And after some years he went down to Samaria to see Ahab. And Ahab made a feast for him and the people who were with him, putting to death great numbers of sheep and oxen; and he got Jehoshaphat to go with him to Ramoth-gilead.

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is still one man by whom we may get directions from the Lord, but I have no love for him, because he has never been a prophet of good to me, but only of evil: he is Micaiah, the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

Now the servant who had gone to get Micaiah said to him, See now, all the prophets with one voice are saying good things to the king; so let your words be like theirs, and say good things.

When he came to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, are we to go to Ramoth-gilead to make war or not? And he said, Go up, and it will go well for you; and they will be given up into your hands.

And the king said to him, Have I not, again and again, put you on your oath to say nothing to me but what is true in the name of the Lord?

Then a spirit came forward and took his place before the Lord and said, I will get him to do it by a trick. And the Lord said to him, How?

And he said, I will go out and be a spirit of deceit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said, Your trick will have its effect on him: go out and do so.

And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon, the ruler of the town, and to Joash, the king's son;

So when the captains of the war-carriages saw Jehoshaphat, they said, It is the king of Israel. And turning about, they came round him, but Jehoshaphat gave a cry, and the Lord came to his help, and God sent them away from him.

Now when the captains of the war-carriages saw that he was not the king of Israel, they went back from going after him.

And Jehu, the son of Hanani the seer, went to King Jehoshaphat and said to him, Is it right for you to go to the help of evil-doers, loving the haters of the Lord? because of this, the wrath of the Lord has come on you.

Then Jehoshaphat went down with his face to the earth, and all Judah and the people of Jerusalem gave worship to the Lord, falling down before him.

And after discussion with the people, he put in their places those who were to make melody to the Lord, praising him in holy robes, while they went at the head of the army, and saying, May the Lord be praised, for his mercy is unchanging for ever.

So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for the Lord gave him rest on every side.

But it was not the Lord's purpose to send destruction on the family of David, because of the agreement he had made with David, when he said he would give to him and to his sons a light for ever.

Then Jehoram went over with his captains and all his war-carriages ... made an attack by night on the Edomites, whose forces were all round him ... on the captains of the war-carriages.

And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, The Lord, the God of your father David, says, Because you have not kept to the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or the ways of Asa, king of Judah,

And after all this the Lord sent on him a disease of the stomach from which it was impossible for him to be made well.

And time went on, and after two years, his inside falling out because of the disease, he came to his death in cruel pain. And his people made no burning for him like the burning made for his fathers.

And he went back to Jezreel to get well from the wounds which they had given him at Ramah when he was fighting against Hazael, king of Aram. And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to Jezreel to see Jehoram, the son of Ahab, because he was ill.

And he went in search of Ahaziah; and when they came where he was, (for he was in a secret place in Samaria,) they took him to Jehu and put him to death; then they put his body to rest in the earth, for they said, He is the son of Jehoshaphat, whose heart was true to the Lord. So the family of Ahaziah had no power to keep the kingdom.

But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, secretly took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, away from among the king's sons who were put to death, and put him and the woman who took care of him in a bedroom. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest and sister of Ahaziah, kept him safe from Athaliah, so that she did not put him to death.

And she kept him safe with her in the house of God for six years, while Athaliah was ruling the land.

So the Levites and all Judah did as Jehoiada the priest had given them orders: every one took with him his men, those who were to come in and those who were to go out on the Sabbath; for Jehoiada had not sent away the divisions.

Then they made the king's son come out, and they put the crown on his head and gave him the arm-bands and made him king: and Jehoiada and his sons put the holy oil on him and said, Long life to the king.

And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he became the father of sons and daughters.

Then the king sent for Jehoiada, the chief priest, and said to him, Why have you not given the Levites orders that the tax fixed by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and by the meeting of Israel, for the Tent of witness, is to be got in from Judah and Jerusalem and handed over?

And they put him into his last resting-place in the town of David, among the kings, because he had done good in Israel for God and for his house.

And the Lord sent them prophets to make them come back to him; and they gave witness against them, but they would not give ear.

But when they had made a secret design against him, he was stoned with stones, by the king's order, in the outer square of the Lord's house.

So King Joash did not keep in mind how good Jehoiada his father had been to him, but put his son to death. And in the hour of his death he said, May the Lord see it and take payment!

Now in the spring, the army of the Aramaeans came up against him; they came against Judah and Jerusalem, putting to death all the great men of the people and sending all the goods they took from them to the king of Damascus.

And when they had gone away from him, (for he was broken with disease,) his servants made a secret design against him because of the blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest, and they put him to death on his bed; and they put his body into the earth in the town of David, but not in the resting-place of the kings.

Those who made designs against him were Zabad, the son of Shimeath, an Ammonite woman, and Jehozabad, the son of Shimrith, a Moabite woman.

Now the story of his sons, and all the words said by the prophet against him, and the building up again of the Lord's house, are recorded in the account in the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son became king in his place.

But a man of God came to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with you; for the Lord is not with Israel, that is, the children of Ephraim.

So Amaziah, separating the armed band which had come to him from Ephraim, sent them back again; which made them very angry with Judah, and they went back burning with wrath.

But the men of the band which Amaziah sent back and did not take with him to the fight, made attacks on the towns of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon, putting to death three thousand of their people and taking away a great store of their goods.

And so the wrath of the Lord was moved against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who said, Why have you gone after the gods of the people who have not given their people salvation from your hands?

But while he was talking to him the king said to him, Have we made you one of the king's government? say no more, or it will be the cause of your death. Then the prophet gave up protesting, and said, It is clear to me that God's purpose is your destruction, because you have done this and have not given ear to my words.

And Joash, king of Israel, made Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, prisoner at Beth-shemesh, and took him to Jerusalem; and he had the wall of Jerusalem pulled down from the doorway of Ephraim to the doorway in the angle, four hundred cubits.

Now from the time when Amaziah gave up worshipping the Lord, they made secret designs against him in Jerusalem; and he went in flight to Lachish: but they sent to Lachish after him and put him to death there.

Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.

He gave himself to searching after God in the days of Zechariah, who made men wise in the fear of God; and as long as he was true to the Lord, God made things go well for him.

And God gave him help against the Philistines, and against the Arabians living in Gur-baal, and against the Meunim.

The Ammonites gave offerings to Uzziah: and news of him went out as far as the limit of Egypt; for he became very great in power.

And under their orders was a trained army of three hundred and seven thousand, five hundred, of great strength in war, helping the king against any who came against him.

And Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty of the Lord's priests, who were strong men;

And they made protests to Uzziah the king, and said to him, The burning of perfumes, Uzziah, is not your business but that of the priests, the sons of Aaron, who have been made holy for this work: go out of the holy place, for you have done wrong, and it will not be to your honour before God.

And Azariah, the chief priest, and all the priests, looking at him, saw the mark of the leper on his brow, and they sent him out quickly and he himself went out straight away, for the Lord's punishment had come on him.

He went to war with the king of the children of Ammon and overcame them. That year, the children of Ammon gave him a hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of grain and ten thousand measures of barley. And the children of Ammon gave him the same amount the second year and the third.

So the Lord his God gave him up into the hands of the king of Aram; and they overcame him, and took away a great number of his people as prisoners to Damascus. Then he was given into the hands of the king of Israel, who sent great destruction on him.

Then Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came to him, but was a cause of trouble and not of strength to him.

For Ahaz took a part of the wealth from the house of the Lord, and from the house of the king and of the great men, and gave it to the king of Assyria; but it was no help to him.

For he made offerings to the gods of Damascus, who were attacking him, and said, Because the gods of the kings of Aram are giving them help, I will make offerings to them so that they may give me help. But they were the cause of his downfall, and of that of all Israel.

And Ahaz went to rest with his fathers, and they put his body into the earth in Jerusalem; but they did not put him in the resting-place of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son became king in his place.

For our fathers have done evil, sinning in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have given him up, turning away their faces from the house of the Lord, and turning their backs on him.

My sons, take care now: for you have been marked out by the Lord to come before him and to be his servants, burning offerings to him.

And at the end of the offering, the king and all who were present with him gave worship with bent heads.

For if you come back to the Lord, those who took away your brothers and your children will have pity on them, and let them come back to this land: for the Lord your God is full of grace and mercy, and his face will not be turned away from you if you come back to him.

And in them they put all the offerings and the tenths and the holy things, keeping nothing back, and over them was Conaniah the Levite, with Shimei his brother second to him.

And under him were Eden and Miniamin and Jeshua and Shemaiah and Amariah and Shecaniah, in the towns of the priests, who were made responsible for giving it to all their brothers, by divisions, to small and great:

And for everything he undertook, in connection with the work of the house of God and his law and orders, he got directions from God and did it with serious purpose; and things went well for him.

He took up with his rulers and men of war the question of stopping up the water-springs outside the town; and they gave him their support.

And he put war chiefs over the people, and sent for them all to come together to him in the wide place at the doorway into the town, and to give them heart he said to them,

Be strong and take heart; have no fear, and do not be troubled on account of the king of Assyria and all the great army with him: for there is a greater with us.

With him is an arm of flesh; but we have the Lord our God, helping us and fighting for us. And the people put their faith in what Hezekiah, king of Judah, said.

So do not be tricked by Hezekiah or let him get you to do this, and do not put any faith in what he says: for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to keep his people safe from my hands, or the hands of my fathers: how much less will your God keep you safe from my hands!

And he sent letters, in addition, to put shame on the Lord, the God of Israel, and to say evil against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not been able to keep their people safe from my hands, no more will the God of Hezekiah keep his people safe from my hands.

And the Lord sent an angel who put to death all the men of war and the chiefs and the captains in the army of the king of Assyria. So he went back to his country in shame. And when he came into the house of his god, his sons, the offspring of his body, put him to death there with the sword.

In those days Hezekiah was ill and near death; and he made prayer to the Lord, and the Lord in answer gave him a sign.

But Hezekiah did not do as had been done to him; for his heart was lifted up in pride; and so wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.

And he made towns for himself, and got together much property in flocks and herds: for God had given him great wealth.

However, in the business of the representatives sent by the rulers of Babylon to get news of the wonder which had taken place in the land, God gave up guiding him, testing him to see what was in his heart.

So Hezekiah went to rest with his fathers, and they put his body into the higher part of the resting-places of the sons of David: and all Judah and the people of Jerusalem gave him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son became king in his place.

More than this, he made his children go through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and he made use of secret arts, and signs for reading the future, and unnatural powers, and gave positions to those who had control of spirits and to wonder-workers: he did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, moving him to wrath.

So the Lord sent against them the captains of the army of Assyria, who made Manasseh a prisoner and took him away in chains to Babylon.

And made prayer to him; and in answer to his prayer God let him come back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh was certain that the Lord was God.

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words which the seers said to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, are recorded among the acts of the kings of Israel.

And the prayer which he made to God, and how God gave him an answer, and all his sin and his wrongdoing, and the places where he made high places and put up pillars of wood and images, before he put away his pride, are recorded in the history of the seers.

And his servants made a secret design against him, and put him to death in his house.

And they came to Hilkiah, the chief priest, and gave him all the money which had been taken into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the door, had got from Manasseh and Ephraim and those of Israel who had not been taken away as prisoners, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the people of Jerusalem.

And Shaphan took the book to the king; and he gave him an account of what had been done, saying, Your servants are doing all they have been given to do;

After all this, and after Josiah had put the house in order, Neco, king of Egypt, went up to make war at Carchemish by the river Euphrates; and Josiah went out against him.

But he sent representatives to him, saying, What have I to do with you, O king of Judah? I have not come against you this day, but against those with whom I am at war; and God has given me orders to go forward quickly: keep out of God's way, for he is with me, or he will send destruction on you.

However, Josiah would not go back; but keeping to his purpose of fighting against him, and giving no attention to the words of Neco, which came from God, he went forward to the fight in the valley of Megiddo.

So his servants took him out of the line of war-carriages, and put him in his second carriage and took him to Jerusalem, where he came to his end, and they put his body in the resting-place of his fathers. And in all Judah and Jerusalem there was great weeping for Josiah.

Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.

Then the king of Egypt took the kingdom from him in Jerusalem, and put on the land a tax of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against him, and took him away in chains to Babylon.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and the disgusting things he did, and all there is to be said against him, are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah; and Jehoiachin his son became king in his place.

In the spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and took him away to Babylon, with the beautiful vessels of the house of the Lord, and made Zedekiah, his father's brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem.

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did not make himself low before Jeremiah the prophet who gave him the word of the Lord.

And he took up arms against King Nebuchadnezzar, though he had made him take an oath by God; but he made his neck stiff and his heart hard, turning away from the Lord, the God of Israel.

And all who had not come to death by the sword he took away prisoners to Babylon; and they became servants to him and to his sons till the kingdom of Persia came to power:

Cyrus, king of Persia, has said, All the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the Lord, the God of heaven; and he has made me responsible for building a house for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him and let him go up.

These are the words of Cyrus, king of Persia: The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he has made me responsible for building a house for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

Whoever there is among you of his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and take in hand the building of the house of the Lord, the God of Israel; he is the God who is in Jerusalem.

And whoever there may be of the rest of Israel, living in any place, let the men of that place give him help with offerings of silver and gold and goods and beasts, in addition to the offering freely given for the house of God in Jerusalem.

Then they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of families, and said to them, Let us take part in the building with you; for we are servants of your God, even as you are; and we have been making offerings to him from the days of Esar-haddon, king of Assyria, who put us here.