# t_bbe

t:
And early in the morning they got up, when the sun was shining on the water, and they saw the water facing them as red as blood.


t:
Then they said, This is blood: it is clear that destruction has come on the kings; they have been fighting one another: now come, Moab, let us take their goods.


t:
But when they came to the tents of Israel, the Israelites came out and made a violent attack on the Moabites, so that they went in flight before them; and they went forward still attacking them;


t:
Pulling down the towns, covering every good field with stones, stopping up all the water-springs, and cutting down all the good trees; they went on driving Moab before them till only in Kir-hareseth were there any Moabites; and the fighting-men went round the town raining stones on it.


t:
And when the king of Moab saw that the fight was going against him, he took with him seven hundred men armed with swords, with the idea of forcing a way through to the king of Aram, but they were not able to do so.


t:
Then he took his oldest son, who would have been king after him, offering him as a burned offering on the wall. So there was great wrath against Israel; and they went away from him, back to their country.


t:
Now a certain woman, the wife of one of the sons of the prophets, came crying to Elisha and said, Your servant my husband is dead; and to your knowledge he was a worshipper of the Lord; but now, the creditor has come to take my two children as servants in payment of his debt.


t:
Then Elisha said to her, What am I to do for you? say now, what have you in the house? And she said, Your servant has nothing in the house but a pot of oil.


t:
Then go in, and, shutting the door on yourself and your sons, put oil into all these vessels, putting on one side the full ones.


t:
So she went away, and when the door was shut on her and her sons, they took the vessels to her and she put oil into them.


t:
And when all the vessels were full, she said to her son, Get me another vessel. And he said, There are no more. And the flow of oil was stopped.


t:
So she came to the man of God and gave him word of what she had done. And he said, Go and get money for the oil and make payment of your debt, and let the rest be for the needs of yourself and your sons.


t:
Now there came a day when Elisha went to Shunem, and there was a woman of high position living there, who made him come in and have a meal with her. And after that, every time he went by, he went into her house for a meal.


t:
So let us make a little room on the wall; and put a bed there for him, and a table and a seat and a light; so that when he comes to us, he will be able to go in there.


t:
And he said to Gehazi, his servant, Send for this Shunammite. So in answer to his voice she came before him.


t:
And he said to him, Now say to her, See, you have taken all this trouble for us; what is to be done for you? will you have any request made for you to the king or the captain of the army? But she said, I am living among my people.


t:
So he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi made answer, Still there is this, she has no son and her husband is old.


t:
And Elisha said, At this time in the coming year you will have a son in your arms. And she said, No, my lord, O man of God, do not say what is false to your servant.


t:
Then the woman became with child and gave birth to a son at the time named, in the year after, as Elisha had said to her.


t:
And he said to his father, My head, my head! And the father said to a servant, Take him in to his mother.


t:
And he took him in to his mother, and she took him on her knees and kept him there till the middle of the day, when his life went from him.


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


t:
And he said, Why are you going to him today? it is not a new moon or a Sabbath. But she said, It is well.


t:
Then she made the ass ready and said to her servant, Keep driving on; do not make a stop without orders from me.


t:
So she went, and came to Mount Carmel, to the man of God. And when the man of God saw her coming in his direction, he said to Gehazi, his servant, See, there is the Shunammite;


t:
Go quickly to her, and on meeting her say to her, Are you well? and your husband and the child, are they well? And she said in answer, All is well.


t:
And when she came to where the man of God was on the hill, she put her hands round his feet; and Gehazi came near with the purpose of pushing her away; but the man of God said, Let her be, for her soul is bitter in her; and the Lord has kept it secret from me, and has not given me word of it.


t:
Then she said, Did I make a request to my lord for a son? did I not say, Do not give me false words?


t:
Then he said to Gehazi, Make yourself ready, and take my stick in your hand, and go: if you come across anyone on the way, give him no blessing, and if anyone gives you a blessing, give him no answer. And put my stick on the child's face.


t:
But the mother of the child said, As the Lord is living and as your soul is living, I will not go back without you. So he got up and went with her.


t:
And Gehazi went on before them and put the stick on the child's face; but there was no voice, and no one gave attention. So he went back, and meeting him gave him the news, saying, The child is not awake.


t:
Then he got up on the bed, stretching himself out on the child, and put his mouth on the child's mouth, his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands; and the child's body became warm.


t:
Then he came back, and after walking once through the house and back, he went up, stretching himself out on the child seven times; and the child's eyes became open.


t:
And he gave orders to Gehazi, and said, Send for the Shunammite. And she came in answer to his voice. And he said, Take up your son.


t:
And she came in, and went down on her face to the earth at his feet; then she took her son in her arms and went out.


t:
And Elisha went back to Gilgal, now there was very little food in the land; and the sons of the prophets were seated before him. And he said to his servant, Put the great pot on the fire, and make soup for the sons of the prophets.


t:
And one went out into the field to get green plants and saw a vine of the field, and pulling off the fruit of it till the fold of his robe was full, he came back and put the fruit, cut up small, into the pot of soup, having no idea what it was.


t:
Then they gave the men soup from the pot. And while they were drinking the soup, they gave a cry, and said, O man of God, there is death in the pot; and they were not able to take any more food.


t:
But he said, Get some meal. And he put it into the pot, and said, Now give it to the people so that they may have food. And there was nothing bad in the pot.


t:
Now a man came from Baal-shalishah with an offering of first-fruits for the man of God, twenty barley cakes and garden fruit in his bag. And he said, Give these to the people for food.


t:
But his servant said, How am I to put this before a hundred men? But he said, Give it to the people for food; for the Lord says, There will be food for them and some over.


t:
Now Naaman, chief of the army of the king of Aram, was a man of high position with his master, and greatly respected, because by him the Lord had given salvation to Aram; but he was a leper.


t:
Now the Aramaeans had gone out in bands, and taken prisoner from Israel a little girl, who became servant to Naaman's wife.


t:
And she said to her master's wife, If only my lord would go to the prophet in Samaria, he would make him well.


t:
So the king of Aram said, Go then; and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he went, taking with him ten talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.


t:
And he took the letter to the king of Israel, in which the king of Aram had said, See, I have sent my servant Naaman to you to be made well, for he is a leper.


t:
But the king of Israel, after reading the letter, was greatly troubled and said, Am I God, to give death and life? why does this man send a leper to me to be made well? is it not clear that he is looking for a cause of war?


t:
Now Elisha, the man of God, hearing that the king of Israel had done this, sent to the king, saying, Why are you troubled? send the man to me, so that he may see that there is a prophet in Israel.


t:
And Elisha sent a servant to him, saying, Go to Jordan, and after washing seven times in its waters your flesh will be well again and you will be clean.


t:
But Naaman was angry and went away and said, I had the idea that he would come out to see such an important person as I am, and make prayer to the Lord his God, and with a wave of his hand over the place make the leper well.


t:
Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not be washed in them and become clean? So turning, he went away in wrath.


t:
Then his servants came to him and said, If the prophet had given you orders to do some great thing, would you not have done it? how much more then, when he says to you, Be washed and become clean?


t:
Then he went down seven times into the waters of Jordan, as the man of God had said; and his flesh became like the flesh of a little child again, and he was clean.


t:
Then he went back to the man of God, with all his train, and, taking his place before him, said, Now I am certain that there is no God in all the earth, but only in Israel: now then, take an offering from me.


t:
But he said, By the life of the Lord whose servant I am, I will take nothing from you. And he did his best to make him take it but he would not.


t:
Then Naaman said, If you will not, then let there be given to your servant as much earth as two beasts are able to take on their backs; because from now on, your servant will make no offering or burned offering to other gods, but only to the Lord.


t:
But may your servant have the Lord's forgiveness for this one thing: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon for worship there, supported on my arm, and my head is bent in the house of Rimmon; when his head is bent in the house of Rimmon, may your servant have the Lord's forgiveness for this thing.


t:
But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, Now my master has taken nothing from Naaman, this Aramaean, of what he would have given him: by the living Lord, I will go after him and get something from him.


t:
So Gehazi went after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from his carriage and went back to him and said, Is all well?


t:
And he said, All is well: but my master has sent me, saying, Even now, two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill-country of Ephraim; will you give me a talent of silver and two changes of clothing for them?


t:
And Naaman said, Be good enough to take two talents. And forcing him to take them, he put two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and gave them to his two servants to take before him.


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


t:
Then he came in and took his place before his master. And Elisha said to him, Where have you come from, Gehazi? And he said, Your servant went nowhere.


t:
And he said to him, Did not my heart go with you, when the man got down from his carriage and went back to you? Is this a time for getting money, and clothing, and olive-gardens and vine-gardens, and sheep and oxen, and men-servants and women-servants?


t:
Because of what you have done, the disease of Naaman the leper will take you in its grip, and your seed after you, for ever. And he went out from before him a leper as white as snow.


t:
Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, There is not room enough for us in the place where we are living under your care;


t:
So let us go to Jordan, and let everyone get to work cutting boards, and we will make a living-place for ourselves there. And he said to them, Go, then.


t:
But one of them, while cutting a board, let the head of his axe go into the water; and he gave a cry, and said, This is a bad business, my master, for it is another's.


t:
And the man of God said, Where did it go in? and when he saw the place where it had gone into the water, cutting a stick, he put it into the water, and the iron came up to the top of the water.


t:
At that time the king of Aram was making war against Israel; and he had a meeting with the chiefs of his army and said, I will be waiting in secret in some named place.


t:
And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, Take care to keep away from that place, for the Aramaeans are waiting there in secret.


t:
So the king of Israel sent to the place where the man of God had said there was danger, and kept clear of it more than once.


t:
And at this, the mind of the king of Aram was greatly troubled, and he sent for his servants and said to them, Will you not make clear to me which of us is helping the king of Israel?


t:
And one of them said, Not one of us, my lord king; but Elisha, the prophet in Israel, gives the king of Israel news of the words you say even in your bedroom.


t:
Then he said, Go and see where he is, so that I may send and get him. And news came to him that he was in Dothan.


t:
Now the servant of the man of God, having got up early and gone out, saw an army with horses and carriages of war all round the town. And the servant said to him, O my master, what are we to do?


t:
Then Elisha made a prayer to the Lord, saying, Lord, let his eyes be open so that he may see. And the Lord made the young man's eyes open; and he saw that all the mountain was full of horses and carriages of fire round Elisha.


t:
Now when the Aramaeans came down to Elisha, he made a prayer to the Lord saying, Lord, make this people blind. And he made them blind at Elisha's request.


t:
And Elisha said to them, This is not the way, and this is not the town: come after me so that I may take you to the man you are searching for. And he took them to Samaria.


t:
And when they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, Lord, let the eyes of these men be open so that they may see. And the Lord made their eyes open, and they saw that they were in the middle of Samaria.


t:
But he said in answer, You are not to put them to death; have you any right to put to death those whom you have not taken prisoner with your sword and your bow? put bread and water before them, so that they may have food and drink and go to their master.


t:
So he made ready a great feast for them, and when they had had food and drink, he sent them away and they went back to their master. And no more bands of Aramaeans came into the land of Israel.


t:
Now after this, Ben-hadad, king of Aram, got together all his army and went up to make an attack on Samaria, shutting the town in on all sides with his forces.


t:
And they became very short of food in Samaria; for they kept it shut in till the price of an ass's head was eighty shekels of silver, and a small measure of doves' droppings was five shekels of silver.


t:
And when the king of Israel was going by on the wall, a woman came crying out to him, and said, Help! my lord king.


t:
And he said, If the Lord does not give you help, where am I to get help for you? from the grain-floor or the grape-crusher?


t:
And the king said to her, What is troubling you? And she said in answer, This woman said to me, Give your son to be our food today, and we will have my son tomorrow.


t:
So, boiling my son, we had a meal of him; and on the day after I said to her, Now give your son for our food; but she has put her son in a secret place.


t:
Then the king, hearing what the woman said, took his robes in his hands, violently parting them; and, while he was walking on the wall, the people, looking, saw that under his robe he had haircloth on his flesh.


t:
Then he said, May God's punishment come on me if Elisha, the son of Shaphat, keeps his head on his body after this day.


t:
But Elisha was in his house, and the responsible men were seated there with him; and before the king got there, Elisha said to those who were with him, Do you see how this cruel and violent man has sent to take away my life?


t:
While he was still talking to them, the king came down and said, This evil is from the Lord; why am I to go on waiting any longer for the Lord?


t:
Then Elisha said, Give ear to the word of the Lord: the Lord says, Tomorrow, about this time, a measure of good meal will be offered for the price of a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the market-place of Samaria.


t:
Then the captain whose arm was supporting the king said to the man of God, Even if the Lord made windows in heaven, would such a thing be possible? And he said, Your eyes will see it, but you will not have a taste of the food.


t:
Now there were four lepers seated at the doorway into the town: and they said to one another, Why are we waiting here for death?


t:
If we say, We will go into the town, there is no food in the town, and we will come to our end there; and if we go on waiting here, death will come to us. Come then, let us give ourselves up to the army of Aram: if they let us go on living, then life will be ours; and if they put us to death, then death will be ours.


t:
So in the half light they got up to go to the tents of Aram; but when they came to the outer line of tents, there was no one there.


t:
For the Lord had made the sound of carriages and horses, and the noise of a great army, come to the ears of the Aramaeans, so that they said to one another, Truly, the king of Israel has got the kings of the Hittites and of the Egyptians for a price to make an attack on us.


t:
So they got up and went in flight, in the half light, without their tents or their horses or their asses or any of their goods; they went in flight, fearing for their lives.


t:
And when those lepers came to the outer line of tents, they went into one tent, and had food and drink, and took from it silver and gold and clothing, which they put in a secret place; then they came back and went into another tent from which they took more goods, which they put away in a secret place.


t:
Then they said to one another, We are not doing right. Today is a day of good news, and we say nothing: if we go on waiting here till the morning, punishment will come to us. So let us go and give the news to those of the king's house.


t:
So they came in, and, crying out to the door-keepers of the town, they gave them the news, saying, We came to the tents of the Aramaeans, and there was no one there and no voice of man, only the horses and the asses in their places, and the tents as they were.


t:
Then the king got up in the night and said to his servants, This is my idea of what the Aramaeans have done to us. They have knowledge that we are without food; and so they have gone out of their tents, and are waiting secretly in the open country, saying, When they come out of the town, we will take them living and get into the town.


t:
And one of his servants said in answer, Send men and let them take five of the horses which we still have in the town; if they keep their lives they will be the same as those of Israel who are still living here; if they come to their death they will be the same as all those of Israel who have gone to destruction: let us send and see.


t:
So they took two horsemen; and the king sent them after the army of the Aramaeans, saying, Go and see.


t:
And they went after them as far as Jordan; and all the road was covered with clothing and vessels dropped by the Aramaeans in their flight. So those who were sent went back and gave the news to the king.


t:
Then the people went out and took the goods from the tents of the Aramaeans. So a measure of good meal was to be had for the price of a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, as the Lord had said.


t:
And the king gave authority to that captain, on whose arm he was supported, to have control over the doorway into the town; but he was crushed to death there under the feet of the people, as the man of God had said when the king went down to him.


t:
So the words of the man of God came true, which he said to the king: Two measures of barley will be offered for the price of a shekel and a measure of good meal for a shekel, tomorrow about this time in the market-place of Samaria.


t:
And that captain said to the man of God, Even if the Lord made windows in heaven, would such a thing be possible? And he said to him, Your eyes will see it, but you will not have a taste of the food.


t:
And such was his fate; for he was crushed to death under the feet of the people, in the doorway into the town.


t:
Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had given back to life, Go now, with all the people of your house, and get a living-place for yourselves wherever you are able; for by the word of the Lord, there will be great need of food in the land; and this will go on for seven years.


t:
So the woman got up and did as the man of God said; and she and the people of her house were living in the land of the Philistines for seven years.


t:
And when the seven years were ended, the woman came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king with a request for her house and her land.


t:
Now the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, Now, give me an account of all the great things Elisha has done.


t:
And while he was giving the king the story of how Elisha had given life to the dead, the woman whose son had come back to life came to the king with a request for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, My lord king, this is the woman and this is her son, whose life Elisha gave back to him.


t:
And in answer to the king's questions, the woman gave him all the story. So the king gave orders to one of his unsexed servants, saying, Give her back all her property, and all the produce of her fields from the day when she went away from the land up till now.


t:
And Elisha came to Damascus; and Ben-hadad, king of Aram, was ill; and they said to him, The man of God has come.


t:
Then the king said to Hazael, Take an offering with you, and go to see the man of God and get directions from the Lord by him, saying, Am I going to get better from my disease?


t:
So Hazael went to see him, taking with him forty camels with offerings on their backs of every sort of good thing from Damascus; and when he came before him, he said, Your son Ben-hadad, king of Aram, has sent me to you, saying, Will I get better from this disease?


t:
And Elisha said to him, Go, say to him, You will certainly get better; but the Lord has made it clear to me that only death is before him.


t:
And Hazael said, Why is my lord weeping? Then he said in answer, Because I see the evil which you will do to the children of Israel: burning down their strong towns, putting their young men to death with the sword, smashing their little ones against the stones, and cutting open the women who are with child.


t:
And Hazael said, How is it possible that your servant, who is only a dog, will do this great thing? And Elisha said, The Lord has made it clear to me that you will be king over Aram.


t:
Then he went away from Elisha and came in to his master, who said to him, What did Elisha say to you? And his answer was, He said that you would certainly get well.


t:
Now on the day after, Hazael took the bed-cover, and making it wet with water, put it over Ben-hadad's face, causing his death: and Hazael became king in his place.


t:
In the fifth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, became king.


t:
He went in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the family of Ahab did: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the eyes of the Lord.


t:
But it was not the Lord's purpose to send destruction on Judah, because of David his servant, to whom he had given his word that he would have a light for ever.


t:
Then Joram went over to Zair, with all his war-carriages; ... made an attack by night on the Edomites, whose forces were all round him, ... the captains of the war-carriages; and the people went in flight to their tents.


t:
So Edom made themselves free from the rule of Judah to this day. And at the same time, Libnah made itself free.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Joram, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?


t:
And Joram went to rest with his fathers and was put into the earth with his fathers in the town of David: and Ahaziah his son became king in his place.


t:
In the twelfth year that Joram, the son of Ahab, was king of Israel, Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, became king;


t:
Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for one year. His mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, king of Israel.


t:
He went in the ways of the family of Ahab, and did evil in the eyes of the Lord as the family of Ahab did, for he was a son-in-law of the family of Ahab.


t:
He went with Joram, the son of Ahab, to make war on Hazael, king of Aram, at Ramoth-gilead: and Joram was wounded by the Aramaeans.


t:
So King Joram went back to Jezreel to get well from the wounds which the bowmen had given him at Ramah, when he was fighting against Hazael, king of Aram. And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram, the son of Ahab, in Jezreel, because he was ill.


t:
And Elisha the prophet sent for one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, Make yourself ready for a journey, and take this bottle of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead.


t:
And when you get there, go in search of Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi; and go in and make him get up from among his brothers, and take him to an inner room.


t:
Then take the bottle and put the oil on his head, and say, The Lord says, I have put the holy oil on you to make you king over Israel. Then, opening the door, go in flight, without waiting.


t:
And when he came, he saw the captains of the army seated together; and he said, I have something to say to you, O captain. And Jehu said, To which of us? And he said, To you, O captain.


t:
And he got up and went into the house; then he put the holy oil on his head and said to him, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, I have made you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel.


t:
You are to see that the family of Ahab your master is cut off, so that I may take from Jezebel payment for the blood of my servants the prophets, and for the blood of all the servants of the Lord.


t:
For the family of Ahab will come to an end; every male of Ahab's family will be cut off, he who is shut up and he who goes free in Israel.


t:
I will make the family of Ahab like that of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and Baasha, the son of Ahijah.


t:
And Jezebel will become food for the dogs in the heritage of Jezreel, and there will be no one to put her body into the earth. Then, opening the door, he went in flight.


t:
Then Jehu came out again to the servants of his lord, and one said to him, Is all well? why did this man, who is off his head, come to you? And he said to them, You have knowledge of the man and of his talk.


t:
And they said, That is not true; now give us his story. Then he said, This is what he said to me: The Lord says, I have made you king over Israel.


t:
Then straight away everyone took his robe and put it under him on the top of the steps, and, sounding the horn, they said, Jehu is king.


t:
So Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, made designs against Joram. (Now Joram and all the army of Israel were keeping watch on Ramoth-gilead because of Hazael, king of Aram:


t:
But King Joram had gone back to Jezreel to get well from the wounds which the Aramaeans had given him when he was fighting against Hazael, king of Aram.) And Jehu said, If this is your purpose, then let no one get away and go out of the town to give news of it in Jezreel.


t:
So Jehu got into his carriage and went to Jezreel, for Joram was ill in bed there; and Ahaziah, king of Judah, had come down to see Joram.


t:
And the watchman on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu and his band coming, and said, I see a band of people. And Joram said, Send out a horseman to them, and let him say, Is it peace?


t:
So a horseman went out to them and said, The king says, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What have you to do with peace? come after me. And the watchman gave them word, saying, The horseman went up to them, but has not come back.


t:
Then he sent out a second horseman, who came up to them and said, The king says, Is it peace? And Jehu said in answer, What have you to do with peace? come after me.


t:
And the watchman gave them word, saying, He went up to them and has not come back again; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu, son of Nimshi, for he is driving violently.


t:
Then Joram said, Make ready. So they made his carriage ready; and Joram, king of Israel, with Ahaziah, king of Judah, went out in their carriages for the purpose of meeting Jehu; and they came face to face with him at the field of Naboth the Jezreelite.


t:
Now when Joram saw Jehu he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he said in answer, What peace is possible while all the land is full of the disgusting sins of your mother Jezebel, and her secret arts?


t:
Then Jehu took his bow in his hand, and with all his strength sent an arrow, wounding Joram between the arms; and the arrow came out at his heart, and he went down on his face in his carriage.


t:
Then Jehu said to Bidkar, his captain, Take him up, and put him in the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for is not that day in your memory when you and I together on our horses were going after Ahab, his father, and the Lord put this fate on him, saying:


t:
I saw the blood of Naboth and of his sons yesterday; and I will give you full payment in this field, says the Lord? So now, take him and put him in this field, as the Lord said.


t:
Now when Ahaziah, king of Judah, saw this, he went in flight by the way of the garden house. And Jehu came after him and said, Put him to death in the same way; and they gave him a death-wound in his carriage, on the slope up to Gur, by Ibleam; and he went in flight to Megiddo, where death came to him.


t:
And his servants took him in a carriage to Jerusalem, and put him into the earth with his fathers in the town of David.


t:
And when Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel had news of it; and, painting her eyes and dressing her hair with ornaments, she put her head out of the window.


t:
And when Jehu was coming into the town, she said, Is all well, O Zimri, taker of your master's life?


t:
Then, looking up to the window, he said, Who is on my side, who? and two or three unsexed servants put out their heads.


t:
And he said, Take her and put her out of the window. So they sent her down with force, and her blood went in a shower on the wall and on the horses; and she was crushed under their feet.


t:
And he came in, and took food and drink; then he said, Now see to this cursed woman, and put her body into the earth, for she is a king's daughter.


t:
And they went out to put her body into the earth, but nothing of her was to be seen, only the bones of her head, and her feet, and parts of her hands.


t:
So they came back and gave him word of it. And he said, This is what the Lord said by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the heritage of Jezreel the flesh of Jezebel will become food for dogs;


t:
And the dead body of Jezebel will be like waste dropped on the face of the earth in the heritage of Jezreel; so that they will not be able to say, This is Jezebel.


t:
Now there were in Samaria seventy of Ahab's sons. And Jehu sent letters to Samaria, to the rulers of the town, and to the responsible men, and to those who had the care of the sons of Ahab, saying,


t:
Straight away, when you get this letter, seeing that your master's sons are with you, and that you have carriages and horses and a walled town and arms;


t:
Take the best and most upright of your master's sons, and make him king in his father's place, and put up a fight for your master's family.


t:
But they were full of fear, and said, The two kings have gone down before him: how may we keep our place?


t:
So the controller of the king's house, with the ruler of the town, and the responsible men, and those who had the care of Ahab's sons, sent to Jehu, saying, We are your servants and will do all your orders; we will not make any man king; do whatever seems best to you.


t:
Then he sent them a second letter, saying, If you are on my side, and if you will do my orders, come to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow, with the heads of your master's sons. Now the king's seventy sons were with the great men of the town, who had the care of them.


t:
And when the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and put them to death, all the seventy, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.


t:
And a man came and said to him, They have come with the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Put them down in two masses at the doorway of the town till the morning.


t:
And in the morning he went out and, stopping, said to all the people there, You are upright men: it is true that I made designs against my master, and put him to death; but who is responsible for the death of all these?


t:
You may be certain that nothing which the Lord has said about the family of Ahab will be without effect; for the Lord has done what he said by his servant Elijah.


t:
So Jehu put to death all the rest of the seed of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his relations and his near friends and his priests, till there were no more of them.


t:
Then he got up and came to Samaria. And he was at the meeting-place of the keepers of sheep, by the way,


t:
When he came across the brothers of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and said, Who are you? And they said, We are the brothers of Ahaziah, king of Judah; we are going down to see the children of the king and of the queen.


t:
And he said, Take them living. So they took them living, and put them to death in the water-hole of Beth-eked; of the forty-two men he put every one to death;


t:
And when he had gone away from there, he came across Jehonadab, the son of Rechab: and he said good-day to him, and said to him, Is your heart true to mine, as mine is to yours? And Jehonadab in answer said, It is; and Jehu said, If it is, give me your hand. And he gave him his hand, and he made him come up into his carriage.


t:
And he said, Come with me and see how I am on fire for the Lord's cause. So he made him go with him in his carriage.


t:
And when he came to Samaria, he put to death all those of Ahab's family who were still in Samaria, till there were no more of them, as the Lord had said to Elijah.


t:
Then Jehu got all the people together and said to them, Ahab was Baal's servant in a small way, but Jehu will be his servant on a great scale.


t:
Now send for all the prophets of Baal and all his servants and all his priests, to come to me; let no one keep away: for I have a great offering to make to Baal; anyone who is not present, will be put to death. This Jehu did with deceit, his purpose being the destruction of the servants of Baal.


t:
And Jehu said, Let there be a special holy meeting for the worship of Baal. So a public statement was made.


t:
And Jehu sent out through all Israel; and all the servants of Baal came, not one kept away. And they came into the house of Baal, so that it was full from end to end.


t:
And Jehu said to him who kept the robes, Get out robes for all the servants of Baal. So he got out robes for them.


t:
And Jehu, with Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, went into the house of Baal; and he said to the servants of Baal, Make a search with care, to see that no servant of the Lord is with you, but only servants of Baal.


t:
Then they went in to make offerings and burned offerings. Now Jehu had put eighty men outside, and said to them, If any man whom I give into your hands gets away, the life of him who lets him go will be the price of his life.


t:
Then when the burned offering was ended, straight away Jehu said to the armed men and the captains, Go in and put them to death; let not one come out. So they put them to the sword; and, pulling the images to the earth, they went into the holy place of the house of Baal.


t:
The altar of Baal was pulled down and the house of Baal was broken up and made an unclean place, as it is to this day.


t:
But Jehu did not keep himself from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and the evil he made Israel do; the gold oxen were still in Beth-el and in Dan.


t:
And the Lord said to Jehu, Because you have done well in doing what is right in my eyes and effecting all my purpose for the family of Ahab, your sons will be kings of Israel to the fourth generation.


t:
But Jehu did not take care to keep the law of the Lord with all his heart: he did not keep himself from the sin which Jeroboam did and made Israel do.


t:
In those days the Lord was angry first with Israel; and Hazael made attacks on all the land of Israel,


t:
East of Jordan, in all the land of Gilead, the Gadites and the Reubenites and the Manassites, from Aroer by the valley of the Arnon, all Gilead and Bashan.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all he did, and his great power, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?


t:
And Jehu went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son became king in his place.


t:
Now when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she had all the rest of the seed of the kingdom put to death.


t:
But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, secretly took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, with the woman who took care of him, away from among the king's sons who were put to death, and put him in the bedroom; and they kept him safe from Athaliah, so that he was not put to death.


t:
And for six years she kept him safe in the house of the Lord, while Athaliah was ruling over the land.


t:
Then in the seventh year, Jehoiada sent for the captains of hundreds of the Carians, and the armed men, and taking them into the house of the Lord, made an agreement with them, and made them take an oath in the house of the Lord, and let them see the king's son.


t:
And he gave them orders, saying, This is what you are to do: the third part of you, who come in on the Sabbath and keep the watch of the king's house,


t:
And the two divisions of you, who go out on the Sabbath and keep the watch of the house of the Lord,


t:
Will make a circle round the king, every man being armed; and whoever comes inside your lines is to be put to death; keep with the king, when he goes out and when he comes in.


t:
And the captains of hundreds did as Jehoiada the priest gave them orders; every one took with him his men, those who came in and those who went out on the Sabbath, and they came in to Jehoiada the priest.


t:
And the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and body-covers which had been King David's, and which were kept in the house of the Lord.


t:
Then the armed men took up their positions, every man with his instruments of war in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left, round about the altar and the house.


t:
Then he made the king's son come out, and put the crown on him and the arm-bands, and made him king, and put the holy oil on him; and they all, making sounds of joy with their hands, said, Long life to the king.


t:
And looking, she saw the king in his regular place by the pillar, and the captains and the horns near him; and all the people of the land giving signs of joy and sounding the horns. Then Athaliah, violently parting her robes, gave a cry, saying, Broken faith, broken faith!


t:
Then Jehoiada the priest gave orders to those who were placed in authority over the army, saying, Take her outside the lines, and let anyone who goes after her be put to death with the sword, for he said, Let her not be put to death in the house of the Lord.


t:
So they put their hands on her, and she went to the king's house by the doorway of the horses, and there she was put to death.


t:
And Jehoiada made an agreement between the Lord and the king and the people, that they would be the Lord's people; and in the same way between the king and the people.


t:
Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal and had it pulled down: its altars and images were all broken to bits, and Mattan, the priest of Baal, they put to death before the altars. And the priest put overseers over the Lord's house.


t:
Then he took the captains of hundreds, and the Carians, and the armed men, and all the people of the land; and they came down with the king from the house of the Lord, through the doorway of the armed men, to the king's house. And he took his place on the seat of the kings.


t:
So all the people of the land were glad, and the town was quiet; and they had put Athaliah to death with the sword at the king's house.


t:
In the seventh year of Jehu's rule, Jehoash became king; and he was ruling for forty years in Jerusalem; his mother's name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba.


t:
Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days, because he was guided by the teaching of Jehoiada the priest.


t:
But the high places were not taken away; the people went on making offerings and burning them in the high places.


t:
And Jehoash said to the priests, All the money of the holy things, which comes into the house of the Lord, (the amount fixed for every man's payment,) and all the money given by any man freely from the impulse of his heart,


t:
Let the priests take, every man from his friends and neighbours, to make good what is damaged in the house, wherever it is to be seen.


t:
But in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had not made good the damaged parts of the house.


t:
Then King Jehoash sent for Jehoiada the priest, and the other priests, and said to them, Why have you not made good what is damaged in the house? now take no more money from your neighbours, but give it for the building up of the house.


t:
So the priests made an agreement to take no more money from the people, and not to make good what was damaged in the house.


t:
But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and making a hole in the cover of it, put it by the altar, on the right side when one comes into the house of the Lord; and the priests who kept the door put in it regularly all the money which was taken into the house of the Lord.


t:
And when they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king's scribe and the high priest came and put it in bags, noting the amount of all the money there was in the house of the Lord.


t:
And the money which was measured out they gave regularly to those who were responsible for overseeing the work, and these gave it in payment to the woodworkers and the builders who were working on the house of the Lord,


t:
And to the wall-builders and the stone-cutters, and to get wood and cut stone for building up the broken parts of the house of the Lord, and for everything needed to put the house in good order.


t:
But the money was not used for making silver cups or scissors or basins or wind-instruments or any vessels of gold or silver for the house of the Lord;


t:
And they did not get any statement of accounts from the men to whom the money was given for the workmen, for they made use of it with good faith.


t:
The money of the offerings for error and the sin-offerings was not taken into the house of the Lord; it was the priests'.


t:
Then Hazael, king of Aram, went up against Gath and took it; and his purpose was to go up to Jerusalem.


t:
Then Jehoash, king of Judah, took all the holy things which Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had given to the Lord, together with the things he himself had given, and all the gold in the Temple store and in the king's house, and sent it to Hazael, king of Aram; and he went away from Jerusalem.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?


t:
And his servants made a secret design and put Joash to death at the house of Millo on the way down to Silla.


t:
And Jozacar, the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of Shomer, his servants, came to him and put him to death; and they put him into the earth with his fathers in the town of David; and Amaziah his son became king in his place.


t:
In the twenty-third year of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for seventeen years.


t:
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, copying the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he did and made Israel do; he did not keep himself from them.


t:
So the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the power of Hazael, king of Aram, and into the power of Ben-hadad, the son of Hazael, again and again.


t:
Then Jehoahaz made prayer to the Lord, and the Lord gave ear to him, for he saw how cruelly Israel was crushed by the king of Aram.


t:
(And the Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they became free from the hands of the Aramaeans; and the children of Israel were living in their tents as in the past.


t:
But still they did not give up the sin of Jeroboam, which he made Israel do, but went on with it; and there was an image of Asherah in Samaria.)


t:
For out of all his army, Jehoahaz had only fifty horsemen and ten carriages and ten thousand footmen; the king of Aram had given them up to destruction, crushing them like dust.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all he did, and his great power, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?


t:
And Jehoahaz went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in Samaria; and Joash his son became king in his place.


t:
In the thirty-seventh year of the rule of Joash, king of Judah, Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for sixteen years.


t:
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not turning away from the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he did and made Israel do, but he went on with it.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all he did, and the force with which he went to war against Amaziah, king of Judah, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?


t:
And Joash went to rest with his fathers and Jeroboam took his place as king; and Joash was put into the earth in Samaria with the kings of Israel.


t:
Now Elisha became ill with the disease which was the cause of his death: and Joash, king of Israel, came down to him, and weeping over him said, My father, my father, the war-carriages of Israel and its horsemen!


t:
And he said to the king of Israel, Put your hand on the bow: and he put his hand on it; and Elisha put his hands on the king's hands.


t:
Then he said; Let the window be open to the east: and he got it open. Then Elisha said, Let the arrow go; and he let it go. And he said, The Lord's arrow of salvation, of salvation over Aram; for you will overcome the Aramaeans in Aphek and put an end to them.


t:
And he said, Take the arrows: and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Send them down into the earth; and he did so three times and no more.


t:
Then the man of God was angry with him and said, If you had done it five or six times, then you would have overcome Aram completely; but now you will only overcome them three times.


t:
And death came to Elisha and they put his body into the earth. Now in the spring of the year, armed bands of Moabites frequently came, overrunning the land.


t:
And while they were putting a dead man into the earth, they saw a band coming; and they put the man quickly into the place where Elisha's body was; and the dead man, on touching Elisha's bones, came to life again, and got up on his feet.


t:
But the Lord was kind to them and had pity on them, caring for them, because of his agreement with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; he would not put them to destruction or send them away from before his face till now.


t:
And Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, took again from Ben-hadad, the son of Hazael, the towns which he had taken from Jehoahaz his father in war. Three times Jehoash overcame him and got back the towns of Israel.


t:
In the second year of Joash, son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah, the son of Joash, became king of Judah.


t:
He was twenty-five years old when he became king; and he was ruling in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years; his mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem.


t:
He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, though not like David his father; he did as Joash his father had done.


t:
But still the high places were not taken away; the people went on making offerings and burning them in the high places.


t:
Now when he became strong in the kingdom, straight away he put to death those servants who had taken the life of the king his father;


t:
But he did not put their children to death; for the orders of the Lord recorded in the book of the law of Moses say, The fathers are not to be put to death for the children, or the children for their fathers; but a man is to be put to death for the sin which he himself has done.


t:
He put to the sword twelve thousand men of Edom in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela in war, naming it Joktheel, as it is to this day.


t:
Then Amaziah sent representatives to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us have a meeting face to face.


t:
And Jehoash, king of Israel, sent to Amaziah, king of Judah, saying, The thorn-tree in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son for a wife: and a beast from the woodland in Lebanon went by, crushing the thorn under his feet.


t:
It is true that you have overcome Edom and your heart is uplifted; let that glory be enough for you, and keep in your country; why do you make causes of trouble, putting yourself, and Judah with you, in danger of downfall?


t:
But Amaziah gave no attention. So Jehoash, king of Israel, went up, and he and Amaziah, king of Judah, came face to face at Beth-shemesh, which is in Judah.


t:
And Jehoash, king of Israel, made Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, prisoner at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and had the wall of Jerusalem pulled down from the doorway of Ephraim to the door in the angle, four hundred cubits.


t:
And he took all the gold and silver and all the vessels which were in the house of the Lord and in the store-house of the king, together with those whose lives would be the price of broken faith, and went back to Samaria.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash, and his power, and how he went to war with Amaziah, king of Judah, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?


t:
And Jehoash went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son became king in his place.


t:
Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, went on living for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.


t:
And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?


t:
Now they made a secret design against him in Jerusalem; and he went in flight to Lachish, but they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there.


t:
And they took his body on horseback and put it into the earth with his fathers in Jerusalem, the town of David.


t:
Then all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.


t:
In the fifteenth year of the rule of Amaziah, son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria, ruling for forty-one years.


t:
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not turning away from the sin which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do.


t:
He got back the old limits of Israel from the way into Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, as the Lord had said by his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet of Gath-hepher.


t:
For the Lord saw how bitter was the trouble of Israel, and that everyone was cut off, he who was shut up and he who went free, and that Israel had no helper.


t:
And the Lord had not said that the name of Israel was to be taken away from the earth; but he gave them a saviour in Jeroboam, the son of Joash.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all he did, and his power, and how he went to war with Damascus, causing the wrath of the Lord to be turned away from Israel, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?


t:
And Jeroboam went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth with the kings of Israel; and Zechariah his son became king in his place.


t:
In the twenty-seventh year of the rule of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Azariah, son of Amaziah, became king of Judah.


t:
He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for fifty-two years; his mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.


t:
But he did not take away the high places, and the people still went on making offerings and burning them in the high places.


t:
And the Lord sent disease on the king and he became a leper, and to the day of his death he was living separately in his private house. And Jotham his son was over his house, judging the people of the land.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?


t:
And Azariah went to rest with his fathers and was put into the earth with his fathers in the town of David; and Jotham his son became king in his place.


t:
In the thirty-eighth year of Azaliah, king of Judah, Zechariah, son of Jeroboam, was king over Israel for six months.


t:
And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his father had done, not turning away from the sin which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do.


t:
And Shallum, the son of Jabesh, made a secret design against him, and, attacking him in Ibleam, put him to death and became king in his place.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah are recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.


t:
This was what the Lord had said to Jehu, Your sons to the fourth generation will be kings of Israel. And so it came about.


t:
Shallum, the son of Jabesh, became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah, king of Judah; and he was ruling in Samaria for the space of one month.


t:
Then Menahem, the son of Gadi, went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and attacking Shallum, son of Jabesh, in Samaria, put him to death and made himself king in his place.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Shallum, and the secret design which he made, are recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.


t:
Then Menahem sent destruction on Tappuah and all the people in it, and its limits, from Tirzah, because they would not let him come in; and he had all the women who were with child cut open.


t:
In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Menahem, the son of Gadi, became king over Israel, and was ruling in Samaria for ten years.


t:
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not keep himself from the sin which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do.


t:
In his day, Pul, the king of Assyria, came up against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver so that he might let him keep the kingdom.


t:
And Menahem got the money from Israel, from all the men of wealth, fifty silver shekels from every man, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria went back without stopping in the land.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?


t:
In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah, the son of Menahem, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for two years.


t:
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not turning from the sin which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do.


t:
And Pekah, the son of Remaliah, his captain, made a secret design against him, attacking him in the king's great house in Samaria; and with him were fifty men of Gilead; and he put him to death and became king in his place.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all he did, are recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.


t:
In the fifty-second year of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekah, the son of Remaliah, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for twenty years.


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


t:
And Hoshea, the son of Elah, made a secret design against Pekah, the son of Remaliah, and, attacking him, put him to death and became king in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham, the son of Uzziah.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all he did, are recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.


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


t:
He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he was ruling for sixteen years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.


t:
But he did not take away the high places, and the people still went on making offerings and burning them in the high places. He was the builder of the higher doorway of the house of the Lord.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?


t:
In those days the Lord first sent against Judah, Rezin, the king of Aram, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah.


t:
And Jotham went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the town of David his father; and Ahaz his son became king in his place.


t:
In the seventeenth year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz, the son of Jotham, became king of Judah.


t:
Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king; he was ruling for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as David his father did.


t:
But he went in the ways of the kings of Israel, and even made his son go through the fire, copying the disgusting ways of the nations whom the Lord had sent out of the land before the children of Israel.


t:
Then Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war; and they made an attack on Ahaz, shutting him in, but were not able to overcome him.


t:
At that time the king of Edom got Elath back for Edom, and sent the Jews out of Elath; and the Edomites came back to Elath where they are living to this day.


t:
So Ahaz sent representatives to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your son; come to my help against the kings of Aram and Israel who have taken up arms against me.


t:
And Ahaz took the silver and gold which were in the house of the Lord and in the king's store-house, and sent them as an offering to the king of Assyria.


t:
And the king of Assyria, in answer to his request, went up against Damascus and took it, and took its people away as prisoners to Kir, and put Rezin to death.


t:
Then King Ahaz went to Damascus for a meeting with Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria; and there he saw the altar which was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest a copy of the altar, giving the design of it and all the details of its structure.


t:
And from the copy King Ahaz sent from Damascus, Urijah made an altar and had it ready by the time King Ahaz came back from Damascus.


t:
And when the king came from Damascus, he saw the altar; and he went up on it and made an offering on it.


t:
He made his burned offering and his meal offering and his drink offering there, draining out the blood of his peace-offerings on the altar.


t:
And the brass altar, which was before the Lord, he took from the front of the house, from between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar.


t:
And King Ahaz gave orders to Urijah the priest, saying, Make the morning burned offering and the evening meal offering and the king's burned offering and meal offering, with the burned offerings of all the people and their meal offerings and drink offerings, on the great altar, and put on it all the blood of the burned offerings and of the beasts which are offered; but the brass altar will be for my use to get directions from the Lord.


t:
And King Ahaz took off the sides of the wheeled bases, and took down the great water-vessel from off the brass oxen which were under it and put it on a floor of stone.


t:
Now the rest of the things which Ahaz did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?


t:
And Ahaz went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth with his fathers in the town of David; and Hezekiah his son became king in his place.


t:
In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hoshea, the son of Elah, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for nine years.


t:
Against him came up Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his servant and sent him offerings.


t:
But Hoshea's broken faith became clear to the king of Assyria because he had sent representatives to So, king of Egypt, and did not send his offering to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: so the king of Assyria had him shut up in prison and put in chains.


t:
Then the king of Assyria went through all the land and came up to Samaria, shutting it in with his forces for three years.


t:
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and took Israel away to Assyria, placing them in Halah and in Habor on the river Gozan, and in the towns of the Medes.


t:
And the wrath of the Lord came on Israel because they had done evil against the Lord their God, who took them out of the land of Egypt from under the yoke of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had become worshippers of other gods,


t:
And the children of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things which were not right, building high places for themselves in all their towns, from the tower of the watchmen to the walled town.


t:
Burning their offerings in all the high places, as those nations did whom the Lord sent away from before them; they did evil things, moving the Lord to wrath;


t:
And they made themselves servants of disgusting things, though the Lord had said, You are not to do this.


t:
And he gave witness to Israel and Judah, by every prophet and seer, saying, Come back from your evil ways, and do my orders and keep my rules, and be guided by the law which I gave to your fathers and sent to you by my servants the prophets.


t:
And they did not give ear, but became stiff-necked, like their fathers who had no faith in the Lord their God.


t:
And they went against his rules, and the agreement which he made with their fathers, and his laws which he gave them; they gave themselves up to things without sense or value, and became foolish like the nations round them, of whom the Lord had said, Do not as they do.


t:
And turning their backs on all the orders which the Lord had given them, they made for themselves images of metal, and the image of Asherah, worshipping all the stars of heaven and becoming servants to Baal.


t:
And they made their sons and their daughters go through the fire, and they made use of secret arts and unnatural powers, and gave themselves up to doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, till he was moved to wrath.


t:
So the Lord was very angry with Israel, and his face was turned away from them: only the tribe of Judah kept its place.


t:
(But even Judah did not keep the orders of the Lord their God, but were guided by the rules which Israel had made.


t:
So the Lord would have nothing to do with all the offspring of Israel, and sent trouble on them, and gave them up into the hands of their attackers, till he had sent them away from before his face.)


t:
For Israel was broken off from the family of David, and they made Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, king, who, driving them away from the laws of the Lord, made them do a great sin.


t:
And the children of Israel went on with all the sins which Jeroboam did; they did not keep themselves from them;


t:
Till the Lord put Israel away from before his face, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was taken away from their land to Assyria, to this day.


t:
Then the king of Assyria took men from Babylon and from Cuthah and Avva and Hamath and Sepharvaim, and put them in the towns of Samaria in place of the children of Israel; so they got Samaria for their heritage, living in its towns.


t:
Now when first they were living there they did not give worship to the Lord. So the Lord sent lions among them, causing the death of some of them.


t:
So they said to the king of Assyria, The nations whom you have taken as prisoners and put in the towns of Samaria, have no knowledge of the way of the god of the land: so he has sent lions among them, causing their death, because they have no knowledge of his way.


t:
Then the king of Assyria gave orders, saying, Send there one of the priests whom you took away, and let him be living there and teaching the people the way of the god of the land.


t:
So one of the priests whom they had taken away as a prisoner from Samaria came back, and, living in Beth-el, became their teacher in the worship of the Lord.


t:
And every nation made gods for themselves, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the towns where they were living.


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


t:
So they went on worshipping the Lord, and made for themselves, from among all the people, priests for the high places, to make offerings for them in the houses of the high places.


t:
They gave worship to the Lord, but they gave honour to their gods like the nations did from whom they had been taken as prisoners.


t:
So to this day they go on in their old ways, not worshipping the Lord or keeping his orders or his ways or the law and the rule which the Lord gave to the children of Jacob, to whom he gave the name Israel;


t:
And the Lord made an agreement with them and gave them orders, saying, You are to have no other gods; you are not to give worship to them or be their servants or make them offerings:


t:
But the Lord, who took you out of the land of Egypt with his great power and his outstretched arm, he is your God, to whom you are to give worship and make offerings:


t:
And the rules and the orders and the law which he put in writing for you, you are to keep and do for ever; you are to have no other gods.


t:
And you are to keep in memory the agreement which I have made with you; and you are to have no other gods.


t:
And you are to give worship to the Lord your God; for it is he who will give you salvation from the hands of all who are against you.


t:
So these nations, worshipping the Lord, still were servants to the images they had made; their children and their children's children did the same; as their fathers did, so do they, to this day.


t:
Now in the third year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, became king of Judah.


t:
He was twenty-five years old when he became king, ruling in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years; his mother's name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.


t:
He had the high places taken away, and the stone pillars broken to bits, and the Asherah cut down; and the brass snake which Moses had made was crushed to powder at his order, because in those days the children of Israel had offerings burned before it, and he gave it the name Nehushtan.


t:
He had faith in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah who were before him.


t:
For his heart was fixed on the Lord, not turning from his ways, and he did his orders which the Lord gave to Moses.


t:
And the Lord was with him; he did well in all his undertakings: and he took up arms against the king of Assyria and was his servant no longer.


t:
He overcame the Philistines as far as Gaza and its limits, from the tower of the watchman to the walled town.


t:
Now in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria, shutting it in with his armies.


t:
And at the end of three years they took it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah's rule, which was the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken.


t:
And the king of Assyria took Israel away as prisoners into Assyria, placing them in Halah and in Habor on the river Gozan, and in the towns of the Medes;


t:
Because they did not give ear to the voice of the Lord their God, but went against his agreement, even against everything ordered by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and they did not give ear to it or do it.


t:
Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the walled towns of Judah and took them.


t:
And Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent to Lachish, to the king of Assyria, saying, I have done wrong; give up attacking me, and whatever you put on me I will undergo. And the payment he was to make was fixed by the king of Assyria at three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.


t:
And at that time Hezekiah had the gold from the doors of the Lord's house, and from the door-pillars plated by him, cut off and gave it to the king of Assyria.


t:
Then the king of Assyria sent the Tartan and the Rab-saris and the Rab-shakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, with a strong force. And they went up and came to Jerusalem, and took up their position by the stream of the higher pool, by the highway of the washerman's field.


t:
And they sent for the king, and Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them.


t:
And the Rab-shakeh said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, These are the words of the great king, the king of Assyria: In what are you placing your hope?


t:
You say you have a design, and strength for war, but these are only words. Now to whom are you looking for support, that you have gone against my authority?


t:
See, now, you are basing your hope on that broken rod of Egypt, which will go through a man's hand if he makes use of it for a support; for so is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who put their faith in him.


t:
And if you say to me, Our hope is in the Lord our God: is it not he, whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away, saying to Judah and Jerusalem that worship may only be given before this altar in Jerusalem?


t:
And now, take a chance with my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to put horsemen on them.


t:
How then may you put to shame the least of my master's servants? and you have put your hope in Egypt for war-carriages and horsemen:


t:
And have I now come up to send destruction on this place without the Lord's authority? It was the Lord himself who said to me, Go up against this land and make it waste.


t:
Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the Rab-shakeh, Will you kindly make use of the Aramaean language in talking to your servants, for we are used to it, and do not make use of the Jews' language in the hearing of the people on the wall.


t:
But the Rab-shakeh said to them, Is it to your master or to you that my master has sent me to say these words? has he not sent me to the men seated on the wall? for they are the people who will be short of food with you when the town is shut in.


t:
Then the Rab-shakeh got up and said with a loud voice in the Jews' language, Give ear to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria;


t:
This is what the king says: Do not be tricked by Hezekiah, for there is no salvation for you in him.


t:
And do not let Hezekiah make you put your faith in the Lord, saying, The Lord will certainly keep us safe, and this town will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.


t:
Do not give ear to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me; and everyone will be free to take the fruit of his vine and of his fig-tree, and the water of his spring;


t:
Till I come and take you away to a land like yours, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vine-gardens, a land of oil-giving olives and of honey, so that life and not death may be your fate. Give no attention to Hezekiah when he says to you, The Lord will keep us safe.


t:
Has any one of the gods of the nations kept his land from falling into the hands of the king of Assyria?


t:
Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena and Ivvah? have they kept Samaria out of my hands?


t:
Who among all the gods of these countries have kept their country from falling into my hands, to give cause for the thought that the Lord will keep Jerusalem from falling into my hands?


t:
Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah, with their clothing parted as a sign of grief, and gave him an account of what the Rab-shakeh had said.


t:
And on hearing it, King Hezekiah took off his robe, and put on haircloth, and went into the house of the Lord.


t:
And he sent Eliakim, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the chief priests, dressed in haircloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.


t:
And they said to him, Hezekiah says, This day is a day of trouble and punishment and shame; for the children are ready to come to birth, but there is no strength to give birth to them.


t:
It may be that the Lord your God will give ear to the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, sent to say evil things against the living God, and will make his words come to nothing: so then make your prayer for the rest of the people.


t:
And Isaiah said to them, This is what you are to say to your master: The Lord says, Be not troubled by the words which the servants of the king of Assyria have said against me in your hearing.


t:
See, I will put a spirit into him, and bad news will come to his ears, and he will go back to his land; and there I will have him put to death by the sword.


t:
So the Rab-shakeh went back, and when he got there the king of Assyria was making war against Libnah, for it had come to his ears that he had gone away from Lachish.


t:
And when news came to him that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, had made an attack on him, he sent representatives to Hezekiah again, saying,


t:
This is what you are to say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: Let not your God, in whom is your faith, give you a false hope, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.


t:
No doubt the story has come to your ears of what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, putting them to the curse; and will you be kept safe?


t:
Did the gods of the nations keep safe those on whom my fathers sent destruction, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?


t:
Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the town of Sepharvaim, of Hena and of Ivvah?


t:
And Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of those who had come with it; and after reading it, Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, opening the letter there before the Lord.


t:
And Hezekiah made his prayer to the Lord, saying, O Lord, the God of Israel, seated between the winged ones, you only are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.


t:
Let your ear be turned to us, O Lord, and let your eyes be open, O Lord, and see; take note of all the words of Sennacherib who has sent men to say evil against the living God.


t:
And have given their gods to the fire; for they were no gods, but wood and stone, the work of men's hands; so they have given them to destruction.


t:
But now, O Lord our God, give us salvation from his hands, so that it may be clear to all the kingdoms of the earth that you and only you, O Lord, are God.


t:
Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, The prayer which you have made to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, has come to my ears.


t:
This is the word which the Lord has said about him: In the eyes of the virgin daughter of Zion you are shamed and laughed at; the daughter of Jerusalem has made sport of you.


t:
Against whom have you said evil and bitter things? against whom has your voice been loud and your eyes lifted up? even against the Holy One of Israel.


t:
You have sent your servants with evil words against the Lord, and have said, With all my war-carriages I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon; its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods; I will come up into his highest places, into his thick woods.


t:
I have made water-holes and taken their waters, and with my foot I have made all the rivers of Egypt dry.


t:
Has it not come to your ears how I did it long before, purposing it in times long past? Now I have given effect to my design, so that by you strong towns might be turned into masses of broken walls.


t:
This is why their townsmen had no power, they were broken and put to shame; they were like the grass of the field and the green plant, like grass on the house-tops.


t:
Because your wrath against me and your words of pride have come up to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my cord in your lips, and I will make you go back by the way you came.


t:
And this will be the sign to you: you will get your food this year from what comes up of itself; and in the second year from the produce of the same; and in the third year you will put in your seed and get in the grain and make vine-gardens and take of their fruit.


t:
For from Jerusalem those who have been kept safe will go out, and those who are still living will go out of Mount Zion: by the fixed purpose of the Lord of armies this will be done.


t:
For this cause the Lord says about the king of Assyria, He will not come into this town, or send an arrow against it; he will not come before it with arms, or put up an earthwork against it;


t:
And that night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death in the army of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand men; and when the people got up early in the morning, there was nothing to be seen but dead bodies.


t:
And it came about, when he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to death with the sword; and they went in flight into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son became king in his place.


t:
In those days Hezekiah was ill and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, The Lord says, Put your house in order, for your death is near.


t:
O Lord, keep in mind how I have been true to you with all my heart, and have done what is good in your eyes. And Hezekiah gave way to bitter weeping.


t:
Go back and say to Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, The Lord, the God of David your father, says, Your prayer has come to my ears, and I have seen your weeping; see, I will make you well: on the third day you will go up to the house of the Lord.


t:
I will give you fifteen more years of life; and I will keep you and this town safe from the hands of the king of Assyria; I will keep this town safe, for my honour, and for the honour of my servant David.


t:
And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What is to be the sign that the Lord will make me well, and that I will go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?


t:
And Isaiah said, This is the sign the Lord will give you, that he will do what he has said; will the shade go forward ten degrees or back?


t:
And Hezekiah said in answer, It is a simple thing for the shade to go forward; but let it go back ten degrees.


t:
Then Isaiah the prophet made prayer to the Lord, and he made the shade go back ten degrees from its position on the steps of Ahaz.


t:
At that time, Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters with an offering to Hezekiah, because he had news that Hezekiah had been ill.


t:
And Hezekiah was glad at their coming and let them see all his store of wealth, the silver and the gold and the spices and the oil of great price, and the house of his arms, and everything there was in his stores; there was nothing in all his house or his kingdom which Hezekiah did not let them see.


t:
Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, What did these men say and where did they come from? And Hezekiah said, They came from a far country, even from Babylon.


t:
And he said, What have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah said in answer, They saw everything in my house: there is nothing among my stores which I did not let them see.


t:
Truly, days are coming when everything in your house, and whatever your fathers have put in store till this day, will be taken away to Babylon: all will be gone, says the Lord.


t:
And your sons, the offspring of your body, they will take away to be unsexed servants in the house of the king of Babylon.


t:
Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which you have said. Then he said, ... if in my time there is peace and righteousness?


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his power, and how he made the pool and the stream, to take water into the town, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?


t:
Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king; for fifty-five years he was ruling in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hephzi-bah.


t:
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, copying the disgusting ways of those nations whom the Lord had sent out before the children of Israel.


t:
He put up again the high places which had been pulled down by Hezekiah his father; he made altars for Baal, and an Asherah, as Ahab, king of Israel, had done; he was a worshipper and servant of all the stars of heaven.


t:
And he put up altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.


t:
And he made his son go through the fire, and made use of secret arts and signs for reading the future; he gave positions to those who had control of spirits and to wonder-workers; he did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, moving him to wrath.


t:
He put the image of Asherah which he had made in the house of which the Lord had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, the town which I have made mine out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for ever.


t:
And never again will I send the feet of Israel wandering from the land which I gave to their fathers; if only they will take care to do all my orders, and keep all the law which my servant Moses gave them.


t:
But they did not give ear; and Manasseh made them do more evil than those nations did, whom the Lord gave up to destruction before the children of Israel.


t:
Because Manasseh, king of Judah, has done these disgusting things, doing more evil than all the Amorites before him, and making Judah do evil with his false gods,


t:
For this cause, says the Lord, the God of Israel, I will send such evil on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of all to whom the news comes will be burning.


t:
And over Jerusalem will be stretched the line of Samaria and the weight of Ahab; Jerusalem will be washed clean as a plate is washed, and turned over on its face.


t:
And I will put away from me the rest of my heritage, and give them up into the hands of their haters, who will take their property and their goods for themselves;


t:
Because they have done evil in my eyes, moving me to wrath, from the day when their fathers came out of Egypt till this day.


t:
More than this, Manasseh took the lives of upright men, till Jerusalem from one end to the other was full of blood; in addition to his sin in making Judah do evil in the eyes of the Lord.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all he did, and his sins, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?


t:
So Manasseh went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon his son became king in his place.


t:
Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, ruling in Jerusalem for two years; his mother's name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.


t:
He went in all the ways of his father, being a servant and worshipper of the false gods to which his father had been a servant;


t:
But the people of the land put to death all those who had taken part in the design against the king, and made Josiah his son king in his place.


t:
Now the rest of the acts which Amon did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?


t:
He was put in his last resting-place in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son became king in his place.


t:
Josiah was eight years old when he became king; and he was ruling in Jerusalem for thirty-one years; his mother's name was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.


t:
He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, walking in the ways of David his father, without turning to the right hand or to the left.


t:
Now in the eighteenth year after he became king, Josiah sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the Lord, saying to him,


t:
Go up to Hilkiah, the chief priest, and let him give out the money which is taken into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have got together from the people;


t:
And let it be given to the overseers of the work of the Lord's house, to give to the workmen who are making good what was damaged in the house of the Lord;


t:
To the woodworkers and the builders and the stone-cutters; and for getting wood and cut stones for the building up of the house.


t:
They did not have to give any account of the money which was handed to them, for they made use of it with good faith.


t:
Then Hilkiah, the chief priest, said to Shaphan the scribe, I have made discovery of the book of the law in the house of the Lord. So Hilkiah gave it to Shaphan;


t:
Then, after reading it, Shaphan the scribe went in to the king and gave him an account of what had been done, saying, Your servants have given out the money which was in the house, and have given it to the overseers of the work of the house of the Lord.


t:
Then Shaphan the scribe said to the king, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book; and he was reading it before the king.


t:
And the king, hearing the words of the book of the law, took his robe in his hands, violently parting it as a sign of his grief;


t:
And he gave orders to Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Achbor, the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,


t:
Go and get directions from the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah, about the words of this book which has come to light; for great is the wrath of the Lord which is burning against us, because our fathers have not given ear to the words of this book, to do all the things which are recorded in it.


t:
So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam and Achbor and Shaphan and Asaiah, went to Huldah the woman prophet, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the robes, (now she was living in Jerusalem, in the second part of the town;) and they had talk with her.


t:
These are the words of the Lord: See, I will send evil on this place and on its people, even everything which the king of Judah has been reading in the book;


t:
Because they have given me up, burning offerings to other gods and moving me to wrath by all the work of their hands; so my wrath will be on fire against this place, and will not be put out.


t:
But to the king of Judah who sent you to get directions from the Lord, say, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said: As to the words which have come to your ears,


t:
Because your heart was soft, and you made yourself low before me, when you had word of what I said against this place and its people, that they would become a waste and a curse, and you gave signs of grief, weeping before me: truly, I have given ear to you, says the Lord.


t:
For this cause I will let you go to your fathers and be put in your last resting-place in peace, and your eyes will not see all the evil which I will send on this place. So they took this news back to the king.


t:
And the king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and all the people of Jerusalem, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, small and great; and they were present at his reading of the book of the law which had come to light in the house of the Lord.


t:
And the king took his place by the pillar, and made an agreement before the Lord, to go in the way of the Lord, and keep his orders and his decisions and his rules with all his heart and all his soul, and to keep the words of the agreement recorded in the book; and all the people gave their word to keep the agreement.


t:
Then the king gave orders to Hilkiah, the chief priest, and to the priests of the second order, and to the keepers of the door, to take out of the house of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal and for the Asherah and for all the stars of heaven; and he had them burned outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and took the dust of them to Beth-el.


t:
And he put an end to the false priests, who had been put in their positions by the kings of Judah to see to the burning of offerings in the high places in the towns of Judah and the outskirts of Jerusalem, and all those who made offerings to Baal and to the sun and the moon and the twelve signs and all the stars of heaven.


t:
And he took the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem to the stream Kidron, burning it by the stream and crushing it to dust, and he put the dust on the place where the bodies of the common people were put to rest.


t:
And he had the houses pulled down of those who were used for sex purposes in the house of the Lord, where women were making robes for the Asherah.


t:
And he made all the priests from the towns of Judah come into Jerusalem, and he made unclean the high places where the priests had been burning offerings, from Geba to Beer-sheba; and he had the high places of the evil spirits pulled down which were by the doorway of Joshua, the ruler of the town, on the left side of the way into the town.


t:
Still the priests of the high places never came up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem; but they took their food of unleavened bread among their brothers.


t:
And Topheth, in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, he made unclean, so that no man might make his son or his daughter go through the fire to Molech.


t:
And he took away the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the way into the house of the Lord, by the room of Nathan-melech, the unsexed servant, which was in the outer part of the building, and the carriages of the sun he put on fire.


t:
And the altars on the roof of the high room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two outer squares of the house of the Lord, were pulled down and crushed to bits, and the dust of them was put into the stream Kidron.


t:
And the high places before Jerusalem, on the south side of the mountain of destruction, which Solomon, king of Israel, had made for Ashtoreth, the disgusting god of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, and for Milcom, the disgusting god of the children of Ammon, the king made unclean.


t:
The stone pillars were broken to bits and the wood pillars cut down, and the places where they had been were made full of the bones of the dead.


t:
And the altar at Beth-el, and the high place put up by Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel do evil, that altar and that high place were pulled down; and the high place was burned and crushed to dust and the Asherah was burned.


t:
Then Josiah, turning round, saw on the mountain the places of the dead, and he sent and had the bones taken out of their places and burned on the altar, so making it unclean, as the Lord had said by the man of God when Jeroboam was in his place by the altar on that feast-day. And he, turning his eyes to the resting-place of the man of God who had given word of these things, said:


t:
What is that headstone I see over there? And the men of the town said to him, It is the resting-place of the man of God who came from Judah and gave word of all these things which you have done to the altar of Beth-el.


t:
So he said, Let him be; let not his bones be moved. So they let his bones be with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.


t:
Then Josiah took away all the houses of the high places in the towns of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had put up, moving the Lord to wrath, and he did with them as he had done in Beth-el.


t:
And all the priests of the high places there he put to death on the altars, burning the bones of the dead on them; and then he went back to Jerusalem.


t:
And the king gave orders to all the people, saying, Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it says in this book of the law.


t:
Truly, such a Passover had not been kept in all the days of the judges of Israel or of the kings of Israel or the kings of Judah;


t:
And all those who had control of spirits, and the wonder-workers, and the images, and the false gods, and all the disgusting things which were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah put away, so that he might give effect to the words of the agreement recorded in the book which Hilkiah the priest made discovery of in the house of the Lord.


t:
Never before had there been a king like him, turning to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his power, as the law of Moses says; and after him there was no king like him.


t:
But still the heat of the Lord's wrath was not turned back from Judah, because of all Manasseh had done in moving him to wrath.


t:
And the Lord said, I will send Judah away from before my face, as I have sent Israel; I will have nothing more to do with this town, which I had made mine, even Jerusalem, and the holy house of which I said, My name will be there.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?


t:
In his days, Pharaoh-necoh, king of Egypt, sent his armies against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went out against him; and he put him to death at Megiddo, when he had seen him.


t:
And his servants took his body in a carriage from Megiddo to Jerusalem, and put him into the earth there. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and put the holy oil on him and made him king in place of his father.


t:
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, ruling in Jerusalem for three months; his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.


t:
And Pharaoh-necoh put him in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath, so that he might not be king in Jerusalem; and took from the land a tax of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.


t:
Then Pharaoh-necoh made Eliakim, the son of Josiah, king in place of Josiah his father, changing his name to Jehoiakim; but Jehoahaz he took away to Egypt, where he was till his death.


t:
And Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh, taxing the land by his orders to get the money; the people of the land had to give silver and gold, everyone as he was taxed, to make the payment to Pharaoh-necoh.


t:
Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king; he was ruling in Jerusalem for eleven years; his mother's name was Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.


t:
In his days, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up and Jehoiakim was his servant for three years; then he took up arms against him.


t:
And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldaeans and of the Edomites and of the Moabites and of the children of Ammon; sending them against Judah for its destruction, as he had said by his servants the prophets.


t:
Only by the word of the Lord did this fate come on Judah, to take them away from before his face; because of the sins of Manasseh and all the evil he did;


t:
And because of the death of those who had done no wrong, for he made Jerusalem full of the blood of the upright; and the Lord had no forgiveness for it.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?


t:
And the king of Egypt did not come out of his land again, for the king of Babylon had taken all his country, from the stream of Egypt to the river Euphrates.


t:
Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, he was ruling in Jerusalem for three months, and his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.


t:
At that time the armies of Nebuchadnezzar came up to Jerusalem and the town was shut in on every side.


t:
Then Jehoiachin, king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon, with his mother and his servants and his chiefs and his unsexed servants; and in the eighth year of his rule the king of Babylon took him.


t:
And he took away all the stored wealth of the Lord's house, and the goods from the king's store-house, cutting up all the gold vessels which Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the house of the Lord, as the Lord had said.


t:
And he took away all the people of Jerusalem and all the chiefs and all the men of war, ten thousand prisoners; and all the expert workmen and the metal-workers; only the poorest sort of the people of the land were not taken away.


t:
He took Jehoiachin a prisoner to Babylon, with his mother and his wives and his unsexed servants and the great men of the land; he took them all as prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylon.


t:
And all the men of war, seven thousand of them, and a thousand expert workmen and metal-workers, all of them strong and able to take up arms, the king of Babylon took away as prisoners into Babylon.


t:
And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, his father's brother, king in place of Jehoiachin, changing his name to Zedekiah.


t:
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he was king in Jerusalem for eleven years; his mother's name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.


t:
And because of the wrath of the Lord, this came about in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had sent them all away from before him: and Zedekiah took up arms against the king of Babylon.


t:
Now in the ninth year of his rule, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came against Jerusalem with all his army and took up his position before it, building earthworks all round the town.


t:
Now on the ninth day of the fourth month, the store of food in the town was almost gone, so that there was no food for the people of the land.


t:
So an opening was made in the wall of the town, and all the men of war went in flight by night through the doorway between the two walls which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldaeans were stationed round the town:) and the king went by the way of the Arabah.


t:
But the Chaldaean army went after the king, and overtook him in the lowlands of Jericho, and all his army went in flight from him in every direction.


t:
And they put the sons of Zedekiah to death before his eyes, and then they put out his eyes, and chaining him with iron bands, took him to Babylon.


t:
Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem;


t:
And he had the house of the Lord and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned with fire;


t:
And the rest of the people who were still in the town, and all those who had given themselves up to the king of Babylon, and all the rest of the workmen, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, took away as prisoners;


t:
And the brass pillars in the house of the Lord, and the wheeled bases, and the great brass water-vessel in the house of the Lord, were broken up by the Chaldaeans, who took the brass to Babylon.


t:
And the pots and the spades and the scissors for the lights and the spoons, and all the brass vessels used in the Lord's house, they took away.


t:
And the fire-trays and the basins; the gold of the gold vessels and the silver of the silver vessels, were all taken away by the captain of the armed men.


t:
The two pillars, the great water-vessel and the wheeled bases, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.


t:
One of the pillars was eighteen cubits high, with a crown of brass on it; the crown was three cubits high, circled with a network and apples all of brass; and the second pillar had the same.


t:
And the captain of the armed men took Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three door-keepers;


t:
And from the town he took the unsexed servant who was over the men of war, and five of the king's near friends who were in the town, and the scribe of the captain of the army, who was responsible for getting the people of the land together in military order, and sixty men of the people of the land who were in the town.


t:
And the king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken away prisoner from his land.


t:
As for the people who were still living in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, did not take away, he made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler over them.


t:
Now the captains of the armed forces, hearing that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah ruler, came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah; Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan, the son of Kareah, and Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah, the son of the Maacathite, came with all their men.


t:
Then Gedaliah gave his oath to them and their men, saying, Have no fear because of the servants of the Chaldaeans; go on living in the land under the rule of the king of Babylon, and all will be well.


t:
But in the seventh month, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the king's seed, came with ten men and made an attack on Gedaliah, causing his death and the death of the Jews and the Chaldaeans who were with him at Mizpah.


t:
Then all the people, small and great, and the captains of the forces, got up and went away to Egypt, for fear of the Chaldaeans.


t:
And in the thirty-seventh year after Jehoiachin, king of Judah, had been taken prisoner, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merodach, king of Babylon, in the first year of his rule, took Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of prison;


t:
And said kind words to him, and put his seat higher than the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.


t:
And his prison clothing was changed, and he was a guest at the king's table every day for the rest of his life.


t:
And the sons of Cush: Seba and Havilah and Sabta and Raama and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.


t:
The sons of Shem: Elam and Asshur and Arpachshad and Lud and Aram and Uz and Hul and Gether and Meshech.


t:
And Eber had two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, because in his days a division was made of the earth; and his brother's name was Joktan.


t:
And the sons of Keturah, Abraham's servant-wife: she was the mother of Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan.


t:
And the sons of Midian: Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah.


t:
The sons of Shobal: Alian and Manahath and Ebal, Shephi and Onam. And the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah.


t:
Now these are the kings who were ruling in the land of Edom, before there was any king over Israel: Bela, the son of Beor; his town was named Dinhabah.


t:
And at the death of Husham, Hadad, the son of Bedad, who overcame Midian in the field of Moab, became king; his town was named Avith.


t:
And at the death of Baal-hanan, Hadad became king in his place; his town was named Pai, and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab.


t:
And Hadad came to his end. Now the chiefs of Edom were: the chief of Timna, the chief of Aliah, the chief of Jetheth,


t:
The sons of Judah: Er and Onan and Shelah; these three were his sons by Bathshua, the Canaanite woman. And Er, Judah's oldest son, did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and he put him to death.


t:
And Ram was the father of Amminadab; and Amminadab was the father of Nahshon, chief of the children of Judah;


t:
And their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. And Zeruiah had three sons: Abishai and Joab and Asahel.


t:
And Caleb, the son of Hezron, had children by Azubah his wife, the daughter of Jerioth; and these were her sons: Jesher and Shobab and Ardon.


t:
And after that, Hezron had connection with the daughter of Machir, the father of Gilead, whom he took as his wife when he was sixty years old; and she had Segub by him.


t:
And Geshur and Aram took the tent-towns of Jair from them, with Kenath and the small places round it, even sixty towns. All these were the sons of Machir, the father of Gilead.


t:
And after the death of Hezron, Caleb had connection with Ephrath, his father Hezron's wife, and she gave birth to his son Asshur, the father of Tekoa.


t:
And the sons of Jerahmeel, the oldest son of Hezron, were Ram, the oldest, and Bunah and Oren and Ozem and Ahijah.


t:
And the sons of Jada, the brother of Shammai: Jether and Jonathan; and Jether came to his end without sons.


t:
Now Sheshan had no sons, but only daughters. And Sheshan had an Egyptian servant, whose name was Jarha.


t:
And the sons of Caleb, the brother of Jerahmeel, were Mareshah, his oldest son, who was the father of Ziph and Hebron.


t:
And Shaaph, the father of Madmannah, Sheva, the father of Machbena and the father of Gibea; and Caleb's daughter was Achsah. These were the sons of Caleb.


t:
And the families of Kiriath-jearim: the Ithrites and the Puthites and the Shumathites and the Mishraites; from them came the Zorathites and the Eshtaolites.


t:
The sons of Salma: Beth-lehem and the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-Joab and half of the Manahathites, the Zorites.


t:
And the families of scribes who were living at Jabez: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, the Sucathites. These are the Kenites, the offspring of Hammath, the father of the family of Rechab.


t:
Now these were David's sons, whose birth took place in Hebron: the oldest Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel; the second Daniel, by Abigail the Carmelite woman;


t:
The third Absalom, the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth Adonijah, the son of Haggith;


t:
He had six sons in Hebron; he was ruling there for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem for thirty-three years.


t:
And in Jerusalem he had four sons, Shimea and Shobab and Nathan and Solomon, by Bath-shua, the daughter of Ammiel;


t:
All these were the sons of David, in addition to the sons of his servant-wives; and Tamar was their sister.


t:
And the sons of Josiah: the oldest Johanan, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum.


t:
And the sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel and Shimei; and the sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam and Hananiah; and Shelomith was their sister;


t:
And the sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah and Jeshaiah; the sons of Rephaiah, the sons of Arnan, the sons of Obadiah, the sons of Shecaniah.


t:
And the sons of Shecaniah: Shemaiah; and the sons of Shemaiah: Hattush and Igal and Bariah and Neariah and Shaphat, six.


t:
And the sons of Elioenai: Hodaviah and Eliashib and Pelaiah and Akkub and Johanan and Delaiah and Anani, seven.


t:
And Reaiah, the son of Shobal, was the father of Jahath; and Jahath was the father of Ahumai and Lahad. These are the families of the Zorathites.


t:
And these were the sons of Hur, the father of Etam: Jezreel and Ishma and Idbash, and the name of their sister was Hazzelelponi;


t:
And Penuel, the father of Gedor, and Ezer, the father of Hushah. These are the sons of Hur, the oldest son of Ephrathah, the father of Beth-lehem.


t:
And Naarah had Ahuzzam by him, and Hepher and Temeni and Haahashtari. These were the sons of Naarah.


t:
And Jabez was honoured more than his brothers; but his mother had given him the name Jabez, saying, Because I gave birth to him with sorrow.


t:
And Jabez made a prayer to the God of Israel, saying, If only you would truly give me a blessing, and make wider the limits of my land, and let your hand be with me, and keep me from evil, so that I may not be troubled by it! And God gave him his desire.


t:
And Eshton was the father of Bethrapha and Paseah and Tehinnah, the father of Ir-nahash. These are the men of Recah.


t:
And Meonothai was the father of Ophrah; and Seraiah was the father of Joab, the father of Ge-harashim; they were expert workmen.


t:
And the sons of Ezrah: Jether and Mered and Epher and Jalon; and these are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, the wife of Mered. And she became the mother of Miriam and Shammai and Ishbah, the father of Eshtemoa.


t:
And his wife, a woman of the tribe of Judah, became the mother of Jered, the father of Gedor, and Heber, the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel, the father of Zanoah.


t:
And the sons of Shimon: Amnon and Rinnah, Ben-hanan and Tilon. And the sons of Ishi: Zoheth; and the son of Zoheth. ...


t:
The sons of Shelah, the son of Judah: Er, the father of Lecah, and Laadah, the father of Mareshah, and the families of those who made delicate linen, of the family of Ashbea;


t:
And Jokim, and the men of Cozeba, and Joash and Saraph, who were rulers in Moab, and went back to Beth-lehem. And the records are very old.


t:
These were the potters, and the people living among planted fields with walls round them; they were there to do the king's work.


t:
And Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers had only a small number of children, and their family was not as fertile as the children of Judah.


t:
And at Beth-marcaboth, and at Hazarsusim, and at Beth-biri, and at Shaaraim. These were their towns till David became king.


t:
And all the small places round these towns, as far as Baalath-beer, the high place of the South. These were their living-places, and they have lists of their generations.


t:
And Ziza, the son of Shiphi, the son of Allon, the son of Jedaiah, the son of Shimri, the son of Shemaiah;


t:
These, whose names are given, were chiefs in their families, and their families became very great in number.


t:
And they went to the opening into Gedor, as far as the east side of the valley, in search of grass-land for their flocks.


t:
And they came to some good fertile grass-land, in a wide quiet country of peace-loving people; for the people who were living there before were of the offspring of Ham.


t:
And these whose names are given came in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and made an attack on the Meunim who were living there, and put an end to them to this day, and took their place, because there was grass there for their flocks.


t:
And some of them, five hundred of the sons of Simeon, went to the hill-country of Seir, with Pelatiah and Neariah and Rephaiah and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi, at their head.


t:
And they put to death the rest of the Amalekites who had got away safely, and made it their living-place to this day.


t:
And the sons of Reuben, the oldest son of Israel, (for he was the oldest son, but, because he made his father's bride-bed unclean, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel; but he is not to be given the place of the oldest.


t:
Though Judah became stronger than his brothers, and from him came the ruler, the birthright was Joseph's:)


t:
Beerah his son, whom Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, took away as a prisoner: he was chief of the Reubenites.


t:
And his brothers by their families, when the list of their generations was made up: the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah,


t:
And Bela, the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who was living in Aroer, as far as Nebo and Baal-meon;


t:
And to the east his limits went as far as the starting point of the waste land, ending at the river Euphrates, because their cattle were increased in number in the land of Gilead.


t:
And in the days of Saul they made war on the Hagarites, and overcame them; and they put up their tents through all the land east of Gilead.


t:
And their brothers, the men of their family: Michael and Meshullam and Sheba and Jorai and Jacan and Zia and Eber, seven of them.


t:
And they were living in Gilead in Bashan, in its small towns and in all the grass-land of Sirion as far as its limits.


t:
All these were listed under the names of their families, in the time of Jotham, king of Judah, and in the time of Jeroboam, king of Israel.


t:
There were forty-four thousand, seven hundred and sixty of the sons of Reuben and of the Gadites and of the half-tribe of Manasseh, all strong men, expert in the use of the body-cover, the sword, and the bow, and in the art of war, all able to take up arms.


t:
And they were helped against them, so that the Hagarites, and those with them, were given into their power. For they sent up prayers to God in the fight, and he gave ear to them, because they put their faith in him.


t:
And they took away their cattle: fifty thousand camels, two hundred and fifty thousand sheep, and two thousand asses, and a hundred thousand men.


t:
And a very great number went to their death, because the war was God's purpose. And they went on living in their place till they were taken away as prisoners.


t:
And the men of the half-tribe of Manasseh were living in the land: and their numbers were increased till all the land from Bashan to Baal-hermon and Senir and the mountain Hermon was theirs.


t:
And these were the heads of their families: Epher and Ishi and Eliel and Azriel and Jeremiah and Hodaviah and Jahdiel, men of war, of great name, heads of families.


t:
And they did evil against the God of their fathers, worshipping the gods of the people of the land, whom God had put to destruction before them.


t:
And the God of Israel put an impulse into the heart of Pul, king of Assyria, and of Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, who took them away as prisoners, all the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to Halah and Habor and Hara and to the river of Gozan, to this day.


t:
And the sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses and Miriam. And the sons of Aaron: Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.


t:
And Johanan was the father of Azariah, (he was priest in the house which Solomon put up in Jerusalem:)


t:
And Jehozadak went as a prisoner when the Lord took away Judah and Jerusalem by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.


t:
The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. And these are the families of the Levites listed by the names of their fathers.


t:
And these are those whom David made responsible for the music in the house of the Lord, after the ark had rest.


t:
They gave worship with songs before the House of the Tent of meeting, till Solomon put up the house of the Lord in Jerusalem; and they took their places for their work in their regular order.


t:
And these are those who did this work, and their sons. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman, who made melody, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel,


t:
And his brother Asaph, whose place was at his right hand, Asaph, the son of Berechiah, the son of Shimea,


t:
And on the left their brothers, the sons of Merari: Ethan, the son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluch,


t:
But Aaron and his sons made offerings on the altar of burned offering, and on the altar of perfume, for all the work of the most holy place, and to take away the sin of Israel, doing everything ordered by Moses, the servant of God.


t:
Now these are their living-places, the limits inside which they were to put up their tents: to the sons of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, because they had the first selection,


t:
But the open country of the town, and the small places round it, they gave to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh.


t:
And to the sons of Aaron they gave Hebron, the town to which men might go in flight and be safe, and Libnah with its outskirts, and Jattir, and Eshtemoa with its outskirts,


t:
And from the tribe of Benjamin: Geba with its outskirts, and Alemeth with its outskirts, and Anathoth with its outskirts. All their towns among their families were thirteen towns.


t:
And to the rest of the sons of Kohath there were given by the Lord's decision ten towns out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim and out of the tribe of Dan and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh.


t:
And to the sons of Gershom, by their families, out of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen towns.


t:
And to the sons of Merari, by their families, twelve towns were given by the Lord's decision, out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun.


t:
And they gave by the Lord's decision out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, and out of the tribe of the children of Benjamin, these towns whose names are given.


t:
And to the families of the sons of Kohath were given towns by the Lord's decision out of the tribe of Ephraim.


t:
And they gave them the town to which men might go in flight and be safe, Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim with its outskirts, and Gezer with its outskirts,


t:
And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Aner with its outskirts, and Bileam with its outskirts, for the rest of the family of the sons of Kohath.


t:
To the sons of Gershom were given, out of the family of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its outskirts, and Ashtaroth with its outskirts;


t:
And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its outskirts, and Hammon with its outskirts, and Kiriathaim with its outskirts.


t:
To the rest of the Levites, the sons of Merari, were given, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Rimmono with its outskirts, Tabor with its outskirts;


t:
And on the other side of Jordan, at Jericho, on the east side of Jordan, were given them, out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer in the waste land with its outskirts, and Jahzah with its outskirts,


t:
And the sons of Tola: Uzzi and Rephaiah and Jeriel and Jahmai and Ibsam and Shemuel, heads of their families; they were men of war; in the record of their generations their number in the time of David was twenty-two thousand, six hundred.


t:
And the sons of Uzzi; Izrahiah; and the sons of Izrahiah: Michael and Obadiah and Joel and Isshiah, five; all of them chiefs.


t:
And with them, recorded in generations by their families, were bands of fighting-men, thirty-six thousand of them, for they had a great number of wives and sons.


t:
And there were recorded among all the families of Issachar, great men of war, eighty-seven thousand.


t:
And the sons of Bela: Ezbon and Uzzi and Uzziel and Jerimoth and Iri, five; heads of their families, great men of war; there were twenty-two thousand and thirty-four of them recorded by their families.


t:
And the sons of Becher: Zemirah and Joash and Eliezer and Elioenai and Omri and Jerimoth and Abijah and Anathoth and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher.


t:
And they were recorded by their generations, heads of their families, great men of war, twenty thousand, two hundred.


t:
And the sons of Jediael: Bilhan; and the sons of Bilhan: Jeush and Benjamin and Ehud and Chenaanah and Zethan and Tarshish and Ahishahar.


t:
All these were the sons of Jediael, by the heads of their families, seventeen thousand, two hundred men of war, able to go out with the army for war.


t:
The sons of Manasseh by his servant-wife, the Aramaean woman: she gave birth to Machir, the father of Gilead;


t:
(And Gilead took a wife, whose name was Maacah, and his sister's name was Hammoleketh;) and the name of his brother was Zelophehad, who was the father of daughters.


t:
And Maacah, the wife of Gilead, gave birth to a son to whom she gave the name Peresh; and his brother was named Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem.


t:
And the sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eleadah his son, and Tahath his son,


t:
And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead, whom the men of Gath, who had been living in the land from their birth, put to death, because they came down to take away their cattle.


t:
And for a long time Ephraim their father went on weeping for them, and his brothers came to give him comfort.


t:
After that, he had connection with his wife, and she became with child and gave birth to a son, to whom his father gave the name of Beriah, because trouble had come on his family.


t:
And his daughter was Sheerah, the builder of Beth-horon the lower and the higher, and Uzzen-sheerah.


t:
Their heritage and their living-places were Beth-el and its daughter-towns, and Naaran to the east, and Gezer to the west, with its daughter-towns, as well as Shechem and its daughter-towns as far as Azzah and its daughter-towns;


t:
And by the limits of the children of Manasseh, Beth-shean and its daughter-towns, Taanach, Megiddo, and Dor, with their daughter-towns. In these the children of Joseph, the son of Israel, were living.


t:
All these were the children of Asher, heads of their families, specially strong men of war, chiefs of the rulers. They were recorded in the army for war, twenty-six thousand men in number.


t:
And Shaharaim became the father of children in the country of the Moabites after driving out Hushim and Beerah his wives;


t:
And the sons of Elpaal: Eber and Misham and Shemed (he was the builder of Ono and Lod and their daughter-towns);


t:
And Beriah and Shema, who were heads of the families of those who were living in Aijalon, who put to flight the people living in Gath;


t:
And Mikloth was the father of Shimeah. And they were living with their brothers in Jerusalem opposite their brothers.


t:
And Ner was the father of Abner, and Kish was the father of Saul, and Saul was the father of Jonathan and Malchi-shua and Abinadab and Eshbaal.


t:
And Ahaz was the father of Jehoaddah; and Jehoaddah was the father of Alemeth and Azmaveth and Zimri; and Zimri was the father of Moza;


t:
And Azel had five sons, whose names are: Azrikam, his oldest, and Ishmael and Sheariah and Obadiah and Hanan. All these were the sons of Azel.


t:
And the sons of Ulam were men of war, bowmen, and had a great number of sons and sons' sons, a hundred and fifty. All these were the sons of Benjamin.


t:
So all Israel was listed by their families; and, truly, they are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel. And Judah was taken away as prisoners to Babylon because of their sin.


t:
Now the first to take up their heritage in their towns were: Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the Nethinim.


t:
And in Jerusalem there were living some of the sons of Judah, and of Benjamin, and of Ephraim and Manasseh;


t:
Uthai, the son of Ammihud, the son of Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, of the sons of Perez, the son of Judah.


t:
And Ibneiah, the son of Jeroham, and Elah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Michri, and Meshullam, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Reuel, the son of Ibnijah;


t:
And their brothers, in the list of their generations, nine hundred and fifty-six. All these men were heads of families, listed by the names of their fathers.


t:
And Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of the house of God;


t:
And Adaiah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah, and Maasai, the son of Adiel, the son of Jahzerah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Meshillemith, the son of Immer;


t:
And their brothers, heads of their families, a thousand and seven hundred and sixty: able men, doing the work of the house of God.


t:
And of the Levites: Shemaiah, the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, of the sons of Merari;


t:
And Bakbakkar, Heresh, and Galal, and Mattaniah, the son of Mica, the son of Zichri, the son of Asaph;


t:
And Obadiah, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun, and Berechiah, the son of Asa, the son of Elkanah, who were living in the small towns of the Netophathites.


t:
And the door-keepers: Shallum and Akkub and Talmon and Ahiman and their brothers: Shallum was the chief.


t:
Up till then they had been at the king's door to the east. They were door-keepers for the tents of the sons of Levi.


t:
And Shallum, the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his brothers, of his family, the Korahites, were responsible for everything which had to be done in connection with the order of worship, keepers of the doors of the Tent; their fathers had had the care of the tents of the Lord, being keepers of the doorway.


t:
There were two hundred and twelve whose business it was to keep the doorway. These were listed by families in the country places where they were living, whom David and Samuel the seer put in their responsible positions.


t:
So they and their sons had the care of the doors of the house of the Lord, the house of the Tent, as watchers.


t:
And their brothers, in the country places where they were living, were to come in every seven days to be with them from time to time.


t:
For the four chief door-keepers, who were Levites, had a special position, looking after the rooms and the store-houses of the house of God.


t:
Their sleeping-rooms were round the house of God, for they had the care of it, and were responsible for opening it morning by morning.


t:
Certain of them had the care of the vessels used in worship, to keep an account of them when they came in and when they were taken out again.


t:
And some of them were responsible for the holy things and for the vessels of the holy place, and the meal and the wine and the oil and the perfume and the spices.


t:
And Mattithiah, one of the Levites, the oldest son of Shallum the Korahite, was responsible for cooking the flat cakes.


t:
And some of their brothers, sons of the Kohathites, were responsible for the holy bread which was put in order before the Lord, to get it ready every Sabbath.


t:
And these were those who had the ordering of the music and songs, heads of families of the Levites, who were living in the rooms, and were free from other work, for their work went on day and night.


t:
These were heads of families of the Levites in their generations, chief men; they were living at Jerusalem.


t:
Mikloth was the father of Shimeam. They were living with their brothers in Jerusalem opposite their brothers.


t:
And Ner was the father of Kish; and Kish was the father of Saul; and Saul was the father of Jonathan and Malchi-shua and Abinadab and Eshbaal.


t:
And Ahaz was the father of Jarah; and Jarah was the father of Alemeth and Azmaveth and Zimri; and Zimri was the father of Moza.


t:
And Azel had five sons, whose names are: Azrikam, his oldest son, and Ishmael and Sheariah and Obadiah and Hanan: these were the sons of Azel.


t:
Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel; and the men of Israel went in flight before the Philistines, falling down wounded in Mount Gilboa.


t:
And the Philistines went hard after Saul and his sons, and put to death Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul.


t:
And the fight was going against Saul, and the archers came across him, and he was wounded by the archers.


t:
Then Saul said to the servant who had the care of his arms, Take your sword and put it through me, before these men without circumcision come and make sport of me. But his servant, full of fear, would not do so. Then Saul took out his sword, falling on it himself.


t:
And when all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that the men of Israel had gone in flight and that Saul and his sons were dead, they went in flight away from their towns; and the Philistines came and took them for themselves.


t:
Now the day after, when the Philistines came to take their goods from the dead, they saw Saul and his sons dead in Mount Gilboa.


t:
And they took everything off him, and took his head and his war-dress, and sent word into the land of the Philistines round about to give the news to their gods and to the people.


t:
All the fighting-men came up and took away Saul's body and the bodies of his sons, and took them to Jabesh, and put their bones to rest under the oak-tree in Jabesh, and took no food for seven days.


t:
So death came to Saul because of the sin which he did against the Lord, that is, because of the word of the Lord which he kept not; and because he went for directions to one who had an evil spirit,


t:
And not to the Lord: for this reason, he put him to death and gave the kingdom to David, the son of Jesse.


t:
In the past, when Saul was king, it was you who went at the head of Israel when they went out or came in; and the Lord your God said to you, You are to be the keeper of my people Israel, and their ruler.


t:
So all the responsible men of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and David made an agreement with them in Hebron before the Lord; and they put the holy oil on David and made him king over Israel, as the Lord had said by Samuel.


t:
Then David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (which is Jebus); and the Jebusites, the people of the land, were there.


t:
And the people of Jebus said to David, You will not come in here. But still, David took the strong place of Zion, which is the town of David.


t:
And David said, The first to overcome the Jebusites will be chief and captain. And Joab, the son of Zeruiah, went up first, and became chief.


t:
And he took in hand the building of the town all round, starting from the Millo; and Joab put the rest of the town in order.


t:
Now these are the chief of David's men of war who were his strong supporters in the kingdom, and, with all Israel, made him king, as the Lord had said about Israel.


t:
This is the list of David's men of war: Ishbaal, the son of a Hachmonite, the chief of the three: he put to death three hundred at one time with his spear.


t:
He was with David at Pas-dammim, where the Philistines had come together for the fight, near a bit of land full of barley; and the people went in flight before the Philistines.


t:
And he took up his position in the middle of the bit of land, and kept back their attack, and overcame the Philistines; and the Lord gave a great salvation.


t:
And three of the thirty went down to David, to the rock, into the strong place of Adullam; and the army of the Philistines had taken up their position in the valley of Rephaim.


t:
At that time David had taken cover in the strong place, and an armed force of the Philistines was in Beth-lehem.


t:
And David, moved by a strong desire, said, If only someone would give me a drink of the water from the water-hole of Beth-lehem by the doorway into the town!


t:
So the three, forcing a way through the Philistine army, got water from the water-hole of Beth-lehem, by the doorway into the town, and took it back to David; but David would not take it, but made an offering of it, draining it out to the Lord,


t:
Saying, By my God, far be it from me to do this! How may I take as drink the life-blood of these men who have put their lives in danger? so he did not take it. These things did the three great men of war.


t:
And Abishai, the brother of Joab, was chief of the thirty, for he put to death three hundred with his spear, but he had not a name among the three.


t:
Of the thirty, he was the noblest, and was made their captain, but he was not equal to the first three.


t:
Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, a fighting-man of Kabzeel, had done great acts; he put to death two young lions going into their secret place; and he went down into a hole and put a lion to death in time of snow.


t:
And he made an attack on an Egyptian, a very tall man about five cubits high, armed with a spear like a cloth-worker's rod; he went down to him with a stick, and pulling his spear out of the hand of the Egyptian, put him to death with that same spear.


t:
He was honoured over the thirty, but he was not equal to the first three: and David put him over his servants.


t:
And these were the great men of war: Asahel, the brother of Joab, Elhanan, the son of Dodo of Beth-lehem,


t:
Zelek the Ammonite, and Naharai the Berothite, the servant who had the care of the arms of Joab, the son of Zeruiah;


t:
Now these are the men who came to David at Ziklag, while he was still shut up, because of Saul, the son of Kish; they were among the strong men, his helpers in war.


t:
They were armed with bows, and were able to send stones, and arrows from the bow, with right hand or left: they were Saul's brothers, of Benjamin.


t:
Ahiezer was their chief, then Joash, the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite; and Jeziel and Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth; and Beracah and Jehu the Anathothite;


t:
And Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a great man among the thirty, and their chief; and Jeremiah and Jehaziel and Johanan and Jozabad the Gederathite;


t:
And some of the Gadites, siding with David, went to his strong place in the waste land, great and strong men, trained for war, expert in the use of arms, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were quick-footed like roes on the mountains;


t:
These Gadites were captains of the army; the least of them was captain over a hundred men, and the greatest over a thousand.


t:
It was they who went over Jordan in the first month, when the river was overflowing, and put to flight all the people of the valleys, to the east and to the west.


t:
And David went out to them, and said to them, If you have come in peace to give me help, my heart will be united with yours; but if you have come to give me up to those who would take my life, though my hands are clean from wrongdoing, then may the God of our fathers see it and give you punishment.


t:
Then the spirit came on Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said, We are yours, David, we are on your side, O son of Jesse: may peace be with you and peace be with your helpers; for God is your helper. Then David took them into his army and made them captains of the band.


t:
And some of the men of Manasseh came over to David, when he went with the Philistines to the war against Saul, but he gave them no help: for the lords of the Philistines, after discussion, sent him away, saying, He will go back to his master Saul, at the price of our lives.


t:
Then when he went back to Ziklag, there came over to him, of the men of Manasseh, Adnah and Jozabad and Jediael and Michael and Jozabad and Elihu and Zillethai, captains of thousands from the armies of Manasseh.


t:
And they gave David help against the armed bands, for they were all great men of war, and captains in the army.


t:
These are the numbers of the chiefs of the armed men, ready for war, who came to David at Hebron, to give the kingdom of Saul into his hands, as the Lord had said.


t:
And of the children of Benjamin, the brothers of Saul, three thousand; for up to that time the greater part of them had been true to Saul.


t:
And of the children of Ephraim, twenty thousand, eight hundred great men of war, men of great name in their families.


t:
And of the children of Issachar, there were two hundred chiefs, men who had expert knowledge of the times and what it was best for Israel to do, and all their brothers were under their orders.


t:
Of Zebulun, there were fifty thousand men, who went out with the army, expert in ordering the fight, to give help with all sorts of arms; true-hearted men.


t:
From the other side of Jordan, there were a hundred and twenty thousand of the Reubenites and the Gadites and the men of the half-tribe of Manasseh, armed with every sort of instrument of war.


t:
All these men of war, expert in ordering the fight, came to Hebron with the full purpose of making David king over all Israel; and all the rest of Israel were united in their desire to make David king.


t:
For three days they were there with David, feasting at his table, for their brothers had made ready food for them.


t:
And those who were near, as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, came with food on asses and camels and mules and oxen, with meal for food and cakes of figs and masses of grapes, and wine and oil and oxen and sheep in great numbers, for there was joy in Israel.


t:
Then David had discussions with the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds and with every chief.


t:
And David said to all the men of Israel who had come together there, If it seems good to you and if it is the purpose of the Lord our God, let us send to all the rest of our brothers, everywhere in the land of Israel, and to the priests and the Levites in their towns and the country round them, and get them to come together here to us;


t:
And let us get back for ourselves the ark of our God: for in the days of Saul we did not go to it for directions.


t:
So David sent for all Israel to come together, from Shihor, the river of Egypt, as far as the way into Hamath, to get the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.


t:
And David went up, with all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim in Judah, to get up from there the ark of God, over which the holy Name is named, the name of the Lord whose place is between the winged ones.


t:
And they put the ark of God on a new cart, and took it out of the house of Abinadab; and Uzza and Ahio were the drivers of the cart.


t:
Then David and all Israel made melody before God with all their strength, with songs and corded instruments of music, and with brass instruments and horns.


t:
And when they came to the grain-floor of Chidon, Uzza put out his hand to keep the ark in its place, for the oxen were slipping.


t:
And the wrath of the Lord, burning against Uzza, sent destruction on him because he had put his hand on the ark, and death came to him there before God.


t:
And David was angry because of the Lord's outburst of wrath against Uzza, and he gave that place the name Perez-uzza, to this day.


t:
And so great was David's fear of God that day, that he said, How may I let the ark of God come to me?


t:
So David did not let the ark come back to him to the town of David, but had it turned away and put into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.


t:
And the ark of God was in the house of Obed-edom for three months; and the Lord sent a blessing on the house of Obed-edom and on all he had.


t:
And Hiram, king of Tyre, sent men to David with cedar-trees, and stoneworkers and woodworkers for the building of his house.


t:
And David saw that the Lord had made his position safe as king over Israel, lifting up his kingdom on high because of his people Israel.


t:
And while he was living in Jerusalem, David took more wives and became the father of more sons and daughters.


t:
And when the Philistines had news that David had been made king over all Israel, they went up in search of David, and David, hearing of it, went out against them.


t:
And David, desiring directions from God, said, Am I to go up against the Philistines? and will you give them into my hands? And the Lord said, Go up; for I will give them into your hands.


t:
So they went up to Baal-perazim, and David overcame them there, and David said, God has let the forces fighting against me be broken by my hand, as a wall is broken down by rushing water; so they gave that place the name of Baal-perazim.


t:
And the Philistines did not take their images with them in their flight; and at David's orders they were burned with fire.


t:
And David went for directions to God; and God said to him, You are not to go up after them; but, turning away from them, come face to face with them opposite the spice-trees.


t:
And at the sound of footsteps in the tops of the trees, go out to the fight, for God has gone out before you to overcome the army of the Philistines.


t:
And David did as the Lord had said; and they overcame the army of the Philistines, attacking them from Gibeon as far as Gezer.


t:
And David made houses for himself in the town of David; and he got ready a place for the ark of God, and put up a tent for it.


t:
Then David said, The ark of God may not be moved by any but the Levites, for they have been marked out by God to take the ark of God, and to do his work for ever.


t:
And David made all Israel come together at Jerusalem, to take the ark of the Lord to its place, which he had got ready for it.


t:
And David sent for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, Uriel, Asaiah and Joel, Shemaiah and Eliel and Amminadab,


t:
And said to them, You are the heads of the families of the Levites: make yourselves holy, you and your brothers, so that you may take the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place which I have made ready for it.


t:
For because you did not take it at the first, the Lord our God sent punishment on us, because we did not get directions from him in the right way.


t:
So the priests and the Levites made themselves holy to take up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel.


t:
And the sons of the Levites took up the ark of God, lifting it by its rods, as the Lord had said to Moses.


t:
And David gave orders to the chief of the Levites to put their brothers the music-makers in position, with instruments of music, corded instruments and brass, with glad voices making sounds of joy.


t:
So Heman, the son of Joel, and, of his brothers, Asaph, the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brothers, Ethan, the son of Kushaiah, were put in position by the Levites;


t:
And with them their brothers of the second order, Zechariah, Bani and Jaaziel and Shemiramoth and Jehiel and Unni, Eliab and Benaiah and Maaseiah and Mattithiah and Eliphelehu and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom and Jeiel, the door-keepers.


t:
So those who made melody, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were put in position, with brass instruments, sounding loudly;


t:
And Zechariah and Aziel and Shemiramoth and Jehiel, Unni and Eliab and Maaseiah and Benaiah, with corded instruments put to Alamoth.


t:
And Mattithiah and Eliphelehu and Mikneiah and Obed-edom and Jeiel and Azaziah, with corded instruments on the octave, to give the first note of the song.


t:
And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was master of the music: he gave directions about the song, because he was expert.


t:
And Shebaniah and Joshaphat and Nethanel and Amasai and Zechariah and Benaiah and Eliezer, the priests, made music on the horns before the ark of God; and Obed-edom and Jehiah were door-keepers for the ark.


t:
So David, and the responsible men of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went with joy to get the ark of the agreement of the Lord out of the house of Obed-edom.


t:
And when God gave help to the Levites who were lifting up the ark of the agreement of the Lord, they made an offering of seven oxen and seven sheep.


t:
And David was clothed with a robe of fair linen, as were all the Levites who took up the ark, and those who made melody, and Chenaniah the master of those who made melody; and David had on a linen ephod;


t:
So all Israel took up the ark of the agreement of the Lord, with loud cries and with horns and brass and corded instruments sounding loudly.


t:
And when the ark of the agreement of the Lord came into the town of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looking out of the window, saw King David dancing and playing; and to her mind he seemed foolish.


t:
Then they took in the ark of God and put it inside the tent which David had put up for it; and they made offerings, burned offerings and peace-offerings before God.


t:
And when David had come to an end of making the burned offerings and peace-offerings, he gave the people a blessing in the name of the Lord.


t:
And he gave to everyone, every man and woman of Israel, a cake of bread, some meat, and a cake of dry grapes.


t:
And he put some of the Levites before the ark of the Lord as servants, to keep the acts of the Lord in memory, and to give worship and praise to the Lord, the God of Israel:


t:
Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, Uzziel and Shemiramoth and Jehiel and Mattithiah and Eliab and Benaiah and Obed-edom and Jeiel, with corded instruments of music; and Asaph, with brass instruments sounding loudly;


t:
And Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests, blowing horns all the time before the ark of the agreement of God.


t:
Then on that day David first made the giving of praise to the Lord the work of Asaph and his brothers.


t:
Saying, Put not your hand on those who have been marked with my holy oil, and do my prophets no wrong.


t:
Give to the Lord the glory of his name; take with you an offering and come before him; give worship to the Lord in holy robes.


t:
Let the heavens have joy and let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, The Lord is King.


t:
Let the sea be thundering with all its waters; let the field be glad, and everything which is in it;


t:
Then let all the trees of the wood be sounding with joy before the Lord, for he is come to be the judge of the earth.


t:
And say, Be our saviour, O God of our salvation, and let us come back, and give us salvation from the nations, so that we may give honour to your holy name and have glory in your praise.


t:
Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, for ever and for ever. And all the people said, So be it; and gave praise to the Lord.


t:
So he made Asaph and his brothers keep their places there before the ark of the agreement of the Lord, to do whatever had to be done before the ark at all times day by day:


t:
And Obed-edom, the son of Jeduthun, and Hosah, with their brothers, sixty-eight of them, to be door-keepers:


t:
And Zadok the priest, with his brothers the priests, before the House of the Lord in the high place at Gibeon;


t:
To give burned offerings to the Lord on the altar of burned offerings morning and evening, every day, as it is ordered in the law of the Lord which he gave to Israel;


t:
And with them Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest who were marked out by name to give praise to the Lord, for his mercy is unchanging for ever;


t:
And Heman and Jeduthun had horns and brass instruments sounding loudly, and instruments of music for the songs of God; and the sons of Jeduthun were to be at the door.


t:
And all the people went away, every man to his house; and David went back to give a blessing to his family.


t:
Now when David was living in his house, he said to Nathan the prophet, See, I am living in a house of cedar-wood, but the ark of the Lord's agreement is under the curtains of a tent.


t:
For from the day when I took Israel up, till this day, I have had no house, but have gone from tent to tent, and from living-place to living-place.


t:
In all the places where I have gone with all Israel, did I ever say to any of the judges of Israel, whom I made the keepers of my people, Why have you not made for me a house of cedar?


t:
So now, say to my servant David, The Lord of armies says, I took you from the fields, from keeping sheep, so that you might be a ruler over my people Israel;


t:
And I have been with you wherever you went, cutting off before you all those who were against you; and I will make your name like the name of the greatest ones of the earth.


t:
And I will make a resting-place for my people Israel, planting them there, so that they may be in the place which is theirs and never again be moved; and never again will they be made waste by evil men, as they were at first,


t:
From the time when I put judges over my people Israel; and I will overcome all those who are against you; and I will make you great and the head of a line of kings.


t:
And when the time comes for you to go to your fathers, I will put in your place your seed after you, one of your sons, and I will make his kingdom strong.


t:
I will be to him a father and he will be to me a son; and I will not take my mercy away from him as I took it from him who was before you;


t:
But I will make his place in my house and in my kingdom certain for ever; and the seat of his authority will never be overturned.


t:
And this was only a small thing to you, O God; but your words have even been about the far-off future of your servant's family, looking on me as on one of high position, O Lord God.


t:
O Lord, because of your servant, and from your heart, you have done all these great things and let them be seen.


t:
O Lord, there is no one like you, and no other God but you, as is clear from everything which has come to our ears.


t:
And what other nation in the earth, like your people Israel, did a god go out to take for himself, to be his people, making his name great and to be feared, driving out the nations from before your people whom you made free and took out of Egypt?


t:
And now, Lord, let your words about your servant and about his family be made certain for ever, and do as you have said.


t:
So let your words be made certain and your name be made great, when men say, The Lord of armies is the God of Israel; and when the family of David your servant is made strong before you.


t:
For you, O my God, have let your servant see that you will make him head of a line of kings; and so it has come into your servant's heart to make his prayer to you.


t:
And now you have been pleased to give your blessing to the family of your servant, so that it may go on for ever before you; you, O Lord, have given your blessing, and a blessing will be on it for ever.


t:
And it came about after this that David made an attack on the Philistines and overcame them, and took Gath with its daughter-towns out of the hands of the Philistines.


t:
Then David overcame Hadadezer, king of Zobah, near Hamath, when he was going to make his power seen by the river Euphrates.


t:
And David took from him a thousand war-carriages and seven thousand horsemen and twenty thousand footmen: and he had the leg-muscles of all the horses cut, keeping only enough of them for a hundred war-carriages.


t:
And when the Aramaeans of Damascus came to the help of Hadadezer, king of Zobah, David put to the sword twenty-two thousand Aramaeans.


t:
Then David put armed forces in Damascus, and the Aramaeans became his servants and gave him offerings. And the Lord made David overcome wherever he went.


t:
And from Tibhath and from Cun, towns of Hadadezer, David took a great store of brass, of which Solomon made the great brass water-vessel and the brass pillars and vessels.


t:
Now when Tou, king of Hamath, had news that David had overcome all the army of Hadadezer, king of Zobah,


t:
He sent his son Hadoram to King David, to give him words of peace and blessing, because he had overcome Hadadezer in the fight, for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou; and he gave him all sorts of vessels of gold and silver and brass.


t:
These King David made holy to the Lord, together with the silver and gold he had taken from all nations; from Edom and Moab and from the children of Ammon and from the Philistines and from Amalek.


t:
And when he came back from putting to the sword eighteen thousand of the Edomites in the Valley of Salt,


t:
David put armed forces in all the towns of Edom; and all the Edomites became servants to David. The Lord made David overcome wherever he went.


t:
And Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the army; and Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, was keeper of the records.


t:
And Zadok, the son of Ahitub; and Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, were priests; and Shavsha was the scribe;


t:
And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and the sons of David were chief of those whose places were at the king's side.


t:
Now it came about after this that death came to Nahash, the king of the children of Ammon, and his son became king in his place.


t:
And David said, I will be a friend to Hanun, the son of Nahash, because his father was a friend to me. So David sent men to him, to give him words of comfort on account of his father. And the servants of David came to Hanun, to the land of the children of Ammon, offering him comfort.


t:
But the chiefs of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, Does it seem to you that David is honouring your father, by sending comforters to you? is it not clear that these men have only come to go through the land and to make secret observation of it so that they may overcome it?


t:
So Hanun took David's servants, and cutting off their hair and the skirts of their robes up to the middle, sent them away.


t:
Then certain men went and gave David word of what had been done to them. And he sent out with the purpose of meeting them; for the men were greatly shamed. And the king said, Keep where you are at Jericho till your hair is long again, and then come back.


t:
And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves hated by David, Hanun and the children of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver as payment for war-carriages and horsemen from Mesopotamia and Aram-maacah and Zobah.


t:
So with this money they got thirty-two thousand war-carriages, and the help of the king of Maacah and his people, who came and took up their position in front of Medeba. And the children of Ammon came together from their towns for the fight.


t:
So the children of Ammon came out and put their forces in position on the way into the town; and the kings who had come were stationed by themselves in the field.


t:
Now when Joab saw that their forces were in position against him in front and at his back, he took all the best men of Israel, and put them in line against the Aramaeans;


t:
And the rest of the people he put in position against the children of Ammon with Abishai, his brother, at their head.


t:
And he said, If the Aramaeans are stronger and get the better of me, then come to my help; and if the children of Ammon get the better of you, I will come to your help.


t:
Take heart, and let us be strong for our people and for the towns of our God; and may the Lord do what seems good to him.


t:
So Joab and the people who were with him went forward into the fight against the Aramaeans, and they went in flight before him.


t:
And when the children of Ammon saw the flight of the Aramaeans, they themselves went in flight from Abishai, his brother, and came into the town. Then Joab came back to Jerusalem.


t:
And when the Aramaeans saw that Israel had overcome them, they sent men to get the Aramaeans who were on the other side of the River, with Shophach, the captain of Hadadezer's army, at their head.


t:
And word of this was given to David; and he got all Israel together and went over Jordan and came to Helam and put his forces in position against them. And when David's forces were in position against the Aramaeans, the fight was started.


t:
And the Aramaeans went in flight before Israel; and David put to the sword the men of seven thousand Aramaean war-carriages and forty thousand footmen, and put to death Shophach, the captain of the army.


t:
And when the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were overcome by Israel, they made peace with David and became his servants: and the Aramaeans would give no more help to the children of Ammon.


t:
Now in the spring, at the time when kings go out to war, Joab went out at the head of the armed forces and made waste all the land of the Ammonites and put his men in position before Rabbah, shutting it in. But David was still at Jerusalem. And Joab took Rabbah and made it waste.


t:
And David took the crown of Milcom from off his head; its weight was a talent of gold and it had stones of great price in it; and it was put on David's head, and he took a great store of goods from the town.


t:
And he took the people out of the town and put them to work with wood-cutting instruments, and iron grain-crushers, and axes. And this he did to all the towns of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the people went back to Jerusalem.


t:
Now after this there was war with the Philistines at Gezer; then Sibbecai the Hushathite put to death Sippai, one of the offspring of the Rephaim; and they were overcome.


t:
And again there was war with the Philistines; and Elhanan, the son of Jair, put to death Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the stem of whose spear was like a cloth-worker's rod.


t:
These were of the offspring of the Rephaim in Gath; they came to their death by the hands of David and his servants.


t:
Now Satan, designing evil against Israel, put into David's mind the impulse to take the number of Israel.


t:
And David said to Joab and the captains of the people, Now let all Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, be numbered; and give me word so that I may be certain of their number.


t:
And Joab said, May the Lord make his people a hundred times more in number than they are; but, my lord king, are they not all my lord's servants? why would my lord have this done? why will he become a cause of sin to Israel?


t:
But the king's word was stronger than Joab's. So Joab went out and went through all Israel and came to Jerusalem.


t:
And Joab gave David the number of all the people; all the men of Israel, able to take up arms, were one million, one hundred thousand men; and those of Judah were four hundred and seventy thousand men, able to take up arms.


t:
Then David said to God, Great has been my sin in doing this; but now, be pleased to take away the sin of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.


t:
Go and say to David, The Lord says, Three things are offered to you: say which of them you will have, so that I may do it to you.


t:
Three years when there will not be enough food; or three months of war, when you will go in flight before your haters, being in great danger of the sword; or three days of the sword of the Lord, disease in the land, and the angel of the Lord taking destruction through all the land of Israel. Now give thought to the answer I am to take back to him who sent me.


t:
And David said to Gad, This is a hard decision for me to make: let me come into the hands of the Lord, for great are his mercies: let me not come into the hands of men.


t:
And God sent an angel to Jerusalem for its destruction: and when he was about to do so, the Lord saw, and had regret for the evil, and said to the angel of destruction, It is enough; do no more. Now the angel of the Lord was by the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.


t:
And David, lifting up his eyes, saw the angel of the Lord there between earth and heaven, with an uncovered sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the responsible men, clothed in haircloth, went down on their faces.


t:
And David said to God, Was it not I who gave the order for the people to be numbered? It is I who have done the sin and the great wrong; but these are only sheep; what have they done? let your hand, O Lord God, be lifted up against me and against my family, but not against your people to send disease on them.


t:
Then the angel of the Lord gave orders to Gad to say to David that he was to go and put up an altar to the Lord on the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.


t:
And Ornan, turning back, saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him went to a secret place. Now Ornan was crushing his grain.


t:
And when David came, Ornan, looking, saw him, and came out from the grain-floor and went down on his face to the earth before him.


t:
Then David said to Ornan, Give me the place where this grain-floor is, so that I may put up an altar here to the Lord: let me have it for its full price; so that this disease may be stopped among the people.


t:
And Ornan said to David, Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems right to him. See, I give you the oxen for burned offerings and the grain-cleaning instruments for fire-wood, and the grain for the meal offering; I give it all.


t:
And King David said to Ornan, No; I will certainly give you the full price for it, because I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or give a burned offering without payment.


t:
And David put up an altar there to the Lord, offering burned offerings and peace-offerings with prayers to the Lord; and he gave him an answer from heaven, sending fire on the altar of burned offering.


t:
At that time, when David saw that the Lord had given him an answer on the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he made an offering there.


t:
For the House of the Lord, which Moses had made in the waste land, and the altar of burned offerings, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.


t:
But David was not able to go before it to get directions from the Lord, so great was his fear of the sword of the angel of the Lord.


t:
Then David said, This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar for Israel's burned offerings.


t:
And David gave orders to get together all the men from strange lands who were in the land of Israel; and he put stone-cutters to work, cutting stones for building the house of God.


t:
And he got together a great store of iron, for the nails for the doors and for the joins; and brass, more in weight than might be measured;


t:
And cedar-trees without number, for the Zidonians and the men of Tyre came with a great amount of cedar-trees for David.


t:
And David said, Solomon my son is young and untested, and the house which is to be put up for the Lord is to be very great, a thing of wonder and glory through all countries; so I will make ready what is needed for it. So David got ready a great store of material before his death.


t:
Then he sent for his son Solomon, and gave him orders for the building of a house for the Lord, the God of Israel.


t:
And David said to Solomon, My son, it was my desire to put up a house for the name of the Lord my God.


t:
But the word of the Lord came to me saying, You have taken lives without number and made great wars; I will not let you be the builder of a house for my name, because of the lives you have taken on the earth before my eyes.


t:
But you will have a son who will be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from wars on every side. His name will be Solomon, and in his time I will give Israel peace and quiet;


t:
He will be the builder of a house for my name; he will be to me a son, and I will be to him a father; and I will make the seat of his rule over Israel certain for ever.


t:
Now, my son, may the Lord be with you; and may you do well, and put up the house of the Lord your God, as he has said of you.


t:
Only may the Lord give you wisdom, and knowledge of his orders for Israel, so that you may keep the law of the Lord your God.


t:
And all will go well for you, if you take care to keep the laws and the rules which the Lord gave to Moses for Israel: be strong and take heart; have no fear and do not be troubled.


t:
Now see, poor though I am, I have got ready for the house of the Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold and a million talents of silver; and a weight of brass and iron greater than may be measured; and wood and stone have I made ready, and you may put more to it.


t:
And you have a great number of workmen, cutters and workers of stone and wood, and experts in every sort of work,


t:
In gold and silver and brass and iron more than may be numbered. Up! then, and to work; and may the Lord be with you.


t:
Is not the Lord your God with you? and has he not given you rest on every side? for the Lord has given the people of the land into my hands, and the land is overcome before the Lord and before his people.


t:
Now give your heart and soul to the worship of the Lord your God; and get to work on the building of the holy place of the Lord God, so that you may put the ark of the Lord's agreement and the holy vessels of God in the house which is to be made for the name of the Lord.


t:
And the Levites, all those of thirty years old and over, were numbered; and the number of them, by heads, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand.


t:
Of these, twenty-four thousand were to be overseers of the work of the house of the Lord, and six thousand were judges and men of authority;


t:
Four thousand were door-keepers; and four thousand gave praise to the Lord with the instruments which I made, said David, for giving praise.


t:
The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth and Haziel and Haran, three; these were the heads of the families of Ladan.


t:
Jahath was the chief and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah had only a small number of sons, so they were grouped together as one family.


t:
The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was made separate and holy, he and his sons for ever, for the care of the most holy things and the burning of offerings before the Lord, to do his work and give blessings in his name for ever.


t:
And the sons of Eliezer: Rehabiah the first; and Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had a great number.


t:
The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.


t:
And at his death Eleazar had no sons, but only daughters, and their relations, the sons of Kish, took them as wives.


t:
These were the sons of Levi, grouped by families, the heads of the families of those who were numbered by name, by heads, all those of twenty years old and over who did the work of the house of the Lord.


t:
For David said, The Lord, the God of Israel, has given his people rest, and he has made his resting-place in Jerusalem for ever;


t:
And from now, there will be no need for the House of the Lord, and the vessels used in it, to be moved about by the Levites.


t:
So among the last acts of David was the numbering of the sons of Levi, from twenty years old and over.


t:
Their place was by the side of the sons of Aaron in all the work of the house of the Lord, in the open spaces and in the rooms, in the making clean of all the holy things, in doing all the work of the house of the Lord,


t:
The holy bread was in their care, and the crushed grain for the meal offering, of unleavened cakes or meal cooked over the fire or in water; they had control of all sorts of weights and measures;


t:
They had to take their places every morning to give praise and make melody to the Lord, and in the same way at evening;


t:
At every offering of burned offerings to the Lord, on Sabbaths, and at the new moons, and on the regular feasts, in the number ordered by the law, at all times before the Lord;


t:
And they had the care of the Tent of meeting and the holy place, under the direction of the sons of Aaron their brothers, for the work of the house of the Lord.


t:
Now the divisions into which the sons of Aaron were grouped were these: the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.


t:
But Nadab and Abihu came to their end before their father, and had no children; so Eleazar and Ithamar did the work of priests.


t:
And David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, made distribution of them into their positions for their work.


t:
And there were more chiefs among the sons of Eleazar than among the sons of Ithamar; and this is how they were grouped: of the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen, all heads of families; and of the sons of Ithamar, heads of families, there were eight.


t:
So they were put into groups, by the Lord's decision, one with another; for there were rulers of the holy place and rulers of the house of God among the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar.


t:
And Shemaiah, the son of Nethanel the scribe, who was a Levite, put down their names in writing, the king being present with the rulers, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, and the heads of families of the priests and the Levites; one family being taken for Eleazar and then one for Ithamar, and so on.


t:
So they were put into their different groups, to take their places in the house of the Lord, in agreement with the rules made by Aaron their father, as the Lord, the God of Israel, had given him orders.


t:
And the sons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth.


t:
And the sons of Mushi: Mahli and Eder and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites by their families.


t:
Selection was made of these in the same way as of their brothers the sons of Aaron, David the king being present, with Zadok, and Ahimelech, and the heads of families of the priests and of the Levites; the families of the chief in the same way as those of his younger brother.


t:
Further, David and the chiefs of the servants of the holy place made selection of certain of the sons of Asaph and of Heman and of Jeduthun for the work of prophets, to make melody with corded instruments and brass; and the number of the men for the work they had to do was:


t:
Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur and Joseph and Nethaniah and Asharelah, sons of Asaph; under the direction of Asaph, acting as a prophet under the orders of the king;


t:
Of Jeduthun: the six sons of Jeduthun, Gedaliah and Zeri and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah and Mattithiah; under the direction of their father Jeduthun who, acting as a prophet, with corded instruments gave praise and glory to the Lord.


t:
Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth;


t:
All these were sons of Heman, the king's seer in the words of God. And to make great his power God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.


t:
All these, under the direction of their father, made music in the house of the Lord, with brass and corded instruments, for the worship of the house of God; Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman being under the orders of the king.


t:
And the number of them, with their brothers who were trained and expert in making melody to the Lord, was two hundred and eighty-eight.


t:
And selection was made of them for their special work, all having equal chances, small as well as great, the teacher as the learner.


t:
Now of the group of Asaph, the first name to come out was Joseph; the second Gedaliah; he and his brothers and sons were twelve?


t:
For the divisions of the door-keepers: of the Korahites, Meshelemiah, the son of Kore, of the sons of Ebiasaph.


t:
And Meshelemiah had sons: Zechariah the oldest, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth,


t:
And Obed-edom had sons: Shemaiah the oldest, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, and Sacar the fourth, and Nethanel the fifth,


t:
The sons of Shemaiah: Othni and Rephael and Obed, Elzabad, whose brothers were great men of war, Elihu and Semachiah.


t:
All these were sons of Obed-edom: they and their sons and their brothers, able men and strong for the work; sixty-two sons of Obed-edom.


t:
And Hosah, a son of the children of Merari, had sons: Shimri the chief (for though he was not the oldest, his father made him chief);


t:
Of these were the divisions of the door-keepers, men of authority, having responsible positions like their brothers to be servants in the house of the Lord.


t:
And the families were taken by the decision of the Lord for every door; the small family had the same chance as the great.


t:
And the care of the door on the east came out for Shelemiah. Then the name of Zechariah his son, a man wise in discussion, came out, and the door on the north was given to him.


t:
To Hosah, the door on the west, by the door of Shallecheth, at the footway which goes up, watch by watch.


t:
On the east were six Levites a day, and on the north and the south four a day, and for the store-house two and two.


t:
And the Levites their brothers were responsible for the stores of the house of God and the holy things.


t:
The sons of Ladan: sons of the Gershonites of the family of Ladan, heads of families of Ladan the Gershonite, Jehieli.


t:
The sons of Jehieli: Zetham and Joel, his brother, had the care of the stores of the house of the Lord.


t:
And his brothers: of Eliezer, Rehabiah his son, and Jeshaiah his son, and Joram his son, and Zichri his son, and Shelomoth his son.


t:
Shelomoth and his brothers were responsible for all the store of holy things which David the king and the heads of families, the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and the captains of the army, had given to the Lord.


t:
From the goods taken in war, they gave, as a holy offering, materials for the building of the house of the Lord.


t:
And everything Samuel the prophet and Saul, the son of Kish, and Abner, the son of Ner, and Joab, the son of Zeruiah, had made holy; whatever anyone had given, it was under the care of Shelomoth and his brothers.


t:
Of the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons had to do all the public business of Israel, in relation to judges and men in authority.


t:
Of the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his brothers, seventeen hundred able men, were overseers of Israel on the other side of the Jordan, to the west, being responsible for all the work of the Lord's house and for the work done by the king's servants.


t:
Of the Hebronites, Jerijah was the chief of all the Hebronites, in their generations by families. In the fortieth year of the rule of David a search was made, and able men were seen among them at Jazer of Gilead.


t:
And his brothers were two thousand, seven hundred able men, heads of families, whom King David made overseers over the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in everything to do with God, and for the king's business.


t:
Now the number of the children of Israel, that is, the heads of families, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and the men in authority who were servants of the king in anything to do with the divisions which came in and went out month by month through all the months of the year, in every division were twenty-four thousand.


t:
Over the first division for the first month was Ishbaal, the son of Zabdiel; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.


t:
And over the division for the second month was Eleazar, the son of Dodai the Ahohite, the ruler; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.


t:
The third captain of the army for the third month was Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada the priest; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.


t:
This is the same Benaiah who was the great man of the thirty, chief of the thirty; and in his division was Ammizabad his son.


t:
The fourth captain for the fourth month was Asahel, the brother of Joab, and Zebadiah his son after him; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.


t:
The fifth captain for the fifth month was Shamhuth the Izrahite; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.


t:
The sixth captain for the sixth month was Ira, the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.


t:
The seventh captain for the seventh month was Helez the Pelonite, of the sons of Ephraim; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.


t:
The eighth captain for the eighth month was Sibbecai the Hushathite, of the Zerahites; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.


t:
The ninth captain for the ninth month was Abiezer the Anathothite, of the Benjamites; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.


t:
The tenth captain for the tenth month was Maharai the Netophathite, of the Zerahites; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.


t:
The eleventh captain for the eleventh month was Benaiah the Pirathonite, of the sons of Ephraim; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.


t:
The twelfth captain for the twelfth month was Heldai the Netophathite, of Othniel; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.


t:
And over the tribes of Israel: the ruler of the Reubenites was Eliezer, the son of Zichri; of the Simeonites, Shephatiah, the son of Maacah;


t:
Of the children of Ephraim, Hoshea, the son of Azaziah; of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joel, the son of Pedaiah;


t:
Of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead, Iddo, the son of Zechariah; of Benjamin, Jaasiel, the son of Abner;


t:
But David did not take the number of those who were under twenty years old, for the Lord had said that he would make Israel like the stars of heaven in number.


t:
The numbering was started by Joab, the son of Zeruiah, but he did not go on to the end; and because of it, wrath came on Israel and the number was not recorded in the history of King David.


t:
And Azmaveth, the son of Adiel, was controller of the king's property; Jonathan, the son of Uzziah, had control of all store-houses in country places and in the towns and little towns and strong places;


t:
Shimei the Ramathite was responsible for the vine-gardens; Zabdi the Shiphmite was responsible for the produce of the vine-gardens and for all the stores of wine;


t:
Baal-hanan the Gederite was responsible for the olive-trees and the sycamore-trees in the lowlands; and Joash for the stores of oil;


t:
And Shitrai the Sharonite was responsible for the herds in the grass-lands of Sharon, and Shaphat, the son of Adlai, for those in the valleys;


t:
The flocks were in the care of Jaziz the Hagarite. All these were the controllers of King David's property.


t:
Now Jonathan, David's father's brother, expert in discussion, and a man of good sense, was a scribe; and Jehiel the son of Hachmoni, had the care of the king's sons;


t:
After Ahithophel was Jehoiada, the son of Benaiah, and Abiathar; and the captain of the king's army was Joab.


t:
And David got together at Jerusalem all the rulers of Israel, the chiefs of the tribes and the captains of the divisions waiting on the king in turn, and the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds and the controllers of all the goods and property of the king and his sons, with the unsexed servants and the great men of war.


t:
Then David the king got up and said, Give ear to me, my brothers and my people; it was my desire to put up a house, a resting-place for the ark of the Lord's agreement, and for the foot-rest of our God; and I had got material ready for the building of it.


t:
But God said to me, You are not to be the builder of a house for my name, because you are a man of war and have taken life;


t:
Though the Lord, the God of Israel, took me out of all my father's family, to be king over Israel for ever, marking out Judah to be chief, and, of the people of Judah, my father's family; and among the sons of my father he was pleased to make me king over all Israel;


t:
And of all my sons (for the Lord has given me a great number of sons) he has made selection of Solomon to take his place on the seat of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.


t:
And he said to me, Solomon your son will be the builder of my house and the open spaces round it; for I have taken him to be my son, and I will be his father.


t:
I will keep his kingdom in its place for ever, if he is strong at all times to do my orders and keep my rules, as at this day.


t:
So now, before the eyes of all Israel, the people of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, keep and be true to the orders of the Lord your God; so that you may have this good land for yourselves and give it for a heritage to your children after you for ever.


t:
And you, Solomon my son, get knowledge of the God of your father, and be his servant with a true heart and with a strong desire, for the Lord is the searcher of all hearts, and has knowledge of all the designs of men's thoughts; if you make search for him, he will be near you; but if you are turned away from him, he will give you up for ever.


t:
Now then, take note; for the Lord has made selection of you to be the builder of a house for the holy place. Be strong and do it.


t:
Then David gave to his son Solomon the design of the doorway of the house of God and of its houses and its store-houses, and the higher rooms and the inner rooms and the place for the mercy-seat;


t:
And the design of all he had in his heart for the outer squares of the house of the Lord, and for the rooms all round it, and for the store-houses of the house of the Lord, and for the store-houses for the holy things;


t:
And for the divisions of the priests and Levites, and for all the work in connection with the worship of the house of the Lord, and all the vessels used in the house of the Lord;


t:
Of gold, by weight, for the vessels of gold, for all the vessels of different uses; and silver for all the vessels of silver by weight, for vessels of different uses;


t:
And gold by weight for the light-supports and the vessels for the lights, the weight of gold needed for every support and every vessel for lights; and for the silver light-supports, the weight of silver needed for every support and for the different vessels as every one was to be used;


t:
And gold by weight for the tables for the holy bread for every table, and silver for the silver tables;


t:
Clear gold for the meat-hooks and the basins and the cups; for the gold basins, gold enough by weight for every basin; and silver by weight for every silver basin;


t:
And the best gold for the altar of perfumes; and gold for the design of the carriage, for the winged ones whose wings were outstretched covering the ark of the Lord's agreement.


t:
All this, said David, the design for all these things, has been made dear to me in writing by the hand of the Lord.


t:
And David said to his son Solomon, Be strong and of a good heart and do your work; have no fear and do not be troubled, for the Lord God, my God, is with you; he will not give you up, and his face will not be turned away from you, till all the work necessary for the house of the Lord is complete.


t:
And see, there are the divisions of the priests and Levites for all the work of the house of God; and every trained and expert workman will be ready to do for you whatever is needed; and the captains and the people will be under your orders in everything.


t:
And David the king said to all the people, Solomon my son, the only one who has been marked out by God, is still young and untested, and the work is great, for this great house is not for man, but for the Lord God.


t:
Now as far as I am able, I have made ready what is needed for the house of my God; the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the silver things, and the brass for the brass things, iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood; beryls and jewels to be framed, and stones of different colours for ornament; all sorts of stones of great price, and polished building-stone, as much as is needed and more.


t:
And because this house of God is dear to me, I give my private store of gold and silver to the house of my God, in addition to all I have got ready for the holy house;


t:
Even three thousand talents of gold of Ophir and seven thousand talents of the best silver, for plating the walls of the house:


t:
Gold for the gold things, and silver for the silver things, and for every sort of work to be done by the expert workmen. Who then will come forward, offering himself this day for the Lord's work?


t:
Then the heads of families and the chiefs of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the controllers of the king's business, freely gave themselves;


t:
And they gave for the use of the house of the Lord, five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, and ten thousand talents of silver, and eighteen thousand talents of brass, and a hundred thousand talents of iron.


t:
And those who had stones of great price gave them to the store of the house of the Lord, under the care of Jehiel the Gershonite.


t:
Then the people were glad because their offerings were freely given, for with a true heart they freely gave what they had to the Lord; and David the king was full of joy.


t:
So David gave praise to the Lord before all the people; and David said, Praise be to you, O Lord the God of Israel, our father for ever and ever.


t:
Yours, O Lord, is the strength and the power and the glory, and the authority and the honour: for everything in heaven and on earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are lifted up as head over all.


t:
Wealth and honour come from you, and you are ruler over all, and in your hand is power and strength; it is in your power to make great, and to give strength to all.


t:
But who am I and what is my people, that we have power to give so freely in this way? for all things come from you, and what we have given you is yours.


t:
For we, as all our fathers were, are like men from a strange country before you, who have got a place for a time in the land; our days on the earth are like a shade, and there is no hope of going on.


t:
O Lord our God, all this store, which we have made ready for the building of a house for your holy name, comes from your hand and is yours.


t:
And I am conscious, my God, that you are the searcher of hearts, taking pleasure in righteousness. As for me, with an upright heart I have freely given all these things; and I have seen with joy your people who are here to make their offerings freely to you.


t:
O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the deepest thoughts of your people, and let their hearts be fixed and true to you;


t:
And give to Solomon my son a true heart, to keep your orders, your rules, and your laws, and to do all these things, and to put up this great house for which I have made ready.


t:
And David said to all the people, Now give praise to the Lord your God. And all the people gave praise to the Lord, the God of their fathers, with bent heads worshipping the Lord and the king.


t:
And they made offerings to the Lord, and gave burned offerings to the Lord, on the day after, a thousand oxen, a thousand sheep, and a thousand lambs, with their drink offerings, and a great wealth of offerings for all Israel.


t:
And with great joy they made a feast before the Lord that day. And they made Solomon, the son of David, king a second time, putting the holy oil on him to make him holy to the Lord as ruler, and on Zadok as priest.


t:
So Solomon was put on the seat of the Lord as king in place of his father David, and everything went well for him; and all Israel was under his authority.


t:
And all the chiefs and the men of war and all the sons of King David put themselves under the authority of Solomon the king.


t:
And the Lord made Solomon great in the eyes of all Israel, clothing him with glory and honour such as no other king in Israel had had before him.


t:
For forty years he was ruling as king over Israel, seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.


t:
And he came to his end after a long life, full of days and great wealth and honour; and Solomon his son became king in his place.


t:
Now all the acts of David, first and last, are recorded in the words of Samuel the seer, and the words of Nathan the prophet, and the words of Gad the seer;


t:
Together with all his rule and his power, and the events which took place in his time, in Israel and in all the kingdoms of other lands.


t:
And Solomon, the son of David, made himself strong in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and made him very great.


t:
And Solomon sent word to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds and to the judges and to every chief in all Israel, heads of their families.


t:
Then Solomon, and all the men of Israel with him, went to the high place at Gibeon, because the Tent of meeting of God, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, had made in the waste land, was there.


t:
But the ark of God had been moved by David from Kiriath-jearim to the place which he had made ready for it, for he had put up a tent for it at Jerusalem.


t:
And the altar of brass which Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the Tent of the Lord; and Solomon and all the people went to give worship there.


t:
And Solomon went up there to the brass altar before the Lord at the Tent of meeting, offering on it a thousand burned offerings.


t:
And Solomon said to God, Great was your mercy to David my father, and you have made me king in his place.


t:
Now, O Lord God, let your word to David my father come true; for you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in number.


t:
Give me now wisdom and knowledge, so that I may go out and come in before this people: for who is able to be the judge of this great people of yours?


t:
And God said to Solomon, Because this was in your heart, and you did not make request for money, property, or honour, or for the destruction of your haters, or for long life; but you have made request for wisdom and knowledge for yourself, so that you may be the judge of my people over whom I have made you king:


t:
Wisdom and knowledge are given to you; and I will give you wealth and honour, such as no king has had before you or ever will have after you.


t:
So Solomon went back from the high place at Gibeon, from before the Tent of meeting, to Jerusalem; and he was king over Israel.


t:
And Solomon got together war-carriages and horsemen; he had one thousand, four hundred carriages and twelve thousand horsemen, which he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king at Jerusalem.


t:
And the king made silver and gold as common as stones in Jerusalem, and cedar like the sycamore-trees of the lowland in number.


t:
A war-carriage might be got from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty: they got them at the same rate for all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.


t:
Now it was Solomon's purpose to put up a house for the name of the Lord and a house for himself as king.


t:
And Solomon had seventy thousand men numbered for transport, and eighty thousand for cutting stone in the mountains, and three thousand, six hundred as overseers.


t:
And Solomon sent to Huram, king of Tyre, saying, As you did for my father David, sending him cedar-trees for the building of his house,


t:
See! I am building a house for the name of the Lord my God, to be made holy to him, where perfumes of sweet spices will be burned before him, and the holy bread will be placed at all times, and burned offerings will be offered morning and evening, on the Sabbaths and at the new moons, and on the regular feasts of the Lord our God. This is a law for ever to Israel.


t:
But who may have strength enough to make a house for him, seeing that the heaven and the heaven of heavens are not wide enough to be his resting-place? who am I then to make a house for him? But I am building it only for the burning of perfume before him.


t:
So now send me an expert worker in gold and silver and brass and iron? in purple and red and blue, and in the cutting of all sorts of ornament, to be with the expert workmen who are here in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom my father David got together.


t:
And send me cedar-trees, cypress-trees and sandal-wood from Lebanon, for, to my knowledge, your servants are expert wood-cutters in Lebanon; and my servants will be with yours,


t:
To get trees for me in great numbers, for the house which I am building is to be great and a wonder.


t:
And I will give as food to your servants, the wood-cutters, twenty thousand measures of grain, and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand measures of wine and twenty thousand measures of oil.


t:
Then Huram, king of Tyre, sent Solomon an answer in writing, saying, Because of his love for his people the Lord has made you king over them.


t:
And Huram said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, maker of heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, full of wisdom and good sense, to be the builder of a house for the Lord and a house for himself as king.


t:
The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, whose father was a man of Tyre, an expert worker in gold and silver and brass and iron, in stone and wood, in purple and blue and fair linen and red, trained in the cutting of every sort of ornament and the invention of every sort of design; let him be given a place among your expert workmen and those of my lord, your father David.


t:
And we will have wood cut from Lebanon, as much as you have need of, and will send it to you on flat boats by sea to Joppa, and from there you may take it up to Jerusalem.


t:
Then Solomon took the number of all the men from strange lands who were living in Israel, as his father David had done; there were a hundred and fifty-three thousand, six hundred.


t:
Seventy thousand he put to the work of transport, eighty thousand to cutting stone in the mountains, and three thousand, six hundred as overseers to put the people to work.


t:
Then Solomon made a start at building the house of the Lord on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, where the Lord had been seen by his father David, in the place which David had made ready in the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.


t:
And Solomon put the base of the house of God in position; by the older measure it was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide.


t:
And the covered way in front of the house was twenty cubits long, as wide as the house, and a hundred and twenty cubits high, all plated inside with the best gold.


t:
And the greater house was roofed with cypress-wood, plated with the best gold and ornamented with designs of palm-trees and chains.


t:
All the house was plated with gold, the supports, the steps, the walls and the doors; and the walls were ornamented with designs of winged ones.


t:
And he made the most holy place; it was twenty cubits long, and twenty cubits wide, like the greater house, and was plated all over with the best gold; six hundred talents were used for it.


t:
And fifty shekels weight of gold was used for the nails. He had all the higher rooms plated with gold.


t:
Their outstretched wings were twenty cubits across; one wing, five cubits long, touching the wall of the house, and the other, of the same size, meeting the wing of the other winged one.


t:
And in the same way, the wings of the other, five cubits long, were stretched out, one touching the wall and the other meeting the wing of the first winged one.


t:
Their outstretched wings were twenty cubits across; they were placed upright on their feet, facing the inner part of the house.


t:
And in front of the house he made two pillars, thirty-five cubits high, with crowns on the tops of them, five cubits high.


t:
And he made chains, like neck ornaments, and put them on the tops of the pillars, and a hundred apples on the chains.


t:
He put up the pillars in front of the Temple, one on the right side and one on the left, naming the one on the right Jachin and that on the left Boaz.


t:
And he made the great water-vessel of metal, round in form, measuring ten cubits across from edge to edge; it was five cubits high and thirty cubits round.


t:
And under it was a design of flowers all round it, ten to a cubit, circling the water-vessel in two lines; they were made from liquid metal at the same time as the water-vessel.


t:
It was supported on twelve oxen, three facing to the north, three to the west, three to the south, and three to the east, the water-vessel resting on top of them; their back parts were all turned to the middle of it.


t:
It was as thick as a man's open hand, and the edge of it was curved like the edge of a cup, like a lily flower; it would take three thousand baths.


t:
And he made ten washing-vessels, putting five on the right side and five on the left; such things as were used in making the burned offering were washed in them; but the great water-vessel was to be used by the priests for washing themselves.


t:
And he made the ten gold supports for the lights, as directions had been given for them, and he put them in the Temple, five on the right side and five on the left.


t:
He made ten tables, and put them in the Temple, five on the right side and five on the left. And he made a hundred gold basins.


t:
Then he made the open space for the priests, and the great open space and its doors, plating the doors with brass.


t:
And Huram made all the pots and the spades and the basins. So he came to the end of all the work he did for King Solomon in the house of God:


t:
The two pillars, and the two crowns on the tops of the pillars, and the network covering the two cups of the crowns on the tops of the pillars;


t:
And the four hundred apples for the network, two lines of apples for the network covering the two cups of the crowns on the pillars.


t:
All the pots and the spades and the meat-hooks and their vessels, which Huram, who was as his father, made for King Solomon for the house of the Lord, were of polished brass.


t:
The king made them of liquid metal in the lowland of Jordan, in the soft earth between Succoth and Zeredah.


t:
So Solomon made all these vessels, a very great store of them, and the weight of the brass used was not measured.


t:
And Solomon made all the vessels used in the house of God, the gold altar and the tables on which the holy bread was placed,


t:
And the supports for the lights with their lights, to be burning in the regular way in front of the inmost room, of the best gold;


t:
The flowers and the vessels for the lights and the instruments used for them, were all of gold; it was the best gold.


t:
The scissors and the basins and the spoons and the fire-trays, of the best gold; and the inner doors of the house, opening into the most holy place, and the doors of the Temple, were all of gold.


t:
So all the work which Solomon did for the house of the Lord was complete. And Solomon took the holy things which David his father had given, the silver and the gold and all the vessels, and put them in the store-houses of the house of God.


t:
Then Solomon sent for all the responsible men of Israel, all the chiefs of the tribes and the heads of families of the children of Israel, to come to Jerusalem and take the ark of the Lord's agreement up out of the town of David, which is Zion.


t:
They took up the ark and the Tent of meeting and all the holy vessels which were in the Tent; all these the priests, the Levites, took up.


t:
And King Solomon and all the men of Israel who had come together there with him, were before the ark, making offerings of sheep and oxen more than might be numbered.


t:
And the priests took the ark of the Lord's agreement and put it in its place, in the inner room of the house, in the most holy place, under the wings of the winged ones.


t:
The rods were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place before the inmost room; but they were not seen from outside; and there they are to this day.


t:
Nothing was in the ark but the two flat stones which Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made an agreement with the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt.


t:
Now when the priests had come out of the holy place, (for all the priests who were present had made themselves holy, not keeping to their divisions;


t:
And the Levites who made the music, all of them, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and brothers, robed in fair linen, were in their places with their brass and corded instruments at the east side of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests blowing horns;)


t:
And when the players on horns, and those who made melody in song, with one voice were sounding the praise and glory of the Lord; with loud voices and with wind instruments, and brass and corded instruments of music, praising the Lord and saying, He is good; his mercy is unchanging for ever: then the house was full of the cloud of the glory of the Lord,


t:
So that the priests were not able to keep their places to do their work because of the cloud; for the house of God was full of the glory of the Lord.


t:
Then Solomon said, O Lord, to the sun you have given the heaven for a living-place, but your living-place was not seen by men,


t:
And he said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who himself gave his word to my father David, and with his strong hand has made his word come true, saying,


t:
From the day when I took my people out of the land of Egypt, no town in all the tribes of Israel has been marked out by me for the building of a house for the resting-place of my name; and I took no man to be a ruler over my people Israel;


t:
But now I have made selection of Jerusalem, that my name might be there, and of David, to be over my people Israel.


t:
Now it was in the heart of my father David to put up a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.


t:
But the Lord said to David my father, You did well to have in your heart the desire to make a house for my name:


t:
But you yourself will not be the builder of the house; but your son, the offspring of your body, he it is who will put up a house for my name.


t:
And the Lord has kept his word; for I have taken my father David's place on the seat of the kingdom of Israel, as the Lord gave his word; and I have made the house for the name of the Lord the God of Israel.


t:
And there I have put the ark, in which is the agreement of the Lord, which he made with the people of Israel.


t:
(For Solomon had made a brass stage, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had put it in the middle of the open space; on this he took his place and went down on his knees before all the meeting of Israel, stretching out his hands to heaven.)


t:
And he said, O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth; keeping faith and mercy unchanging for your servants, while they go in your ways with all their hearts;


t:
For you have kept the word which you gave to your servant David, my father; with your mouth you said it and with your hand you have made it come true this day.


t:
So now, O Lord, the God of Israel, let your word to your servant David, my father, come true, when you said, You will never be without a man to take his place before me on the seat of the kingdom of Israel; if only your children give attention to their ways, walking in my law, as you have done before me.


t:
But is it truly possible that God may be housed with men on earth? see, heaven and the heaven of heavens are not wide enough to be your resting-place: how much less this house which I have made:


t:
Still, let your heart be turned to the prayer of your servant and to his prayer for grace, O Lord my God, and give ear to the cry and the prayer which your servant makes before you;


t:
That your eyes may be open to this house day and night, to this place of which you have said that you would put your name there; to give ear to the prayer which your servant may make, turning to this place.


t:
And give ear to the prayers of your servant and of your people Israel, when they make their prayers, turning to this place; give ear from heaven your living-place; and hearing have mercy.


t:
If a man does wrong to his neighbour and has to take an oath, and comes before your altar to take his oath in this house:


t:
Then let your ear be open in heaven, and be the judge of your servants, giving punishment to the wrongdoer, so that his sin may come on his head; and, by your decision, keeping from evil him who has done no wrong.


t:
And if your people Israel are overcome in war, because of their sin against you; if they are turned to you again, honouring your name, making prayers and requesting your grace in this house:


t:
Then give ear from heaven, and let the sin of your people Israel have forgiveness, and take them back again to the land which you gave to them and to their fathers.


t:
When heaven is shut up and there is no rain, because of their sin against you: if they make prayers with their faces turned to this place, honouring your name and turning away from their sin when you send trouble on them:


t:
Then give ear from heaven, so that the sin of your servants and the sin of your people Israel may have forgiveness, when you make clear to them the good way in which they are to go; and send rain on your land which you have given to your people for their heritage.


t:
If there is no food in the land, if there is disease, if the fruits of the earth are damaged by heat or water, locust or worm; if their towns are shut in by their attackers: whatever trouble or whatever disease there may be:


t:
Then give ear from heaven your living-place, answering with forgiveness, and give to every man, whose secret heart is open to you, the reward of all his ways; (for you, and you only, have knowledge of the hearts of the children of men;)


t:
So that they may give you worship, walking in your ways, as long as they are living in the land which you gave to our fathers.


t:
And as for the man from a strange land, who is not of your people Israel but comes from a far country because of the glory of your name and your strong hand and your outstretched arm; when he comes to make his prayer, turning to this house:


t:
Then give ear from heaven your living-place, and give him his desire, whatever it may be; so that all the peoples of the earth may have knowledge of your name, worshipping you as do your people Israel, and may see that this house which I have made is truly named by your name.


t:
If your people go out to war against their attackers, by whatever way you may send them, if they make their prayers to you turning their faces to this town of yours and to this house which I have put up for your name:


t:
If they do wrong against you, (for no man is without sin,) and you are angry with them, and give them up into the power of those who are fighting against them, so that they take them away prisoners to a land far off or near;


t:
And if they take thought, in the land where they are prisoners, turning again to you, crying out in prayer to you in that land, and saying, We are sinners, we have done wrong, we have done evil;


t:
If with all their heart and soul they are turned again to you, in the land where they are prisoners, the land where they have been taken, and make their prayers, turning their eyes to their land which you gave to their fathers, and to the town which you took for yourself, and the house which I have made for your name:


t:
Then give ear from heaven your living-place to their prayer and their cry, and see right done to them, answering with forgiveness your people who have done wrong against you.


t:
Up! now, O Lord God, come back to your resting-place, you and the ark of your strength: let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints be glad in what is good.


t:
O Lord God, let him whom you have taken for yourself never be given up by you: keep in mind your mercies to David your servant.


t:
Now when Solomon's prayers were ended, fire came down from heaven, burning up all the offerings; and the house was full of the glory of the Lord.


t:
And the priests were not able to go into the house of the Lord, for the Lord's house was full of the glory of the Lord.


t:
And all the children of Israel were looking on when the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord was on the house; and they went down on their knees, with their faces to the earth, worshipping and praising the Lord, and saying, He is good; for his mercy is unchanging for ever.


t:
King Solomon made an offering of twenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people kept the feast of the opening of the house of God.


t:
And the priests were in their places, and the Levites with their instruments of music for the Lord's song, which David the king had made for the praise of the Lord whose mercy is unchanging for ever, when David gave praise by their hand; and the priests were sounding horns before them; and all Israel were on their feet.


t:
Then Solomon made holy the middle of the open square in front of the house of the Lord, offering the burned offerings there, and the fat of the peace-offerings; for there was not room on the brass altar which Solomon had made for all the burned offerings and the meal offerings and the fat.


t:
So Solomon kept the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great meeting, for the people had come together from the way into Hamath and from as far as the river of Egypt.


t:
And on the eighth day they had a holy meeting; the offerings for making the altar holy went on for seven days, and the feast for seven days.


t:
And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month, he sent the people away to their tents, full of joy and glad in their hearts, because of all the good which the Lord had done to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people.


t:
So Solomon came to the end of building the house of the Lord and the king's house; and everything which it was in his mind to make in the house of the Lord and for himself had been well done.


t:
Now the Lord came to Solomon in a vision by night, and said to him, I have given ear to your prayer, and have taken this place for myself as a house where offerings are to be made.


t:
If, at my word, heaven is shut up, so that there is no rain, or if I send locusts on the land for its destruction, or if I send disease on my people;


t:
If my people, on whom my name is named, make themselves low and come to me in prayer, searching for me and turning from their evil ways; then I will give ear from heaven, overlooking their sin, and will give life again to their land.


t:
For I have taken this house for myself and made it holy, so that my name may be there for ever; and my eyes and my heart will be there at all times.


t:
And as for you, if you will go on your way before me as David your father did, doing whatever I have given you orders to do and keeping my laws and my decisions:


t:
Then I will make strong the seat of your kingdom, as I gave my word to David your father, saying, You will never be without a man to be ruler in Israel.


t:
But if you are turned away from me, and do not keep my orders and my laws which I have put before you, but go and make yourselves servants to other gods, giving them worship:


t:
Then I will have this people uprooted out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, I will put away from before my eyes, and make it an example and a word of shame among all peoples.


t:
And this house will become a mass of broken walls, and everyone who goes by will be overcome with wonder, and will say, Why has the Lord done so to this land and to this house?


t:
And their answer will be, Because they were turned away from the Lord, the God of their fathers, who took them out of the land of Egypt, and took for themselves other gods and gave them worship and became their servants: that is why he has sent all this evil on them.


t:
Now at the end of twenty years, in which time Solomon had put up the house of the Lord and a house for himself,


t:
He took in hand the building up of the towns which Huram had given him, causing the children of Israel to make living-places for themselves there.


t:
And of Baalath, and all the store-towns which Solomon had, and the towns where he kept his war-carriages and his horse men, and everything which it was his pleasure to put up in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land under his rule.


t:
As for all the rest of the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel:


t:
Their men who were still living in the land, and whom the children of Israel had not put an end to, these Solomon put to forced work, as is done to this day;


t:
But Solomon did not make use of the children of Israel as servants for his work; they were men of war, his chiefs and his captains, and captains of his war-carriages and his horsemen.


t:
Now these were the chief men in authority whom King Solomon had: two hundred and fifty of them, in authority over the people.


t:
Then Solomon made Pharaoh's daughter come up from the town of David to the house which he had made for her; for he said, I will not have my wife living in the house of David, king of Israel, because those places where the ark of the Lord has come are holy.


t:
Then Solomon made burned offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord which he had put up in front of the covered way,


t:
Offering every day what had been ordered by Moses, on the Sabbaths and at the new moon and at the regular feasts three times a year, that is at the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, and the feast of tents.


t:
And he gave the divisions of the priests their places for their work, as ordered by his father David, and to the Levites he gave their work of praise and waiting on the priests, to do what was needed day by day; and he gave the door-keepers their places in turn at every door; for so David, the man of God, had given orders.


t:
All the orders given by the king to the priests and Levites, in connection with any business or stores, were done with care.


t:
And all the work of Solomon was complete, from the day when he put the base of the Lord's house in position, till Solomon had come to the end of building the Lord's house.


t:
And Huram sent him, by his servants, ships and experienced seamen, who went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir and came back with four hundred and fifty talents of gold, which they took to King Solomon.


t:
Now the queen of Sheba, hearing great things of Solomon, came to Jerusalem to put his wisdom to the test with hard questions; and with her came a very great train, and camels weighted down with spices, and great stores of gold and jewels: and when she came to Solomon she had talk with him of everything in her mind.


t:
And Solomon gave her answers to all her questions; there was no secret which he did not make clear to her.


t:
And the food at his table, and all his servants seated there, and those who were waiting on him in their places, and their robes, and his wine-servants and their robes, and the burned offerings which he made in the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.


t:
But I had no faith in what was said about you, till I came and saw for myself; and truly, word was not given me of half your great wisdom; you are much greater than they said.


t:
Happy are your wives and happy these your servants whose place is ever before you, hearing your words of wisdom.


t:
Praise be to the Lord your God whose pleasure it was to put you on the seat of his kingdom to be king for the Lord your God: because, in his love for Israel, it was the purpose of your God to make them strong for ever, he made you king over them, to be their judge in righteousness.


t:
And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a great store of spices and jewels: never had such spices been seen as the queen of Sheba gave to Solomon.


t:
And the servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, in addition to gold from Ophir, came back with sandal-wood and jewels.


t:
And with the sandal-wood the king made steps for the house of the Lord and for the king's house, and instruments of music for the makers of melody; never before had such been seen in the land of Judah.


t:
And King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she made request for, in addition to what she had taken to the king. So she went back to her country with her servants.


t:
And in addition to what he got from traders of different sorts, all the kings of Arabia and the rulers of the country gave gold and silver to Solomon.


t:
And King Solomon made two hundred body-covers of hammered gold, every one having six hundred shekels of gold in it.


t:
And he made three hundred smaller body-covers of hammered gold, using three hundred shekels of gold for every cover, and the king put them in the house of the Woods of Lebanon.


t:
There were six steps up to it, and a foot-rest of gold fixed to it, and arms on the two sides of the seat, with two lions at the side of the arms.


t:
And twelve lions were placed on one side and on the other side on the six steps: there was nothing like it in any kingdom.


t:
All King Solomon's drinking-vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the Woods of Lebanon were of the best gold: no one gave a thought to silver in the days of Solomon.


t:
For the king had Tarshish-ships sailing with the servants of Huram: once every three years the Tarshish-ships came back with gold and silver, ivory and monkeys and peacocks.


t:
And all the kings of the earth came to see Solomon and to give ear to his wisdom, which God had put into his heart.


t:
And everyone took with him an offering, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and robes, and coats of metal, and spices, and horses and beasts for transport, regularly year by year.


t:
Solomon had four thousand buildings for his horses and his war-carriages, and twelve thousand horsemen whom he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king in Jerusalem.


t:
And he was ruler over all the kings from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the limit of Egypt.


t:
The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem and cedars like the sycamore-trees of the lowlands in number.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not recorded in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the words of Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh, and in the visions of Iddo the seer about Jeroboam, the son of Nebat?


t:
And Solomon went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the town of David his father; and Rehoboam his son became king in his place.


t:
And when Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, had news of it, (for he was in Egypt where he had gone in flight from King Solomon,) he came back from Egypt.


t:
And they said to him, If you are kind to this people, pleasing them and saying good words to them, then they will be your servants for ever.


t:
But he gave no attention to the opinion of the old men, but went to the young men of his generation who were waiting before him.


t:
And he said to them, What is your opinion? What answer are we to give to this people who have said to me, Make less the weight of the yoke which your father put on us?


t:
And the young men of his generation said to him, This is the answer to give to the people who came to you saying, Your father put a hard yoke on us, but will you make it less; say to them, My little finger is thicker than my father's body;


t:
So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had given orders, saying, Come to me again on the third day.


t:
And the king gave them a rough answer. So King Rehoboam gave no attention to the suggestion of the old men,


t:
But gave them the answer put forward by the young men, saying, My father made your yoke hard, but I will make it harder; my father gave you punishment with whips, but I will give it with snakes.


t:
So the king did not give ear to the people; for this came about by the purpose of God, so that the Lord might give effect to his word which he had said by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.


t:
And when all Israel saw that the king would give no attention to them, the people in answer said to the king, What part have we in David? what is our heritage in the son of Jesse? every man to your tents, O Israel; now see to your house, David. So all Israel went to their tents.


t:
But Rehoboam was still king over those of the children of Israel who were living in the towns of Judah.


t:
Then Rehoboam sent Adoniram, the overseer of the forced work; and he was stoned to death by all Israel. And King Rehoboam went quickly and got into his carriage to go in flight to Jerusalem.


t:
And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, and got together the men of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand of his best fighting-men, to make war against Israel and get the kingdom back for Rehoboam.


t:
The Lord has said, You are not to go to war against your brothers: let every man go back to his house, for this thing is my purpose. So they gave ear to the words of the Lord and were turned back from fighting against Jeroboam.


t:
And in every town he put stores of body-covers and spears, and made them very strong. And Judah and Benjamin were his.


t:
And the priests and Levites who were in all Israel came together to him from every part of their country.


t:
For the Levites gave up their living-places and their property, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; for Jeroboam and his sons had sent them away, not letting them be priests to the Lord;


t:
And he himself made priests for the high places, and for the images of he-goats and oxen which he had made.


t:
And after them, from all the tribes of Israel, all those whose hearts were fixed and true to the Lord, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to make offerings to the Lord, the God of their fathers.


t:
So they went on increasing the power of the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, strong for three years; and for three years they went in the ways of David and Solomon.


t:
And Rehoboam took as his wife Mahalath, the daughter of Jerimoth, the son of David and of Abihail, the daughter of Eliab, the son of Jesse;


t:
And after her he took Maacah, the daughter of Absalom; and she had Abijah and Attai and Ziza and Shelomith by him.


t:
Maacah, the daughter of Absalom, was dearer to Rehoboam than all his wives and his servant-wives: (for he had eighteen wives and sixty servant-wives, and was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.)


t:
Rehoboam made Abijah, the son of Maacah, chief and ruler among his brothers, for it was his purpose to make him king.


t:
And in his wisdom he had his sons stationed in every walled town through all the lands of Judah and Benjamin; and he gave them a great store of food, and took wives for them.


t:
Now when Rehoboam's position as king had been made certain, and he was strong, he gave up the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.


t:
Now in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, because of their sin against the Lord,


t:
With twelve hundred war-carriages and sixty thousand horsemen: and the people who came with him out of Egypt were more than might be numbered: Lubim and Sukkiim and Ethiopians.


t:
Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the chiefs of Judah, who had come together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, The Lord has said, Because you have given me up, I have given you up into the hands of Shishak.


t:
And the Lord, seeing that they had made themselves low, said to Shemaiah, They have made themselves low: I will not send destruction on them, but in a short time I will give them salvation, and will not let loose my wrath on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.


t:
But still they will become his servants, so that they may see how different my yoke is from the yoke of the kingdoms of the lands.


t:
So Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem and took away all the stored wealth of the house of the Lord and the king's house: he took everything away, and with the rest the gold body-covers which Solomon had made.


t:
And in their place King Rehoboam had other body-covers made of brass and gave them into the care of the captains of the armed men who were stationed at the door of the king's house.


t:
And when he made himself low, the wrath of the Lord was turned back from him, and complete destruction did not come on him, for there was still some good in Judah.


t:
So King Rehoboam made himself strong in Jerusalem and was ruling there. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he was ruling for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the town which the Lord had made his out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there; and his mother's name was Naamah, an Ammonite woman.


t:
Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not recorded in the words of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.


t:
And Rehoboam went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the town of David; and Abijah his son became king in his place.


t:
He was king in Jerusalem for three years; his mother's name was Maacah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.


t:
And Abijah went out to the fight with an army of men of war, four hundred thousand of his best men; and Jeroboam put his forces in line against him, eight hundred thousand of his best men of war.


t:
And Abijah took up his position on Mount Zemaraim, in the hill-country of Ephraim, and said, Give ear to me, O Jeroboam and all Israel:


t:
Is it not clear to you that the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the rule over Israel to David and to his sons for ever, by an agreement made with salt?


t:
But Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, the son of David, took up arms against his lord.


t:
And certain foolish and good-for-nothing men were joined with him, and made themselves strong against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when he was young and untested and not able to keep them back.


t:
And now it is your purpose to put yourselves against the authority which the Lord has put into the hands of the sons of David, and you are a very great number, and you have with you the gold oxen which Jeroboam made to be your gods.


t:
And after driving out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, have you not made priests for yourselves as the people of other lands do? so that anyone who comes to make himself priest by offering an ox or seven sheep, may be a priest of those who are no gods.


t:
But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not been turned away from him; we have priests who do the work of the Lord, even the sons of Aaron and the Levites in their places;


t:
By whom burned offerings and perfumes are sent up in smoke before the Lord every morning and every evening; and they put out the holy bread on its table and the gold support for the lights with its lights burning every evening; for we keep the orders given to us by the Lord our God, but you have gone away from him.


t:
And now God is with us at our head, and his priests with their loud horns sounding against you. O children of Israel, do not make war on the Lord, the God of your fathers, for it will not go well for you.


t:
But Jeroboam had put some of his men to make a surprise attack on them from the back, so some were facing Judah and others were stationed secretly at their back.


t:
And Judah, turning their faces, saw that they were being attacked in front and at the back; and they gave a cry for help to the Lord, while the priests were sounding their horns.


t:
And the men of Judah gave a loud cry; and at their cry, God put fear into Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.


t:
And Abijah and his people put them to death with great destruction: five hundred thousand of the best of Israel were put to the sword.


t:
So at that time the children of Israel were overcome, and the children of Judah got the better of them, because they put their faith in the Lord, the God of their fathers.


t:
And Abijah went after Jeroboam and took some of his towns, Beth-el with its small towns and Jeshanah with its small towns and Ephron with its small towns.


t:
And Jeroboam did not get back his power again in the life-time of Abijah; and the Lord sent death on him.


t:
But Abijah became great, and had fourteen wives, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.


t:
And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his sayings, are recorded in the account of the prophet Iddo.


t:
So Abijah went to rest with his fathers, and they put him into the earth in the town of David, and Asa his son became king in his place; in his time the land was quiet for ten years.


t:
For he took away the altars of strange gods and the high places, and had the upright stones broken and the wood pillars cut down;


t:
And he took away the high places and the sun-images from all the towns of Judah; and the kingdom was quiet under his rule.


t:
He made walled towns in Judah, for the land was quiet and there were no wars in those years, because the Lord had given him rest.


t:
He said to Judah, Let us make these towns, building walls round them with towers and doors and locks. The land is still ours, because we have been true to the Lord our God; we have been true to him and he has given us rest on every side. So they went on building and all went well for them.


t:
And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men of Judah armed with body-covers and spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand of Benjamin armed with body-covers and bows; all these were men of war.


t:
And Zerah the Ethiopian, with an army of a million, and three hundred war-carriages, came out against them to Mareshah.


t:
And Asa went out against him, and they put their forces in position in the valley north of Mareshah.


t:
And Asa made prayer to the Lord his God and said, Lord, you only are able to give help against the strong to him who has no strength; come to our help, O Lord our God, for our hope is in you, and in your name we have come out against this great army. O Lord, you are our God; let not man's power be greater than yours.


t:
And Asa and the people who were with him went after them as far as Gerar; and so great was the destruction among the Ethiopians that they were not able to get their army together again, for they were broken before the Lord and before his army; and they took away a great amount of their goods.


t:
And they overcame all the towns round Gerar, because the Lord sent fear on them; and they took away their goods from the towns, for there were stores of wealth in them.


t:
And they made an attack on the tents of the owners of the cattle, and took away great numbers of sheep and camels and went back to Jerusalem.


t:
And he came face to face with Asa and said to him, Give ear to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you while you are with him; if your heart's desire is for him, he will be near you, but if you give him up, he will give you up.


t:
Now for a long time Israel has been without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without the law;


t:
But when in their trouble they were turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, searching after him, he let their search be rewarded.


t:
In those times there was no peace for him who went out or for him who came in, but great trouble was on all the people of the lands.


t:
And they were broken by divisions, nation against nation and town against town, because God sent all sorts of trouble on them.


t:
And Asa, hearing these words of Azariah, the son of Oded the prophet, took heart and put away all the disgusting things out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the towns which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he made new again the altar of the Lord in front of the covered way of the Lord's house.


t:
And he got together all Judah and Benjamin and those of Ephraim and Manasseh and Simeon who were living with them; for numbers of them came to him out of Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.


t:
And that day they made offerings to the Lord of the things they had taken in war, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.


t:
And they made an agreement to be true to the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and all their soul;


t:
And that anyone, small or great, man or woman, who was not true to the Lord, the God of Israel, would be put to death.


t:
And all Judah was glad because of the oath, for they had taken it with all their heart, turning to the Lord with all their desire; and he was with them and gave them rest on every side.


t:
And Asa would not let Maacah, his mother, be queen, because she had made a disgusting image for Asherah; and Asa had her image cut down and broken up and burned by the stream Kidron.


t:
But the high places were not taken away out of Israel; but still the heart of Asa was true to the Lord all his life.


t:
He took into the house of God all the things which his father had made holy and those which he himself had made holy, silver and gold and vessels.


t:
In the thirty-sixth year of the rule of Asa, Baasha, king of Israel, went up against Judah, building Ramah so that no one was able to go out or in to Asa, king of Judah.


t:
Then Asa took silver and gold out of the stores of the Lord's house and of the king's store-house, and sent to Ben-hadad, king of Aram, at Damascus, saying,


t:
Let there be an agreement between me and you as there was between my father and your father: see, I have sent you silver and gold; go and put an end to your agreement with Baasha, king of Israel, so that he may give up attacking me.


t:
And Ben-hadad did as King Asa said, and sent the captains of his armies against the towns of Israel, attacking Ijon and Dan and Abel-maim, and all the store-towns of Naphtali.


t:
Then King Asa, with all Judah, took away the stones and wood with which Baasha was building Ramah, and he made use of them for building Geba and Mizpah.


t:
At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah, and said to him, Because you have put your faith in the king of Aram and not in the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has got away out of your hands.


t:
Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a very great army, with war-carriages and horsemen more than might be numbered? but because your faith was in the Lord, he gave them up into your hands.


t:
For the eyes of the Lord go this way and that, through all the earth, letting it be seen that he is the strong support of those whose hearts are true to him. In this you have done foolishly, for from now you will have wars.


t:
Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in prison, burning with wrath against him because of this thing. And at the same time Asa was cruel to some of the people.


t:
In the thirty-ninth year of his rule, Asa had a very bad disease of the feet; but he did not go to the Lord for help in his disease, but to medical men.


t:
And they put him into the resting-place which he had made for himself in the town of David, in a bed full of sweet perfumes of all sorts of spices, made by the perfumer's art, and they made a great burning for him.


t:
He put forces in all the walled towns of Judah, and responsible chiefs in the land of Judah and in the towns of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken.


t:
And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he went in the early ways of his father, not turning to the Baals,


t:
So the Lord made his kingdom strong; and all Judah gave offerings to Jehoshaphat, and he had great wealth and honour.


t:
His heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord; and he went so far as to take away the high places and the wood pillars out of Judah.


t:
In the third year of his rule he sent Benhail and Obadiah and Zechariah and Nethanel and Micaiah, his captains, as teachers into the towns of Judah;


t:
And with them, Shemaiah and Nethaniah and Zebadiah and Asahel and Shemiramoth and Jehonathan and Adonijah and Tobijah and Tob-adonijah, the Levites; and Elishama and Jehoram the priests.


t:
And they gave teaching in Judah and had the book of the law of the Lord with them; they went through all the towns of Judah teaching the people.


t:
And the fear of the Lord was on all the kingdoms of the lands round Judah, so that they made no wars against Jehoshaphat.


t:
And some of the Philistines took offerings to Jehoshaphat, and made him payments of silver; and the Arabians gave him flocks, seven thousand, seven hundred sheep, and seven thousand, seven hundred he-goats.


t:
He had much property in the towns of Judah; he had forces of armed men, great and strong, in Jerusalem.


t:
This is the number of them, listed by their families, the captains of thousands of Judah: Adnah, the captain, and with him three hundred thousand men of war;


t:
After him Amasiah, the son of Zichri, who freely gave himself to the Lord, and with him two hundred thousand men of war;


t:
And the captains of Benjamin: Eliada, a great man of war, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bows and body-covers;


t:
These were the men who were waiting on the king, in addition to those placed by the king in the walled towns through all Judah.


t:
And after some years he went down to Samaria to see Ahab. And Ahab made a feast for him and the people who were with him, putting to death great numbers of sheep and oxen; and he got Jehoshaphat to go with him to Ramoth-gilead.


t:
For Ahab, king of Israel, said to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead? And he said, I am as you are, and my people as your people; we will be with you in the war.


t:
So the king of Israel got together all the prophets, four hundred men, and said to them, Am I to go to Ramoth-gilead to make war or not? And they said, Go up: for God will give it into the hands of the king.


t:
And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is still one man by whom we may get directions from the Lord, but I have no love for him, because he has never been a prophet of good to me, but only of evil: he is Micaiah, the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.


t:
Then the king of Israel sent for one of his unsexed servants and said, Go quickly and come back with Micaiah, the son of Imla.


t:
And Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, made himself iron horns and said, The Lord says, Pushing back the Aramaeans with these, you will put an end to them completely.


t:
Now the servant who had gone to get Micaiah said to him, See now, all the prophets with one voice are saying good things to the king; so let your words be like theirs, and say good things.


t:
When he came to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, are we to go to Ramoth-gilead to make war or not? And he said, Go up, and it will go well for you; and they will be given up into your hands.


t:
And the king said to him, Have I not, again and again, put you on your oath to say nothing to me but what is true in the name of the Lord?


t:
And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not say that he would not be a prophet of good to me, but of evil?


t:
Then he said, Give ear now to the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord seated on his seat of power, and all the army of heaven in their places, at his right hand and at his left.


t:
And the Lord said, How may Ahab, king of Israel, be tricked into going up to Ramoth-gilead to his death? And one said one thing and one another.


t:
Then a spirit came forward and took his place before the Lord and said, I will get him to do it by a trick. And the Lord said to him, How?


t:
And he said, I will go out and be a spirit of deceit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said, Your trick will have its effect on him: go out and do so.


t:
And now, see, the Lord has put a spirit of deceit in the mouth of these prophets of yours; and the Lord has said evil against you.


t:
Then Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, came near and gave Micaiah a blow on the side of his face, saying, Where is the spirit of the Lord whose word is in you?


t:
And say, By the king's order this man is to be put in prison, and given prison food till I come back in peace.


t:
And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will make a change in my clothing, so that I do not seem to be the king, and will go into the fight; but do you put on your robes. So the king of Israel made a change in his dress, and they went to the fight.


t:
Now the king of Aram had given orders to the captains of his war-carriages, saying, Make no attack on small or great, but only on the king of Israel.


t:
So when the captains of the war-carriages saw Jehoshaphat, they said, It is the king of Israel. And turning about, they came round him, but Jehoshaphat gave a cry, and the Lord came to his help, and God sent them away from him.


t:
Now when the captains of the war-carriages saw that he was not the king of Israel, they went back from going after him.


t:
But the fight became more violent while the day went on; and the king of Israel was supported in his war-carriage facing the Aramaeans till the evening; and by sundown he was dead.


t:
And Jehu, the son of Hanani the seer, went to King Jehoshaphat and said to him, Is it right for you to go to the help of evil-doers, loving the haters of the Lord? because of this, the wrath of the Lord has come on you.


t:
But still there is some good in you, for you have put away the wood pillars out of the land, and have given your heart to the worship of God.


t:
And Jehoshaphat was living in Jerusalem; and he went out again among the people, from Beer-sheba to the hill-country of Ephraim, guiding them back to the Lord, the God of their fathers.


t:
And said to the judges, Take care what you do, for you are judging not for man but for the Lord, and he is with you in the decisions you give.


t:
So now let the fear of the Lord be in you; do your work with care; for in the Lord our God there is no evil, or respect for high position, or taking of payment to do wrong.


t:
Then in Jerusalem he gave authority to certain of the Levites and the priests and the heads of families of Israel to give decisions for the Lord, and in the causes of those living in Jerusalem.


t:
And he gave them their orders, saying, You are to do your work in the fear of the Lord, in good faith and with a true heart.


t:
And if any cause comes before you from your brothers living in their towns, where the death punishment is in question, or where there are questions of law or order, or rules or decisions, make them take care that they are not in the wrong before the Lord, so that wrath may not come on you and on your brothers; do this and you yourselves will not be in the wrong.


t:
And now, Amariah, the chief priest, is over you in all questions to do with the Lord; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the head of the family of Judah, in everything to do with the king's business; and the Levites will be overseers for you. Be strong to do the work; and may the Lord be with the upright.


t:
Now after this, the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Meunim, made war against Jehoshaphat.


t:
And they came to Jehoshaphat with the news, saying, A great army is moving against you from Edom across the sea; and now they are in Hazazon-tamar (which is En-gedi).


t:
Then Jehoshaphat, in his fear, went to the Lord for directions, and gave orders all through Judah for the people to go without food.


t:
And Judah came together to make prayer for help from the Lord; from every town of Judah they came to give worship to the Lord.


t:
And Jehoshaphat took his place in the meeting of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord in front of the new open space,


t:
And said, O Lord, the God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? are you not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? and in your hands are power and strength so that no one is able to keep his place against you.


t:
Did you not, O Lord our God, after driving out the people of this land before your people Israel, give it to the seed of Abraham, your friend, for ever?


t:
If evil comes on us, the sword, or punishment, or disease, or need of food, we will come to this house and to you, (for your name is in this house,) crying to you in our trouble, and you will give us salvation in answer to our cry.


t:
And now, see, the children of Ammon and Moab and the people of Mount Seir, whom you kept Israel from attacking when they came out of Egypt, so that turning to one side they did not send destruction on them:


t:
See now, how as our reward they have come to send us out of your land which you have given us as our heritage.


t:
O our God, will you not be their judge? for our strength is not equal to this great army which is coming against us; and we are at a loss what to do: but our eyes are on you.


t:
And all Judah were waiting before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.


t:
Then, before all the meeting, the spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite and one of the family of Asaph;


t:
And he said, Give ear, O Judah, and you people of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat: the Lord says to you, Have no fear and do not be troubled on account of this great army; for the fight is not yours but God's.


t:
Go down against them tomorrow: see, they are coming up by the slope of Ziz; at the end of the valley, before the waste land of Jeruel, you will come face to face with them.


t:
There will be no need for you to take up arms in this fight; put yourselves in position, and keep where you are, and you will see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: have no fear and do not be troubled: go out against them tomorrow, for the Lord is with you.


t:
Then Jehoshaphat went down with his face to the earth, and all Judah and the people of Jerusalem gave worship to the Lord, falling down before him.


t:
And the Levites, the children of the Kohathites and the Korahites, got to their feet and gave praise to the Lord, the God of Israel, with a loud voice.


t:
And early in the morning they got up and went out to the waste land of Tekoa: and when they were going out, Jehoshaphat took his station and said to them, Give ear to me, O Judah and you people of Jerusalem: have faith in the Lord your God and you will be safe; have faith in his prophets and all will go well for you.


t:
And after discussion with the people, he put in their places those who were to make melody to the Lord, praising him in holy robes, while they went at the head of the army, and saying, May the Lord be praised, for his mercy is unchanging for ever.


t:
And at the first notes of song and praise the Lord sent a surprise attack against the children of Ammon and Moab and the people of Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were overcome.


t:
And the children of Ammon and Moab made an attack on the people of Mount Seir with a view to their complete destruction; and when they had put an end to the people of Seir, everyman's hand was turned against his neighbour for his destruction.


t:
And Judah came to the watchtower of the waste land, and looking in the direction of the army, they saw only dead bodies stretched on the earth; no living man was to be seen.


t:
And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their goods from them, they saw beasts in great numbers, and wealth and clothing and things of value, more than they were able to take away; all this they took for themselves, and they were three days getting it away, there was so much.


t:
On the fourth day they all came together in the Valley of Blessing, and there they gave blessing to the Lord; for which cause that place has been named the Valley of Blessing to this day.


t:
Then all the men of Judah and Jerusalem went back, with Jehoshaphat at their head, coming back to Jerusalem with joy; for the Lord had made them glad over their haters.


t:
And the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the lands, when they had news of how the Lord made war on those who came against Israel.


t:
And Jehoshaphat was king over Judah: he was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he was ruling for twenty-five years in Jerusalem: his mother's name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.


t:
The high places, however, were not taken away, and the hearts of the people were still not true to the God of their fathers.


t:
Now as for the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, they are recorded in the words of Jehu, the son of Hanani, which were put in the book of the kings of Israel.


t:
After this Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, became friends with Ahaziah, king of Israel, who did much evil:


t:
Then the word of Eliezer the prophet, the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah, came against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because you have let yourself be joined with Ahaziah, the Lord has sent destruction on your works. And the ships were broken and were not able to go to Tarshish.


t:
And Jehoshaphat went to rest with his fathers, and his body was put into the earth in the town of David. And Jehoram his son became king in his place.


t:
And he had brothers, sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were sons of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel.


t:
And their father gave them much silver and gold and things of great value, as well as walled towns in Judah; but the kingdom he gave to Jehoram, because he was the oldest.


t:
Now when Jehoram had taken his place over his father's kingdom, and had made his position safe, he put all his brothers to death with the sword, as well as some of the princes of Israel.


t:
Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king; and he was ruling in Jerusalem for eight years.


t:
He went in the ways of the kings of Israel, and did as the family of Ahab did, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the eyes of the Lord.


t:
But it was not the Lord's purpose to send destruction on the family of David, because of the agreement he had made with David, when he said he would give to him and to his sons a light for ever.


t:
Then Jehoram went over with his captains and all his war-carriages ... made an attack by night on the Edomites, whose forces were all round him ... on the captains of the war-carriages.


t:
So Edom made themselves free from the rule of Judah, to this day: and at the same time Libnah made itself free from his rule; because he was turned away from the Lord, the God of his fathers.


t:
And more than this, he made high places in the mountains of Judah, teaching the people of Jerusalem to go after false gods, and guiding Judah away from the true way.


t:
And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, The Lord, the God of your father David, says, Because you have not kept to the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or the ways of Asa, king of Judah,


t:
But have gone in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the people of Jerusalem go after false gods, as the family of Ahab did: and because you have put to death your father's sons, your brothers, who were better than yourself:


t:
Now, truly, the Lord will send a great destruction on your people and your children and your wives and everything which is yours:


t:
And you yourself will undergo the cruel pains of a disease in your stomach, so that day by day your inside will be falling out because of the disease.


t:
Then the Philistines and the Arabians, who are by Ethiopia, were moved by the Lord to make war on Jehoram;


t:
And they came up against Judah, forcing a way into it, and took away all the goods in the king's house, as well as his sons and his wives; so that he had no son but only Jehoahaz, the youngest.


t:
And after all this the Lord sent on him a disease of the stomach from which it was impossible for him to be made well.


t:
And time went on, and after two years, his inside falling out because of the disease, he came to his death in cruel pain. And his people made no burning for him like the burning made for his fathers.


t:
He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for eight years: and at his death he was not regretted; they put his body into the earth in the town of David, but not in the resting-place of the kings.


t:
And the people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his place, for the band of men who came with the Arabians to the army had put all the older sons to death. So Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, became king.


t:
Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for one year. His mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri.


t:
And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the family of Ahab did; for after the death of his father they were his guides to his destruction.


t:
Acting on their suggestion, he went with Jehoram, son of Ahab, king of Israel, to make war on Hazael, king of Aram, at Ramoth-gilead: and Joram was wounded by the bowmen.


t:
And he went back to Jezreel to get well from the wounds which they had given him at Ramah when he was fighting against Hazael, king of Aram. And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to Jezreel to see Jehoram, the son of Ahab, because he was ill.


t:
Now by the purpose of God, Ahaziah's journey to see Jehoram was the cause of his downfall: for when he came there, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu, the son of Nimshi, who had been marked out by the Lord for the destruction of the family of Ahab.


t:
Now when Jehu was effecting the punishment of the family of Ahab, he came to the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's brothers, the servants of Ahaziah, and put them to death.


t:
And he went in search of Ahaziah; and when they came where he was, (for he was in a secret place in Samaria,) they took him to Jehu and put him to death; then they put his body to rest in the earth, for they said, He is the son of Jehoshaphat, whose heart was true to the Lord. So the family of Ahaziah had no power to keep the kingdom.


t:
Now when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she had all the rest of the seed of the kingdom of Judah put to death.


t:
But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, secretly took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, away from among the king's sons who were put to death, and put him and the woman who took care of him in a bedroom. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest and sister of Ahaziah, kept him safe from Athaliah, so that she did not put him to death.


t:
And she kept him safe with her in the house of God for six years, while Athaliah was ruling the land.


t:
In the seventh year, Jehoiada made himself strong, and made an agreement with the captains of hundreds, Azariah, the son of Jeroham, Ishmael, the son of Jehohanan, Azariah, the son of Obed, Maaseiah, the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat, the son of Zichri.


t:
And they went through Judah, getting together the Levites and the heads of families in Israel from all the towns of Judah, and they came to Jerusalem.


t:
And all the people made an agreement with the king in the house of God. And he said to them, Truly, the king's son will be king, as the Lord has said about the sons of David.


t:
This is what you are to do: let a third of you, of the priests and Levites, who come in on the Sabbath, keep the doors;


t:
And a third are to be stationed at the king's house; and a third at the doorway of the horses: while all the people are waiting in the open spaces round the house of the Lord.


t:
But let no one come into the house of the Lord but only the priests and those of the Levites who have work to do there; they may go in for they are holy; but the rest of the people are to keep the orders of the Lord.


t:
And the Levites are to make a circle round the king, every man being armed; and any man who comes into the house is to be put to death; you are to keep with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.


t:
So the Levites and all Judah did as Jehoiada the priest had given them orders: every one took with him his men, those who were to come in and those who were to go out on the Sabbath; for Jehoiada had not sent away the divisions.


t:
Then Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and body-covers which had been King David's and which were kept in the house of God.


t:
And he put all the people in position, every man with his instruments of war in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left, by the altar and the house and all round the king.


t:
Then they made the king's son come out, and they put the crown on his head and gave him the arm-bands and made him king: and Jehoiada and his sons put the holy oil on him and said, Long life to the king.


t:
Now Athaliah, hearing the noise of the people running and praising the king, came to the people in the house of the Lord:


t:
And looking, she saw the king in his place by the pillar at the doorway, and the captains and the horns by his side; and all the people of the land were giving signs of joy and sounding the horns; and the makers of melody were playing on instruments of music, taking the chief part in the song of praise. Then Athaliah, violently parting her robes, said, Broken faith, broken faith!


t:
Then Jehoiada the priest gave orders to the captains of hundreds who had authority over the army, saying, Take her outside the lines, and let anyone who goes after her be put to death with the sword. For the priest said, Let her not be put to death in the house of the Lord.


t:
So they put their hands on her, and she went to the king's house by the doorway of the king's horses; and there she was put to death.


t:
And Jehoiada made an agreement between the Lord and all the people and the king, that they would be the Lord's people.


t:
Then all the people went to the house of Baal and had it pulled down, and its altars and images broken up; and Mattan, the priest of Baal, they put to death before the altars.


t:
And Jehoiada put the work and the care of the house of the Lord into the hands of the priests and the Levites, who had been grouped in divisions by David to make burned offerings to the Lord, as it is recorded in the law of Moses, with joy and song as David had said.


t:
And he put door-keepers at the doors of the Lord's house, to see that no one who was unclean in any way might come in.


t:
Then he took the captains of hundreds and the chiefs and the rulers of the people and all the people of the land, and they came down with the king from the house of the Lord through the higher doorway into the king's house, and put the king on the seat of the kingdom.


t:
So all the people of the land were glad and the town was quiet, for they had put Athaliah to death with the sword.


t:
Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he was ruling for forty years in Jerusalem: his mother's name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba.


t:
And getting together the priests and Levites, he said to them, Go out into the towns of Judah year by year, and get from all Israel money to keep the house of your God in good condition; and see that this is done without loss of time. The Levites, however, were slow in doing so.


t:
Then the king sent for Jehoiada, the chief priest, and said to him, Why have you not given the Levites orders that the tax fixed by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and by the meeting of Israel, for the Tent of witness, is to be got in from Judah and Jerusalem and handed over?


t:
For the house of the Lord had been broken up by Athaliah, that evil woman, and her sons; and all its holy things they had given to the Baals.


t:
And an order was sent out through all Judah and Jerusalem that payment was to be made to the Lord of the tax which Moses, the servant of God, had put on Israel in the waste land.


t:
And all the chiefs and all the people came gladly and put their money into the chest, till they had all given.


t:
So when the chest was taken to the king's servants by the Levites, and they saw that there was much money in it, the king's scribe and the chief priest's servant took the money out, and put the chest back in its place. They did this day by day, and got together a great amount of money.


t:
Then the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who were responsible for getting the work done on the Lord's house, and with it they got wall-builders and woodworkers and metal-workers to put the house of the Lord in good order again.


t:
So the workmen did their work, making good what was damaged and building up the house of God till it was strong and beautiful again.


t:
And when the work was done, they took the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and it was used for making the vessels for the house of the Lord, all the vessels needed for the offerings, the spoons and the vessels of gold and silver. And as long as Jehoiada was living, the regular burned offerings were offered in the house of the Lord.


t:
But Jehoiada became old and full of days, and he came to his end; he was a hundred and thirty years old at the time of his death.


t:
And they put him into his last resting-place in the town of David, among the kings, because he had done good in Israel for God and for his house.


t:
Now after the death of Jehoiada, the chiefs of Judah came and went down on their faces before the king. Then the king gave ear to them.


t:
And they gave up the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and became worshippers of pillars of wood and of the images; and because of this sin of theirs, wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem.


t:
And the Lord sent them prophets to make them come back to him; and they gave witness against them, but they would not give ear.


t:
Then the spirit of God came on Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, and, getting up before the people, he said to them, God has said, Why do you go against the orders of the Lord, so that everything goes badly for you? because you have given up the Lord, he has given you up.


t:
But when they had made a secret design against him, he was stoned with stones, by the king's order, in the outer square of the Lord's house.


t:
So King Joash did not keep in mind how good Jehoiada his father had been to him, but put his son to death. And in the hour of his death he said, May the Lord see it and take payment!


t:
Now in the spring, the army of the Aramaeans came up against him; they came against Judah and Jerusalem, putting to death all the great men of the people and sending all the goods they took from them to the king of Damascus.


t:
For though the army of Aram was only a small one, the Lord gave a very great army into their hands, because they had given up the Lord, the God of their fathers. So they put into effect the punishment of Joash.


t:
And when they had gone away from him, (for he was broken with disease,) his servants made a secret design against him because of the blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest, and they put him to death on his bed; and they put his body into the earth in the town of David, but not in the resting-place of the kings.


t:
Those who made designs against him were Zabad, the son of Shimeath, an Ammonite woman, and Jehozabad, the son of Shimrith, a Moabite woman.


t:
Now the story of his sons, and all the words said by the prophet against him, and the building up again of the Lord's house, are recorded in the account in the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son became king in his place.


t:
Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years; his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.


t:
Now when he became strong in the kingdom, he put to death those men who had taken the life of the king his father.


t:
But he did not put their children to death, for he kept the orders of the Lord recorded in the book of the law of Moses, saying, The fathers are not to be put to death for their children or the children for their fathers, but a man is to be put to death for the sin which he himself has done.


t:
Then Amaziah got all Judah together and put them in order by their families, even all Judah and Benjamin, under captains of thousands and captains of hundreds: and he had those of twenty years old and over numbered, and they came to three hundred thousand of the best fighting-men, trained for war and in the use of the spear and the body-cover.


t:
But a man of God came to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with you; for the Lord is not with Israel, that is, the children of Ephraim.


t:
But go yourself, and be strong in war; God will not let you go down before those who are fighting against you; for God has power to give help or to send you down before your attackers.


t:
Then Amaziah said to the man of God, But what is to be done about the hundred talents which I have given for the armed band of Israel? And the man of God in answer said, God is able to give you much more than this.


t:
So Amaziah, separating the armed band which had come to him from Ephraim, sent them back again; which made them very angry with Judah, and they went back burning with wrath.


t:
Then Amaziah took heart, and went out at the head of his people and came to the Valley of Salt, where he put to death ten thousand of the children of Seir;


t:
And ten thousand more the children of Israel took living, and made them go up to the top of the rock, pushing them down from the top of the rock so that their bodies were broken by the fall.


t:
But the men of the band which Amaziah sent back and did not take with him to the fight, made attacks on the towns of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon, putting to death three thousand of their people and taking away a great store of their goods.


t:
Now when Amaziah came back from the destruction of the Edomites, he took the gods of the children of Seir and made them his gods, worshipping them and burning offerings before them.


t:
And so the wrath of the Lord was moved against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who said, Why have you gone after the gods of the people who have not given their people salvation from your hands?


t:
But while he was talking to him the king said to him, Have we made you one of the king's government? say no more, or it will be the cause of your death. Then the prophet gave up protesting, and said, It is clear to me that God's purpose is your destruction, because you have done this and have not given ear to my words.


t:
Then Amaziah, king of Judah, acting on the suggestion of his servants, sent to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us have a meeting face to face.


t:
And Joash, king of Israel, sent to Amaziah, king of Judah, saying, The thorn-tree in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son for a wife: and a beast from the woodland in Lebanon went by, crushing the thorn under his feet.


t:
You say, See, I have overcome Edom; and your heart is lifted up with pride: now keep in your country; why do you make causes of trouble, putting yourself, and Judah with you, in danger of downfall?


t:
But Amaziah gave no attention; and this was the purpose of God, so that he might give them up into the hands of Joash, because they had gone after the gods of Edom.


t:
And so Joash, king of Israel, went up; and he and Amaziah, king of Judah, came face to face at Beth-shemesh in Judah.


t:
And Joash, king of Israel, made Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, prisoner at Beth-shemesh, and took him to Jerusalem; and he had the wall of Jerusalem pulled down from the doorway of Ephraim to the doorway in the angle, four hundred cubits.


t:
And he took all the gold and silver and all the vessels which were in the house of the Lord, under the care of Obed-edom, and all the wealth from the king's house, as well as those whose lives would be the price of broken faith, and went back to Samaria.


t:
Amaziah, son of Joash, king of Judah, went on living for fifteen years after the death of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, are they not recorded in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?


t:
Now from the time when Amaziah gave up worshipping the Lord, they made secret designs against him in Jerusalem; and he went in flight to Lachish: but they sent to Lachish after him and put him to death there.


t:
And they took his body on horseback and put it into the earth with his fathers in the town of David.


t:
Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.


t:
Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for fifty-two years; his mother's name was Jechiliah of Jerusalem.


t:
He gave himself to searching after God in the days of Zechariah, who made men wise in the fear of God; and as long as he was true to the Lord, God made things go well for him.


t:
He went out and made war against the Philistines, pulling down the walls of Gath and Jabneh and Ashdod, and building towns in the country round Ashdod and among the Philistines.


t:
And God gave him help against the Philistines, and against the Arabians living in Gur-baal, and against the Meunim.


t:
The Ammonites gave offerings to Uzziah: and news of him went out as far as the limit of Egypt; for he became very great in power.


t:
Uzziah made towers in Jerusalem, at the doorway in the angle and at the doorway in the valley and at the turn of the wall, arming them.


t:
And he put up towers in the waste land and made places for storing water, for he had much cattle, in the low hills and in the table land; and he had farmers and vine-keepers in the mountains and in the fertile land, for he was a lover of farming.


t:
In addition, Uzziah had an army of fighting-men who went out to war in bands, as they had been listed by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler, under the authority of Hananiah, one of the king's captains.


t:
And under their orders was a trained army of three hundred and seven thousand, five hundred, of great strength in war, helping the king against any who came against him.


t:
And Uzziah had all these forces armed with body-covers and spears and head-covers and coats of metal and bows and stones for sending from leather bands.


t:
And in Jerusalem he made machines, the invention of expert men, to be placed on the towers and angles of the walls for sending arrows and great stones. And his name was honoured far and wide; for he was greatly helped till he was strong.


t:
But when he had become strong, his heart was lifted up in pride, causing his destruction; and he did evil against the Lord his God; for he went into the Temple of the Lord for the purpose of burning perfumes on the altar of perfumes.


t:
And they made protests to Uzziah the king, and said to him, The burning of perfumes, Uzziah, is not your business but that of the priests, the sons of Aaron, who have been made holy for this work: go out of the holy place, for you have done wrong, and it will not be to your honour before God.


t:
Then Uzziah was angry; and he had in his hand a vessel for burning perfume; and while his wrath was bitter against the priests, the mark of the leper's disease came out on his brow, before the eyes of the priests in the house of the Lord by the altar of perfumes.


t:
And Azariah, the chief priest, and all the priests, looking at him, saw the mark of the leper on his brow, and they sent him out quickly and he himself went out straight away, for the Lord's punishment had come on him.


t:
So King Uzziah was a leper till the day of his death, living separately in his private house; for he was cut off from the house of God; and Jotham his son was ruling over his house, judging the people of the land.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, were recorded by Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.


t:
So Uzziah went to rest with his fathers; and they put his body into the earth in the field used for the resting-place of the kings, for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son became king in his place.


t:
Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king; and he was ruling in Jerusalem for sixteen years; and his mother's name was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok.


t:
He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Uzziah had done; but he did not go into the Temple of the Lord. And the people still went on in their evil ways.


t:
He put up the higher doorway of the house of the Lord, and did much building on the wall of the Ophel.


t:
In addition, he made towns in the hill-country of Judah, and strong buildings and towers in the woodlands.


t:
He went to war with the king of the children of Ammon and overcame them. That year, the children of Ammon gave him a hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of grain and ten thousand measures of barley. And the children of Ammon gave him the same amount the second year and the third.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars and his ways, are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.


t:
And Jotham went to rest with his fathers, and they put his body into the earth in the town of David; and Ahaz his son became king in his place.


t:
Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for sixteen years; he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, like David his father:


t:
More than this, he had offerings burned in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and made his children go through fire, copying the disgusting ways of the nations whom the Lord had sent out of the land before the children of Israel.


t:
And he made offerings and had perfumes burned in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.


t:
So the Lord his God gave him up into the hands of the king of Aram; and they overcame him, and took away a great number of his people as prisoners to Damascus. Then he was given into the hands of the king of Israel, who sent great destruction on him.


t:
For Pekah, the son of Remaliah, in one day put to death a hundred and twenty thousand men of Judah, all of them good fighting-men; because they had given up the Lord, the God of their fathers.


t:
And Zichri, a great fighting-man of Ephraim, put to death Maaseiah, the king's son, and Azrikam, the controller of his house, and Elkanah, who was second in authority to the king.


t:
And the children of Israel took away as prisoners from their brothers, two hundred thousand, women and sons and daughters, and a great store of their goods, and took them to Samaria.


t:
But a prophet of the Lord was there, named Oded; and he went out in front of the army which was coming into Samaria and said to them, Truly, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them up into your hands, and you have put them to death in an outburst of wrath stretching up to heaven.


t:
And now your purpose is to keep the children of Judah and Jerusalem as men-servants and women-servants under your yoke: but are there no sins against the Lord your God to be seen among yourselves?


t:
And now give ear to me, and send back the prisoners whom you have taken from your brothers: for the wrath of the Lord is burning against you.


t:
Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah, the son of Johanan, Berechiah, the son of Meshillemoth Jehizkiah, the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, put themselves against those who had come from the war,


t:
And said to them, You are not to let these prisoners come here; for what you are designing to do will be a cause of sin against the Lord to us, making even greater our sin and our wrongdoing, which now are great enough, and his wrath is burning against Israel.


t:
So the armed men gave up the prisoners and the goods they had taken to the heads and the meeting of the people.


t:
And those men who have been named went up and took the prisoners, clothing those among them who were uncovered, with things from the goods which had been taken in the war, and putting robes on them and shoes on their feet; and they gave them food and drink and oil for their bodies, and seating all the feeble among them on asses, they took them to Jericho, the town of palm-trees, to their people, and then went back to Samaria.


t:
And the Philistines, forcing their way into the towns of the lowlands and the south of Judah, had taken Beth-shemesh and Aijalon and Gederoth and Soco, with their daughter-towns, as well as Timnah and Gimzo and their daughter-towns, and were living there.


t:
For the Lord made Judah low, because of Ahaz, king of Israel; for he had given up all self-control in Judah, sinning greatly against the Lord.


t:
Then Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came to him, but was a cause of trouble and not of strength to him.


t:
For Ahaz took a part of the wealth from the house of the Lord, and from the house of the king and of the great men, and gave it to the king of Assyria; but it was no help to him.


t:
For he made offerings to the gods of Damascus, who were attacking him, and said, Because the gods of the kings of Aram are giving them help, I will make offerings to them so that they may give me help. But they were the cause of his downfall, and of that of all Israel.


t:
And Ahaz got together the vessels of the house of God, cutting up all the vessels of the house of God, and shutting the doors of the Lord's house; and he made altars in every part of Jerusalem.


t:
And in every town of Judah he made high places where perfumes were burned to other gods, awaking the wrath of the Lord, the God of his fathers.


t:
Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, first and last, are recorded in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.


t:
And Ahaz went to rest with his fathers, and they put his body into the earth in Jerusalem; but they did not put him in the resting-place of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son became king in his place.


t:
Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old; and he was king in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years; and his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.


t:
In the first year of his rule, in the first month, opening the doors of the Lord's house, he made them strong.


t:
And he sent for the priests and the Levites, and got them together in the wide place on the east side,


t:
And said to them, Give ear to me, O Levites: now make yourselves holy, and make holy the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and take away everything unclean from the holy place.


t:
For our fathers have done evil, sinning in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have given him up, turning away their faces from the house of the Lord, and turning their backs on him.


t:
The doors of his house have been shut and the lights put out; no perfumes have been burned or offerings made to the God of Israel in his holy place.


t:
And so the wrath of the Lord has come on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has given them up to be a cause of fear and wonder and shame, as your eyes have seen.


t:
For see, our fathers have been put to death with the sword, and our sons and daughters and wives have been taken away prisoners because of this.


t:
Now it is my purpose to make an agreement with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that the heat of his wrath may be turned away from us.


t:
My sons, take care now: for you have been marked out by the Lord to come before him and to be his servants, burning offerings to him.


t:
Then the Levites took their places; Mahath, the son of Amasai, and Joel, the son of Azariah, among the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish, the son of Abdi, and Azariah, the son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah, the son of Zimmah, and Eden, the son of Joah;


t:
And they got their brothers together and made themselves holy, and went in, as the king had said by the word of the Lord, to make the house of the Lord clean.


t:
And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to make it clean, and everything unclean which was to be seen in the Temple of the Lord they took out into the outer square of the Lord's house, and the Levites got it together and took it away to the stream Kidron.


t:
On the first day of the first month the work of making the house holy was started, and on the eighth day they came to the covered way of the Lord; in eight days they made the Lord's house holy, and on the sixteenth day of the first month the work was done.


t:
Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said, We have made all the house of the Lord clean, as well as the altar of burned offerings with all its vessels, and the table for the holy bread, with all its vessels.


t:
And all the vessels which were turned out by King Ahaz in his sin while he was king, we have put in order and made holy, and now they are in their places before the altar of the Lord.


t:
Then Hezekiah the king got up early, and got together the great men of the town, and went up to the house of the Lord.


t:
And they took with them seven oxen and seven male sheep and seven lambs and seven he-goats as a sin-offering for the kingdom and for the holy house and for Judah. And he gave orders to the sons of Aaron, the priests, that these were to be offered on the altar of the Lord.


t:
So they put the oxen to death and their blood was given to the priests to be drained out against the altar; then they put the male sheep to death, draining out their blood against the altar, and they put the lambs to death, draining out their blood against the altar.


t:
Then they took the he-goats for the sin-offering, placing them before the king and the meeting of the people, and they put their hands on them:


t:
And the priests put them to death, and made a sin-offering with their blood on the altar, to take away the sin of all Israel: for the king gave orders that the burned offering and the sin-offering were for all Israel.


t:
Then he put the Levites in their places in the house of the Lord, with brass and corded instruments of music as ordered by David and Gad, the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet: for the order was the Lord's, given by his prophets.


t:
And Hezekiah gave the word for the burned offering to be offered on the altar. And when the burned offering was started, then the song of the Lord was started, with the blowing of horns and with all the instruments of David, king of Israel.


t:
And all the people gave worship, to the sound of songs and the blowing of horns; and this went on till the burned offering was ended.


t:
And at the end of the offering, the king and all who were present with him gave worship with bent heads.


t:
Then King Hezekiah and the captains gave orders to the Levites to give praise to God in the words of David and Asaph the seer. And they made songs of praise with joy, and with bent heads gave worship.


t:
Then Hezekiah made answer and said, Now that you have given yourselves to the Lord, come near and take offerings and praise-offerings into the house of the Lord. So all the people took in offerings and praise-offerings: and those whose hearts were moved, took in burned offerings.


t:
The number of burned offerings which the people took in was seventy oxen, a hundred male sheep, and two hundred lambs: all these were for burned offerings to the Lord.


t:
There were not enough priests for the work of cutting up all the burned offerings; so their brothers the Levites gave them help till the work was done and the priests had made themselves holy: for the Levites were more upright in heart to make themselves holy than the priests.


t:
And there was a great amount of burned offerings, with the fat of the peace-offerings and the drink offerings for every burned offering. So the work of the Lord's house was put in order.


t:
And Hezekiah and all the people were full of joy, because God had made the people ready: for the thing was done suddenly.


t:
Then Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah, and sent letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, requesting them to come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel.


t:
For the king, after discussion with his chiefs and all the body of the people in Jerusalem, had made a decision to keep the Passover in the second month.


t:
It was not possible to keep it at that time, because not enough priests had made themselves holy, and the people had not come together in Jerusalem.


t:
So it was ordered that word was to be sent out through all Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, that they were to come to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem: because they had not kept it in great numbers in agreement with the law.


t:
So runners went with letters from the king and his chiefs through all Israel and Judah, by the order of the king, saying, O children of Israel, come back again to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he may come again to that small band of you which has been kept safe out of the hands of the kings of Assyria.


t:
Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were sinners against the Lord, the God of their fathers, so that he made them a cause of fear, as you see.


t:
Now do not be hard-hearted, as your fathers were; but give yourselves to the Lord, and come into his holy place, which he has made his for ever, and be the servants of the Lord your God, so that the heat of his wrath may be turned away from you.


t:
For if you come back to the Lord, those who took away your brothers and your children will have pity on them, and let them come back to this land: for the Lord your God is full of grace and mercy, and his face will not be turned away from you if you come back to him.


t:
So the runners went from town to town through all the country of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun: but they were laughed at and made sport of.


t:
And in Judah the power of God gave them one heart to do the orders of the king and the captains, which were taken as the word of the Lord.


t:
So a very great number of people came together at Jerusalem to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month.


t:
And they got to work and took away all the altars in Jerusalem, and they put all the vessels for burning perfumes into the stream Kidron.


t:
Then on the fourteenth day of the second month they put the Passover lambs to death: and the priests and the Levites were shamed, and made themselves holy and took burned offerings into the house of the Lord.


t:
And they took their places in their right order, as it was ordered in the law of Moses, the man of God: the priests draining out on the altar the blood given them by the Levites.


t:
For there were still a number of the people there who had not made themselves holy: so the Levites had to put Passover lambs to death for those who were not clean, to make them holy to the Lord.


t:
For a great number of the people from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not made themselves clean, but they took the Passover meal, though not in the right way. For Hezekiah had made prayer for them, saying, May the good Lord have mercy on everyone


t:
Who, with all his heart, is turned to God the Lord, the God of his fathers, even if he has not been made clean after the rules of the holy place.


t:
So the children of Israel who were present in Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread for seven days with great joy: and the Levites and the priests gave praise to the Lord day by day, making melody to the Lord with loud instruments.


t:
And Hezekiah said kind words to the Levites who were expert in the ordering of the worship of the Lord: so they kept the feast for seven days, offering peace-offerings and praising the Lord, the God of their fathers.


t:
And by the desire of all the people, the feast went on for another seven days, and they kept the seven days with joy.


t:
For Hezekiah, king of Judah, gave to the people for offerings, a thousand oxen and seven thousand sheep; and the rulers gave a thousand oxen and ten thousand sheep; and a great number of priests made themselves holy.


t:
And all the people of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and those who had come from Israel, and men from other lands who had come from Israel or who were living in Judah, were glad with great joy.


t:
So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for nothing like this had been seen in Jerusalem from the time of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.


t:
Then the priests and the Levites gave the people a blessing: and the voice of their prayer went up to the holy place of God in heaven.


t:
Now when all this was over, all the men of Israel who were present went out into the towns of Judah, causing the stone pillars to be broken up and the wood pillars to be cut down, pulling down the high places and the altars in all Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, till all were gone. Then all the children of Israel went back to their towns, every man to his property.


t:
Then Hezekiah put in order the divisions of the priests and Levites, every man in his division, in relation to his work, for the burned offerings and peace-offerings, and for the ordering of worship and for giving praise at the doors of the Lord's house.


t:
And he gave the king's part of his private property for the burned offerings, that is, for the morning and evening offerings, and the offerings for the Sabbath and the new moons and the regular feasts, as it is recorded in the law of the Lord.


t:
In addition, he gave orders to the people of Jerusalem to give to the priests and Levites that part which was theirs by right, so that they might be strong in keeping the law of the Lord.


t:
And when the order was made public, straight away the children of Israel gave, in great amounts, the first-fruits of their grain and wine and oil and honey, and of the produce of their fields; and they took in a tenth part of everything, a great store.


t:
And the children of Israel and Judah, who were living in the towns of Judah came with the tenth part of their oxen and sheep, and a tenth of all the holy things which were to be given to the Lord their God, and put them in great masses.


t:
The first store of things was put down in the third month, and in the seventh month the masses were complete.


t:
And when Hezekiah and the rulers came and saw all the store of goods, they gave praise to the Lord and to his people Israel.


t:
And Azariah, the chief priest, of the family of Zadok, said in answer, From the time when the people first came with their offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had food enough, and more than enough: for the blessing of the Lord is on his people; and there is this great store which has not been used.


t:
Then Hezekiah said that store-rooms were to be made ready in the house of the Lord; and this was done.


t:
And in them they put all the offerings and the tenths and the holy things, keeping nothing back, and over them was Conaniah the Levite, with Shimei his brother second to him.


t:
And Jehiel and Azaziah and Nahath and Asahel and Jerimoth and Jozabad and Eliel and Ismachiah and Mahath and Benaiah were overseers, under the directions of Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the order of Hezekiah the king and Azariah, the ruler of the house of God.


t:
And Kore, the son of Imnah the Levite, the keeper of the east door, had control of the offerings freely given to God, and the distribution of the offerings of the Lord and the most holy things.


t:
And under him were Eden and Miniamin and Jeshua and Shemaiah and Amariah and Shecaniah, in the towns of the priests, who were made responsible for giving it to all their brothers, by divisions, to small and great:


t:
As well as to all the males, of three years old and over, listed by their families, who went into the house of the Lord to do what was needed day by day, for their special work with their divisions.


t:
And the families of the priests were listed by their fathers' names, but the Levites, of twenty years old and over, were listed in relation to their work in their divisions;


t:
And in the lists were all their little ones and their wives and their sons and daughters, through all the people: they made themselves holy in the positions which they were given.


t:
And as for the sons of Aaron, the priests, living in the country on the outskirts of their towns, every different town there were men, marked out by name, to give their part of the goods to all the males among the priests, and to all who were listed among the Levites.


t:
This Hezekiah did through all Judah; he did what was good and right and true before the Lord his God.


t:
And for everything he undertook, in connection with the work of the house of God and his law and orders, he got directions from God and did it with serious purpose; and things went well for him.


t:
Now after these things and this true-hearted work, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came into Judah, and put his army in position before the walled towns of Judah, designing to make his way into them by force.


t:
He took up with his rulers and men of war the question of stopping up the water-springs outside the town; and they gave him their support.


t:
So they got together a great number of people, and had all the water-springs and the stream flowing through the land stopped up, saying, Why let the kings of Assyria come and have much water?


t:
Then he took heart, building up the wall where it was broken down, and making its towers higher, and building another wall outside; and he made strong the Millo in the town of David, and got together a great store of all sorts of instruments of war.


t:
And he put war chiefs over the people, and sent for them all to come together to him in the wide place at the doorway into the town, and to give them heart he said to them,


t:
Be strong and take heart; have no fear, and do not be troubled on account of the king of Assyria and all the great army with him: for there is a greater with us.


t:
With him is an arm of flesh; but we have the Lord our God, helping us and fighting for us. And the people put their faith in what Hezekiah, king of Judah, said.


t:
After this, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent his servants to Jerusalem (at that time he was stationed with all his army in front of Lachish), to say to Hezekiah and all the men of Judah in Jerusalem,


t:
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, says, In what are you placing your hope, waiting here in the walled town of Jerusalem?


t:
Is it not Hezekiah who has got you to do it, causing your death from need of food and water, by saying, The Lord our God will give us salvation out of the hands of the king of Assyria?


t:
Has not this same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, Give worship before one altar only, burning offerings on it?


t:
Have you no knowledge of what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of every land? were the gods of the nations of those lands able to keep their land from falling into my hands?


t:
Who was there among all the gods of those nations, which my fathers put to destruction, who was able to keep his people safe from my hands? and is it possible that your God will keep you safe from my hands?


t:
So do not be tricked by Hezekiah or let him get you to do this, and do not put any faith in what he says: for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to keep his people safe from my hands, or the hands of my fathers: how much less will your God keep you safe from my hands!


t:
And he sent letters, in addition, to put shame on the Lord, the God of Israel, and to say evil against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not been able to keep their people safe from my hands, no more will the God of Hezekiah keep his people safe from my hands.


t:
These things they said, crying out with a loud voice in the Jews' language, to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, with the purpose of troubling them and putting fear into them, so that they might take the town;


t:
Talking of the God of Jerusalem as if he was like the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of men's hands.


t:
And Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, made prayer because of this, crying out to heaven.


t:
And the Lord sent an angel who put to death all the men of war and the chiefs and the captains in the army of the king of Assyria. So he went back to his country in shame. And when he came into the house of his god, his sons, the offspring of his body, put him to death there with the sword.


t:
So the Lord gave Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem salvation from the power of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, and from all others, giving them rest on every side.


t:
And great numbers came to Jerusalem with offerings for the Lord, and things of great price for Hezekiah, king of Judah: so that he was honoured among all nations from that time.


t:
In those days Hezekiah was ill and near death; and he made prayer to the Lord, and the Lord in answer gave him a sign.


t:
But Hezekiah did not do as had been done to him; for his heart was lifted up in pride; and so wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.


t:
But then, Hezekiah, in sorrow for what he had done, put away his pride; and he and all Jerusalem made themselves low, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come on them in Hezekiah's life-time.


t:
And Hezekiah had very great wealth and honour; and he made himself store-houses for his gold and silver and jewels and spices, and for body-covers and all sorts of beautiful vessels.


t:
And store-houses for the produce of grain and wine and oil; and buildings for all sorts of beasts and flocks.


t:
And he made towns for himself, and got together much property in flocks and herds: for God had given him great wealth.


t:
It was Hezekiah who had the higher spring of the water of Gihon stopped, and the water taken down on the west side of the town of David. In everything he undertook, Hezekiah did well.


t:
However, in the business of the representatives sent by the rulers of Babylon to get news of the wonder which had taken place in the land, God gave up guiding him, testing him to see what was in his heart.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and the good he did, are recorded in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.


t:
So Hezekiah went to rest with his fathers, and they put his body into the higher part of the resting-places of the sons of David: and all Judah and the people of Jerusalem gave him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son became king in his place.


t:
Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he was ruling for fifty-five years in Jerusalem.


t:
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, copying the disgusting ways of the nations whom the Lord had sent out of the land before the children of Israel.


t:
For he put up again the high places which had been pulled down by his father Hezekiah; and he made altars for the Baals, and pillars of wood, and was a worshipper and servant of all the stars of heaven;


t:
And he made altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, In Jerusalem will my name be for ever.


t:
More than this, he made his children go through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and he made use of secret arts, and signs for reading the future, and unnatural powers, and gave positions to those who had control of spirits and to wonder-workers: he did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, moving him to wrath.


t:
And he put the image he had made in the house of God, the house of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, the town which I have made mine out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:


t:
And never again will I let the feet of Israel be moved out of the land which I have given to their fathers; if only they will take care to do all my orders, even all the law and the orders and the rules given to them by Moses.


t:
And Manasseh made Judah and the people of Jerusalem go out of the true way, so that they did more evil than those nations whom the Lord gave up to destruction before the children of Israel.


t:
So the Lord sent against them the captains of the army of Assyria, who made Manasseh a prisoner and took him away in chains to Babylon.


t:
And crying out to the Lord his God in his trouble, he made himself low before the God of his fathers,


t:
And made prayer to him; and in answer to his prayer God let him come back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh was certain that the Lord was God.


t:
After this he made an outer wall for the town of David, on the west side of Gihon in the valley, as far as the way into the town by the fish doorway; and he put a very high wall round the Ophel; and he put captains of the army in all the walled towns of Judah.


t:
He took away the strange gods and the image out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars he had put up on the hill of the Lord's house and in Jerusalem, and put them out of the town.


t:
And he put the altar of the Lord in order, offering peace-offerings and praise-offerings on it, and said that all Judah were to be servants of the Lord, the God of Israel.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words which the seers said to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, are recorded among the acts of the kings of Israel.


t:
And the prayer which he made to God, and how God gave him an answer, and all his sin and his wrongdoing, and the places where he made high places and put up pillars of wood and images, before he put away his pride, are recorded in the history of the seers.


t:
So Manasseh went to rest with his fathers, and they put his body to rest in his house, and Amon his son became king in his place.


t:
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done; and Amon made offerings to all the images which his father Manasseh had made, and was their servant.


t:
He did not make himself low before the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done, but went on sinning more and more.


t:
But the people of the land put to death all those who had taken part in the design against King Amon, and made his son Josiah king in his place.


t:
And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, walking in the ways of his father David, without turning to the right hand or to the left.


t:
In the eighth year of his rule, while he was still young, his heart was first turned to the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he undertook the clearing away of all the high places and the pillars and the images of wood and metal from Judah and Jerusalem.


t:
He had the altars of the Baals broken down, while he himself was present; and the sun-images which were placed on high over them he had cut down; and the pillars of wood and the metal images he had broken up and crushed to dust, dropping the dust over the resting-places of the dead who had made offerings to them.


t:
And he had the bones of the priests burned on their altars, and so he made Judah and Jerusalem clean.


t:
And in all the towns of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon as far as Naphtali, he made waste their houses round about.


t:
He had the altars and the pillars of wood pulled down and the images crushed to dust, and all the sun-images cut down, through all the land of Israel, and then he went back to Jerusalem.


t:
Now in the eighteenth year of his rule, when the land and the house had been made clean, he sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah, the ruler of the town, and Joah, the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to make good what was damaged in the house of the Lord his God.


t:
And they came to Hilkiah, the chief priest, and gave him all the money which had been taken into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the door, had got from Manasseh and Ephraim and those of Israel who had not been taken away as prisoners, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the people of Jerusalem.


t:
And they gave it to the overseers of the work of the Lord's house, and the overseers gave it to the workmen working in the house, for building it up and making good what was damaged;


t:
Even to the woodworkers and builders to get cut stone and wood for joining the structure together and for making boards for the houses which the kings of Judah had given up to destruction.


t:
And the men did the work well; and those who had authority over them were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, who were to be responsible for seeing that the work was done; and others of the Levites, who were expert with instruments of music,


t:
Had authority over the transport workers, giving directions to all who were doing any sort of work; and among the Levites there were scribes and overseers and door-keepers.


t:
Now when they were taking out the money which had come into the Lord's house, Hilkiah the priest came across the book of the law of the Lord, which he had given by the mouth of Moses.


t:
Then Hilkiah said to Shaphan the scribe, I have made discovery of the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.


t:
And Shaphan took the book to the king; and he gave him an account of what had been done, saying, Your servants are doing all they have been given to do;


t:
They have taken out all the money which was in the Lord's house and have given it to the overseers and to the workmen.


t:
Then Shaphan the scribe said to the king, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book; and he made a start at reading some of it to the king.


t:
And the king, hearing the words of the law, took his robe in his hands, violently parting it as a sign of his grief.


t:
And he gave orders to Hilkiah and to Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Abdon, the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe and Asaiah, the king's servant, saying,


t:
Go and get directions from the Lord for me and for those who are still in Israel and for Judah, about the words of this book which has come to light; for great is the wrath of the Lord which has been let loose on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord or done what is recorded in this book.


t:
So Hilkiah, and those whom the king sent, went to Huldah the woman prophet, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, the keeper of the robes (now she was living in Jerusalem, in the second part of the town); and they had talk with her about this thing.


t:
These are the words of the Lord: See, I will send evil on this place and on its people, even all the curses in the book which they have been reading before the king of Judah;


t:
Because they have given me up, burning offerings to other gods and moving me to wrath by all the works of their hands; so my wrath is let loose on this place and will not be put out.


t:
But to the king of Judah who sent you to get directions from the Lord, say, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said: Because you have given ear to my words,


t:
And your heart was soft, and you made yourself low before God, on hearing his words about this place and its people, and with weeping and signs of grief have made yourself low before me, I have given ear to you, says the Lord God.


t:
See, I will let you go to your fathers, and be put in your last resting-place in peace, and your eyes will not see all the evil which I will send on this place and on its people. So they took this news back to the king.


t:
And the king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, and the priests and the Levites and all the people, small and great; and they were present at his reading of the book of the law which had come to light in the house of the Lord.


t:
Then the king, taking his place by the pillar, made an agreement before the Lord, to go in the way of the Lord, and to keep his orders and his decisions and his rules with all his heart and with all his soul, and to keep the words of the agreement recorded in this book.


t:
And he made all the people in Jerusalem and Benjamin give their word to keep it. And the people of Jerusalem kept the agreement of God, the God of their fathers.


t:
Josiah took away all the disgusting things out of all the lands of the children of Israel, and made all who were in Israel servants of the Lord their God. And as long as he was living they were true to the Lord, the God of their fathers.


t:
And Josiah kept a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem; on the fourteenth day of the first month they put the Passover lamb to death.


t:
And he said to the Levites, the teachers of all Israel, who were holy to the Lord, See, the holy ark is in the house which Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, made; it will no longer have to be transported on your backs: now be the servants of the Lord your God and his people Israel,


t:
And make yourselves ready in your divisions, by your families, as it is ordered in the writings of David, king of Israel, and of Solomon his son;


t:
And take your positions in the holy place, grouped in the families of your brothers, the children of the people, and for every division let there be a part of a family of the Levites.


t:
And put the Passover lamb to death, and make yourselves holy, and make it ready for your brothers, so that the orders given by the Lord through Moses may be done.


t:
And Josiah gave lambs and goats from the flock as Passover offerings for all the people who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand oxen: these were from the king's private property.


t:
And his captains freely gave an offering to the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, the rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand, six hundred small cattle and three hundred oxen.


t:
And Conaniah and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings five thousand small cattle and five hundred oxen.


t:
So everything was made ready and the priests took their places with the Levites in their divisions, as the king had said.


t:
And they put the Passover lambs to death, the blood being drained out by the priests when it was given to them, and the Levites did the skinning.


t:
And they took away the burned offerings, so that they might give them to be offered to the Lord for the divisions of the families of the people, as it is recorded in the book of Moses. And they did the same with the oxen.


t:
And the Passover lamb was cooked over the fire, as it says in the law; and the holy offerings were cooked in pots and basins and vessels, and taken quickly to all the people.


t:
And after that, they made ready for themselves and for the priests; for the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burned offerings and the fat till night; so the Levites made ready what was needed for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.


t:
And the sons of Asaph, the makers of melody, were in their places, as ordered by David and Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, the king's seer; and the door-keepers were stationed at every door: there was no need for them to go away from their places, for their brothers the Levites made ready for them.


t:
So everything needed for the worship of the Lord was made ready that same day, for the keeping of the Passover and the offering of burned offerings on the altar of the Lord, as King Josiah had given orders.


t:
And all the children of Israel who were present kept the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread at that time for seven days.


t:
No Passover like it had been kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; and not one of the kings of Israel had ever kept a Passover like the one kept by Josiah and the priests and the Levites and all those of Judah and Israel who were present, and the people of Jerusalem.


t:
After all this, and after Josiah had put the house in order, Neco, king of Egypt, went up to make war at Carchemish by the river Euphrates; and Josiah went out against him.


t:
But he sent representatives to him, saying, What have I to do with you, O king of Judah? I have not come against you this day, but against those with whom I am at war; and God has given me orders to go forward quickly: keep out of God's way, for he is with me, or he will send destruction on you.


t:
However, Josiah would not go back; but keeping to his purpose of fighting against him, and giving no attention to the words of Neco, which came from God, he went forward to the fight in the valley of Megiddo.


t:
And the bowmen sent their arrows at King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, Take me away, for I am badly wounded.


t:
So his servants took him out of the line of war-carriages, and put him in his second carriage and took him to Jerusalem, where he came to his end, and they put his body in the resting-place of his fathers. And in all Judah and Jerusalem there was great weeping for Josiah.


t:
And Jeremiah made a song of grief for Josiah; and to this day Josiah is named by all the makers of melody, men and women, in their songs of grief; they made it a rule in Israel; and the songs are recorded among the songs of grief.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and the good he did, in keeping with what is recorded in the law of the Lord,


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


t:
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king; he was ruling in Jerusalem for three months.


t:
Then the king of Egypt took the kingdom from him in Jerusalem, and put on the land a tax of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.


t:
And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, changing his name to Jehoiakim. And Neco took his brother Jehoahaz away to Egypt.


t:
Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king; he was ruling in Jerusalem for eleven years, and he did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God.


t:
And Nebuchadnezzar took away some of the vessels of the Lord's house, and put them in the house of his god in Babylon.


t:
Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and the disgusting things he did, and all there is to be said against him, are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah; and Jehoiachin his son became king in his place.


t:
Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king; he was ruling in Jerusalem for three months and ten days, and he did evil in the eyes of the Lord.


t:
In the spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and took him away to Babylon, with the beautiful vessels of the house of the Lord, and made Zedekiah, his father's brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem.


t:
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did not make himself low before Jeremiah the prophet who gave him the word of the Lord.


t:
And he took up arms against King Nebuchadnezzar, though he had made him take an oath by God; but he made his neck stiff and his heart hard, turning away from the Lord, the God of Israel.


t:
And more than this, all the great men of Judah and the priests and the people made their sin great, turning to all the disgusting ways of the nations; and they made unclean the house of the Lord which he had made holy in Jerusalem.


t:
And the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them by his servants, sending early and frequently, because he had pity on his people and on his living-place;


t:
But they put shame on the servants of God, making sport of his words and laughing at his prophets, till the wrath of God was moved against his people, till there was no help.


t:
So he sent against them the king of the Chaldaeans, who put their young men to death with the sword in the house of their holy place, and had no pity for any, young man or virgin, old man or white-haired: God gave them all into his hands.


t:
And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the stored wealth of the Lord's house and the wealth of the king and his chiefs, he took away to Babylon.


t:
And the house of God was burned and the wall of Jerusalem broken down; all its great houses were burned with fire and all its beautiful vessels given up to destruction.


t:
And all who had not come to death by the sword he took away prisoners to Babylon; and they became servants to him and to his sons till the kingdom of Persia came to power:


t:
So that the words of the Lord, which he said by the mouth of Jeremiah, might come true, till the land had had pleasure in her Sabbaths; for as long as she was waste the land kept the Sabbath, till seventy years were complete.


t:
Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order that the words which the Lord had said by the mouth of Jeremiah might come true, the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, was moved by the Lord, and he made a public statement and had it given out through all his kingdom and put in writing, saying,


t:
Cyrus, king of Persia, has said, All the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the Lord, the God of heaven; and he has made me responsible for building a house for him 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.


t:
Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order that the word of the Lord given by the mouth of Jeremiah might come true, the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, was moved by the Lord, so that he made a public statement through all his kingdom, and put it in writing, saying,


t:
These are the words of Cyrus, king of Persia: The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he has made me responsible for building a house for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.


t:
Whoever there is among you of his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and take in hand the building of the house of the Lord, the God of Israel; he is the God who is in Jerusalem.


t:
And whoever there may be of the rest of Israel, living in any place, let the men of that place give him help with offerings of silver and gold and goods and beasts, in addition to the offering freely given for the house of God in Jerusalem.


t:
Then the heads of families of Judah and Benjamin, with the priests and the Levites, got ready, even all those whose spirits were moved by God to go up and take in hand the building of the Lord's house in Jerusalem.


t:
And all their neighbours gave them help with offerings of vessels of silver and gold and goods and beasts and things of great value, in addition to what was freely offered.


t:
And Cyrus the king got out the vessels of the house of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods;


t:
Even these Cyrus made Mithredath, the keeper of his wealth, get out, and he gave them, after numbering them, to Sheshbazzar, the ruler of Judah.


t:
And this is the number of them: there were thirty gold plates, a thousand silver plates, twenty-nine knives,


t:
There were five thousand, four hundred gold and silver vessels. All these were taken back by Sheshbazzar, when those who had been taken prisoner went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.


t:
Now these are the people of the divisions of the kingdom, among those who had been made prisoners by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and taken away to Babylon, who went back to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his town;


t:
Who went with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah, The number of the men of the people of Israel:


t:
The children of Pahath-moab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand, eight hundred and twelve.


t:
The children of the door-keepers: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, a hundred and thirty-nine.


t:
The children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth-hazzebaim, the children of Ami.


t:
And these were the people who went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer. But having no knowledge of their fathers' families or offspring, it was not certain that they were Israelites;


t:
And of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Hakkoz, the children of Barzillai, who was married to one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and took their name.


t:
They made search for their record among the lists of families, but their names were nowhere to be seen; so they were looked on as unclean and no longer priests.


t:
And the Tirshatha said that they were not to have the most holy things for their food, till a priest came to give decision by Urim and Thummim.


t:
As well as their men-servants and their women-servants, of whom there were seven thousand, three hundred and thirty-seven: and they had two hundred men and women to make music.


t:
And some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, gave freely of their wealth for the building up of the house of God in its place:


t:
Every one, as he was able, gave for the work sixty-one thousand darics of gold, five thousand pounds of silver and a hundred priests' robes.


t:
So the priests and the Levites and the people and the music-makers and the door-keepers and the Nethinim, took up their places in their towns; even all Israel in their towns.


t:
And when the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people came together like one man to Jerusalem.


t:
Then Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, with his brothers, got up and made the altar of the God of Israel for burned offerings as is recorded in the law of Moses, the man of God.


t:
They put the altar on its base; for fear was on them because of the people of the countries: and they made burned offerings on it to the Lord, even burned offerings morning and evening.


t:
And they kept the feast of tents, as it is recorded, making the regular burned offerings every day by number, as it is ordered; for every day what was needed.


t:
And after that, the regular burned offering and the offerings for the new moons and all the fixed feasts of the Lord which had been made holy, and the offering of everyone who freely gave his offering to the Lord.


t:
From the first day of the seventh month they made a start with the burned offerings, but the base of the Temple of the Lord had still not been put in its place.


t:
And they gave money to the stoneworkers and woodworkers; and meat and drink and oil to the people of Zidon and of Tyre, for the transport of cedar-trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, as Cyrus, king of Persia, had given them authority to do.


t:
Now in the second year of their coming into the house of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, the work was taken in hand by Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come from the land where they were prisoners to Jerusalem: and they made the Levites, of twenty years old and over, responsible for overseeing the work of the house of the Lord.


t:
Then Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel with his sons, the sons of Hodaviah, together took up the work of overseeing the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad with their sons and their brothers, the Levites.


t:
And when the builders put in position the base of the Temple of the Lord, the priests, dressed in their robes, took their places with horns, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with brass instruments, to give praise to the Lord in the way ordered by David, king of Israel.


t:
And they gave praise to the Lord, answering one another in their songs and saying, For he is good, for his mercy to Israel is eternal. And all the people gave a great cry of joy, when they gave praise to the Lord, because the base of the Lord's house was put in place.


t:
But a number of the priests and Levites and the heads of families, old men who had seen the first house, when the base of this house was put down before their eyes, were overcome with weeping; and a number were crying out with joy:


t:
So that in the ears of the people the cry of joy was mixed with the sound of weeping; for the cries of the people were loud and came to the ears of those who were a long way off.


t:
Now news came to the haters of Judah and Benjamin that the people who had come back were building a Temple to the Lord, the God of Israel;


t:
Then they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of families, and said to them, Let us take part in the building with you; for we are servants of your God, even as you are; and we have been making offerings to him from the days of Esar-haddon, king of Assyria, who put us here.


t:
But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of families in Israel said to them, You have no part with us in the building of a house for our God; we ourselves will do the work together for the Lord, the God of Israel, as Cyrus, king of Persia, has given us orders.


t:
Then the people of the land made the hands of the people of Judah feeble, troubling them with fear in their building;


t:
And they gave payment to men who made designs against them and kept them from effecting their purpose, all through the time of Cyrus, king of Persia, till Darius became king.


t:
And in the time of Ahasuerus, when he first became king, they put on record a statement against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.


t:
And in the time of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his friends, sent a letter to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, writing it in the Aramaean writing and language.


t:
Rehum, the chief ruler, and Shimshai the scribe, sent a letter against Jerusalem, to Artaxerxes the king;


t:
The letter was sent by Rehum, the chief ruler, and Shimshai the scribe and their friends; the Dinaites and the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Shushanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites,


t:
And the rest of the nations which the great and noble Osnappar took over and put in Samaria and the rest of the country over the river:


t:
This is a copy of the letter which they sent to Artaxerxes the king: Your servants living across the river send these words:


t:
We give news to the king that the Jews who came from you have come to us at Jerusalem; they are building up again that uncontrolled and evil town; the walls are complete and they are joining up the bases.


t:
The king may be certain that when the building of this town and its walls is complete, they will give no tax or payment in goods or forced payments, and in the end it will be a cause of loss to the kings.


t:
Now because we are responsible to the king, and it is not right for us to see the king's honour damaged, we have sent to give the king word of these things,


t:
So that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers: and you will see in the book of the records that this town has been uncontrolled, and a cause of trouble to kings and countries, and that there were outbursts against authority there in the past: for which reason the town was made waste.


t:
We give you word, that if the building of this town and its walls is made complete, there will be an end of your power in the country across the river.


t:
Then the king sent an answer to Rehum, the chief ruler, and Shimshai the scribe, and their friends living in Samaria, and to the rest of those across the river, saying, Peace to you:


t:
And I gave orders for a search to be made, and it is certain that in the past this town has made trouble for kings, and that outbursts against authority have taken place there.


t:
Further, there have been great kings in Jerusalem, ruling over all the country across the river, to whom they gave taxes and payments in goods and forced payments.


t:
Give an order now, that these men are to do nothing more, and that the building of the town is to be stopped, till I give an order.


t:
Then, after reading the king's letter, Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their friends went quickly to Jerusalem, to the Jews, and had them stopped by force.


t:
So the work of the house of God at Jerusalem came to an end; so it was stopped, till the second year of the rule of Darius, king of Persia.


t:
Now the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the son of Iddo, were preaching to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel.


t:
Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, got up and made a start at building the house of God at Jerusalem: and the prophets of God were with them, helping them.


t:
At the same time, Tattenai, ruler of the land across the river, and Shethar-bozenai, and their men, came to them and said, Who gave you orders to go on building this house and this wall?


t:
But the eye of their God was on the chiefs of the Jews, and they did not make them give up working till the question had been put before Darius and an answer had come by letter about it.


t:
This is a copy of the letter which Tattenai, the ruler of the land across the river, and Shethar-bozenai and his friends the Apharsachites, living across the river, sent to Darius the king:


t:
This is to give the king word that we went into the land of Judah, to the house of the great God, which is made of great stones, and has its walls supported with wood, and the work is going on with industry, and they are doing it well.


t:
Then we said to the men responsible, who gave you authority for the building of this house and these walls?


t:
And we made request for their names, so that we might send you word, and give you the names of the men at the head of them.


t:
And they made answer to us, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are building the house which was put up in times long past and was designed and made complete by a great king of Israel.


t:
But when the God of heaven was moved to wrath by our fathers, he gave them up into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the Chaldaean, who sent destruction on this house and took the people away into Babylon.


t:
But in the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon, Cyrus the king gave an order for the building of this house of God;


t:
And the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the Temple which was in Jerusalem, and put into the house of his god in Babylon, these Cyrus the king took from the house of his god in Babylon, and gave to one named Sheshbazzar, whom he had made ruler;


t:
And he said to him, Go, take these vessels, and put them in the Temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be put up again in its place.


t:
Then this same Sheshbazzar came and put the house of God in Jerusalem on its bases: and from that time till now the building has been going on, but it is still not complete.


t:
So now, if it seems good to the king, let search be made in the king's store-house at Babylon, to see if it is true that an order was given by Cyrus the king for the building of this house of God at Jerusalem, and let the king send us word of his pleasure in connection with this business.


t:
Then Darius the king gave an order and a search was made in the house of the records, where the things of value were stored up in Babylon.


t:
And at Achmetha, in the great house of the king in the land of Media, they came across a roll, in which this statement was put on record:


t:
In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made an order: In connection with the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be put up, the place where they make offerings, and let the earth for the bases be put in place; let it be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide;


t:
With three lines of great stones and one line of new wood supports; and let the necessary money be given out of the king's store-house;


t:
And let the gold and silver vessels from the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the Temple at Jerusalem to Babylon, be given back and taken again to the Temple at Jerusalem, every one in its place, and put them in the house of God.


t:
So now, Tattenai, ruler of the land across the river, and Shethar-bozenai and your people the Apharsachites across the river, keep far from that place:


t:
Let the work of this house of God go on; let the ruler of the Jews and their responsible men put up this house of God in its place.


t:
Further, I give orders as to what you are to do for the responsible men of the Jews in connection with the building of this house of God: that from the king's wealth, that is, from the taxes got together in the land over the river, the money needed is to be given to these men readily, so that their work may not be stopped.


t:
And whatever they have need of, young oxen and sheep and lambs, for burned offerings to the God of heaven, grain, salt, wine, and oil, whatever the priests in Jerusalem say is necessary, is to be given to them day by day regularly:


t:
So that they may make offerings of a sweet smell to the God of heaven, with prayers for the life of the king and of his sons.


t:
And I have given orders that if anyone makes any change in this word, one of the supports is to be pulled out of his house, and he is to be lifted up and fixed to it; and his house is to be made waste for this;


t:
And may the God who has made it a resting-place for his name send destruction on all kings and peoples whose hands are outstretched to make any change in this or to do damage to this house of God at Jerusalem. I, Darius, have given this order, let it be done with all care.


t:
Then Tattenai, the ruler across the river, and Shethar-bozenai and their people, because of the order given by King Darius, did as he had said with all care.


t:
And the responsible men of the Jews went on with their building, and did well, helped by the teaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, the son of Iddo. They went on building till it was complete, in keeping with the word of the God of Israel, and the orders given by Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes, king of Persia.


t:
And the building of this house was complete on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the rule of Darius the king.


t:
And the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of those who had come back, kept the feast of the opening of this house of God with joy.


t:
And they gave as offerings at the opening of this house of God a hundred oxen, two hundred sheep, four hundred lambs; and for a sin-offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats, being the number of the tribes of Israel.


t:
And they put the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their order, for the worship of God at Jerusalem; as it is recorded in the book of Moses.


t:
And the children of Israel who had come back kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.


t:
For the priests and the Levites had made themselves clean together; they were all clean: and they put the Passover lamb to death for all those who had come back, and for their brothers the priests and for themselves.


t:
And the children of Israel, who had come back, and all those who were joined to them, after separating themselves from the evil ways of the people of the land to become the servants of the Lord, the God of Israel, took food together,


t:
And kept the feast of unleavened bread for seven days with joy: for the Lord had made them full of joy, by turning the heart of the king of Assyria to them to give them help in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.


t:
Now after these things, when Artaxerxes was king of Persia, Ezra, the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,


t:
This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a scribe, expert in the law of Moses which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given: and the king, moved by the Lord his God, gave him whatever he made request for.


t:
And some of the children of Israel went up, with some of the priests and the Levites and the music-makers and the door-keepers and the Nethinim, to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.


t:
For, starting his journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, he came to Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, by the good help of his God.


t:
For Ezra had given his mind to learning the law of the Lord and doing it, and to teaching his rules and decisions in Israel.


t:
Now this is a copy of the letter which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra, the priest and the scribe, who put into writing the words of the orders of the Lord, and of his rules for Israel:


t:
And now it is my order that all those of the people of Israel, and their priests and Levites in my kingdom, who are ready and have a desire to go to Jerusalem, are to go with you.


t:
Because you are sent by the king and his seven wise men, to get knowledge about Judah and Jerusalem, as you are ordered by the law of your God which is in your hand;


t:
And to take with you the silver and gold freely offered by the king and his wise men to the God of Israel, whose Temple is in Jerusalem,


t:
As well as all the silver and gold which you get from the land of Babylon, together with the offering of the people and of the priests, freely given for the house of their God, which is in Jerusalem:


t:
So with this money get with care oxen, sheep, and lambs, with their meal offerings and their drink offerings, to be offered on the altar of the house of your God, which is in Jerusalem.


t:
And whatever seems right to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, that do, as may be pleasing to your God.


t:
And the vessels which have been given to you for the uses of the house of your God, you are to give to the God of Jerusalem.


t:
And whatever more is needed for the house of your God, and which you may have to give, take it from the king's store-house.


t:
And I, even I, Artaxerxes the king, now give orders to all keepers of the king's money across the river, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, may have need of from you, is to be done with all care,


t:
Up to a hundred talents of silver, a hundred measures of grain, a hundred measures of wine, and a hundred measures of oil, and salt without measure.


t:
Whatever is ordered by the God of heaven, let it be done completely for the house of the God of heaven; so that there may not be wrath against the kingdom of the king and his sons.


t:
In addition, we make it clear to you, that it will be against the law to put any tax or payment in goods or forced payment on any of the priests or Levites, the music-makers, door-keepers, Nethinim, or any servants of this house of God.


t:
And you, Ezra, by the wisdom of your God which is in you, are to put rulers and judges to have authority over all the people across the river who have knowledge of the laws of your God; and you are to give teaching to him who has no knowledge of them.


t:
And if anyone does not keep the law of your God and the law of the king, take care that punishment is given to him, by death or by driving him from his country or by taking away his goods or by putting him in prison.


t:
Praise be to the Lord, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing into the heart of the king, to make fair the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem;


t:
And has given mercy to me before the king and his government and before all the king's great captains. And I was made strong by the hand of the Lord my God which was on me, and I got together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.


t:
Now these are the heads of families who were listed of those who went up with me from Babylon, when Artaxerxes was king.


t:
Of the sons of Shecaniah; of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah; and with him were listed a hundred and fifty males.


t:
And of the sons of Adonikam, the last, whose names were Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah; and with them sixty males.


t:
And I made them come together by the river flowing to Ahava; and we were there in tents for three days: and after viewing the people and the priests I saw that no sons of Levi were there.


t:
Then I sent for Eliezer and Ariel and Shemaiah and Elnathan Jarib and Elnathan and Nathan and Zechariah and Meshullam, all responsible men; and for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were wise men.


t:
And I sent them to Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and gave them orders what to say to Iddo and his brothers the Nethinim at the place Casiphia, so that they might come back to us with men to do the work of the house of our God.


t:
And by the help of our God they got for us Ish-sechel, one of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah with his sons and brothers, eighteen;


t:
And of the Nethinim, to whom David and the captains had given the work of helping the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim, all of them specially named.


t:
Then I gave orders for a time of going without food, there by the river Ahava, so that we might make ourselves low before our God in prayer, requesting from him a straight way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance.


t:
For I would not, for shame, make request to the king for a band of armed men and horsemen to give us help against those who might make attacks on us on the way: for we had said to the king, The hand of our God is on his servants for good, but his power and his wrath are against all those who are turned away from him.


t:
So I put on one side twelve of the chiefs of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them,


t:
And gave to them by weight the silver and the gold and the vessels, all the offering for the house of our God which the king and his wise men and his captains and all Israel there present had given:


t:
Measuring into their hands six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels, a hundred talents' weight, and a hundred talents of gold,


t:
And twenty gold basins, of a thousand darics, and two vessels of the best bright brass, equal in value to gold.


t:
And I said to them, You are holy to the Lord and the vessels are holy: and the silver and the gold are an offering freely given to the Lord, the God of your fathers.


t:
Take care of them and keep them, till you put them on the scales before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites and the chiefs of the families of Israel, in Jerusalem, in the rooms of the house of the Lord.


t:
So the priests and the Levites took the weight of silver and gold and the vessels, to take them to Jerusalem into the house of our God.


t:
Then we went away from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was on us, and he gave us salvation from our haters and those who were waiting to make an attack on us by the way.


t:
And on the fourth day, the silver and the gold and the vessels were measured out by weight in the house of our God into the hands of Meremoth, the son of Uriah, the priest; and with him was Eleazar, the son of Phinehas; and with them were Jozabad, the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah, the son of Binnui, the Levites;


t:
And those who had been prisoners, who had come back from a strange land, made burned offerings to the God of Israel, twelve oxen for all Israel, ninety-six male sheep, seventy-seven lambs, twelve he-goats for a sin-offering: all this was a burned offering to the Lord.


t:
And they gave the king's orders to the king's captains and the rulers across the river, and they gave the people and the house of God the help which was needed.


t:
Now after these things were done, the captains came to me and said, The people of Israel and the priests and Levites have not kept themselves separate from the people of the lands, but have taken part in the disgusting ways of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.


t:
For they have taken their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the peoples of the lands; and in fact the captains and rulers have been the first to do this evil.


t:
And hearing this, with signs of grief and pulling out the hair of my head and my chin, I took my seat on the earth deeply troubled.


t:
Then everyone who went in fear of the words of the God of Israel, because of the sin of those who had come back, came together to me; and I kept where I was, overcome with grief, till the evening offering.


t:
And at the evening offering, having made myself low before God, I got up, and with signs of grief, falling down on my knees, with my hands stretched out to the Lord my God,


t:
I said, O my God, shame keeps me from lifting up my face to you, my God: for our sins are increased higher than our heads and our evil-doing has come up to heaven.


t:
From the days of our fathers till this day we have been great sinners; and for our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been given up into the hands of the kings of the lands, to the sword and to prison and to loss of goods and to shame of face, as it is this day.


t:
And now for a little time grace has come to us from the Lord our God, to let a small band of us get free and to give us a nail in his holy place, so that our God may give light to our eyes and a measure of new life in our prison chains.


t:
For we are servants; but our God has not been turned away from us in our prison, but has had mercy on us before the eyes of the kings of Persia, to give us new strength to put up again the house of our God and to make fair its waste places, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.


t:
Which you gave to your servants the prophets, saying, The land into which you are going, to take it for a heritage, is an unclean land, because of the evil lives of the peoples of the land and their disgusting ways, which have made the land unclean from end to end.


t:
So now do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or do anything for their peace or well-being for ever; so that you may be strong, living on the good of the land, and handing it on to your children for a heritage for ever.


t:
And after everything which has come on us because of our evil-doing and our great sin, and seeing that the punishment which you, O God, have given us, is less than the measure of our sins, and that you have kept from death those of us who are here;


t:
Are we again to go against your orders, taking wives from among the people who do these disgusting things? would you not be angry with us till our destruction was complete, till there was not one who got away safe?


t:
O Lord God of Israel, righteousness is yours; we are only a small band which has been kept from death, as at this day: see, we are before you in our sin; for no one may keep his place before you because of this.


t:
Now while Ezra was making his prayer and his statement of wrongdoing, weeping and falling down before the house of God, a very great number of men and women and children out of Israel came together round him: for the people were weeping bitterly.


t:
And Shecaniah, the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answering, said to Ezra, We have done evil against our God, and have taken as our wives strange women of the peoples of the land: but still there is hope for Israel in this question.


t:
Let us now make an agreement with our God to put away all the wives and all their children, if it seems right to my lord and to those who go in fear of the words of our God; and let it be done in keeping with the law.


t:
Then Ezra got up, and made the chiefs of the priests and the Levites and all Israel take an oath that they would do this. So they took an oath.


t:
Then Ezra got up from before the house of God and went into the room of Jehohanan, the son of Eliashib; but when he came there, he took no food or drink, for he was sorrowing for the sin of those who had come back.


t:
And they made a public statement through all Judah and Jerusalem, to all those who had come back, that they were to come together to Jerusalem;


t:
And that if anyone did not come before three days were past, as ordered by the rulers and the responsible men, all his goods would be put under the curse, and he himself would be cut off from the meeting of the people who had come back.


t:
Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin came together to Jerusalem before three days were past; it was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people were seated in the wide square in front of the house of God, shaking with fear because of this business and because of the great rain.


t:
And Ezra the priest got to his feet and said to them, You have done wrong and taken strange women for your wives, so increasing the sin of Israel.


t:
So now, give praise to the Lord, the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure; and make yourselves separate from the peoples of the land and from the strange women.


t:
Then all the people, answering, said with a loud voice, As you have said, so it is right for us to do.


t:
But the number of people is great, and it is a time of much rain; it is not possible for us to go on waiting outside, and this is not a thing which may be done in one day or even two: for our sin in this business is great.


t:
So now let our rulers be representatives for all the people, and let all those in our towns who are married to strange women come at fixed times, and with them the responsible men and the judges of every town, till the burning wrath of our God is turned away from us, and this has been done.


t:
Only Jonathan, the son of Asahel, and Jahzeiah, the son of Tikvah, were against this, Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them.


t:
So those who had come back did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain heads of families, by their fathers' families, all of them by their names, were marked out; and on the first day of the tenth month they took their places to go into the question with care.


t:
And they got to the end of all the men who were married to strange women by the first day of the first month.


t:
And among the sons of the priests who were married to strange women were these: of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak and his brothers, Maaseiah and Eliezer and Jarib and Gedaliah.


t:
And they gave their word that they would put away their wives; and for their sin, they gave an offering of a male sheep of the flock.


t:
And of the Levites, Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (that is Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.


t:
And of Israel, the sons of Parosh, Ramiah and Izziah and Malchijah and Mijamin and Eleazar and Malchijah and Benaiah.


t:
And of the sons of Pahath-moab, Adna and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel and Binnui and Manasseh.


t:
The history of Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah. Now it came about, in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, when I was in Shushan, the king's town,


t:
That Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah; and in answer to my request for news of the Jews who had been prisoners and had got away, and of Jerusalem,


t:
They said to me, The small band of Jews now living there in the land are in great trouble and shame: the wall of Jerusalem has been broken down, and its doorways burned with fire.


t:
Then, after hearing these words, for some days I gave myself up to weeping and sorrow, seated on the earth; and taking no food I made prayer to the God of heaven,


t:
And said, O Lord, the God of heaven, the great God, greatly to be feared, keeping faith and mercy with those who have love for him and are true to his laws:


t:
Let your ear now take note and let your eyes be open, so that you may give ear to the prayer of your servant, which I make before you at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel, your servants, while I put before you the sins of the children of Israel, which we have done against you: truly, I and my father's people are sinners.


t:
We have done great wrong against you, and have not kept the orders, the rules, and the decisions, which you gave to your servant Moses.


t:
Keep in mind, O Lord, the order you gave your servant Moses, saying, If you do wrong I will send you wandering among the peoples:


t:
But if you come back to me and keep my orders and do them, even if those of you who have been forced out are living in the farthest parts of heaven, I will get them from there, and take them back to the place marked out by me for the resting-place of my name.


t:
Now these are your servants and your people, whom you have made yours by your great power and by your strong hand.


t:
O Lord, let your ear take note of the prayer of your servant, and of the prayers of your servants, who take delight in worshipping your name: give help, O Lord, to your servant this day, and let him have mercy in the eyes of this man. (Now I was the king's wine-servant.)


t:
And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never before been sad when the king was present.


t:
And the king said to me, Why is your face sad, seeing that you are not ill? this is nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was full of fear;


t:
And said to the king, May the king be living for ever: is it not natural for my face to be sad, when the town, the place where the bodies of my fathers are at rest, has been made waste and its doorways burned with fire?


t:
And I said to the king, If it is the king's pleasure, and if your servant has your approval, send me to Judah, to the town where the bodies of my fathers are at rest, so that I may take in hand the building of it.


t:
And the king said to me (the queen being seated by his side), How long will your journey take, and when will you come back? So the king was pleased to send me, and I gave him a fixed time.


t:
Further, I said to the king, If it is the king's pleasure, let letters be given to me for the rulers across the river, so that they may let me go through till I come to Judah;


t:
And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's park, so that he may give me wood to make boards for the doors of the tower of the house, and for the wall of the town, and for the house which is to be mine. And the king gave me this, for the hand of my God was on me.


t:
Then I came to the rulers of the lands across the river and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent with me captains of the army and horsemen.


t:
And Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, hearing of it, were greatly troubled because a man had come to the help of the children of Israel.


t:
And in the night I got up, taking with me a small band of men; I said nothing to any man of what God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem: and I had no beast with me but the one on which I was seated.


t:
And I went out by night, through the doorway of the valley, and past the dragon's water-spring as far as the place where waste material was put, viewing the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down, and the doorways which had been burned with fire.


t:
Then I went on to the door of the fountain and to the king's pool: but there was no room for my beast to get through.


t:
Then in the night, I went up by the stream, viewing the wall; then turning back, I went in by the door in the valley, and so came back.


t:
And the chiefs had no knowledge of where I had been or what I was doing; and I had not then said anything to the Jews or to the priests or the great ones or the chiefs or the rest of those who were doing the work.


t:
Then I said to them, You see what a bad condition we are in; how Jerusalem is a waste, and its doorways burned with fire: come, let us get to work, building up the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer be put to shame.


t:
Then I gave them an account of how the hand of my God was on me, helping me; and of the king's words which he had said to me. And they said, Let us get to work on the building. So they made their hands strong for the good work.


t:
But Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, hearing of it, made sport of us, laughing at us and saying, What are you doing? will you go against the king?


t:
Then answering them I said, The God of heaven, he will be our help; so we his servants will go on with our building: but you have no part or right or any name in Jerusalem.


t:
Then Eliashib, the chief priest, got up with his brothers the priests, and took in hand the building of the sheep doorway; they made it holy and put its doors in position; as far as the tower of Hammeah they made it holy, even to the tower of Hananel.


t:
The sons of Hassenaah were the builders of the fish doorway; they put its boards in place and put up its doors, with their locks and rods.


t:
By their side Meremoth, the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, was making good the walls. Then Meshullam, the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabel; and by him, Zadok, the son of Baana.


t:
Near them, the Tekoites were at work; but their chiefs did not put their necks to the work of their Lord.


t:
Joiada, the son of Paseah, and Meshullam, the son of Besodeiah, made good the old doorway; they put its boards in place and put up its doors, with their locks and rods.


t:
By their side were working Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah from the seat of the ruler across the river.


t:
Near them was working Uzziel, the son of Harhaiah, the gold-worker. And by him was Hananiah, one of the perfume-makers, building up Jerusalem as far as the wide wall.


t:
By his side was Jedaiah, the son of Harumaph, opposite his house. And by him was Hattush, the son of Hashabneiah.


t:
Malchijah, the son of Harim, and Hasshub, the son of Pahath-moab, were working on another part, and the tower of the ovens.


t:
Hanun and the people of Zanoah were working on the doorway of the valley; they put it up and put up its doors, with their locks and rods, and a thousand cubits of wall as far as the doorway where the waste material was placed.


t:
And Malchijah, the son of Rechab, the ruler of the division of Beth-haccherem, made good the doorway of the waste, building it up and putting up its doors, with their locks and rods.


t:
And Shallun, the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of the division of Mizpah, made good the doorway of the fountain, building it up and covering it and putting up its doors, with their locks and rods, with the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king's garden, as far as the steps which go down from the town of David.


t:
By his side was working Nehemiah, the son of Azbuk, ruler of half the division of Beth-zur, as far as the place opposite the last resting-places of David's family, and the pool which was made and the house of the men of war.


t:
Then came the Levites, Rehum, the son of Bani. By his side was working Hashabiah, ruler of half the division of Keilah, for his division.


t:
After him were working their brothers, Bavvai, the son of Henadad, ruler of half the division of Keilah.


t:
And by his side was working Ezer, the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, making good another part opposite the way up to the store of arms at the turning of the wall.


t:
After him Baruch, the son of Zabbai, was hard at work on another part, from the turning of the wall to the door of the house of Eliashib, the chief priest.


t:
After him Meremoth, the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, was working on another part, from the door of the house of Eliashib as far as the end of his house.


t:
After them came Benjamin and Hasshub, opposite their house. After them Azariah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, made good the wall by the house where he himself was living.


t:
After him Binnui, the son of Henadad, was working on another part, from the house of Azariah as far as the turning of the wall and the angle.


t:
Palal, the son of Uzai, made good the wall opposite the angle and the tower which comes out from the higher part of the king's house, by the open space of the watch. After him was Pedaiah, the son of Parosh.


t:
(Now the Nethinim were living in the Ophel, as far as the place facing the water doorway to the east, and the tower which comes out.)


t:
After him the Tekoites were making good another part, opposite the great tower which comes out, and up to the wall of the Ophel.


t:
After them Zadok, the son of Immer, was working opposite his house. And after him Shemaiah, the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the east door.


t:
After him Hananiah, the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, were making good another part. After him Meshullam, the son of Berechiah, made good the wall opposite his room.


t:
After him Malchijah, one of the gold-workers to the Nethinim and the traders, made good the wall opposite the doorway of Hammiphkad and as far as the way up to the angle.


t:
And between the way up to the angle and the sheep door, the gold-workers and the traders made good the wall.


t:
Now, Sanballat, hearing that we were building the wall, was very angry, and in his wrath made sport of the Jews.


t:
And in the hearing of his countrymen and the army of Samaria he said, What are these feeble Jews doing? will they make themselves strong? will they make offerings? will they get the work done in a day? will they make the stones which have been burned come again out of the dust?


t:
Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Such is their building that if a fox goes up it, their stone wall will be broken down.


t:
Give ear, O our God, for we are looked down on: let their words of shame be turned back on themselves, and let them be given up to wasting in a land where they are prisoners:


t:
Let not their wrongdoing be covered or their sin washed away from before you: for they have made you angry before the builders.


t:
So we went on building the wall; and all the wall was joined together half-way up: for the people were working hard.


t:
But when it came to the ears of Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites, that the building of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and the broken places were being made good, they were full of wrath;


t:
And they made designs, all of them together, to come and make an attack on Jerusalem, causing trouble there.


t:
And Judah said, The strength of the workmen is giving way, and there is much waste material; it is impossible for us to put up the wall.


t:
And those who were against us said, Without their knowledge and without their seeing us, we will come among them and put them to death, causing the work to come to a stop.


t:
And it came about that when the Jews who were living near them came, they said to us ten times, From all directions they are coming against us.


t:
So in the lowest part of the space at the back of the walls, in the open places, I put the people by families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows.


t:
And after looking, I got up and said to the great ones and to the chiefs and to the rest of the people, Have no fear of them: keep in mind the Lord who is great and greatly to be feared, and take up arms for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters, your wives and your houses.


t:
And when it came to the ears of those who were against us, that we had knowledge of their designs and that God had made their purpose come to nothing, we all went back to the wall, everyone to his work


t:
And from that time, half of my servants were doing their part of the work, and half kept the spears and body-covers and the bows and the metal war-dresses; and the chiefs were at the back of the men of Judah.


t:
Those who were building the wall and those who were moving material did their part, everyone working with one hand, with his spear in the other;


t:
Every builder was working with his sword at his side. And by my side was a man for sounding the horn.


t:
And I said to the great ones and the chiefs and the rest of the people, The work is great and widely spaced and we are far away from one another on the wall:


t:
So we went on with the work: and half of them had spears in their hands from the dawn of the morning till the stars were seen.


t:
And at the same time I said to the people, Let everyone with his servant come inside Jerusalem for the night, so that at night they may keep watch for us, and go on working by day.


t:
So not one of us, I or my brothers or my servants or the watchmen who were with me, took off his clothing, everyone went armed to the water.


t:
For there were some who said, We, our sons and our daughters, are a great number: let us get grain, so that we may have food for our needs.


t:
And there were some who said, We are giving our fields and our vine-gardens and our houses for debt: let us get grain because we are in need.


t:
And there were others who said, We have given up our fields and our vine-gardens to get money for the king's taxes.


t:
But our flesh is the same as the flesh of our countrymen, and our children as their children: and now we are giving our sons and daughters into the hands of others, to be their servants, and some of our daughters are servants even now: and we have no power to put a stop to it; for other men have our fields and our vine-gardens.


t:
And after turning it over in my mind, I made a protest to the chiefs and the rulers, and said to them, Every one of you is taking interest from his countryman. And I got together a great meeting of protest.


t:
And I said to them, We have given whatever we were able to give, to make our brothers the Jews free, who were servants and prisoners of the nations: and would you now give up your brothers for a price, and are they to become our property? Then they said nothing, answering not a word.


t:
And I said, What you are doing is not good: is it not the more necessary for you to go in the fear of our God, because of the shame which the nations may put on us?


t:
Even I and my servants have been taking interest for the money and the grain we have let them have. So now, let us give up this thing.


t:
Give back to them this very day their fields, their vine-gardens, their olive-gardens, and their houses, as well as a hundredth part of the money and the grain and the wine and the oil which you have taken from them.


t:
Then they said, We will give them back, and take nothing for them; we will do as you say. Then I sent for the priests and made them take an oath that they would keep this agreement.


t:
And shaking out the folds of my robe, I said, So may God send out from his house and his work every man who does not keep this agreement; even so let him be sent out and made as nothing. And all the meeting of the people said, So be it, and gave praise to the Lord. And the people did as they had said.


t:
Now from the time when I was made ruler of the people in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year till the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, for twelve years, I and my servants have never taken the food which was the right of the ruler.


t:
But earlier rulers who were before me made the people responsible for their upkeep, and took from them bread and wine at the rate of forty shekels of silver; and even their servants were lords over the people: but I did not do so, because of the fear of God.


t:
And I kept on with the work of this wall, and we got no land for ourselves: and all my servants were helping with the work.


t:
And more than this, a hundred and fifty of the Jews and the rulers were guests at my table, in addition to those who came to us from the nations round about us.


t:
Now the food made ready for one day was one ox and six fat sheep, as well as fowls; and once in ten days a store of all sorts of wine: but all the same, I did not take the food to which the ruler had a right, because the people were crushed under a hard yoke.


t:
Now when word was given to Sanballat and Tobiah and to Geshem the Arabian and to the rest of our haters, that I had done the building of the wall and that there were no more broken places in it (though even then I had not put up the doors in the doorways);


t:
Sanballat and Geshem sent to me saying, Come, let us have a meeting in one of the little towns in the lowland of Ono. But their purpose was to do me evil.


t:
And I sent men to them saying, I am doing a great work, so that it is not possible for me to come down: is the work to be stopped while I go away from it and come down to you?


t:
And in it these words were recorded: It is said among the nations, and Geshem says so, that you and the Jews are hoping to make yourselves free from the king's authority; and that this is why you are building the wall: and they say that it is your purpose to be their king;


t:
And that you have prophets preaching about you in Jerusalem, and saying, There is a king in Judah: now an account of these things will be sent to the king. So come now, and let us have a discussion.


t:
Then I sent to him, saying, No such things as you say are being done, they are only a fiction you have made up yourself.


t:
For they were hoping to put fear in us, saying, Their hands will become feeble and give up the work so that it may not get done. But now, O God, make my hands strong.


t:
And I went to the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us have a meeting in the house of God, inside the Temple, and let the doors be shut: for they will come to put you to death; truly, in the night they will come to put you to death.


t:
And I said, Am I the sort of man to go in flight? what man, in my position, would go into the Temple to keep himself safe? I will not go in.


t:
Then it became clear to me that God had not sent him: he had given this word of a prophet against me himself: and Tobiah and Sanballat had given him money to do so.


t:
For this reason they had given him money, in order that I might be overcome by fear and do what he said and do wrong, and so they would have reason to say evil about me and put shame on me.


t:
Keep in mind, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat and what they did, and Noadiah, the woman prophet, and the rest of the prophets whose purpose was to put fear into me.


t:
And when our haters had news of this, all the nations round about us were full of fear and were greatly shamed, for they saw that this work had been done by our God.


t:
And further, in those days the chiefs of Judah sent a number of letters to Tobiah, and his letters came to them.


t:
For in Judah there were a number of people who had made an agreement by oath with him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah, the son of Arah; and his son Jehohanan had taken as his wife the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah.


t:
And they said much before me of the good he had done, and gave him accounts of my words. And Tobiah sent letters with the purpose of causing me fear.


t:
Now when the building of the wall was complete and I had put up the doors, and the door-keepers and the music-makers and the Levites had been given their places,


t:
I made my brother Hanani, and Hananiah, the ruler of the tower, responsible for the government of Jerusalem: for he was a man of good faith, fearing God more than most.


t:
And I said to them, Do not let the doors of Jerusalem be open till the sun is high; and while the watchmen are in their places, let the doors be shut and locked: and let the people of Jerusalem be put on watch, every one in his watch, opposite his house.


t:
Now the town was wide and great: but the people in it were only a small number, and the houses had not been put up.


t:
And my God put it into my heart to get together the rulers and the chiefs and the people so that they might be listed by families. And I came across a record of the names of those who came up at the first, and in it I saw these words:


t:
These are the people of the divisions of the kingdom, among those who had been made prisoners by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and taken away by him, who went back to Jerusalem and Judah, every one to his town;


t:
Who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:


t:
The children of Pahath-moab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand, eight hundred and eighteen.


t:
The door-keepers: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, a hundred and thirty-eight.


t:
The children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth-hazzebaim, the children of Amon.


t:
All these were the people who went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer; but because they had no knowledge of their fathers' families or offspring, it was not certain if they were Israelites:


t:
And of the priests: the children of Hobaiah, the children of Hakkoz, the children of Barzillai, who was married to one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and took their name.


t:
They made search for their record among the lists of families, but their names were nowhere to be seen, so they were looked on as unclean and no longer priests.


t:
And the Tirshatha said that they were not to have the most holy things for their food, till a priest came to give decision by the Urim and Thummim.


t:
As well as their men-servants and their women-servants, of whom there were seven thousand, three hundred and thirty-seven; and they had two hundred and forty-five men and women to make music.


t:
And some of the heads of families gave money for the work. The Tirshatha gave into the store a thousand darics of gold, fifty basins, five hundred and thirty priests' robes.


t:
And some of the heads of families gave into the store for the work twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand, two hundred pounds of silver.


t:
And that which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand pounds of silver, and sixty-seven priests' robes.


t:
So the priests and the Levites and the door-keepers and the music-makers and some of the people and the Nethinim, and all Israel, were living in their towns.


t:
And when the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their towns. And all the people came together like one man into the wide place in front of the water-doorway; and they made a request to Ezra the scribe that he would put before them the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given to Israel.


t:
And Ezra the priest put the law before the meeting of the people, before the men and women and all those who were able to take it in, on the first day of the seventh month.


t:
He was reading it in the wide place in front of the water-doorway, from early morning till the middle of the day, in the hearing of all those men and women whose minds were able to take it in; and the ears of all the people were open to the book of the law.


t:
And Ezra the scribe took his place on a tower of wood which they had made for the purpose; and by his side were placed Mattithiah and Shema and Anaiah and Uriah and Hilkiah and Maaseiah on the right; and on the left, Pedaiah and Mishael and Malchijah and Hashum and Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam.


t:
And Ezra took the book, opening it before the eyes of all the people (for he was higher than the people); and when it was open, all the people got to their feet:


t:
And Ezra gave praise to the Lord, the great God. And all the people in answer said, So be it, so be it; lifting up their hands; and with bent heads they gave worship to the Lord, going down on their faces to the earth.


t:
And Jeshua and Bani and Sherebiah and Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites made the law clear to the people: and the people kept in their places.


t:
And they gave out the words of the book the law of God, clearly, and gave the sense of it, so that their minds were able to take it in.


t:
And Nehemiah, who was the Tirshatha, and Ezra, the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were the teachers of the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God; let there be no sorrow or weeping; for all the people were weeping on hearing the words of the law.


t:
Then he said to them, Go away now, and take the fat for your food and the sweet for your drink, and send some to him for whom nothing is made ready: for this day is holy to our Lord: and let there be no grief in your hearts; for the joy of the Lord is your strong place.


t:
So the Levites made all the people quiet, saying, Be quiet, for the day is holy; and do not give way to grief.


t:
And all the people went away to take food and drink, and to send food to others, and to be glad, because the words which were said to them had been made clear.


t:
And on the second day the heads of families of all the people and the priests and the Levites came together to Ezra the scribe, to give attention to the words of the law.


t:
And they saw that it was recorded in the law that the Lord had given orders by Moses, that the children of Israel were to have tents for their living-places in the feast of the seventh month:


t:
And that they were to give out an order, and make it public in all their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, Go out to the mountain and get olive branches and branches of field olives and of myrtle, and palm branches and branches of thick trees, to make tents, as it says in the book.


t:
And the people went out and got them and made themselves tents, every one on the roof of his house, and in the open spaces and in the open squares of the house of God, and in the wide place of the water-doorway, and the wide place of the doorway of Ephraim.


t:
All the people who had been prisoners and had come back, made tents and were living in them: for from the time of Jeshua, the son of Nun, till that day, the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great joy.


t:
And day by day, from the first day till the last, he was reading from the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast for seven days: and on the eighth day there was a holy meeting, as it is ordered in the law.


t:
Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel came together, taking no food and putting haircloth and dust on their bodies.


t:
And the seed of Israel made themselves separate from all the men of other nations, publicly requesting forgiveness for their sins and the wrongdoing of their fathers.


t:
And for a fourth part of the day, upright in their places, they were reading from the book of the law of their God; and for a fourth part of the day they were requesting forgiveness and worshipping the Lord their God.


t:
Then Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani took their places on the steps of the Levites, crying in a loud voice to the Lord their God.


t:
Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, Get up and give praise to the Lord your God for ever and ever. Praise be to your great name which is lifted up high over all blessing and praise.


t:
You are the Lord, even you only; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens with all their armies, the earth and all things in it, the seas and everything in them; and you keep them from destruction: and the armies of heaven are your worshippers.


t:
You are the Lord, the God, who took Abram and made him yours, guiding him from Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name of Abraham;


t:
You saw that his heart was true to you, and made an agreement with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Jebusite and the Girgashite, even to give it to his seed, and you have done what you said; for righteousness is yours:


t:
And you did signs and wonders on Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land; for you saw how cruel they were to them. So you got yourself a name as it is today.


t:
By you the sea was parted before them, so that they went through the sea on dry land; and those who went after them went down into the deep, like a stone into great waters.


t:
And you went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light on the way they were to go.


t:
And you came down on Mount Sinai, and your voice came to them from heaven, giving them right decisions and true laws, good rules and orders:


t:
And you gave them word of your holy Sabbath, and gave them orders and rules and a law, by the hand of Moses your servant:


t:
And you gave them bread from heaven when they were in need, and made water come out of the rock for their drink, and gave them orders to go in and take for their heritage the land which your hand had been lifted up to give them.


t:
But they and our fathers, in their pride, made their necks stiff, and gave no attention to your orders,


t:
And would not do them, and gave no thought to the wonders you had done among them; but made their necks stiff, and turning away from you, made a captain over themselves to take them back to their prison in Egypt: but you are a God of forgiveness, full of grace and pity, slow to wrath and great in mercy, and you did not give them up.


t:
Even when they had made for themselves an ox of metal, and said, This is your God who took you up out of Egypt, and had done so much to make you angry;


t:
Even then, in your great mercy, you did not give them up in the waste land: the pillar of cloud still went before them by day, guiding them on their way, and the pillar of fire by night, to give them light, and make clear the way they were to go.


t:
And you gave your good spirit to be their teacher, and did not keep back your manna from their mouths, and gave them water when they had need of it.


t:
Truly, for forty years you were their support in the waste land, and they were in need of nothing; their clothing did not get old or their feet become tired.


t:
And you gave them kingdoms and peoples, making distribution to them in every part of the land: so they took for their heritage the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, king of Bashan.


t:
And you made their children as great in number as the stars of heaven, and took them into the land, of which you had said to their fathers that they were to go in and take it for themselves.


t:
So the children went in and took the land, and you overcame before them the people of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them up into their hands, with their kings and the people of the land, so that they might do with them whatever it was their pleasure to do.


t:
And they took walled towns and a fat land, and became the owners of houses full of all good things, water-holes cut in the rock, vine-gardens and olive-gardens and a wealth of fruit-trees: so they had food enough and became fat, and had joy in the good you gave them.


t:
But they were hard-hearted, and went against your authority, turning their backs on your law, and putting to death your prophets, who gave witness against them with the purpose of turning them back again to you, and they did much to make you angry.


t:
And so you gave them up into the hands of their haters who were cruel to them: and in the time of their trouble, when they made their prayer to you, you gave ear to them from heaven; and in your great mercy gave them saviours, who made them free from the hands of their haters.


t:
But when they had rest, they did evil again before you: so you gave them into the hands of their haters, who had rule over them: but when they came back and made their prayer to you, you gave ear to them from heaven; again and again, in your mercy, you gave them salvation;


t:
And gave witness against them so that you might make them come back again to your law: but their hearts were lifted up, and they gave no attention to your orders and went against your decisions (which, if a man keeps them, will be life to him), and turning their backs on you, made their necks stiff and did not give ear.


t:
Year after year you put up with them, and gave witness against them by your spirit through your prophets: still they did not give ear: and so you gave them up into the hands of the peoples of the lands.


t:
Even then, in your great mercy, you did not put an end to them completely, or give them up; for you are a God of grace and mercy.


t:
And now, our God, the great, the strong, the God who is to be feared, who keeps faith and mercy, let not all this trouble seem small to you, which has come on us, and on our kings and our rulers and on our priests and our prophets and our fathers and on all your people from the time of the kings of Assyria till this day.


t:
But still, you have been in the right in everything which has come on us; you have been true to us, but we have done evil:


t:
And our kings, our rulers, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or given attention to your orders and your witness, with which you gave witness against them.


t:
For they have not been your servants in their kingdom, and in all the good things you gave them, and in the great and fat land you gave them, and they have not been turned away from their evil-doing.


t:
Now, today, we are servants, and as for the land which you gave to our fathers, so that the produce of it and the good might be theirs, see, we are servants in it:


t:
And it gives much increase to the kings whom you have put over us because of our sins: and they have power over our bodies and over our cattle at their pleasure, and we are in great trouble.


t:
And because of all this we are making an agreement in good faith, and putting it in writing; and our rulers, our Levites, and our priests are putting their names to it.


t:
And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the door-keepers, the music-makers, the Nethinim, and all those who had made themselves separate from the peoples of the lands, to keep the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and wisdom;


t:
They were united with their brothers, their rulers, and put themselves under a curse and an oath, to keep their steps in the way of God's law, which was given by Moses, the servant of God, and to keep and do all the orders of the Lord, our Lord, and his decisions and his rules;


t:
And that we would not give our daughters to the peoples of the lands, or take their daughters for our sons;


t:
And if the peoples of the lands come to do trade in goods or food on the Sabbath day, that we would do no trade with them on the Sabbath or on a holy day: and that in the seventh year we would take no payment from any debtor.


t:
And we made rules for ourselves, taxing ourselves a third of a shekel every year for the upkeep of the house of our God;


t:
For the holy bread, and for the regular meal offering and the regular burned offering on the Sabbaths and at the new moon and the fixed feasts, and for the sin-offerings to take away the sin of Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.


t:
And we, the priests and the Levites and the people, made selection, by the decision of the Lord, of those who were to take the wood offering into the house of God, by families at the regular times, year by year, to be burned on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is recorded in the law;


t:
And to take the first-fruits of our land, and the first-fruits of every sort of tree, year by year, into the house of the Lord;


t:
As well as the first of our sons and of our cattle, as it is recorded in the law, and the first lambs of our herds and of our flocks, which are to be taken to the house of our God, to the priests who are servants in the house of our God:


t:
And that we would take the first of our rough meal, and our lifted offerings, and the fruit of every sort of tree, and wine and oil, to the priests, to the rooms of the house of our God; and the tenth of the produce of our land to the Levites; for they, the Levites, take a tenth in all the towns of our ploughed land.


t:
And the priest, the son of Aaron, is to be with the Levites, when the Levites take the tenths: and the Levites are to take a tenth of the tenths into the house of our God, to the rooms, into the store-house;


t:
For the children of Israel and the children of Levi are to take the lifted offering of the grain and wine and oil into the rooms where the vessels of the holy place are, together with the priests and the door-keepers and the makers of music: and we will not give up caring for the house of our God.


t:
And the rulers of the people were living in Jerusalem: the rest of the people made selection, by the decision of chance, of one out of every ten to be living in Jerusalem, the holy town; the other nine to go to the other towns.


t:
And the people gave a blessing to all the men who were freely offering to take up their places in Jerusalem.


t:
Now these are the chiefs of the divisions of the country who were living in Jerusalem: but in the towns of Judah everyone was living on his heritage in the towns, that is, Israel, the priests, the Levites, the Nethinim, and the children of Solomon's servants.


t:
And in Jerusalem there were living certain of the children of Judah and of Benjamin. Of the children of Judah: Athaiah, the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, of the children of Perez;


t:
And Maaseiah, the son of Baruch, the son of Col-hozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of the Shilonite.


t:
And these are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu, the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah.


t:
And Joel, the son of Zichri, was their overseer; and Judah, the son of Hassenuah, was second over the town.


t:
Seraiah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of the house of God,


t:
And their brothers who did the work of the house, eight hundred and twenty-two; and Adaiah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah,


t:
And his brothers, heads of families, two hundred and forty-two; and Amashsai, the son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer,


t:
And their brothers, men of war, a hundred and twenty-eight; and their overseer was Zabdiel, the son of Haggedolim.


t:
And of the Levites: Shemaiah, the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni,


t:
And Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the chiefs of the Levites, who were responsible for the outside business of the house of God;


t:
And Mattaniah, the son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who had to give the first note of the song of praise in prayer, and Bakbukiah, the second among his brothers, and Abda, the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.


t:
In addition the door-keepers, Akkub, Talmon, and their brothers who kept watch at the doors, were a hundred and seventy-two.


t:
And the rest of Israel, of the priests, the Levites, were in all the towns of Judah, every one in his heritage.


t:
And the overseer of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi, the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica, of the sons of Asaph, the music-makers, who was over the business of the house of God.


t:
For there was an order from the king about them and a regular amount for the music-makers, for their needs day by day.


t:
And Pethahiah, the son of Meshezabel, of the sons of Zerah, the son of Judah, was the king's servant in everything to do with the people.


t:
And for the daughter-towns with their fields, some of the men of Judah were living in Kiriath-arba and its daughter-towns, and in Dibon and its daughter-towns, and in Jekabzeel and its daughter-towns,


t:
Zanoah, Adullam and their daughter-towns, Lachish and its fields, Azekah and its daughter-towns. So they were living from Beer-sheba to the valley of Hinnom.


t:
And the children of Benjamin were living from Geba, at Michmash and Aija, and at Beth-el and its daughter-towns,


t:
Now these are the priests and the Levites who went up with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,


t:
And the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who was over the music-makers, he and his brothers.


t:
And Jeshua was the father of Joiakim, and Joiakim was the father of Eliashib, and Eliashib was the father of Joiada,


t:
And in the days of Joiakim there were priests, heads of families: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;


t:
The Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, were listed as heads of families; and the priests, when Darius the Persian was king.


t:
The sons of Levi, heads of families, were recorded in the book of the histories, even till the days of Johanan, the son of Eliashib.


t:
And the chiefs of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua, the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers opposite them, to give blessing and praise as ordered by David, the man of God, watch against watch.


t:
Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were door-keepers keeping the watch at the store-houses of the doors.


t:
These were in the days of Joiakim, the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the ruler and of Ezra the priest, the scribe.


t:
And when the time came for the wall of Jerusalem to be made holy, they sent for the Levites out of all their places to come to Jerusalem, to keep the feast with joy, and with praise and melody, with brass and corded instruments of music.


t:
And the sons of the music-makers came together from the lowland round about Jerusalem and from the daughter-towns of the Netophathites,


t:
And from Beth-gilgal and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the music-makers had made daughter-towns for themselves round about Jerusalem.


t:
And the priests and the Levites made themselves clean; and they made the people clean, and the doorways and the wall.


t:
Then I made the rulers of Judah come up on the wall, and I put in position two great bands of them who gave praise, walking in ordered lines; one went to the right on the wall, in the direction of the doorway where the waste was put;


t:
And certain of the priests' sons with wind instruments; Zechariah, the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph,


t:
And his brothers, Shemaiah, and Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel and Judah, Hanani, with the music-instruments of David, the man of God; and Ezra the scribe was at their head;


t:
And by the doorway of the fountain and straight in front of them, they went up by the steps of the town of David, at the slope up of the wall, over the house of David, as far as the water-doorway to the east.


t:
And the other band of those who gave praise went to the left, and I went after them with half the people, on the wall, over the tower of the ovens, as far as the wide wall;


t:
And over the doorway of Ephraim and by the old door and the fish door and the tower of Hananel and the tower of Hammeah, as far as the sheep door: and at the doorway of the watchmen they came to a stop.


t:
So the two bands of those who gave praise took up their positions in the house of God, and I and half of the chiefs with me:


t:
And the priests; Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with wind instruments;


t:
And Maaseiah and Shemaiah and Eleazar and Uzzi and Jehohanan and Malchijah and Elam and Ezer. And the makers of melody made their voices loud, with Jezrahiah their overseer.


t:
And on that day they made great offerings and were glad; for God had made them glad with great joy; and the women and the children were glad with them: so that the joy of Jerusalem came to the ears of those who were far off.


t:
And on that day certain men were put over the rooms where the things which had been given were stored, for the lifted offerings and the first-fruits and the tenths, and to take into them the amounts, from the fields of every town, fixed by the law for the priests and the Levites: for Judah was glad on account of the priests and the Levites who were in their places.


t:
And they kept the watch of their God, and were responsible for making things clean, and so did the music-makers and the door-keepers, as it was ordered by David and Solomon his son.


t:
For in the days of David and Asaph in the past, there was a master of the music, and songs of blessing and praise to God.


t:
And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah gave what was needed by the music-makers and the door-keepers day by day: and they made the offerings holy for the Levites; and the Levites did the same for the sons of Aaron.


