Now there happened to be a certain woman who had been the wife of a member of the Guild of Prophets. She cried out to Elisha, "My husband who served you has died, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. But a creditor has come to take away my children into indentured servitude!"

Some time later, Elisha went to Shunem, where he met a prominent and wealthy woman who persuaded him to have a meal with her. As a result, whenever he was in the area, he stopped by to eat with her.

So she had a talk with her husband. "Look here! I've learned that this is a holy and godly man who comes by here on a regular basis.

After the child had grown up a bit, one day he went out to visit his father, who was with the harvesters.

On one of their raids to the territory of Israel, Aram had taken captive a young girl when she was an infant, who had eventually become an attendant to Naaman's wife.

She mentioned to her mistress, "If only my master were to visit the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."

Elisha sent a messenger out to him, who told him, "Go bathe in the Jordan River seven times. Your flesh will be restored for you. Now stay clean!"

But Elisha replied, "As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will not receive anything from you." Though Naaman urged him to take it, Elisha declined.

"No, your majesty," one of his servants said. "Elisha the prophet, who lives in Israel, tells the king of Israel what you talk about in your bedroom!"

But he replied, "No! You're not to kill them! Would you execute those whom you've taken captive at the point of a sword or with your bow? Give them food and water so they can eat and drink. Then send them back to their master!"

But the royal attendant on whom the king depended responded to the man of God: "Look here! Even if the LORD were to open a window in the sky, how could this happen?" He replied, "No, you look! You'll see it with your eyes, but you won't eat any of it!"

Now there happened to be four lepers who were at that very moment at the entrance to the city gate. As they were talking with one another, they said, "Why are we sitting here waiting to die?

One of his attendants suggested, "Please, let's take five of the remaining horses, since those who remain here will end up like the rest of Israel, which has already died, and we'll send them out to look."

Meanwhile, the king appointed the same royal attendant on whom he depended to take control of the city gate, but the people trampled him to death in the gate, just as the man of God had told the king when the king came down to him.

But the royal attendant on whom the king depended responded to the man of God: "Look here! Even if the LORD were to make a window in the sky, how could this happen?" He replied, "No, you look! You'll see it with your eyes, but you won't eat any of it!"

Just as he was telling the king about Elisha's having restored the dead to life, the woman whose son had been restored arrived and appealed to the king for her house and her land! Gehazi told the king, "Your majesty, this is the woman! And here's her son, whom Elisha restored to life!"

The king consulted with the woman, who related the story. So the king appointed a court official to represent her and ordered him: "Restore to her everything that belonged to her, including all of the produce that her fields yielded from the day she left the land until now."

But Hazael responded, "What? Who am I, your servant, that I should do such a horrible thing?" But Elisha answered, "The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram."

So he left Elisha and returned to his master, who asked him, "What did Elisha tell you?" He replied, "He told me that you would certainly get better."

Then Joram crossed over to Zair, along with all of his chariots. At night he attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and the commanders of his chariots, but the army ran away to their tents.

So the young man, who was an attendant to the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead.

Then Joram sent out a second horseman, who went out to them and said, "This is what the king said: "Have you come in peace?'" Jehu responded, "What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me."

When Jehu had entered through the gate, she asked, "Was Zimri, who murdered his master, received well?"

Jehu looked up toward the window and called out, "Who is on my side? Who?" When two or three eunuchs looked out at him,

So they returned and reported to Jehu, and he responded, "This fulfills this message from the LORD that he spoke through his servant Elijah the foreigner, who said:

Meanwhile, Ahab had 70 sons who lived in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the rulers of Jezreel, the elders, and the guardians of Ahab's children. He told them,

Now the king's sons, totaling 70 men, were living with the leading men of the city, who were their guardians. When the letter from Jehu arrived, the city leaders arrested the king's sons, slaughtered all 70 of them, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.

Jehu replied, "Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning." The next morning, Jehu went out, stood still, and announced to all the people: "Are you righteous? I conspired against my master and killed him, but who slaughtered all of these?

So Jehu executed all those who remained from Ahab's dynasty in Jezreel, including all of Ahab's men, his friends, and his priests, until there remained not even one survivor.

Jehu met up with the relatives of King Ahaziah of Judah. He asked them, "Who are you?" They answered, "We're Ahaziah's relatives, and we've come down to greet the king's sons and the sons of the queen mother."

When Jehu arrived in Samaria, he executed everyone who remained of Ahab's household in Samaria, until he had utterly destroyed Ahab in accordance with the message from the LORD that he spoke to Elijah.

And so they proclaimed it. Jehu sent the proclamation throughout Israel, and all the Baal worshipers came. There wasn't a single man left who failed to come. When they entered Baal's temple, it was filled from one end to the other.

Then they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Meanwhile, Jehu had stationed 80 men outside, ordering them, "If any of these men whom I've brought into your control escape, the one who allows it will forfeit his life."

Even so, Jehu never abandoned the sins of Nebat's son Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin, regarding the golden calves that were at Bethel and Dan.

But King Joram's daughter Jehosheba, who was Ahaziah's sister, rescued Ahaziah's son Joash from the group of the king's sons who were being executed and hid him and his nurse in her bedroom, concealing him from Athaliah so he was not put to death.

Two of you who enter here on this coming Sabbath are to stand watch at the LORD's Temple,

So the captains of hundreds did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered. Each one of them assembled his men who were to enter on the Sabbath, along with those who were to leave on the Sabbath, and approached Jehoiada the priest.

When Athaliah heard all of the commotion coming from those who were guarding the people, she approached the people who were in the LORD's Temple.

She looked around and there was the king, standing near a column, as was the royal custom! He was accompanied by the commanding officers, along with trumpeters who stood beside the king. All the people of the land sounded trumpets in their excitement. But Athaliah tore her clothes and bellowed, "It's a plot! A conspiracy!"

Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains in charge of the army, "Take her out the back way and execute anybody who follows her," since the priest had also issued this order: "Let's not put her to death in the LORD's Temple."

Jehoash spoke to the priests about all of the proceeds of the consecrated gifts that were being brought into the LORD's Temple, cash from every man who was traveling through the area, cash obtained by personal assessment, and all the cash that came through voluntary gifts into the LORD's Temple:

So Jehoiada the priest grabbed a chest, bored an opening in its lid, and placed it next to the altar, on the right side as one enters the LORD's Temple. The priests who tended the entryway put all the money that was brought into the LORD's Temple into the chest.

and disbursed the cash directly into the hands of those who did the work and who were in charge of the oversight of the LORD's Temple. They paid it to the carpenters and builders who worked on the LORD's Temple,

because that money had been allocated to the workmen who were repairing the LORD's Temple.

Later on, as soon as he was in firm control of his kingdom, he executed the servants who had murdered his father the king,

All the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and installed him as King to take the place of his father Amaziah.

He did what the LORD considered to be evil by not abandoning all the sins of Nebat's son Jeroboam, who made Israel sin.

He rebuilt Israel's coastline from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the message from the LORD God of Israel that he spoke through his servant Jonah the prophet, Amittai's son, who was from Gath-hepher.

The LORD struck the king so that he was afflicted with leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house while his son Jotham managed the household and ruled the people who lived in the land.

He did what the LORD considered to be evil, just as his ancestors had done. He never abandoned the sins of Nebat's son Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin.

He did what the LORD considered to be evil by never abandoning the sins of Nebat's son Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin, as long as he lived.

Instead, he behaved like the kings of Israel did by making his son pass through fire, the very same abomination that the heathen practiced, whom the LORD evicted from the land right in front of the Israelis.

So Ahaz sent envoys to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, to tell him, "I am your servant and son. Save me from the king of Aram and the king of Israel, who are attacking me."

He practiced what the LORD considered to be evil, though not like the kings of Israel who had preceded him.

But the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy involving Hoshea, who had sent envoys to King So of Egypt and stopped offering tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done annually. As a result, the king of Assyria placed him under arrest and sent him to prison.

This happened because the Israelis had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt and from the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, because they were fearing other gods,

and because they were following the rules of the nations whom the LORD had expelled before the Israelis and that the kings of Israel had practiced.

where they made offerings on all the high places, as did the nations whom the LORD had expelled before them. They also practiced other wickedness, provoking the LORD to become angry,

But they would not listen. Instead, they were stubborn, just like their ancestors had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God.

until the LORD removed Israel from his presence, just as he had warned through all of his prophets who served him. So Israel was carried off into exile from their own land into Assyria, where they remain to this day.

As a result, they reported to the king of Assyria, "Because the nations whom you exiled to live in the cities of Samaria don't know the law of the god of the land, he has sent lions among them. Look how the lions are killing them, because they don't know the law of the god of the land!"

So the king of Assyria issued this order: "Take one of the priests whom you carried away and let him go back and live there. Let him teach them the law of the god of the land."

So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria went to live in Bethel to teach them how they ought to fear the LORD.

Because they feared the LORD, they also appointed from among themselves priests for the high places who acted on their behalf in the temples on the high places.

While they continued to fear the LORD, they served their own gods, following the custom of the nations whom they had carried away from there.

To this very day, they still follow the former customs: they don't fear the LORD and they don't live in accordance with the statutes, ordinances, laws, or commandments that the LORD had given to the descendants of Jacob whom he renamed Israel

and with whom the LORD had made a covenant when he gave these orders to them:

"You are not to fear other gods, bow down to them, serve them, or sacrifice to them. Instead, it is to be the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, showing great power and public demonstrations of might, whom you are to fear, worship, and to whom you are to offer sacrifice.

When they called for the King, Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who managed the household, Shebnah the scribe, and Asaph's son Joah the recorder went out to them.

""Now who are you relying on, that you have rebelled against me? Look, you're trusting on Egypt to lean on like a staff, but it's a crushed reed, and if you lean on it, it will collapse and pierce your hand. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is just like that to everyone who relies on him!

At this, Hilkiah's son Eliakim, Shebnah, and Joah asked Rab-shakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand it, but don't speak the language of Judah to us within the hearing of the people who are on the wall."

But Rab-shakeh spoke to them, "Has my master sent me to talk about this just to your master and to you, and not also to the men who are sitting on the wall, who will soon be eating their own feces and drinking their own urine along with you?"

Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered their land from my control, so that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from me?'"

But Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who managed the household, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph's son Joah the recorder came back to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him what Rab-shakeh had said.

"This is what Hezekiah says: "Today is a day of trouble, rebuke, and blasphemy, because children are about to be born, but there is no strength to bring them to birth. Perhaps the LORD your God will take note of everything that Rab-shakeh has said, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to taunt the living God, and then he will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the survivors who remain.'"

The messengers were told, "This is what you are to say to King Hezekiah of Judah: "Don't let your God in whom you trust deceive you by telling you "Jerusalem won't be turned over to the control of Assyria's king."

Did the gods of those nations whom my ancestors destroyed deliver them, including Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and Eden's descendants in Telassar?

Who are you reproaching and blaspheming? Against whom have you raised your voice? And against whom have you lifted up your eyes in arrogance? Against the Holy One of Israel!

Those who survive from Judah's household will again put down deep roots and bear fruit extensively,

So Isaiah cried out to the LORD, who brought the shadow back ten steps after it had gone down the stairway of Ahaz.

"Some of your descendants your very own seed, whom you will father will be carried away to become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"

He did what the LORD considered to be evil, following the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD had expelled in full view of the people of Israel.

But they would not listen. Manasseh led them astray to practice more evil than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed in the presence of the Israelis.

"Because King Manasseh of Judah has committed these despicable things, acting more sinfully than did all of the Amorites who preceded him, including making Judah sin with its idols,

therefore this is what the LORD God of Israel says: "Look! I'm going to bring such a disaster to Jerusalem and Judah that both ears of those who hear about it will ring.

But afterward, the people of the land executed everyone who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land installed his son Josiah to be king in his place.

"Go to the high priest Hilkiah, so he can count the money that has been brought into the LORD's Temple by the doorkeepers who have been gathering it from the people.

Have them deliver it to the workmen who are supervising the LORD's Temple, so that they may pay it over to the workmen who serve in the LORD's Temple to repair its damages,

Shaphan the scribe reported to King Josiah, brought up the matter to him, and told him, "Your servants have distributed the money that was found in the Temple by giving it to the workmen who supervise the LORD's Temple."

So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophet Huldah, the wife of Tikvah's son Shallum, the grandson of Harhas and supervisor of the royal wardrobe, who lived in the Second Quarter in Jerusalem. They spoke with her,

and she told them, "This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "Tell the man who sent you to me:

Nevertheless, tell the king of Judah who sent you to ask the LORD about this, "This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "Now about what you've heard,

The king went up to the LORD's Temple, accompanied by all the men of Judah, everyone who lived in Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and everyone including those who were unimportant and those who were important and he read to them everything written in the Book of the Covenant that had been discovered in the LORD's Temple.

The king unseated the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places throughout the cities of Judah and in the environs surrounding Jerusalem, including those who had been burning incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to every star in the heavens.

Furthermore, he even broke down the altar that had been at Bethel as well as the high place constructed by Nebat's son Jeroboam, who had caused Israel to sin. He demolished its stones, pulverized them to dust, and burned the Asherah.

He asked, "What is this monument that I'm looking at?" The men who lived in that city answered him, "It's the grave of that godly man who came from Judah and predicted these things that you've done against the altar at Bethel!"

Josiah replied, "Leave him alone. No one is to disturb his bones." So they preserved his bones undisturbed, along with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

After he had slaughtered all the priests who served at the high places and burned their bones on those high places, he returned to Jerusalem.

From the days of the judges who ruled in Israel, no Passover had been celebrated like this, not even in all the reigns of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.

There had been no king like him before him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his strength, in obeying everything in the Law of Moses. No king arose like Josiah after him.