He died just as the Lord had prophesied through Elijah. In the second year of the reign of King Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat over Judah, Ahaziah's brother Jehoram replaced him as king of Israel, because he had no son.

In the eighteenth year of King Jehoshaphat's reign over Judah, Ahab's son Jehoram became king over Israel in Samaria; he ruled for twelve years.

He sent this message to King Jehoshaphat of Judah: "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you fight with me against Moab?" Jehoshaphat replied, "I will join you in the campaign; my army and horses are at your disposal."

So the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom set out together. They wandered around on the road for seven days and finally ran out of water for the men and animals they had with them.

Elisha said, "As certainly as the Lord who rules over all lives (whom I serve), if I did not respect King Jehoshaphat of Judah, I would not pay attention to you or acknowledge you.

In the fifth year of the reign of Israel's King Joram, son of Ahab, Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram became king over Judah.

But the Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah. He preserved Judah for the sake of his servant David to whom he had promised a perpetual dynasty.

During his reign Edom freed themselves from Judah's control and set up their own king.

So Edom has remained free from Judah's control to this very day. At that same time Libnah also rebelled.

The rest of the events of Joram's reign, including a record of his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

In the twelfth year of the reign of Israel's King Joram, son of Ahab, Jehoram's son Ahaziah became king over Judah.

King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. King Ahaziah son of Jehoram of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he was ill.

Jehu drove his chariot to Jezreel, for Joram was recuperating there. (Now King Ahaziah of Judah had come down to visit Joram.)

Jehoram ordered, "Hitch up my chariot." When his chariot had been hitched up, King Jehoram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah went out in their respective chariots to meet Jehu. They met up with him in the plot of land that had once belonged to Naboth of Jezreel.

When King Ahaziah of Judah saw what happened, he took off up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him and ordered, "Shoot him too." They shot him while he was driving his chariot up the ascent of Gur near Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo and died there.

Ahaziah had become king over Judah in the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab.

Jehu encountered the relatives of King Ahaziah of Judah. He asked, "Who are you?" They replied, "We are Ahaziah's relatives. We have come down to see how the king's sons and the queen mother's sons are doing."

King Jehoash of Judah collected all the sacred items that his ancestors Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had consecrated, as well as his own sacred items and all the gold that could be found in the treasuries of the Lord's temple and the royal palace. He sent it all to King Hazael of Syria, who then withdrew from Jerusalem.

The rest of the events of Joash's reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

In the twenty-third year of the reign of Judah's King Joash son of Ahaziah, Jehu's son Jehoahaz became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for seventeen years.

In the thirty-seventh year of King Joash's reign over Judah, Jehoahaz's son Jehoash became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for sixteen years.

The rest of the events of Joash's reign, including all his accomplishments and his successful war with King Amaziah of Judah, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

In the second year of the reign of Israel's King Joash son of Joahaz, Joash's son Amaziah became king over Judah.

King Jehoash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah, "A thornbush in Lebanon sent this message to a cedar in Lebanon, 'Give your daughter to my son as a wife.' Then a wild animal of Lebanon came by and trampled down the thorn.

You thoroughly defeated Edom and it has gone to your head! Gloat over your success, but stay in your palace. Why bring calamity on yourself? Why bring down yourself and Judah along with you?"

But Amaziah would not heed the warning, so King Jehoash of Israel attacked. He and King Amaziah of Judah met face to face in Beth Shemesh of Judah.

Judah was defeated by Israel, and each man ran back home.

King Jehoash of Israel captured King Amaziah of Judah, son of Jehoash son of Ahaziah, in Beth Shemesh. He attacked Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate -- a distance of about six hundred feet.

The rest of the events of Jehoash's reign, including all his accomplishments and his successful war with King Amaziah of Judah, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

King Amaziah son of Joash of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of King Jehoash son of Jehoahaz of Israel.

The rest of the events of Amaziah's reign are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

All the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in his father Amaziah's place.

Azariah built up Elat and restored it to Judah after the king had passed away.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Judah's King Amaziah, son of Joash, Jeroboam son of Joash became king over Israel. He reigned for forty-one years in Samaria.

In the twenty-seventh year of King Jeroboam's reign over Israel, Amaziah's son Azariah became king over Judah.

The rest of the events of Azariah's reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

In the thirty-eighth year of King Azariah's reign over Judah, Jeroboam's son Zechariah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for six months.

Shallum son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of King Uzziah's reign over Judah. He reigned for one month in Samaria.

In the thirty-ninth year of King Azariah's reign over Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel. He reigned for twelve years in Samaria.

In the fiftieth year of King Azariah's reign over Judah, Menahem's son Pekahiah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for two years.

In the fifty-second year of King Azariah's reign over Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for twenty years.

In the second year of the reign of Israel's King Pekah son of Remaliah, Uzziah's son Jotham became king over Judah.

The rest of the events of Jotham's reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

In those days the Lord prompted King Rezin of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah to attack Judah.

In the seventeenth year of the reign of Pekah son of Remaliah, Jotham's son Ahaz became king over Judah.

The rest of the events of Ahaz's reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

In the twelfth year of King Ahaz's reign over Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for nine years.

The Lord solemnly warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and all the seers, "Turn back from your evil ways; obey my commandments and rules that are recorded in the law. I ordered your ancestors to keep this law and sent my servants the prophets to remind you of its demands."

So the Lord was furious with Israel and rejected them; only the tribe of Judah was left.

Judah also failed to keep the commandments of the Lord their God; they followed Israel's example.

In the third year of the reign of Israel's King Hoshea son of Elah, Ahaz's son Hezekiah became king over Judah.

He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; in this regard there was none like him among the kings of Judah either before or after.

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria, who was at Lachish, "I have violated our treaty. If you leave, I will do whatever you demand." So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

At that time King Hezekiah of Judah stripped the metal overlays from the doors of the Lord's temple and from the posts which he had plated and gave them to the king of Assyria.

Perhaps you will tell me, 'We are trusting in the Lord our God.' But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, 'You must worship at this altar in Jerusalem.'

"Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: 'Don't let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, "Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria."

Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit.

The rest of the events of Hezekiah's reign and all his accomplishments, including how he built a pool and conduit to bring water into the city, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

"King Manasseh of Judah has committed horrible sins. He has sinned more than the Amorites before him and has encouraged Judah to sin by worshiping his disgusting idols.

So this is what the Lord God of Israel says, 'I am about to bring disaster on Jerusalem and Judah. The news will reverberate in the ears of those who hear about it.

Furthermore Manasseh killed so many innocent people, he stained Jerusalem with their blood from end to end, in addition to encouraging Judah to sin by doing evil in the sight of the Lord.

The rest of the events of Manasseh's reign and all his accomplishments, as well as the sinful acts he committed, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

The rest of Amon's accomplishments are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

"Go, seek an oracle from the Lord for me and the people -- for all Judah. Find out about the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the Lord's fury has been ignited against us, because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this scroll by doing all that it instructs us to do."

"This is what the Lord says: 'I am about to bring disaster on this place and its residents, the details of which are recorded in the scroll which the king of Judah has read.

Say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to seek an oracle from the Lord: "This is what the Lord God of Israel says concerning the words you have heard:

The king summoned all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem.

The king went up to the Lord's temple, accompanied by all the people of Judah, all the residents of Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets. All the people were there, from the youngest to the oldest. He read aloud all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been discovered in the Lord's temple.

He eliminated the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.)

He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba. He tore down the high place of the goat idols situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate.

He removed from the entrance to the Lord's temple the statues of horses that the kings of Judah had placed there in honor of the sun god. (They were kept near the room of Nathan Melech the eunuch, which was situated among the courtyards.) He burned up the chariots devoted to the sun god.

The king tore down the altars the kings of Judah had set up on the roof of Ahaz's upper room, as well as the altars Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the Lord's temple. He crushed them up and threw the dust in the Kidron Valley.

He asked, "What is this grave marker I see?" The men from the city replied, "It's the grave of the prophet who came from Judah and foretold these very things you have done to the altar of Bethel."

He issued this edict because a Passover like this had not been observed since the days of the judges; it was neglected for the entire period of the kings of Israel and Judah.

Josiah also got rid of the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord's temple.

Yet the Lord's great anger against Judah did not subside; he was still infuriated by all the things Manasseh had done.

The Lord announced, "I will also spurn Judah, just as I spurned Israel. I will reject this city that I chose -- both Jerusalem and the temple, about which I said, "I will live there."

The rest of the events of Josiah's reign and all his accomplishments are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

The Lord sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, as he had warned he would do through his servants the prophets.

Just as the Lord had announced, he rejected Judah because of all the sins which Manasseh had committed.

The rest of the events of Jehoiakim's reign and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, his servants, his officials, and his eunuchs surrendered to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign, took Jehoiachin prisoner.

What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord's anger; he finally threw them out of his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed at Riblah in the territory of Hamath. So Judah was deported from its land.

Now King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over the people whom he allowed to remain in the land of Judah.

In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, King Evil-Merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison.