Therefore the king of Israel collected of prophets four hundred men, and said to them, Shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for God will deliver it into the king's hand.

And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah sat each of them on his throne, clothed in their robes, and they sat in a void place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.

And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah had made him horns of iron, and said, Thus saith the LORD, With these thou shalt push Syria until they shall be consumed.

And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go ye up, and prosper, and they shall be delivered into your hand.

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and will go to the battle; but put thou on thy robes. So the king of Israel disguised himself; and they went to the battle.

And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they compassed about him to fight: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him; and God moved them to depart from him.

For it came to pass, that when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back again from pursuing him.

Moreover, in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set of the Levites, and of the priests, and of the chief of the fathers of Israel, for the judgment of the LORD, and for controversies, when they returned to Jerusalem.

And whatever cause shall come to you of your brethren that dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the LORD, and so wrath come upon you, and upon your brethren: this do, and ye shall not trespass.

Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side of Syria; and behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi.

And Judah assembled, to ask help of the LORD: even from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

And they dwelt in it, and have built thee a sanctuary in it for thy name, saying,

And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldst not let Israel invade, when they came from the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;

Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.

To-morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.

And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.

And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers to the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.

And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, who were come against Judah; and they were smitten.

For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.

And when Judah came towards the watch-tower in the wilderness, they looked to the multitude, and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.

And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering the spoil, it was so much.

And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place hath been called, The valley of Berachah, to this day.

Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the front of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies.

And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets to the house of the LORD.

And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Jehu the son of Hanani, who is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel.

And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish: and they made the ships in Ezion-geber.

Then Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the LORD hath broken thy works. And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish.

And they came up into Judah, and broke into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was not a son left to him, save Jehoahaz the youngest of his sons.

Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem, eight years, and departed without being desired: yet they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchers of the kings.

Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab: for they were his counselors, after the death of his father, to his destruction.

And he sought Ahaziah: and they caught him, (for he was hid in Samaria,) and brought him to Jehu: and when they had slain him, they buried him: Because, said they, he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart. So the house of Ahaziah had no power to retain the kingdom.

And they went about in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the chief of the fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.

But let none come into the house of the LORD, save the priests, and they that minister of the Levites; they shall go in, for they are holy: but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD.

Then they brought out the king's son, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, God save the king.

So they laid hands on her; and when she had come to the entrance of the horse gate by the king's house, they slew her there.

And Jehoiada made a covenant between him, and between all the people, and between the king, that they should be the LORD'S people.

And he took the captains of hundreds, and the nobles, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the house of the LORD: and they came through the high gate into the king's house, and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom.

And all the people of the land rejoiced: and the city was quiet, after they had slain Athaliah with the sword.

For the sons of Athaliah that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD they bestowed upon Baalim.

And at the king's commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the LORD.

And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in to the LORD the collection that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.

And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end.

Now it came to pass, that at the time the chest was brought to the king's office by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king's scribe and the high priest's officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day, and collected money in abundance.

So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in its state, and strengthened it.

And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, of which were made vessels for the house of the LORD, even vessels to minister, and to offer with, and spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt-offerings in the house of the LORD continually all the days of Jehoiada.

And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both towards God, and towards his house.

And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.

Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again to the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.

And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.

And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the army of Syria came up against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them to the king of Damascus.

For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash.

And when they had departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchers of the kings.

And these are they that conspired against him; Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess.

Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon him, and the repairing of the house of God, behold, they are written in the story of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

Then Amaziah separated them, to wit, the army that had come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again: wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger.

And other ten thousand left alive the children of Judah carried away captive, and brought them to the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, that they were all broken in pieces.

But the soldiers of the army whom Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even to Beth-horon, and smote three thousand of them, and took much spoil.

But Amaziah would not hear; for it came from God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they sought after the gods of Edom.

So Joash the king of Israel went up; and they saw one another in the face, both he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh, which belongeth to Judah.

And Judah was defeated before Israel, and they fled every man to his tent.

Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, behold, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?

Now after the time that Amaziah turned away from following the LORD, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent to Lachish after him, and slew him there.

And they brought him upon horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.

And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said to him, It appertaineth not to thee, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither will it be for thy honor from the LORD God.

And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests looked upon him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him.

So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways, see, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.

Wherefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter.

For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah a hundred and twenty thousand in one day, who were all valiant men; because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers.

And the men who were expressed by name arose, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria.

The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Shocho with its villages, and Timnah with its villages, Gimzo also and its villages: and they dwelt there.

For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.

Now the rest of his acts and of all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem: but they brought him not into the sepulchers of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt-offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.

And they assembled their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD.

And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron.

Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of the LORD: so they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days; and on the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.

Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and said, We have cleansed all the house of the LORD, and the altar of burnt-offering, with all its vessels, and the show-bread table, with all its vessels.

Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign cast away in his transgression, have we prepared and sanctified, and behold, they are before the altar of the LORD.

And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he-goats, for a sin-offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the LORD.

So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar: likewise, when they had killed the rams, they sprinkled the blood upon the altar: they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar.

And they brought forth the he-goats for the sin-offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them:

And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt-offering and the sin-offering should be made for all Israel.

And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves, and worshiped.

Moreover, Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise to the LORD, with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.

But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt-offerings: wherefore their brethren the Levites helped them, till the work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.

And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the passover to the LORD God of Israel.

For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people assembled themselves at Jerusalem.

So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beer-sheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover to the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in the manner as it was written.

For if ye turn again to the LORD, your brethren and your children will find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they will return into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return to him.

So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even to Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.

And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense they took away, and cast them into the brook Kidron.

Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month: and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt-offerings into the house of the LORD.

And they stood in their place after their manner, according to the law of Moses the man of God: the priests sprinkled the blood, which they received from the hand of the Levites.

For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one,

And Hezekiah spoke comfortably to all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the LORD: and they ate throughout the feast seven days, offering peace-offerings, and making confession to the LORD God of their fathers.

And the whole assembly took counsel to keep other seven days: and they kept other seven days with gladness.