2 Kings

4 Kingdoms in Greek

Second Kings is a continuation of First Kings, and the two originally formed one book, as they still do in the traditional Hebrew text. For an introduction to this work, see the Introduction to 1 Kings (pp. 493–95).

Structure and Contents

Second Kings starts during the short reign of Ahaziah king of Israel, with a formula (“after the death of Ahab”) that recalls the openings of the preceding books of Joshua, Judges, and 2 Samuel. The book is divided thematically into two parts: chs 1–17 continue the synchronic history of the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel until the fall of Samaria in 722 bce; chs 18–25 relate the last century and a half of the Judean kingdom until the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple and the exile of 586. The first part contains several stories about the prophet Elisha (chs 2–8). After he is installed as Elijah’s successor, he performs many miracles, several of which parallel tales told about Elijah in the first book of Kings. Although these stories follow the ones about Elijah, it is possible that the Elisha stories were written first, and Elijah was modeled after him, to prefigure his miracles. But he is also involved in high politics when he legitimates two coups d’état: he proclaims that Hazael will become king of Aram (8.7–15), and has Jehu anointed as king of Israel, to exterminate the house of Ahab (chs 9–10). In general, while Elijah fights the royal establishment, Elisha is sympathetic toward the northern kings.

The reign of queen Athaliah over Judah in ch 11 interrupts the Davidic dynasty, and is presented by the Deuteronomistic historians as illegitimate. The Davidic line continues with King Joash (ch 12), who escaped from Athaliah’s massacre. Chapters 13–17 continue the parallel history of the two kingdoms, which is told from a clearly Judean perspective: the northern kings Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II, Zechariah, Shallum, Menachem, Pekahiah, Pekah, and Hoshea are altogether bad kings, since they continue the “sin of Jeroboam” (see 1 Kings 12.30), venerating the Lord outside Jerusalem and worshiping other deities. Among the Judean kings, Jehoash, Amaziah, Azariah, and Jotham are evaluated positively, although they are criticized for tolerating the high places outside Jerusalem. The Judean king Ahaz, however, is presented as walking in the way of the kings of Israel. The fall of Israel related in 2 Kings 17 provides a long commentary in typical Deuteronomistic style, which indicates the reasons that led to the end of the Northern Kingdom and its transformation into an Assyrian province, but also hints ahead at the destruction of Judah (vv. 19–20).

The second part of 2 Kings (chs 18–25), which relates the story of the kingdom of Judah until its end, presents two kings, Hezekiah and Josiah, very positively. Hezekiah (chs 18–20) abolishes illegitimate religious practices in Jerusalem and in Judah; under his reign the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem fails because of the Lord’s intervention. His son Manasseh (ch 21) is presented as the worst of all kings of Judah, although he reigned for fifty‐five years. He is explicitly compared to the worst Israelite king, Ahab, reintroducing forbidden religious practices; one redactor even presents him as responsible for the later destruction of Jerusalem. He is succeeded by the wicked Amon, who is followed by Josiah, who undertakes a sweeping religious reform, making Jerusalem the only legitimate sanctuary for the worship of the Lord and destroying all symbols of unorthodox worship (chs 22–23). But Josiah is killed by the Egyptian king, and his four successors Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah (chs 23–24) are judged negatively by the Deuteronomistic historians, employing with the same formula: “he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his father(s) had done.” This hastens the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, who are presented as the tool of divine punishment (chs 24–25). The book ends with a short note about the release of the Judean king Jehoiachin from his Babylonian prison: he stays in Babylon but becomes a privileged guest at the table of the king of Babylon (25.27–30).

Thomas Römer

¹ After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel.

²Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and lay injured; so he sent messengers, telling them, “Go, inquire of Baal‐zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this injury.” ³But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Get up, go to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal‐zebub, the god of Ekron?’ ⁴Now therefore thus says the Lord, ‘You shall not leave the bed to which you have gone, but you shall surely die.’” So Elijah went.

⁵The messengers returned to the king, who said to them, “Why have you returned?” ⁶They answered him, “There came a man to meet us, who said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you, and say to him: Thus says the Lord: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal‐zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not leave the bed to which you have gone, but shall surely die.’” ⁷He said to them, “What sort of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things?” ⁸They answered him, “A hairy man, with a leather belt around his waist.” He said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

⁹Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men. He went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’” ¹⁰But Elijah answered the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

¹¹Again the king sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. He went up^a and said to him, “O man of God, this is the king’s order: Come down quickly!” ¹²But Elijah answered them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

¹³Again the king sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. So the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and entreated him, “O man of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty servants of yours, be precious in your sight. ¹⁴Look, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former captains of fifty men with their fifties; but now let my life be precious in your sight.” ¹⁵Then the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So he set out and went down with him to the king, ¹⁶and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron,—is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word?— therefore you shall not leave the bed to which you have gone, but you shall surely die.”

¹⁷So he died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken. His brother,^b Jehoram succeeded him as king in the second year of King Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat of Judah, because Ahaziah had no son. ¹⁸Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel?

The geography of the Elisha narratives, chs 1–14. The dashed line shows the approximate boundaries between Israel, Judah, and Philistia.

² Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. ²Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. ³The company of prophets^a who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?” And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent.”

⁴Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here; for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. ⁵The company of prophets^a who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know; be silent.”

⁶Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. ⁷Fifty men of the company of prophets^a also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. ⁸Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.

⁹When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” ¹⁰He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” ¹¹As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. ¹²Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

¹³He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.

¹⁵When the company of prophets^a who were at Jericho saw him at a distance, they declared, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. ¹⁶They said to him, “See now, we have fifty strong men among your servants; please let them go and seek your master; it may be that the spirit of the Lord has caught him up and thrown him down on some mountain or into some valley.” He responded, “No, do not send them.” ¹⁷But when they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, “Send them.” So they sent fifty men who searched for three days but did not find him. ¹⁸When they came back to him (he had remained at Jericho), he said to them, “Did I not say to you, Do not go?”

¹⁹Now the people of the city said to Elisha, “The location of this city is good, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.” ²⁰He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. ²¹Then he went to the spring of water and threw the salt into it, and said, “Thus says the Lord, I have made this water wholesome; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.” ²²So the water has been wholesome to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.

²³He went up from there to Bethel; and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go away, baldhead! Go away, baldhead!” ²⁴When he turned around and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she‐bears came out of the woods and mauled forty‐two of the boys. ²⁵From there he went on to Mount Carmel, and then returned to Samaria.

³ In the eighteenth year of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, Jehoram son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria; he reigned twelve years. ²He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and mother, for he removed the pillar of Baal that his father had made. ³Nevertheless he clung to the sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to commit; he did not depart from it.

⁴Now King Mesha of Moab was a sheep breeder, who used to deliver to the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs, and the wool of one hundred thousand rams. ⁵But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. ⁶So King Jehoram marched out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. ⁷As he went he sent word to King Jehoshaphat of Judah, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me; will you go with me to battle against Moab?” He answered, “I will; I am with you, my people are your people, my horses are your horses.” ⁸Then he asked, “By which way shall we march?” Jehoram answered, “By the way of the wilderness of Edom.”

⁹So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom set out; and when they had made a roundabout march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that were with them. ¹⁰Then the king of Israel said, “Alas! The Lord has summoned us, three kings, only to be handed over to Moab.” ¹¹But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?” Then one of the servants of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat, who used to pour water on the hands of Elijah, is here.” ¹²Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

¹³Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to your father’s prophets or to your mother’s.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No; it is the Lord who has summoned us, three kings, only to be handed over to Moab.” ¹⁴Elisha said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, whom I serve, were it not that I have regard for King Jehoshaphat of Judah, I would give you neither a look nor a glance. ¹⁵But get me a musician.” And then, while the musician was playing, the power of the Lord came on him. ¹⁶And he said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I will make this wadi full of pools.’ ¹⁷For thus says the Lord, ‘You shall see neither wind nor rain, but the wadi shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your cattle, and your animals.’ ¹⁸This is only a trifle in the sight of the Lord, for he will also hand Moab over to you. ¹⁹You shall conquer every fortified city and every choice city; every good tree you shall fell, all springs of water you shall stop up, and every good piece of land you shall ruin with stones.” ²⁰The next day, about the time of the morning offering, suddenly water began to flow from the direction of Edom, until the country was filled with water.

²¹When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armor, from the youngest to the oldest, were called out and were drawn up at the frontier. ²²When they rose early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. ²³They said, “This is blood; the kings must have fought together, and killed one another. Now then, Moab, to the spoil!” ²⁴But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and attacked the Moabites, who fled before them; as they entered Moab they continued the attack.^{a 25}The cities they overturned, and on every good piece of land everyone threw a stone, until it was covered; every spring of water they stopped up, and every good tree they felled. Only at Kir‐hareseth did the stone walls remain, until the slingers surrounded and attacked it. ²⁶When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom; but they could not. ²⁷Then he took his firstborn son who was to succeed him, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. And great wrath came upon Israel, so they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.

⁴ Now the wife of a member of the company of prophets^b cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but a creditor has come to take my two children as slaves.” ²Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house, except a jar of oil.” ³He said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not just a few. ⁴Then go in, and shut the door behind you and your children, and start pouring into all these vessels; when each is full, set it aside.” ⁵So she left him and shut the door behind her and her children; they kept bringing vessels to her, and she kept pouring. ⁶When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” But he said to her, “There are no more.” Then the oil stopped flowing. ⁷She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your children can live on the rest.”

⁸One day Elisha was passing through Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to have a meal. So whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for a meal. ⁹She said to her husband, “Look, I am sure that this man who regularly passes our way is a holy man of God. ¹⁰Let us make a small roof chamber with walls, and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”

¹¹One day when he came there, he went up to the chamber and lay down there. ¹²He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite woman.” When he had called her, she stood before him. ¹³He said to him, “Say to her, Since you have taken all this trouble for us, what may be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?” She answered, “I live among my own people.” ¹⁴He said, “What then may be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.” ¹⁵He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood at the door. ¹⁶He said, “At this season, in due time, you shall embrace a son.” She replied, “No, my lord, O man of God; do not deceive your servant.”

¹⁷The woman conceived and bore a son at that season, in due time, as Elisha had declared to her.

¹⁸When the child was older, he went out one day to his father among the reapers. ¹⁹He complained to his father, “Oh, my head, my head!” The father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰He carried him and brought him to his mother; the child sat on her lap until noon, and he died. ²¹She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, closed the door on him, and left. ²²Then she called to her husband, and said, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so that I may quickly go to the man of God and come back again.” ²³He said, “Why go to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath.” She said, “It will be all right.” ²⁴Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Urge the animal on; do not hold back for me unless I tell you.” ²⁵So she set out, and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, there is the Shunammite woman; ²⁶run at once to meet her, and say to her, Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is the child all right?” She answered, “It is all right.” ²⁷When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi approached to push her away. But the man of God said, “Let her alone, for she is in bitter distress; the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.” ²⁸Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, Do not mislead me?” ²⁹He said to Gehazi, “Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet anyone, give no greeting, and if anyone greets you, do not answer; and lay my staff on the face of the child.” ³⁰Then the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave without you.” So he rose up and followed her. ³¹Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. He came back to meet him and told him, “The child has not awakened.”

³²When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. ³³So he went in and closed the door on the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. ³⁴Then he got up on the bed^a and lay upon the child, putting his mouth upon his mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands; and while he lay bent over him, the flesh of the child became warm. ³⁵He got down, walked once to and fro in the room, then got up again and bent over him; the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. ³⁶Elisha^b summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” So he called her. When she came to him, he said, “Take your son.” ³⁷She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground; then she took her son and left.

³⁸When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the company of prophets was^c sitting before him, he said to his servant, “Put the large pot on, and make some stew for the company of prophets.”^{d 39}One of them went out into the field to gather herbs; he found a wild vine and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were. ⁴⁰They served some for the men to eat. But while they were eating the stew, they cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” They could not eat it. ⁴¹He said, “Then bring some flour.” He threw it into the pot, and said, “Serve the people and let them eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

⁴²A man came from Baal‐shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.” ⁴³But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So he repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’” ⁴⁴He set it before them, they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.

⁵ Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy.^{e 2}Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. ³She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”^e4So Naaman^b went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. ⁵And the king of Aram said, “Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.”

He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. ⁶He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.”^{a 7}When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?^a Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.”

⁸But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.” ⁹So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. ¹⁰Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” ¹¹But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!^a12Are not Abana^b and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. ¹³But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” ¹⁴So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

¹⁵Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.” ¹⁶But he said, “As the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will accept nothing!” He urged him to accept, but he refused. ¹⁷Then Naaman said, “If not, please let two mule‐loads of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god except the Lord. ¹⁸But may the Lord pardon your servant on one count: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, when I do bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant on this one count.” ¹⁹He said to him, “Go in peace.”

But when Naaman had gone from him a short distance, ²⁰Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, thought, “My master has let that Aramean Naaman off too lightly by not accepting from him what he offered. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something out of him.” ²¹So Gehazi went after Naaman. When Naaman saw someone running after him, he jumped down from the chariot to meet him and said, “Is everything all right?” ²²He replied, “Yes, but my master has sent me to say, ‘Two members of a company of prophets^c have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim; please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.’” ²³Naaman said, “Please accept two talents.” He urged him, and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and gave them to two of his servants, who carried them in front of Gehazi.^{a 24}When he came to the citadel, he took the bags^b from them, and stored them inside; he dismissed the men, and they left.

²⁵He went in and stood before his master; and Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” He answered, “Your servant has not gone anywhere at all.” ²⁶But he said to him, “Did I not go with you in spirit when someone left his chariot to meet you? Is this a time to accept money and to accept clothing, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves? ²⁷Therefore the leprosy^c of Naaman shall cling to you, and to your descendants forever.” So he left his presence leprous,^c as white as snow.

⁶ Now the company of prophets^d said to Elisha, “As you see, the place where we live under your charge is too small for us. ²Let us go to the Jordan, and let us collect logs there, one for each of us, and build a place there for us to live.” He answered, “Do so.” ³Then one of them said, “Please come with your servants.” And he answered, “I will.” ⁴So he went with them. When they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. ⁵But as one was felling a log, his ax head fell into the water; he cried out, “Alas, master! It was borrowed.” ⁶Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick, and threw it in there, and made the iron float. ⁷He said, “Pick it up.” So he reached out his hand and took it.

⁸Once when the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he took counsel with his officers. He said, “At such and such a place shall be my camp.” ⁹But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, “Take care not to pass this place, because the Arameans are going down there.” ¹⁰The king of Israel sent word to the place of which the man of God spoke. More than once or twice he warned such a place^e so that it was on the alert.

¹¹The mind of the king of Aram was greatly perturbed because of this; he called his officers and said to them, “Now tell me who among us sides with the king of Israel?” ¹²Then one of his officers said, “No one, my lord king. It is Elisha, the prophet in Israel, who tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.” ¹³He said, “Go and find where he is; I will send and seize him.” He was told, “He is in Dothan.” ¹⁴So he sent horses and chariots there and a great army; they came by night, and surrounded the city.

¹⁵When an attendant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. His servant said, “Alas, master! What shall we do?” ¹⁶He replied, “Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than there are with them.” ¹⁷Then Elisha prayed: “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw; the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. ¹⁸When the Arameans^a came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, “Strike this people, please, with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked. ¹⁹Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city; follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria.

²⁰As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O Lord, open the eyes of these men so that they may see.” The Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were inside Samaria. ²¹When the king of Israel saw them he said to Elisha, “Father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?” ²²He answered, “No! Did you capture with your sword and your bow those whom you want to kill? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink; and let them go to their master.” ²³So he prepared for them a great feast; after they ate and drank, he sent them on their way, and they went to their master. And the Arameans no longer came raiding into the land of Israel.

²⁴Some time later King Ben‐hadad of Aram mustered his entire army; he marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. ²⁵As the siege continued, famine in Samaria became so great that a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one‐fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. ²⁶Now as the king of Israel was walking on the city wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help, my lord king!” ²⁷He said, “No! Let the Lord help you. How can I help you? From the threshing floor or from the wine press?” ²⁸But then the king asked her, “What is your complaint?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son; we will eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ ²⁹So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son and we will eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.” ³⁰When the king heard the words of the woman he tore his clothes—now since he was walking on the city wall, the people could see that he had sackcloth on his body underneath— ³¹and he said, “So may God do to me, and more, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat stays on his shoulders today.” ³²So he dispatched a man from his presence.

Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Are you aware that this murderer has sent someone to take off my head? When the messenger comes, see that you shut the door and hold it closed against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?” ³³While he was still speaking with them, the king^b came down to him and said, “This trouble is from the Lord! Why should I hope in the Lord any longer?”

⁷ But Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord, Tomorrow about this time a measure of choice meal shall be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.” ²Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, “Even if the Lord were to make windows in the sky, could such a thing happen?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat from it.”

³Now there were four leprous^a men outside the city gate, who said to one another, “Why should we sit here until we die? ⁴If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; but if we sit here, we shall also die. Therefore, let us desert to the Aramean camp; if they spare our lives, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.” ⁵So they arose at twilight to go to the Aramean camp; but when they came to the edge of the Aramean camp, there was no one there at all. ⁶For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots, and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to fight against us.” ⁷So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys leaving the camp just as it was, and fled for their lives. ⁸When these leprous^a men had come to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent, ate and drank, carried off silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid them. Then they came back, entered another tent, carried off things from it, and went and hid them.

⁹Then they said to one another, “What we are doing is wrong. This is a day of good news; if we are silent and wait until the morning light, we will be found guilty; therefore let us go and tell the king’s household.” ¹⁰So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, “We went to the Aramean camp, but there was no one to be seen or heard there, nothing but the horses tied, the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.” ¹¹Then the gatekeepers called out and proclaimed it to the king’s household. ¹²The king got up in the night, and said to his servants, “I will tell you what the Arameans have prepared against us. They know that we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide themselves in the open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and get into the city.’” ¹³One of his servants said, “Let some men take five of the remaining horses, since those left here will suffer the fate of the whole multitude of Israel that have perished already;^b let us send and find out.” ¹⁴So they took two mounted men, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and find out.” ¹⁵So they went after them as far as the Jordan; the whole way was littered with garments and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned, and told the king.

¹⁶Then the people went out, and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a measure of choice meal was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. ¹⁷Now the king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate; the people trampled him to death in the gate, just as the man of God had said when the king came down to him. ¹⁸For when the man of God had said to the king, “Two measures of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a measure of choice meal for a shekel, about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria,” ¹⁹the captain had answered the man of God, “Even if the Lord were to make windows in the sky, could such a thing happen?” And he had answered, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat from it.” ²⁰It did indeed happen to him; the people trampled him to death in the gate.

⁸ Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Get up and go with your household, and settle wherever you can; for the Lord has called for a famine, and it will come on the land for seven years.” ²So the woman got up and did according to the word of the man of God; she went with her household and settled in the land of the Philistines seven years. ³At the end of the seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she set out to appeal to the king for her house and her land. ⁴Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” ⁵While he was telling the king how Elisha had restored a dead person to life, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and her land. Gehazi said, “My lord king, here is the woman, and here is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” ⁶When the king questioned the woman, she told him. So the king appointed an official for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, together with all the revenue of the fields from the day that she left the land until now.”

⁷Elisha went to Damascus while King Ben‐hadad of Aram was ill. When it was told him, “The man of God has come here,” ⁸the king said to Hazael, “Take a present with you and go to meet the man of God. Inquire of the Lord through him, whether I shall recover from this illness.” ⁹So Hazael went to meet him, taking a present with him, all kinds of goods of Damascus, forty camel loads. When he entered and stood before him, he said, “Your son King Ben‐hadad of Aram has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this illness?’” ¹⁰Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover’; but the Lord has shown me that he shall certainly die.” ¹¹He fixed his gaze and stared at him, until he was ashamed. Then the man of God wept. ¹²Hazael asked, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel; you will set their fortresses on fire, you will kill their young men with the sword, dash in pieces their little ones, and rip up their pregnant women.” ¹³Hazael said, “What is your servant, who is a mere dog, that he should do this great thing?” Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you are to be king over Aram.” ¹⁴Then he left Elisha, and went to his master Benhadad,^a who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me that you would certainly recover.” ¹⁵But the next day he took the bed‐cover and dipped it in water and spread it over the king’s face, until he died. And Hazael succeeded him.

¹⁶In the fifth year of King Joram son of Ahab of Israel,^b Jehoram son of King Jehoshaphat of Judah began to reign. ¹⁷He was thirty‐two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁹Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah, for the sake of his servant David, since he had promised to give a lamp to him and to his descendants forever.

²⁰In his days Edom revolted against the rule of Judah, and set up a king of their own. ²¹Then Joram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. He set out by night and attacked the Edomites and their chariot commanders who had surrounded him;^a but his army fled home. ²²So Edom has been in revolt against the rule of Judah to this day. Libnah also revolted at the same time. ²³Now the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? ²⁴So Joram slept with his ancestors, and was buried with them in the city of David; his son Ahaziah succeeded him.

²⁵In the twelfth year of King Joram son of Ahab of Israel, Ahaziah son of King Jehoram of Judah began to reign. ²⁶Ahaziah was twenty‐two years old when he began to reign; he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of King Omri of Israel. ²⁷He also walked in the way of the house of Ahab, doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was son‐in‐law to the house of Ahab.

²⁸He went with Joram son of Ahab to wage war against King Hazael of Aram at Ramothgilead, where the Arameans wounded Joram. ²⁹King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah, when he fought against King Hazael of Aram. King Ahaziah son of Jehoram of Judah went down to see Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was wounded.

⁹ Then the prophet Elisha called a member of the company of prophets^b and said to him, “Gird up your loins; take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth‐gilead. ²When you arrive, look there for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi; go in and get him to leave his companions, and take him into an inner chamber. ³Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee; do not linger.”

⁴So the young man, the young prophet, went to Ramoth‐gilead. ⁵He arrived while the commanders of the army were in council, and he announced, “I have a message for you, commander.” “For which one of us?” asked Jehu. “For you, commander.” ⁶So Jehu^c got up and went inside; the young man poured the oil on his head, saying to him, “Thus says the Lord the God of Israel: I anoint you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. ⁷You shall strike down the house of your master Ahab, so that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord. ⁸For the whole house of Ahab shall perish; I will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel. ⁹I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. ¹⁰The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and no one shall bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.

¹¹When Jehu came back to his master’s officers, they said to him, “Is everything all right? Why did that madman come to you?” He answered them, “You know the sort and how they babble.” ¹²They said, “Liar! Come on, tell us!” So he said, “This is just what he said to me: ‘Thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel.’” ¹³Then hurriedly they all took their cloaks and spread them for him on the bare^a steps; and they blew the trumpet, and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.”

¹⁴Thus Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Joram with all Israel had been on guard at Ramoth‐gilead against King Hazael of Aram; ¹⁵but King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him, when he fought against King Hazael of Aram. So Jehu said, “If this is your wish, then let no one slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel.” ¹⁶Then Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, where Joram was lying ill. King Ahaziah of Judah had come down to visit Joram.

¹⁷In Jezreel, the sentinel standing on the tower spied the company of Jehu arriving, and said, “I see a company.” Joram said, “Take a horseman; send him to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’” ¹⁸So the horseman went to meet him; he said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’” Jehu responded, “What have you to do with peace? Fall in behind me.” The sentinel reported, saying, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.” ¹⁹Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’” Jehu answered, “What have you to do with peace? Fall in behind me.” ²⁰Again the sentinel reported, “He reached them, but he is not coming back. It looks like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi; for he drives like a maniac.”

²¹Joram said, “Get ready.” And they got his chariot ready. Then King Joram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah set out, each in his chariot, and went to meet Jehu; they met him at the property of Naboth the Jezreelite. ²²When Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He answered, “What peace can there be, so long as the many whoredoms and sorceries of your mother Jezebel continue?” ²³Then Joram reined about and fled, saying to Ahaziah, “Treason, Ahaziah!” ²⁴Jehu drew his bow with all his strength, and shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his heart; and he sank in his chariot. ²⁵Jehu said to his aide Bidkar, “Lift him out, and throw him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember, when you and I rode side by side behind his father Ahab how the Lord uttered this oracle against him: ²⁶‘For the blood of Naboth and for the blood of his children that I saw yesterday, says the Lord, I swear I will repay you on this very plot of ground.’ Now therefore lift him out and throw him on the plot of ground, in accordance with the word of the Lord.”

²⁷When King Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he fled in the direction of Beth‐haggan. Jehu pursued him, saying, “Shoot him also!” And they shot him^a in the chariot at the ascent to Gur, which is by Ibleam. Then he fled to Megiddo, and died there. ²⁸His officers carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his ancestors in the city of David.

²⁹In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah.

³⁰When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; she painted her eyes, and adorned her head, and looked out of the window. ³¹As Jehu entered the gate, she said, “Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?” ³²He looked up to the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked out at him. ³³He said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down; some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, which trampled on her. ³⁴Then he went in and ate and drank; he said, “See to that cursed woman and bury her; for she is a king’s daughter.” ³⁵But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. ³⁶When they came back and told him, he said, “This is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, ‘In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; ³⁷the corpse of Jezebel shall be like dung on the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, This is Jezebel.’”

¹⁰ Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel,^b to the elders, and to the guardians of the sons of ^c Ahab, saying, ²“Since your master’s sons are with you and you have at your disposal chariots and horses, a fortified city, and weapons, ³select the son of your master who is the best qualified, set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.” ⁴But they were utterly terrified and said, “Look, two kings could not withstand him; how then can we stand?” ⁵So the steward of the palace, and the governor of the city, along with the elders and the guardians, sent word to Jehu: “We are your servants; we will do anything you say. We will not make anyone king; do whatever you think right.” ⁶Then he wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are on my side, and if you are ready to obey me, take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me at Jezreel tomorrow at this time.” Now the king’s sons, seventy persons, were with the leaders of the city, who were charged with their upbringing. ⁷When the letter reached them, they took the king’s sons and killed them, seventy persons; they put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel. ⁸When the messenger came and told him, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons,” he said, “Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.” ⁹Then in the morning when he went out, he stood and said to all the people, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him; but who struck down all these? ¹⁰Know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab; for the Lord has done what he said through his servant Elijah.” ¹¹So Jehu killed all who were left of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his leaders, close friends, and priests, until he left him no survivor.

¹²Then he set out and went to Samaria. On the way, when he was at Beth‐eked of the Shepherds, ¹³Jehu met relatives of King Ahaziah of Judah and said, “Who are you?” They answered, “We are kin of Ahaziah; we have come down to visit the royal princes and the sons of the queen mother.” ¹⁴He said, “Take them alive.” They took them alive, and slaughtered them at the pit of Beth‐eked, forty‐two in all; he spared none of them.

¹⁵When he left there, he met Jehonadab son of Rechab coming to meet him; he greeted him, and said to him, “Is your heart as true to mine as mine is to yours?”^a Jehonadab answered, “It is.” Jehu said,^b “If it is, give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand. Jehu took him up with him into the chariot. ¹⁶He said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.” So he^c had him ride in his chariot. ¹⁷When he came to Samaria, he killed all who were left to Ahab in Samaria, until he had wiped them out, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke to Elijah.

¹⁸Then Jehu assembled all the people and said to them, “Ahab offered Baal small service; but Jehu will offer much more. ¹⁹Now therefore summon to me all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers, and all his priests; let none be missing, for I have a great sacrifice to offer to Baal; whoever is missing shall not live.” But Jehu was acting with cunning in order to destroy the worshipers of Baal. ²⁰Jehu decreed, “Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal.” So they proclaimed it. ²¹Jehu sent word throughout all Israel; all the worshipers of Baal came, so that there was no one left who did not come. They entered the temple of Baal, until the temple of Baal was filled from wall to wall. ²²He said to the keeper of the wardrobe, “Bring out the vestments for all the worshipers of Baal.” So he brought out the vestments for them. ²³Then Jehu entered the temple of Baal with Jehonadab son of Rechab; he said to the worshipers of Baal, “Search and see that there is no worshiper of the Lord here among you, but only worshipers of Baal.” ²⁴Then they proceeded to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings.

Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside, saying, “Whoever allows any of those to escape whom I deliver into your hands shall forfeit his life.” ²⁵As soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and to the officers, “Come in and kill them; let no one escape.” So they put them to the sword. The guards and the officers threw them out, and then went into the citadel of the temple of Baal. ²⁶They brought out the pillar^d that was in the temple of Baal, and burned it. ²⁷Then they demolished the pillar of Baal, and destroyed the temple of Baal, and made it a latrine to this day.

²⁸Thus Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel. ²⁹But Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to commit—the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan. ³⁰The Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what I consider right, and in accordance with all that was in my heart have dealt with the house of Ahab, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” ³¹But Jehu was not careful to follow the law of the Lord the God of Israel with all his heart; he did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he caused Israel to commit.

³²In those days the Lord began to trim off parts of Israel. Hazael defeated them throughout the territory of Israel: ³³from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the Wadi Arnon, that is, Gilead and Bashan. ³⁴Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, all that he did, and all his power, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel? ³⁵So Jehu slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in Samaria. His son Jehoahaz succeeded him. ³⁶The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty‐eight years.

¹¹ Now when Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, saw that her son was dead, she set about to destroy all the royal family. ²But Jehosheba, King Joram’s daughter, Ahaziah’s sister, took Joash son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king’s children who were about to be killed; she put^a him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus she^b hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not killed; ³he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the Lord, while Athaliah reigned over the land.

⁴But in the seventh year Jehoiada summoned the captains of the Carites and of the guards and had them come to him in the house of the Lord. He made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of the Lord; then he showed them the king’s son. ⁵He commanded them, “This is what you are to do: one‐third of you, those who go off duty on the sabbath and guard the king’s house ⁶(another third being at the gate Sur and a third at the gate behind the guards), shall guard the palace; ⁷and your two divisions that come on duty in force on the sabbath and guard the house of the Lord^{c 8}shall surround the king, each with weapons in hand; and whoever approaches the ranks is to be killed. Be with the king in his comings and goings.”

⁹The captains did according to all that the priest Jehoiada commanded; each brought his men who were to go off duty on the sabbath, with those who were to come on duty on the sabbath, and came to the priest Jehoiada. ¹⁰The priest delivered to the captains the spears and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of the Lord; ¹¹the guards stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house, to guard the king on every side. ¹²Then he brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, and gave him the covenant;^a they proclaimed him king, and anointed him; they clapped their hands and shouted, “Long live the king!”.

¹³When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she went into the house of the Lord to the people; ¹⁴when she looked, there was the king standing by the pillar, according to custom, with the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!” ¹⁵Then the priest Jehoiada commanded the captains who were set over the army, “Bring her out between the ranks, and kill with the sword anyone who follows her.” For the priest said, “Let her not be killed in the house of the Lord.” ¹⁶So they laid hands on her; she went through the horses’ entrance to the king’s house, and there she was put to death.

¹⁷Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and people, that they should be the Lord’s people; also between the king and the people. ¹⁸Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, before the altars. The priest posted guards over the house of the Lord. ¹⁹He took the captains, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land; then they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, marching through the gate of the guards to the king’s house. He took his seat on the throne of the kings. ²⁰So all the people of the land rejoiced; and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been killed with the sword at the king’s house.

^21b Jehoash^c was seven years old when he began to reign.

¹² In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign; he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beer‐sheba. ²Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all his days, because the priest Jehoiada instructed him. ³Nevertheless the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places.

⁴Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money offered as sacred donations that is brought into the house of the Lord, the money for which each person is assessed—the money from the assessment of persons—and the money from the voluntary offerings brought into the house of the Lord, ⁵let the priests receive from each of the donors; and let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is discovered.” ⁶But by the twenty‐third year of King Jehoash the priests had made no repairs on the house. ⁷Therefore King Jehoash summoned the priest Jehoiada with the other priests and said to them, “Why are you not repairing the house? Now therefore do not accept any more money from your donors but hand it over for the repair of the house.” ⁸So the priests agreed that they would neither accept more money from the people nor repair the house.

⁹Then the priest Jehoiada took a chest, made a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar on the right side as one entered the house of the Lord; the priests who guarded the threshold put in it all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord. ¹⁰Whenever they saw that there was a great deal of money in the chest, the king’s secretary and the high priest went up, counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord, and tied it up in bags. ¹¹They would give the money that was weighed out into the hands of the workers who had the oversight of the house of the Lord; then they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked on the house of the Lord, ¹²to the masons and the stonecutters, as well as to buy timber and quarried stone for making repairs on the house of the Lord, as well as for any outlay for repairs of the house. ¹³But for the house of the Lord no basins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, or any vessels of gold, or of silver, were made from the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, ¹⁴for that was given to the workers who were repairing the house of the Lord with it. ¹⁵They did not ask an accounting from those into whose hand they delivered the money to pay out to the workers, for they dealt honestly. ¹⁶The money from the guilt offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of the Lord; it belonged to the priests.

¹⁷At that time King Hazael of Aram went up, fought against Gath, and took it. But when Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem, ¹⁸King Jehoash of Judah took all the votive gifts that Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his ancestors, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, as well as his own votive gifts, all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent these to King Hazael of Aram. Then Hazael withdrew from Jerusalem.

¹⁹Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? ²⁰His servants arose, devised a conspiracy, and killed Joash in the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla. ²¹It was Jozacar son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer, his servants, who struck him down, so that he died. He was buried with his ancestors in the city of David; then his son Amaziah succeeded him.

¹³ In the twenty‐third year of King Joash son of Ahaziah of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned seventeen years. ²He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to sin; he did not depart from them. ³The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, so that he gave them repeatedly into the hand of King Hazael of Aram, then into the hand of Benhadad son of Hazael. ⁴But Jehoahaz entreated the Lord, and the Lord heeded him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Aram oppressed them. ⁵Therefore the Lord gave Israel a savior, so that they escaped from the hand of the Arameans; and the people of Israel lived in their homes as formerly. ⁶Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, which he caused Israel to sin, but walked^a in them; the sacred pole^b also remained in Samaria. ⁷So Jehoahaz was left with an army of not more than fifty horsemen, ten chariots and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing. ⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did, including his might, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel? ⁹So Jehoahaz slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in Samaria; then his son Joash succeeded him.

¹⁰In the thirty‐seventh year of King Joash of Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned sixteen years. ¹¹He also did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to sin, but he walked in them. ¹²Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, as well as the might with which he fought against King Amaziah of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel? ¹³So Joash slept with his ancestors, and Jeroboam sat upon his throne; Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

¹⁴Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, King Joash of Israel went down to him, and wept before him, crying, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” ¹⁵Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows”; so he took a bow and arrows. ¹⁶Then he said to the king of Israel, “Draw the bow”; and he drew it. Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. ¹⁷Then he said, “Open the window eastward”; and he opened it. Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. Then he said, “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram! For you shall fight the Arameans in Aphek until you have made an end of them.” ¹⁸He continued, “Take the arrows”; and he took them. He said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them”; he struck three times, and stopped. ¹⁹Then the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Aram until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Aram only three times.”

²⁰So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. ²¹As a man was being buried, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha; as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he came to life and stood on his feet.

²²Now King Hazael of Aram oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. ²³But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them; he turned toward them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them; nor has he banished them from his presence until now.

²⁴When King Hazael of Aram died, his son Ben‐hadad succeeded him. ²⁵Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz took again from Ben‐hadad son of Hazael the towns that he had taken from his father Jehoahaz in war. Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the towns of Israel.

¹⁴ In the second year of King Joash son of Joahaz of Israel, King Amaziah son of Joash of Judah, began to reign. of Joash of Judah, began to reign. ²He was twenty‐five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty‐nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. ³He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like his ancestor David; in all things he did as his father Joash had done. ⁴But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. ⁵As soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand he killed his servants who had murdered his father the king. ⁶But he did not put to death the children of the murderers; according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, “The parents shall not be put to death for the children, or the children be put to death for the parents; but all shall be put to death for their own sins.”

⁷He killed ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by storm; he called it Jokthe‐el, which is its name to this day.

⁸Then Amaziah sent messengers to King Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look one another in the face.” ⁹King Jehoash of Israel sent word to King Amaziah of Judah, “A thornbush on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife’; but a wild animal of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thornbush. ¹⁰You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home; for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”

¹¹But Amaziah would not listen. So King Jehoash of Israel went up; he and King Amaziah of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth‐shemesh, which belongs to Judah. ¹²Judah was defeated by Israel; everyone fled home. ¹³King Jehoash of Israel captured King Amaziah of Judah son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth‐shemesh; he came to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, a distance of four hundred cubits. ¹⁴He seized all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, as well as hostages; then he returned to Samaria.

¹⁵Now the rest of the acts that Jehoash did, his might, and how he fought with King Amaziah of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel? ¹⁶Jehoash slept with his ancestors, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; then his son Jeroboam succeeded him.

¹⁷King Amaziah son of Joash of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of King Jehoash son of Jehoahaz of Israel. ¹⁸Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? ¹⁹They made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish, and killed him there. ²⁰They brought him on horses; he was buried in Jerusalem with his ancestors in the city of David. ²¹All the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king to succeed his father Amaziah. ²²He rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah, after King Amaziah^a slept with his ancestors.

²³In the fifteenth year of King Amaziah son of Joash of Judah, King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel began to reign in Samaria; he reigned forty‐one years. ²⁴He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to sin. ²⁵He restored the border of Israel from Lebo‐hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath‐hepher. ²⁶For the Lord saw that the distress of Israel was very bitter; there was no one left, bond or free, and no one to help Israel. ²⁷But the Lord had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Joash.

²⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he recovered for Israel Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel? ²⁹Jeroboam slept with his ancestors, the kings of Israel; his son Zechariah succeeded him.

¹⁵ In the twenty‐seventh year of King Jeroboam of Israel King Azariah son of Amaziah of Judah began to reign. ²He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty‐two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. ³He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. ⁴Nevertheless the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. ⁵The Lord struck the king, so that he was leprous^a to the day of his death, and lived in a separate house. Jotham the king’s son was in charge of the palace, governing the people of the land. ⁶Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? ⁷Azariah slept with his ancestors; they buried him with his ancestors in the city of David; his son Jotham succeeded him.

⁸In the thirty‐eighth year of King Azariah of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. ⁹He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his ancestors had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to sin. ¹⁰Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against him, and struck him down in public and killed him, and reigned in place of him. ¹¹Now the rest of the deeds of Zechariah are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel. ¹²This was the promise of the Lord that he gave to Jehu, “Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” And so it happened.

¹³Shallum son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty‐ninth year of King Uzziah of Judah; he reigned one month in Samaria. ¹⁴Then Menahem son of Gadi came up from Tirzah and came to Samaria; he struck down Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria and killed him; he reigned in place of him. ¹⁵Now the rest of the deeds of Shallum, including the conspiracy that he made, are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel. ¹⁶At that time Menahem sacked Tiphsah, all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on; because they did not open it to him, he sacked it. He ripped open all the pregnant women in it.

¹⁷In the thirty‐ninth year of King Azariah of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi began to reign over Israel; he reigned ten years in Samaria. ¹⁸He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart all his days from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to sin. ¹⁹King Pul of Assyria came against the land; Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, so that he might help him confirm his hold on the royal power. ²⁰Menahem exacted the money from Israel, that is, from all the wealthy, fifty shekels of silver from each one, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and did not stay there in the land. ²¹Now the rest of the deeds of Menahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel? ²²Menahem slept with his ancestors, and his son Pekahiah succeeded him.

²³In the fiftieth year of King Azariah of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned two years. ²⁴He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to sin. ²⁵Pekah son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him with fifty of the Gileadites, and attacked him in Samaria, in the citadel of the palace along with Argob and Arieh; he killed him, and reigned in place of him. ²⁶Now the rest of the deeds of Pekahiah, and all that he did, are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

²⁷In the fifty‐second year of King Azariah of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned twenty years. ²⁸He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to sin.

²⁹In the days of King Pekah of Israel, King Tiglath‐pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel‐beth‐maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried the people captive to Assyria. ³⁰Then Hoshea son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah, attacked him, and killed him; he reigned in place of him, in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah. ³¹Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

³²In the second year of King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel, King Jotham son of Uzziah of Judah began to reign. ³³He was twenty‐five years old when he began to reign and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. ³⁴He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done. ³⁵Nevertheless the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord. ³⁶Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? ³⁷In those days the Lord began to send King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah. ³⁸Jotham slept with his ancestors, and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David, his ancestor; his son Ahaz succeeded him.

¹⁶ In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, King Ahaz son of Jotham of Judah began to reign. ²Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his ancestor David had done, ³but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even made his son pass through fire, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. ⁴He sacrificed and made offerings on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

⁵Then King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel came up to wage war on Jerusalem; they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. ⁶At that time the king of Edom^a recovered Elath for Edom,^b and drove the Judeans from Elath; and the Edomites came to Elath, where they live to this day. ⁷Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath‐pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up, and rescue me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” ⁸Ahaz also took the silver and gold found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria. ⁹The king of Assyria listened to him; the king of Assyria marched up against Damascus, and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir; then he killed Rezin.

¹⁰When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet King Tiglath‐pileser of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. King Ahaz sent to the priest Uriah a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. ¹¹The priest Uriah built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, just so did the priest Uriah build it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. ¹²When the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar, went up on it, ¹³and offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured his drink offering, and dashed the blood of his offerings of well‐being against the altar. ¹⁴The bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar. ¹⁵King Ahaz commanded the priest Uriah, saying, “Upon the great altar offer the morning burnt offering, and the evening grain offering, and the king’s burnt offering, and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their drink offering; then dash against it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” ¹⁶The priest Uriah did everything that King Ahaz commanded.

¹⁷Then King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands, and removed the laver from them; he removed the sea from the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pediment of stone. ¹⁸The covered portal for use on the sabbath that had been built inside the palace, and the outer entrance for the king he removed from^c the house of the Lord. He did this because of the king of Assyria. ¹⁹Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? ²⁰Ahaz slept with his ancestors, and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David; his son Hezekiah succeeded him.

¹⁷ In the twelfth year of King Ahaz of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel; he reigned nine years. ²He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not like the kings of Israel who were before him. ³King Shalmaneser of Assyria came up against him; Hoshea became his vassal, and paid him tribute. ⁴But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to King So of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; therefore the king of Assyria confined him and imprisoned him.

⁵Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria; for three years he besieged it. ⁶In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria captured Samaria; he carried the Israelites away to Assyria. He placed them in Halah, on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

⁷This occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had worshiped other gods ⁸and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had introduced.^{a 9}The people of Israel secretly did things that were not right against the Lord their God. They built for themselves high places at all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city; ¹⁰they set up for themselves pillars and sacred poles^b on every high hill and under every green tree; ¹¹there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. They did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger; ¹²they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.” ¹³Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the law that I commanded your ancestors and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” ¹⁴They would not listen but were stubborn, as their ancestors had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵They despised his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their ancestors, and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false; they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do as they did. ¹⁶They rejected all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves cast images of two calves; they made a sacred pole,^c worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. ¹⁷They made their sons and their daughters pass through fire; they used divination and augury; and they sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ¹⁸Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of Judah alone.

¹⁹Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced. ²⁰The Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel; he punished them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had banished them from his presence.

²¹When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord and made them commit great sin. ²²The people of Israel continued in all the sins that Jeroboam committed; they did not depart from them ²³until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had foretold through all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.

²⁴The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria in place of the people of Israel; they took possession of Samaria, and settled in its cities. ²⁵When they first settled there, they did not worship the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. ²⁶So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land; therefore he has sent lions among them; they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.” ²⁷Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there; let him^a go and live there, and teach them the law of the god of the land.” ²⁸So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel; he taught them how they should worship the Lord.

²⁹But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the people of Samaria had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived; ³⁰the people of Babylon made Succoth‐benoth, the people of Cuth made Nergal, the people of Hamath made Ashima; ³¹the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. ³²They also worshiped the Lord and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. ³³So they worshiped the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. ³⁴To this day they continue to practice their former customs.

They do not worship the Lord and they do not follow the statutes or the ordinances or the law or the commandment that the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel. ³⁵The Lord had made a covenant with them and commanded them, “You shall not worship other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them, ³⁶but you shall worship the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm; you shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. ³⁷The statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to observe. You shall not worship other gods; ³⁸you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not worship other gods, ³⁹but you shall worship the Lord your God; he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.” ⁴⁰They would not listen, however, but they continued to practice their former custom.

⁴¹So these nations worshiped the Lord, but also served their carved images; to this day their children and their children’s children continue to do as their ancestors did.

¹⁸ In the third year of King Hoshea son of Elah of Israel, Hezekiah son of King Ahaz of Judah began to reign. ²He was twenty‐five years old when he began to reign; he reigned twenty‐nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi daughter of Zechariah. ³He did what was right in the sight of the Lord just as his ancestor David had done. ⁴He removed the high places, broke down the pillars, and cut down the sacred pole.^a He broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it; it was called Nehushtan. ⁵He trusted in the Lord the God of Israel; so that there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah after him, or among those who were before him. ⁶For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following him but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. ⁷The Lord was with him; wherever he went, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. ⁸He attacked the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

⁹In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of King Hoshea son of Elah of Israel, King Shalmaneser of Assyria came up against Samaria, besieged it, ¹⁰and at the end of three years, took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of King Hoshea of Israel, Samaria was taken. ¹¹The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria, settled them in Halah, on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹²because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant—all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; they neither listened nor obeyed.

¹³In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ¹⁴King Hezekiah of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will bear.” The king of Assyria demanded of King Hezekiah of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. ¹⁶At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the doorposts that King Hezekiah of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. ¹⁷The king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. ¹⁸When they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebnah the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder.

Chs 15–21: Assyria and Israel and Judah.

¹⁹The Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah: Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you base this confidence of yours? ²⁰Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled against me? ²¹See, you are relying now on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. ²²But if you say to me, ‘We rely on the Lord our God,’ is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? ²³Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. ²⁴How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ²⁵Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.”

²⁶Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it; do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” ²⁷But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the people sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?”

²⁸Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand. ³⁰Do not let Hezekiah make you rely on the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ ³¹Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat from your own vine and your own fig tree, and drink water from your own cistern, ³²until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey, that you may live and not die. Do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, The Lord will deliver us. ³³Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered its land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ³⁵Who among all the gods of the countries have delivered their countries out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

³⁶But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” ³⁷Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

¹⁹ When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. ²And he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. ³They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. ⁴It may be that the Lord your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.” ⁵When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. ⁷I myself will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.’”

⁸The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. ⁹When the king^a heard concerning King Tirhakah of Ethiopia,^b “See, he has set out to fight against you,” he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰“Thus shall you speak to King Hezekiah of Judah: Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹See, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered? ¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my predecessors destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?”.

¹⁴Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: “O Lord the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. ¹⁷Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, ¹⁸and have hurled their gods into the fire, though they were no gods but the work of human hands—wood and stone—and so they were destroyed. ¹⁹So now, O Lord our God, save us, I pray you, from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.”

²⁰Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I have heard your prayer to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria. ²¹This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

She despises you, she scorns you—

 virgin daughter Zion;

she tosses her head—behind your back,

 daughter Jerusalem.

²²“Whom have you mocked and reviled?

 Against whom have you raised your voice

and haughtily lifted your eyes?

 Against the Holy One of Israel!

²³By your messengers you have mocked the Lord,

 and you have said, ‘With my many chariots

I have gone up the heights of the mountains,

 to the far recesses of Lebanon;

I felled its tallest cedars,

 its choicest cypresses;

I entered its farthest retreat,

 its densest forest.

²⁴I dug wells

 and drank foreign waters,

I dried up with the sole of my foot

 all the streams of Egypt.’

²⁵“Have you not heard

 that I determined it long ago?

I planned from days of old

 what now I bring to pass,

that you should make fortified cities

 crash into heaps of ruins,

²⁶while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,

 are dismayed and confounded;

they have become like plants of the field

 and like tender grass,

like grass on the housetops,

 blighted before it is grown.

²⁷“But I know your rising^a and your sitting,

 your going out and coming in,

 and your raging against me.

²⁸Because you have raged against me

 and your arrogance has come to my ears,

I will put my hook in your nose

 and my bit in your mouth;

I will turn you back on the way

 by which you came.

²⁹“And this shall be the sign for you: This year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that; then in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³⁰The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward; ³¹for from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out, and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

³²“Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, shoot an arrow there, come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege ramp against it. ³³By the way that he came, by the same he shall return; he shall not come into this city, says the Lord. ³⁴For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

³⁵That very night the angel of the Lord set out and struck down one hundred eightyfive thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; when morning dawned, they were all dead bodies. ³⁶Then King Sennacherib of Assyria left, went home, and lived at Nineveh. ³⁷As he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. His son Esar‐haddon succeeded him.

Chs 18–20: Places associated with Sennacherib’sinvasion of Judah.

²⁰ In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.” ²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord: ³“Remember now, O Lord, I implore you, how I have walked before you in faithfulness with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: ⁵“Turn back, and say to Hezekiah prince of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of your ancestor David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; indeed, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. ⁶I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.” ⁷Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of figs. Let them take it and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.”

⁸Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?” ⁹Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: the shadow has now advanced ten intervals; shall it retreat ten intervals?” ¹⁰Hezekiah answered, “It is normal for the shadow to lengthen ten intervals; rather let the shadow retreat ten intervals.” ¹¹The prophet Isaiah cried to the Lord; and he brought the shadow back the ten intervals, by which the sun^a had declined on the dial of Ahaz.

¹²At that time King Merodach‐baladan son of Baladan of Babylon sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³Hezekiah welcomed them;^b he showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses; there was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. ¹⁴Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? From where did they come to you?” Hezekiah answered, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.” ¹⁵He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

¹⁶Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁷Days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your ancestors have stored up until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the Lord. ¹⁸Some of your own sons who are born to you shall be taken away; they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” ¹⁹Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?”

²⁰The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah, all his power, how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? ²¹Hezekiah slept with his ancestors; and his son Manasseh succeeded him.

²¹ Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; he reigned fifty‐five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. ²He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, following the abominable practices of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. ³For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he erected altars for Baal, made a sacred pole,^a as King Ahab of Israel had done, worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them. ⁴He built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my name.” ⁵He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. ⁶He made his son pass through fire; he practiced soothsaying and augury, and dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ⁷The carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever; ⁸I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land that I gave to their ancestors, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.” ⁹But they did not listen; Manasseh misled them to do more evil than the nations had done that the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.

¹⁰The Lord said by his servants the prophets, ¹¹“Because King Manasseh of Judah has committed these abominations, has done things more wicked than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has caused Judah also to sin with his idols; ¹²therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such evil that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. ¹³I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line for Samaria, and the plummet for the house of Ahab; I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴I will cast off the remnant of my heritage, and give them into the hand of their enemies; they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, ¹⁵because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their ancestors came out of Egypt, even to this day.”

¹⁶Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he caused Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

¹⁷Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? ¹⁸Manasseh slept with his ancestors, and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza. His son Amon succeeded him.

¹⁹Amon was twenty‐two years old when he began to reign; he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. ²⁰He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done. ²¹He walked in all the way in which his father walked, served the idols that his father served, and worshiped them; ²²he abandoned the Lord, the God of his ancestors, and did not walk in the way of the Lord. ²³The servants of Amon conspired against him, and killed the king in his house. ²⁴But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in place of him. ²⁵Now the rest of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? ²⁶He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza; then his son Josiah succeeded him.

²² Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; he reigned thirty‐one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. ²He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

³In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying, ⁴“Go up to the high priest Hilkiah, and have him count the entire sum of the money that has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people; ⁵let it be given into the hand of the workers who have the oversight of the house of the Lord; let them give it to the workers who are at the house of the Lord, repairing the house, ⁶that is, to the carpenters, to the builders, to the masons; and let them use it to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the house. ⁷But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly.”

Important cities in Judah in the late seventh and early sixth centuries bce.

⁸The high priest Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.” When Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, he read it. ⁹Then Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workers who have oversight of the house of the Lord.” ¹⁰Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “The priest Hilkiah has given me a book.” Shaphan then read it aloud to the king.

¹¹When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. ¹²Then the king commanded the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary, and the king’s servant Asaiah, saying, ¹³“Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our ancestors did not obey the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”

¹⁴So the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophetess Huldah the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; she resided in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter, where they consulted her. ¹⁵She declared to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you to me, ¹⁶Thus says the Lord, I will indeed bring disaster on this place and on its inhabitants—all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. ¹⁷Because they have abandoned me and have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. ¹⁸But as to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, ¹⁹because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the Lord. ²⁰Therefore, I will gather you to your ancestors, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring on this place.” They took the message back to the king.

²³ Then the king directed that all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem should be gathered to him. ²The king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him went all the people of Judah, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. ³The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. All the people joined in the covenant.

⁴The king commanded the high priest Hilkiah, the priests of the second order, and the guardians of the threshold, to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵He deposed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who made offerings to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and all the host of the heavens. ⁶He brought out the image of ^a Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the Wadi Kidron, burned it at the Wadi Kidron, beat it to dust and threw the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. ⁷He broke down the houses of the male temple prostitutes that were in the house of the Lord, where the women did weaving for Asherah. ⁸He brought all the priests out of the towns of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beer‐sheba; he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on the left at the gate of the city. ⁹The priests of the high places, however, did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but ate unleavened bread among their kindred. ¹⁰He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of Ben‐hinnom, so that no one would make a son or a daughter pass through fire as an offering to Molech. ¹¹He removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of the eunuch Nathanmelech, which was in the precincts;^b then he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. ¹²The altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down from there and broke in pieces, and threw the rubble into the Wadi Kidron. ¹³The king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Astarte the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ¹⁴He broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the sacred poles,^c and covered the sites with human bones.

¹⁵Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin—he pulled down that altar along with the high place. He burned the high place, crushing it to dust; he also burned the sacred pole.^{d 16}As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount; and he sent and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them on the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of the Lord that the man of God proclaimed,^a when Jeroboam stood by the altar at the festival; he turned and looked up at the tomb of the man of God who had predicted these things. ¹⁷Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” The people of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.” ¹⁸He said, “Let him rest; let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. ¹⁹Moreover, Josiah removed all the shrines of the high places that were in the towns of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger; he did to them just as he had done at Bethel. ²⁰He slaughtered on the altars all the priests of the high places who were there, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

²¹The king commanded all the people, “Keep the passover to the Lord your God as prescribed in this book of the covenant.” ²²No such passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, even during all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah; ²³but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.

²⁴Moreover Josiah put away the mediums, wizards, teraphim,^b idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, so that he established the words of the law that were written in the book that the priest Hilkiah had found in the house of the Lord. ²⁵Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.

²⁶Still the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. ²⁷The Lord said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel; and I will reject this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”

²⁸Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? ²⁹In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him; but when Pharaoh Neco met him at Megiddo, he killed him. ³⁰His servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.

³¹Jehoahaz was twenty‐three years old when he began to reign; he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ³²He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his ancestors had done. ³³Pharaoh Neco confined him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and imposed tribute on the land of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. ³⁴Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away; he came to Egypt, and died there. ³⁵Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land in order to meet Pharaoh’s demand for money. He exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land, from all according to their assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.

Chs 24–25: Babylon and Judah in the early sixth century bce.

³⁶Jehoiakim was twenty‐five years old when he began to reign; he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. ³⁷He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as all his ancestors had done.

²⁴ In his days King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up; Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him. ²The Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, bands of the Arameans, bands of the Moabites, and bands of the Ammonites; he sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servants the prophets. ³Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, for all that he had committed, ⁴and also for the innocent blood that he had shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to pardon. ⁵Now the rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? ⁶So Jehoiakim slept with his ancestors; then his son Jehoiachin succeeded him. ⁷The king of Egypt did not come again out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken over all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Wadi of Egypt to the River Euphrates.

⁸Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. ⁹He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his father had done.

¹⁰At that time the servants of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. ¹¹King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it; ¹²King Jehoiachin of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself, his mother, his servants, his officers, and his palace officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign.

¹³He carried off all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; he cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord, which King Solomon of Israel had made, all this as the Lord had foretold. ¹⁴He carried away all Jerusalem, all the officials, all the warriors, ten thousand captives, all the artisans and the smiths; no one remained, except the poorest people of the land. ¹⁵He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officials, and the elite of the land, he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. ¹⁶The king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, seven thousand, the artisans and the smiths, one thousand, all of them strong and fit for war. ¹⁷The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

¹⁸Zedekiah was twenty‐one years old when he began to reign; he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ¹⁹He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰Indeed, Jerusalem and Judah so angered the Lord that he expelled them from his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

²⁵ And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it; they built siegeworks against it all around. ²So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ³On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine became so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. ⁴Then a breach was made in the city wall;^a the king with all the soldiers fled^b by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They went in the direction of the Arabah. ⁵But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; all his army was scattered, deserting him. ⁶Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, who passed sentence on him. ⁷They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, then put out the eyes of Zedekiah; they bound him in fetters and took him to Babylon.

⁸In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ⁹He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. ¹⁰All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. ¹¹Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon—all the rest of the population. ¹²But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest people of the land to be vinedressers and tillers of the soil.

¹³The bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, as well as the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the dishes for incense, and all the bronze vessels used in the temple service, ¹⁵as well as the firepans and the basins. What was made of gold the captain of the guard took away for the gold, and what was made of silver, for the silver. ¹⁶As for the two pillars, the one sea, and the stands, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weighing. ¹⁷The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and on it was a bronze capital; the height of the capital was three cubits; latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, were on the capital all around. The second pillar had the same, with the latticework.

¹⁸The captain of the guard took the chief priest Seraiah, the second priest Zephaniah, and the three guardians of the threshold; ¹⁹from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the soldiers, and five men of the king’s council who were found in the city; the secretary who was the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city. ²⁰Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹The king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile out of its land.

²²He appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan as governor over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had left. ²³Now when all the captains of the forces and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah, namely, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite. ²⁴Gedaliah swore to them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid because of the Chaldean officials; live in the land, serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.” ²⁵But in the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men; they struck down Gedaliah so that he died, along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶Then all the people, high and low,^a and the captains of the forces set out and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

²⁷In the thirty‐seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty‐seventh day of the month, King Evil‐merodach of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, released King Jehoiachin of Judah from prison; ²⁸he spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat above the other seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes. Every day of his life he dined regularly in the king’s presence. ³⁰For his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, a portion every day, as long as he lived.

1.1–17: The encounter between King Ahaziah and the prophet Elijah. 1: The notice After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel also appears in 3.5, where it fits better. 2–9: Ahaziah, who falls through the lattice on the flat roof of his house, on part of which was built the upper chamber, perhaps a bedroom, wants to consult a local manifestation of the god Baal and is confronted by the prophet Elijah. 2: Baal‐zebub means “lord of the flies”; the second word is probably a parody by the biblical writers on a more original “zebul” (“prince”; cf. 1 Kings 16.31n.; Mk 3.22 par.), which is also attested in Ugarit as a title of the deity Baal. Ekron is the northernmost of the Philistine cities, ca. 25 mi (40 km) west of Jerusalem. 3: The angel (Heb “malʾak,” lit., “messenger”) of the Lord is juxtaposed to Ahaziah’s messengers. The word “malʾak” may denote a human person or a supernatural being. 4–6: The king’s messengers receive their oracle not from Baal of Ekron, but from Elijah, who speaks in the name of the Lord and announces Ahaziah’s death. 7–8: The king identifies Elijah through his description as a hairy man, with a leather belt; cf. the description of John the Baptist (Mk 1.6 par.), who is sometimes understood as a manifestation of the prophet Elijah. 9–12: Note the wordplay: when the officer harshly asks “the man of God” (Heb “ʾish ʾelohim”) to descend, Elijah instead sends down “the fire of God” (“ʾesh ʾelohim”). Fire is often a tool of divine punishment (e.g., Gen 19.24; Lev 10.2; Num 16.35). 13–16: The third officer behaves respectfully and Elijah comes down, but his oracle predicting the king’s death is not altered. 17–18: The notice that Jehoram of Israel becomes Ahaziah’s successor in the second year of Jehoram of Judah disagrees with 3.1, where Jehoram of Israel becomes king in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat of Judah. This may reflect some textual or historical confusion because both kings had the same name. Alternatively, the king of Israel Jehoram, also ruled over his vassal kingdom of Judah, but this was not understood by the authors of Kings, who assumed that two kings by the same name ruled these kingdoms at more or less the same time.

2.1–18: Elisha succeeds Elijah. This section connects the narratives about Elijah and those about Elisha (see also 1 Kings 19.16,19–21). 1: This verse anticipates v. 11. Gilgal, located between Jericho and the Jordan, is Elisha’s home, according to 4.38. 2–6: The company of prophets (see textual note a, on the next page) designates a prophetic community near Bethel that has been informed about Elijah’s imminent ascension. The journey from Gilgal to Bethel and then back to Jericho is confusing. 7–8: Elijah’s mantle, already mentioned in 1 Kings 19.19. The parting of the waters of the Jordan recalls the crossing of that river by the Israelites under Joshua (Josh 3–4) and Moses’s parting of the Sea of Reeds (Ex 14). 9–10: Elisha is asking Elijah for a double share of your spirit, which according to Deut 21.17 was the share of the eldest son, who received twice as much as his brothers. With his request Elisha appears as Elijah’s “eldest son” and successor. 11–12: The chariot of fire and horses symbolize the divine army. Elijah goes to heaven in a whirlwind, or in a storm, which is one of the Lord’s manifestations (e.g., Nah 1.3; Job 38.1; Ps 50.3) thereby integrating Elijah into the divine sphere. Such ascension is unique to Elijah in the Hebrew Bible and explains Elijah’s importance in Jewish tradition (see Mal 4.5–6). Later Jewish tradition, based on Gen 5.23, ascribes a similar ascension to Enoch. The phrase the chariots of Israel and its horsemen may have been a title given to Elijah, suggesting that prophetic power equals the strength of cavalry; see also 13.14. 13–14: Elisha’s ability to repeat Elijah’s parting of the water shows that he has received his master’s spirit. 15–18: The prophetic community near Jericho is aware that Elisha has become Elijah’s successor, but they do not know that Elijah has been taken to heaven because only Elisha has seen what happened in the whirlwind.

2.19–25: Elisha’s first miracles. These miracles demonstrate that Elisha can either bless or curse in the name of the Lord, and is a worthy successor to Elijah. 19–22: He purifies an infected spring near Jericho, throwing salt in it. Salt was considered to have cleansing and protective capacities. 22: To this day, a formula often used in the Deuteronomistic History to explain a name or a situation that still existed at the time of the audience. 23–25: A demonstration of the danger in behaving disrespectfully toward a man of God. 24: Forty‐two boys, “forty‐two” is a number sometimes associated with death: Jehu kills forty‐two victims (10.14), and the Egyptian Book of the Dead mentions forty‐two judges of the dead. 25: Elisha’s journey to Mount Carmel recalls Elijah’s victory there against the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18.19–40), and helps establish Elisha as a new Elijah.

3.1–27: Jehoram of Israel, Elisha and the war against Moab. 1: For the chronological problem see 1.17–18n. 2: The pillar of Baal, which reflects Ahab’s close relationship with Phoenicia, is not mentioned as part of Ahab’s religious deviations in 1 Kings 16.31–33. 3: The sin of Jeroboam designates illicit worship in sanctuaries outside of Jerusalem (see 1 Kings 12). 4–8: The campaign against Moab echoes the war report of 1 Kings 22. Jehoshaphat, previously allied to Ahab, is now an ally, or even vassal, of Ahab’s son (cf. v. 7; 1 Kings 22.4). 4–5: King Mesha of Moab is also known from the Moabite Stone discovered in 1868, a stela with an inscription celebrating a victory of Mesha over Israel, which may be connected with the revolt mentioned here. It agrees with some, but not all of the details in the Bible. 5: The numbers of animals are exaggerated, expressing the idea of total submission. 8: The descent to Edom in the south is necessary because of Moabite fortifications in the north. 9: The mention of the king of Edom may be inaccurate (see 1 Kings 22.47). 10–12: Unlike the Israelite king, who is afraid that the Lord may have gathered the allies for their demise, the pious Judean king Jehoshaphat asks for a prophet of the Lord. The presence of prophets or diviners in army camps is well‐attested in the ancient Near East. 11: Elisha pouring water on the hands of Elijah, a gesture of deference, recalls his relationship to his prophetic predecessor. The mention of water also alludes to the water miracle that follows. 13–14: Elisha represents the position of the Judean authors of the book of Kings that only Judean kings are worthy of divine help. 15: Music induced ecstasy through which the prophet prophesied (cf. 1 Sam 10.5–6). The power of the Lord, lit., “the hand of the Lord.” 16–19: Elisha predicts water and a (first) victory over Moab. 16: Pools, or ditches. Groundwater can be obtained in a desert terrain by digging trenches, but according to Elisha’s oracle the coming of water will be a miracle. 19: Elisha’s oracle about cutting down all trees contradicts the rules of warfare in Deut 20.19; this and other evidence suggests that the stories about Elijah and Elisha were originally an independent collection, and not written as part of the Deuteronomistic History. 22–23: The red light of the rising sun on the water appears to the Moabites as the blood of the allies’ armies. 24–25: Large parts of the Moabite territory were destroyed, but not Kir‐hareseth (“Fortress of the guard,” modern Kerak). 26–27: The king of Moab, seeing no chance to escape, sacrifices his firstborn son to his god Chemosh. The great wrath originally referred to the wrath of Chemosh, who responded positively to this human offering by decimating the Israelite army. The authors probably understood it as a kind of disgust that repelled the Israelites.

4.1–44: Further miracles by Elisha. Elisha is more of a miracle worker than Elijah; some miracles that are told of both belonged originally to the Elisha traditions. 1–7: The oil miracle is similar to the story in 1 Kings 17.7–16. 1: A widow of a member of the prophetic group over which Elisha apparently exercises leadership (the dead prophet is called servant of Elisha) is obliged to sell her children as slaves in order to pay her debts (see Ex 21.7; Amos 2.6). 8–37: The revival of the son of a wealthy (lit., “great”) woman is likely the basis for the similar miracle told of Elijah (1 Kings 17.17–24). 8: Shunem, a town in the Jezreel Valley ca. 10 mi (16 km) east of Megiddo. 9–17: Elisha’s visit to the house of a childless and aged couple and his promise of a son to be born to them because of their hospitality recalls Gen 18.1–15. The woman plays the active role in this story, while her husband is passive. 12: Gehazi is Elisha’s personal servant and mediator between him and the hosts. 13: The woman’s response is a polite refusal of Elisha’s offer. 18–31: After her son dies unexpectedly the mother travels to Mount Carmel, where Elisha resides (see v. 25). 21: The placing of the dead son in the chamber that was reserved for Elisha can be understood either as a reproach to Elisha (see also v. 28) or as the preparation for Elisha’s miracle. 23: It was apparently the custom to consult prophets on holy days such as the new moon or sabbath. 24–25: The story highlights the woman’s initiative (she saddled and rode the donkey), in contrast to the behavior of her husband. 29–31: The dispatch of Gehazi with Elisha’s staff that has magical power (cf. Moses’s staff in Ex 4.1–4; 17.8–13) was meant to allay the mother’s impatience, since Gehazi is able to reach Shunem quicker than Elisha. In other ancient Near Eastern texts, prophets also send items that belong to them in order to accomplish a miracle. 32–37: Gehazi’s failure highlights the importance of Elisha’s personal appearance and his success. 33: Elisha’s prayer to the Lord precedes his mysterious actions. 34–35: Crouching over the boy’s body suggests a magic ritual in which the properties of the living party were transferred to the dead. The child sneezed seven times, signifying that life had returned; seven is the number of perfection. 38–41: Elisha again provides food, making a poisoned meal edible by adding some flour; cf. 2:19–22. 42–44: Elisha’s multiplication of food provides the pattern for the stories about Jesus doing the same in the Gospels. 42: Baal‐shalishah, located in the hills of Ephraim ca. 11 mi (18 km) southwest of Samaria, probably named after the god Baal, but everything happens according to the Lord’s word.

5.1–27: Elisha heals an Aramean officer. 1: Naaman, a name meaning “gracious, handsome” which is attested in the ancient Near East as a proper name as well as an epithet of royal personages. His “leprosy” (see textual note e) was not contagious and did not exclude him from Aramean society, although it is ironic given his name. 3: The prophet who is in Samaria refers to Elisha, here not associated with a prophetic community but living alone in Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom. 5–7: Despite the excessive gifts (ten talents, ca. 340 kg [755 lb], of silver and six thousand shekels, ca. 70 kg [150 lb], of gold), the Israelite king suspects that the Aramean king is seeking an occasion for war. 10: Seven times, see 4.35n. 12: Abanah (see textual note b) and Pharpar are rivers south of Damascus. 13: Father, a title of respect for a superior. Servants, both the maidservant of Naaman’s wife and Naaman’s servants, play decisive roles in their master’s healing. 14–15: After his healing, Naaman expresses his belief that the Lord is not only the God of Israel, but of all the earth (cf. Josh 2.11). 16–17: In order to worship the Lord outside of Israel, Naaman wants to take with him Israelite earth (lit., “soil”) reflecting the traditional idea that the Lord is the national god of Israel. 18: After Naaman’s conversion, he cannot offend his king who venerates the deity Rimmon, so he will only pretend to worship this false god. The vocalization Rimmon (which means “pomegranate”) may be a parody of the name of the Aramean weather‐god (Hadad‐)Ramman (“the Thunderer”). 19–27: Although Elisha had refused any payment (v. 16), his servant Gehazi (the name may mean “goggle‐eyed”) is eager for profit and is punished for that. 27: Gehazi, who pursued profit from the healed Naaman, is now afflicted with his disease. Leprous, as white as snow, Miriam, who had criticized Moses (Num 12.10) was punished similarly.

6.1–7: Elisha makes iron float. Another miracle story that illustrates the prophetic community’s dependence on its master. It follows the story about Naaman’s healing because of its location near the Jordan River. 5: It was borrowed, the community could not afford to have its own ax, so Elisha’s help is vital.

6.8–23: Elisha and the Aramean invasion. 8: At war probably refers to border raids as in 5.2. Neither the name of the king of Aram nor that of the king of Israel is mentioned, suggesting the episode’s legendary character. 12: Bedchamber, the most intimate part of the royal palace. 13: Now Elisha is in Dothan (see Gen 37.17), located ca. 11 mi (18 km) north of Samaria. It is close to a mountain road on which the Arameans could attack from the north. 15–23: The two scenes are connected by the motif of blindness. 15–17: When the Lord opens the eyes of Elisha’s servant, he sees the celestial army, horses and chariots of fire (see 2.11–12n.). The mountain probably refers to the hill on which Dothan was located. 18–23: When the Lord opens the eyes of the Arameans they discover that they have been captured and led to Samaria. 21: Father, see 5.13n. 22: Elisha insists on generous treatment of the Aramean prisoners.

6.24–7.20: Elisha and the siege of Samaria. This story, which relates a second siege of the capital of the Northern Kingdom (for the first, see 1 Kings 20.1) by Ben‐hadad of Aram, incorporates several originally independent episodes. 24–30: Two examples illustrate the severity of the famine during the siege. 25: First, the exorbitant prices for the little remaining, barely edible food: eighty shekels of silver (2 lb [900 gr]) for a donkey’s head; five shekels (ca. 2 oz [57 gr]) for a kab (ca 1.1 qt [1.3 L] of dove’s dung (perhaps a nickname for inedible seeds). 26–29: Second, women eating their children. Cannibalism is mentioned as a consequence of siege elsewhere in the Bible (see Deut 28.53–57; Ezek 5.10; Lam 2.20; 4.10) and in Mesopotamian documents. 30–31: The Israelite king, wearing sackcloth as a sign of humiliation and repentance, sees no way to help his people, and seeks vengeance on the prophet Elisha, who should have intervened in such a situation. 6.32–7.2: Elisha, however, is under the protection of the local elders (v. 32) and announces that the following day food will be available in Samaria at normal prices. 7.1: A measure (Heb “seʾah”), ca. 7 qt (7.7 L). 2: Windows in the heavens, cf. Gen 7.11; 8.2; Mal 3.10. 3–5: The four leprous men are ritually impure so they have to reside outside the city (see Lev 13.46). Deserting to the Arameans, they find their camp empty. 6–7: The Lord has made the Arameans hear the sound of a great army, which they interpreted as the armies of the Hittites and the Egyptians, frequent rivals for control of the Levant. 8–20: Punishment for not believing in the divine word. 18–19: The verbatim repetition of Elisha’s oracle and the answer of the skeptical officer in vv. 1–2 shows again that the prophetic word has been fulfilled. 20: Standing at the gate of Samaria where he had asserted that no food would be available, the officer is trampled to death, probably in the scramble to acquire food.

8.1–6: Elisha saves the life of the Shunammite woman. A sequel to the story of 4.8–37 related to the preceding one by the theme of famine. 1–3: The woman’s long absence (seven years) makes her lose her estate; it may have become crown property, or confiscated by a neighbor. 4–6: Her appeal to the king succeeds because of her close relationship with Elisha. 5: The mediator of her appeal is Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, not the prophet himself.

8.7–15: Elisha and the Aramean kings Ben‐hadad and Hazael. This story is difficult to understand, in part because of later redactors who adjusted it to 1 Kings 19.15–18, where Elijah is told to anoint Hazael king of Aram. 7–10: Hazael has been sent by his master, the king Ben‐hadad, to inquire of the Lord about his illness (cf. 1.2); cf. the similar recognition of the Lord’s power by Arameans in ch 5. Elisha’s answer deliberately misleads the Aramean king: Hazael should tell the king that he will recover (see v. 14), but in fact he will die through Hazael’s hands (v. 15). The older story probably reported only an oracle of healing, and the killing of the king was originally at Hazael’s own initiative. Hazael’s usurpation is also mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions where he is called “son of a nobody.” 9: The Aramean king presents himself as Elisha’s son, an expression of deference. 11–15: Elisha foresees the sufferings and cruelties that Hazael will inflict on Israel, which are not explicitly related in the Bible (but see 10.32; 13.3,22; 15.16n.; Am 1.3–4). 13: A mere dog, a deferential self‐designation. Elisha does not anoint Hazael but only reveals that he will be king. 15: Bed‐cover, the translation of this word is uncertain. This verse probably refers to Hazael’s murdering Ben‐hadad by suffocation, though it might also refer to an attempt to lower the king’s fever with cool compresses.

8.16–29: Jehoram and Ahaziah of Judah. Both these Judean kings are evaluated negatively. 16–24: Jehoram or Joram (see vv. 21,23–24), who reigned ca. 851–843 bce, had to face revolts from Edom and Libnah (vv. 20–22), a border town next to Philistine territory and perhaps never really part of Judah. 19: The Deuteronomistic historians’ expression a lamp to David (see 1 Kings 11.35n.; 15.4) refers to the promise of an eternal dynasty to David in 2 Sam 7. 25: Ahaziah (ca. 843–842 bce) was murdered by Jehu (9.27) after reigning one year; cf. 9.29n. 26: Athaliah, a granddaughter of King Omri, lit., “daughter of Omri.” Scholars disagree about whether this queen of Judah (ch 11) was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kings 17.31; 2 Kings 8.18) or of Omri, Ahab’s father. 27: After the typical Deuteronomistic negative evaluation of this king, the usual concluding formula is missing. Instead a redactor added a short passage that anticipates 9.14–15. 28–29: Ramoth‐gilead, a border city between the Israelite and Aramean territories, the site of an earlier military confrontation between Israel and Aram (in 1 Kings 22.29–36). Jezreel, a winter residence of the Omride kings. The report about the wounded Joram of Israel who needs to recover from his battle‐wounds introduces the following account of Jehu’s revolt.

9.1–10.36: Jehu’s revolt and reign. The long account of Jehu’s revolt describes the end of the Omride dynasty. The authors of Kings have a mixed opinion of Jehu: they approve of his attempt to eradicate Baal worship in the Northern Kingdom, but since he is a northern king, who is worshiping outside of Jerusalem, they are obliged to condemn him. 9.1–9: The anointing of Jehu, fulfilling the divine order given to Elijah in 1 Kings 19.16, is performed by a member of Elisha’s prophetic group. 2: The name Jehu (in 1 Kings 16.1 a prophet’s name) corresponds to Jehu’s religious conviction; it means: “The Lord is God.” His father’s name, Jehoshaphat, also refers to the god of Israel (“The Lord will judge”); Nimshi probably means “weasel.” It is unusual for the name of the grandfather to be mentioned; it was probably included to avoid confusion with Jehoshaphat of Judah, or it is the name of Jehu’s clan. 7–10: See 1 Kings 14.10–11; 21.21–24. 7: Jezebel, see 1 Kings 16.31n. 8: Every male, lit., “whoever urinates against a wall” (see 1 Kings 14.10; 16.11; 21.21). 11–13: Jehu’s anointing was secret, as was Saul’s (1 Sam 9.27–10.1), but it immediately becomes public. 11: Madman, a demeaning reference to the apparently well‐known prophet, referring to his wild and ecstatic behavior. 13: They blew the trumpet, see 1 Kings 1.34. On the spreading of garments under Jehu’s feet, cf. Mt 21.8 par. 14–15: Jehu’s coup takes place during the situation described in 8.28–29. 20: Like a maniac, better “with madness,” using a word from the same root as “madman” in v. 11. 21: The kings meet Jehu at the former property of Naboth. They both belong to Ahab’s family, and their end will start at the site of Ahab and Jezebel’s hideous act (see 1 Kings 21). 22: Whoredom, a metaphor for describing the worship of other deities; sorceries, forbidden magical and other religious practices (see Deut 18.9–13). 27: Ahaziah’s death was motivated by his relation to Joram (he was either his nephew or his cousin; see 8.26n.). Beth‐haggan, modern Jenin, ca. 10 mi (16 km) south of Jezreel; Ibleam is nearby, at the southern end of the Jezreel valley. 28: Ahaziah is killed in Megiddo (ca. 12 mi [19 km] northwest of Ibleam), as King Josiah will be (see 23.29–30); both kings are carried in a chariot to Jerusalem to be buried there. 29: The report about the beginning of Ahaziah’s reign is probably a correction of 8.25, placed here to mark two different scenes in the narrative: v. 28 is about Jerusalem, while the following scene is in Samaria. 30: Jezebel appears as “woman at the window,” a frequent motif in ancient Near Eastern art, representing prostitutes or fertility goddesses and suggesting sexual availability. 31: She identifies Jehu with Zimri, who killed King Baasha (1 Kings 16.9–20), but reigned only a week. 32–33: Jezebel is killed by the eunuchs (or “officials”) who were at her service. 36–37: The fulfillment of Elijah’s oracle in 1 Kings 21.23. 10.1–11: Jehu massacres the remnant of the house of Ahab. 1: Seventy sons, seventy is a round number in the Bible (see, e.g., Judg 8.30; Deut 10.22) and in many other texts from the ancient Near East. It is unclear why Jehu should write letters to the governors or rulers of Jezreel, since he is already in the city (9.30). LXX suggests “Samaria” instead of “Jezreel” (see textual note b). 8: Jehu’s order to lay the heads of the slaughtered members of the royal family in two heaps at the entrance of the gate is also attested in Assyrian warfare. It was meant to frighten the population and to encourage it to collaborate with the usurper. 10: Such a reference to a former prophetic oracle (1 Kings 21.21–24) is typical of the Deuteronomistic historians in Kings (see also v. 17). 12–14: Jehu’s slaughtering continues with the relatives of the Judean king. 12: Beth‐eked, an unidentified place, apparently a gathering‐place for shepherds. 13: The queen mother, Jezebel is the only queen in the Northern Kingdom with title, which designates an influential position. 14: Forty‐two, see 2.24n. 15–17: Jehonadab son of Rechab is mentioned in Jer 35 as the founder of a small religious group committed to a lifestyle that rejected urban culture. Here he is portrayed as an ally of Jehu. 16: Chariot, Heb “rekeb,” recalling the name Rechab (“rekab”). Jehonadab was perhaps a charioteer, like Jehu (see 9.25). 18–27: Jehu’s massacre of all worshipers of Baal surpasses even Elijah’s killing of the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18.40. 27: Perhaps a variant tradition of v. 26. 28–31: The evaluation of Jehu by the Deuteronomistic historians is ambivalent. Like David, he receives a dynastic promise, but limited to the fourth generation. But Jehu’s worship of the Lord was wrong, because he venerated him outside of Jerusalem, continuing the sins of Jeroboam (see 1 Kings 12). 32–33: During Jehu’s reign, the Northern Kingdom declined and Jehu eventually lost Israel’s Transjordanian territory to the Arameans. An Assyrian stele reports that Jehu had become a vassal of King Shalmaneser III (ruled ca. 859–824 bce), a fact not mentioned in the Bible. 34–36: With the exception of his coup, very little of the twenty‐eight years of Jehu’s reign (ca. 842–814 bce) is described.

11.1–21: The reign of Athaliah in Judah. The reign of Athaliah (ca. 842–836 bce), Ahaziah’s mother, interrupts the Davidic line, since she is from the north (see 8.26n.). For Deuteronomistic historians, she was an illegitimate ruler; therefore her reign lacks the typical introductory and concluding formulas. Athaliah’s name means “the Lord is exalted,” but the biblical authors accuse her of sponsoring Baal worship (see v. 18). 1–3: Like Jehu in the north, Athaliah tries to massacre all potential heirs to the throne, but one member of the royal family escapes (for the same literary motif see Judg 9.5). 2–3: Young Joash was hidden by Ahaziah’s sister Jehosheba in the house of the Lord for six years; this suggests that Jehosheba was the wife of the priest Jehoiada (see also 2 Chr 22.11). 4: Jehoiada organizes the rebellion in the seventh year, perhaps a symbolic number. The Carites (Carians) are either a royal bodyguard from Cilicia or the same as the Cherethites (1 Kings 1.38). 5–8: The details of the deployment of the troops are unclear. Apparently three companies should stand at different strategic positions (the location of the gate Sur is unknown), and two other groups (or two of the three previous ones) should protect the new king. 12: Crown, or diadem, cf. 2 Sam 1.10, a sign of royalty; see also Ps 89.40. The covenant (Heb “ʿedut,” lit., “testimony”) may refer to a list of regulations for the conduct of kingship (like Deut 17.18–20), or may refer to jewels or other royal insignia. Long live the king, cf. 1 Kings 1.25. 14: Pillar, or podium, a place of royal appearance (see 23.3); 2 Chr 23.13 interprets this as the pillars Jachin and Boaz (see 1 Kings 7.21) at the Temple entrance. The people of the land designates here, as elsewhere in the book of Kings, the rural aristocracy that intervened in critical situations in order to defend the continuity of the Davidic dynasty. 16: The horses’ entrance, the Horse Gate mentioned in Jer 31.40; Neh 3.28. 17–20: The threefold covenant between the Lord and the king and people mediated by a priest has become necessary because Athaliah’s reign had interrupted the Davidic succession. The covenant reflects the renewal of the Davidic dynasty as chosen by God and accepted by the people (see 2 Sam 5.3). 18: The house of Baal, the only biblical reference to a temple of Baal in Jerusalem; there is no other mention of Athaliah being a fervent worshiper of Baal. The Baal priest Mattan appears only here and in the parallel account in 2 Chr 23.17. 20: Contrary to v. 16, where Athaliah is killed on her way to palace, v. 20 reports that she was actually murdered in the palace itself; this shows that the narrative was composed in several stages. 20: Joash was seven years old when he started to reign, foreshadowing Josiah, who begins to rule at the age of eight years (see 23.1).

12.1–21: The reign of Jehoash (Joash), king of Judah (ca. 836–798 bce). 1: In the Deuteronomistic introduction, Jehoash is said to have ruled forty years. This may be a symbolic number, and may include the six years of Athaliah. 2–3: For the Deuteronomistic historians, Jehoash was a good king, although he tolerated worship of the Lord in places other than the Temple in Jerusalem. 4–16: The repair of the Temple foreshadows King Josiah’s repairs (see 22.3–7). 4: Money … sacred donations, money that replaced the traditional sacrifices (see Lev 27.1–8). 6–8: The priests were unwilling to spend the money they received to repair the Temple. 6: The twenty‐third year, one of the few instances in the books of Kings where a specific date is given. 7–8: During this year Joash decides to repair the Temple, and removes the priest formerly responsible for similar work. 9–12: The priest Jehoiada is now centralizing and supervising the money for the restoration, which is now given directly to the craftsmen, as does the priest Hilkiah in 22.4–6. 10: High priest, this title is used only from the Persian period onward, when this episode may have been composed. 13: The meaning of the verse is unclear. It may refer to lack of adequate silver, causing a very modest restoration, or that the Temple vessels should be paid for by rich donors. 16: There was apparently some dispute about the silver, which belonged directly to the priests (see Lev 7.7–10). 17–18: After his campaigns in Israel (see 10.32–33), Hazael of Aram is now attacking Gath on the Philistine coast and Jerusalem. Since he was more interested in controlling the trade routes in the south than in occupying the capital of Judah, he accepts the tribute that Jehoash is immediately willing to pay. 19–21: The parallel account in 2 Chr 24.24–27, which depicts Joash more negatively than Kings, gives a different explanation of the death of Joash. 20: Millo, see 1 Kings 9.15n. 21: Jozacar … and Jehozabad, NRSV follows the LXX. In the MT both murderers are named Jehozabad. The identification of Joash’s murderers is a later addition.

13.1–25: Jehoahaz and Jehoash (Joash) of Israel and the death of Elisha. The chronological data in chs 13–15 are confusing and do not allow for a coherent reconstruction; all dates are approximate. 1–9: Jehoahaz (ca. 817–800 bce), evaluated as a bad king who nevertheless has the Lord on his side, faces renewed Aramean oppression. 5: The identity of the savior sent by God is not specified; possibilities include Elisha; the Assyrian king, who fought the Arameans; and Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz. 6: Sacred pole (Heb “ʾasherah”), a symbol of the goddess Asherah, whom Jehu’s son continued to worship, as well as the Lord. 7–8: As in the book of Judges (e.g., 2.18; 3.9,15), the sending of a savior does not provoke a return to the Lord; therefore the Israelite army is drastically reduced. 10–21: Little information is given about Jehoash, whose name is identical to that of his Judean colleague. His rule (ca. 800–784 bce) provides the context for the story about Elisha’s death. 11–13: The concluding formula of his reign appears here and is repeated in 14.15–16. Some LXX manuscripts omit these verses. 14: Elisha has not been mentioned since the anointing of Jehu, some fifty years earlier (9.1–3). Chariots of Israel …, see 2.11–12n. 15–19: Just before his death Elisha has the king perform two symbolic actions, which foretell his incomplete victory against the Arameans. Arrows were used in the ancient Near East for divination; see Ezek 21.21. 16: Elisha lays his hands on the king’s hands as a magical gesture through which Elisha’s power passes to him. 17: Aphek, see 1 Kings 20.26n. 20–21: Even after his death, Elisha is still able to perform a miracle. This anecdote reflects the veneration of the dead Elisha as a miracle worker. 22–23: These verses return to the reign of Jehoahaz; they were inserted by a later redactor to connect with vv. 4–5, and they give another reason for God’s help against the Arameans: his covenant with the patriarchs. 24–25: A reference to the encounter between Elisha and Jehoahaz, stating that his son Jehoash defeated the Arameans three times (see v. 19).

14.1–29: Amaziah of Judah and Jeroboam (II) of Israel. 1–22: Amaziah, ca. 798–769 bce. waged war against Edom and Israel and was severely defeated by the Israelite king. 1–6: At the beginning of his reign, Amaziah executes the conspirators who had murdered his father. Described as a bad king, he nevertheless follows the Deuteronomic law. 6: See Deut 24.16. This is the only quotation in 1–2 Kings of a law from the Pentateuch. The sparing of the sons of a murderer in Deut 24 forbids the common practice of blood revenge. 7–14: After a successful campaign against the Edomites, Amaziah is defeated by the much stronger king of Israel. 7: Ten thousand, a symbolic and exaggerated number. The Valley of Salt (see 2 Sam 8.13) probably refers to the area south of the Dead Sea. Sela (“rock”) is a common noun, which is also employed as a proper name to designate several rocky places, including the capital of Edom; here it is renamed Jokthe‐el (perhaps meaning “God supports”), the name of a town in Judah (Josh 15.38). 9: Cf. Judg 9.7–15. 11: Beth‐shemesh, ca. 16 mi (25 km) west of Jerusalem, a city that Israel and Judah both claimed as belonging to their territory. 13: From the Ephraim Gate, the main gate in the north, to the Corner Gate, in the northwest corner, a distance of four hundred cubits, ca. 583 ft (177 m). 14: The deportation of the vessels from the Temple foreshadows its destruction and the deportation of its precious objects by the Babylonians in 25.14–15. 15–16: These verses parallel 13.10–13. 19–22: The notice about the conspiracy against Amaziah oddly comes after the concluding verses (vv. 17–18). The motivation for his assassination is not given. 19: The king’s unsuccessful flight to Lachish, Judah’s second most important city, ca. 28 mi (45 km) southwest of Jerusalem, suggests that the conspirators controlled the capital. 21–22: The people of Judah may also be translated as the “army of Judah,” which would suggest that the king’s young son Azariah (see 15.1–7) was brought to the throne by the military. Since he does not avenge the murder of his father he was perhaps himself implicated in the coup. 22: Azariah continues to exercise control over Edom by reintegrating the port of Elath (see 1 Kings 9.26) into Judean territory. 23–29: Jeroboam II, who had an exceptionally long reign (ca. 788–747 bce), and who brought Israel to power and wealth, is treated very briefly in the book of Kings; the books of Hosea and Amos also refer to his rule and criticize the social injustice that typified his reign. 24–25: Despite the negative assessment, Jeroboam is praised for achieving territorial expansion. Lebo‐hamath, see 1 Kings 8.65n.; Sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea. The prophecy to which this verse refers is not found elsewhere in the Bible and is attributed to Jonah son of Amittai, the protagonist of the book of Jonah (see Jon 1.1). Gathhepher, in southern Galilee about 14 mi (23 km) northeast of Megiddo. 26: That God sees Israel’s distress recalls 13.4 as well as Ex 3.7; Deut 26.7. The idea that the Lord cares for Israel is at odds with the negative Deuteronomistic view of the Northern Kingdom. This positive depiction may be an attempt to explain Jeroboam II’s very long and prosperous reign. 28: Jeroboam recovered … Damascus and Hamath, this assertion of territorial expansion is puzzling, since neither city ever belonged to Israel; it reflects the idea that Jeroboam controlled some Aramean territory.

15.1–7: Azariah of Judah. Also called Uzziah, which may be his throne name, this Judean king is presented positively but very briefly. Some of his long reign (ca. 792–740 bce) included a coregency with his son Jotham. 5: He was struck with a skin disease (leprous, see textual note a), and due to his ritual impurity had to live in a separate house, in quarantine, and had to hand over regency to his son Jotham during his lifetime, who had the title of a “royal steward” (in charge of the palace). 7: 2 Chr 26.23 revises the idea that Azariah, with his serious skin disease, could be buried with his ancestors in the royal cemetery.

15.8–31: Israel’s last kings. 8–12: The assassination of Zechariah after a brief reign (ca. 747 bce) is presented as the fulfillment of God’s oracle that Jehu’s dynasty would last four generations (see 10.30). 13–16: Shallum, Zechariah’s murderer, holds power for only one month (747 bce), when he is killed by Menahem. 14: Tirzah, the place where Menahem organized his coup, was the former capital of the Northern Kingdom; see 1 Kings 14.17–18n. 16: This verse, which stands between the concluding formula of Shallum’s reign and the beginning of Menahem’s rule, reports Menahem’s battle against Tiphsah, a city that is probably to be identified, as suggested by the LXX, with Tappuah, ca. 9 mi (15 km) south of Shechem. He ripped open all the pregnant women, such horrific action was common in ancient Near Eastern warfare (see 8.12; Am 1.13). 17–22: Menahem (ca. 747–737 bce) had to submit to the Assyrians. 19: King Pul, an abbreviation of part of the name of the Assyrian king Tiglathpileser III (see v. 29), who ruled ca. 745–727 bce and firmly established Assyrian domination in the west. A thousand talents of silver, ca. 75,000 lb (34,000 kg), certainly an exaggeration. 20: Fifty shekels, ca. 20 oz (570 gr). 23–26: Pekahiah (737–735 bce), Menahem’s successor, is also the victim of conspiracy, which illustrates the chaotic situation. His murderer, Pekah, has a shortened form of the same name. 25: The usurper is supported by fifty Gileadites, which suggests that the usurper himself was a Gileadite, from Transjordan. Argob and Arieh may be names of outstanding warriors or place names transferred from v. 29; another view is that these are the names of two sphinxlike statues (“the eagle and the lion”) at the entrance of the palace. 27–31: Pekah’s reign presents several problems, and some scholars wonder if Pekahiah and Pekah are the same person. A twentyyear reign for Pekah does not fit with the chronological system. 29: The localities mentioned here probably refer to different campaigns of Tiglath‐pileser III. Important territories in the north and the east of Israel were transformed into Assyrian provinces, and some of the population was deported to Assyria. This is the first recorded exile of parts of the Israelite population. 30: According to Assyrian sources, the Assyrians supported Hoshea’s conspiracy against Pekah. In the twentieth year of Jotham is inconsistent with 16.1.

15.32–16.20: Jotham and Ahaz, kings of Judah. 15.32–38: Jotham (ca. 759–743 bce) had already been exercising power in Judah during his father’s illness (15.5). It is difficult to know exactly when he began to rule alone. 33: His mother Jerusha (“the inherited one”) was a daughter of Zadok, which may indicate priestly lineage; see 1 Kings 1.38–39; 2 Sam 8.17. 35: He built the upper gate, this may be a new construction or a rebuilding of a formerly damaged gate (see 14.13–14); the upper gate is also mentioned in Ezek 9.2. 37: The attacks by the kings Rezin of Aram and Pekah of Israel (see 16.5–9) are the context of Isa 7–9. 16.1–20: Ahaz (ca. 743/735–727/715 bce; the exact chronology of his reign is unclear) is described as one of Judah’s worst kings. 3: He is compared to the northern kings and accused of making his son (“sons” in 2 Chr 28.3 and some LXX manuscripts) pass through fire, which may allude to human sacrifice, especially in the context of military crises (see 3.27; Jer. 7.31; 19.5; cf. Lev 18.21; Jer 32.35). 5–9: Rezin and Pekah attacked Ahaz to convince him to join an anti‐Assyrian coalition. This conflict is often called the “Syro‐Ephraimite War.” 6: During this military crisis Ahaz loses Elath (see 14.22) to the Edomites. 7–8: Like Menahem of Israel (15.20), Ahaz becomes a vassal of the Assyrian king Tiglath‐pileser. 9: Tiglath‐pileser defeats the hostile coalition and deports the population of Damascus to Kir (location unknown; its name means “city” or “wall”), which according to Am 9.7 is the original Aramean homeland. 10–11: The Aramean‐style altar is built by the priest Uriah, also mentioned as a supporter of the prophet Isaiah in Isa 8.2. 15: The old bronze altar will now serve to inquire by, for divination (such as reading the entrails of animals sacrificed); see also 2 Chr 28.23. 17: Ahaz removes precious elements of the Temple furnishings, like the bronze oxen supporting the sea (1 Kings 7.23–29). 18: The covered portal for use on the sabbath, meaning of Hebrew uncertain. Because of the king of Assyria suggests that Ahaz removed all the objects mentioned in vv. 17–18 in order to pay tribute to his suzerain.

17.1–41: The end of the kingdom of Israel. 1–4: Hoshea, the last king of Israel (ca. 732–722 bce) is not considered as bad as his predecessors, probably because of his anti‐Assyrian politics. Although at the beginning of his reign he is a loyal vassal of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V (ca. 727–722 bce), the successor of Tiglath‐pileser, later he tries to find Egyptian support against the Assyrians. 4: King So of Egypt: No Pharaoh with this name is known; So could be a reference to the Egyptian town of Sais, or an incorrect transcription of the Egyptian word for “king.” Hoshea was confined and imprisoned before the Assyrian campaign against Samaria. 5–6: Samaria was taken in 722 bce, and parts of the population deported to Halah, a city and province in northwestern Mesopotamia. The river Habor is a tributary of the Euphrates and is called here the river of Gozan. Israelite personal names are found in Assyrian documents from this region. Other exiles are brought to the cities of the Medes farther east. This list is repeated in 18.11. 7–23: This passage is a theological commentary composed of several layers, explaining the reasons for the collapse of Israel. The main reason for the catastrophe, according to the Deuteronomistic historians, is the worship of other gods and the rejection of the Lord and his messengers, the prophets. 16–17: For the two calves, see 1 Kings 12.28–30; sacred pole, a symbol of the goddess Asherah, see 13.6n. The veneration of the host of heaven (the planets and stars) and the practice of divination and augury will reappear under the reign of the Judean king Manasseh (21.3–6). Pass through fire, see 16.3n. 19: Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord, an exilic addition informing the reader that Judah will ultimately have the same destiny as Israel. 21–23: A summary of the history of the Northern Kingdom of Israel from the Deuteronomistic perspective. 23: So Israel was exiled … until this day, probably the original conclusion to the chapter. 24: Assyrian policy was to mix conquered populations. These populations are said to come from Babylon; Cuthah, ca. 12 mi (20 km) northeast of Babylon; Avva, probably close to Hamath on the Orontes; and Sepharvaim, probably also in Syria. See also 18.34; 19.13. 26–27: A lion plague convinces the Assyrian king (who remains anonymous) to send back to Samaria an exiled priest of the Lord. The anecdote explains why the worship of the Lord continued in Samaria after the fall of the Northern Kingdom. 28: After the destruction of Samaria, Bethel continued to be an important religious center for the inhabitants of the former kingdom of Israel (see 1 Kings 12.29–30). 29–40: This late passage denounces a syncretistic religion of the “people of Samaria” (now the name of the Assyrian province that replaced the former Northern Kingdom), who will later be called “Samaritans.” 30–31: Nergal was the Babylonian god of the underworld; Nibhaz and Tartak are Elamite divinities; little is known about the other deities mentioned. 32: The Lord was also worshiped and had his own religious personnel beside these other deities. 33–40: This worship of the Lord is disqualified because those people do not follow the divine commandments of the book of Deuteronomy or of the Pentateuch. 41: This concluding verse resumes v. 33 and introduces the anti‐Samaritan polemics into the reader’s present (to this day).

18.1–19.37: King Hezekiah and the siege of Jerusalem. Together with David and Josiah, Hezekiah is one of the most praised kings. The exact chronology of his reign is unclear (ca. 727/715–698/687 bce are the most widely accepted possibilities; perhaps he began as coregent in 729, and began to reign alone in 715). The decisive event of his reign is the Assyrian campaign against Judah and the siege of Jerusalem, an event also described in Assyrian sources. 1–6: In the introduction, Hezekiah is described as a religious reformer. 4: He is the first Judean king to remove the high places, which had existed in Judah since the beginnings of the monarchy. He also removed from the Temple the sacred pole, a symbol of the goddess Asherah, who had been venerated as a consort of the Lord. Nehushtan, a bronze serpent associated with Moses (see Num 21.1–9), which may be linked to Egyptian worship of a snake goddess. 5: This verse ranks Hezekiah even higher than Josiah (but see 23.25) and David. 7–18: Hezekiah’s revolt against the Assyrians provokes the siege of Jerusalem in 701 by King Sennacherib (ruled ca. 705–681 bce). The narrative in 18.13–20.19 appears with some differences in Isa 36–39. 8: The attack on Philistine cities that were under Assyrian control was the beginning of Hezekiah’s attempt to regain independence. 9–12: The summary of the fall of Samaria (see 17.1–6) is background to the siege of Jerusalem. 13–16: In this source, Hezekiah submits immediately to the Assyrian king, promising that he would be a loyal vassal, and paying a tribute for which he has to plunder the Temple. Assyrian texts support this account. 14: Lachish (see 14.19n.) had become the Assyrian headquarters. The Assyrian victory over Lachish and the deportation of its population are depicted in wall reliefs from the palace of Sennacherib in Nineveh. 17: Despite the payment of tribute the Assyrian king attacks Jerusalem. This discrepancy with vv. 13–16 may indicate that this verse starts an alternative version, or several alternative versions, of the Assyrian siege. The Tartan (chief commander), the highest person after the king, the Rabsaris (lit., “chief eunuch”), often in charge of military duties, and the Rabshakeh (lit., “chief butler”) are all high Assyrian officials. Only the Rabshakeh plays a role in the following narrative. The upper pool …, see Isa 7.3n. 18: The three Assyrians are met by three high Judean officials (for the titles see 1 Kings 4.1–6n.). 19–25: The Rabshakeh’s speech (almost certainly a literary construction, but it may have some basis in reality) is an example of psychological warfare in the first millennium bce. In the first part of this speech the Assyrian official alludes, quite remarkably, to Hezekiah’s reform (v. 22) and claims that the Lord is in fact on the Assyrian side (v. 25). 26–27: A transition between the two parts of the Rabshakeh’s speech. The Judean officials do not want him to speak in Hebrew (the language of Judah), but in Aramaic, the principal language of diplomacy in the Assyrian empire, which was not understood by the ordinary people. 27: Eat their own dung, a crude description of the consequences of a long siege. 28–35: Now the Rabshakeh insists on the impotence of Hezekiah and the Lord, claiming that no god of any country was able so far to resist the Assyrians and their gods (v. 33). 32: An ironic play with the theme of the promised and prosperous land, see Deut 8.7–9. 34: A list of cities conquered by the Assyrians; see 17.24n. Arpad, the capital of an Aramean state, which had joined an anti‐Assyrian coalition. 36–37: The people and the officials do not react to these words. The action now moves to Hezekiah. 37: Clothes torn (see also 19.1), an act of mourning. 19.1–7: Hezekiah consults the prophet Isaiah who announces to the king’s messengers an oracle of salvation. 6: Do not be afraid, a common opening of ancient Near Eastern military oracles of victory (e.g., Josh 10.8). 7: The Lord will put a spirit into the mind of the Assyrian king in order to entice him, ultimately, to his death (cf. 1 Kings 22.20–23). 8–9: The apparent withdrawal of the Assyrian army at this stage seems odd; vv. 8–9 may belong to a different source than the surrounding verses. 8: Libnah, see 8.22n. 9: Tirhakah of Ethiopia became ruler of Egypt in 689 bce and was only a young boy during the siege of Jerusalem in 701; this suggests that this section is not historically accurate. 10–13: The second message repeats the arguments of 18.32–35. 14: Hezekiah is informed of this by a letter, a small scroll that he could spread out. 15–19: Hezekiah’s prayer depicts him as a pious king who affirms that the Lord is the only true God. 15: Cherubim: see 1 Kings 6.23–28. 18: Have hurled their gods into fire, the Assyrians did indeed capture and sometimes destroy divine statues, but not by burning them, but by breaking them into pieces. The description of these gods as work of human hands recalls the polemics against idols in Second Isaiah, an exilic composition. 20–34: A second prophecy of Isaiah brings God’s response to Hezekiah’s prayer. 21–28: An oracle in the form of a mocking song against Sennacherib. 21: Virgin daughter Zion, both Israelite and foreign cities are often represented as female, especially in poetry. 28: I will put my hook in your nose, one way that the Assyrians humiliated vassals and prisoners; here the Lord does this to Assyria. 29–31: The second response is directed to Hezekiah. The theme of a sign is often linked with the prophet Isaiah (e.g., 20.9; Isa 7.11; 8.1), as is the theme of a surviving remnant (e.g., Isa 10.21–22). 32–34: The Lord reaffirms that he will defend Jerusalem, which is his home and the capital city of the kingdom ruled by the dynasty founded by David, his servant; see 20.6; Ps 132.11,13–18. 35–37: The prophetic word is fulfilled, and the Assyrian army abandons the siege. 35: The Lord’s angel striking Israel’s enemies recalls Ex 12. One hundred eighty‐five thousand, an exaggerated number emphasizing the strength of the Assyrian army and the Lord’s greater power. 37: The assassination of Sennacherib by his sons while worshiping the otherwise unknown god Nisroch in approximately 681 bce, twenty years later, is partially corroborated by Babylonian documents, which mention only one son. His successor Esar‐haddon ruled ca. 681–669 bce. Ararat (Urartu) is modern Armenia.

20.1–21: Isaiah heals Hezekiah and announces the Babylonian exile. The last story about Hezekiah brings some ambiguity to his portrait because his actions appear to hasten the end of Judah. Its placement here is theological, since chronologically such an event could have transpired only before the siege of Jerusalem in 701, narrated in the preceding two chapters. 1–7: Struck with a life‐threatening illness, Hezekiah’s prays and receives a favorable response through Isaiah. 7: Isaiah also has medical skills and heals the king’s disease with a fig‐poultice. 8–11: The dial of Ahaz, lit., “the steps of Ahaz.” The expression may allude to an otherwise unknown construction with steps, perhaps used as a sanctuary for the Assyrian sun‐god and as a sundial. 12–15: The strange episode about a Babylonian embassy recalls the visit of the queen of Sheba to Solomon and thus establishes a parallel between Hezekiah and Solomon. 12: Merodach‐baladan, ruled 721–710 bce, and then briefly in 703 (see Isa 39.1). 16–19: Isaiah’s oracle interprets the embassy negatively: he predicts the deportation of the Temple’s treasures to Babylon, anticipating chs 24–25. 19: Why not, Hezekiah receives the oracle ambiguously. 20–21: The short conclusion of Hezekiah’s reign mentions a pool and a conduit; cf. 2 Chr 32.30. The so‐called “Hezekiah’s Tunnel” (the Siloam Tunnel) is still extant near the city of David in Jerusalem.

21.1–26: The reigns of Manasseh and Amon. 1–18: For the Deuteronomistic historians, Manasseh is the worst of all Judean kings and is explicitly compared to the northern king Ahab (v. 3). 2–16: Although he had a long reign (698/687–642 bce), the only thing we are told about him is his religious counterreform, in which he reintroduces the worship of other deities, as well as the carved image of goddess Asherah, into the Temple (see v. 7; 18.4n.). The long enumeration of his religious failures shows that Manasseh contravened many important laws of the book of Deuteronomy, especially human sacrifices and different magical practices (v. 2, Deut 18.9; vv. 3,7, Deut 16.21; v. 5, Deut 17.3; v. 6, Deut 18.10–11; v. 16, Deut 19.10). 10–15: In this anonymous prophetic oracle, added by a later redactor, Manasseh is presented as the main culprit responsible for the fall of Jerusalem and the exile. 11: Amorites, traditional inhabitants of the land of Canaan before the Israelites’ arrival. 13: Jerusalem will therefore be assessed by the divine architect (cf. Isa 34.11; Lam 2.8; Am 7.7–9), and, like a dangerous building, condemned. It will be emptied of all that is in it, wiped clean like a dish after a meal. This divine judgment parallels those on Samaria (ch 17; Am 7.7–9) and on the house of Ahab (1 Kings 21.21–22; 2 Kings 9–10). 17–18: Manasseh’s long reign was likely a peaceful time because he dealt more successfully with the Assyrians than had Hezekiah; in Assyrian texts he is a loyal vassal. But the Deuteronomistic historians are not interested in these aspects or in any other accomplishments during his reign. 18: Garden of Uzza, see also v. 26; its precise location and significance are debated. 19–26: Amon’s short reign (ca. 641–640 bce) ended with his murder by his court officials. His name, also that of an Egyptian deity, may indicate that he submitted to the Egyptians, who fought against the Assyrians for the control of the Levant. The only other information about his reign concerns his problematic religious activities: he continued the syncretism of his father. 23: The reasons for the conspiracy against him are not clear. 24: The people of the land (see 11.14n.), probably some of the free landowners, opposed the rebellion and put Amon’s son Josiah on the throne.

22.1–23.30: Josiah’s reign and reform. For the authors of the book of Kings, Josiah (ca. 640–609 bce) is the perfect king, a new David, and also a new Moses and a new Joshua. In contrast to Hezekiah, Josiah is presented entirely positively. He launches a religious, political, and economic reform and declares the Temple in Jerusalem to be the only legitimate place to worship the Lord. The account of his reign contains two different narratives, which are intermingled: the discovery of the “book of the law,” and the religious reform. Nonbiblical sources also describe how the discovery of a supposedly ancient text during temple repair is used to support a king’s actions. 22.1: Because Josiah was eight years old when he came to the throne, Judah was first governed by high officials, probably those mentioned in the following narrative. 2: He did not turn aside to the right or to the left, see, e.g., Deut 5.32; 17.20; Josh 1.7. 3–10: The report about Josiah repairing the Temple recalls 12.10–16, on which it is probably based. 3–4: Shaphan was a high official, ancestor of an important family of civil servants at the Judean court (see Jer 36). Hilkiah (probably not to be identified with the father of the prophet Jeremiah) is the high priest, an anachronistic expression (see 12.10n.). 8–10: The book, which reaches the king through Shaphan and Hilkiah, is generally thought to be some form of the book of Deuteronomy. 8: The discovery of the book interrupts the restoration account (v. 7 was originally followed by v. 9), suggesting that the account of the book’s discovery was inserted at a later stage. 11: The king’s reaction of despair and repentance (he tore his clothes) makes sense as a reaction to curses like Deut 28.61; 29.21. 12–13: The king’s consultation of a prophetess through high officials seems surprising, since he already understood what the book was about. 14: The prophetess Huldah was married to a Temple or court officer, the keeper of the wardrobe (see 10.22) and she lived in the Second Quarter, which refers to a new quarter west of the city of David built when Jerusalem expanded at the end of the eighth or during the seventh century bce. 15–18: Huldah’s word confirms the oracle of the unnamed prophets in 21.10–15 and also recalls of oracles of the prophet Jeremiah (see also Jer 19.14–15). 19–20: Her oracle concerning Josiah is inconsistent with what is reported later, since the king did not die in peace but was killed by the Egyptian king (23.29). Her prophecy could be understood in the sense that Josiah would be spared the agony of Judah’s destruction and exile; alternatively, it was penned before Josiah’s death. 23.1–3: The king himself reads the book to all the people and renews the covenant with the Lord. This ceremony begins the religious reforms, described in vv. 4–20. 4–6: All symbols and statues of other deities are removed from the Temple and destroyed. 4: The Kidron area, the valley to the east of the city of David, was used as a burial and burning place (v. 6; see 1 Kings 15.13). Host of the heavens, see 17.16–17n. 7–9: Actions against the religious personnel. 7: Male temple prostitutes, see 1 Kings 22.46n. 8: The priests of the local sanctuaries outside Jerusalem (the towns of Judah) were expelled and the sanctuaries were defiled, so that they could no longer be used for the worship of the Lord. Geba, ca. 6 mi (10 km) north of Jerusalem, in Benjamin, which may indicate that the Benjaminite territory had become part of the kingdom of Judah. 9: The priests of the high places (1 Kings 3.2–4) were not integrated into the personnel of the Temple in Jerusalem. 10–14: Further destructions are reported. 10: Topheth, a place used for human sacrifices (see Jer 7.31). Molech, either the name of a foreign god (1 Kings 11.7) or an epithet for Baal, formed by combining the vowels of the word for “shame” (Heb “boshet”) with the consonants of the word for “king” (“melek”); often associated with human sacrifice (see 16.3n.) 11: Precincts (see textual note b), a Persian word, indicating this passage was written or edited during the Persian period. 13: See 1 Kings 11.5–8n. Mount of Destruction (Heb “har hammashḥit”), probably a sarcastic wordplay on “mount of oil” (“har hamishḥah”), since the worship of other deities was practiced at the Mount of Olives. 14: The sites were covered with human bones (see also vv. 16,20) in order to make them ritually impure. 15–20: The destruction of the sanctuary of Bethel puts an end to the “sin of Jeroboam” (1 Kings 12.29–30). 17–18: Cf. 1 Kings 13.2,30–31 . 21–23: In celebrating the Passover according to the stipulations of Deut 16.1–8, Josiah not only surpasses Hezekiah in faithfulness to the Lord, but even David himself, for such a Passover had not been observed since the days of the judges. 24–25: Further praise of Josiah: he was the only king who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, a quotation of Deut 6.4–5. 26–27: But even Josiah cannot stop the divine punishment, here seen as provoked by Manasseh. 28–30: The laconic report of Josiah’s death at Megiddo (like Ahaziah in 9.27–28) in 609 bce does not fully explain why he was killed by Pharaoh Neco (who ruled 610–595 bce). Either Josiah wanted to prevent Neco from supporting Assyria in its struggle against Babylon, or he had already (perhaps like his father; see 19.21–26n.) become a vassal of the Egyptian king, who considered him to be disloyal.

23.30–25.30: The end of Judah. The last four kings offer a jarring contrast to Josiah and are all judged with the same negative formula (23.32,37; 24.9,19), but no details about their religious faults are given. 30–33: Jehoahaz, anointed by the people of the land (see 11.14n.), ruled for three months in 609 bce. He was unacceptable to Neco, for a short time Judah’s new overlord, who deported him temporarily to Riblah, an important town in northern Syria, which later became headquarters of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar (25.6). 34–35: When making Eliakim the new king, Neco changes his name to Jehoiakim. This name contains the short form of the name of Yahweh, the god of Israel, perhaps reflecting that Neco respected that the Lord was the god of Judah. 36–37: Jehoiakim reigned ca. 608–597 bce. 24.1: He initially submits to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (605–562 bce), who had defeated the Assyrians in 605, but then he rebels. 2–7: This rebellion provoked even more military pressure from the neighbors of Judah. 3–4: Sins of Manasseh, see 23.26–27. 8–17: Jehoiachin has to pay the price for his father’s rebellion: a siege of Jerusalem in 597 bce, only three months into his reign, and his exile to Babylon with members of his court. 12: Jehoiachin’s quick surrender avoids the destruction of Jerusalem. 13: The Temple and the palace treasures are usually the primary target for spoil. 14–16: The numbers of the deported population differ from those given in Jer 52; instead of ten thousand, Jer 52.28 has 3,023. 17: The Babylonian king establishes Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, as king and changes his name to Zedekiah. 18–20: Zedekiah is the last Judean ruler (597–586 bce), but was perhaps considered by some, who thought that Jehoiachin was the last legitimate Davidic monarch, as a governor, rather than as a king. His rebellion provokes the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the Judean kingdom. 25.1–30: Most of ch 25 is also found, with variations, in Jer 52. 1–7: The result of Zedekiah’s disloyal behavior, most likely an alliance with Egypt, was another siege of Jerusalem. 4–5: The king tries to flee with the soldiers (his bodyguard) and is captured in the plains of Jericho. The place of Israel’s first victory when conquering the land (Josh 6) now becomes a place of defeat. 6–7: His breaking of the loyalty oath is sanctioned with harsh punishment. His sons are killed in order to exterminate the Davidic dynasty. Riblah, see 23.33n. 8–12: Nebuzaradan, a high Babylonian officer, whose title means literally “chief of the butchers,” destroys the Temple, the palace, and the city and its walls. He also organizes a second deportation to Babylon, although some Judahites remain behind. 13–17: The authors take great interest in the detailed description of the deported Temple furnishings (see 1 Kings 7.15–51). 18–21: Some of the royal officials are executed at Riblah, probably because they belonged to the anti‐Babylonian party. 21: So Judah went into exile out of its land, perhaps the original conclusion of the book of Kings. 22–26: The episode of Gedaliah’s appointment as a governor and his assassination by the nationalistic party is related in greater detail in Jer 40–43. 22: Gedaliah is the grandson of Josiah’s secretary Shaphan (23.12). 23: Mizpah, ca. 7 mi (2 km) north of Jerusalem became the administrative center during Babylonian occupation. 25: Ishmael, who kills Gedaliah, is said to be member of the royal family. He fails, however, to reestablish the Davidic dynasty. 26: The remaining people fled to Egypt. This conclusion, with a descent to Egypt, seems to wipe out Israel’s whole history, which started with the Exodus out of Egypt and now ends with a return to Egypt. 27–30: This epilogue relates the rehabilitation of Jehoiachin under the Babylonian king Evil‐merodach (Amel‐marduk, 562–560 bce), This event is sometimes understood as reflecting a faint hope for the renewal of the Davidic dynasty. What happens to Jehoiachin recalls such heroes of Diaspora narratives as Joseph, Mordecai, and Daniel: all are exiles who are liberated from prison (see Gen 41.40; Dan 2.48; Esth 10.3) and become part of the court of the foreign king. The accession to new status is symbolized by the changing of clothes (see Gen 41.24; Dan 5.29; Esth 6.10–11). Jehoiachin could therefore symbolize all the Jews who accepted that their “exile” had become “Diaspora,” a place outside the land of Israel, where they could live their lives.

^a Gk Compare verses 9, 13: Heb He answered

^b Gk Syr: Heb lacks His brother

^a Heb sons of the prophets

^a Compare Gk Syr: Meaning of Heb uncertain

^b Heb the sons of the prophets

^a Heb lacks on the bed

^b Heb he

^c Heb sons of the prophets were

^d Heb sons of the prophets

^e A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

^a A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

^b Another reading is Amana

^c Heb sons of the prophets

^a Heb him

^b Heb lacks the bags

^c A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

^d Heb sons of the prophets

^e Heb warned it

^a Heb they

^b See 7.2: Heb messenger

^a A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

^b Compare Gk Syr Vg: Meaning of Heb uncertain

^a Heb lacks Ben‐hadad

^b Gk Syr: Heb adds Jehoshaphat being king of Judah,

^a Meaning of Heb uncertain

^b Heb sons of the prophets

^c Heb he

^a Meaning of Heb uncertain

^a Syr Vg Compare Gk: Heb lacks and they shot him

^b Or of the city; Vg Compare Gk

^c Gk: Heb lacks of the sons of

^a Gk: Heb Is it right with your heart, as my heart is with your heart?

^b Gk: Heb lacks Jehu said

^c Gk Syr Tg: Heb they

^d Gk Vg Syr Tg: Heb pillars

^a With 2 Chr 22.11: Heb lacks she put

^b Gk Syr Vg Compare 2 Chr 22.11: Heb they

^c Heb the Lord to the king

^a Or treaty, or testimony; Heb eduth

^b Ch 12.1 in Heb

^c Another spelling is Joash; see verse 19

^a Gk Syr Tg Vg: Heb he walked

^b Heb Asherah

^a Heb the king

^a A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

^a Cn: Heb King Rezin of Aram

^b Cn: Heb Aram

^c Cn: Heb lacks from

^a Meaning of Heb uncertain

^b Heb Asherim

^c Heb Asherah

^a Syr Vg: Heb them

^a Heb Asherah

^a Heb he

^b Or Nubia; Heb Cush

^a Gk Compare Isa 37.27 Q Ms: MT lacks rising

^a Syr See Isa 38.8 and Tg: Heb it

^b Gk Vg Syr: Heb When Hezekiah heard about them

^a Heb Asherah

^a Heb lacks image of

^b Meaning of Heb uncertain

^c Heb Asherim

^d Heb Asherah

^a Gk: Heb proclaimed, who had predicted these things

^b Or household gods

^a Heb lacks wall

^b Gk Compare Jer 39.4; 52.7: Heb lacks the king and lacks fled

^a Or young and old