1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:17 troubler. Such was one who brought misfortune on a

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:17 troubler. Such was one who brought misfortune on a

he was afraid because Ahab was seeking Elijah so intensely. Since Elijah had disappeared from sight earlier (17:5), Obadiah was afraid that the Holy Spirit would carry Elijah away again (cf. 2 Kings 2:16) and the irrational Ahab would kill him for the false report of Elijah's presence.

Resuscitations from the Dead

Resuscitations From the Dead 1. Widow of Zarephath's son, raised by Elijah 1 Kings 17:22 2. Shunammite woman's son, raised by Elisha 2 Kings 4:34–35 3. Man raised when he came into contact with the bones of Elisha 2 Kings 13:20–21 4. Widow of Nain's son, raised by Jesus Luke 7:14–15 5. Jairus's daughter, raised by Jesus Luke 8:52–56 6. Lazarus of Bethany, brother of Mary and Martha, raised by Jesus John 11 7. Dorcas, raised by Peter Acts 9:40 8. Eutychus, raised by Paul Acts 20:9–12

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:17 troubler. Such was one who brought misfortune on a community by breaking an oath or by making a foolish one (Josh. 6:18; 7:25).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:18 Baals. These were the local idols of Baal (cf. Judg. 2:11). The prophet boldly told Ahab that the calamity of drought and famine was traceable directly to his and his family's patronage and practice of idolatry.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:19 Mount Carmel. The Carmel range of mountains, rising to 1,800 feet at its highest point, extends about 30 miles to the southeast from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea into the south of the Jezreel Valley. A series of rounded peaks and valleys, it became a symbol of beauty and fruitfulness because of its lush tree cover (Song 7:5; Isa. 35:2). It is not known at exactly what point along this ridge the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal took place. The queen cared for 850 false prophets who were associated with her.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:21 go limping between two different opinions. Lit., "limp along on or between two twigs." Israel had not totally rejected the Lord, but was seeking to combine worship of him with the worship of Baal. The issue posed by Elijah was that Israel had to choose who was God, the Lord or Baal, and then serve God wholeheartedly. Rather than decide by his message, Elijah

sought a visible sign from heaven.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:24 the God who answers by fire. Since Baal's followers believed that he controlled the thunder, lightning, and storms, and the Lord's followers declared the same (Ps. 18:14; 29:3–9; 104:3), this would prove to be a fair test to show who was God.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:27 mocked. The myths surrounding Baal portrayed him as musing on actions to take, fighting a war, traveling, and even dying and coming back to life. Elijah's sarcastic advice to the prophets of Baal played on these beliefs.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:28 the blood gushed out. Self-laceration was practiced to rouse a god's pity and response in the ancient world, but was prohibited by the OT law (Lev. 19:28; Deut. 14:1).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:29 no . . . No . . . no. This threefold declaration emphasized the complete lack of response on the part of Baal. The fact that there was no response indicated Baal's impotence and non-existence (Jer. 10:5).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:31 twelve stones. The 12 stones represented the 12 tribes, since this contest had significance for both Judah and Israel. Although the tribes had been divided into two nations, they were still one people in the Lord's plans, with the same covenants and a single destiny.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:32 two seahs. This was about 4 gallons or a third of a bushel of seed.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:36 offering of the oblation. This sacrifice was offered around 3:00 p.m. (Ex. 29:38–41; Num. 28:3–8).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:40 Seize the prophets. Taking advantage of the excited feelings of the people over the manifestation of Jehovah as the true God, Elijah called on them to seize the priestly imposters and fill the river with their blood, the river that was dried up by their idolatry. brook Kishon. This river, which drains the Jezreel Valley from east to the northwest, was in the valley north of Mount Carmel. slaughtered them. The killing of the 450 prophets of Baal (18:19) fulfilled the law's demands that false prophets be executed (Deut. 13:1– 5) and that those embracing idolatry or inciting others to practice it were worthy of death (Deut. 13:13–18; 17:2–7). Further, these deaths were just retribution for

Jezebel's killing of the Lord's prophets (1 Kings 18:4, 13).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:41 eat and drink. Elijah instructed Ahab to celebrate the end of the drought.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:42 bowed himself down. Elijah's actions expressed his and Israel's humble submission to God. Elijah prayed for rain this time (cf. 17:1; James 5:17) and God again answered (cf. James 5:18). Since the Lord's curse was lifted, the rains would be coming.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:45 Jezreel. A town located in the tribal allotment of Issachar at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, north of Mount Gilboa, about 55 miles north of Jerusalem. Jezreel was Ahab's winter capital (see 21:1), situated between 15 to 25 miles east of the Carmel Range.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 18:46 ran before. It was customary in the ancient Near East for kings to have runners before their chariots. The prophet showed Ahab his loyalty by rendering to him that service. Empowered by God, Elijah ran on foot ahead of Ahab's chariot the 15 to 25 miles from Mount Carmel to Jezreel.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 19:3 he was afraid. His hope shattered, Elijah fled as a prophet, broken by Jezebel's threats (v. 2), her unrepentant Baalism, and her continuing power over Israel. Elijah expected Jezebel to surrender; when she did not capitulate, he became a discouraged man (vv. 4, 10, 14). Beersheba. A city located 100 miles south of Jezreel (18:45–46) in the Negeb, it marked the southern boundary of the population of Judah.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 19:4 broom tree. A desert bush that grew to a height of 10 feet. It had slender branches featuring small leaves and fragrant blossoms. take away my life. Since Israelites believed that suicide was an affront to the Lord, it was not an option, whatever the distress. So Elijah asked the Lord for death (cf. Jonah 4:3–8) because he viewed the situation as hopeless. Job (Job 6:8–9), Moses (Num. 11:10–15), and Jeremiah (Jer. 20:14–18) had also reacted in similar fashion during their ministries.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 19:6 cake . . . and . . . water. As at Cherith and Zarephath (17:6, 19), God provided food and drink for Elijah in the midst of his distress and the surrounding famine.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 19:8 forty days. Elijah's trip took over double the time it

should have taken. Therefore, the period had symbolic meaning as well as showing literal time. As the people of Israel had a notable spiritual failure and so wandered 40 years in the wilderness (Num. 14:26–35), so a discouraged Elijah was to spend 40 days in the desert. As Moses had spent 40 days on the mountain without bread and water, sustained only by God as he awaited a new phase of service (Ex. 34:28), so Elijah was to spend 40 days depending on God's enablement as he prepared for a new commission from the Lord. As Moses had seen the presence of God (Ex. 33:12–23), so Elijah experienced a manifestation of God. Horeb. An alternate name for Mount Sinai, located about 200 miles south of Beersheba.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 19:10, 14 Elijah viewed the Israelites as rebels against the Mosaic Covenant, a rebellion that his ministry had been unable to arrest (see v. 3). Paul used this incident as an illustration in Rom. 11:3.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 19:11 the Lord passed by. The three phenomena, wind, earthquake, and fire, announced the imminent arrival of the Lord (cf. Ex. 19:16– 19; Ps. 18:7–15; Hab. 3:3–6). The Lord's self-revelation to Elijah came in a faint, whispering voice (1 Kings 19:12). The lesson for Elijah was that Almighty God was quietly, sometimes imperceptibly, doing his work in Israel (v. 18).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 19:15 the wilderness of Damascus. The Syrian Desert south and east of the city of Damascus, the city located to the northeast of Israel.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 19:15–17 The Lord instructed Elijah to anoint Hazael of Aram (see 2 Kings 8:8), Jehu (see 2 Kings 9:2), and Elisha (1 Kings 19:19) for the purpose of commissioning them to destroy Baal worship in Israel. Through these three men, the Lord completed the execution of Baal worshipers that Elijah had begun. Actually, Elijah commissioned only the last of these three men directly— the other two were indirectly commissioned through Elisha. Elisha was involved in Hazael's becoming Syria's king (2 Kings 8:7–14), and one of Elisha's associates anointed Jehu (2 Kings 9:1–3). By the time the last of these men died (2 Kings 13:24), Baalism had been officially barred from Israel.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 19:16 Abel-meholah. The hometown of Elisha was located in the Jordan Valley, 10 miles south of Beth-shanon, in the tribal allotment of Manasseh.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 19:18 Paul used God's response to Elijah as an illustration in

Rom. 11:4. kissed him. Kissing the image or symbol of Baal was apparently a common act in worship (cf. Hosea 13:2).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 19:19 Elisha. This name means "my God is salvation" and belonged to Elisha, the successor to Elijah (see 2 Kings 2:9–15). Shaphat. Elisha's father, whose name meant "he judges." twelve yoke of oxen. It was a common practice for several teams of oxen, each with its own plow and driver, to work together in a row. After letting the others pass, Elijah threw his mantle around the last man, Elisha, thus designating him as his successor.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 19:20 Go back again. Elijah instructed Elisha to go, but to keep in mind the solemn call of God and not to allow any earthly affection to detain his obedience.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 19:21 sacrificed. The slaughter of the oxen was a farewell feast for family and friends, indicating that Elisha was making a decisive break. He followed Elijah and became his servant (lit., "aide," the same term used for Joshua's relationship with Moses in Ex. 24:13; 33:11). Just as Elijah resembled Moses, so Elisha resembled Joshua.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:1 Ben-hadad. This was likely Ben-hadad II of Syria (see note on 15:18), who marched on the capital of Israel and demanded surrender by Ahab (1 Kings 20:2–6). Thirty-two kings. These were probably rulers of client city-states in the land of Syria (see notes on 10:29).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:9 I will do . . . I cannot do. Ahab was willing to give tribute to Ben-hadad as his vassal (vv. 2–4), but he refused to allow the Syrian king to plunder his palace (vv. 5–8).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:10–11 Ben-hadad boasted that his army would level the hill of Samaria to dust (v. 10). Ahab replied that Ben-hadad should not boast of the outcome of the battle before it began (v. 11).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:13 I will give it into your hand this day. These were the words of assurance given before battles when the Lord was about to fight on Israel's side (Josh. 6:2, 16; 8:1, 18; Judg. 7:2; 18:10; 1 Sam. 23:4; 24:4). Further, the victory would show Ahab that the Lord was in every respect the mighty God he claimed to be. Though the people and king of Israel had dishonored God, he would not utterly cast them off (1 Kings 20:14–15).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:17–21 The battle strategy was to send out the young leaders who could perhaps draw near to the Syrians without arousing too much alarm and then, at a given signal, initiate a charge joined by Ahab's main striking force that would catch the drunken Syrians off guard and throw them into confusion. The glorious victory, won so easily and with such a small force, was granted so that Ahab and the people would know that God was sovereign.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:22 in the spring. Spring was the usual time for battles in the ancient Near East (see note on 2 Sam. 11:1), and a prophet warned Ahab that Ben-hadad would retaliate in the following year.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:23 gods of the hills. The advisors of Ben-hadad believed that Israel had won the previous battle because it occurred in mountainous terrain, the area they believed was ruled by Israel's "gods." They counseled Benhadad to strengthen his army and fight Israel again, only on level ground (v. 25). Obviously, this attitude insulted Israel's God, the Lord, who is sovereign over the whole earth (cf. 2 Kings 19:16–19). That blasphemous depreciation of the Lord's power meant certain defeat for the Syrians (1 Kings 20:28).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:26 Aphek. Though several towns in Israel bore the name Aphek, the one mentioned here probably lay about 3 miles east of the Sea of Galilee, north of the Yarmuk River.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:27 like two little flocks of goats. Compared to the massive herd of Arameans covering the land, Israel looked like two little goat flocks. Goats were never seen in large flocks or scattered like sheep; hence the description of the two compact, small divisions.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:28 man of God. See note on 12:22.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:30 inner chamber. Lit., "a room in a room," a safe, wellhidden place.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:31 sackcloth . . . and ropes. Sackcloth traditionally symbolized mourning and penitence. Ropes around the heads were symbols of surrender.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:34 bazaars. Lit., "outside places." Bazaars were set up in a foreign land (cf. Neh. 13:16), a lucrative market for Israelite goods.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:35 sons of the prophets. An association of prophets that met and possibly lived together for study, encouragement, and service (see note on 1 Sam. 10:5).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:35–36 The prophet needed to be wounded as if in battle to carry out the drama. The refusal to do as the prophet said was wrong, as it was a withholding of necessary aid to a prophet of God in the discharge of his duty. It was severely punished as a warning to others (cf. 13:2–24).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:39–43 The prophet illustrated that, just as a soldier pays dearly for losing a prisoner in war, Ahab will pay for letting Ben-hadad, the idolatrous enemy of God, live.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:39 a talent of silver. This was about 75 pounds of silver, more than a common soldier could afford and for which debt he would face death.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:40 your judgment. This "judicial parable" was designed to trap Ahab into announcing the punishment for his own crime (see 2 Sam.

12:1–12). Unknowingly, Ahab declared his own judgment (1 Kings 20:42).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:42 destruction. By declaring the battles to be holy war (vv. 13, 22, 28), the Lord had put Ben-hadad and the Syrians under the ban, a reference to something belonging to the Lord and destined to be destroyed (Deut. 7:2; 20:16). By freeing Ben-hadad, Ahab had disobeyed the law and would suffer the ban in place of Ben-hadad.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 20:43 vexed and sullen. Ahab was resentful and angry because of the Lord's reaction to his actions (cf. 21:4).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 21:1 Jezreel. See note on 18:45. Ahab had built a second palace in Jezreel, where he lived when not in the capital at Samaria.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 21:2 Give me your vineyard. In Canaanite culture, since land was simply a commodity to be traded and sold for profit, Ahab's offer to Naboth of an exchange of property or offer of purchase was a common transaction in the Near East.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 21:3 The Lord forbid. Naboth's words implied that trading or selling his property would be a disregard of the law and thus displeasing in God's eyes (cf. 1 Sam. 24:6; 26:11; 2 Sam. 23:17). The reason was that the vineyard was his ancestral property. The Lord, the owner of all of the land of Israel, had forbidden Israelite families to surrender ownership of family lands permanently (Lev. 25:23–28; Num. 36:7–9). Out of loyalty to God, Naboth declined Ahab's offer.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 21:7 Do you now govern Israel? Jezebel was sarcastically rebuking Ahab for not exercising absolute royal power in the matter.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 21:8 she wrote letters. Written by the royal scribe, ancient letters were mainly in the form of a scroll sealed in clay or wax with the sender's personal sign. The seal made the contents of the letters a royal mandate and implied that disobedience would certainly lead to some kind of punishment.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 21:9 Proclaim a fast. To call an assembly for solemn fasting implied that a disaster threatened the people that could be averted only if they would humble themselves before the Lord and remove any person whose sin had brought God's judgment upon them (cf. Judg. 20:26; 1 Sam. 7:5–6; 2 Chron. 20:2–4).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 21:10 two . . . men. The Mosaic law required two witnesses in capital cases (Num. 35:30; Deut. 17:6; 19:5). worthless men. Lit., "sons of Belial." These were utterly wicked men. See note on 1 Sam. 2:12. cursed God and the king. The penalty for cursing God and the king was death (Ex. 22:28).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 21:13 outside the city. They hypocritically climaxed their violent murder by killing the innocent Naboth in a place that was in accordance with the Mosaic law (Lev. 24:14; Num. 15:35–36). He was stoned to death in the open fields and his sons were killed with him (2 Kings 9:26), eliminating all possible heirs.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 21:19 Elijah's first announcement of judgment applied to Ahab personally. He said that the dogs would lick Ahab's blood in the same place that Naboth died, outside the city of Jezreel. This prophecy was not fulfilled because of his repentance (vv. 27–29), but was partially fulfilled in the licking of Ahab's blood by dogs at the pool in Samaria (22:37–38).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 21:21–24 Elijah's second announcement of judgment applied to Ahab and his house. The judgment was virtually identical with one made to Jeroboam (14:10–11) and similar to the one made to Baasha (16:3–4).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 21:23 of Jezebel. Jezebel was singled out for judgment because of her initiative in driving Ahab in the promotion of Baalism (v. 25). Elijah's prophecy concerning her was literally fulfilled in 2 Kings 9:10, 30–37.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 21:27 tore his clothes. The tearing of garments was a common expression of grief, terror, or repentance in the face of great personal or national calamity (Num. 14:6; Josh. 7:6; Judg. 11:35; 2 Sam. 1:2; 3:31).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 21:29 his son's days. Since Ahab had truly humbled himself before the Lord, he did not see the disaster forecast for him (v. 19). Instead, God postponed it until the reign of his son, Joram, c. 852–841 B.C. (2 Kings 9:25–26). Joram died in the field of Naboth (cf. 1 Kings 21:19).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:1 three years. Israel had peace for three years following the two years of war with Syria described in 20:1–34. During this peace, Benhadad, Ahab, and 10 other kings formed a coalition to repel an Assyrian invasion. Assyrian records described the major battle fought at Qarqar on the Orontes River in 853 B.C. Though Assyria claimed victory, later events show that they were stopped from further advance southward at that time. With the

Assyrian threat neutralized, Ahab turned his attention to the unfinished conflict with Syria.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:2 Jehoshaphat. The king of Judah, c. 873–848, whose reign is described in vv. 41–50. See notes on 2 Chron. 17:1–21:3.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:3 Ramoth-gilead. Ramoth-gilead was a Levitical city east of the Jordan River in Gilead, on the north border of Gad the home of Jephthah (Judg. 11:34) and a key administrative center in Solomon's kingdom (1 Kings 4:13). It seems to have been one of the cities that Ben-hadad should have returned to Israel (20:34).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:5 Inquire first for the word of the Lord. Jehoshaphat was willing to help Ahab fight Syria (v. 4), but reminded Ahab of the need to seek the will of the Lord before going into battle (cf. 1 Sam. 23:1–5, 9–13; 2 Sam. 2:1; 5:19–25; 2 Kings 3:11–20).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:6 prophets. These 400 prophets of Ahab were not true prophets of the Lord. They worshiped at Bethel in the golden-calf center set up by Jeroboam (12:28–29) and were supported by Ahab, whose religious policy also permitted Baal worship. Their words were designed to please Ahab (22:8), so they refused to begin with the authoritative "thus says the Lord" and did not use the covenant name for Israel's God, "Lord."

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:7 another prophet of the Lord. Jehoshaphat recognized that the 400 prophets were not true prophets of the Lord, and wished to hear from a true prophet.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:8 Micaiah. His name means "Who is like the Lord?"

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:10 thrones. A portable, high-backed chair made of wood with arm rests and separate footstool.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:11 Zedekiah. He was the spokesman for the false prophets. In contrast to v. 6, he used the introductory formula and God's covenant name.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:15 Go up and triumph. Micaiah sarcastically repeated the message of the false prophets as he had been encouraged to do (v. 13). Ahab clearly sensed the sarcasm and demanded that Micaiah tell him the truth (v. 16).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:17 sheep that have no shepherd. The image of the king as a shepherd and his people as the sheep was a familiar one (Num. 27:16–17; Zech. 13:7). Micaiah's point was that Israel's shepherd, King Ahab, would be killed and his army scattered.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:22 a lying spirit. This must be Satan, whom the Lord allowed to speak through 400 demons who indwelt the 400 false prophets.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:24 struck . . . on the cheek. This was a rebuke by the leader of the false prophets (v. 6) for the perceived insolence of Micaiah and his claim to truly speak for God. It was followed by a sarcastic question asking if the prophet could tell which direction the spirit in Zedekiah had gone.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:28 If you return. In accordance with Deut. 18:21–22, Micaiah declared to Ahab that if he lived to return from the battle, then he had uttered a false prophecy.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:30 disguise myself. Rejecting the prophecy, but fearing it also, Ahab decided not to wear his official robe, but the clothes of an ordinary soldier.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:31 only with the king of Israel. The very Syrian king, Ben-hadad, whose life Ahab had spared (20:34), ungratefully singled him out for death.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:32 Jehoshaphat cried out. According to 2 Chron. 18:31, this was a prayer for the Lord's deliverance. Jehoshaphat's cry showed the Syrians that he was not Ahab.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:34 at random. The Syrian bowman shot at an Israelite soldier, not knowing that it was the disguised Ahab. The arrow found a small groove between the breastpiece and the flexible scale armor that covered the lower abdomen and thighs. Instantly, Ahab slumped in his chariot, mortally wounded in the stomach and bleeding to death.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:38 the prostitutes washed. The Hebrew text may read "where" or "while." In either case, the point is the same: Ahab, the spiritual harlot (i.e., idolater), was associated with the physical harlots at his death. according to the word of the Lord. Ahab's death fulfilled the prophecies spoken by Elijah (21:19) and Micaiah (22:17).

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:39 the ivory house. Ahab's palace at Samaria had internal walled panels that were made of inlaid ivory, indicative of his kingdom's economic prosperity. cities that he built. Archeological excavations show that Ahab strengthened the fortifications of Samaria, Megiddo, and Hazor.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:41 fourth year. A reference to the beginning of Jehoshaphat's reign, after being co-regent with his father Asa, in 870 B.C.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:42 twenty-five years. 873–848 B.C.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:43 doing what was right. Jehoshaphat faithfully followed in his father Asa's footsteps, doing what pleased the Lord. His only major fault, like that of his father, was his failure to close down the high places.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:44 made peace. In 2 Chron. 19:2, Jehu the prophet rebuked Jehoshaphat for this alliance.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:45 warred. See 2 Kings 3:7–27; 2 Chron. 17:11; 20:1–30.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:47–49 Jehoshaphat controlled Edom, which gave him access to Ezion-geber. He sought to emulate Solomon's fleet and wealth (9:26– 28), but was unsuccessful. According to 2 Chron. 20:36–37, the Lord destroyed his fleet because of Jehoshaphat's alliance to build it with Ahaziah, king of Israel. First Kings 22:49 apparently refers to a subsequent attempt by Ahaziah to continue the joint venture after the disaster.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:51–2 Kings 1:18 Ahaziah . . . two years. 853–852 B.C.

1 KINGS—NOTE ON 22:53 He served Baal. Ahaziah continued the official promotion of Baal worship (cf. 16:31–32). First Kings ends at this point in the middle of Ahaziah's reign, which is picked up in 2 Kings 1:1–18. The explanation for this unusual break is found in Introduction: Title.

2 Kings

2 Kings 1 • 2 Kings 2 • 2 Kings 3 • 2 Kings 4 • 2 Kings 5 • 2 Kings 6 • 2 Kings 7 • 2 Kings 8 • 2 Kings 9 • 2 Kings 10 • 2 Kings 11 • 2 Kings 12 • 2 Kings 13 • 2 Kings 14 • 2 Kings 15 • 2 Kings 16 • 2 Kings 17 • 2 Kings 18 • 2 Kings 19 • 2 Kings 20 • 2 Kings 21 • 2 Kings 22 • 2 Kings 23 • 2 Kings 24 • 2 Kings 25 Footnotes Study Notes

2 Kings

Elijah Denounces Ahaziah

2 KINGS 1 †After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel.

2†Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and lay sick; so he sent messengers, telling them, "Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this sickness." 3†But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? 4†Now therefore thus says the LORD, You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.'" So Elijah went.

5The messengers returned to the king, and he said to them, "Why have you returned?" 6And they said to him, "There came a man to meet us, and said to us, 'Go back to the king who sent you, and say to him, Thus says the LORD, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.'" 7He said to them, "What kind of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things?" 8†They answered him, "He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist." And he said, "It is Elijah the Tishbite."

9†Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty men with his fifty. He went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, "O man of God, the king says, 'Come down.'" 10‡But Elijah answered the captain of fifty, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty." Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

11Again the king sent to him another captain of fifty men with his fifty. And he answered and said to him, "O man of God, this is the king's order, 'Come down quickly!'" 12But Elijah answered them, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty." Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

13Again the king sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third

captain of fifty went up and came and fell on his knees before Elijah and entreated him, "O man of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty servants of yours, be precious in your sight. 14Behold, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former captains of fifty men with their fifties, but now let my life be precious in your sight." 15†Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, "Go down with him; do not be afraid of him." So he arose and went down with him to the king 16†and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word?—therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.'"

17†So he died according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken. Jehoram became king in his place in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, because Ahaziah had no son. 18Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

Elijah Taken to Heaven

2 KINGS 2 †Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2†And Elijah said to Elisha, "Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel." But Elisha said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel. 3†And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, "Do you know that today the LORD will take away your master from over you?" And he said, "Yes, I know it; keep quiet."

4†Elijah said to him, "Elisha, please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to Jericho." But he said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they came to Jericho. 5The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, "Do you know that today the LORD will take away your master from over you?" And he answered, "Yes, I know it; keep quiet."

6Then Elijah said to him, "Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan." But he said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So the two of them went on. 7Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. 8†Then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground.

9†When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you." And Elisha said, "Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me." 10†And he said, "You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so." 11†And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12†And Elisha saw it and he cried, "My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" And he saw him no more.

Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. 13†And he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14†Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" And

when he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.

Elisha Succeeds Elijah

15†Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, "The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha." And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. 16†And they said to him, "Behold now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. It may be that the Spirit of the LORD has caught him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley." And he said, "You shall not send." 17†But when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, "Send." They sent therefore fifty men. And for three days they sought him but did not find him. 18And they came back to him while he was staying at Jericho, and he said to them, "Did I not say to you, 'Do not go'?"

19Now the men of the city said to Elisha, "Behold, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful." 20‡He said, "Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it." So they brought it to him. 21Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, "Thus says the LORD, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it." 22So the water has been healed to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.

23†He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, "Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!" 24†And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys. 25†From there he went on to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

Moab Rebels Against Israel

2 KINGS 3 †In the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twelve years. 2†He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, though not like his father and mother, for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made. 3†Nevertheless, he clung to the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it.

4†Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and he had to deliver to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. 5†But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6So King Jehoram marched out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. 7And he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to battle against Moab?" And he said, "I will go. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses." 8†Then he said, "By which way shall we march?" Jehoram answered, "By the way of the wilderness of Edom."

9So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. And when they had made a circuitous march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. 10Then the king of Israel said, "Alas! The LORD has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab." 11†And Jehoshaphat said, "Is there no prophet of the LORD here, through whom we may inquire of the LORD?" Then one of the king of Israel's servants answered, "Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah." 12And Jehoshaphat said, "The word of the LORD is with him." So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

13†And Elisha said to the king of Israel, "What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother." But the king of Israel said to him, "No; it is the LORD who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab." 14†And Elisha said, "As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you. 15†But now bring me a musician." And when the musician played, the hand of the LORD came upon him. 16†And he said, "Thus says the LORD, 'I will make this dry streambed full of pools.' 17For thus says the LORD, 'You shall not see wind or rain, but that

streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals.' 18This is a light thing in the sight of the LORD. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, 19and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin every good piece of land with stones." 20†The next morning, about the time of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water.

21When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armor, from the youngest to the oldest, were called out and were drawn up at the border. 22†And when they rose early in the morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. 23And they said, "This is blood; the kings have surely fought together and struck one another down. Now then, Moab, to the spoil!" 24But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose and struck the Moabites, till they fled before them. And they went forward, striking the Moabites as they went. [1] 25†And they overthrew the cities, and on every good piece of land every man threw a stone until it was covered. They stopped every spring of water and felled all the good trees, till only its stones were left in Kir-hareseth, and the slingers surrounded and attacked it. 26When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him 700 swordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom, but they could not. 27†Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.

Elisha and the Widow's Oil

2 KINGS 4 †Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves." 2†And Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?" And she said, "Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil." 3Then he said, "Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. 4†Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside." 5So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. 6When the vessels were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "There is not another." Then the oil stopped flowing. 7She came and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest."

Elisha and the Shunammite Woman

8†One day Elisha went on to Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food. 9†And she said to her husband, "Behold now, I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way. 10Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there."

11One day he came there, and he turned into the chamber and rested there. 12†And he said to Gehazi his servant, "Call this Shunammite." When he had called her, she stood before him. 13†And he said to him, "Say now to her, 'See, you have taken all this trouble for us; what is to be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?'" She answered, "I dwell among my own people." 14†And he said, "What then is to be done for her?" Gehazi answered, "Well, she has no son, and her husband is old." 15He said, "Call her." And when he had called her, she stood in the doorway. 16†And he said, "At this season, about this time next year, you shall embrace a son." And she said, "No, my lord, O man of God; do not lie to your servant." 17†But the woman conceived, and she bore a son about that time the following spring, as Elisha had said to her.

Elisha Raises the Shunammite's Son

18When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father among the reapers. 19†And he said to his father, "Oh, my head, my head!" The father said to his servant, "Carry him to his mother." 20And when he had lifted him and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died. 21And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door behind him and went out. 22Then she called to her husband and said, "Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may quickly go to the man of God and come back again." 23†And he said, "Why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor Sabbath." She said, "All is well." 24Then she saddled the donkey, and she said to her servant, "Urge the animal on; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you." 25†So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi his servant, "Look, there is the Shunammite. 26†Run at once to meet her and say to her, 'Is all well with you? Is all well with your husband? Is all well with the child?'" And she answered, "All is well." 27†And when she came to the mountain to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said, "Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me." 28†Then she said, "Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, 'Do not deceive me?'" 29†He said to Gehazi, "Tie up your garment and take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not reply. And lay my staff on the face of the child." 30Then the mother of the child said, "As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So he arose and followed her. 31Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. Therefore he returned to meet him and told him, "The child has not awakened."

32When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. 33So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the LORD. 34†Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. 35Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. 36Then he summoned Gehazi and said, "Call this Shunammite." So he called her. And

when she came to him, he said, "Pick up your son." 37She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out.

Elisha Purifies the Deadly Stew

38†And Elisha came again to Gilgal when there was a famine in the land. And as the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, "Set on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets." 39†One of them went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were. 40And they poured out some for the men to eat. But while they were eating of the stew, they cried out, "O man of God, there is death in the pot!" And they could not eat it. 41†He said, "Then bring flour." And he threw it into the pot and said, "Pour some out for the men, that they may eat." And there was no harm in the pot.

42†A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, "Give to the men, that they may eat." 43‡But his servant said, "How can I set this before a hundred men?" So he repeated, "Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and have some left.'" 44So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the LORD.

Naaman Healed of Leprosy

2 KINGS 5 †Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. [1] 2†Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman's wife. 3†She said to her mistress, "Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." 4So Naaman went in and told his lord, "Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel." 5†And the king of Syria said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel."

So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels [2] of gold, and ten changes of clothing. 6And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy." 7†And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me."

8But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel." 9So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha's house. 10And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean." 11†But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, "Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. 12†Are not Abana [3] and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage. 13†But his servants came near and said to him, "My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?" 14†So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Gehazi's Greed and Punishment

15†Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, "Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant." 16†But he said, "As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none." And he urged him to take it, but he refused. 17†Then Naaman said, "If not, please let there be given to your servant two mules' load of earth, for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the LORD. 18†In this matter may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon your servant in this matter." 19He said to him, "Go in peace."

But when Naaman had gone from him a short distance, 20Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, "See, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not accepting from his hand what he brought. As the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him." 21So Gehazi followed Naaman. And when Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and said, "Is all well?" 22†And he said, "All is well. My master has sent me to say, 'There have just now come to me from the hill country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.'" 23†And Naaman said, "Be pleased to accept two talents." And he urged him and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and laid them on two of his servants. And they carried them before Gehazi. 24And when he came to the hill, he took them from their hand and put them in the house, and he sent the men away, and they departed. 25He went in and stood before his master, and Elisha said to him, "Where have you been, Gehazi?" And he said, "Your servant went nowhere." 26†But he said to him, "Did not my heart go when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it a time to accept money and garments, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male servants and female servants? 27†Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever." So he went out from his presence a leper, like snow.

The Axe Head Recovered

2 KINGS 6 †Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "See, the place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us. 2Let us go to the Jordan and each of us get there a log, and let us make a place for us to dwell there." And he answered, "Go." 3Then one of them said, "Be pleased to go with your servants." And he answered, "I will go." 4†So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. 5†But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, "Alas, my master! It was borrowed." 6†Then the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. 7And he said, "Take it up." So he reached out his hand and took it.

Horses and Chariots of Fire

8†Once when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants, saying, "At such and such a place shall be my camp." 9‡†But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, "Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are going down there." 10And the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God told him. Thus he used to warn him, so that he saved himself there more than once or twice.

11†And the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing, and he called his servants and said to them, "Will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel?" 12And one of his servants said, "None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom." 13†And he said, "Go and see where he is, that I may send and seize him." It was told him, "Behold, he is in Dothan." 14†So he sent there horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city.

15When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" 16†He said, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." 17†Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see." So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 18†And when the Syrians

came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, "Please strike this people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. 19†And Elisha said to them, "This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek." And he led them to Samaria.

20†As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, "O LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see." So the LORD opened their eyes and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. 21†As soon as the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, "My father, shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down?" 22†He answered, "You shall not strike them down. Would you strike down those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master." 23†So he prepared for them a great feast, and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the Syrians did not come again on raids into the land of Israel.

Ben-hadad's Siege of Samaria

24†Afterward Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria. 25†And there was a great famine in Samaria, as they besieged it, until a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab [1] of dove's dung for five shekels of silver. 26†Now as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, "Help, my lord, O king!" 27And he said, "If the LORD will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?" 28‡And the king asked her, "What is your trouble?" She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.' 29So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, 'Give your son, that we may eat him.' But she has hidden her son." 30†When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath on his body— 31†and he said, "May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today."

32†Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Now the king had dispatched a man from his presence, but before the messenger arrived Elisha said to the elders, "Do you see how this murderer has sent to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door fast

against him. Is not the sound of his master's feet behind him?" 33†And while he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him and said, "This trouble is from the LORD! Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?"

Elisha Promises Food

2 KINGS 7 †But Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD: thus says the LORD, Tomorrow about this time a seah [1] of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, [2] and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria." 2†Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, "If the LORD himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?" But he said, "You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it."

The Syrians Flee

3†Now there were four men who were lepers [3] at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, "Why are we sitting here until we die? 4If we say, 'Let us enter the city,' the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die." 5†So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there. 6†For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, "Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us." 7So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp as it was, and fled for their lives. 8And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went and hid them.

9†Then they said to one another, "We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king's household." 10So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, "We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no one to be seen or heard there, nothing but the horses tied and the donkeys tied and the tents as they were." 11Then the gatekeepers called out, and it was told within the king's household. 12†And the king rose in the night and said to his servants, "I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the open country, thinking, 'When

they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and get into the city.'" 13And one of his servants said, "Let some men take five of the remaining horses, seeing that those who are left here will fare like the whole multitude of Israel who have already perished. Let us send and see." 14So they took two horsemen, and the king sent them after the army of the Syrians, saying, "Go and see." 15So they went after them as far as the Jordan, and behold, all the way was littered with garments and equipment that the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king.

16‡Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD. 17Now the king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. And the people trampled him in the gate, so that he died, as the man of God had said when the king came down to him. 18For when the man of God had said to the king, "Two seahs of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria," 19the captain had answered the man of God, "If the LORD himself should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?" And he had said, "You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it." 20And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate and he died.

The Shunammite's Land Restored

2 KINGS 8 ‡†Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, "Arise, and depart with your household, and sojourn wherever you can, for the LORD has called for a famine, and it will come upon the land for seven years." 2†So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God. She went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. 3†And at the end of the seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went to appeal to the king for her house and her land. 4Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, "Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done." 5And while he was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, "My lord, O king, here is the woman, and here is her son whom Elisha restored to life." 6†And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed an official for her, saying, "Restore all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields from the day that she left the land until now."

Hazael Murders Ben-hadad

7†Now Elisha came to Damascus. Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick. And when it was told him, "The man of God has come here," 8†the king said to Hazael, "Take a present with you and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD through him, saying, 'Shall I recover from this sickness?'" 9†So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, all kinds of goods of Damascus, forty camel loads. When he came and stood before him, he said, "Your son Benhadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, 'Shall I recover from this sickness?'" 10†And Elisha said to him, "Go, say to him, 'You shall certainly recover,' but the LORD has shown me that he shall certainly die." 11†And he fixed his gaze and stared at him, until he was embarrassed. And the man of God wept. 12†And Hazael said, "Why does my lord weep?" He answered, "Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women." 13†And Hazael said, "What is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?" Elisha answered, "The LORD has shown me that you are to be king over Syria." 14Then he departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, "What did Elisha say to you?" And he answered, "He told me that you would certainly

recover." 15†But the next day he took the bed cloth [1] and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, till he died. And Hazael became king in his place.

Jehoram Reigns in Judah

16†In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, [2] Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, began to reign. 17†He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 18†And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. 19†Yet the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant, since he promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever.

20†In his days Edom revolted from the rule of Judah and set up a king of their own. 21†Then Joram [3] passed over to Zair with all his chariots and rose by night, and he and his chariot commanders struck the Edomites who had surrounded him, but his army fled home. 22†So Edom revolted from the rule of Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time. 23Now the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 24So Joram slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.

Ahaziah Reigns in Judah

25‡In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, began to reign. 26†Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah; she was a granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. 27†He also walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was son-in-law to the house of Ahab.

28†He went with Joram the son of Ahab to make war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead, and the Syrians wounded Joram. 29†And King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel,

because he was sick.

Jehu Anointed King of Israel

2 KINGS 9 Then Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, "Tie up your garments, and take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead. 2†And when you arrive, look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. And go in and have him rise from among his fellows, and lead him to an inner chamber. 3†Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, 'Thus says the LORD, I anoint you king over Israel.' Then open the door and flee; do not linger."

4So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. 5And when he came, behold, the commanders of the army were in council. And he said, "I have a word for you, O commander." And Jehu said, "To which of us all?" And he said, "To you, O commander." 6So he arose and went into the house. And the young man poured the oil on his head, saying to him, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, I anoint you king over the people of the LORD, over Israel. 7†And you shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, so that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD. 8For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel. 9†And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. 10†And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her." Then he opened the door and fled.

11†When Jehu came out to the servants of his master, they said to him, "Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you?" And he said to them, "You know the fellow and his talk." 12†And they said, "That is not true; tell us now." And he said, "Thus and so he spoke to me, saying, 'Thus says the LORD, I anoint you king over Israel.'" 13†Then in haste every man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare [1] steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, "Jehu is king."

Jehu Assassinates Joram and Ahaziah

14Thus Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram with all Israel had been on guard at Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Syria, 15†but King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of

Syria.) So Jehu said, "If this is your decision, then let no one slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel." 16†Then Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to visit Joram.

17Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu as he came and said, "I see a company." And Joram said, "Take a horseman and send to meet them, and let him say, 'Is it peace?'" 18So a man on horseback went to meet him and said, "Thus says the king, 'Is it peace?'" And Jehu said, "What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me." And the watchman reported, saying, "The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back." 19Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, "Thus the king has said, 'Is it peace?'" And Jehu answered, "What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me." 20Again the watchman reported, "He reached them, but he is not coming back. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously."

21†Joram said, "Make ready." And they made ready his chariot. Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah set out, each in his chariot, and went to meet Jehu, and met him at the property of Naboth the Jezreelite. 22†And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, "Is it peace, Jehu?" He answered, "What peace can there be, so long as the whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many?" 23Then Joram reined about and fled, saying to Ahaziah, "Treachery, O Ahaziah!" 24And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his heart, and he sank in his chariot. 25†Jehu said to Bidkar his aide, "Take him up and throw him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember, when you and I rode side by side behind Ahab his father, how the LORD made this pronouncement against him: 26†'As surely as I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons—declares the LORD—I will repay you on this plot of ground.' Now therefore take him up and throw him on the plot of ground, in accordance with the word of the LORD."

27†When Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled in the direction of Bethhaggan. And Jehu pursued him and said, "Shoot him also." And they shot him [2] in the chariot at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo and died there. 28His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the city of David.

29†In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah.

Jehu Executes Jezebel

30†When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. And she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out of the window. 31†And as Jehu entered the gate, she said, "Is it peace, you Zimri, murderer of your master?" 32†And he lifted up his face to the window and said, "Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked out at him. 33He said, "Throw her down." So they threw her down. And some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled on her. 34†Then he went in and ate and drank. And he said, "See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter." 35But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. 36†When they came back and told him, he said, "This is the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, 'In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel, 37and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, This is Jezebel.'"

Jehu Slaughters Ahab's Descendants

2 KINGS 10 †Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of the city, [1] to the elders, and to the guardians of the sons [2] of Ahab, saying, 2"Now then, as soon as this letter comes to you, seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, fortified cities also, and weapons, 3†select the best and fittest of your master's sons and set him on his father's throne and fight for your master's house." 4But they were exceedingly afraid and said, "Behold, the two kings could not stand before him. How then can we stand?" 5†So he who was over the palace, and he who was over the city, together with the elders and the guardians, sent to Jehu, saying, "We are your servants, and we will do all that you tell us. We will not make anyone king. Do whatever is good in your eyes." 6†Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying, "If you are on my side, and if you are ready to obey me, take the heads of your master's sons and come to me at Jezreel tomorrow at this time." Now the king's sons, seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who were bringing them up. 7†And as soon as the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and slaughtered them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel. 8†When the messenger came and told him, "They have brought the heads of the king's sons," he said, "Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning." 9†Then in the morning, when he went out, he stood and said to all the people, "You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who struck down all these? 10†Know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for the LORD has done what he said by his servant Elijah." 11†So Jehu struck down all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his great men and his close friends and his priests, until he left him none remaining.

12Then he set out and went to Samaria. On the way, when he was at Beth-eked of the Shepherds, 13†Jehu met the relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah, and he said, "Who are you?" And they answered, "We are the relatives of Ahaziah, and we came down to visit the royal princes and the sons of the queen mother." 14†He said, "Take them alive." And they took them alive and slaughtered them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two persons, and he spared none of them.

15†And when he departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him. And he greeted him and said to him, "Is your heart true to

my heart as mine is to yours?" And Jehonadab answered, "It is." Jehu said, [3] "If it is, give me your hand." So he gave him his hand. And Jehu took him up with him into the chariot. 16And he said, "Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD." So he [4] had him ride in his chariot. 17And when he came to Samaria, he struck down all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, till he had wiped them out, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke to Elijah.

Jehu Strikes Down the Prophets of Baal

18‡Then Jehu assembled all the people and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much. 19Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers and all his priests. Let none be missing, for I have a great sacrifice to offer to Baal. Whoever is missing shall not live." But Jehu did it with cunning in order to destroy the worshipers of Baal. 20And Jehu ordered, "Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal." So they proclaimed it. 21†And Jehu sent throughout all Israel, and all the worshipers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left who did not come. And they entered the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled from one end to the other. 22He said to him who was in charge of the wardrobe, "Bring out the vestments for all the worshipers of Baal." So he brought out the vestments for them. 23Then Jehu went into the house of Baal with Jehonadab the son of Rechab, and he said to the worshipers of Baal, "Search, and see that there is no servant of the LORD here among you, but only the worshipers of Baal." 24Then they [5] went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings.

Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside and said, "The man who allows any of those whom I give into your hands to escape shall forfeit his life." 25So as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the officers, "Go in and strike them down; let not a man escape." So when they put them to the sword, the guard and the officers cast them out and went into the inner room of the house of Baal, 26†and they brought out the pillar that was in the house of Baal and burned it. 27†And they demolished the pillar of Baal, and demolished the house of Baal, and made it a latrine to this day.

Jehu Reigns in Israel

28†Thus Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel. 29†But Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin—that is, the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan. 30And the LORD said to Jehu,

"Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel." 31But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin.

32In those days the LORD began to cut off parts of Israel. Hazael defeated them throughout the territory of Israel: 33†from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the Valley of the Arnon, that is, Gilead and Bashan. 34Now the rest of the acts of Jehu and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 35So Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place. 36†The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

Athaliah Reigns in Judah

2 KINGS 11 †Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family. 2†But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king's sons who were being put to death, and she put [1] him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus they [2] hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not put to death. 3†And he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the LORD, while Athaliah reigned over the land.

Joash Anointed King in Judah

4†But in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of the Carites and of the guards, and had them come to him in the house of the LORD. And he made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of the LORD, and he showed them the king's son. 5‡And he commanded them, "This is the thing that you shall do: one third of you, those who come off duty on the Sabbath and guard the king's house 6†(another third being at the gate Sur and a third at the gate behind the guards) shall guard the palace. [3] 7And the two divisions of you, which come on duty in force on the Sabbath and guard the house of the LORD on behalf of the king, 8shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand. And whoever approaches the ranks is to be put to death. Be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in."

9The captains did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and they each brought his men who were to go off duty on the Sabbath, with those who were to come on duty on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest. 10†And the priest gave to the captains the spears and shields that had been King David's, which were in the house of the LORD. 11And the guards stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house on behalf of the king. 12†Then he brought out the king's son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony. And they proclaimed him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, "Long live the king!"

13When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she went into the house of the LORD to the people. 14†And when she looked, there was the king standing by the pillar, according to the custom, and the captains and the

trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets. And Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, "Treason! Treason!" 15Then Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains who were set over the army, "Bring her out between the ranks, and put to death with the sword anyone who follows her." For the priest said, "Let her not be put to death in the house of the LORD." 16†So they laid hands on her; and she went through the horses' entrance to the king's house, and there she was put to death.

17†And Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and people, that they should be the LORD's people, and also between the king and the people. 18†Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest posted watchmen over the house of the LORD. 19And he took the captains, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the LORD, marching through the gate of the guards to the king's house. And he took his seat on the throne of the kings. 20So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword at the king's house.

Jehoash Reigns in Judah

21† [4] Jehoash [5] was seven years old when he began to reign.

2 KINGS 12 †In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash [1] began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2†And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 3†Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places.

Jehoash Repairs the Temple

4‡†Jehoash said to the priests, "All the money of the holy things that is brought into the house of the LORD, the money for which each man is assessed—the money from the assessment of persons—and the money that a man's heart prompts him to bring into the house of the LORD, 5†let the priests take, each from his donor, and let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is discovered." 6†But by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had made no repairs on the house. 7‡Therefore King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, "Why are you not repairing the house? Now therefore take no more money from your donors, but hand it over for the repair of the house." 8So the priests agreed that they should take no more money from the people, and that they should not repair the house.

9‡†Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in the lid of it and set it beside the altar on the right side as one entered the house of the LORD. And the priests who guarded the threshold put in it all the money that was brought into the house of the LORD. 10And whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king's secretary and the high priest came up and they bagged and counted the money that was found in the house of the LORD. 11Then they would give the money that was weighed out into the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the LORD. And they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked on the house of the LORD, 12and to the masons and the stonecutters, as well as to buy timber and quarried stone for making repairs on the house of the LORD, and for any outlay for the repairs of the house. 13But there were not made for the house of the LORD basins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, or any vessels of gold, or of silver, from the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, 14for that was given to the workmen who were repairing the house of the LORD with it. 15And they did not ask an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to pay out to the workmen, for they dealt honestly. 16†The money from the guilt offerings and the

money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD; it belonged to the priests.

17†At that time Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it. But when Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem, 18†Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred gifts that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred gifts, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king's house, and sent these to Hazael king of Syria. Then Hazael went away from Jerusalem.

The Death of Joash

19†Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 20†His servants arose and made a conspiracy and struck down Joash in the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla. 21†It was Jozacar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, who struck him down, so that he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

Jehoahaz Reigns in Israel

2 KINGS 13 †In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years. 2‡†He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from them. 3†And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael. 4Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them. 5†(Therefore the LORD gave Israel a savior, so that they escaped from the hand of the Syrians, and the people of Israel lived in their homes as formerly. 6†Nevertheless, they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin, but walked [1] in them; and the Asherah also remained in Samaria.) 7†For there was not left to Jehoahaz an army of more than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing. 8Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 9So Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria, and Joash his son reigned in his place.

Jehoash Reigns in Israel

10†In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash [2] the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years. 11He also did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin, but he walked in them. 12†Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, and the might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 13So Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

The Death of Elisha

14†Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, "My father,

my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" 15And Elisha said to him, "Take a bow and arrows." So he took a bow and arrows. 16†Then he said to the king of Israel, "Draw the bow," and he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands. 17†And he said, "Open the window eastward," and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot," and he shot. And he said, "The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them." 18And he said, "Take the arrows," and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground with them." And he struck three times and stopped. 19†Then the man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times."

20†So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. 21†And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

22†Now Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. 23†But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion on them, and he turned toward them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, nor has he cast them from his presence until now.

24When Hazael king of Syria died, Ben-hadad his son became king in his place. 25Then Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities that he had taken from Jehoahaz his father in war. Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.

Amaziah Reigns in Judah

2 KINGS 14 ‡†In the second year of Joash the son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign. 2†He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. 3†And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not like David his father. He did in all things as Joash his father had done. 4But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. 5‡And as soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand, he struck down his servants who had struck down the king his father. 6But he did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the LORD commanded, "Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin."

7†He struck down ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by storm, and called it Joktheel, which is its name to this day.

8†Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash [1] the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, "Come, let us look one another in the face." 9†And Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, "A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son for a wife,' and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. 10You have indeed struck down Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home, for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?"

11†But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 12And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home. 13†And Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits, [2] from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. 14†And he seized all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house, also hostages, and he returned to Samaria.

15Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash that he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 16And Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.

17†Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. 18†Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 19†And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there. 20And they brought him on horses; and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. 21†And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. 22†He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers.

Jeroboam II Reigns in Israel

23†In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. 24And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. 25‡†He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. 26For the LORD saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. 27But the LORD had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

28†Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he restored Damascus and Hamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 29And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.

Azariah Reigns in Judah

2 KINGS 15 †In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah the son of Amaziah, king of Judah, began to reign. 2†He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. 3And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. 4†Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. 5†And the LORD touched the king, so that he was a leper [1] to the day of his death, and he lived in a separate house. [2] And Jotham the king's son was over the household, governing the people of the land. 6Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 7And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Jotham his son reigned in his place.

Zechariah Reigns in Israel

8†In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. 9And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. 10†Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him and struck him down at Ibleam and put him to death and reigned in his place. 11Now the rest of the deeds of Zechariah, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 12(This was the promise of the LORD that he gave to Jehu, "Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation." And so it came to pass.)

Shallum Reigns in Israel

13†Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah [3] king of Judah, and he reigned one month in Samaria. 14†Then Menahem the son of Gadi came up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and he struck down Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and put him to death and reigned in his place. 15Now the rest of the deeds of Shallum, and the conspiracy that he made, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 16†At that time Menahem sacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on, because they did not open it to him. Therefore he sacked it, and he

ripped open all the women in it who were pregnant.

Menahem Reigns in Israel

17†In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel, and he reigned ten years in Samaria. 18And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart all his days from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. 19‡†Pul [4] the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents [5] of silver, that he might help him to confirm his hold on the royal power. 20Menahem exacted the money from Israel, that is, from all the wealthy men, fifty shekels [6] of silver from every man, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay there in the land. 21Now the rest of the deeds of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 22And Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son reigned in his place.

Pekahiah Reigns in Israel

23†In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned two years. 24†And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. 25†And Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him with fifty men of the people of Gilead, and struck him down in Samaria, in the citadel of the king's house with Argob and Arieh; he put him to death and reigned in his place. 26Now the rest of the deeds of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Pekah Reigns in Israel

27†In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twenty years. 28And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.

29†In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria. 30†Then

Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah and struck him down and put him to death and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. 31Now the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Jotham Reigns in Judah

32†In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign. 33†He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. 34And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah had done. 35†Nevertheless, the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the LORD. 36Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 37†In those days the LORD began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah. 38Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

Ahaz Reigns in Judah

2 KINGS 16 ‡†In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. 2†Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David had done, 3†but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, [1] according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. 4†And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

5†Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. 6†At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day. 7†So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, "I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me." 8Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasures of the king's house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. 9†And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin.

10†When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. 11And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. 12‡And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it 13and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14‡And the bronze altar that was before the LORD he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of his altar. 15And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, "On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their

grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by." 16Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.

17‡And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down the sea [2] from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal. 18†And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the LORD, because of the king of Assyria. 19Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 20†And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

2 KINGS 17 †In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. 2†And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. 3†Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. 4†But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison. 5†Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it.

The Fall of Israel

6†In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

Exile Because of Idolatry

7‡†And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods 8†and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. 9†And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. 10They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger, 12and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this." 13†Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets."

14†But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. 15They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them.

They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them. 16†And they abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. 17†And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings [1] and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. 18Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only.

19†Judah also did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced. 20And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

21†When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD and made them commit great sin. 22†The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them, 23†until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.

Assyria Resettles Samaria

24†And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. 25†And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD. Therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 26†So the king of Assyria was told, "The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land." 27‡Then the king of Assyria commanded, "Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him [2] go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land." 28So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

29‡But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the

high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived. 30†The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31†and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32They also feared the LORD and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. 33†So they feared the LORD but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

34‡To this day they do according to the former manner. They do not fear the LORD, and they do not follow the statutes or the rules or the law or the commandment that the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel. 35The LORD made a covenant with them and commanded them, "You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them, 36but you shall fear the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. 37And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods, 38and you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods, 39but you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies." 40However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner.

41So these nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children's children—as their fathers did, so they do to this day.

Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

2 KINGS 18 ‡†In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 2†He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. 3And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. 4†He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). [1] 5†He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. 6For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses. 7†And the LORD was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. 8†He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

9‡In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it, 10and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. 11The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.

Sennacherib Attacks Judah

13‡†In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 14‡And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear." And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents [2] of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house. 16At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD and from

the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. 17‡†And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer's Field. 18†And when they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

19‡†And the Rabshakeh said to them, "Say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 20†Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 21†Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 22†But if you say to me, "We trust in the LORD our God," is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem"? 23‡Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 24How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 25†Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.'"

26†Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall." 27†But the Rabshakeh said to them, "Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?"

28‡Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 29Thus says the king: 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my [3] hand. 30Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.' 31Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria:

'Make your peace with me [4] and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 32‡†until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, The LORD will deliver us. 33Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 34Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 35Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'"

36†But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, "Do not answer him." 37†Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Isaiah Reassures Hezekiah

2 KINGS 19 †As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD. 2†And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3†They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4†It may be that the LORD your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left." 5When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6†Isaiah said to them, "Say to your master, 'Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7†Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.'"

Sennacherib Defies the LORD

8†The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that the king had left Lachish. 9‡†Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, "Behold, he has set out to fight against you." So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10†"Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: 'Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11‡Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12‡Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?'"

Hezekiah's Prayer

14†Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD. 15†And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said: "O LORD, the God of Israel,

enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 16†Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 17‡Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands 18and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 19†So now, O LORD our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone."

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib's Fall

20†Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. 21†This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him: "She despises you, she scorns you— the virgin daughter of Zion;

she wags her head behind you—

the daughter of Jerusalem. 22†"Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the

heights? Against the Holy One of Israel! 23‡By your messengers you have mocked the Lord, and you have said, 'With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon; I felled its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses; I entered its farthest lodging place, its most fruitful forest. 24I dug wells and drank foreign waters, and I dried up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt.' 25‡"Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old

what now I bring to pass, that you should turn fortified cities into heaps of ruins, 26while their inhabitants, shorn of strength, are dismayed and confounded, and have become like plants of the field and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops,

blighted before it is grown.

27"But I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me. 28Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come into my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.

29†"And this shall be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 30‡And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31†For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD will do this.

32†"Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 33†By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. 34†For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David."

35‡†And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 36Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. 37And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery

2 KINGS 20 †In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.'" 2‡Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, 3†"Now, O LORD, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: 5"Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD, 6†and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake." 7And Isaiah said, "Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover."

8‡And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?" 9And Isaiah said, "This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?" 10And Hezekiah answered, "It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps." 11And Isaiah the prophet called to the LORD, and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.

Hezekiah and the Babylonian Envoys

12†At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13‡†And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 14Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?" And Hezekiah said, "They have come from a far country, from Babylon." 15He said, "What have they seen in your house?" And Hezekiah

answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them."

16‡Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD: 17†Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. 18†And some of your own sons, who shall be born to you, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." 19†Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good." For he thought, "Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?"

20†The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 21And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

Manasseh Reigns in Judah

2 KINGS 21 †Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah. 2†And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. 3†For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4†And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem will I put my name." 5And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. 6†And he burned his son as an offering [1] and used fortunetelling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. 7†And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the LORD said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. 8‡And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them." 9But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel.

Manasseh's Idolatry Denounced

10†And the LORD said by his servants the prophets, 11†"Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, 12therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster [2] that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 13†And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14†And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, 15†because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day."

16†Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.

17Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 18And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son reigned in his place.

Amon Reigns in Judah

19†Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 20And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as Manasseh his father had done. 21He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served the idols that his father served and worshiped them. 22He abandoned the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD. 23And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house. 24†But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. 25Now the rest of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 26And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place.

Josiah Reigns in Judah

2 KINGS 22 †Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. 2†And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

Josiah Repairs the Temple

3†In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the LORD, saying, 4‡†"Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money that has been brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people. 5And let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD, and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of the LORD, repairing the house 6(that is, to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons), and let them use it for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the house. 7But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly."

Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law

8†And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 9‡And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, "Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD." 10Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read it before the king.

11†When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. 12And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, 13"Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us."

14†So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter), and they talked with her. 15‡And she said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Tell the man who sent you to me, 16Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. 17Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. 18But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, 19because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the LORD, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the LORD. 20†Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place.'" And they brought back word to the king.

Josiah's Reforms

2 KINGS 23 Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. 2†And the king went up to the house of the LORD, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD. 3†And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.

4†And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5†And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens. 6†And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. 7†And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. 8†And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one's left at the gate of the city. 9However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. 10†And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech. [1] 11†And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts. [2] And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12†And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two

courts of the house of the LORD, he pulled down and broke in pieces [3] and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. 13†And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 14And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.

15†Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, [4] reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. 16†And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the LORD that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. 17‡Then he said, "What is that monument that I see?" And the men of the city told him, "It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted [5] these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel." 18†And he said, "Let him be; let no man move his bones." So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. 19†And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the LORD to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. 20†And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah Restores the Passover

21‡And the king commanded all the people, "Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant." 22For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. 23†But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.

24†Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums and the necromancers and the household gods and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. 25†Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of

Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.

26Still the LORD did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. 27And the LORD said, "I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there."

Josiah's Death in Battle

28Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 29†In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him at Megiddo, as soon as he saw him. 30And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's place.

Jehoahaz's Reign and Captivity

31†Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. 33†And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents [6] of silver and a talent of gold. 34†And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35†And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.

Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah

36†Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD,

according to all that his fathers had done.

2 KINGS 24 †In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. 2†And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldeans and bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by his servants the prophets. 3Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the LORD, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, 4†and also for the innocent blood that he had shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD would not pardon. 5Now the rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 6So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place. 7†And the king of Egypt did not come again out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates.

Jehoiachin Reigns in Judah

8†Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.

Jerusalem Captured

10‡At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. 11And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it, 12†and Jehoiachin the king of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself and his mother and his servants and his officials and his palace officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign 13†and carried off all the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the LORD, which Solomon king of Israel had made, as the LORD had foretold. 14‡He carried away all Jerusalem and all the officials and all the mighty men of valor, 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained, except the poorest people of the land. 15And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon. The king's mother, the king's wives, his officials, and the chief men of the land he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16And the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of

valor, 7,000, and the craftsmen and the metal workers, 1,000, all of them strong and fit for war. 17†And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah Reigns in Judah

18†Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 19And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 20†For because of the anger of the LORD it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.

And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Fall and Captivity of Judah

2 KINGS 25 †And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it. 2†So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3†On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 4†Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the king's garden, though the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. 5†But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. 6†Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on him. 7They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon.

8†In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9†And he burned the house of the LORD and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. 10†And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 11‡And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile. 12But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

13‡And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the LORD, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried the bronze to Babylon. 14And they took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service, 15the fire pans also and the bowls. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver. 16As for the two pillars, the one sea, and the stands that Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight. 17†The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, [1] and on it was a capital of bronze.

The height of the capital was three cubits. A latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, were all around the capital. And the second pillar had the same, with the latticework.

18‡†And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the threshold, 19and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and five men of the king's council who were found in the city, and the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city. 20And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21†And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile out of its land.

Gedaliah Made Governor of Judah

22‡†And over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, governor. 23†Now when all the captains and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah governor, they came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah, namely, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite. 24†And Gedaliah swore to them and their men, saying, "Do not be afraid because of the Chaldean officials. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you." 25†But in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah and put him to death along with the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. 26†Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

Jehoiachin Released from Prison

27†And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed [2] Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. 28‡And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 29So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table,

30and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, as long as he lived.

Footnotes

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 3

[1] 3:24 Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 5

[1] 5:1 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13

[2] 5:5 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms; a shekel was about 2/5

ounce or 11 grams [3] 5:12 Or Amana

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 6

[1] 6:25 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams; a kab was about 1 quart or 1

liter

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 7

[1] 7:1 A seah was about 7 quarts or 7.3 liters [2] 7:1 A shekel was about 2/5

ounce or 11 grams [3] 7:3 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 8

[1] 8:15 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

[2] 8:16 Septuagint, Syriac lack when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah

[3] 8:21 Joram is another spelling of Jehoram (the son of Jehoshaphat) as in

verse 16; also verses 23, 24

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 9

[1] 9:13 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain

[2] 9:27 Syriac, Vulgate (compare Septuagint); Hebrew lacks and they shot him

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 10

[1] 10:1 Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew rulers of Jezreel

[2] 10:1 Hebrew lacks of the sons

[3] 10:15 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks Jehu said

[4] 10:16 Septuagint, Syriac, Targum; Hebrew they

[5] 10:24 Septuagint he (compare verse 25)

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 11

[1] 11:2 Compare 2 Chronicles 22:11; Hebrew lacks and she put

[2] 11:2 Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate (compare 2 Chronicles 22:11) she

[3] 11:6 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain

[4] 11:21 Ch 12:1 in Hebrew

[5] 11:21 Jehoash is another spelling of Joash (son of Ahaziah) as in verse 2

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 12

[1] 12:1 Jehoash is another spelling of Joash (son of Ahaziah) as in 11:2; also

verses 2, 4, 6, 7, 18

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 13

[1] 13:6 Septuagint, Syriac, Targum, Vulgate; Hebrew he walked

[2] 13:10 Jehoash is another spelling for Joash (son of Jehoahaz) as in verses 9,

12-14; also verse 25

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 14

[1] 14:8 Jehoash is another spelling for Joash (son of Jehoahaz) as in 13:9, 12-

14; also verses 9, 11-16

[2] 14:13 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 15

[1] 15:5 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13

[2] 15:5 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain

[3] 15:13 Another name for Azariah

[4] 15:19 Another name for Tiglath-pileser III (compare verse 29) [5] 15:19 A

talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms [6] 15:20 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 16

[1] 16:3 Or made his son pass through the fire

[2] 16:17 Compare 1 Kings 7:23

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 17

[1] 17:17 Or made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire

[2] 17:27 Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew them

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 18

[1] 18:4 Nehushtan sounds like the Hebrew for both bronze and serpent

[2] 18:14 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms [3] 18:29 Hebrew his

[4] 18:31 Hebrew Make a blessing with me

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 21

[1] 21:6 Hebrew made his son pass through the fire

[2] 21:12 Or evil

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 23

[1] 23:10 Hebrew might cause his son or daughter to pass through the fire for

Molech

[2] 23:11 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain

[3] 23:12 Hebrew pieces from there

[4] 23:15 Septuagint broke in pieces its stones

[5] 23:17 Hebrew called

[6] 23:33 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms

Footnotes for 2 Kings, Chapter 25

[1] 25:17 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters [2] 25:27 Hebrew reign,

lifted up the head of

Study Notes

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 1:1 Moab rebelled. See note on Gen. 19:37–38; Introduction to Ruth: Background and Setting; cf. 2 Kings 3:4–27.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 1:2 Ahaziah. This king of the northern kingdom of Israel is not to be confused with Ahaziah of Judah (8:25–9:29). lattice in his upper chamber. Ahaziah's rooftop room was enclosed with crossbars of interwoven reed or wood strips, which shut out direct sunlight while letting in cool breezes. It was not sturdy enough to keep Ahaziah from falling to the ground below (for unexplained reasons). This took place c. 852 B.C. Baal-zebub. This was a local expression of the Baal cult at Ekron (see note on 1 Kings 16:31–32). Baal-zebub meant "lord of the flies," suggesting that he was the storm god who controlled diseases brought by flies. On the other hand, the name may have been the sarcastic Israelite parody of Baal-zebul, meaning "prince Baal" or "exalted lord," a common title for Baal in extrabiblical Canaanite texts. The NT preserved the name in the form Beelzebul, a name for Satan, the prince of the demons (Matt. 10:25; 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15). Ekron. The northernmost of the major Philistine cities, located about 22 miles west of Jerusalem (see note on 1 Sam. 5:10).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 1:3 the angel of the Lord. Although some interpret this as a reference to the preincarnate Christ (e.g., Gen. 16:7–14; Judg. 2:1–4; see note on Ex. 3:2), probably here the reference is to an angelic messenger, like the one sent earlier by the Lord to Elijah (cf. 2 Kings 19:35; 1 Kings 19:7). The Lord's messenger was in contrast to the messengers of the wicked king (2 Kings 1:2–3, 5). Elijah. The record of this unusual prophet to Israel begins in 1 Kings 17:1 and extends to 2 Kings 2:11 (see note on 1 Kings 17:1).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 1:4 you shall surely die. The Lord's punishment on Ahaziah for consulting a false god instead of the true God was that he would fail to recover from his injuries. This was a merciful application of the Mosaic law (cf. Ex. 22:20), which demanded death. Cf. 2 Kings 1:16–17.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 1:8 a garment of hair. Lit., "possessor of hair." This has been interpreted in two ways: 1) Elijah was physically hairy; or 2) Elijah wore a garment made of hair. The language supports the second viewpoint that Elijah

wore a coarse wool garment girded at the waist with a leather belt. Zechariah 13:4 describes such a garment as belonging to prophets (cf. Matt. 7:15). Further, the NT describes John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and likeness of Elijah, as clothed in camel's hair (Matt. 3:4).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 1:9 O man of God. A technical title for a man who spoke for God. See notes on Deut. 33:1; 1 Kings 12:22; 1 Tim. 6:11.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 1:10–12 fire come down from heaven. This was the proof that Elijah was a prophet of the Lord and entitled to respect. Additionally, it was an indication that Elijah was like Moses, who also was validated as the Lord's prophet by fire from heaven (Num. 16:35).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 1:15 angel of the Lord. See note on 1:3.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 1:16 Baal-zebub. See note on 1:2.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 1:17 Jehoram . . . Jehoram. The first Jehoram mentioned here was, like Ahaziah (1 Kings 22:51), a son of Ahab (2 Kings 3:1), who ruled over the northern kingdom of Israel for 12 years, c. 852–841 B.C. (see note on 3:1). The second Jehoram mentioned was the son and successor to Jehoshaphat, who ruled in the southern kingdom of Judah, c. 853–841 B.C. (cf. 8:16–24). second year. C. 852 B.C. This was the second year of Jehoram of Judah's coregency with Jehoshaphat his father (see notes on 3:1; 8:17; 2 Chron. 21:4–20).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:1 by a whirlwind. Lit., "in the whirlwind." This was a reference to the specific storm with lightning and thunder in which Elijah was taken to heaven (v. 11). The Lord's presence was connected with a whirlwind in Job 38:1; 40:6; Jer. 23:19; 25:32; 30:23; Zech. 9:14. Elisha. The record of this prophet, who was the successor to Elijah, begins in 1 Kings 19:16 and extends to his death in 2 Kings 13:20 (see note on 1 Kings 19:16). Gilgal. Although some take this to be the Gilgal located west of the Jordan River near Jericho (cf. Josh. 4:19; 5:9), the close affinity to Bethel (2 Kings 2:2) and its distance from Jericho (v. 4) seem to indicate that the Gilgal mentioned here was located in the hill country of Ephraim about 7 miles north of Bethel.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:2 Bethel. A town in Benjamin about 8 miles north of Jerusalem, where one of Israel's false worship centers was located (see note on 1 Kings 12:29).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:3 the sons of the prophets. See note on 1 Kings 20:35. take away. The same term was used of Enoch's translation to heaven in Gen. 5:24. The question from the sons of the prophets implied that the Lord had revealed Elijah's imminent departure to them. Elisha's response that he didn't need to hear about it ("keep quiet") explicitly stated that Elijah's departure had been revealed by the Lord to him also (cf. v. 5). from over you. I.e., from supervising you, an allusion to the habit of students sitting beneath the feet of their master, elevated on a platform. Elisha would soon change from being Elijah's assistant to serving as the leader among the prophets.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:4 Jericho. A city about 14 miles southeast of Bethel in the Jordan River Valley (cf. Josh. 2:1; 6:1), to which Elisha accompanied Elijah (cf. 2 Kings 2:6).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:8 water was parted. Elijah rolled up his cloak into a kind of rod and struck the water of the Jordan River. Immediately, the water parted, leaving a dry path through the river bed for the two prophets to cross. Elijah's act recalled Moses' parting of the Red Sea with his rod (Ex. 14:21–22) and the parting of the Jordan when Israel crossed over into the land (Josh. 3:14–17). The crossing put Elijah on the Jordan's east bank, the area where Moses' life came to an end (Deut. 34:1–6).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:9 a double portion. In Israel, the firstborn son inherited a double share of his father's possessions and with it the right of succession (Deut. 21:17). "A double portion of your spirit" was not merely Elisha's request to succeed Elijah in his prophetic ministry, since the Lord had already revealed this succession in 1 Kings 19:16–21. Nor was it Elisha's desire for ministry superior to Elijah's, though Elisha did, in fact, do twice as many recorded miracles as Elijah. Apparently, Elisha was asking to succeed Elijah in the prophetic office, as God had promised, with spiritual power beyond his own capabilities to meet the responsibilities of his position as Elijah's successor. He desired that Elijah's mighty power might continue to live through him.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:10 a hard thing. Since only God can give spiritual power, Elijah did not have the ability to grant Elisha's request. Elijah told Elisha that if Elisha saw his departure, it would be the sign that God himself would grant Elisha's request.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:11 chariots of fire and horses of fire. The horse-drawn

chariot was the fastest means of transport and the mightiest means of warfare in that day. Thus, the chariot and horses symbolized God's powerful protection, which was the true safety of Israel (v. 12). As earthly kingdoms are dependent for their defense on such military force as represented by horses and chariots, one single prophet had done more by God's power to preserve his nation than all their military preparations.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:12 My father. The sons of the prophet recognized the leader of their company as their spiritual father. This title of respect for a person of authority (Gen. 45:8; Judg. 17:10) was later used for Elisha (2 Kings 6:21; 13:14).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:13 the cloak of Elijah. Elijah's cloak (see note on 1:8), picked up by Elisha, authenticated him as Elijah's legitimate spiritual successor.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:14 water was parted. Elisha repeated the action of Elijah (v. 8) in using the cloak to immediately part the waters of the Jordan River, allowing Elisha to recross on dry land. This confirmed that Elisha had received from God the same great power as his master, Elijah.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:15 bowed to the ground. This action symbolized the submission of the prophets to the preeminence of Elisha as the prophet in Israel.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:16 They knew that when souls went into God's presence at death, bodies remained on earth. Out of sensitivity to the body of Elijah, they wanted to retrieve it for appropriate care. Elisha knew Elijah's body would not be left behind, because he had seen his bodily ascension (v. 11) while the others had not, so he said, "You shall not send."

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:17 ashamed. In 8:11 and Judg. 3:25, this term was used for the feeling of embarrassment under the unrelenting pressure of their request. But with shame for his own failure to believe what he had seen, Elisha was also embarrassed for the prophets, knowing the futile outcome of their search (2 Kings 2:18). Cf. 1 Kings 18:12.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:20–21 bowl . . . salt. Salt purifies water, but the small amount used there could not clean the whole water supply. Rather, the use of salt from a new jar symbolized the cleansing of the waters that God would miraculously do. The healing of Jericho's water, through Elisha, freed the city from Joshua's curse, making it habitable for humans once again (cf. Josh. 6:26; 1

Kings 16:34).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:23 small boys. These were not children, but infidels and idolatrous young men in their late teens or twenties (cf. Gen. 22:12; 37:2; 1 Kings 20:14–15). baldhead. Baldness was regarded as a disgrace (cf. Isa. 3:17, 24). The baldness of Elisha referred to here may be: 1) natural loss of hair; 2) a shaved head denoting his separation to the prophetic office; or more likely, 3) an epithet of scorn and contempt, Elisha not being literally bald. These youths were sarcastically taunting and insulting the Lord's prophet by telling him to repeat Elijah's translation ("Go up").

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:24 cursed. Because these young people of about 20 years of age or older (the same term is used of Solomon in 1 Kings 3:7) so despised the prophet of the Lord, Elisha called upon the Lord to deal with the rebels as he saw fit. The Lord's punishment was the mauling of 42 youths by two female bears. The penalty was clearly justified, for to ridicule Elisha was to ridicule the Lord himself. The gravity of the penalty mirrored the gravity of the crime. The appalling judgment was God's warning to any and all who attempted to interfere with the newly invested prophet's ministry.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2:25 Mount Carmel. For the location, see note on 1 Kings 18:19. Elisha associated his prophetic ministry with Elijah's stand against Baalism. Samaria. The capital city of the northern kingdom, located in central Palestine (cf. 1 Kings 16:24).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 3:1 Jehoram. See note on 1:17. He was Ahaziah's brother (1 Kings 22:51). eighteenth year. C. 852 B.C. This was Jehoshaphat of Judah's eighteenth year of rule after the death of his father Asa in 870 B.C. Jehoshaphat was co-regent with Asa from 873–870 B.C. Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram was coregent with his father from 853–848 B.C. (see notes on 2 Kings 1:17; 8:17). twelve years. 852–841 B.C.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 3:2 pillar of Baal. This was probably an image of the god Baal that King Ahab had made and placed in the temple he built to Baal (1 Kings 16:32–33). This image was only put in storage, not permanently destroyed, because it reappeared at the end of Jehoram's reign (2 Kings 10:26–27).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 3:3 Jeroboam. C. 931–910 B.C. See notes on 1 Kings 11:26– 14:20 and 2 Chron. 9:29–13:20.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 3:4 Mesha king of Moab. According to the Moabite Stone (discovered at Dihon, Moab, in A.D. 1868 and dated to c. 840–820 B.C.), Moab, which is located east of the Dead Sea between the Arnon River and the Brook Zered, had been Israel's vassal since Omri (c. 880 B.C.). Moab's king, Mesha, was a sheep breeder (cf. Amos 1:1) who supplied the king of Israel with lambs and wool. This was Moab's annual tribute to the Israelite king.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 3:5 Moab rebelled. Mesha used Ahab's death as an opportunity to cast off the political domination of Israel with its heavy economic burden. Moab's rebellion took place in 853 B.C. during the reign of Ahaziah (1:1). Jehoram determined to put down Moab's rebellion upon his accession to Israel's throne in 852 B.C. He mobilized Israel for war (3:6) and asked Jehoshaphat of Judah to join him in the battle (v. 7).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 3:8 the wilderness of Edom. This was the long and circuitous route by the lower bend of the Dead Sea, the arid land in the great depression south of the sea known as the Arabah, or an area of marshes on Edom's western side. According to the Moabite Stone (see note on v. 4), Mesha's army firmly controlled the northern approach into Moab. Therefore, an attack from the south had a much better chance of success. It was the most defenseless position and Mesha could not enlist help from the forces of Edom (v. 9).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 3:11 poured water on the hands. Probably derived from the custom of washing hands before and after meals. The idiom meant that Elisha had personally served Elijah. Jehoshaphat recognized that Elisha was a true prophet of the Lord (v. 12).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 3:13 What have I to do with you? A Hebrew idiom that expressed the completely different perspective of two individuals (cf. 2 Sam. 16:10). Elisha sarcastically ordered Jehoram to consult the prophets of his father Ahab, prophets of the northern kingdom's deviant religion (1 Kings 22:6, 10– 12), and the prophets of his mother Jezebel, the prophets of Baal and Asherah (1 Kings 18:19).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 3:14 regard for Jehoshaphat. Elisha agreed to seek word from the Lord because of his great respect for Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord (1 Kings 22:43).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 3:15 a musician. The music was used to accompany praise

and prayer, which calmed the mind of the prophet that he might clearly hear the word of the Lord. Music often accompanied prophecies in the OT (cf. 1 Chron. 25:1).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 3:16 this dry streambed. Probably the northeast area of the Arabah, west of the highlands of Moab and southeast of the Dead Sea (see v. 8).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 3:20 offering the sacrifice. This was offered daily (see Ex. 29:38–41). water came from the direction of Edom. Divinely created flash floods from the mountains of Edom caused water to flow in the direction of the Dead Sea. This water was caught in the canals that had been built in the valley (2 Kings 3:16).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 3:22 water . . . red as blood. As the Moabites looked down at the unfamiliar water in the ditches dug in the valley below them, the combination of the sun's rays and the red sandstone terrain gave the water a reddish color, like pools of blood. Unaccustomed to water being in those places and having heard no storm (see v. 17), the Moabites thought that the coalition of kings had slaughtered each other (v. 23) and so went after the spoils. The coalition army led by Israel defeated the Moabites, who had been delivered into their hands by the Lord (see vv. 18, 24).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 3:25 Kir-haraseth. The coalition army invaded Moab and besieged its capital city, Kir-haraseth, located about 11 miles east of the Dead Sea and about 20 miles northeast of the Arabah.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 3:27 his oldest son . . . offered him. In desperate hope for intervention by his idol god, Mesha sacrificed his oldest son to the Moabite god Chemosh. This was done in plain view of everyone inside and outside the city in an attempt to induce Chemosh to deliver the Moabites from disastrous defeat. great wrath against Israel. It seems best to understand that the king's sacrifice inspired the Moabites to hate Israel more and fight more intensely. This fierceness perhaps led Israel to believe that Chemosh was fighting for the Moabites. Thus, the indignation or fury came from the Moabites.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:1 the sons of the prophets. See note on 1 Kings 20:35. my two children to be his slaves. According to the Mosaic law, creditors could enslave debtors and their children to work off a debt when they could not pay (Ex. 21:2–4; Deut. 15:12–18). The period of servitude could last until the next

year of jubilee (Lev. 25:39–40). Rich people and creditors, however, were not to take advantage of the destitute (see Deut. 15:1–18).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:2 jar of oil. A flask of oil used to anoint the body.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:4 shut the door behind yourself. Since the widow's need was private, the provision was to be private also. Further, the absence of Elisha demonstrated that the miracle happened only by God's power. God's power multiplied "little" into "much," filling all the vessels to meet the widow's need (cf. 1 Kings 17:7–16).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:8 Shunem. A town in the territory of Issachar near Jezreel (Josh. 19:18), on the slopes of Mount Moreh, overlooking the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley (see note on 1 Kings 1:3). a wealthy woman. The woman was "great" in wealth and in social prominence.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:9 man of God. See note on 1:9. The woman recognized Elisha as a prophet uniquely separated unto God. Elisha's holiness prompted the woman to ask her husband that a separate, small, walled upper room be provided for the prophet (4:10). The woman must have feared the "holy" Elisha coming into contact with their "profane" room (cf. Lev. 10:10).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:12 Gehazi. Elisha's personal servant who was prominent here and in 5:20–27. Probably Gehazi is the unnamed servant in 4:43; the term "servant" used there was used in 1 Kings 19:21 of Elisha's relationship to Elijah. Throughout this narrative, Elisha contacted the Shunammite woman through Gehazi (vv. 11–13, 15, 25, 29). Gehazi was involved in this ministry so that he might have opportunity to mature in his service to the Lord.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:13 I dwell among my own people. This reply expressed her contentment, since she wanted nothing.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:14 no son, and her husband is old. This remark implied two things: 1) she suffered the shame of being a barren woman (cf. Gen. 16:1; 18:10–15; 25:21; 30:1–2; 1 Sam. 1:6); and 2) her husband might die without an heir to carry on his name (Deut. 25:5–10).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:16 No, my lord. In response to Elisha's announcement that she would have a son, the woman asked Elisha not to build up her hopes if she would be disappointed later. Her reply indicated that she felt having a son was

impossible. man of God. See note on 1:9.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:17 conceived . . . bore. This was like Abraham and Sarah (Gen. 21:1–2).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:19 my head, my head. The child probably suffered sunstroke. The cries of the boy, the part affected, and the season of the year ("reapers") lead to that conclusion. Sunstroke could be fatal, as in this case (v. 20).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:23 neither new moon nor Sabbath. The first day of the month and the seventh day of the week were both marked with special religious observances and rest from work (cf. Num. 28:9–15). The husband implied that only on such dates would a person visit a prophet. She apparently concealed the death of the child from him ("All is well") to spare him unnecessary grief, in light of the power of the man of God whom she believed might do a miracle for the boy.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:25 Mount Carmel. See note on 1 Kings 18:19. The distance from Shunem was about 15 to 25 miles

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:26 All is well. She withheld the real sorrow of her son's death, waiting to tell the prophet Elisha directly.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:27 of his feet. The grasping of the feet was a sign of humiliation and veneration.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:28 See v. 16.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:29 lay my staff on the face of the child. Elisha sent Gehazi ahead because he was younger and, therefore, faster. He may have expected the Lord to restore the child's life when his staff was placed upon him, viewing that staff as representative of his own presence and a symbol of divine power (cf. 2:8).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:34 stretched himself upon him. Like Elijah (see 1 Kings 17:17–24), Elisha demonstrated the Lord's power over death by raising their son from the dead. Also like Elijah, part of the restoration process involved lying on top of the boy's body.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:38 Gilgal. See note on 2:1. This was about 40 miles south of Shunem. sons of the prophets. See note on 1 Kings 20:35.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:39 wild gourds. Probably a kind of wild cucumber that can be fatally poisonous if eaten in large quantities.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:41 flour. The flour itself did not make the noxious stew edible, but a miraculous cure was accomplished through the flour. Like Elijah (cf. 1 Kings 17:14–16), Elisha used flour to demonstrate the concern of God for man.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:42 Baal-shalishah. The exact location is uncertain. bread of the firstfruits. Normally, the firstfruits were reserved for God (Lev. 23:20) and the Levitical priests (Num. 18:13; Deut. 18:4–5). Though the religion in the northern kingdom was apostate, the man who brought the loaves to Elisha was a representative of godly religion in Israel.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 4:43–44 The multiplication of the loaves in accordance with the word of the Lord through his prophet anticipated the messianic ministry of Jesus himself (cf. Matt. 14:16–20; 15:36–37; John 6:11–13).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:1 Naaman. A common name in ancient Aram, or Syria, meaning "gracious, fair." Four phrases describe the importance of Naaman: 1) he was the supreme commander of the army of Aram as indicated by the term "commander," used of an army's highest ranking officer (Gen. 21:22; 1 Sam. 12:9; 1 Chron. 27:34); 2) he was "a great man," a man of high social standing and prominence; 3) he had "high favor," a man highly regarded by the king of Syria because of the military victories he had won; and 4) he was "a mighty man of valor," a term used in the OT for both a man of great wealth (Ruth 2:1) and a courageous warrior (Judg. 6:12; 11:1). Severely mitigating against all of this was the fact that he suffered from leprosy, a serious skin disease (cf. 5:27; see notes on Lev. 13–14). king of Syria. Either Ben-hadad I or, more likely, Ben-hadad II. See note on 1 Kings 15:18. by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. Naaman's military success was attributable to the God of Israel, who is sovereign over all the nations (cf. Isa. 10:13; Amos 9:7).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:2 raids. Naaman led the Syrian army in quick penetrations across Israel's border (cf. 1 Sam. 30:8, 15). On one of his raids, he captured a young Israelite girl used as a servant, who ultimately told him of Elisha.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:3 the prophet . . . in Samaria. Elisha maintained a residence in the city of Samaria (6:32).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:5 king of Israel. Jehoram. See note on 1:17. ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold. About 750 pounds of silver and 150 pounds of gold.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:7 tore his clothes. This action was a sign of distress and grief (cf. 1 Kings 21:27). Jehoram thought that Ben-hadad expected him to cure Naaman's leprosy. Since Jehoram knew that this was impossible, he thought he was doomed to have a major battle with the Syrians. When Elisha heard of Jehoram's distress, he told the king to send Naaman to him for healing (1 Kings 5:8).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:11 surely come out to me. Because of his personal greatness (v. 1), his huge gift (v. 5), and diplomatic letter (v. 6), Naaman expected personal attention to his need. However, Elisha did not even go out to meet him. Instead, he sent his instructions for healing through a messenger (v. 10). Naaman was angry because he anticipated a personal cleansing ceremony from the prophet himself.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:12 Abana . . . Pharpar. The Abana River (modern Barada) began in the Lebanon mountains and flowed to Damascus, its clear water producing orchards and gardens. The Pharpar River flowed east from Mount Hermon to the south of Damascus. If Naaman needed to wash in a river, those two rivers were superior to the muddy Jordan. However, it was obedience to God's word that was the issue, not the quality of the water.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:13 My father. The title "father" was not usually employed by servants to their masters. The use of the term here may indicate something of the warmness that the servants felt for Naaman (cf. 2:12). His servants pointed out to Naaman that he had been willing to do anything, no matter how hard, to be cured. He should be even more willing, therefore, to do something as easy as washing in a muddy river.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:14 flesh of a little child. This description indicates that ancient leprosy was a disease of the skin, distinct from modern leprosy, a disease primarily of the nerves.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:15 there is no God . . . but in Israel. Upon his healing,

Naaman returned from the Jordan River to Elisha's house in Samaria (about 25 miles) to give confession of his new belief. Naaman confessed that there was only one God, Israel's God, the Lord. In saying this, Naaman put to shame the Israelites who continued to blasphemously believe that both the Lord and Baal were gods (cf. 1 Kings 18:21).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:16 he refused. To show that he was not driven by the mercenary motives of pagan priests and prophets, Elisha, though accepting gifts on other occasions (cf. 4:42), declined them here so the Syrians would see the honor of God only.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:17 two mules' load of earth. In the ancient Near East it was thought that a god could be worshiped only on the soil of the nation to which he was bound. Therefore, Naaman wanted a load of Israelite soil on which to make burnt offerings and sacrifices to the Lord when he returned to Damascus. This request confirmed how Naaman had changed—whereas he had previously disparaged Israel's river, now he wanted to take a pile of Israel's soil to Damascus.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:18 Rimmon. The Hebrew term Rimmon (lit., "pomegranate") is a parody of the Syrian deity, Hadad, whom the Assyrians named "Rananu" (lit., "the thunderer"). Hadad was the storm god, usually identified with the Canaanite god, Baal. As an aide to Syria's king, Naaman's duty demanded that he accompany the king to religious services at the temple of Rimmon in Damascus. Naaman requested that the Lord forgive this outward compromise of his true faith in and commitment to the Lord.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:22 My master has sent me. A lie for selfish gain revealed the sad state of Gehazi's character. Another lie followed to cover up (v. 25).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:23 two talents of silver. About 150 pounds of silver.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:26 Did not my heart go . . . ? Elisha knew Gehazi lied. Though his body did not move, Elisha's mind had seen all that had transpired between Gehazi and Naaman.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 5:27 leprosy . . . shall cling to you. Gehazi's greed had cast a shadow over the integrity of Elisha's prophetic office. This made him no better in the people's thinking than Israel's false prophets, who prophesied for material gain, the very thing he wanted to avoid (vv. 15–16). Gehazi's act betrayed a lack

of faith in the Lord's ability to provide. As a result, Elisha condemned Gehazi and his descendants to suffer Naaman's skin disease forever. The punishment was a twist for Gehazi, who had gone to "take something" from Naaman (v. 20), but what he received was Naaman's disease.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:1 place where we dwell. The sons of the prophets, those specially instructed by Elisha, lived together in a communal setting. The word translated "dwell" can also be understood as "sit before." The term is used this way of David sitting before the Lord in worship (2 Sam. 7:18) and the elders sitting before Ezekiel to hear his advice (Ezek. 8:1; 14:1). The "place" here refers to a dormitory where Elisha instructed the sons of the prophets. The growing number of men who wished to be taught led to the need for a larger building.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:4 Jordan . . . trees. The Jordan Valley had mostly smaller kinds of trees, e.g., willow, tamarisk, and acacia that did not give heavy lumber. The resulting structure would be a humble, simple building.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:5 axe head . . . borrowed. Iron was expensive and relatively rare in Israel at that time and the student-prophet was very poor. The axe head was loaned to the prophet since he could not have afforded it on his own and would have had no means to reimburse the owner for it.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:6 made the iron float. Elisha threw a stick in the river at the exact spot where the axe head entered, and the stick caused the heavy iron object to float to the surface. Through this miracle, the Lord again provided for one who was faithful to him.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:8 king of Syria. Either Ben-hadad I or, more likely, Benhadad II (v. 24). See note on 1 Kings 15:18. warring. The king of Aram, or Syria, was probably sending raiding parties (2 Kings 6:23) to pillage and plunder Israelite towns.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:9 the man of God. I.e., Elisha (v. 12). See note on Deut. 33:1. king of Israel. I.e., Jehoram. See note on 2 Kings 1:17.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:9–10 do not pass this place. Elisha, receiving supernatural revelation, continually identified to Jehoram the Israelite towns that the king of Aram, or Syria, planned to attack. Jehoram then took the proper precautions and appropriately fortified those towns so as to frustrate the Syrian plan.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:11 who of us. The Syrian king was sure someone in his household was revealing his plans to Israel.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:13 seize him. The king of Syria's plan was to capture Elisha, who knew all his secrets (v. 12), so that no matter how great Elisha's knowledge might be, he would not be free to inform Israel's king. Dothan. A town in the hill country of Manasseh located about 10 miles north of Samaria and 12 miles south of Jezreel. Dothan commanded a key mountain pass along a main road that connected Damascus and Egypt (cf. Gen. 37:17).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:14 a great army. In contrast to the smaller raiding parties (vv. 8, 23), the king of Syria sent a sizable force, including horses and chariots, to take Elisha prisoner. Arriving at Dothan, the army encircled the town.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:16 those who are with us. Elisha was referring to God's heavenly army or "host" (cf. Josh. 5:13–15; 2 Chron. 32:7–8; Dan. 10:20; 12:1).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:17 open his eyes. Elisha asked the Lord to enable his servant to see this heavenly host. The Lord gave his servant the ability to see the normally unseen world of God's heavenly armies, here waiting to do battle with the Syrians (cf. Gen. 32:1–2).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:18 blindness. This word occurs only here and in Gen. 19:11. The term is related to "light" and seems to mean "a dazzling from bright light" (note the "chariots of fire" in 2 Kings 6:17). Both biblical uses of the term involve a miraculous act with angelic presence and both are used in the context of deliverance from danger.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:19 Follow me . . . to the man whom you seek. By going to Samaria himself, Elisha did not lie, but did truly lead the Syrian army to where he ultimately would be found.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:20 in . . . Samaria. God delivered a sizable portion of the Syrian army into the hands of the king of Israel without bloodshed. The Syrians discovered they were surrounded and captives of Israel.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:21 My father. See note on 5:13. By using this expression, which conveyed the respect a child had for his father, King Jehoram of Israel acknowledged the authority of Elisha.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:22 You shall not strike them. Elisha, bearing divinely delegated authority, prohibited the execution of the captives. It was uncommon and unusually cruel to put war captives to death in cold blood, even when taken by the point of a sword, but especially by the miraculous power of God. Kindness would testify to the goodness of God and likely stall future opposition from the Aramean, or Syrian, raiders. These kind deeds gained a moral conquest (v. 23).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:23 a great feast. In the ancient Near East, a common meal could signify the making of a covenant between two parties (cf. Lev. 7:15–18).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:24 Ben-hadad. See note on 1 Kings 15:18. This same Benhadad had laid siege to Samaria earlier (1 Kings 20:1), which was the result of Ahab's foolish and misplaced kindness (1 Kings 20:42). his entire army. In contrast to the smaller raiding parties (2 Kings 6:8–23) and the larger force seeking Elisha's capture (v. 14), Ben-hadad gathered his entire army, marched to Samaria, and besieged the capital.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:25 a donkey's head . . . eighty shekels of silver. The siege resulted in a terrible famine gripping the city of Samaria. This ignominious body part of an unclean animal (Lev. 11:2–7; Deut. 14:4–8) sold at an overvalued price of about two pounds of silver. dove's dung . . . five shekels of silver. "Dove's dung" was either a nickname for some small pea or root, or literal dung to be used as fuel or food in the desperate situation. Approximately one pint cost about two ounces of silver.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:26 Help, my lord, O king! The woman asked King Jehoram to render a legal decision in her dispute with another woman (see note on 1 Kings 3:16–27).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:28–29 Give your son, that we may eat him. The curses of the Mosaic Covenant, especially for the sin of apostasy, predicted this sort of pagan cannibalism (Lev. 26:29; Deut. 28:52–57). The way in which the woman presented her case without feeling added to the horror of it.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:30 tore his clothes. A sign of distress and grief (see note on 1 Kings 21:27). sackcloth . . . on his body. A coarse cloth, made from goat's hair, worn as a sign of mourning (cf. Gen. 37:34). He was not truly humbled for his sins and the nation's or he would not have called for vengeance on Elisha.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:31 the head of Elisha. Jehoram swore an oath to have Elisha killed. The reason Jehoram desired the death of Elisha could have been: 1) the king viewed the siege as the work of the Lord (v. 33), so he assumed that the Lord's representative, the prophet, with whom the kings of Israel were in conflict, was involved as well; or 2) the king remembered when Elijah had ended a famine (1 Kings 18:41–46); or 3) Jehoram thought that Elisha's clemency to the Syrian army (2 Kings 6:22) had somehow led to and added intensity to the present siege; or 4) because Elisha had miracle power, he should have ended the famine. But, most likely, the reason he wanted Elisha dead was because he expected that his mourning, perhaps counseled by the prophet as an act of true repentance (which it was not; see note on v. 30), would result in the end of the siege. When it did not, he sought the prophet's head.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:32 the elders were sitting with him. The elders were the leading citizens of Samaria, whose gathering indicated the high regard in which Elisha was held by the prominent of Samarian society. this murderer. Jehoram had the character of a murderer, just like his father Ahab (1 Kings 21:1–16).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 6:33 Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? Jehoram rightly viewed the Lord as the instigator of the siege and famine in Samaria and declared that he saw no hope that the Lord would reverse this situation.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 7:1 a seah . . . for a shekel. About 7 quarts of flour would sell for about two-fifths of an ounce of silver. two seahs . . . for a shekel. About 13– 14 quarts of barley would also sell for about two-fifths of an ounce of silver. These prices, when compared to those in 6:25, indicated that the next day the famine in Samaria would end. at the gate. In ancient Israel, the city gate was the marketplace where business was transacted (cf. Ruth 4:1; 2 Sam. 15:1–5). Normal trade at the city gate of Samaria implied that the siege would be lifted.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 7:2 the captain on whose hand the king leaned. For "captain" see note on 9:25. The king depended upon this officer as his chief adviser. You shall see . . . but . . . not eat. The royal official questioned the Lord's ability to provide food within the day. For that offense against God, Elisha predicted that the officer would witness the promised miracle, but he would not eat any of it. How this prophecy was fulfilled is described in 7:16–17.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 7:3 lepers. The account of these lepers is used to tell of the siege's end and the provisions for Samaria (vv. 3–11). at the entrance to the

gate. In the area immediately outside the city gate, four lepers lived, shut out of Samaria because of their disease (Lev. 13:46; Num. 5:3). The lepers knew that living in Samaria, whether just outside or inside the gate, offered them nothing but death.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 7:5 the edge of the camp of the Syrians. The normal meaning of this phrase would refer to the back edge of the army camp, the farthest point from the wall of Samaria.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 7:6 the kings of the Hittites and . . . Egypt. Sometime before the arrival of the lepers, the Lord had made the Syrians hear the terrifying sound of a huge army approaching. They thought the Israelite king had hired two massive foreign armies to attack them. The Hittites were descendants of the once-great Hittite empire who lived in small groups across northern Syria (see note on 1 Kings 10:29). Egypt was in decline at this time, but its army would still have represented a great danger to the Syrians.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 7:9 punishment. The lepers did not fear that the Syrians would return, but that the Lord would punish them for their sin of not telling the Israelite king of their discovery.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 7:12 what the Syrians have done to us. Jehoram greeted the report from the lepers with great suspicion. He thought that the Arameans, or Syrians, were feigning the pullback to appear defeated, in order to lure the Israelites out of Samaria for a surprise attack on them to gain entrance into the city. However, vv. 13–15 describe how the leper's report was confirmed.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 7:16–20 By repeating words from vv. 1–2 and by explicit statements ("according to the word of the Lord," v. 16; "for . . . the man of God had said," vv. 17–18), the text emphasizes that Elisha's prophecy in v. 2 literally came to pass.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 8:1–6 The chronological question of when the events recounted in these verses took place in Elisha's ministry has been much debated. Interpreters hold to one of three positions: 1) The encounter between the Shunammite woman, the king of Israel, and Gehazi took place toward the end of the reign of Jehoram in Israel. However, this would mean Gehazi was in the presence of the king (vv. 4–5) although afflicted with leprosy (5:27) and King Jehoram was asking what great things Elisha had done after personally

witnessing the events recorded in 6:8–7:19. 2) Because the king of Israel did not know Elisha's exploits, some interpreters place the final encounter during the early reign of Jehu. However, there are still the issues of Gehazi's leprosy and Jehu's being well acquainted with the prophecy of Elijah (9:36–37; 10:17) that predicted Elisha's ministry (1 Kings 19:15–18). 3) The best explanation is that the record is out of chronological sequence, being thematically tied to the subject of famine in 6:24–7:20, but having occurred earlier in the reign of King Jehoram of Israel, before the events recorded in 5:1–7:20.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 8:1 a famine . . . for seven years. Seven-year famines were known in the ancient Near East (cf. Gen. 41:29–32). Since the Shunammite woman would have been only a resident alien in a foreign land, her return within seven years may have aided her legal claim to her property (cf. Ex. 21:2; 23:10– 11; Lev. 25:1–7; Deut. 15:1–6).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 8:2 land of the Philistines. The area located southwest of Israel along the Mediterranean Sea coastal plain between the Jarkon River in the north and the Besor Brook in the south. The fact that the famine was localized in Israel demonstrated that this was a curse, a punishment for apostasy (cf. Deut. 28:38–40), because of Israel's disobedience of the Mosaic Covenant.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 8:3 appeal to the king. The Shunammite woman made a legal appeal to the king to support her ownership claim. In Israel, the king was the final arbiter of such disputes (see note on 1 Kings 3:16–27). Providentially, the widow arrived just as Gehazi was describing how Elisha had raised her son from the dead (2 Kings 8:5).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 8:6 Restore all . . . with all the produce. The king's judgment was to return to the woman everything she owned, including the land's earnings during her absence.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 8:7 Elisha came to Damascus. It was unusual for a prophet to visit foreign capitals, but not unknown (cf. Jonah 3:3). Elisha went to Damascus, the capital of Syria, to carry out one of the three commands God had given to Elijah at Horeb (1 Kings 19:15–16). Ben-hadad. See note on 1 Kings 15:18. Ben-hadad died c. 841 B.C., the same year as Jehoram of Israel (2 Kings 3:1), Jehoram of Judah (8:17), and Ahaziah of Judah (8:25–26). man of God. See note on Deut. 33:1.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 8:8 Hazael. His name means "God sees" or "whom God beholds." Hazael was a servant of Ben-hadad and not a member of the royal family. Assyrian records called Hazael the "son of a nobody" and his lineage was not recorded because he was a commoner.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 8:9 all kinds of goods of Damascus. The city of Damascus was a trade center between Egypt, Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia. It had within it the finest merchandise of the ancient Near East. Ben-hadad evidently thought that an impressive gift would influence Elisha's prediction. Your son. Ben-hadad approached Elisha with the humble respect of a son for his father (cf. 5:13; 6:21).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 8:10 recover . . . die. Ben-hadad wanted to know whether or not he would recover from his present illness. In response, Elisha affirmed two interrelated things: 1) Ben-hadad would be restored to health; his present sickness would not be the means of his death. 2) Ben-hadad would surely die by some other means.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 8:11 he was embarrassed. With a fixed gaze, Elisha stared at Hazael because it had been revealed to him what Hazael would do, including the murder of Ben-hadad (v. 15). Hazael was embarrassed, knowing that Elisha knew of his plan to assassinate the Syrian king.

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 8:12 the evil. Elisha mourned, knowing the atrocities that Hazael would bring on Israel. The harsh actions mentioned here were common in ancient wars (Ps. 137:9; Isa. 13:16; Hos. 10:14; 13:16; Amos 1:13; Nahum 3:10). Hazael did prove to be a constant foe of Israel (2 Kings 9:14–16; 10:32; 12:17–18; 13:3, 22).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 8:13 your servant . . . a dog. To call oneself a dog was an expression of humility (see note on 2 Sam. 9:8). Hazael sought to deny that he would ever have the power to commit such atrocities. He was trying to convince Elisha that he had no plan to take over the kingship of Syria. you are to be king over Syria. In response to Hazael's feigned self-deprecation, Elisha affirmed that the Lord willed that Hazael be king over Aram, or Syria (cf. 1 Kings 19:15).

2 KINGS—NOTE ON 8:15 he died. Hazael took a bed furnishing, soaked it, and killed Ben-hadad by suffocation. Hazael became king. Upon Ben-hadad's death, Hazael took the kingship of Syria and ruled c. 841–801 B.C., during the

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