# verses

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And when Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel to bring the kingdom back to Rehoboam son of Solomon.


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Tell Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah and all the house of Judah and Benjamin and the remnant of the people,


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Thus says the Lord, You shall not go up or fight against your brethren, the Israelites. Return every man to his house, for this thing is from Me. So they hearkened to the Lord’s word and returned home, according to the Lord’s word.


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Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. He went out from there and built Penuel.


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If this people goes up to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to sacrifice, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.


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So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, It is too much for you to go [all the way] up to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.


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And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast kept in Judah, and he offered sacrifices upon the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places he had made.


text:
So he offered upon the altar he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a date which he chose individually; and he appointed a feast for the Israelites and he went up to the altar to burn incense [in defiance of God’s law.]


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And behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel. Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.


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The man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord, O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you shall he offer the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you.


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And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Behold, the altar shall be split and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out. [Fulfilled in II Kings 23:15, 16.]


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When King Jeroboam heard the words the man of God cried against the altar in Bethel, he thrust out his hand, saying, Lay hold on him! And his hand which he put forth against him dried up, so that he could not draw it to him again.


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The altar also was split and the ashes poured out from the altar according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.


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And the king said to the man of God, Entreat now the favor of the Lord your God and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me. And the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before.


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And the king said to the man of God, Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.


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And the man of God said to the king, If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you, and I will not eat bread or drink water in this place.


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For I was commanded by the word of the Lord, You shall eat no bread or drink water or return by the way you came.


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Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words which he had spoken to the king they told also to their father.


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Their father asked them, Which way did he go? For his sons had seen which way the man of God who came from Judah had gone.


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And went after the man of God. And he found him sitting under an oak, and he said to him, Are you the man of God who came from Judah? And he said, I am.


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He said, I may not return with you or go in with you, neither will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.


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For I was told by the word of the Lord, You shall not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way that you came.


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He answered, I am a prophet also, as you are. And an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied to him.


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And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, Thus says the Lord: Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the command which the Lord your God commanded you,


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But have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which the Lord said to you, Eat no bread and drink no water — your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.


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And after the prophet of the house had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the man he had brought back.


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And when he had gone, a lion met him by the road and slew him, and his corpse was cast in the way, and the donkey stood by it; the lion also stood by the corpse.


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And behold, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown in the road, and the lion standing by the corpse, and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.


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When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the Lord; therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and slain him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to him.


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And he went and found the corpse thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion stood by the body; the lion had not eaten the corpse or torn the donkey.


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The prophet took up the corpse of the man of God and laid it upon the donkey and brought it back, and the old prophet came into the city to mourn and to bury him.


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After he had buried him, he said to his sons, When I am dead, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.


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For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.


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After this thing, Jeroboam turned not from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Whoever would, he consecrated, that there might be priests for the high places.


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And this thing became the sin of the dynasty of Jeroboam that caused it to be abolished and destroyed from the face of the earth.


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And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray you, and disguise yourself, that you may not be recognized as Jeroboam’s wife, and go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who told me that I should be king over this people.


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Take ten loaves, some cakes, and a bottle of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what shall happen to the child.


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Jeroboam’s wife did so. She arose and went [twenty miles] to Shiloh and came to the house of Ahijah. Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age.


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And the Lord said to Ahijah, Behold, the <f>[1]</f>wife of Jeroboam is coming to ask you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you say to her. When she came, she pretended to be another woman.


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But when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in at the door, he said, Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another? For I am charged with heavy news for you.


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Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over My people Israel


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And rent the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you — and yet you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments and followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes,


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But have done evil above all who were before you; for you have made yourself other gods, molten images, to provoke Me to anger and have cast Me behind your back —


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Therefore behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from [him] every male, both bond and free, in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam as a man sweeps away dung, till it is all gone.


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Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and any who dies in the field the birds of the heavens shall eat. For the Lord has spoken it.


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Arise therefore [Ano, Jeroboam’s wife], get to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die.


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And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam’s family shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something good <i>and</i> pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.


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Moreover, the Lord will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam this day. From now on


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The Lord will smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and He will root up Israel out of this good land which He gave to their fathers and will scatter them beyond the [Euphrates] River, because they have made their Asherim [idolatrous symbols of the goddess Asherah], provoking the Lord to anger.


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So Jeroboam’s wife departed and came to Tirzah. When she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.


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And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord spoken by His servant Ahijah the prophet.


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The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.


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Jeroboam reigned for twenty-two years, and he slept with his fathers; and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.


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And Rehoboam son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose out of all the tribes of Israel to put His Name [and the pledge of His presence] there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess.


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And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, Whom they provoked to jealousy with the sins they committed, above all that their fathers had done.


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For they also built themselves [idolatrous] high places, pillars, and Asherim [idolatrous symbols of the goddess Asherah] on every high hill and under every green tree.


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There were also sodomites (male cult prostitutes) in the land. They did all the abominations of the nations whom the Lord cast out before the Israelites.


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In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt [Jeroboam’s brother-in-law] came up against Jerusalem.


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He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house; he took away all, including all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.


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King Rehoboam made in their stead bronze shields and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard who kept the door of the king’s house.


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And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guards bore them and brought them back into the guardroom.


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The rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


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Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. Abijam (Abijah) his son reigned in his stead.


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He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Maacah (Micaiah) daughter [granddaughter] of Abishalom (Absalom).


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He walked in all the sins of his father [Rehoboam] before him; and his heart was not blameless with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father [forefather].


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Nevertheless, for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him and establishing Jerusalem,


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Because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.


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The rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.


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Abijam slept with his fathers and they buried him in the City of David. Asa his son reigned in his stead.


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Forty-one years he reigned in Jerusalem. His mother was [also named] Maacah (Micaiah) daughter of Abishalom (Absalom). <f>ⓐ</f>


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He put away the sodomites (male cult prostitutes) out of the land and removed all the idols that his fathers [Solomon, Rehoboam, and Abijam] had made <i>or</i> promoted. <f>ⓑ</f>


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Also Maacah his mother he removed from being queen mother, because she had an image made for [the goddess] Asherah. Asa destroyed her image, burning it by the brook Kidron.


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He brought the things which his father had dedicated and the things which he himself had dedicated into the house of the Lord — silver, gold, and vessels.


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Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built up Ramah, that he might allow no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.


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Then Asa took all the silver and gold left in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house and delivered them into the hands of his servants. And King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who dwelt at Damascus, saying,


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Let there be a league between me and you, as was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending you a present of silver and gold; go, break your league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.


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So Ben-hadad hearkened to king Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.


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Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah — none was exempted. They carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building. And King Asa built up with them Geba of Benjamin, and also Mizpah.


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The rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.


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Asa slept with his fathers and was buried with them in the city of David his father. Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.


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Nadab son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned two years.


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He did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in his sin, with which he made Israel sin.


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Baasha son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against Nadab, and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, for Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon.


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As soon as he was king, Baasha killed all the household of Jeroboam. He left to [it] not one who breathed, until he had destroyed it, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite — <f>ⓒ</f>


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Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned and by which he made Israel to sin, and because of his provocation of the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger.


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The rest of Nadab’s acts, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


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In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah began his reign of twenty-four years over all Israel in Tirzah.


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He did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin, with which he made Israel sin.


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Because I exalted you [Baasha] out of the dust and made you leader over My people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made My people Israel sin, to provoke Me to anger with their sins,


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Behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and his house, and will make your house like [that] of Jeroboam son of Nebat.


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Any of Baasha’s family who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and any who dies in the field the birds of the heavens shall eat.


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Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, what he did and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


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Also the word of the Lord against Baasha and his house came through the prophet Jehu son of Hanani for all the evil that Baasha did in the sight of the Lord in provoking Him to anger with the work of his hands [idols], in being like the house of Jeroboam, and also because he destroyed it [the family of Jeroboam, of his own accord].


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In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha began his reign of two years over Israel in Tirzah.


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Elah’s servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against Elah. He was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah.


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Zimri came in and smote and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead.


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When he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, he killed all the household of Baasha; he left not one male of his kinsmen or his friends.


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Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke against Baasha through Jehu the prophet, <f>ⓐ</f>


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For all the sins of Baasha and of Elah his son by which they sinned and made Israel sin, in provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger with their idols.


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The rest of the acts of Elah, and all he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


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In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned for seven days in Tirzah. The troops were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines,


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And they heard the rumor, Zimri has conspired and slain the king! So all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp.


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And when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the stronghold of the king’s house and burned the king’s house over him with fire and died,


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Because of his sins committed in doing evil in the sight of the Lord, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and his sin in causing Israel to sin.


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The rest of the acts of Zimri, and his deeds of treason, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


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Then the people of Israel were divided into two factions. Half of the people followed Tibni son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri.


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But the people who followed Omri prevailed against those who followed Tibni son of Ginath. So Tibni died and Omri reigned.


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In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began his reign of twelve years over Israel. He reigned six years in Tirzah.


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Omri bought the hill Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver. He built a city on the hill <i>and</i> fortified it, and called it Samaria (Shomeron), after the owner of the hill, Shemer.


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He walked in all the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat and in his sin, by which he made Israel sin, to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger with their idols.


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The rest of the acts of Omri, and his might that he showed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


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In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri began his reign of twenty-two years over Israel in Samaria.


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As if it had been a light thing for Ahab to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, he took for a wife Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and served Baal and worshiped him.


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And Ahab made an Asherah [idolatrous symbol of the goddess Asherah]. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel before him.


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In his days, Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of the life of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Joshua son of Nun. <f>ⓑ</f>


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Elijah the Tishbite, of the temporary residents of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before Whom I stand, there shall not be dew or rain these years but according to My word.


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So he did according to the word of the Lord; he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan.


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And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook.


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Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.


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So he arose and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her, Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.


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And she said, As the Lord your God lives, I have not a loaf baked but only a handful of meal in the jar and a little oil in the bottle. See, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it — and die.


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Elijah said to her, Fear not; go and do as you have said. But make me a little cake of [it] first and bring it to me, and afterward prepare some for yourself and your son.


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For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: The jar of meal shall not waste away or the bottle of oil fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.


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The jar of meal was not spent nor did the bottle of oil fail, according to the word which the Lord spoke through Elijah.


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After these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.


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And she said to Elijah, What have you against me, O man of God? Have you come to me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son?


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He said to her, Give me your son. And he took him from her bosom and carried him up into the chamber where he stayed and laid him upon his own bed.


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And Elijah cried to the Lord and said, O Lord my God, have You brought further calamity upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?


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And he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord and said, O Lord my God, I pray You, let this child’s soul come back into him.


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And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.


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And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the [lower part of the] house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, See, your son is alive!


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And the woman said to Elijah, By this I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.


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After many days, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.


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For when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.)


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And Ahab said to Obadiah, Go into the land to all the fountains of water and to all the brooks; perhaps we may find grass to keep the horses and mules alive, that we lose none of the beasts.


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So they divided the land between them to pass through it. Ahab went one way and Obadiah went another way, each by himself.


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As Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. He recognized him and fell on his face and said, Are you my lord Elijah?


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And he said, What sin have I committed, that you would deliver your servant into the hands of Ahab to be slain?


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As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they said, He is not here, he took an oath from the kingdom or nation that they had not found you.


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And as soon as I have gone out from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you I know not where; so when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me. But I your servant have feared <i>and</i> revered the Lord from my youth.


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Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord’s prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water?


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Elijah said, As the Lord of hosts lives, before Whom I stand, I will surely show myself to Ahab today.


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Elijah replied, I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, by forsaking the commandments of the Lord and by following the Baals.


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Therefore send and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of [the goddess] Asherah, who eat at [Queen] Jezebel’s table.


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Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you halt <i>and</i> limp between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him! But if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word.


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Then Elijah said to the people, I, I only, remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men.


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Let two bulls be given us; let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood but put no fire to it. I will dress the other bull, lay it on the wood, and put no fire to it.


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Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the One Who answers by fire, let Him be God. And all the people answered, It is well spoken.


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Elijah 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.


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So they took the bull given them, dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, O Baal, hear <i>and</i> answer us! But there was no voice; no one answered. And they leaped upon <i>or</i> limped about the altar they had made.


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At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is musing, or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.


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And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with knives and lances until the blood gushed out upon them.


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Midday passed, and they played the part of prophets until the time for offering the evening sacrifice, but there was no voice, no answer, no one who paid attention.


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Then Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me. And all the people came near him. And he repaired the [old] altar of the Lord that had been broken down [by Jezebel]. <f>ⓐ</f>


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Then Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be your name. <f>ⓑ</f>


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And with the stones Elijah built an altar in the name [and self-revelation] of the Lord. He made a trench about the altar as great as would contain two measures of seed.


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He put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood and said, Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and the wood.


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And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.


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At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and that I have done all these things at Your word.


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Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You, the Lord, are God, and have turned their hearts back [to You].


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Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust, and also licked up the water that was in the trench.


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When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!


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And Elijah said, Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one escape. They seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and [as God’s law required] slew them there. <f>ⓒ</f>


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So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees


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And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up and looked and said, There is nothing. Elijah said, Go again seven times.


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And at the seventh time the servant said, A cloud as small as a man’s hand is arising out of the sea. And Elijah said, Go up, say to Ahab, Hitch your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.


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In a little while, the heavens were black with wind-swept clouds, and there was a great rain. And Ahab went to Jezreel.


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The hand of the Lord was on Elijah. He girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel [nearly twenty miles].


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Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had slain all the prophets [of Baal] with the sword.


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Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.


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Then he was afraid and arose and went for his life and came to Beersheba of Judah [over eighty miles, and out of Jezebel’s realm] and left his servant there.


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But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a lone broom <i>or</i> juniper tree and asked that he might die. He said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers.


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As he lay asleep under the broom <i>or</i> juniper tree, behold, an angel touched him and said to him, Arise and eat.


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He looked, and behold, there was a cake baked on the coals, and a bottle of water at his head. And he ate and drank and lay down again.


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The angel of the Lord came the second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.


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So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and nights to Horeb, the mount of God.


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There he came to a cave and lodged in it; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah?


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He replied, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I, I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.


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And He said, Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake;


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And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire [a sound of gentle stillness and] a still, small voice.


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When Elijah heard the voice, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?


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He said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and slain Your prophets with the sword. And I, I only, am left, and they seek my life, to destroy it.


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And the Lord said to him, Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.


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And anoint Jehu son of Nimshi to be king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah to be prophet in your place.


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And him who escapes from the sword of <f>[1]</f>Hazael Jehu shall slay, and him who escapes the sword of Jehu Elisha shall slay.


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Yet I will leave Myself 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.


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So Elijah left there and found Elisha son of Shaphat, whose plowing was being done with twelve yoke of oxen, and he drove the twelfth. Elijah crossed over to him and cast his mantle upon him.


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He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, Let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you. And he [testing Elisha] said, Go on back. What have I done to you? [Settle it for yourself.]


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So Elisha went back from him. Then he took a yoke of oxen, slew them, boiled their flesh with the oxen’s yoke [as fuel], and gave to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, followed Elijah, and served him. <f>ⓐ</f>


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Ben-hadad king of Syria gathered all his army together; thirty-two kings were with him, and horses and chariots. And he went up and besieged Samaria, warring against it.


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And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to what you say, I am yours, and all that I have.


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The messengers came again and said, Thus says Ben-hadad: Although I have sent to you, saying, You shall deliver to me your silver, your gold, your wives, and your children —


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Yet I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, and they shall search your house and the houses of your servants; and all the desire of your eyes they shall lay hands upon and take it away.


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Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, Notice now and see how this man is seeking our destruction. He sent to me for my wives, my children, my silver, and my gold, and I did not refuse him.


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So he said to Ben-hadad’s messengers, Tell my lord the king, All you first sent for to your servant I will do, but this thing I cannot do. And the messengers left; then they brought him word again.


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Ben-hadad sent to him and said, May the gods do so to me, and more also, if the rubbish of Samaria shall be enough for each one of all the people who are at my feet <i>and</i> follow me to get a handful.


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The king of Israel answered, Tell him: Let not him who girds on his harness boast as he who puts it off.


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When Ben-hadad heard this message as he and the kings were drinking in the booths, he said to his servants, Set the army in array. And they set themselves in array against [Samaria].


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Then a prophet came to Ahab king of Israel and said, Thus says the Lord: Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand today, and you shall know <i>and</i> realize that I am the Lord.


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Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus says the Lord: By the young men [the attendants or bodyguards] of the governors of the districts. Then Ahab said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, You.


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Ahab numbered the attendants of the governors of the districts, and they were 232. After them he numbered all the people of [the army of] Israel, 7,000. <f>ⓐ</f>


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And they went out at noon. But Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the booths, he and the thirty-two kings who helped him.


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The servants of the governors of the districts went out first; and Ben-hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria.


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So these [strong young guards] of the governors of the districts went out of [Samaria], and the army followed them.


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And each one killed his man; the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them. Ben-hadad king of Syria escaped on a horse with the horsemen.


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The king of Israel went out and smote [the riders of] the horses and chariots and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.


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The prophet came to the king of Israel and said to him, Go, fortify yourself and become strong and give attention to what you must do, for at the first of next year the king of Syria will return against you.


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And the servants of the king of Syria said to him, Israel’s gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.


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And muster yourself an army like the army you have lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. And we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he heeded their speech and did so.


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And at the return of the year, Ben-hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.


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The Israelites were counted and, all present, went against them. The Israelites encamped before the enemy like two little flocks of lost kids [absolutely everything against them but Almighty God], but the Syrians filled the country.


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A man of God came and said to the king of Israel, Thus says the Lord: Because the Syrians have said, The Lord is God of the hills but He is not God of the valleys, therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hands, and you shall know <i>and</i> recognize by experience that I am the Lord. <f>ⓑ</f>


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They encamped opposite each other seven days. Then the battle was joined; and the Israelites slew of the Syrians 100,000 foot soldiers in one day.


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But the rest fled to the city of Aphek, and the wall fell upon 27,000 men who were left. Ben-hadad fled into the city <i>and</i> from chamber to chamber.


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His servants said to him, We have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Let us put sackcloth on our loins and ropes about our necks, and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.


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So they girded sackcloth on their loins and put ropes on their necks, and came to the king of Israel and said, Your servant Ben-hadad says, I pray you, let me live. And King [Ahab] said, Is he yet alive? He is my brother.


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Now the men took it as an omen and they hastily took it up and said, Yes, your brother Ben-hadad. Then the king said, Go, bring him. Then Ben-hadad came forth to him, and the victorious king caused him to come up into the chariot.


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Ben-hadad [tempting him] said, The cities which my father took from your father I will restore; and you may maintain bazaars of your own in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria. Then, said Ahab, I will send you away on these terms. So he made a covenant with him and sent him away.


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And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbor, At the command of the Lord, strike me, I pray you. And the man refused to strike him.


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Then said he to him, Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you have left me a lion will slay you. And as soon as he departed from him, a lion found him and killed him.


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Then [the prophet] found another man and said, Strike me, I pray you. And the man struck him, so that in striking, he wounded him.


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So the prophet departed and waited for King Ahab by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face.


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And as the king passed by, the [prophet] cried out to him, Your servant went out into the midst of the battle, and behold, a man turned aside and brought a man to me and said, Keep this man. If for any reason he is missing, then your life shall be required for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.


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But while your servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said to him, Such is your own verdict; you yourself have decided it.


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The man hastily removed the ashes from his face, and Ahab king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.


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And he said to the king, Thus says the Lord: Because you have let go out of your hand the man I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.


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Now Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, close beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria; and after these things,


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Ahab said to Naboth, Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near my house. I will give you a better vineyard for it or, if you prefer, I will give you its worth in money.


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And Ahab [already depressed by the Lord’s message to him] came into his house [more] resentful and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him; for he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. And he lay down on his bed, turned away his face, and would eat no food.


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And he said to her, Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, Give me your vineyard for money; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard for it. And he answered, I will not give you my vineyard.


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Jezebel his wife said to him, Do you not govern Israel? Arise, eat food, and let your heart be happy. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.


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So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal and sent them to the elders and nobles who dwelt with Naboth in his city.


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And set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them bear witness against him, saying, You cursed <i>and</i> renounced God and the king. Then carry him out and stone him to death.


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And the men of his city, the elders and the nobles who dwelt there, did as Jezebel had directed in the letters sent them.


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Two base fellows came in and sat opposite him and they charged Naboth before the people, saying, Naboth cursed <i>and</i> renounced God and the king. Then he was carried out of the city and stoned to death.


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Then Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite which he refused to sell you, for Naboth is not alive, but dead.


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When Ahab heard that, he arose to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it.


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Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel in Samaria. He is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to possess it.


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Say to him, Thus says the Lord: Have you killed and also taken possession? Thus says the Lord: In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your blood, even yours.


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And Ahab said to Elijah, Have you found me, O my enemy? And he answered, I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord.


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See [says the Lord], I will bring evil on you and utterly sweep away and cut off from Ahab every male, bond and free,


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And will make your household like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the household of Baasha son of Ahijah, for the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger and made Israel to sin.


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Any belonging to Ahab who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and any who dies in the field the birds of the air shall eat. <f>ⓐ</f>


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For there was no one who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord as did Ahab, incited by his wife Jezebel.


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He did very abominably in going after idols, as had the Amorites, whom the Lord cast out before the Israelites.


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When Ahab heard those words of Elijah, he tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his flesh, fasted, lay in sackcloth, and went quietly.


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Do you see how Ahab humbles himself before Me? Because he humbles himself before Me, I will not bring the evil in his lifetime, but in his son’s day I will bring the evil upon his house.


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And [Ahab] king of Israel said to his servants, Do you know that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we keep silence and do not take it from the king of Syria?


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And [Ahab] said to Jehoshaphat, Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead to battle? Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.


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But Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Inquire first, I pray you, for the word of the Lord today.


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Then [Ahab] king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about 400 men, and said to them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I hold back? And they said, Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.


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[Ahab] king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good for me, but evil. Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say that.


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Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting in [royal] robes [or armor], each on his throne in an open place [on a threshing floor] at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.


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And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron and said, Thus says the Lord: With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.


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And all the prophets agreed, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead and prosper, for the Lord will deliver it into the king’s hand.


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The messenger who went to call Micaiah said to him, Behold now, the prophets unanimously declare good to the king. Let your answer, I pray you, be like theirs, and say what is good.


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So he came to the king. King [Ahab] said, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we hold back? And he answered, Go and prosper, for the Lord will deliver it into the king’s hand.


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And the king said to him, How many times must I charge you to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?


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And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills as sheep that have no shepherd, and the Lord said, These have no master. Let them return every man to his house in peace.


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Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell you that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?


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And Micaiah said, Hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left.


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And the Lord said, Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? One said this way, another said that way.


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Then there came forth a spirit [of whom I am about to tell] and stood before the Lord and said, I will entice him.


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The Lord said to him, By what means? And he said, I will go forth and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets. [The Lord] said, You shall entice him and succeed also. Go forth and do it.


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So the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets; and the Lord has spoken evil concerning you.


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But Zedekiah son of Chenaanah went near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak to you?


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[Ahab] king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, carry him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son,


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And say, The king says, Put this fellow in prison and feed him with bread and water of affliction until I come in peace.


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Micaiah said, If you return at all in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me. He [added], Hear, O people, every one of you!


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And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and enter the battle, but you put on your [royal] clothing. And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle.


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But the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, Fight neither with small nor great, but only with [Ahab] king of Israel.


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And when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. They turned to fight against him, but Jehoshaphat cried out.


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And when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.


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But a certain man drew a bow at a venture and smote [Ahab] the king of Israel between the joints of the armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, Turn around and carry me out of the army, for I am wounded.


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The battle increased that day, and [Ahab] the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians, and at nightfall he died. And the blood of his wound flowed onto the floor of the chariot.


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And there went a cry throughout the army about sundown, saying, Every man to his city and his own country,


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And they washed [his] chariot by the pool of Samaria, where the harlots bathed, and the dogs licked up his blood, as the Lord had predicted. <f>ⓐ</f>


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The rest of Ahab’s acts, all he did, the ivory palace and all the cities he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


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Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.


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He walked in all the ways <i>or</i> customs of Asa his father, never swerving from it, doing right in the sight of the Lord. However, the [idolatrous] high places were not taken away; for the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.


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The rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, his might that he showed and how he warred, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


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And the remnant of the sodomites (the male cult prostitutes) who remained in the days of his father Asa, [Jehoshaphat] expelled from the country.


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Jehoshaphat ordered ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go, for the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber.


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When Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with your servants in the ships, Jehoshaphat refused.


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Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with them in the city of David his father [forefather]. And Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.


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Ahaziah son of Ahab began his two-year reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.


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He did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the ways of his father [Ahab] and of his mother [Jezebel] and of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel sin.


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He served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger in all the ways his father had done.


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[King] Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria and lay sick. He sent messengers, saying, Go, ask Baal-zebub, the god of [Philistine] Ekron, if I shall recover from this illness.


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But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king in Samaria and say to them, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?


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Therefore the Lord says: You [Ahaziah] shall not leave the bed on which you lie, but shall surely die. And Elijah departed.


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They replied, A man came up to meet us who said, Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, Thus says the Lord: Is there no God in Israel that you send to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not leave the bed on which you lie, but shall surely die.


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They answered, He was a hairy man with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.


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Then the king sent to Elijah a captain of fifty men with his fifty [to seize him]. He found Elijah sitting on a hilltop and said, Man of God, the king says, Come down.


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Elijah said to the captain of fifty, If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. And fire fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.


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Again King [Ahaziah] sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he said to Elijah, Man of God, the king has said, Come down quickly!


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And Elijah answered, If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.


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Ahaziah sent again a captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up and fell on his knees before Elijah and besought him and said to him, O man of God, I pray you, let my life and the lives of these fifty, your servants, be precious in your sight.


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Behold, fire came down from heaven and burned up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties. Therefore let my life now be precious in your sight.


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The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, Go down with him; do not be afraid of him. So he arose and went with him to the king.


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Elijah said to [King] Ahaziah, Thus says the Lord: Since you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel of Whom to inquire His word? Therefore you shall not leave the bed on which you lie, but shall surely die.


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So Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken. <f>[1]</f>Joram [also a son of Ahab] reigned in Israel in his stead in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, because Ahaziah had no son [but his brother].


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Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


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When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were going from Gilgal.


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And Elijah said to Elisha, Tarry here, I pray you, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel. But Elisha replied, As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel.


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The prophets’ sons who were at Bethel came to Elisha and said, Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today? He said, Yes, I know it; hold your peace.


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Elijah said to him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray you, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. But he said, As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they came to Jericho.


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The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said, Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today? And he answered, Yes, I know it; hold your peace.


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Elijah said to him, Tarry here, I pray you, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan. But he said, As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. And the two of them went on.


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Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood [to watch] afar off; and the two of them stood by the Jordan.


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And Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up and struck the waters, and they divided this way and that, so that the two of them went over on dry ground.


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And when they had gone over, Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, I pray you, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.


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He said, You have asked a hard thing. However, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you — but if not, it shall not be so.


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As they still went on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire parted the two of them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.


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And Elisha saw it and he cried, My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and its horsemen! And he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.


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He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.


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And he took the mantle that fell from Elijah and struck the waters and said, Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? And when he had struck the waters, they parted this way and that, and Elisha went over.


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When the sons of the prophets who were [watching] at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him.


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And they said to him, Behold now, there are among your servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray you, and seek your master. It may be that the Spirit of the Lord has taken him up and cast him on some mountain or into some valley. And he said, You shall not send.


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But when they urged him till he was embarrassed, he said, Send. So they sent fifty men, who sought for three days but did not find him.


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When they returned to Elisha, who had waited at Jericho, he said to them, Did I not tell you, Do not go?


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And the men of the city said to Elisha, Behold, inhabiting of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad and the locality causes miscarriage <i>and</i> barrenness [in all animals].


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He said, Bring me a new bowl and put salt [the symbol of God’s purifying power] in it. And they brought it to him.


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Then Elisha went to the spring of the waters and cast the salt in it and said, Thus says the Lord: I [not the salt] have healed these waters; there shall not be any more death, miscarriage <i>or</i> barrenness [and bereavement] because of it.


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He went up from Jericho to Bethel. On the way, <f>[1]</f>young [maturing and accountable] boys came out of the city and mocked him and said to him, Go up [in a whirlwind], you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!


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And he turned around and looked at them and called a curse down on them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and ripped up forty-two of the boys.


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Joram son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.


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He did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father and mother; for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made.


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Yet he clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not from them.


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<f>[1]</f>Mesha king of Moab was a sheepmaster, and paid in tribute to the king of Israel [annually] 100,000 lambs and 100,000 rams, with the wool.


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And he sent to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to war against Moab? And he said, I will go; I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.


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So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. They made a circuit of seven days’ journey, but there was no water for the army or for the animals following them.


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Then the king of Israel said, Alas! The Lord has called [us] three kings together to be delivered into Moab’s hand!


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But Jehoshaphat said, Is there no prophet of the Lord here by whom we may inquire of the Lord? One of the king of Israel’s servants answered, Elisha son of Shaphat, who served Elijah, is here.


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Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him. So Joram king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to Elisha.


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And Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your [wicked] father Ahab and your [wicked] mother Jezebel. But the king of Israel said to him, No, for the Lord has called [us] three kings together to be delivered into the hand of Moab.


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And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts lives, before Whom I stand, surely, were it not that I respect the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you [King Joram].


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But now bring me a minstrel. And while the minstrel played, the hand <i>and</i> power of the Lord came upon [Elisha].


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For thus says the Lord: You shall not see wind or rain, yet that ravine shall be filled with water, so you, your cattle, and your beasts [of burden] may drink.


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This is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will deliver the Moabites also into your hands.


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You shall smite every fenced city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop all wells of water and mar every good piece of land with stones.


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In the morning, when the sacrifice was offered, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.


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When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armor, young and old, gathered and drew up at the border.


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When they rose up early next morning, and the sun shone upon the water, the Moabites saw the water across from them as red as blood.


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And they said, This is blood; the kings have surely been fighting and have slain one another. Now then, Moab, to the spoil!


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But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them. And they went forward, slaying the Moabites as they went.


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They beat down the cities [walls], and on every good piece of land every man cast a stone, covering it [with stones]. And they stopped all the springs of water and felled all the good trees, until only the stones [of the walls of Moab’s capital city] of Kir-hareseth were left standing, and the slingers surrounded and took it.


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And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was against him, he took with him 700 swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not.


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Then he [Moab’s king] took his eldest son, who was to reign in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall [in full view of the horrified enemy kings]. And there was great indignation, wrath, <i>and</i> bitterness against Israel; and they [his allies Judah and Edom] withdrew from [Joram] and returned to their own land.


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Now the wife of a son of the prophets cried to Elisha, Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. But the creditor has come to take my two sons to be his slaves.


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Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you [of sale value] in the house? She said, Your handmaid has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.


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And when you come in, shut the door upon you and your sons. Then pour out [the oil you have] into all those vessels, setting aside each one when it is full.


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So she went from him and shut the door upon herself and her sons, who brought to her the vessels as she poured the oil.


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When the vessels were all full, she said to her son, Bring me another vessel. And he said to her, There is not a one left. Then the oil stopped multiplying.


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Then 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.


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One day Elisha went on to Shunem, where a rich and influential woman lived, who insisted on his eating a meal. Afterward, whenever he passed by, he stopped there for a meal.


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And she said to her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God who passes by continually.


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Let us make a small chamber on the [housetop] and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. Then whenever he comes to us, he can go [up the outside stairs and rest] here.


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And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. When he had called her, she stood before him.


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And he said to Gehazi, Say now to her, You have been most painstakingly <i>and</i> reverently concerned for us; what is to be done for you? Would you like to be spoken for to the king or to the commander of the army? She answered, I dwell among my own people [they are sufficient].


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Later Elisha said, What then is to be done for her? Gehazi answered, She has no child and her husband is old.


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Elisha said, At this season when the time comes round, you shall embrace a son. She said, No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your handmaid.


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But the woman conceived and bore a son at that season the following year, as Elisha had said to her.


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And she called to her husband and said, Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may go quickly to the man of God and come back again.


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And he said, Why go to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath. And she said, It will be all right.


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Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, Ride fast; do not slacken your pace for me unless I tell you.


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So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her afar off, he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite.


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Run to meet her and say, Is it well with you? Well with your husband? Well with the child? And she answered, It is well.


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When she came to the mountain to the man of God, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came to thrust her away, but the man of God said, Let her alone, for her soul is bitter <i>and</i> vexed within her, and the Lord has hid it from me and has not told me.


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Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand and go lay my staff on the face of the child. If you meet any man, do not salute him. If he salutes you, do not answer him.


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The mother of the child said, As the Lord lives and as my soul lives, I will not leave you. And he arose and followed her.


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Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff on the child’s face, but the boy neither spoke nor heard. So he went back to meet Elisha and said to him, The child has not awakened.


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He went up and lay on the child, put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself on him <i>and</i> embraced him, the child’s flesh became warm.


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Then he returned and walked in the house to and fro and went up again and stretched himself upon him. And the child sneezed seven times, and then opened his eyes.


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Then [Elisha] called Gehazi and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she came, he said, Take up your son.


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Elisha came back to Gilgal during a famine in the land. The sons of the prophets were sitting before him, and he said to his servant, Set on the big pot and cook pottage for the sons of the prophets.


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Then one went into the field to gather herbs and gathered from a wild vine his lap full of wild gourds, and returned and cut them up into the pot of pottage, for they were unknown to them.


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So they poured it out for the men to eat. But as they ate of the pottage, they cried out, O man of God, there is death in the pot! And they could not eat it.


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But he said, Bring meal [as a symbol of God’s healing power]. And he cast it into the pot and said, Pour it out for the people that they may eat. Then there was no harm in the pot.


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[At another time] a man from Baal-shalisha came and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain [in the husk] in his sack. And Elisha said, Give to the men that they may eat.


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His servant said, How am I to set [only] this before a hundred [hungry] men? He said, Give to the men that they may eat. For thus says the Lord: They shall be fed and have some left.


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Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, accepted [and acceptable], because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.


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The Syrians had gone out in bands and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited on Naaman’s wife.


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She said to her mistress, Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.


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And the king of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold, and ten changes of raiment.


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And he brought the letter to the king of Israel. It said, When this letter comes to you, I will with it have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of leprosy.


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When the king of Israel read the letter, he rent 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? Just consider and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.


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When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent to the king, asking, Why have you rent your clothes? Let Naaman come now to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.


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Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.


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But Naaman was angry and went away and said, Behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and heal the leper.


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Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.


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And his servants came near and said to him, My father, if the prophet had bid you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, then, when he says to you, Wash and be clean?


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Then he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, as the man of God had said, and his flesh was restored like that of a little child, and he was clean.


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Then Naaman returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and stood before him. He said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel. So now accept a gift from your servant.


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Elisha said, As the Lord lives, before Whom I stand, I will accept none. He urged him to take it, but Elisha refused.


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Naaman said, Then, I pray you, let there be given to me, your servant, two mules’ burden of earth. For your servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but only to the Lord.


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In this thing may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master [the king] goes into the house of [his god] Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant in this thing.


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But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving from his hands what he brought. But as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.


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So Gehazi followed after Naaman. When Naaman saw one running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him and said, Is all well?


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And he said, All is well. My master has sent me to say, There have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. I pray you, give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.


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And Naaman said, Be pleased to take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of garments and laid them upon two of his servants, and they bore them before Gehazi.


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When he came to the hill, he took them from their hands and put them in the house; and he sent the men away, and they left.


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He went in and stood before his master. Elisha said, Where have you been, Gehazi? He said, Your servant went nowhere.


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Elisha said to him, Did not my spirit go with you when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it a time to accept money, garments, olive orchards, vineyards, sheep, oxen, menservants, and maidservants?


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Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to you and to your offspring forever. And Gehazi went from his presence a leper as white as snow.


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The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, Look now, the place where we live before you is too small for us.


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Let us go to the Jordan, and each man get there a [house] beam; and let us make us a place there where we may dwell. And he answered, Go.


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But as one was felling his beam, the axhead fell into the water; and he cried, Alas, my master, for it was borrowed!


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The man of God said, Where did it fall? When shown the place, Elisha cut off a stick and threw it in there, and the iron floated.


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When the king of Syria was warring against Israel, after counseling with his servants, he said, In such and such a place shall be my camp.


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Then the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, Beware that you pass not such a place, for the Syrians are coming down there.


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Then the king of Israel sent to the place of which [Elisha] told <i>and</i> warned him; and thus he protected <i>and</i> saved himself there repeatedly.


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Therefore the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing. He called his servants and said, Will you show me who of us is for the king of Israel?


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One of his servants said, None, my lord O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.


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He said, Go and see where he is, that I may send and seize him. And it was told him, He is in Dothan.


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So [the Syrian king] sent there horses, chariots, and a great army. They came by night and surrounded the city.


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When the servant of the man of God rose early and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was around the city. Elisha’s servant said to him, Alas, my master! What shall we do?


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Then Elisha prayed, Lord, I pray You, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.


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And when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, Smite this people with blindness, I pray You. And God smote them with blindness, as Elisha asked.


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Elisha said to the Syrians, This is not the way or the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek. And he led them to Samaria.


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And when they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw. Behold, they were in the midst of Samaria!


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When the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, My father, shall I slay them? Shall I slay them?


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[Elisha] answered, You shall not slay them. Would you slay those you have taken captive with your sword and bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and return to their master.


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So [the king] prepared great provision for them, and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.


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And a great famine came to Samaria. They besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung [a wild vegetable] for five shekels of silver.


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He said, [For] if he does not help you [No, let the Lord help you!], from where can I get you help? Out of the threshing floor, or out of the winepress?


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And the king said to her, What ails you? She answered, This woman said to me, Give me your son so we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.


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So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, Give your son so we may eat him, but she had hidden her son.


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When the king heard the woman’s words, he rent his clothes. As he went on upon the wall, the people looked, and behold, he wore sackcloth inside on his flesh.


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Then he said, May God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day!


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Now Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him. And the king sent a man from before him [to behead Elisha]. But before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, See how this son of [Jezebel] a murderer is sending to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it fast against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet [just] behind him?


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And while Elisha was talking with them, behold, [the messenger] came to him [and then the king came also]. And [the relenting king] said, This evil is from the Lord! Why should I any longer wait [expecting Him to withdraw His punishment? What, Elisha, can be done now]?


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Then Elisha said, Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will sell for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria!


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Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, If the Lord should make windows in heaven, could this thing be? But Elisha said, You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.


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Now four men who were lepers were at the entrance of the city’s gate; and they said to one another, Why do we sit here until we die?


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If we say, We will enter the city — then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we sit still here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the army of the Syrians. If they spare us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.


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So they arose in the twilight and went to the Syrian camp. But when they came to the edge of the camp, no man was there.


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For the Lord had made the Syrian army hear a noise of chariots and horses, the noise of a great army. They had said to one another, The king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to come upon us.


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So the Syrians arose and fled in the twilight and left their tents, horses, donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their lives.


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And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid them [in the darkness]. Then they entered another tent and carried from there also and went and hid it.


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Then they said one to another, We are not doing right. This is a day of [glad] good news and we are silent <i>and</i> do not speak up! If we wait until daylight, some punishment will come upon us [for not reporting at once]. So now come, let us go and tell the king’s household.


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So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city. They told them, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was neither sight nor sound of man there — only the horses and donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.


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And the king rose in the night and said to his servants, I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the open country, thinking, When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and get into the city.


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One of his servants said, Let some men take five of the remaining horses; [if they are caught and killed] they will be no worse off than all the multitude of Israel left in the city to be consumed. Let us send and see.


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They went after them to the Jordan. All the way was strewn with clothing and equipment which the Syrians had cast away in their flight. And the messengers returned and told the king.


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Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, as the Lord had spoken [through Elisha]. <f>ⓐ</f>


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The king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate, and the [starving] people trampled him in the gate [as they struggled to get through for food], and he died, as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to him.


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When the man of God had told the king, Two measures of barley shall sell for a shekel and a measure of fine flour for a shekel tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria,


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The captain had told the man of God, If the Lord should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be? And he said, You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it. <f>ⓑ</f>


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Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, Arise and go with your household and sojourn wherever you can, for the Lord has called for a famine, and moreover, it will come upon the land for seven years.


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So the woman arose and did as the man of God had said. She went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.


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At the end of the seven years the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, and she went to appeal to the king for her house and land.


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The king talked with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me all the great things Elisha has done.


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And as Gehazi was telling the king how [Elisha] had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and land. And Gehazi said, My lord O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life.


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When 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.


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Elisha came to Damascus, and Ben-hadad king of Syria was sick; and he was told, The man of God has come here.


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And the king said to Hazael, Take a present in your hand and go meet the man of God, and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, Shall I recover from this disease?


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So Hazael went to meet Elisha and took a present with him of every good thing of Damascus, forty camel loads, and came and stood before him and said, Your son Ben-hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, asking, Shall I recover from this disease?


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And Elisha said, Go, say to him, You shall certainly recover; but the Lord has shown me that he shall certainly die.


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And Hazael said, Why do you weep, my lord? He answered, Because I know the evil that you will do to the Israelites. You will burn their strongholds, slay their young men with the sword, dash their infants in pieces, and rip up their pregnant women.


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And Hazael said, What is your servant, only a dog, that he should do this monstrous thing? And Elisha answered, The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Syria.


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Then [Hazael] departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, What did Elisha say to you? And he answered, He told me you would surely recover.


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But the next day Hazael took the bedspread and dipped it in water and spread it on [the Syrian king’s] face, so that he died. And Hazael reigned in his stead.


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In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign.


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He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, for [Athaliah] the daughter of Ahab was his wife. He did evil in the sight of the Lord.


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Yet, for David His servant’s sake, the Lord would not destroy Judah, for He promised to give him and his sons a lamp forever.


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So Jehoram [of Judah] went over to Zair with all his chariots. He and his chariot commanders rose up by night and slew the Edomites who had surrounded them; and [escaping] his army fled home.


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The rest of the acts of Jehoram, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


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Jehoram slept with his fathers and was buried with [them] in the City of David. Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.


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In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign.


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Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri king of Israel.


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He walked in the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the Lord, as did the house of Ahab, for his father was son-in-law of Ahab.


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Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Syria in Ramoth-gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram.


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King Joram returned to Jezreel to be healed of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.


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And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, Gird up your loins, take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead.


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When you arrive, look there for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi; and go in and have him arise from among his brethren and lead him to an inner chamber.


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Then take the cruse of oil and pour it on his head and say, Thus says the Lord: I have anointed you king over Israel. Then open the door and flee; do not tarry.


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And when he came, the captains of the army were sitting outside; and he said, I have a message for you, O captain. Jehu said, To which of us? And he said, To you, O captain.


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And Jehu arose, and they went into the house. And the prophet poured the oil on Jehu’s head and said to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel.


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You shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets and of all the servants of the Lord [who have died] at the hands of Jezebel.


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For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel.


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I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. <f>ⓐ</f>


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And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and none shall bury her. And he opened the door and fled. [Fulfilled in II Kings 9:33-37.]


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When Jehu came out to the servants of his master, one said to him, Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you? And he said to them, You know that class of man and what he would say.


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And they said, That is false; tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus he spoke to me, saying, Thus says the Lord: I have anointed you king over Israel.


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Then they hastily took every man his garment and put it [for a cushion] under Jehu on the top of the [outside] stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king!


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So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram [to dethrone and slay him]. Now Joram was holding Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, against Hazael king of Syria,


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But 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. And Jehu said, If this is your mind, let no one make his escape from the city [Ramoth-gilead] to go and tell it in Jezreel [the capital].


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So Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram.


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A watchman on the tower in Jezreel spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Send a horseman to meet them and have him ask, Do you come in peace?


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So one on horseback went to meet him and said, Thus says the king: Is it peace? And Jehu said, What have you to do with peace? Rein in behind me. And the watchman reported, The messenger came to them, but he does not return.


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Then Joram sent out a second man on horseback, who came to them and said, Thus says the king: Is it peace? Jehu replied, What have you to do with peace? Ride behind me.


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And the watchman reported, He came to them, but does not return; also the driving is like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.


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Joram said, Make ready. When his chariot was made ready, Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot. Thus they went out to meet Jehu and met him in the field of Naboth the Jezreelite.


text:
When Joram saw Jehu, he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, How can peace exist as long as the fornications of your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?


text:
But Jehu drew his bow with his full strength and shot Joram between his shoulders; and the arrow went out through his heart, and he sank down in his chariot.


text:
Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take [Joram] up and cast him in the plot of Naboth the Jezreelite’s field; for remember how, when I and you rode together after Ahab his father, the Lord uttered this prophecy against him:


text:
As surely as I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, says the Lord, I will repay you on this plot of ground, says the Lord. Now therefore, take and cast Joram into the plot of ground [of Naboth], as the word of the Lord said. <f>ⓑ</f>


text:
When Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. Jehu followed him and said, Smite him also in the chariot. And they did so at the ascent to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And [Ahaziah] fled to Megiddo and died there.


text:
His servants took him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulcher with his fathers in the City of David.


text:
Now when Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it, and she painted her eyes and beautified her head and looked out of [an upper] window.


text:
And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, [Have you come in] peace, you Zimri, who slew his master? <f>ⓒ</f>


text:
Jehu lifted up his face to the window and said, Who is on my side? Who? And two or three eunuchs looked out at him.


text:
And he said, Throw her down! So they threw her down, and some of her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses, and he drove over her.


text:
When he came in, he ate and drank, and said, See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.


text:
They went to bury her, but they found nothing left of her except the skull, feet, and palms of her hands.


text:
They came again and told Jehu. He said, This is the word of the Lord which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel. <f>ⓓ</f>


text:
The corpse of Jezebel shall be like dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.


text:
Ahab had seventy [grandsons] in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them from Jezreel to the rulers of Samaria, to the elders, and to those who brought up Ahab’s [grandsons], saying,


text:
Now as soon as this letter comes to you, seeing your master [Joram’s] sons are with you and also chariots and horses, a fortified city, and weapons,


text:
Select the best and most fit of your master’s sons and set him on his father’s throne; and fight for your master’s house.


text:
But they were exceedingly afraid and reasoned, The two kings could not stand before [Jehu]; how then can we stand?


text:
And he who was over the household, he who was over the city, the elders also, and the guardians <i>and</i> tutors sent to Jehu, saying, We are your servants and will do all that you bid us; [but] we will not make any man king; do what is good in your eyes.


text:
Then [Jehu] wrote a second letter to them, saying, If you are with me and will obey me, take the heads of your master [Joram’s] sons and come to me at Jezreel by tomorrow this time. Now the [dead] king’s sons, seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who were bringing them up.


text:
When the letter came to these men, they took the king’s sons and slew them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.


text:
When a 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 city gate until morning.


text:
The next morning he went out and stood and said to all the people, You are just <i>and</i> innocent. Behold, I conspired against my master and slew him, but who smote all these?


text:
Know now that nothing which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab shall be unfulfilled <i>or</i> ineffective; for the Lord has done what He said through His servant Elijah.


text:
So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, his familiar friends, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.


text:
Jehu met the kinsmen of Ahaziah king of Judah and said, Who are you? They answered, We are the kinsmen of Ahaziah, and we came down to visit the royal princes and the sons of [Jezebel] the queen mother.


text:
He said, Take them alive. And they did so and slew them at the cistern of the shearing house, forty-two men; he left none of them.


text:
When Jehu left there, he met Jehonadab son of Rechab coming to meet him. He saluted him and said to him, Is your heart right, as my heart is with yours? Jehonadab answered, It is. [Jehu said] If it is, give me your hand. He gave him his hand, and Jehu took him up into the chariot.


text:
And he said, Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. So they made [the Rechabite] ride in Jehu’s chariot.


text:
When Jehu came to Samaria, he slew all who remained of Ahab’s family in Samaria, till he had destroyed them all, according to what the Lord said to Elijah.


text:
Jehu assembled all the people and said to them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu will serve him much.


text:
So call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers, and all his priests. Let none be missing, for I have a great sacrifice to make to Baal; whoever is missing shall not live. But Jehu did it with trickery, intending to destroy the Baal worshipers.


text:
Jehu sent through all Israel, and all the worshipers of Baal came; not a man failed to come. They went to the house <i>or</i> temple of Baal, filling it from one end to the other.


text:
And he said to the man over the vestry, Bring vestments for all the worshipers of Baal. And he brought them vestments.


text:
Then Jehu with Jehonadab son of Rechab went into the house of Baal and said to the worshipers of Baal, Search and see that there are here with you none of the servants of the Lord — but Baal worshipers only.


text:
And when they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, Jehu appointed eighty men outside and said, If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he who lets him go shall forfeit his own life for his life.


text:
As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and to the officers, Go in and slay them; let none escape. And they smote them with the sword; and the guards <i>or</i> runners [before the king] and the officers threw their bodies out and went into the inner dwelling of the house of Baal.


text:
They broke down the pillars of Baal and the house of Baal, and made it [forever unclean] a privy to this day.


text:
But Jehu did not give up the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, by which he made Israel to sin, that is, the golden calves at Bethel and Dan. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
And the Lord said to Jehu, Because you have executed well what is right in My eyes and have done to the house of Ahab as I willed, your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on Israel’s throne. [Fulfilled in II Kings 15:12.]


text:
But Jehu paid no attention to walking in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not quit the sins with which Jeroboam made Israel to sin.


text:
[So] in those days the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel. Hazael [of Syria] defeated them in all the [across the Jordan] territory of Israel


text:
From the Jordan east, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, Reubenites, and Manassites, from Aroer which is by the Valley of the Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.


text:
The rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


text:
When Athaliah the mother of [King] Ahaziah [of Judah] saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal descendants.


text:
But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram, [half] sister of Ahaziah, stole Joash son of Ahaziah from among the king’s sons, who were to be slain, even him and his nurse, and hid them from Athaliah in an inner storeroom for beds; so he was not slain.


text:
Joash was with his nurse hidden in the house of the Lord for six years. And Athaliah reigned over the land.


text:
In the seventh year Jehoiada [the priest, Jehosheba’s husband] sent for the captains over hundreds of the Carites and of the guards <i>or</i> runners and brought them to him to the house of the Lord and made a covenant with them and took an oath from them in the house of the Lord and showed them the king’s [hidden] son.


text:
And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing you shall do: a third of you who come in on the Sabbath shall keep watch of the king’s house,


text:
A third shall be at the gate Sur, and a third at the gate behind the guard. So you shall keep watch of the palace [from three places] and be a barrier.


text:
And two divisions of all you who should go off duty on the Sabbath shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord to [protect] the king.


text:
You shall surround the [little] king, every man with his weapons in his hand. And let anyone who breaks through the ranks be put to death. You be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in.


text:
The captains over the hundreds did all that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and they took every man his men who were to come on duty on the Sabbath with those who should go off duty on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest.


text:
To the captains over hundreds the priest gave the spears and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of the Lord.


text:
And the guards stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the right corner to the left corner of the temple area, along by the altar [in the court] and the temple proper.


text:
And Jehoiada brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him the Testimony [the Mosaic Law]; and they proclaimed him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, Long live the king!


text:
When Athaliah heard the noise of the guards and the people, she went into the house of the Lord to the people.


text:
When she looked, there stood the king [on the platform] by the pillar, as was customary [on such occasions], and the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, with all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets. And Athaliah rent her clothes and cried, Treason! Treason!


text:
Then Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds set over the army and said to them, Take her forth outside the ranks, and him who follows her kill with the sword. For the priest had said, Let her not be slain in the house of the Lord.


text:
They seized her, and she went through the horses’ entrance to the king’s house, and there she was slain.


text:
And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord, the king, and the people that they would be the Lord’s people — and also between the king and the people.


text:
Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal and destroyed it. His altar and his images they broke completely in pieces, and Mattan the priest of Baal they slew before the altars. And [Jehoiada] the priest appointed watchmen to guard the house of the Lord.


text:
Then he took the rulers over hundreds, the captains, the guard, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the Lord and came by way of the guards’ gate to the king’s house. And [little] Joash was seated on the throne of the kings.


text:
So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been slain with the sword beside the king’s house.


text:
In the seventh year of Jehu, <f>[1]</f>Joash began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zibiah of Beersheba.


text:
Yet the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.


text:
And Joash said to the priests, All the current money brought into the house of the Lord to provide the dedicated things, also the money [which the priests by command have] assessed on all those bound by vows, also all the money that it comes into any man’s heart voluntarily to bring into the house of the Lord,


text:
Let the priests solicit <i>and</i> receive such contributions, every man from his acquaintance, and let them repair the Lord’s house wherever any such need may be found.


text:
But in the twenty-third year of King Joash’s reign the priests had not made the needed repairs on the Lord’s house.


text:
Then King Joash called for Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, Why are you not repairing the [Lord’s] house? Do not take any more money from your acquaintances, but turn it all over for the repair of the house. [You are no longer responsible for this work. I will take it into my own hands.]


text:
And the priests consented to receive no more money from the people, nor to repair the breaches of the house.


text:
Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in the lid of it and set it beside the altar on the right side as one entered the house of the Lord; and the priests who guarded the door put in the chest all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord.


text:
And whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king’s scribe and the high priest came up and counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord and tied it up in bags.


text:
Then they gave the money, when it was weighed, into the hands of those who were doing the work, who had the oversight of the house of the Lord; and they paid it out to the carpenters and builders who worked on the house of the Lord


text:
And to the masons and stonecutters, and to buy timber and hewn stone for making the repairs on the house of the Lord, and for all that was outlay for repairing the house.


text:
However, there were not made for the house of the Lord basins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, any vessels of gold or of silver, from the money that was brought into the house of the Lord.


text:
Moreover, they did not require an accounting from the men into whose hands they delivered the money to be paid to the workmen, for they dealt faithfully.


text:
The money from the guilt offerings and sin offerings was not brought into the house of the Lord; it was the priests’.


text:
Then Hazael king of Syria went up, fought against Gath [in Philistia], and took it. And Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.


text:
And Joash king of Judah took all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his [forefathers], kings of Judah, had dedicated and his own hallowed things and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and in the king’s house, and sent them to Hazael king of Syria; and Hazael went away from Jerusalem.


text:
The rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


text:
His servants arose and made a conspiracy and slew Joash [in revenge] in the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
It was Jozachar son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer, his servants, who smote him so that he died. They buried [Joash] with his fathers in the City of David. Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.


text:
In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years.


text:
He did evil in the sight of the Lord and followed the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin, and did not depart from them.


text:
The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and of Ben-hadad son of Hazael continually.


text:
But Jehoahaz besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened to him, for He saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria burdened them.


text:
Then the Lord gave Israel a savior [one to rescue and give them peace], so that they escaped from under the hand of the Syrians; and the Israelites dwelt in their tents <i>or</i> homes as before.


text:
Yet they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin; but the nation walked in them. And the Asherah [symbol of the goddess Asherah] remained in Samaria.


text:
[Ben-hadad] of Syria did not leave to Jehoahaz of [Israel] an army of more than fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 footmen, for the Syrian king had destroyed them and made them like dust to be trampled.


text:
The rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, all that he did and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


text:
Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. <f>[1]</f>Jehoash his son reigned in his stead.


text:
In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years.


text:
He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel sin; he walked in them.


text:
The rest of the acts of Jehoash, all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


text:
Jehoash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam [II] sat on his throne. Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.


text:
Now Elisha [previously] had become ill of the illness of which he died. And Jehoash king of Israel came down to him and wept over him and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen of it! <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
And he said to the king of Israel, Put your hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it, and Elisha put his hands upon the king’s hands.


text:
And he said, Open the window to the east. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria. For you shall smite the Syrians in Aphek till you have destroyed them.


text:
Then he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Strike on the ground. And he struck three times and stopped.


text:
And the man of God was angry with him and said, You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had destroyed it. But now you shall strike Syria down only three times.


text:
Elisha died, and they buried him. Bands of the Moabites invaded the land in the spring of the next year.


text:
As a man was being buried [on an open bier], such a band was seen coming; and the man was cast into Elisha’s grave. And when the man being let down touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.


text:
But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them and turned toward them because of <f>[2]</f>His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them or cast them from His presence yet. <f>ⓑ</f>


text:
Jehoash son of Jehoahaz recovered from Ben-hadad son of Hazael the cities which he had taken from Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times Jehoash defeated him, and recovered the cities of Israel. <f>ⓒ</f>


text:
In the second year of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel, Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah reigned.


text:
He was twenty-five years old when he began his twenty-nine-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem.


text:
He did right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David his [forefather]. He did all things as Joash his father did.


text:
But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.


text:
As soon as the kingdom was established in Amaziah’s hand, he slew his servants who had slain the king his father. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
But he did not slay the children of the murderers, in compliance with what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, in which the Lord commanded, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin only.


text:
Amaziah slew of Edom in the Valley of Salt 10,000, and took Sela (Greek <i>petra</i> [rock]) by war, and called it Joktheel, which is the name of it to this day.


text:
Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face <i>and</i> test each other.


text:
Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah, The thistle in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son as wife. And a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle [leaving the cedar unharmed].


text:
You have indeed smitten Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Glory in that, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to your hurt <i>and</i> provoke calamity, causing you to fall, you and Judah with you?


text:
But Amaziah would not hear. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah measured swords at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.


text:
And Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, 400 cubits.


text:
He seized all the gold and silver and all the vessels found in the Lord’s house and in the treasuries of the king’s house, also hostages, and returned to Samaria.


text:
The rest of the acts of Jehoash, his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of Israel’s Kings?


text:
Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with Israel’s kings. Jeroboam [II] reigned in his stead.


text:
Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years.


text:
The rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


text:
Now a conspiracy was made against him in Jerusalem, and Amaziah fled to Lachish, but they sent after him to Lachish and slew him there.


text:
And all the people of Judah took Azariah, sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.


text:
In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam [II] son of Jehoash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty-one years.


text:
He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam [I] son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin.


text:
Jeroboam restored Israel’s border from the entrance of Hamath to the [Dead] Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-hepher.


text:
For the Lord saw as very bitter the affliction of Israel; there was no one left, bond or free, nor any helper for Israel.


text:
But the Lord had not said that He would blot out the name of Israel from under the heavens, so He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam [II] son of Jehoash.


text:
The rest of the acts of Jeroboam [II], all that he did, his might, how he warred, and how he recovered for Israel Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


text:
In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam [II] king of Israel, Azariah (Uzziah) son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign.


text:
He was sixteen years old when he began his fifty-two-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.


text:
Except the high places were not removed; the people sacrificed and burned incense still on the high places.


text:
And the Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper to his dying day, and dwelt in a separate house. Jotham the king’s son was over the household, judging the people of the land. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
The rest of Azariah’s acts, all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


text:
Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with them in the City of David. Jotham his son reigned in his stead.


text:
In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah Zechariah son of Jeroboam [II] reigned over Israel in Samaria six months.


text:
He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had done; he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam [I] son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin.


text:
Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah and struck and killed him before the people and reigned in his stead.


text:
The rest of the acts of Zechariah, see, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.


text:
This was the fulfillment of the promise to Jehu from the Lord: Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation. And so it came to pass. <f>ⓑ</f>


text:
Shallum son of Jabesh, in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, began his reign of a full month in Samaria.


text:
For Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and smote and killed Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria and reigned in his stead.


text:
The rest of Shallum’s acts, his conspiracy, see, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.


text:
Then Menahem smote Tiphsah and all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on; he attacked it because they did not open to him. And all <f>[1]</f>the women there who were with child he ripped up.


text:
In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi began his ten-year reign over Israel in Samaria.


text:
He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to sin.


text:
There came against the land Pul king of Assyria, and Menahem gave Pul 1,000 talents of silver, that he might help him to confirm his kingship.


text:
Menahem exacted the money from Israel, from all the men of wealth, from each man fifty shekels of silver to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay in the land.


text:
The rest of Menahem’s acts, all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


text:
In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem began his two-year reign over Israel in Samaria.


text:
He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam [I] son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.


text:
But Pekah son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against [Pekahiah] and attacked him in Samaria, in the citadel of the king’s house, with Argob and Arieh; [for] with [Pekah] were fifty Gileadites. And he killed him and reigned in his stead.


text:
The rest of the acts of Pekahiah, all he did, see, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.


text:
In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah began his twenty-year reign over Israel in Samaria.


text:
He did evil in the Lord’s sight; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam [I] son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.


text:
In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried the people captive to Assyria.


text:
Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah [of Israel]; he smote and killed him, and reigned in his stead in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah king of Judah.


text:
The rest of Pekah’s acts, all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of Israel’s Kings.


text:
In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham son of Uzziah king of Judah became king.


text:
When he was twenty-five years old, he began his reign of sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jerusha daughter of Zadok.


text:
Yet the high places were not removed; the people sacrificed and burned incense still on the high places. He built the Upper Gate of the house of the Lord.


text:
The rest of the acts of Jotham, all he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of Judah’s Kings?


text:
Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried [with them] in the city of David his [forefather]. Ahaz his son succeeded him.


text:
Ahaz was twenty years old when he began his sixteen-year reign in Jerusalem. He did not do right in the sight of the Lord his God, like David his [forefather].


text:
But he walked in the ways of Israel’s kings, yes, and made his son pass through the fire [and offered him as a sacrifice], in accord with the abominable [idolatrous] practices of the [heathen] nations whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites.


text:
Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war; they besieged Ahaz, but could not conquer him.


text:
At that time, Rezin king of Syria got back Elath [in Edom] for Syria and drove the Jews from [it]. The Syrians came to Elath and dwell there to this day.


text:
So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and son. Come up and save me out of the hands of the kings of Syria and of Israel, who are attacking me.


text:
And Ahaz took the silver and gold in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house and sent a present to the king of Assyria.


text:
Assyria’s king hearkened to him; he went up against Damascus, took it, carried its people captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.


text:
King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and saw there their [heathen] altar. King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest a model of the altar and an exact pattern for its construction.


text:
So Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, finishing it before King Ahaz returned.


text:
King Ahaz burned his burnt offering and his cereal offering, poured his drink offering, and dashed the blood of his peace offerings upon that altar.


text:
The bronze altar which was before the Lord he removed from the front of the house, from between his [new] altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar.


text:
And King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest: Upon the principal (the new) altar, burn the morning burnt offering, the evening cereal offering, the king’s burnt sacrifice and his cereal offering, with the burnt offering and cereal offering and drink offering of all the people of the land; and dash upon the [new] altar all the blood of the burnt offerings and the sacrifices. But the [old] bronze altar shall be kept for me to use to inquire by [of the Lord].


text:
[To keep Assyria’s king from getting them] King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases [of the ten lavers] and removed the laver from each of them; and he took down the Sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it upon stone supports.


text:
And the covered way for the Sabbath that they had built in the temple court, and the king’s outer entrance, he removed from the house of the Lord, because of the king of Assyria [who if he heard of them might seize them].


text:
The rest of the acts of Ahaz, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


text:
Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried [with them] in the City of David. Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.


text:
In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah began his nine-year reign in Samaria over Israel.


text:
Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his servant and brought him tribute.


text:
But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.


text:
Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years.


text:
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried the Israelites away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes.


text:
This was so because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, Who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods


text:
And walked in the customs of the [heathen] nations whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites, customs the kings of Israel had introduced.


text:
The Israelites did secretly against the Lord their God things not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from [lonely] watchtower to [populous] fortified city.


text:
They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim [symbols of the goddess Asherah] on every high hill and under every green tree.


text:
There they burned incense on all the high places, as did the nations whom the Lord carried away before them; and they did wicked things provoking the Lord to anger.


text:
Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah through all the prophets and all the seers, saying, Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the Law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.


text:
Yet they would not hear, but hardened their necks as did their fathers who did not believe (trust in, rely on, and remain steadfast to) the Lord their God.


text:
They despised <i>and</i> rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings to them, and they followed vanity (false gods — falsehood, emptiness, and futility) and [they themselves and their prayers] became false (empty and futile). They went after the heathen round about them, of whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do as they did.


text:
And they forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the [starry] hosts of the heavens and served Baal.


text:
They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire and used divination and enchantments and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger.


text:
Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of His sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah.


text:
Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs which Israel introduced.


text:
The Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and delivered them into the hands of spoilers, until He had cast them out of His sight.


text:
For He tore Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drew <i>and</i> drove Israel away from following the Lord and made them sin a great sin.


text:
Until the Lord removed Israel from His sight, as He had foretold by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria to this day.


text:
The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the Israelites. They possessed Samaria and dwelt in its cities.


text:
At the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear <i>and</i> revere the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.


text:
So the king of Assyria was told: The nations you removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the manner in which the God of the land requires their worship. Therefore He has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the manner of [worship demanded by] the God of the land.


text:
Then the king of Assyria commanded, Take to Samaria one of the priests you brought from there, and let him [and his helpers] go and live there and let him teach the people the law of the God of the land.


text:
So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel and taught them how they should fear <i>and</i> revere the Lord.


text:
But every nationality still made gods of their own and put them in the shrines of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nationality in the city in which they dwelt.


text:
The men of Babylon made [and worshiped their deity] Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,


text:
The Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.


text:
So they feared the Lord, yet appointed from among themselves, whether high or low, priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places.


text:
They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods, as did the nations from among whom they had been carried away.


text:
Unto this day they do after their former custom: they do not fear the Lord [as God sees it], neither do they obey the statutes or the ordinances or the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom He named Israel,


text:
With whom the Lord had made a covenant and commanded them, You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them.


text:
But you shall [reverently] fear, bow yourselves to, and sacrifice to the Lord, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm.


text:
And the statutes, ordinances, law, and commandment which He wrote for you you shall observe and do forevermore; you shall not fear other gods.


text:
But the Lord your God you shall [reverently] fear; then He will deliver you out of the hands of all your enemies.


text:
So these nations [vainly] feared the Lord and also served their graven images, as did their children and their children’s children. As their fathers did, so do they to this day.


text:
In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.


text:
He was twenty-five years old when he began his twenty-nine-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Abi daughter of Zechariah.


text:
He removed the high places, broke the images, cut down the Asherim, and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until then the Israelites had burned incense to it; but he called it Nehushtan [a bronze trifle].


text:
Hezekiah trusted in, leaned on, <i>and</i> was confident in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that neither after him nor before him was any one of all the kings of Judah like him.


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For he clung <i>and</i> held fast to the Lord and ceased not to follow Him, but kept His commandments, as the Lord commanded Moses.


text:
And the Lord was with Hezekiah; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to serve him.


text:
He smote the Philistines, even to Gaza [the most distant city] and its borders, from the [isolated] watchtower to the [populous] fortified city.


text:
In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.


text:
After three years it was taken; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.


text:
The king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,


text:
Because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and would not hear it or do it.


text:
In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.


text:
Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, I have done wrong. Depart from me; what you put on me I will bear. And the king of Assyria exacted of Hezekiah king of Judah 300 talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.


text:
And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house.


text:
Then Hezekiah stripped off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorposts which he as king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.


text:
And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh [the high officials] from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a great army. They went up to Jerusalem, and when they arrived, they came and stood by the canal of the Upper Pool, which is on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
When they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the king’s household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder.


text:
The Rabshakeh told them, Say to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king of Assyria: What justifies this confidence of yours?


text:
You say — but they are empty words — There is counsel and strength for war. Now on whom do you rely, that you rebel against me?


text:
Behold, you are relying on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff; if a man leans on it, it will pierce his hand. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust <i>and</i> rely on him.


text:
But if you tell me, We trust in <i>and</i> rely on the Lord our God, is it not He Whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?


text:
So now, make a wager <i>and</i> give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria: I will deliver you 2,000 horses — if you can on your part put riders on them.


text:
How then can you beat back one captain among the least of my master’s servants, when your trust is put in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?


text:
Have I come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.


text:
Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah and Shebna and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, We pray you, speak to your servants in the Aramaic (Syrian) language, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in the Jews’ language in the hearing of the people on the wall.


text:
But the Rabshakeh said to them, Has my master sent me to your master and you only to say these things? Has he not sent me to the men who sit on the wall [whom Hezekiah has doomed to be forced] to eat their own dung and drink their own urine along with you?


text:
Then the Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, Hear the word of the great king of Assyria!


text:
Thus says the king: Let not Hezekiah deceive you. For he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand.


text:
Nor let Hezekiah make you trust in <i>and</i> rely on the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of Assyria’s king.


text:
Hearken not to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat every man from his own vine and fig tree and drink every man the waters of his own cistern,


text:
Until I come and take you away to a land like your own, a land of grain and vintage fruit, of bread and vineyards, of olive trees and honey, that you may live and not die. Do not listen to Hezekiah when he urges you, saying, The Lord will deliver us.


text:
Has any one of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?


text:
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad [in Syria]? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah [in the Euphrates Valley]? Have they delivered Samaria [Israel’s capital] out of my hand?


text:
Who of all the gods of the countries has delivered his country out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?


text:
But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, Do not answer him.


text:
Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the royal household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him what the Rabshakeh had said.


text:
When King Hezekiah heard it, he rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
And he sent Eliakim, who was over his household, Shebna the scribe, and the older priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.


text:
They said to him, Hezekiah says: This is a day of [extreme danger and] distress, of rebuke <i>and</i> chastisement, and blasphemous <i>and</i> insolent insult; for children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth.


text:
It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria has sent to mock, reproach, insult, <i>and</i> defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. So raise your prayer for the remnant [of His people] that is left.


text:
Isaiah said to them, Say to your master, Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled <i>and</i> blasphemed Me.


text:
Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own country.


text:
So the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah [a fortified city of Judah]; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.


text:
And Sennacherib king of Assyria heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He has come to make war against you. And when he heard it, he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,


text:
Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: Let not your God on Whom you rely deceive you by saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.


text:
Behold, you have heard what the Assyrian kings have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. And shall you be delivered?


text:
Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my ancestors have destroyed, as Gozan, Haran [of Mesopotamia], Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?


text:
Where are the kings of Hamath, of Arpad [of northern Syria], of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?


text:
Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And he went up into the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. <f>ⓑ</f>


text:
And Hezekiah prayed: O Lord, the God of Israel, Who [in symbol] is enthroned above the cherubim [of the ark in the temple], You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth.


text:
Lord, bow down Your ear and hear; Lord, open Your eyes and see; hear the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to mock, reproach, insult, <i>and</i> defy the living God.


text:
And have cast the gods of those peoples into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they [could destroy and] have destroyed them.


text:
Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech You, save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know <i>and</i> understand that You, O Lord, are God alone.


text:
Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your prayer to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. <f>ⓒ</f>


text:
This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him: The Virgin Daughter of Zion has despised you and laughed you to scorn; the Daughter of Jerusalem has wagged her head behind you.


text:
Whom have you mocked <i>and</i> reviled and insulted <i>and</i> blasphemed? Against Whom have you raised your voice and haughtily lifted your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel!


text:
By your messengers you have mocked, reproached, insulted, <i>and</i> defied the Lord, and have said, With my many chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon. I cut down its tall cedar trees and its choicest cypress trees. I entered its most distant retreat, its densest forest.


text:
I dug wells and drank foreign waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all [the defense and] the streams of Egypt.


text:
[But, says the God of Israel] Have you not heard how I ordained long ago what now I have brought to pass? I planned it in olden times, that you [king of Assyria] should [be My instrument to] lay waste fortified cities, making them ruinous heaps.


text:
That is why their inhabitants had little power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were like plants of the field, the green herb, the grass on the housetops, blasted before it is grown up.


text:
But [O Sennacherib] I [the Lord] know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against Me.


text:
Because your raging against Me and your arrogance <i>and</i> careless ease have come to My ears, therefore I will put My hook in your nose and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way you came, O king of Assyria.


text:
And [Hezekiah, says the Lord] this shall be the sign [of these things] to you: you shall eat this year what grows of itself, also in the second year what springs up voluntarily. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.


text:
And the remnant that has survived of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.


text:
For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and a band of survivors out of Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this.


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow here or come before it with shield or cast up a siege mound against it.


text:
By the way that he came, by that way shall he return, and he shall not come into this city, says the Lord.


text:
And it all came to pass, for that night the <f>[1]</f>Angel of the Lord went forth and slew 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when [the living] arose early in the morning, behold, all these were dead bodies.


text:
And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Armenia <i>or</i> Ararat. Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.


text:
In those days Hezekiah became deadly ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
I beseech You, O Lord, [earnestly] remember now how I have walked before You in faithfulness <i>and</i> truth and with a whole heart [entirely devoted to You] and have done what is good in Your sight. And Hezekiah wept bitterly.


text:
Turn back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of My people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your [forefather]: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.


text:
I will <f>[1]</f>add to your life fifteen years and deliver you and this city [Jerusalem] out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.


text:
And Isaiah said, Bring a cake of figs. Let them lay it on the burning inflammation, that he may recover.


text:
Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord on the third day?


text:
And Isaiah said, This is the sign to you from the Lord that He will do the thing He has promised: shall the shadow [denoting the time of day] go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?


text:
Hezekiah answered, It is an easy matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps; so let the shadow go back ten steps.


text:
So Isaiah the prophet cried to the Lord, and He brought the shadow the ten steps backward by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.


text:
At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard of Hezekiah’s illness. <f>ⓑ</f>


text:
And Hezekiah rejoiced <i>and</i> welcomed the embassy and showed them all his treasure-house — the silver, gold, spices, precious ointment, his armory, and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.


text:
Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said, What did these men say? From where did they come to you? Hezekiah said, They are from a far country, from Babylon.


text:
Isaiah said, What have they seen in your house? Hezekiah answered, They have seen all that is in my house. There is no treasure of mine that I have not shown them.


text:
Behold, the time is coming when <f>[2]</f>all that is in your house, and that which your forefathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the Lord.


text:
And some of your sons who shall be born to you shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of Babylon’s king.


text:
Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, The word of the Lord you have spoken is good. For he thought, Is it not good, if [all this evil is meant for the future and] peace and security shall be in my days?


text:
The rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool and the canal and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


text:
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began his fifty-five-year [wicked] reign in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.


text:
He [Hezekiah’s son] did evil in the sight of the Lord, after the [idolatrous] practices of the [heathen] nations whom the Lord cast out before the Israelites.


text:
For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshiped all the [starry] hosts of the heavens and served them!


text:
And he built [heathen] altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, In Jerusalem will I put My <f>[1]</f>Name [and the pledge of My presence].


text:
And he [good Hezekiah’s son] built altars for all the hosts of the heavens in the two courts of the house of the Lord!


text:
And he made his son pass through the fire <i>and</i> burned him as an offering [to Molech]; he practiced soothsaying and augury, and dealt with mediums and wizards! He did much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger.


text:
He made a graven image of [the goddess] Asherah and set it in the house, of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put My Name [and the pledge of My presence] forever;


text:
And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them.


text:
But they would not listen; and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations did whom the Lord destroyed before the Israelites!


text:
Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols,


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle!


text:
And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.


text:
And I will cast off the rest of My inheritance and deliver them into the hands of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies,


text:
For they have done evil in My sight and have provoked Me to anger since their fathers came out of Egypt to this day.


text:
Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, filling Jerusalem from one end to another — besides his sin in making Judah sin, by doing evil in the sight of the Lord! <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
The rest of the acts of Manasseh, all that he did, and his sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


text:
Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza. Amon his son reigned in his stead.


text:
Amon was twenty-two years old when he began his two-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.


text:
He walked in all the ways of his father; and he served the idols that his father served, and worshiped them;


text:
But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and made Josiah his son king in his stead.


text:
The rest of the acts of Amon, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


text:
Josiah was eight years old when he began his thirty-one-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.


text:
He did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the ways of David his [forefather], and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.


text:
In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the Lord’s house, saying,


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Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have gathered from the people. <f>ⓐ</f>


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And let them deliver it into the hands of the workmen who have oversight of the Lord’s house, to give to the laborers engaged in the repairing of the Lord’s house —


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That is, to the carpenters, builders, and masons — and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house.


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However, there was no accounting required of them for the money delivered into their hands, because they dealt faithfully.


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Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord! Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.


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And Shaphan the scribe came to the king and reported to him: Your servants have gathered the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hands of the workmen who have oversight of the house of the Lord.


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Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.


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And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah servant of the king,


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Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us because our fathers have not listened <i>and</i> obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.


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So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe — now she dwelt in Jerusalem, in the Second Quarter — and they talked with her.


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Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants, according to all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read.


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Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods, provoking Me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore My wrath will be kindled against this place and will not be quenched.


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But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, say this, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, regarding the words you have heard:


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Because your heart was [tender and] penitent and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I said against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation, [an astonishment and] a curse, and you have rent your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you, says the Lord.


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Behold, therefore [King Josiah], I will gather you to your fathers, taken to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring on this place. And they brought the king word.


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The king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their ears all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which was found in the Lord’s house.


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The king stood [on the platform] by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord — to walk after the Lord and to keep His commandments, His testimonies, and His statutes with all his heart and soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to join in the covenant.


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And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for [the goddess] Asherah, and for all the hosts of the heavens; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel [where Israel’s idolatry began]. <f>ⓐ</f>


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He put away the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in Judah’s cities and round about Jerusalem — also those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations [or twelve signs of the zodiac], and to all the hosts of the heavens.


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And Josiah brought the Asherah from the house of the Lord to outside Jerusalem to the brook Kidron and burned it there, and beat it to dust and cast its dust upon the graves of the common people [who had sacrificed to it].


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And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes, which were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove [tent] hangings for the Asherah [shrines].


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And [Josiah] brought all the [idolatrous] priests out of the city of Judah and defiled the high places, where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba [north to south], and broke down the high places both at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua the governor of the city and that which was on one’s left at the city’s gate.


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However, the priests of the high places were not allowed to sacrifice upon the Lord’s altar in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren.


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And Josiah defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom], that no man might ever burn there his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech. <f>ⓑ</f>


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And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had devoted to the sun from the entrance of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the area, and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.


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And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, [Josiah] pulled down and beat them in pieces, and he [ran and] cast their dust into the brook Kidron.


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And the king defiled the high places east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abominable [goddess] of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abominable god of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abominable [god] of the Ammonites.


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He broke in pieces the pillars (images) and cut down the Asherim and replaced them with the bones of men [to defile the places forever].


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Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place Josiah tore down <i>and</i> broke in pieces its stones, beating them to dust, and burned the Asherah.


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And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs across on the mount, and he sent and brought the bones out of the tombs and burned them upon the altar and defiled it, in fulfillment of the word of the Lord which the man of God prophesied, who predicted these things [about this altar, naming Josiah before he was born]. <f>ⓒ</f>


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Josiah said, What is that monument I see? The men of the city told him, It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and foretold these things that you have just done against the altar of Bethel.


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He said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria. <f>ⓓ</f>


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Also Josiah took away all the houses of the high places in the cities of Samaria which the kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger, and he did to them all that he had done in Bethel.


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He slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars and burned men’s bones upon them [to defile the places forever]. Then he returned to Jerusalem.


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The king commanded all the people, Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.


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Surely such a Passover was not held from the days of Israel’s judges, even in all the days of the kings of Israel or Judah.


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Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums, the wizards, the teraphim (household gods), the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law written in the book found by Hilkiah the priest in the house of the Lord.


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There was no king like him before or after [Josiah] who turned to the Lord with all his heart and all his soul and all his might, according to all the Law of Moses.


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Still the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, kindled against Judah because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him.


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And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of My sight as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city, Jerusalem, which I have chosen, and the house, of which I said, My Name [and the pledge of My presence] shall be there.


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The rest of the acts of Josiah, all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of Judah’s Kings?


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In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went out against him, but he slew Josiah at Megiddo when he saw him.


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Josiah’s servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land anointed Jehoahaz son of Josiah king in his stead.


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Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began his three-month reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.


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And Pharaoh Necho put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold upon the land.


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Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of Josiah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away to Egypt, where he died.


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Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money as Pharaoh commanded. He exacted the silver and gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necho.


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Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began his eleven-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.


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In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.


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The Lord sent against Jehoiakim bands of Chaldeans, of Syrians, of Moabites, and of Ammonites. And He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by His servants the prophets.


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Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of His sight because of the sins of Manasseh according to all he had done,


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And also for the innocent blood that he shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon.


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The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of Judah’s Kings?


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The king of Egypt came no more out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to Egypt’s king, from the River of Egypt to the river Euphrates.


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Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began his three-month reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.


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At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.


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Jehoiachin king of Judah surrendered to the king of Babylon, he, his mother, his servants, princes, and palace officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign.


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He carried off all the treasures of the Lord’s house and the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord, which Solomon king of Israel had made, as the Lord had said.


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He carried away all Jerusalem, all the princes, all the mighty men of valor, 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest of the land.


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Nebuchadnezzar took captive to Babylon King Jehoiachin; his mother, his wives, his officials, and the chief <i>and</i> mighty men of the land [the prophet Ezekiel included] he took from Jerusalem to Babylon into exile. <f>ⓐ</f>


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And the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, 7,000, and craftsmen and smiths, 1,000, all strong and fit for war.


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And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his stead and changed his name to Zedekiah.


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Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began his eleven-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.


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For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that He cast them out of His presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.


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In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it, and they built siege works against it round about.


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On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was complete in the city; there was no food for the people of the land.


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Then the city was broken through; the king and all the warriors fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were round about the city. [The king] went by the way toward the Arabah (the plain).


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The Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him.


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So they captured Zedekiah and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and sentence was passed on him.


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And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in double fetters [hands and feet] and carried him to Babylon. [Foretold in Jer. 34:3; Ezek. 12:13.]


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On the seventh day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, captain of the Babylonian king’s guard, came to Jerusalem.


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He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.


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All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the [Babylonian] guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.


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Now the rest of the people left in the city and the deserters who fell away to the king of Babylon, along with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile.


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But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and soil tillers.


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The bronze pillars in the Lord’s house and [its] bases and the bronze Sea the Chaldeans smashed and carried the bronze to Babylon.


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And they took away the pots, shovels, snuffers, dishes for incense, all the bronze vessels used in the temple service,


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The firepans, and bowls. Such things as were of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver [he took away] as silver.


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The two pillars, the one Sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these articles was incalculable.


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The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and upon it was a capital of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits; a network and pomegranates round about the capital were all of bronze. And the second pillar had the same as these, with a network.


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The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold.


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And out of the city he took an officer who was in command of the men of war and five men of the king’s personal advisors, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the army who mustered the people of the land and sixty men of the people who were found in the city.


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The king of Babylon smote and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath [north of Damascus]. So Judah was taken into exile.


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Over the people whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left in the land of Judah he appointed as governor Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.


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And when all the captains of the forces and their men heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah, namely, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite.


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And Gedaliah swore to them and their men, saying, Do not be afraid of the Chaldean officials. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.


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But in the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family [so having a claim to be governor], came with ten men and smote and killed Gedaliah and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.


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Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.


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And in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah <i>and</i> released him from prison;


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Jehoiachin put off his prison garments, and he dined regularly at the king’s table the remainder of his life.


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And his allowance, a continual one, was given him by the king, every day a portion, for the rest of his life.


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To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, because in his days [the population of] the earth was divided [according to its languages], and his brother’s name was Joktan.


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Now the sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: she bore Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan.


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The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these are the sons [and grandsons] of Keturah.


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These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites: Bela son of Beor; the name of his city was Dinhabah.


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When Husham died, Hadad [I of Edom] son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead; his city was Avith.


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When Baal-hanan died, Hadad [II] reigned in his stead; his city was Pai; his wife was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.


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The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah, whom Shua’s daughter the Canaanitess bore him. Er, Judah’s eldest, was evil in the Lord’s sight, and He slew him.


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The son of Carmi: Achar, the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the matter of the devoted things. <f>ⓑ</f>


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And Caleb son of Hezron had sons by his wife Azubah and by Jerioth. [Azubah’s] sons were: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon.


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Hur was the father of Uri, and Uri of Bezalel [the skillful craftsman who made the furnishings of the tabernacle]. <f>ⓒ</f>


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Later, when Hezron was sixty years old, he married the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, and she bore him Segub.


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But Geshur and Aram took from them Havvoth-jair, with Kenath and its villages, sixty towns. All these were the descendants of Machir the father of Gilead.


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The sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel: Mesha his firstborn was the father of Ziph; and his son Mareshah [he was] the father of Hebron.


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Shaaph the father of Madmannah and Sheva the father of Machbenah and of Gibea; and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah.


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These were the descendants of Caleb. The sons of Hur the firstborn of Ephrathah: Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim,


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Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim had [other] descendants: Haroeh, half [of the inhabitants] of Menuhoth [in Judah],


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And the families of Kiriath-jearim: the Ithrites, Puthites, Shumathites, and Mishraites. From these came the Zorathites and the Eshtaolites.


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The descendants of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, and half of the Manahathites, [and] the Zorites,


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And the families of scribes who dwelt at Jabez: the Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.


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These sons of David were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; second, Daniel (Chileab), of Abigail the Carmelitess;


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These six were born to David in Hebron; there he reigned seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years.


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These were born to [David] in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon — four of Bathshua (Bathsheba) daughter of Ammiel (Eliam);


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Solomon’s descendants [omitting nonreigning offspring] were: his son Rehoboam. Abijah was his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son,


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The sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel and Shimei. The sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam, Hananiah. And Shelomith was their sister;


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The sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah and Jeshaiah, whose son was Rephaiah, his son Arnan, his son Obadiah, his son Shecaniah.


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The son of Shecaniah: Shemaiah. The sons of Shemaiah: Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, and Shaphat — six in all.


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The sons of Elioenai: Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani — seven in all.


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Reaiah son of Shobal was the father of Jahath, and Jahath of Ahumai and Lahad. These were the families of the Zorathites.


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These were the sons of [Hur] the father of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash. And their sister was Hazzelelponi.


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And Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer the father of Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, the eldest of Ephrathah (Ephrath), the father of Bethlehem.


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Jabez was honorable above his brothers; but his mother named him Jabez [sorrow maker], saying, Because I bore him in pain.


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Jabez cried to the God of Israel, saying, Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and You would keep me from evil so it might not hurt me! And God granted his request.


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Eshton was the father of Beth-rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah the father of Ir-nahash. These are the men of Recah.


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Meonothai was father of Ophrah, and Seraiah of Joab the father of Ge-harashim [the Valley of Craftsmen], so named because they were craftsmen.


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The sons of Caleb [Joshua’s companion] son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah, and Naam. The son of Elah: Kenaz.


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The sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. <f>[1]</f>These are the sons of Bithiah daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered married: she bore Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa.


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And Mered’s Jewish wife bore Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.


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The sons of the wife of Hodiah, the sister of Naham, were: the father of Keilah the Garmite, and Eshtemoa the Maacathite.


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The sons of Shelah son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, and Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house of the linen workers at Beth-ashbea,


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And Jokim, the men of Cozeba, Joash, and Saraph, who ruled in Moab, and returned to [Bethlehem]. These are ancient matters.


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These were the potters and those who dwelt among plantations and hedges at Netaim and Gederah; there they dwelt with the king for his work.


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Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many children; neither did all their family multiply like the children of Judah.


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Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susim, Beth-biri, and at Shaaraim. These were their towns [and villages] until the reign of David.


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And all their villages that were round about these towns, as far as Baal[-ath-beer]. These were their settlements, and they had their genealogical record.


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These mentioned by name were princes in their families; and their fathers’ houses increased greatly [so they needed more room].


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And they journeyed to the entrance of Gedor to the east side of the valley to seek pasture for their flocks.


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And they found rich, good pasture, and the [cleared] land was wide, quiet, and peaceful, because people of Ham had dwelt there of old [and had left it a better place for those who came after them].


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And these registered by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and destroyed their tents and the Meunim [foreigners] who were found there and exterminated them to this day, and they settled in their stead, because there was pasture for their flocks.


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And some of them from the sons of Simeon, 500 men, went to Mount Seir, having for their leaders Pelatiah, and Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi.


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They destroyed the remnant of the Amalekites who had escaped, and they have dwelt there to this day.


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Now [we come to] the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. For [Reuben] was the eldest, but because he polluted his father’s couch [with Bilhah his father’s concubine] his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph [favorite] son of Israel; so the genealogy is not to be reckoned according to the birthright. <f>ⓐ</f>


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Judah prevailed above his brethren, and from him came the prince <i>and</i> leader [and eventually the Messiah]; yet the birthright was Joseph’s. <f>ⓑ</f>


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Beerah his son, whom Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria carried away captive; he was a prince of the Reubenites.


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And his brethren by their families, when the genealogy of their generations was reckoned: the chief Jeiel, and Zechariah,


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Bela son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who dwelt in Aroer as far as Nebo and Baal-meon.


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Eastward [Bela] inhabited the land as far as the entrance into the desert this [west] side of the river Euphrates, because their cattle had multiplied in the land of Gilead.


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In the days of [King] Saul they made war with the Hagrites <i>or</i> Ishmaelites, who fell by their hands; they dwelt in their tents in all the land east of Gilead.


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Their kinsmen of the houses of their fathers: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia, and Eber — seven in all.


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These were the sons of Abihail son of Huri, the son of Jaroah, the son of Gilead, the son of Michael, the son of Jeshishai, the son of Jahdo, the son of Buz.


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They dwelt in Gilead, in Bashan and in its towns, and in all the suburbs <i>and</i> pasturelands of Sharon to their limits.


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All these were enrolled by genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam [II] king of Israel.


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The sons of Reuben, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh — valiant men able to bear buckler and sword and to shoot with bow and skillful in war — were 44,760 able <i>and</i> ready to go forth to war.


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And [these Israelites, on the east side of the Jordan River] made war with the Hagrites [a tribe of northern Arabia], Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab.


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They were given help against them, and the Hagrites <i>or</i> Ishmaelites were delivered into their hands, and all who were allied with them, for they cried to God in the battle; and He granted their entreaty, because they relied on, clung to, <i>and</i> trusted in Him.


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And [these Israelites] took away their adversaries’ herds: of their camels 50,000, and of sheep 250,000, and of donkeys 2,000, and of the lives of men 100,000.


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For a great number fell mortally wounded, because the battle was God’s. And [these Israelites] dwelt in their territory until the captivity [by Assyria more than five centuries later]. <f>ⓒ</f>


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And the people of the half-tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land; their settlements spread from Bashan to Baal-hermon, Senir, and Mount Hermon.


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And these were the heads of their fathers’ houses: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty men of strength of mind <i>and</i> spirit [enabling them to encounter danger with firmness and personal bravery], famous men, and heads of the houses of their fathers.


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They transgressed against the God of their fathers and played the harlot [by unfaithfulness to their own God and running] after the gods of the native peoples, whom God had destroyed before them.


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So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, [that is,] the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, to this day.


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The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. The sons also of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.


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Jehozadak went into captivity when the Lord sent Judah and Jerusalem into exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.


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The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers:


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These David put over the service of song in the house of the Lord after the ark of the covenant rested there [after being taken by the Philistines and later placed in the house of Abinadab, where it remained for nearly 100 years during the rest of Samuel’s judgeship and Saul’s entire reign and into David’s reign].


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They ministered before the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting with singing until Solomon had built the Lord’s house in Jerusalem, performing their service in due order.


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These and their sons served of the Kohathites: Heman, the singer, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel [the great prophet and judge],


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Their kinsmen the sons of Merari stood at the left hand: Ethan son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluch,


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And their brethren the Levites [who were not descended from Aaron] were appointed for all other kinds of service of the tabernacle of the house of God.


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But [the line of] Aaron and his sons offered upon the altar of burnt offering and the altar of incense, ministering for all the work of the Holy of Holies, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses, God’s servant, had commanded.


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Their dwelling places are according to their settlements within their borders: to the sons of Aaron of the families of the Kohathites, for theirs was the [first] lot — <f>ⓐ</f>


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To the sons of Aaron they gave the city of refuge, Hebron; also Libnah with its pasturelands, Jattir, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands, <f>ⓑ</f>


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And out of the tribe of Benjamin: Geba, Alemeth, and Anathoth, with their pasturelands. All their cities according to their families were thirteen.


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And to the rest of the Kohathites ten cities were given by lot out of the family of the tribe [of Ephraim and of Dan and], of the half-tribe, the half of Manasseh. <f>ⓒ</f>


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To the Gershomites, according to their families, [were allotted] thirteen cities out of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Manasseh in Bashan.


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To the Merarites were given by lot, according to their families, twelve cities out of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.


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They gave by lot out of the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin these cities whose names are mentioned.


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Some of the families of the Kohathites had cities in the allotted territory out of the tribe of Ephraim.


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And [the Ephraimites] gave to [the Levites] the city of refuge, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim; also Gezer, [both] with their suburbs <i>and</i> pasturelands;


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And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh [these cities], with their suburbs <i>and</i> pasturelands: Aner and Bileam, for the rest of the families of the sons of Kohath.


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To the Gershomites were given out of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan and Ashtaroth, with their suburbs <i>and</i> pasturelands;


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And out of the tribe of Naphtali, with their suburbs <i>and</i> pasturelands: Kedesh in Galilee, Hammon, and Kiriathaim.


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To the rest of the Merarites were given from the tribe of Zebulun: Rimmono and Tabor, with their suburbs <i>and</i> pasturelands;


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On the other side of the Jordan, on the east side by Jericho, the Levites were given out of the tribe of Reuben [these cities], with their suburbs <i>and</i> pasturelands: Bezer in the wilderness, Jahzah,


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Out of the tribe of Gad [these cities], with their suburbs <i>and</i> pasturelands: Ramoth in Gilead, Mahanaim,


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The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, Shemuel (Samuel) — heads of their fathers’ houses, descendants of Tola. They were mighty men of valor in their generations; their number in David’s days was 22,600.


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The son of Uzzi: Izrahiah. The sons of Izrahiah: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, Isshiah — five, all of them chief men.


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And with them by their generations according to their fathers’ houses were units of the army for war, 36,000, for they had many wives and children [with them].


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Their kinsmen from all the families of Issachar, mighty men of valor, registered by genealogies, were in all 87,000.


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The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri — five, heads of the houses of their fathers, mighty men of valor. By their genealogies they numbered 22,034.


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The sons of Becher: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth, all sons of Becher.


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The number of them by their genealogies by generations, as heads of their fathers’ houses, mighty warriors, was 20,200.


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The son of Jediael: Bilhan. The sons of Bilhan: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar.


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All these were the sons of Jediael, according to the heads of their fathers’ houses, mighty men of valor, 17,200, able <i>and</i> fit for service in war.


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The sons of Manasseh: Ashriel, whom his concubine the Aramitess bore; she bore Machir the father of Gilead.


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And Machir took as wife the sister of Huppim and Shuppim; her name was Maacah. The name of a second [and later descendant, the first being Gilead], was Zelophehad; and Zelophehad had daughters [only]. <f>ⓐ</f>


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Maacah the wife of Machir bore a son; she called his name Peresh. The name of his brother was Sheresh; his sons were Ulam and Rakem.


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The sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, Bered his son, Tahath [I] his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath [II] his son,


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Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son. [During Ephraim’s lifetime, his sons] Ezer and Elead were slain by men of Gath born in the land, who had come down to steal the cattle [of the Ephraimites, probably before the Israelites left Egypt].


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Then his wife conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Beriah [in evil], because calamity had befallen his house.


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And their possessions and settlements were Bethel and its towns, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer, and Shechem, and as far as Azzah (Gaza) with all their towns,


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And along the borders of the Manassites, Beth-shean, Taanach, Megiddo, Dor, with all their towns. In these dwelt the sons of Joseph son of Israel.


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All these were offspring of Asher, heads of their fathers’ houses, approved men, mighty warriors, chief of the princes. Their number enrolled by genealogies for service in war, was 26,000 men.


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The sons of Ehud: These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the inhabitants of Geba; they were exiled to Manahath:


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Shaharaim had sons in the country of Moab after he had [divorced and] sent away Hushim and Baara his wives.


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And Beriah and Shema, who were heads of fathers’ houses of the inhabitants of Aijalon, who put to flight the inhabitants of Gath,


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These were heads of the fathers’ houses, according to their generations, chief men. These dwelt in Jerusalem.


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Ner was the father of Kish, and Kish of [King] Saul the father of Jonathan, Malchi-shua, Abinadab, and Esh-baal (Ish-bosheth).


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Ahaz was the father of Jehoaddah, and Jehoaddah of Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri; Zimri was the father of Moza.


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Azel had six sons: Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. All these were the sons of Azel.


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The sons of Ulam were mighty warriors, archers, with many sons and grandsons — 150 in all. All these were Benjamites.


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So all Israel was enrolled by genealogies; and they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. And Judah was carried away captive to Babylon for their unfaithfulness to God.


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Now the first [of the returned exiles] to dwell again in their possessions in the cities of Israel were the priests, Levites, and the Nethinim [the temple servants].


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Uthai son of Ammihud, the son of Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, of the sons of Pharez son of Judah.


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Ibneiah son of Jeroham; Elah son of Uzzi, the son of Michri; and Meshullam son of Shephatiah, the son of Reuel, the son of Ibnijah;


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And their kinsmen, according to their generations, 956. All these were heads of fathers’ houses according to their fathers’ houses.


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Azariah son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the chief officer of God’s house;


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And Adaiah son of Jeroham, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah; Massai son of Adiel, the son of Jahzerah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Meshillemith, the son of Immer;


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And their kinsmen, heads of their fathers’ houses, 1,760 — very able men for the work of the service of the house of God.


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Of the Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, of the sons of Merari;


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Obadiah son of Shemaiah, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun; and Berechiah son of Asa, the son of Elkanah, who dwelt in the villages of the Netophathites [near Jerusalem].


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Who hitherto was assigned to the king’s east side gate. They were the gatekeepers of the camp of the Levites.


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Shallum son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his kinsmen of his father’s house, the Korahites, were in charge of the work of the service, keepers of the thresholds of the Tent, as their fathers had been in charge of the camp of the Lord, keepers of the entrance.


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All these chosen to be keepers at the thresholds were 212. These were enrolled by their genealogies in their villages [around Jerusalem], these men [whose grandfathers] David and Samuel the seer had established to their office of trust.


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So they and their sons had oversight of the gates of the Lord’s house, that is, the house of the tabernacle, by wards.


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The gatekeepers were stationed on the four sides [of the house of the Lord] — on the east, west, north, and south.


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But these Levites, the four chief gatekeepers, were in charge of the chambers and treasuries of the house of God.


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They lodged round about God’s house, for the duty [of watching] was theirs, as well as the opening of the house every morning.


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Some of them had charge of the serving utensils, being required to count them when they brought them in or took them out.


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Some of them also were appointed over the furniture and over all the sacred utensils, as well as over the fine flour, wine, oil, frankincense, and spices.


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Mattithiah, one of the Levites, the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, was responsible for the things baked in pans.


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These are the singers, heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites, dwelling in the temple chambers, free from other service because they were on duty day and night.


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These were heads of fathers’ houses of the Levites, according to their generations, chief men, who lived in Jerusalem.


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Mikloth was the father of Shimeam. They also dwelt beside their brethren, opposite their kinsmen in Jerusalem.


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Ner was the father of Kish, Kish of [King] Saul, Saul of Jonathan, Malchi-shua, Abinadab, and Esh-baal.


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Ahaz was the father of Jarah, and Jarah of Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri; Zimri was the father of Moza,


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Azel had six sons: Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. These were the sons of Azel.


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Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before them and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.


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And the Philistines followed close after Saul and his sons <i>and</i> overtook them, and the Philistines slew Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul.


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Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and abuse <i>and</i> make sport of me. But his armor-bearer would not, for he was terrified. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.


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And when all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook their cities and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.


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The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.


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They stripped [Saul] and took his head and his armor, and sent [them] round about in Philistia to carry the news to their idols and to the people.


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And they put [Saul’s] armor in the house of their gods and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon.


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All the brave men arose, took away the bodies of Saul and his sons, brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh; then they fasted seven days. <f>ⓐ</f>


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So Saul died for his trespass against the Lord [in sparing Amalek], for his unfaithfulness in not keeping God’s word, and also for consulting [a medium with] a spirit of the dead to inquire pleadingly of it,


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And inquired not so of the Lord [in earnest penitence]. Therefore the Lord slew him and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse. <f>ⓑ</f>


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Then [after the death of Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, who ruled over eleven tribes of Israel for two troubled years after Saul’s death] all Israel gathered at Hebron and said to David, Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. <f>ⓐ</f>


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In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel; and the Lord your God said to you, You shall be shepherd of My people Israel, and you shall be prince <i>and</i> leader over [them].


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So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them there before the Lord, and they anointed [him] king over Israel, according to the word of the Lord through Samuel. <f>ⓑ</f>


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And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, that is Jebus, where the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, were.


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Then the Jebusites said to David, You shall not come in here! But David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the City of David.


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And David said, Whoever smites the Jebusites first shall be chief and commander. Joab son of Zeruiah [David’s half sister] went up first, and so he was made chief.


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He built the city from the Millo [a fortification] on around; and Joab repaired <i>and</i> revived the rest of the [old Jebusite] city.


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Now these are the chiefs of David’s mighty men, who strongly supported him in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of the Lord concerning Israel.


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And this is the number [thirty, and list] of David’s mighty men: Jashobeam, a Hachmonite, the chief of the Thirty [captains]. He lifted up his spear against 300, whom he slew at one time.


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He was with David at Pas-dammim [where David had long before slain Goliath], and there the Philistines were gathered for battle, where there was a plot of ground full of barley <i>or</i> lentils; and the men [of Israel] fled before the Philistines.


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And Eleazar [one of the Three] stood in the midst of that plot and defended it and slew the Philistines [until his hand was weary, and his hand cleaved to the sword], and the Lord saved by a great victory <i>and</i> deliverance. <f>ⓒ</f>


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Three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam, and the army of the Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.


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And David longingly said, Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!


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Then the Three [mighty men] broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate and brought it to David. But David would not drink it; he poured it out to the Lord,


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And said, My God forbid that I should do this thing. Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy? For at the risk of their lives they brought it. So he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men.


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Abishai the brother of Joab was chief of the Three. For he lifted up his spear against 300 and slew them, and was named among the Three.


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Of the Three [in the second rank] he was more renowned than the two, and became their captain; however, he attained not to the first three.


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Benaiah son of Jehoiada, whose father was a valiant man of Kabzeel, had done mighty deeds. He slew the two sons of Ariel of Moab. Also he went down and slew a lion in a pit in time of snow.


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He slew an Egyptian also, a man of great stature, five cubits tall. The Egyptian held a spear like a weaver’s beam, and [Benaiah] went to him with a staff and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and slew him with the man’s own spear.


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He was renowned among the Thirty, but he did not attain to the rank of the first three. David put him over his guard <i>and</i> council.


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Also the mighty men of the armies were: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo of Bethlehem,


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Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, the armor-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah [David’s half sister],


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These are the ones who came to David at Ziklag, while he yet concealed himself because of Saul son of Kish; they were among the mighty men, his helpers in war.


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They were bowmen and could use the right hand or the left to sling stones or shoot arrows from the bow; they were of Saul’s kinsmen of Benjamin.


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The chief was Ahiezer and then Joash the sons of Shemaah of Gibeah; Jeziel and Pelet the sons of Azmaveth; Beracah, and Jehu of Anathoth,


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Ishmaiah of Gibeon, a mighty man among the Thirty and a [leader] over them; Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan, Jozabad of Gederah,


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Of the Gadites there went over to David to the stronghold in the wilderness men of might, men trained for war who could handle shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and who were swift as gazelles on the mountains:


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These Gadites were officers of the army. The lesser was equal to <i>and</i> over a hundred, and the greater equal to <i>and</i> over a thousand.


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These are the men who went over the Jordan in the first month when it had overflowed all its banks, and put to flight all those in the valleys, east and west.


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David went out to meet them and said to them, If you have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart shall be knit to you; but if you have come to betray me to my adversaries, although there is no violence <i>or</i> wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers look upon and rebuke you.


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Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said, Yours we are, David, and on your side, you son of Jesse! Peace, peace be to you, and peace be to your helpers, for your God helps you. Then David received them and made them officers of his troops.


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Some of the men of Manasseh deserted to David when he came with the Philistines for the battle against Saul. But [David’s] men did not actually fight with them, for the lords of the Philistines, upon advisement, sent him away, saying, He will desert to his master Saul at the risk of our heads. <f>ⓐ</f>


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As David went to Ziklag, there deserted to him of Manasseh: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, chiefs of thousands in Manasseh.


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They helped David against the band of raiders, for they were all mighty men of courage, and [all seven] became commanders in [his] army.


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For at that time day by day men kept coming to David to help him, until there was a great army, like the army of God.


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These are the numbers of the armed divisions who came to David at Hebron to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of the Lord:


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Of the Benjamites, the kindred of [King] Saul, 3,000 — hitherto the majority of them had kept their allegiance [to Saul] <i>and</i> the charge of the house of Saul;


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And of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs; and all their kinsmen were under their command;


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Of Zebulun, 50,000 experienced troops, fitted out with all kinds of weapons <i>and</i> instruments of war that could order and set the battle in array, men not of double purpose <i>but</i> stable and trustworthy.


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Of Naphtali, 1,000 captains, and with them 37,000 [of the rank and file armed] with shield and spear;


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On the other [the east] side of the Jordan River, of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, 120,000 men, armed with all the weapons <i>and</i> instruments of war.


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All these, being men of war arrayed in battle order, came with a perfect <i>and</i> sincere heart to Hebron to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest also of Israel were of one mind to make David king.


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And they were there with David for three days, eating and drinking, for their brethren had prepared for them.


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Also those who were near them from as far as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali brought food on donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen, abundant supplies of meal, cakes of figs, bunches of raisins, wine, oil, oxen, and sheep, for there was joy in Israel.


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And David said to all the assembly of Israel, If it seems good to you and if it is of the Lord our God, let us send abroad everywhere to our brethren who are left in all the land of Israel, and with them to the priests and Levites in their cities that have suburbs <i>and</i> pasturelands, that they may gather together with us.


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So David gathered all Israel together, from the Shihor, the brook of Egypt [that marked the southeast border of Palestine], to the entrance of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.


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And David and all Israel went up to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim which belonged to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God the Lord, which is called by the name of Him Who sits [enthroned] above the cherubim.


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And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio [his brother] drove the cart.


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And David and all Israel merrily celebrated before God with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and cymbals and trumpets.


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And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put out his hand to steady the ark, for the oxen [that were drawing the cart] stumbled <i>and</i> were restive.


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And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and He smote him because he touched the ark; and there he died before God. <f>ⓐ</f>


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And David was offended because the Lord had broken forth upon Uzza; that place to this day is called Perez-uzza [the breaking forth upon Uzza].


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So David did not bring the ark home to the City of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite [a Levitical porter born in Gath-rimmon]. <f>ⓑ</f>


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And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months. And the Lord blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that he had.


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And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar timbers, with masons and carpenters, to build him a house.


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And David perceived that the Lord had established <i>and</i> confirmed him as king over Israel, for his kingdom was exalted highly for His people Israel’s sake.


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And when the Philistines heard that David was anointed king over all Israel, [they] all went up to seek David. And [he] heard of it and went out before them.


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David asked God, Shall I go up against the Philistines? And will You deliver them into my hand? And the Lord said, Go up, and I will deliver them into your hand.


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So [Israel] came up to Baal-perazim, and David smote [the Philistines] there. Then David said, God has broken my enemies by my hand, like the bursting forth of waters. Therefore they called the name of that place Baal-perazim [Lord of breaking through].


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And David inquired again of God, and God said to him, Do not go up after them; turn away from them and come [around] upon them over opposite the mulberry trees.


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And when you hear a sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry <i>or</i> balsam trees, then go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to smite the Philistine host.


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So David did as God commanded him, and they smote the army of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gezer.


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And the fame of David went out into all lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations.


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David made for himself houses in the City of David, and he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.


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Then David said, None should carry the ark of God but the Levites, for the Lord chose them to carry the ark of God and to minister to Him forever.


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And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord to its place, which he had prepared for it.


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And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites — Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab,


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And said to them, You are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites; sanctify yourselves, both you and your brethren, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it.


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For because you bore it not [as God directed] at the first, the Lord our God broke forth upon us — because we did not seek Him in the way He ordained. <f>ⓐ</f>


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So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel.


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The Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses commanded by the word of the Lord.


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David told the chief Levites to appoint their brethren the singers with instruments of music — harps, lyres, and cymbals — to play loudly and lift up their voices with joy.


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So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brethren, Ethan son of Kushaiah;


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And with them their brethren of the second class: Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and also the gatekeepers, Obed-edom and Jeiel.


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Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps [resembling guitars] set to Alamoth [probably the treble voice];


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Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead with lyres set to Sheminith [the bass voice].


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Chenaniah, leader of the Levites in singing, was put in charge of carrying the ark <i>and</i> lifting up song. He instructed about these matters because he was skilled <i>and</i> able.


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Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer the priests were to blow the trumpets before the ark of God. And Obed-edom and Jehiah (Jeiel) were also gatekeepers for the ark.


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So David, the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the house of Obed-edom with joy.


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And when God helped the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord [with a safe start], they offered seven bulls and seven rams.


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David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as were the Levites who bore the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah, director of the music of the singers. David also wore an ephod [a priestly upper garment] of linen.


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Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, sound of the cornet, trumpets, and cymbals, sounding aloud with harps and lyres.


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As the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the City of David, Michal [David’s wife] daughter of Saul, looking from a window, saw King David leaping as in sport, and she despised him in her heart.


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So they brought the ark of God and set it in the midst of the tent which David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.


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And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord.


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And he distributed to everyone of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins.


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He appointed Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord and to celebrate [by calling to mind], thanking and praising the Lord, the God of Israel:


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Asaph was the chief, next to him Zechariah, Jeiel (Jaaziel), Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, and Benaiah, Obed-edom and Jeiel, who were to play harps and lyres; Asaph was to sound the cymbals;


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Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God.


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Then on that day David first entrusted to Asaph and his brethren the singing of thanks to the Lord [as their chief task]:


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Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; meditate on <i>and</i> talk of all His wondrous works <i>and</i> devoutly praise them!


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Seek the Lord and His strength; yearn for <i>and</i> seek His face <i>and</i> to be in His presence continually!


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[Earnestly] remember the marvelous deeds which He has done, His miracles, and the judgments He uttered [as in Egypt],


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Be mindful of His covenant forever, the promise which He commanded <i>and</i> established to a thousand generations,


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Saying, To you I will give the land of Canaan, the measured portion of your possession <i>and</i> inheritance.


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For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He also is to be [reverently] feared above all so-called gods.


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Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. Bring an offering and come before Him; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness <i>and</i> in holy array.


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Tremble <i>and</i> reverently fear before Him, all the earth’s peoples; the world also shall be established, so it cannot be moved.


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Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice; and let men say among the nations, The Lord reigns!


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Then shall the trees of the wood sing out for joy before the Lord, for He comes to judge <i>and</i> govern the earth.


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And say, Save us, O God of our salvation; gather us together and deliver us from the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name and glory in Your praise.


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Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, forever and ever! And all the people said Amen! and praised the Lord.


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So David left Asaph and his brethren before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister before the ark continually, as each day’s work required,


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And Obed-edom with [his] sixty-eight kinsmen. Also Obed-edom son of Jeduthun, and Hosah, were to be gatekeepers.


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And David left Zadok the priest and his brethren the priests before the tabernacle of the Lord in the high place that was at Gibeon


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To offer burnt offerings to the Lord upon the altar of burnt offering continually, morning and evening, and to do all that is written in the Law of the Lord which He commanded Israel.


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With them were Heman and Jeduthun and the rest who were chosen and expressly named to give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy <i>and</i> loving-kindness endure forever.


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With them were Heman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cymbals for those who should sound aloud, and instruments for accompanying the songs of God. And the sons of Jeduthun were to be at the gate.


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Then all the people departed, each man to his house, and David returned home to bless his household.


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As David sat in his house, he said to Nathan the prophet, Behold, I dwell in a house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord remains under tent curtains.


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For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel from Egypt until this day; but I have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.


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Wherever I have walked with all Israel, did I say a word to any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to feed My people, saying, Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?


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Now therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David, Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over My people Israel.


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And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you, and I will make your name like the name of the great ones of the earth.


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Also I will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the first,


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Since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. Moreover, I will subdue all your enemies. Furthermore, I foretell to you that the Lord will build you a house (a blessed posterity).


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And it shall come to pass that when your days are fulfilled to go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.


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I will be his father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy <i>and</i> steadfast love away from him, as I took it from him [King Saul] who was before you. <f>ⓑ</f>


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But I will settle <f>[1]</f>him (Him) in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his (His) throne shall be established forevermore. <f>ⓒ</f>


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And David the king went in and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house <i>and</i> family, that You have brought me up to this?


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And yet this was a small thing in Your eyes, O God; for You have spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Lord God!


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O Lord, for Your servant’s sake and in accord with Your own heart, You have wrought all this greatness, to make known all these great things.


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O Lord, there is none like You, nor is there any God beside You, according to all that our ears have heard.


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And what nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem to Himself as a people, making Yourself a name by great and terrible things, by driving out nations from before Your people, whom You redeemed out of Egypt?


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Therefore now, Lord, let the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house be established forever, and do as You have said.


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Let it be established and let Your name [and the character that name denotes] be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God; and the house of David Your servant will be established before You.


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For You, O my God, have told Your servant that You will build for him a house (a blessed posterity); therefore Your servant has found courage <i>and</i> confidence to pray before You.


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Therefore may it please You to bless the house (posterity) of Your servant, that it may continue before You forever; for what You bless, O Lord, is blessed forever.


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After this, David smote and subdued the Philistines, and took Gath and its villages out of the hand of the Philistines.


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Also David defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah toward Hamath, as he went to establish his dominion by the river Euphrates.


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David took from him 1,000 chariots, 7,000 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. David also hamstrung all the chariot horses, but reserved enough for 100 chariots.


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When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians 22,000 men.


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Then David put garrisons in Syria, [whose capital was] Damascus; the Syrians became David’s servants and brought tribute. Thus the Lord preserved <i>and</i> gave victory to David wherever he went.


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David took the shields of gold that were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem.


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Likewise from Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David brought very much bronze, with which Solomon later made the bronze laver, the pillars, and the vessels of bronze.


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He sent Hadoram his son to King David to salute him and to congratulate him because he had fought and defeated Hadadezer, for Hadadezer had had wars with Tou. And Hadoram brought with him all manner of vessels of gold, silver, and bronze.


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King David dedicated them also to the Lord, with the silver and the gold he brought from all these nations: Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and the Amalekites.


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He put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. Thus the Lord preserved <i>and</i> gave victory to David wherever he went.


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Joab son of Zeruiah [David’s half sister] was over the army; and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder;


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Zadok son of Ahitub and Abimelech son of Abiathar were the priests; and Shavsha was secretary [of state];


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Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over [David’s bodyguards] the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were chiefs next to the king.


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David said, I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me. And David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father’s death. So the servants of David came into the land of the Ammonites to comfort Hanun.


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But the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun, Do you think that David has sent comforters to you because he honors your father? Have his servants not come to you to search, to overthrow, and to spy out the land?


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Therefore Hanun took David’s servants, shaved them, cut off their garments in the middle near their buttocks, and sent them away.


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When David was told how the men were served, he sent to meet them, for [they] were greatly shamed <i>and</i> embarrassed. The king said, Stay in Jericho until your beards are grown, and then return.


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When the Ammonites saw that they had made themselves hateful to David, Hanun and [his people] sent 1,000 talents of silver to hire chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia and Aram-maacah and Zobah.


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So they hired 32,000 chariots, and the king of Maacah and his troops, who came and pitched before Medeba. And the Ammonites gathered from their cities and came to battle.


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And the Ammonites came out and lined up in battle array before the entrance of the city [Medeba], and the kings who had come were by themselves in the open country.


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When Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose from all the choice men of Israel and put them in array against the Syrians.


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The rest of the soldiers he delivered to Abishai his brother, and they were arrayed against the Ammonites.


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And he said, If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you help me; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will help you.


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Be of good courage and let us behave ourselves courageously for our people and for the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what is good in His sight.


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So Joab and the people who were with him drew near before the Syrians for battle, and they fled before him.


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And when the Ammonites saw that the Syrians fled, they likewise fled before Abishai, Joab’s brother, and entered into the city [Medeba]. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.


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When the Syrians saw that they were defeated by Israel, they sent messengers and drew forth the Syrians who were beyond the Euphrates River, with Shophach the commander of the army of Hadadezer at their head.


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It was told to David, and he gathered all Israel and crossed the Jordan and drew up his army against them. So when David set the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him.


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But the Syrians fled before Israel, and David slew of the Syrians 7,000 men in chariots and 40,000 foot soldiers, and killed Shophach the commander of the army.


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When the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were defeated before Israel, they made peace with David and became subject to him; nor would the Syrians any longer help the Ammonites.


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After the end of the year, when kings go out to battle, Joab led forth the army and devastated the land of the Ammonites, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem. Joab smote Rabbah and overthrew it.


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David took their king’s crown from off his head and found that it weighed a talent of gold and that precious stones were in it. It was set upon David’s head. He brought also very much spoil out of the city of Rabbah.


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He brought out the people who were in it and set them at cutting with saws, iron wedges, and axes. So David dealt with all the Ammonite cities. And David and all the army returned to Jerusalem.


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After this, there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines; then Sibbecai the Hushathite slew Sippai, of the sons of the giant, and they were subdued.


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There was war again with the Philistines, and Elhanan son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.


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And again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature who had twenty-four fingers and toes, six on each hand and each foot. He also was born to the giant.


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David said to Joab and the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring me the total, that I may know it.


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And Joab answered, May the Lord multiply His people a hundred times! But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why then does my lord require this? Why will he bring guilt upon Israel?


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But the king’s word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem.


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Joab gave the total number of the people to David. And all of Israel were 1,100,000 who drew the sword, and of Judah 470,000 who drew the sword.


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And David said to God, I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. But now, I beseech You, take away the hateful wickedness of Your servant; for I have done very foolishly.


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Go and tell David, Thus says the Lord: I offer you three things; choose one of them, that I may do it to you.


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Either three years of famine, or three months of devastation before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the Lord and pestilence in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore, consider what answer I shall return to Him Who sent me.


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And David said to Gad, I am in great <i>and</i> distressing perplexity; let me fall, I pray you, into the hands of the Lord, for very great <i>and</i> many are His mercies; but let me not fall into the hands of man.


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God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and He regretted <i>and</i> relented of the evil and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay your hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.


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David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and the heavens, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.


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And David said to God, Is it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? It is I who has sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray You, O Lord my God, be on me and on my father’s house, but not on Your people, that they should be plagued.


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Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and set up an altar to the Lord in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.


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Now Ornan was threshing wheat, and he turned back and saw the angel; and his four sons hid themselves.


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And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw him, and went out from the threshing floor and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.


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Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar on it to the Lord. You shall charge me the full price for it, that the plague may be averted from the people.


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Ornan said to David, Take it; and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. I give you the oxen also for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for wood and the wheat for the meal offering. I give it all.


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And King David said to Ornan, No, but I will pay the full price. I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings which cost me nothing.


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And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings and called upon the Lord; and He answered him by fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering.


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When David saw that the Lord had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there.


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For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.


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But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord.


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Then David said, Here shall be the house of the Lord God, and here the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.


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David commanded to gather together the strangers who were in the land of Israel, and he set stonecutters to hew out stones to build the house of God.


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David prepared iron in abundance for nails for the doors of the gates and for the couplings, and bronze in abundance without weighing,


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Also cedar trees without number, for the Sidonians and they of Tyre brought much cedar timber to David.


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David said, Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout all lands. I will therefore make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.


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Then he called for Solomon his son and charged him to build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel.


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David said to Solomon, My son, it was in my heart to build a house to the <f>[1]</f>Name <i>and</i> [for the symbol of] the Presence of the Lord my God.


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But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to My Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight.


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Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of peace. I will give him rest from all his enemies round about; for his name shall be Solomon [peaceable], and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. <f>ⓐ</f>


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He shall build a house for My Name <i>and</i> [the symbol of My] Presence. He shall be My son, and I will be his father; and I will establish his royal throne over Israel forever.


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Now, my son, the Lord be with and prosper you in building the house of the Lord your God, as He has spoken concerning you.


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Only may the Lord give you wisdom and understanding as you are put in charge of Israel, that you may keep the law of the Lord your God.


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Then you will prosper if you are careful to keep <i>and</i> fulfill the statutes and ordinances with which the Lord charged Moses concerning Israel. Be strong and of good courage. Dread not <i>and</i> fear not; be not dismayed.


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In my affliction <i>and</i> trouble I have provided for the house of the Lord 100,000 talents of gold, 1,000,000 talents of silver, and bronze and iron without weighing. I have also provided timber and stone; you must add to them.


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You have workmen in abundance: hewers, workers of stone and timber, and all kinds of craftsmen without number, skillful in doing every kind of work


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Is not the Lord your God with you? And has He not given you peace on every side? For He has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the Lord and His people.


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Now set your mind and heart to seek (inquire of and require as your vital necessity) the Lord your God. Arise and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God may be brought into the house built to the Name <i>and</i> renown of the Lord.


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Of whom <f>[1]</f>24,000 were to oversee the work of the house of the Lord and 6,000 were to be officers and judges.


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And, said David, 4,000 shall be gatekeepers and 4,000 are to praise the Lord with the instruments which I made for praise.


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The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran — three in all. These were the heads of the fathers’ houses of Ladan.


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Jahath was chief and Zizah the second, but Jeush and Beriah had not many sons [not enough for a father’s house or clan]; so they were counted together as one father’s house.


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The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart to sanctify him as most holy <i>and</i> to consecrate the most holy things, that he and his sons forever might burn incense before the Lord, minister to Him, and bless in His name [and the character which that name denotes] forever.


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The son of Eliezer: Rehabiah the chief. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah’s sons were very many.


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The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.


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Eleazar died and had no sons, but daughters only, and their kinsmen, sons of Kish, took them as wives.


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These were the Levites by their fathers’ houses, the heads of the fathers’ houses of those registered, according to the number of names of the individuals who were the servants of the house of the Lord, from twenty years old and upward.


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For David said, The Lord, the God of Israel has given peace <i>and</i> rest to His people, and He dwells in Jerusalem forever.


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For by the last words <i>and</i> acts of David, these were the number of the Levites from twenty years old and above.


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But their duty should be to wait on [the priests] the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of the Lord, caring for the courts, the chambers, the cleansing of all holy things, and any work of the service of God’s house,


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For the showbread also, and for the fine flour for a cereal offering, whether of unleavened wafers or of what is baked on the griddle or soaked [in oil], and for all measuring of amount and size [as the Law of Moses required].


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And to assist in offering all burnt sacrifices to the Lord on Sabbaths, New Moon festivals, and set feast days by number according to the ordinance concerning them, continually before the Lord.


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So they shall keep charge of the Tent of Meeting and the Holy Place and shall attend to the sons of Aaron their kinsmen, for the service of the house of the Lord.


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The courses <i>or</i> divisions of the priests, the sons of Aaron, were these: The sons of Aaron: Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.


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But Nadab and Abihu died before their father and had no children; therefore Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priest’s office.


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And David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided <i>and</i> distributed them according to their assigned duties.


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Since there were more chief men found among the sons of Eleazar [because of the misfortunes of Eli, and Saul’s slaughter of the priests at Nob] than among the sons of Ithamar, they were divided thus: sixteen heads of fathers’ houses of the sons of Eleazar and eight of the sons of Ithamar according to their fathers’ houses.


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Thus were they divided by lot, one group with the other, for there were chiefs of the sanctuary and chiefs of God [high priests] drawn both from the sons of Eleazar and from the sons of Ithamar.


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Shemaiah the scribe, son of Nethanel, a Levite, recorded them in the presence of the king, the princes, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech son of Abiathar [the priest who escaped being killed at Nob by Saul and fled to David], and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and Levites — one father’s house being taken alternately for Eleazar and one for Ithamar.


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This was their order for coming on duty to serve in the house of the Lord, according to the procedure ordered for them by their [forefather] Aaron, as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded him.


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As for the rest of the sons of Levi: of the sons of Amram: Shubael; of the sons of Shubael: Jehdeiah.


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The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites, according to their fathers’ houses.


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These likewise cast lots, as did their kinsmen the sons of Aaron, in the presence of David the king, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and Levites — the head of each father’s house and his younger brother alike.


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Also David and the chiefs of the host [of the Lord] separated to the [temple] service some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, who should prophesy [being inspired] with lyres, harps, and cymbals. The list of the musicians according to their service was:


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Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah, the sons of Asaph under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied (witnessed and testified under divine inspiration) in keeping with the king’s order.


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Of the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six in all, under the direction of their father Jeduthun, who witnessed <i>and</i> prophesied under divine inspiration with the lyre in thanksgiving and praise to the Lord.


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Of Heman: the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth.


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All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer [his mediator] in the words <i>and</i> things of God to exalt Him; for God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters, <f>ⓐ</f>


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All of whom were [in the choir] under the direction of their father for song in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order of the king.


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So the number of them [who led the remainder of the 4,000], with their kinsmen who were specially trained in songs for the Lord, all who were talented singers, was 288. <f>ⓑ</f>


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The first lot fell for Asaph to Joseph; the second to Gedaliah, to him, his brethren and his sons, twelve;


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For the divisions of the gatekeepers: Of the Korahites was: Meshelemiah son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph.


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And Meshelemiah had sons: Zechariah the firstborn, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth,


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Obed-edom had sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sacar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth,


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Also to Shemaiah his son were sons born, who were rulers in their fathers’ houses, for they were mighty men of ability <i>and</i> courage.


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The sons of Shemaiah: Othni, Rephael, Obed, and Elzabad, whose brethren were strong <i>and</i> able men, Elihu and Semachiah.


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All these were sons of Obed-edom [in whose house the ark was kept], with their sons and brethren, strong <i>and</i> able men for the service — sixty-two in all. <f>ⓐ</f>


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Also Hosah, of the sons of Merari, had sons: Shimri the chief (he was not the firstborn, yet his father made him chief),


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Hilkiah the second, Tebaliah the third, Zechariah the fourth; all the sons and brethren of Hosah were thirteen in all.


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Of these were the divisions of the gatekeepers, even of the chief men, having duties, as did their brethren, to minister in the house of the Lord.


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The lot for the east fell to Shelemiah. They cast lots also for Zechariah his son, a wise counselor, and his lot came out for the north.


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To Shuppim and Hosah the lot fell for the west, by the refuse gate that goes into the ascending highway, post opposite post.


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On the east were six Levites, on the north four a day, on the south four a day, and two by two at the storehouse.


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At the <f>[1]</f>colonnade on the west side [of the outer court of the temple], there were four at the road and two at the colonnade.


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Of the Levites, Ahijah was over the treasuries of the house of God and the treasuries of the dedicated gifts.


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The sons of Ladan, the descendants of Gershon through Ladan, the heads of families of Ladan the Gershonite: Jehieli,


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The sons of Jehieli, Zetham and Joel his brother, who were over the treasuries of the house of the Lord.


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His brethren from Eliezer were his son Rehabiah, his son Jeshaiah, his son Joram, his son Zichri, and his son Shelomoth.


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This Shelomoth and his brethren were over all the treasuries of the dedicated gifts, which King David, the heads of the fathers’ houses, the officers over thousands and hundreds, and the commanders of the army had dedicated.


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Also all that Samuel the seer, Saul son of Kish, Abner son of Ner, and Joab son of Zeruiah had dedicated, and whatever anyone had dedicated, it was in the charge of Shelomoth and his brethren.


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Of the Izharites: Chenaniah and his sons were appointed to outside duties for Israel, as officers and judges.


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Of the Hebronites: Hashabiah and his brethren, men of courage <i>and</i> ability, 1,700 in all, were officers over Israel on the west side of the Jordan in all the Lord’s business and the king’s service.


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Of the Hebronites: Jerijah was the chief, according to their generations by fathers’ houses. In the fortieth year of David’s reign a search was made, and men of great courage <i>and</i> ability were found among them at Jazer in Gilead.


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Jerijah’s kinsmen, men of courage <i>and</i> ability, were 2,700 heads of fathers’ houses; King David made them overseers of the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, for everything pertaining to God and for the affairs of the king.


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This is the list of the Israelites, the heads of fathers’ houses, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, and their officers who served the king in all matters of the divisions that came and went, month by month throughout the year, each division numbering 24,000.


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Over the first division for the first month was Jashobeam son of Zabdiel. In his division were 24,000.


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Over the division for the second month was Dodai the Ahohite; and of his division Mikloth was the chief officer. In his division were 24,000.


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The third commander of the army for the third month was Benaiah son of Jehoiada the priest, as chief. In his division were 24,000.


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This is the Benaiah who was a mighty man of the Thirty and over the Thirty; and in his division was Ammizabad his son.


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The fourth, for the fourth month, Asahel brother of Joab, and Zebadiah his son after him. In his division were 24,000.


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The seventh, for the seventh month, Helez the Pelonite, of the Ephraimites. In his division were 24,000.


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The eighth, for the eighth month, Sibbecai the Hushathite, of the Zarahites. In his division were 24,000.


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The tenth, for the tenth month, Maharai from Netophah, of the Zerahites. In his division were 24,000.


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The eleventh, for the eleventh month, Benaiah the Pirathonite, of the sons of Ephraim. In his division were 24,000.


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The twelfth, for the twelfth month, Heldai the Netophathite, of Othniel. In his division were 24,000.


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Also over the tribes of Israel: of the Reubenites: Eliezer son of Zichri was chief officer; of the Simeonites: Shephatiah son of Maachah;


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But David did not number those under twenty years of age, for the Lord had promised to make Israel as the stars of the heavens.


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Joab son of Zeruiah began a census but did not finish, because the census brought wrath upon Israel, and the number was not recorded in the chronicles of King David.


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Over the king’s treasuries was Azmaveth son of Adiel; and over the treasuries in the country, cities, villages, and towers <i>or</i> forts was Jonathan son of Uzziah;


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Over the vineyards was Shimei the Ramathite; over the produce of the vineyards for the wine cellars, Zabdi the Shiphmite;


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Over the olive and sycamore trees in the low plains, Baal-hanan the Gederite; over the stores of oil, Joash;


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Over the herds pasturing in Sharon, Shitrai the Sharonite; over the herds in the valleys, Shaphat son of Adlai;


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Also Jonathan, David’s uncle, was a counselor, a wise man and a scribe; he and Jehiel son of Hachmoni attended the king’s sons [as tutors]. <f>ⓐ</f>


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Ahithophel was succeeded by Jehoiada son of Benaiah and by Abiathar. Joab was the commander of the king’s army.


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David assembled at Jerusalem all the leaders of Israel and of the tribes, the officers of the divisions that served the king in courses, and those over thousands and hundreds, and the stewards over all the property and livestock of the king and his sons, with the palace officers, the mighty men, and all the mighty warriors.


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Then David the king rose to his feet and said, Hear me, my brethren and my people. I myself intended to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as a footstool for our God, and I prepared materials for the building.


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But God said to me, You shall not build a house for My Name [and Presence], because you have been a man of war and have shed blood.


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However, the Lord, the God of Israel, chose me before all my father’s house to be king over Israel forever. For He chose Judah to be the ruler; and of the house of Judah he chose the house of my father; and among the sons of my father He was pleased to make me king over all Israel;


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And of all my sons, for the Lord has given me many sons, He has chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.


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And He said to me, Solomon your son shall build My house and My courts, for I have chosen him to be My son, and I will be his father.


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I will establish his kingdom forever if he loyally <i>and</i> continuously obeys My commandments and My ordinances, as he does today.


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Now therefore, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, keep and seek [to be familiar with] all the commandments of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land and leave it as an inheritance for your children after you forever.


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And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father [have personal knowledge of Him, be acquainted with, and understand Him; appreciate, heed, and cherish Him] and serve Him with a blameless heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts <i>and</i> minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity] you will find Him; but <f>[1]</f>if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever!


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Then David gave Solomon his son the plan of the vestibule of the temple, its houses, its treasuries, its upper chambers, its inner rooms, and of the place for the [ark and its] mercy seat;


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And the plan of all that he had in mind [by the Spirit] for the courts of the house of the Lord, all the surrounding chambers, the treasuries of the house of God, and the treasuries for the dedicated gifts;


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The plan for the divisions of the priests and the Levites, for all the work of the service in the house of the Lord; for all the vessels for service in the house of the Lord:


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The weight of the golden lampstands and their lamps, the weight of gold or silver for each lampstand and its lamps, according to the use of each lampstand;


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Also pure gold for the forks, basins, and cups; for the golden bowls by weight of each; for the silver bowls by weight of each;


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For the incense altar refined gold by weight, and gold for the plan of the chariot of the cherubim that spread their wings and covered the ark of the Lord’s covenant.


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All this the Lord made me understand by the writing by His hand upon me, all the work to be done according to the plan.


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Also David told Solomon his son, Be strong and courageous, and do it. Fear not, be not dismayed, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail or forsake you until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.


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And see, [you have] the divisions of the priests and Levites for all the service of God’s house, and with you in all the kinds of work will be every willing, skillful man for any kind of service. Also the officers and all the people will be wholly at your command.


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And King David said to all the assembly, Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is yet young, tender, <i>and</i> inexperienced; and the work is great, for the palace is not to be for man but for the Lord God.


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So I have provided with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be of gold, silver for things of silver, bronze for things of bronze, iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood, as well as onyx <i>or</i> beryl stones, stones to be set, stones of antimony, stones of various colors, and all sorts of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.


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Moreover, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, in addition to all I have prepared for the holy house, I have a private treasure of gold and silver which I give for the house of my God:


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It is 3,000 talents of gold, gold of Ophir, 7,000 talents of refined silver for overlaying the walls of the house,


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Gold for the uses of gold, silver for the uses of silver, and for every work to be done by craftsmen. Now who will offer willingly to fill his hand [and consecrate it] today to the Lord [like one consecrating himself to the priesthood]?


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Then the chiefs of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers of the king’s work, offered willingly


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And gave for the service of the house of God — of gold 5,000 talents and 10,000 darics, of silver 10,000 talents, of bronze 18,000 talents, and 100,000 talents of iron.


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And whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord in the care of Jehiel the Gershonite.


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Then the people rejoiced because these had given willingly, for with a whole <i>and</i> blameless heart they had offered freely to the Lord. King David also rejoiced greatly.


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Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly and said, Be praised, adored, <i>and</i> thanked, O Lord, the God of Israel our [forefather], forever and ever.


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Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and the earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and Yours it is to be exalted as Head over all.


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Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hands are power and might; in Your hands it is to make great and to give strength to all.


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Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name <i>and</i> those attributes which that name denotes.


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But who am I, and what are my people, that we should retain strength <i>and</i> be able to offer thus so willingly? For all things come from You, and out of Your own [hand] we have given You.


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For we are strangers before You, and sojourners, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope <i>or</i> expectation of remaining.


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O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build You a house for Your holy Name <i>and</i> the token of Your presence comes from Your hand, and is all Your own.


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I know also, my God, that You try the heart and delight in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things. And now I have seen with joy Your people who are present here offer voluntarily <i>and</i> freely to You.


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O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes <i>and</i> thoughts in the minds of Your people, and direct <i>and</i> establish their hearts toward You.


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And give to Solomon my son a blameless heart to keep Your commandments, testimonies, and statutes, and to do all that is necessary to build the palace [for You] for which I have made provision.


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And David said to all the assembly, Now adore (praise and thank) the Lord your God! And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, and bowed down and did obeisance to the Lord and to the king [as His earthly representative].


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The next day they offered sacrifices and burnt offerings to the Lord: 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 lambs, with their drink offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel.


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They ate and drank before the Lord on that day with great rejoicing. They made Solomon son of David king a second time, and anointed him as prince for the Lord and Zadok to be high priest.


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Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father; and he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him.


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All the leaders and mighty men, and also all the sons of King David, pledged allegiance to King Solomon.


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And the Lord magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel and bestowed upon him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel.


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The time he reigned over Israel was forty years — he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.


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He died in a good old age [his seventy-first year], full <i>and</i> satisfied with days, riches, and honor. Solomon his son reigned in his stead.


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Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the recorded words of Samuel the seer, Nathan the prophet, and Gad the seer,


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With accounts of all his reign and his might, and the times through which he and Israel passed, as did all the kingdoms of the countries.


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Solomon son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him and made him exceedingly great.


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Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every prince in all Israel, the heads of the fathers’ houses.


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And Solomon and all the assembly [a united nation] with him went to the high place that was at Gibeon, for the Tent of Meeting of God, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness, was there [where the Canaanites had habitually worshiped].


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


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Moreover, the bronze altar that Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made was there before the tabernacle of the Lord, and Solomon and the assembly sought [the Lord].


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Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the Lord at the Tent of Meeting and offered 1,000 burnt offerings on it.


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And Solomon said to God, You have shown great mercy <i>and</i> loving-kindness to David my father and have made me king in his place.


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Now, O Lord God, let Your promise to David my father be fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude.


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Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can rule this Your people who are so great?


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God replied to Solomon, Because this was in your heart and you have not asked for riches, possessions, honor, <i>and</i> glory, or the life of your foes, or even for long life, but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may rule <i>and</i> judge My people over whom I have made you king,


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Wisdom and knowledge are granted you. And I will give you riches, possessions, honor, <i>and</i> glory, such as none of the kings had before you, and none after you shall have their equal.


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Then Solomon came from the high place at Gibeon, from before the Tent of Meeting, to Jerusalem. And he reigned over Israel.


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Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, which he placed in the cities [suited for the use] of chariots and with the king at Jerusalem.


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And the king made silver and gold in Jerusalem as common as stones, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamores of the lowland.


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Solomon’s horses were brought out of Egypt; the king’s merchants received them in droves, <f>[1]</f>each drove at a price.


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They imported from Egypt a chariot for 600 shekels of silver, and a horse for 150; so they brought out horses for all the Hittite and Syrian kings as export agents.


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And Solomon counted out 70,000 men to bear burdens, 80,000 to be stonecutters in the hill country, and 3,600 overseers.


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And Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre, saying, As you dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build himself a house in which to dwell, even so deal with me.


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Behold, I am about to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God, dedicated to Him for the burning of incense of sweet spices before Him, for the continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, New Moons, and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God, as ordained forever for Israel.


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But who is able to build Him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain Him? Who am I to build Him a house, except as a place to burn incense in worship before Him?


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Now therefore, send a man skilled to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue colors, who is a trained engraver, to work with the skilled men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.


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Send me also from Lebanon cedar, cypress, and algum timber, for I know your servants can skillfully cut timber in Lebanon; and my servants will be with your servants,


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To prepare for me timber in abundance, for the house I am about to build shall be great and wonderful.


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And I will give to your servants who cut timber 20,000 measures of crushed wheat and also of barley, and 20,000 baths of wine and also of oil.


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Then Hiram king of Tyre replied in writing sent to Solomon, Because the Lord loves His people, He has made you king over them.


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Hiram said also, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, Who made heaven and earth, Who has given to David the king a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding, who should build a house for the Lord and a royal palace as his capitol.


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The son of a woman of the daughters of <f>[2]</f>Dan; his father was a man of Tyre. He is a trained worker in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood; in purple, blue, and crimson colors, and in fine linen; and also to engrave any type of engraving and to carry out any design given him, with your skilled men and those of my lord, David your father.


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Now therefore, the wheat, barley, oil, and wine of which my lord has spoken, let him send them to his servants,


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And we will cut whatever timber you need from Lebanon and bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa, so you may take it up to Jerusalem.


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Then Solomon took a census of all the aliens in the land of Israel, like the census of them which his father David had taken. They were found to be 153,600.


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And he assigned 70,000 of them to be burden bearers, 80,000 to work in the mountain quarries, and 3,600 as overseers to direct the people’s work.


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Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to David his father, in the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. <f>ⓐ</f>


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Now these are the measurements for the foundations which Solomon laid for the house of God. The length in cubits by the former measure was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.


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The porch <i>or</i> vestibule across the front of the house was the same length as the house’s breadth, twenty cubits, and the <f>[1]</f>height 120 cubits. He overlaid it inside with pure gold.


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And the greater house (the Holy Place) he lined with cypress and overlaid it with fine gold and made palm trees and chains on it.


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He lined the house (the Holy Place), its beams, thresholds, walls, and doors with gold, and engraved cherubim on the walls.


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He made the Most Holy Place, its length equaling the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits; he overlaid it with 600 talents of fine gold.


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And the wings of the cherubim [combined] extended twenty cubits: one wing of one cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house, and its other wing of five cubits touched the other cherub’s wing.


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And of the other cherub one wing of five cubits touched the wall of the house, and the other wing, also five cubits, joined the wing of the first cherub.


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The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits; the cherubim stood on their feet, their faces toward the Holy Place.


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And he made the veil [between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place] of blue, purple, and crimson colors, and fine linen, and embroidered cherubim on it.


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Before the house he made two pillars, 35 cubits high, with a capital on the top of each which was five cubits.


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He made chains like a necklace and put them on the heads of the pillars, and he made 100 pomegranates and put them on the chains.


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He erected the pillars before the temple, one on the right, the other on the left, and called the one on the right Jachin [he shall establish] and the one on the left Boaz [in it is strength].


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Also he made a round Sea of molten metal, ten cubits from brim to brim and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured around it.


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Under it were figures of oxen encircling it, ten to a cubit. The oxen were in two rows, cast in one piece with it.


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It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking north, three west, three south, three east; and the Sea rested upon them, and all their hind parts were inward.


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Its thickness was a handbreadth; its brim was like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held 3,000 baths (measures).


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He made also ten lavers in which to wash and put five on the right (south) side and five on the left (north). Such things as they offered for the burnt offering they washed in them, but the Sea was for the priests to wash in.


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And he made ten golden lampstands as directed and set them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left.


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He made also ten tables and placed them in the temple, five each on the right and left sides, and 100 basins of gold.


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Moreover, he made the priests’ court, and the great court and doors for the court, and overlaid their doors with bronze.


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And Huram made the pots, shovels, and basins. So Huram finished the work of God’s house that he did for King Solomon:


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The two pillars; the bowls; the capitals on top of the two pillars; and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals on top of the pillars;


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And 400 pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals upon the pillars.


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The pots, shovels, and fleshhooks, and all their equipment Huram his trusted counselor made of burnished bronze for King Solomon for the house of the Lord.


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And Solomon made all the vessels for the house of God: the golden altar also; and the tables for the showbread (the bread of the Presence);


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And the lampstands with their lamps of pure gold, to burn before the inner sanctuary (the Holy of Holies) as directed;


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The snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and firepans, of pure gold; and for the temple entry, the inner doors for the Most Holy Place and the doors of the Holy Place were of gold.


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Thus all the work that Solomon did for the house of the Lord was finished. He brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated, and the silver, the gold, and all the vessels he put in the treasuries of the house of God.


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Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chiefs of the fathers’ houses of the Israelites, to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the City of David, which is Zion.


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And the priests and Levites brought up the ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent.


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Also King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel who were gathered to him before the ark sacrificed sheep and oxen so numerous that they could not be counted or reported.


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And the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, to the sanctuary of the house, into the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim;


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For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, making a covering above the ark and its poles.


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And they drew out the poles of the ark, so that the ends of the poles protruding from the ark were visible from the front of the Holy of Holies, but were not visible from without. It is there to this day.


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There was nothing in the ark except the two tables [the Ten Commandments] which Moses put in it at Mount Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.


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And when the priests had come out of the Holy Place — for all the priests present had sanctified themselves, separating themselves from everything that defiles, without regard to their divisions;


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And all the Levites who were singers — all of those of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, with their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, having cymbals, harps, and lyres — stood at the east end of the altar, and with them 120 priests blowing trumpets;


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And when the trumpeters and singers were joined in unison, making one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and other instruments for song and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy <i>and</i> loving-kindness endure forever, then the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud,


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So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.


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I have built You a house, [in which the dark Holy of Holies seems] a [fitting] abode for You, a place for You to dwell in forever.


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And he said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, Who has fulfilled with His hands what He promised with His mouth to David my father, saying,


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Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that My Name might be there, <f>[1]</f>neither chose I any man to be a ruler over My people Israel;


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But I have chosen Jerusalem, that My Name [and the symbol of My presence] might be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.


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Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the Name <i>and</i> renown of the Lord, the God of Israel.


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But the Lord said to David my father, Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name <i>and</i> renown, you did well that it was in your heart.


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Yet you shall not build the house, but your son, who shall be born to you — he shall build the house for My Name.


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The Lord therefore has performed His word that He has spoken, for I have risen up in the place of David my father and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel.


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In it have I put the ark [the symbol of His presence], in which is the covenant of the Lord [the Ten Commandments] which He made with the people of Israel.


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And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread forth his hands.


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For he had made a bronze scaffold, five cubits square and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; upon it he stood, and he knelt upon his knees before all the assembly of Israel and spread forth his hands toward heaven,


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And said, O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like You in the heavens or in the earth, keeping covenant and showing mercy <i>and</i> loving-kindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts,


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You Who have kept Your promises to my father David and fulfilled with Your hand what You spoke with Your mouth, as it is today.


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Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father that which You promised him, saying, There shall not fail a man in My sight to sit on the throne of Israel, provided your children are careful to walk in My law as you, David, have walked before Me.


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But will God actually dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built!


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Yet have respect for the prayer of Your servant and for his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant prays before You,


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That Your eyes may be open upon this house day and night, toward the place in which You have said You would put Your Name [and the symbol of your presence], to listen to <i>and</i> heed the prayer which Your servant prays facing this place.


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So listen to <i>and</i> heed the requests of Your servant and Your people Israel which they shall make facing this place. Hear from Your dwelling place, heaven; and when You hear, forgive.


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If a man sins against his neighbor, and he is required to take an oath, and the oath comes before Your altar in this house,


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Then hear from heaven and do; and judge Your servants, requiting the wicked by bringing his conduct upon his own head, and justifying the [uncompromisingly] righteous by giving him according to his righteousness (his uprightness and right standing with God).


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If Your people Israel have been defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against You, and shall return, confess Your name [and You Yourself], and pray and make supplication before You in this house,


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Then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel and bring them again to the land which You gave to them and their fathers.


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When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, yet if they pray toward this place, confess your name [and You Yourself], and turn from their sin when You afflict them,


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Then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, [all of] Your people Israel, when You have taught them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain upon Your land which You have given to Your people for an inheritance.


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If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, blight, mildew, locusts, or caterpillars, if their enemies besiege them in any of their cities, whatever plague or sickness there may be,


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Then whatever prayer or supplication any man or all of Your people Israel shall make — each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house —


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Then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart You know; for You, You only, know men’s hearts,


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That they may fear You and walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.


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Also concerning the stranger who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a far country for Your great name’s sake and Your mighty power and Your outstretched arm — if he comes and prays toward this house,


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Hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, and do all for which the stranger calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You [reverently and worshipfully], as do Your people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by Your Name.


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If Your people go out to war against their enemies by the way that You send them, and they pray to You facing this city [Jerusalem] which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your Name,


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If they sin against You — for there is no man who does not sin — and You are angry with them and give them to enemies who take them captive to a land far or near;


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Yet if they repent in the land to which they have been carried captive, and turn and pray there, saying, We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have dealt wickedly;


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If they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity, and pray facing their land which You gave to their fathers and toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your Name;


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Then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and supplications, and maintain their cause; and forgive Your people, who have sinned against You.


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Now, O my God, I beseech You, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this temple.


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So now arise, O Lord God, and come into Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength <i>and</i> power. Let Your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your saints (Your zealous ones) rejoice in good <i>and</i> in Your goodness.


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O Lord God, <f>[2]</f>turn not away the face of [me] Your anointed one; [earnestly] remember Your good deeds, mercy, <i>and</i> steadfast love for David Your servant.


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When Solomon had finished praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house.


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The priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house.


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And when all the people of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed with their faces upon the pavement and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy <i>and</i> loving-kindness endure forever.


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


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The priests stood at their posts, and the Levites also, with instruments of music to the Lord, which King David had made to praise <i>and</i> give thanks to the Lord — for His mercy <i>and</i> loving-kindness endure forever — whenever David praised through their ministry; the priests blew trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.


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Moreover, Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which [he] had made was not sufficient to receive the burnt offerings, the cereal offerings, and the fat.


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At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt.


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The eighth day they made a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar and the feast, each for seven days.


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And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the Lord had shown to David, to Solomon, and to Israel His people.


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Thus Solomon finished the Lord’s house and the king’s house; all that [he] had planned to do in the Lord’s house and his own house he accomplished successfully.


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And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said to him: I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.


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If I shut up heaven so no rain falls, or if I command locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,


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If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, <i>and</i> require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.


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For I have chosen and sanctified (set apart for holy use) this house, that My Name may be here forever, and My eyes and My heart will be here perpetually.


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As for you [Solomon], if you will walk before me as David your father walked, and do all I have commanded you, and observe My statutes and My ordinances, <f>ⓐ</f>


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Then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, There shall not fail you a man to be ruler in Israel.


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But if you [people] turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you and go and serve other gods and worship them,


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Then will I pluck [Israel] up by the roots out of My land which I have given [them]; and this house which I have hallowed for My Name will I cast out of My sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. <f>ⓑ</f>


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And this house, which was so high, shall be an astonishment to everyone passing it, and they will say, Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?


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Then men will say, Because they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, Who brought them out of Egypt, and they laid hold of other gods and worshiped and served them; therefore has He brought all this evil upon them.


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The cities which Huram had given to [him] Solomon rebuilt <i>and</i> fortified, and caused the Israelites to dwell there.


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And Baalath and all the store cities [he] had, and all the cities for his chariots and the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all his dominion.


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


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But descendants of those who were left in the land, whom the Israelites had not destroyed — of them Solomon made a levy for forced labor to this day.


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But of the Israelites Solomon made no slaves for his work; but they were men of war, chiefs of his captains, and captains of his chariots and horsemen.


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Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh out of the City of David into the house he had built for her, for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy to which the ark of the Lord has come.


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Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the Lord’s altar which he had built before the [temple] porch <i>or</i> vestibule,


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A certain number every day, offering as Moses commanded for the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the solemn feast days three times in the year — the Feasts of Unleavened Bread, of Weeks, and of Tabernacles.


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And he appointed, as ordered by David his father, the divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites to their offices to praise and to serve before the priests as the duty of every day required, and the gatekeepers also by their divisions at every gate; for so had David the man of God commanded.


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And they did not turn from the command of the king to the priests and Levites in any respect or concerning the treasuries.


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Thus all the work of Solomon was prepared from the day the foundation of the Lord’s house was laid until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed.


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And Huram sent him by his servants ships and servants familiar with the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir and took from there 450 talents of gold and brought them to King Solomon.


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When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions, accompanied by very many attendants and camels bearing spices, much gold, and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she talked with him of all that was on her mind.


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And Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from [him] which he was unable to make clear to her.


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The food of his table, the seating of his officials, the [standing at] attention of his servants, their apparel, his cupbearers also and their apparel, and his burnt offerings which he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.


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She said to the king, The report which I heard in my own land of your acts <i>and</i> sayings and of your wisdom was true,


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But I did not believe their words until I came and my eyes had seen it. Behold, the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me; you surpass the fame that I heard of you.


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Happy are your wives <i>and</i> men, and happy are these your servants who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom!


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Blessed be the Lord your God, Who delighted in you and set you on His throne to be king for the Lord your God! Because your God loved Israel and would establish them forever, He made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.


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She gave the king 120 talents of gold, a very large quantity of spices, and precious stones; such spice was not anywhere as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.


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The servants of Huram and [those] of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, also brought algum trees and precious stones.


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The king made of the algum trees terraces <i>or</i> walks to the house of the Lord and to the king’s palace, and lyres and harps for the singers; none such had ever been seen before in the land of Judah.


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And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides what she had brought to the king. So she with her servants returned to her own land.


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Besides what traders and merchants brought; and all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.


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And King Solomon made 200 large shields <i>or</i> bucklers of beaten gold; 600 shekels of beaten gold went into each shield.


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And he made 300 shields of beaten gold, with 300 shekels of gold spread on each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.


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There were six steps to the throne and a gold footstool attached to the throne, and arms on each side of the seat, with two lions standing beside the arms.


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And twelve lions stood there one on either end of each of the six steps. The like of it was never made in any kingdom before.


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King Solomon’s drinking vessels were all of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was not counted as anything in the days of Solomon.


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For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with Huram’s servants; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.


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And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom which God had put into his mind.


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And every man brought his tribute: silver and gold articles, robes, armor, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.


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Solomon had 4,000 stalls for horses and chariots, and 12,000 horsemen, stationed in chariot cities or at Jerusalem with the king. <f>ⓐ</f>


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And he ruled over <f>[1]</f>all the kings from the [Euphrates] River to the land of Philistia and to the frontier of Egypt.


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The king made silver in Jerusalem as common as stones, and cedar wood as plentiful as sycamore trees in the lowlands.


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Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, are they not written in the history of Nathan the prophet and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?


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Then Solomon slept with his fathers; he was buried in the city of David his father. Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.


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Jeroboam the son of Nebat was in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon, when he heard about the new king; so Jeroboam returned from Egypt.


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Your father [King Solomon] made our yoke grievous. So now make lighter the grievous service of your father and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve you.


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King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men who stood before Solomon his father while he was alive, saying, What counsel do you give me in reply to the people?


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And they answered him, If you are kind to [these] people and please them and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.


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But the king forsook the counsel which the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who were brought up with him and stood before him.


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And he said to them, What answer do you advise that we give to the demand of [these] people, Make the yoke your father put upon us lighter?


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The young men who were brought up with him said to him, Tell the people who said to you, Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter: My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins.


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For whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.


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And answered them after the advice of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.


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So the king did not heed the people, for it was <f>[1]</f>brought about of God, that the Lord might perform His word which He spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat. <f>ⓐ</f>


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And when all Israel saw that the king would not listen to <i>and</i> heed them, they answered [him], What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to your tents, O Israel! Now, David [tribe of Judah], see to your own house [under your tyrant King Rehoboam]! So all Israel went to their homes.


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Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the forced labor, and the Israelites stoned him and he died. But King Rehoboam hastened to get up to his royal chariot to flee to Jerusalem.


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And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled of the house of Judah and Benjamin 180,000 chosen warriors to fight against [the ten rebellious tribes of] Israel to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam.


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Thus says the Lord: You shall not go up or fight against your brethren. Return every man to his house, for this thing is from Me. And they obeyed the Lord and returned from going against Jeroboam.


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He fortified the strongholds and put captains in them, with stores of food, oil, and vintage fruits.


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And in each city he put shields and spears, and made them very strong. So he held Judah and Benjamin.


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And the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel came over to Rehoboam from wherever they lived.


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For the Levites left their suburbs and their possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them out from executing the priest’s office to the Lord.


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And he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the [idols of demon] he-goats, and calves he had made. <f>ⓐ</f>


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And after them out of all the tribes of Israel there came to Jerusalem those who set their hearts to seek <i>and</i> inquire of the Lord, the God of Israel, to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their fathers.


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So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and upheld Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years; for they walked in the ways of David and Solomon for three years.


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Rehoboam took as wife Mahalath, whose father was Jerimoth son of David; her mother was Abihail daughter of Eliab son of Jesse.


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And after her he took Maacah daughter [granddaughter] of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.


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And Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter [granddaughter] of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines — for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he had twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.


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And Rehoboam made Abijah son of Maacah the chief prince among his brethren, for he intended to make him king.


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And he dealt understandingly and dispersed his children throughout all Judah and Benjamin to every fortified city. He gave them abundant supplies, and he sought many wives for them.


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When Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.


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And in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had transgressed <i>and</i> been unfaithful to the Lord, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem


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With 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen, and the people were without number who came with him from Egypt — the Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians.


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Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, Thus says the Lord: You have forsaken Me, so I have abandoned you into the hands of Shishak.


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And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and My wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.


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Nevertheless, they shall be his servants, that they may know [the difference between] My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.


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So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house. He took everything. He took away also the shields of gold Solomon had made.


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Instead of them King Rehoboam made shields of bronze and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard who kept the door of the king’s house.


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And whenever the king entered the Lord’s house, the guards came and got the shields of bronze and brought them again into the guard chamber.


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When Rehoboam humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to destroy him entirely; also in Judah conditions were good.


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So King Rehoboam established <i>and</i> strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city in which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put His Name [and the symbol of His presence]. His mother was Naamah an Ammonitess.


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And he did evil because he did not set his heart to seek (inquire of, yearn for) the Lord with all his desire.


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Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer regarding genealogies? There were wars between Rehoboam of Judah and Jeroboam of Israel continually.


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And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the City of David; and Abijah his son reigned in his stead.


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He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Micaiah daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam of Israel.


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And Abijah prepared for battle with an army of valiant men of war, 400,000 chosen men. Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with 800,000 chosen men, mighty men of valor.


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And Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel!


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Ought you not to know that the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the kingship over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?


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Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord [the king].


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And there gathered to him worthless men, base fellows, who strengthened themselves against Rehoboam son of Solomon when Rehoboam was young [as king], irresolute, <i>and</i> inexperienced and did not withstand them with firmness and strength.


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And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord which is in the hands of the sons of David, because you are a great multitude and you have with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made for you for gods.


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Have you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? So whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of idols that are not gods.


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But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken Him. We have priests ministering to the Lord who are sons of Aaron, and Levites for their service.


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They offer to the Lord every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and incense of sweet spices; they set in order the showbread on the table of pure gold and attend to the golden lampstand, that its lamps may be lighted every evening. For we keep the charge of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken Him.


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Behold, God Himself is with us at our head, and His priests with their battle trumpets to sound an alarm against you. O Israelites, fight not against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you cannot prosper.


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But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come around them from behind, so his troops were before Judah and the ambush behind.


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When Judah looked, behold, the battle was before and behind; and they cried to the Lord, and the priests blew the trumpets.


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Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as they shouted, God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.


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And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter, so there fell of Israel 500,000 chosen men.


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Thus the Israelites were brought low at that time, and the people of Judah prevailed because they relied upon the Lord, the God of their fathers.


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And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took some cities from him, Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephraim (Ephron), with their towns.


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


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So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David; and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was at rest for ten years.


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He took away the foreign altars and high places and broke down the idol pillars <i>or</i> obelisks and cut down the Asherim [symbols of the goddess Asherah]


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And commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers [to inquire of and for Him and crave Him as a vital necessity], and to obey the law and the commandment.


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Also Asa took out of all the cities of Judah the idolatrous high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under his reign.


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And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the Lord gave him peace.


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Therefore he said to Judah, Let us build these cities and surround them with walls, towers, gates, and bars. The land is still ours, because we sought the Lord our God; we have sought Him [yearning for Him with all our desire] and He has given us rest <i>and</i> peace on every side. So they built and prospered.


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Asa had an army of 300,000 men out of Judah, who bore bucklers and spears, and 280,000 out of Benjamin, who bore shields and drew bows, all mighty men of courage.


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There came out against Judah Zerah the Ethiopian with a host of a million [that is, too many to be numbered] and 300 chariots, and came as far as Mareshah.


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Then Asa went out against him, and they set up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.


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Asa cried to the Lord his God, O Lord, there is none besides You to help, and it makes no difference to You whether the one You help is mighty or powerless. Help us, O Lord our God! For we rely on You, and we go against this multitude in Your name. O Lord, You are our God; let no man prevail against You!


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Asa and the people with him pursued them to Gerar; and the Ethiopians were overthrown, so that none remained alive; for they were destroyed before the Lord and His host, who carried away very much booty.


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And they smote all the cities round about Gerar, for the fear of the Lord came upon them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them.


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They smote also the cattle encampments and carried away sheep in abundance and camels; and they returned to Jerusalem.


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And he went out to meet Asa and said to him, Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him, craving Him as your soul’s first necessity], He will be found by you; but if you [become indifferent and] forsake Him, He will forsake you.


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But when they in their trouble turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and [in desperation earnestly] sought Him, He was found by them.


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And in those times there was no peace to him who went out nor to him who came in, but great <i>and</i> vexing afflictions <i>and</i> disturbances were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.


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Nation was broke in pieces against nation, and city against city, for God vexed <i>and</i> troubled them with all sorts of adversity.


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Be strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak <i>and</i> slack, for your work shall be rewarded.


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And when Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and put away the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim; and he repaired the altar [of burnt offering] of the Lord which was in front of the porch <i>or</i> vestibule [of the house] of the Lord.


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And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and the strangers with them out of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for they came over to Asa out of Israel in large numbers when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.


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And they sacrificed to the Lord on that day from the spoil which they had brought — 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep.


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And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, <i>and</i> to yearn for Him with all their heart’s desire and with all their soul;


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And that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.


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And all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought Him [yearning for Him] with their whole desire, and He was found by them. And the Lord gave them rest <i>and</i> peace round about.


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Also Maacah, King Asa’s mother, he removed from being queen mother, because she had made an abominable image for [the goddess] Asherah. Asa cut down her idol, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron.


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But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was blameless all his days.


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And he brought into the house of God the things that his father [Abijah] had dedicated and those he himself had dedicated — silver and gold and vessels.


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In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built (fortified) Ramah intending to intercept anyone going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.


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Then Asa brought silver and gold out of the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who dwelt at Damascus, saying,


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Let there be a league between me and you, as was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending you silver and gold; go, break your league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.


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And Ben-hadad hearkened to King Asa and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.


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Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.


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At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, Because you relied on the king of Syria and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you.


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Were not the Ethiopians and Libyans a huge host with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied then on the Lord, He gave them into your hand.


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For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are blameless toward Him. You have done foolishly in this; therefore, from now on you shall have wars.


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Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison [in the stocks], for he was enraged with him because of this. Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.


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In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet — until his disease became very severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but relied on the physicians.


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And they buried him in his own tomb which he had hewn out for himself in the City of David, and they laid him on a bier which was filled with sweet odors and various kinds [of spices] prepared by the perfumers’ art; and they made a very great burning [of spices] in his honor.


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


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The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the first ways of his father [David]. He did not seek the Baals


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But sought <i>and</i> yearned with all his desire for the Lord, the God of his father, and walked in His commandments and not after the ways of Israel.


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


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His heart was cheered <i>and</i> his courage was high in the ways of the Lord; moreover, he took away the high places and the Asherim out of Judah.


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Also in the third year of his reign he sent his princes Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah;


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And with them were the Levites — Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah; and with these Levites were the priests Elishama and Jehoram.


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And they taught in Judah, and had the Book of the Law of the Lord with them; they went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.


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And a terror from the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.


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And some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and tribute silver, and the Arabs brought him flocks: 7,700 each of rams and of he-goats.


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This was the number of them by their fathers’ houses: Of Judah, the captains of thousands: Adnah the chief, with 300,000 mighty men of valor;


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And next to him Amasiah son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself to the Lord, with 200,000 mighty men of valor.


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These were in the king’s service, besides those [he] had placed in fortified cities throughout all Judah.


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After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance and for the people with him and persuaded him to go up with him against Ramoth-gilead.


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Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead? He answered, I am as you are, and my people as your people; we will be with you in the war.


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And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Inquire first, I pray you, for the word of the Lord today.


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So King [Ahab] of Israel gathered together the prophets, 400 men, and said to them, Shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, for God will deliver it into the king’s hand.


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King [Ahab] of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is another man, Micaiah son of Imla, by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, for he never has prophesied good for me, but always evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.


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And King [Ahab] of Israel called for one of his officers and said, Bring quickly Micaiah son of Imla.


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The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah sat each on his throne, arrayed in their robes; they were sitting in an open place [at the threshing floor] at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; all the prophets were prophesying before them.


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And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah had made himself horns of iron, and said, Thus says the Lord: With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.


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All the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead and prosper; the Lord will deliver it into the king’s hand.


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The messenger who went to call Micaiah said to him, Behold, the words of the prophets foretell good to the king with one accord. So let your word be like one of them, and speak favorably.


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And when he had come to the king, King [Ahab] said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go up and prosper, and they shall be delivered into your hand.


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And the king said to him, How many times shall I warn you to tell nothing but the truth to me in the name of the Lord?


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Then Micaiah said, I did see all Israel scattered upon the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd, and the Lord said, These have no master. Let each return to his house in peace.


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And King [Ahab] of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good to me, but evil?


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[Micaiah] said, Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing at His right hand and His left.


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And the Lord said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said this thing, and another that.


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Then there came a spirit and stood before the Lord and said, I will entice him. The Lord said to him, By what means?


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And he said, I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets. And the Lord said, You shall entice him and also succeed. Go forth and do so.


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Now, you see, the Lord put a lying spirit in the mouths of your prophets; and the Lord has spoken evil concerning you.


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Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and smote Micaiah upon the cheek and said, Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak to you?


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And Micaiah said, Behold, you shall see on that day when you shall go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.


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Then King [Ahab] of Israel said, Take Micaiah back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son,


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And say, Thus says the king: Put this fellow in prison and feed him with bread and water of affliction until I return in peace.


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Micaiah said, If you return at all in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me. And he [added], Hear it, you people, all of you!


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And [Ahab] king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and will go to the battle, but you put on your royal robes. So King Ahab of Israel disguised himself, and they went into the battle.


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Now Syria’s king had commanded his chariot captains, Fight not with small or great, but only with the king of Israel.


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And when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat [of Judah], they said, It is the king of Israel. So they turned to fight against him, but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him; and God moved them to depart from him.


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For when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.


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A certain man drew his bow at a venture and smote King [Ahab] of Israel between the lower armor and the breastplate. So Ahab said to his chariot driver, Turn, carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.


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And the battle increased that day; however, King [Ahab] of Israel propped himself up in his chariot opposite the Syrians until evening, and about sunset he died.


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Jehu son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him and said to Jehoshaphat, Should you help the ungodly and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the Lord.


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But there are good things found in you, for you have destroyed the Asherim out of the land and have set your heart to seek God [with all your soul’s desire].


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Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem, and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and brought them back to the Lord, the God of their fathers.


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And said to the judges, Be careful what you do, for you judge not for man but for the Lord, and He is with you in the matter of judgment.


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So now let the reverence <i>and</i> fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed what you do, for there is no injustice with the Lord our God, or partiality or taking of bribes.


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Also in Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat set certain Levites, priests, and heads of families of Israel to give judgment for the Lord and decide controversies. When they [of the commission] returned to Jerusalem,


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The king charged them, Do this in the fear of the Lord, faithfully, with integrity <i>and</i> a blameless heart.


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Whenever any controversy shall come to you from your brethren who dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, you shall warn <i>and</i> instruct them that they may not be guilty before the Lord; otherwise wrath will come upon you and your brethren. Do this and you will not be guilty.


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And behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the Lord, and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the governor of the house of Judah, in all the king’s matters; also the Levites will serve you as officers. Deal courageously [be strong and do], and may the Lord be with the good!


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After this, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and with them the Meunites came against Jehoshaphat to battle.


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It was told Jehoshaphat, A great multitude has come against you from beyond the [Dead] Sea, from Edom; and behold they are in Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi.


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Then Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself [determinedly, as his vital need] to seek the Lord; he proclaimed a fast in all Judah.


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And Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord [yearning for Him with all their desire].


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And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court


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And said, O Lord, God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven? And do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In Your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand You.


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


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If evil comes upon us, the sword of judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You — for Your Name [and the symbol of Your presence] is in this house — and cry to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.


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And now behold, the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom You would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they turned from and did not destroy — <f>ⓐ</f>


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Behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit.


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O our God, will You not exercise judgment upon them? For we have no might to stand against this great company that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.


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Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly.


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He said, Hearken, all Judah, you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you King Jehoshaphat. The Lord says this to you: Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.


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Tomorrow go down to them. Behold, they will come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the ravine before the Wilderness of Jeruel.


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You shall not need to fight in this battle; take your positions, stand still, and see the deliverance of the Lord [Who is] with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.


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And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping Him.


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And some Levites of the Kohathites and Korahites stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.


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And they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established; believe <i>and</i> remain steadfast to His prophets and you shall prosper.


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When he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers to sing to the Lord and praise Him in their holy [priestly] garments as they went out before the army, saying, Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy <i>and</i> loving-kindness endure forever!


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And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were [self-] slaughtered;


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For [suspecting betrayal] the men of Ammon and Moab rose against those of Mount Seir, utterly destroying them. And when they had made an end of the men of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.


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And when Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked at the multitude, and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none had escaped!


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When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil, they found among them much cattle, goods, garments, and precious things which they took for themselves, more than they could carry away, so much they were three days in gathering the spoil.


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On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah. There they blessed the Lord. So the name of the place is still called the Valley of Beracah [blessing].


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Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat leading them, to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them to rejoice over their enemies.


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And the fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel.


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Thus Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he began his twenty-five-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.


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And he walked in the ways of Asa his father and departed not from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord.


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But the high places [of idolatry] were not taken away, for the people had not yet set their hearts on their fathers’ God.


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Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, from first to last, they are written in the records of Jehu son of Hanani, which are in the Book of the Kings of Israel.


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Then Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because you have joined Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy your works. So the ships were wrecked and unable to go to Tarshish.


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Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with [them] in the City of David. Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.


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


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Their father gave them great gifts of silver, gold, and precious things, together with fortified cities in Judah, but the kingdom he gave to Jehoram, the firstborn.


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When Jehoram had ascended to the kingship of his father, he strengthened himself and slew all his brethren with the sword and also some of Israel’s princes.


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He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, for he married the daughter of Ahab and did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.


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But the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because He had made a covenant with David and promised to give a light to him and to his sons forever.


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Then Jehoram passed over [the Jordan] with his captains and all his chariots, and rose up by night and smote the Edomites who had surrounded him and his chariot captains.


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So Edom revolted from the rule of Judah to this day. Then Libnah also revolted from Jehoram’s rule, because he had forsaken the Lord, the God of his fathers.


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Moreover, he made idolatrous high places in the hill country of Judah and debauched spiritually the inhabitants of Jerusalem and led Judah astray [compelling the people’s cooperation].


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And there came a letter to Jehoram from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father [forefather]: Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,


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But have walked in the ways of Israel’s kings, and made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem play the harlot like the [spiritual] harlotry of Ahab’s house, and also have slain your brothers of your father’s house, who were better than you,


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Behold, the Lord will smite your people, and your children, your wives, and all your possessions with a great plague.


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And you yourself shall have a severe illness because of an intestinal disease, until your bowels fall out because of the sickness, day after day.


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And the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the anger of the Philistines and of the Arabs who were near the Ethiopians.


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They came against Judah, invaded it, and carried away all the possessions found in <i>and</i> around the king’s house, together with his sons and his wives; so there was not a son left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest.


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In process of time, after two years, his bowels fell out because of his disease. So he died in severe distress. And his people made no funeral fire to honor him, like the fires for his fathers.


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Thirty-two years old was Jehoram when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being wanted. Yet they buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.


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The people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his stead, for the troop that came with the Arabs to the camp had slain all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned.


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Forty-two years old was Ahaziah when he began his one-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri. <f>ⓐ</f>


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So he did evil in the sight of the Lord like the house of Ahab, for they were his counselors after his father’s death, to his destruction.


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He followed their counsel and even went with <f>[1]</f>Joram son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead. And the Syrians wounded Joram; <f>ⓑ</f>


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And he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds given him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. Azariah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel because he was sick.


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But the destruction of Ahaziah was ordained of God in his coming to visit Joram. For when he got there he went out with Joram against Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab.


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And when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, he met the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s slain brothers, who attended Ahaziah, and he slew them.


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And [Jehu] sought Ahaziah, who was hiding in Samaria; he was captured, brought to Jehu, and slain. They buried him, for they said, After all, he is the grandson of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart. So the house of Ahaziah had no one left able to rule the kingdom.


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But when Athaliah mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family of Judah.


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But Jehosheba, the daughter of the king, took Joash [infant] son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were to be slain, and she put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehosheba daughter of King Jehoram, sister of Ahaziah, and wife of Jehoiada the priest, hid [Joash] from [his grandmother] Athaliah, so that she did not slay him.


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In the seventh year Jehoiada [the priest] took strength <i>and</i> courage and made a covenant with the captains of hundreds: Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zichri.


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And they went about in Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the cities, and the chiefs of the fathers’ houses of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.


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And all the assembly made a covenant in the house of God with the king [little Joash, to suddenly proclaim his sovereignty and overthrow Athaliah’s tyranny]. And Jehoiada the priest said to them, Behold, the king’s son shall reign, as the Lord has said of the offspring of David.


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This is what you shall do: a third of you priests and Levites who are resuming service on the Sabbath shall be doorkeepers,


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A [second] third shall be at the king’s house, and [the final] third at the Foundation Gate; and all the people shall be in the courts [only] of the house of the Lord.


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But let none come into the [main] house of the Lord except the priests and those of the Levites who minister; they may go in, for they are holy, but let all the rest of the people carefully observe the law against entering the holy place of the Lord.


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And the Levites shall surround the young king, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whoever comes into the house [breaking through the ranks of the guard to get near Joash] shall be put to death. But you be with the king when he comes in [from the temple chamber where he is hiding] and when he goes out.


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So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest had commanded; and took every man his men who were to resume duty on the Sabbath, with those who were to go out on the Sabbath, for Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss the divisions [of priests and Levites].


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Also Jehoiada the priest gave the captains of hundreds spears, bucklers, and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of God.


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And he set all the people as a guard for the king, every man having his weapon (missile) in his hand, from the right side to the left side of the temple, around the altar and the temple.


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Then they brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony <i>or</i> law and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, Long live the king!


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When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she went into the Lord’s house to the people.


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And behold, there the king stood by his pillar at the entrance, the captains and the trumpeters beside him; and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and the singers with musical instruments led in singing of praise. Athaliah rent her clothes and cried, Treason! Treason!


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Then Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds who were over the army, Bring her out between the ranks, and whoever follows her, let him be slain with the sword. For the priest said, Do not slay her in the Lord’s house.


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So they made way for Athaliah, and she went into the entrance of the Horse Gate of the king’s house; there they slew her.


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Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, all the people, and the king, that they should be the Lord’s people.


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Then all the people went to the house of Baal, tore it down, and broke its altars and its images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.


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Also Jehoiada appointed the offices <i>and</i> officers [for the care] of the house of the Lord under the direction of the Levitical priests, whom David had distributed [in his day] in the house of the Lord, to offer the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and singing, as ordered by David.


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Jehoiada set the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the Lord so that no one should enter who was in any way unclean.


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And he took the captains of hundreds and the nobles and governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought down the king from the house of the Lord; and they came through the Upper Gate to the king’s house and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom.


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


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Joash was seven years old when he began his forty-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Zibiah of Beersheba.


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And Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest [his uncle].


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He gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year; and see that you hasten the matter. But the Levites did not hasten it.


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So the king called for Jehoiada the high priest and said to him, Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax authorized by Moses the servant of the Lord and of the assembly of Israel for the Tent of the Testimony?


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For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God and also had used for the Baals all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord.


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And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the Lord the tax that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.


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And all the princes and people rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it into the chest until they had finished.


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When the Levites brought the chest to the king’s office, and whenever they saw that there was much money, the king’s secretary and the high priest’s officer came and emptied the chest and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day and collected money in abundance.


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And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the temple service; and they hired masons and carpenters and also those who worked in iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord.


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So the workmen labored, and the work of repairing went forward in their hands; and they set up the house of God according to its design and strengthened it.


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When they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada; from it were made utensils for the Lord’s house, vessels for ministering and for offerings, and cups and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada.


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But Jehoiada became old and full of [the handicaps of great] age, and he died. He was 130 years old at his death.


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They buried him in the City of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel and toward God and His house.


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Now after the death of Jehoiada [the priest, who had hidden Joash], the princes of Judah came and made obeisance to King Joash; then the king hearkened to them.


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They forsook the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for their sin (guilt).


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Yet [God] sent prophets to them to bring them again to the Lord; these testified against them, but they would not listen.


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Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood over the people, and he said to them, Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you.


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They conspired against Zechariah the priest and stoned him at the command of the king in the court of the Lord’s house!


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Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had done him, but slew his son. And when [Zechariah the priest] was dying, he said, May the Lord see and avenge!


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At the end of the year, the army of Syria came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes from among the people and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus.


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Though the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, the Lord delivered a very great host into their hands, because Joash and Judah had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. So the Syrians executed judgment against Joash.


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And when they had departed from Joash, leaving him very ill, his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and they slew him on his bed. So he died and they buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.


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The conspirators against Joash were Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabitess.


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Now concerning his sons and the greatness of the prophecies uttered against him and the rebuilding of the house of God, they are written in the commentary on the Book of Kings. And Amaziah his [Joash’s] son reigned in his stead.


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Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.


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But he did not slay their children; he did as it is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, The fathers shall not die for the children, or the children die for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin.


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Amaziah assembled the men of Judah and set them by fathers’ houses under commanders of thousands and of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He numbered them from twenty years old and over and found them to be 300,000 choice men fit for war and able to handle spear and shield.


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But a man of God came to him, saying, O king, do not let all this army of Ephraimites of Israel go with you [of Judah], for the Lord is not with you,


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For if you go [in spite of warning], no matter how strong you are for battle, God will cast you down before the enemy, for God has power to help and to cast down.


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And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do about the 100 talents which I have given to the army of Israel? The man of God answered, The Lord is able to give you much more than this.


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So Amaziah discharged the army that came to him from Ephraim to go home. So their anger was greatly kindled against Judah; they returned home in fierce wrath.


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And Amaziah took courage and led forth his people to the Valley of Salt and smote 10,000 of the men of Seir [Edom].


text:
Another 10,000 the men of Judah captured alive and brought them to the top of a crag and cast them down from it, and they were all dashed to pieces.


text:
But the soldiers of the band which Amaziah sent back, not allowing them to go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even to Beth-horon, and smote 3,000 [men] and took much spoil.


text:
After Amaziah came back from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought their gods and set them up to be his gods and bowed before them and burned incense to them.


text:
So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah, and He sent to him a prophet, who said, Why have you sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of your hand?


text:
As he was talking, the king said to him, Have we made you the king’s counselor? Stop it! Why should you be put to death? The prophet stopped but said, I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and ignored my counsel.


text:
Then Amaziah king of Judah took counsel and sent to <f>[1]</f>Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come [to battle], let us look one another in the face. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
Jehoash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, A little thistle in Lebanon sent to a great cedar in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son as wife. And a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle.


text:
You say, See, [I] have smitten Edom! Your heart lifts you up to boast. Stay at home; why should you meddle [and court disaster], so you will fall and Judah with you?


text:
But Amaziah would not hear, for it came from God, that He might deliver Judah into the hands of their enemies, because they sought after the gods of Edom.


text:
So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another at Beth-shemesh of Judah.


text:
And Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh and brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, 400 cubits.


text:
And he took all the gold, the silver, and all the vessels found in God’s house with [the doorkeeper] Obed-edom, and the treasures of the king’s house and hostages also, and returned to Samaria.


text:
And Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years.


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


text:
Now after Amaziah turned away from the Lord, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent to Lachish and slew him there.


text:
Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.


text:
Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began his fifty-two-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.


text:
He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the things of God; and as long as he sought (inquired of, yearned for) the Lord, God made him prosper.


text:
He went out against the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, of Jabneh, and of Ashdod, and built cities near Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines.


text:
The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread abroad even to the border of Egypt, for he became very strong.


text:
Also Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and at the angle of the wall, and fortified them.


text:
Also he built towers in the wilderness and hewed out many cisterns, for he had much livestock, both in the lowlands and in the tableland. And he had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile fields [of Carmel], for he loved farming.


text:
And Uzziah had a combat army for waging war by regiments according to the number as recorded by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the officer under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king’s commanders.


text:
Under their command was an army of 307,500 who could fight with mighty power to help the king against the enemy.


text:
Uzziah prepared for all the army shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and stones to sling.


text:
In Jerusalem he made machines invented by skillful men to be on the towers and the [corner] bulwarks, with which to shoot arrows and great stones. And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped till he was strong.


text:
But when [King Uzziah] was strong, he became proud to his destruction; and he trespassed against the Lord his God, for he went <f>[1]</f>into the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.


text:
They opposed King Uzziah and said to him, It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are set apart to burn incense. Withdraw from the sanctuary; you have trespassed, and that will not be to your credit <i>and</i> honor before the Lord God.


text:
Then Uzziah was enraged, and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was enraged with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the incense altar.


text:
And as Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked upon him, behold, he was leprous on his forehead! So they forced him out of there; and he also made haste to get out, because the Lord had smitten him.


text:
And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and, being a leper, he dwelt in a separate house, for he was excluded from the Lord’s house. And Jotham his son took charge of the king’s household, ruling the people of the land.


text:
Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, from first to last, Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, wrote. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the burial field of the kings [outside the royal tombs], for they said, He is a leper. Jotham his son reigned in his stead.


text:
Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jerushah daughter of Zadok.


text:
He did right in the sight of the Lord, to the extent of all that his father Uzziah had done. However, he did not invade the temple of the Lord. But the people still did corruptly.


text:
Moreover, he built cities in the hill country of Judah, and in the forests he built forts and towers.


text:
He fought with the king of the Ammonites and prevailed against them. The Ammonites gave him that year 100 talents of silver and 10,000 measures each of wheat and of barley. That much the Ammonites paid to him also the second year and third year.


text:
Now the rest of Jotham’s acts, and all his wars and his ways, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.


text:
And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.


text:
Ahaz was twenty years old when he began his sixteen-year reign in Jerusalem. He did not do right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father [forefather].


text:
And he burned incense in the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom] and burned his sons as an offering, after the abominable customs of the [heathen] nations whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites.


text:
Therefore the Lord his God gave Ahaz into the power of the king of Syria, who defeated him and carried away a great multitude of the Jews as captives, taking them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hands of the king of Israel, who smote Judah with a great slaughter.


text:
For Pekah son of Remaliah slew in Judah 120,000 in one day, all courageous men, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers.


text:
And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah, King Ahaz’ son, and Azrikam the governor of the house, and Elkanah, who was second to the king.


text:
And the Israelites carried away captive 200,000 of their kinsmen [of Judah] — women, sons, and daughters — and also took much plunder from them and brought it to Samaria.


text:
But a prophet of the Lord was there whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that was returning to Samaria and said to them, Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, He delivered them into your hand; but you have slain them in a fury that reaches up to heaven.


text:
And now you intend to suppress the people of Judah and Jerusalem, both men and women, as your slaves. But are not you yourselves guilty of crimes against the Lord your God?


text:
Now hear me therefore, and set the prisoners free again whom you have taken captive of your kinsmen, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.


text:
Then certain of the heads of the Ephraimites [Israel] — Azariah son of Johanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai — stood up against those returning from the war


text:
And said, You shall not bring the captives in here; we are guilty before the Lord already, and what you intend will add more to our sins and our guilt. For our trespass (guilt) is great, and there is fierce anger against Israel.


text:
So the armed men [of Israel] left the captives and the spoil [of Judah] before the princes and all the assembly.


text:
And the men who have been mentioned by name rose up and took the captives, and with the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them; and having clothed them, shod them, given them food and drink, anointed them [as was a host’s duty], and carried all the feeble of them upon donkeys, they brought them to Jericho, the City of Palm Trees, to their brethren. Then they returned to Samaria. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
The Philistines had invaded the cities of the low country and of the South (the Negeb) of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, and Soco, and also Timnah and Gimzo, with their villages, and they settled there.


text:
For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, for Ahaz had dealt with reckless cruelty against Judah and had been faithless [had transgressed sorely] against the Lord.


text:
For Ahaz took [treasure] from the house of the Lord and out of the house of the king and from the princes and gave it as tribute to the king of Assyria, but it did not help Ahaz.


text:
For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which had defeated him, for he said, Since the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel.


text:
And Ahaz collected the utensils of the house of God and cut them in pieces; and he shut up the doors of the Lord’s temple [the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies] and made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.


text:
In each city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, provoking to anger the Lord, the God of his fathers.


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


text:
And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, but they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.


text:
Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.


text:
And he did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father [forefather] had done.


text:
In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord [which his father had closed] and repaired them.


text:
And said to them, Levites, hear me! Now sanctify (purify and make free from sin) yourselves and the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place.


text:
For our fathers have trespassed and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and they have forsaken Him and have turned away their faces from the dwelling place of the Lord and have turned their backs.


text:
Also they have closed the doors of the porch and put out the lamps, and they have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the place holy to the God of Israel. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
Therefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has delivered them to be a terror <i>and</i> a cause of trembling, to be an astonishment, and a hissing, as you see with your own eyes.


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


text:
Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, that His fierce anger may turn away from us.


text:
My sons, do not now be negligent, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in His presence, to serve Him, to be His ministers, and to burn incense to Him.


text:
Then the Levites arose: Mahath son of Amasai, Joel son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; of the sons of Merari: Kish son of Abdi, Azariah son of Jehallelel; of the Gershonites: Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah;


text:
They gathered their brethren and sanctified themselves and went in, as the king had commanded by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord.


text:
The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the Lord’s house. And the Levites carried it out to the brook Kidron.


text:
They began on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day they came to the porch of the Lord. Then for eight days they sanctified the house of the Lord, and on the sixteenth day they finished.


text:
Then they went to King Hezekiah and said, We have cleansed all the house of the Lord and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the showbread table with all its utensils.


text:
Moreover, all the utensils which King Ahaz in his reign cast away when he was transgressing [faithless] we have made ready and sanctified; and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.


text:
Then King Hezekiah rose early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of the Lord.


text:
They brought seven each of bulls, rams, lambs, and he-goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah. He commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the Lord’s altar.


text:
So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood and dashed it against the altar. Likewise, when they had killed the rams and then the lambs, they dashed the blood against the altar.


text:
Then the he-goats for the sin offering were brought before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them.


text:
The priests killed them and made a sin offering with their blood upon the altar to make atonement for all Israel, for the king commanded that the burnt offering and sin offering be made for all Israel.


text:
Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the Lord’s house with cymbals, harps, and lyres, as David [his forefather] and Gad the king’s seer and Nathan the prophet had commanded; for the commandment was from the Lord through His prophets.


text:
Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets and with the instruments ordained by King David of Israel.


text:
And all the congregation worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.


text:
Also King Hezekiah and the princes ordered the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness and bowed themselves and worshiped.


text:
Then Hezekiah said, Now you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord; come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord. And the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings.


text:
And the number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs. All these were for a burnt offering to the Lord.


text:
But the priests were too few and could not skin all the burnt offerings. So until the other priests had sanctified themselves, their Levite kinsmen helped them until the work was done, for the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in sanctifying themselves.


text:
Also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings, and the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the Lord’s house was set in order.


text:
Thus Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, because of what God had prepared for the people, for it was done suddenly.


text:
Hezekiah sent to all Israel [as well as] Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh to come to the Lord’s house at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel.


text:
For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem took counsel to keep the Passover in the <f>[1]</f>second month. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
For they could not keep it at the set time because not enough priests had sanctified themselves, neither had the people assembled in Jerusalem.


text:
So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem. For they had not kept it collectively as prescribed for a long time.


text:
So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, as the king commanded, saying, O Israelites, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that He may return to those left of you who escaped out of the hands of the kings of Assyria.


text:
Do not be like your fathers and brethren, who were unfaithful to the Lord, the God of their fathers, so that He gave them up to desolation [to be an astonishment], as you see.


text:
Now be not stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come to His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, and serve the Lord your God, that His fierce anger may turn away from you.


text:
For if you return to the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and He will not turn away His face from you if you return to Him.


text:
So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun, but the people laughed them to scorn and mocked them.


text:
Also the hand of God came upon Judah to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the Lord.


text:
And many people came to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very great assembly.


text:
They rose up and took away the altars [to idols] that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars <i>and</i> utensils for incense [to the gods] they took away and threw into the Kidron Valley [dumping place for the ashes of such abominations].


text:
Then they killed the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were ashamed and sanctified themselves and brought burnt offerings to the Lord’s house.


text:
They stood in their accustomed places, as directed in the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests threw [against the altar] the blood they received from the hand of the Levites.


text:
For many were in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves [become clean and free from all sin]. So the Levites had to kill the Passover lambs for all who were not clean, in order to make them holy to the Lord.


text:
For a multitude of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than Moses directed. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, May the good Lord pardon everyone


text:
Who sets his heart to seek <i>and</i> yearn for God — the Lord, the God of his fathers — even though not complying with the purification regulations of the sanctuary.


text:
And the Israelites who were in Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy. The Levites and priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with instruments of much volume to the Lord.


text:
Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who had good understanding in the Lord’s work. So the people ate the seven-day appointed feast, offering peace offerings, making confession [and giving thanks] to the Lord, the God of their fathers.


text:
And the whole assembly took counsel to prolong the feast another seven days; and they kept it another seven days with joy.


text:
For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly 1,000 young bulls and 7,000 sheep, and the princes gave 1,000 young bulls and 10,000 sheep. And a great number of priests sanctified themselves [for service].


text:
All the assembly of Judah, with the priests, the Levites, and all the assembly who with the sojourners came from the land of Israel to dwell in Judah, rejoiced.


text:
So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon son of David king of Israel there was nothing like this in Jerusalem.


text:
Then the priests and Levites arose and blessed the people; and their voice was heard and their prayer came up to [God’s] holy habitation in heaven.


text:
Now when all this was finished, all Israel present there went out to the cities of Judah and broke in pieces the pillars <i>or</i> obelisks, cut down the Asherim, and threw down the high places [of idolatry] and the altars in all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the Israelites returned to their own cities, every man to his possession.


text:
And Hezekiah appointed the priests and the Levites after their divisions, each man according to his service, the priests and Levites for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister, to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the camp of the Lord.


text:
King Hezekiah’s personal contribution was for the burnt offerings: [those] of morning and evening, for the Sabbaths, for the New Moons, and for the appointed feasts, as written in the Law of the Lord.


text:
He commanded the people living in Jerusalem to give the portion due the priests and Levites, that they might [be free to] give themselves to the Law of the Lord.


text:
As soon as the command went abroad, the Israelites gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, vintage fruit, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.


text:
The people of Israel and Judah who lived in Judah’s cities also brought the tithe of cattle and sheep and of the dedicated things which were consecrated to the Lord their God, and they laid them in heaps.


text:
In the third month [at the end of wheat harvest] they began to lay the foundation <i>or</i> beginning of the heaps and finished them in the seventh month.


text:
Azariah the high priest, of the house of Zadok, answered him, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the Lord’s house, we have eaten and have plenty left, for the Lord has blessed His people, and what is left is this great store.


text:
Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare chambers [for storage] in the house of the Lord, and they prepared them


text:
And brought in the offerings, tithes, and dedicated things faithfully. Conaniah the Levite was in charge of them, and Shimei his brother came next.


text:
And Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers directed by Conaniah and Shimei his brother, at the appointment of King Hezekiah and Azariah the chief officer of the house of God.


text:
Kore son of Imnah the Levite, keeper of the East Gate, was over the freewill offerings to God, to apportion the contributions of the Lord and the most holy things.


text:
Under him were Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the priests’ cities, in their office of trust faithfully to give to their brethren by divisions, to great and small alike,


text:
Except those [Levites] registered as males from three years old and upward — who were consecrated to the temple service [in Jerusalem, for their daily portion] as the duty of every day required, for their service according to their offices by their divisions.


text:
The registration of the priests was according to their fathers’ houses; that of the Levites from twenty years old and upward was according to their offices by their divisions;


text:
Also there was the registration of all their little ones, their wives, and their older sons and daughters through all the congregation. For in their office of trust they cleansed themselves <i>and</i> set themselves apart in holiness.


text:
Also for the sons of Aaron the priests, who were in the fields of the suburbs of their cities or in every city, there were men who were mentioned by name to give portions to all the males among the priests and to all who were registered among the Levites.


text:
Hezekiah did this throughout all Judah, and he did what was good, right, and faithful before the Lord his God.


text:
And every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in keeping with the law and the commandments to seek his God [inquiring of and yearning for Him], he did with all his heart, and he prospered.


text:
After these things and this loyalty, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, invaded Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to take them.


text:
He decided with his officers and his mighty men to stop up the waters of the fountains which were outside the city [by enclosing them with masonry and concealing them], and they helped him.


text:
So many people gathered, and they stopped up all the springs and the brook which flowed through the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?


text:
Also Hezekiah took courage and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised towers upon it, and he built another wall outside and strengthened the Millo in the City of David and made weapons and shields in abundance.


text:
And he set captains of war over the people and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city and spoke encouragingly to them, saying,


text:
Be strong and courageous. Be not afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there is Another with us greater than [all those] with him.


text:
With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.


text:
And this Sennacherib king of Assyria, while he himself with all his forces was before Lachish, sent his servants to Jerusalem, to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying,


text:
Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria: On what do you trust, that you remain in the strongholds in Jerusalem?


text:
Is not Hezekiah leading you on in order to let you die by famine and thirst, saying, The Lord our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?


text:
Has not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship before one altar and burn incense upon it?


text:
Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands in any way able to deliver their lands out of my hand?


text:
Who among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed was able to deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand?


text:
So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive or mislead you in this way, and do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand or the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you out of my hand!


text:
The Assyrian king also wrote letters insulting the Lord, the God of Israel, and speaking against Him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of my hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver His people out of my hand.


text:
And they shouted it loudly in the Jewish language to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them, that they might take the city.


text:
And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem as they spoke of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of the hands of men.


text:
And the Lord sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So the Assyrian king returned with shamed face to his own land. And when he came into the house of his god, they who were his own offspring slew him there with the sword. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria and from the hand of all his enemies, and He guided them on every side.


text:
And many brought gifts to Jerusalem to the Lord and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah; so from then on he was magnified in the sight of all nations.


text:
In those days Hezekiah was sick to the point of death; and he prayed to the Lord and He answered him and gave him a sign.


text:
But Hezekiah did not make return [to the Lord] according to the benefit done to him, for his heart became proud [at such a spectacular response to his prayer]; therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.


text:
But Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.


text:
And Hezekiah had very great wealth and honor, and he made for himself treasuries for silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and all kinds of attractive vessels,


text:
Storehouses also for the increase of grain, vintage fruits, and oil, and stalls for all kinds of cattle, and sheepfolds.


text:
Moreover, he provided for himself cities and flocks and herds in abundance, for God had given him very great possessions.


text:
This same Hezekiah also closed the upper springs of Gihon and directed the waters down to the west side of the City of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.


text:
And so in the matter of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon who were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to himself to try him, that He might know all that was in his heart. <f>ⓑ</f>


text:
Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his good deeds, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.


text:
And Hezekiah slept with his fathers and was buried in the ascent of the tombs of the descendants of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death. Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.


text:
But he did evil in the Lord’s sight, like the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites.


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For he built again the [idolatrous] high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared altars for the Baals and made the Asherim and worshiped all the hosts of the heavens and served them.


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Also he built [heathen] altars in the Lord’s house, of which the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall My Name be forever.


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And he burned his children as an offering [to his god] in the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom], and practiced soothsaying, augury, and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger.


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And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put My Name [and Presence] forever;


text:
And I will no more remove Israel from the land which I appointed for your fathers, if they will only take heed to do all that I have commanded them, the whole law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses.


text:
So Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the heathen whom the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.


text:
So the Lord brought against them the commanders of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks and in fetters and brought him to Babylon.


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When he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.


text:
He prayed to Him, and God, entreated by him, heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.


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And he built an outer wall to the City of David west of Gihon in the valley, to the entrance of the Fish Gate, and ran it around Ophel, raising it to a very great height; and he put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities of Judah.


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And he took away the foreign gods and the idol out of the house of the Lord and all the altars that he had built on the mount of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city.


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And he restored the Lord’s altar and sacrificed on it offerings of peace and of thanksgiving; and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.


text:
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel.


text:
His prayer and how God heard him, and all his sins and unfaithfulness, and the sites on which he built high places and set up the Asherim and graven images before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the Chronicles of the Seers.


text:
So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house [garden]. And Amon his son reigned in his stead.


text:
But he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as did Manasseh his father; for Amon sacrificed to all the images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them,


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And he did not humble himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father [finally] did; but Amon trespassed <i>and</i> became more and more guilty.


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But the people of the land slew all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made Josiah his son king in his stead.


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He did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in the ways of David his father [forefather] and turned aside neither to the right hand nor to the left.


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For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young [sixteen], he began to seek after <i>and</i> yearn for the God of David his father [forefather]; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the carved and molten images.


text:
They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; the sun-images that were high above them he hewed down; the Asherim and the graven images and the molten images he broke in pieces and made dust of them and strewed it upon the graves of those who sacrificed to them.


text:
Josiah burned the bones of the [idolatrous] priests upon their altars, and so cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.


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So he did in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, even to Naphtali, in their ruins round about [with their axes],


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He broke down the altars and the Asherim and beat the graven images into powder and hewed down all the sun-images throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.


text:
In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, when he had purged the land and the [Lord’s] house, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah governor of the city, and Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.


text:
When they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites who kept the doors had collected from Manasseh, Ephraim, all the remnant of Israel, and from all Judah, Benjamin, and Jerusalem.


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They delivered it to the workmen who had oversight of the Lord’s house, who gave it to repair and restore the temple:


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To the carpenters and builders to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings and beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed [by neglect].


text:
The men did the work faithfully. Their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites. The Levites — all who were skillful with instruments of music —


text:
Also had oversight of the burden bearers and all who did work in any kind of service; and some of the Levites were scribes, officials, and gatekeepers.


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When they were bringing out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses.


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Hilkiah told Shaphan the scribe, I have found the Book of the Law in the Lord’s house. And [he] gave the book to Shaphan.


text:
Shaphan took the book to King Josiah, but [first] reported to him, All that was committed to your servants they are doing.


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They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the Lord and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen.


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Then Shaphan the scribe said to the king, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.


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And the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, saying,


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Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah about the words of the book that is found. For great is the Lord’s wrath that is poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book.


text:
And Hilkiah and they whom the king had appointed went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe. She dwelt in Jerusalem, in the Second Quarter. They spoke to her to that effect.


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Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah.


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Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore My wrath shall be poured out upon this place and shall not be quenched.


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But say to King Josiah of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the words which you have heard:


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Because your heart was tender <i>and</i> penitent and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and its inhabitants, and humbled yourself before Me and rent your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you, says the Lord.


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Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants. So they brought the king word again.


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And [he] went up into the house of the Lord, as did all the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the Levites, and all the people, great and small; and he [the king] read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that was found in the Lord’s house.


text:
Then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord — to walk after the Lord and to keep His commandments, His testimonies, and His statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that are written in this book.


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And he caused all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand in confirmation of it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.


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Josiah removed all the [idolatrous] abominations from all the territory that belonged to the Israelites, and made all who were in Israel serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not turn from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.


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Josiah kept the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem; they killed the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month.


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He appointed the priests to their positions and encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord.


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To the Levites who taught all Israel and were holy to the Lord he said: Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon son of David king of Israel, built; it shall no longer be a burden carried on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel.


text:
Prepare yourselves according to your fathers’ houses by your divisions, after the directions of David king of Israel and of Solomon his son.


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And stand in the holy court of the priests according to the sections of the fathers’ families of your kinsmen, the common people, and let there be a section of the Levites [to attend] to each division of the families of the people.


text:
Kill the Passover lambs and sanctify yourselves and prepare for your brethren to do according to the word of the Lord by Moses.


text:
Then Josiah contributed to the lay people lambs and kids of the flock as Passover offerings for all who were present, to the number of 30,000, and 3,000 young bulls — all from the king’s possessions.


text:
And his princes gave for a freewill offering to the people, to the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, chief officers of God’s house, gave the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 [lambs and kids] and 300 bulls.


text:
Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for Passover offerings 5,000 [lambs and kids] and 500 bulls.


text:
When the service was ready, the priests stood in their place and the Levites in their divisions as the king commanded.


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They killed the Passover lambs, and the priests sprinkled the blood they received from the Levites who skinned the animals.


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Then they removed the burnt offerings, that they might distribute them according to the divisions of the lay families to offer to the Lord, as directed in the Book of Moses. And so they did with the bulls.


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And they roasted the Passover lambs with fire according to the ordinance; and they cooked the holy offerings in pots, in caldrons, and in pans and carried them quickly to all the people.


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Afterward [the Levites] prepared for themselves and the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were busy in offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and also for the priests, the sons of Aaron.


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The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their places according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer. And the gatekeepers were at every gate; they did not need to leave their service, for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.


text:
So all the Lord’s service was prepared the same day to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings upon the Lord’s altar, as King Josiah commanded.


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


text:
No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet, even by any of the kings of Israel, as was kept by Josiah and the priests, the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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


text:
But [Neco] sent ambassadors to [Josiah], saying, What have I to do with you, you king of Judah? I come not against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war; and God has commanded me to make haste. Refrain from opposing God, Who is with me, lest He destroy you.


text:
Yet Josiah would not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not heed the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to fight with him in the valley of Megiddo.


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And the archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, Take me away, for I am severely wounded.


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So his servants took him out of the chariot and put him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.


text:
Jeremiah gave a lament for Josiah, and all the singing men and women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made them an ordinance in Israel; behold, they are written in the Laments. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds, according to what is written in the Law of the Lord,


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And his acts, from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.


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Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in his father’s stead in Jerusalem.


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Then the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem and fined the land a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.


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And the king of Egypt made Eliakim, Jehoahaz’ brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt.


text:
Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God.


text:
Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his temple <i>or</i> palace there.


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Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations which he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.


text:
Jehoiachin was eight[een] years old then; he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did evil in the Lord’s sight. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and made Zedekiah the [boy’s] brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.


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He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke at the dictation of the Lord.


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He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel.


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Also all the chiefs of the priests and the people trespassed greatly in accord with all the abominations of the heathen, and they polluted the house of the Lord which He had hallowed in Jerusalem.


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And the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent to them persistently by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.


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But they kept mocking the messengers of God and despising His words and scoffing at His prophets till the wrath of the Lord rose against His people, till there was no remedy <i>or</i> healing.


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Therefore He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or hoary-headed; He gave them all into his hand.


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And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s house, of the king, and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon.


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And they burned God’s house and broke down Jerusalem’s wall and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its choice vessels.


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Those who had escaped from the sword he took away to Babylon, where they were servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia was established there,


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To fulfill the Lord’s word by Jeremiah, till the land had enjoyed its sabbaths; for as long as it lay desolate it kept sabbath to fulfill seventy years. <f>ⓑ</f>


text:
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:


text:
Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me, and He has charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up [to Jerusalem].


text:
Now in the first year of <f>[1]</f>Cyrus king of Persia [almost seventy years after the first Jewish captives were taken to Babylon], that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might begin to be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing: <f>ⓐ</f>


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Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem in Judah.


text:
Whoever is among you of all His people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and <i>re</i>build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel, in Jerusalem; He is God.


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And in any place where a survivor [of the Babylonian captivity of the Jews] sojourns, let the men of that place assist him with silver and gold, with goods and beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem.


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Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites, with all those whose spirits God had stirred up, to go up to <i>re</i>build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.


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And all those who were around them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, goods, beasts, and precious things, besides all that was willingly <i>and</i> freely offered.


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Also Cyrus the king brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem [when he took that city] and had put in the house of his gods.


text:
These Cyrus king of Persia directed Mithredath the treasurer to bring forth and count out to Sheshbazzar [who is Zerubbabel, recognized as the legitimate heir to the throne of David] the prince of Judah.


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All the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these Sheshbazzar [the governor] brought with the people of the captivity from Babylon to Jerusalem.


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Now these are the people of the province [of Judah] who went up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, but who came again to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his own city.


text:
These came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah [not the author], Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai [not Esther’s relative], Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of Israel:


text:
And these were they who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, but they could not show a record of their fathers’ houses or prove their descent, whether they were of Israel:


text:
And of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, of Hakkoz, and of Barzillai, who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the [noted] Gileadite and had assumed their name. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
These sought their names among those enrolled in the genealogies, but they were not found; so they were excluded from the priesthood as [ceremonially] unclean.


text:
[Zerubbabel] the governor told them they should not eat of the most holy things [the priests’ food] until there should be a priest with Urim and Thummim [who by consulting these articles in his breastplate could <f>[1]</f>know God’s will in the matter].


text:
Besides their menservants and maidservants, 7,337; and among them they had 200 men and women singers.


text:
Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God to [re]build it on its site.


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They gave as they were able to the treasury for the work 61,000 darics of gold, 5,000 minas of silver, and 100 priests’ garments.


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So the priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their own towns, and all Israel [gradually settled] into their towns.


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When the seventh month came and the Israelites were in the towns, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem.


text:
Then stood up Jeshua son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and they built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings upon it, as it is written in the <f>[1]</f>instructions of Moses the man of God.


text:
And they set the altar [in its place] upon its base, for fear was upon them because of the peoples of the countries; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord morning and evening.


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They kept also the Feast of Tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the ordinances, as each day’s duty required,


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And after that, the continual burnt offering, the offering at the New Moon, and at all the appointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the Lord.


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From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid.


text:
They gave money also to the masons and to the carpenters, and gave food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the seaport of Joppa, according to the grant they had from Cyrus king of Persia.


text:
In the second year of their coming to God’s house at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak made a beginning, with the rest of their brethren — the priests and Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem out of the captivity. They appointed the Levites from twenty years old and upward to oversee the work of the Lord’s house.


text:
Then Jeshua with his sons and his kinsmen, Kadmiel and his sons, sons of Judah, together took the oversight of the workmen in the house of God — the sons of Henadad, with their sons and Levite kinsmen.


text:
And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their vestments with trumpets, and the Levite sons of Asaph with their cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the order of David king of Israel.


text:
They sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy <i>and</i> loving-kindness endure forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid!


text:
But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house [Solomon’s temple], when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice, though many shouted aloud for joy.


text:
So the people could not distinguish the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far off.


text:
Now when [the Samaritans] the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles from the captivity were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel,


text:
They came to Zerubbabel [now governor] and to the heads of the fathers’ houses and said, Let us build with you, for we seek <i>and</i> worship your God as you do, and we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses of Israel said to them, You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.


text:
Then [the Samaritans] the people of the land [continually] weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled <i>and</i> terrified them in building


text:
And hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose <i>and</i> plans all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius [II] king of Persia.


text:
And in the reign of Ahasuerus [or Xerxes], in the beginning of his reign, [the Samaritans] wrote to him an accusation against the [returned] inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.


text:
Later, in the days of King Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the letter was written in the Syrian <i>or</i> Aramaic script and interpreted in that language.


text:
Rehum the [Persian] commander [of the Samaritans] and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king of this sort —


text:
Then wrote Rehum the [Persian] commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates — the Dinaites, the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Susanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites,


text:
And the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar deported and settled in the city of Samaria and the rest of the country beyond [west of] the Euphrates River, and so forth.


text:
This is a copy of the letter which they sent to King Artaxerxes: Your servants, the men beyond [that is, west of] the River [Euphrates], and so forth.


text:
Be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have come to Jerusalem. This rebellious and bad city they are rebuilding, and have restored its walls and repaired the foundations.


text:
Be it known now to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, then they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be diminished.


text:
Now because we eat the salt of the king’s palace and it is not proper for us to witness the king’s discredit, therefore we send to inform the king,


text:
In order that a search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers, in which you will learn that this is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it of old. That is why [it] was laid waste.


text:
We declare to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, it will mean that you will have no portion on this side of the [Euphrates] River.


text:
Then the king sent an answer: To Rehum the [Persian] official, to Shimshai the scribe, to the rest of their companions who dwell in Samaria and in the rest of the country beyond the River: Greetings.


text:
I commanded and search has been made, and it is found that this city [Jerusalem] of old time has made insurrection against kings and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it.


text:
There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem who have ruled over all countries beyond [west of] the [Euphrates] River, and tribute, custom, and toll were paid to them.


text:
Therefore give a decree to make these men stop, that this city not be rebuilt, until a command is given by me.


text:
When the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews and by force and power made them cease.


text:
Then the <f>[1]</f>work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped. It stopped until the second year of Darius [I] king of Persia.


text:
Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah son [grandson] of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, Whose [Spirit] was upon them.


text:
Then rose up Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel [heir to the throne of Judah] and Jeshua son of Jozadak and began to build the house of God in Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God [Haggai and Zechariah], helping them. <f>ⓐ</f>


text:
Then Tattenai, governor on the west side of the [Euphrates] River, and Shethar-bozenai and their companions came to them and said, Who <f>[1]</f>authorized you to build this house and to restore this wall?


text:
But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, so the enemy could not make them stop until the matter came before Darius [I] and an answer was returned by letter concerning it.


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This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor on this side of the River, and Shethar-bozenai and his associates, the Apharsachites who were on this [west] side of the River, sent to Darius [I] the king.


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Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with huge stones, with timber laid in the walls; this work goes on with diligence <i>and</i> care and prospers in their hands.


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They replied, We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, rebuilding the house which was erected and finished many years ago by a great king of Israel.


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But after our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried the people away into Babylon.


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But in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, the same King Cyrus made a decree to rebuild this house of God.


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And the vessels also of gold and silver of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, King Cyrus took from the temple of Babylon and delivered to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor.


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And King Cyrus said to him, Go, take these vessels to Jerusalem and carry them into the temple, and let the house of God be built upon its site.


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Then came this Sheshbazzar and laid the foundation of the house of God in Jerusalem; and since that time until now it has been in the process of being rebuilt and is not completed yet.


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So now, if it seems good to the king, let a search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon to see if it is true that King Cyrus issued a decree to build this house of God at Jerusalem; and let the king send us his pleasure in this matter.


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Then King Darius [I] decreed, and a search was made in Babylonia in the house where the treasured records were stored.


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And at Ecbatana in the capital in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which this was recorded:


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In the first year of King Cyrus, [he] made a decree: Concerning the house of God in Jerusalem, let the house, the place where they offer sacrifices, be built, and let its foundations be strongly laid, its height and its breadth each 60 cubits,


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With three courses of great stones and one course of new timber. Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury.


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Also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple in Jerusalem, each put in its place in the house of God.


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Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the province [west of] the River, Shethar-bozenai, and your associates, the Apharsachites who are [west of] the River, keep far away from there.


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Leave the work on this house of God alone; let the governor and the elders of the Jews build this house of God on its site.


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Moreover, I make a decree as to what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for the rebuilding of this house of God: the cost is to be paid in full to these men at once from the king’s revenue, the tribute of the province [west of] the River, that they may not be hindered.


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And all they need, including young bulls, rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests at Jerusalem, let it be given them each day without fail,


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That they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.


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Also I make a decree that whoever shall change <i>or</i> infringe on this order, let a beam be pulled from his house and erected; then let him be fastened to it, and let his house be made a dunghill for this.


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May the God Who has caused His <f>[1]</f>Name to dwell there overthrow all kings and peoples who put forth their hands to alter this or to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I Darius make a decree; let it be executed speedily <i>and</i> exactly.


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Then Tattenai, governor of the province this side of the River, with Shethar-bozenai and their associates, diligently did what King Darius had decreed.


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And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished their building as commanded by the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia.


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And this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.


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And the Israelites — the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles — celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.


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They offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 young bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and, for a sin offering for all Israel, 12 he-goats, according to the number of Israel’s tribes.


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And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their courses for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses.


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For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. So they killed the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their brother priests, and for themselves.


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It was eaten by the Israelites who had returned from exile and by all who had joined them and separated themselves from the pollutions of the peoples of the land to seek the Lord, the God of Israel.


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They kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria [referring to Darius king of Persia] to them, so that he strengthened their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.


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Now <f>[1]</f>after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes [son of Xerxes, or Ahasuerus] king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,


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This Ezra went up from Babylon. He was a skilled scribe in the five books of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. And the king granted him all he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was upon him.


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And also some of the Israelites, with some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants, went up [from Babylon] to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.


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On the first of the first month he started out from Babylon, and on the first of the fifth month he arrived in Jerusalem, for upon him was the good hand of his God.


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For Ezra had <f>[2]</f>prepared <i>and</i> set his heart to seek the Law of the Lord [to inquire for it and of it, to require and yearn for it], and to do and teach in Israel its statutes and its ordinances.


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Now this is the copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe [occupied with] the words of the commands of the Lord and of His statutes to Israel:


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Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, scribe of the instructions of the God of heaven: Greetings.


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I make a decree that all of the people of Israel and of their priests and Levites in my realm, who offer freely to go up to Jerusalem, may go with you.


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For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to inquire about Judah and Jerusalem according to the instruction of your God, which is in your hand,


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And to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, Whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,


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And all the silver and gold that you may find in all the province of Babylonia, with the freewill offerings of the people and of the priests, offered willingly for the house of their God in Jerusalem.


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Therefore you shall with all speed <i>and</i> exactness buy with this money young bulls, rams, lambs, with their cereal offerings and drink offerings, and offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem.


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And whatever shall seem good to you and to your brethren to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do after the will of your God.


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The vessels also that are given to you for the service of the house of your God, those deliver before the God of Jerusalem.


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And whatever more shall be needful for the house of your God which you shall have occasion to provide, provide it out of the king’s treasury.


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And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province beyond the [Euphrates] River that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the instructions of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it shall be done exactly <i>and</i> at once —


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Up to 100 talents of silver, 100 measures of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt not specified.


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Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done diligently <i>and</i> honorably for the house of the God of heaven, lest His wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons.


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Also we notify you that as to any of the priests and Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants, or other servants of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll on them.


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You, Ezra, after the wisdom of your God, which is [in His instructions] in your hand, set magistrates and judges who may judge all the people [west] of the River; choose those who know the instructions of your God, and teach him who does not know them.


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And whoever will not do the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed upon him exactly <i>and</i> speedily, whether it be unto death or banishment or confiscation of goods or imprisonment.


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Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers [said Ezra], Who put such a thing as this into the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the Lord in Jerusalem,


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And Who has extended His mercy <i>and</i> steadfast love to me before the king, his counselors, and all the king’s mighty officers. I was strengthened and encouraged, for the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered together outstanding men of Israel to go with me to Jerusalem.


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These are the heads of their fathers’ houses and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia in the reign of King Artaxerxes:


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Of the sons of Shecaniah; of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered 150 men by genealogy;


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Of the sons of Adonikam, the last to come, their names are Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, with 60 men;


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I [Ezra] gathered them together at the river that runs to Ahava, and there we encamped three days. I reviewed the people and the priests, and found no Levites.


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Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, Meshullam, who were chief men, and also for Joiarib and Elnathan,who were teachers.


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And I sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place Casiphia, telling them to say to Iddo and his brethren the Nethinim [temple servants] at the place Casiphia, Bring to us servants for the house of our God.


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And by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel, named Sherebiah, with his sons and his kinsmen, 18;


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Also 220 of the Nethinim, whose forefathers David and the officials had set apart [with their descendants] to attend the Levites. They were all mentioned by name.


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Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a straight <i>and</i> right way for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.


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For I was ashamed to request of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy along the way, because we had told the king, The hand of our God is upon all them for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.


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And weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God which the king, his counselors, his lords, and all Israel there present had offered.


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I weighed into their hands 650 talents of silver, and silver vessels valued at 100 talents, and 100 talents of gold;


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And I said to them, You are holy to the Lord, the vessels are holy also, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers.


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Guard and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel in Jerusalem in the chambers of the house of the Lord.


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So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver, the gold, and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem into the house of our God.


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We left the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the enemy and those who lay in wait by the way.


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On the fourth day, the silver, the gold, and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God into the hands of Meremoth the priest, son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar son of Phinehas, and with them were Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui — the Levites.


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Also those returned exiles whose parents had been carried into captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve young bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve he-goats for a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord.


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And they delivered the king’s commissions to the king’s lieutenants and to the governors west of the River, and they aided the people and God’s house.


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Afterward, the officials came to me and said, The Israelites and the priests and Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, but have committed the abominations of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.


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For they have taken as wives some of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy offspring have mixed themselves with the peoples of the lands. Indeed, the officials and chief men have been foremost in this wicked act <i>and</i> direct violation [of God’s will]. <f>ⓐ</f>


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When I heard this, I rent my undergarment and my mantle, I pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled.


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Then all those who trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of the offensive violation of His will by the returned exiles gathered around me as I sat astounded until the evening sacrifice.


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At the evening sacrifice I arose from my depression, and, having rent my undergarment and my mantle, I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God,


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Saying, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has mounted to the heavens.


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Since the days of our fathers we have been exceedingly guilty; and for our willfulness we, our kings, and our priests have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, captivity, plundering, and utter shame, as it is today.


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And now, for a brief moment, grace has been shown us by the Lord our God, Who has left us a remnant to escape and has given us a secure hold in His holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our bondage.


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For we are bondmen; yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended mercy <i>and</i> steadfast love to us before the kings of Persia, to give us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall [of protection] in Judah and Jerusalem.


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Which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the pollutions of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations which have filled it from one end to the other with their filthiness.


