¹So, after [King] Ahab died, [the Kingdom of] Moab terminated its alliance with Israel. ²Then [the new King of IsraEl] AhaziAh fell through the latticework on the roof of [his palace] in Samaria and he was badly injured.So he sent for messengers and told them to go ask the BaAl, the Fly God of EkRon if he was going to survive… And they went to ask him.³Meanwhile, a messenger of Jehovah went and spoke to [the Prophet] EliJah (the Tishbite) and told him to go and meet with the messengers of AhaziAh the king of Samaria to ask:‘Is it because there’s no God in IsraEl that you’re so anxiously going to see the BaAl, the Fly God of EkRon?‘You know that isn’t true!⁴‘So, go back and tell AhaziAh that he’s not going to get out of the bed that he’s lying in, because he’s going to die!’Well, that’s what EliJah did.⁵So the messengers returned to [King AhaziAh], and when he asked them why they’d come back so soon, ⁶they said:‘Because a man came to meet us, and he told us to return to the king who sent us and tell him that Jehovah asked:‘Why are you so anxiously going to see the BaAl, the Fly God of EkRon? Is it because there’s no God in IsraEl?‘There’s no need to do that, because he won’t be getting out of the bed he’s lying in, since he’s going to die!’⁷Then, after they reported what EliJah said, the king asked:‘What did the man look like that came to meet you and said those things?’⁸And they told him:‘He had a lot of hair and he wore a large leather belt around his waist.’Then [King AhaziAh] said:‘Ah, it’s EliJah the Tishbite!’⁹So he sent a contingent of 50 men to get EliJah, and when they found him, he happened to be sitting at the very top of a mountain.Then the lieutenant in charge of the 50 men said to him:‘O man of God,‘The king has called for you, so come down from there!’¹⁰But EliJah replied to the leader of the group:‘If I am a man of God, I can bring fire down from the sky to consume you and your 50 men...’And at that, fire came out of the sky, which destroyed him and all 50 of his men!¹¹So thereafter, the king sent another contingent of 50 men. And when they got [to EliJah], the lieutenant over the group said:‘O man of God,‘The king says that you should come down from there… Right now!’¹²But EliJah replied:‘If I am a man of God, fire will come down from the sky and consume you and your 50 men...’Then fire again came out of the sky and destroyed him and his 50 men!¹³So the king sent a third contingent of 50 men.But this time, when they got to him, the lieutenant over the 50 got down on his knees before EliJah and begged him, saying:‘O man of God,‘Please value my life and the lives of your servants, these 50 men who are standing before you.¹⁴‘For {Look!} fire came down from the sky and destroyed the previous two groups of 50 men and their leaders... But, please value the lives of your servants that are standing here before you!’¹⁵Then a messenger from Jehovah spoke to EliJah and said:‘Get down and go with him… But, don’t be afraid of them.’So EliJah climbed down and went with them to see the king.¹⁶Then he told the king:‘Jehovah has asked why you sent your messengers to get a reply from the BaAl, the Fly God of EkRon.‘He says that won’t be necessary, because you won’t be getting out of the bed that you’re in, since you’re going to die!’¹⁷And at that he died, just as Jehovah had said through EliJah.¹⁸Well, {Look!} all the rest of the many things that AhaziAh said and did have been written about in the words of the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of IsraEl.

¹Then Jehovah planned to take EliJah into the sky in a great shaking. And at the time, EliJah and EliSha had just left GilGal together.²So EliJah said to EliSha:‘Wait here, because Jehovah is sending me on to BethEl.’But EliSha asked:‘As Jehovah lives and as you live, should I just I abandon you?!’So they traveled on to BethEl together. ³[And when they got to] BethEl, the Sons of the prophets came to EliSha and said to him:‘Did you know that Jehovah is going to take your master and lift him over your head today?’And he replied:‘Yes, I know… But let’s not talk about it!’⁶Then EliJah told him:‘Now, you should just wait here, for Jehovah is sending me to the JorDan River.’And EliSha [again] said:‘As Jehovah lives and as you live, am I to abandon you?!’So they both traveled on.⁷Well, 50 of the Sons of the prophets were standing some distance away next to the JorDan, as both men walked up to the river... ⁸Then EliJah took off his sheepskin cape, folded it in half, and he struck the water with it, and [the river] parted before them… So they both crossed it on dry land!⁹And as they were crossing, EliJah said to EliSha:‘Tell me what I can do for you before I’m taken away from you.’So EliSha told him:‘Please bestow a double portion of your Spirit upon me.’¹⁰And EliJah told him:‘That’s a difficult request...‘If you see me being taken up from you, you’ll receive it. But if you don’t, it won’t happen.’¹¹Then, as they were crossing the river walking along and talking, {Look!} a chariot of fire with horses of fire rode up between them, and carried EliJah into the sky with a great shaking.¹²And when EliSha saw this, he yelled out:‘O father, O father,‘The chariot of IsraEl and his horseman!’But, EliJah quickly passed out of sight.Then [EliSha] ripped his own clothes in half, ¹³and he picked up EliJah’s sheepskin cape that had fallen on top of him, and he raised it high as he walked back to the bank of the river... ¹⁴And after that, he took EliJah’s sheepskin cape that had fallen upon him and struck the water with it… But it didn’t part.So he cried out:‘Where is the God of EliJah now?’Then he struck the water again, and this time [the river] ripped apart on either side of him! So thereafter, EliSha was able to finish crossing the river.¹⁵Well, when the Sons of the prophets who’d come from JeriCho saw him standing on their side of the river, they said:‘Surely the Breath of EliJah now rests upon EliSha!’So they came to greet him, bowing to the ground before him.¹⁶Then they said to him:‘{Look!} We have 50 men [who are filled with God’s] power.‘Allow us to send them to search for your master; for the Breath of Jehovah may have tossed him into the JorDan or onto one of the mountains or hills!’And EliSha said:‘No, don’t send them.’¹⁷But they kept insisting until he [became exasperated] and said:‘Okay, then send them!’Therefore, they sent the 50 men who searched for him for three days, but they couldn’t find him.¹⁸And when they returned to where EliSha was staying in JeriCho, he said to them:‘Didn’t I tell you not to go?’¹⁹Well meanwhile, the men of [JeriCho] had come to EliSha and said:‘{Look!} As you can see, O master, this city is in a good location.‘However, the water is bad and nothing wants to grow here.’²⁰And EliSha said:‘Bring me a new water jar filled with salt.’So they went and brought [the jar of salt] to him... ²¹And EliSha went to the place where they got their water and threw the salt into it, and said:‘This is what Jehovah has proclaimed:‘I’ve made the water good, so it will no longer cause death or destruction.’²²And the water there has in fact remained good to this day, just as EliSha said.²³Well after that, EliSha left [JeriCho] and traveled back towards BethEl. But on the way, some young boys who were following him from the city started making fun of him by shouting:‘Go into the sky O bald man… Go up into the sky!’²⁴And when he saw this, he turned around and cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then {Look!} two bears came out of the woods and tore all 42 of the children to pieces!²⁵Well thereafter, he traveled on to Mount CarMel, and then on to Samaria.

¹In the 18th year of King JehoShaphat of Judah, [King] JehoRam (son of Ahab) started his reign in IsraEl, and he reigned for 12 years.²He also acted wickedly in the eyes of Jehovah, but he wasn’t as bad as his father or mother, ³for he removed the columns of BaAl that his father had erected. However, he still hung onto and practiced the sins of JeroBoam (son of NaBat) who had led IsraEl into sin.⁴Now, King Mesha of MoAb was a shepherd, and he’d sent 100,000 lambs and 100,000 wooly rams to [Ahab] the king of IsraEl, as a good-will gesture. ⁵But after Ahab died, the king of MoAb ended his alliance with the kings of IsraEl.⁶So King JehoRam went from Samaria and took a census [of the army] of IsraEl, ⁷then he sent a message to King JehoShaphat of Judah, telling him:‘The king of MoAb has annulled his alliance with me. So, will you join me in a war against MoAb?’And he replied:‘I will… Since you and I are very much alike, and your people and my people [are related]. My horses are your horses!⁸‘Which road do you want me to take?’And JehoRam replied:‘[Join me] on the road to the desert of Edom.’⁹So the king of IsraEl, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom went on a march against the king of MoAb that lasted 7 days. However, because they were marching in circles, they finally ran out of water and they no longer had enough for both their animals and their troops.¹⁰Then the king of IsraEl said:‘Did Jehovah call us three kings and send us here just to hand us over to MoAb?’¹¹And JehoShaphat asked:‘Did you bring along a prophet of Jehovah?‘We should be asking him!’And one of the servants of the king of IsraEl said:‘We can go to EliSha son of ShaPhat, the one who used to serve EliJah.’¹²Then JehoShaphat asked:‘He does have Jehovah’s word.’So thereafter, the king of IsraEl, the king of Judah (JehoShaphat), and the king of Edom went to see him.¹³And EliSha asked King [JehoRam] of IsraEl:‘Why have you come here… Why don’t you go to the prophets of your father and mother?’But the king of IsraEl asked him:‘Has Jehovah called all three of us kings here just to hand us over to MoAb?’¹⁴And EliSha said:‘As Jehovah the God of armies (before whom I stand) lives...‘Were it not for the fact that King JehoShaphat of Judah is welcome here, I would never have bothered to see you.¹⁵‘But now, bring me my harp.’Well, as he strummed his harp, the hand of Jehovah came over him ¹⁶and he said:‘This is the word of Jehovah:‘Dig cistern after cistern in the wadi, ¹⁷For, although the wind blows, it won’t rain, But the wadi will still fill with water For you, your men, and your animals.¹⁸‘And because this is not a light matter In the eyes of Jehovah; I will give MoAb into your hands.¹⁹‘But, you must destroy their fortified cities And cut down all their good trees. Then, stop up their wells and their springs, And cover their land up with rocks.’²⁰Well, the next morning, just after they’d offered sacrifices, {Look!} there was water running down the road to Edom, which covered the land!²¹Meanwhile, when the MoAbites heard that the three kings were coming to war against them, people started yelling all over the land and strapping on their [swords], then they all gathered for war along their borders.²²But when they got up early the next morning and gazed at the sun rising over the water, it appeared to be fiery red… Like blood!²³So they said:‘That’s blood from a battle!‘Those kings have clearly fought among themselves, and now they’re the spoils of MoAb!’²⁴So the MoAbites then advanced towards the camp of IsraEl... [However, they were surprised] when IsraEl came out and attacked them!So they ran away, and IsraEl thereafter entered their land and destroyed MoAb, ²⁵demolishing all their cities... And after that, each man picked up rocks and threw them over the good land, covering the ground with rocks, and they stopped up all the springs and wells.They also cut down all the good trees and broke the walls of the cities into rocks, then they surrounded the cities and pelted them with the rocks.²⁶Well, when the king of MoAb realized that all was lost, he took 700 of his best men and tried to cut through the [lines of] the king of Edom, but he was unsuccessful... ²⁷Then he [went back] and took his firstborn son (the one who was to be his successor) and sacrificed him as a whole burnt offering on his [city] wall.And since he’d offered his repentance to IsraEl in such a great way, they left his land and just went back home.

¹Then a woman of one of the sons of the prophets called for EliSha and then she said to him:‘Your servant, my husband, has died, and you know that your servant was [a person] who feared Jehovah... However, the moneylender just came to take my two sons as his slaves.’²And EliSha said:‘Then, tell me what I can do for you… Is there anything that you own with which [you can pay for their release]?’And she replied:‘I don’t have a single thing in my house other than some olive oil that’s used for anointing.’³And he said:‘Then, go around to your neighbors and see how many empty jars you can get from them... ⁴After that, go back home and lock yourself and your sons inside, and fill each of the jars with [the olive oil], one at a time.’⁵So she went home and did as he told her... She gathered her sons and locked the doors, and then she started filling the jars.⁶Well, as she filled them, she kept saying to her sons:‘Now, bring me another jar!’However, they finally told her:‘There aren’t any more jars.’And at that, the flow of olive oil ended.⁷So she went and reported what had happened to EliSha, the man of God.And EliSha said:‘Now, go and sell the olive oil, and that will pay your interest. Then you and your sons can use whatever you don’t sell.’⁸Well, one day, as EliSha was passing through [the village of] Soman, a wealthy woman who lived there insisted that he come in for a meal. And thereafter, whenever he was passing by, he would stop there to eat.⁹So the woman said to her husband:‘{Look!} I know that this is a holy man of God who is always stopping here. ¹⁰Why don’t we make a small room for him upstairs? We can put a bed, a table, a chair, and a lampstand there, and whenever he comes to visit, he can spend the night here.’¹¹And one day when he was in the area, he stopped in and went to his upstairs room, where he went to bed.¹²Then later, [EliSha] told his servant GeHazi:‘Call the Somanite woman and ask to speak to her. Tell her:‘{Look!} You’ve surprised us with [the good thing you’ve done for us]. So, what can we do for you? Can we put in a good word for you with the king or with his generals?’¹³But she replied:‘No, I live among friends and I have a happy life.’¹⁴So he asked GeHazi:‘What [nice thing] do you think we can do for her?’And GeHazi replied:‘Well, she has no son, and her husband is very old.’¹⁵So EliSha said:‘Then call her!’So he called to her, and she came up and stood by the door, ¹⁶and he said to her:‘On this day next year, at about the same time, you’ll be holding a living son.’But she said:‘Oh no, my lord! You shouldn’t disappoint your female servant like this!’¹⁷However, the woman did get pregnant and give birth to a living son on the same day and [at the same] time the following year, just as EliSha had told her!¹⁸Well, the boy grew wonderfully. Then, one day he went out to where his father was harvesting, ¹⁹and he said to him:‘Oh, my head! My head hurts!’So the father told his servant:‘Carry him to his mother.’²⁰And he carried him [home] to his mother, who put him to sleep on her knees.However, sometime around noon, he died.²¹Then she carried him upstairs and laid him on the bed of the man of God. And after she locked the door, she called for her husband ²²and told him:‘Send one of the servants with me and a burro, because I’m going to run and find the man of God and bring him back.’²³Well, he asked:‘Why do you have to go to him today?‘It’s not a New Moon or a Sabbath.’But she just said:‘Peace!’²⁴Then she saddled her burro and told her servant:‘You lead… Go!‘Don’t wait for me to mount the burro… As I said, Go! Search throughout Mount CarMel and find the man of God!’²⁵So they went to the mountain and found the man of God.Well when EliSha saw her coming, he said to GeHazi (his servant):‘Isn’t that the Somanite woman? ²⁶If so, run to meet her and say:‘May you, your husband, and the boy have peace!’Then as she [approached GeHazi], she also said:‘Peace!’²⁷Well at that, she went up to EliSha on the mountain and grabbed hold of his feet. However, GeHazi tried to push her away...But EliSha said:‘Leave her alone, because there’s a lot of pain in her life!‘I don’t know what it is yet, because Jehovah has concealed it from me.’²⁸Then she said to him:‘I didn’t ask for a son from my lord, and I told you not to mislead me…’²⁹And EliSha said to GeHazi:‘Tighten your belt, then take my walking stick and go!‘If you see any man along the way, don’t stop to bless him… Or if a man should bless you, don’t answer him.‘Go and place my walking stick against the face of the boy.’³⁰But the boy’s mother said to EliSha:‘As Jehovah lives and as your body is living; are we going to leave you behind?’So EliSha got up and went with her, ³¹as GeHazi traveled ahead.Well [when GeHazi got there], he placed the walking stick against the boy’s face… But there was no sound and he couldn’t hear anything.So he went back to EliSha and said:‘The boy didn’t get up.’³²Then EliSha went into the house and {Look!} he found the dead boy lying on his bed. ³³So he went inside the room, locked the door behind him, and he prayed to Jehovah.³⁴Then he got down on top of the boy, mouth-to-mouth, eye-to-eye, and hand-to-hand, and he just laid there warming his flesh.³⁵Then he got up and he walked all around the house, and thereafter, he went back upstairs and leaned against the boy seven times…And suddenly the boy opened his eyes!³⁶So EliSha yelled out to GeHazi:‘Call the Somanite woman!’Well, he called her and she went upstairs; and EliSha said:‘Here’s your son!’³⁷So she went in, fell down upon EliSha’s feet, and bowed to the ground before him. Then she took her son [back downstairs].³⁸Well after that, EliSha traveled to GilGal, because there was a famine in the land. There the sons of the prophets sat down before him, and EliSha told his servant:‘Go get the large cooking pot and boil up some stew for the sons of the prophets.’³⁹So his servant went out into the fields to collect some vegetables. There he found a vine growing that had some [poisonous] wild gourds. So he [unknowingly] picked [them,] enough to fill his coat. Then he threw them into the stew pot (but they didn’t know anything about it).⁴⁰However, afterwards, when he poured out the stew for the men and they started eating it, they yelled:‘O man of God… There’s poison in this!’And they weren’t willing to eat it.⁴¹However, EliSha told his servant:‘Just take some flour and add it to the pot.’Then he told GeHazi to pour some more for them to eat... Well, there wasn’t anything wrong with the food in the pot after that.⁴²And later, a man from BethSariSha came to him carrying the first fruits of his harvest for the man of God… 20 barley loaves and [several] clusters of dried figs.And he said:‘Give this to these people and let them eat it.’⁴³But [EliSha] said to his servant:‘Why should I feed those things to just 100 men?‘Give it to the [rest] of the people [of the city] and let them eat it, for Jehovah told me:‘They will eat it and then they’ll have leftovers!’⁴⁴And for a fact, after everyone ate it, there were leftovers – just as Jehovah had said.

¹There was a man named NaAman who was the commander-in-chief of the army of Syria. He was highly valued by his lord and everyone admired him. Jehovah had also used him to save Syria; for, he was a very strong and mighty man.However, this man had contracted leprosy.²Meanwhile, the Syrians had gone into IsraEl lightly armed, and they captured a young girl there, who was given to NaAman’s woman as a servant.³And it was she who suggested to her lady:‘My master should go to see the prophet of God who is in Samaria, for he will cure him of his leprosy!’⁴As a result, [NaAman’s woman] went in to [her husband] while he was [with the king] and told him what she’d heard the girl from the land of IsraEl say.⁵And the king of Syria said to NaAman:‘Then go there, and I’ll send along a letter for the king of IsraEl.’So thereafter, NaAman went [to Samaria] carrying along 700 pounds (320kg) of silver, 6,000 gold coins, 10 suits of clothes, ⁶and a letter to the king of IsraEl, which said:‘Along with this letter, {Look!} I am sending my servant NaAman to you and I’m asking that you cure him of his leprosy.’⁷Well when the king of IsraEl read the letter, he ripped his clothes and said:‘Am I God who can bring death to one and life to another that he would send me a man to be cured of his leprosy?‘How do I know that this really isn’t just an excuse to attack me?’⁸However, when EliSha heard about the king of IsraEl ripping his clothes, he sent [a message] to the king which said:‘Why did you tear your clothes?‘Allow NaAman to come to me, so he will know that there’s a prophet in IsraEl!’⁹And thereafter, NaAman went to him riding his horse-drawn chariot, stopping in front of the door of EliSha’s house. ¹⁰Then EliSha sent a messenger outside to him that told him:‘You should go and bathe yourself in the JorDan River seven times, and your flesh will be cleansed.’¹¹Well, NaAman was outraged!He said:‘They told me that this man would come out and stand before me, then call on the Name of his God and put his hand on the leprosy and cure it!¹²‘Aren’t the Abana and Phaphar Rivers in Damascus superior to the JorDan and all the waters of IsraEl?‘If I want to wash myself, I can go bathe in them!’So he left in a huff!¹³But later, his servant spoke to him and gave him some great advice.He said:‘Shouldn’t you do what the prophet said?‘All he told you to do was to bathe and be cleansed!’¹⁴So then NaAman went down to the JorDan and dipped himself in the water seven times, just as EliSha had said… And he was cleansed!In fact, his skin became like that of a young boy!¹⁵So he returned to EliSha with his entire contingent of guards, then he stood before him and said:‘{Look!} Now I know for sure that there’s no God in all the earth other than just in IsraEl!‘Please accept these blessings from your servant!’¹⁶But EliSha said:‘As [Jehovah, the God] that I stand before lives; how could I accept such things?’Well, [NaAman] kept insisting, but EliSha kept resisting.¹⁷Then NaAman said:‘At least, let your servant give you this team of mules, and you can give me some of your red earth in return… Then I’ll quit insisting.‘For your servant promises that he won’t present whole burnt offerings or sacrifices to any gods other than to Jehovah alone, because of what this God has done!¹⁸‘However, may Jehovah deal kindly with your servant when I have to enter the temple of RemMan with my master! Because, when he goes there, he has to hold onto my hand when he kneels before RemMan… So I must bend down also.‘May Jehovah deal kindly with your servant in this matter.’¹⁹And EliSha told NaAman:‘Yes, go in peace.’So he left and headed towards the land of DebRatha.²⁰But after that, GeHazi (EliSha’s servant) said to himself:‘{Look!} NaAman was saved, yet my master wouldn’t accept any of the things that he brought.‘As Jehovah lives, I’m going to run after him and accept anything that he’s willing to give!’²¹So then, GeHazi ran after NaAman, and when NaAman saw him running behind, he stopped his chariot and waited for him.And [after he caught up], GeHazi said:‘Peace!²²‘My master has sent me and he told me to say:‘{Look!} two young men just came to me from the sons of the prophets in the hills of Ephraim. So, please let me have 70 pounds (32kg) of silver and two suits of clothes to give to them.’²³And NaAman said:‘Here, take 140 pounds (63.5kg) of silver!’So GeHazi took the silver in two pouches, as well as two suits of clothes, and he handed them to his servants that carried the things on ahead of him... ²⁴And when they got to a shady spot he sent them on, as he took it all for himself and carried it back home.²⁵Well later, when he went to see his master, EliSha asked him:‘Where did you come from, GeHazi?’And GeHazi replied:‘Oh, your servant was just traveling here and there.’²⁶And EliSha said to him:‘Wasn’t my heart traveling with you when the man stopped his chariot to wait for you?‘So, now you’ve taken the silver and the clothing, and you’re planning to buy gardens, olive groves, vineyards, sheep, oxen, and male and female servants... However, the leprosy of NaAman will stick to you and to your offspring throughout the ages!’Then, as he was leaving, his face became as white as snow with leprosy!

¹Later, the sons of the prophets went to EliSha and said:‘Look, this place near you (where we’re living) is getting too small for us... ²So we’re going to the JorDan, and each man is going to carry along a timber that we can use to build a place for us there.’And EliSha said:‘Then go!’³But one of them said:‘We want you to come with us.’And he agreed to go.⁴So he traveled with them, and when they got to the JorDan, they started cutting trees. ⁵Then {Look!} when one of them was setting a rafter in place, an iron tool fell into the river.And he yelled:‘O Lord!’But it was gone.⁶Well, the man of God came to him and asked:‘Where did it fall?’And he showed him the place... Then EliSha picked up a piece of wood and threw it into the spot, and the iron tool floated to the surface.⁷And he said:‘Now, pick it up yourself.’So he reached out and grabbed the tool.⁸Well at the time, the king of Syria was at war with IsraEl.So he consulted with his servants and selected a certain concealed place to set up his camp. ⁹Then EliSha sent [a message] to the king of IsraEl, saying:‘Be careful not to get to close to (such and such) a place, because the Syrians are hiding there.’¹⁰So the king of IsraEl went to the place that EliSha had warned him about, but he was spotted watching the place not once, but twice! ¹¹And when word of this reached the king of Syria, he was very upset.So he called his servants and said to them:‘Is anyone going to tell me who it is that betrayed me to the king of IsraEl?’¹²And his servants said:‘No one, our lord, O king; for it’s EliSha the prophet of IsraEl who tells the king of IsraEl the things that you say in your closet and in your bedroom.’¹³Then the king said:‘Go find him and bring him to me!’Therefore, they went, and before long they reported back to the king, saying:‘{Look!} He’s in [the area of] Dothan.’¹⁴As a result, the king sent horses and chariots there that night, along with many soldiers that surrounded the city... ¹⁵And when the servant that had been assigned to EliSha got up early in the morning and went outside, {Look!} he saw the army surrounding the city with all their horses and chariots!So he went back inside and said:‘O master, what should we do?’¹⁶But EliSha told him:‘Don’t be afraid, for there are many more with us than there are with them.’¹⁷Then EliSha prayed and said:‘O Jehovah, open wide the eyes of this servant.’So, Jehovah opened his eyes wide, and he saw {Look!} that the mountain was filled with horses and chariots of fire that were surrounding EliSha!¹⁸And when they came to get him, EliSha asked this of Jehovah:‘Now, strike this nation so they can’t see!’And suddenly they were all struck [mentally] blind, just as EliSha had asked!¹⁹So then, EliSha shouted at them:‘This is the wrong city… You took the wrong road!‘Follow me and I’ll lead you to the man you’re searching for.’Well from there, he led them to Samaria, ²⁰and when they got there, EliSha prayed:‘O Jehovah, now open their eyes and let them see!’So at that, Jehovah opened their eyes wide, and they realized that {Look!} they were right in the middle of Samaria!²¹And when the king of IsraEl saw them, he asked EliSha:‘Shall I cut them down, O father?’²²But he told him that he shouldn’t do that, for he said:‘Unless you’ve captured and beaten them with your swords and bows, you shouldn’t cut them down. Rather, set some food and water before them so they can eat and drink, then let them return to their lord.’²³As a result, the king laid a great feast before them, which they ate and drank, and then he sent them back to their lord. However, the Syrians continued to send their armies into the land of IsraEl after that.²⁴Then one day, King BenHader of Syria gathered all of his troops and laid siege to Samaria, ²⁵which brought a great famine to the city. {Look!} At the time, a burro’s head came to be worth 50 silver coins, and a pint of dove droppings was worth 5 silver coins!²⁶Well when the king of IsraEl was walking along the city wall one day, a woman yelled to him, saying:‘Save us, O lord our king!’²⁷And he replied:‘What can I save you from… The threshing floor or the wine vat?‘Only Jehovah can save you!’²⁸Then the king asked her:‘What’s wrong with you?’And she replied:‘A woman came and said to me:‘Give me your son so we can both eat him today and tomorrow!’²⁹‘So I gave her my son, and we boiled him and ate him. Then the next day, I told her to give me her son to eat, but she took him and hid him!’³⁰Well when the king of IsraEl heard what the woman said, he started ripping his clothes! Then he traveled around the wall and he noticed that his people were wearing sackcloth as their underwear.³¹And he prayed:‘Curse me O God and add to it if I leave EliSha’s head on his [shoulders] today!’³²At the time, EliSha was at his home and all the elders were sitting around him. So the king sent a man to get EliSha... But before the messenger got there, EliSha said this to the elders:‘Did you know that the king has sent an executioner to cut off my head today? When he gets here, I want you to lock the door and not let him in; for the feet of his lord will be following close behind him.’³³And it was while he was still speaking to them {Look!} that the messenger arrived, who shouted at [EliSha]:‘{Look!} Since all this evil has come from Jehovah, is there any reason for us to keep on waiting for Jehovah to do something?’

¹And EliSha replied:‘Listen to the word of Jehovah; for this is what He said:‘At this same time tomorrow, a scoop of fine flour will sell for a copper coin, and two scoops of barley will sell for a copper coin inside the gates of Samaria.’²But this envoy (the one who led the king by the hand and whom he leaned on) said to EliSha:‘{Look!} Are you saying that Jehovah will make it all pour from the sky? It’ll never happen!’And EliSha said:‘Look! You’ll see it with your own eyes… However, you won’t eat any of it.’³Well that evening, there were four lepers who were standing outside the city gate.And one said to the other:‘Why are we just waiting here to die?⁴‘If we go into the city, there’s a famine and we’ll just starve to death there. However, if we go into the camp of the Syrians… Although they could kill us, they might also allow us to live.’⁵So they got up during the night and snuck into the camp of the Syrians... But when they reached the camp, {Look!} they found no one there. ⁶For Jehovah had created the sounds of horses, chariots, and a huge army, and all the people in the camp thought the king of IsraEl had hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to come and attack them.⁷So they all got up and just ran away in the darkness, abandoning their tents, their horses, and their burros, as they ran for their lives!⁸Well at that, the lepers went into the camp and entered one of the tents, and they ate and drank whatever they found there. They also took some silver, gold, and clothing.Then they went into another tent and took all that was there, and they hid everything.⁹But then, one said to the other:‘Let’s do the right thing today, because this is good news!‘We could just say nothing and wait until morning as we take more of these things; but let’s go and announce what’s happened to the house of the king!’¹⁰So they went up to the city gate and yelled:‘We entered the Syrian camp because {Look!} we couldn’t hear anything, and we found that no one is there!‘All we can find is their horses and burros, which are still tied, and their tents. And everything has been left just as it was!’¹¹Well, the gatekeepers ran and announced this to the house of the king... ¹²Then the king got out of bed and said to his servants:‘Let me tell you what the Syrians are doing; they know that we’re starving, so they’ve left their camp and they’re hiding in the fields!‘They think that we’ll leave the city, then they can rush in and attack us… And after that, they can just walk into our city.’¹³But one of his servants said:‘Well, let’s go and take five of the horses that they’ve left behind, and then let us send out some of the sick and dying… And we can watch to see what happens.’¹⁴So then the king of IsraEl sent out two of his men on horses to look for the king of Syria.He said to them:‘Go search for him!’¹⁵Well, they traveled as far as the [River] JorDan and {Look!} all they found was clothing and other things that the Syrians had dropped as they fled... And after the messengers returned and reported this to the king, ¹⁶the people went out and tore the camp of Syria to shreds!¹⁷Then the king assigned his envoy (the one who took the king by the hand and whom he leaned upon) to be in charge of the [city] gate. Well, the [large crowd of] people crushed him underfoot at the gate and he died – just like the man of God said when this messenger came to see him.¹⁸So, just as EliSha had told the king at the same time on the previous day, two scoops of barley actually sold for a copper coin, and a scoop of fine flour sold for a copper coin inside the gates of Samaria!¹⁹And the envoy who had said to EliSha:‘{Look!} Will Jehovah make it pour from the sky? It’ll never happen...’...and to whom EliSha had said:‘{Look!} You’ll see it with your eyes, but you won’t eat any of it...’²⁰Well, that’s what happened to him, for the king had put him in charge of opening the city gate, and the people trampled him to death as they rushed out.

¹Thereafter, EliSha went and spoke to the woman whose son he had brought back to life.He said to her:‘You should get up and take everyone in your house to wherever you wish to go, for Jehovah has called for a famine on the land that will last for 7 years.’²As a result, the woman got up and did as EliSha told her. She took everyone in her home and went to live in the land of the Philistines for 7 years.³Then at the end of 7 years, the woman left the land of the Philistines and returned to her city. And when she got back, she went before the king to complain about the [loss] of her house and her fields.⁴Well when she arrived, the king happened to be speaking to GeHazi (the servant of EliSha, the man of God). And [the king] had just asked him to describe all the great things that EliSha had done.⁵So it was as he was describing how EliSha had brought the woman’s dead son back to life after he’d died that the woman arrived to complain to the king about the [loss] of her house and fields.And GeHazi said:‘O my lord the king; here’s the woman whose son EliSha brought back to life!’⁶So the king asked the woman, and she told him about all that had happened.Then the king said to one of his eunuchs:‘Return everything to her, including all the crops that have grown in her fields from the time she left the land until now.’⁷Then sometime later, EliSha went to see King BenHader of Syria in Damascus, who was very ill.And when they announced to him:‘The man of God is here!’⁸The king said to HazaEl:‘Bring along a gift and go meet with the man of God... Tell him to go before Jehovah quickly and ask if I’ll survive this illness.’⁹So HazaEl went to meet with him, and he brought along many fine gifts from Damascus that were carried on 40 camels.Then he went in and stood in the presence of EliSha, and said:‘Your son, King BenHader of Syria, has sent me to you to ask:‘Will I survive this illness?’¹⁰And EliSha said to him:‘Go and tell him:‘You will live your life!’‘However, Jehovah has shown me that he will die.’¹¹Well thereafter, [HazaEl] brought the gifts in and set them before [EliSha] (but EliSha just let them sit there and rot, to shame him)... Then the man of God started crying.¹²So HazaEl asked:‘Why is my master crying?’And [EliSha] replied:‘Because, I can see all the many bad things that you’re going to do to the sons of IsraEl!‘You’re going to burn their forts, kill their best men with broadswords, destroy their little children, and you’ll cut open their pregnant women!’¹³But HazaEl asked:‘Do you think of your servant as a dead dog that I’d do such a thing?’And EliSha said:‘Jehovah has shown me that you’ll become the ruler over Syria.’¹⁴Well after [HazaEl] left EliSha and returned to his master, [King BenHader] asked him:‘What did EliSha tell you?’And he replied:‘He told me that you’ll live.’¹⁵But the next day, [HazaEl] took a rag, dipped it in water, and wrapped it over [the king’s] face, and he [suffocated and] died... So, HazaEl started reigning in place of him.¹⁶It was in the 5th year of the reign of King JehoRam (son of Ahab) of IsraEl that King JehoRam (son of JehoShaphat) of Judah began to reign over Judah. ¹⁷He was 32 years old when he became king, and he reigned from JeruSalem for 8 years.¹⁸However, he followed in the ways of the kings of IsraEl and the house of Ahab, because Ahab’s daughter was his woman. So he acted very wickedly before Jehovah.¹⁹However, Jehovah didn’t want [to harm] Judah because of His promise to His servant David that He would allow him and his descendants to be the lamplight throughout the rest of the days.²⁰Then the Edomites rebelled against Judah and set up their own king... ²¹So, [King] JehoRam [of Judah] took his chariots and went to ZaIr to attack Edom.But then the Edomites surrounded JehoRam and his generals, so JehoRam’s army all ran back to their tents! ²²And because of this, Edom hasn’t been ruled by Judah down to this day... And thereafter, [the city of] LibNah broke away from the rule [of Judah].²³The rest of the things that JehoRam [of Judah] said and did have been written about in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of Judah.²⁴And when JehoRam [of Judah] went to sleep with his ancestors, they buried him in the tomb of his ancestors in the city of his ancestor David.Then his son AhaziAh started ruling in place of him.²⁵It was in the 12th year of King JehoRam (son of Ahab) of IsraEl that King AhaziAh (son of JehoRam) [of Judah] started to rule. ²⁶He was 22 years old when he started his reign in JeruSalem, which only lasted 1 year. His mother’s name was AthaliAh, and she was the daughter of OmRi, the king of IsraEl, who was related to the house of Ahab.²⁷So he also followed in the ways of the house of Ahab and he acted wickedly before Jehovah.²⁸But thereafter, [King] AhaziAh [of Judah] joined King JehoRam (son of Ahab) [of IsraEl] in a war against King HazaEl of Syria and against the Philistines at [the city of] Ramoth Gilead… And the Syrians wounded JehoRam there.²⁹So he went to [the fortress of] JezReEl to have the wounds that he’d received in his war with [King] HazaEl at RamOth treated medically, and King AhaziAh (son of JehoRam) of Judah went to see this son of Ahab in JezReEl, because he was very ill.

¹Well at that, the Prophet EliSha called one of the sons of the prophets in and said to him:‘Wrap your loins and take this flask of oil to RamOth GileAd... ²Go to see [General] Jehu son of JehoShaphat and grandson of NaMesSi, and you must elevate him over his brothers!³‘Take him into the bin of a storage shed then pour this flask of oil over his head, and tell him that Jehovah said this:‘I have anointed you to be the king over IsraEl.’‘Thereafter, open the door and run… Don’t wait around!’⁴So the young prophet went to RamOth GileAd, ⁵and as he entered the place, he found that {Look!} all the army generals had assembled there!Then he said to [General] Jehu:‘May I have a word with you, commander?’And Jehu asked:‘To which of us do you wish to speak?’And he replied:‘To you, general.’⁶So [Jehu] got up and they both went outside... Then [the prophet] poured the oil over his head and said:‘This is what Jehovah the God of IsraEl has said:‘I have anointed you to be the king over the people of Jehovah… Those in IsraEl.⁷‘Now, you must wipe the house of your lord Ahab away from before My face and avenge the blood of My servants the prophets as well as the blood of all the servants of [Jehovah who were killed] by JezeBel!⁸‘Kill all of them in IsraEl who can urinate against a wall, including their slaves and freemen... ⁹Then I’ll make the house of Ahab like the house of JeroBoam son of NaBat, the same as I gave [the kingship] to the house of BaAsha son of AhiJah.¹⁰‘And thereafter, JezeBel will be eaten by dogs in JezReEl, because no one will bury her.’Then, he opened the door and ran away!¹¹So Jehu went to speak to the servants of his lord, and they said to him:‘Peace!‘Why have you come to us in such a rage?’And he said to them:‘You know who that man was and the kind of things that he says!’¹²And they said:‘Well, it would be wrong if you don’t tell us what’s happened!’And Jehu said to them:‘So-and-so spoke to me and told me that Jehovah said, ‘I have anointed you to be the king over IsraEl!’¹³Well when they heard that, they each took off their [official] robes and laid them on the steps beneath Jehu! Then they got the trumpeters and had them blow the horns and proclaim:‘Jehu now reigns!’¹⁴And after that, Jehu (son of JehoShaphat and grandson of NaMesSi) gathered his forces to attack [the former] king [of Israel] JehoRam... Until that time, the army of IsraEl had been protecting JehoRam from King HazaEl of Syria.¹⁵But when [the now former] King JehoRam went to [the city of] JezReEl for treatment of the wounds that he’d received during his war with the Syrians, Jehu said [to his men]:‘If you’re with me, don’t let anyone leave this city to carry a report to JezReEl.’¹⁶And at that, Jehu got up and rode on to JezReEl.Meanwhile, [former] King JehoRam of IsraEl was being attended to in JezReEl, because he’d been shot by bowmen at RamAmin (in the land of RamOth) during his campaign against King HazaEl of Syria… For he was a very powerful, mighty man.And at the time, AhaziAh (the king of Judah) had gone there to visit JehoRam.¹⁷Well when the watchman climbed to the top of the lookout tower in JezReEl, he saw the cloud of dust that was raised by Jehu’s chariot, and he shouted:‘I see a cloud of dust!’And JehoRam said:‘Send out a horseman to see if he’s coming in peace!’¹⁸So they sent out a horseman to meet Jehu, who said:‘The king wants to know if you’re coming in peace.’And Jehu replied:‘What does he know about peace?‘Now, follow behind me!’Well when the watchman reported that the messenger wasn’t coming back, ¹⁹he sent out a second horseman that rode up to Jehu and said:‘The king wants to know if you’re coming in peace!’And Jehu again said:‘What does he know about peace?‘Get behind and follow me!’²⁰Well when the watchman reported that this messenger wasn’t returning either, he sent out a third horseman to ask if he was coming in peace.And Jehu said to him:‘What does he know about peace?‘Get behind me and follow along!’So the watchman reported back:‘This messenger isn’t returning either, and I can tell by the frenzied way he’s riding that the [man who is coming] is General Jehu, son of NaMesSi.’²¹Then JehoRam said:‘Team up my chariots!’So they teamed up the chariots and they (King JehoRam of IsraEl and King AhaziAh of Judah) rode out to meet him in their chariots... And when they got to Jehu, he happened to be in the same field [that used to belong to] NabOth the JezReElite.²²Then the king shouted:‘Have you come in peace, Jehu?’And Jehu replied:‘What do you know of peace?‘Isn’t [our land] still under the spell of your mother JezeBel?’²³Well when he said that, JehoRam wheeled his chariot to flee, and he shouted to [King] AhaziAh [of Judah]:‘There’s treachery here, AhaziAh!’²⁴But then Jehu took his bow and shot JehoRam in the middle of his chest, hitting him in the heart, and he fell to his knees!²⁵And Jehu turned to his aid BadEkar and said:‘Now, take his body and throw it into the field of NabOth the JezReElite... For we both remember, back when we rode for his father Ahab, how Jehovah had said to him:‘Look! Wasn’t it just yesterday that I saw the blood of NabOth and his sons?’²⁶‘And then Jehovah said:‘I will pay him back [for his sins] in this very field.’‘So now, throw his body into that field, just as Jehovah foretold!’²⁷Well when King AhaziAh of Judah saw what was happening, he took off along the road to BethHagan!But Jehu chased after him shouting:‘Him too!’And then he shot him as his chariot was headed up to Mount Gai (at JeblaAm). However, AhaziAh kept riding on to MegidDo, where he finally died. ²⁸Then his servants put his body in the chariot and carried it back to JeruSalem, where he was buried in his tomb in the city of David.²⁹AhaziAh had started his reign over Judah during the 11th year of the reign of JehoRam the king of IsraEl.³⁰Thereafter, Jehu rode back to JezReEl.And when JezeBel heard [that he was coming], she made up her face and decorated her head, and she sat down to watch what would happen from her window.³¹Then when Jehu entered the city, she said:‘Have you, like OmRi who also murdered his lord, come in peace?’³²And when he looked up and saw her at her window, he asked:‘Who’s that?‘Come down here to me!’Then, when two of her eunuchs bent over to look out the window, ³³Jehu shouted to them:‘Throw her down!’So they threw her out [of the window], and her blood splattered all over the wall and the horses! And thereafter, the horses trampled her body.³⁴Well after that, Jehu entered [her palace], where he ate and drank.And he said:‘Now, go find the body of that cursed woman and bury it, because she’s the daughter of a king.’³⁵However when they went to bury her, all they could find was her skull, the soles of her feet, and the palms of her hands... ³⁶And when they returned to tell Jehu what they’d found, he said:‘This is what Jehovah foretold would happen through EliJah the Tishbite. ‘For He said:‘Dogs will eat the flesh of JezeBel in JezReEl, ³⁷and her rotting flesh will become manure on the ground in JezReEl, so that no one can ever say that JezeBel lies here.’

¹Ahab also had 70 sons who lived in Samaria... So Jehu thereafter wrote a letter and sent it to the governors and elders, and to the women who had raised Ahab’s sons in Samaria.The letter said:²‘I know that the sons of your lord are living among you with their chariots, horses, weapons, and fortified cities.‘So when you receive this letter, ³I want you to do a search among the sons of your lord to find a good upright man and then put him on the throne of his father.‘After that, I’ll go to war against all of his sons.’⁴Well, this frightened them, for they said:‘{Look!} The two kings weren’t able to stand against him, so how can we oppose him?’⁵As a result, they sent a reply to Jehu from the family heads, the city leaders, its elders, and those who’d raised Ahab’s sons, which said:‘We’re your servants now and we’ll do whatever you say, but we we won’t choose a man to rule over us. Just do whatever you find to be good in your eyes.’⁶So thereafter, he sent them a second letter that said:‘If you’re with me and you wish to do whatever I say, you must bring the heads of the sons of your lord to me here in JezReEl at this same time tomorrow…‘All 70 of them!’Well, [Ahab’s sons] were all big men, because the people of the cities used to provide a lot of food for them. ⁷But when the people received this letter, they killed all 70 of them, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu in JezReEl.⁸Then when the messenger arrived saying:‘I’ve brought the heads of the sons of the king...’Jehu told him to place the heads in two piles by the city gate [of JezReEl] and leave them there until the next morning.⁹Then the next morning, Jehu went out and stood at the city gatehouse and said to the people:‘{Look!} You’ve proven yourselves righteous; for although I plotted against my lord and killed him… Who is it that killed all of them?¹⁰‘{Look!} Now, everything that Jehovah said through EliJah concerning what would happen to the house of Ahab has come true... For it was Jehovah who did everything that He said He would do through His servant EliJah.’¹¹And thereafter, Jehu struck down everyone who was left of the house of Ahab in JezReEl, as well as all his mighty men, advisors, and priests… He wiped out every trace of him.¹²From there, he went to Samaria.And as he was traveling along the road near BethAkad-of-the-Shepherds, ¹³Jehu met up with the brothers of King AhaziAh of Judah.And when he asked:‘Who are you?’They replied:‘We’re the brothers of AhaziAh, and we’ve come in peace to visit the sons of the king, as well as the sons of the woman who’s in charge.’¹⁴So he shouted:‘Seize them!’And he had all 42 of them executed at BethAkad… He left none of them alive.¹⁵And from there, he went and found JoNadab (son of ReChab), who was on his way to meet him.Then Jehu blest him and asked:‘Is your heart with my heart as my heart is with yours?’And JoNadab replied:‘It is.’And Jehu said:‘Well if it is, then give me your hand!’So Jehu stuck out his hand and lifted JoNadab onto his chariot, ¹⁶and he said:‘Come with me and see my zeal for Jehovah of Armies!’Then from there, they rode in the chariot ¹⁷to Samaria, where they killed all that were left of the house of Ahab… He wiped them all out, just as Jehovah had prophesied through EliJah.¹⁸Then Jehu gathered all the people and said to them [deceptively]:‘Although Ahab served the BaAl a little, Jehu will serve him in a great way!¹⁹‘So, find all the prophets of the BaAl and all his servants and priests, and send them to me! Don’t overlook a single man, because we’re going to offer a great ‘sacrifice’ to BaAl… Anyone who doesn’t show up will be killed!’(This was just a trick on Jehu’s part, so that he could destroy all the servants of BaAl.)²⁰Then Jehu sent messengers out to tell them all to prepare the sacrifices for BaAl... ²¹For Jehu sent a proclamation throughout IsraEl that said:‘All the servants, priests, and prophets of BaAl must attend this.‘No one may be left behind, for we’re going to offer a great sacrifice to BaAl… And anyone who misses it won’t be allowed to live!’So all the servants of BaAl (all his priests and prophets) came, and everyone was there in the temple of BaAl… It was filled to capacity and people were jammed together head-to-head!²²Then Jehu told the person who was in charge of the temple wardrobe to bring out the official robes for all the servants of BaAl to wear, and he brought them out.²³Then Jehu and JoNadab (son of ReChab) said to the servants of BaAl that had assembled:‘Now, look around and make sure that there are no servants of Jehovah here… We only want the servants of BaAl!’²⁴And thereafter, the people all went inside to offer the sacrifices and the whole burnt offerings.Meanwhile, Jehu had ordered 80 men to stand outside, and he told them:‘Don’t leave anyone alive here; for if you do, I’ll demand your lives for theirs.’²⁵And as the [BaAl worshipers] were presenting the offerings, Jehu told the guards and soldiers:‘Now, kill them all… Don’t let a man get away!’So they killed them all with swords and threw their bodies outside.
Then the soldiers and guards traveled throughout this city of the temple of BaAl, ²⁶and they dragged out all the images of BaAl and burned them... ²⁷Then they tore down the temple of BaAl and turned it into a public latrine, which is what it’s still used for today.²⁸So Jehu removed BaAl from IsraEl.²⁹However, he still followed in the sins of JeroBoam (son of NaBat) who led IsraEl into sin. For he bowed before the golden heifers in BethEl and in Dan.³⁰Nevertheless, Jehovah said this to Jehu:‘Because of the many good and righteous things that you did before My eyes, and because of the things that you did to the house of Ahab (which was what My heart desired), your sons will sit on the throne of IsraEl through the fourth generation.’³¹Unfortunately, however, Jehu didn’t follow the Laws of Jehovah (the God of IsraEl) with his whole heart. And because he didn’t remove the sins of JeroBoam (son of NaBat), ³²Jehovah once again started cutting IsraEl down... For King HazaEl [of Syria] attacked all the borders of IsraEl ³³from the JorDan to the sunrise (all the land of GileAd of the sons of Gad, ReuBen, and of ManasSeh) from AroEr to the Arnon Wadi, and from GileAd to BaShan.³⁴All the rest of the things that Jehu said and did, and the area of his rulership and alliances, {Look!} have been written about in the scrolls that tell of the days of the kings of IsraEl.³⁵Then Jehu went to sleep with his ancestors and they buried him in a tomb in Samaria. Thereafter, his son JehoAhaz became king in his place.³⁶But Jehu had reigned over IsraEl from Samaria for 28 years.

¹Well when AhaziAh’s mother AthaliAh heard that her son was dead, she had all the [heirs to the throne] killed.²However, JehoSheba (the daughter of King JehoRam and the sister of AhaziAh) took her nephew JehoAsh and hid him away, as the other sons of the king were being slaughtered... She hid him and his nurse in a storage closet for beds, so that AthaliAh couldn’t find him and kill him.³Then she kept him hidden in the Temple of Jehovah for 6 years.So thereafter, AthaliAh ruled the land.⁴But after 7 years, JehoiAda (the Priest) took the commanders who were in charge of patrolmen and couriers, and brought them into the Temple of Jehovah.Then he had them make an agreement with Jehovah and bound them with an oath in His presence… And that’s when JehoiAda showed the [dead] king’s son to them.⁵He told them:‘This is what you must do:⁶‘On the Sabbath, 1/3 of you must take control of the city gates, 1/3 must take control of the gate that leads to the road, and 1/3 must take control of the gate to the king’s guardhouse...‘Then everyone must [protect our king]!⁷‘Two of you must go to the Temple of Jehovah on the Sabbath to guard the king, ⁸and the rest must gather there and kill anyone who comes [to attack] him… He must be protected wherever he goes!’⁹Well, the commanders did just as JehoiAda had instructed them... For on the next Sabbath, each one gathered his men. And as the people were coming and going, they all went inside to JehoiAda the Priest.¹⁰Then the Priest gave the commanders the spears and shields of King David that were kept in the Temple of Jehovah, ¹¹and they formed a contingent of armed bodyguards that stayed at the Temple extension to the right of the Altar, so as to form a protective circle around the [young prince].¹²Then they took the king’s son out and placed the royal turban on him, gave him [the royal scepter], poured the anointing oil [over his head], and made him the king, as everyone clapped their hands and shouted:‘Long live the king!’¹³However, when AthaliAh heard the sound of people running, she too went to the Temple of Jehovah, and that’s when she saw him standing at the columns acting as king!All the singers and trumpeters were there, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing their trumpets!¹⁴So AthaliAh started ripping her clothes and she shouted:‘Conspiracy! Conspiracy!’¹⁵But JehoiAda (the Priest) told the commanders and their lieutenants to take her outside and then kill her with their swords (because he didn’t want her to die there inside the Temple of Jehovah)... ¹⁶So they grabbed her and dragged her along the road that leads to the stables next to the king’s palace and killed her there.¹⁷Thereafter, JehoiAda proclaimed an agreement between Jehovah, the king, and his people, that they would be the people of Jehovah from then on.¹⁸Then all the people of the land went to the temple of BaAl and tore it down! They smashed its images and altars into fine pieces, and they killed Mathan (the priest of BaAl) right in front of his altar.And after that, the Priest appointed men to serve as overseers within the Temple of Jehovah.¹⁹Then he took the military commanders and their troops of patrolmen and couriers, along with all the people in the land, and they led the king from the Temple of Jehovah, through the gate of the royal bodyguards, and into the palace of the kings... There they seated him on the throne, ²⁰as all the people of the land started rejoicing.And from then on, the city was once again at peace.

¹Well, JehoAsh was just a 7-year-old boy when he started his reign (which was during the 7th year of the reign of Jehu), and he ruled in JeruSalem for 40 years. His mother’s name was SabiJah and she was from BeerSheba.²JehoAsh did what was upright before Jehovah throughout his entire life, for he had been well trained by the Priest JehoiAda. ³However, he still allowed the people to offer sacrifices and burn incense in the high places.⁴And JehoAsh told the Priests:‘[Regarding] the money for the holy things that comes in to the Temple of Jehovah, the valuation money for persons and lives, and freely donated money, ⁵the Priests themselves may take it, each man in his rank. But they must repair the damage to the Temple [of Jehovah] wherever a repair is needed.’⁶But by the 23rd year to JehoAsh’s rule, the Priests hadn’t repaired the damage to the Temple [of Jehovah] at all!⁷So he called JehoiAda and all the other Priests and asked them why they hadn’t repaired the damage to the Temple.Then he said them:‘From now on, you may not keep any of the money or anything that you collect from your rank! Rather, you must use it all to repair the Temple.’⁸And the Priests agreed that they would no longer accept money from the people, and that they’d no longer be in charge of the repairs to the damage of the Temple.⁹So JehoiAda the Priest thereafter built a chest, bored a hole in its top, and he placed it by the Altar of the Temple of Jehovah... Then Priests were assigned to stand next to the doorway, so as to guard all the money that was brought to Jehovah’s Temple.¹⁰And after a while, quite a bit of money had accumulated in the chest at the Temple of Jehovah.; so the Scribe and the High Priest carried it to the king, and after they closed the doors, they counted the money.¹¹Then they put most of the money for the repairs into the hands of those who were in charge of the workers at the Temple of Jehovah ¹²(the woodcutters, carpenters, construction workers, fabricators, quarry workers, and stonemasons), so they could do the needed work…They told them to spend whatever was needed to complete the project.¹³However, they weren’t authorized to spend it for doors, or for items of silver, gold, nails, bowls, or trumpets, ¹⁴because those who were doing the work were expected to contribute such things themselves.¹⁵Well, all the repairs were finally made to the Temple of Jehovah, and no one was asked to account for it. They just paid out whatever was required, and those who were doing the work were trusted [to do the right thing].¹⁶And thereafter, any money that was brought to the Temple as a sin offering or a trespass offering once again became the property of the Priests.¹⁷Meanwhile, King HazaEl of Syria had attacked the city of Gath and was the first one to capture it… And after that, he turned his attention towards JeruSalem.¹⁸So, King JehoAsh of Judah gathered all the holy things of his ancestors (those of JehoShaphat, JehoRam, and AhaziAh) as well as his own holy things and all the gold that was in the treasury of the Temple of Jehovah and in the king’s palace, and he then sent it to HazaEl, the king of Syria, so he would leave JeruSalem alone.¹⁹Well, all the rest of the things that JehoAsh said and did {Look!} have been written about in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of Judah.²⁰Then, two of JehoAsh’s servants rebelled against him and attacked him at the house of MalLo in GaAla. ²¹JeziChar (son of JemuAth) and JezebUth (son of Somer) were the ones who cut him down and killed him... So he was buried with his ancestors in the city of David, and his son AmaziAh started ruling after him.

¹Meanwhile, it was in the 23rd year of King JehoAsh (son of AhaziAh) of Judah that JehoAhaz (Jehu’s son) started reigning in Samaria [over the 10-tribes of IsraEl], and he ruled there for 17 years.²However, he acted wickedly in the eyes of Jehovah, because he continued in the sins of JeroBoam (son of NaBat) who first led IsraEl into sin... ³So this provoked Jehovah’s rage against IsraEl, and he put them into the hands of King HazaEl of Syria and his son BenHader during that portion of the reign of JehoAhaz.⁴However, JehoAhaz then went before the face of [Jehovah to beg for help], and Jehovah listened to him, because He’d seen how badly the king of Syria was oppressing the people of IsraEl... ⁵So thereafter, Jehovah freed IsraEl from bondage to Syria, and the sons of IsraEl could [once again] sit in their tents in peace as they had in the past.⁶However, they continued in the sins of the house of JeroBoam, and they once again set up sacred poles in Samaria.⁷Meanwhile, JehoAhaz wasn’t left with much of an army.All he had was:• 50 cavalrymen, • 10 chariots, and • 10,000 infantry......because the king of Syria had considered them as dirt to be trampled on.⁸All the rest of the things that JehoAhaz said and did, and the area of his rulership, are written about in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of IsraEl.⁹Then [King] JehoAhaz [of IsraEl] went to sleep with his ancestors and they buried him in a tomb in Samaria, and his son JehoAsh started ruling in place of him ¹⁰(this happened in the 37th year of the reign of King JehoAsh of Judah).And thereafter, JehoAsh (son of JehoAhaz) ruled IsraEl from Samaria for the next 16 years. ¹¹However, he also acted wickedly in the eyes of Jehovah, because he didn’t remove the sins of JeroBoam (son of NaBat), who had first led IsraEl into sin.¹²All the rest of the things that JehoAsh said and did, and the stories of his conquests with King AmaziAh of Judah have been written about in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of IsraEl. ¹³Then JehoAsh went to sleep with his ancestors, and JeroBoam succeeded him on the throne. So they buried him in a tomb in Samaria with the sons of IsraEl.¹⁴[However, before that, the Prophet] EliSha got very sick and was about to die, so King JehoAsh of IsraEl went to see him and cried in his face, saying:‘O father, O father… The chariot of IsraEl and his horseman!’¹⁵Then EliSha said to him:‘Go get your bow and some arrows.’So he got his bow and some arrows, ¹⁶and EliSha told him:‘Now, lift the bow!’And [King] JehoAsh raised his bow.Then EliSha placed his hands on the hands of the king and said:¹⁷‘Now, open the window that faces east!’And he opened it.Then EliSha said:‘Now shoot!’And he shot. Then EliSha said:‘This is the arrow of the salvation of Jehovah and the arrow of deliverance from Syria!‘For you’ll keep attacking Syria at Aphek until you’ve won!’¹⁸And then EliSha told him:‘Now, pick up the bow again!’So he picked it up.Then he said to King [JehoAsh] of IsraEl:‘Shoot into the ground!’So the king shot three arrows into the ground… And then he stopped, ¹⁹which upset the man of God and made him angry, for he said:‘If you would have struck the ground five or six times, you would have attacked Syria and finished them off!‘But now you’ll have to fight and conquer them three times!’²⁰Well shortly thereafter, [the Prophet] EliSha died, and they buried him in a tomb.Then the next year, the land was invaded by armed bands of MoAbites... ²¹And it was during a funeral procession that {Look!} the people saw one of these armed bands of MoAbites coming! So they simply threw the body of the dead man into the tomb of EliSha, and when it touched EliSha’s bones, the man came back to life and stood up on his feet!²²Meanwhile, throughout the reign of [King] JehoAhaz [of Israel], [King] HazaEl [of Syria] kept on squeezing IsraEl. ²³However, Jehovah showed mercy on IsraEl…He pitied them and watched over them because of the promises that He’d made to AbraHam, IsaAc, and Jacob, and He didn’t allow them to be destroyed or to be torn from before His face.²⁴Then King HazaEl of Syria died, and his son BenHader started reigning in his place... ²⁵And that’s when [King] JehoAsh (son of JehoAhaz) [of IsraEl] recovered his cities from the hands of BenHader (son of HazaEl), who had taken them from the hands of his father JehoAhaz in the war.However, JehoAsh had to attack him three times before he finally returned the cities to IsraEl.

¹It was in the 2nd year of King JehoAsh (son of JehoAhaz) of IsraEl that AmaziAh (son of JehoAsh), the king of Judah, started his reign. ²At the time, he was 25 years old, and he reigned in JeruSalem for 29 years. His mother’s name was JoAdeEn, and she was from JeruSalem.³And although AmaziAh proved to be an upright man in the eyes of Jehovah, he wasn’t as righteous as his ancestor David... ⁴He did all the [good] things that his father JehoAsh had done, but he never removed the high places where the people offered sacrifices and burned incense.⁵And after he’d become strong in his kingdom, he had all those servants that had murdered his father executed… ⁶But he didn’t have their sons killed, because of the Law that Jehovah gave to Moses that said:‘Fathers shouldn’t be put to death [for the sins] of their sons, and the sons shouldn’t be put to death [for the sins] of their fathers.‘Rather, each one should die for his own sins.’⁷Thereafter, AmaziAh attacked the Edomites at GeMela, killing 10,000 of them, and he captured The Rock in the war, renaming it JokTheEl [meaning, Conquered by God], which is what it’s still called today.⁸Then he sent messengers to King JehoAsh (son of JehoAhaz and grandson of Jehu), the king of IsraEl, saying:‘I want you to come here and meet me face-to-face!’⁹So King JehoAsh of IsraEl replied to King AmaziAh of Judah:‘A thorn bush in Lebanon once sent a message to one of the cedars of Lebanon saying:‘Give your daughter to my son to be his woman!’‘But then the wild animals in the fields of Lebanon went and trampled the thorn bush!¹⁰‘So, now that you’ve beaten the Edomites (which has encouraged your heart), it would be best for you to just sit back in your palace and revel in your glory!‘For if you’re planning to do evil things, you’ll fall… And Judah will fall with you!’¹¹Well, [King] AmaziAh refused to listen, so King JehoAsh of IsraEl went and faced the king of Judah [in battle] at BethSamus, ¹²and Judah then lost this battle to IsraEl… So all their soldiers ran back to their tents.¹³King JehoAsh of IsraEl also captured King AmaziAh (son of JehoAsh and grandson of AhaziAh) of Judah, and then he marched into JeruSalem and tore down almost 700 feet (213m) of its wall from the gate of Ephraim all the way to the corner!¹⁴He also carried off all the gold and silver utensils that he found in the Temple of Jehovah, everything in the kings’ treasury and palace, and all the sons of [AmaziAh’s] allies, bringing them all back to Samaria!¹⁵The rest of the things that JehoAsh said and did, as well as his area of rulership and the wars that he fought with King AmaziAh of Judah have been written about in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of IsraEl. ¹⁶Then JehoAsh went to sleep with his ancestors and they buried him in a tomb in Samaria with the kings of IsraEl.So his son JeroBoam started reigning after him.¹⁷King AmaziAh of Judah lived 15 years after the death of King JehoAsh (son of JehoAhaz) of IsraEl. ¹⁸And all the rest of the things that AmaziAh said and did have been written about in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of Judah.¹⁹For, conspirators had plotted a rebellion against AmaziAh in JeruSalem, so he fled to LachIsh... But they chased him down and killed him there in LachIsh.²⁰Then they put his body on a horse and buried him in a tomb with his ancestors in JeruSalem, the city of David.²¹Well, after AmaziAh died, all the people of Judah chose his son AzariAh [also known as Uzziah] to be their king, who was only 16-years-old at the time.²²He was the one who built ElAth after [AmaziAh] had gone to sleep with his ancestors.²³Meanwhile, King JeroBoam [II] (son of JehoAsh) was reigning in IsraEl. His reign from Samaria lasted 41 years, starting from the 15th year of AmaziAh (son of JehoAsh) the king of Judah.²⁴He too acted wickedly before Jehovah, because he didn’t remove the sins of JeroBoam [I] (son of NaBat) who led IsraEl into sin. ²⁵However, he moved the boundary of IsraEl from the entrance of HaMath to the Sea, just as Jehovah the God of IsraEl said would happen through His servant the Prophet Jonah (son of AmaThi).²⁶But Jehovah noticed the bitter humiliation of IsraEl; for, because no one would help them, they were becoming disorganized and abandoned, so they were becoming fewer.²⁸Well, the rest of the things that JeroBoam [II] said and did (including his conquests and wars) and the story of how he returned Damascus and HaMath [from] Judah [to] IsraEl, have been written about in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of IsraEl.²⁹Then JeroBoam [II] went to sleep with his ancestors the kings of IsraEl, and his son ZechariAh started ruling in his place.

¹It was in the 27th year of the reign of JeroBoam (the king of IsraEl) that AzariAh (son of AmaziAh) the king of Judah started his reign. ²He was 16 years old at the time, and he reigned in JeruSalem for 52 years. His mother’s name was JeCheliJah, and she was from JeruSalem.³And like his father AmaziAh, AzariAh did what was right in the eyes of Jehovah. ⁴However, he too failed to remove the high places where the people sacrificed and burned incense.⁵So Jehovah touched the king and gave him leprosy until the day he died, and he had to stay inside his own house! As a result, JoTham (the king’s son) was put in charge of the palace family and staff, and he served as judge for the people of the land.⁶All the rest of the things that AzariAh said and did have been written about in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of Judah.⁷Then AzariAh went to sleep with his ancestors, and they buried him in the tomb with his ancestors in the city of David. So his son JoTham started ruling in his place.⁸It was in the 38th year of the reign of AzariAh (the king of Judah) that ZechariAh (son of JeroBoam) the king of IsraEl started his reign in Samaria, which only lasted 6 months!⁹He was very wicked in the eyes of Jehovah, for he did all the things that his ancestors had done… In addition to the sins of JeroBoam [I] (son of NaBat) who led IsraEl into sin. ¹⁰Then ShalLum (son of JaBish through KeblaAm) had him murdered, and he became the new king!¹¹All the rest of the things that ZechariAh said and did have been written about in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of Judah.¹²And as Jehovah had told Jehu, when He said that his sons would sit on the throne of IsraEl to the fourth generation, it came to be so!¹³Then ShalLum (son of JaBish) started his reign in the 39th year of the reign of King AzariAh of Judah, but he only ruled in Samaria for 1 month, ¹⁴because that’s when MenaHem (son of GadDi, from TharSila) marched on Samaria and killed him!¹⁵All the rest of the words of ShalLum and the stories of his plots {Look!} have been written about in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of IsraEl.¹⁶Then MenaHem attacked TiphSah and its surrounding cities and killed everyone there, because they wouldn’t open their gates to him… He killed them all and ripped open all the pregnant women!¹⁷So in the 39th year of the reign of King AzariAh of Judah, MenaHem (son of GadDi) became the king of IsraEl in Samaria, where he ruled for 10 years.¹⁸He too acted wickedly in the eyes of Jehovah, because he didn’t remove the sins of JeroBoam [I] (son of NaBat) who led IsraEl into sin.¹⁹It was during his reign that King Pul of Assyria [probably the first name of Tiglath-Pileser III], came against the land. Then MenaHem gave him 3-1/2 tons (3,200kg) of silver to satisfy him.²⁰MenaHem sent the silver from IsraEl, and he had it delivered by mighty men who each carried 50 large silver coins to Assyria... And as a result, the king of Assyria didn’t post any garrisons in his land.²¹Well, the rest of the things that MenaHem said and did {Look!} have been written in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of IsraEl.²²Then MenaHem went to sleep with his ancestors, and his son PekahJah started ruling in place of him.²³So it was in the 15th year of King AzariAh of Judah that PekahJah (son of MenaHem) started his reign over IsraEl from Samaria. However, he only reigned for 2 years, ²⁴because he also acted wickedly in the eyes of Jehovah by not removing the sins of JeroBoam [I] (son of NaBat) who first led IsraEl into sin.²⁵So his royal proclaimer PekAh (son of RomeliAh) attacked PekahJah right in front of the royal palace with the help of ArGob, AriJa, and 50 GileAdites! And after they killed him, PekAh became the king.²⁶Well, the rest of the things that PekahJah said and did {Look!} have been written about in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of IsraEl.²⁷So, it was in the 52nd year of the reign of King AzariAh of Judah that PekAh (son of RomeliAh) started his reign over IsraEl from Samaria, which lasted 20 years.²⁸But he also acted wickedly in the eyes of Jehovah by not removing the sins of JeroBoam [I] (son of NaBat) who first led IsraEl into sin.²⁹It was during the reign of King PekAh of IsraEl that Assyrian King Tiglath Pileser [III] captured:• Ain, • Abel-BethMaAcha, • AniOch, • Kenez, • Hazor, • GileAd, • Galilee, • the whole land of NaphTali......relocating all the people to Assyria.³⁰Then HosheA (son of ElAh) rebelled against [King] PekAh (son of RomeliAh), and he attacked him and killed him. So in the 20th year of the reign of [King] JoTham (son of AzariAh) [of Judea], HosheA began his rule [in IsraEl].³¹All the rest of the things that PekAh said and did {Look!} have been written about in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of IsraEl.³²It was in the 2nd year of the reign of King PekAh (son of RomeliAh) of IsraEl that JoTham (son of AzariAh) became the king of Judah. ³³He was 25 years old at the time, and he reigned in JeruSalem for 16 years. The name of his mother was JeroUsa, and she was the daughter of ZaDok.³⁴He did what was upright in the eyes of Jehovah, as did his father AzariAh. ³⁵However, he didn’t remove the high places where the people offered sacrifices and burned incense.But he was the one who rebuilt the upper gate to the Temple of Jehovah.³⁶All the rest of the things that JoTham said and did have been written about in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of Judah.³⁷However, back in those days, Jehovah started sending King RasSon of Syria and [King] PekAh (son of RomeliAh) [of IsraEl] against Judah.³⁸Then JoTham went to sleep with his ancestors, and they buried him in a tomb along with his ancestors in the city of his ancestor David. And thereafter, his son Ahaz started ruling in place of him.

¹So in the 17th year of [King] PekAh (son of RomeliAh) [of Israel], Ahaz (son of JoTham) became the king of Judah. ²He was 20 years old at the time, and he reigned in JeruSalem for 16 years.However, he didn’t do what was upright in the eyes of Jehovah his God or trust in Him, as did his ancestor David... ³Rather, he followed in the paths of the kings of IsraEl by offering up his own son in a fire in the same disgusting way as did the nations that God had driven away from the sons of IsraEl!⁴He also offered sacrifices and burned incense in the high places, on the hills, and under every tree in the woods.⁵Thereafter, King RasSon of Syria and King PekAh (son of RomeliAh) of IsraEl came against JeruSalem to war against Ahaz, but they were unsuccessful... ⁶However, King RaAson of Syria went to ElAth and drove all the Judeans out of that city. Then the Edomites moved into it, and that’s where they still live to this day.⁷But because of this, Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath Pileser [III] of Assyria to say:‘I am the servant of you and your son.‘So, please come and save me from the kings of Syria and IsraEl that have come to fight against me!’⁸Then Ahaz took all the silver and gold that he found in the treasuries of the Temple of Jehovah and in the king’s palace, and he sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria.⁹So the king of Assyria listened to him and attacked Damascus… He captured it, killed King RaAsson, and then he repopulated the city.¹⁰So after that, King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet with King Tiglath Pileser [III] of Assyria, and when he saw the altar in Damascus, he examined its dimensions and its construction, and he sent a drawing of the altar to UriAh the Priest.¹¹As a result, UriAh built a similar Altar, following the instructions that were sent to him from Damascus by King Ahaz. ¹²And when the king saw this [new] Altar, he climbed up on it and burned incense there, then he had whole burnt offerings (including his own offerings and a drink offering) sacrificed there, and he had the blood of the peace offerings poured out upon it!¹³This Altar was made of brass and it was placed before [the presence of] Jehovah; ¹⁴for [King Ahaz] had the Altar moved forward and put right in front of the Temple of Jehovah, between the Temple and the [old] Altar, which still stood on its north side.¹⁵And after that, he gave instructions to UriAh the Priest, saying:‘I want a great sacrifice offered on this Altar early tomorrow morning and tomorrow evening!‘I’ll bring my whole burnt offerings and other sacrifices, and then the people should also bring their sacrifices and drink offerings. I want you to offer the blood of the whole burnt offerings and other sacrifices there… Pour them over the brass Altar for me in the morning.’¹⁶Therefore, UriAh the Priest did exactly as King Ahaz told him.¹⁷Then King Ahaz had the bases for the washbasins and the Sacred Sea (the oxen) disassembled, and the brass Sea was lowered onto a new base that was made of stone.¹⁸He also built a foundation for the Sabbath Seat inside the Temple of Jehovah, and he had the outside of the king’s entrance relocated so that it wouldn’t face the king of Assyria.¹⁹All the rest of the things that Ahaz said and did have been written about in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of Judah.²⁰Then Ahaz went to sleep with his ancestors and he was buried in a tomb in the city of David. Thereafter, his son HezekiAh began ruling in place of him.

¹It was in the 12th year of the reign of King Ahaz of Judah that HosheA (son of ElAh) started reigning over IsraEl from Samaria, and he ruled there for 9 years.²He also acted wickedly in the eyes of Jehovah… However, he wasn’t as bad as the kings who came before him.³Then King ShalamaNasar [V] of Assyria came against HosheA and made him his vassal, forcing him to send many tributes.⁴However, the king of Assyria soon became [very unhappy] with HosheA, because he’d sent messengers to King Segor of Egypt [possibly Shabaka?], and he failed to send any tributes to him, the king of Assyria, that year; so he had him tied, shackled, and thrown into prison.⁵And thereafter, the king of Assyria marched through IsraEl and laid siege to Samaria for three years ⁶(this happened in the 9th year of HosheA’s reign.) Then the king of Assyria captured Samaria and moved all the people of IsraEl into Assyria – to Halae in Habor (next to the Gozan River), and into the mountains of the Medes.⁷Of course, all of this happened because the sons of IsraEl had sinned against Jehovah their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt and from under the hand of PharaOh (the king of Egypt), and they started fearing other gods.⁸They’d also started following in the ways of the nations that Jehovah had removed from in front of them… And their kings were doing the same things.⁹There were so many things that the sons of IsraEl did to cover over the words of Jehovah and to not do any of the things that their God had told them:• For they [built altars] for themselves in high places near every town… From their guard towers to their walled cities.¹⁰• They also erected stone monuments and groves of sacred poles on every high hill and under every tree in the woods.¹¹• Then they burned incense on the high places in the same ways that the nations whom Jehovah had moved far away from them had been doing.• And they formed alliances and [worshiped] carved images, so as to provoke Jehovah to rage. ¹²So, they started serving the very idols that Jehovah had warned them against!¹³Meanwhile, Jehovah had sent warnings to IsraEl and Judah through His prophets (the Seers), who told them:‘Turn from your wicked ways and obey My Commandments, My instructions, and all the Laws that I gave to your ancestors, which I sent through the hands of My servants the prophets!’¹⁴But they just wouldn’t listen to Him, and they made themselves even more stubborn than the stubbornness of their ancestors. ¹⁵He warned them time and again, but they just wouldn’t do any of the things that He said.Rather, they did foolish, silly things, and they followed in the paths of the nations around them… The very things that Jehovah had warned them against when He said:‘These are the things that you must not do.’¹⁶They also:• Abandoned the Commandments of Jehovah their God.• They made the two heifers for themselves of cast metal, as well as the groves of sacred poles.• Then they bowed before all the powerful things in the skies and they started serving the BaAls.¹⁷In addition:• They offered their sons and daughters in fires.• They went to fortunetellers to learn the future.Thereby, they sold themselves into wickedness in the eyes of Jehovah and provoking Him to anger. ¹⁸As a result, He became so enraged with IsraEl that He removed them from before His face… He didn’t leave any of them behind, other than the tribe of Judah.¹⁹However, even Judah didn’t follow the Commandments of Jehovah their God. Rather, they followed in the ways of IsraEl and did the same bad things, pushing Jehovah away!²⁰So Jehovah became enraged with all the offspring of IsraEl and He just shook them off, handing them over to be ripped to pieces and thrown away from before His face! ²¹For IsraEl had rebelled against the house of David and made JeroBoam (son of NaBat) their king, and JeroBoam led IsraEl away from following Jehovah and into a great sin.²²So from then on, the sons of IsraEl followed JeroBoam in all the sins that he committed, and they never changed their ways until Jehovah removed them from before His face… Just as He said He would do through all of His servants the prophets.²³Thereafter, IsraEl was resettled into the land of Assyria, where they still live today.²⁴Then the king of Assyria took all the people from HoUtha, Aia, HaMath, and SePharaim (cities around Babylon), and settled them in the cities of Samaria, replacing the sons of IsraEl. So it was these people who inherited Samaria and started living in its cities.²⁵Well, from the very beginning, these [new] people didn’t fear Jehovah either, so He sent lions among them to kill them off! ²⁶As a result, they [sent messengers] to the king of Assyria to tell him:‘Because the nations that you resettled and relocated into the cities of Samaria don’t understand the God of that land, He’s sending lions against them! [These lions] are killing them off thanks to their lack of understanding Him.’²⁷So the king of Assyria said:‘Then, let’s take some of the IsraElites back to the land and have them start living there once again, so they can show the people [how to please] the God of their land.’²⁸As a result, they brought one of the Priests from Samaria and returned him to BethEl, so he could teach the people there to fear Jehovah.²⁹Meanwhile, all these nations had also started taking their gods and putting them in the temples on the high places that the Samaritans had once built in each of their cities.³⁰Then:• The people who came from Babylon built [the city of] SukCoth-BenOth, • The people from Cuth built [the city of] NerGal, • The people from HaMath built [the city of] AsiMath, ³¹and • The Hivites built [both] EblaZer and TarTak.At the time, the [people of] SePharaim had even started burning their sons in fires to their gods AdraMelek and AneMelek!³²So although they’d started fearing Jehovah, they kept the images of their gods in the temples that they built on the high places in Samaria, close to the cities where each nation lived.And although they feared Jehovah, they still appointed their own priests to serve at the temples of the high places.³³And although they feared Jehovah, they still served the gods of the countries from which they came… ³⁴And they’re still following that same form of worship today!So although they feared Jehovah, they didn’t follow the instructions, Laws, or Commandments that He gave to the sons of Jacob (to whom He gave the name IsraEl).³⁵For when Jehovah made a Sacred Agreement [with IsraEl], He told them:‘You must not fear other gods… Don’t bow to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them!‘³⁶You may only serve Jehovah, the God who led you out of the land of Egypt with His great strength and outstretched arm! You must fear, bow before, and sacrifice to Him alone, ³⁷and you must follow His decisions, rules, Laws, and the Commandments that He wrote down for you.‘You must obey these things for as long as you live, and you must not serve other gods, ³⁸or forget the Sacred Agreement that He made with you.‘You must not fear other gods… ³⁹You should only fear your God Jehovah, for He alone will rescue you from all your enemies. ⁴⁰So, don’t pay attention to anything that [the other nations] are doing!’⁴¹However, although those nations [that lived in Samaria] feared Jehovah, they also served things that they carved for themselves… As did their sons and grandsons, and which they’re still doing today.

¹It was in the third year of the reign of King HosheA (son of ElAh) of IsraEl that HezekiAh (son of Ahaz) the king of Judah started his reign. ²He was 25 years old when he started to rule, and he reigned for 29 years in JeruSalem. His mother’s name was Abou, and she was the daughter of ZachariAh.³HezekiAh did what was upright in the eyes of Jehovah… Every bit as much as did his ancestor David! ⁴For he removed the high places of worship and all the monuments... He also destroyed the groves of sacred poles and the brass snake that Moses had made, because the people of IsraEl had started burning incense to it back in those days!So he called it, The Consumer.⁵HezekiAh placed his hope in Jehovah the God of IsraEl, and among the kings of Judah, there were none others like him… Not those who lived before him or those who came after him!⁶He stuck to Jehovah and never stopped following Him, and he obeyed all the Commandments of Moses. ⁷So, Jehovah was with him in everything that he did, and he became very wise.He also annulled Judah’s allegiance to the king of Assyria and refused to serve him. ⁸Then he attacked the Philistines in Gaza and throughout their borders, from their guard towers to their walled cities.⁹It was in the 4th year of the reign of King HezekiAh, which was the 7th year of King HoSheA (son of ElAh) of IsraEl, that King SalamaNasar [V] of Assyria came against Samaria and laid siege to it.¹⁰It took him three years, but in the 6th year of HezekiAh and in the 9th year of King HoSheA of IsraEl, he conquered Samaria. ¹¹Then he relocated all the people of IsraEl to Assyria (in Halae of Habor on the Gozan River, and in the mountains of the Medes), ¹²[which happened] because they wouldn’t listen to the voice of their God Jehovah.For they’d violated the Sacred Agreement that He made through His servant Moses, and they just refused to listen and do as they were told.¹³Then in the 14th year of King HezekiAh, King SenNacherIb of Assyria came against the walled cities of Judah and captured them! ¹⁴So, King HezekiAh of Judah sent messengers to the king of Assyria (who was at LachIsh at the time), saying:‘I have sinned!‘Please turn away from me!‘Whatever you tell me to do, I will do!’Then King HezekiAh of Judah sent a tribute to the king of Assyria consisting of 10 tons (9,000kg) of silver and a ton of gold… ¹⁵He sent him all the silver that he could find in the Temple of Jehovah and in the treasuries of the king’s palace. ¹⁶He even cut off the Temple Sanctuary doors and their supports, which were covered with gold, and gave them to the king of Assyria.¹⁷But the king of Assyria sent Tharthan, Raphis, and RapSakes from LachIsh (along with a huge army) to King HezekiAh at JeruSalem. And when they got to JeruSalem, they stood outside by the aqueduct to the upper pool along the road to the field where [women] washed clothes, ¹⁸and they yelled for HezekiAh.Well, HezekiAh’s right-hand man EliAkim (son of HelkiAh), SomNas the Scribe, and JehoAsh (son of ShaPhat) the record-keeper, came out [to meet them].¹⁹And RapSakes said:‘Tell HezekiAh that the great king of Assyria says this:‘What is this thing that you’re putting your trust in? ²⁰For with your lips, you’ve spoken of your power to go to war! So, who is it that you were trusting in when you annulled your allegiance to me?²¹‘{Look!} Are you leaning on that broken stalk of reeds called Egypt? Who would [be foolish enough] to lean on them, for they’ll puncture your hand and go right through it! Isn’t that what PharaOh, the king of Egypt, does to all those who rely on him?²²‘Or if you should say to me that you’re relying on your God Jehovah... Aren’t you the one who removed His high places of worship and His altars, and who told the people of Judah and JeruSalem to bow before the Altar in JeruSalem?²³‘Now, come and ally yourself with my master the king of Assyria and I’ll give you 2,000 horses upon which you can mount yourself and your cavalry!²⁴‘But if you turn your back on even the least of my lord’s servants, you’ll have to trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen thereafter.²⁵‘And do you really think that we came here to destroy this place without [the blessings of Jehovah]?‘It was Jehovah who told me to attack this land and destroy it!’²⁶Then EliAkim (son of HelkiAh), SomNas, and JehoAsh said to RapSakes:‘Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we can also understand that.‘Don’t speak to us in the Judean language, because all the people who are on the walls can hear what you’re saying.’²⁷And RapSakes replied:‘Do you think that my lord sent me here just to speak to you and to your lord? I’ve come here to speak to the people who are sitting on the walls… Those who’ll have to eat their own turds and drink their own urine – along with you!’²⁸Then RapSakes stood up and shouted as loud as he could in the Judean language:‘Listen to the words of the great king of Assyria!²⁹‘My king says:‘Don’t trust in HezekiAh, because there’s no way that he’s going to save you from my hands!³⁰‘And don’t listen to HezekiAh when he tells you to put your trust in Jehovah… That He will rescue you and never give you into the hands of the king of Assyria.’³¹‘No, don’t listen to HezekiAh, because this is what the king of Assyria [has promised]:‘If you will praise me and come out to me, you’ll all drink [wine] from your own grapevines, eat figs from your own trees, and drink water from your own wells!³²‘For I will come and take you to a land that’s like yours… A land of grain, wine, bread, vineyards, olive oil and honey, where you can live and not have to die!‘So, don’t listen to HezekiAh, because he’s fooling you when he says that Jehovah will rescue you!³³‘Which of the gods of the rest of the nations have saved [their people] from the hands of the king of Assyria? ³⁴Yes, where are the gods of HaMath and ArPhad, and where are the gods of SepharVaim, Ana, and Aba?‘They weren’t able to rescue Samaria from my hands!³⁵‘So, since none of the gods of any of the lands have been able to save their countries from my hands, how can Jehovah rescue JeruSalem from my hands?’³⁶Well at that, everything got very quiet and no one said a word in reply, because the king had commanded that no one should give an answer.³⁷Then EliAkim (son of HelkiAh) the king’s right-hand man, SomNas the scribe, and JehoAsh (son of ShaPhat) the recorder, returned to HezekiAh and they started ripping their clothes as they told him all the things that RapSakes had said.

¹Well, as King HezekiAh listened to this, he tore off his clothes and dressed himself in sackcloth; then he went to the Temple of Jehovah. ²He also had his right-hand-man EliAkim, SomNas the scribe, and the elders among the Priests put on sackcloth, and he sent them to see the Prophet IsaiAh (son of Amos) ³with the message:‘HezekiAh [wants us to tell you that] today is a day of oppression, scolding, and rage, for even sons who can’t give birth are now experiencing ‘birth pangs!’⁴‘So if your God Jehovah has heard everything that RapSakes –this man sent by his lord the king of Assyria– said to berate the living God and to blaspheme Him... If He has heard all that was said, then pray to your God on behalf of the few of us that remain here!’⁵So the servants of King HezekiAh went to IsaiAh, ⁶and IsaiAh said this to them:‘Go back and tell your lord that this is what Jehovah said:‘Don’t be afraid of the words that you heard and the blasphemies of the servants of the king of Assyria.⁷‘For {Look!} I will just blow [My] Breath, and [the king of Assyria] will receive a message and return to his own land... Thereafter, I will cut him down with a sword in his own country!’⁸Meanwhile, when RapSakes returned to the king of Assyria, he found that he was no longer at LachIsh, for he’d gone to wage war against LobNa, ⁹because he’d heard that King TharHaka of the Ethiopians had declared that he was coming to fight him.But when [the king of Assyria] got back [to LachIsh], he sent messengers to HezekiAh to tell him this:¹⁰‘Don’t allow the God whom you’re relying on to encourage you… [don’t believe Him] if He says that JeruSalem won’t be given into the hands of the king of Assyria!¹¹‘{Look!} Since you’ve heard of all the things that the king of Assyria has done and of all the lands that he’s destroyed, how can you believe that you’ll be saved?¹²‘Have any of the gods of the nations that were destroyed by me or by my ancestors been able to save them… Such as those in:• Gozan, • Harran, • Raphis, • The sons of Edem, or • The people of ThaEsthen.¹³‘Yes, where are the kings of HaMath and ArPhad, and where is the king of SepharVaim, or [the kings] of Ana and Aba?’¹⁴Well, after HezekiAh took the letter from the hands of the messengers and read it, he went to the Temple of Jehovah and unrolled it there before Jehovah.¹⁵Then he prayed:‘O Jehovah the God of IsraEl,‘The One who’s resting on cherubs,‘You alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth and the One who made the skies and the lands.¹⁶‘So, O Jehovah,‘Turn Your ears to me and listen!‘O Jehovah,‘Open Your eyes and Look… [read] the words that SenNacherIb sent to berate the living God!¹⁷‘For it was really You, O Jehovah, who allowed the kings of Assyria to destroy all those nations, ¹⁸and You’re the One who had their gods thrown into the fires, since they really aren’t gods, they’re just things that men made with their hands out of wood and stone, which will soon just rot away.¹⁹‘So now, O Jehovah our God,‘Please save us from his hands, so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that You – Jehovah – are the only [true] God.’²⁰And thereafter, IsaiAh (son of Amos) sent a message to HezekiAh that said:‘Jehovah the God of armies and the God of IsraEl told me that He heard what you said to Him in your prayer concerning King SenNacherIb of Assyria... ²¹And Jehovah spoke these words against him:‘The daughters of JeruSalem will be shaking their heads at you who would treat the virgin daughters of Zion with contempt and sneer at them!²²‘For who is it that you berated?‘And who is it that you’ve blasphemed?‘Yes, against whom have you raised your voice and put yourself higher in your own eyes?‘You did this against the Holy One of IsraEl!²³‘You sent your messengers to berate Jehovah!‘Then you dared to say:‘I’ve ridden my chariot to the tops of the mountains of the the borders of Lebanon, and I’ve cut down their great cedars (their best ones)! Then I rode among the forests of CarMel!²⁴‘There I cooled myself and drank from their alien waters, as I destroyed all the moats around their city walls with the soles of my feet!²⁵‘Then I reshaped and moved things… In my pride I took all those combative peoples away from their fortified cities! ²⁶Yes, by my own hand I made the peoples that lived there weak!‘Then I shocked and disgraced them, and they became like grass in the fields… Like green hay or like young shoots that grow on roofs, which are easily trampled by people walking on them!’²⁷‘[However, Jehovah has said this to you]:‘I know when you sit down, I know where you are going, And I know of your rage against Me!²⁸‘So it’s because of your rage against Me that the things you’ve been doing have reached My ears... Therefore, I’m now going to put My hooks in your nose and My bit between your lips, then I’m going to turn you around and send you back by the same way that you came!’²⁹[And after that, IsaiAh told HezekiAh]:‘This will be your sign:‘This year you must eat the things that grow on their own and everything that grows on its own next year also. But in the 3rd year, you will again sow seeds, harvest, and plant vineyards and eat their fruit.³⁰‘Then [Jehovah] will increase those of the house of Judah who’ve escaped... Yes, the left-over ‘root’ beneath the ground, will produce ‘fruit’ above it!³¹‘[Jehovah says:]‘For a remnant will come out of JeruSalem, And a savior will come from Mount Zion Through the zeal of Jehovah of armies.³²‘So, this is Jehovah’s reply to the king of Assyria:‘You won’t enter this city,’ says Jehovah…‘You won’t even shoot an arrow here! So, no one will have to lift a shield, because you won’t be pouring any dirt to build a siege mound around this city!³³‘And thereafter, you will return by the same way that you came,’ says Jehovah.‘No, you won’t enter this city, ³⁴for I will put a shield around it and save it because of Myself and because of My servant David!’³⁵And that’s what happened.During the night, a [spirit] messenger of Jehovah came and destroyed the camp of the Assyrians, killing 185,000 of their men!So when [the people of JeruSalem] got up the next morning, {Look!} all [they found] was dead bodies.³⁶And after that, King SenNacherIb of Assyria did, in fact, go back to his home in Nineveh. ³⁷Then one day, while he was bowing in the temple of his god MeserAk, his sons AdraMelek and SarAsar killed him with swords and fled to the land of Ararat!Then his son AsorDan started ruling in place of him.

¹Well later, HezekiAh [developed an infection] and became sick to the point of dying. So the Prophet IsaiAh (son of Amos) went to see him and said:‘Jehovah says that you should [settle your affairs], because you won’t live, you’re going to die.’²And at that, HezekiAh turned his face to the wall and made a vow to Jehovah, saying:³‘O Jehovah,‘Remember that I walked before You in truth with a heart that’s full of good, and I always did what’s right in Your eyes.’Then he broke down and cried.⁴Meanwhile, as IsaiAh was still walking out through the courtyard, these words of Jehovah came to him:⁵‘Return to HezekiAh, the one who’s leading My people, and say:‘I’ve heard your prayer and I’ve seen your tears. So, {Look!} I will heal you on the third day… And then you must go to the Temple of Jehovah.⁶‘I will add 15 more years to your life, and I’ll bring you and this city out from under the hands of the king of Assyria because of Myself and because of My servant David.’⁷Then IsaiAh told [King HezekiAh]:‘Have them take a cluster of dried figs and wrap it around the sore, and you’ll be healed!’⁸But HezekiAh asked him:‘What is the sign that Jehovah will heal me and that I’ll be able to go to the Temple on the third day?’⁹And IsaiAh said:‘This is the sign that Jehovah will do the things that He said:‘The shadow on your stairway will go up 10 stairs, then go back down 10 stairs.’¹⁰And HezekiAh said:‘It’s nothing unusual for a shadow to go up 10 stairs, but it never goes back down 10 stairs!’¹¹But then the Prophet IsaiAh called out to Jehovah, and the shadow went back down 10 stairs!¹²Well at the time, King Maradak Baladan (son of Baladan) of Babylon, sent letters and gifts to HezekiAh, because he heard that he was sick, ¹³and this made HezekiAh very happy.So he showed [the messengers] everything in his palace.He showed them all his good things… His spices, silver, gold, perfumes, oils, weapons, and everything that he had in his treasury. In fact, there wasn’t anything in his house that he failed to show them.¹⁴Then when the Prophet IsaiAh came to HezekiAh, he asked:‘Who were those men and why did they come to you?’And HezekiAh replied:‘They came from far away… All the way from Babylon!’¹⁵Then IsaiAh asked:‘What did they see in your palace?’And he said:‘They saw everything that’s here.‘I showed them everything in my house and in my treasury.’¹⁶Then IsaiAh said:‘Listen to the words of Jehovah!¹⁷‘{Look} The days are coming,’ says Jehovah...‘When all the things in your palace and all the treasures that your ancestors have stored away until now will be taken to Babylon…‘None of these things that Jehovah spoke about will be left.¹⁸‘Also, the sons whom you sire and those who descend from you will be taken as eunuchs to serve in the palace of the king of Babylon.’¹⁹And HezekiAh said to IsaiAh:‘The words of Jehovah are good…‘But may there be peace during my lifetime!’²⁰Well, the rest of the things that HezekiAh said and did, as well as the area of his rulership, the wells that he dug, and about the water duct that he built to bring water into the city, {Look!} they’re recorded in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of Judah.²¹Then HezekiAh went to sleep with his ancestors and he was buried in a tomb in the city of David.So after him, his son ManasSeh started ruling.

¹ManasSeh was just 12 years old when he started his reign, and he ruled from JeruSalem for 55 years. His mother’s name was OpSiba.²However, ManasSeh acted wickedly in the eyes of Jehovah, for he returned to the disgusting practices of the nations that Jehovah had removed from before the sons of IsraEl.³He went and rebuilt the high places of worship that his father HezekiAh had torn down, he rebuilt the altar to the BaAl, he built groves of sacred poles like those that were built by King Ahab of IsraEl, and he bowed before and served the powerful objects in the skies!⁴He also built an altar inside the Temple of Jehovah, for he said:‘Because I did this, my name will be remembered in JeruSalem.’⁵In addition, he built an altar to all the powerful things in the skies inside two of the courtyards of the Temple of Jehovah, ⁶and he thereafter sacrificed two of his own sons in fire!He even brought many fortunetellers, diviners, and seers into the land, setting aside sacred precincts for them... All of this was very wicked in the eyes of Jehovah, and it made Him very angry!⁷Thereafter, [ManasSeh] put carvings of sacred poles right inside the Temple… Yes, in that very place where Jehovah had said to David and his son Solomon:‘This is the Temple in JeruSalem that I chose out of all the other tribes of IsraEl as the place to put My Name throughout the ages.⁸‘So, I will never shake the feet of IsraEl off this land that I gave to their ancestors for as long as they do everything that I told them to do and they follow the Commandments that I gave to them through My servant Moses.’⁹However, the people just wouldn’t listen... For ManasSeh had misled them into doing things that were even more wicked in the eyes of Jehovah than was done by those nations that the Lord had once removed from before the sons of IsraEl.¹⁰As a result, Jehovah spoke to them through His servants the prophets and said:¹¹‘I’m not going to allow ManasSeh the king of Judah to continue doing these disgusting things, for they’re even worse than what the Amorites used to do in front of Me!‘He has led Judah into sin with his idols, ¹²and this cannot continue!’Then Jehovah the God of IsraEl said this:‘{Look!} I’m going to bring so much evil upon JeruSalem and Judah that everyone will hear about it with both ears!¹³‘I’m going to stretch the measuring line out over JeruSalem the same as I once did over Samaria, when I brought all the weight of the house of Ahab down upon it!‘I’ll wipe away JeruSalem like someone wipes out an alabaster jar… I’ll wipe it clean and then turn it over on its face.¹⁴‘I’ll wipe away every trace of My inheritance and hand them over to their enemies, who’ll ravage and plunder them ¹⁵for doing so many wicked things before My eyes... Since they’ve been provoking Me to anger from the time that I led their ancestors out of Egypt down to this very day!¹⁶‘And now ManasSeh has shed the blood of so many innocent [people] that it’s filled JeruSalem from mouth to mouth… And this is in addition to all the rest of his sins and the ways that he’s led Judah into sin by acting wickedly in the eyes of Jehovah.’¹⁷Well, the rest of the things that ManasSeh said and did (including all of his sins) are written about in the scrolls of the words of The Days of the Kings of Judah.¹⁸Then ManasSeh went to sleep with his ancestors and they buried him in a tomb in the garden next to his house (the Garden of Oza). And after that, his son Amon started ruling in his place.¹⁹Amon was 22 years old when he started his reign, and he ruled from JeruSalem for just 2 years. His mother’s name was MesolLam (she was the daughter of Arus from JeTeba).²⁰Like his father ManasSeh, he also acted wickedly in the eyes of Jehovah, ²¹for he continued to do the same things that his father did. He served and bowed before the same idols that his father served, ²²and he abandoned Jehovah the God of his ancestors... He certainly didn’t walk in the paths of the Lord.²³But then Amon’s servants plotted a coup against him, and they murdered the king in his palace!²⁴However, the people of the land took those who had plotted against King Amon and had them put to death, then they appointed Amon’s son JosiAh to rule in his place.²⁵Well, the rest of the things that Amon said and did {Look!} have been written about in the scrolls of the words of The Days of the Kings of Judah.²⁶He was also buried in his own tomb in the Garden of Oza.Then JosiAh started his reign.

¹JosiAh was only 8 years old when he started his reign, and he ruled for 31 years in JeruSalem. His mother’s name was JediYa, and she was the daughter of EdeYa of BasorOth.²JosiAh actually did what was upright in the eyes of Jehovah, for he followed in the paths of his ancestor David and he didn’t swerve to the right or to the left.³It was during the 8th month of the 18th year of King JosiAh’s reign that the king sent for ShaPhan (son of EseliJah and grandson of MesolLam), who was the scribe at the Temple of Jehovah.Then he told him:⁴‘Go to HelkiAh the great High Priest and have him set aside the money from the treasury that the people have been bringing to the Temple [of Jehovah], ⁵then give it to the men who are assigned to work on the Temple of Jehovah!’So they gave the money to the men who were working on the Temple of Jehovah, and they used it to repair its walls. ⁶The money was given to the craftsmen, laborers, and stonemasons, who used it to buy wood and stones to fortify its walls, ⁷and no one required an accounting, for they were just trusted to do the right thing.⁸But then HelkiAh (the High Priest) went to ShaPhan the scribe and reported:‘We’ve found a scroll of the Law in the Temple of Jehovah!’So HelkiAh gave the scroll to ShaPhan and he read it, ⁹then he carried it to King JosiAh.Well, the first thing that the king spoke to ShaPhan about when he went before him, was that he wanted him to set aside more silver from the Temple of Jehovah, so it could be given to the servants who were appointed to do the repairs.¹⁰And after that, ShaPhan (the scribe) said to the king:‘HelkiAh the Priest also gave me this scroll...’Which he then read to the king.¹¹Well when the king heard the Law that was written on the scroll, he started ripping his clothes!¹²And then the king gave these instructions to HelkiAh the Priest, AchiKan (son of ShaPhan), AchObor (son of MichaJah), ShaPhan the scribe, and to AsaJah (the king’s personal representative):¹³‘Go and search for Jehovah on behalf of myself and all of my people in the land of Judah, because, according to the things that are written in this scroll that you found, the anger of Jehovah is surely blazing against us, since we haven’t been paying attention to any of His instructions or doing any of the things that were written about us here!’¹⁴So, HelkiAh the Priest, AchiCam, AchObor, ShaPhan, and AsiAh went to the Prophetess HuldAh (the [wife] of SelLem, who was son of Thekou and grandson of Aras the keeper of the robes) who lived in Masena near JeruSalem, and they spoke to her about it.¹⁵Then she told them this:‘The Lord God of IsraEl says that you should speak to the man who sent you to me ¹⁶and tell him that this is what Jehovah said:‘{Look!} I’m bringing bad things against this place and upon all those who live here… Yes, everything that’s written in the scroll that the king of Judah read!¹⁷‘For they have abandoned Me and have started offering incense to other gods… They’re making Me so angry with those things they’ve made with their hands that My rage is blazing against this place, and now it won’t be extinguished.’¹⁸‘Also, tell the king of Judah, the one who sent you to inquire of Jehovah, that these are the words that you heard from the Lord God of IsraEl:¹⁹‘Because you are so tenderhearted and you felt ashamed when you heard the things that I said about this place and about those who live here... That they deserve to be cursed and extinguished... And [because] you’ve ripped your clothes and cried before Me, [then I say this]:‘I’ve heard you.²⁰‘Therefore, none of these things will happen to you.‘Instead, {Look!} I’ll add you to your ancestors and you’ll be buried in your own tomb in peace. You won’t have to see all the bad things that I’m going to bring against this place with your eyes.’And with that, they returned to the king and told him what was said.

¹Thereafter, the king sent for all the elders of Judah and JeruSalem and had them brought to him.²Then the king went to the Temple of Jehovah with the men of Judah and JeruSalem (the Priests, the prophets, and all the people, both the small and the great), and he read all the words of the scroll of the Sacred Agreement that had been found there.³And as the king was standing next to one of the columns, he promised Jehovah that they’d all return to Him and obey His Commandments, proclamations, and Laws with their whole hearts and souls, and that they would reestablish His Sacred Agreement that was written about in the scroll.And thereafter, he made all the people who were there affirm that they also agreed with his promise.⁴Next, the king had the High Priest HelkiAh, as well as all the other lesser priests and those who guarded the doors, go into the Temple Sanctuary of Jehovah and drag out all the objects for BaAl worship, the things for the groves of sacred poles, and the objects of worship of the things in the skies.Then he burned it all outside of JeruSalem in the Cedar (Kidron) Valley, and he had the ashes carried off to BethEl.⁵Following that, he had all the idolatrous priests (those who had been appointed by the kings of Judah and who burned incense in the high places around the cities of Judah and JeruSalem, as well as those who burned incense to BaAl, or to the sun and the moon, or to the Zodiac and the mighty things in the sky) [killed and] incinerated!⁶And he had the carvings of the groves of sacred poles carted out of the Temple of Jehovah and out of JeruSalem to the Cedar (Kidron) Wadi, where he had them burned and ground into dust, which was thereafter scattered among the tombs in the graveyards.⁷Following that, he had the rooms in the Temple of Jehovah where male prostitutes were kept and where women wove robes for the worship of the sacred poles, demolished.⁸Then he brought back all the Priests from the cities of Judah (from GabaA all the way to BeerSheba), and they went up to the high places where [the people] had burned incense, and they desecrated [those places].He also demolished the high place that was located next to the entrance of the gate of JoShua (who was the city’s mayor), which was to the left of the city’s main gate.⁹Thereafter, [the king] forbade the Priests who had served at the high places to ever be allowed to approach the Altar of Jehovah in JeruSalem or to ever again share in eating the fermentation-free bread among their brothers!¹⁰Next he defiled Topheth, which is the place [of worship] in the valley of the sons of Hinnom where people took their sons and daughters to be burned in a fire before [the image of] Moloch.¹¹And he incinerated the horses that the kings of Judah had offered to the sun, which were kept inside the compound near the entrance to Jehovah’s Temple, in the treasury room of Nathan MelEch.He also burned the Chariot of the Sun, ¹²the altars that were on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz (which had been built by the kings of Judah), and he demolished the altars that had been built for ManasSeh inside two of the Temple courtyards.Then he had the dust and ashes thrown into the Cedar (Kidron) Wadi!¹³The king also had the temple that stood in front of JeruSalem (on the right side of Mount MosOath) that King Solomon had built to Astarte (the disgusting thing of the Sidonians), to Chemosh (the disgusting thing of MoAb), and to Moloch (the disgusting thing of the sons of AmMon) desecrated.¹⁴He also broke up all the monuments and the groves of sacred poles, and he had the areas where they once stood covered with dead men’s bones.¹⁵After that, he went to the high altar in BethEl that [King] JeroBoam [I] (son of NaBat) built to lead IsraEl into sin, and he had it torn down, its stones crushed into fine dust, and its grove of sacred poles incinerated.¹⁶And when JosiAh noticed the tombs where the people of that city were buried, he had the bones taken from the tombs and burned on [JeroBoam’s] altar so as to defile it – just as the [prophecy] of Jehovah that the man of God spoke (on the holiday that JeroBoam had called for when he built the altar) was finally fulfilled!For back then, the man of God had looked towards this very graveyard and asked:¹⁷‘What are these tall rocks that I see?’And when the men of the city [heard] the man of God (who had come from Judah) foretell that all these things would happen to the altar in BethEl, they said:¹⁸‘Leave him alone, and may no man ever move his bones!’So his bones were thereafter placed with the bones of the prophets of Samaria.¹⁹Well after that, [the king] went throughout the cities of Samaria, and he had all the temples on the high places that the kings of IsraEl had built to provoke Jehovah to anger, torn down.JosiAh removed them all, along with all the things that were built for worship in BethEl.²⁰And thereafter, he sacrificed all the priests of the high places on their own altars, and he incinerated their bones upon them!Then he went back to JeruSalem, ²¹and he told all the people that they would have to observe the Passover of their God Jehovah, just as it had been written about in the scroll of His Sacred Agreement... ²²For the Passover really hadn’t been celebrated there since the time of the Judges, yes, not during the time of any of the previous kings of Judah!²³So it was in the 18th year of King JosiAh’s reign that the Passover to Jehovah was once again celebrated in JeruSalem.²⁴Then King JosiAh had all the witches, fortunetellers, objects for providing omens, idols, and all the other disgusting things and practices that were taking place in the land of Judah and JeruSalem removed, so that the words of the Law that was written in the scroll that HelkiAh the Priest had found in the Temple of Jehovah could be followed once again.²⁵Never before had there been any king like him that had turned towards Jehovah and to the Law of Moses with so much of his whole heart, strength, and soul.And after him, no one like him ever arose again.²⁶However, none of this turned Jehovah from His rage and great anger against Judah over the things that ManasSeh had done.²⁷For Jehovah had said:‘I will indeed remove Judah from before My face the same as I removed IsraEl... I will throw this city of JeruSalem that I chose away, along with the Temple where I said that I’d put My Name.’²⁸Well, the rest of the things that JosiAh said and did have been written about in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of Judah.²⁹However after that, PharaOh Necho [II] (the king of Egypt) attacked the king of Assyria at the EuPhrates River, and JosiAh joined in the war against [PharaOh].So when [PharaOh] Necho saw [King JosiAh] at MegidDo, he killed him... ³⁰Then [the king’s] servants brought his dead body back from MegidDo to JeruSalem, and they buried him in his tomb in the city of David.Then the people of the land anointed JehoAhaz (JosiAh’s son), and he started reigning in place of his father.³¹JehoAhaz was 23 years old when he started his reign, and he only ruled in JeruSalem for three months! The name of his mother was AmiTal, and she was the daughter of JeremiAh of LobNa.³²For thereafter, he followed in the paths of his ancestors and acted wickedly in the eyes of Jehovah. ³³Then PharaOh Necho attacked him at DebLatha (in the land of HaMath) and removed him from [his throne] in JeruSalem, and he required the whole land to pay him a tribute of 4 tons (3,600kg) of silver and 4 tons (3,600kg) of gold.³⁴Then he put EliAkim (another son of JosiAh) on [the throne] of Judah in place of his father, changing his name to JehoiAkim, and he had JehoAhaz carried off to Egypt, where he eventually died.³⁵So thereafter, JehoiAkim had to tax all the people of the land (which was assessed by how much they each owned) so as to pay what the PharaOh had required, and he sent all the silver and gold to PharaOh Necho.³⁶JehoiAkim was 25 years old when he started his reign, and he ruled from JeruSalem for 11 years. His mother’s name was JelDaph, and she was the daughter of PhadaEl of RoUma.³⁷But he also acted wickedly in the eyes of Jehovah, and he did all the bad things that his ancestors had done.

¹It was during the time of JehoiAkim that NebuChadnezzar became the king of Babylon, and JehoiAkim became his vassal for three years… But then he annulled his allegiance.²So, during that time, Jehovah sent armed bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, MoAbites, and AmMonites against him and the land of Judah until they actually overran the land, just as Jehovah had foretold would happen through His servants the prophets, ³because of His rage against Judah.As a result, He decided to remove them from in front of His face for the sins of ManasSeh and for all the [bad] things that he did ⁴when he [killed] so many innocent [people] and filled JeruSalem with innocent blood, over which he refused to repent.⁵Now, the rest of the things that JehoiAkim said and did have been written about in the scrolls of The Days of the Kings of Judah.⁶For then he went to sleep with his ancestors, and his son JehoiAchin started ruling in place of him.⁷Well thereafter, the king of Egypt no longer came into his land, because the king of Babylon had claimed all the land from the EuPhrates to the [River Nile]… Everything that had once belonged to the king of Egypt!⁸JehoiAchin was only 18 years old when he started his reign, and he ruled from JeruSalem for just three months. His mother’s name was NesTha, and she was the daughter of ElLaNathan of JeruSalem.⁹But JehoiAchin followed in the ways of his father and acted wickedly in the eyes of Jehovah.¹⁰So thereafter, King NebuChadnezzar [II] of Babylon came and laid siege to JeruSalem… ¹¹NebuChadnezzar [himself] came to the city when his army attacked it.¹²Then King JehoiAchin of Judah surrendered to the king of Babylon, along with his mother, servants, governors, and eunuchs.So the king of Babylon [took him captive] during the 8th year of [NebuChadnezzar’s] reign, ¹³and he took all the treasures that were in the Temple of Jehovah and in the king’s palace, including all the things that King Solomon of IsraEl had covered with gold inside the Temple Sanctuary of Jehovah.He had it all cut off and removed, just as Jehovah said would happen!¹⁴Thereafter, he took all the governors and all the important people from JeruSalem and carried them into captivity (some 10,000 people), including all the contractors and their workers... So, all that was left in the land was just the poor people.¹⁵He carried off JehoiAchin, his mother, his wives, his eunuchs, and all the great people of the land. He took them all from JeruSalem and resettled them in [the Kingdom of] Babylon.¹⁶He also carried off 7,000 of [Judah’s] greatest men, 1,000 contractors and their craftsmen, and 1,000 of the best soldiers, and he took them all to Babylon.¹⁷Then the king of Babylon appointed MatThaniAh (JehoiAchim’s son) to be [the king of Judah], and he renamed him ZedekiAh.¹⁸Well, ZedekiAh was 21 years old when he started his reign, and he ruled in JeruSalem for 11 years. His mother was AmiTal (the daughter of JeremiAh).¹⁹And like his father JehoiAchin, he also acted wickedly before Jehovah. ²⁰So, Jehovah’s rage continued against JeruSalem and Judah until He pushed them away from in front of His face.For then ZedekiAh also annulled his allegiance to the king of Babylon!

¹It was in the 9th year of [ZedekiAh’s] reign (on the 10th day of the 10th month) that King NebuChadnezzar of Babylon came against JeruSalem with his whole army... He camped outside of the city and built a siege mound around it!²So the city remained cut off until the 11th year and 9th month of the ZedekiAh’s reign. ³For by then, famine was raging throughout the city, and none of the people there had any bread.⁴And that’s when its walls were finally breached.Well, when that happened, [the king] and his men slipped away during the night along a road that ran between the walls of the gate to the king’s garden... Then the Chaldeans (who were all around the city) chased after them along the desert road, ⁵catching up with the king in the desert near JeriCho, where his men had deserted him.⁶So they captured the king and carried him back to the king of Babylon (who was in DebLatha at the time), where he was put on trial. ⁷Then the king of Babylon had ZedekiAh’s sons slaughtered before his eyes, and he was blinded and carried off to Babylon in chains.⁸It was in the 5th month, on the 7th day of the month, in the 19th year of the reign of King NebuChadnezzar of Babylon that NabuZarDan (the king of Babylon’s chief body guard) came to JeruSalem.⁹He then burned the Temple of Jehovah, the king’s palace, and all the houses in JeruSalem… He burned everything, ¹⁰and he had his soldiers tear down JeruSalem’s walls!¹¹The only people he left behind were those who had sided with the king of Babylon.And thereafter, NabuZarDan (the chief guard) removed his troops, ¹²leaving behind just the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers.¹³The Chaldeans thereafter broke up the brass columns in the Temple of Jehovah, as well as the basins and the Sacred Sea, and carried all the brass back to Babylon!¹⁴They also took:• All the cooking pots, • The shovels, • The bowls, • The incense pans......and everything else in the Temple that was made of brass, ¹⁵as well as the gold and silver censers and bowls.¹⁶Well, with the two columns, the Sacred Sea, and the bases that Solomon had made for the Temple of Jehovah, no one could estimate the weight of all the brass that they took!¹⁷For each column stood 30 feet (9.1m) tall, and the brass caps for each column stood 5 feet (153cm) tall... There was also the latticework, the brass pomegranates that were all around each of the caps, and the 100 of brass pomegranates that were around the latticework on each column.¹⁸The chief bodyguard also took the High Priest SaraiJah and his son ZephaniAh (who was in charge of [Temple] collections). ¹⁹In addition, he carried off:• All the eunuchs who were in charge of the troops, • 5 of the king’s advisors, • The secretary of the army (who handled recruiting), and • 60 other people whom he found in the city.²⁰NabuZarDan (the chief guard) then took them to the king of Babylon (who was in DebLatha), ²¹who had them all killed in DebLatha (which is in the land of HaMath).Then he removed all the people of Judah and resettled them [away from] their own land.²²Thereafter, King NebuChadnezzar of Babylon appointed GedaliAh (son of AchiKam and grandson of ShaPhan) to rule over all those who were still left in the land of Judah.²³And when all the army generals and their men heard that the king of Babylon had put GedaliAh in charge, IshmaEl (son of NathaniAh), JoAnan (son of Kareth), SariAh (son of ThanaMath the NetoPhathite), and JezoniJah (son of the Mahathite) and their men went to GedaliAh in MizPah.²⁴There he swore an oath to them and their men, saying:‘You don’t have to be afraid when the Chaldeans leave, for if you’ll just settle yourselves in the land and serve the king of Babylon, all will go well for you.’²⁵But in the 7th month, IshmaEl (son of NathaniJah and grandson of EliSama), who was related to the kings, took ten men and murdered GedaliAh along with all the Judeans and Chaldeans that were with him in MizPah!²⁶So, all the people (the small and the great) and the army generals got up and fled to Egypt, because they were afraid of what the Chaldeans would do to them.²⁷It was in the 37th year after King JehoiAchin of Judah had been carried away (on the 7th day of the 12th month), that Ebil Marodach became the king of Babylon.And during the 1st year of his reign, he released JehoiAchin (the king of Judah) from prison ²⁸and said good things about him... Then he put him on a throne that was higher than those of all the other kings who were in Babylon!²⁹He also gave him new clothes to wear and allowed him to eat [at his table] for the rest of his life… ³⁰So he thereafter feasted in the palace of the king everyday [until he died].