Second Chronicles

Solomon's reign (chapters 1-9)

Solomon's wisdom and reign

1¹Solomon (Hebr. Shlomo) [related to Hebr. shalom – peace, tranquility, and wholeness], son of David, strengthened his royal power in his kingdom (literally: "strengthened himself over his kingdom"), for the Lord (Yahweh) his God (Elohim) was with him and made him very great.
     ²Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the commanders and officers, to the judges and to all the princes of Israel, the heads of the families. ³Then he went with the whole assembly to the high place at Gibeon [just north of Jerusalem, see Josh. 10:2], for that was where the tent of meeting with God was, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness. ⁴But David had brought the ark of God from Kiriath Jearim to the place he had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem. [1 Sam. 6:1–15] ⁵And the bronze altar that Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur (Hebr. Chor) [Ex. 31:2–5], had made stood there before the tabernacle of the Lord, and Solomon and the assembly went there. ⁶There Solomon went up before the Lord to the bronze altar that was before the tent of meeting, and he offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.
     ⁷That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, "Ask me what you want me to give you."
     ⁸Solomon answered God, "You have shown great kindness to my father David and have made me king in his place. ⁹Now, Lord God, let your word to my father David be fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. ¹⁰Now give me wisdom and knowledge to lead and govern this people. For who is able to judge this great people of yours?"
     ¹¹Then God said to Solomon, "Because this was in your heart, and you did not ask for riches, wealth, honor, the life of your enemies, or long life, but asked for wisdom and understanding to judge my people, over whom I have made you king, ¹²you shall have wisdom and understanding. I will also give you wealth, riches, and honor, such as none of the kings before you have had and none of the kings after you will have."
     ¹³After Solomon had been at the high place at Gibeon, he went from the tent of meeting to Jerusalem and reigned over Israel.

Solomon's wealth

¹⁴Solomon gathered chariots and horses, and he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ¹⁵The king ruled so that silver and gold became as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar wood as common as mulberry wood in the Lowlands [Hebr. – the lowlands between the Mediterranean coast and the mountains of Judah]. ¹⁶The horses that Solomon bought came from Egypt [in the south] and from Qove [corresponding to Cilicia in present-day southeastern Turkey, where the horses were known for their strength and endurance]. The king's buyers brought them from Qove at a fixed price. ¹⁷Each chariot they brought in from Egypt cost 600 shekels [a total of 6.9 kg] of silver, and each horse 150 [shekels – i.e. 1.7 kg of silver]. Likewise, through their efforts, such chariots were imported for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Aram.

Preparations for the temple construction

2¹And Solomon now planned to build a house for the name of the Lord (Yahweh) [for worship] and a house for himself as a royal residence.[The entire chapter 2 is formatted as a chiasm. The division of workers (verses 2 and 17-18) followed by Solomon's letter (verses 3-10) and Hiram's letter (verses 11-16).]

Division of the workers

²Therefore Solomon assigned (literally: counted) 70,000 men to be carriers, 80,000 to be stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 to be overseers over them. [The total workforce was 153,600 (70,000 + 80,000 + 3,600), see verses 17-18, which repeat the numbers and also add them up. There were 42-43 people in each group. The number of supervisors in 1 Kings 5:16 is 3,300. In Assyria and Babylon, the workers consisted of slaves recruited during military raids. One report mentions how Ashurbanipal (who ruled Assyria from 884-859 BC) enlisted the help of 50,000 workers to build the capital city of Kalhu.]

Solomon's letter

³And Solomon sent messengers to Hiram [alternative spelling of Hiram (1 Kings 5:1), who ruled from 980 to 947 BC], king of Tyre, saying:

"Do to me as you did to my father David, when you sent him cedar wood to build a house for himself to dwell in. [2 Sam. 5:11] ⁴Behold, I intend to build a house for the Lord (Yahweh), the name of my God (Elohim), and consecrate it to him. There they shall burn fragrant incense before him and always have the showbread set out and offer burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, at the new moon and at the feasts of the Lord (Yahweh) our God (Elohim) [Gen. 1:14; Lev. 23]. This is a statute forever for Israel.
     ⁵And the house that I am building shall be great, for our God (Elohim) is greater than all gods (elohim). ⁶But who can build a house for him? The heavens and the heavens of heavens cannot contain him. Who am I to build a house for him? No, it shall be a place where incense is burned before him.

⁷Now 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.
     ⁸Send me also cedar, cypress, and arum wood from Lebanon, for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber in Lebanon. And my servants will be with your servants ⁹to procure for me a large quantity of timber, for the house I intend to build is to be large and magnificent. ¹⁰On behalf of your servants, for the carpenters who cut the timber, I will give 20,000 kor [barrels; equivalent to 7,800 cubic meters (5,000 tons)] of threshed wheat, 20,000 kor [barrels; equivalent to 7,800 cubic meters (5,000 tons)] of barley, 20,000 baths [a total of 600 cubic meters] of wine, and 20,000 baths [a total of 600 cubic meters] of oil." [Cf. 1 Kings 5:3–6]

King Hiram's letter

¹¹King Choram of Tyre replied with a letter he sent to Solomon:

"Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you king over them."

¹²And Hiram added:

"Blessed be the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel, the creator of heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, who is so endowed with wisdom and understanding that he can build a house for the Lord and a house for himself as a royal residence. ¹³Therefore, I am now sending an artistically gifted and knowledgeable man, Choram-Avi. [In a similar way to how Bezalel led the work on the tabernacle (Ex. 31:1–11), cf. 1 Kings 7:14.] ¹⁴He is the son of one of Dan's daughters, and his father is a man of Tyre. He is skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, as well as with purple, dark blue, and crimson yarn and fine linen, and he can perform all kinds of carving and weave all kinds of artistic fabrics. You can have him work with your men and the men of my lord, your father David, who are skilled in the arts. ¹⁵My lord may now send to his servants the wheat and barley, oil and wine that he has spoken of. ¹⁶We will cut timber in Lebanon for you, as much as you need, and float it to you on rafts by sea to Joppa [today's Jaffa, in southern Tel Aviv—Jerusalem's nearest port]. From there you can have it brought up to Jerusalem yourself." [A distance of 50 miles.]

Division of the workers

¹⁷Solomon counted all the foreigners in the land of Israel, just as his father David had done before him. It turned out that there were 153,600 of them. [There is an interesting parallel in the first part of the number of workers to build the temple, which is 153, and the numerical value of Bezalel, the craftsman who built the tabernacle (Ex. 31:1–5), which is also 153. Jesus, who was called "the craftsman's son" (Matt. 13:55), is himself the ark and the atonement, see also John 21:11 where the number 153 recurs.] ¹⁸Of these, he appointed
    70,000 to be porters,
    80,000 to be stonecutters in the mountains,
    and 3,600 to supervise the people and keep them working.

The temple is built

3¹Solomon began to build the house of the Lord (Yahweh) in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, on the site that David had prepared, the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ²He began building [the temple] on the second day of the second month [Iyar] in his fourth year of reign [April 966 BC].
     ³When Solomon built the house of God (Elohim), he laid the foundation so that it was 60 cubits [27 meters] long and 20 cubits [9 meters] wide according to the old cubit measurement. [The older royal cubit was longer than the new one. This note is not found in 1 Kings 6:2.] ⁴The front porch, which was in front of the nave, in front of the short side of the house, measured 20 cubits [9 meters], and its height was 120 [cubits – 54 meters].
    On the inside, he covered it with pure gold. ⁵He covered the large house with cypress wood. This, in turn, he covered with fine gold and adorned with palm trees and chains. ⁶In addition, he adorned the house with precious stones. The gold he used was from Parvajim. ⁷He covered the house, the beams, the thresholds, as well as the walls and doors of the house with gold and carved cherubim on the walls.
     ⁸He also prepared the room that was to be the most holy. It was located along the short side of the house and was 20 cubits [9 meters] long and 20 cubits [9 meters] wide. He covered it with fine gold, weighing 600 talents [20 tons]. ⁹The nails weighed 50 shekels [0.6 kg] of gold. He also covered the upper rooms with gold.
     ¹⁰For the room that was the most holy, he had two cherubim carved and covered them with gold. ¹¹The wings of the cherubim were 20 cubits [9 meters] long. One wing of one cherub was 5 cubits [2.25 meters] long and touched one wall of the temple, and its other wing was 5 cubits [2.25 meters] long and touched the wing of the other cherub. ¹²One wing of the second cherub, 5 cubits [2.25 meters] long, touched the second wall of the house, and its other wing, 5 cubits [2.25 meters] long, touched the wing of the first cherub. ¹³So the cherubim spread their wings outwards 20 cubits [9 meters], standing on their feet with their faces turned inward.
     ¹⁴He made the curtain of dark blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and adorned it with cherubim.
     ¹⁵In front of the house he made two pillars, 35 cubits [16 meters] high. The capital on top of each of them was 5 cubits [2.25 meters]. ¹⁶He made chains for the choir and also put chains at the top of the pillars. In addition, he made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains. ¹⁷He set the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right and one on the left. He named the one on the right Jachin and the one on the left Boaz. [1 Kings 7:21]

The temple was furnished

Altar

4¹Solomon made an altar of bronze:
    20 cubits [9 meters] long,
    20 cubits [9 meters] wide, and
    10 cubits [4.5 meters] high. [Ezek. 43:13–17] ²He also made the sea in cast work. It was 10 cubits [4.5 meters] from one edge to the other, completely round and 5 cubits [2.25 meters] high. A cord 30 cubits [13.5 meters] long measured its circumference. ³Around the bottom were images of oxen, 10 on each cubit, so that they surrounded the sea all around. The oxen formed two rows and were cast in one piece with the rest.
     ⁴The sea stood on twelve oxen. Three faced north, three west, three south, and three east. The sea stood on top of the oxen, and their hindquarters were all turned inward. ⁵The thickness of the sea was a handbreadth [8-9 cm], and the rim was made like the rim of a cup, resembling a lily in bloom. It held 3,000 bat [66 cubic meters].
     ⁶He also made ten basins and placed five on the right side and five on the left. They were to be used for washing. In them, one would rinse what belonged to the burnt offering. But the sea was for the priests to wash themselves in.
     ⁷He also made the candlesticks of gold, ten of them, as they should be, and placed them in the temple hall, five on the right side and five on the left.
     ⁸He also made ten tables and placed them in the temple hall, five on the right side and five on the left. He also made a hundred bowls of gold.
     ⁹And he built the courtyard of the priests and the large outer courtyard and the doors of this courtyard. He covered the doors with copper. ¹⁰He placed the sea on the right side, toward the southeast. ¹¹In addition, Choram [Choram-Avi] made the ash pans, the shovels, and the bowls.
Thus Hiram [Choram-Avi] completed the work he was to do for King Solomon in the house of God. [Here the spellings Choram and Hiram are used, but both refer to the same person, Choram-Avi, see 2 Chron. 2:13. He should not be confused with the king of Tyre, who also goes by the same two names, Choram/Chiram, see 2 Sam. 5:11; 2 Chron. 2:11.] ¹²He made two pillars
    and two spherical capitals on top of the pillars
    as well as the two networked decorations that would cover the two spherical capitals on top of the pillars. ¹³He also made the 400 pomegranates for the two networks,
    two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two spherical capitals that were on top of the pillars.
¹⁴In addition, he made the basins and the stands on which to place the basins.
¹⁵He also made the sea—there was only one—and the twelve oxen under it. ¹⁶The ash pans, the shovels, the forks, and all the utensils that belonged to them, Choram-Aviv made for King Solomon for the house of the Lord (Yahweh). Everything was of polished copper. ¹⁷On the plains of the Jordan, between Sukkot and Sereda, the king had it cast in clay molds. ¹⁸And Solomon made all these objects in such large numbers that the weight of the copper could not be determined. ¹⁹Solomon made all the objects that were to be in the house of God (Elohim):

the golden altar,
the tables on which the showbread was to be placed,
²⁰as well as the candlesticks of fine gold
    with their lamps to be lit in front of the choir in the prescribed manner,
²¹in addition, the flowerwork, the lamps, and the lamp tongs of gold—all of the finest gold.
²²He also had the knives made,
    the two kinds of bowls and the fire pans of precious gold.
As for the entrances to the house, both the doors of the innermost part leading to the Holy of Holies and the doors leading to the temple hall were made of gold.

5¹When all the work that Solomon had done for the house of the Lord (Yahweh) was finished, Solomon brought in what his father David had dedicated to the Lord (Yahweh): the silver, the gold, and all the vessels. He put these in the treasuries of the house of God.

The temple is dedicated (1 Kings 8:1-21)

²Then Solomon gathered the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the heads of the families of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord (Yahweh) from the city of David, that is, Zion. ³All the men of Israel gathered before the king during the feast [the Feast of Tabernacles, the last of the autumn feasts celebrated on the 15th of Tishri and lasting seven days, see Lev. 23:33–44] in the 7th month [Tishri – Sept/Oct; in 1 Kings 8:2 the word etanim is used, which is the name of the 7th month in the Canaanite calendar]. ⁴When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites lifted up the ark. [This is done in the proper manner, see 1 Chron. 15:2. Solomon had surely been instructed in this by his father David.] ⁵They brought the ark up there, along with the tent of meeting and all the holy objects that were in the tent. The Levitical priests brought it up there. ⁶And King Solomon stood before the ark with the whole assembly of Israel, which had gathered around him. They sacrificed sheep and oxen in such abundance that they could not be counted or estimated.
     ⁷And the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, to the place under the wings of the cherubim. ⁸The cherubim spread their wings over the place where the ark stood, so that the ark and its poles were covered by the cherubim. ⁹The poles were so long that their ends, which protruded from the ark, could be seen in front of the sanctuary, but they were not visible further out. The ark has remained there to this day. ¹⁰In the ark there was nothing but the two tablets [also manna and Aaron's rod, see Ex. 16:33; Num. 17:10; Heb. 9:4] that Moses had placed there at Horeb (Hebr. Chorev) [Mount Sinai] when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt. [The Hebr. word for Horeb shares its root with cherev, which means sword.]
     ¹¹Then the priests came out of the sanctuary. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves, regardless of which division they belonged to. ¹²The Levites, all the singers—Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, with their sons and brothers—stood east of the altar, dressed in white linen, with cymbals, lyres, and harps, and with them 120 priests blowing trumpets. ¹³When the trumpeters and singers raised their voices in unison to praise and give thanks to the Lord, and the trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments sounded, they began to give thanks [with open hands—to praise, honor, and acknowledge] the Lord (Yahweh),

for he is good,
    for his mercy (caring, faithful love – Hebr. chesed) endures forever (eternally)! [This refrain was also part of the song of praise sung when David brought the ark into Jerusalem, see 1 Chron. 16:8–36. The quotation here probably comes from Ps. 106:1, but the phrase is common in the Psalms, see Ps. 107:1; 11:2; 136:2.]

Then the house, the house of the Lord (Yahweh), was filled with a cloud, ¹⁴so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. 6¹Then Solomon said:

The Lord has said
    that he wants to dwell in darkness (a thick dark cloud) [Ex. 20:21].
²I have now built a house for you to dwell in,
    a place where you can dwell forever.

³Then the king turned and blessed the whole assembly of Israel while all the people stood. ⁴He said, "Blessed be the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel, who with his hands has accomplished what he promised with his mouth to my father David, saying: ⁵From the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any of the tribes of Israel to build a house in which my name would be, nor have I chosen any man to be prince over my people Israel. ⁶But I have chosen Jerusalem for my name to be there, and I have chosen David to rule over my people Israel. ⁷My father David had it in his heart to build a house for the name of the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel (Elohim). ⁸But the Lord said to my father David, 'Since you have it in your heart to build a house for my name, you have done well to have this in your heart. ⁹But you shall not build this house, but your son who will come from you, he shall build the house for my name. ¹⁰And the Lord has kept his word that he spoke, for I have succeeded my father David and now sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord spoke (promised), and I have built the house for the name of the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel (Elohim). ¹¹There I have placed the ark, in which is the covenant that the Lord made with the children of Israel."

Solomon's prayer (1 Kings 8:22-53)

¹²Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord (Yahweh) in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. ¹³He had made a pulpit of bronze, five cubits [2.25 meters] long, five cubits [2.25 meters] wide, and three cubits [1.35 meters] high, and placed it in the middle of the outer courtyard, and he now stood on the pulpit. Then he knelt before the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven ¹⁴and said [in prayer]:

"Lord (Yahweh), God (Elohim) of Israel, there is no God (Elohim) like you, neither in heaven nor on earth, who keeps the covenant and preserves mercy (Hebr. chesed) toward your servants when they walk before you with all their heart. ¹⁵You have kept what you promised your servant, my father David. What you promised him with your mouth, you have fulfilled with your hand, as it is now. ¹⁶Now, Lord (Yahweh), God of Israel (Elohim), keep what you promised your servant, my father David, when you said to him, 'You shall never lack a successor on the throne of Israel before me, if your children take heed to their way and walk in my statutes, as you have walked before me. ¹⁷And now, Lord (Yahweh), God of Israel (Elohim), fulfill the word that you have spoken to your servant David. ¹⁸But can God really dwell among men on earth? Behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built! ¹⁹But turn toward the prayer and supplication of your servant, Lord (Yahweh), my God (Elohim), that you may hear the cry and the prayer that your servant sends up to you ²⁰and keep your eyes open day and night toward this house, the place where you have said you would put your name, so that you may hear the prayer your servant offers when he turns toward this place. ²¹Yes, hear the prayers that your servant and your people Israel send up when they turn toward this place. Hear them from the place where you dwell, from heaven. And when you hear, forgive. ²²If anyone sins against his neighbor and an oath is imposed on him and he comes and swears the oath before your altar in this house, ²³hear it from heaven and do your work and vindicate your servants. Punish the guilty and bring his deeds upon his head, but declare the righteous righteous and let him receive according to his righteousness. ²⁴If your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, but they repent and praise your name and pray and plead before you in this house, ²⁵then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors. ²⁶If the heavens are shut up so that there is no rain, because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place and praise your name and turn from their sin, because you have humbled them, ²⁷hear it in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, and teach them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain on your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance. ²⁸If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, if there are locusts or grasshoppers, if enemies invade their land and besiege their cities, whatever plague or disease may come, ²⁹then if any man or all your people Israel pray and cry out to you, each in his affliction and in his pain, and they spread out their hands toward this house, ³⁰then hear from heaven, where you dwell, and forgive, and render to each one according to all his deeds, since you know his heart. For you alone know the hearts of all mankind. ³¹Then they will fear you and walk in your ways as long as they live in the land you gave our ancestors. ³²Even if a stranger, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, if he comes and prays toward this house, ³³then hear from heaven, where you live, and do everything the stranger asks of you. Then all the peoples of the earth will know your name and fear you, as your people Israel do, and understand that this house I have built is named after your name. ³⁴When your people go out to battle against their enemies, wherever you send them, and they pray to you, facing this city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name, ³⁵then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. ³⁶If they sin against you—and there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, who takes them captive and carries them away to a land far away or near, ³⁷but they come to their senses in the land where they are held captive and turn back and cry out to you for mercy in the land of their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have been wicked,' ³⁸if they then turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land where they were taken captive, and they pray toward the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you chose and the house I built for your name, ³⁹then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, their prayer and their plea for mercy, and uphold their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you. ⁴⁰So, my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to what is prayed for in this place. ⁴¹And now, arise, Lord (Yahweh), God (Elohim), and come to your resting place,
    you and the ark of your might!

Let your priests, Lord (Yahweh), God (Elohim), be clothed with salvation,
    and let your faithful rejoice in your goodness. ⁴²Lord (Yahweh), God (Elohim), do not turn away your anointed one [the king—Solomon].
    Remember the mercy you have promised your servant David."

[Solomon's prayer corresponds almost word for word to the account in 1 Kings 8:22–53 until the end of verses 40-42, where the prayer takes a completely different turn. In addition, Solomon's position during the prayer is described more precisely in the introduction (2 Chron. 6:13), a detail that is not reproduced in 1 Kings 8:22.] 7¹When Solomon had finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory (honor, weight – Hebr. kavod) of the Lord (Yahweh) filled the house. ²The priests could not enter the house of the Lord (Yahweh), because the glory of the Lord (Yahweh) filled the house of the Lord (Yahweh). ³When all the children of Israel saw the fire come down and saw the glory of the Lord over the house [the temple], they fell down on the paved courtyard with their faces to the ground and worshiped the Lord and gave thanks [with open hands – praise, honor, and acknowledge] the Lord (Yahweh):

for he is good,
    for his mercy (caring, faithful love) endures forever (eternally).

⁴And the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. ⁵King Solomon sacrificed 22,000 bulls and 120,000 sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ⁶The priests stood in their places, and the Levites stood with the musical instruments of the Lord that King David had made, to give thanks to the Lord (Yahweh), for his mercy endures forever. David had the Levites perform the song of praise. The priests stood opposite them and blew trumpets while all Israel remained standing.
     ⁷And Solomon consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the house of the Lord (Yahweh). There he offered the burnt offerings and the fat portions of the fellowship offering, because the bronze altar that Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering, the food offering, and the fat portions.
     ⁸At that time, Solomon celebrated the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him. It was a very large assembly, from the place where the road goes to Hamath [in present-day southern Syria, not far from Tell Dan, see Judges 18:28] all the way to the brook of Egyptravine [Wadi el-Arish, Israel's border with Sinai in the southwest, see Num. 34:5]. ⁹On the eighth day they celebrated a solemn assembly, for the dedication of the altar was celebrated for seven days and the feast for seven days. ¹⁰But on the 23rd day of the 7th month [Tishri – Sept/Oct], he sent the people home to their tents, and they were filled with joy and gladness over the good that the Lord had done for David and Solomon and for his people Israel.

The Lord accepts the temple (1 Kings 9:1-9)

[Now follows the Lord's answer to Solomon's prayer. The content is the same as in 1 Kings 9:1–9, but here in verses 11-12 it is described in more detail.] ¹¹So Solomon completed the house of the Lord (Yahweh) and the royal palace. Everything Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord (Yahweh) and in his own house was successful. ¹²And the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a place of sacrifice. ¹³If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain,
    or if I command the locust to devour the land [the crops of the land],
    or if I send pestilence (epidemics, plagues, diseases) among my people,
¹⁴but if [then] my people, who are named after my name (over whom my name has been proclaimed)
    humble themselves (bow their knees),
    and pray (implore; intercede) [stand in the gap between God and the people]
    and seek my face (appeal/ask for my presence)
    and turn from their evil ways,
then I will
    hear it [listen to their prayer] from heaven [which was closed, see verse 13],
    and forgive their sin,
    and heal (cure, heal; Hebr. rafa – mend/sew together) their land. [The message is directed to God's own people. Those who belong to him must first bow down before him. The Hebrew form nifal gives the passive meaning that they should allow themselves to be humbled. They also need to pray (the verb is in the form hitpael – dual, i.e., something that requires two to be done). Then comes the exhortation to seek God's face – here the form piel is used, which emphasizes and intensifies the seeking. Finally, they are required to repent and not continue to sin (the verb is in the usual form qal). If they do these four things, God promises to listen and act out of his grace to bring reconciliation and healing to their land.] ¹⁵My eyes will now be open and my ears attentive to what is prayed for in this place. ¹⁶I have now chosen and consecrated this house so that my name may be there forever. And my eyes and my heart will always be there. ¹⁷If you walk before me as your father David walked, doing all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and ordinances, ¹⁸then I will establish your royal throne forever, as I promised your father David, saying, 'You shall never lack a man to rule over Israel. ¹⁹But if you turn away and forsake the statutes and commandments that I have given you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, ²⁰then I will uproot them from my land, which I have given them, and this house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight. I will make it a proverb and a song of derision among all peoples. ²¹However magnificent this house may be, everyone who passes by will be astonished and ask, 'Why has the Lord done this to this land and to this house? ²²Then they will answer, 'Because they abandoned the Lord (Yahweh), the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and held fast to other gods and worshipped and served them; therefore he has brought all this evil upon them.

Hiram and Tyre

8¹When Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord (Yahweh) and his own house in 20 years, ²he built the cities that Hiram had given him, and he settled the children of Israel there. ³And Solomon went to Hamath-Zobah and subdued it. ⁴He also built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the store cities he built in Hamath. ⁵He built Upper Beth-Horon and Lower Beth-Horon and made them fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars, ⁶as well as Baalath and all the cities where he kept his supplies, his chariots, and his horses, and everything else he wanted to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and throughout the land under his rule.
     ⁷All the people who remained of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites, ⁸the descendants of all those whom the Israelites had not destroyed but who remained in the land, Solomon made them subject to forced labor, as they are to this day. ⁹But Solomon did not make any of the children of Israel slaves for his work, but they became warriors and commanders of his army, or commanders of his chariots and horses. ¹⁰King Solomon had 250 chief officers who commanded the people.
     ¹¹And Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter from the city of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, "My wife shall not dwell in the house of David, king of Israel, for it is a holy place, since the ark of the Lord has come there."
     ¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord, which he had built in front of the porch. ¹³Every day he offered the prescribed sacrifices for that day, according to the commandment of Moses, on the Sabbaths, at the new moons, and at the appointed feasts three times a year: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁴According to the ordinance of his father David, he appointed the divisions of the priests to their duties. He also appointed the Levites to sing praises and to serve the priests, each day according to their duties. He also assigned the gatekeepers to their divisions to guard the special gates, as the man of God, David, had commanded. ¹⁵No one deviated from the king's decision concerning the priests and Levites, either in matters of taxation or in any other matter.
     ¹⁶So all Solomon's work was done, first until the day the foundation of the house of the Lord (Yahweh) was laid, and then until it was completed. Thus the house of the Lord (Yahweh) was completed.
     ¹⁷At that time Solomon went to Ezion-geber [a port city near Eilat/Aqaba, possibly Coral Island 13 km south of Eilat] and to Eilat on the seashore in the land of Edom. ¹⁸And Hiram [the king of Tyre] sent him by his servants ships and men skilled in sailing. They went with Solomon's servants to Ophir and brought back 450 talents [15 tons] of gold, which they brought to King Solomon.

Visit of a queen (1 Kings 10:1-13)

9¹When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test him with difficult questions. She came with a very large retinue and with camels carrying fragrant spices, a large quantity of gold, and precious stones. When she came before Solomon, she spoke with him about everything that was on her mind. ²Solomon answered all her questions (literally: "Solomon told her all her words"). No words [answers to her complex questions and proverbs] were hidden from the king that he could not tell her. ³When the queen of Sheba saw Solomon's wisdom and saw the house he had built, ⁴the dishes on his table, and how his servants sat there, and how those who served him performed their duties and how they were dressed, and his courtiers and how they were dressed, and when she saw the stairway by which he went up to the house of the Lord (Yahweh), she was beside herself with amazement.
     ⁵And she said to the king, "So it was true, what I heard in my country about your words and your wisdom! ⁶I did not believe what people said until I came and saw it with my own eyes. But behold, the extent of your wisdom has not even been half told to me. You surpass the reputation I had heard. ⁷Happy are your men and happy are these your servants who stand before you and hear your wisdom. ⁸Blessed be the Lord (Yahweh), your God (Elohim), who has found such favor in you that he has set you on his throne to be king before the Lord (Yahweh), your God (Elohim)! Because your God (Elohim) loves Israel and wants to keep it in power forever, he has made you king over them, so that you may administer justice and righteousness."
     ⁹She gave the king 120 talents [4 tons] of gold, a large quantity of fragrant spices, and precious stones. Fragrant spices of the kind that the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon have never been found again.
     ¹⁰When Hiram's people and Solomon's people brought gold from Ophir, they also brought back some almug wood and precious stones. ¹¹The 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.
     ¹²King Solomon gave the Queen of Sheba everything she desired and requested, except for gifts in return for what she had brought to the king. Then she turned and returned home with her servants to her country.

Solomon's wisdom and wealth

¹³The gold that came to Solomon each year weighed 666 talents [23 tons], ¹⁴in addition to what traveling merchants and other traders brought in. All the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land also brought gold and silver to Solomon.
     ¹⁵King Solomon had 200 large shields made of hammered gold and used 600 shekels [6.9 kg] of hammered gold for each shield ¹⁶and 300 smaller shields of hammered gold, using 300 shekels [3.4 kg] of gold for each shield. The king placed them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
     ¹⁷In addition, the king made a large throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸The throne had six steps and a footstool of gold attached to it. On both sides of the seat were armrests, and two lions stood beside the armrests, ¹⁹and twelve lions stood there, one on each side of the six steps. Nothing like this had ever been made in any other kingdom. ²⁰All King Solomon's drinking vessels were made of gold, and all the vessels in the Lebanon Forest House were made of pure gold. Silver was considered worthless in Solomon's time. ²¹The king had ships that went to Tarshish with the people of Choram [from Tyre], and once every three years the ships of Tarshish came home, bringing gold and silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks. ²²King Solomon became greater than any other king on earth, both in wealth and in wisdom. ²³All the kings of the earth came to visit Solomon and hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart. ²⁴Each of them brought gifts: articles of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, fragrant spices, horses, and mules. This happened year after year.
     ²⁵Solomon had 4,000 stalls for horses and chariots and 12,000 riding horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and in Jerusalem with the king himself. ²⁶He ruled over all the kings from the river to the land of the Philistines and down to the border of Egypt. ²⁷The king ruled so that silver became as common in Jerusalem as stones and cedar wood as common as mulberry wood in the Lowlands [Hebr. – the lowlands between the Mediterranean coast and the mountains of Judah]. ²⁸And horses were brought to Solomon from Egypt and from all other countries.

Buried in the City of David

²⁹The rest of Solomon's deeds, from his early days to his final days, are recorded in the chronicles of the prophet Nathan, in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of the seer (prophet – Hebr. chozeh) Iddo concerning Jeroboam, son of Nebat. ³⁰Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for 40 years. ³¹And Solomon rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David his father. His son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.

Kings of Judah – Rehoboam to Jehoshaphat (chapters 10-20)

First ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Rehoboam (chapters 10-12)

Introduction

10¹[The rest of the book lists 20 rulers of the Southern Kingdom, 19 kings and one queen. Solomon's son Rehoboam reigned for 17 years (976-959 BC).] Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ²When Jeroboam, son of Nebat, king of the Northern Kingdom, heard this while he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon, he returned from Egypt. ³And they sent messengers to call him back. Then Jeroboam came with all Israel and spoke to Rehoboam, saying ⁴"Your father [Solomon] made our yoke heavy. But now lighten the hard work and the heavy yoke that your father put on us, and we will serve you."
     ⁵He [Solomon's son Rehoboam] answered them, "Wait three days, and then come back to me." So the people went away.
     ⁶Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime, and he said, "What advice do you give me to give this people?"
     ⁷They said to him, "If you show kindness to these people, be gracious to them (show them conditional mercy – Hebr. ratsah) and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever."
     ⁸But he did not heed the advice that the elders had given him, but consulted with the young men (the younger generation; literally, "the children" – Hebr. jeladim) who had grown up with him [Rehoboam] and were now in his service. ⁹He said to them, "What prov (answer) do you advise us to give to this people who have spoken to me, saying, 'Lighten the yoke that your father has put on us'?"
     ¹⁰The young men (children) who had grown up with him spoke and said, "This is what you should say to this people who have spoken to you: 'Your honored father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us' – this is what you should say to them: My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. ¹¹If my father laid a heavy yoke on you, I will make your yoke even heavier. If my father disciplined you with rods, I will discipline you with scorpion whips."
     ¹²On the third day, Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam, as the king had said, "Come back to me in three days." ¹³Then the king gave them a harsh answer, for King Rehoboam did not heed the advice of the elders. ¹⁴He spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men (children) and said, "If my father made your yoke heavy, I will make it even heavier. If my father disciplined you with rods, I will discipline you with scorpion whips." ¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people. God did this so that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he had spoken to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, through Ahijah of Shiloh.
     ¹⁶When all Israel realized that the king would not listen to them, the people gave him this answer:

"What share do we have in David?
    We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.
Go home to your tents, Israel!
    Now look after your own house, David."

Then all Israel went home. ¹⁷And Rehoboam remained king only over the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah. ¹⁸When King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of forced labor, the children of Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam himself had to hurry up into his chariot and flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹So Israel rebelled against the house of David and has been separated from it to this day.

Invasion

11¹When 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. ²But the word of the Lord (Yahweh) came to the man of God, Shemaiah [meaning: "Yahweh has heard"]. He said: ³"Tell Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin: ⁴This is what the Lord says: You are not to go up to fight against your brothers. Go home, each to his own place, for this is my doing." So they obeyed the word of the Lord and turned back and did not go up against Jeroboam.

Fortified cities in Judah

⁵Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and he rebuilt cities in Judah as fortified places. ⁶He rebuilt Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷Beit-Sur, Soko, Adullam, ⁸Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰Tzorah, Ajalon, and Hebron (Hebr. Chevrón), fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. ¹¹He strengthened their fortifications, appointed commanders in them, and stored up provisions of food, oil, and wine. ¹²He supplied each of these cities with shields and spears. He fortified them very strongly. And Judah and Benjamin remained under his rule.

Support for the priests and Levites

[Verses 4-12 are the central section dealing with the temple. This section contains unique material.] ¹³The priests and Levites throughout Israel came over to Rehoboam from all their territories. ¹⁴The 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 ¹⁵and hired other priests for the high places and for the hairy goats (evil spirits, satyrs, forest demons – Hebr. sair) and for the calves he had made. ¹⁶And those from all the tribes of Israel who turned their hearts to seek the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel, followed the Levites, and they came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord (Yahweh), the God of their fathers. ¹⁷For 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. ¹⁸Rehoboam took Mahalath as his wife. She was the daughter of Jerimoth, the son of David, and of Abihail, the daughter of Eliab, the son of Jesse. ¹⁹She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰After her, he took Maacah, the daughter of Absalom, as his wife. She bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹And Rehoboam loved Maacah, the daughter of Absalom, more than all his other wives and concubines. He had taken 18 wives and 60 concubines, and he became the father of 28 sons and 60 daughters. ²²Rehoboam appointed Abijah, Maacah's son, as leader among his brothers, because he intended to make him king. ²³He 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.

Egypt invades Judah

12¹When Rehoboam's kingdom was established and he became powerful, he abandoned the teaching of the Lord. So did all Israel [the northern kingdom]. ²But in the fifth year of King Rehoboam's reign, Shishak, king of Egypt, went up against Jerusalem, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord (Yahweh). ³He came with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen, and no one could count the people who followed him from Egypt: Libyans, Sukkians, and Cushites. ⁴He captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.
     ⁵The 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."
     ⁶Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The Lord is righteous."
     ⁷When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah. He said, "Because they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them. I will let them escape by a narrow escape, and my wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through the hand of Shishak. ⁸But they shall be his servants, and they shall learn what it is to serve me and to serve foreign kingdoms."
     ⁹So Shishak, king of Egypt, went up to Jerusalem. He took the treasures from the house of the Lord (Yahweh) and the treasures from the royal palace. He took everything. He also took the gold shields that Solomon had made. ¹⁰In their place, King Rehoboam had shields made of copper, and he gave them to the commanders of the guard who guarded the entrance to the royal palace. ¹¹Whenever the king went to the house of the Lord (Yahweh), the guards went with him and carried them. Then they brought them back to the guardroom.
     ¹²Because 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.
    

Summary

¹³So King Rehoboam strengthened his power in Jerusalem and continued to reign. He was 41 years old when he became king, and he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother's name was Naamah, an Ammonite. ¹⁴He did evil, for he did not turn his heart to seek the Lord (Yahweh).
     ¹⁵The rest of the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are recorded in the chronicles of the prophet Shemaiah and the seer Iddo, according to the genealogical records. Rehoboam and Jeroboam were at war with each other throughout their lives. ¹⁶And Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. His son Abijah became king after him.

the second ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Abijam

Introduction

[Abijah reigned for three years (959-956 BC).] 13¹In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam, king of the [Northern Kingdom], Abijah became king of Judah [the Southern Kingdom], ²and he reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah [Maacha, see 1 Kings 15:2], the daughter of Uriel, of Gibeah.

War with Jeroboam – Israel

Abijam [2nd ruler of the Southern Kingdom] and Jeroboam [1st king of the Northern Kingdom] were at war with each other. ³Abijah began the war with an army of brave warriors, 400,000 chosen men. But Jeroboam lined up against him with 800,000 chosen brave warriors.

Abijam's speech – focus on priests and Levites

⁴Abijah went up to Mount Zemarim in the hill country of Ephraim and said, "Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel! ⁵Do you not know that it is the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel, who has given the kingdom of Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, through a covenant of salt? [Salt was used in all sacrifices, see Lev. 2:13. The function of salt to preserve and conserve alludes to the fact that the "covenant of salt" that is entered into is to be long-lasting and kept, see Num. 18:19. Entering into a covenant of salt is considered a full equivalent to a covenant of blood, see Ex. 24:8.] ⁶But Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the servant of David's son Solomon, rose up and rebelled against his master. ⁷A crowd of loose people joined him, evil men who became too strong for Rehoboam, Solomon's son. Rehoboam was young and anxious and therefore could not resist them.
     ⁸And now you think you can resist the kingdom of the Lord, which belongs to the sons of David, because you are a large crowd and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made as gods for you. ⁹Have you not driven away the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made yourselves priests, as other nations do? Whoever comes with a young bull and seven rams to be ordained as a priest may become a priest to the gods that are not gods.
     ¹⁰But we have the Lord (Yahweh) as our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests who minister before the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites perform the temple service. ¹¹They offer burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the Lord every morning and every evening. And they arrange the bread on the table of pure gold and the golden candlestick, so that the lamps on it burn every evening, for we keep what the Lord (Yahweh), our God (Elohim), has commanded us to keep. But you have forsaken him. ¹²And behold, God is with us at our head, and we have his priests with the trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the Lord (Yahweh), the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed."

War with Jeroboam

¹³But 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. ¹⁴When 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. ¹⁵Then 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. ¹⁶The children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands. ¹⁷Then Abijah and his people inflicted heavy casualties on them, so that 500,000 of Israel's young men were killed. ¹⁸Thus 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. ¹⁹Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took these cities from him: Bethel and its towns, Jeshanah and its towns, and Ephron and its towns.

Summary

²⁰Then Jeroboam could do nothing more as long as Abijah lived. And the Lord (Yahweh) struck him down, and he died. ²¹But Abijah strengthened his power. He took fourteen wives and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²²What else is there to say about Abijah, his deeds and other matters concerning him, is written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo.

The third ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Asa

Introduction

[Asa reigned for 41 years (911-817 BC). If Rehoboam (1 Kings 12:8) was no more than 21 years old when he ascended the throne, Asa must have been only a boy, no more than 10 or 11 years old, when he ascended the throne.] 14¹Abijah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. His son Asa succeeded him as king. During his reign, the land had peace for ten years [until about 900 BC]. ²Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord (Yahweh), his God (Elohim). ³He removed the foreign altars [for Solomon's pagan wives, see 1 Kings 11:7] and the high places, broke down the pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. ⁴He 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). ⁵He removed the high places and the sun pillars from all the cities of Judah. And the kingdom was at peace during his reign. ⁶He 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. ⁷He 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.
     ⁸Asa 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.

Invasion – Ethiopia from the south

⁹But Zerach the Cushite marched out against them with an army of 1,000,000 (literally: 'a thousand thousand'; an innumerable number – myriads) men [an innumerable multitude] and 300 chariots, and he came as far as Mareshah. ¹⁰Asa went out against him, and they drew up for battle in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah [2 Chron. 11:8].
     ¹¹Then Asa cried out to the Lord (Yahweh), his God (Elohim): "Lord (Yahweh), there is no one besides you who can help in the battle between the strong and the weak. So help us, Lord (Yahweh), our God (Elohim), for we rely on you, and we have come here in your name against this multitude. Lord (Yahweh), you are our God (Elohim). Let no man stand against you."
     ¹²And the Lord (Yahweh) caused the Cushites [Ethiopians] to be defeated by Asa and Judah, so that they fled. ¹³Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar [in the western Negev desert], and so many of the Cushites fell that none of them recovered (escaped with their lives), for they were struck down by the Lord (Yahweh) and his army. And the people took great spoil. ¹⁴Then they captured all the cities around [the city of] Gerar [between Beer-Sheva and Gaza, then a fertile area, see Gen. 26:12–14], because the fear of the Lord had come upon them. And they plundered all the cities, because there was much to plunder in them. ¹⁵They even broke down the sheepfolds and carried off camels and sheep in great numbers. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Prophetic message

15¹The Spirit of God (Elohim) came upon Azariah, the son of Oded. ²He 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. ³For a long time, Israel lived without the true God, without priests to teach them (Hebr. jarah) and without any teaching (instruction, Torah). ⁴But in their distress they turned to the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel, and when they sought him, he let himself be found by them. ⁵In those days, there was no security when going out or coming in, but great confusion prevailed among all who lived here in these lands. ⁶People clashed with people and city with city, for God confused them with all kinds of distress. ⁷But now be strong and do not lose heart, for your work will be rewarded."

Central – Religious reforms

⁸When 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 verse 1. 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 Jer. 30:9 and Moses is used for "the sons of Moses," see Ps. 90:1. The Greek translation Septuagint replaces Oded with Azariah, the Latin translation Vulgate and the Syrian translation add and translate "Azariah, son of Oded".] ⁹And 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.
     ¹⁰They gathered in Jerusalem in the third month of Asa's 15th year of reign [ca. 896 BC in the spring, perhaps during the Passover festival in Jerusalem]. ¹¹From the spoils they had brought with them, they sacrificed 700 bulls and 7,000 sheep and goats to the Lord on that day. ¹²And they made a covenant to seek the Lord (Yahweh), the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul. ¹³Anyone who did not seek the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel, would be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. ¹⁴And they swore the oath before the Lord with a loud voice, with rejoicing, and with the sound of trumpets and shofars. ¹⁵All 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.
     ¹⁶King Asa also removed his grandmother (mother/grandmother – Hebr. im) Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had set up an idol for Asherah. Asa cut down her idol, smashed it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley. ¹⁷However, the high places were not removed from Israel, but Asa's heart was devoted to God as long as he lived. ¹⁸He brought into the house of God both what his father and he himself had consecrated to the Lord: silver, gold, and vessels.
     ¹⁹And there was no war until the 35th year of Asa's reign.

Invasion – Israel from the north

16¹In 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.
     ²Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord (Yahweh) and the royal palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying ³"Let us make a treaty, you and I, as there was between my father and your father. Here I am sending you silver and gold. Therefore, break your treaty with Baasha, king of Israel, so that he will leave me alone."
     ⁴Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa and sent his commanders against the cities of Israel and captured Ijon, Dan, and Abel-Majim, as well as all the storehouses in the cities of Naphtali. ⁵When Baasha heard this, he stopped fortifying Ramah and abandoned his work there. ⁶But 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.

Prophetic message

⁷At 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. ⁸Were not the Cushites [Ethiopians] and Libyans a great army with chariots and horsemen in abundance? But he delivered them into your hand because you relied on the Lord (Yahweh), ⁹for the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing. From now on, you will have constant wars." ¹⁰But Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison, so furious was he with him for this. At the same time, Asa also acted violently against other members of the people.

Summary

¹¹The rest of the acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ¹²In the 39th year of his reign, Asa developed a very serious disease in his feet. But despite his illness, he did not seek the Lord (Yahweh), but only doctors. ¹³And Asa rested in Hos and died in his 41st year of reign. ¹⁴He was buried in the tomb he had cut out for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bed filled with various kinds of fragrant spices, artfully prepared, and lit a great fire (a large pyre) in his honor. [Royal tombs were carved out of the cliff sides. Asa's funeral was lavish. Incense was burned with fragrant spices, see Jer. 34:5. The fire referred to was not cremation, but a large pyre in memory of the king (cf. Joram, who was not honored with fire, see 2 Chron. 21:19). Similar customs of lighting a large pyre exist in Assyria.]

The 4th ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Jehoshaphat (chapters 17-21) (1 Kings 22, 2 Kings 3)

[Jehoshaphat ruled Judah (the Southern Kingdom) for 25 years (915-893 BC).] 17¹His [Asa's] son Jehoshaphat [meaning: "Yahweh judges"] became king after him [Asa]. He strengthened his power against Israel [the Northern Kingdom].

Character and organization

²He 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.
     ³The Lord (Yahweh) was with Jehoshaphat, for he walked in the ways of his father David in the beginning. He did not seek the Baals, ⁴but sought the God of his father. He obeyed God's commands and did not do as Israel did. ⁵The Lord (Yahweh) strengthened the kingdom in his hand. All Judah gave gifts to Jehoshaphat, and he had great wealth and honor. ⁶He was proud to walk in the ways of the Lord (Yahweh) and removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.
     ⁷In his third year of reign, Jehoshaphat sent his princes Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah. ⁸With them he sent the Levites Shemaiah, Netaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jonathan, Adonijah (Hebr. adónijah), Tobijah, and Tob-Adonijah, and they took with them the priests Elishama and Jehoram. ⁹They 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.
     ¹⁰The 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. ¹¹Some of the Philistines brought gifts to Jehoshaphat and gave him silver as tribute. And the Arabs brought him flocks, 7,700 rams and 7,700 goats.
     ¹²Jehoshaphat grew stronger and stronger and built fortified cities and store cities in Judah. ¹³He had large stores in the cities of Judah and warriors, brave fighters, in Jerusalem. ¹⁴And 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,
¹⁵then Commander Johanan, with 280,000 men,
¹⁶and after him Amasiah, the son of Zichri, who had volunteered to serve the Lord, and with him 200,000 brave warriors.
¹⁷From Benjamin came Eliahda, a brave warrior, and with him 200,000 men armed with bows and shields.
¹⁸Next came Jozabad, and with him 180,000 men ready for battle.

¹⁹These 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.

Alliance with the Northern Kingdom

18¹Jehoshaphat had gained great wealth and honor, and through marriage he became related to Ahab (Hebr.: Achav). ²After a few years, he went down to Ahab in Samaria. Ahab slaughtered a large number of sheep and oxen for him and the people who were with him, and he tried to persuade him to go up to Ramoth in Gilead. ³Ahab, 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."
     ⁴But Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "First consult the Lord about this." ⁵So the king of Israel gathered the prophets, 400 men, and asked them, "Should we go up to Ramoth Gilead to attack it, or should I refrain?" They replied, "Go up, for God will give it into the king's hand." ⁶But Jehoshaphat said, "Is there no longer a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of him?"
     ⁷The king of Israel replied to Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man here, Micah son of Imlah. We can inquire of the Lord through him. But I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, only bad." Jehoshaphat said, "The king should not say that." ⁸Then the king of Israel summoned a court official and said, "Bring Micah son of Imlah, here immediately." ⁹The 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. ¹⁰Zedekiah, son of Kenaanah, made iron horns and said, "This is what the Lord says: With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed."
     ¹¹And all the prophets prophesied in the same way, saying, "Go up to Ramoth Gilead, and you will be successful. The Lord will give it into the king's hand."
     ¹²The messenger who had gone to call Micah (Hebr. Michajho) spoke to him and said, "See the words of the prophets, with one mouth [promising] good (happiness) to the king. I beg you, let your word be as one with theirs and speak good."
     ¹³But Micah replied, "As the Lord lives, I will tell him whatever my God says."
     ¹⁴When he came to the king, the king asked him, "Micah, should we go up against Ramoth Gilead to besiege it, or should I refrain?" He replied, "Go up, and you will be successful. They will be given into your hand."
     ¹⁵But the king said to him, "How many times must I adjure you to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord (Yahweh)?"
     ¹⁶Then he said, "I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, 'These have no master. Let them return home in peace, each to his own house (family).'"
     ¹⁷Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not tell you that he never prophesies good for me, but only evil?"
     ¹⁸But Micah said, "Hear the word of the Lord (Yahweh): I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. ¹⁹And the Lord (Yahweh) said, 'Who will entice Ahab, king of Israel, to go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? One said this, and another said that. ²⁰Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord (Yahweh) and said, 'I will entice him to do so. The Lord (Yahweh) asked him, 'How?
     ²¹He replied, "I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets." Then the Lord (Yahweh) said, "Go and do so, and you will succeed. Go out and do so!"
     ²²And now the Lord (Yahweh) has put a spirit of lies in the mouths of these your prophets, and the Lord (Yahweh) has pronounced disaster upon you."
     ²³Then Zedekiah (Hebr.: Tsidqijaho), the son of Kenaanah, came forward and struck Micah on the cheek and said, "In what way has the Spirit of the Lord departed from me to speak to you?"
     ²⁴Mic. replied, "You will see it on the day when you must flee from room to room to hide."
     ²⁵But the king of Israel said, "Take Micah and return him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king's son, ²⁶and say, 'This is what the king says: Put him in prison and feed him only bread and water until I return safely.
     ²⁷Mic. answered, "If you return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me." And he added, "Hear this, all you peoples!" ²⁸So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went up to Ramoth Gilead. ²⁹And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will go into battle in disguise, but you wear your own clothes." So the king of Israel disguised himself when they went into battle.
     ³⁰But the king of Aram had given orders to the commanders of the chariots, saying, "You shall not fight against anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel." ³¹When the commanders of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, "There is the king of Israel!" And they surrounded him to attack him. Then Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him. God drove them away from him. ³²As soon as the commanders of the chariots realized that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back and left him alone.
     ³³But a man who was shooting at random with his bow hit the king of Israel in the joint of his armor. Then the king said to the driver of his chariot, "Turn the chariot around and take me out of the battle, for I am wounded." ³⁴The battle grew fiercer that day, and the king of Israel remained standing in his chariot facing the Arameans until evening. But at sunset he died.

Jehu rebukes

19¹Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, returned safely to Jerusalem. ²Then the seer Jehu, the son of Hanani, went out to meet King Jehoshaphat and said to him, "Should you help the wicked? Should you love those who hate the Lord? Therefore, the wrath of the Lord is upon you. ³But some good has been found in Hos, for you have removed the Asherah poles from the land and have set your heart to seek God."

Jehoshaphat's reforms

⁴Jehoshaphat now lived in Jerusalem, but he went out again among the people, from Beer-Sheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and brought them back to the Lord (Yahweh), the God of their fathers. ⁵And he appointed judges in the land, in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city. ⁶He said to the judges, "Take heed what you do, for you judge not for man but for the Lord (Yahweh). He is with you whenever you judge. ⁷Now let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Be careful in what you do, for with the Lord (Yahweh), our God (Elohim), there is no injustice. He is not partial and takes no bribes."
     ⁸In Jerusalem, too, Jehoshaphat appointed some of the Levites and priests and some of the heads of the families of Israel to judge according to the law of the Lord and to settle disputes. When they returned to Jerusalem, ⁹he commanded them, "You shall do this in reverence for the Lord (Yahweh), sincerely and with a devoted heart. ¹⁰Whenever a case is brought before you by your brothers who live in their towns, whether it is a case of murder or the application of teaching (Hebr. Torah) and commandments (clear commands – Hebr. mitzvot), ordinances (literally "things engraved" – Hebr. chuqim) and decrees (binding legal decisions – Hebr. mishpatim), you shall warn them so that they do not incur guilt before the Lord and his wrath falls upon you and your brothers. And behold, the high priest Amariah 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. ¹¹And 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."

Jehoshaphat defeats Moab and Ammon

20¹Then the Moabites and Ammonites came, and with them other Ammonites, to fight against Jehoshaphat. ²Someone came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, "A great multitude is coming against you from the land beyond the sea, from Aram. They are in Hazazon-Tamar, that is, Ein-Gedi."
     ³Then Jehoshaphat was seized with fear and decided to consult the Lord (Yahweh), and he proclaimed a fast throughout Judah.
     ⁴And Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord (Yahweh), and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord (Yahweh). ⁵Jehoshaphat 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. ⁶He said, "Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven, and do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In your hand are power and might, and no one can withstand you. ⁷Were you not, our God, the one who drove out the inhabitants of this land for your people Israel and gave the land to the descendants of your friend Abraham forever? ⁸They lived there and built a sanctuary there for your name, saying, ⁹If evil comes upon us, the sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you, for your name is in this house, and we will cry out to you from the depths of our distress, and you will hear and help.
     ¹⁰Now look at the people of Ammon, Moab, and the hill country of Seir! It was their territory that you did not allow Israel to pass through when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they took a detour away from them and did not destroy them. ¹¹Now they are repaying us! They are coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us as an inheritance. ¹²Will you not, our God, judge them? We are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us, and we do not know what to do. But our eyes are turned to you."
     ¹³All Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their sons.
     ¹⁴Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel, son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. ¹⁵He 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. ¹⁶Go down against them tomorrow. They will come up the slope of Hazzim, and you will meet them at the end of the valley, opposite the wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷But 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."
     ¹⁸Then 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). ¹⁹And the Levites who belonged to the Kohathites and the Korahites stood up and praised the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel, with a loud and powerful voice.
     ²⁰Early 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." ²¹After consulting with the people, he appointed singers to praise the Lord (Yahweh) in sacred attire as they went out before the armed army. They were to sing:

"Give thanks [with open hands—praise, honor, and acknowledge] to the Lord (Yahweh),
    for his mercy (caring, faithful love) endures forever (eternally)."

²²And 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. ²³The people of Ammon and Moab rose up against the people of the hill country of Seir to destroy and annihilate them, and when they had finished with the people of Seir, they helped to destroy each other.
     ²⁴When 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. ²⁵And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to plunder and take spoil from them, they found among them both goods and clothing and valuables in great abundance. They took so much that they could not carry it, and they continued plundering for three days, for the spoil was great. ²⁶But on the fourth day they gathered in the Valley of Berakah. There they blessed the Lord (Yahweh), and therefore the place was named the Valley of Berakah, as it is called to this day.
     ²⁷Then 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. ²⁸They entered Jerusalem with lyres, harps, and trumpets and marched to the house of the Lord (Yahweh). ²⁹And the fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. ³⁰Jehoshaphat's kingdom was now at peace, for his God gave him rest on every side.

The last days of Jehoshaphat

³¹So 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. ³²He walked in the ways of his father Asa and did not turn aside from them, for he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. ³³But the high places were not removed, and the people had not yet turned their hearts to the God of their fathers.
     ³⁴The rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, from first to last, are written in the chronicles of Jehu the son of Hanani, which are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel.
     ³⁵After that, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, made a covenant with Ahaziah, king of Israel, even though Ahaziah was wicked. ³⁶Jehoshaphat agreed with him to build ships to go to Tarshish. They built the ships at Ezion-geber [a port city near Eilat/Aqaba, possibly Coral Island 13 km south of Eilat].
     ³⁷Then Eliezer, the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, "Because you have made a covenant with Ahaziah, the Lord (Yahweh) will bring your enterprise to nothing." And the ships were wrecked so that they could not go to Tarshish. 21¹Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David [Jerusalem]. His son Jehoram succeeded him as king.

The 5th ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Joram/Jehoram

The expansion of his rule

[Jehoram/Joram reigned over Judah (the Southern Kingdom) for eight years (893-886 BC).] ²Joram had brothers, sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel. ³Their 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. ⁴When Joram had taken over his father's kingdom and strengthened his position, he killed all his brothers with the sword, as well as some of the princes of Israel.

Character

⁵Joram was 32 years old when he became king, and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for his wife was a daughter of Ahab. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ⁷But the Lord did not want to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant he had made with David. He had promised that he and his sons would have a lamp forever. ⁸During his reign, Edom rebelled against Judah's rule and set up its own king. ⁹Then Joram went there with his commanders and all his chariots. He broke camp at night and defeated the Edomites who had surrounded him and the commanders of their chariots. ¹⁰So 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. ¹¹He also built high places on the mountains of Judah and led the inhabitants of Jerusalem into unfaithfulness and seduced Judah.

Elijah's letter

[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).] ¹²And 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, ¹³but 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.

¹⁴Behold, the Lord will punish your people, your children, your wives, and all that you have with a great disaster. [This takes the form of a military setback against the Philistines and Arabs, see verses 16-17.] ¹⁵And you yourself will suffer from a disease of the bowels, until your bowels fall out as a result of the disease.

The end

¹⁶And the Lord stirred up against Joram the Philistines and the Arabs who lived near the Cushites [Ethiopians]. ¹⁷They 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. ¹⁸Then the Lord struck him with an incurable disease in his bowels. ¹⁹And after a time, when two years had passed, his bowels fell out because of the disease, and he died in great pain.

His people did not light a fire (bonfire) in his honor, as they had done for his fathers [such as Asa, see 2 Chron. 16:14]. ²⁰He was 32 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 8 years in Jerusalem. He passed away without anyone missing him, and he was buried in the city of David, but not in the royal tombs.

The sixth and seventh rulers of the Southern Kingdom – Ahaziah and Queen Athaliah

Introduction

[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).] 22¹The 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. ²Ahaziah was 22 [42] years old when he becameking, and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. His mother [the queen mother] was named Athaliah (Hebr. Ataljaho), the daughter of Omri [the 6th king of the Northern Kingdom].
[The Hebrew text says 42 years, but the Greek translation and several others say 22 years, as in the parallel passage in 2 Kings 8:26.]

Character

³He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, because his mother led him astray to live wickedly. ⁴He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for after his father's death he took his counselors from there, to his own destruction. ⁵It was also their advice that he followed when he went out with Joram, king of Israel, the son of Ahab, and fought against Hazael, king of Aram, at Ramoth Gilead.

Athaliah kills all the royal family—except Joash

But Joram was wounded by the Arameans. ⁶So 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.
     ⁷But it was to Ahaziah's destruction that God had determined he should come to Joram. When he arrived there, he went with Joram to meet Jehu, the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab. ⁸And 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. ⁹Then he searched for Ahaziah, and they seized him where he was hiding in Samaria. They brought him to Jehu and killed him. But they buried him, for they said, "He was the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart." There was no one left in the house of Ahaziah to take over the kingdom.
     ¹⁰When 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 2 Kings 11:1, 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.] ¹¹But just as the royal children were about to be killed, the king's daughter Joshabath secretly took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, away from the royal sons and brought him and his nurse into the bedroom. There, Joshabath, the daughter of King Joram and wife of the priest Jehoiada—who was also Ahaziah's sister—hid him from Athaliah so that she would not kill him. ¹²Then he stayed with them in the house of God, where he was hidden for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.

Turning point – the priest Jehoiada hides Joash

23¹In the seventh year, Jehoiada took courage and made a covenant with the commanders Azariah, the son of Jeroham, Ishmael, the son of Johanan, Azariah, the son of Obed, Maaseiah, the son of Adai, and Elishaphat, the son of Zikri. ²They 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, ³the whole assembly in the house of God made a covenant with the king.
    And Jehoiada said to them, "The king's son [Joash] shall now be king, as the Lord has spoken concerning the sons of David. ⁴This is what you shall do: One third of you, namely the priests and Levites who begin their watch on the Sabbath, shall stand guard at the thresholds. ⁵A third shall be at the king's palace, and a third at the Jesod Gate. And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord (Yahweh). ⁶But no one except the priests and the Levites on duty shall enter the house of the Lord (Yahweh). They may enter, for they are holy. But all the rest of the people shall keep what the Lord has commanded them to keep. ⁷The Levites shall stand around the king, each with his weapon in his hand. If anyone tries to force his way into the house, he shall be put to death. You shall follow the king, both when he goes in and when he goes out."
     ⁸The 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. ⁹And the priest Jehoiada gave the commanders the spears and various kinds of shields that had belonged to King David and were in the house of God. ¹⁰He stationed the people, each with his weapon (Hebr. shelach) in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, facing the altar and the house, around the king.
     ¹¹Then they brought out the king's son, put the crown on him, gave him the testimony, and made him king. Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and shouted, "Long live the king!"

Athaliah is killed

¹²When Athaliah heard the people shouting as they rushed forward and acclaimed the king, she went into the house of the Lord (Yahweh) to the people. ¹³She looked around, and behold, the king was standing by his pillar near the entrance, and the commanders and the trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and the singers with their instruments were leading the song of praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, "Conspiracy! Conspiracy!"
     ¹⁴But the priest Jehoiada commanded the captains who were in charge of the guard to come forward and said to them, "Take her out between the ranks! And if anyone follows her, he shall be put to death with the sword." For the priest forbade them to kill her in the house of the Lord (Yahweh). ¹⁵So they seized her, and when she reached the Horse Gate leading into the king's palace, they killed her there. ¹⁶Joiada made a covenant between himself, all the people, and the king that they would be the Lord's people. ¹⁷And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down and broke its altars and images, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars.
     ¹⁸Joiada entrusted the supervision of the house of the Lord (Yahweh) to the Levitical priests, whom David had divided into classes for service in the house of the Lord (Yahweh), to offer burnt offerings to the Lord (Yahweh), as prescribed in the teaching of Moses (Hebr. Torah), with rejoicing and singing according to David's instructions. ¹⁹And he set the doorkeepers at the gates of the house of the Lord (Yahweh), so that no one who was unclean in any way might enter.

Young Joash becomes king

²⁰And he took the commanders and the nobles and the mighty men of the people and all the people of the land, and brought the king down from the house of the Lord (Yahweh), and they entered the king's palace through the Upper Gate and set the king on the royal throne. ²¹All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was calm. And they had killed Athaliah with the sword.

The 8th king of the Southern Kingdom – Joash

Introduction

[Joash reigned over Judah (the Southern Kingdom) for 40 years (835-796 BC).] 24¹Joash was 7 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah from Beer-Sheva. ²Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord as long as the priest Jehoiada lived. ³And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.

Restoring the temple

⁴After some time, Joash wanted to repair the house of the Lord (Yahweh). ⁵He 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.
     ⁶Then 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?
     ⁷The wicked sons of Athaliah have broken down the house of God. They have used everything that was consecrated to the house of the Lord (Yahweh) for the Baals." ⁸At the king's command, a chest was made and placed outside the gate of the house of the Lord (Yahweh). ⁹And 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). ¹⁰All the princes and all the people came gladly with their contributions and threw them into the chest until everything was collected. ¹¹When it was time for the Levites to bring the chest to the inspectors appointed by the king, they noticed that there was a lot of money in it. Then the king's secretary and the high priest's official came and emptied the chest and carried it back to its place. They did this day after day and collected a lot of money. ¹²Then the king and Jehoiada gave the money to the men who were to do the work on the house of the Lord (Yahweh). They also hired stonecutters and craftsmen to repair the house of the Lord (Yahweh), and smiths who worked with iron and copper.
     ¹³Those who were assigned to do the work did it successfully, and they restored God's house to its former condition and strengthened it. ¹⁴When they had finished the work, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and they made vessels for the house of the Lord (Yahweh), vessels for the service and sacrifices, bowls, and other vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord (Yahweh) throughout the days of Jehoiada's life.

Turning point – the death of the priest Jehoiada

¹⁵But Jehoiada grew old and tired of life, and he died. He was 130 years old when he died. ¹⁶They buried him in the City of David among the kings, because he had done what was good for Israel and for God and his house.

The temple is abandoned

¹⁷But after Jehoiada's death, the princes of Judah came and bowed down to the king, and he listened to them. ¹⁸And 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. ¹⁹And prophets were sent to them to turn them back to the Lord (Yahweh), and they warned them, but they did not listen to them.

Joash is confronted

²⁰But Zechariah (Zecharjaho – meaning: the Lord remembers), the son of Jehoiada the priest, was filled with the Spirit of God. He stood before the people and said to them, "Thus says God (Elohim): Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord? It cannot end well. Because you have forsaken the Lord (Yahweh), he has also forsaken you." ²¹Then they conspired against him, and at the king's command they stoned him in the courtyard of the house of the Lord (Yahweh). ²²King Joash did not remember the love that Zechariah's father, Jehoiada, had shown him, but killed his son. And at the moment of his death, Zechariah said, "The Lord will see this and avenge it."

Joash is killed

²³After 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. ²⁴The Aramean army came with only a small force, but the Lord (Yahweh) nevertheless gave them a very large army into their hands because the people had forsaken the Lord (Yahweh), the God (Elohim) of their fathers. So the Arameans carried out the punishment on Joash. ²⁵When they withdrew from him—leaving him seriously ill—his servants conspired against him because he had shed the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him on his bed. That was his death, and he was buried in the City of David. But he was not buried in the tombs of the kings.
     ²⁶Those who conspired against him were Zabad, son of Shimeath the Ammonite, and Jehozabad, son of Shimrith the Moabite. ²⁷As for his [Joash's] sons and the many messages (prophecies, burdens) [proclaimed] against him, and how the house of God (Elohim) was restored, it is written in "Exposition of the Book of Kings." His son Amaziah (Hebr. Amatsjaho) became king after him.

The 9th ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Amaziah

Introduction (2 Kings 14:1-22)

[Amaziah reigned over Judah (the Southern Kingdom) for 29 years (796-767 BC). His name means: The Lord is strong.] 25¹Amaziah was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Joaddan, and she was from Jerusalem. ²He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not with a whole heart. ³As soon as his kingdom was established, he killed those of his servants who had killed his father, King Joash. ⁴But he did not kill their children, for he did as it is written in the Law of Deut. Moses, where the Lord commanded, "Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents. Each person shall be put to death for his own sin." [Deut. 24:16]

Heeding the prophet's warning

⁵Amasya 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. ⁶He also hired 100,000 brave warriors from Israel for 100 talents [3 tons] of silver.
     ⁷But a man of God came to him and said, "O king! Do not let the army of Israel go out with you, for the Lord is not with Israel, nor with any of the children of Ephraim. ⁸But go yourself! Take up the work and go boldly into battle. Otherwise, God will let you fall to the enemy, for God has the power both to help and to destroy."
     ⁹Amasya said to the man of God, "But what shall we do with the 100 talents [3 tons of silver] that I have given to the men of Israel?" The man of God replied, "The Lord can give you much more than that." ¹⁰Then 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.

Victory

¹¹But Amasja took courage and led his people out to the Valley of Salt, where he defeated 10,000 of the men of Seir. ¹²And 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. ¹³But 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.

Turning point – idolatry

¹⁴When Amaziah returned from his victory over the Edomites, he brought back the gods that the people of Seir worshipped and set them up as his own gods. He worshipped before them and burned incense to them. ¹⁵Then the Lord's anger was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him who said to him, "Why do you consult the gods of that people, who could not save their own people from your hand?" ¹⁶When the prophet spoke to him, he replied, "Have we appointed you as the king's advisor? Stop this! Why do you want us to kill you?" The prophet finally said, "I now understand that God (Elohim) has decided to destroy you, because you are doing this and not listening to my advice."

Not listening to God's warning

¹⁷After 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!" ¹⁸But 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. ¹⁹You 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." ²⁰But Amaziah did not listen to this, for it came from God that they should be given into the hands of their enemies because they had consulted the gods of Edom.

Defeat

²¹And Joash, king of Israel, rev, and they fought each other, he and Amaziah, king of Judah, at Beth-Shemesh in Judah. ²²Judah was defeated by Israel, and they fled, each to his tent. ²³And 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]. ²⁴He took all the gold and silver and all the vessels that were in the house of God at Hos, and the treasures of the king's palace. He also took hostages and then returned to Samaria.

Summary

²⁵But Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Joash, lived fifteen years after the death of Joash, king of Israel, the son of Jehoahaz. ²⁶The rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷From the time that Amaziah turned away from the Lord, a conspiracy was formed against him in Jerusalem, and he had to flee to Lachish [50 km southwest of Jerusalem]. They sent men after him to Lachish, who killed him there. ²⁸Then they brought him back on horses and buried him with his fathers in the city of Hos.

The 10th ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Uzziah/Azariah

Introduction (2 Kings 14:21-22)

[Uzziah reigned over Judah (the Southern Kingdom) for 52 years (811-759 BC)] 26¹All the people of Judah took Uzziah (Hebr. Uzzijaho), who was then 16 years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. ²He rebuilt Eloth and restored it to Judah after the king had gone to rest with his fathers. ³Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah, and she was from Jerusalem.

Good start

⁴He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. ⁵He consulted God as long as Zechariah lived, who taught him to understand God's visions. As long as he sought the Lord, God let him prosper.

Uzziah's successes

⁶He went to war against the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod, and he built cities in the territory of Ashdod, in the land of the Philistines. ⁷And God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabs who lived in Gur-Baal and against the Meunites. ⁸The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as Egypt, for he became very powerful.

Internal improvements

⁹Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem over the Corner Gate, over the Valley Gate, and over the Angle, and fortified them. ¹⁰He also built towers in the wilderness and dug many wells, for he had much livestock in the lowlands and in the plains. In the hill country and in the fertile fields he had farmers and vineyard workers, for he loved agriculture.
     ¹¹Uzziah also had an army that was ready for battle, which went out in divisions mustered and counted by the scribe Jehuel and the officer Maaseiah under the supervision of Hananiah, one of the king's commanders. ¹²The total number of brave warriors who were heads of families was 2,600. ¹³Under their command was an army of 307,500 men, who fought with strength and courage and were on the king's side against the enemy. ¹⁴Uzziah supplied this entire army with shields and spears, helmets and armor, bows and slings. ¹⁵In Jerusalem, he had war machines made by inventors to be set up on the towers and corners of the walls to shoot arrows and hurl large stones. His fame spread far and wide, for he was helped to strengthen his power in a wonderful way.

Turning point – pride

¹⁶But when Uzziah had strengthened his power, his heart became proud, to his own destruction. He acted unfaithfully toward the Lord (Yahweh), his God (Elohim), by entering the temple of the Lord (Yahweh) to burn incense on the altar of incense. ¹⁷Then the priest Azariah went in after him with 80 of the Lord's priests, brave men. ¹⁸They approached King Uzziah and said to him, "It is not your place, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but it belongs to the priests, the sons of Aaron. They are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have acted treacherously, and it will not bring you honor from the Lord God." ¹⁹Then Uzziah became furious where he stood with the incense burner in his hand to burn incense. But just as he raged against the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in front of the priests, inside the house of the Lord (Yahweh) next to the altar of incense. ²⁰The high priest Azariah and all the priests turned toward him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead! They immediately drove him out, and he himself hurried out, because the Lord had punished him. ²¹King Uzziah was a leper until the day he died, and he lived in a separate house. Because he was a leper, he was excluded from the house of the Lord (Yahweh). His son Jotham was in charge (literally: 'was over') of the king's house [palace] and judged the people of the land.

Summary

²²What else there is to say about Uzziah, about his early days as well as his last, has been written down by the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz. ²³Uzziah rested with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the burial ground belonging to the kings, because he had been a leper. His son Jotham succeeded him as king.

The 11th ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Jotham

Introduction (2 Kings 15:32-38)

27¹[Jotham reigned over Judah (the Southern Kingdom) for at least 16 years (c. 750-732 BC). He was co-regent for ten years with his leprous father Uzziah (2 Chron. 26:21) and reigned with his son Ahaz for three years. Jotham was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.]

Did what was right

²He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done, and he did not enter the temple of the Lord. But the people continued to do evil.

His life's work

³Jotham built the Upper Gate of the house of the Lord (Yahweh), and he did a lot of building on the Ophel wall. ⁴He also built cities in the hill country of Judah and erected fortresses and towers in the forests. ⁵He waged war against the king of the Ammonites and defeated them, so that the Ammonites had to give him 100 talents [3 tons] of silver, 10,000 kor [barrels] of wheat, and 10,000 kor [barrels] of barley that year. [A kor (a barrel) has a volume of 390 liters. The weight of 10,000 kor of grain corresponds to 3,900 cubic meters (2,500 tons).] The Ammonites paid him the same amount in the second and third years. ⁶Jotham became powerful because he walked steadfastly before the Lord (Yahweh), his God (Elohim).

Summary

⁷The 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. ⁸He was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. ⁹Jotham rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. His son Ahaz succeeded him as king.

The 12th ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Ahaz

Character – unfaithful

[Ahaz first reigned with his father Jotham from 735 to 732 BC, then alone for 16 years from 732 to 715 BC.] 28¹Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for 16 years. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done. ²but walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He also made cast idols for the Baals. ³He himself lit sacrificial fires in the Valley of Hos and burned his children in the fire, following the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. ⁴He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

War with Aram

⁵Therefore, the Lord (Yahweh), his God (Elohim), delivered him into the hand of the king of Aram. They defeated him and took many of his people captive and brought them to Damascus. Ahaz was handed over to the king of Israel, who inflicted a great defeat on him. ⁶Pechah, 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. ⁷And Zikri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah, the king's son, Asrikam, the commander of the palace, and Elkanah, the king's closest man. ⁸And the children of Israel took among their brethren 200,000 captives, namely, their wives, sons, and daughters. Moreover, they took great spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria.

The prophet Oded

⁹But 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. ¹⁰And 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)? ¹¹Therefore, listen to me: Send back the prisoners you have taken from your brothers, for the Lord's anger is upon you."
     ¹²Some of the leaders of the children of Ephraim, namely Azariah, the son of Johanan, Berechiah, the son of Meshillemoth, Hezekiah (Hebr. Jechizqijah), the son of Shallum, and Amasa, the son of Hadlai, then stood up and went against those who came from the war ¹³and said to them, "You shall not bring these captives here, for you are bringing guilt upon us before the Lord (Yahweh), and you are adding to our sins and our guilt even more. Our guilt is already great enough, and burning anger is upon Israel."
     ¹⁴Then the soldiers left the captives and the spoil before the princes and the whole assembly. ¹⁵The men who were named stood up and took charge of the captives. They clothed those among them who had no clothes with the spoils they had taken. They gave them clothes and shoes, food and drink, and anointed them with oil, and all who were too weak to walk were put on donkeys and taken to Jericho, the City of Palms [Jericho, see Deut. 34:3], to their brothers there. Then they returned to Samaria.
     ¹⁶At the same time, King Ahaz sent messengers to the kings of Assyria with a request for help, ¹⁷for in addition to everything else, the Edomites had again come and defeated Judah and taken captives. ¹⁸And 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. ¹⁹The 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). ²⁰But King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria went against him and employed him instead of supporting him. ²¹Although Ahaz plundered the house of the Lord (Yahweh), the royal palace, and the princes and gave it to the king of Assyria, it did not help him.

Ahaz's apostasy and death

²²In his distress, King Ahaz sinned even more by being unfaithful to the Lord (Yahweh). ²³He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him, thinking, "Since the gods of the Aramean kings have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so that they will help me." But instead, they brought him and all Israel down.
     ²⁴And Ahaz gathered together the vessels that were in the house of God and broke the vessels in the house of God, closed the doors of the house of the Lord (Yahweh), and made altars at every street corner in Jerusalem. ²⁵In 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.
     ²⁶The rest of his deeds, from first to last, are recorded in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷Ahaz rested with his fathers, and they buried him in Jerusalem within the city, for they did not place him in the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah succeeded him as king. [On the border between the mountainous region of Judah and the Negev in the south lies the strategically important Arad. New analyses in 2020 of the organic material found on two pillars in the temple during the first excavation in the 1960s have revealed traces of frankincense and cannabis. Mixed with the cannabis was dung, which was used to raise the temperature so that the cannabis smoke could produce smoke with hallucinogenic properties. The temple dates back to 750 BC. The temple was later destroyed, but not burned. This is consistent with Hezekiah's reforms, which began in 715 BC, see 2 Kings 18:4.]

The last kings of Judah and the fall of Jerusalem

The 13th ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Hezekiah (chapters 29-32)

[Hezekiah ruled Judah (the Southern Kingdom) for 29 years (726-697 BC).] 29¹Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's [the queen mother's] name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. ²He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done.
     ³In the first year of his reign, in the first month [Aviv/Nisan – March/April 715 BC], he opened the doors of the house of the Lord (Yahweh) and repaired them. ⁴He summoned the priests and Levites and gathered them in the open space on the east side ⁵and said to them, "Listen to me, Levites: Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and remove the uncleanness from the sanctuary. ⁶Our fathers were unfaithful and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord (Yahweh), our God (Elohim), and abandoned him. They turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord and turned their backs on him. ⁷They also shut the doors of the porch and put out the lamps, and they did not burn incense or offer burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel. ⁸Therefore, 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. ⁹Yes, that is why our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and daughters and wives have been taken captive. ¹⁰But now I have it in my mind to make a covenant with the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel (Elohim), so that his fierce anger may turn away from us. ¹¹So do not be negligent, my children, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to be his servants and to burn incense before him." ¹²Then the Levites arose:

Mahath, the son of Amasai, and Joel, the son of Azariah
    of the family of the Kohathites,
of the family of Merari
    Kish, the son of Abdi, and Azariah, the son of Jehallelel,
of the Gershonites
    Joah, the son of Zimmah, and Eden, the son of Joash,
¹³of the family of Elizaphan
    Shimri and Jeiel,
of the family of Asaph
    Zechariah and Mattaniah,
¹⁴from the family of Heman
    Jehuel and Shimei, and from the family of Jeduthun Shemaiah and Uzziel.

¹⁵These gathered their brothers and consecrated themselves, and then went to cleanse the house of the Lord (Yahweh), as the king had commanded by the word of the Lord. ¹⁶But the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord (Yahweh) to purify it, and all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord they carried out into the court of the house of the Lord (Yahweh). There the Levites received it and carried it out to the Kidron Valley. ¹⁷They began to consecrate the temple on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they had reached the front of the Lord's house. They then consecrated the house of the Lord (Yahweh) for eight days. On the sixteenth day of the first month, they were finished.
     ¹⁸Then they went to King Hezekiah and said, "We have purified the entire house of the Lord (Yahweh) and the altar of burnt offering with its accessories and the table of showbread with its accessories. ¹⁹All the vessels that King Ahaz rejected during his reign of unfaithfulness, we have restored and consecrated, and they now stand before the altar of the Lord."
     ²⁰Early in the morning, King Hezekiah gathered the princes of the city and went up to the house of the Lord (Yahweh). ²¹Seven 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. ²²They slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Then they slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. Then they slaughtered the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar. ²³Then they brought the goats of the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them. ²⁴The priests slaughtered them and sprinkled their blood on the altar as a sin offering for the whole community of Israel. The king had ordered that these burnt offerings and sin offerings be made for the whole community of Israel.
     ²⁵He had the Levites stand ready to serve in the house of the Lord (Yahweh) with cymbals, lyres, and harps, as David and the king's seer Gad and the prophet Nathan had commanded, for the Lord had commanded this through his prophets. ²⁶And the Levites stood with David's instruments, and the priests with the trumpets.
     ²⁷Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. As the sacrifice was being carried forward, the song of the Lord began to sound, accompanied by the trumpets, led by the instruments of David, king of Israel. ²⁸The whole assembly worshiped while the song was sung and the trumpets sounded, and this continued until the burnt offering was completed.
     ²⁹When they had offered the burnt offering, the king and all who were with him bowed down and worshiped. ³⁰And King Hezekiah and the princes commanded the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David and the seer Asaph, and they sang praises with joy, bowing down and worshipping.
     ³¹Then Hezekiah spoke and said, "You have now been consecrated to the Lord (Yahweh). Therefore, come and bring sacrifices and fellowship offerings to the house of the Lord (Yahweh)." So the assembly brought sacrifices and fellowship offerings, and everyone who was moved in his heart to offer a burnt offering did so.
     ³²The number of burnt offerings brought by the assembly was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs—all of these were burnt offerings to the Lord (Yahweh). ³³And the fellowship offerings consisted of 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep. ³⁴But the priests were too few to skin all the burnt offerings. Therefore, their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was completed and the priests had consecrated themselves. The Levites were more eager than the priests to consecrate themselves. ³⁵The number of burnt offerings was also large, and to these were added the fat portions of the fellowship offerings and the drink offerings that accompanied the burnt offerings. In this way, the service in the house of the Lord (Yahweh) was arranged. ³⁶And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, for it had happened suddenly. 30¹Hezekiah 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. ²The king and his princes and the whole assembly in Jerusalem agreed to celebrate the Passover in the second month [Iyar – April/May]. ³They could not celebrate it immediately because the priests had not yet consecrated themselves in sufficient numbers and the people had not gathered in Jerusalem. ⁴Therefore, it seemed right to the king and the whole assembly to do so. ⁵And they decided to proclaim throughout Israel, from Beer-Sheva to Dan, that they should come and celebrate the Passover of the Lord, the God of Israel, in Jerusalem. For most of them had not celebrated it as prescribed.
     ⁶The 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. ⁷And do not be like your fathers and brothers, who were unfaithful to the Lord (Yahweh), the God of their fathers, so that he delivered them up to destruction, as you yourselves have seen. ⁸So now, do not be stubborn like your fathers, but reach out your hand to the Lord (Yahweh) and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated for ever and ever, and serve the Lord (Yahweh) your God (Elohim), and his fierce anger will turn away from you. ⁹For if you return to the Lord (Yahweh), your brothers and your children will find mercy with those who hold them captive, so that they may return to this land. The Lord (Yahweh) your God (Elohim) is gracious and merciful, and he will not turn his face away from you when you return to him."

¹⁰The messengers went from city to city in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun. But they laughed at them and mocked them. ¹¹But there were some in Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun who humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. ¹²The 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.
     ¹³A large crowd, a great assembly, gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month [Iyar – April/May]. ¹⁴They stood up and cleared away the altars that were in Jerusalem. They also removed all the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley.
     ¹⁵And on the 14th day of the second month [Iyar – April/May], they slaughtered the Passover lamb.

The priests and Levites, who were now ashamed and had therefore consecrated themselves, brought burnt offerings to the house of the Lord (Yahweh) during the feast. ¹⁶They took up their positions as prescribed for them in the teachings of Moses, the man of God (Hebr. Torah). The priests sprinkled the blood they had received from the Levites. ¹⁷For there were many in the congregation who had not sanctified themselves. Therefore, the Levites had to slaughter the Passover lambs for all who were not clean so that they could sanctify them to the Lord (Yahweh). ¹⁸There was a large part of the people, many from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, who had not purified themselves but ate the Passover lamb in a manner other than that prescribed. But Hezekiah had prayed for them and said, "May the Lord (Yahweh), the good one, forgive everyone ¹⁹who has turned his heart to seek the Lord God, the God of his fathers, even though he is not clean according to the order of the sanctuary." ²⁰And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
     ²¹The children of Israel who were in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread with great joy for seven days. Every day the Levites and priests praised the Lord with loud instruments in honor of the Lord.
     ²²Hezekiah spoke kindly to all the Levites who had a good understanding of the service of the Lord (Yahweh). And they ate of the feast offerings during the seven days, while they offered peace offerings (communion offerings) and gave thanks to the Lord (Yahweh), the God of their fathers (Elohim).
     ²³The whole assembly agreed to celebrate the feast for another seven days, and they celebrated the feast with joy for seven days. ²⁴Hezekiah, 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. ²⁵The 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. ²⁶There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon, king of Israel, son of David, nothing like this had happened in Jerusalem. ²⁷The priests and Levites stood up and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer reached his holy dwelling place in heaven. 31¹When 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.
     ²Hezekiah gave orders concerning the divisions of the priests and Levites, according to their divisions, so that both priests and Levites had their appointed duties, whether it was to offer burnt offerings or fellowship offerings, or to perform the service and give thanks and praise at the gates of the Lord's dwelling place. ³The king gave part of what he owned for the burnt offerings, namely for the morning and evening burnt offerings and for the burnt offerings on the Sabbaths, at the new moons, and at the appointed feasts, as it was written in the instructions of the Lord (Hebr. Torah). ⁴And he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the priests and Levites their share, so that they could keep the Lord's teaching. ⁵When this command became known, the children of Israel gave a generous firstfruits offering of grain, wine, oil, honey, and all the produce of the field. They brought a generous tithe of everything. ⁶And 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. ⁷In the third month [Sivan – May/June] they began to make the piles, and in the seventh month [Tishri – Sept/Oct] they finished. ⁸When Hezekiah and his princes came to see the piles, they blessed the Lord and his people Israel.
     ⁹And Hezekiah asked the priests and Levites about the piles. ¹⁰Then the chief priest Azariah of the house of Zadok answered, "Since we began to bring the offerings to the house of the Lord (Yahweh), we have eaten and been satisfied, and there is still much left over, for the Lord has blessed his people. What remains is this great wealth."
     ¹¹Hezekiah then commanded that storerooms be prepared in the house of the Lord (Yahweh), and they were prepared. ¹²They carefully brought in the offerings, tithes, and holy gifts. The Levite Conaniah was in charge of the work, and his closest associate was his brother Shimei. ¹³Jehiel, Asaiah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Josabad, Eliel, Ismakiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were officials under Konaniah and his brother Shimei, as appointed by King Hezekiah and Azariah, the prince of the house of God.
     ¹⁴The Levite Kore, son of Jimna, who was the gatekeeper on the east side, was in charge of the voluntary gifts to God and was to distribute the Lord's offerings and the most holy parts of the sacrifices. ¹⁵At his side in the priestly cities were Eden, Minjamin, Jeshua, Shemaja, Amarja, and Shekanja, and they carefully distributed the offerings to their brothers according to their divisions, both old and young.
     ¹⁶Excluded were all males three years old and older, those who were listed in their genealogical records and who were to appear in the house of the Lord (Yahweh) to perform the duties assigned to them for that day, according to the duties they had according to their divisions. ¹⁷The priests' family registers were arranged according to their families. Of the Levites, those who were 20 years old or older were listed according to their specific duties and divisions. ¹⁸In the genealogical register, they were to be recorded with all their young children, wives, sons, and daughters, however many there were, for they were to carefully manage the holy things as holy.
     ¹⁹For those of Aaron's sons, the priests, who lived in the outskirts of their cities, there were men appointed in each city to distribute to all the males among the priests and to all the Levites who were listed in the genealogical register what they were entitled to.
     ²⁰Hezekiah did this throughout Judah, and he did what was good, right, and true before the Lord (Yahweh), his God (Elohim). ²¹Everything he undertook in seeking his God, whether it was the service in the house of God or the teaching (Hebr. Torah) and the commandments (clear commands), he did with all his heart. And he was successful. 32¹After 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 (Jonah 3:1) the capital of his empire, see Isa. 37:37. 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.] ²When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was coming to attack Jerusalem, ³he consulted with his princes and his mighty men about blocking the water from the springs outside the city, and they helped him. ⁴A large crowd gathered, and they blocked all the springs and dammed the brook that flowed through the land, for they said, "Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?" ⁵He also took courage and rebuilt the wall wherever it had been broken down, built the towers higher, and erected another wall farther out, fortified Millo in the city of David, and made weapons (Hebr. shelach) and shields in great quantity.
     ⁶And he appointed military commanders over the people and gathered them to himself in the open space at the city gate, and spoke to their hearts (encouraged them), saying ⁷"Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged before the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for with us is one who is greater than with him. ⁸With 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.
     ⁹Sennacherib, 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 ¹⁰"Thus says Sennacherib, king of Assyria: On what are you relying, that you remain in the besieged city of Jerusalem? ¹¹Is it not Hezekiah who is deceiving you, so that you will die of hunger and thirst? He says, 'The Lord (Yahweh), our God (Elohim), will save us from the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹²Is 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'?
     ¹³Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to the nations of other lands? Have the gods of the nations of those lands ever been able to deliver their lands from my hand? ¹⁴Yes, which of all these nations that my fathers destroyed had a god who was able to deliver his people from my hand? But you say that your God is able to deliver you from my hand. ¹⁵No, do not let Hezekiah deceive and mislead you, and do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God (Eloha) be able to deliver you from my hand!" ¹⁶Sennacherib's servants spoke even more against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷He also wrote a letter to mock the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel (Elohim), saying about him: "Just as the gods worshipped by the peoples of other countries have not been able to save their peoples from my hand, so Hezekiah's God (Elohim) will not be able to save his people from my hand." ¹⁸And to the people of Jerusalem, who were standing on the wall, they shouted in a loud voice in Hebrew to frighten them and discourage them, so that they could then capture the city. ¹⁹And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem in the same way as they spoke of the gods of foreign nations, which are the work of human hands.
     ²⁰Meanwhile, King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed and cried out to heaven. ²¹Then the Lord (Yahweh) sent an angel who destroyed the entire army and the princes and commanders in the camp of the Assyrian king, so that he returned to his country in shame. When he entered the house of his god, he was struck down there with a sword by his own offspring. ²²And the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of the Assyrian king Sennacherib and from the hand of all others, and he protected them on all sides. ²³Many 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.

Hezekiah's illness (Isaiah 38, 2 Kings 20:1-21)

²⁴At that time, Hezekiah became mortally ill. He prayed to the Lord (Yahweh), and the Lord answered him and gave him a sign. ²⁵But 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. ²⁶But when Hezekiah humbled himself in the pride of his heart, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah. ²⁷Hezekiah's wealth and glory were very great. He built treasuries for silver, gold, and precious stones, for spices, and for shields, and for all kinds of precious gifts. ²⁸He also built storehouses for grain, wine, and oil, and stables for all kinds of livestock, and he acquired flocks for his pastures. ²⁹In addition, he built cities and acquired a large number of sheep and cows. God had given him great riches. ³⁰It was also Hezekiah who blocked the upper source of the Gihon Spring and led the water down, west of David's city [in a tunnel that emptied into the Pool of Siloam]. Hezekiah succeeded in everything he undertook.
     ³¹And when the envoys came from the princes of Babylon, who were sent to him to inquire about the miracle that had happened in the land, God left him to test him [and show him the consequences of pride] and to know everything that was in his heart. ³²The 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? ³³Hezekiah 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.

The 14th ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Manasseh (2 Kings 21:1-18)

33¹[Manasseh reigned in Judah for 55 years (698-643 BC). He was the first king of Judah who was not contemporary with the northern kingdom of Israel, which the Assyrians conquered around 720 BC and deported a large part of the population. He reintroduced polytheistic worship and reversed the religious changes made by his father Hezekiah. When Manasseh's reign began, Sennacherib was king of Assyria (he reigned until 681 BC). Manasseh is mentioned in Assyrian writings as a contemporary and loyal vassal of Sennacherib's son and successor Esarhaddon. Assyrian writings mention Manasseh among the 22 kings who were obliged to provide materials for Esarhaddon's building projects. Esarhaddon died in 669 BC and was succeeded by his son Ashurbanipal, who also mentions Manasseh as one of a number of vassals who helped in his campaign against Egypt. Manasseh (Hebr. Menasheh) was 12 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 55 years in Jerusalem.] ²He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominable practices of Hos. ³He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He erected altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles, and he worshiped and served all the host of heaven. ⁴He built altars in the house of the Lord (Yahweh). It was about this house that the Lord (Yahweh) had said, "In Jerusalem my name shall be forever." ⁵He built altars for all the host of heaven in both courts of the house of the Lord (Yahweh). ⁶He made his children pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and practiced divination, sorcery, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists, and did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
     ⁷He placed the idol he had made in the house of God, about which God had said to David and his son Solomon: "In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. ⁸I will no longer allow Israel to wander from the land I have assigned to your fathers, if only they hold fast to and follow all that I have commanded them according to the teaching (Hebr. Torah) and the statutes (literally: things engraved) and ordinances (binding legal decisions) that they have received through Moses."
     ⁹But 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. ¹⁰The Lord (Yahweh) spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they did not heed his words.

Assyria sent against him

¹¹Then the Lord (Yahweh) sent the armies of the Assyrian king against them. They bound Manasseh in chains and imprisoned him with copper shackles and took him to Babylon.
     ¹²But when he was in distress, he prayed to the Lord (Yahweh), his God (Elohim), and humbled himself deeply before the God (Elohim) of his fathers. ¹³And when he prayed to him, the Lord (Yahweh) heard him and listened to his prayer and let him return to Jerusalem as king. Then Manasseh realized that it is the Lord (Yahweh) who is God (Elohim).
     ¹⁴He 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.
     ¹⁵He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord (Yahweh), as well as all the altars he had built on the mountain where the house of the Lord (Yahweh) stood, and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. ¹⁶Then 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. ¹⁷Nevertheless, the people continued to sacrifice on the high places, but only to the Lord (Yahweh), their God (Elohim).
     ¹⁸The rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God (Elohim), and the words that the seers (Hebr. chozeh) spoke to him in the name of the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel (Elohim), are recorded in the chronicles of the kings of Israel. [This does not refer to the Books of Kings in the Bible, but to public records from which information was taken by the prophets and written down in the canonical books.] ¹⁹His prayer and how he was heard, all his sins and unfaithfulness, and the places where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and cast images before he humbled himself, are written in the chronicles of the seers (Hebr. Chozajs). [Hebr. Chozaj is used only here. It is probably not a proper name, but alludes to chozeh, see verse 18, which is seer.] ²⁰Manasseh rested with his fathers, and they buried him where he lived. His son Amon became king after him.

The 15th ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Amon (2 Kings 21:19-26)

[Amon reigned over Judah for two years (643-640 BC).] ²¹Amon was 22 years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. ²²He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord (Yahweh), as his father Manasseh had done. And Amon sacrificed to all the idols that his father Manasseh had made, and he worshipped them. ²³But he did not humble himself before the Lord (Yahweh), as his father Manasseh had done, but he added sin to sin. ²⁴His servants conspired against him and killed him in his own house. ²⁵But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah (Hebr. Joshijaho) king after him.

The 16th ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Josiah (chapters 34-35) (2 Kings 22:1-23:30)

[Josiah reigned over Judah for 31 years (640-609 BC).] 34¹Josiah (Hebr. Joshijaho) was 8 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 31 years in Jerusalem. ²He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord (Yahweh) and walked in the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.
     ³In 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. ⁴He broke down the altars of Baal before him, cut down the sun pillars that stood on them, and smashed the Asherah poles and the carved and cast idols into pieces, which he scattered on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵He burned the bones of the priests on their altars. Thus he purified Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶He searched the houses throughout the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali. ⁷After he had broken down the altars, smashed the Asherah poles and idols to dust, and cut down all the sun pillars throughout the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
     ⁸In the eighteenth year of his reign, while he was purifying the land and the temple, King Josiah sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah, the governor of the city, and Joah, the son of Joahaz, the secretary, to prepare the house of the Lord (Yahweh), his God (Elohim).
     ⁹They 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. ¹⁰They handed it over to the men who served as stewards in the house of the Lord (Yahweh).

These men then gave the money to the workers who were employed at the house of the Lord (Yahweh) to repair and reinforce the building. ¹¹The 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. ¹²The men performed their work with diligence. Their supervisors and foremen were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites of the family of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam of the family of the Kohathites. All these Levites were skilled musicians. ¹³They also supervised the porters and those who worked on the various tasks. Some of the Levites were also scribes, supervisors, and gatekeepers.

Torah scroll found in the temple

¹⁴When they took out the money that had been brought into the house of the Lord (Yahweh), the priest Hilkiah (Hebr. Chilqijaho) found the Torah scroll of the Lord (Yahweh) that had been given through Moses. ¹⁵Then Hilkiah (Hebr. Chilqijaho) said to the scribe Shafan, "I have found the Torah scroll in the house of the Lord (Yahweh)." Hezekiah gave the book to Shafan.
     ¹⁶Shaphan carried the book to the king and gave him his report. He said, "Your servants have done everything they were commanded to do. ¹⁷They have emptied the money that was in the house of the Lord (Yahweh) and have handed it over to the foremen and workers." ¹⁸The scribe Shafan also told the king, "The priest Hilkiah (Hebr.: Chilqijaho) has given me a book." And Shafan read from it before the king.
     ¹⁹When the king heard the word of the Torah (teaching), he tore his clothes. ²⁰And the king commanded Hilkiah (Hebr. Chilqijaho) and Ahikam, Shafan's son, and Abdon, Mic.'s son, and the scribe Shafan, and Asaiah, the king's servant, saying, ²¹"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."

The prophetess Huldah

²²And Hilkiah (Hebr. Chilqijaho) and those whom the king had appointed went to the prophetess Huldah (Hebr. Choldah), the wife of Shallum, the keeper of the wardrobe, who was the son of Tokehat, the son of Hasrah. She lived in Jerusalem, in the New City. And they spoke to her as they had been instructed. [2 Kings 22:14]
     ²³Then she answered them, "Thus says the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you to me, ²⁴This 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. ²⁵They have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods, provoking me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out on this place and shall not be quenched. ²⁶But 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: ²⁷Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and against those who live here, yes, because you humbled yourself before me and tore your clothes and wept before me, I have also heard you, declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh). ²⁸I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to them in peace. Your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place and upon those who dwell here."
    And they returned to the king with that answer.
     ²⁹Then the king sent word and summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰And 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). ³¹And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord (Yahweh) that they would follow the Lord (Yahweh) and keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes with all their heart and with all their soul, and do according to the words of the covenant written in this book. ³²He brought into the covenant all who were in Jerusalem and Benjamin. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem acted according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. ³³Josiah removed all the idols from the lands belonging to Israel and commanded all who were in Israel to serve the Lord (Yahweh), their God (Elohim). And as long as he lived, they did not turn away from the Lord (Yahweh), the God (Elohim) of their fathers.

Pesach in Jerusalem

35¹Josiah (Hebr. Joshijaho) celebrated the Lord's (Yahweh's) Passover in Jerusalem. The Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month. ²He established the duties of the priests and confirmed them in the service of the house of the Lord (Yahweh). ³He said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were consecrated to the Lord (Yahweh): "Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon, son of David, king of Israel, has built. It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord (Yahweh) your God (Elohim) and his people Israel. ⁴Prepare yourselves according to your families, in your divisions, as King David of Israel and his son Solomon have prescribed. ⁵Stand in the sanctuary, arranged according to your brothers' families throughout the people, so that one division of a Levitical family comes to each group. ⁶Slaughter the Passover lamb and consecrate yourselves and prepare it for your brothers. Do according to the word of the Lord (Yahweh) through Moses."
     ⁷And Josiah sacrificed sheep and goats for the whole people, 30,000 animals, all for the Passover sacrifice for those who were present, as well as 3,000 bulls. This was taken from the king's private property.
     ⁸His princes also gave freely to the people and to the priests and Levites. Hilkiah (Hebr. Chilqijaho), Zechariah, and Jehiel, the princes of the house of God, gave the priests 2,600 lambs and kids and 300 bulls for the Passover sacrifice. ⁹And Conaniah, Shemaiah, and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jehiel, and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, gave the Levites 5,000 lambs and goats for the Passover sacrifice, as well as 500 bulls.
     ¹⁰Thus the service was arranged.

The priests and Levites took their places to serve in their divisions, as the king had commanded. ¹¹They slaughtered the Passover lambs, and the priests sprinkled the blood that was given to them, while the Levites skinned the lambs. ¹²And they separated the burnt offerings and distributed them to the people according to their families, so that they might offer them to the Lord (Yahweh), as prescribed in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the bulls. ¹³And they roasted the Passover lamb on the fire in the prescribed manner. But they boiled the meat from the communion sacrifice in pots, pans, and kettles and hurried to distribute it to all the people. ¹⁴Then they prepared [food] for themselves and for the priests, for the priests, the sons of Aaron, were busy until nightfall offering the burnt offerings and the fat portions. Therefore, the Levites had to prepare food for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.
     ¹⁵The singers, the descendants of Asaph, stood in their places, as David, Asaph, Heman, and the king's seer Jeduthun had commanded, and the gatekeepers stood at their gates. They did not need to leave their service, because their brothers the Levites cooked for them.
     ¹⁶So everything was arranged for the service of the Lord (Yahweh) that day, and they celebrated the Passover and offered burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord (Yahweh), as King Josiah had commanded. ¹⁷The children of Israel who were present kept the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. ¹⁸An 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. ¹⁹ This Passover was held in the 18th year of Josiah's reign.

The Death of Josiah (2 Kings 23:29-30)

²⁰[The story now moves from the reform of 622 to the death of Josiah in 609 BC. After all this, when Josiah had put the temple in order, the king of Egypt, Necho, went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates. Josiah went out against him.] ²¹Then [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."
     ²²But instead of turning back and leaving him alone, Josiah disguised himself and went out to fight him, ignoring Necho's words, which came from the mouth of God. They clashed in the Pass of Megiddo. ²³The archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his men, "Carry me away, for I am badly wounded." ²⁴Then 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.
     ²⁵And Jeremiah lamented (Lam.; sang monotonously and drawn out – Hebr. qinen) a lament (Hebr. qina) over Josiah. All the singers and songstresses spoke of Josiah in their lamentations, and still do so today. These songs became widely sung in Israel, and they are recorded among the "Lamentations." ²⁶What more is there to say about Josiah and the pious deeds he did according to what was written in the Lord's (Yahweh's) teaching (Hebr. Torah), ²⁷and about other things he did during his early and late years, is written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

The 17th ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Jehoahaz (2 Kings 23:30-34)

[Jehoahaz reigns for 3 months in 609 BC] 36¹The people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and made him king in Jerusalem after his father. ²Joahaz [short form of Jehoahaz] was 23 years old when he became king, and he reigned 3 months in Jerusalem. ³The king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and imposed on the land a tribute of 100 talents [3 tons] of silver and 1 talent [34 kg] of gold. ⁴And 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 18th ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23:36-24:7)

[Jehoiakim reigned over Judah for 11 years (609-597 BC).] ⁵Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim) was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 11 years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord (Yahweh), his God (Elohim). ⁶And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him and bound him with bronze shackles and carried him away to Babylon. ⁷Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the vessels from the house of the Lord (Yahweh) to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon. ⁸The 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.

The 19th ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:8-17, 25:27-30)

[Jehoiachin reigned over Judah for three months in 598 BC.] ⁹Jehoiachin (Hebr. Jehojachin) was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁰At 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.

The 20th and last ruler of the Southern Kingdom – Zedekiah/Mattenah

[Zedekiah/Mattenah reigned over Judah for 11 years (597-586 BC).] ¹¹Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho) was 21 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 11 years in Jerusalem. ¹²He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord (Yahweh), his God (Elohim). He did not humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke the word of the Lord. ¹³And he rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear an oath by God. He was stubborn and hardened his heart, so that he did not turn to the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel. ¹⁴All the leading priests and the people also went further and further in their unfaithfulness to God. They followed all the detestable practices of the pagan peoples and defiled the house of the Lord (Yahweh) that he had consecrated in Jerusalem. ¹⁵The Lord (Yahweh), the God of their fathers, sent his messages to them again and again through his messengers, for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place. ¹⁶But they mocked God's (Elohim's) messengers, despised his prov, and scoffed at his prophets until the Lord's (Yahweh's) anger against his people grew so that there was no remedy. ¹⁷Then he sent against them the king of the Chaldeans [Babylonians], who killed their young men with the sword in their sanctuary and spared neither young men nor young women, nor old men nor gray-haired men. Everything was given into his hand. [God gave them into his hand.] ¹⁸And all the vessels of the house of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord (Yahweh), as well as the treasures belonging to the king and his nobles, he [the king of the Babylonians] carried away to Babylon. ¹⁹They [the Babylonians] set fire to the house of God (Elohim) and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. They burned all the palaces of the city and destroyed all the precious objects. ²⁰Those who had escaped the sword he took captive to Babylon, and they became slaves to him and his sons until the Persians came to power. ²¹The word of the Lord (Yahweh) through Jeremiah's mouth would be fulfilled, namely that the land would receive compensation for its Sabbaths—as long as it lay desolate, it had Sabbath—until 70 years had passed.

Appendix (Ezra 1:1-3)

²²In order for the word of the Lord (Yahweh) through Jeremiah to be fulfilled, it happened in the first year of the reign of the Persian king Cyrus (Koresh) [538/539 BC], the Lord influenced the mind of the Persian king Cyrus (Koresh) so that he proclaimed the following throughout his kingdom, which was also proclaimed in writing: ²³"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 him a house in Jerusalem in Judah. Let him among you who belongs to his people go up, and his God shall be with him."