But the Rab-shakeh said to them, Is it to your master or to you that my master has sent me to say these words? has he not sent me to the men seated on the wall? for they are the people who will be short of food with you when the town is shut in.

Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena and Ivvah? have they kept Samaria out of my hands?

And they said to him, Hezekiah says, This day is a day of trouble and punishment and shame; for the children are ready to come to birth, but there is no strength to give birth to them.

And have given their gods to the fire; for they were no gods, but wood and stone, the work of men's hands; so they have given them to destruction.

This is why their townsmen had no power, they were broken and put to shame; they were like the grass of the field and the green plant, like grass on the house-tops.

And it came about, when he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to death with the sword; and they went in flight into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son became king in his place.

Then Isaiah said, Take a cake of figs. So they took it and put it on his wound, and he got better.

Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, What did these men say and where did they come from? And Hezekiah said, They came from a far country, even from Babylon.

And he said, What have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah said in answer, They saw everything in my house: there is nothing among my stores which I did not let them see.

And your sons, the offspring of your body, they will take away to be unsexed servants in the house of the king of Babylon.

Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his power, and how he made the pool and the stream, to take water into the town, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?

And never again will I send the feet of Israel wandering from the land which I gave to their fathers; if only they will take care to do all my orders, and keep all the law which my servant Moses gave them.

But they did not give ear; and Manasseh made them do more evil than those nations did, whom the Lord gave up to destruction before the children of Israel.

Because they have done evil in my eyes, moving me to wrath, from the day when their fathers came out of Egypt till this day.

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all he did, and his sins, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?

Now the rest of the acts which Amon did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?

They did not have to give any account of the money which was handed to them, for they made use of it with good faith.

So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam and Achbor and Shaphan and Asaiah, went to Huldah the woman prophet, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the robes, (now she was living in Jerusalem, in the second part of the town;) and they had talk with her.

Because they have given me up, burning offerings to other gods and moving me to wrath by all the work of their hands; so my wrath will be on fire against this place, and will not be put out.

Because your heart was soft, and you made yourself low before me, when you had word of what I said against this place and its people, that they would become a waste and a curse, and you gave signs of grief, weeping before me: truly, I have given ear to you, says the Lord.

For this cause I will let you go to your fathers and be put in your last resting-place in peace, and your eyes will not see all the evil which I will send on this place. So they took this news back to the king.

And the king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and all the people of Jerusalem, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, small and great; and they were present at his reading of the book of the law which had come to light in the house of the Lord.

Still the priests of the high places never came up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem; but they took their food of unleavened bread among their brothers.

The stone pillars were broken to bits and the wood pillars cut down, and the places where they had been were made full of the bones of the dead

So he said, Let him be; let not his bones be moved. So they let his bones be with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.

Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?

And they made the king a prisoner and took him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah to be judged.

And they put the sons of Zedekiah to death before his eyes, and then they put out his eyes, and chaining him with iron bands, took him to Babylon.

And the pots and the spades and the scissors for the lights and the spoons, and all the brass vessels used in the Lord's house, they took away.

And Meonothai was the father of Ophrah; and Seraiah was the father of Joab, the father of Ge-harashim; they were expert workmen.

These were the potters, and the people living among planted fields with walls round them; they were there to do the king's work.

And they were living at Beer-sheba and Moladah and Hazar-shual,

And all the small places round these towns, as far as Baalath-beer, the high place of the South. These were their living-places, and they have lists of their generations.

And they went to the opening into Gedor, as far as the east side of the valley, in search of grass-land for their flocks.

And they came to some good fertile grass-land, in a wide quiet country of peace-loving people; for the people who were living there before were of the offspring of Ham.

And they put to death the rest of the Amalekites who had got away safely, and made it their living-place to this day.

And in the days of Saul they made war on the Hagarites, and overcame them; and they put up their tents through all the land east of Gilead.

And they were living in Gilead in Bashan, in its small towns and in all the grass-land of Sirion as far as its limits.

And they went to war against the Hagarites, with Jetur and Naphish and Nodab.

And they were helped against them, so that the Hagarites, and those with them, were given into their power. For they sent up prayers to God in the fight, and he gave ear to them, because they put their faith in him.

And they took away their cattle: fifty thousand camels, two hundred and fifty thousand sheep, and two thousand asses, and a hundred thousand men.

And a very great number went to their death, because the war was God's purpose. And they went on living in their place till they were taken away as prisoners.

And they did evil against the God of their fathers, worshipping the gods of the people of the land, whom God had put to destruction before them.

They gave worship with songs before the House of the Tent of meeting, till Solomon put up the house of the Lord in Jerusalem; and they took their places for their work in their regular order.

Now these are their living-places, the limits inside which they were to put up their tents: to the sons of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, because they had the first selection,

To them they gave Hebron and its outskirts in the land of Judah;

But the open country of the town, and the small places round it, they gave to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh.

And to the sons of Aaron they gave Hebron, the town to which men might go in flight and be safe, and Libnah with its outskirts, and Jattir, and Eshtemoa with its outskirts,

And they gave by the Lord's decision out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, and out of the tribe of the children of Benjamin, these towns whose names are given.

And they gave them the town to which men might go in flight and be safe, Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim with its outskirts, and Gezer with its outskirts,

And the sons of Tola: Uzzi and Rephaiah and Jeriel and Jahmai and Ibsam and Shemuel, heads of their families; they were men of war; in the record of their generations their number in the time of David was twenty-two thousand, six hundred.

And with them, recorded in generations by their families, were bands of fighting-men, thirty-six thousand of them, for they had a great number of wives and sons.

And they were recorded by their generations, heads of their families, great men of war, twenty thousand, two hundred.

And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead, whom the men of Gath, who had been living in the land from their birth, put to death, because they came down to take away their cattle.

All these were the children of Asher, heads of their families, specially strong men of war, chiefs of the rulers. They were recorded in the army for war, twenty-six thousand men in number.

And Mikloth was the father of Shimeah. And they were living with their brothers in Jerusalem opposite their brothers.

So all Israel was listed by their families; and, truly, they are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel. And Judah was taken away as prisoners to Babylon because of their sin.

Up till then they had been at the king's door to the east. They were door-keepers for the tents of the sons of Levi.

There were two hundred and twelve whose business it was to keep the doorway. These were listed by families in the country places where they were living, whom David and Samuel the seer put in their responsible positions.

So they and their sons had the care of the doors of the house of the Lord, the house of the Tent, as watchers.

And their brothers, in the country places where they were living, were to come in every seven days to be with them from time to time.

Their sleeping-rooms were round the house of God, for they had the care of it, and were responsible for opening it morning by morning.

Certain of them had the care of the vessels used in worship, to keep an account of them when they came in and when they were taken out again.

These were heads of families of the Levites in their generations, chief men; they were living at Jerusalem.

Mikloth was the father of Shimeam. They were living with their brothers in Jerusalem opposite their brothers.

And when all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that the men of Israel had gone in flight and that Saul and his sons were dead, they went in flight away from their towns; and the Philistines came and took them for themselves.

Now the day after, when the Philistines came to take their goods from the dead, they saw Saul and his sons dead in Mount Gilboa.

And they took everything off him, and took his head and his war-dress, and sent word into the land of the Philistines round about to give the news to their gods and to the people.

And they put his war-dress in the house of their gods, and put up his head in the house of Dagon.

In the past, when Saul was king, it was you who went at the head of Israel when they went out or came in; and the Lord your God said to you, You are to be the keeper of my people Israel, and their ruler.

So all the responsible men of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and David made an agreement with them in Hebron before the Lord; and they put the holy oil on David and made him king over Israel, as the Lord had said by Samuel.

Now these are the men who came to David at Ziklag, while he was still shut up, because of Saul, the son of Kish; they were among the strong men, his helpers in war.

They were armed with bows, and were able to send stones, and arrows from the bow, with right hand or left: they were Saul's brothers, of Benjamin.

And some of the Gadites, siding with David, went to his strong place in the waste land, great and strong men, trained for war, expert in the use of arms, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were quick-footed like roes on the mountains;

It was they who went over Jordan in the first month, when the river was overflowing, and put to flight all the people of the valleys, to the east and to the west.

And they gave David help against the armed bands, for they were all great men of war, and captains in the army.

For three days they were there with David, feasting at his table, for their brothers had made ready food for them.

And all the people said they would do so, for it seemed right to them.

And they put the ark of God on a new cart, and took it out of the house of Abinadab; and Uzza and Ahio were the drivers of the cart.

And when they came to the grain-floor of Chidon, Uzza put out his hand to keep the ark in its place, for the oxen were slipping.

And when the Philistines had news that David had been made king over all Israel, they went up in search of David, and David, hearing of it, went out against them.

So they went up to Baal-perazim, and David overcame them there, and David said, God has let the forces fighting against me be broken by my hand, as a wall is broken down by rushing water; so they gave that place the name of Baal-perazim.

And the Philistines did not take their images with them in their flight; and at David's orders they were burned with fire.

And David did as the Lord had said; and they overcame the army of the Philistines, attacking them from Gibeon as far as Gezer.

Then David said, The ark of God may not be moved by any but the Levites, for they have been marked out by God to take the ark of God, and to do his work for ever.

And when God gave help to the Levites who were lifting up the ark of the agreement of the Lord, they made an offering of seven oxen and seven sheep.

Then they took in the ark of God and put it inside the tent which David had put up for it; and they made offerings, burned offerings and peace-offerings before God.

When they went about from one nation to another, and from one kingdom to another people;

And I will make a resting-place for my people Israel, planting them there, so that they may be in the place which is theirs and never again be moved; and never again will they be made waste by evil men, as they were at first,

But the chiefs of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, Does it seem to you that David is honouring your father, by sending comforters to you? is it not clear that these men have only come to go through the land and to make secret observation of it so that they may overcome it?

And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves hated by David, Hanun and the children of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver as payment for war-carriages and horsemen from Mesopotamia and Aram-maacah and Zobah.

So with this money they got thirty-two thousand war-carriages, and the help of the king of Maacah and his people, who came and took up their position in front of Medeba. And the children of Ammon came together from their towns for the fight.

So Joab and the people who were with him went forward into the fight against the Aramaeans, and they went in flight before him.

And when the children of Ammon saw the flight of the Aramaeans, they themselves went in flight from Abishai, his brother, and came into the town. Then Joab came back to Jerusalem.

And when the Aramaeans saw that Israel had overcome them, they sent men to get the Aramaeans who were on the other side of the River, with Shophach, the captain of Hadadezer's army, at their head.

And when the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were overcome by Israel, they made peace with David and became his servants: and the Aramaeans would give no more help to the children of Ammon.

Now after this there was war with the Philistines at Gezer; then Sibbecai the Hushathite put to death Sippai, one of the offspring of the Rephaim; and they were overcome.

These were of the offspring of the Rephaim in Gath; they came to their death by the hands of David and his servants.

And Joab said, May the Lord make his people a hundred times more in number than they are; but, my lord king, are they not all my lord's servants? why would my lord have this done? why will he become a cause of sin to Israel?