2 Chronicles Chapter 1
Solomon asks for wisdom
1 Solomon son of David was established in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him and made him exceedingly great.
2 Solomon summoned all Israel—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, the judges, and all the leaders of all Israel, the heads of families.
3 Solomon and all the assembly with him went to the high place at Gibeon, for there stood the tent of meeting of God, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness.
4 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.
5 The bronze altar that Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made was there before the tent of the Lord, and Solomon and the assembly went to inquire of the Lord.
6 So Solomon went up there before the Lord to the bronze altar that was in the tent of meeting and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.
7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said, “Ask me for whatever you want me to give you.”
8 Solomon said to God, “You have shown great mercy to my father David, and have made me king in his place.
9 Now, Lord God, let your promise to my father David be fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.
10 Give me wisdom and knowledge to lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
11 Then God said to Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you did not ask for riches, possessions, or honor, nor for the life of your enemies, nor for long life, but asked for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king,
12 wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as no king before you ever had, nor will any after you have.”
13 So Solomon returned from the high place at Gibeon, before the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem and reigned over Israel.
Solomon trades in horses and chariots
14 And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen; and he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
15 And the king amassed silver and gold in Jerusalem like stones, and cedar like the sycamore fig trees of the Shephelah in abundance.
16 And the king’s merchants bought horses and fine linen from Egypt for Solomon by contract.
17 And they went up and bought in Egypt a chariot for six hundred pieces of silver, and a horse for one hundred and fifty; and thus they bought through them for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria.
2 Chronicles Chapter 2
Solomon's covenant with Hiram
1 So Solomon determined to build a house for the name of the Lord, and a house for his kingdom.
2 Solomon appointed seventy thousand men to carry the burdens, eighty thousand men to cut down trees in the mountains, and three thousand five hundred to oversee them.
3 Then Solomon sent word to Hiram king of Tyre, saying, “Do for me as you did for my father David, sending him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in.
4 Now I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, to consecrate it, to burn fragrant incense before him, and for the continual offering of the bread of the Presence, and for burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the appointed feasts of the Lord our God; this is to be a perpetual custom in Israel.
5 And the house that I am to build must be great, for our God is great above all gods.”
6 But who is able to build him a house, since heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain him? Who am I, then, to build him a house, except to burn incense before him?
7 Now therefore send me a skilled man who knows how to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, purple, scarlet, and blue, and who knows how to engrave, with the craftsmen who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father appointed.
8 Send me also timber from Lebanon: cedar, cypress, and sandalwood, for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon; and behold, my servants will go with your servants,
9 so that they may prepare for me much timber, for the house that I am to build must be great and awesome.
10 And behold, for your servants, the woodcutters, I have given 20,000 kors of wheat, 20,000 kors of barley, 20,000 baths of wine, and 20,000 baths of oil.
11 Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon: “Because the Lord loved his people, he has made you king over them.”
12 Hiram also said: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, and who gave King David a wise, understanding, prudent, and discerning son, to build the house of the Lord and a house for his kingdom.
13 Therefore I have sent you a skilled and understanding man, Hiram Abiff,
14 The son of a woman from the daughters of Dan, but his father was from Tyre; he is skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, in stone and wood, in purple and blue, in linen and scarlet; he is also skilled in carving all kinds of figures and in producing any design requested of him, with your skilled men and with those of my lord David your father.
15 Now therefore, let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley, and oil and wine, as he has promised;
16 and we will cut down in Lebanon the timber you need and bring it to you on rafts across the sea to Joppa, and you will have it carried to Jerusalem.
17 Solomon counted all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, after his father David had counted them, and they numbered 153,600.
18 And he appointed seventy thousand of them to carry burdens, and eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred as foremen to make the people work
2 Chronicles Chapter 3
Solomon builds the temple
1 Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, the place that had been revealed to his father David, at the site that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
2 He began to build on the second day of the month, in the fourth year of his reign.
3 These are the measurements that Solomon gave for the foundation of the house of God: The length was sixty cubits, and the width twenty cubits.
4 The portico that was in front of the building was twenty cubits long, as wide as the house, and its height one hundred and twenty cubits; and he overlaid it inside with pure gold.
5 He roofed the main body of the building with cypress wood, which he overlaid with fine gold, and he made palm trees and chains stand out on it.
6 He also overlaid the house with precious stones for decoration; the gold was gold from Parvaim.
7 So he overlaid the temple, its beams, its thresholds, its walls, and its doors with gold, and carved cherubim on the walls.
8 He also made the Most Holy Place, which was twenty cubits long, as wide as the temple, and twenty cubits wide; and he overlaid it with six hundred talents of fine gold.
9 The weight of the nails ranged from one to fifty shekels of gold. He also overlaid the chambers with gold.
10 Inside the Most Holy Place, he made two cherubim of wood and overlaid them with gold.
11 The wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits; one wing was five cubits long, reaching to the wall of the temple, and the other wing was five cubits long, touching the wing of the other cherub.
12 Likewise, one wing of the other cherub was five cubits long, reaching to the wall of the temple, and the other wing was five cubits long, touching the wing of the other cherub.
13 These cherubim had their wings spread out for twenty cubits, and they stood with their faces toward the temple.
14 He also made the veil of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and he set cherubim on it.
The two columns
15 In front of the temple he made two pillars, each thirty-five cubits high, with their capitals on top, five cubits high.
16 He also made chains for the sanctuary and put them on the capitals of the pillars; and he made one hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains.
17 He set up 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.
2 Chronicles Chapter 4
Temple furnishings
1 He also made a bronze altar, twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.
2 He also made a molten sea, ten cubits from rim to rim, completely round; its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.
3 Under the sea were gourds encircling it, ten to a cubit all around; they were two rows of molten gourds cast with the sea.
4 It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the sea rested on them, and their anchors were turned inward.
5 It was a handbreadth thick, and its rim was like the rim of a cup or a lily. It held three thousand baths.
6 He also made ten basins, placing five on the right and five on the left, for washing and cleansing the burnt offerings. The Sea of Galilee was for the priests to wash in.
7 He also made ten gold lampstands, each according to its design, and placed them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left.
8 He also made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left, and made one hundred gold basins.
9 He also made the priests’ court, the great court, and the gates of the court, and overlaid their doors with bronze.
10 He placed the Sea of Galilee on the right side, toward the southeast of the temple.
11 Hiram also made pots, shovels, and basins. Thus Hiram finished the work he was doing for King Solomon for the house of God.
12 Two pillars, and the cords, the capitals on top of the two pillars, and two nets to cover the two spheres of the capitals that were on top of the pillars;
13 Four hundred pomegranates in the two nets, two rows of pomegranates in each net, to cover the two spheres of the capitals that were on top of the pillars.
14 He also made the bases, on which he placed the basins;
15 A sea, and the twelve oxen under it:
16 And pots, shovels, and forks; all its articles of very fine bronze Hiram-abi made for King Solomon for the house of the Lord.
17 And the king cast them in the plains of the Jordan, in clay soil, between Succoth and Zeredatha.
18 And Solomon made all these articles in such great number that the weight of the bronze could not be determined.
19 Thus Solomon made all the utensils for the house of God, and the altar of gold, and the tables on which the bread of the Presence was placed;
20 also the lampstands and their lamps, of pure gold, to be lit before the most holy place according to the ordinance.
21 The flowers, lamps, and tongs were made of gold, of the finest gold;
22 also the snuffers, basins, spoons, and censers were of pure gold. And of gold also the entrance of the house, its inner doors for the most holy place, and the doors of the temple house.
2 Chronicles Chapter 5
1 When Solomon had finished all the work he had done for the house of the Lord, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated; he put the silver, the gold, and all the articles into the treasuries of the house of God.
Solomon moves the ark to the temple
2 Then Solomon summoned to Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the families of the Israelites, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David, which is Zion.
3 All the men of Israel assembled with the king for the feast in the seventh month.
4 So all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites carried the ark.
5 They brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the furnishings of the sanctuary that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites carried them.
6 King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who had gathered before him before the ark sacrificed sheep and cattle, so many that they could not be counted or numbered.
7 Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord into its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, into the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim.
8 For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered both the ark and its poles from above.
9 They brought out the poles, so that the ends of the poles of the ark could be seen before the Most Holy Place, but they could not be seen from outside. They are there to this day.
10 In the ark there were nothing but the two tablets that Moses had placed at Horeb, with which the Lord had made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.
11 And when the priests came out of the sanctuary, (for all the priests who were found had been consecrated, and they did not keep their turns;
12 and the Levites who were singers, all those of Asaph, those of Heman, and those of Jeduthun, together with their sons and their brothers, clothed in fine linen, stood with cymbals and harps and lyres on the east side of the altar; and with them were one hundred and twenty priests who played trumpets:)
13 When the trumpets sounded and everyone sang together to praise and thank the Lord, and when they lifted up their voices with trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his mercy endures forever,” then the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud.
14 And the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.
2 Chronicles Chapter 6
Dedication of the temple
1 Then Solomon said, “The Lord said that he would dwell in thick darkness.
2 But I have built you a house to dwell in, a place for you to live in forever.”
3 Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, and all the assembly of Israel were standing.
4 He said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David, saying,
5 ‘ Since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any of the tribes of Israel to build a house in which my name would be, nor have I chosen a man to be ruler over my people Israel.’
6 But Jerusalem I have chosen as the place where my name may be, and David I have chosen to be over my people Israel.”
7 My father David had it in his heart to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
8 Then the Lord said to my father David, “You did well to have it in your heart to build a house for my name.
9 However, you will not build the house, but your son, who will come from your own body, will build the house for my name.”
10 And the Lord has fulfilled his promise, for I have succeeded my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and I have built a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
11 In it I have placed the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with the Israelites.
12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.
13 For Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it up in the middle of the courtyard. He stood on it and knelt before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven and said:
14 “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart.
15 You have kept for your servant David my father what you promised him; you spoke with your mouth, and with your hand you have fulfilled it, as it is this day.
16 Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you promised him, saying, ‘You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants take heed to their ways and walk in my law, as you have walked before me.’”
17 Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, let your word be fulfilled, which you spoke to your servant David.
18But will God indeed dwell with man on earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
19 Yet you will regard the prayer of your servant and his plea, O Lord my God, to hear the cry and the prayer that your servant prays before you.
20 May your eyes be open toward this house day and night, toward the place of which you said, “My name shall be there,” that you may hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.
21 And may you hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place, that you may hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and that when you hear, you will forgive.
22 If anyone sins against their neighbor and is required to take an oath, and comes to swear before your altar in this house,
23 then hear from heaven and act, and judge your servants, repaying the wicked according to their own deeds and vindicating the righteous according to their righteousness.
24 If your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and they repent and acknowledge your name and pray before you in this house,
25 then 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.
26 If the heavens are shut and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place toward you and acknowledge your name and turn from their sins when you afflict them,
27 You will hear them in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel, and teach them the good way to walk in it, and give rain on your land, which you gave as an inheritance to your people.
28 If famine strikes the land, or if pestilence breaks out, or blight or mildew, locusts or caterpillars, or if their enemies besiege them in the land where they live, whatever plague or sickness there may be,
29 then whatever prayer or supplication any man makes, or any of your people Israel, who know their own hurt and their pain in their hearts, if they spread out their hands toward this house,
30 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to each according to all their ways, since you know their hearts, for you alone know the hearts of the children of men,
31 so that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days they live in the land that you gave to our ancestors.
32 And also when a foreigner, not of your people Israel, comes from a far country because of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm, and comes and prays toward this house,
33 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and may know that this house I have built is called by your name.
34 When your people go out to war against their enemies, by the way that you send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen, toward the house that I have built for your name,
35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.
36 If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and hand them over to their enemies, so that their captors carry them off to a land far or near,
37 and they come to their senses in the land where they are taken captive, and if they repent and pray to you in the land of their captivity, saying, “We have sinned; we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly,”
38 if they turn back to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and pray toward the land you gave their ancestors, the city you have chosen, and the house I have built for your name,
39 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you.
40 Now therefore, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
41 O Lord God, arise now and dwell in your resting place, you and the ark of your might; O Lord God, let your priests be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in your goodness.
42O LORD God, do not reject your anointed one: remember your mercies to David your servant.
2 Chronicles Chapter 7
1 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
2 The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it.
3 When all the Israelites saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord rise on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the pavement and worshiped, praising the Lord and saying, “He is good; his love endures forever.”
4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord.
5 King Solomon offered 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep as sacrifices, and the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God.
6 The priests performed their duties, and the Levites played the musical instruments of the Lord, which King David had made to praise the Lord, for his love endures forever, whenever David used them to praise. Likewise, the priests blew trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.
7 Solomon also consecrated the middle part of the courtyard that was in front of the house of the Lord, because he had offered there the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings; for the bronze altar that Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat.
8 So Solomon held a festival for seven days, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt.
9 On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, because they had dedicated the altar for seven days and celebrated the festival for seven days.
10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that the Lord had shown to David, to Solomon, and to his people Israel.
God's covenant with Solomon
11 So Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house; and everything that Solomon had planned to do for the house of the Lord and for his own house he accomplished.
12 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 house of sacrifice.
13 If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command locusts to devour the land, or if I send a plague among my people,
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
15 Now my eyes will be open, and my ears attentive, to the prayers offered in this place:
16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house, that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there forever.
17 And if you walk before me as your father David walked, and do all that I have commanded you, and keep my statutes and my rules,
18 then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with your father David, saying, “You shall never lack a man to rule in Israel.”
19 But if you turn away and forsake my statutes and commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,
20 then I will uproot you from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a byword and a derision among all peoples.
21 And this house, which is so exalted, will be a horror to everyone who passes by, and they will say, “Why has the Lord done this to this land and to this house?”
22 And the answer will be, “Because they forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them; therefore he has brought all this evil upon them.”
2 Chronicles Chapter 8
Other activities of Solomon
1 After twenty years, during which Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house,
2 Solomon rebuilt the cities that Hiram had given him and settled the Israelites in them.
3 Then Solomon came to Hamath Zobah and captured it.
4 He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the store cities that he had built in Hamath.
5 He also rebuilt Upper Beth Horon and Lower Beth Horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars;
6 and Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, as well as all the chariot cities and the horse cities, and everything else that Solomon wanted to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion.
7 Solomon made all the people who were left of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of Israel,
8 the descendants of those who remained in the land after them, whom the Israelites had not completely destroyed, subject to his rule to this day.
9 But Solomon did not appoint any Israelite servants to do his work, because they were men of war, his officers, his captains, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen.
10 Solomon had 250 chief governors who ruled over the people.
11 Then Solomon took Pharaoh’s daughter from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, because the dwellings where the ark of the Lord has come are holy.”
12 Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord that he had built in front of the portico,
13 to offer each thing on its proper day, according to the commandment of Moses, on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and at the three appointed feasts a year: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
14 He assigned the priests their divisions, according to the commandment of David his father, and the Levites their divisions, to praise and minister before the priests, each thing on its proper day; likewise the gatekeepers in their order at each gate, for so David, the man of God, had commanded.
15 They did not depart from the king’s command concerning the priests, the Levites, the treasuries, and all the work:
16 for all the work of Solomon was prepared from the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid until it was finished, until the house of the Lord was completely completed.
17 Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber, also known as Eloth, to the coast of the sea in the land of Edom.
18 For Hiram had sent ships to him by the hand of his servants, and skilled sailors, who went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir, and brought from there 450 talents of gold, and brought them to King Solomon.
2 Chronicles Chapter 9
The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon
1 When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, she came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels bearing spices, a great quantity of gold, and precious stones, to test Solomon with difficult questions. When she came to Solomon, she spoke to him about everything that was on her mind.
2 But Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing that Solomon could not answer.
3 When the queen of Sheba saw Solomon’s wisdom, the palace he had built,
4 the food on his table, the quarters of his officials, the staff of his servants and their attire, his chamberlains and their clothing, and the stairway by which he went up to the temple of the Lord, she was amazed.
5 She said to the king, “What I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true;
6 But I did not believe their words until I came and saw with my own eyes. And indeed, not even half the greatness of your wisdom had been told me, for you surpass the report I had heard.
7 Blessed are your men, and blessed are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom.
8 Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you and set you on his throne as king for the Lord your God. Because your God loved Israel and wanted to establish them forever, he has made you king over them, to administer justice and righteousness.
9 She gave the king 120 talents of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never were there any spices like those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
10 Hiram’s servants and Solomon’s servants, who had brought the gold from Ophir, also brought sandalwood and precious stones.
11 And the king made of the sandalwood steps in the house of the Lord and in the royal palaces, and harps and lyres for the singers; such wood had never been seen in the land of Judah.
12 And King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all that she desired and asked for, more than she had brought to the king. Then she turned and went back to her own country with her servants.
Solomon's riches and fame
13 The weight of gold that came to Solomon each year was 666 talents of gold,
14 besides what the merchants and traders brought; also all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land brought gold and silver to Solomon.
15 King Solomon also made 200 shields of hammered gold, each weighing 600 shekels of wrought gold;
16 likewise 300 shields of hammered gold, each shield weighing 300 shekels of gold; and the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
17 The king also made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.
18 The throne had six steps, a golden footstool attached to it, armrests, and two lions standing beside the armrests.
19 There were also twelve lions on the six steps on either side. No throne like it had ever been made in any kingdom.
20 All the vessels of King Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was of no value in Solomon’s days.
21 For the king’s fleet went to Tarshish with Hiram’s servants, and every three years the ships of Tarshish came, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
22 King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom.
23 All the kings of the earth sought Solomon’s presence to hear the wisdom God had given him.
24 Each of them brought his gift year after year: articles of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.
25 Solomon also had four thousand stables for his horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
26 He ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the border of Egypt.
27 The king amassed silver in Jerusalem like stones, and cedars as plentiful as the sycamore fig trees of the Shephelah.
28 Horses were also brought to Solomon from Egypt and from all the other countries.
Death of Solomon
29 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not all written in the books of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the prophecies of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam son of Nebat?
30 Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
31 Then Solomon rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David his father. Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.
2 Chronicles Chapter 10
Israel's Rebellion
1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gathered there to make him king.
2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat, who was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon, heard of it, he returned from Egypt.
3 So they sent for him and called him. Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,
4 “ Your father made our yoke heavy; now lighten our hard service and the heavy yoke with which your father burdened us, and we will serve you.”
5 He said to them, “Return to me in three days.” So the people departed.
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was alive, and he said to them, “What advice do you give me regarding how I should answer these people?”
7 They answered him, “If you treat these people kindly and please them, and speak good words to them, they will always serve you.”
8 But he rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him.
9 He said to them, “What do you advise us to answer these people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
10 The young men who had grown up with him answered, “This is what you are to say to the people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten our burden.’ You are to say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.
’ 11 So, if my father made your yoke heavy, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, and I with scorpions.”
12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had commanded them, saying, “Return to me in three days.”
13 But the king answered them harshly; for King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders,
14 and spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I with scorpions.”
15 But the king would not listen to the people, for the cause was God’s, so that the Lord might fulfill the word which he had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
16 When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tent, O Israel! David, look after your own house!” So all Israel went to their tents.
17 But Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.
18 Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was in charge of the taxes, but the Israelites stoned him to death. Then King Rehoboam hurried away in his chariot and fled to Jerusalem.
19 So Israel has been estranged from the house of David to this day.
2 Chronicles Chapter 11
1 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he gathered 180,000 chosen fighting men from the house of Judah and Benjamin to fight against Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.
2 But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
3 “Speak to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin, saying to them,
4 ‘ Thus says the Lord: Do not go up and fight against your brothers; return each of you to your own home, for I have done this.’” So they obeyed the word of the Lord and turned back and did not go against Jeroboam.
Rehoboam's Prosperity
5 Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built fortified cities for Judah.
6 He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,
7 Beth-zur, Socoh, Adullam,
8 Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,
9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah,
10 Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, which were fortified cities of Judah and Benjamin.
11 He also strengthened the fortresses and stationed them with commanders, provisions, wine, and oil.
12 He set up shields and spears in all the cities. He fortified them greatly, and Judah and Benjamin were subject to him.
13 The priests and Levites throughout Israel gathered to him from all their places.
14 For the Levites were leaving their pasturelands and their possessions and coming to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them from the service of the Lord.
15 He appointed his own priests for the high places, for the demons, and for the calves he had made.
16 After them, all the tribes of Israel who had set their hearts on seeking the Lord, the God of Israel, also came to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the Lord, the God of their ancestors.
17 So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and confirmed Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years, for three years they walked in the ways of David and Solomon.
18 And Rehoboam took as his wife Mahalath, the daughter of Jerimoth, the son of David, and Abihail, the daughter of Eliab, the son of Jesse.
19 She bore him these sons: Jeush, Shemarias, and Zaham.
20 After her, he took Maacah, Absalom’s daughter, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.
21 But Rehoboam loved Maacah, Absalom’s daughter, more than all his wives and concubines; for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
22 And Rehoboam made Abijah, Maacah’s son, chief and ruler over his brothers, for he intended to make him king.
23 He acted shrewdly and scattered all his sons throughout all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and throughout all the fortified cities, and gave them abundant provisions and many wives.
2 Chronicles Chapter 12
Shishak invades Judah
1 When Rehoboam had established his kingdom, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.
2 Because they had rebelled against the Lord, in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem,
3 with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. But the people who came with him from Egypt—Libyans, Sukkiens, and Ethiopians—were without number.
4 He captured the fortified cities of Judah and advanced as far as Jerusalem.
5 Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah, who were gathered in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord: ‘You have forsaken me, and I have also forsaken you into the hand of Shishak.’”
6 Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is righteous.”
7 When the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them, but will save them shortly, and my wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.
8 But they shall be his servants, so that they may know what it is to serve me and what it is to serve the kingdoms of the nations.”
9 So Shishak king of Egypt went up to Jerusalem and took the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he carried them all away. He also took the gold shields that Solomon had made.
10 King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and gave them to the commanders of the guard who were on duty at the entrance to the king’s house.
11 Whenever the king went to the house of the Lord, the guards came and carried them, and later they brought them back to the guard chamber.
12 And when he humbled himself, the anger of the Lord turned away from him, so that he would not destroy him completely; and things also went well in Judah.
13 So Rehoboam grew strong and reigned in Jerusalem. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord chose out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. And the name of Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah the Ammonite.
14 He did evil, because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.
15 Now the events of Rehoboam’s reign, first and last, are they not written in the books of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer, in the records of the families? And there was constant war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.
16 Rehoboam rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. His son Abijah succeeded him as king.
2 Chronicles Chapter 13
Reign of Abijah
1 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.
2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. Now there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
3 Abijah drew up his army of 400,000 chosen warriors, and Jeroboam drew up his army of 800,000 chosen warriors.
4 Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel!
5 Do you not know that the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, to him and his descendants, by a covenant of salt?”
6 But Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rebelled against his master.
7 And worthless and wicked men gathered around him, and they prevailed against Rehoboam son of Solomon, for Rehoboam was young and weak-willed, and did not defend himself against them.
8 And now you intend to resist the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David, for you are many, and you have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods.
9 Have you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and appointed priests for yourselves in the manner of the peoples of other lands, so that anyone can come and consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams, and thus become a priest of those that are not gods?
10 But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests who minister before the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites are the ones who do the work.
11 They burn burnt offerings to the Lord every morning and every evening, and fragrant incense; they set the bread on the clean table, and the golden lampstand with its lamps burns every evening. We keep the charge of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken him.
12 And behold, God is with us as our leader, and his priests with the trumpets of jubilation to sound against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you will not prosper.
13 But Jeroboam set an ambush to come upon them from behind. So, when he was in front of them, the ambush was behind Judah.
14 And when Judah looked, behold, the battle was before them and behind them; therefore they cried out to the LORD, and the priests blew the trumpets.
15 Then the men of Judah shouted aloud; and as soon as they raised their voices, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
16 The Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands.
17 Abijah and his men inflicted a great slaughter on them, and five hundred thousand chosen men of Israel fell wounded.
18 Thus the Israelites were subdued at that time, but the men of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord, the God of their ancestors.
19 Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured some of his cities: Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages, and Ephraim with its villages.
20 Jeroboam was no longer powerful during the reign of Abijah, and the Lord struck him down, and he died.
21 But Abijah grew even more powerful. He took fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
22 The rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways and his sayings, are written in the history of Iddo the prophet.
2 Chronicles Chapter 14
Reign of Asa
1 Abijah rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. His son Asa succeeded him as king, and the land enjoyed peace for ten years.
2 Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.
3 He removed the altars used for foreign worship and the high places, smashed the sacred stones, and cut down the Asherah poles.
4 He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to keep his law and commands.
5 He removed the high places and sacred stones from all the towns of Judah, and the kingdom was at peace during his reign.
6 He built fortified cities in Judah, because there was peace in the land and no war against him in those days, for the Lord had given him rest.
7 So he said to Judah, “Let us build up these cities and fortify them with walls, towers, gates, and bars, since the land is ours. For we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought him, and he has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.
8 Asa also had an army with shields and spears: 300,000 from Judah and 280,000 from Benjamin, all skilled men with shields and bows.
9 Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a thousand men and 300 chariots, and he came as far as Mareshah.
10 Then Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.
11 Asa cried out to the Lord his God, “O Lord, there is no difference with you between the powerful and the powerless.” Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this army. O Lord, you are our God; let no man prevail against you.
12 And the Lord routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.
13 Asa and the people with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell so completely that they had no breath left in them, for they were destroyed before the Lord and his army. And they took a very large amount of plunder from them.
14 They also attacked all the cities around Gerar, for the terror of the Lord fell upon them, and they plundered all the cities, for there was a great amount of plunder in them.
15 They also attacked the tents of those who had livestock and carried off many sheep and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles Chapter 15
Asa's religious reforms
1 The Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Obed,
2 and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
3 For many days Israel lived without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without the law.
4 But when they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, in their distress and sought him, he was found by them.
5 In those days there was no peace for anyone going out or going out, but great distress was upon all the inhabitants of the land.
6 Nation overthrew city, city overthrew city, for God troubled them with every kind of disaster.
7 But be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work will be rewarded.”
8 When Asa heard the words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Obed the prophet, he took courage and removed the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He also repaired the altar of the Lord that stood before the portico of the Lord.
9 Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin together, along with the foreigners from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for many from Israel had defected to him when they saw that the Lord their God was with him.
10 They assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign.
11 On that very day they sacrificed to the Lord from the plunder they had brought back: 700 cattle and 7,000 sheep.
12 Then they made a solemn vow to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and with all their soul.
13 And whoever did not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, shall be put to death, whether great or small, man or woman.
14 And they swore to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting, to the sound of trumpets and horns.
15 All Judah rejoiced over this oath, for they swore it with all their heart, and sought him with all their will; and he was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest on every side.
16 He also deposed Maacah, the mother of King Asa, because she had made an Asherah pole. Asa cut down the pole, smashed it to pieces, and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
17 Nevertheless, the high places were not removed from Israel, though Asa’s heart was perfect all his days.
18 He brought into the house of God the things his father had dedicated and the things he himself had consecrated: silver, gold, and articles.
19 And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.
2 Chronicles Chapter 16
Asa's alliance with Ben-Adad
1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah, so that no one could go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
2 Then Asa brought out the silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the royal palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Syria, who was in Damascus, saying,
3 “ Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between your father and my father. Behold, I have sent you silver and gold, so that you may come and break the treaty you have with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”
4 Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. They captured Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and the store cities of Naphtali.
5 When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work.
6 Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away from Ramah the stone and timber with which Baasha was building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.
7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.
8 Were not the Ethiopians and Libyans a vast army with chariots and many horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand.
9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will be at war.”
10 Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison, for he was furious about this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.
Death of Asa
11 Now, the acts of Asa, first and last, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became severely ill with a disease in his feet, and in his illness he did not seek the Lord, but consulted the physicians.
13 So Asa rested with his ancestors and died in the forty-first year of his reign.
14 They buried him in the tombs he had prepared for himself in the City of David. They placed him in a coffin and filled it with perfumes and various spices prepared by expert perfumers. They also made a great fire in his honor.
2 Crónicas Capítulo 17
Reign of Jehoshaphat
1 Jehoshaphat, his son, succeeded him as king and became strong against Israel.
2 He stationed troops in all the fortified cities of Judah and posted garrisons throughout Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.
3 The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the ways of his father David and did not seek the Baals.
4 He sought the God of his father and walked in his commands, not in the practices of Israel.
5 Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand, and all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat. He had great wealth and honor.
6 His heart was strengthened in the ways of the Lord, and he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah.
7 In the third year of his reign, he sent his officials Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah.
8 With them were the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jonathan, Adonijah, Tobiah, and Tobadonijah, and with them the priests Elishama and Joram.
9 They taught in Judah, having with them the Book of the Law of the Lord, and went throughout all the cities of Judah teaching the people.
10 The fear of the Lord fell on all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah, and they did not dare to make war against Jehoshaphat.
11 The Philistines brought Jehoshaphat tribute and silver. The Arabs also brought him livestock: 7,700 rams and 7,700 male goats.
12 So Jehoshaphat grew exceedingly powerful, and he built strongholds and store cities in Judah.
13 He had ample provisions in the cities of Judah, and mighty warriors in Jerusalem.
14 This is the number of them according to their ancestral houses: From the commanders of thousands in Judah, Adna the commander, with 300,000 mighty warriors;
15 After him, Johanan the commander, with 280,000;
16 After him, Amaziah son of Zichri, who had willingly offered himself to the Lord, with 200,000 mighty warriors;
17 From Benjamin, Eliada the mighty warrior, with 200,000 armed with bow and shield;
18 After him, Jozabad, with 180,000 ready for war.
19 These were the king’s servants, whom the king had placed in the fortified cities throughout Judah.
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
24 After he drove the man out, he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
2 Chronicles Chapter 18
Micaiah prophesies the defeat of Ahab
1 Now Jehoshaphat had great wealth and honor, and he allied himself with Ahab.
2 After some years he went down to Samaria to visit Ahab, and Ahab slaughtered many sheep and cattle for him and the people who were with him, and persuaded him to go with him against Ramoth-gilead.
3 Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me against Ramoth-gilead?” He answered, “I am as you are, and my people are as your people; we will go with you to war.”
4 Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire of the Lord today.”
5 So the king of Israel gathered together four hundred prophets and asked them, “Shall we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” They said, “Go up, for God will deliver them into the king’s hand.”
6 But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there still a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of him?”
7 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man about whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, because he never prophesies anything good concerning me, but always evil. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” Jehoshaphat replied, “The king should not say so.”
8 Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said to him, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once.”
9 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting, each on his throne, clothed in their royal robes, in the square by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them.
10 Zedekiah son of Kenaanah had made himself iron horns and said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘With these you shall gore the Arameans until you have utterly destroyed them.’”
11 Thus all the prophets also prophesied, saying, “Go up against Ramoth-gilead, and you will prosper; for the Lord will deliver it into the king’s hand.
12 And the messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah spoke to him, saying, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one voice declare good things to the king; therefore, I beg you to let your word be like that of one of them, that you speak favorably.”
13 And Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, whatever my God tells me, that I will speak.” And he came to the king.
14 And the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I remain idle?” He answered, “Go up, and you will prosper, for they will be delivered into your hands.”
15 The king said to him, “How many times must I swear to you in the name of the Lord that you speak nothing but the truth to me?”
16 Then Micaiah said, “I have seen all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep without a shepherd; and the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each one return in peace to his house.
’” 17And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good for me, but evil?”
18 Then he said, “Hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing at his right hand and at his left.
19 And the Lord asked, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another.
20 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘How?’
21 And he said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the Lord said, ‘You will entice him, and you will succeed; go and do so.’”
22 And now, behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets; for the Lord has pronounced evil against you.
23 Then Zedekiah the son of Kenaanah came near to him and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “Which way did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you?”
24 Micaiah answered, “You will see it that day, when you go from room to room to hide.”
25 Then the king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah and take him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king’s son.
26 And tell them, ‘Thus says the king: Put this fellow in prison and feed him with the bread of affliction and the water of affliction, until I return in peace.’”
27 But Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken through me.” He also said, “Listen, all you peoples.”
28 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.
29 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.
30 Now the king of Syria had commanded the commanders of his chariots, saying, “Do not fight against small or great, but only against the king of Israel.”
31 When the commanders of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “This is the king of Israel!” And they surrounded him to fight. But Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him, and God drew them away from him.
32 When the commanders of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him.
33 But one of them drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the joints and the coat of mail. Then he said to his charioteer, “Turn the reins back and take me out of the field, for I am badly wounded.”
34 So the battle raged that day, and the king of Israel stood in his chariot facing the Syrians until evening, and he died at sunset.
2 Chronicles Chapter 19
The prophet Jehu admonishes Jehoshaphat
1 Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned safely to his home in Jerusalem.
2 Jehu son of Hanani the seer met him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Do you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, the Lord’s wrath has come upon you.
3 Nevertheless, some good things have been found in you, in that you have removed the Asherah poles from the land and have set your heart to seek God.”
Jehoshaphat appoints judges
4 So Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, but he would go out to the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and he would bring them up to the Lord, the God of their ancestors.
5 He appointed judges in all the fortified cities of Judah, throughout all the towns.
6 He said to the judges, “Consider carefully what you do, for you do not judge for man, but for the Lord, who is with you when you judge.
7 Therefore, let the fear of the Lord be upon you; consider carefully what you do, for there is no injustice with the Lord our God, nor partiality, nor taking of bribes.”
8 Jehoshaphat also appointed some of the Levites, priests, and heads of families of Israel in Jerusalem to judge the Lord and to decide cases. Then they returned to Jerusalem.
9 He charged them, saying, “You shall also act in the fear of the Lord, in truth, and with a sincere heart.”
10 In any case that comes to you from your brothers who live in the cities, whether it be a case of bloodshed, or concerning law, statutes, or decrees, you shall warn them not to sin against the Lord, so that wrath will not come upon you and your brothers. By doing this, you will not sin.
11 And behold, Amariah the priest will be the one to preside over you in all matters of the Lord; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the prince of the house of Judah, in all the king’s business; the Levites also will be officials before you. Be strong and do these things, and the Lord will be with the good one.
2 Chronicles Chapter 20
Victory over Moab and Ammon
1 After these things, the Moabites and Ammonites, and some of the Ammonites with them, came to make war against Jehoshaphat.
2 Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from beyond the Dead Sea, from Aram. They are now at Hazezon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi).
3 Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
4 So the people of Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, people from all the towns of Judah came to seek the Lord.
5 Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord, before the new court.
6 He said, “Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God in heaven, ruling over all the kingdoms of the nations?” Is not such power and might in your hand that no one can withstand you?
7 Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?
8 And they have lived in it and built a sanctuary there for your name, saying,
9 “ If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and in our distress we will cry out to you, and you will hear us and save us.”
10 Now, behold, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the inhabitants of Mount Seir, whose land you did not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt, but kept them from them and did not destroy them—
11 now they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the inheritance you gave us as a possession.
12 O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.
13 All Judah, with their wives, children, and little ones, stood before the Lord.
14 Now Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the descendants of Asaph, was there. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in the midst of the assembly.
15 He said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.
16 Tomorrow go down against them. They will be coming up the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook, before the Desert of Jeruel.’”
17You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, be still, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged; go out against them tomorrow, for the Lord will be with you.
18 Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the people of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord and worshiped him.
19 The Levites, descendants of Kohath and Korah, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a loud voice.
20 Early the next morning they set out and went into the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be established; have faith in his prophets and you will prosper.”
21 After consulting with the people, he appointed some to sing and praise the Lord, clothed in holy garments, as the armed men went out, saying, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his mercy endures forever.”
22 As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the Ammonites, Moabites, and those from Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated.
23 For the Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to kill and destroy them. When they had finished with the inhabitants of Mount Seir, they turned on one another.
24 When Judah came to the watchtower in the wilderness, they looked toward the vast army, and there they were, lying dead on the ground. Not one of them had escaped.
25 So Jehoshaphat and his people came to plunder them and found among the dead bodies much wealth, including clothing and precious jewelry, which they took for themselves. There was so much that they could not carry it all. For three days they gathered the plunder because it was so great.
26 On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, for there they blessed the Lord. Therefore the name of that place is called the Valley of Beracah to this day.
27 All Judah and the people of Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat at their head, returned to Jerusalem rejoicing, for the Lord had given them joy by delivering them from their enemies.
28 They came to Jerusalem with harps, lyres, and trumpets, to the house of the Lord.
29 The fear of God fell on all the kingdoms of the land when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel.
30 So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side.
Summary of Jehoshaphat's reign
31 So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.
32 He walked in the ways of his father Asa, not turning aside from them, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord.
33 Nevertheless, the high places were not removed, for the people had not yet turned their hearts to the God of their ancestors.
34 The rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, are written in the words of Jehu son of Hanani, which are mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel.
35 After these things, Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who was given to wickedness.
36 He made a team with him to build ships to go to Tarshish, and they built the ships at Ezion-geber.
37 Then Eliezer son of Dodavah from Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy your works.” And the ships were wrecked and could not go to Tarshish.
2 Chronicles Chapter 21
Reign of Joram of Judah
1 Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. His son Joram succeeded him as king.
2 Joram’s brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah. All these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.
3 Their father had given them many gifts of gold and silver, precious things, and fortified cities in Judah, but he had given the kingdom to Joram because he was the firstborn.
4 So Joram became king in his father’s place. When he had become powerful, he killed all his brothers with the sword, as well as some of the princes of Israel.
5 He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
6 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done. because he had married Ahab’s daughter, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.
7 But the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant he had made with David, and because he had promised to provide a lamp for him and his descendants forever.
8 In the days of David, Edom rebelled against the rule of Judah and set up a king over them.
9 Then Joram crossed over with his officers and all his chariots; he rose up by night and defeated the Edomites who were besieging him, and all the commanders of their chariots.
10 Nevertheless, Edom has been free from the rule of Judah to this day. At the same time, Libnah also broke free from his rule, because he had forsaken the Lord, the God of his ancestors.
11 Moreover, he made high places on the hills of Judah and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit adultery, and this drove Judah away.
12 A letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David: ‘Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,
13 but have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem commit adultery, as the house of Ahab did, and have also killed your brothers, your father’s family, who were better than you,
14 behold, the Lord will strike your people with a great plague, your children, your wives, and all that you have;
15 and you with many diseases, with a disease of your bowels, until they come out because of your persistent illness.’”
16 Then the Lord stirred up against Joram the anger of the Philistines and of the Arabs who were allied with the Ethiopians.
17 They came up against Judah and invaded the land, taking all the goods they found in the king’s house, his sons and his wives. He had no son left except Jehoahaz, his youngest son.
18 After all this, the Lord afflicted him with an incurable disease of his bowels.
19 After many days, at the end of two years, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died from a grievous illness. They did not light a fire in his honor, as they had done for his ancestors.
20 He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He died, though no one desired him. They buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
2 Chronicles Chapter 22
Reign of Ahaziah of Judah
1 The people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, Joram’s youngest son, king in place of Joram, for a band of raiders who had come with the Arabs to the camp had killed all the older men. So Ahaziah son of Joram, king of Judah, became king.
2 Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri.
3 He also followed the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother advised him to do wicked things.
4 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for after his father died, they advised him to his destruction.
5 He followed their advice and went to war with Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead, where the Syrians defeated Joram.
6 And he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he had received at Ramoth, fighting against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah son of Joram, king of Judah, went down to visit Joram son of Ahab at Jezreel, for he was sick there.
Jehu kills Ahaziah
7 But this was from God, so that Ahaziah might be destroyed when he came to Joram. For when he came, he went out with Joram against Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab.
8 And when Jehu executed judgment against the house of Ahab, he found the princes of Judah, and the sons of Ahaziah’s relatives, who served Ahaziah, and he killed them.
9 And when they searched for Ahaziah, who had hidden himself in Samaria, they found him and brought him to Jehu, and he killed him and buried him, for they said, “He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.” And the house of Ahaziah was not strong enough to retain the kingdom.
Athaliah usurps the throne
10 When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal offspring of the house of Judah.
11 But Jehosheba, the king’s daughter, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and hid him from among the other sons of the king, whom they were killing, and kept him and his nurse in one of the chambers. So Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest (for she was Ahaziah’s sister), hid him from Athaliah, and they did not kill him.
12 He remained hidden with them in the house of God for six years. Meanwhile, Athaliah reigned over the land.
2 Chronicles Chapter 23
1 In the seventh year Jehoiada took courage and made an alliance with the commanders of hundreds: Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Johanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zichri.
2 They traveled throughout the land of Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah, as well as the leaders of the families of Israel, and came to Jerusalem.
3 The whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. Jehoiada said to them, “Here is the king’s son, who will reign, as the Lord promised the descendants of David.
4 Now do this: One-third of you who come on the Sabbath will be gatekeepers with the priests and the Levites;
5 another third will be at the king’s house; and another third at the Foundation Gate. All the people will be in the courts of the house of the Lord.”
6 No one shall enter the house of the Lord except the priests and the Levites who minister; they shall enter, for they are consecrated. All the people shall stand guard before the Lord.
7 The Levites shall surround the king on all sides, each man with his weapons in hand. Whoever enters the house shall be put to death. You shall be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.
8 The Levites and all Judah did everything as Jehoiada the priest had commanded. Each commander took his men, those who went in on the Sabbath and those who went out on the Sabbath, for Jehoiada the priest did not release the troops.
9 Jehoiada the priest also gave to the commanders of hundreds the spears, the bucklers, and the shields that had belonged to King David and were in the house of God.
10 He arranged all the people in order, each man holding his sword, from the right corner of the temple to the left, toward the altar and the temple, all around the king.
11 Then they brought out the king’s son, placed the crown on him, and gave him the testimony, and proclaimed him king. Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, saying, “Long live the king!”
12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and of those who were acclaiming the king, she went with the people to the house of the Lord.
13 And looking, she saw the king standing by his pillar at the entrance, with the princes and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing. There was a sound of trumpets, and the singers with musical instruments were leading the praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and said, “Treason! Treason!”
14 But Jehoiada the priest commanded the commanders of hundreds of the army to go out, and said to them, “Bring her out of the enclosure; and whoever pursues her, kill him with the edge of the sword: for the priest had commanded that she should not be killed in the house of the LORD.”
15 So they seized her, and as soon as she had passed through the entrance of the horse gate of the king’s house, they killed her there.
16 Jehoiada made a covenant with himself and all the people and the king, that they would be the people of the Lord.
17 After this, all the people went into the temple of Baal and tore it down, along with its altars. They smashed its images and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, before the altars.
18 Then Jehoiada assigned the duties in the house of the Lord, under the authority of the priests and Levites, just as David had assigned them in the house of the Lord, to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, as it is written in the Law of Moses, with joy and with singing, according to David’s instructions.
19 He also posted gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the Lord, so that no unclean person might enter by any way.
20 Then he summoned the commanders of hundreds, the officers, the leaders of the people, and all the people of the land to escort the king from the house of the Lord. And when they came to the middle of the great gate of the king’s house, they seated the king on the throne of the kingdom.
21 And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet, after they had killed Athaliah with the edge of the sword.
2 Chronicles Chapter 24
Reign of Joash of Judah
1 Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.
2 Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
3 Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.
4 After this, Joash decided to repair the house of the Lord.
5 He gathered the priests and the Levites together and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel, so that the house of your God may be repaired year after year. See to it that the Levites do not do their duty.”
6 So the king summoned Jehoiada the high priest and said to him, “Why have you not sought out the Levites from Judah and Jerusalem to bring the offering that Moses the servant of the Lord imposed on the congregation of Israel for the tent of meeting?”
7 For the wicked Athaliah and her sons had destroyed the house of God, and had also spent all the consecrated things of the house of the Lord on idols.
8 So the king commanded that an ark be made, and they placed it outside at the gate of the house of the Lord.
9 And they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem that they should bring to the Lord the offering that Moses the servant of God had imposed on Israel in the wilderness.
10 And all the leaders and all the people rejoiced, and brought offerings, and put them into the ark until it was full.
11 And when the time came for the Levites to bring the ark to the king’s secretary, and they saw that there was a great deal of money, the king’s scribe and the one appointed by the high priest came and carried the ark, emptied it, and returned it to its place. Thus they did day after day, and collected a great deal of money.
12 The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and they hired stonemasons and carpenters to repair the house of the Lord, and craftsmen in iron and bronze to repair the house.
13 So the craftsmen did the work, and by their hands the work was restored, and they restored the house of God to its former condition and strengthened it.
14 When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and they made from it utensils for the house of the Lord, utensils for the service, mortars, spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings continually in the house of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada.
15 But Jehoiada grew old and died full of days; he was one hundred and thirty years old when he died.
16 And they buried him in the City of David with the kings, because he had done good to Israel, to God, and to his house.
17After Jehoiada died, the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them.
18 They forsook the house of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and worshiped Asherah poles and carved images. Therefore, God’s anger came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of this sin.
19 He sent prophets to them to bring them back to the Lord, and they warned them, but they would not listen.
20 Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. Standing above the people, he said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands? It will not go well for you. Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’”
21 But they conspired against him, and at the king’s command, they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s house.
22 So King Joash did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had shown him, but put his son to death. As he was dying, Zechariah said, “May the Lord see this and avenge me.”
23 At the turn of the year, the army of Syria came up against him. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leading men of the people, and sent all the plunder to the king in Damascus.
24 For although the Syrian army had come with few men, the Lord delivered a very large army into their hands, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors. So they executed judgments against Joash.
25 When the Syrians departed, they left him burdened with his illnesses; and his servants conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and struck him down in his bed, and he died. They buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
26 Those who conspired against him were Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonite and Jozabad son of Shimrith the Moabite.
27 As for the sons of Joash, and the increase he made of the revenues, and the restoration of the house of the Lord, behold, it is written in the history of the Book of Kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.
2 Chronicles Chapter 25
Reign of Amaziah
1 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoadan of Jerusalem.
2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, though not wholeheartedly.
3 When he was established as king, he killed the servants who had killed his father the king.
4 But he did not put their children to death, according to what is written in the Law in the Book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, “Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each one shall die for his own sin.”
5 Then Amaziah gathered Judah and appointed commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds over all Judah and Benjamin, according to their clans. He also registered all the men twenty years old and above, and found three hundred thousand chosen men ready for war, equipped with spear and shield.
6 From Israel he hired one hundred thousand valiant men for one hundred talents of silver.
7 But a man of God came to him and said, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel or with all the sons of Ephraim.
8 But if you go, if you do, and you strive to fight, God will cause you to fall before the enemy, for with God is the power to help or to overthrow.”
9 And Amaziah said to the man of God, “What then shall be done about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?” And the man of God answered, “The Lord is able to give you much more than this.”
10 So Amaziah removed the army from the people who had come to him from Ephraim, so that they went to their homes; and they were very angry with Judah, and returned to their homes in fury.
11 Then Amaziah, being strong, brought his army out and came to the Valley of Salt, and he killed ten thousand of the sons of Seir.
12 The men of Judah captured ten thousand others alive, took them to the top of a cliff, and threw them down the cliff, and they were all dashed to pieces.
13 But the men of the army whom Amaziah had dismissed from going with him to war raided the cities of Judah, from Samaria to Beth-horon, and killed three thousand of them and carried off much plunder.
14 When Amaziah returned from the slaughter of the Edomites, he also brought the gods of the people of Seir with him, set them up as his gods, worshiped them, and burned incense to them.
15 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who said to him, “Why have you sought the gods of another nation, who did not deliver their own people from your hand?”
16And when the prophet had spoken these things to him, he answered, “Have they made you the king’s advisor? Stop this! Why do you want to be killed?” And when he had finished speaking, the prophet said, “I know that God has decreed to destroy you, because you have done this and did not obey my advice.”
17 And Amaziah king of Judah, after taking counsel, sent word to Joash the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us meet face to face.”
18 Then Joash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent word to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ And behold, the wild beasts that were in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle.”
19 You say, “Behold, I have defeated Edom,” and your heart is lifted up in boasting. Now stay at home. Why bring evil upon yourself that could bring down you and Judah with you?
20 But Amaziah refused to listen, for it was God’s will to deliver them into the hands of their enemies, because they had sought the gods of Edom.
21 So Joash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah met face to face at the battle of Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.
22 But Judah was defeated by Israel, and each man fled to his own place.
23 Then Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh and brought him to Jerusalem. He broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, a length of 400 cubits.
24 He also took all the gold and silver and all the articles that were found in the house of God in the house of Obed-edom, as well as the treasures of the king’s house and the sons of the nobles. Then he returned to Samaria.
25 Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.
26 Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?
27 From the time that Amaziah turned away from the Lord, they conspired against him in Jerusalem; and when he fled to Lachish, they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there.
28 Then they brought him back on horses and buried him with his ancestors in the city of Judah.
2 Chronicles Chapter 26
Reign of Uzziah
1 Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.
2 Uzziah rebuilt Eloth and restored it to Judah after King Amaziah had rested with his ancestors.
3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.
4 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done.
5 During the days of Zechariah, he sought God, and he understood visions from God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.
6 He went out and fought against the Philistines and broke down the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod. He built cities in Ashdod and in the land of the Philistines.
7 God gave him help against the Philistines, the Arabs who lived in Gur-baal, and the Ammonites.
8 The Ammonites presented gifts to Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as the border of Egypt, for he had become exceedingly powerful.
9 Uzziah also built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and the corners, and he fortified them.
10 He also built towers in the wilderness and dug many cisterns, for he had many livestock in the Shephelah and in the valleys, and vineyards and fields in the hill country and in the fertile plains, for he loved farming.
11 Uzziah also had an army of warriors, who went out to war in divisions, according to the roster drawn up by Jehiel the scribe, Maaseiah the governor, and Hananiah, one of the king’s commanders.
12 The total number of the heads of families, valiant and mighty warriors, was 2,600.
13 Under their command was the army of 307,500 mighty and strong warriors, to assist the king against his enemies.
14 Uzziah provided the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and slings for hurling stones.
15 He also made siege engines in Jerusalem, designed by skilled craftsmen, to be placed on the towers and ramparts, to shoot arrows and large stones. His fame spread far and wide, for he was marvelously helped until he became powerful.
16 But when he had become powerful, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he rebelled against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.
17 Azariah the priest followed him in, and with him were 80 priests of the Lord, valiant men.
18 They confronted King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn it. Leave the sanctuary, for you have acted unfaithfully, and this will not bring you honor before the Lord God.”
19 Then Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand to burn incense, became furious. In his anger against the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, by the altar of incense.
20 Azariah the high priest and all the priests looked at him, and there was leprosy on his forehead. So they hurried him out of that place, and he also hurried to leave, because the Lord had struck him.
21 So King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death, and he lived in a separate house as a leper, and was excluded from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was in charge of the royal house, governing the people of the land.
22 The rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, were written by the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz.
23 And Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the royal tombs; for they said, “He is a leper.” And Jotham his son reigned in his place.
2 Chronicles Chapter 27
Reign of Jotam
1 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.
2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done, except that he did not enter the sanctuary of the Lord. But the people continued to act corruptly.
3 He built the main gate of the temple of the Lord and constructed many structures on the wall of the citadel.
4 He also built cities in the hill country of Judah and erected fortresses and towers in the forests.
5 He also fought against the king of the Ammonites and defeated them. The Ammonites gave him that year one hundred talents of silver, ten thousand kors of wheat, and ten thousand kors of barley. This is what the Ammonites gave him in the second and third years.
6 So Jotham became strong, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God.
7 The rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
8 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.
9 Jotham rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David; and his son Ahaz succeeded him as king.
2 Chronicles Chapter 28
1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. But he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done.
2 Instead, he followed the ways of the kings of Israel and made molten images for the Baals.
3 He burned incense in the Valley of Hinnom and made his sons pass through the fire, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.
4 He also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every spreading tree.
5 Therefore the Lord his God handed him over to the king of Arameans, who defeated him and took many prisoners, whom they carried off to Damascus.
6 For Pekah son of Remaliah killed 120,000 valiant men in Judah in one day. because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors.
7 Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, also killed Maaseiah the king’s son, Azrikam his palace administrator, and Elkanah, second in command to the king.
8 The Israelites also took captive two hundred thousand of their brethren—women, boys, and girls—and carried off much plunder to Samaria.
9 Now there was a prophet of the Lord there named Obed. He went out before the army as it entered Samaria and said to them, “Behold, the Lord, the God of your ancestors, in his wrath against Judah, has delivered them into your hands, and you have killed them in a fury that has reached to heaven.
10 And now you have decided to make Judah and Jerusalem your slaves, both men and women. Have you not sinned against the Lord your God?
11 Now therefore, listen to me, and return the captives you have taken from your brethren. because the Lord is angry with you.
12 Then some of the leading men of the Ephraimites—Azariah son of Johanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Hezekiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—rose up against those who were coming back from the war.
13 They said to them, “Do not bring the captives here, or we will be guilty of sin against the Lord. You are trying to add to our sins and our guilt, though our crime is very great, and the Lord’s wrath against Israel is fierce.”
14 So the army left the captives and the plunder before the princes and the whole assembly.
15Then the men who had been named arose and took the captives, and from the plunder they clothed those among them who were naked; they clothed them, put sandals on them, and gave them food and drink, and anointed them, and they put all the feeble ones on donkeys and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers; and they returned to Samaria.
16 At that time King Ahaz sent word to the kings of Assyria to ask for help,
17 for the Edomites had also come and attacked the people of Judah and had taken captives.
18 The Philistines had also spread out into the cities of the Shephelah and the Negev of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, and Socoh with their villages, Timnah also with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages; and they dwelt in them.
19 For the Lord had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, because he had acted rashly in Judah and had transgressed greatly against the Lord.
20 Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria also came against him and made him treacherous, but did not strengthen him.
21 Although Ahaz plundered the house of the Lord, the royal house, and the houses of the princes, to give them to the king of Assyria, the king did not help him.
22 Moreover, during the time that Assyria made him treacherous, King Ahaz committed a greater sin against the Lord;
23 For he offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him, and said, “Since the gods of the kings of Syria help them, I will also offer sacrifices to them so that they will help me.” Although these gods were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.
24 Moreover, Ahaz gathered the articles from the house of God and broke them, and shut the doors of the house of the Lord, and made altars for himself in all the corners of Jerusalem.
25 He also made high places in all the cities of Judah to burn incense to other gods, provoking the Lord, the God of his ancestors, to anger.
26 The rest of his deeds, and all his ways, first and last, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
27 Ahaz rested with his ancestors, and they buried him in the city of Jerusalem, but they did not place him in the tombs of the kings of Israel. and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.
2 Chronicles Chapter 29
Reign of Ahaz
1 Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done.
Hezekiah restores temple worship
3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them.
4 He summoned the priests and Levites and assembled them in the east square.
5 He said to them, “Hear me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and remove the defilement from the sanctuary.
6 For our ancestors have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They have forsaken him, turned their faces away from the tabernacle of the Lord, and turned their backs on him.
7 They have shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps; they have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel.
8 Therefore the wrath of the Lord has come upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them a disgrace, an object of scorn and derision, as you yourselves see.”
9 And behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives have been taken captive for this.
10 Now therefore, I have determined to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, that he may turn away from us the fierceness of his anger.
11 My sons, do not be deceived now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, to be his ministers, and to burn incense to him.
12 Then the Levites arose: Mahath son of Amasai, and Joel son of Azariah, of the sons of Kohath; and of the sons of Merari, Kish son of Abdi, and Azariah son of Jehalelel; of the sons of Gershon, Joah son of Zimmah, and Eden son of Joah;
13 of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;
14 From the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and from the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.
15 These gathered their brethren together, and consecrated themselves, and went in, according to the commandment of the king and the word of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord.
16 And the priests went into the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord, into the court of the house of the Lord; and from there the Levites carried it out to the Kidron Valley.
17 They began to consecrate themselves on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth of the same month they came to the portico of the Lord; and they consecrated the house of the Lord in eight days, and on the sixteenth of the first month they finished.
18 Then they came to King Hezekiah and said to him, “We have now cleansed the entire house of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table of the Presence with all its utensils.”
19We have also prepared and consecrated all the vessels that King Ahaz, in his unfaithfulness, had discarded during his reign; and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.
20 Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the leading men of the city and went up to the house of the Lord.
21 They presented seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. He instructed the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord.
22 So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received their blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Then they slaughtered the rams and sprinkled their blood on the altar. They also slaughtered the lambs and sprinkled their blood on the altar.
23 Then they brought the goats for the sin offering before the king and the multitude, and laid their hands on them:
24 And the priests killed them, and made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel; for the king commanded that a burnt offering and a sin offering be made for all Israel.
25 He also stationed Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the command of David, Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet; for that command came from the Lord through his prophets.
26 The Levites stood with David’s instruments, and the priests with trumpets.
27 Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be sacrificed on the altar; and as the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began, accompanied by the trumpets and the instruments of David king of Israel.
28 All the congregation worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded their trumpets; all this continued until the burnt offering was consumed.
29 When they had finished offering, the king and all who were with him bowed down and worshiped.
30 Then King Hezekiah and the officials told the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they praised with great joy, and bowed down and worshiped.
31 Hezekiah answered, “Now you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord; come near and offer sacrifices and thanksgivings in the house of the Lord.” So the assembly offered sacrifices and thanksgivings, and all who were willing brought burnt offerings.
32 The number of burnt offerings the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs, all for the Lord’s burnt offering.
33 The grain offerings were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep.
34 But the priests were few, and there were not enough to skin the burnt offerings; And so their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was finished and until the other priests consecrated themselves, for the Levites were more upright in heart to consecrate themselves than the priests.
35 Thus there was an abundance of burnt offerings, with the fat of the peace offerings and drink offerings for each burnt offering. And the service of the house of the Lord was restored.
36 And Hezekiah rejoiced with all the people that God had prepared the people, for the work was done quickly.
2 Chronicles Chapter 30
Hezekiah celebrates Passover
1 Then Hezekiah sent messengers throughout all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, instructing them to come to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel.
2 Now the king had consulted with his officials and with all the congregation in Jerusalem, deciding to celebrate the Passover in the second month.
3 For at that time they could not celebrate it, because there were not enough consecrated priests, nor had the people gathered in Jerusalem.
4 This pleased the king and all the congregation.
5 So they decided to send a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, for they had not celebrated it in the manner prescribed in the Scriptures for a long time.
6 So messengers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his officials, as the king had commanded, saying, “Children of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he may return to the remnant that is left from the hand of the kings of Assyria.
7 Do not be like your ancestors and your brothers, who rebelled against the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and he gave them over to desolation, as you see.
8 Now therefore, do not be stiff-necked as your ancestors were; submit to the Lord and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, and his fierce anger will turn away from you.”
9 For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find mercy in the sight of their captors, and they will return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and he will not turn his face from you if you return to him.
10 So the messengers went from city to city through the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun, but they were ridiculed and mocked.
11 Nevertheless, some men from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
12 The hand of God was also upon Judah, to give them one heart to carry out the message of the king and the princes, according to the word of the Lord.
13 A great multitude gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a vast assembly.
14 They rose up and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem; They also removed all the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley.
15 Then they sacrificed the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month; and the priests and Levites, filled with shame, consecrated themselves and brought the burnt offerings to the house of the Lord.
16And they took their places in the customary divisions, according to the law of Moses the man of God; and the priests sprinkled the blood that they received from the hands of the Levites.
17 For there were many in the congregation who were not consecrated, and so the Levites sacrificed the Passover for all who had not purified themselves, to consecrate them to the Lord.
18 For a great multitude of the people of Ephraim and Manasseh, and of Issachar and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, and they ate the Passover not according to what is written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the Lord, who is good, be gracious to everyone who has set his heart to seek God,
19 to the Lord, the God of their ancestors, even though they were not purified according to the purification rites of the sanctuary.
20 And the Lord heard Hezekiah, and healed the people.
21 So the Israelites who were in Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy. And the Levites and the priests glorified the Lord every day, singing to the Lord with loud instruments.
22 Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who had good understanding in the service of the Lord. And they ate the sacrifices of the feast for seven days, offering peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord, the God of their ancestors.
23 And the whole assembly decided to keep the feast for another seven days; and they kept it for another seven days with joy.
24 For Hezekiah king of Judah had given the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep; The princes also gave the people a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep, and many priests had already consecrated themselves.
25 So all the congregation of Judah rejoiced, as did the priests and Levites, and all the multitude who had come from Israel, as well as the foreigners who had come from the land of Israel and those who lived in Judah.
26 There was great rejoicing in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David, king of Israel, nothing like this had occurred in Jerusalem.
27 Then the priests and Levites stood and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer reached the dwelling place of his sanctuary, to heaven.
2 Chronicles Chapter 31
1 After all this was done, all the Israelites who had been there went out to the cities of Judah, smashed the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and demolished the high places and altars throughout Judah and Benjamin, and also in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed everything. Then all the Israelites returned to their own towns, each to his own property.
Hezekiah reorganizes the service of the priests and Levites
2 Hezekiah assigned the priests and Levites their divisions, each according to their duties, to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings, to minister, to give thanks, and to praise within the gates of the courts of the Lord.
3 The king contributed from his own property for the burnt offerings
morning and evening, and for the burnt offerings on the Sabbaths, New Moons, and appointed feasts, as it is written in the Law of the Lord.
4 He also commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give their portion to the priests and Levites, so that they might devote themselves to the Law of the Lord.
5 When this decree was proclaimed, the Israelites brought in a great deal of the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and all the produce of the land. They also brought in a great deal of the tithes of everything.
6 The Israelites and Judah who lived in the towns of Judah also brought tithes of their cattle and sheep, and they brought tithes of the consecrated offerings they had vowed to the Lord their God and placed them in heaps.
7 They began to make these heaps in the third month and finished in the seventh month.
8 When Hezekiah and the officials came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord and his people Israel.
9 Hezekiah asked the priests and Levites about the heaps.
10 Azariah the high priest, of the house of Zadok, answered him, “Since you began to bring the offerings to the house of the Lord, we have eaten and been satisfied, and we have much left over, because the Lord has blessed his people, and this abundance of food remains.”
11 Then Hezekiah commanded that chambers be prepared in the house of the Lord, and they were prepared.
12 They faithfully deposited the firstfruits, the tithes, and the consecrated offerings in these places, and they put Conaniah the chief Levite in charge, and Shimei his brother was second in command.
13 Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ishmachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were the stewards serving Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the command of King Hezekiah and Azariah, the prince of the house of God.
14 Korah son of Imnah, the Levite who kept the east gate, was in charge of the freewill offerings to God, the distribution of the offerings dedicated to the Lord, and the most holy things.
15 At his service were Eden, Benjamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah in the cities of the priests, to faithfully distribute to their brothers their portions according to their divisions, both to the greatest and the least;
16 to the males registered by their families, from three years old and upward, all who entered the house of the Lord to perform his service, according to their divisions;
17 also to those who were numbered among the priests according to their ancestral houses; and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, according to their divisions;
18 They were registered with all their children, their wives, their sons and daughters, the whole multitude; for they faithfully consecrated themselves to the holy things.
19 Likewise, for the sons of Aaron, the priests, who were in the open fields of their cities, throughout all the cities, the appointed men were in charge of giving their portions to all the males among the priests, and to all the lineage of the Levites.
20 Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah: and he did what was good, right, and true before the Lord his God.
21 In everything he undertook in the service of the house of God, according to the law, he sought his God, he did it wholeheartedly, and he prospered.
2 Chronicles Chapter 32
Sennacherib invades Judah
1 After these things and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, intending to conquer them.
2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was coming and that he intended to attack Jerusalem,
3 he consulted with his officials and his mighty men to stop up the springs of water outside the city; and they supported him.
4 So a great number of people gathered, and they stopped up all the springs and the stream that flowed through the territory, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria find much water when they come?”
5 Then Hezekiah resolutely rebuilt all the broken-down walls, and he raised up the towers and another wall outside. He also fortified the Millo in the City of David and made many swords and shields.
6 He appointed military commanders over the people and assembled them in the square at the city gate. He spoke to them, saying,
7 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him.
8 With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” The people took heart from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
9 After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria, while besieging Lachish with all his forces, sent his servants to Jerusalem to say to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem,
10 “This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: ‘On whom are you relying to withstand the siege of Jerusalem?’”
11 Is Hezekiah not deceiving you, leading you to death by famine and thirst, saying, “The Lord our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria”?
12 Isn’t Hezekiah the one who removed their high places and altars and said to Judah and Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this one altar and burn incense on it”?
13 Have you not heard what I and my ancestors did to all the peoples of the earth? Were the gods of those nations able to deliver their lands from my hand?
14 What god was there among all the gods of those nations that my ancestors destroyed who could save their people from my hand? How then can your God deliver you from my hand?
15 Now therefore, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or persuade you in this way, and do not believe him; If no god of all those nations and kingdoms could deliver his people from my hand, and from the hand of my fathers, how much less will your God be able to deliver you from my hand?
16And his servants spoke other things against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah.
17 Moreover, he wrote letters in which he blasphemed the Lord, the God of Israel, and spoke against him, saying, “Just as the gods of the nations of the lands could not deliver their people from my hand, neither will the God of Hezekiah deliver his people from my hand.”
18 And they cried out with a loud voice in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the walls, to frighten and terrify them, so that they might take the city.
19 And they spoke against the God of Jerusalem as against the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of human hands.
Jehovah delivers Hezekiah
20 But King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed about this and cried out to heaven.
21 Then the Lord sent an angel, who destroyed all the mighty warriors, the commanders, and the officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned in shame to his own land, and when he entered the temple of his god, his own sons killed him there with the sword.
22 Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all the others, and gave them rest on every side.
23 Many brought offerings to the Lord in Jerusalem and rich gifts to Hezekiah king of Judah, and after this he became very great in the sight of all the nations.
Hezekiah's Disease
24 At that time Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the Lord, who answered him and gave him a sign.
25 But Hezekiah did not respond to the kindness shown him; instead, his heart became proud, and wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
26 However, after Hezekiah had become proud, he humbled himself, as did the people of Jerusalem; and the Lord’s wrath did not come upon them during Hezekiah’s reign.
Hezekiah receives the envoys from Babylon
27 Hezekiah had great wealth and honor; he acquired treasures of silver and gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and all kinds of desirable jewelry.
28 He also made storehouses for the income from grain, wine, and oil; stables for all kinds of livestock, and pens for cattle.
29 He also acquired cities and flocks of sheep and herds in great abundance, for God had given him great wealth.
30 This Hezekiah stopped the springs of Upper Gihon and channeled the water west of the City of David. And Hezekiah prospered in everything he did.
31 But concerning the messengers of the princes of Babylon, whom he sent to find out about the wonder that had occurred in the land, God left him alone, to test him, to make known to him all that was in his heart.
Death of Hezekiah
32 The rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his mercies, are written in the prophecy of Isaiah the son of Amoz, in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
33 Hezekiah rested with his ancestors and was buried in the most prominent place among the tombs of the descendants of David. All Judah and Jerusalem honored him at his death, and Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.
2 Chronicles Chapter 33
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
2 But he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the children of Israel.
3 For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made Asherah poles, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.
4 He also built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem my name shall be forever.”
5 He also built altars to all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.
6 He made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom; he practiced divination and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did exceedingly evil in the sight of the Lord, so that he aroused his anger.
7 Moreover, he set up a molten image, which he had made, in the house of God, concerning which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.
8 I will never again remove the foot of Israel from the land that I gave to your fathers, provided they are careful to do all that I have commanded them—all the law, the statutes, and the rules that were given through Moses.”
9 So Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more harm than the nations that the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.
10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not listen.
11 Therefore the Lord brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh into chains and bound him with fetters and carried him off to Babylon.
12 But when he was in distress, he prayed to the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors.
13 And when he prayed to him, he was heard; for God listened to his prayer and restored him to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh acknowledged that the Lord was God.
14 After this, he built the outer wall of the City of David west of the Gihon, in the valley at the entrance of the Fish Gate, and he fortified Ophel and made the wall very high; and he appointed commanders of the army in all the fortified cities of Judah.
15 He also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars he had built on the mountain of the Lord’s house and in Jerusalem, and he threw them out of the city.
16 Then he repaired the altar of the Lord and offered sacrifices of peace offerings and thanksgiving on it, and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.
17 But the people still offered sacrifices on the high places, though they offered them to the Lord their God.
18 The rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, are written in the records of the kings of Israel.
19 His prayer also, and how it was answered, all his sins, and his transgression, the places where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols, before he humbled himself—these things are written in the words of the seers.
20 So Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in his house; and Amon his son succeeded him as king.
21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.
22 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done, for he offered sacrifices and served all the idols that his father Manasseh had made.
23 But he did not humble himself before the Lord, as his father Manasseh had humbled himself; instead, he increased his sin.
24 So his servants conspired against him and killed him in his house.
25 But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.
2 Chronicles Chapter 34
Reign of Josiah
1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for thirty-one years.
2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.
Josiah's Reforms
3 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a boy, he began to seek the God of his father David. In the twelfth year, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images.
4 They tore down the altars of the Baals before him, and he smashed the incense altars that stood on them. He also smashed the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images, and ground them to powder and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
5 He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
6 He did the same in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, and in the surrounding ruins.
7 And when he had torn down the altars and the Asherah poles, and broken and smashed the idols, and destroyed all the idols throughout the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
Discovery of the Book of the Law
8 In the eighteenth year of his reign, after he had cleansed the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah son of Jehoahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord their God.
9 They came to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the house of the Lord, which the Levites who guarded the door had collected from Manasseh, Ephraim, all the remnant of Israel, all Judah and Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 They delivered it into the hands of those who were doing the work, the overseers of the house of the Lord, who gave it to those who were working on the temple of the Lord, to repair and restore it.
11 They also gave money to the carpenters and stonemasons to buy hewn stone and timber for the framework and framing of the buildings that the kings of Judah had destroyed.
12 These men carried out the work faithfully. Their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites of the Merarites, and Zechariah and Meshullam of the Kohathites, to direct the work. They also oversaw all the Levites who were skilled in playing musical instruments.
13 They also supervised the porters and were overseers of all the workers involved in any kind of construction. Among the Levites were scribes, governors, and gatekeepers.
14 When Hilkiah the priest brought out the money that had been brought into the house of the Lord, he found the Book of the Law of the Lord given through Moses.
15 Hilkiah reported this to Shaphan the scribe, saying, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” So Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.
16 Shaphan brought it to the king and reported the matter, saying, “Your servants have done everything they were charged with.
17 They have collected the money that was found in the house of the Lord and have delivered it into the hands of the officials and those who are doing the work.”
18 Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest gave me a book.” And Shaphan read from it before the king.
19 When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his clothes.
20 Then he commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying:
21 Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant of Israel and Judah concerning the words of the book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that has fallen on us, because our fathers did not keep the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book.
22 Then Hilkiah and the king’s men went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe, who lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter, and they told her the words mentioned above.
23 And she answered, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me, “Thus says the Lord:
24 Behold, I am bringing disaster on this place and on its inhabitants—all the curses that are written in the book that you read before the king of Judah.
25 Because they have forsaken me and have sacrificed to other gods, provoking me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.”
26 But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus say: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Because you heard the words of the book,
27 and your heart was moved, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words concerning this place and its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before me, and tore your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you,’ says the Lord.”
28 Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place and upon its inhabitants. And they reported the answer to the king.
29 Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
30 And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, the Levites, and all the people, from the greatest to the least; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord.
31 And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep His commandments, His testimonies, and His statutes, with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in that book.
32 He made all who were in Jerusalem and Benjamin bind themselves to it, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
33 Josiah removed all the abominations from all the land of the children of Israel, and made all who were found in Israel serve the Lord their God. They did not turn away from following the Lord, the God of their fathers, all the days of his life.
2 Chronicles Chapter 35
Josiah celebrates Passover
1 Josiah celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and they sacrificed the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month.
2 He also appointed the priests to their duties and confirmed them in the service of the house of the Lord.
3 He said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were dedicated to the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon son of David, king of Israel, built, so that you no longer have to carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel.
4 Prepare yourselves according to your ancestral houses, in your divisions, as David king of Israel and Solomon his son commanded.
5 Stand in the sanctuary according to the divisions of the families of your fellow Israelites and according to the divisions of the Levites.
6 Then sacrifice the Passover lamb, and after you have consecrated yourselves, prepare your fellow Israelites to do according to the word of the Lord given through Moses.”
7 King Josiah gave the people thirty thousand sheep, lambs, and young goats from the flocks, and three thousand cattle, all for the Passover, for all who were present; this from the king’s own property.
8 His officials also gave generously to the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, officials of the house of God, gave the priests two thousand six hundred sheep and three hundred cattle for the Passover.
9 Likewise, Conaniah, Shemaiah, and Nethanel, their brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, leaders of the Levites, gave the Levites five thousand sheep and five hundred cattle for the Passover sacrifices.
10 When the service was thus prepared, the priests took their places, and the Levites took their turns, according to the king’s command.
11 They slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests sprinkled the blood they had received from the Levites, while the Levites skinned the animals.
12 They took some of the burnt offering to distribute to the families of the people, to offer to the Lord as it is written in the Book of Moses; they also took some of the cattle.
13 They roasted the Passover lamb over the fire according to the prescribed ordinance, but the consecrated meat they cooked in pots, kettles, and pans, and distributed it quickly to all the people.
14 Then they prepared some for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were busy until evening with the burnt offerings and the fat portions. Therefore, the Levites prepared some for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.
15Likewise, the singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their places, according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; the gatekeepers were also at each gate; and they did not need to leave their posts, for their brothers the Levites were preparing for them.
16 Thus all the service of the Lord was prepared that day, to celebrate the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah.
17 And the children of Israel who were there celebrated the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days .
18 No such Passover had been celebrated in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet; nor had any king of Israel celebrated a Passover like the one King Josiah celebrated with the priests and Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, together with the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
19 This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of King Josiah
Death of Josiah
20 After all these things, when Josiah had repaired the house of the Lord, Neco king of Egypt went up to wage war at Carchemish on the Euphrates; and Josiah went out to meet him.
21 Then Neco 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 house that is at war with me; and God has told me to hurry. Stop opposing God, who is with me, lest he destroy you.”
22 But Josiah did not turn back, but disguised himself to fight against him, and he paid no attention to the words of Neco, which were from the mouth of God; and he came to fight against him in the plain of Megiddo.
23 And the archers shot at King Josiah. Then the king said to his servants, “Take me away from here, for I am badly wounded.”
24 Then his servants took him out of that chariot and put him in a second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died; and they buried him in the tombs of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
25 And Jeremiah lamented Josiah. All the male and female singers recite these lamentations over Josiah to this day; and they have become a set of lamentations in Israel, which are written in the Book of Lamentations.
26 The rest of the acts of Josiah, and his deeds of righteousness, according to what is written in the Law of the Lord,
27 And his acts, first and last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
2 Chronicles Chapter 36
Reign and dethronement of Jehoahaz
1 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in place of his father in Jerusalem.
2 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
3 Then the king of Egypt removed him from Jerusalem and made the land pay one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.
4 The king of Egypt made Eliakim, Jehoahaz’s brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Jehoahaz his brother took Neco and carried him to Egypt.
Reign of Jehoiakim
5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord his God.
6 Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him and bound him in chains to Babylon.
7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried away to Babylon some of the articles from the house of the Lord and put them in his temple there.
8 The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the abominations he committed, and what was found in him, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.
Joachim is taken captive to Babylon
9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.
10 At the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and had him taken to Babylon, along with the precious articles of the house of the Lord, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
Reign of Zedekiah
11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
12 He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke to him from the Lord.
13 He also rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, to whom he had sworn by God; he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart, refusing to return to the Lord, the God of Israel.
14 All the chief priests and the people also increased wickedness, following all the abominations of the nations and defiling the house of the Lord, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.
15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them again and again by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.
16 But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people, and there was no remedy.
Captivity of Judah
17 Therefore he brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, sparing neither young man nor maiden, old man nor infirm; he gave them all into his hand.
18 Likewise, all the articles of the house of God, great and small, the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the house of the king and of his princes, he carried off to Babylon.
19 And they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and consumed with fire all its palaces, and destroyed all its precious objects.
20 Those who escaped the sword were carried away captive to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons, until the kingdom of Persia came;
21 that the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah might be fulfilled, until the land had enjoyed its rest; for all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed.
The decree of Cyrus
22 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put it in writing:
23 “ This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever is among you from all his people—may the Lord their God be with them—let them go up.’”