In those days, Yahweh began to reduce Israel, so Hazael defeated them in every territory of Israel,

Now Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, so she prepared to destroy all of the offspring of the royal family.

But Jehosheba the daughter of King Joram and sister of Ahaziah took Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, and she stole him from among the sons of the king who were being put to death, [putting] him and his nurse in the inner bedroom. So they hid him from the presence of Athaliah, and he was not killed.

But in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and took the commanders of the hundreds of the Carites and the runners, and he brought them to himself to the temple of Yahweh. Then he {made} a covenant with them and made them swear in the house of Yahweh and showed them the son of the king.

He commanded them, saying, "This [is] the thing which you must do: one third of you {who go off duty on the Sabbath}, the keepers of the guard in the house of the king,

Two of the units among you, all {who go on duty on the Sabbath}, guard the post of the temple of Yahweh for the king.

You must surround the king all about, each with his weapon in his hand; whoever comes to the ranks must be killed. Be with the king {wherever he goes}."

So the commanders of hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and each took his men {who went off duty on the Sabbath} and those {who came on duty on the Sabbath}, and they came to Jehoiada the priest.

Then the priest gave to the commanders of the hundreds spears and small round shields which [were] King David's, which [were] in the temple of Yahweh.

So the royal runners stood, each [with] his weapons in his hand, from the side of the temple to the south up to the side of the temple on the north, around the altar and around the temple, about the king all around.

When Athaliah heard the sound of the runners of the people, she came to the people at the temple of Yahweh.

She looked, and there was the king standing by the pillar according to the custom. The commanders and the trumpeters [were] by the king, and all of the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing on the trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and she called, "Treason, treason!"

Then Jehoiada the priest commanded the commanders of the hundreds, the appointed of the army, and he said to them, "Bring her out to the house of the ranks! The one coming after her [should] kill her with the sword," for the priest had said, "Let her not be killed in the temple of Yahweh."

So {they grabbed her} as she went [by] the entranceway of the horses to the palace of the king, and she was killed there.

Then all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down, and its altars and its images they broke completely into pieces. Mattan the priest of Baal they killed in front of the altars. Then the priest put guards over the house of Yahweh.

He took the commanders of the hundreds and the Carites and the runners and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the temple of Yahweh. And they marched by the way of the runner's gate [to] the palace of the king, and he sat on the throne of the kings.

Jehoash [was] {seven years old} when he began to reign.

Jehoash said to the priests, "All of the money for the sacred things that is brought to the temple of Yahweh, {the money taxed at its proper value for each person} [and] all of the money which comes upon the heart of a man to bring to the temple of Yahweh,

So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the priests, and he said to them, "Why are you not repairing the damage in the temple? Now, you shall not take money from your treasurers for the damage in the temple. You must provide it."

So the priests agreed not to take money from the people and not to repair the damage to the temple.

Then Jehoiada the priest took a certain chest and bored a hole in its lid, and he put it beside the altar to the right as a man enters into the temple of Yahweh; then the priests who were keepers of the threshold would put there all of the money brought into the temple.

They placed the money, [which was] weighed out, into the hands of the workers who were appointed over the temple of Yahweh, and they paid [it to] the skilled craftsmen of wood and [to] the builders working on the temple of Yahweh

and to the masons and the stonecutters, to buy timber and stones for hewing, in order to repair the damage of the temple of Yahweh, and for all who went to the temple to repair it.

Only, for the temple of Yahweh, there were not any silver basins, snuffers, bowls for drinking wine, trumpets, or any vessel of gold or silver from the money being brought [to] the temple of Yahweh.

For they gave that to all the workers, and they repaired the temple of Yahweh with it.

They did not [have to] settle accounts with the men into whose hands they placed the money to give to the workers, for they [were] dealing honestly.

At that time, Hazael king of Aram went up and fought against Gath and captured it; then Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem.

Jehoash king of Judah took all of the holy objects that Jehoshaphat, Joram, and Ahaziah his ancestors, the kings of Judah, had devoted, and all his holy objects and all of the gold found in the treasuries of the temple of Yahweh, and [in] the palace of the king, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram, so that he went up from Jerusalem.

But he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and he went after the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat with which he had caused Israel to sin, and he did not depart from it.

Then Jehoahaz entreated Yahweh, and Yahweh listened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Aram oppressed them.

Yet they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam which he caused Israel to sin, but walked in it; and also, the pole of the Asherah worship was [still] standing in Samaria.

He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh; he did not depart from all of the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he caused Israel to sin, [but] walked in it.

Elisha became ill with the illness with which he would die, so Jehoash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, and said, "My father, my father; the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!"

Elisha said to him, "Take a bow and arrows," so he took him a bow and arrows.

He said to the king of Israel, "{Lay your hand on the bow}," so he lay hold [of it]; then Elisha put his hand on the hands of the king.

Then he said, "Open the window to the east," so he opened [it]. Elisha said, "Shoot," and he shot. Then he said, "An arrow of victory for Yahweh, and an arrow of victory against Aram; you shall fight the Arameans in Aphek until finishing [them]."

Then he said, "Take the arrows," so he took [them]. He said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground," so he struck three times and stopped.

But Yahweh had mercy on them and showed compassion to them and turned to them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was not willing to destroy them nor cast them from his presence up to now.

In the second year of Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Jehoash king of Judah began to reign.

He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother [was] Jehoaddin from Jerusalem.

But the sons of the killers he did not kill, as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses which Yahweh had commanded, saying, "Fathers should not be killed because of children, and children should not be killed because of fathers; but a man should die because of his [own] sin."

He also killed ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and he seized Sela in the battle, and he called its name Jokteel, until this day.

Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu king of Israel, saying, "Come let us meet {face-to-face}."

So Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah, saying, "The thornbush which is in Lebanon sent to the cedar which is in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as wife,' but an animal of the field which [is] in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thornbush.

But Amaziah would not listen, so Jehoash king of Israel went up and they met face-to-face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-Shemesh which belongs to Judah.

Judah was defeated before Israel and they fled, each to this tent.

Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-Shemesh. Then they came [to] Jerusalem, and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim up to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits!

He also took all of the gold and silver and all the vessels found [in] the temple of Yahweh and in the treasury rooms of the palace of the king, as well as the {hostages}; then he returned to Samaria.

They conspired against him in Jerusalem, so he fled to Lachish. But they sent [men] after him to Lachish, and they killed him there.

He rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his ancestors.

In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Jehoash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Jehoash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, [reigning] forty-one years.

But he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he caused Israel to sin.

He restored the boundary of Israel from Lebo-Hamath up to the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke by the hand of his servant Jonah the son of Amittai the prophet, who was from Gath-Hepher.

Yahweh did not decree to blot out the name of Israel from under the heavens, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Jehoash.

Now the remainder of the acts of Jeroboam, all that he did, his powerful [deeds], how he fought, and how he restored Damascus and Hamath of Judah to Israel, [are] they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?

In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah the son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign.

He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother [was] Jecoliah of Jerusalem.

He did right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that Amaziah his father had done.

Yahweh struck the king, and he was infected with a skin disease until the day of his death. He lived in a separate house, [while] Jotham the son of the king [was] over the house, governing the people of the land.

He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh as his ancestors had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he caused Israel to sin.

This is the word of Yahweh which he spoke to Jehu, saying, "Sons of a fourth [generation] shall sit for you on the throne of Israel," and it was so.

Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned {a full month} in Samaria.

Then Menahem the son of Gadi came up from Tirzah, and he came [to] Samaria and struck down Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and killed him. Then he became king in place of him.

At that time Menahem destroyed Tiphsah, all who [were] in it, and all its territory from Tirzah, because [it] had not opened [to him], so he destroyed it and ripped open all of its pregnant women.

In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel [for] ten years in Samaria.

But he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. He did not depart all of his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he caused Israel to sin.

Pul the king of Assyria came against the land, so Menahem gave a thousand talents of silver to Pul so that his hand would be with him {to strengthen his hold on the kingdom}.

Menahem exacted the money from Israel, from all {the very rich}, to give to the king of Assyria fifty shekels of silver for each one. Then the king of Assyria returned and did not stay there in the land.

In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria [for] two years.

But he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he caused Israel to sin.

In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria [for] twenty years.

He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he caused Israel to sin.

In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel-Beth-Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, the Gilead, the Galilee, and all the land of Naphtali; then he deported them to Assyria.

In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah began to reign.

He did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that Uzziah his father had done.

(Now, in those days, Yahweh began to send Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah.)

In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.

Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do right in the eyes of Yahweh his God as David his ancestor.

He walked in the way of the kings of Israel; he even let his son pass through the fire according to the detestable things of the nations which Yahweh drove out from before the {Israelites}.

Then Rezin the king of Aram went up [with] Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel against Jerusalem for battle, and they besieged Ahaz but were not able to {defeat} him.

At that time, Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram and drove out the Judeans from Elath. The Arameans came to Elath and have lived there until this day.

Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, "I [am] your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel who are rising up against me."

Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasury rooms of the palace of the king, and he sent a gift to the king of Assyria.

So the king of Assyria listened to him and he went up to Damascus and captured it and deported them to Kir. He also killed Rezin.

So King Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria [in] Damascus, and he saw the altar which [was] in Damascus, so King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest the builder's plan of the altar and the {exact model of how it had been made}.

So Uriah the priest built the altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus; thus Uriah the priest did before King Ahaz came from Damascus.

When the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar, so he went near to the altar and went up on it.

Now the bronze altar which was before Yahweh, he brought over from the front of the temple, from between [his] altar and the temple of Yahweh, and he placed it at the side of [his] altar to the north.

Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, "On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the grain offering of the evening, the burnt offering of the king and his grain offering, the burnt offering of all of the people of the land, their offerings, their libations, and all of the blood of the burnt offerings, the blood of the sacrifices you must dash on it. But the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire [by]."

So Uriah the priest did according to all that King Ahaz commanded.

The covering for the Sabbath which they had built in the palace and in the entrance of the king to the outside, he removed [from] the temple of Yahweh because of the presence of the king of Assyria.

In the twelfth year of Ahaz the king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, [reigning] nine years.

Shalmaneser the king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his vassal and paid tribute to him.

But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and he did not offer tribute to the king of Assyria as [he had] year after year; so the king of Assyria arrested him, and confined him [in] a house of imprisonment.

So the king of Assyria went up in all the land, then he went up [to] Samaria and besieged it [for] three years.

In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported Israel to Assyria. He placed them in Halah, in Habor, [in] the river [regions] of Gozan, and [in] the cities of the Medes.

The {Israelites} secretly did things which [were] not right, against Yahweh their God; they built high places for themselves in all their towns, from the watchtower up to the fortified city.

They burned incense there on all the high places, like the nations which Yahweh deported before them, and they did evil things to provoke Yahweh.

They served idols which Yahweh had said to them, "You shall not do this thing!"

Yahweh warned Israel and Judah by the hand of his every prophet, [with] every seer saying, "Turn from all of your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my ordinances, according to all the law which I commanded your ancestors, which I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets."