to deliver them into the hand of Joash because they had pursued after the gods of Edom.

²¹ So Joash king of Israel went up and he and Amaziah king of Judah attacked each other face to face at Beth-shemesh of Judah.

²² Judah was defeated before Israel, and everyone fled back home.

²³ Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh. He brought him back to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, a 600 foot long section.

²⁴ He seized all the gold and silver, with all the vessels that were found in the temple of God that were under the care of Obed-edom, including the treasures of the king's palace and hostages as well. Then he returned to Samaria.

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

²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, from first and last, are they not written in The Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel?

²⁷ Now from the time that Amaziah turned away from the LORD, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem. He fled to Lachish, but they sent assassins after him to Lachish who killed him there.

²⁸ They transported him back on horses and buried him with his forefathers in the city of David.

                                         DASV: 2 Chronicles 26

¹ All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in  place of his father Amaziah.
² Uzziah rebuilt Elath, and restored it to Judah, after Amaziah the king slept with his forefathers.

³ Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah from Jerusalem.

⁴ He did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done.

⁵ He determined in himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the fear of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper.

⁶ He went out and made war against the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. He built towns in the area near Ashdod, and elsewhere among the Philistines.

⁷ God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabs who lived in Gur-baal, and against the Meunites.

⁸ The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread abroad even to the border of Egypt for he grew very powerful.

⁹ Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and at the Angle of the wall and fortified them.

¹⁰ He built towers in the wilderness, and dug many cisterns, for he had much cattle; in the Shephelah foothills, and in the plain. He had farmers and vinedressers in the mountains and in the fruitful fields, for he loved the soil.

¹¹ Uzziah had an army of fighting men, that went out to war by divisions, according to the number of their muster made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king's commanders.

¹² The whole number of the heads of ancestral families, even the mighty warriors, was 2,600.

¹³ Under their direction was an army of 307,500 who were skilled warriors capable in helping the king against his enemies.

¹⁴ Uzziah provided for them, as for all the troops, shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows, and stones for slinging.

¹⁵ He constructed in Jerusalem war machines, invented by skilled men, to be on the towers and at the wall corners, from which to shoot arrows and great stones. His fame spread far abroad for he was marvelously supported until he became powerful.

¹⁶ But when he became powerful, his heart became proud which destroyed him. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and he entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.

¹⁷ Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of the LORD, who were brave men.

¹⁸ They confronted Uzziah the king, and told him, “You are not allowed, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but it is only for the priests the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary for you have disobeyed; and the LORD God will not honor you.”

¹⁹ Then Uzziah was angry. He had a censer in his hand prepared to burn incense. While he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in front of the priests in the temple of the LORD, beside the altar of incense.

²⁰ Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked at him, and he was leprous on his forehead. So they quickly threw him out of there. He himself hurried to get out, because the LORD had struck him.

²¹ King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death. He lived in isolated quarters, as a leper. He was banned from the temple of the LORD.  Jotham his son was in charge over the king's palace and governing the people of the land.

²² Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, from first to last, were recorded by Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

²³ So Uzziah slept with his fathers; and they buried him near his forefathers in the burial plot that belonged to the kings, for they said, “He had leprosy.” Jotham his son reigned in his place.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 27

¹ Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok.

² He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah had done, although he did not irreverently enter the temple of the LORD. But the people still acted corruptly.

³ He built the Upper Gate of the temple of the LORD, and did extensive construction on the wall of Ophel.

⁴ He built cities in the hill country of Judah, and in the forests he built forts and towers.

⁵ He also fought with the king of the Ammonites, and defeated them. The Ammonites gave him that same year a hundred talents [7,500 pounds] of silver, and ten thousand measures [50,000 bushels] of wheat, and ten thousand [50,000 bushels] of barley. This is how much the Ammonites paid him in the second and third year also.

⁶ So Jotham became mighty, because he carefully ordered his ways before the LORD his God.

⁷ Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars and his ways, they are written in The Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

⁸ He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.

⁹ Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 28

¹ Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD, like his forefather David.
² Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and also made cast metal idols for worshipping the Baals.

³ He burned incense in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, and burned his children in the sacrificial fire according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the Israelites.

⁴ He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

⁵ Therefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Aram, and they defeated him, and carried away captive many of his people and brought them to Damascus. He was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who defeated him with heavy casualties.

⁶ For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 in Judah in a single day, all of them valiant warriors; because they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their forefathers.

⁷ And Zikri, a mighty warrior of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king's son, and Azrikam the commander of the palace, and Elkanah who was second to the king.

⁸ The children of Israel carried away captive 200,000 of their kin’s wives, sons, and daughters, as well as much spoil and brought it back to Samaria.

⁹ But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria, and said to them, “Because the LORD, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he has delivered them into your hand, and you have killed them in a rage that has reached up to heaven.

¹⁰ Now you intend to keep the people of Judah and Jerusalem as male and female slaves for yourselves. But don’t you also have your own guilt against the LORD your God?

¹¹ Now listen to me, and send back the captives, that you took captive from your relatives; for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you.”

¹² Then certain of the leaders of the Ephraimites, Azariah son of Johanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who were returning from the war.

¹³ They said to them, “Don’t bring those captives here. Are you proposing that which will bring on us guilt against the LORD, adding to our sins and trespasses? For already our guilt is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.”

¹⁴ So the armed men left the captives and the plunder before the officials and all the assembly.

¹⁵ Then the men who had been mentioned by name got up, took the captives, and from the plunder provided clothes for all who were naked among them. They provided them with clothes and sandals, and gave them food and drink, and anointed them. They carried all the feeble on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their relatives. Then they returned to Samaria.

¹⁶ At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria for help.

¹⁷ The Edomites had again come and attacked Judah, and carried off captives.

¹⁸ The Philistines had invaded the cities of the Shephelah foothills and the Negev of southern Judah. They had already captured and settled in Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, and Soco with their surrounding villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages.

¹⁹ For the LORD humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had encouraged Judah to sin and had been unfaithful to the LORD.

²⁰ So Tilgath-pileser king of Assyria came and attacked him, rather than strengthening him.

²¹ Ahaz took away a portion out of the temple of the LORD, and out of the palace of the king and from his officials, and gave it to the king of Assyria; but even that didn’t help.

²² In the time of trouble this same King Ahaz rebelled even more against the LORD.

²³ For he offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him. For he concluded, “It was because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, therefore I will sacrifice to them, so that they may help me.” They were, however, the ruin of him and all Israel.

²⁴ Ahaz gathered together the items of the temple of God, and cut in pieces the items of the temple of God, and closed the doors of the temple of the LORD and erected altars in every corner of Jerusalem.

²⁵ In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD, the God of his forefathers.

²⁶ Now the rest of his acts, and all his ways, from first to last, they are written in The Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

²⁷ Ahaz slept with his forefathers, and they buried him in the city of Jerusalem, but they did not put him in the tombs of the kings of Israel. Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 29

¹ Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

² He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his forefather had done.

³ In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them.

⁴ He brought in the priests and Levites, and gathered them together into the square at the east end.

⁵ He said to them, “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves, and then consecrate the temple of the LORD, the God of your forefathers, and haul out the filthiness from this holy place.

⁶ For our fathers were unfaithful, and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the dwelling place of the LORD, and turned their backs on him.

⁷ They also shut the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps. They have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.

⁸ Therefore the wrath of the LORD was on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule, as you can see with your own eyes.

⁹ For our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons, daughters and wives are in captivity for this.

¹⁰ Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us.

¹¹ My sons, do not be negligent now; for the LORD has chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that you should be his ministers and burn incense to him.”

¹² Then the Levites arose, Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah, from the Kohathites; and from the Merarites, Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel; and from the Gershonites, Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah;

¹³ and from the descendants of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the descendants of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;

¹⁴ and from the descendants of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and from the descendants of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.

¹⁵ They gathered their brothers, and sanctified themselves, and went in according to the order of the king following the instructions of the LORD, to cleanse the temple of the LORD.

¹⁶ The priests went into the inner part of the temple of the LORD, to cleanse it, and brought out everything that was unclean that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the temple of the LORD. The Levites removed it and carried it out to the Kidron Valley.

¹⁷ They began on the first day of the first month to consecrate it, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of the LORD; and they consecrated the temple of the LORD in eight days; and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.

¹⁸ Then they went in to Hezekiah the king and said, “We have cleansed all the temple of the LORD, and the altar of burnt offering, with all its utensils and the table of the Bread of the Presence with all its utensils.

¹⁹ All the utensils which King Ahaz in his reign threw away when he was unfaithful  we have now prepared and sanctified.  They are in front of the altar of the LORD.”

²⁰ Then Hezekiah the king arose early, and summoned the officials of the city, and went up to the temple of the LORD.

²¹ They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven he-goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary and for Judah. He commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the LORD.

²² So they killed the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Then they killed the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. Finally, they killed the lambs, and sprinkled the blood on the altar.

²³ They brought the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly. They laid their hands on them,

²⁴ and the priests killed them. They made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel. For the king had commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.

²⁵ He stationed the Levites in the temple of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the directions of David, of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet, for the commandment was from the LORD by his prophets.

²⁶ The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

²⁷ Hezekiah ordered that they offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD also began, and the trumpets, along with the instruments of David king of Israel.

²⁸ All the assembly worshipped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

²⁹ When they had completed the offerings, the king and all who were present with him bowed down and worshipped.

³⁰ Hezekiah the king and the officials directed the Levites to sing praises to the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. They sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.

³¹ Then Hezekiah said, “Now you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD; come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the temple of the LORD.” The assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings. As many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings.

³² The number of burnt offerings that the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs; all these were presented for a burnt offering to the LORD.

³³ The consecrated offerings were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep.

³⁴ But there were too few priests, so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings. So their brothers, the Levites, helped them until the work was finished and until the priests could consecrate themselves. For the Levites were more conscientious in sanctifying themselves than the priests were.

³⁵ There were burnt offerings in abundance. The fat of the peace offerings, and the drink offerings were also made for every burnt offering. So the service of the temple of the LORD was set in order.

³⁶ Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced, because of what God had done for the people; for the thing was done quickly.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 30

¹ Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the temple of the LORD at Jerusalem, to observe the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel.

² For the king, his officials, and all the assembly in Jerusalem, had decided to observe the Passover in the second month.

³ For they could not keep it at the prescribed time, because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, and the people had not assembled together at Jerusalem.

⁴ This arrangement seemed right in the eyes of the king and all the assembly.

⁵ So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should come to celebrate the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem; for they had not observed it in such great numbers as prescribed.

⁶ So the couriers went with the letters from the king and his officials throughout all Israel and Judah, at the command of the king, saying, “You Israelites, turn again to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may return the remnant who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.

⁷ Do not be like your forefathers, and like your brothers, who trespassed against the LORD, the God of their forefathers, so that he destroyed them, as you see.

⁸ Now do not be stubborn, as your forefathers were; but submit to the LORD. Enter his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve the LORD your God, so that his fierce anger may turn away from you.

⁹ For if you turn again to the LORD, then your brothers and your children will find compassion before their captors and will come again into this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.”

¹⁰ So the couriers went from city to city through the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun; but they laughed scornfully at them and mocked them.

¹¹ Nevertheless, certain men of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem.

¹² Also in Judah the hand of God gave them unity of heart to obey the command of the king and officials by the word of the LORD.

¹³ Many people assembled at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month. It was an immense crowd.

¹⁴ They arose and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem; as well as all the altars for incense and threw them into the Kidron Valley.

¹⁵ Then they killed the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites were ashamed, consecrated themselves, and brought burnt offerings into the temple of the LORD.

¹⁶ They stood at their stations as prescribed by the law of Moses the man of God. The priests sprinkled the blood that they received from the hand of the Levites.

¹⁷ For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves. Therefore the Levites had the charge of killing the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean, to consecrate them to the LORD.

¹⁸ A majority of the people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet ate the Passover in violation to what had been written. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good LORD pardon everyone

¹⁹ who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his forefathers, even though he is not cleansed according to the purification standards of the sanctuary.”

²⁰ The LORD listened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.

²¹ The Israelites who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and priests praised the LORD day by day, accompanied with loud instruments for the LORD.

²² Hezekiah expressed his appreciation to all the Levites who had good skill in the service of the LORD. So they ate throughout the feast for the seven days, offering sacrifices of peace offerings and gave that to the LORD, the God of their forefathers.

²³ The whole assembly took counsel to continue for seven more days.  So they celebrated another seven days with gladness.

²⁴ For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep for offerings; and the officials gave to the assembly 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep. A great number of priests consecrated themselves.

²⁵ The whole assembly of Judah, with the priests and Levites, and the whole assembly that came out of Israel, and the resident foreigners who came out of the land of Israel, and who lived in Judah, rejoiced.

²⁶ So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of King David of Israel there was nothing like it in Jerusalem.

²⁷ Then the priests and Levites arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling in heaven.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 31

¹ Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the towns of Judah, and broke in pieces the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and broke down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, and also in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the Israelites returned to their towns, each one to his possession.

² Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and Levites according to their classification, each one according to his service, both priests and Levites, for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister, and to give thanks and praise in the gates of the camp of the LORD.

³ The king himself personally donated from his possessions for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbath, New Moons, and for the appointed feasts, as it is written in the law of the LORD.

⁴ He commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and Levites, that they might devote themselves to the law of the LORD.

⁵ As soon as the decree was issued, the Israelites gave generously from the firstfruits of grain, new wine, olive oil, and honey, and of all the produce of the field. They brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.

⁶ The people of Israel and Judah who lived in the towns of Judah also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep, and the tithe of dedicated things which were consecrated to the LORD their God, and piled them up in heaps.

⁷ In the third month they began piling their donations up in heaps, and finished them in the seventh month.

⁸ When Hezekiah and the officials came and saw the heaps, they praised the LORD, and blessed his people Israel.

⁹ Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps.

¹⁰ Azariah, the chief priest, who was from the house of Zadok, answered him, “Since the people began to bring the oblations into the temple of the LORD, we have eaten and have had enough, and had plenty left over, for the LORD has blessed his people; and this large amount is what is left over.”

¹¹ Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare storerooms in the house of the LORD, and they prepared them.

¹² They brought in the contributions, tithes and the dedicated things faithfully. Conaniah the Levite was put in charge of this, and Shimei his brother was second in charge.

¹³ Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah, were overseers under the supervision of Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king, and Azariah the official in charge of the temple of God.

¹⁴ Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the guard at the east gate, was over the freewill offerings of God, to distribute the contributions given to the LORD, and the most holy things.

¹⁵ And under him were Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the towns of the priests, in their office of trust, to give to their fellow priests by divisions,  to the young as well as the old.

¹⁶ In addition, they distributed gifts to all males from three years old and upward, even everyone who entered into the house of the LORD, as the daily duties required, for their service in their offices according to their divisions.

¹⁷ Those who received gifts were listed in the genealogical records of the priests by their fathers' houses, and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, according to their offices by their divisions.

¹⁸ They were reckoned by genealogy including all their little ones, their wives, and their sons and daughters, the entire congregation; for they were faithful in consecrating themselves.

¹⁹ Also for the sons of Aaron, the priests, who were in the fields at the outskirts of their towns, in every town, there were men who were mentioned by name to give portions to all the males among the priests, and to all who were reckoned by genealogy among the Levites.

²⁰ Hezekiah did this throughout all Judah, and he did what was good, right and faithful before the LORD his God.

²¹ In everything that he began in the service of the temple of God, and in obedience to the law and the commandments to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and so he prospered.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 32

¹ After these faithful acts, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, intending to win them for himself.

² When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that he intended to attack Jerusalem,

³ he took counsel with his officials and his commanders to stop up the waters of the springs that were outside the city; and they helped him.

⁴ So many people there gathered together, and they stopped up all the springs, and the brook that flowed through the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find plenty of water?”

⁵ So he resolutely worked to rebuild all sections of the wall that were broken down, and erected towers and an outer wall, and strengthened the Millo terraces of the city of David, and made many weapons and shields.

⁶ He appointed military commanders over the people, and gathered them together to him in the square at the gate of the city, and encouraged them, saying,

⁷ “Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or dismayed because of the king of Assyria, and the huge army with him; for there are more with us than with him.

⁸ For he has only an arm of flesh; but the LORD our God with us is to help us, and to fight our battles.” The people found courage in the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

⁹ After this Sennacherib king of Assyria while he was attacking Lachish, and all his troops were with him there, sent his messengers to Jerusalem, to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying,

¹⁰ “This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says,  What are you trusting in that you think you can undergo a siege at Jerusalem?

¹¹ Isn’t Hezekiah deceiving you, turning you over to die by famine and thirst, claiming, ‘The LORD our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria’?

¹² Hasn’t this same Hezekiah destroyed his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You must worship before one altar, and on it alone you must burn sacrifices’?

¹³ Don’t you realize what I and my forefathers have done to all the peoples of the other lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands in any way able to deliver their land out of my hand?

¹⁴ Who among all the gods of those nations that my forefathers utterly destroyed was able to deliver his people out of my hand? Do you really believe that your God will be able to deliver you out of my hand?

¹⁵ Now don’t let Hezekiah deceive or mislead you like that. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my forefathers. So how much less can your God deliver you out of my hand?”

¹⁶ His envoys spoke still more against the LORD God, and against his servant Hezekiah.

¹⁷ He also wrote letters, to ridicule the LORD, the God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, “As the gods of the other nations of the lands could not deliver their people out of my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will be unable to deliver his people out of my hand.”

¹⁸ Then they cried out in the Judean language to the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to scare and terrify them so that they might capture the city.

¹⁹ They spoke of the God of Jerusalem, as if he were one of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are merely the work of human hands.

²⁰ Because of this, King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz prayed and cried out to heaven.

²¹ Then the LORD sent an angel, who destroyed all the mighty warriors, commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned disgraced to his own land. And when he entered the house of his god, some of his own sons slew him there with the sword.

²² So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and protected them on every side.

²³ Many brought gifts to the LORD at Jerusalem, and precious gifts to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was respected in the sight of all nations from then on.

²⁴ After those days Hezekiah was terminally ill. He prayed to the LORD, and he answered him and gave him a sign.

²⁵ But Hezekiah was not grateful for the benefit done to him, for his heart became arrogant. Therefore wrath came on him, Judah and Jerusalem.

²⁶ Then Hezekiah humbled himself from the pride of his heart, as did the inhabitants of Jerusalem. So the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

²⁷ Hezekiah was very rich and highly honor. He built treasuries for his silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and for all kinds of valuable possessions.

²⁸ He also built store-houses for the harvest of grain, new wine and olive oil; as well as stalls for all kinds of cattle, and flocks in pens.

²⁹ He built cities and acquired flocks and herds in abundance; for God had given him great wealth.

³⁰ This Hezekiah also stopped up the upper spring of the waters of the Gihon spring, and brought them straight down on the west side of the city of David. Hezekiah prospered in all his endeavors.

³¹ However when the envoys of the officials of Babylon sent to him to inquire of the incredible wonder that had been done in the land, God left him to test him in order to know all that was in his heart.

³² Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his good deeds, they are written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, in The Annals of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

³³ Hezekiah slept with his forefathers, and they buried him on the ascent of the tombs of the sons of David. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. Then Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 33

¹ Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

² He did evil in the sight of the LORD, in the manner of the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.

³ For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down; and he set up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles, and worshipped all the hosts of the sky and served them.

⁴ He built altars in the temple of the LORD, concerning which the LORD said, “In Jerusalem my name shall be forever.”

⁵ He built altars for all the host of the sky in the two courts of the temple of the LORD.

⁶ He also forced his own children to pass through the sacrificial fires in the Ben Hinnom Valley; and he practiced divination, omens and sorcery, and consulted with those who were mediums and used witchcraft. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD provoking him to anger.

⁷ He set up a carved image of an idol that he had made in the temple of God, of which God had told David and Solomon his son, “In this temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name there forever.

⁸ I will never again remove the feet of Israel out of the land which I have appointed to your forefathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law, statutes and ordinances given through Moses.”

⁹ Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did more evil than did the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.

¹⁰ The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people but they did not pay attention.

¹¹ Therefore the LORD brought on them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh away in chains, bound with fetters, and carried him off to Babylon.

¹² When he was in distress, he sought the LORD his God, and greatly humbled himself  before the God of his forefathers.

¹³ Manasseh prayed to God and he was moved and responded to his pleading, and brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.

¹⁴ After this Manasseh built an outer wall around the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, all the way to the entrance at the Fish Gate continuing around the Ophel. He built it up to a very great height and he stationed valiant commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.

¹⁵ He removed the foreign gods and the idol out of the temple of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mountain of the temple of the LORD and in Jerusalem and threw them out of the city.

¹⁶ He rebuilt the altar of the LORD, and offered on it sacrifices of peace and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹⁷ Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the LORD their God.

¹⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, they are written in the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

¹⁹ His prayer also, and how God was moved by his entreaty, and all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the places where he built high places, and set up the Asherah poles and the graven images, before he humbled himself, they are written in the History of the Seers.

²⁰ So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house.  Amon his son succeed him as king.

²¹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

²² He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had.  Amon sacrificed to all the graven images which Manasseh his father had made and served them.

²³ He did not humble himself before the LORD, as his father Manasseh had humbled himself; but rather Amon sinned more and more.

²⁴ His servants conspired against him, and killed him in his own house.

²⁵ But the people of the land slew all those who had conspired against King Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 34

¹ Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.

² He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his forefather, and turned not aside to the right or to the left.

³ In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek after the God of David his forefather. In the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, Asherah poles, craved idols, and cast images.

⁴ And they knocked down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and incense altars that were high above them he cut down, and smashed the Asherah poles, craved idols, and cast images, and ground them to dust, and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

⁵ He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and purified Judah and Jerusalem.

⁶ He also did this in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in their surrounding ruins.

⁷ He knocked down the altars, and smashed the Asherah poles and the carved images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

⁸ Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the mayor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the temple of the LORD his God.

⁹ They came to Hilkiah the high priest, and delivered the money that was brought into the temple of God, which the Levites, and gatekeepers had collected from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of Israel, all Judah and Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁰ They delivered it into the hand of the workmen who had the oversight of the temple of the LORD; and the workmen who worked in the temple of the LORD gave it for fixing and renovating the temple.

¹¹ They gave it to the carpenters and builders to buy cut stone, timber for joists and to make beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had let fall into ruin.

¹² The men did the work faithfully. Their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, from the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, from the sons of the Kohathites, who directed them. Other Levites, all who were skillful with instruments of music,

¹³ supervised the laborers and all those who did the work in every kind of service. Some of the Levites there were scribes, officials, and gatekeepers.

¹⁴ When they brought out the money that had been brought into the temple of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the scroll of the law of the LORD given through Moses.

¹⁵ Hilkiah told Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the scroll of the law in the temple of the LORD.”  Then Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan.

¹⁶ Shaphan brought the scroll to the king, and then reported to the king, saying, “All that was committed to your servants they are doing.

¹⁷ They have emptied out the money that was found in the temple of the LORD, and have turned it over to the supervisors and the workmen.”

¹⁸ Shaphan the scribe told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” Then Shaphan read it in front of the king.

¹⁹ When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes.

²⁰ The king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant,

²¹ “Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for those who are left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the scroll that is found; for great is the LORD’s wrath that is poured out on us, because our forefathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do according to all that is written in this scroll.”

²² So Hilkiah, and those whom the king had sent, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe. (She lived in Jerusalem in the Mishneh Quarter.)  They spoke to her regarding this.

²³ She told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: Tell the man who sent you to me,

²⁴ This is what the LORD says: ‘I will bring disaster on this place, and on its inhabitants, even all the curses that are written in the scroll that they have read before the king of Judah.

²⁵ Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, they have provoked me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath is poured out on this place, and it will not be quenched.’

²⁶ But tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says concerning the words that you have heard,

²⁷ because your heart was sensitive, and you humbled yourself before God, when you heard his words against this place, and against its inhabitants, and have humbled yourself before me, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me; I have heard you, says the LORD.

²⁸ I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace, your eyes will not see all the disaster that I will bring on this place, and on its inhabitants.” They brought back this word to the king.

²⁹ Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

³⁰ The king went up to the temple of the LORD, along with all the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and Levites, and all the people both great and small.  Then he read in their ears all the words of the scroll of the covenant that was found in the temple of the LORD.

³¹ The king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD to follow the LORD, and keep his commandments, decrees, and statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this scroll.

³² Then he made all who were in Jerusalem and Benjamin agree to it. The inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their forefathers.

³³ Josiah removed all the abominations from all the regions that belonged to the children of Israel, and made all that were found in Israel to serve the LORD their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the LORD, the God of their forefathers.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 35

¹ Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem; and they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month.
² He assigned the priests to their offices, and encouraged them to the service of the temple of the LORD.

³ He said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to the LORD, “Put the holy ark in the temple that Solomon the son of David king of Israel built; no longer should it be carried on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel.

⁴ Prepare yourselves after your fathers' houses by your divisions, according to the written instructions of David king of Israel and his son Solomon.

⁵ Stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the ancestral houses of your kindred of the people, and let there be Levites for each portion of the ancestors’ household.

⁶ Slaughter the Passover lamb, and consecrate yourselves, and prepare it for your brothers, to do according to the word of the LORD by Moses.”

⁷  Josiah gave to the common people, from the flock, lambs and kids, all of them for the Passover offerings for all that were present, 30,000, and 3,000 bulls; the king provided these from his possessions.

⁸ His officials gave contributions to the people, to priests and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel, the rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 lambs and goats, and 300 bulls.

⁹ Conaniah also, and his brothers Shemaiah, Nethanel, Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings 5,000 sheep and goats, and 500 bulls.

¹⁰ So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their places, and the Levites by their divisions, according to the king's command.

¹¹ They slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests sprinkled the blood that they received from their hand, and the Levites skinned them.

¹² They removed the burnt offerings so that they might give them according to the divisions of the forefathers’ houses of the people, to offer to the LORD, as it is written in the scroll of Moses. And they did same thing with the bulls.

¹³ They roasted the Passover lamb with fire according to the ordinance; and boiled the holy offerings in pots, pans and caldrons, and quickly served them to all the people.

¹⁴ Afterward they made preparations for themselves and the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were busy with offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night. Therefore the Levites made the preparations for themselves and for the priests the descendants of Aaron.

¹⁵ The singers, the descendants of Asaph, were in their place, according to the direction of David, Asaph, Heman, and the king’s seer Jeduthun. The gatekeepers were stationed at every gate. They did not have to leave their posts for their fellow Levites made preparations for them.

¹⁶ So all the service of the LORD was prepared that same day, to keep the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, according to the command of king Josiah.

¹⁷ The Israelites who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.

¹⁸ There was no Passover like it observed in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet; nor did any of the kings of Israel ever celebrate such a Passover as Josiah celebrated, with the priests and Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, along with the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁹ In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was observed.

^|20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him.

²¹ Neco sent envoys to him, saying, “What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I have not come against you today, but against the kingdom that I am at war with; and God has commanded me to hurry. Stop opposing God, who is with me, so that he will not destroy you.”

²² Josiah would not back off from him, but disguised himself, so that he might fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the Megiddo plain.

²³ The archers shot at King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, “Get me out of here; for I am seriously wounded.”

²⁴ So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him back to Jerusalem. He died and was buried in the tombs of his forefathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

²⁵ Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day. They made a tradition in Israel and it is recorded in The Book of Laments.

²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, including his good deeds done in accordance with what was written in the law of the LORD,

²⁷ and his acts, from the first to last, they were written in The Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

                                          DASV: 2 Chronicles 36

¹ Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in place of his father in Jerusalem.

² Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

³ The king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem, and demanded a land tax of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

⁴ The king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim.  Neco then took his brother Jehoahaz and carried him away to Egypt.

⁵ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. But he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God.

⁶ Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him and bound him with fetters, to deport him to Babylon.

⁷ Nebuchadnezzar also carried off the vessels of the temple of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his palace in Babylon.

⁸ The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations that he did, and what was found against him, they are written in The Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah; and his son Jehoiachin reigned in his place.

⁹ Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign. He reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.

¹⁰ In the spring of the year king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought Jehoiachin to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the temple of the LORD, and made his uncle Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

¹¹ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

¹² He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. He did not humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah who spoke from the mouth of the LORD.

¹³ He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take a vow of allegiance in God’s name. He was recalcitrant and hardened his heart refusing to turn to the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹⁴ Moreover all the leaders of the priests and the people became very unfaithful following after all the abominations of the nations. They polluted the temple of the LORD that he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ The LORD, the God of their forefathers, sent warnings to them by his messengers repeatedly, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.

¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, to the point that there was no remedy.

¹⁷ Therefore he brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary. He did not spare a young man or virgin, old man or the infirm; he gave them all into his hand.

¹⁸ All the vessels of the temple of God, large and small, and the treasures of the temple of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his officials, all these he carried off to Babylon.

¹⁹ They burned down the temple of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its palaces, and destroyed all its valuable vessels.

²⁰ Those who escaped from the sword he carried off to Babylon; and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia rose to power.

²¹ This fulfilled the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate it kept the Sabbath fulfilling the seventy years.

²² Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in fulfillment of the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it in writing:

²³ “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has commissioned me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you from all his people, the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.’”