^18:1After many days, Yahweh’s word came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth.” ^18:2Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria. ^18:3Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Yahweh greatly; ^18:4for when Jezebel cut off Yahweh’s prophets, Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) ^18:5Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land, to all the springs of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we not lose all the animals.” ^18:6So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. ^18:7As Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. He recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?” ^18:8He answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your lord, ‘Behold, Elijah is here!’” ^18:9He said, “How have I sinned, that you would deliver your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me? ^18:10As Yahweh your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. When they said, ‘He is not here,’ he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they didn’t find you. ^18:11Now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here.”’ ^18:12It will happen, as soon as I leave you, that Yahweh’s Spirit will carry you I don’t know where; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he can’t find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared Yahweh from my youth. ^18:13Wasn’t it told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed Yahweh’s prophets, how I hid one hundred men of Yahweh’s prophets with fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water? ^18:14Now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here”.’ He will kill me.” ^18:15Elijah said, “As Yahweh of Armies lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” ^18:16So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah. ^18:17When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” ^18:18He answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken Yahweh’s commandments, and you have followed the Baals. ^18:19Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel to Mount Carmel, and four hundred fifty of the prophets of Baal, and four hundred of the prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” ^18:20So Ahab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together to Mount Carmel. ^18:21Elijah came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you waver between the two sides? If Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” The people didn’t say a word. ^18:22Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left as a prophet of Yahweh; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred fifty men. ^18:23Let them therefore give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under; and I will dress the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under it. ^18:24You call on the name of your god, and I will call on Yahweh’s name. The God who answers by fire, let him be God.” All the people answered, “What you say is good.” ^18:25Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves, and dress it first; for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.” ^18:26They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, “Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice, and nobody answered. They leaped about the altar which was made. ^18:27At noon, Elijah mocked them, and said, “Cry aloud; for he is a god. Either he is deep in thought, or he has gone somewhere, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awakened.” ^18:28They cried aloud, and cut themselves in their way with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. ^18:29When midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the evening offering; but there was no voice, no answer, and nobody paid attention. ^18:30Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me!”; and all the people came near to him. He repaired Yahweh’s altar that had been thrown down. ^18:31Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom Yahweh’s word came, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” ^18:32With the stones he built an altar in Yahweh’s name. He made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two seahs of seed. ^18:33He put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering, and on the wood.” ^18:34He said, “Do it a second time”; and they did it the second time. He said, “Do it a third time”; and they did it the third time. ^18:35The water ran around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water. ^18:36At the time of the evening offering, Elijah the prophet came near, and said, “Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. ^18:37Hear me, Yahweh, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God, and that you have turned their heart back again.” ^18:38Then Yahweh’s fire fell, and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. ^18:39When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They said, “Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!” ^18:40Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Don’t let one of them escape!” They seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there. ^18:41Elijah said to Ahab, “Get up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.” ^18:42So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down on the earth, and put his face between his knees. ^18:43He said to his servant, “Go up now, and look toward the sea.” He went up, and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” He said, “Go again” seven times. ^18:44On the seventh time, he said, “Behold, a small cloud, like a man’s hand, is rising out of the sea.” He said, “Go up, tell Ahab, ‘Get ready and go down, so that the rain doesn’t stop you.’” ^18:45In a little while, the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. ^18:46Yahweh’s hand was on Elijah; and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

^19:1Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ^19:2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I don’t make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time!” ^19:3When he saw that, he arose, and ran for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. ^19:4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. Then he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough. Now, O Yahweh, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” ^19:5He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat!” ^19:6He looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on the coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. ^19:7Yahweh’s angel came again the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” ^19:8He arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, God’s Mountain. ^19:9He came to a cave there, and camped there; and behold, Yahweh’s word came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ^19:10He said, “I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” ^19:11He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.” Behold, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake; but Yahweh was not in the earthquake. ^19:12After the earthquake a fire passed; but Yahweh was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a still small voice. ^19:13When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. Behold, a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ^19:14He said, “I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” ^19:15Yahweh said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. ^19:16Anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel; and anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah to be prophet in your place. ^19:17He who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and he who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. ^19:18Yet I reserved seven thousand in Israel, all the knees of which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him.” ^19:19So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. Elijah went over to him, and put his mantle on him. ^19:20Elisha left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, “Let me please kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” He said to him, “Go back again; for what have I done to you?” ^19:21He returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and killed them, and boiled their meat with the instruments of the oxen, and gave to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and served him.

^20:1Ben Hadad the king of Syria gathered all his army together; and there were thirty-two kings with him, with horses and chariots. He went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it. ^20:2He sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel, into the city, and said to him, “Thus says Ben Hadad, ^20:3‘Your silver and your gold is mine. Your wives also and your children, even the best, are mine.’” ^20:4The king of Israel answered, “It is according to your saying, my lord, O king. I am yours, and all that I have.” ^20:5The messengers came again, and said, “Ben Hadad says, ‘I sent indeed to you, saying, “You shall deliver me your silver, and your gold, and your wives, and your children; ^20:6but I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, and they will search your house, and the houses of your servants; whatever is pleasant in your eyes, they will put it in their hand, and take it away.”’” ^20:7Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, “Please notice how this man seeks mischief; for he sent to me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I didn’t deny him.” ^20:8All the elders and all the people said to him, “Don’t listen, and don’t consent.” ^20:9Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben Hadad, “Tell my lord the king, ‘All that you sent for to your servant at the first I will do; but this thing I cannot do.’” The messengers departed, and brought him back the message. ^20:10Ben Hadad sent to him, and said, “The gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria will be enough for handfuls for all the people who follow me.” ^20:11The king of Israel answered, “Tell him, ‘Don’t let him who puts on his armor brag like he who takes it off.’” ^20:12When Ben Hadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings, in the pavilions, he said to his servants, “Prepare to attack!” They prepared to attack the city. ^20:13Behold, a prophet came near to Ahab king of Israel, and said, “Yahweh says, ‘Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand today. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.’” ^20:14Ahab said, “By whom?” He said, “Yahweh says, ‘By the young men of the princes of the provinces.’” Then he said, “Who shall begin the battle?” He answered, “You.” ^20:15Then he mustered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two. After them, he mustered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand. ^20:16They went out at noon. But Ben Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who helped him. ^20:17The young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben Hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, “Men are coming out from Samaria.” ^20:18He said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; or if they have come out for war, take them alive.” ^20:19So these went out of the city, the young men of the princes of the provinces, and the army which followed them. ^20:20They each killed his man. The Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them. Ben Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen. ^20:21The king of Israel went out, and struck the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter. ^20:22The prophet came near to the king of Israel, and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself, and mark, and see what you do; for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against you.” ^20:23The servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their god is a god of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they. ^20:24Do this thing: take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their place. ^20:25Muster an army, like the army that you have lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot. We will fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than them.” He listened to their voice, and did so. ^20:26At the return of the year, Ben Hadad mustered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel. ^20:27The children of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and went against them. The children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of young goats; but the Syrians filled the country. ^20:28A man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Yahweh says, ‘Because the Syrians have said, “Yahweh is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys”; therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am Yahweh.’” ^20:29They encamped opposite each other for seven days. So it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel killed one hundred thousand footmen of the Syrians in one day. ^20:30But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men who were left. Ben Hadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner room. ^20:31His servants said to him, “See now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please let us put sackcloth on our bodies, and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel. Maybe he will save your life.” ^20:32So they put sackcloth on their bodies and ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, “Your servant Ben Hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’” He said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” ^20:33Now the men observed diligently, and hurried to take this phrase; and they said, “Your brother Ben Hadad.” Then he said, “Go, bring him.” Then Ben Hadad came out to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot. ^20:34Ben Hadad said to him, “The cities which my father took from your father I will restore. You shall make streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria.” “I”, said Ahab, “will let you go with this covenant.” So he made a covenant with him, and let him go. ^20:35A certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow by Yahweh’s word, “Please strike me!” The man refused to strike him. ^20:36Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed Yahweh’s voice, behold, as soon as you have departed from me, a lion will kill you.” As soon as he had departed from him, a lion found him and killed him. ^20:37Then he found another man, and said, “Please strike me.” The man struck him and wounded him. ^20:38So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with his headband over his eyes. ^20:39As the king passed by, he cried to the king; and he said, “Your servant went out into the middle of the battle; and behold, a man came over, and brought a man to me, and said, ‘Guard this man! If by any means he is missing, then your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.’ ^20:40As your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” The king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be. You yourself have decided it.” ^20:41He hurried, and took the headband away from his eyes; and the king of Israel recognized that he was one of the prophets. ^20:42He said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life will take the place of his life, and your people take the place of his people.’” ^20:43The king of Israel went to his house sullen and angry, and came to Samaria.

^21:1After these things, Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. ^21:2Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near my house; and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money.” ^21:3Naboth said to Ahab, “May Yahweh forbid me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!” ^21:4Ahab came into his house sullen and angry because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He laid himself down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread. ^21:5But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, “Why is your spirit so sad, that you eat no bread?” ^21:6He said to her, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite, and said to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another vineyard for it.’ He answered, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” ^21:7Jezebel his wife said to him, “Do you now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” ^21:8So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Naboth. ^21:9She wrote in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. ^21:10Set two men, wicked fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, ‘You cursed God and the king!’ Then carry him out, and stone him to death.” ^21:11The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had instructed them in the letters which she had written and sent to them. ^21:12They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. ^21:13The two men, the wicked fellows, came in and sat before him. The wicked fellows testified against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth cursed God and the king!” Then they carried him out of the city and stoned him to death with stones. ^21:14Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned, and is dead.” ^21:15When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned, and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead.” ^21:16When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. ^21:17Yahweh’s word came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ^21:18“Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who dwells in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. ^21:19You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “Have you killed and also taken possession?”’ You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick your blood, even yours.”’” ^21:20Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in Yahweh’s sight. ^21:21Behold, I will bring evil on you, and will utterly sweep you away and will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall, and him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel. ^21:22I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah for the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger, and have made Israel to sin.” ^21:23Yahweh also spoke of Jezebel, saying, “The dogs will eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel. ^21:24The dogs will eat he who dies of Ahab in the city; and the birds of the sky will eat he who dies in the field.” ^21:25But there was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. ^21:26He did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel. ^21:27When Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. ^21:28Yahweh’s word came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ^21:29“See how Ahab humbles himself before me? Because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but I will bring the evil on his house in his son’s day.”

^22:1They continued three years without war between Syria and Israel. ^22:2In the third year, Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. ^22:3The king of Israel said to his servants, “You know that Ramoth Gilead is ours, and we do nothing, and don’t take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?” ^22:4He said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to battle to Ramoth Gilead?” Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” ^22:5Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire first for Yahweh’s word.” ^22:6Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Should I go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or should I refrain?” They said, “Go up; for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.” ^22:7But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there here a prophet of Yahweh, that we may inquire of him?” ^22:8The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Yahweh, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.” Jehoshaphat said, “Don’t let the king say so.” ^22:9Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, “Quickly get Micaiah the son of Imlah.” ^22:10Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them. ^22:11Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made himself horns of iron, and said, “Yahweh says, ‘With these you will push the Syrians, until they are consumed.’” ^22:12All the prophets prophesied so, saying, “Go up to Ramoth Gilead, and prosper; for Yahweh will deliver it into the hand of the king.” ^22:13The messenger who went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, “See now, the prophets declare good to the king with one mouth. Please let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak good.” ^22:14Micaiah said, “As Yahweh lives, what Yahweh says to me, that I will speak.” ^22:15When he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall we forbear?” He answered him, “Go up and prosper; and Yahweh will deliver it into the hand of the king.” ^22:16The king said to him, “How many times do I have to adjure you that you speak to me nothing but the truth in Yahweh’s name?” ^22:17He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. Yahweh said, ‘These have no master. Let them each return to his house in peace.’” ^22:18The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?” ^22:19Micaiah said, “Therefore hear Yahweh’s word. I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. ^22:20Yahweh said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ One said one thing; and another said another. ^22:21A spirit came out and stood before Yahweh, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ ^22:22Yahweh said to him, ‘How?’ He said, ‘I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ He said, ‘You will entice him, and will also prevail. Go out and do so.’ ^22:23Now therefore, behold, Yahweh has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and Yahweh has spoken evil concerning you.” ^22:24Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “Which way did Yahweh’s Spirit go from me to speak to you?” ^22:25Micaiah said, “Behold, you will see on that day, when you go into an inner room to hide yourself.” ^22:26The king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah, and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king’s son. ^22:27Say, ‘Thus says the king, “Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.”’” ^22:28Micaiah said, “If you return at all in peace, Yahweh has not spoken by me.” He said, “Listen, all you people!” ^22:29So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead. ^22:30The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but you put on your robes.” The king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle. ^22:31Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, saying, “Don’t fight with small nor great, except only with the king of Israel.” ^22:32When the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “Surely that is the king of Israel!” and they came over to fight against him. Jehoshaphat cried out. ^22:33When the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. ^22:34A certain man drew his bow at random, and struck the king of Israel between the joints of the armor. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn your hand, and carry me out of the battle; for I am severely wounded.” ^22:35The battle increased that day. The king was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians, and died at evening. The blood ran out of the wound into the bottom of the chariot. ^22:36A cry went throughout the army about the going down of the sun, saying, “Every man to his city, and every man to his country!” ^22:37So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria. ^22:38They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood where the prostitutes washed themselves; according to Yahweh’s word which he spoke. ^22:39Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he built, and all the cities that he built, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ^22:40So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place. ^22:41Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. ^22:42Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. ^22:43He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He didn’t turn away from it, doing that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes. However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ^22:44Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel. ^22:45Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he showed, and how he fought, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ^22:46The remnant of the sodomites, that remained in the days of his father Asa, he put away out of the land. ^22:47There was no king in Edom. A deputy ruled. ^22:48Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they didn’t go; for the ships wrecked at Ezion Geber. ^22:49Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships.” But Jehoshaphat would not. ^22:50Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in his father David’s city. Jehoram his son reigned in his place. ^22:51Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel. ^22:52He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, in which he made Israel to sin. ^22:53He served Baal and worshiped him, and provoked Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger, in all the ways that his father had done so.

2 Kings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

^14:1In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah began to reign. ^14:2He 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. ^14:3He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, yet not like David his father. He did according to all that Joash his father had done. ^14:4However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. ^14:5As soon as the kingdom was established in his hand, he killed his servants who had slain the king his father, ^14:6but the children of the murderers he didn’t put to death; according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, as Yahweh commanded, saying, “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin.” ^14:7He killed ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela by war, and called its name Joktheel, to this day. ^14:8Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look one another in the face.” ^14:9Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife. Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by, and trampled down the thistle. ^14:10You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy the glory of it, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to your harm, that you fall, even you, and Judah with you?’” ^14:11But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. ^14:12Judah was defeated by Israel; and each man fled to his tent. ^14:13Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits. ^14:14He took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in Yahweh’s house and in the treasures of the king’s house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria. ^14:15Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ^14:16Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place. ^14:17Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years. ^14:18Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ^14:19They made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and killed him there. ^14:20They brought him on horses, and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in David’s city. ^14:21All the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. ^14:22He built Elath, and restored it to Judah. After that the king slept with his fathers. ^14:23In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria for forty-one years. ^14:24He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight. He didn’t depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. ^14:25He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to Yahweh, the God of Israel’s word, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath Hepher. ^14:26For Yahweh saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter; for all, slave and free, and there was no helper for Israel. ^14:27Yahweh didn’t say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under the sky; but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash. ^14:28Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, for Israel, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ^14:29Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.