THE HOLY BIBLE
Douay-Rheims Version
THE
FOURTH BOOK OF KINGS
(KNOWN AS THE
SECOND BOOK OF KINGS IN MANY BIBLES)
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 1
1 And Moab rebelled against Israel, after the death of Achab.
2 And Ochozias fell through the lattices of his upper chamber
which he had in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers,
saying to them: Go, consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron,
whether I shall recover of this my illness.
3 And an angel of the Lord spoke to Elias the Thesbite, saying:
Arise, and go up to meet the messengers of the king of
Samaria, and say to them: Is there not a God in Israel, that
ye go to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron?
4 Wherefore thus saith the Lord: From the bed, on which thou art
gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die.
And Elias went away.
5 And the messengers turned back to Ochozias. And he said to
them: Why are you come back?
6 But they answered him: A man met us, and said to us: Go, and
return to the king, that sent you, and you shall say to him:
Thus saith the Lord: Is it because there was no God in Israel
that thou sendest to Beelzebub the god of Accaron? Therefore
thou shalt not come down from the bed, on which thou art gone
up, but then shalt surely die.
7 And he said to them: What manner of man was he who met you,
and spoke these words?
8 But they said: A hairy man with a girdle of leather about his
loins. And he said: It is Elias the Thesbite.
9 And he sent to him a captain of fifty, and the fifty men that
were under him. And he went up to him, and as he was sitting
on the top of a hill, said to him: Man of God, the king hath
commanded that thou come down.
10 And Elias answering, said to the captain of fifty: If I be a
man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee,
and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and
consumed him, and the fifty that were with him.
11 And again he sent to him another captain of fifty men, and his
fifty with him. And he said to him: Man of God, thus saith the
king: Make haste and come down.
12 Elias answering, said: If I be a man of God, let fire come
down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And fire
came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
13 Again he sent a third captain of fifty men, and the fifty that
were with him. And when he was come, he fell upon his knees,
before Elias, and besought him and said: Man of God, despise
not my life, and the lives of thy servants that are with me.
14 Behold fire came down from heaven, and consumed the two first
captains of fifty men, and the fifties that were with them:
but now I beseech thee to spare my life.
15 And the angel of the Lord spoke to Elias, saying: Go down with
him, fear not. He arose therefore, and went down with him to
the king,
16 And said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast sent
messengers to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron, as though
there were not a God in Israel, of whom thou mightest inquire
the word; therefore from the bed on which thou art gone up,
thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die.
17 So he died according to the word of the Lord which Elias
spoke, and Joram his brother reigned in his stead, in the
second year of Joram the son of Josaphat king of Juda: because
he had no son.
18 But the rest of the acts of Ochozias which he did, are they
not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings
of Israel?
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 2
1 And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elias into
heaven by a whirlwind, that Elias and Eliseus were going from
Galgal.
2 And Elias said to Eliseus: Stay thou here, because the Lord
hath sent me as far as Bethel. And Eliseus said to him: As the
Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.
And when they were come down to Bethel,
3 The sons of the prophets, that were at Bethel, came forth to
Eliseus, and said to him: Dost thou know that this day the
Lord will take away thy master from thee? And he answered: I
also know it: hold your peace.
4 And Elias said to Eliseus: Stay here because the Lord hath
sent me to Jericho. And he said: As the Lord liveth, and as
thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And when they were
come to Jericho,
5 The sons of the prophets that were at Jericho, came to
Eliseus, and said to him: Dost thou know that this day the
Lord will take away thy master from thee? And he said: I also
know it: hold your peace.
6 And Elias said to him: Stay here, because the Lord hath sent
me as far as the Jordan. And he said: As the Lord liveth, and
as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee; and they two went
on together,
7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets followed them, and
stood in sight at a distance: but they two stood by the
Jordan.
8 And Elias took his mantle and folded it together, and struck
the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, and they
both passed over on dry ground.
9 And when they were gone over, Elias said to Eliseus: Ask what
thou wilt have me to do for thee, before I be taken away from
thee. And Eliseus said: I beseech thee that in me may be thy
double spirit.
10 And he answered: Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless if
thou see me when I am taken from thee, thou shalt have what
thou hast asked: but if thou see me not, thou shalt not have
it.
11 And as they went on, walking and talking together, behold a
fiery chariot, and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and
Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
12 And Eliseus saw him, and cried: My father, my father, the
chariot of Israel, and the driver thereof. And he saw him no
more: and he took hold of his own garments, and rent them in
two pieces.
13 And he took up the mantle of Elias, that fell from him: and
going back, he stood upon the bank of the Jordan,
14 And he struck the waters with the mantle of Elias, that had
fallen from him, and they were not divided. And he said: Where
is now the God of Elias? And he struck the waters, and they
were divided, hither and thither, and Eliseus passed over.
15 And the sons of the prophets at Jericho, who were over against
him, seeing it said: The spirit of Elias hath rested upon
Eliseus. And coming to meet him, they worshipped him, falling
to the ground,
16 And they said to him: Behold, there are with thy servants
fifty strong men, that can go, and seek thy master, lest
perhaps the spirit of the Lord hath taken him up and cast him
upon some mountain or into some valley. And he said: Do not
send.
17 But they pressed him, till he consented, and said: Send. And
they sent fifty men: and they sought three days but found him
not.
18 And they came back to him: for he abode at Jericho, and he
said to them: Did I not say to you: Do not send?
19 And the men of the city said to Eliseus: Behold the situation
of this city is very good, as thou, my lord, seest: but the
waters are very bad, and the ground barren.
20 And he said: Bring me a new vessel, and put salt into it. And
when they had brought it,
21 He went out to the spring of the waters, and cast the salt
into it, and said: Thus saith the Lord: I have healed these
waters, and there shall be no more in them death or
barrenness.
22 And the waters were healed unto this day, according to the
word of Eliseus, which he spoke.
23 And he went up from thence to Bethel: and as he was going up
by the way, little boys came out of the city and mocked him,
saying: Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
24 And looking back, he saw them, and cursed them in the name of
the Lord: and there came forth two bears out of the forest,
and tore of them two and forty boys.
25 And from thence he went to mount Carmel, and from thence he
returned to Samaria.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 3
1 And Joram the son of Achab reigned over Israel in Samaria in
the eighteenth year of m Josaphat king of Juda. And he reigned
twelve years.
2 And he did evil before the Lord, but not like his father and
his mother: for he took away the statues of Baal, which his
father had made.
3 Nevertheless he stuck to the sins of Jeroboam the son of
Nabat, who made Israel to sin, nor did he depart from them.
4 Now Mesa, king of Moab, nourished many sheep, and he paid to
the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred
thousand rams with their fleeces.
5 And when Achab was dead, he broke the league which he had made
with the king of Israel.
6 And king Joram went out that day from Samaria, and mustered
all Israel.
7 And he sent to Josaphat king of Juda, saying: The king of Moab
is revolted from me, come with me against him to battle. And
he answered: I will come up: he that is mine, is thine: my
people, thy people: and my horses, thy horses.
8 And he said: Which way shall we go up? But he answered: By the
desert of Edom.
9 So the king of Israel, and the king of Juda, and the king of
Edom went, and they fetched a compass of seven days' journey,
and there was no water for the army, and for the beasts, that
followed them.
10 And the king of Israel said: Alas, alas, alas, the Lord hath
gathered us three kings together, to deliver us into the hands
of Moab!
11 And Josaphat said: Is there not here a prophet of the Lord,
that we may beseech the Lord by him? And one of the servants
of the king of Israel answered: Here is Eliseus the son of
Saphat, who poured water on the hands of Elias.
12 And Josaphat said: The word of the Lord is with him. And the
king of Israel, and Josaphat king of Juda, and the king of
Edom went down to him.
13 And Eliseus said to the king of Israel: What have I to do with
thee? go to the prophets of thy father, and thy mother. And
the king of Israel said to him: Why hath the Lord gathered
together these three kings, to deliver them into the hands of
Moab?
14 And Eliseus said to him: As the Lord of hosts liveth, in whose
sight I stand, if I did not reverence the face of Josaphat
king of Juda, I would not have hearkened to thee, nor looked
on thee.
15 But now bring me hither a minstrel. And when the minstrel
played, the hand of the Lord came upon him, and he said:
16 Thus saith the Lord: Make the channel of this torrent full of
ditches.
17 For thus saith the Lord: You shall not see wind, nor rain: and
yet this channel shall be filled with waters, and you shall
drink, you and your families, and your beasts.
18 And this is a small thing in the sight of the Lord: moreover
he will deliver also Moab into your hands.
19 And you shall destroy every fenced city, and every choice
city, and shall cut down every fruitful tree, and shall stop
up all the springs of waters, and every goodly field you shall
cover with stones.
20 And it came to pass in the morning, when the sacrifices used
to be offered, that behold, water came by the way of Edom, and
the country was filled with water.
21 And all the Moabites hearing that the kings were come up to
fight against them, gathered together all that were girded
with a belt upon them, and stood in the borders.
22 And they rose early in the morning, and the sun being now up,
and shining upon the waters, the Moabites saw the waters over
against them red, like blood,
23 And they said: It is the blood of the sword: the kings have
fought among themselves, and they have killed one another: go
now, Moab, to the spoils.
24 And they went into the camp of Israel: but Israel rising up
defeated Moab, who fled before them. And they being
conquerors, went and smote Moab.
25 And they destroyed the cities: and they filled every goodly
field, every man casting his stone: and they stopt up all the
springs of waters: and cut down all the trees that bore fruit,
so that brick walls only remained: and the city was beset by
the slingers, and a great part thereof destroyed.
26 And when the king of Moab saw this, to wit, that the enemies
had prevailed, he took with him seven hundred men that drew
the sword, to break in upon the king of Edom: but they could
not.
27 Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his
stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall: and
there was great indignation in Israel, and presently they
departed from him, and returned into their own country.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 4
1 Now a certain woman of the wives of the prophets cried to
Eliseus, saying: Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou
knowest that thy servant was one that feared God, and behold
the creditor is come to take away my two sons to serve him.
2 And Eliseus said to her: What wilt thou have me to do for
thee? Tell me, what hast thou in thy house? And she answered:
I thy handmaid have nothing in my house but a little oil, to
anoint me.
3 And he said to her: Go, borrow of all thy neighbours empty
vessels not a few.
4 And go in, and shut thy door, when thou art within, and thy
sons: and pour out thereof into all those vessels: and when
they are full take them away.
5 So the woman went, and shut the door upon her, and upon her
sons: they brought her the vessels, and she poured in.
6 And when the vessels were full, she said to her son: Bring me
yet a vessel. And he answered: I have no more. And the oil
stood.
7 And she came, and told the man of God. And he said: Go, sell
the oil, and pay thy creditor: and thou and thy sons live of
the rest.
8 And there was a day when Eliseus passed by Sunam: now there
was a great woman there, who detained him to eat bread; and as
he passed often that way, he turned into her house to eat
bread.
9 And she said to her husband: I perceive that this is a holy
man of God, who often passeth by us.
10 Let us therefore make him a little chamber, and put a little
bed in it for him, and a table, and a stool, and a
candlestick, that when he cometh to us, he may abide there.
11 Now there was a certain day when he came and turned in to the
chamber, and rested there.
12 And he said to Giezi his servant Call this Sunamitess. And
when he had called her, and she stood before him,
13 He said to his servant: Say to her Behold thou hast diligently
served us in all things, what wilt thou have me to de for
thee? hast thou any business, and wilt thou that I speak to
the king, or to the general of the army? And she answered: I
dwell in the midst of my own people.
14 And he said : What will she then that I do for her? And Giezi
said: Do not ask, for she hath no son, and her husband is old.
15 Then he bid him call her: And when she was called, and stood
before the door.
16 He said to her: At this time, and this same hour, if life
accompany, thou shalt have a son in thy womb. But she
answered: Do not, I beseech thee, my lord, thou man of God, do
not lie to thy handmaid.
17 And the woman conceived, and brought forth a son in the time,
and at the same hour, that Eliseus had said.
18 And the child grew. And on a certain day, when he went out to
his father to the reapers,
19 He said to his father: My head acheth, my head acheth. But he
said to his servant: Take him, and carry him to his mother.
20 And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, she
set him on her knees until noon, and then he died.
21 And she went up and laid him upon the bed of the man of God,
and shut the door: and going out,
22 She called her husband, and said: Send with me, I beseech
thee, one of thy servants, and an ass that I may run to the
man of God, and come again.
23 And he said to her: Why dost thou go to him? to day is neither
new moon nor sabbath. She answered: I will go.
24 And she saddled an ass, and commanded her servant: Drive, and
make haste, make no stay in going. And do that which I bid
thee.
25 So she went forward, and came to the man of God to mount
Carmel: and when the mall of God saw her coming towards, he
said to Giezi his servant : Behold that Sunamitess.
26 Go therefore to meet her, and say to her: Is all well with
thee, and with thy husband, and with thy son? and she
answered: Well.
27 And when she came to the man of God to the mount, she caught
hold on his feet: and Giezi came to remove her. And the man of
God said: Let her alone for her soul is in anguish, and the
Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.
28 And she said to him: Did I ask a son of my lord? did I not say
to thee: Do not deceive me?
29 Then he said to Giezi: Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in
thy hand, and go. If any man meet thee, salute him not: and if
any man salute thee, answer him not: and lay my staff upon the
face of the child.
30 But the mother of the child said: As the Lord liveth, and as
thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. He arose, therefore,
and followed her.
31 But Giezi was gone before them, and laid the staff upon the
face of the child, and there was no voice nor sense: and he
returned to meet him, and told him, saying: The child is not
risen.
32 Eliseus therefore went into the house, and behold the child
lay dead on his bed.
33 And going in he shut the door upon him, and upon the child,
and prayed to the Lord.
34 And he went up, and lay upon the child: and he put his mouth
upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon
his hands: and he bowed himself upon him, and the child's
flesh grew warm.
35 Then he returned and walked in the house, once to and fro: and
he went up, and lay upon him: and the child gaped seven times,
and opened his eyes.
36 And he called Giezi, and said to him: Call this Sunamitess.
And she being called, went in to him: and he said: Take up thy
son.
37 She came and fell at his feet, and worshipped upon the ground:
and took up her son, and went out.
38 And Eliseus returned to Galgal, and there was a famine in the
land, and the sons of the prophets dwelt before him. And he
said to one of his servants: Set on the great pot, and boil
pottage for the sons of the prophets.
39 And one went out into the field to gather wild herbs: and he
found something like a wild vine, and gathered of it wild
gourds of the field, and filled his mantle, and coming back he
shred them into the pot of pottage, for he knew not what it
was.
40 And they poured it out for their companions to eat: and when
they had tasted of the pottage, they cried out, saying: Death
is in the pot, O man of God. And they could not eat thereof.
41 But he said: Bring some meal. And when they had brought it, he
cast it into the pot, and said: Pour out for the people, that
they may eat. And there was now no bitterness in the pot.
42 And a certain man came from Baalsalisa bringing to the man of
God bread of the firstfruits, twenty leaves of barley, and new
corn in his scrip. And he said: Give to the people, that they
may eat.
43 And his servant answered him: How much is this, that I should
set it before a hundred men? He said again: Give to the
people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord: They shall
eat, and there shall be left.
44 So he fief it before them: and they ate, and there was left
according to the word of the Lord.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 5
1 Naaman, general of the army of the king of Syria, was a great
man with his master, and honourable: for by him the Lord gave
deliverance to Syria: and he was a valiant man and rich, but
a leper.
2 Now there had gone out robbers from Syria, and had led away
captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she
waited upon Naaman's wife.
3 And she said to her mistress: I wish my master had been with
the prophet, that is in Samaria: he would certainly have
healed him of the leprosy which he hath.
4 Then Naaman went in to his lord, and told him, saying: Thus
and thus said tile girl from the land of Israel.
5 And the king of Syria sad to him: Go, and I will send a letter
to the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten
talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and tell
changes of raiment,
6 And brought the letter to the king of Israel, in these words:
When thou shalt receive this letter, know that I have sent to
thee Naaman my servant, that thou mayest heal him of his
leprosy.
7 And when the king of Israel had read the letter, he rent his
garments, and said: Am I God, to be able to kill and give
life, that this man hath sent to me, to heal a man of his
leprosy? mark, and see how he seeketh occasions against me.
8 And when Eliseus the man of God had heard this, to wit, that
the king of Israel had rent his garments, he sent to him,
saying: Why hast thou rent thy garments? let him come to me,
and let him know that there is a prophet in Israel.
9 So Naaman came with Iris horses and chariots, and stood at the
door of the house of Eliseus:
10 And Eliseus sent a messenger to him, saying: Go, and wash
seven times in the Jordan, and thy flesh shall recover health,
and thee shalt be clean.
11 Naaman was angry and went away, saying: I thought he would
hare come out to me, and standing would hare invoked the name
of the Lord his God, and touched with his hand the place of
the leprosy, and healed me.
12 Are not the Abana, and the Pharphar, rivers of Damascus,
better than all the waters of Israel, that I may wash in them,
and be made clean? So as he turned, and was going away with
indignation,
13 His servants came to him, and said to him: Father, if the
prophet had bid thee do some great thing, surely thou shouldst
have done it: how much rather what he now hath said to thee:
Wash, and thou shalt he clean?
14 Then he went down, and washed in the Jordan seven times:
according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was
restored, like the flesh of a little child, and he was made
clean.
15 And returning to the man of God with all his train, be came,
and stood before him, and said: In truth, I know there is no
other God in all the earth, but only in Israel: I beseech thee
therefore take a blessing of thy servant.
16 But he answered: As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I
will receive none. And when he pressed him, he still refused.
17 And Naaman said: As thou wilt: but I beseech thee, grant to me
thy servant, to take from hence two mules' burden of earth:
for thy servant will not henceforth offer holocaust, or
victim, to other gods, but to the Lord.
18 But there is only this, for which thou shalt entreat the Lord
for thy servant, when my master goeth into the temple of
Remmon, to worship: and he leaneth upon my hand, if I bow down
in the temple of Remmon, when he boweth down in the same
place, that the Lord pardon me thy servant for this thing.
19 And he said to him: Go in peace. So he departed from him in
the springtime of the earth.
20 But Giezi the servant of the man of God said: My master hath
spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving of him that which
he brought: as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and take
some thing of him:
21 And Giezi followed after Naaman: and when he saw him running
after him, he leapt down from his chariot to meet him, and
said: Is all well?
22 And he said: Well: my master hath sent me to thee, saying:
Just now there are come to me from mount Ephraim, two young
men of the sons of the prophets: give them a talent of silver,
and two changes of garments.
23 And Naaman said: It is better that thou take two talents. And
he forced him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags,
and two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his
servants, and they carried them before him.
24 And when he was come, and now it was the evening, he took them
from their hands, and laid them up in the house, and sent the
men away, and they departed.
25 But he went in, and stood before his master. And Eliseus said:
Whence comest thou, Giezi? He answered: Thy servant went no
whither.
26 But he said: Was not my heart present, when the man turned
back from his chariot to meet thee? So now thou hast received
money, and received garments, to buy oliveyards, and
vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and
maidservants.
27 But the leprosy of Naaman shall also stick to thee, and to thy
seed for ever. And he went out from him a leper as white as
snow.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 6
1 And the sons of the prophets said to Eliseus: Behold the place
where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.
2 Let us go as far as the Jordan and take out of the wood every
man a piece of timber, that we may build us there a place to
dwell in. And he said: Go.
3 And one of them said: But come thou also with thy servants. He
answered: I will come.
4 So he went with them. And when they were come to the Jordan
they cut down wood.
5 And it happened, as one was felling some timber, that the head
of the axe fell into the water: and he cried out, and said:
Alas, alas, alas, my lord, for this same was borrowed.
6 And the man of God said: Where did it fall? and he shewed him
the place. Then he cut off a piece of wood, and cast it in
thither: and the iron swam.
7 And he said: Take it up. And he put out his hand and took it.
8 And the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel
with his servants, saying: In such and such a place let us lay
ambushes.
9 And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying: Beware
that thou pass not to such a place: for the Syrians are there
in ambush.
10 And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God
had told him, and prevented him, and looked well to himself
there not once nor twice.
11 And the heart of the king of Syria was troubled for this
thing. And calling together his servants, he said: Why do you
not tell me who it is that betrays me to the king of Israel?
12 And one of his servants said: No one, my lord O king: but
Eliseus the prophet, that is in Israel, telleth the king of
Israel all the words, that thou speakest in thy privy chamber.
13 And he said to them: Go, and see where he is: that I may send,
and take him. And they told him, saying: Behold he is in
Dothan.
14 Therefore he sent thither horses and chariots, and the
strength of an army: and they came by night, and beset the
city.
15 And the servant of the man of God rising early, went out, and
saw an army round about the city, and horses and chariots: and
he told him, saying: Alas, alas, alas, my lord, what shall we
do?
16 But he answered: Fear not: for there are more with us than
with them.
17 And Eliseus prayed, and said: Lord, open his eyes, that he may
see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw:
and behold the mountain was full of horses, and chariots of
fire round about Eliseus.
18 And the enemies came down to him, but Eliseus prayed to the
Lord, saying: Strike, I beseech thee, this people with
blindness. And the Lord struck them with blindness, according
to the word of Eliseus.
19 And Eliseus said to them: This is not the way, neither is this
the city: follow me, and I will shew you the man whom you
seek. So he led them into Samaria.
20 And when they were come into Samaria, Eliseus said: Lord, open
the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the Lord opened
their eyes, and they saw themselves to be in the midst of
Samaria.
21 And the king of Israel said to Eliseus, when he saw them: My
father, shall I kill them?
22 And he said: Thou shalt not kill them: for thou didst not take
them with thy sword, or thy bow, that thou mayst kill them:
but set bread and water before them, that they may eat and
drink, and go to their master.
23 And a great provision of meats was set before them, and they
ate and drank, and he let them go, and they went away to their
master, and the robbers of Syria came no more into the land of
Israel.
24 And tit came to pass after these things, that Benadad king of
Syria gathered together all his army, and went up, and
besieged Samaria.
25 And there was a great famine in Samaria: and so long did the
siege continue, till the head of an ass was sold for fourscore
pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cabe of pigeon's
dung, for five pieces of silver.
26 And as the king of Israel was passing by the wall, a certain
woman cried out to him, saying: Save me, my lord O king.
27 And he said: If the Lord doth not save thee, how can I save
thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? And the
king said to her: What aileth thee? And she answered:
28 This woman said to me: Give thy son, that we may eat him to
day, and we will eat my son to morrow.
29 So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the
next day: Give thy son that we may eat him. And she hath hid
her son.
30 When the king heard this, he rent his garments, and passed by
upon the wall. And all the people saw the haircloth which he
wore within next to his flesh.
31 And the king said: May God do so and so to me, and may he add
more, if the head of Eliseus the son of Saphat shall stand on
him this day.
32 But Eliseus sat in his house, and the ancients sat with him.
So he sent a man before: and before that messenger came, he
said to the ancients: Do you know that this son of a murderer
hath sent to cut off my head? Look then, when the messenger
shall come, shut the door, and suffer him not to come in: for
behold the sound of his master's feet is behind him.
33 While he was yet speaking to them, the messenger appeared who
was coming to him. And he said: Behold, so great an evil is
from the Lord: what shall I look for more from the Lord?
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 7
1 And Eliseus said: Hear ye the word of the Lord: Thus saith the
Lord: To morrow about this time a bushel of fine hour shall be
sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, in
the gate of Samaria.
2 Then one of the lords, upon whose hand the king leaned,
answering the man of God, said: If the Lord should make
hood-gates in heaven, can that possibly be which thou sayest?
And he said: Thou shalt see it with thy eyes, but shalt not
eat thereof.
3 Now there were four lepers, at the entering in of the gate:
and they said one to another: What mean we to stay here till
we die?
4 If we will enter into the city, we shall die with the famine:
and if we will remain here, we must also die: come, therefore,
and let us run over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare
us, we shall live: but if they kill us, we shall but die.
5 So they arose in the evening, to go to the Syrian camp, And
when they were come to the first part of the camp of the
Syrians, they found no man there.
6 For the Lord had made them hear, in the camp of Syria, the
noise of chariots, and of horses, and of a very great army,
and they said one to another: Behold the king of Israel hath
hired against us the kings of the Hethites, and of the
Egyptians, and they are come upon us.
7 Wherefore they arose, and fled away in the dark, and left
their tents, and their horses and asses in the camp, and fled,
desiring to save their lives.
8 So when these lepers were come to the beginning of the camp,
they went into one tent, and ate and drank: and they took from
thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went, and hid it:
and they came again, and went into another tent, and carried
from thence in like manner, and hid it.
9 Then they said one to another: We do not well: for this is a
day of good tidings. If we hold our peace, and do not tell it
till the morning, we shall be charged with a crime: come, let
us go and tell it in the king's court.
10 So they came to the gate of the city, and told them, saying:
We went to the camp of the Syrians, and we found no man there,
but horses, and asses tied, and the tents standing.
11 Then the guards of the gate went, and told it within the
king's palace.
12 And he arose in the night and said to his servants: I tell you
what the Syrians have done to us: They know that we suffer
great famine, and therefore they are gone out of the camp, and
lie hid in the fields, saying: When they come out of the city
we shall take them alive, and then we may get into the city.
13 And one of his servants answered: Let us take the five horses
that are remaining in the city (because there are no more in
the whole multitude of Israel, for the rest are consumed,) and
let us send and see.
14 They brought therefore two horses, and the king sent into the
camp of the Syrians, saying: Go, and see.
15 And they went after them as far as the Jordan: and behold all
the way was full of garments, and vessels, which the Syrians
had cast away in their fright, and the messengers returned end
told the king.
16 And the people going out pillaged the camp of the Syrians: and
a bushel of fine flour was sold for a stater, and two bushels
of barley for a stater, according to the word of the Lord.
17 And the king appointed that lord on whose hand he leaned, to
stand at the gate: and the people trod upon him in the
entrance of the gate; and he died, as the man of God had said,
when the king came down to him.
18 And it came to pass according to the word of the man of God,
which he spoke to the king, when he said: Two bushels of
barley shall be for a stater, and a bushel of fine flour for
a stater, at this very time to morrow in the gate of Samaria.
19 When that lord answered the mall of' God, and said: Although
the Lord should make flood-gates in heaven, could this come to
pass which thou sayest? And he said to him: Thou shalt see
with thy eyes, and shalt not eat thereof.
20 And so it fell out to him as it was foretold, and the people
trod upon him in the gate, and he died.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 8
1 And Eliseus spoke to the woman, whose son he had restored to
life, saying: Arise, and go thou and thy household, and
sojourn wheresoever thou canst find: for the Lord hath exiled
a famine, and it shall come upon the land seven years.
2 And she arose, and did according to the word of the man of
God: and going with her household, she sojourned in the land
of the Philistines many days.
3 And when the seven years were ended, the woman returned out of
the land of the Philistines, and she went forth to speak to
the king for her house, and for her lands.
4 And the king talked with Giezi, the servant of the man of God,
saying: Tell me all the great things that Eliseus hath done.
5 And when he was telling the king how he had raised one dead to
life, the woman appeared, whose son he had restored to life,
crying to the king for her house, and her lands. And Giezi
said: My lord O king, this is the woman, and this is her son,
whom Eliseus raised to life.
6 And the king asked the woman: and she told him. And the king
appointed her an eunuch, saying: Restore her all that is hers,
and all the revenues of the lands, from the day that she left
the land, to this present.
7 Eliseus also came to Damascus, and Benadad king of Syria was
sick: and they told him, saying: The man of God is come
hither.
8 And the king said to Hazael: Take with thee presents, and go
to meet the man of God, and consult the Lord by him, saying:
Can I recover of this my illness?
9 And Hazael went to meet him, taking with him presents, and all
the good things of Damascus, the burdens of forty camels. And
when he stood before him, he said: Thy son Benadad the king of
Syria hath sent me to thee, saying: Can I recover of this my
illness?
10 And Eliseus said to him: Go tell him: Thou shalt recover: bat
the Lord hath shewn me that he shall surely die.
11 And he stood with him, and was troubled so far as to blush:
and the man of God wept.
12 And Hazael said to him: Why doth my lord weep? And he said:
Because I know the evil that thou wilt do to the children of
Israel. Their strong cities then wilt burn with fire, and
their young men thou wilt kill with the sword, and thou wilt
dash their children, and rip up their pregnant women.
13 And Hazael said: But what am I thy servant a dog, that I
should do this great thing? And Eliseus said: The Lord hath
shewn me that thou shalt be king of Syria.
14 And when he was departed from Eliseus, he came to his master,
who said to him: What saith Eliseus to thee? And he answered:
He told me: Thou shalt recover.
15 And on the next day he took a blanket, and pouted water on it,
and spread it upon his face: and he died, and Hazael reigned
in his stead.
16 In the fifth year of Joram son of Achab king of Israel, and of
Josaphat king of Juda, reigned Joram son of Josaphat king of
Juda.
17 He was two and thirty years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
18 And he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house
of Achab had walked: for the daughter of Achab was his wife:
and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.
19 But the Lord would not destroy Juda, for David his servant's
sake, as he had promised him, to give him a light, and to his
children always.
20 In his days Edom revolted, from being under Juda, and made
themselves a king.
21 And Joram came to Seira, and all the chariots with him: and he
arose in the night, and defeated the Edomites that had
surrounded him, and the captains of the chariots, but the
people fled into their tents.
22 So Edom revolted from being under Juda, unto this day. Then
Lobna also revolted at the same time.
23 But the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the
kings of Juda?
24 And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in
the city of David, and Ochozias his son reigned in Iris stead.
25 In the twelfth year of Joram son of Achab king of Israel,
reigned Ochozias son of Joram king of Juda.
26 Ochozias was two and twenty years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned one year in Jerusalem: the name of his mother
was Athalia the daughter of Amri king of Israel.
27 And he walked in the ways of the house of Achab: and he did
evil before the Lord, as did the house of Achab: for he was
the son in law of the house of Achab.
28 He went also with Joram son of Achab, to fight against Hazael
king of Syria in Ramoth Galaad, and the Syrians wounded Joram:
29 And he went back to be healed, in Jezrahel: because the
Syrians had wounded him in Ramoth when he fought against
Hazael king of Syria. And Ochozias the son of Joram king of
Juda, went down to visit Joram the son of Achab in Jezrahel,
because he was sick there.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 9
1 And Eliseus the prophet called one of the sons of the
prophets, slid said to him: Gird up thy loins, and take this
little bottle of oil in thy hand, and go to Ramoth Galaad.
2 And when thou art come thither, thou shalt see Jehu the son of
Josaphat the son of Namsi: and going in thou shalt make him
rise up from amongst his brethren, and carry him into an inner
chamber.
3 Then taking the little bottle of oil, thou shalt pour it on
his head, and shalt say: Thus saith the Lord: I have anointed
thee king over Israel. And thou shalt open the door and flee,
and shalt not stay there.
4 So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went awry to
Ramoth Galaad,
5 And went in thither: and behold the captains of the army were
sitting: and he said: I have a word to thee, O prince. And
Jehu said: Unto whom of us all? And he said: To thee, O
prince.
6 And he arose, and went into the chamber: and he poured the oil
upon his head, and said: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel :
I have anointed thee king over Israel, the people of the Lord.
7 And thou shalt cut off the house of Achab thy master, and I
will revenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the
blood of all the servants of the Lord at the hand of Jezabel.
8 And I will destroy all the house of Achab, and I will cut off
from Achab him that pisseth against the well, and him that is
shut up, and the meanest in Israel.
9 And I will make the house of Achab like the house of Jeroboam
the son of Nabat, and like the house of Baasa the son of
Ahias.
10 And the dogs shall eat Jezabel in the field of Jezrahel, and
there shall be no one to bury her. And he opened the door and
fled.
11 Then Jehu went forth to the servants of his lord: and they
said to him: Are all things well? why came this mad man to
thee? And he said to them: You know the man, and what he said.
12 But they answered: It is false, but rather do thou tell us.
And he said to them: Thus and thus did he speak to me: and he
said: Thus saith the Lord: I have anointed thee king over
Israel.
13 Then they made haste and taking every man his garment laid it
under his feet, after the manner of a judgment seat, and they
sounded the trumpet, and said: Jehu is king.
14 So Jehu the son of Josaphat the son of Namsi conspired against
Joram. Now Joram had besieged Ramoth Galaad, he and all Israel
fighting with Hazael king of Syria:
15 And was returned to be healed in Jezrahel of his wounds, for
the Syrians had wounded him, when he fought with Hazael king
of Syria. And Jehu said: If it please you, let no mall go
forth or flee out of the city, lest he go, and tell in
Jezrahel.
16 And he got up, and went into Jezrahel: for Joram was sick
there, and Ochozias king of Juda was come down to visit Joram.
17 The watchmen therefore, that stood upon the tower of Jezrahel,
saw the troop of Jehu coming, and said: I see a troop. And
Joram said: Take a chariot, and send to meet them, and let him
that goeth say: Is all well?
18 So there went one in a chariot to meet him, and said : Thus
saith the king: Are all things peaceable? And Jehu said: What
hast thou to do with peace? go behind and follow me. And the
watchman told, saying: The messenger came to them, but he
returneth not.
19 And he sent a second chariot of horses: and he came to them,
and said: Thus saith the king: Is there peace? And Jehu said:
What hast thou to do with peace? pass, and follow me.
20 And the watchman told, saying: He came even to them, but
returneth not: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the
son of Namsi, for he drives furiously.
21 And Joram said: Make ready the chariot. And they made ready
his chariot, and Joram king of Israel, and Ochozias king of
Juda went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet
Jehu, and met him in the field of Naboth the Jezrahelite.
22 And when Joram saw Jehu, he said: Is there peace, Jehu? And he
answered: What peace ? so long as the fornications of Jezabel
thy mother, and her many sorceries are in their vigour.
23 And Joram turned his hand, and fleeing, said to Ochozias:
There is treachery, Ochozias.
24 But Jehu bent Iris bow with his hand, and shot Joram between
the shoulders: and the arrow went out through his heart, and
immediately he fell in his chariot.
25 And Jehu said to Badacer his captain: Take him, and cast him
into the field of Naboth the Jezrahelite: for I remember when
I and thou sitting in a chariot followed Achab this man's
father, that the Lord laid this burden upon him, saying :
26 If I do not requite thee in this field, saith the Lord, for
the blood of Naboth, and for the blood of his children, which
I saw yesterday, saith the Lord. So now take him, and cast him
into the field, according to the word of the Lord.
27 But Ochozias king of Juda seeing this, fled by the way of the
garden house : and Jehu pursued him, and said: Strike him also
in his chariot. And they struck him in the going up to Gaver,
which is by Jeblaam: and he fled into Mageddo, and died there.
28 And his servants laid him upon his chariot, and carried him to
Jerusalem: and they buried him in his sepulchre with his
fathers in the city of David.
29 In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Achab, Ochozias
reigned over Juda,
30 And Jehu came into Jezrahel. But Jezabel hearing of his coming
in, painted her face with stibic stone, and adorned her head,
and looked out of a window
31 At Jehu coming in at the gate, and said: Can there be peace
for Zambri, that hath killed his master?
32 And Jehu lifted up his face to the window, and said : Who is
this? And two or three eunuchs bowed down to him.
33 And he said to them: Throw her down headlong: and they threw
her down, and the wall was sprinkled with her blood, and the
hoofs of the horses trod upon her.
34 And when he was come in, to eat, and to drink, he said: Go,
and see after that cursed woman, and bury her: because she is
a king's daughter.
35 And when they went to bury her, they found nothing but the
skull, and the feet, and the extremities of her hands.
36 And coming back they told him. And Jehu said: It is the word
of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elias the Thesbite,
saying: In the field of Jezrahel the dogs shall eat the flesh
of Jezabel,
37 And the flesh of Jezabel shall be as dung upon the face of the
earth in the field of Jezrahel, so that they who pass by shall
say: Is this that same Jezabel?
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 10
1 And Achab had seventy sons in Samaria: so Jehu wrote letters,
and sent to Samaria, to the chief men of the city, and to the
ancients, and to them that brought up Achab's children,
saying:
2 As soon as you receive these letters, ye that have your
master's sons, and chariots, and horses, and fenced cities,
and armour,
3 Choose the best, and him that shall please you most of your
master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight
for the house of your master.
4 But they were exceedingly afraid, and said: Behold two kings
could not stand before him, and how shall we be able to
resist?
5 Therefore the overseers of the house, and the rulers of the
city, and the ancients, and the tutors sent to Jehu, saying:
We are thy servants, whatsoever thou shalt command us we will
do, neither will we make us a king: do thou all that pleaseth
thee.
6 And he wrote letters the second time to them, saying: If you
be mine, and will obey me, take the heads of the sons of your
master, and come to me to Jezrahel by to morrow this time. Now
the king's sons, being seventy men, were brought up with the
chief men of the city.
7 And when the letters came to them, they took the king's sons,
and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and
sent them to him to Jezrahel.
8 And a messenger came, and told him, saying: They have brought
the heads of the king's sons. And he said: Lay ye them in two
heaps by the entering in of the gate until the morning.
9 And when it was light, he went out, and standing said to all
the people: You are just: if I conspired against my master,
and slew him, who hath slain all these?
10 See therefore now that there hath not fallen to the ground any
of the words of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the
house of Achab, and the Lord hath done that which he spoke in
the hand of his servant Elias.
11 So Jehu slew all that were left of the house of Achab in
Jezrahel, and all his chief men, and his friends, and his
priests, till there were no remains left of him.
12 And he arose, and went to Samaria: and when he was come to the
shepherds' cabin in the way,
13 He met with the brethren of Ochozias king of Juda, and he said
to them: Who are you? And they answered: We are the brethren
of Ochozias, and are come down to salute the sons of the king,
and the sons of the queen.
14 And he said: Take them alive. And they took them alive, and
killed them at the pit by the cabin, two and forty men, and he
left not any of them.
15 And when he was departed thence, he found Jonadab the son of
Rechab coming to meet him, and he blessed him. And he said to
him: Is thy heart right as my heart is with thy heart? And
Jonadab said: It is. If it be, said he, give me thy hand. He
gave him his hand. And he lifted him up to him into the
chariot,
16 And he said to him: Come with me, and see my zeal for the
Lord. So he made him ride in his chariot,
17 And brought him into Samaria. And he slew all that were left
of Achab in Samaria, to a man, according to the word of the
Lord, which he spoke by Elias.
18 And Jehu gathered together all the people, and said to them:
Achab worshipped Baal a little, but I will worship him more.
19 Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, and all his
servants, and all his priests: let none be wanting, for I have
a great sacrifice to offer to Baal: whosoever shall be wanting
shall not live. Now Jehu did this craftily, that he might
destroy the worshippers of Baal.
20 And he said: Proclaim a festival for Baal. And he called,
21 And he sent into all the borders of Israel, and all the
servants of Baal came: there was not one left that did not
come. And they went into the temple of Baal: and the house of
Baal was filled, from one end to the other.
22 And he said to them that were over the wardrobe: Bring forth
garments for all the servants of Baal. And they brought them
forth garments.
23 And Jehu and Jonadab the son of Rechab went to the temple of
Baal, and said to the worshippers of Baal: Search, and see
that there be not any with you of the servants of the Lord,
but that there be the servants of Baal only.
24 And they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings: but
Jehu had prepared him fourscore men without, and said to them:
If any of the men escape, whom I have brought into your hands,
he that letteth him go shall answer life for life.
25 And it came to pass, when the burnt offering was ended, that
Jehu commanded his soldiers and captains, saying: Go in, and
kill them, let none escape. And the soldiers and captains slew
them with the edge of the sword, and cast them out: and they
went into the city of the temple of Baal,
26 And brought the statue out of Baal's temple, and burnt it,
27 And broke it in pieces. They destroyed also the temple of
Baal, and made a jakes in its place unto this day.
28 So Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel:
29 But yet he departed not from the sills of Jeroboam the son of
Nabat, who made Israel to sin, nor did he forsake the golden
calves that were in Bethel and Dan.
30 And the Lord said to Jehu: Because thou hast diligently
executed that which was right and pleasing in my eyes, and
hast done to the house of Achab according to all that was in
my heart: thy children shall sit upon the throne of Israel to
the fourth Generation.
31 But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord the God
of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the
sins of Jeroboam, who had made Israel to sin.
32 In those days the Lord began to he weary of Israel: and Hazael
ravaged them in all the coasts of Israel,
33 From the Jordan eastward, all the land of Galaad, and Gad, and
Ruben, and Manasses, from Aroer, which is upon the torrent
Amen, and Galaad, and Basan.
34 But the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and his
strength, are they not written in the book of the words of the
days of the kings of Israel?
35 And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in
Samaria: and Joachaz his son reigned in his stead.
36 And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel, in Samaria, was
eight and twenty years.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 11
1 And Athalia the mother of Ochozias seeing that her son was
dead, arose, and slew all the royal seed.
2 But Josaba the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ochozias,
took Joas the son of Ochozias, and stole him from among the
king's sons that were slain, out of the bedchamber with his
nurse: and hid him from the face of Athalia, so that he was
not slain.
3 And he was with her six years hid in the house of the Lord.
And Athalia reigned over the land.
4 And in the seventh year Joiada seat, and taking the centurions
and the soldiers, brought them in to him into the temple of
the Lord, and made a covenant with them: and taking an oath of
them in the house of the Lord, shewed them the king's son:
5 And he commanded them, saying: This is the thing that you must
do:
6 Let a third part of you go in on the sabbath, and keep the
watch of the king's house. And let a third part be at the gate
of Sur: and let a third part be at the gate behind the
dwelling of the shieldbearers: and you shall keep the watch of
the house of Messa.
7 But let two parts of you, all that go forth on the sabbath,
keep the watch of the house of the Lord about the king.
8 And you shall compass him round about, having weapons in your
hands: and if any man shall enter the precinct of the temple,
let him be slain: and you shall be with the king coming in and
going out.
9 And the centurions did according to all things that Joiada the
priest had commanded them: and taking every one their men,
that went in on the sabbath, with them that went out on the
sabbath, came to Joiada the priest.
10 And he gave them the spears, and the arms of king David, which
were in the house of the Lord.
11 And they stood having every one their weapons in their hands,
from the right side of the temple, unto the left side of the
altar, and of the temple, about the king.
12 And he brought forth the king's son, and put the diadem upon
him, and the testimony: and they made him king, and anointed
him: and clapping their hands. they said, God save the king.
13 And Athalia heard the noise of the people running: and going
in to the people into the temple of the Lord,
14 She saw the king standing upon a tribunal, as the manner was,
and the singers, and the trumpets near him, and all the people
of the land rejoicing, and sounding the trumpets: and she rent
her garments, and cried: A conspiracy, a conspiracy.
15 But Joiada commended the centurions that were over the army,
and said to them: Have her forth without the precinct of the
temple, and whosoever shall follow her, let him be slain with
the sword. For the priest had said: Let her not be slain in
the temple of the Lord.
16 And they laid hands on her: and thrust her out by the way by
which the horses go in, by the palace, and she was slain
there.
17 And Joiada made a covenant between the Lord, and the king, and
the people, that they should be the people of the Lord, and
between the king and the people.
18 And all the people of the land went into the temple of Baal,
and broke down his altars, and his images they broke in pieces
thoroughly: they slew also Mathan the priest of Baal before
the altar. And the priest set guards in the house of the Lord.
19 And he took the centurions, and the bands of the Cerethi and
the Phelethi, and all the people of the land, and they brought
the king from the house of the Lord: and they came by the way
of the gate of the shieldbearers into the palace. and he sat
on the throne of the kings.
20 And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was
quiet: but Athalia was slain with the sword in the king's
house.
21 Now Joas was seven years old, when he began to reign.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 12
1 In the seventh year of Jehu Joas began to reign: and he
reigned forty years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was
Sebia of Bersabee.
2 And Joas did that which was right before the Lord all the days
that Joiada the priest taught him.
3 But yet he took not away the high places: for the people still
sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
4 And Joas said to the priests: O All the money of the
sanctified things, which is brought into the temple of the
Lord by those that pass, which is offered for the price of a
soul, and which of their own accord, and of their own free
heart they bring into the temple of the Lord:
5 Let the priests take it according to their order, and repair
the house, wheresoever they shall see any thing that wanteth
repairing.
6 Now till the three and twentieth year of king Joas, the
priests did not make the repairs of the temple.
7 And king Joas called Joiada the high priest and the priests,
saying to them: Why do you not repair the temple? Take you
therefore money no more according to your order, but restore
it for the repairing of the temple.
8 And the priests were forbidden to take any more money of the
people, and to make the repairs of the house.
9 And Joiada the high priest took a chest and bored a hole in
the top, and set it by the altar at the right hand of them
that came into the house of the Lord, and the priests that
kept the doors put therein all the money that was brought to
the temple of the Lord.
10 And when they saw that there was very much money in the chest,
the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and poured it
out, and counted the money that was found in the house of the
Lord:
11 And they gave it out by number and measure into the hands of
them that were over the builders of the house of the Lord: and
they laid it out to the carpenters, and the masons that
wrought in the house of the Lord,
12 And made the repairs: and to them that cut stones, and to buy
timber, and stones, to be hewed, that the repairs of the house
of the Lord might be completely finished, and wheresoever
there was need of expenses to uphold the house
13 But there were not made of the same money for the temple of
the Lord, bowls, or fleshhooks, or censers, or trumpets, or
any vessel of gold and silver, of the money that was brought
into the temple of the Lord.
14 For it was given to them that did the work, that the temple of
the Lord might be repaired.
15 And they reckoned not with the men that received the money to
distribute it to the workmen, but they bestowed it faithfully.
16 But the money for trespass, and the money for sine, they
brought not into the temple of the Lord, because it was for
the priests.
17 Then Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Geth, and
took it and set his face to go up to Jerusalem.
18 Wherefore Joas king of Juda took all the sanctified things,
which Josaphat, and Joram, and Ochozias his fathers the kings
of Juda had dedicated to holy uses, and which he himself had
offered: and all the silver that could be found in the
treasures of the temple of the Lord, and in the king's palace:
and sent it to Hazael king of Syria, and he went off from
Jerusalem.
19 And the rest of the acts of Joas, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the
kings of Juda?
20 And his servants arose, and conspired among themselves, and
slew Joas in the house of Mello in the descent of Sella.
21 For Josachar the son of Semaath, and Jozabad the son of Somer
his servant struck him, and he died: and they buried him with
his fathers in the city of David, and Amasias his son reigned
in his stead.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 13
1 In the three and twentieth year of Joas son of Ochozias king
of Juda, Joachaz the son of Jehu reigned over Israel in
Samaria, seventeen years.
2 And he did evil before the Lord, and followed the sins of
Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, and he
departed not from them.
3 And the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he
delivered them into the hand of Hazael the king of Syria, and
into the hand of Benadad the son of Hazael all days.
4 But Joachaz besought the face of the Lord, and the Lord heard
him: for he saw the distress of Israel, because the king of
Syria had oppressed them:
5 And the Lord gave Israel a saviour, and they were delivered
out of the hand of the king of Syria: and the children of
Israel dwelt in their pavilions as yesterday and the day
before.
6 But yet they departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, who made
Israel to sin, but walked in them: and there still remained a
grove also in Samaria.
7 And Joachaz had no more left of the people than fifty
horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen: for the
king of Syria had slain them, and had brought them low as dust
by thrashing in the barnfloor.
8 Rut the rest of the acts of Joachaz, and all that he did, and
his valour, are they not written in the book of the words of
the days of the kings of Israel?
9 And Joachaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in
Samaria: and Joas his son reigned in his stead.
10 In the seven and thirtieth year of Joas king of Juda, Joas the
son of Joachaz reigned over Israel in Samaria sixteen years.
11 And he did that which is evil in the sight of the Lord: he
departed not from all the sine of Jeroboam the son of Nabat,
who made Israel to sin, but he walked in them.
12 But the rest of the acts of Joas, and all that he did, and his
valour wherewith he fought against Amasias king of Juda, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the
kings of Israel?
13 And Joas slept with his fathers: and Jeroboam sat upon his
throne. But Joas was buried in Samaria with the kings of
Israel.
14 Now Eliseus was sick of the illness whereof he died: and Joas
king of Israel went down to him, and wept before him, and
said: O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the
guider thereof.
15 And Eliseus said to him: Bring a bow and arrows. And when he
had brought him a bow, and arrows,
16 He said to the king of Israel: Put thy hand upon the bow. And
when he had put his hand, Eliseus put his hands over the
king's hands,
17 And said: Open the window to the east. And when he had opened
it, Eliseus said: Shoot an arrow. And he shot. And Eliseus
said: The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of
the deliverance from Syria: and thou shalt strike the Syrians
in Aphec, till thou consume them.
18 And he said: Take the arrows. And when he had taken them, he
said to him : Strike with an arrow upon the ground. And he
struck three times and stood still.
19 And the man of God was angry with him, and said: If thou hadst
smitten five or six or seven times, thou hadst smitten Syria
even to utter destruction: but now three times shalt thou
smite it.
20 And Eliseus died, and they buried him. And the rovers from
Moab came into the land the same year.
21 And some that were burying a man, saw the rovers, and cast the
body into the sepulchre of Eliseus. And when it had touched
the bones of Eliseus, the man came to life, and stood upon his
feet.
22 Now Hazael king of Syria afflicted Israel all the days of
Joachaz:
23 And the Lord had mercy on them, and returned to them because
of his covenant, which he had made with Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob: and he would not destroy them, nor utterly cast them
away, unto this present time.
24 And Hazael king of Syria died, and Benadad his son reigned in
his stead.
25 Now Joas d the son of Joachaz, took the cities out of the hand
of Benadad, the son of Hazael, which he had taken out of the
hand of Joachaz his father by war, three times did Joas beat
him, and he restored the cities to Israel.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 14
1 In the second year of Joas son of Joachaz, king of Israel,
reigned Amasias son of Joas king of Juda.
2 He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign: and
nine and twenty gears he reigned in Jerusalem: the name of his
mother was Joadan of Jerusalem.
3 And he did that which was right before the Lord, but yet not
like David his father. He did according to all things that
Joas his father did:
4 But this only, that he took not away the high places: for yet
the people sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
5 And when he had possession of the kingdom, he put his servants
to death that had slain the king his father:
6 But the children of the murderers he did not put to death,
according to that which is written in the book of the law of
Moses, wherein the Lord commanded, saying: The fathers shall
not be put to death for the children, neither shall the
children be put to death for the fathers: but every man shall
die for his own sins.
7 He slew of Edom h in the valley of the Saltpits ten thousand
men, and took the rock by war, and called the name thereof
Jectehel, unto this day.
8 Then Amasias sent messengers to Joas son of Joachaz, son of
Jehu king of Israel, saying: Come let us see one another.
9 And Joas king of Israel sent again to Amasias king of Juda,
saying: A thistle of Libanus sent to a cedar tree, which is in
Libanus, saying: Give thy daughter to my son to wife. And the
beasts of the forest, that are in Libanus, passed and trod
down the thistle.
10 Thou hast beaten and prevailed over Edom, and thy heart hath
lifted thee up: be content with the glory, and sit at home:
why provokest thou evil, that thou shouldst fall, and Juda
with thee?
11 But Amasias did not rest satisfied. So Joas king of Israel
went up, and he and Amasias king of Juda saw one another in
Bethsames a town in Juda.
12 And Juda was put to the worst before Israel, and they fled
every man to their dwellings.
13 But Joas king of Israel took Amasias, king of Juda the son of
Joas, the son of Ochozias, in Bethsames, and brought him into
Jerusalem: and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem, from the
gate of Ephraim to the gate of the corner, four hundred
cubits.
14 And he took all the gold, and silver, and all the vessels,
that were found in the house of the Lord, and in the king's
treasures, and hostages, and returned to Samaria.
15 But the rest of the acts of Joas, which he did, and his
valour, wherewith he fought against Amasias king of Juda, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the
kings of Israel?
16 And Joas slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria,
with the kings of Israel: and Jeroboam his son reigned in his
stead.
17 And Amasias the son of Joas king of Juda lived, after the
death of Joas son of Joachaz king of Israel fifteen years.
18 And the rest of the acts of Amasias, are they not written in
the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?
19 Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he
fled to Lachis. And they sent after him to Lachis, and killed
him there.
20 And they brought him away upon horses, and he was buried in
Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.
21 And all the people of Juda took Azarias, who was sixteen years
old, and made him king instead of his father Amasias.
22 He built Elath, and restored it to Juda, after that the king
slept with his fathers.
23 In the fifteenth year of Amasias k son of Joas king of Juda,
reigned Jeroboam the son of Joas king of Israel in Samaria,
one and forty years :
24 And he did that which was evil before the Lord. He departed
not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made
Israel to sin.
25 He restored the borders of Israel from the entrance of Emath,
unto the sea of the wilderness, according to the word of the
Lord the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonas
the son of Amathi, the prophet, who was of Geth, which is in
Opher.
26 For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel that it was
exceeding bitter, and that they were consumed even to them
that were shut up in prison, and the lowest persons, and that
there was no one to help Israel.
27 And the Lord did not say that he would blot out the name of
Israel from under heaven, but he saved them by the hand of
Jeroboam the son of Joas.
28 But the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and
his velour, where- with he fought, and how he restored
Damascus, and Emath to Juda in Israel, are they not written in
the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?
29 And Jeroboam slept with his fathers the kings of Israel, and
Zacharias his son reigned in his stead.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 15
1 In the seven and twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel
reigned Azarias son of Amasias, king of Juda.
2 He was sixteen years old, when he began to reign, and he
reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem: the name of his
mother was Jechelia of Jerusalem.
3 And he did that which was pleasing before the Lord, according
to all that his father Amasias had done.
4 But the high places he did not destroy: for the people
sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
5 And the Lord struck the king, so that he was a leper unto the
day of his death, and he dwelt in a free house apart: but
Joatham the king's soil governed the palace, and judged the
people of the land.
6 And the rest of the acts of Azarias, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the
kings of Juda?
7 And Azarias slept with his fathers: and they buried him with
his ancestors in the city of David, and Joatham his son
reigned in his stead.
8 In the eight and thirtieth year of Azarias king of Juda,
reigned Zacharias son of Jeroboam over Israel in Samaria six
months:
9 And he did that which is evil before the Lord, as his fathers
had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of
Nabat who made Israel to sin.
10 And Sellum the son of Jabes conspired against him: and struck
him publicly and killed him, and reigned in his place.
11 Now the rest of the acts of Zacharias, are they not written in
the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?
12 This was the word of the Lord, which he spoke to Jehu, saying:
Thy children to the fourth generation shall sit upon the
throne of Israel. And so it came to pass.
13 Sellum the son of Jabes began to reign in the nine and
thirtieth year of Azarias king of Juda: and reigned one month
in Samaria.
14 And Manahem the son of Gadi went up from Thersa: and he came
into Samaria, and struck Sellum the son of Jabes in Samaria,
and slew him, and reigned in his stead.
15 And the rest of the acts of Sellum, and his conspiracy, which
he made, are they not written in the book of the words of the
days of the kings of Israel?
16 Then Manahem destroyed Thapsa and all that were in it and the
borders thereof from Thersa, because they would not open to
him: and he slew all the women thereof that were with child,
and ripped them up.
17 In the nine and thirtieth year of Azarias king of Juda,
reigned Manahem son of Gadi over Israel ten years in Samaria.
18 And he did that which was evil before the Lord: he departed
not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made
Israel to sin all his days.
19 And Phul king of the Assyrians came into the land, and Manahem
gave Phul a thousand talents of silver, to aid him and to
establish him in the kingdom.
20 And Manahem laid a tax upon Israel, on all that were mighty
and rich, to give the king of the Assyrians, each man fifty
sides of silver: so the king of the Assyrians turned back, and
did not stay in the land.
21 And the rest of the acts of Manahem, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the
kings of Israel?
22 And Manahem slept with his fathers: and Phaceia his son
reigned in his stead.
23 In the fiftieth year of Azarias king of Juda reigned Phaceia
the son of Manahem over Israel in Samaria two years.
24 And he did that which was evil before the Lord: he departed
not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made
Israel to sin.
25 And Phacee the son of Romelia, his captain conspired against
him, and smote him in Samaria, in the tower of the king's
house, near Argob, and near Arie, and with him fifty men of
the sons of the Galaadites, and he slew him and reigned in his
stead.
26 And the rest of the acts of Phaceia, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the
kings of Israel?
27 In the two and fiftieth year of Azarias king of Juda reigned
Phacee the son of Romelia over Israel in Samaria twenty years.
28 And he did that which was evil before the Lord: he departed
not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made
Israel to sin.
29 In the days of Phacee king of Israel came Theglathphalasar
king of Assyria, and took Aion, and Abel Domum Maacha and
Janoe, and Cedes, and Asor, and Galaad, and Galilee, and all
the land of Nephtali: and carried them captives into Assyria.
30 Now Osee son of Ela conspired, and formed a plot against
Phacee, the son of Romelia, and struck him, and slew him: and
reigned in his stead in the twentieth year of Joatham the son
of Ozias.
31 But the rest of the acts of Phaces, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the
kings of Israel?
32 In the second year of Phacee the son of Romelia king of Israel
reigned Joatham son of Ozias king of Juda.
33 He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and
he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother
was Jerusa, the daughter of Sadoc.
34 And he did that which was right before the Lord: according to
all that his father Ozias had done, so did he.
35 But the high places he took not away: the people still
sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places: he built the
highest gate of the house of the Lord.
36 But the rest of the acts of Joatham, end all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the
kings of Juda?
37 In those days the Lord began to send into Juda Basin king of
Syria, and Phacee the son of Romelia.
38 And Joatham slept with his fathers, and was buried with them
in the city of David his father, and Achaz his son reigned in
his stead.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 16
1 In the seventeenth year of Phacee the son of Romelia reigned
Achaz the son of Joatham king of Juda.
2 Achaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: he did not that which was
pleasing in the sight of the Lord his Cod, as David his
father.
3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel: moreover he
consecrated also his son, making him pass through the fire
according to the idols of the nations: which the Lord
destroyed before the children of Israel.
4 He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places and on
the hills, and under every green tree.
5 Then Basin king of Syria, and Phacee son of Romelia king of
Israel came up to Jerusalem to fight: and they besieged Achaz,
but were not able to overcome him.
6 At that time Rasin king of Syria restored Aila to Syria, and
drove the men of Juda out of Aila: and the Edomites came into
Aila, and dwelt there unto this day.
7 And Achaz sent messengers to Theglathphalasar king of the
Assyrians, saying: I am thy servant, and thy son: come up, and
save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the
hand of the king of Israel, who are risen up together against
me.
8 And when he had gathered together the silver and gold that
could be found in the house of the Lord, and in the king's
treasures, he sent it for a present to the king of the
Assyrians.
9 And he agreed to his desire: for the king of the Assyrians
went up against Damascus, and laid it waste: and he carried
away the inhabitants thereof to Cyrene, but Basin he slew.
10 And king Achaz went to Damascus to meet Theglathphalasar king
of the Assyrians, end when he had seen the altar of Damascus,
king Achaz sent to Urias the priest a pattern of it, and its
likeness according to all the work thereof.
11 And Urias the priest built an altar according to all that king
Achaz had commanded from Damascus, so did Urias the priest,
until king Achaz came from Damascus.
12 And when the king was come from Damascus, he saw the altar and
worshipped it: and went up and offered holocausts, and his own
sacrifice.
13 And offered libations and poured the blood of the peace
offerings, which he had offered upon the altar.
14 But the altar of brass that was before the Lord, he removed
from the face of the temple, and from the place of the altar,
and from the place of the temple of the Lord: and he set it at
the side of the altar toward the north.
15 And king Achaz commanded Urias the priest saying: Upon the
great altar offer the morning holocaust, and the evening
sacrifice, and the king's holocaust, and his sacrifice, and
the holocaust of the whole people of the land, and their
sacrifices, and their libations: and all the blood of the
holocaust, and all the blood of the victim thou shalt pour out
upon it: but the altar of brass shall be ready at my pleasure.
16 So Urias the priest did according to all that king Achaz had
commanded him.
17 And king Achaz took away the graven bases, and the laver that
was upon them: and he took down the sea from the brazen oxen
that held it up, and put it upon a pavement of stone.
18 The Musach also for the sabbath, which he had built in the
temple: and the king's entry from without he turned into the
temple of the Lord, because of the king of the Assyrians.
19 Now the rest of the acts of Achaz, which he did, are they not
written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of
Juda?
20 And Achaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in
the city of David, and Ezechias his son reigned in his stead.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 17
1 In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Juda, Osee the son of Ela
reigned in Samaria over Israel nine years.
2 And he did evil before the Lord: but not as the kings of
Israel that had been before him.
3 Against him came up Salmanasar king of the Assyrians, and Osee
became his servant, and paid him tribute.
4 And when the king of the Assyrians found that Osee
endeavouring to rebel had sent messengers to Sua the king of
Egypt, that he might not pay tribute to the king of the
Assyrians, as he had done every year, he besieged him, bound
him, and cast him into prison,
5 And he went through all the land: and going up to Samaria, he
besieged it three years.
6 And in the ninth year of Osee, the king of the Assyrians took
Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria: and he placed
them in Hala and Habor by the river of Gozan, in the cities of
the Medes.
7 For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against
the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt,
from under the hand of Pharao king of Egypt, and they
worshipped strange gods.
8 And they walked according to the way of the nations which the
Lord had destroyed in the sight of the children of Israel and
of the kings of Israel: because they had done in like manner.
9 And the children of Israel offended the Lord their God with
things that were not right: and built them high places in all
their cities from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced
city.
10 And they made them statues and groves on every high hill, and
under every shady tree:
11 And they burnt incense there upon altars after the manner of
the nations which the Lord had removed from their face: and
they did wicked things, provoking the Lord.
12 And they worshipped abominations, concerning which the Lord
had commanded them that they should not do this thing.
13 And the Lord testified to them in Israel and in Juda by the
hand of all the prophets and seers, saying: Return from your
wicked ways, and keep my precepts, and ceremonies, according
to all the law which I commanded your fathers: and as I have
sent to you in the hand of my servants the prophets.
14 And they hearkened not, but hardened their necks like to the
neck of their fathers, who would not obey the Lord their God.
15 And they rejected his ordinances and the covenant that he made
with their fathers, and the testimonies which he testified
against them: and they followed vanities, and acted vainly:
and they followed the nations that were round about them,
concerning which the Lord had commanded them that they should
not do as they did.
16 And they forsook all the precepts of the Lord their God: and
made to themselves two molten calves, and groves, and adored
all the host of heaven: and they served Baal.
17 And consecrated their sons, and their daughters through fire:
and they gave themselves to divinations, and soothsayings: and
they delivered themselves up to do evil before the Lord, to
provoke him.
18 And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from
his sight, and there remained only the tribe of Juda.
19 But neither did Juda itself keep the commandments of the Lord
their God: but they walked in the errors of Israel, which they
had wrought.
20 And the Lord cast off all the seed of Israel, and afflicted
them and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, till he
cast them away from his face:
21 Even from that time, when Israel was rent from the house of
David, and made Jeroboam son of Nabat their king: for Jeroboam
separated Israel from the Lord, and made them commit a great
sin.
22 And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam,
which he had done: and they departed not from them,
23 Till the Lord removed Israel from his face, as he had spoken
in the hand of all his servants the prophets: and Israel was
carried away out of their land to Assyria, unto this day.
24 And the king of the Assyrians brought people from Babylon, and
from Cutha, and from Avah, and from Emath, and from
Sepharvaim: and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead
of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and
dwelt in the cities thereof.
25 And when they began to dwell there, they feared not the Lord:
and the Lord sent lions among them, which killed them.
26 And it was told the king of the Assyrians, and it was said:
The nations which thou hast removed, and made to dwell in the
cities of Samaria, know not the ordinances of the God of the
land: and the Lord hath sent lions among them: and behold they
kill them, because they know not the manner of the God of the
land.
27 And the king of the Assyrians commanded, saying: Carry thither
one of the priests whom you brought from thence captive, and
let him go, and dwell with them: and let him teach them the
ordinances of the God of the land.
28 So one of the priests who had been carried away captive from
Samaria, came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they
should worship the Lord.
29 And every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the
temples of the high places, which the Samaritans had made,
every nation in their cities where they dwelt.
30 For the men of Babylon made Sochothbenoth: and the Cuthites
made Nergel: and the men of Emath made Asima.
31 And the Hevites made Nebahaz and Tharthac. And they that were
of Sepharvaim burnt their children in fire, to Adramelech and
Anamelech the gods of Sepharvaim.
32 And nevertheless they worshipped the Lord. And they made to
themselves, of the lowest of the people, priests of the high
places, and they placed them in the temples of the high
places.
33 And when they worshipped the Lord, they served also their own
gods according to the custom of the nations out of which they
were brought to Samaria:
34 Unto this day they followed the old manner: they fear not the
Lord, neither do they keep his ceremonies, and judgments, and
law, and the commandment, which the Lord commanded the
children of Jacob, whom he surnamed Israel:
35 With whom he made a covenant, and charged them, saying: You
shall not fear strange gods, nor shall you adore them, nor
worship them, nor sacrifice to them.
36 But the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of
Egypt with great power, and a stretched out arm, him shall you
fear, and him shall you adore, and to him shall you sacrifice.
37 And the ceremonies, and judgments, and law, and the
commandment, which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do
them always: and you shall not fear strange gods.
38 And the covenant that he made with you, you shall not forget:
neither shall ye worship strange gods,
39 But fear the Lord your God, and he shall deliver you out of
the hand of all your enemies.
40 But they did not hearken, but did according to their old
custom.
41 So these nations feared the Lord, but nevertheless served also
their idols: their children also and grandchildren, as their
fathers did, so do they unto this day.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 18
1 In the third year of Osee the son of Ela king of Israel,
reigned m Ezechias the son of Achaz king of Juda.
2 He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign: and
he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem: the name of his
mother was Abi the daughter of Zacharias.
3 And he did that which was good before the Lord, according to
all that David his father had done.
4 He destroyed the n high places, and broke the statues in
pieces, and cut down the groves, and broke the brazen serpent,
which Moses had made: for till that time the children of
Israel burnt incense to it: and he called its name Nohestan.
5 He trusted in the Lord the God of Israel: so that after him
there was none like him among all the kings of Juda, nor any
of them that were before him:
6 And he stuck to the Lord, and departed not from his steps, but
kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.
7 Wherefore the Lord also was with him, and in all things, to
which he went forth, he behaved himself wisely. And he
rebelled against the king of the Assyrians, and served him
not.
8 He smote the Philistines as far as Gaza, and all their
borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
9 In the fourth year of king Ezechias, which was the seventh
year of Osee the son of Ela king of Israel, Salmanasar king of
the Assyrians came up to Samaria, and besieged it,
10 And took it. For after three years, in the sixth year of
Ezechias, that is, in the ninth year of Osee king of Israel,
Samaria was taken:
11 And the king of the Assyrians carried away Israel into
Assyria, and placed them in Hale, and in Habor by the rivers
of Gozan in the cities of the Medes:
12 Because they hearkened not to the voice of the Lord their God,
but transgressed his covenant: all that Moses the servant of
the Lord commanded, they would not hear nor do.
13 In the fourteenth year of king Ezechias, Sennacherib king of
the Assyrians came up against the fenced cities of Juda: and
took them.
14 Then Ezechias king of Juda sent messengers to the king of the
Assyrians to Lachis, saying: I have offended, depart from me:
and all that thou shalt put upon me, I will bear. And the king
of the Assyrians put a tax upon Ezechias king of Juda, of
three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold.
15 And Ezechias gave all the silver that was found in the house
of the Lord, and in the king's treasures.
16 At that time Ezechias broke the doors of the temple of the
Lord, and the plates of gold which he had fastened on them,
and gave them to the king of the Assyrians.
17 And the king of the Assyrians sent Tharthan and Rabsaris, and
Rabsaces from Lachis to king Ezechias with a strong army to
Jerusalem: and they went up and came to Jerusalem, and they
stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the way of
the fuller's field.
18 And they called for the king: and there went out to them
Eliacim the son of Helcias who was over the house, and Sobna
the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the recorder.
19 And Rabsaces said to them: Speak to Ezechias: Thus saith the
great king, the king of the Assyrians: What is this
confidence, wherein thou trustest?
20 Perhaps thou hast taken counsel, to prepare thyself for
battle. On whom dost thou trust, that thou darest to rebel?
21 Dost thou trust in Egypt a staff of a broken reed, upon which
if a man lean, it will break and go into his hand, and pierce
it? so is Pharao king of Egypt, to all that trust in him.
22 But if you say to me: We trust in the Lord our God: is it not
he, whose high places and altars Ezechias hath taken away: and
hath commanded Juda and Jerusalem: You shall worship before
this altar in Jerusalem?
23 Now therefore come over to my master the king of the
Assyrians, and I will give you two thousand horses, and see
whether you be able to have riders for them.
24 And how can you stand against one lord of the least of my
master's servants? Dost thou trust in Egypt for chariots and
for horsemen?
25 Is it without the will of the Lord that I am come up to this
place to destroy it? The Lord said to me: Go up to this land
and destroy it.
26 Then Eliacim the son of Helcias, and Sobna, and Joahe said to
Rabsaces: We pray thee speak to us thy servants in Syriac: for
we understand that tongue: and speak not to us in the Jews'
language, in the hearing of the people that are upon the wall.
27 And Rabsaces answered them, saying: Hath my master sent me to
thy master and to thee, to speak these words, and not rather
to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own
dung, and drink their urine with you?
28 Then Rabsaces stood, and cried out with a loud voice in the
Jews' language, and said: Hear the words of the great king,
the king of the Assyrians.
29 Thus saith the king: Let not Ezechias deceive you: for he
shall not be able to deliver you out of my hand.
30 Neither let him make you trust in the Lord, saying: The Lord
will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into
the hand of the king of the Assyrians.
31 Do not hearken to Ezechias. For thus saith the king of the
Assyrians: Do with me that which is for your advantage, and
come out to me: and every man of you shall eat of his own
vineyard, and of his own fig tree: and you shall drink water
of your own cisterns,
32 Till I come, and take you away to a land, like to your own
land, a fruitful land, and plentiful in wine, a land of bread
and vineyards, a land of olives, and oil and honey, and you
shall live, and not die. Hearken not to Ezechias, who
deceiveth you, saying: The Lord will deliver us.
33 Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their land from
the hand of the king of Assyria?
34 Where is the god of Emath, end of Arphad? where is the god of
Sepharvaim, of Ana, and of Ava? have they delivered Samaria
out of my hand?
35 Who are they among all the gods of the nations, that have
delivered their country out of my hand, that the Lord may
deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
36 But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word:
for they had received commandment from the king that they
should not answer him.
37 And Eliacim the son of Helcias, who was over the house, and
Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the recorder,
came to Ezechias, with their garments rent, and told him the
words of Rabsaces.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 19
1 And when king Ezechias heard these words, he rent his
garments, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into
the house of the Lord.
2 And he sent Eliacim, who was over the house, and Sobna the
scribe, and the ancients of the priests covered with
sackcloths, to Isaias the prophet the son of Amos,
3 And they said to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day
of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: the children
are come to the birth, and the woman in travail hath not
strength.
4 It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of
Rabsaces, whom the king of the Assyrians his master hath sent
to reproach the living God, and to reprove with words, which
the Lord thy God hath heard: and do thou offer prayer for the
remnants that are found.
5 So the servants of king Ezechias came to Isaias.
6 And Isaias said to them: Thus shall you say to your master:
Thus saith the Lord: Be not afraid for the words which thou
hast heard, with which the servants of the king of the
Assyrians have blasphemed me.
7 Behold I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a
message, and shall return into his own country, and I will
make him fall by the sword in his own country.
8 And Rabsaces returned, and found the king of the Assyrians
besieging Lobna: for he had heard that he was departed from
Lachis.
9 And when he heard of Theraca king of Ethiopia: Behold, he is
come out to fight with thee: and was going against him, he
sent messengers to Ezechias, saying:
10 Thus shall you say to Ezechias king of Juda: Let not thy God
deceive thee, in whom thou trustest: and do not say: Jerusalem
shall not be delivered into the hands of the king of the
Assyrians.
11 Behold thou hast heard what the kings of the Assyrians have
done to all countries, how they have laid them waste: and
canst thou alone be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered any of them, whom my
fathers have destroyed, to wit, Gozan, and Haran, and Reseph,
and the children of Eden that were in Thelassar?
13 Where is the king of Emath, and the king of Arphad, and the
king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Ana and of Ava?
14 And when Ezechias had received the letter of the hand of the
messengers, and had read it, he went up to the house of the
Lord, and spread it before the Lord,
15 And he prayed in his sight, saying: O Lord God of Israel, who
sitteth upon the cherubims, thou alone art the God of all the
kings of the earth: thou madest heaven and earth:
16 Incline thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes, and see:
and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to
upbraid unto us the living God.
17 Of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have destroyed
nations, and the lands of them all.
18 And they have cast their gods into the fire: for they were not
Rods, but the works of men's hands of wood and stone, and they
destroyed them.
19 Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all
the kingdoms of the earth may know, that thou art the Lord the
only God.
20 And Isaias the son of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus
saith the Lord the God of Israel: I have heard the prayer thou
hast made to me concerning Sennacherib king of the Assyrians.
21 This is the word, that the Lord hath spoken of him: The virgin
the daughter of Sion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to
scorn: the daughter of Jerusalem hath wagged her head behind
thy back.
22 Whom hast thou reproached, and whom hast thou blasphemed?
against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thy
eyes on high? against the holy one of Israel.
23 By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord, and
hast said: With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to
the height of the mountains, to the top of Libanus, and have
cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees. And I have
entered into the furthest parts thereof, and the forest of its
Carmel.
24 I have cut down, and I have drunk strange waters, and have
dried up with the soles of my feet all the shut up waters.
25 Hast thou not heard what I have done from the beginning? from
the days of old I have formed it, and now I have brought it to
effect: that fenced cities of fighting men should be turned to
heaps of ruin:
26 And the inhabitants of them, were weak of hand, they trembled
and were confounded, they became like the grass of the field,
and the green herb on the tops of houses, which withered
before it came to maturity.
27 Thy dwelling and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy way
I knew before, and thy rage against me.
28 Thou hast been mad against me, and thy pride hath come up to
my ears: therefore I will put a ring in thy nose, and a bit
between thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way, by
which thou camest.
29 And to thee, O Ezechias, this shall be a sign: Eat this year
what thou shalt find: and in the second year, such things as
spring of themselves: but in the third year sow and reap:
plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
30 And whatsoever shall be left of the house of Juda, shall take
root downward, and bear fruit upward.
31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and that which
shall be saved out of mount Sion: the zeal of the Lord of
hosts shall do this.
32 Wherefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of the
Assyrians: He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an
arrow into it, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a
trench about it.
33 By the way that he came, he shall return: and into this city
he shall not come, saith the Lord.
34 And I will protect this city, and will save it for my own
sake, and for David my servant's sake.
35 And it came to pass that night, that an angel of the Lord
came, and slew in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and
eighty-five thousand. And when he arose early in the morning,
he saw all the bodies of the dead.
36 And Sennacherib king of the Assyrians departing went away, and
he re- turned and abode in Ninive.
37 And as he was worshipping in the temple of Nesroch his god,
Adramelech and Sarasar his sons slew him with the sword, and
they fled into the land of the Armenians, and Asarhaddon his
son reigned in his stead.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 20
1 In those days Ezechias was sick unto death: and Isaias the son
of Amos the prophet came and said to him: Thus saith the Lord
God: Give charge concerning thy house, for thou shalt die, and
not live.
2 And he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord,
saying:
3 I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee
in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which
is pleasing before thee. And Ezechias wept with much weeping.
4 And before Isaias was gone out of the middle of the court, the
word of the Lord came to him, saying:
5 Go back, and tell Ezechias the captain of my people: Thus
saith the Lord the God of David thy father: I have heard thy
prayer, and I have seen thy tears: and behold I have healed
thee; on the third day thou shalt go up to the temple of the
Lord.
6 And I will add to thy days fifteen years: and I will deliver
thee and this city out of the hand of the king of the
Assyrians, and I will protect this city for my own sake, and
for David my servant's sake.
7 And Isaias said: Bring me a lump of figs. And when they had
brought it, and laid it upon his boil. he was healed.
8 And Ezechias had said to Isaias: What shall be the sign that
the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the temple of
the Lord the third day?
9 And Isaias said to him: This shall be the sign from the Lord,
that the Lord will do the word which he hath spoken: Wilt thou
that the shadow go forward ten lines, or that it go back so
many degrees?
10 And Ezechias said: It is an easy matter for the shadow to go
forward ten lines: and I do not desire that this be done, but
let it return back ten degrees.
11 And Isaias the prophet called upon the Lord, and he brought
the shadow ten degrees backwards by the lines, by which it had
already gone down in the dial of Achaz.
12 At that time Berodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of the
Babylonians, sent letters and presents to Ezechias: for he had
heard that Ezechias had been sick.
13 And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming, and he showed them the
house of his aromatical spices, and the gold and the silver,
and divers precious odours, and ointments, and the house of
his vessels, and all that he had in his treasures. There was
nothing in his house, nor in all his dominions that Ezechias
shewed them not.
14 And Isaias the prophet came to king Ezechias, and said to him:
What said these men? or from whence came they to thee? And
Ezechias said to him: From a far country they came to me out
of Babylon.
15 And he said: What did they see in thy house? Ezechias said:
They saw all the things that are in my house: there is nothing
among my treasures that I have not shewn them.
16 And Isaias said to Ezechias: Hear the word of the Lord.
17 Behold the days shall come, that all that is in thy house, and
that thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be
carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.
18 And of thy sons also that shall issue from thee, whom thou
shalt beget, they shall take away, and they shall be eunuchs
in the palace of the king of Babylon.
19 Ezechias said to Isaias: The word of the Lord, which thou hast
spoken, is good: let peace and truth be in my days.
20 And the rest of the acts of Ezechias and all his might, and
how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought waters into the
city, are they not written in the book of the words of the
days of the kings of Juda?
21 And Ezechias slept with his fathers, and Manasses his son
reigned in his stead.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 21
1 Manasses was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned five and fifty years in Jerusalem: the name of his
mother was Haphsiba.
2 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the
idols of the nations, which the Lord destroyed from before the
face of the children of Israel.
3 And he turned, and built up the high places which Ezechias his
father had destroyed: and he set up altars to Baal, and made
groves, as Achab the king of Israel had done: and he adored
all the host of heaven, and served them.
4 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the
Lord said: In Jerusalem I will put my name.
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two
courts of the temple of the Lord.
6 And he made his son pass through fire: and he used divination,
and observed omens, and appointed pythons, and multiplied
soothsayers to do evil before the Lord, and to provoke him.
7 He set also an idol of the grove, which he had made, in the
temple of the Lord: concerning which the Lord said to David,
and to Solomon his son: In this temple, and in Jerusalem,
which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will
put my name for ever.
8 And I will no more make the feet of Israel to be moved out of
the land, which I gave to their fathers: only if they will
observe to do all that I have commanded them according to the
law which my servant Moses commanded them.
9 But they hearkened not: but were seduced by Manasses, to do
evil more than the nations which the Lord destroyed before the
children of Israel.
10 And the Lord spoke in the hand of his servants, the prophets,
saying:
11 Because Manasses king of Juda hath done these most wicked
abominations, beyond all that the Amorrhites did before him,
and hath made Juda also to sin with his filthy doings:
12 Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Behold I will
bring on evils upon Jerusalem and Juda: that whosoever shall
hear of them, both his ears shall tingle.
13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the
weight of the house of Achab: and I will efface Jerusalem, as
tables are wont to be effaced, and I will erase and turn it,
and draw the pencil often over the face thereof.
14 And I will leave the remnants of my inheritance, and will
deliver them into the hands of their enemies: and they shall
become a prey, and a spoil to all their enemies.
15 Because they have done evil before me, and have continued to
provoke me, from the day that their fathers came out of Egypt,
even unto this day.
16 Moreover Manasses shed also very much innocent blood, till he
filled Jerusalem up to the mouth: besides his sins, wherewith
he made Juda to sin, to do evil before the Lord.
17 Now the rest of the acts of Manasses, and all that he did, end
his sin which he sinned, are they not written in the book of
the words of the days of the kings of Juda?
18 And Manasses slept with his fathers, and was buried in the
garden of his own house, in the garden of Oza: and Amen his
son reigned in his stead.
19 Two and twenty years old was Amen when he began to reign, and
he reigned two years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was
Messalemeth the daughter of Harus of Jeteba.
20 And he did evil in the sight, of the Lord, as Manasses his
father had done.
21 And he walked in all the way in which his father had walked:
and he served the abominations which his father had served,
and he adored them;
22 And forsook the Lord the God of his fathers, and walked not in
the way of the Lord.
23 And his servants plotted against him, and slew the king in his
own house.
24 But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired
against king Amen: and made Josias his son their king in his
stead.
25 But the rest of the acts of Amen which he did, are they not
written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of
Juda?
26 And they buried him in his sepulchre in the garden of Oza: and
his son Josias reigned in his stead.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 22
1 Josias was eight years old when he began to reign: he reigned
one and thirty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was
Idida, the daughter of Hadaia, of Besecath.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and
walked in all the ways of David his father: he turned not
aside to the right hand, or to the left.
3 And in the eighteenth year of b king Josias, the king sent
Saphan the son of Assia, the son of Messulam, the scribe of
the temple of the Lord, saying to him:
4 Go to Helcias the high priest, that the money may be put
together which is brought into the temple of the Lord, which
the doorkeepers of the temple have gathered of the people.
5 And let it be given to the workmen by the overseers of the
house of the Lord: and lot them distribute it to those that
work in the temple of the Lord, to repair the temple:
6 That is, to carpenters and masons, and to such as mend
breaches: and that timber may be bought, and stones out of the
quarries, to repair the temple of the Lord.
7 But let there be no reckoning made with them of the money
which they receive, but let them have it in their power, and
in their trust.
8 And Helcias the high priest said to Saphan the scribe: I have
found the book of the law in the house of the Lord: and
Helcias gave the book to Saphan, and he read it.
9 And Saphan the scribe came to the king, and brought him word
again concerning that which he had commanded, and said: Thy
servants have gathered together the money that was found in
the house of the Lord, and they have given it to be
distributed to the workmen, by the overseers of the works of
the temple of the Lord.
10 And Saphan the scribe told the king, saying: Helcias the
priest hath delivered to me a book. And when Saphan had read
it before the king,
11 And the king had heard the words of the law of the Lord, he
rent his garments.
12 And he commanded Helcias the priest, and Ahicam the son of
Saphan, and Achobor the son of Micha, and Saphan the scribe,
and Asaia the king's servant, saying:
13 Go and consult the Lord for me, and for the people, and for
all Juda, concerning the words of this book which is found:
for the great wrath of the Lord is kindled against us, because
our fathers have not hearkened to the words of this book, to
do all that is written for us.
14 So Helcias the priest, and Ahicam, and Achobor, and Saphan,
and Asaia went to Holda the prophetess the wife of Sellum the
son of Thecua, the son of Araas keeper of the wardrobe, who
dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second: and they spoke to her.
15 And she said to them: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel:
Tell the man that sent you to me:
16 Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will bring evils upon this
place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, all the words of the
law which the king of Juda hath read:
17 Because they have forsaken me, and have sacrificed to strange
gods, provoking me by all the works of their hands: therefore
my indignation shall be kindled against this place, and shall
not be quenched.
18 But to the king of Juda, who sent you to consult the Lord,
thus shall you say: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel:
Forasmuch as thou hast heard the words of the book,
19 And thy heart hath been moved to fear, and thou hast humbled
thyself before the Lord, hearing the words against this place,
and the inhabitants thereof, to wit, that they should become
a wonder and a curse: and thou hast rent thy garments, and
wept before me, I also have heard thee, saith the Lord:
20 Therefore I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be
gathered to thy sepulchre in peace, that thy eyes may not see
all the evils which I will bring; upon this place.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 23
1 And they brought the king word again what she had said. And he
sent: and all the ancients of Juda and Jerusalem were
assembled to him.
2 And the king went up to the temple of the Lord, and all the
men of Juda, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him,
the priests and the prophets, and all the people both little
and great: and in the hearing of them all he read all the
words of the book of the covenant, which was found in the
house of the Lord.
3 And the king stood upon the step: and made a covenant with the
Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments,
and his testimonies and his ceremonies, with all their heart,
and with all their soul, and to perform the words of this
covenant, which were written in that book: and the people
agreed to the covenant.
4 And the king commanded Helcias the high priest, and the
priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to cast out
of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that had been made
for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven:
and he burnt them without Jerusalem in the valley of Cedron,
and he carried the ashes of them to Bethel.
5 And he destroyed the soothsayers, whom the kings of Juda had
appointed to sacrifice in the high places in the cities of
Juda, and round about Jerusalem: them also that burnt incense
to Baal, and to the sun, and to the moon, and to the twelve
signs, and to all the host of heaven.
6 And he caused the grove to be carried out from the house of
the Lord without Jerusalem to the valley of Cedron, and he
burnt it there, and reduced it to dust, and cast the dust upon
the graves of the common people.
7 He destroyed also the pavilions of the effeminate, which were
in the house of the Lord, for which the women wove as it were
little dwellings for the grove.
8 And he gathered together all the priests out of the cities of
Juda: and he defiled the high places, where the priests
offered sacrifice, from Gabaa to Bersabee: and he broke down
the altars of the gates that were in the entering in of the
gate of Josue governor of tile city, which was on the left
hand of the gate of the city.
9 However the priests of the high places came not up to the
altar of the Lord in Jerusalem: but only ate of the unleavened
bread among their brethren.
10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of
Ennom: that no man should consecrate there his son or his
daughter through fire to Moloch.
11 And he took away the horses which the kings of Juda had given
to the sun, at the entering in of the temple of the Lord, near
the chamber of Nathanmelech the eunuch, who was in Pharurim:
and he burnt the chariots of the sun with fire.
12 And the altars that were upon the top of the upper chamber of
Achaz, which the kings of Juda had made, and the altars which
Manasses had made in the two courts of the temple of the Lord,
the king broke down: and he ran from thence, and cast the
ashes of them into the torrent Cedron.
13 The high places also that were at Jerusalem on the right side
of the Mount of Offence, O which Solomon king of Israel had
built to Astaroth the idol of the Sidonians, and to Chamos the
scandal of Moab, and to Melchom the abomination of the
children of Ammon, the king defiled.
14 And he broke in pieces the statues, and cut down the groves:
and he filled their places with the bones of dead men.
15 Moreover the altar also that was at Bethel, and the high
place, which Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to
sin, had made: both the altar, and the high place he broke
down and burnt, and reduced to powder, and burnt the grove.
16 And as Josias turned himself, he saw there the sepulchres that
were in the mount: and he sent and took the bones out of the
sepulchres, and burnt them upon the altar, and defiled it
according to the word of the Lord, which the man of God spoke,
who had foretold these things.
17 And he said: What is that monument which I see? And the men of
that city answered: It is the sepulchre of the man of God, who
came from Juda, and foretold these things which thou hast done
upon the altar of Bethel.
18 And he said: Let him alone, let no man move his bones. So his
bones were left untouched with the bones of the prophet that
came out of Samaria.
19 Moreover all the temples of the high places, which were in the
cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to
provoke the Lord, Josias took away: and he did to them
according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.
20 And he slew all the priests of the high places, that were
there, upon the altars: and he burnt men's bones upon them:
and returned to Jerusalem.
21 And he commanded all the people, saying: Keep the phase to the
Lord your God, according as it is written in the book of this
covenant.
22 Now there was no such a phase kept from the days of the
judges, who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of
Israel, and of the kings of Juda,
23 As was this phase that was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem, in
the eighteenth year of king Josias.
24 Moreover the diviners by spirits, and soothsayers, and the
figures of idols, and the uncleannesses, and the abominations,
that had been in the land of Juda, and Jerusalem, Josias took
away: that he might perform the words of the law, that were
written in the book which Helcias the priest had found in the
temple of the Lord.
25 There was no king before him like unto him, that returned to
the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with
ail his strength, according to all the law of Moses: neither
after him did there arise any like him.
26 But yet the Lord turned not away from the wrath of his great
indignation, wherewith his anger was kindled against Juda:
because of the provocations, wherewith Manasses had provoked
him.
27 And the Lord said: I will remove Juda also from before my
face, as I have removed Israel: and I will cast off this city
Jerusalem, which I chose, and the house, of which I said: My
name shall be there.
28 Now the rest of the acts of Josias, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the
kings of Juda?
29 In his days Pharao Nechao king of Egypt went up against the
king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josias went
to meet him: and was slain at Mageddo, when he had seen him.
30 And his servants carried him dead from Mageddo: and they
brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in Iris own
sepulchre. And the people of the land took Joachaz the son of
Josias: and they anointed him, and made him king in his
father's stead.
31 Joachaz was three and twenty years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: the name of his
mother was Amital, the daughter of Jeremias of Lobna.
32 And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that his
fathers had done.
33 And Pharao Nechao bound him at Rebla, which is in the land of
Emath, that he should not reign in Jerusalem: and he set a
fine upon the land, of a hundred talents of silver, and a
talent of gold.
34 And Pharao Nechao made Eliacim the son of Josias king in the
room of Josias his father: and turned his name to Joakim. And
he took Joachaz away and carried him into Egypt, and he died
there.
35 And Joakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharao, after he
had taxed the land for every man, to contribute according to
the commandment of Pharao: and he exacted both the silver and
the gold of the people of the land, of every man according to
his ability: to give to Pharao Nechao.
36 Joakim was five and twenty years old when he began to reign:
and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: the name of his
mother was Zebida the daughter of Phadaia of Ruma.
37 And he did evil before the Lord according to all that his
fathers had done.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 24
1 In his days Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came up, and Joakim
became his servant three years: then again he rebelled against
him.
2 And the Lord sent against him the rovers of the Chaldees, and
the rovers of Syria, and the rovers of Moab, and the rovers of
the children of Ammon: and he sent them against Juda, to
destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he had
spoken by his servants the prophets.
3 And this came by the word of the Lord against Juda, to remove
them from before him for all the sins of Manasses which he
did.
4 And for the innocent blood that he shed, filling Jerusalem
with innocent blood: and therefore the Lord would not be
appeased.
5 But the rest of the acts of Joakim, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the
kings of Juda? And Joakim slept with his fathers:
6 And Joachin his son reigned in his stead.
7 And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his own
country: for the king of Babylon had taken all that had
belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt, unto
the river Euphrates.
8 Joachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, a and
he reigned three months in Jerusalem: the name of his mother
was Nohesta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
9 And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that his
father had done.
10 At that time the servants of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon
came up against Jerusalem, and the city was surrounded with
their forts.
11 And Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came to the city with his
servants to assault it.
12 And Joachin king of Juda went out to the king of Babylon, he
end his mother, and his servants, and his nobles, and his
eunuchs: and the king of Babylon received him in the eighth
year of his reign.
13 And he brought out from thence all the treasures of the house
of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house: and he cut
in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel
had made in the temple of the Lord, according to the word of
the Lord.
14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and
all the valiant men of the army, to the number of ten thousand
into captivity: and every artificer and smith: and none were
left, but the poor sort of the people of the land.
15 And he carried away Joachin into Babylon, and the king's
mother, and the king's wives, and his eunuchs: and the judges
of the land he carried into captivity from Jerusalem into
Babylon.
16 And all the strong men, seven thousand, and the artificers,
and the smiths a thousand, all that were valiant men and fit
for war: and the king of Babylon led them captives into
Babylon.
17 And he appointed Matthanias his uncle in his stead: and called
his name Sedecias.
18 Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: the name of his
mother was Amital, the daughter of Jeremias of Lobna.
19 And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that Joakim
had done.
20 For the Lord was angry against Jerusalem and against Juda,
till he cast them out from his face : and Sedecias revolted
from the king of Babylon.
The Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 25
1 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the
tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that Nabuchodonosor
king of Babylon came, he and all his army against Jerusalem:
and they surrounded it: end raised works round about it.
2 And the city was shut up and besieged till the eleventh year
of king Sedecias,
3 The ninth day of the month: and a famine prevailed in the
city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
4 And a breach was made into the city: and all the men of war
fled in the night between the two walls by the king's garden,
(now the Chaldees besieged the city round about,) and Sedecias
fled by the way that leadeth to the plains of the wilderness.
5 And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and
overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all the warriors
that were with him were scattered, and left him:
6 So they took the king, and brought him to the king of Babylon
to Reblatha, and he gave judgment upon him.
7 And he slew the sons of Sedecias before his face, and he put
out his eyes, and bound him with chains, and brought him to
Babylon.
8 In the fifth month, the seventh day of the month, that is, the
nineteenth year of the king of Babylon, came Nabuzardan
commander of the army, a servant of the king of Babylon, into
Jerusalem.
9 And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and
the houses of Jerusalem, and every house he burnt with fire.
10 And all the army of the Chaldees, which was with the commander
of the troops, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about.
11 And Nabuzardan the commander of the army, carried away the
rest of the people that remained in the city, and the
fugitives that had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the
remnant of the common people.
12 But of the poor of the land he left some dressers of vines and
husbandmen.
13 And the pillars of brass that were in the temple of the Lord,
and the bases, and the sea of brass which was in the house of
the Lord, the Chaldees broke in pieces, and carried all the
brass of them to Babylon.
14 They took away also the pots of brass, and the mazers, and the
forks, and the cups, and the mortars, and all the vessels of
brass with which they ministered.
15 Moreover also the censers, and the bowls, such as were of gold
in gold, and such as were of silver in silver, the general of
the army took away.
16 That is, two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had
made in the temple of the Lord: the brass of all these vessels
was without weight.
17 One pillar was eighteen cubits high, and the chapiter of brass
which was upon it was three cubits high: and the network, and
the pomegranates that were upon the chapiter of the pillar,
were all of brass: and the second pillar had the like
adorning.
18 And the general of the army took Seraias the chief priest, and
Sophonias the second priest, and three doorkeepers.
19 And out of the city one eunuch, who was captain over the men
of war: and five men of them that had stood before the king,
whom he found in the city, and Sopher the captain of the army
who exercised the young soldiers of the people of the land:
and threescore men of the common people, who were found in the
city.
20 These Nabuzardan the general of the army took away, and
carried them to the king of Babylon to Reblatha.
21 And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Reblatha
in the land of Emath: so Juda was carried away out of their
land.
22 But over the people that remained in the land of Juda, which
Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had left, he gave the
government to Godolias the son of Ahicam the son of Saphan.
23 And when all the captains of the soldiers had heard this, they
and the men that were with them, to wit, that the king of
Babylon had made Godolias governor, they came to Godolias to
Maspha, Ismael the son of Nathanias, and Johanan the son of
Caree, and Saraia the son of Thanehumeth the Netophathite, and
Jezonias the son of Maachathi, they and their men.
24 And Godolias swore to them and to their men, saying : Be not
afraid to serve the Chaldees: stay in the land, and serve the
king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
25 But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ismael the son
of Nathanias, the son of Elisama of the seed royal came, and
ten men with him: and smote Godolias so that he died: and also
the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him in Maspha.
26 And all the people both little and great, and the captains of
the soldiers, rising up went to Egypt, fearing the Chaldees.
27 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the
captivity of Joachin king of Juda, in the twelfth month the
seven and twentieth day of the month: Evilmerodach king of
Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the
head of Joachin king of Juda out of prison.
28 And he spoke kindly to him: and he set his throne above the
throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon.
29 And he changed his garments which he had in prison, and he ate
bread always before him, all the days of his life.
30 And he appointed him a continual allowance, which was also
given him by the king day by day, all the days of his life.
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