References (756)
And she [Leah] became pregnant again and gave birth to a son, and she said, "This time I will praise (Hebr. jada) the Lord (Yahweh)." Therefore, she named him Judah [meaning: "praise"] and she stopped becoming pregnant.
Leah's [six] sons:
Reuben, Jacob's firstborn,
and Simeon
and Levi
and Judah
and Issachar
and Zebulun (Hebr. Zevolun).
Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is there in killing our brother and concealing his blood?
[The main character in the last section (chapters 37-50) of Genesis is Joseph. Here in chapter 38, however, there is an abrupt interruption concerning Judah and Tamar. At first, it may be difficult to understand how this chapter, which is a single tangle of illicit sexual relationships, fits into the story. Judah refuses to marry his youngest son to Tamar, she takes matters into her own hands and seduces her father-in-law, who willingly goes to her disguised as a prostitute. Placing the story of Judah in the middle of the story of Joseph creates a literary point. Two different paths emerge. Joseph flees from sexual immorality (), while Judah willingly enters into it with his eyes wide open.]
At that time, Judah went down [in terms of elevation, but also morally] from his brothers [in Hebron, see ] and turned to (pitched his tent at) a certain Adullamite named Kira [which means "noble"]. [Down to Adullam, which is located 20 km northwest of Hebron, there is an elevation difference of over 500 meters.]
There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shoa [meaning "wealth"], took her, and went in to her (had sexual relations with her). [In a similar way to Esau (), Judah left the commandments and took a wife from a Canaanite family, see ; .]
Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.
But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the eyes of the Lord (Yahweh), and the Lord (Yahweh) killed him.
Then Judah said to Onan (Hebr.): "Go in to your brother's wife and perform your duty as her husband's brother and provide your brother with offspring (children; literally seed)."
After this, Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Remain a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up." He said (thinking to himself), "Otherwise, he will also die like his brothers." And Tamar went away and lived in her father's house.
After some time (many days), Shoa's daughter, Judah's wife, died. Judah was comforted and went up to his shepherds in Timnah, he and his friend the Adullamite Kira.
When Judah saw her, he thought she was a temple prostitute because she had covered her face.
Judah sent the kid with his friend the Adullamite to get the pledge back from the woman's hand, but he did not find her.
He returned to Judah and said, "I did not find her, and even the men of the place say that there has been no temple prostitute there."
Judah replied, "Let her keep it, otherwise we will be disgraced. See, I sent this kid, and you have not found her."
About three months later, someone told Judah, "Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has been a temple prostitute, and now she is pregnant; she is pregnant by prostitution." Judah said, "Bring her here and burn her."
Judah recognized them and said, "She is more righteous than I, because I did not give her my son Shelah." He did not sleep with her again (had no sexual relations with her).
Judah spoke to him and said, "The man warned us clearly, saying, 'You shall not see my face unless you bring your brother with you.
Judah said to his father Israel, "Send the boy [Benjamin] with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and our little ones.
Judah and his brothers returned to Joseph's house. [Judah will play a decisive role in this part, so he is already highlighted in the story. He was the one who had promised to take care of Benjamin, see . In the following passage, he refers to his "father" 14 times. Joseph was still there [in the house, he was prepared and waiting for them], and they fell down before him.]
Judah replied, "What can we say to our lord? What shall we say? How shall we justify ourselves? God has found the iniquity of your servants; we are my lord's slaves, both we and the one in whose hand the cup was found."
Judah approached him [Joseph] and said, "My lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ear, and do not be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh.
The sons of Judah:
Er and Onan [pronounced "Ohnan"] and Shelah and Perez and Zerah,
but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.
The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.
He [Jacob] sent Judah [whose name means praise] ahead of him to Joseph, to show him the way to Goshen, and they came to the land of Goshen.
Judah [meaning "praise"], your brothers will praise you,
your hand will be on the neck of your enemies,
the sons of your fathers will bow down before you.
Judah is a lion's cub,
from the prey you have ascended.
He crouches, he lies down like a lion,
like a lioness—who will rouse him?
The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler's staff [depart] from between his feet [his descendants],
as long as one comes to Shiloh (until he comes as the one to whom it belongs) [a reference to the Messiah],
and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
Reuben (Hebr. Reoven), Simeon (Hebr. Shimon), Levi, and Judah (Hebr. Jehoda);
See, I have called by name Bezalel [meaning: "in the shadow of God" – i.e., under his protection],
son of Uri [meaning: "my light," his full name was probably Oriel or Oriah],
son of Hur (Hebr. Chor) [; ], of the tribe of Judah.
And Moses said to the sons of Israel, "See, the Lord (Yahweh) has called by nameBezalel, the son of Uri, the sonof Hur (Hebr. Chor) of the tribe of Judah,
Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, did all that the Lord (Yahweh) had commanded Moses [according to the instructions, see ].
From Judah (hebr. Jehuda): Nahshon, son of Amminadab.
The sons of Judah, their generations, according to their families, according to the houses of their fathers, by the number of names, every male individually, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war,
this was the number of those of the tribe of Judah, they were 74,600.
Those who now camp on the east side, toward the sunrise,
shall be those in the camp who belong to the banner of Judah, according to their divisions.
The leader of the sons of Judah is Nahshon, the son of Amminadab,
All those counted in the camp of Judah were 186,400 according to their divisions. They shall go out first (every time the camp breaks camp to move on).
[That Judah goes first is also mentioned in . Judah means praise, and here is an important principle about always putting praise first in our lives, both in the face of ordinary changes and in the spiritual battle.]
[During a 12-day period, each tribe's contribution is brought forward. The tribes are listed in the same order as in . The shekel was a unit of weight equal to 11.5 grams. The expression "the weight of the sanctuary" probably refers to the standard weight of the balance in the temple in Jerusalem.]
And the one who presented his offering on the 1th day was Nahshon, son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah.
And first under their banner (standard) marched the camp of the sons of Judah in their order of battle, and over his army was Nahshon, son of Amminadab.
From the tribe of Judah, Caleb, son of Jephunneh.
The sons of Judah: Er and Onan, and Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.
The sons of Judah by their families:
By Shelah, the family of the Shelahites,
by Perez, the family of the Perezites,
by Zerah, the family of the Zerahites.
These are the families of Judah, those who were counted of them, 76,500.
[First count: 74,600, an increase of 1,900.]
And these are the names of those men:
From the tribe of Judah,
Caleb, son of Jephunneh.
These [six tribes] shall stand on Mount Gerizim [present-day Jebel-et-Tur, to the south] and bless the people when you have crossed the Jordan:
Simeon (Shimon) and
Levi and
Judah (Jehoda) and
Issachar (Jisashchar) and
Joseph and
Benjamin (Binjamin).
And this to Judah, and he said: "Hear (listen) Lord (Yahweh) the voice of Judah, bring him to his people, his hands shall fight for him, and you shall be a help (Hebr. ezer) against his adversaries."
and all of Naphtali [Galilee in the north]
and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh [in the central northern part]
and all the land of Judah as far as the sea in the west [southern central part to the Mediterranean Sea]
[Now the first chiasm turns and moves back. This passage is related to chapter 2. Here, discontent arises because of an unfaithful Israelite. He hides plundered spoils even though God commanded them not to do so. This story has its "mirror image" in chapter 2. There, encouragement comes to the Israelites from a Canaanite woman who hides two Israeli spies.]
But the sons of Israel committed a transgression with the separated (consecrated) things. Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zimri, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took (stole) some of the devoted things, and the anger of the Lord (Yahweh) was kindled against the sons of Israel.
So Joshua rose early the next morning and gathered Israel according to their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was shown (taken, pointed out).
And he gathered the families of Judah, and the family of Zerah was shown (taken, pointed out). And he gathered the family of Zerah, man by man, and Zavdi was shown (taken, pointed out).
And he gathered his household man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was shown (taken, pointed out).
And Joshua came at that time and exterminated (cut off) the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Devir, from Anav, and from the entire hill country of Judah and from the entire hill country of Israel. Joshua completely destroyed them with their cities.
[In the chiastic pattern, this passage is connected to , where Josh. 1, like Caleb here, receives his reward for the events at Kadesh-Barnea.]
Then the sons of Judah came near to Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, said to him: "You know (are intimately familiar with) the things that the Lord (Yahweh) spoke to Moses the man of God concerning me and you at Kadesh-Barnea.
[Now follows the division for the tribe of Judah. In the chiastic pattern, those who are not Rachel's children, i.e., Judah and Simeon, are now described. This passage is related to the passage about Simeon, who is also not a child of Rachel, see ]
And the lot for the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families was to the border of Edom, to the wilderness of Zin southward to the extreme border on the south.
And the western border, the Great Sea [Mediterranean Sea], is its border. This is the border of the sons of Judah all around according to their families.
And to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, he gave a portion among the sons of Judah according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, Kiriath-Arba, the Arba whose father was Anak, that is, Hebron.
This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families.
And the cities in the outermost parts of the tribe of the sons of Judah toward the border of Edom in the south are:
Kavtsel and Eder and Jagor
But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, could not be driven out by the sons of Judah, and the Jebusites live with the sons of Judah in Jerusalem to this day.
And they shall divide it into seven parts, Judah shall remain within its borders in the south, and the house of Joseph shall remain within its borders in the north.
[The territory of Benjamin is the one described in most detail in 18 verses. This is probably due to its location between Judah in the south and Joseph (i.e., Ephraim) in the north.]
And the lot fell to the tribe of the sons of Benjamin according to their families, and their inheritance was between the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph.
And the border turned and went south on the west side from the mountains that are in front of Beit-Choron southward, and went out from there at Kirjat-Baal, the same as Kirjat-Jearim, one of the cities of the sons of Judah; this was the west side.
And the second lot fell to Simeon, to the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families, and their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Judah.
From the lot of the sons of Judah was the inheritance of the sons of Simeon, for the portion of the sons of Judah was too large for them, so the sons of Simeon had their inheritance in the midst of their inheritance.
And the border turned westward to Aznot-Tabor
and went from there to Chokoka
and reached Zebulun in the south
and reached Asher in the west
and to Judah at the Jordan toward the sunrise (eastward).
So they set apart [three cities west of the Jordan River:]
Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and
Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and
Kiriath-Arba, which is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah.
And the lot fell to the families of the Kohathites, the sons of Aaron the priest, who were Levites, and the lot fell to the tribe of Judah, and to the tribe of Simeon, and to the tribe of Benjamin, 13 cities.
And they gave from the tribe of the sons of Judah and from the tribe of the sons of Simeon these cities that are named.
And they gave them Kiriath-Arba, which is Arba the father of Anak, the same as Hebron (Hebr. Chevrón), in the hill country of Judah, with the open land around it.
The Lord (Yahweh) answered, "Judah [tribe] shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand." [The people are in Gilgal near Jericho, see ; .]
[Seven sections now describe how the Israelites fail to conquer the land. The first describes two tribes (Judah and Simeon) that have some success, followed by five tribes (Benjamin, Joseph, Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali) that fail, ending with Dan's catastrophic defeat, see . The number seven is included in the deliberate structure. The five tribes that are not listed separately are Reuben, Levi, Gad, and Issachar. Simeon, who is within the territory of Judah, is mentioned briefly in the introduction together with Judah, but already in the next verse the focus is not on them but on Judah, see .]
Judah [the people of the tribe of Judah] said to his brother Simeon (Shimon) [the people of the tribe of Simeon]: "Come up with me to my inheritance, that we may fight against the Canaanites, and I likewise will go up with you to your inheritance." And Simeon went with him.
[Simeon's territory is located near the city of Beer-Sheva and the territory of the tribe of Judah surrounding it, mostly to the east towards the mountains, see . It is therefore natural that these two tribes help each other. Simeon is known for his zeal for justice and vengeance when they rescue and avenge their sister Dinah, who has been raped, see , . Now follow seven episodes, from north to south in the territory of the tribe of Judah, where they have some success in conquering the land.]
Judah [together with the people of the tribe of Simeon] now went up, and the Lord (Yahweh) delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they struck them down at Bezek—10,000 men. [Bezek means "lightning" and is probably today's Ibziq, located in the territory of the tribe of Manasseh, about 100 km north of Jerusalem. Soon the Lord's messenger/angel will condemn the Israelites for not driving out these peoples, see . See also ; ; ; ; .]
And the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem [also called Jebus, see ] and took it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. [This was a temporary victory (; ; ). David later captured the city, see .]
After that, the sons of Judah went down and fought against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, in the Negev (south), and in the Lowlands [Hebr. Shefelah – the lowlands between the Mediterranean coast and the hill country of Judah].
And Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron, the present Hebron was formerly called Kiriath-Arba [; ; ], and they struck Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai [who were descendants of the giant Anakim, ; ; , ].
And the Kenites, the sons of Moses' father-in-law [], went up from the City of Palms [usually Jericho (), but may refer to another city here] with the sons of Judah to the wilderness of Judah, which is south [literally: "Negev"] of Arad, and they went and lived with the people.
And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they smote the Canaanites that dwelt in Zephath [12 km east of Beersheba in the Negev desert] and utterly destroyed them [; ]. And they called the city Hormah [which sounds like the word for "total destruction" in Hebrew, see ].
Judah also took
Gaza with its borders, Ashkelon with its borders, and Ekron with its borders.
[Summary:] And the Lord (Yahweh) was with Judah, and he drove out the inhabitants of the hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had iron chariots. [The horse-drawn chariots were made of wood, but with iron fittings and reinforcements.]
And the sons of Ammon crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was in great distress.
And the Philistines went up and camped in
Judah and spread out in Lechi
[meaning jawbone – probably near Beit-Shemesh].
[It is likely that most of the Danites had already moved north because the Philistines were looking for Samson in Judah, not in the area of Dan. The tribe of Dan had not fulfilled the mission Joshua had given them to take possession of the territory allotted to them (), and on their way north, the entire tribe also embraced idolatry, see . Samson's family is one of the few Danites remaining in the original territory that Joshua assigned to them (). This is probably also the reason why this particular family received their special calling, which began with a visit from an angel, see . In fact, Samson is doing what the entire tribe of Dan should have done.
The exact location of Lehi is not certain. In , the place is called "the jawbone hill." This could refer to a cave opening, a mountain formation, or something else that resembles a donkey's jaw, or the hill may have gotten its name because of the events described in verses 9-20. The spring Ein-Haqore is also located in the same place (). The cleft in Etam (verses 8 and 11) should also not be too far from Lechi. Most identify Lechi somewhere in the area around Beit-Shemesh. In verses 9-10, however, it is clear that the Philistines go "up" to one of the capitals of Judah, which was Bethlehem (; ) or Hebron (; ), from where one goes "down" to Etam. Another connection to the tribe of Dan () is that the area looks like a jawbone from above. It is not uncommon for places to be named after their shape, cf. Lake Haver (Hebr. Jam Kinneret).]The men of Judah asked, "Why have you come up against us?"
They replied, "We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us."
And 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock at Etam and said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?"
He answered them, "As they did to me, so I have done to them."
And there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, from the family of Judah, and he was a Levite, and he was staying there.
[How could a Levite (a person from the tribe of Levi) come from the tribe of Judah? The reason may be that Levites were adopted into families in order to have their "own" priest. Some examples of this are given here in the Book of Judges, see and .]
And the man left the city, from Bethlehem in Judah, to stay wherever he could find. [The phrase is ambiguous; was he looking for food, a place to settle, a job, or a place that God would show him?] And he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to Mic.'s house, to shape his path. [The last phrase is also unusual.]
Mic. asked him, "Where are you from?"
He replied, "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to stay wherever I can find (a place to stay)."
And they went up and encamped in Qirjat-Jearim in Judah. Therefore, that place is called Machane-Dan [Dan's encampment] to this day. See, after Qirjat-Jearim.
[The second story in the conclusion of the Book of Judges now begins. The only person named is Phinehas (). The fact that he is the son of Eleazar, who was a contemporary of Joshua (), means that this story takes place early in the period of the judges, one generation after Joshua. The phrase that recurs four times, "In those days there was no king in Israel" (; ; ), is found here, but with a slightly changed word order, where "king" comes before "was" here.]
And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that a man, a Levite, was staying on the other (far) side of the mountains of Ephraim. He took a woman, a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
[No person is named, which makes the story more general and applicable. The main character is a Levite—the tribe that had a mission of spiritual leadership. It is not the same person as in the previous story. There are both similarities and contrasts:
The Levite was traveling in the hill country, the same area where another Levite in the previous story had found a home (). The direction is reversed – in chapter , a Levite traveled from Bethlehem to the hill country of Ephraim, while here another Levite travels in the opposite direction down to Bethlehem. Both stories are about hospitality – in , Micah gives the Levite the title "father" but treats him as his own son. Here, the Levite is a father's son-in-law. The woman is introduced as a concubine, which immediately makes the reader suspect something sinister based on previous events in , which ended tragically in .]
And his concubine committed adultery [was angry] against him. She left him and went to her father's house, [south] to Bethlehem in Judah. There she stayed for four months.
[The Hebrew wording is unusual with "against him"; the Greek translation Septuagint translates it as "she became angry with him." In the Aramaic interpretation Targum, from the Second Temple period, it is mentioned that she "rejected him." Since the Books of Moses do not mention a woman divorcing her husband, the unusual wording here may be a way of describing how she leaves him, which would then fall under the category of infidelity (even though she has not been unfaithful with another man). What is clear is that something causes a marital crisis and she leaves him and returns to her family. After four months, the man takes the initiative to try to get her back, and he is welcomed by both the woman and her father.]
And he said to him, "We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the other side of the mountains of Ephraim, from whence I am, and I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and now I am going to the house of the Lord (Yahweh), but no man takes (invites) me into his house.
And they arose and went up to Bethel, and they inquired of God (Elohim), and the sons of Israel said, "Who among us shall go up first to fight against the sons of Benjamin?" The Lord (Yahweh) answered, "Judah first." [This is one of several examples in the Bible where Judah is to go first.]
In the days when the judges
[spiritual and military leaders of the Jewish people, see ] ruled, there was a famine in the land.
[The time of the judges is an approximately 300–year period in Jewish history, after the wilderness wanderings and before the monarchy. It is a dark time in Israel’s history. There is anarchy, with internal conflicts among the twelve tribes but also with neighboring countries.] Then a man went from
Bethlehem of
Judah with his wife and two sons to live for a time in the land of Moab.
The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and his two sons Machlon and Chilion. [Elimelech’s name means: ”my God is king”; Naomi ”well-being/sweetness”; the sons ”sickly” and ”fragile/weak”]. The family were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. [Ephraim was an area around Bethlehem, see ; ; .] They came to the land of Moab and stayed there.
[The first chapter begins and ends in the small town of Bethlehem in Judah. It is an almost ironic point that there is a famine in Bethlehem, in Hebrew ”house of bread”. The natural cause of the famine was probably several years of drought and crop failure. From a theological perspective, there were also spiritual causes. The people of Israel had abandoned God and devoted themselves to idols, and one consequence of this was that God’s hand of protection left the people, see ; .
Moab is located east of the Dead Sea, see ; . Only a generation earlier, the Israelites had been at war with Moab, see . The decision to go to Moab, and not to their Jewish brethren east of the Jordan River, may describe spiritual apostasy. Marriage to Moabite women was not forbidden, but no Moabite, or his sons to the tenth generation, were allowed to be admitted to the assembly of the Lord, see . The reason was the origin of the people, the incestuous relationship between Lot and his eldest daughter, see . Further, it was the Moabites who paid for Balaam to curse Israel, see .]
She set out, together with her two daughters-in-law, from the place where she had lived, and they walked on the road back to the land of Judah [a distance of 50 miles, taking 1-2 weeks to walk on foot].
[The Hebrew verb ”got up” and ”set out” in verses 6-7 are feminine singular, showing that it was Naomi who took the initiative and was the driving force – the daughters-in-law just followed along. Over time, under Naomi’s leadership, they become more involved and ”they” (feminine plural) walk together towards this goal. So far there have been no dialogues in the description. There are now three sections where Ruth’s role becomes more and more prominent.]
May your house (family) be like that of Peret [Boaz’s ancestor, see ], whom Tamar bore to Judah [by a precisely levirate marriage], through the child (seed) that the Lord (Yahweh) will give you through this young woman.” [The passage is well structured as a chiasm with a central verse prophesying that the city of Bethlehem in the region of Ephrathah will have an important role in the future. Here a son will be born whose name will be highly honored, see ; , ! The passage is framed by two women in , Rachel and Leah, and Tamar and Ruth in . There is also another connection with this chapter of Genesis. In the Hebrew text, at 49–letter intervals, the names Boaz, Ruth, Oved, Jishai and David can be read out in . The five names that lead up to David in the genealogical table at the end of the book of Ruth, see , are thus found in exactly the right order with 7 x 7 letter intervals in the very paragraph dealing with Peres, five generations before Boaz. You have to be a little careful with Bible codes, but it is still a strange coincidence that points to the Bible being a divinely inspired book.]
And he counted them in Bezek, and the sons of Israel were 300,000, and the men of Judah 30,000.
And Saul gathered the people and counted them in [the city] Telaim [south of Hebron in the Negev desert, probably the same as Telem along Judah's southern border with Edom, see , ], 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men from Judah. [A total of 210,000 men, the second largest army in Saul's career. The largest was earlier, see .]
And the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. They gathered at
Socho [in the Lowlands – Hebr. Shefelah] which belongs to
Judah, and camped between
[the city] Socho and
Azeka, at Ephes-Damim.
And David was the son of an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah named Jesse, who had eight sons, and the man was an old man in Saul's days, having reached a ripe old age among men [so he could not go to the battlefield himself].
[David was the youngest, see . In , only seven sons are mentioned by name. In , the three eldest are mentioned, so one of the younger ones may have died early before starting a family and therefore not been included in the Chronicles.]
And the men of Israel and
Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines until they came to Gai and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded Philistines fell along the road to
Shaarajim, all the way to Gat and to Ekron.
But all Israel and Judah loved David because he went out and came in before them.
And the prophet Gad said to David, "Do not stay in the stronghold; leave and go into the land of Judah." So David left and came to the forest of Hereth.
And David's men said to him, "Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Qila against the army of the Philistines?"
Therefore, look and find out all the hidden places where he may be hiding, and come back to me with reliable information, and I will go with you, and it shall come to pass, if he is in the land, that I will find him among all the thousands of Judah."
And Achish gave him
Ziklag that day. Therefore,
Ziklag belongs to the kings of
Judah to this day.
Achish asked, "Where did you make a raid today?" And David replied, "Against southern Judah, against southern Jerachmel, and against southern Qeni."
We raided the Kerethites in the south and the territory of Judah and the territory of Caleb in the south, and we burned Ziklag with fire."
And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad throughout the whole region, eating and drinking and feasting, for the spoil they had taken from the Philistines and from Judah was great.
And when David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the spoils to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, "Here is a gift for you from the spoils of the enemies of the Lord (Yahweh)."
and said, to teach the sons of Judah [this lament, which was named] "The Bow."
[The reason for the name may be that Saul was wounded by arrows, see , or the mention of "Jonathan's bow," see . See also . Some interpret this as David teaching the Judeans to become skilled in archery.]
Behold, it is written in the book of Jashar:
And it came to pass after this, that David inquired of the Lord (Yahweh), saying, "Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah?"
And the Lord (Yahweh) answered him, "Go up."
Then David asked, "Where shall I go up?"
And he said, "To Hebron (Hebr. Chevrón)."
The men of Judah came and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.
And they told David, saying, "The men of Jabesh-Gilead were the ones who buried Saul."
Now let your hands be strong (take courage and act decisively) and be sons of valor, for your lord Saul is dead, but the house of Judah has anointed me king over them."
Ish-Bosheth, Saul's son, was 40 years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for two years. But the house of Judah followed David.
[The name Ish-Bosheth means "man of shame"; in the Books of Chronicles he is called Eshbaal, which means "Baal is there" (). He is not an anointed king, but someone appointed as king over all eleven tribes, except Judah, where David reigns. For two years, there is a temporary division into a Northern and Southern Kingdom before David unites the nation again.]
And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
And Abner was very angry at Ish-Bosheth's words and said, "Am I a dog's head belonging to Judah? Today I have shown kindness (caring love – Hebr. chesed) to your father Saul's house, to your brothers and to his friends, and have not given you into David's hand, and you accuse me today of a sin with this woman!
to remove the kingdom from the house of Saul and set up David's throne over Israel and over Judah from Dan to Beersheba."
In Hebron, he ruled over
Judah for seven years and six months
[ca. 1010–1002 BC], and in Jerusalem, he ruled over all of Israel and
Judah for 33 years
[ca. 1002–970 BC].
[ Khirbet Qeiyafa – A city that shows David's growing kingdom
Until the discovery in Tell Dan in northern Israel in 1993, which mentions "the house of David," there was no archaeological evidence that David had existed. Excavations in 2007–2013 at Khirbet Qeiyafa, located in the Elah Valley (near Azeka, where David defeated Goliath), show how the united kingdom of Israel during David's time (c. 1010–970 BC) expanded and strengthened its position by building new fortified cities as a defense against the Philistines. The city was inhabited for only a short period of 20-30 years during the latter part of David's reign. The city was destroyed in 980-970 BC. Dating has often been done solely on the basis of ceramic finds, but in Khirbet Qeiyafa, about 20 olive pits were found that could be analyzed using the carbon-14 method, which enabled such an accurate dating. Another decisive factor in the dating was the fact that the city was inhabited for only a short period of time before being abandoned for a long time.
The city shows all the signs (type of wall, city planning, absence of pig bones, type of pottery, etc.) of being a Jewish city and not a Philistine or Canaanite one. The site is strategically important, located a day's march from both Jerusalem and Hebron. It is a border town with the Philistines (12 km to Gat to the west). The findings have enabled archaeologists to better identify cities from the same period at other excavations. Some of them are: Beit-Shemesh (layer 4), Tell en-Nasbeh, Chirvet ed-Davara, Chirvet al-Raj (2019) and Lachish (layer 5, 2023).
The wall is a so-called casemate wall (double wall). This technique was used in Israeli cities, but not in Philistine or Canaanite cities. Specific to Judah is that the wall was integrated into the dwellings where it could be used as a storage room. A thicker wall is certainly stronger, but the advantage of this hollow construction (in this case, the width of the outer wall was 1.5 meters and the inner wall 1 meter) is that it is quicker to build. Finds show that four groups built the wall, starting from each side of the two gates. Everything points to a central administration that planned the construction of the city.
Between 2007 and 2013, a quarter of the city has been excavated (which is a lot in archaeological terms). Over 400,000 clay shards and 693 handles from large clay vessels have been found. Such vessels were used by a central administration, where empty vessels were sent out to be filled, and served as a kind of taxation. Here in the Elah Valley, much of the grain needed to feed the growing empire was grown. Among the more spectacular finds is an inscription with the name Esh-Baal, the same name as Saul's fourth son (). Of the thousands of names found on other inscriptions from places in Israel, this is the first time this name has been discovered. It also fits in chronologically with the people in the Bible who have that name. Personal names containing Baal, which means "lord" but was also used for the Canaanite god, no longer appear in the Bible after the 9th century BC.
Twelve very small weights have also been found, all with a rounded top and a flat base. They were used to weigh precious materials such as metals, jewels, or spices. They are all different fractions of the (11.5 grams). Before this discovery, it was commonly believed that this precise system of measurement was first used in the 600s in Judah. Other signs that the city had an active and well-developed commerce include beautiful vessels from Cyprus and scarabs from Egypt. In addition, many metal objects have been found, including 15 daggers, 10 arrowheads, 3 swords, and a bronze axe.]And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baalah in
Judah [also called Kiriath-Jearim, 13 km west of Jerusalem] to bring up from there the ark of God
(Elohim), over which the Name is called, the name of the Lord of hosts
(Yahweh Sebaot) who sits on the cherubim.
[On the lid of the ark were two cherubim, see .]And Orija said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my lord Joab and my lord's servants are camping in the open field. Should I go into my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing."
and I gave you your master's house and your master's wife [Michal, Saul's daughter] into your arms, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that were too little, I would give you much more.
And King David sent messengers to Zadok and to Abiathar, the priests, saying, "Speak to the elders of Judah and say, 'Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house? For the word of Israel had come to the king, to bring him back to his house.
And he turned the hearts of all the men of Judah, as if they were one man, so that they sent word to the king, "Come back, you and all your servants!"
And the king returned and came to the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal to go and meet the king and bring the king across the Jordan.
And Shimei the Benjamite, the son of Gera, who was from Bahurim, hurried to come down with the men of Judah to meet King David.
And the king went over to Gilgal, and Kimham went over with him. And all the people of Judah brought the king over, and half the people of Israel.
And behold, all the men of Israel came to the king and said to the king, "Why have our brothers, the men of Judah, stolen you away and brought the king and his household across the Jordan, and all the men of David with him?"
And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, "Since the king is a close relative of ours, why are you angry about this matter? Have we eaten at the king's expense, or has any gift been given to us?"
And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, "We have ten parts (literally, ten hands are ours) of the king, and also in David more than you. Why do you despise us (make us light) and not let this matter be first to us to bring the king home?"
But the word of the men of Judah were harder than those of the men of Israel.
Then all the men of Israel (literally: went up from following) David and followed [instead] Sheba, the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah remained loyal to their king [David], from the Jordan to Jerusalem.
And the king said to Amasa, "Summon the men of Judah within three days, and be here yourself."
And Amasa went and gathered the men of Judah, but he delayed beyond the time that was appointed for him.
And the king called the Gibeonites and said to them, "The Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but were a remnant of the Amorites, and the sons of Israel had sworn to them, but Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah.
[This passage is thematically related to the famine caused by Saul's war against the Gibeonites.]
And again the anger of the Lord (Yahweh) was kindled against Israel, and he [the Lord (Yahweh) allowed Satan] provoked (seduced, incited, stirred up) David against them, saying, "Go and count Israel and Judah."
[In the parallel reference (), it is an accuser (Hebr. Satan) who urged David to count the people, but it is also clear that the Lord (Yahweh) allows Satan to test David. It was permissible according to the Torah to conduct a census, but there is a warning of pestilence if it was not done properly (). Since it was permitted and sometimes even encouraged (; , ; ), this suggests that David's sin was not about counting the people. The problem was either David's motive for the census or the way in which it was carried out. Perhaps the purpose was to exalt himself and rely more on his own strength than on the Lord's. Alternatively, David did not fulfill the requirement that all registered men pay half a shekel as the ransom required (). What speaks in favor of the second alternative is that David had previously failed to follow all the regulations for an otherwise permissible act—the transport of the ark of the covenant—which had disastrous consequences ().]
and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah at Beersheba.
And Joab gave the number of the people counted to the king, and there were in Israel 800,000 valiant men who could draw the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000.
And Adonijah slaughtered sheep and oxen and fattened cattle at the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside Ein-Rogel [a spring just south of the Gihon Spring in the Kidron Valley, on the border between Benjamin and Judah], and he called all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the men of Judah, the king's servants. [Adonijah follows the same pattern as his brother Absalom did in his coup, see .]
Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, for he shall be king in my place, and I have appointed him to be prince over Israel and over Judah.
And the Lord (Yahweh) will return his blood upon his own head, because he struck down two men who were more righteous and better than he, and he killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know it. Abner, the son of Ner, commander of Israel [], and Amasa, the son of Jether, commander of Judah [].
Judah and Israel were as impossible to count as the sand by the sea [; ], they ate and drank and were merry.
And Judah and Israel lived in safety, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam [still] reigned over them.
And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was returned, that they sent and called him to the assembly, and made him king over Israel. There was none that followed the house of David, save the tribe of Judah.
And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen men who were warriors, gathered together to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom back to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.
"Speak to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying,
If the people go up and offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord (Yahweh) in Jerusalem, then the hearts of the people will return to their lord, to Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah."
And Jeroboam commanded a feast in the eighth month [Cheshvan – Oct/Nov] on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feasts of Judah, and he went up to the altar. He did this in Bethel and sacrificed to the calf he had made, and he placed the priest in Bethel on the high place he had made. [The biblical autumn feasts occur a month earlier in the 7th month (Tishri), see , , .]
And behold, a man of God came from
Judah with the word of the Lord
(Yahweh) to
Bethel, and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to offer sacrifice.
And their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" For his sons had seen which way the man of God had gone, who came from Judah.
And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree, and he asked him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?"
He replied, "I am."
And he cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, saying, "Thus says the Lord (Yahweh): As much as you have rebelled against the mouth of the Lord (Yahweh) and have not obeyed his command (commandment – Hebr. mitsvah) that the Lord (Yahweh) your God (Elohim) commanded (Hebrew tsavah) you,
[Rehoboam was the first ruler of the Southern Kingdom (reigned 930-913 BC).]
And Rehoboam, Solomon's son, reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord (Yahweh) had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there, and his mother [queen mother] was Naamah the Ammonite.
Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord (Yahweh), and they provoked him to anger with all the transgressions they committed, more than all the transgressions of their fathers.
The rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are written in the chronicles of the kings of Judah.
[Abijah was the second ruler of the Southern Kingdom. He reigned in Jerusalem from 913 to 910 BC. He fought against the Northern Kingdom and defeated Jeroboam in Ephraim (ca. 912 BC), see .]
And in the 18th year of King Jeroboam's son Nebat, Abijah began to reign over Judah.
The rest of the acts of Abijah, and all that he did, are written in the chronicles of the kings of Judah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
[Asa was the third ruler of the Southern Kingdom (reigned 905-874 BC).]
And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah.
And Baasha, king of Israel, went up against Judah and built Ramah to prevent anyone from coming to Asa, king of Judah.
And King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah, no one was exempt, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timber with which Baasha had built, and King Asa built Geva in Benjamin with it and Mizpah.
The rest of the acts of Asa, and all his might, and what he did, and all the cities that he built, are written in the chronicles of the kings of Judah. But in his old age he became diseased in his feet.
[Second king of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) – Nadab (903-902 BC)]
And Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, began to reign in Israel [the Northern Kingdom] in the second year of Asa king of Judah [Asa was the fourth king of the Southern Kingdom], and he reigned over Israel two years.
And in the third year of Asa, king of Judah, Baasha slew him (Nadab) and reigned in his stead.
[The third king of Israel (the northern kingdom) – Baasha (909-886 BC). His story is found in .] In the third year of Asa's reign in
Judah, Baasha, the son of Ahijah, began to reign over all Israel in
Tirtsah [northeast of Shechem; present-day Tell el-Farah] and reigned for 24 years.
[Fourth king of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) – Elah (886-885 BC)]
In the 26th year of Asa's reign over Judah, Elah, son of Baasha, began to reign over Israel in Tirzah [capital of the Northern Kingdom, northeast of Shechem], and he reigned for two years.
Zimri went there and struck him down and killed him—this happened in the 27th year of Asa's reign over Judah—and reigned in his [Elah's] place.
In the 27th year of Asa king of
Judah, Zimri reigned
[only] seven days in
Tirtsah [northeast of Shechem; present-day Tell el-Farah]. And the people were encamped against Giveton, which belongs to the Philistines.
In the 31st year of Asa, king of
Judah [4th king of the Southern Kingdom], Omri began to reign over Israel and reigned for 12 years, 6 years of which he reigned in
Tirtsah [northeast of Shechem; present-day Tell el-Farah].
[The seventh king of Israel (the northern kingdom) – Ahab (874-853 BC)
His name Achav means "father's brother".]
Ahab (Hebr. Achav), son of Omri, became king of Israel [the eighth king of the northern kingdom]. This happened during the 38th year of Asa, king of Judah [the southern kingdom]. Ahab, son of Omri, reigned over Israel in Samaria for 22 years [874-853 BC].
Elijah saw
(became afraid), got up, and ran for his life.
[The three verbs indicate a quick action without thought. What Elijah saw was the message, but also how his hope that the country's leadership would repent would not be fulfilled.] He came to
Beer-Sheva in
Judah [the southernmost city in Judah, 150 km from Jezreel]. There he left his servant,
And it came to pass in the third year [after the peace, see ] that Jehoshaphat, king of Judah [the 4th ruler of the Southern Kingdom], came down [from Jerusalem, which is high] to the king of Israel [in the north; Ahab was the 7th king of the Northern Kingdom].
And the king of Israel [Ahab] and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, each sat on his throne, dressed in his robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance to the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets prophesied to them.
And the king of Israel [Ahab] and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-Gilead.
And Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab, king of Israel.
And the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he showed, and how he warred, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
Ahaziah, son of Ahab, began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the 70th year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel.
So he died according to the word of the Lord (Yahweh) that Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram began to reign in his place, in the second year of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, because he had no son.
And Jehoram, son of Ahab (Hebr. Achav), began to reign in Israel in Samaria, in the 18th year of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, and reigned for 12 years. [Jehoram is the 9th king of the Northern Kingdom.]
Then he went and sent messengers to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, saying, "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?"
He replied, "I will go. I am as you are, and my people as your people, my horses as your horses."
So they set out—the king of Israel [Joram], the king of Judah [Jehoshaphat], and the king of Edom [a vassal king appointed by Joram, see ]—and they made a detour that took seven days, until finally there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. [They had hoped to find water in Wadi el Ahsy on the border of Moab.]
And Elisha said, "As the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot) lives, before whose face I stand, if it were not for the respect of the presence of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, I would not look at you or see you.
[Jehoram reigned over Judah for eight years (848-841 BC). He sins by marrying Ahab's daughter Athaliah, .]
In the fifth year of Jehoram, son of Ahab, king of Israel [in the north], while Jehoshaphat was king of Judah [in the south], Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, became king of Judah.
But the Lord (Yahweh) did not want to destroy Judah for the sake of his servant David. He had promised that he and his sons would have a lamp (Hebr. nir) forever. [See also and the word for torch, Hebr. lappid.]
In his days, Edom rebelled against Judah's control (literally: "from under Judah's hand") and set up its own king. [Edom had been under Judah for 150 years since the time of David, see ; . This was a great loss, Isaac's prophetic words being fulfilled, see .]
And Edom rebelled against Judah's control (literally: "from under Judah's hand") to this day. And Libnah rebelled at the same time.
Now the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
[Ahaziah began to reign in 841 BC.]
And in the twelfth year of Joram, son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, king of Judah, began to reign. [In the first year, Joram reigned with his father Ahab, see also .]
And King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had inflicted on him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael, king of Aram. And Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram, son of Ahab, in Jezreel, because he was sick.
And Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was lying there. And Ahaziah (Hebr. Achazjaho), king of Judah, had come down to see Joram.
And Joram said, "Get ready," and they prepared his chariot. And Joram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, went out and got into their chariots, and they went out to meet Jehu. They found him in the territory of Jezreel, in the land of Naboth.
And Ahaziah, king of Judah, saw this and fled [south] along the road by the garden house (Hebr. Bet Haggan) [may be modern Jenin south of Jezreel]. But Jehu followed him and said, "Strike him down [while he is] in the chariot." On the hill up to Gor, which is near Ivleam [he was struck], but he fled [on] to Megiddo and died there.
Ahaziah had begun to reign over Judah [the Southern Kingdom] in the 11th year of [the 9th king of the Northern Kingdom] Joram, son of Ahab.
[In the first year, Joram probably reigned together with his father. The year of accession was usually counted in the Southern Kingdom, while the year of accession was not counted in the Northern Kingdom. Hence the indication of 12 years in .]
Jehu met the brothers of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and said, "Who are you?" They replied, "We are the brothers of Ahaziah, and we are going down to greet the sons of the king and the sons of the queen mother."
And Jehoash, king of Judah, took all the sacred things that Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had set apart (consecrated), and his own sacred objects, and all the gold that was in the treasury of the house of the Lord (Yahweh) and in the king's house, and sent it to Hazael, king of Aram, who had withdrawn from Jerusalem.
The rest of the acts of Jehoash, and all that he did, are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.
[Jehoahaz reigned in the Northern Kingdom from 814 to 798 BC. He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord (), and God allowed the king of Aram to defeat Israel time and time again, drastically reducing Jehoahaz's army (). Jehoahaz prays to God, and God sends an anonymous deliverer (perhaps Elisha and Jehoash, see ). This is the only time it is mentioned that a king in the north receives an answer to prayer, see .]
In the 23rd year of Joash, son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, began to reign over Israel in Samaria and reigned for 17 years.
[Jehoash reigned over the Northern Kingdom from 798 to 782 BC.]
In the 37th year of Joash, king of Judah, Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned 16 years.
The rest of the acts of Joash, and what he did, and his might, how he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
[Amasja reigned for a total of 29 years. First alone for 4 years (796-792 BC) and then sharing his throne with his son Azarja (also known as Ussia) for the last 25 years, 792-767 BC.]
In the second year of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah (Hebr. amatsjaho), the son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign.
And Jehoash, king of Israel, sent messengers to Amaziah, king of Judah, saying, "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as wife,' and the wild beasts that were in Lebanon trampled the thistle.
You have indeed defeated Edom, and now your heart is lifted up. Be satisfied (enjoy this honor, literally: 'let yourself be weighed down' – Hebr. hikavod) and stay in your house, for why should you meddle in evil, so that you and Judah with you fall?" [In the parable, Amaziah, king of the Southern Kingdom, is compared to a wild, insignificant thistle, which can easily be trampled down by wild animals. It is a warning not to be proud.]
But Amaziah did not listen. And Jehoash, king of Israel, went up, and he and Amaziah, king of Judah, looked each other in the face [met eye to eye] at Beit-Shemesh, which belongs to Judah.
And Judah was defeated before Israel, and they fled, every man to his tent.
And Jehoash, king of Israel, took Amaziah, king of Judah, Jehoash's son, Ahaziah's son, at Beit-Shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate [on the north side of Jerusalem] to the Corner Gate [on the west side], 400 cubits [180 meters].
The rest of the acts of Jehoash, and what he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
And Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.
The rest of the acts of Amaziah are written in the chronicles of the kings of Judah.
And all the people of Judah took Azariah (Hebr. Azarjah) [also called Uzziah], who was 16 years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.
He built Eilat and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers.
[Jeroboam II was the grandson of Jehu and the son of Joash. He reigned 41 years (786-746 BC).]
In the 15th year of Amaziah, son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam (Hebr. Jarovam), son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned 41 years.
What else is there about Jeroboam's deeds, and all that he did, and his strength, how he fought, and how he recovered Damascus and Hamath for Judah in Israel, it is written in the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
[Azariah is the same person as Uzziah, see ; ; . He is the eighth king of Judah after the division and the tenth king after David. In this chapter, there are two spellings of his name in Hebr. Azarjah (verses 1, 7, 17, 23, 27) and Azarajaho (verses 6 and 8).]
In the 27th year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Azariah (Hebr. Azarjah) [Uzziah], son of Amaziah, king of Judah, began to reign.
The rest of the acts of Azariah (Hebr. Azarjaho) [Uzziah], and all that he did, are written in the chronicles of the kings of Judah.
[Zechariah (Hebr. Zecharjaho) was the 14th king of Israel. He reigned for six months before being killed by his successor. The shorter form of his name, Zechariah, is used in ; .]
In the 38th year of Azariah (Hebr. Azarjaho) [Uzziah], king of Judah, Zechariah (Hebr. Zecharjaho), son of Jeroboam, reigned over Israel in Samaria for six months.
[Shallum was the 15th king of Israel (the Northern Kingdom). He led a conspiracy against his predecessor, see . He reigned for only one month.
Shallum, son of Javesh, began to reign in the 39th year of Uzziah (Hebr. Uzzijaho), king of Judah [also called Azariah], and he reigned one month in the territory of Samaria.]
[Menachem was the 16th king of the northern kingdom. His name means "comforter," which is ironic considering his violent rise to power. He reigned for 10 years (752-742 BC).]
In the 39th year of Azariah (Hebr. Azarjah) [Uzziah], king of Judah, Menachem, son of Gad, began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for ten years in Samaria.
[Pecahiah (sometimes simplified in English to Pekahiah) means "Yahweh sees" or "Yahweh has opened." He is the 17th king of the northern kingdom and reigned for two years (742-740 BC). He is not mentioned in the Books of Chronicles. In the 50th year of Azariah (Hebr. Azarjah) [Uzziah], king of Judah, Pekahiah, son of Menahem, began to reign over Israel in Samaria and reigned for two years.]
In the 52nd year of Azariah (Hebr. Azarjah) [Uzziah], king of Judah, Pekah, son of Remaliah, began to reign over Israel in Samaria and reigned 20 years.
[Jotham was 25 years old when he became king and reigned over Judah (the Southern Kingdom) for 18 years (759-743 BC). He was co-regent with his leprous father until 742 BC, see .] In the second year of Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel [in the north], Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign [in the Southern Kingdom].
The rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.
In those days the Lord (Yahweh) began to send Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, against Judah.
[Ahaz was 23 years old when he became king and first reigned with Jotham from 735 to 732 BC, then alone for 16 years from 732 to 715 BC. In the 17th year of Pekahiah, son of Remaliah, Ahaz, son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign.]
The rest of the acts of Ahaz, and what he did, are written in the chronicles of the kings of Judah.
[Hosea (Hebr. Hoshea) becomes the last king of Israel.]
In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hosea, son of Elah, began to reign in Samaria and reigned over Israel nine years.
And the Lord (Yahweh) repeated in Israel and in Judah through the hand of all his prophets and all the seers (prophets – Hebr. chozeh) and said, "Turn away from your evil ways and keep (guard, protect, preserve) my commandments (clear commands) and my ordinances (literally: 'things engraved') in accordance with all the teaching (Hebr. Torah) that I commanded your fathers and that I sent to you through the hand of my servants the prophets."
And the Lord (Yahweh) was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence, and there was no one left except the tribe of Judah.
And Judah did not keep (guard, protect, preserve) the commandments (clear commands) of the Lord (Yahweh), their God (Elohim), but walked in the statutes of Israel as they did (practiced).
[Hezekiah reigned over Judah (the Southern Kingdom) for 29 years (726-697 BC).]
In the third year of the reign of Hoshea, son of Elah, in Israel, Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
He trusted (relied on) the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel (Elohim), so that after him there was no one among the kings of Judah who was like him, nor among those who were before him.
And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah [701 BC] of [Judah, the southern kingdom] that Sennacherib (Hebr. Sancheriv), king of Assyria, came up against the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
[The siege of Lachish is illustrated on the walls of Sennacherib's palace in Nineveh.]
Then Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent messengers to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong (sinned). Turn away from me, and I will bear whatever you impose on me." And the king of Assyria imposed on Hezekiah, king of Judah, 300 talents [25 tons] of silver and 30 talents [1 ton] of gold. [The Assyrian texts recount how Hezekiah was also forced to send his daughters, concubines, male and female musicians, ivory, and other valuable objects.]
At that time, Hezekiah scraped off the gold from the doors of the sanctuary of the Lord (Yahweh) and from the doorposts that [he himself] Hezekiah, king of Judah, had [had] overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria. [Hezekiah also repaired the wall and replenished the water supplies and prepared for a siege, see , .]
But you may say to me, 'We trust in the Lord our God (Yahweh Elohim).' Is it not he whose high places [sacrificial sites, often on high ground, see ; ; ] and altars [your king] Hezekiah has removed, and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar'?
[The Assyrian commander mistakenly assumes that the other places of sacrifice were places where the Lord (Yahweh) was worshipped and that limiting sacrifices to Jerusalem alone would offend him. These high places and altars were not the way the God of Israel was to be worshipped, see .]
"Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah, king of Judah, saying, 'Do not let your God (Elohim), in whom you trust, deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
And the remnant that has escaped from the house of Judah
shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
What else is written about the deeds of Hezekiah and his strength, and how he made the dam and the canal (Hezekiah's tunnel) and brought water into the city, is written in the chronicles of the kings of Judah.
"Because Manasseh, king of Judah, has done these abominations and has done evil above (more than) all that the Ammonites did before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols,
therefore, says the Lord (Yahweh), the God (Elohim) of Israel: Behold, I will bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle.
And Manasseh has also shed innocent blood very much, until he has filled Jerusalem from one end to the other, besides his sins with which he has made Judah sin by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord (Yahweh).
The rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sins that he committed, are written in the chronicles of the kings of Judah.
The rest of the acts of Amos, and what he did, are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.
"Go and inquire of the Lord (Yahweh) for me and for the people and for all Judah concerning the provisions of this book that has been found, for the wrath of the Lord (Yahweh) is great, which is kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to the provisions of this book, to do all that is written in it concerning us."
Thus says the Lord (Yahweh): Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the scroll that the king of Judah has read,
But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord (Yahweh), you shall say to him: Thus says the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel (Elohim): The word that you have heard,
And the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
And the king went up to the house of the Lord (Yahweh), and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great, and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord (Yahweh).
And he removed the priests of the idols whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places around Jerusalem, those who sacrificed to Baal and to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations and to all the hosts of heaven (the demonic powers).
And he brought out all the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had sacrificed, from Geba to Beersheba, and he broke down the high places at the gates that were at the entrance to the gate of Joshua, the mayor of the city, which was on a man's left [hand, side] when he enters the city gate.
And he removed the horses that the king of Judah had dedicated to the sun at the entrance to the house of the Lord (Yahweh), at the chamber of Nethan-melech, the commander, which was in the courtyard of the guard, and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
And the altar that was on the roof of Ahaz's upper chamber, which the king of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord (Yahweh), he broke in pieces and knocked them down from there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.
And he said, "What are these monuments that I see?"
And the men of the city told him, "It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done to the altar of Bethel."
For such a Passover had not been celebrated since the days when the judges ruled Israel, nor at any time during the reign of the kings of Israel and Judah.
And even those who practiced divination through mediums and spiritists and household gods (figurines – Hebr. teraphim) and household gods and all the abominable things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos) removed them, to confirm the words of instruction that were written in the scroll that Hilkiah (Hebr. Chilqijaho), the priest, found in the house of the Lord (Yahweh).
But the Lord (Yahweh) did not turn away from his fierce anger, with which his wrath was kindled against Judah because of all their provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him.
And the Lord (Yahweh) said, "I will remove Judah from my sight as I have removed Israel, and I will cast away this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, 'My name shall be there.
The rest of the acts of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), and what he did, are written in the chronicles of the kings of Judah.
And the Lord (Yahweh) sent against him the armies of the Chaldeans, the armies of the Arameans, the armies of the Moabites, and the armies of the sons of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy them, according to the word of the Lord (Yahweh) which he had spoken by the hand of his servants the prophets.
By the word of the Lord (Yahweh), this will happen in Judah to remove them from his presence, because of the sins of Manasseh for all that he has done,
What else is there about the deeds of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, it is written in the chronicles of the kings of Judah.
And Jehoiachin, king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother [the queen mother; i.e., his gevirah] and his servants and his princes and his leaders, and the king of Babylon took him in his eighth year of reign.
Because of the Lord's (Yahweh's) anger, this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until he cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho) rebelled against the king of Babylon.
And the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them in Riblah in the land of Hamath. And Judah was carried away captive out of its land.
And the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had left, over them he made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor.
And it came to pass in the 37th year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in the 12th month, on the 27th day of the month, that Evil-Merodach, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of prison.
These were the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun,
The sons of Judah were Er, Onan, and Shelah. These three were born to him by the daughter of Shua, the Canaanite woman.
But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord. Therefore, he killed him.
Tamar, his daughter-in-law, bore Judah Peresh and Zerah, so that Judah's sons were five in all.
Ram became the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah.
The sons of Judah were Perets, Chetsron, Karmi, Hur (Hebr.), and Shobal.
The sons of Shelah, the son of Judah, were Er, the father of Lechah, and Lada, the father of Mareshah, and the families of the linen workers, of the house of Ashbea,
Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters. But his brothers did not have many children. As a whole, their family did not increase as much as the children of Judah.
But these who are listed here by name came in the days of King Hezekiah of Judah [715-687 BC] and destroyed their tents and struck down the Meunites who were there and exterminated them so that they no longer exist. Then they settled in their land, for there was pasture for their livestock.
For even though Judah was the most powerful among his brothers and one of his descendants became a prince, the birthright still went to Joseph.
[The firstborn son received a double inheritance, see . It was also the responsibility of the eldest son to move the bones from the burial chamber to a bone box one year after the burial of a parent. See also ; ; ; .]
All these were recorded in the genealogical register in the days of King Jotham of Judah [750-735 BC in the southern kingdom] and King Jeroboam of Israel [793-735 BC in the northern kingdom].
but Jehotsadaq was deported when the Lord (Yahweh) allowed Nebuchadnezzar to take away the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
[Jehotsadaq, also spelled Jozadak, concludes this list. He never assumed the role of high priest himself before he was deported. When the priesthood was restored after the exile, it was Joshua, Jehotsadaq's son, who took over, see ; ; .]
and they received Hebron in the land of Judah with its surrounding pasturelands,
By lot they were given the cities whose names are listed above from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.
All Israel was recorded in genealogical registers, and they are listed in the book of the kings of Israel. [Refers to official lists of names and families kept in archives. Used for taxation and military service.]
Judah was taken away into captivity to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness.
Some of the children of Judah, some of the children of Benjamin, and some of the children of Ephraim and Manasseh lived in Jerusalem, namely:
Utaj, son of Ammihud, son of Omri, son of Imri, son of Bani, of the children of Perets, son of Judah
Some men of the children of Benjamin and Judah came to David in his stronghold.
the sons of Judah who carried shield and spear, 6,800 armed for battle,
David went with all Israel to Baalah, to
Kiriath Jearim [13 km west of Jerusalem], which belongs to
Judah, to bring up from there the ark of the Lord
(Yahweh), God
(Elohim), who sits enthroned above the cherubim and after whom it
[the ark] was named.
[]Joab reported the results of the census to David: In Israel there were 1,100,000 men able to bear arms, and in Judah there were 470,000 men able to bear arms.
for Judah Eliho, one of David's brothers,
for Issachar Omri, son of Michael,
Nevertheless, the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel (Elohim), chose me from all my father's house to be king over Israel forever. He chose Judah as prince, and in the house of Judah, my father's house, and among my father's sons, he showed mercy (conditional mercy – Hebr. ratsah, he was pleased) to me and made me king over all Israel.
Now send me a man who is skilled in artistry, who can work with the skilled craftsmen I have here in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided, who can work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue yarn, and who is also a skilled woodcarver.
The king used the cedar wood to make furnishings for the house of the Lord (Yahweh) and for the royal palace, as well as harps and lyres for the singers. Such things had never been seen before in the land of Judah.
And Rehoboam remained king only over the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.
When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he gathered the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against Israel and win back the kingdom for Rehoboam.
"Tell Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin:
Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and he rebuilt cities in Judah as fortified places.
Tzorah, Ajalon, and Hebron (Hebr. Chevrón), fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin.
He supplied each of these cities with shields and spears. He fortified them very strongly. And Judah and Benjamin remained under his rule.
The Levites abandoned their pastures and their other possessions and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons drove them away from their service as priests of the Lord
For three years they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made the reign of Solomon's son Rehoboam strong, for three years they walked in the ways of David and Solomon.
He acted wisely and settled all his sons throughout the land of Judah and Benjamin in all the fortified cities, providing them with ample support. He also provided them with many wives.
He captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.
The prophet Shemaiah had come to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who had gathered in Jerusalem out of fear of Shishak. And he said to them, "Thus says the Lord: You have forsaken me, and therefore I have forsaken you and given you into the hand of Shishak."
Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord's anger turned away from him, so that he did not destroy him completely. There was still some good left in Judah.
[Abijah reigned for three years (959-956 BC).]
In the 18th year of the reign of Jeroboam, king of the [Northern Kingdom], Abijah became king of Judah [the Southern Kingdom],
But Jeroboam had surrounded them and laid an ambush to attack them from behind. So they stood opposite the men of Judah, with their ambush behind them.
When Judah turned around and saw that they had enemies both in front of them and behind them, they cried out to the Lord, and the priests blew the trumpets.
Then the men of Judah raised a battle cry, and when they did so, God (Elohim) caused Jeroboam [the first king of the Northern Kingdom] and all Israel to be defeated by Abijah and Judah.
The children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands.
Thus the children of Israel were subdued at that time, but the children of Judah were strong, for they relied on the Lord (Yahweh), the God of their fathers.
He urged Judah to seek the Lord (Yahweh), the God of their fathers, and to keep the teaching (Hebr. Torah) and the commandments (clear commands – Hebr. mitzvot).
He removed the high places and the sun pillars from all the cities of Judah. And the kingdom was at peace during his reign.
He built fortified cities in Judah because the land was at peace. And he did not wage war during those years, for the Lord had given him peace.
He therefore said to Judah, "Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, with gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord (Yahweh), our God (Elohim). We have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side."
So they built and prospered.
Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah, who carried large shields and spears. In addition to these, 280,000 men from Benjamin came, carrying small shields and drawing bows. All these were brave warriors.
And the Lord (Yahweh) caused the Cushites [Ethiopians] to be defeated by Asa and Judah, so that they fled.
He went out to Asa and said to him, "Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord (Yahweh) is with you when you are with him, and if you seek him, he will be found by you. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
When Asa heard these words and this prophecy from the prophet Oded [his son Azariah], he took courage and removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He reestablished the altar of the Lord that stood before the Lord's tabernacle.
[It was Azariah, the son of Oded, who spoke the prophecy, see . The fact that the Hebrew text has Oded here may be a patronymic, where the father's name is used for the son. This spelling is not unusual. Jesus is called "the son of David" in and Moses is used for "the sons of Moses," see . The Greek translation Septuagint replaces Oded with Azariah, the Latin translation Vulgate and the Syrian translation add and translate "Azariah, son of Oded".]
And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, as well as the strangers from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who lived among them. Many from Israel had joined him when they saw that the Lord (Yahweh), his God (Elohim), was with him.
All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it with all their heart, and they sought the Lord with all their will. He let himself be found by them, and he gave them rest on every side.
In the 36th year of Asa's reign, Basha, king of Israel, went up against Judah and began to fortify Ramah [just over a mile north of Jerusalem] to prevent anyone from coming to or from Asa, king of Judah.
But King Asa took all Judah with him, and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber that Baasha had used to fortify Ramah. With these, Asa fortified Geba and Mizpah.
At that time, the seer Hanani came to Asa, king of Judah, and said to him, "You relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, and therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.
The rest of the acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
He placed soldiers in all the fortified cities of Judah and troops in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.
The Lord (Yahweh) strengthened the kingdom in his hand. All Judah gave gifts to Jehoshaphat, and he had great wealth and honor.
He was proud to walk in the ways of the Lord (Yahweh) and removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.
In his third year of reign, Jehoshaphat sent his princes Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah.
They taught in Judah and brought with them the Torah scroll of the Lord (Yahweh). They traveled to all the cities of Judah and taught the people.
The fear of the Lord (Yahweh) came upon all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah, so that they did not dare to wage war against Jehoshaphat.
Jehoshaphat grew stronger and stronger and built fortified cities and store cities in Judah.
He had large stores in the cities of Judah and warriors, brave fighters, in Jerusalem.
And this was the order among them according to their families. The following high commanders belonged to Judah:
Commander Adna and with him 300,000 brave warriors,
These were the ones who served the king, and in addition to them were those whom the king had stationed in the fortified cities throughout Judah.
Ahab, king of Israel, asked Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, "Will you go with me to Ramoth Gilead?"
He replied, "I am as you are, and my people as your people. I will be with you in the battle."
The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, were sitting on their thrones, dressed in their robes. They were sitting on a threshing floor at the entrance to the gate of Samaria, while all the prophets prophesied before them.
So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went up to Ramoth Gilead.
Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, returned safely to Jerusalem.
And he appointed judges in the land, in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city.
And behold, Amariah the chief priest shall be your leader in all matters concerning the Lord (Yahweh), and Zebadiah, the son of Ishmael, the prince of the house of Judah, in all matters concerning the king. And the Levites shall be officers under you. Be bold in what you do, and the Lord will be with those who are good."
Then Jehoshaphat was seized with fear and decided to consult the Lord (Yahweh), and he proclaimed a fast throughout Judah.
And Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord (Yahweh), and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord (Yahweh).
Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of the men of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord (Yahweh), in front of the new courtyard.
All Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their sons.
He said, "Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord (Yahweh) to you: Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army, for the battle is not yours, but God's.
But you will not have to fight. You will only have to stand there and watch the Lord's salvation. He is with you, people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out tomorrow against them, and the Lord will be with you."
Then Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord and worshiped the Lord (Yahweh).
Early the next morning they went out to the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Hear me, you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem! Stand firm in the faith of the Lord your God, and you will be established; trust in his prophets, and you will succeed."
And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord sent an attack from behind on the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated.
When the men of Judah came to the top of the hill overlooking the desert, they turned toward the enemy, and behold, there were dead bodies lying on the ground. No one had escaped.
Then all the men of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat at their head, returned joyfully to Jerusalem, because the Lord had given them joy over their enemies.
So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was 35 years old when he became king, and he reigned 25 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.
After that, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, made a covenant with Ahaziah, king of Israel, even though Ahaziah was wicked.
Their father gave them many gifts of silver and gold and other precious things, as well as fortified cities in Judah. But he gave the kingdom to Joram, because he was the firstborn.
During his reign, Edom rebelled against Judah's rule and set up its own king.
So Edom rebelled against the rule of Judah, and it has been separate from it to this day. At the same time, Libnah [in the Lowlands/Shephelah] also rebelled against the rule of Joram, because he had forsaken the Lord (Yahweh), the God of his fathers.
He also built high places on the mountains of Judah and led the inhabitants of Jerusalem into unfaithfulness and seduced Judah.
[Since Elijah's prophecies were mostly directed at Israel (the northern kingdom), he is not quoted very often in the Books of Chronicles, which focus on Judah (the southern kingdom).]
And a letter came to him from the prophet Elijah, saying:
Thus says the Lord (Yahweh), the God (Elohim) of your father David:
You have not walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or in the ways of Asa, king of Judah,
but you have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and led the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem into idolatry, as the house of Ahab has done. You have killed your brothers [compatriots], those who belonged to your father's house and were better than you.
They went up against Judah and broke in there and carried away all the treasures that were in the king's palace, as well as his sons and wives, so that he had no son left except Jehoahaz, his youngest son.
[Ahaziah reigned over Judah (the Southern Kingdom) for one year (886-885 BC), followed by Queen Athaliah (Hebr. Ataljaho), who reigned for six years (885-879 BC).]
The inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, Joram's youngest son, king after him, for all the older sons had been killed by the band of robbers who had come with the Arabs to the camp. So Ahaziah, Joram's son, became king of Judah.
So he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he had received at Ramah in the battle against Hazael, king of Aram. And Ahaziah,king of Judah , son of Joram, went down to visit Joram, son of Ahab, in Jezreel, because he was ill.
And it came to pass, when Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, that he met the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah who were in Ahaziah's service, and he killed them.
When Athaliah (Hebr. Ataljaho), the mother of Ahaziah [the queen mother], saw that her son was dead, she rose up and spoke against [killed] the entire royal family of Judah. [In , the word avad (destroyed, killed) is used. The Greek translation has "killed," while the Hebrew text has davar, which means "to pronounce judgment/death" on all male offspring in the house of Judah.]
They then traveled throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah, as well as the heads of the families of Israel. When they arrived in Jerusalem,
The Levites and all Judah did everything that the priest Jehoiada commanded them. Each of them took his men, both those who were to go on duty on the Sabbath and those who were to go off duty on the Sabbath, for the priest Jehoiada did not leave any division free from service.
He gathered the priests and Levites and said to them, "Go out to the cities of Judah every year and collect money from all Israel to repair the house of your God. And hurry with it." But the Levites did not hurry.
Then the king summoned the high priest Jehoiada and said to him, "Why have you not ensured that the Levites collect from Judah and Jerusalem the tax for the tabernacle of the testimony, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded the congregation of Israel?
And they proclaimed throughout Judah and Jerusalem that the tax which Moses the servant of God had imposed on Israel in the wilderness should be paid to the Lord (Yahweh).
But after Jehoiada's death, the princes of Judah came and bowed down to the king, and he listened to them.
And they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and the idols. Then the wrath of God came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of these sins.
After a year, the Aramean army marched against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and exterminated all the princes of the people. And all the spoils they took, they sent to the king of Damascus.
Amasya gathered Judah and had them line up according to their families, their commanders, and their officers, all of Judah and Benjamin. Then he mustered those who were 20 years old and above and found that there were 300,000 chosen men who could use spears and shields.
Then Amasja dismissed the crowd that had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. But they were very angry with Judah and returned home in great wrath.
And Judah took 10,000 prisoners alive. They brought them to the top of a cliff and threw them down from the cliff top so that they were all crushed.
But the troops that Amaziah had sent back, who had not gone with him into battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria to Beth-horon. They killed 3,000 of the inhabitants and took much plunder.
After Amaziah, king of Judah, had held consultations, he sent messengers to Joash, king of Israel, son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, saying, "Come, let us fight each other!"
But Joash, king of Israel, sent this reply to Amaziah, king of Judah: "The thorn bush in Lebanon once sent a message to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as his wife. But a wild beast in Lebanon walked over the thorn bush and trampled it down.
You say to yourself that you have defeated Edom, and your heart has become arrogant, and you want to gain glory. But now stay at home. Why do you provoke disaster? You will fall, and Judah with you."
And Joash, king of Israel, rev, and they fought each other, he and Amaziah, king of Judah, at Beth-Shemesh in Judah.
Judah was defeated by Israel, and they fled, each to his tent.
And Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, was captured [792 BC] at Beit-Shemesh by Joash, king of Israel. When he had brought him to Jerusalem, he broke down a section of the wall of Jerusalem, from the Ephraim Gate to the Ponem Gate, 400 cubits [about 200 meters, probably the northern and most vulnerable side].
But Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Joash, lived fifteen years after the death of Joash, king of Israel, the son of Jehoahaz.
The rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
Then they brought him back on horses and buried him with his fathers in the city of Hos.
[Uzziah reigned over Judah (the Southern Kingdom) for 52 years (811-759 BC)]
All the people of Judah took Uzziah (Hebr. Uzzijaho), who was then 16 years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.
He rebuilt Eloth and restored it to Judah after the king had gone to rest with his fathers.
He also built cities in the hill country of Judah and erected fortresses and towers in the forests.
The rest of the acts of Jotham, all his wars, and the rest of his deeds, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
Pechah, son of Remaliah, killed 120,000 men of Judah in a single day, all men of military age. This happened because they had forsaken the Lord (Yahweh), the God of their fathers.
But there was a prophet of the Lord named Oded. He went out to meet the army when it came to Samaria and said to them, "Behold, in his anger against Judah, the Lord (Yahweh), the God of your fathers, has delivered them into your hand, but you have killed them with a fury that has reached heaven.
And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem to make them your slaves and slave girls. Have you not enough guilt before the Lord (Yahweh) your God (Elohim)?
for in addition to everything else, the Edomites had again come and defeated Judah and taken captives.
And the Philistines had invaded the cities of the lowlands of Judah and the Negev and had taken Beit-Shemesh, Ajalon, Gederot, Soko with its subordinate towns, Timnah with its subordinate towns, and Gimso with its subordinate towns, and settled in them.
The Lord wanted to humiliate Judah because of Ahaz, the Israelite king, because he was the cause of licentiousness in Judah and was unfaithful to the Lord (Yahweh).
In every city of Judah he built high places to burn incense to other gods. In this way he provoked the anger of the Lord, the God of his fathers.
The rest of his deeds, from first to last, are recorded in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
Therefore, the wrath of the Lord (Yahweh) has come upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them a deterrent example, an astonishment and a contempt, as you see with your own eyes.
Seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven goats were brought as sin offerings for the land, the sanctuary, and Judah. The king commanded the sons of Aaron, the priests, to offer them on the altar of the Lord.
Hezekiah sent messengers to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the house of the Lord (Yahweh) in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover of the Lord, the God of Israel.
The messengers set out with the letters from the king and his princes, and they traveled throughout Israel and Judah according to the king's command. They said:
"O children of Israel, return to the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Then he will return to the remnant of you who have been saved from the hand of the kings of Assyria.
The hand of God was also upon Judah, so that they all had one heart to do what the king and the princes had commanded in the name of the Lord.
Hezekiah, king of Judah, had given the assembly 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep as a sacrifice, and the princes had given 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep as a sacrifice. And a large number of priests consecrated themselves.
The whole assembly of Judah rejoiced with the priests and Levites, as did the entire assembly that had come from Israel, as well as the foreigners who had come from the land of Israel or who lived in Judah.
When all this was finished, all the Israelites who had been there went out to the cities of Judah and broke down the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and demolished the high places and altars throughout Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh until they had destroyed them. Then all the children of Israel returned to their cities, each to his own inheritance.
And those of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought tithes of cattle and sheep, as well as tithes of the holy gifts consecrated to the Lord (Yahweh), their God (Elohim), and placed them in piles.
Hezekiah did this throughout Judah, and he did what was good, right, and true before the Lord (Yahweh), his God (Elohim).
After Hezekiah had faithfully done this, Sennacherib (Hebr. Sancheriv), king of Assyria, came and invaded Judah and besieged the fortified cities, intending to conquer them for himself.[Sennacherib was king of Assyria from 704 to 681 BC and made Nineveh () the capital of his empire, see . One of the cities that Sennacherib captured was Lashish. During excavations in 2020 in the neighboring city of Azeka, a siege ramp from this period was found. It is this ramp that Sennacherib mentions on a clay tablet called the Azeka Inscription. It is one of 30,000 clay tablets found in the Ashurbanipal archives in Nineveh.]
With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord (Yahweh), our God (Elohim), and he will help us and fight our battles." And the people were encouraged by what King Hezekiah of Judah had said.
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, who was encamped with his army before Lachish, sent his servants to Jerusalem to Hezekiah, king of Judah, and to all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying
Is it not Hezekiah who has removed his high places and altars and told Judah and Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before one altar and burn incense on it'?
Many brought gifts to the Lord in Jerusalem and precious gifts to King Hezekiah of Judah, and after this, Hezekiah's reputation grew among all the nations.
But Hezekiah did not repay the good that he had received, but his heart became proud, and therefore wrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem.
The rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his power, and how he found favor in the sight of God, are they not written in the book of the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?
Hezekiah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the place where one goes up to the tombs of the house of David. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. His son Manasseh became king after him.
But Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations whom the Lord (Yahweh) had destroyed before the children of Israel.
He built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon in the valley [the spring on the east side of Jerusalem], up to the entrance of the Fish Gate and around Ophel, and made it very high. Then he appointed commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.
Then he set up the altar of the Lord (Yahweh) and offered peace offerings (communion offerings) and thank offerings on it, and urged Judah to serve the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel.
In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his father David, and in the twelfth year he began to purify Judah and Jerusalem from the high places and the Asherah poles and the carved and cast idols.
He burned the bones of the priests on their altars. Thus he purified Judah and Jerusalem.
They went to Hilkiah the high priest (Hebr. Chilqijaho) and gave him the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites who guarded the threshold had collected from Manasseh, Ephraim, and all the rest of Israel, as well as from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
The carpenters and builders received the money to buy cut stone and timber for struts (crossbars; to hold things together) and beams to be used in rebuilding the houses that the kings of Judah had destroyed.
"Go and inquire of the Lord (Yahweh) for me and for those who remain of Israel and Judah concerning what is written in the book that has now been found. The wrath of the Lord (Yahweh) is great, and it is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord (Yahweh) and have not done all that is written in this book."
This is what the Lord says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people, all the curses written in the book that was read to the king of Judah.
But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord (Yahweh), you shall say: Thus says the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel, concerning the words you have heard:
Then the king sent word and summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
And the king went up to the house of the Lord (Yahweh) with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with the priests and the Levites and all the people, from the greatest to the least. He read to them all that was written in the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord (Yahweh).
An Easter celebration like this had not been held in Israel since the time of the prophet Samuel. None of Israel's kings had held such an Easter celebration as was now being celebrated by Josiah with the priests and Levites, all of Judah and those of Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Then [Pharaoh] Necho sent messengers to him, saying, "What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I am not coming against you today, but against the enemy I am at war with. God (Elohim) has commanded me to hurry. Stop resisting God (Elohim), who is with me! Be careful that he does not destroy you."
Then his men carried him away from the chariot and put him in his other chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was buried where his fathers were buried. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
and about other things he did during his early and late years, is written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
And the king of Egypt made his brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim). But Necho took his brother Jehoahaz with him and brought him to Egypt.
The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominable things that he did, and what was found in him, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin (Hebr. Jehojachin) became king after him.
At the beginning of the following year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and brought him to Babylon, along with the precious vessels of the house of the Lord (Yahweh). And he made his brother Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho) king over Judah and Jerusalem.
"Thus says Cyrus (Koresh), king of Persia: The Lord (Yahweh), the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has commanded me to build a house for him in Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to his people—may his God (Elohim), the Lord (Yahweh), be with him—and let him go up..."
[The last sentence is incomplete. The book ends with a cliffhanger. As the final book of the Hebrew Bible, it points forward. There is a continuation of the story!]
Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia:
All the kingdoms of the earth, the Lord (Yahweh), the God of heaven (Elohim), has given to me, and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Let everyone among you who belongs to his people be blessed by his God (Elohim). Let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the Lord (Yahweh), the God (Elohim) of Israel. He is the God (Elohim) who dwells in Jerusalem.
The leaders of Judah and Benjamin, together with the priests and Levites, all whose spirits God (Elohim) had stirred up, rose up and went to build the house of the Lord (Yahweh) in Jerusalem.
Cyrus, king of Persia, commanded the treasurer Mitredath [80 years later, another Mitredath served under Artaxerxes I, see ] to bring them (the temple objects) and list them for Sheshbatsar [probably another name for Zerubbabel, see and ; ], the prince of Judah.
[No matter where you come from, you always go up to Jerusalem. There is also a special word for this in Hebrew, alija, which is used here. The name Zerubbabel (Hebr. Zerobavel) means 'one who is scattered/sown in Babylon'.]These are the sons of the province who went up [to Jerusalem] from captivity, of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had brought to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city;
Then Jeshua, his sons, and his brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, stood together to supervise the craftsmen in the house of God (Elohim)—also the sons of Henadad with their sons and their brothers, [all] the Levites [were there]. [The verse is not entirely clear, but it probably refers to three people (Jeshua, Kadmiel, and Chenadad) together with their families—all the Levites.]
When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles had returned and were building a temple to the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel (Elohim),
Then the inhabitants of the land began to hinder [the returning] Jews (the people of Judah) [] and made them afraid to build.
During the reign of [Persia's fourth king] Ahasuerus (Xerxes), at the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. [Ahasuerus reigned in Persia from 486 to 465 BC; he is also known by the Greek name Xerxes, see also .]
Even though we are slaves, our God (Elohim) has not forsaken us in our bondage. He has extended his mercy (loving kindness) toward us before the king of Persia, Revived us to build the house of our God, raise up its ruins, and give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
A decree was sent throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the sons of the exiles that they should gather in Jerusalem.
Within three days, all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered in Jerusalem. It was the 20th day of the 9th month [Kislev – Nov/Dec; when the rainy season has begun in Israel], and all the people sat in the open space before the house of God (Elohim), trembling (shivering) both because of the matter and because of the rain.
that Chanani, one of my brothers [compatriot or biological brother; both interpretations are possible, but based on the mention in , it is more likely that he was Nehemiah's biological brother], came from Judah, he and some men. And I asked them about the Jews who had remained (the remnant) who had survived the captivity and about Jerusalem.
and I answered the king, "If it seems good to the king and if your servant has found favor in your sight, send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I may rebuild it."
I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let him give me a letter to the officials on the other side of the Euphrates, enabling me to pass through their territory until I arrive in Judah,
And Hos said, "The strength of the workers is failing, there is so much debris (stone fragments to remove) that we cannot repair the wall."
From that time on, half of my servants worked on the wall, while the other half held spears, shields, bows, and breastplates (armor), and the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah.
Furthermore, from the time I was appointed governor of the land of Judah, from the 20th year [445 BC] to the 32nd year [433 BC] of King Artaxerxes (Hebr. Artachshasta), which is 12 years, my brothers and I have not eaten the bread (food) of the governors.
[These 12 years refer to a mission as governor that Nehemiah receives from the king. It is not the time he spends in Jerusalem; based on the dialogue with King Artachshasta, it is implied that it is a shorter period of about a year, see , .]
You have also appointed prophets to proclaim this in Jerusalem, and they shall say, 'There is a king in Judah.' Now it shall be reported to the king [of Babylon] according to their words. Come now, therefore, and let us consult together."
Moreover, the princes of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah's letters came to them.
For there were many in Judah who had sworn allegiance to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah, the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah, as his wife.
These are the people of the province who returned from captivity in exile, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own hometown.
These are the leaders of the province who lived in Jerusalem. But in the cities of Judah, each man lived in the city where he had his ancestral property: ordinary Israelites, priests, Levites, and temple servants, as well as the descendants of Solomon's servants.
Some of the children of Judah and some of the children of Benjamin lived in Jerusalem. [It is estimated that 4,800–8,000 people lived in Jerusalem at this time. The list here is similar to that in .]
Of the children of Judah: Ataiah, son of Uzziah, son of Zechariah, son of Amariah, son of Shephatiah, son of Mahalalel, of the children of Perez,
The rest of the Israelites, the priests, and the Levites lived in all the other towns of Judah, each in his own inheritance.
Some of the children of Judah also lived in the villages [without a wall] with their fields: in Kiriath-Arba with its [associated] daughter cities [literally: daughters, see also verses 27, 28, 30, and 31], in Dibon with its [associated] daughter cities, in Jekabseel with its villages,
Some divisions of the Levites from Judah were counted as belonging to Benjamin.
I had the princes of Judah ascend the wall. Then I arranged two large choirs of praise. One went to the right on top of the wall to the Dung Gate.
Behind them followed Hoshaiah and half of the princes of Judah,
At that time, men were appointed to be in charge of the storehouses where the offerings, first fruits, and tithes were deposited. From the fields of the city, they were to collect what, according to the teaching (Hebr. Torah), belonged to the priests and Levites. There was joy in Judah over the priests and Levites who served.
All Judah brought their tithes of grain, wine, and oil to the storehouses.
At that time I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of goods, which they carried to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. I warned them when they sold their goods.
The Tyrians who lived there brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the Jews and in Jerusalem.
Then I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, "How can you do such evil and profane the Sabbath day?
who had been taken away from Jerusalem with the prisoners who were taken away with Jechoniah king of Judah when he was taken away by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon [in 597 BC, see ].
Walk about Zion [Jerusalem], go around it,
count her towers.
Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
God (Elohim), you are my God (El, the mighty, strong one),
I seek you early (as my highest priority – Hebr. shachar). [The first thing I do in the morning, my highest desire is to have a relationship with you, see also .]
My whole being (my soul, I) thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
in a barren and parched land where there is no water.
God (Elohim) has commanded your strength [that you should be strong – Israel],
be strong, O God (Elohim).
You who acted (worked) for us
His servants' children will inherit it
and those who love his name shall dwell there.
In Salem [Jerusalem] stands his tabernacle
and his dwelling place is Zion [the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, see ].
But he chose the tribe of Judah,
the mountain of Zion [the temple mount in Jerusalem], which he loved.
Zion heard it and rejoiced,
the daughters of Judah were glad at your judgments (righteous decisions – Hebr. mishpat), Lord (Yahweh).
Moab [enemies east of the Dead Sea, see ] is my washbasin [in which I wash my feet],
over Edom [enemy south of the Dead Sea] I throw my shoe [like a servant],
over Philistia I shout in victory.
then Judah became his holy one,
Israel his kingdom.
[The following section, chapters 25-29, consists of proverbs written by Solomon. King Hezekiah () and his associates then compiled them in the 700s BC. They can be divided into 130 proverbs, which corresponds to the numerical value of the Hebrew letters in the name Hezekiah (Hebr. Chizqijah; 8 + 7 + 100 + 10 + 5 = 130) as spelled here.]
These proverbs are also by Solomon,
which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, have copied (transcribed).
The vision of Isaiah (Hebr. Yeshayahu), son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem (in those days, in those times) when
Uzziah [Hebr. Uzziyah; also called Azariah; 10th king of the Southern Kingdom, ca. 791-739 BC – a good king, but died a leper, see ], Jotham [11th king of the Southern Kingdom, ca. 759-742 BC – a good king, see ], Ahaz [12th ruler of the Southern Kingdom, ca. 735-715 BC – did evil, see ; ; ] and Hezekiah [Hebr. Chizkijaho; 13th king of the Southern Kingdom, ca. 715-686 BC – a good king and reformer, see ; ; ] were kings of Judah.
[Isaiah's father was named Amoz. His name is similar to that of the prophet Amos of Tekoa (who lived earlier in the mid-700s BC) and wrote the Book of Amos, see . Isaiah received his calling in 740 BC (, ) and his 50 years of service spanned the reigns of four kings until 686 BC. According to tradition, he was sawed in half as a martyr by Manasseh (Hezekiah's son), see ; .]
The word that Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts (Adonai Yahweh Sebaot)
takes away support [military support; security and protection]
and sustenance [access to basic necessities] from Jerusalem and Judah,
all bread imports and all water supplies,
For Jerusalem is in ruins
and Judah has fallen,
because their tongues (their speech) and their deeds are against the Lord (Yahweh),
they provoke the eyes of his glory (desecrate the presence of his glory).
[This is an unusual metaphor. God's glory seems to be identified here with himself, as part of his innermost being; and to "provoke the eyes of his glory" is to force him to look at them with anger.]
And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard.
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaots)
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his beloved planting (in which he finds pleasure).
And he sought (waited for, expected) justice (Hebr. mishpat),
but found bloodshed (acts of violence – Hebr. mispach),
[he sought] righteousness (Hebr. tsedaqah),
but found cries of distress (cries of distress/pain – Hebr. tseaqa) [chaos and riots].
[The verse begins with a chiastic structure framed by vineyard and plantation. This is followed by two pairs of words that sound similar in Hebrew but have opposite meanings. The rest of the chapter consists of six verses that conclude this section.]
It happened in the days of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah (Hebr. Uzzijaho), king of Judah [735-715 BC], that King Rezin of Aram (Syria) [740-733 BC] and King Pekah, son of Remaliah, of Israel [Northern Kingdom, 752-732 BC] went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it. [; ]
'Let us go up against Judah, terrorize them and divide them among ourselves, and appoint the son of Tabeel as king in its midst,'
The Lord (Yahweh) will bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon the house of your fathers, such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah, the king from Assyria.
And he shall sweep through Judah with a flood,
when he passes through, he shall reach even (up to) the neck,
his outstretched wings shall fill the breadth of your land
Immanuel (God with us)."
Manasseh [eats] Ephraim and Ephraim [eats] Manasseh,
and together [they turn] against Judah.
[Chorus:]
For all this, his anger is not turned away
but he still stretches out his hand.
He will raise a banner (a signal flag, give a clear sign) for the nations
and gather the exiles of Israel;
he will gather the scattered of Judah,
from all corners of the earth.
Then the jealousy (hatred) of Ephraim shall depart
and the enemies of Judah shall be cut off.
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
And the land of Judah shall become a terror to Egypt; as soon as one mentions it to them, they shall be afraid, because of the plans of the Lord of hosts (Yahweh of hosts) which he has planned against them.
and the protection of Judah was laid bare (that which covered Judah was removed),
that on that day you saw the armor in the forest house.
[May refer to the storehouse built by Solomon, see ]
and I will clothe him with your robe
and gird him with your belt,
and I will entrust your regency into his hand,
and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
[The name Eljakim, meaning "may God establish," has been found on several seal impressions at Tell Beit Mirsim, Beit-Shemesh, and Ramat Rahel. He served as an asher al habayit (royal servant) under King Hezekiah ; . The impressions from the seals have been found on pots dated to Hezekiah's reign in 701 BC.]
[This entire chapter is a song, written for the redeemed when the Messiah reigns. Isaiah describes it as if he is there, both seeing and hearing how the people express their gratitude and praise to God.]
On that day [when all creation is restored, see ], this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city,
walls and fortifications he has chosen for salvation. []
[The first part of the book is written in poetic style, shifting to prose in chapters 36-39, and then becoming poetic again in chapters 40-66. This writing style thus forms a stylistic chiasm. It also serves as a marker indicating that this passage is central to the entire book. Chapters 36-39 consist of seven episodes arranged in a chiastic pattern:
A A hostile Assyrian envoy ()
B Hezekiah's distress and appeal to the Lord () C Sennacherib's mocking message to Hezekiah ()
D Hezekiah's prayer to the Lord ()
C´ The Lord's response to Sennacherib's taunts () B´ Hezekiah's illness and appeal to the Lord ()
A´ A "friendly" Babylonian envoy (irony) ()
The thematic symmetry of the chiasm takes precedence over the chronological order; the events in chapters 38-39 occur before the events in 36-37:
725-722 BC Assyria besieges Samaria, the Israelites go into exile
715 BC Hezekiah becomes king of Judah
705 BC Sennacherib becomes king of Assyria
701 BC Sennacherib invades Judah
681 BC Sennacherib is murdered by two of his sons ()] Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah of [Judah, the southern kingdom] [701 BC], that Sennacherib (Hebr. Sancheriv), king of Assyria, came up against the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
But you may say to me, 'We trust in the Lord our God (Yahweh Elohim).' Is it not he whose high places [sacrificial sites, often on high ground, see ; ; ] and altars [your king] Hezekiah has removed, and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar'?
[The Assyrian commander mistakenly assumes that the other high places were places where the Lord (Yahweh) was worshipped and that limiting sacrifices to Jerusalem alone would offend him. These high places and altars were not the way the God of Israel was to be worshipped, see .]
"This is what you shall say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: Do not let your God, whom you trust, deceive you by saying, 'Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
And the remnant of the house of Judah that has escaped
shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
The writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah (Hebr. michtav, see ) when he had been sick and was healed of his sickness:
Go up on a high mountain, O Zion,
who brings good news.
Shout it out, O Jerusalem,
who brings good news.
Shout, do not be afraid!
Tell the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!"
It confirms the words of his servants
and fulfills the counsel of his messengers,
who say to Jerusalem, "She shall be inhabited,"
and to the cities of Judah, "They shall be built up
and I will raise up their ruins."
Listen to this, O house of Jacob,
named after the name of Israel
and descended from the sources of Judah [from the tribe of Judah],
who swear by the name of the Lord (Yahweh)
and use the name of the God of Israel (Elohim),
but not in truth (in an honest way), and not in righteousness.
I will bring forth a seed from Jacob
and from Judah an heir to my mountains,
and my chosen ones will inherit it
and my servant shall dwell there.
The word of the Lord (Yahweh) came to him [to Jeremiah in a series of messages over a period of more than 40 years] in the days of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), son of Amon, king of Judah, in the 13th year of his reign [627 BC],
and further [also] in the days of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), son of Josiah, king of Judah [609-598 BC] until the end of the 11th year [586 BC] when Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), son of Josiah, was king of Judah, when Jerusalem was carried away [into exile to Babylon] in the 5th month [the Jewish month called av (July/August) in 586 BC, see ; ].
[The last five kings and their reigns in Judah (the southern kingdom) were:
Josiah (Hebr. Joshijaho) (640-609 BC) – the last good king, see ;
Jehoahaz (3 months 609 BC) –
Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim) (609-598 BC) – ;
Jehoiachin (Hebr. Jehojachin) (3 months 598-597 BC) – ;
Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho) (597-586 BC) – ;
The entire period of Jeremiah's ministry is 40 years and 6 months – 18 years under Josiah and two periods of 11 years each for Jehoiakim and Zedekiah. The summary Bible text does not mention the two short periods of three months when Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin reigned.]
for I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north," declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh),
"and they shall come and set their thrones
at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem
and against all its walls around
and against all the cities of Judah.
For I myself [the Lord] will make you strong today like a fortified city, [reinforced] with iron pillars and [surrounded on every side by] copper walls. So that you can stand against the whole country, against the kings of Judah, against their princes, against their priests, and against all the people of the countryside.
But where are the gods you have made for yourself?
Let them stand up if they can save you
in your time of trouble [; ; ].
For as many as your cities [equally numerous]
have your gods become, O Judah.
And I said, After she has done all these things, she will return to me, but she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
And I saw that because Israel has taken every opportunity to commit adultery, I have rejected her and given her a certificate of divorce. Nevertheless, her deceitful sister Judah did not fear, but she too committed adultery.
And despite all this, her deceitful sister Judah has not turned back to me with all her heart, but remains in her lies, declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh).
And the Lord (Yahweh) said to me: Apostate Israel has proven to be more righteous than her deceitful sister Judah.
In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together from the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to their fathers.
Therefore, thus says the Lord (Yahweh) to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem:
Break up your fallow ground
and do not sow among thorns.
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord (Yahweh) [; ; ; ]
and remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
lest my wrath go forth like fire
and burn so that no one can quench it from my presence,
because of your evil deeds.
Proclaim in Judah and make it known in Jerusalem, and say,
Blow the shofar in the land,
cry aloud and say,
Gather yourselves together and let us go to the fortified cities.
Tell (recite) to the nations,
see, let it be heard over Jerusalem,
scouts come from a distant land
and make (let be heard) their voices over the cities of Judah.
Because the house of Israel and the house of Judah have acted treacherously against me,
declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh).
Tell this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah, saying:
Stand in the gate of the Lord's (Yahweh's) house [the temple in Jerusalem]. There you shall proclaim this message:
[Jeremiah's name means "the Lord is exalted" or "the Lord raises up." The year is 609 BC, and it is probably during one of the three major pilgrimage festivals when many people are in Jerusalem that he receives this call. Here, between the inner and outer temple courts, Jeremiah is to deliver one of his most difficult but important messages.]
Hear the word of the Lord (Yahweh), all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord (Yahweh)!
[The message is to the southern kingdom, Judah. The northern kingdom, Israel, has already fallen because of its sin, and the people are scattered in Assyria.]
Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
Because the sons of Judah have done what is evil in my sight, declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh), they have placed their distasteful things in the house over which my name is called, to defile it.
And I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall be desolate. [; ]
At that time, declares the Lord (Yahweh), they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of the princes and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves,
And I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
a dwelling place for jackals,
and I will make the cities of Judah desolate,
without inhabitants.
Against Egypt and against Judah and against Edom and against the sons of Ammon and against Moab and against all who have cut the corners of their hair, who dwell in the desert. [The Greek historian Herodotus mentions Arab desert peoples who cut the corners of their hair (see the work History, 3:8 – from the 4th century BC). The hairstyle is an outward sign of idolatry, see ; ; ; .] For all nations are uncircumcised, but the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart [].
A voice, listen! Behold, it is coming
and a great tumult from the land of the north
to make the cities of Judah desolate,
a dwelling place for jackals.
Hear the word and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
And the Lord (Yahweh) said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, 'Hear the words of the covenant and do them.
And the Lord (Yahweh) said to me, "A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
They have returned to the sins of their fathers, who refused to listen to my prov, and have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers.
And the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall go and cry to the gods to whom they have sacrificed, but they shall not save them in all their time of trouble.
According to the number of your cities, Judah, are your gods, and according to the number of your streets, Jerusalem, you have set up altars to be objects of shame, altars to sacrifice to Baal.
And the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot), who planted you, has spoken evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, which they have done to themselves by provoking me to anger (provoking me) with their sacrifices to [the idol] Baal.
Thus says the Lord (Yahweh):
Concerning all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance that I have given my people Israel to inherit, behold, I will uproot them from their land and will uproot the house of Judah from among them.
Thus says the Lord (Yahweh): In this way I will make the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem useless.
For as a belt is bound around a man's waist, so I have bound myself to the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, declares the Lord (Yahweh), that they may be my people, my renown, my praise, and my glory. But they would not listen.
The cities of the south (Negev) are shut up
and there is no one to open them,
all Judah has been carried away captive,
it is completely carried away captive.
Judah mourns and its gates languish,
they bow down in the ashes (the black) to
the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem has risen.
Have you completely rejected Judah?
Has your soul (your whole being) despised Zion?
Why have you struck us
so that there is no healing for us?
We wait (hope) for peace (wholeness in all areas – Hebr. shalom),
but no good comes
and after a time of healing,
behold, terror.
And I will make them a terror among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, son of Hezekiah (Hebr. Chizqijahos), king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen
and with the point of a diamond,
it is engraved on the tablet of the heart
and on the horns of the altar.
Thus says the Lord (Yahweh) to me:
Go and stand in the gate of the sons of the people, where the kings of Judah enter and through which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem,
and say to them: Hear (listen to) the word of the Lord (Yahweh), you kings of Judah and all Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter through these gates.
then kings and princes will come into the gates of the city, sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.
And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from the places around Jerusalem and from the land of Benjamin and from the Lowlands [Hebr. Shefelah – the lowlands between the Mediterranean coast and the hill country of Judah] and from the mountains and from the south, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord (Yahweh).
And now, I ask you [Jeremiah to prophesy], tell the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, say: Thus says the Lord (Yahweh): Behold, I am shaping (sculpting – Hebr. yatsar) [the same word used for the potter in ] evil against you and devising a plan against you. Come back, I beg you, each one from his evil way, and change your ways [personal paths; life choices] and your [evil] deeds.
and say: Hear the word of the Lord (Yahweh), kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot), the God of Israel (Elohim): Behold, I will bring evil upon this place; whoever hears, his ears shall tingle
because they have forsaken me and have made this place strange and have sacrificed in it to other gods, whom neither their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents
And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their lives. And I will give their dead bodies as food to the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the earth.
and the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be like the place of Topheth, all the houses on whose roofs they have offered sacrifices to the host of heaven and poured out drink offerings to other gods.
For thus says the Lord (Yahweh): "Behold, I will make (hand over) you a terror to yourself and to all your friends [whom you cherish and who love you], and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon (the Babylonian king), and he shall carry them away captive to Babylon and smite them with the sword (the sword).
And I will give all the wealth of this city and all that is produced, and all the wealth of the kings of Judah, into the hand of their enemies, who shall destroy them and take them away and carry them to Babylon.
And afterward, declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh), I will deliver Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah, and his servants and the people who remain in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, king of Babylon, and into the hands of your enemies and into the hands of those who seek your lives, and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, nor have pity, nor have mercy.
And to the house of the king of Judah: Hear the word of the Lord (Yahweh):
So the Lord said [to me, Jeremiah]: Go down [from the temple, which is on higher ground] to the palace of the king of Judah [in Jerusalem] and speak there this prov:
Say: Hear, O king of Judah [probably Jehoiakim, the 18th ruler of the Southern Kingdom], who sits on David's throne. You and your court and your people, who enter these gates, must listen to what the Lord (Yahweh) says.
Thus says the Lord (Yahweh) concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are like Gilead to me, the head of Lebanon, yet I will surely make you a wilderness, cities that are uninhabited.
Thus says the Lord (Yahweh) to Shallum, son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), king of Judah, who reigned in place of his father Joshijahos and who went out from this place: He shall not return here again,
Therefore, thus says the Lord (Yahweh) concerning Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), son of Josiah, king of Judah:
They shall not mourn for him:
"Alas, my brother!" Or, 'Woe to my sister!'
They shall not mourn for him:
'Woe to the lord!' Or, 'Woe to his glory!'
I live, declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh). Although Coniah [short form of Jehoiachin (Hebr. Jehojachin), 19th ruler of the Southern Kingdom, see ], the son of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), was the signet ring on my right hand, I will tear him away from there,
Thus says the Lord (Yahweh):
Write down this man as childless,
a man who will not prosper in his days,
none of his seed will prosper,
sit on the throne of David or continue to reign in Judah.
In his days Judah will be saved (rescued)
and Israel will once again be a safe place to live.
The name he will be given is:
"The Lord our righteousness (Hebr. Yahweh Tsidqeno)".
[In the Old Testament, the prophecies about Jesus are clear. Here in Jeremiah, he is called the shoot of "King David"; in , he is referred to as the shoot "my servant"; in , the shoot "a man"; and finally, in , "the root shoot of the Lord." This corresponds to the four ways in which the Gospels describe Jesus.
Matthew – King Jesus,
Mark – Servant Jesus,
Luke – Son of Man Jesus,
John – Jesus Son of God.]
The Lord (Yahweh) showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs stood before the temple of the Lord (Yahweh) after Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away Jeconiah (Hebr. Jechonjaho) [here the spelling varies from the usual Jechonjah, see ], the son of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqims), king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem, and had taken them to Babylon.
"Thus says the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel (Elohim): 'As these good figs [in one basket], so I regard the captives of Judah whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans [Babylon]—as something good (Hebr. tovah).
And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten because they are so bad, so says the Lord (Yahweh): So shall I do to Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah, and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem that remains in this land, and those who dwell in Egypt.
[The events in this chapter precede those in chapter 24.]
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the days of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), king of Judah, in the fourth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, which was the first year [corresponding to 605 BC],
which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:
From the thirteenth year of Josiah, son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, these twenty-three years, the word of the Lord (Yahweh) has come to me, and I have spoken to you, spoken early [again and again, see Jer 7:13, 25; 11:7], but you have not listened.
Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes, to make them a horror, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse (take lightly – Hebr. qlalah), as they are today.
[The message comes chronologically before chapter 25. Between chapters 26-45, the text is written in the third person. Jeremiah's scribe Baruch is probably the author, see , , ; ]
At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), king of Judah [609/608 BC], this word came from the Lord (Yahweh), saying:
Thus says the Lord (Yahweh): Stand in the court of the Lord's (Yahweh's) house and speak all these words to the cities of Judah that come to worship in the Lord's (Yahweh's) house, all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not diminish a single word.
And the princes of Judah heard these things, and came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord (Yahweh), and they sat in the entrance of the new gate of the house of the Lord (Yahweh).
"Mic. [the prophet who was a contemporary of Isaiah, see ; ] of Moresheth [the city of Moresheth-Gath was located in the hill country, southwest of Jerusalem] prophesied in the days of Hezekiah (Hebr. Chizqijahos), king of Judah [the 13th king of the Southern Kingdom who reigned from 715 to 686 BC], and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot):
Zion shall be plowed like a field
and Jerusalem shall become a heap of stones
and the temple mount a forest high place. []
Did Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah kill him? Did he not fear the Lord (Yahweh) and plead before the Lord (Yahweh), and the Lord (Yahweh) changed his mind about the evil he had spoken against them? And we can bring great evil upon our own souls."
At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord (Yahweh), saying:
and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the sons of Ammon, and to the king of
Tyre, and to the king of
Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who came to Jerusalem to Zedekiah
(Hebr. Tsidqijah), king of
Judah,
And I will speak to Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah, according to all these words, saying, "Submit your neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and you shall live.
But if they are prophets and if the word of the Lord (Yahweh) is with them, let them now pray to the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot) that the vessels remaining in the house of the Lord (Yahweh) and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem will not go to Babylon.
which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, did not take when he carried away captive Jeconiah (Hebr. Jechonjaho), son of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqims), king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.
Thus says the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot), the God of Israel (Elohim), concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord (Yahweh) and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem:
And it came to pass in the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqiyahos), king of Judah, in the fourth year, on the fifth day of the month, that Hananiah, the son of Azzur, the prophet from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the Lord (Yahweh) in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying:
And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah (Hebr. Jechonjah), the son of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah who went to Babylon, declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh), for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
after King Jehoiachin (Hebr. Jechonjah) and the queen mother [probably Nechushta, see ] and the leaders and princes of Judah and Jerusalem and the craftsmen and smiths had left Jerusalem.
He sent the letter by (through the hand of) Elasa, the son of Shaphán, and Gemarjah (Hebr. Gemarjaho), the son of Hilkiah (Hebr. Chilqijahos), whom Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah, sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He said (wrote) to Babylon:
and they shall take up a curse against all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, 'The Lord (Yahweh) will make you like Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho) and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire.
For behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord (Yahweh), when I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah, declares the Lord (Yahweh), and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.
And these are the provisions that the Lord (Yahweh) spoke concerning Israel and Judah.
Thus says the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot), the God of Israel: Once again this word shall be spoken in the land of Judah and its cities, when I have restored their captives (from exile):
May the Lord (Yahweh) bless you [],
you dwelling place of righteousness,
you holy mountain.
In it, Judah [the countryside] and all its cities will live together [in peace and security]
– farmers (those who plow) and shepherds [those who wander] with their flocks.
[Now follow three sections, all beginning with the same phrase: "Behold, days are coming," see verses 27, 31, 38.]
Behold, days are coming, declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh), when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of men and with the seed of beasts.
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord (Yahweh),
when I will make a new covenant [; ; ] with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah;
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord (Yahweh) in the 10th year of Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah, which was the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar.
And at that time the army of the king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the court of the guard in the house of the king of Judah.
For Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah, had shut him up and said, "Why have you prophesied and said, 'Thus says the Lord (Yahweh): Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it,
and Zedekiah, king of Judah, shall not escape the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes.
Because the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have done only what is evil in my sight from their youth, because the sons of Israel have provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, declares the Lord (Yahweh),
because of all the evil that the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have done to provoke me, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to sacrifice their sons and their daughters to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it ever enter my mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
Fields shall be bought for silver, and a deed shall be written and sealed, and witnesses called in the land of Benjamin and in the cities around Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah and in the cities of the hill country and in the cities of the lowlands (Hebr. Shefelas) and in the cities of the south, for I will restore their captives, declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh).
For thus says the Lord (Yahweh), the God (Elohim) of Israel, concerning the houses of the city and the houses of the king of Judah, which are broken down to heaps and to ramparts,
And I will bring back the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel, and will build them up as they were in the beginning.
Thus says the Lord (Yahweh): Once again there shall be heard in this place, which is called desolate without man and without beast, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, which are desolate without man and without inhabitant and without beast,
In the cities of the hill country [Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron] and in the cities of the lowlands (Hebr. Shefelas) [Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Beit-Shemesh] and in the cities of the south and in the land of Benjamin and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will once again pass under the hand of the one who counts them, says the Lord (Yahweh).
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord (Yahweh), when I will fulfill the good (wonderful, gracious) word (promise) that I have spoken to the house of Israel [in the north] and to the house of Judah [in the south].
In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely,
and this is what she (Jerusalem) will be called:
"The Lord (Yahweh) our righteousness."
Thus says the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel (Elohim): Go and speak to Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah, and say to him: Thus says the Lord (Yahweh): Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire,
But hear the word of the Lord (Yahweh), Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah. Thus says the Lord (Yahweh) concerning you: You shall not die by the sword.
And the prophet Jeremiah spoke all these prov to Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah, in Jerusalem.
And the army of the king of Babylon fought against Jerusalem and against the cities that remained in Judah, against Lachish and against Azekah, for only these remained of the fortified cities of Judah.
the princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the leaders and the priests, and all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf,
And Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah, and his princes, I will give into the hands of their enemies and into the hands of those who seek their lives, and into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, which has come up against you.
Behold, I will command, declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh), and cause them to return to this city, and they shall fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord (Yahweh) when Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), was king of Judah [he reigned 609-597 BC], he said:
Thus says the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot), the God of Israel: Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Will you not receive correction and listen to my words? declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh).
therefore, says the Lord (Yahweh), God of hosts (Sebaot Elohim), God of Israel (Elohim): Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them, but they have not listened. I called to them, but they did not answer.
And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord (Yahweh), saying:
"Take a scroll and write in it all the words that I have spoken against Israel and against Judah and against all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, to this day.
Perhaps the house of Judah will hear all the evil that I intend to do to them, so that they may turn back, every man from his evil way, and I may forgive their transgressions and their sins."
therefore go and read in the scroll what you have written from my mouth, the words of the Lord (Yahweh), in the ears of the people in the house of the Lord (Yahweh) on a fast day, and you shall also read it in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities.
And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month [Kislev – Nov/Dec], that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord (Yahweh), all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem.
"Take another scroll and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim, king of Judah, has burned.
And concerning Jehoiakim, king of Judah, you shall say: Thus says the Lord (Yahweh): You have burned this scroll and said, 'Why have you written in it and said, 'The king of Babylon will surely come and destroy this land, and will cause man and beast to cease from it'?
Therefore, this is what the Lord (Yahweh) says about Jehoiakim, king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David's throne, and his dead body will be thrown out to the heat of the day and the cold of the night.
And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their sins, and I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the men of Judah all the evil that I have spoken to them, but they did not listen."
And Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch, the son of Neriah, the scribe, who wrote in it from Jeremiah's mouth all the words of the book that Jehoiakim, king of Judah, had burned in the fire, and many similar words were added to them.
And Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), the son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), reigned as king in place of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqims), whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made king in the land of Judah.
"Thus says the Lord (Yahweh), the God (Elohim) of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah who sent you to me to inquire of me: Behold, Pharaoh's army, which has come to help you, shall return to its own land, Egypt.
Behold, all the women who have left the house of the king of Judah shall be taken away to the princes of the king of Babylon, and these women shall say:
Your [so-called] close friends (literally: 'your fragile people of peace' or 'fragile people of your shalom') [] have deceived you
and overcome you.
Your feet have sunk into the mire
and they have turned back [your friends have forsaken you].
In the ninth year of Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah, in the tenth month [Tevet – Dec/Jan], Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his entire army came against Jerusalem and besieged it.
When Zedekiah, king of Judah, and all his warriors saw them, they tried to flee. So they went out of the city by night, taking the road through the king's garden, through the gate between the two walls, and he [Zedekiah] went out by the Arabah road [westward toward the Jordan Valley].
And the king of Babylon smote the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah, before his eyes. Also all the nobles (leaders) of Judah the king of Babylon smote.
But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left the poor of the people who had nothing in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields on that day.
The word that came to Jeremiah after Nevozaradan, the captain of the guard, had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being carried away captive to Babylon.
But he did not want to return. "Then return to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and live with him among the people, or go wherever it seems good to you to go."
And the captain of the guard gave him provisions and a gift and let him go.
And all the Jews who were in Moab and among the sons of Ammon and in Edom and in all the countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, over them.
Then all the Jews returned from the places where they had been driven away and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered grapes and summer crops in great abundance.
And Johanan, the son of Kareah, spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly and said, "Let me go, I beg you, and I will strike down Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he take your life, so that all the Jews who have gathered to you would be scattered and the remnant of Judah would perish?"
so now, listen to the word of the Lord (Yahweh), you remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot), the God of Israel (Elohim): If you really set your face to go to Egypt and go there and dwell there,
The Lord (Yahweh) has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah: Do not go to Egypt; know for certain that I have warned you today.
And Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, did not listen to the voice of the Lord (Yahweh) to dwell in the land of Judah.
And Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all the countries where they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah,
"Thus says the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot), the God of Israel (Elohim): You have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem and upon the cities of Judah, and behold, this day they are desolate, and no one dwells in them
Therefore, my wrath and my anger are poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they are lost and destroyed as they are this day.
And now the Lord (Yahweh), the God of hosts (Elohim Sebaot), the God of Israel (Elohim), says: Why have you committed this great evil against yourselves (your own souls)? You are cutting off (cutting away) men and women, children and infants from the midst of Judah, leaving none remaining.
Have you forgotten the evil deeds of your fathers and the evil deeds of the kings of Judah and the evil deeds of their wives and your own evil deeds and the evil deeds of your wives that they have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot), the God of Israel (Elohim): I have set my face against you for evil, and to cut off (cut down) all Judah.
And I will take the remnant of Judah who have turned their faces to go to Egypt and dwell there, and they shall be consumed. In the land of Egypt they shall fall; they shall be consumed by the sword and by famine; they shall die from the least to the greatest, by the sword and by famine, and they shall become an abomination, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach.
so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone to the land of Egypt to dwell there shall escape or remain, so that they may return to the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there, for no one shall return except the exiles [the captives in Babylon]."
But we will certainly carry out every word that has come out of our mouth, to sacrifice to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and princes in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, for then we had plenty of bread and were well off and saw no evil.
"The sacrifices that you have offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, has not the Lord (Yahweh) remembered them, and have they not come up into his heart?
And Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, "Hear the word of the Lord (Yahweh), all Judah who are in the land of Egypt:
Therefore, hear the word of the Lord (Yahweh), all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the Lord (Yahweh), that my name shall no longer be mentioned in the mouth of any man of Judah, saying, 'The Lord God (Adonai Yahweh) lives,' in all Egypt.
Behold, I am watching over them for evil and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine until there is an end of them.
And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, a small number, and they shall know, all the remnant of Judah who have come to the land of Egypt to dwell there, whose word shall stand (remain, be strong, be upright, be successful, do good, help—Hebr. qom), mine or theirs.
Thus says the Lord (Yahweh): Behold, I will deliver Pharaoh Chafra [also known as Apries, ruled 587-570 BC], king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his soul (life), as I delivered Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life."
The word that the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch, the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at Jeremiah's dictation, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), the son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), king of Judah, saying:
To Egypt. Concerning Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, whose army is by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), king of Judah.
The word of the Lord (Yahweh) that came to the prophet Jeremiah, to Elam [current soutwest Iran, the region where Susa was located, se ], at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah. He said:
In those days and at that time,
declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh),
the sons of Israel shall come and the sons of Judah together,
they shall go weeping and seek the Lord their God (Yahweh Elohim).
In those days and at that time,
declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh),
they shall seek the sin of Israel,
but it shall not be found,
and the sin of Judah,
but it shall not be found,
for I will forgive those whom I have left as a remnant.
Thus says the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot):
The sons of Israel
and the sons of Judah are oppressed together,
and all who have taken them captive
hold them fast and will not let them go.
For Israel shall not be forsaken (like a widow), nor shall Judah be forsaken,
by their God (Elohim), by the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaoth),
for their [the Babylonians'] land is full of guilt
towards the saints of Israel.
This word was commanded to the prophet Jeremiah by Seraiah, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with King Zedekiah of Judah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho) to Babylon in his fourth year of reign. Seraja was quartermaster (literally: 'chief of the resting place') [he was responsible for the camp during the king's travels].
Because of the Lord's (Yahweh's) anger, this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until he cast them out [from the land and] from his presence.
And Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho) rebelled against the king of Babylon.
And the king of Babylon smote (slaughtered) Zedekiah's sons before his eyes. He also smote [slaughtered] all the princes of Judah in Riblah.
And the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them in Riblah in the land of Hamath. And Judah was carried away captive out of its land.
And it came to pass in the 37th year of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in the 12th month [Adar – Feb/Mar], on the 25th day of the month [March 31, 561 BC], that Evil-Merodach, king of Babylon [Nebuchadnezzar's son; reigned 562-560 BC], in the year he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of prison.
Judah [the people of Judea] has been taken into exile [to Babylon]
under great suffering and bondage.
[; ; ; ]
She dwells in other countries,
she finds no place of rest.
All her persecutors have overtaken her
in the midst of her distress (distress).
[The third Hebrew letter is: ג – . The character depicts a camel. It often symbolizes endurance; a camel walks through the desert in heat and cold, regardless of circumstances, holding its head high and moving forward. The first word in Hebrew is "exile," which in a way can be symbolized by the camel because it travels long distances to distant countries with the merchants' caravans. In order to survive grief and get through it, one also needs the endurance that the camel symbolizes, because it always takes time, often at least a year, to get through this process.]
The Lord (Adonai) has rejected
all the mighty men in my midst,
he has called together a crowd against me,
to destroy my young men.
The Lord (Adonai) has trampled the virgins,
the daughters of Judah, as in a winepress. []
[The fifteenth Hebrew letter is: ס – . The character depicts a pillar and symbolizes support and stability. In this verse, it is the word "has rejected" that begins with this letter, reinforcing that God no longer wants to see their pride because they have used their power to commit sin and transgressions. God is no longer their pillar of support.]
The Lord (Adonai) mercilessly devoured all the inhabitants of Jacob. In his wrath, he has struck down all the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has broken them down to the ground and humiliated the kingdom and its leaders. [The second Hebrew letter is: ב – Bet. The character depicts a house with only one door. It symbolizes a home and total trust. The word for "devoured" begins with this letter. Here it reinforces how all houses and homes, both the temple and other buildings, have been reduced to ruins.]
The Lord (Adonai) has become like an enemy;
he has devoured Israel.
He has devoured all her palaces,
he has destroyed all her strongholds
and he has multiplied the sorrow
and lamentation among the daughters of Judah.
[The fifth Hebrew letter is: ה – He. The character depicts a person with outstretched hands. The meaning of the letter is to see, look, breathe, and to gain revealed insight into something great and important that has been pointed out. It often symbolizes seeing and having perspective. In this verse, it is the words "has become" that begin with this letter, illustrating that one can no longer see God as giving our lives the right perspective. Instead, one sees only everything that causes sorrow. Now even God is an enemy, further intensifying the sorrow.]
The women of Zion [the temple mount in Jerusalem] have been raped,
the virgins of the cities of Judah.
And when you have completed these, you shall lie on your right side and bear the sin of the house of Judah, 40 days, each day for a year I have given it to you.
[It has been 14 months since the first recorded vision in .]
And it came to pass in the sixth year [after King Jehoiachin's captivity, see ], in the sixth month [Elul] on the 15th day of the month [September 17, 592 BC], that I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, and the hand of the Lord of hosts (Adonai Yahweh) fell upon me there.
And he said to me, "Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a light thing that the house of Judah has committed the abominations they commit here, filling the land with violence and provoking me even more, and they put the branch to their nose. [The expression may allude to some occult ritual. There is an example of an Assyrian relief of a king holding a flower to his nose while worshipping the stars. The Greek translation Septuagint does not translate literally but more generally "they are mockers." It is probably a proverbial expression to mock God, corresponding to "haveing one's nose in the air" in English.]
And he said to me, "The sin of the house of Hos and Judah is very great, and the land is full of blood, and the city is full of corruption, for they say, 'The Lord (Yahweh) has forsaken the land, and the Lord (Yahweh) does not see.
You shall make one road so that the sword may come to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon [the capital of the Amorites – modern Amman in Jordan], and to Judah in fortified Jerusalem.
And say to the sons of Ammon: Hear the word of the Lord God (Adonai Yahweh): Thus says the Lord God (Adonai Yahweh):
Because you say, "Haha! (Hebr. heach – an expression of schadenfreude) over my sanctuary when it was desecrated, and over the land of Israel when it was laid waste, and over the house of Judah when they went into captivity,
Thus says the Lord of lords (Adonai Yahweh):
Because Moab and Seir say, "Behold, as with all nations, so it is with the house of Judah,"
Thus says the Lord of hosts (Adonai Yahweh):
Because Edom has acted with great vengeance against the house of Judah and has deeply insulted them and taken vengeance on them,
Judah and the land of Israel were your merchants. They traded for your market with wheat from Minnit and baked goods and honey and oil and balm.
Son of man, take a wooden rod and write on it [as was done before, see ]:
"For Judah and all the Israelites who belong to him." [The Southern Kingdom – the tribe of Judah together with some northern tribes (Benjamin, Levi, and parts of Simeon).] Then take another wooden rod and write on it:
"For Joseph, Ephraim, and all the Israelites who belong to him." [The Northern Kingdom – represented by Joseph or Ephraim () together with Manasseh.]
Speak to them: "Thus says the Lord of hosts (Adonai Yahweh, the supreme almighty God, who despite his greatness is still present among his people): Behold, I will take the rod of Joseph that is in the hand of Ephraim and all the Israelites who belong to him, and I will put it on the rod of Judah, and make them one rod—they shall be one in my hand."
Next to Reuben's territory, Judah shall have a lot from the east side to the west side.
Next to the territory of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the territory that you shall give as a gift to the Lord (Yahweh). You shall give as a gift 25,000 [cubits; 13 km] in width and the same in length as a tribal lot from the east side to the west side. The sanctuary shall be located there in the middle.
From the territory of the Levites and from the territory of the city, which lies between the territories of the prince, the area between the southern border of Judah and the northern border of Benjamin shall belong to the prince.
and of the gates of the city, named after the tribes of Israel, three shall be on the north: the first is the gate of Reuben, the second the gate of Judah, and the third the gate of Levi.
During the third year of King Jehoiakim's reign [605 BC] in Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came and besieged Jerusalem [the capital of Judah].
The Lord (Adonai, focus on God's greatness and power) gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his power.
[It was not the strength of the Babylonians that brought them victory, it was the Lord who allowed them to take the land because of the disobedience and idolatry of God's people, see ; . Jehoiakim was an evil king in the eyes of the Lord, . According to rabbinical literature, he lived in incestuous relationships with his mother, daughter-in-law, and stepmother, and he had a habit of murdering men and raping their women. He reigned for eleven years, from 608 to 597 BC. It was a turbulent political period in which Judah and Jerusalem were geographically located between the great powers of the time. It was the Egyptians and Pharaoh Necho who appointed Jehoiakim as their vassal king after capturing his younger brother, who had only been king for three months. When the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem in 605 BC, three years into Jehoiakim's reign, Jehoiakim made a pact with them, see . To ensure Jehoiakim's loyalty, Nebuchadnezzar takes some young men of royal descent as hostages. This is the first deportation to Babylon that affects Daniel and his friends. The temple was partially plundered, see .]
Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the vessels to Shinar [Babylon, the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers]. There he placed them in the treasury of his gods [Marduk and Nebo].
[The Babylonian Empire was the new superpower after the Assyrians. In the city of Babylon, Nabopolassar revolts against the Assyrians and proclaims himself king of Babylon in 626 BC. He and his son Nebuchadnezzar together form the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which has its heyday over the next 100 years. Historical documents, the Babylonian chronicles, confirm that in the spring of 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar fought at the Egyptian outpost of Carchemish in northern Syria and later in the late spring swept down on Jerusalem. In the first raid, the temple was plundered and people who could pose a threat, including Daniel and his friends, were taken prisoner. Nebuchadnezzar continued south towards Egypt, but when he received news of his father Nabopolassar's death on August 15, he hurried home. He took the route through the desert and arrived before Daniel and the prisoners, who took the usual longer route along the Euphrates River. A clay tablet shows that Nebuchadnezzar became king on September 7. Nebuchadnezzar continues his campaigns. Seven years later, in 597 BC, Jerusalem is conquered. It is during this second deportation that the prophet Ezekiel is taken away. In 586 BC, the temple is destroyed and the third wave of prisoners is taken away to Babylonia.]
Among these [which indicates that there were other captured youths there from other countries—the Jewish historian Josephus mentions Phoenicia, Egypt, and Syria] were the following from Judah:
Daniel [meaning "God is my judge"],
Hananiah [meaning "Yahweh is gracious"],
Mishael [meaning "Who is like God"] and
Azariah [meaning "Yahweh is a helper"]. [All four of these young men have God in their names. This shows that despite the apostasy in Israel, their parents had probably given them a godly upbringing, which meant that they did not stray from their faith in God, see .]
Lord (Adonai), you are righteous—we are disgraced (ashamed). [The Hebrew has a strong contrast: literally 'to you righteousness—to us shame'. Since the captivity and destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, Israel has been publicly disgraced among the nations. So it is today with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, both those who are near and those who are far away in all the countries where you have driven them, because they were unfaithful to you.]
The word of the Lord (Yahweh) that came to [the prophet] Hosea (Hebr. Hoshea; meaning: salvation), son of Beeri, in the days of
Uzziah (Hebr. Uzzijaho) [10th ruler of the Southern Kingdom; reigned 788-736 BC],
Jotham [11th ruler of the Southern Kingdom; reigned approx. 758-742 BC, first ten years together with his leprous father (), then alone, and finally three years with his son Ahaz],
Ahaz [12th ruler of the Southern Kingdom; reigned c. 742-726 BC, the last years together with his son Hezekiah]
and Hezekiah (Hebr. Jechizqijah) [13th king of the Southern Kingdom; reigned 726-697 BC]
were kings of Judah [the Southern Kingdom]
and the days when
Jeroboam [the second, reigned 793-753 BC] was king of Israel [the 13th king of the Northern Kingdom].
[Hosea served as a prophet in the northern kingdom for about 40 years (760-722 BC). Only Jeroboam II of the northern kingdom is mentioned here. The last six kings are: Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, and Hosea. They reigned from about 750 to 722 BC, when the capital Samaria was captured by the Assyrian ruler Sargon II and the population of the country was deported to Assyria.]
But I will have mercy on the house of Judah and will save them in the Lord their God (Yahweh Elohim), but I will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen."
And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be united (gathered) together, and they shall appoint for themselves a head (a leader). And they shall grow up (literally: "rise up out of") the ground (the land – Hebr. ha-erets), for great shall be the day of Jezreel. [Jizreel means "God plants/sows," alluding to how the land will be reborn, see verses 4-5 and .]
If Israel is a prostitute,
do not blame
Judah and do not come to Gilgal
[meaning "ring of stones," a cultic sacrificial site (; ; ; ), probably located just northeast of Jericho, see ],
do not go up to Beit Aven
[literally: "house of wickedness"; a reference to Bethel meaning "house of God" where a golden calf was worshipped, see ] and do not swear "As the Lord
(Yahweh) lives."
But the pride of Israel will testify against him,
and Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their sin.
Judah will also stumble with them.
The princes of Judah are like those who move boundary stones [which was forbidden to do, see ].
I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
Therefore, I am to Ephraim like Mal
and like rottenness to the house of Judah.
And when Ephraim saw his sickness
and Judah his wound,
Ephraim went to Assyria and sent for King Jarev [Jarev means "challenger"; the expression can also be interpreted as a title malki rav – "the great king"],
but he cannot heal you, nor will he cure your injury.
I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
like a young lion to the house of Judah,
I will tear them to pieces and go away,
I will carry them off and no one will rescue them.
What shall I do (take) with you, Ephraim [the northern kingdom – Israel]?
What shall I do (take) with you, Judah [the southern kingdom]?
Your mercy (loving care, faithful love) is like the morning mist [which quickly dissipates],
like dew that quickly disappears [when the sun burns it away, see ].
For you too, Judah, a harvest is appointed,
when I turn the captivity of my people (bring back my people from captivity).
For Israel has forgotten its Creator
and built palaces
and Judah has multiplied fortified cities,
but I will send a fire upon its cities
and it shall devour its fortresses.
And Ephraim is a heifer that loves to thresh
and I have passed over her neck [put a yoke upon it].
I will make Ephraim a rider,
Judah shall plow,
Jacob shall break his clods.
Ephraim surrounds me with denial (hypocrisy – Hebr. kachash)
and the house of Israel with deceit (Hebr. mirmah)
and Judah is constantly unfaithful to (wants to break away from; stray from; be homeless from – Hebr. rod) God (El)
yes, to the Holy One, the faithful one (he who stands firm – Hebr. aman).
The Lord (Yahweh) has a case against Judah
and will punish Jacob according to his ways
and in accordance with his actions he will repay him.
For behold, in those days and at that time,
when I restore Judah and Jerusalem from exile,
You have sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to move them far away from their own borders.
I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabians [a people from the south; Sheba was a grandson of Abraham who moved eastward, see , ], to a land far away, for the Lord (Yahweh) has spoken.
On that day, the mountains will drip with sweet wine
and the hills will flow with milk
and all the riverbeds (wadis) of Judah will flow with water.
A fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord (Yahweh)
and water the valley of Shittim [on the east side of the Jordan River, just north of the Dead Sea].
Egypt (Hebr. Mitsrajim – 'the land of confinement') shall become a wasteland
and Edom a fruitless desert
because of the lawlessness (violence, terror – Hebr. chamas) against the children of Judah (sons)
because you have shed innocent blood in their land.
But Judah shall be inhabited forever [there shall always be people living there]
and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
Prov of Amos, one of the shepherds from Tekoa [a small town in the hill country of Judah, 16 km south of Jerusalem]. This is what he saw concerning Israel [the northern kingdom] when
Uzziah (Hebr. Uzzijaho) was king of Judah [783-742 BC] and
Jeroboam, Joash's son, was king of Israel [786-746 BC],
two years before the earthquake.
[The earthquake is also mentioned in . During excavations in 2021 on the eastern slopes of the City of David, a large number of broken vessels, bowls, and lamps were found. The findings are consistent with similar findings in northern Israel that indicate an earthquake during the reign of King Uzziah in the mid-700s BC.
Amos, who is from Judah (the southern kingdom), is thus writing to Israel (the northern kingdom). In 722 BC, the northern kingdom falls to Assyria, so these words are written about 40 years before this event.]
[So far, the words of judgment have been directed against the enemies of Judah and Israel. The problem was that the same sins committed by these cities and regions were also committed by God's own people. The seventh prov is directed at Judah, the southern kingdom, at Amos' own countrymen, see .]
Thus says the Lord (Yahweh):
"For three transgressions of Judah [the southern kingdom],
yes, for four, I will not change my mind,
because they have rejected the Lord's (Yahweh's) teaching (the Books of Moses – Hebr. Torah)
and have not kept his statutes (literally "things engraved," indicating permanent, unchangeable laws, often described as commandments that have no rational explanation) and their lies have led them to a dead end that their fathers have walked on.
I will send a fire upon Judah
and it will consume the palaces (mighty buildings) of Jerusalem."
Amaziah said to Amos, "You seer (one who sees visions – Hebr. chozeh), go. Flee back to the land of Judah [your own country]. Eat your bread and prophesy (Hebr. nava) there [be a full-time prophet there].
You should not have stared (looked with schadenfreude) at your brother [Israel] when disaster struck,
at their suffering on the day of their misfortune!
Nor should you have rejoiced over the sons of Judah
on the day of their destruction!
You should not have spoken proudly (with proud words)
on the day of their calamity!
The word of the Lord
(Yahweh) that came to Micah
(Hebr. Michah), from Moresheth
[who conveyed these prophetic words] in those days
[758-698 BC] when Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah
(Hebr. Jechizqijah) were kings of
Judah [the southern kingdom]. This is what he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
[Mic. came from the town of Moreshet Gat in southwestern Judah, see also . It is not entirely clear which town this is, but Jerome (347-419 CE) writes that it is located just over a kilometer east of Beit Guvrin, which makes Tell Goded a good candidate. Micah "saw" these prophecies concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Interestingly, from the top of Tell Goded you can see many of the cities that Micah mentions, such as Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Lachish, etc. The three kings mentioned are:
• Jotham (did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, see ) reigned 758-743 BC.
• His son Ahaz (was an evil king, see ) reigned from 743 to 727 BC.
• Hezekiah (did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, see ) reigned from 726 to 697 BC.]All this is for Jacob's transgressions
and the sins of the house of Israel.
What is Jacob's transgression?
Is it not Samaria?
And what are Judah's high places?
Is it not Jerusalem?
For her wound is incurable,
and it has reached even to Judah,
it extends to the gates of my people,
yes, even to Jerusalem.
But you,
Bethlehem, Ephrathah,
you are so small
(insignificant) among the clans of
Judah (thousands) [groups of a thousand people into which Israel was divided].
From you shall come
one who will rule in Israel.
His origin is from before time,
from the days of eternity.
[There are two Bethlehems in Israel, one in the land of Zebulun in the north, and one in the south just outside Jerusalem in the region of Ephrathah. The prophetic prov is so perfect that 700 years before it happens, it predicts that Jesus will be born in the southern village of Bethlehem, which was so insignificant that it was not included in Josh. 15's list of cities, see .]His feet are seen on the mountains,
he who brings good news and proclaims peace (shalom, all kinds of prosperity)!
"Celebrate your feasts, Judah, fulfill (redeem – Hebr. shalem) your promises, for never ever will Belial [literally: the worthless one, but also a Jewish name for Satan] cross [your path],
his wickedness will be wiped out (cut off)" [This verse is a key verse in Nahum! The prophet Isaiah uses similar words about how the captive Jews will return from exile in Babylon to Judah, see . In the Greek translation Septuagint, the Greek word euangelizo is used, from which we have derived the word “evangelist”! Here we also sense how God proclaims his peace (shalom) to all peoples in all times!]
The word of the Lord (Yahweh) that came to Zephaniah [meaning: "Yahweh hides and protects"],
son of Cushi,
son of Gedaliah,
son of Amariah,
son of Hezekiah (Hebr. Chizqijah)
– in the days of [King] Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos) [622-609 BC when he reigned as king], son of Amon, king of Judah.
[Josiah was a good king who reigned from 640-609 BC, but because he was young, he did not come to power until 622 BC, see . Zephaniah's connection to King Hezekiah in the fourth generation is emphasized. Hezekiah was king of the southern kingdom from 715-686 BC and restored temple service and abolished idolatry, see . He is also known for building the Siloam Tunnel and a dam to improve the water supply to Jerusalem.]
I will stretch out my hand against Judah
and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
I will cut off (cut down) the remnant of Baal from this place,
the names of the idol priests along with the priests,
The coast shall belong to the remnant of the house of Judah
and there they shall graze.
In the house of Ashkelon they shall lie down in the evening,
for the Lord their God (Yahweh Elohim) will visit them
and bring them back from captivity.
In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month [Elul], on the first day [August 29, 520 BC], the word of the Lord (Yahweh) came through the prophet Haggai (Hebr. Chaggai) to:
Zerubbabel (Hebr. Zerobavel), son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah [; ; ]
and to Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest [; ; ; ].
[The message is addressed first to the leaders, as it is primarily their responsibility, but the prophetic word is also addressed to the people, see verses 3-4.]
He said [Haggai prophesied]:
The Lord (Yahweh) stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people, and they came and worked on the house of their God (Elohim), the Lord of Hosts (Yahweh Sebaots).
Now speak to Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant [] of the people, saying:
Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and say:
"I will shake the heavens
and the earth,
Then the angel (messenger) of the Lord (Yahweh) answered and said, "Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot), how long will you delay showing mercy (compassionate grace) to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, upon which you have been angry for 70 years?"
Then I asked the angel (the messenger) who was speaking to me, "What are these?" He said to me, "These are the horns [mighty powers, superpowers] that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."
Then I said, "What have these come to do?" He [the angel] spoke and said, "These, the horns that scattered Judah so that no man could lift up his head, these [the four craftsmen whom God raised up] have come to terrify, to cast down the horns of the heathen nations, those who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it." [Horns symbolize power, and in this verse, the horns represent the military powers of various countries that have risen up against Judah and scattered it over the years.]
And the Lord (Yahweh) will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and choose Jerusalem once again.
It shall come to pass that just as you were a curse (something to be taken lightly, mocked, despised) among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so shall you be a blessing (something to be admired, looked up to). Fear not, let your hands be strong.
so I will plan again, but in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not be afraid.
Thus says the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot):
The fast in the 4th month [17th of Tammuz – when the city wall of Jerusalem fell, see ]
and the fast in the 5th month [9th of Av – when the temple was destroyed, see ]
and the fast in the 7th month [9th of Tishri – the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur] and the fast in the 10th month [10th of Tevet – when the siege of Jerusalem began, see ]
shall be [turned] for the house of Judah into
joy, gladness, and a time of cheerfulness,
therefore love truth and peace (shalom).
I will remove his blood from his mouth,
and his abominable things from between his teeth,
and he too shall become a remnant for our God (Elohim)
and he shall become like a leader in Judah
and Ekron like a Jebusite.
I will bend Judah as my bow
and fill it with Ephraim [like an arrow—ready to be shot].
I will stir up your sons, Zion [Jerusalem],
against your sons, Greece (Javan),
I will swing you like a warrior's sword.
My anger is kindled against the shepherds
and I will punish the rams,
for the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot) has remembered his flock, the house of Judah,
and made them his majestic horses in battle.
I will strengthen the house of Judah
and I will save the house of Joseph,
and I will bring them back
because I have compassion on them
and they shall be as
if I had never cast them out,
for I am the Lord (Yahweh) their God (Elohim)
and I will listen to them.
Then I broke my second staff, Unity (Harmony), so that the brotherhood between Judah and Israel was broken.
Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling [The word "cup of trembling" is only found here in the entire Old Testament, and therefore its meaning is not entirely clear, but the root suggests that it has to do with terrible shaking.] for all the surrounding peoples, and it shall also fall upon Judah and become a siege against Jerusalem.
On that day, declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh), I will strike every horse with confusion and its rider with madness, and I will open my eyes on the house of Judah and strike every horse of the people with blindness.
The leaders of Judah shall say in their hearts, "The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength, because the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot) is their God (Elohim)."
On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a pot over a fire in the forest (which causes a forest fire) and like a burning torch among sheaves, and they shall devour all the peoples around them, on their right and on their left, and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in its own place, in Jerusalem. [Other cities such as Nineveh, Tyre, Babylon, and Rom. have been rebuilt in a new location next to the old city. That will not be the case with Jerusalem.]
The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not outshine Judah.
You shall flee to the clefts of the rocks, for the clefts of the rocks shall reach as far as Azal [an unknown place east of Jerusalem; meaning "reserved"]. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah, king of Judah [who reigned 788-736 BC], and the Lord (Yahweh) my God (Elohim) shall come, and all his saints with him. [; ; ; ]
Even Judah will fight against Jerusalem. The riches of the surrounding peoples will be gathered together, gold, silver, and clothing in great abundance.
Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot), and those who wish to offer sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them. On that day there shall be no merchants in the house of the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot) (the temple).
[Jesus cleansed the temple of merchants; now there shall be no more trading in the temple, see ; ; ; .]
Judah has acted unfaithfully, an abomination done in Israel, even in Jerusalem. For Judah has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord (Yahweh), whom he loves, and has married the daughters of foreign gods (Hebr. el).
Then the offerings from Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in former days and years past.
[The first part has fourteen links between Abraham and David. Thirty names are mentioned, including repetitions and Serach, see , who is not included in the family tree. Of these, 27 are men and three are women.]
Abraham begot Isaac,
Isaac begot Jacob,
Jacob begot Judah and his brothers,
Judah begot Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar [Judah's daughter-in-law involved in a complicated relationship history, see ],
Perez begot Hezron,
Hezron begot Ram,
son to Amminadav,
son of Admin,
son of Arni,
son of Hezron,
son of Perez,
son of Judah,
It is clear that our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses said nothing about priests from that tribe.
[Jesus comes from the tribe of Judah, see ; . When Jacob blesses and prophesies over his sons in , more details are given as to why Jude is considered the firstborn. The birthright was taken from Reuben because he slept with his father's concubine. It passed over Simeon and Levi because of their cruelty in murdering an entire village after Dina was raped. Therefore, Jude was counted as the firstborn. A verse in the blessing from clearly points to Jesus: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come, and the peoples shall obey him."]
But God rebukes them when he says [through the prophet Jeremiah]:
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a new (better) covenant (contract)
with the house of Israel [the ten northern tribes] and with the house of Jude [in the south].
[Jeremiah lived at a time when the Israelites were divided into the northern kingdom, Israel, and the southern kingdom, Jude. The promise of a renewed covenant is also about healing the wounds between God's people; in Jesus there is reconciliation, see .]
Then one of the [twenty-four] elders said to me, "Do not weep! Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah [], the root of David [, ], has prevailed (triumphed). He is able to open the scroll and break its seven seals."
[In the vision in the previous chapter up to this point, God the Father on the throne, the Holy Spirit, and all creation have been clearly presented. Now comes the crescendo of the vision – the Lion of the tribe of Jude and the Root of David. Two well-known messianic expressions from the Old Testament. Jacob prophesied in about Jude: "The scepter shall not depart from Jude, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come, and the obedience of the peoples shall be unto him." Now this prophecy is coming true, see also Jesus' genealogy in and .]
from the tribe of Judah 12,000 [the family of Jesus, see ; ] who had received the seal,
from the tribe of Reuben 12,000 [],
from the tribe of Gad 12,000 [],
