And the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha has done.

Now Elisha came to Damascus, and Ben-hadad king of Aram (Syria) was sick; and he was told, “The man of God has come here.”

And the king saith unto Hazael, 'Take in thy hand a present, and go to meet the man of God, and thou hast sought Jehovah by him, saying, Do I revive from this sickness?'

And Hazael went to meet him, and took with him a present, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden; and he came and stood before him, and said, Thy son Ben-Hadad king of Syria has sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover from this disease?

And Elisha said to him, Go, say to him, Thou wilt certainly recover. But Jehovah has shewn me that he shall certainly die.

And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha said, Jehovah has shewn me that thou wilt be king over Syria.

So Edom has rebelled {against the rule} of Judah until this day; then Libnah [also] rebelled at that time.

and thou hast gone in there, and see thou there Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, and thou hast gone in, and caused him to rise out of the midst of his brethren, and brought him in to the inner part of an inner-chamber,

and taken the vial of oil, and poured on his head, and said, Thus said Jehovah, I have anointed thee for king unto Israel; and thou hast opened the door, and fled, and dost not wait.'

and thou hast smitten the house of Ahab thy lord, and I have required the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of Jehovah, from the hand of Jezebel;

So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again.

Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me.

Again the watchman reported, “He reached them but hasn’t started back. Also, the driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi—he drives like a madman.”

When they went back and told him, he said, "The Lord's word through his servant, Elijah the Tishbite, has come to pass. He warned, 'In the plot of land at Jezreel, dogs will devour Jezebel's flesh.

Know now that nothing shall fall to the earth of the word of Jehovah, which Jehovah spoke concerning the house of Ahab; for Jehovah has done that which he said through his servant Elijah.

And the LORD said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.

Jehoash said to the priests, "I place at your disposal all the consecrated silver that has been brought to the Lord's temple, including the silver collected from the census tax, the silver received from those who have made vows, and all the silver that people have voluntarily contributed to the Lord's temple.

and said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. And Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, An arrow of Jehovah's deliverance, even an arrow of deliverance from the Syrians; and thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou hast consumed them.

but the Lord was gracious to them, had compassion on them, and turned toward them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was not willing to destroy them. Even now He has not banished them from His presence.

But he did not put their children to death; for the orders of the Lord recorded in the book of the law of Moses say, The fathers are not to be put to death for the children, or the children for their fathers; but a man is to be put to death for the sin which he himself has done.

He defeated 10,000 Edomites in the Salt Valley; he captured Sela in battle and renamed it Joktheel, a name it has retained to this very day.

Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory of this, and tarry at home: for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?

Finally, the Lord removed Israel from His presence just as He had declared through all His servants the prophets. So Israel has been exiled to Assyria from their homeland until today.

Wherefore they spake 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.

And the chief of the butlers saith unto them, 'Say, I pray you, unto Hezekiah, Thus said the great king, the king of Asshur, What is this confidence in which thou hast confided?

Thou sayest (but they are but vain words), There is counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me?

Now, lo, thou hast trusted for thee on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; which a man leaneth on, and it hath gone into his hand, and pierced it! -- so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all those trusting on him.

And if ye say to me, We rely upon Jehovah our God: is it not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?

How then wilt thou turn back the face of one pasha of the least of my lord's servants? Or hast thou, on thy part, trusted to Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

Now, without Jehovah have I come up against this place to destroy it? Jehovah said unto me, Go up against this land, and thou hast destroyed it.'

But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to say these things? Has he not sent me to the men who sit on the wall, [who are doomed by the siege] to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you?”

Then Rab-shakeh stood up and cried out loud, "Listen to what the great king, the king of Assyria has to say.

Until I come and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees, olive oil, and honey, that [you may] live and not die! You must not listen to Hezekiah, for he has misled you [by] saying, "Yahweh will deliver us!"

Has any one of the gods of the nations ever rescued his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

Who among all the gods of the lands have rescued their lands from my hand, that the Lord would rescue Jerusalem from my hand?’”

It may be Jehovah thy God will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to reproach the living God; and will rebuke the words which Jehovah thy God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that is left.

And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

And he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he has come forth to make war with thee. And he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,

Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?

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

O Lord, bend down Your ear and hear; Lord, open Your eyes and see; hear the [taunting] words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to taunt and defy the living God.

He has hurled their gods in the fire because they [are] not gods, but the work of the hands of a human [made of] wood and stone, so they destroyed them.

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.

This is the word that Jehovah has spoken against him: The virgin-daughter of Zion despiseth thee, laugheth thee to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem shaketh her head at thee.

Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.

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

Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.

Therefore their inhabitants were of small power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like grain blasted before it has grown up.

Because you are raging against me, and your arrogance has come up in my ears, I will put my nose ring in your nose and my bridle in your mouth. And I will turn you back on the way that you have come.

The survivors who remain of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

'Turn back, and thou hast said unto Hezekiah, leader of My people: Thus said Jehovah, God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tear, lo, I give healing to thee, on the third day thou dost go up to the house of Jehovah;

Isaiah said, “This will be the sign to you from the Lord, that He will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow [indicating the time of day] go forward ten steps, or go backward ten steps?”

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

“Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these repulsive acts, having done more evil than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols;

"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.

And Shaphan the scribe informed the king saying, Hilkijah the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.

“Go, inquire of the Lord for my sake and for the sake of the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book which has been found, for great is the wrath of the Lord which has been kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to and obeyed the words of this book, so as to act in accordance with everything that is written concerning us.”

thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am bringing a catastrophe on this place (Judah) and on its inhabitants, [according to] all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read.

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

Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.

therefore, lo, I am gathering thee unto thy fathers, and thou hast been gathered unto thy grave in peace, and thine eyes do not look on any of the evil that I am bringing in on this place;' and they bring the king back word.

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

Then the king commanded all of the people, saying, "Keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, as has been written on the scroll of this covenant.

And Jabez calleth to the God of Israel, saying, 'If blessing Thou dost bless me, then Thou hast made great my border, and Thy hand hath been with me, and Thou hast kept me from evil -- not to grieve me;' and God bringeth in that which he asked.

And the Spirit came on Amasai, chief of the Thirty. And he said, We are yours, David, and on your side, son of Jesse. Peace, peace be on you, and peace on your helpers. For your God has helped you. And David received them and made them captains of the band.

And David said to all the congregation of Israel, If it is good to you, and if it has broken forth from Jehovah our God, let us send to our brothers, those remaining in all the lands of Israel, and with them to the priests and Levites in their cities that they be gathered to us.

and David asketh of God, saying, 'Do I go up against the Philistines -- and hast Thou given them into my hand?' And Jehovah saith to him, 'Go up, and I have given them into thy hand.'

And they came up to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there; and David said, God has broken in upon mine enemies by my hand, as the breaking forth of waters. Therefore they called the name of that place Baal-perazim.

and David asketh again of God, and God saith to him, 'Do not go up after them, turn round from them, and thou hast come to them from over-against the mulberries;

It shall be when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike the Philistine army.”

Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites, for them has Jehovah chosen to carry the ark of God, and to serve him for ever.

Give thanks to the LORD, calling on his name. Make what he has done known among the people.

Remember [with gratitude] His marvelous deeds which He has done,
His miracles and the judgments from His mouth,

you descendants of his servant Israel, you descendants of Jacob, the ones he has chosen.

He has kept his agreement in mind for ever, the word which he gave for a thousand generations;

And has confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant,

'Go, and thou hast said unto David My servant, Thus said Jehovah, Thou dost not build for Me the house to dwell in:

For I have not lived in a house from the time I brought Israel up from Egypt to the present day. I have lived in a tent that has been in various places.

And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth.

And David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?

And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; for thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O LORD God.

'What doth David add more unto Thee for the honour of Thy servant; and Thou Thy servant hast known.

O LORD, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, in making known all these great things.

O Lord, there is no one like you, and no other God but you, as is clear from everything which has come to our ears.

And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his own people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy people, whom thou hast redeemed out of Egypt?

And thy people Israel hast thou made thine own people for ever; and thou, Jehovah, art become their God.

Therefore now, LORD, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever, and do as thou hast said.

For thou, O my God, hast told thy servant that thou wilt build him an house: therefore thy servant hath found in his heart to pray before thee.

And now, LORD, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:

and now it hath pleased thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Jehovah, hast blessed, and it is blessed for ever.

And the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, Is it, in thine eyes, to honour thy father that David has sent comforters to thee? Is it not to search and overthrow, and to spy out the land that his servants are come to thee?

And he saith, 'If Aram be stronger than I, then thou hast been to me for salvation; and if the sons of Ammon be stronger than thou, then I have saved thee;

Then David said to God, Great has been my sin in doing this; but now, be pleased to take away the sin of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.

Go, and thou hast spoken unto David, saying, Thus said Jehovah, Three -- I am stretching out unto thee; choose for thee one of these, and I do it to thee.'

David said to God, “Is it not I who commanded the people to be counted? I am the one who has sinned and done evil; but as for these sheep [the people of Israel], what have they done? O Lord my God, please let Your hand be against me and my father’s house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued.”

But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.

Now, my son, Jehovah be with thee, that thou mayest prosper, and build the house of Jehovah thy God, as he has said of thee.

Moreover, thou hast workmen enough and masons and carpenters to work in stone and timber, and all manner of wise men for whatsoever work it be.

Is not Jehovah your God with you? and has he not given you rest on every side? for he has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the land is subdued before Jehovah, and before his people.

For David said, Jehovah the God of Israel has given rest to his people, and he will dwell in Jerusalem for ever;