By the twenty-third year of King Jehoash's reign the priests had still not repaired the damage to the temple.

So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest along with the other priests, and said to them, "Why have you not repaired the damage to the temple? Now, take no more silver from your treasurers unless you intend to use it to repair the damage."

Jehoiada the priest took a chest and drilled a hole in its lid. He placed it on the right side of the altar near the entrance of the Lord's temple. The priests who guarded the entrance would put into it all the silver brought to the Lord's temple.

When they saw the chest was full of silver, the royal secretary and the high priest counted the silver that had been brought to the Lord's temple and bagged it up.

They would then hand over the silver that had been weighed to the construction foremen assigned to the Lord's temple. They hired carpenters and builders to work on the Lord's temple,

as well as masons and stonecutters. They bought wood and chiseled stone to repair the damage to the Lord's temple and also paid for all the other expenses.

The silver brought to the Lord's temple was not used for silver bowls, trimming shears, basins, trumpets, or any kind of gold or silver implements.

It was handed over to the foremen who used it to repair the Lord's temple.

(The silver collected in conjunction with reparation offerings and sin offerings was not brought to the Lord's temple; it belonged to the priests.)

King Jehoash of Judah collected all the sacred items that his ancestors Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had consecrated, as well as his own sacred items and all the gold that could be found in the treasuries of the Lord's temple and the royal palace. He sent it all to King Hazael of Syria, who then withdrew from Jerusalem.

The rest of the events of Joash's reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

In the twenty-third year of the reign of Judah's King Joash son of Ahaziah, Jehu's son Jehoahaz became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for seventeen years.

The Lord was furious with Israel and handed them over to King Hazael of Syria and to Hazael's son Ben Hadad for many years.

Jehoahaz asked for the Lord's mercy and the Lord responded favorably, for he saw that Israel was oppressed by the king of Syria.

The Lord provided a deliverer for Israel and they were freed from Syria's power. The Israelites once more lived in security.

The rest of the events of Jehoahaz's reign, including all his accomplishments and successes, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

In the thirty-seventh year of King Joash's reign over Judah, Jehoahaz's son Jehoash became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for sixteen years.

The rest of the events of Joash's reign, including all his accomplishments and his successful war with King Amaziah of Judah, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

Elisha told him, "Take a bow and some arrows," and he did so.

Then Elisha told the king of Israel, "Aim the bow." He did so, and Elisha placed his hands on the king's hands.

Elisha said, "Open the east window," and he did so. Elisha said, "Shoot!" and he did so. Elisha said, "This arrow symbolizes the victory the Lord will give you over Syria. You will annihilate Syria in Aphek!"

Then Elisha said, "Take the arrows," and he did so. He told the king of Israel, "Strike the ground!" He struck the ground three times and stopped.

One day some men were burying a man when they spotted a raiding party. So they threw the dead man into Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the dead man came to life and stood on his feet.

Now King Hazael of Syria oppressed Israel throughout Jehoahaz's reign.

Jehoahaz's son Jehoash took back from Ben Hadad son of Hazael the cities that he had taken from his father Jehoahaz in war. Joash defeated him three times and recovered the Israelite cities.

In the second year of the reign of Israel's King Joash son of Joahaz, Joash's son Amaziah became king over Judah.

But he did not execute the sons of the assassins. He obeyed the Lord's commandment as recorded in the law scroll of Moses, "Fathers must not be put to death for what their sons do, and sons must not be put to death for what their fathers do. A man must be put to death only for his own sin."

Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel. He said, "Come, let's meet face to face."

But Amaziah would not heed the warning, so King Jehoash of Israel attacked. He and King Amaziah of Judah met face to face in Beth Shemesh of Judah.

He took away all the gold and silver, all the items found in the Lord's temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace, and some hostages. Then he went back to Samaria. (

The rest of the events of Jehoash's reign, including all his accomplishments and his successful war with King Amaziah of Judah, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

The rest of the events of Amaziah's reign are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

Conspirators plotted against him in Jerusalem, so he fled to Lachish. But they sent assassins after him and they killed him there.

All the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in his father Amaziah's place.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Judah's King Amaziah, son of Joash, Jeroboam son of Joash became king over Israel. He reigned for forty-one years in Samaria.

He restored the border of Israel from Lebo Hamath in the north to the sea of the Arabah in the south, in accordance with the word of the Lord God of Israel announced through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.

The Lord saw Israel's intense suffering; everyone was weak and incapacitated and Israel had no deliverer.

The Lord had not decreed that he would blot out Israel's memory from under heaven, so he delivered them through Jeroboam son of Joash.

The rest of the events of Jeroboam's reign, including all his accomplishments, his military success in restoring Israelite control over Damascus and Hamath, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

In the twenty-seventh year of King Jeroboam's reign over Israel, Amaziah's son Azariah became king over Judah.

He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecholiah, who was from Jerusalem.

The rest of the events of Azariah's reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

In the thirty-eighth year of King Azariah's reign over Judah, Jeroboam's son Zechariah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for six months.

The rest of the events of Zechariah's reign are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

His assassination brought to fulfillment the Lord's word to Jehu, "Four generations of your descendants will rule over Israel." That is exactly what happened.

Shallum son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of King Uzziah's reign over Judah. He reigned for one month in Samaria.

The rest of the events of Shallum's reign, including the conspiracy he organized, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

In the thirty-ninth year of King Azariah's reign over Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel. He reigned for twelve years in Samaria.

The rest of the events of Menahem's reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

In the fiftieth year of King Azariah's reign over Judah, Menahem's son Pekahiah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for two years.

The rest of the events of Pekahiah's reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

In the fifty-second year of King Azariah's reign over Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for twenty years.

During Pekah's reign over Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the territory of Naphtali. He deported the people to Assyria.

The rest of the events of Pekah's reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

In the second year of the reign of Israel's King Pekah son of Remaliah, Uzziah's son Jotham became king over Judah.

But the high places were not eliminated; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense on the high places. He built the Upper Gate to the Lord's temple.

The rest of the events of Jotham's reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

In the seventeenth year of the reign of Pekah son of Remaliah, Jotham's son Ahaz became king over Judah.

Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that were in the Lord's temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as tribute to the king of Assyria.

When King Ahaz went to meet with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria in Damascus, he saw the altar there. King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a drawing of the altar and a blueprint for its design.

When the king arrived back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and offered a sacrifice on it.

He moved the bronze altar that stood in the Lord's presence from the front of the temple (between the altar and the Lord's temple) and put it on the north side of the new altar.

So Uriah the priest did exactly as King Ahaz ordered.

King Ahaz took off the frames of the movable stands, and removed the basins from them. He took "The Sea" down from the bronze bulls that supported it and put it on the pavement.

He also removed the Sabbath awning that had been built in the temple and the king's outer entranceway, on account of the king of Assyria.

The rest of the events of Ahaz's reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

In the twelfth year of King Ahaz's reign over Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for nine years.

The king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was planning a revolt. Hoshea had sent messengers to King So of Egypt and had not sent his annual tribute to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria arrested him and imprisoned him.

In the ninth year of Hoshea's reign, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the people of Israel to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes.

They worshiped the disgusting idols in blatant disregard of the Lord's command.

They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey. They paid allegiance to worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord. They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord's command.

So the Lord was furious with Israel and rejected them; only the tribe of Judah was left.

Judah also failed to keep the commandments of the Lord their God; they followed Israel's example.

So the Lord rejected all of Israel's descendants; he humiliated them and handed them over to robbers, until he had thrown them from his presence.

He tore Israel away from David's dynasty, and Jeroboam son of Nebat became their king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from the Lord and encouraged them to commit a serious sin.

When they first moved in, they did not worship the Lord. So the Lord sent lions among them and the lions were killing them.

The king of Assyria was told, "The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the God of the land, so he has sent lions among them. They are killing the people because they do not know the requirements of the God of the land."

So the king of Assyria ordered, "Take back one of the priests whom you deported from there. He must settle there and teach them the requirements of the God of the land."

So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria went back and settled in Bethel. He taught them how to worship the Lord.

In the third year of the reign of Israel's King Hoshea son of Elah, Ahaz's son Hezekiah became king over Judah.

In the fourth year of King Hezekiah's reign (it was the seventh year of the reign of Israel's King Hoshea, son of Elah), King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched up against Samaria and besieged it.

After three years he captured it (in the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign); in the ninth year of King Hoshea's reign over Israel Samaria was captured.

This happened because they did not obey the Lord their God and broke his agreement with them. They did not pay attention to and obey all that Moses, the Lord's servant, had commanded.

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria, who was at Lachish, "I have violated our treaty. If you leave, I will do whatever you demand." So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

Hezekiah gave him all the silver in the Lord's temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace.

At that time King Hezekiah of Judah stripped the metal overlays from the doors of the Lord's temple and from the posts which he had plated and gave them to the king of Assyria.

They summoned the king, so Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet them.

Certainly you will not refuse one of my master's minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen.

Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?'"

When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord's temple.

Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. So pray for this remnant that remains.'"

When King Hezekiah's servants came to Isaiah,

Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master this: 'This is what the Lord says: "Don't be afraid because of the things you have heard -- these insults the king of Assyria's servants have hurled against me.

Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord's temple and spread it out before the Lord.

Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you, Lord, are the only God."

Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at? At whom have you shouted, and looked so arrogantly? At the Holy One of Israel!

So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: "He will not enter this city, nor will he shoot an arrow here. He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors, nor will he build siege works against it.

That very night the Lord's messenger went out and killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When they got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses.

So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh.