In those days the LORD began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the borders of Israel;

And a third part shall be at the gate of Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard: so shall ye keep the watch of the house, that it be not broken down.

And he brought forth the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king.

And he took the rulers over hundreds, and the captains, and the guard, and all the people of the land; and they brought down the king from the house of the LORD, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king's house. And he sat on the throne of the kings.

And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was in quiet: and they slew Athaliah with the sword beside the king's house.

And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldst have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.

And Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.

He restored the border of Israel from the entering of Hamath to the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spoke by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher.

For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and smote Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead.

In the nine and thirtieth year of Azariah king of Judah began Menahem the son of Gadi to reign over Israel, and reigned ten years in Samaria.

Yet, the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the LORD.

Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father.

And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brazen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones.

For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,

And the children of Israel did secretly things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.

Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.

And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

Wherefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.

Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.

But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.

He removed the high places, and broke the images, and cut down the groves, and broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for till those days the children of Israel burnt incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.

Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.

At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

But if ye say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is not that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?

It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.

Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, who dwellest between the cherubim, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

LORD, bow down thy ear, and hear: open, LORD, thy eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent him to reproach the living God.

Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.

By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the hight of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down its tall cedar trees, and its choice fir trees: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.

And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.

I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept grievously.

Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up to the house of the LORD.

Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. And he said, Is it not good, if peace and truth shall be in my days?

Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.

And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD.

And she said to them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me,

But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, concerning the words which thou hast heard;

And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burnt incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba, and broke down the high places of the gates that were in the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.

And he broke in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.

And as Josiah turned himself, he espied the sepulchers that were there on the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchers, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.

Then he said, What title is that which I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulcher of the man of God, who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Beth-el.

And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.

And he carried out thence 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 which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.

And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city on all sides:) and the king went the way towards the plain.

Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that thy hand might be with me, and that thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.

And they found rich pasture and good, and the land was wide, and quiet, and peaceable; for they of Ham had dwelt there of old.

And the children of Gad dwelt over against them, in the land of Bashan to Salcah:

And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them: for they cried to God in the battle, and he was entreated by them; because they put their trust in him.

For there fell down many slain, because the war was of God. And they dwelt in their steads until the captivity.

And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went astray after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them.

And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, to this day.

Their brethren also the Levites were appointed to all manner of service of the tabernacle of the house of God.

But Aaron and his sons offered upon the altar of the burnt-offering, and on the altar of incense, and were appointed for all the work of the place most holy, and to make an atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.

To the sons of Merari were given by lot, throughout their families, out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.

And out of the tribe of Gad; Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs, and Mahanaim with its suburbs,

And Azariah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of the house of God;

And their brethren, heads of the house of their fathers, a thousand and seven hundred and sixty; very able men for the work of the service of the house of God.

Who hitherto waited in the king's gate eastward: they were porters in the companies of the children of Levi.

For these Levites, the four chief porters, were in their set office, and were over the chambers and treasuries of the house of God.

And they lodged about the house of God, because the charge was upon them, and the opening of it every morning pertained to them.

And moreover in time past, even when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD thy God said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel.

And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Beth-lehem, that is at the gate!

And the three broke through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but David would not drink of it, but poured it out to the LORD,

And said, My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing: shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? for with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mightiest.

These were of the sons of Gad, captains of the host: one of the least was over a hundred, and the greatest over a thousand.

And David went out to meet them, and answered and said to them, If ye have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart shall be knit to you: but if ye have come to betray me to my enemies, seeing there is no wrong in my hands, the God of our fathers look on it, and rebuke it.

Then the spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said, Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be to thee, and peace be to thy helpers; for thy God helpeth thee. Then David received them, and made them captains of the band.

For at that time day by day there came to David to help him, until it was a great host, like the host of God.

And David said to all the congregation of Israel, If it seemeth good to you, and that it is of the LORD our God, let us send abroad to our brethren every where, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites who are in their cities and suburbs, that they may assemble to us:

And let us bring again to us the ark of our God: for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul.

So David assembled all Israel, from Shihor of Egypt even to the entrance of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjath-jearim.

And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kirjath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God the LORD, that dwelleth between the cherubim, whose name is called on it.

And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart.

And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.

And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God.

And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?

And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months. And the LORD blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that he had.

And David inquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? and wilt thou deliver them into my hand? And the LORD said to him, Go up; for I will deliver them into thy hand.

So they came up to Baal-perazim; and David smote them there. Then David said, God hath broken in upon my enemies by my hand like the breaking forth of waters: therefore they called the name of that place Baal-perazim.

Therefore David inquired again of God: and God said to him, Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.

And it shall be, when thou shalt hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, then thou shalt go out to battle: for God hath gone forth before thee to smite the host of the Philistines.

David therefore did as God commanded him: and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gazer.

And David made him houses in the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent.

Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister to him for ever.

And said to them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel to the place that I have prepared for it.

For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.

So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel.

And the children of the Levites bore the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staffs on it, as Moses commanded, according to the word of the LORD.

And Shebaniah, and Jehoshaphat, and Nethaneel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer the priests, did blow with the trumpets before the ark of God: and Obed-edom and Jehiah were door-keepers for the ark.

And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams.

So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it: and they offered burnt-sacrifices and peace-offerings before God.

And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine.

And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, and to record, and to thank and praise the LORD God of Israel:

Benaiah also and Jahaziel the priests with trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God.

He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth.