92 Bible Verses about Kings

"This time tomorrow I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you must anoint him as leader over my people Israel. He will deliver my people from the hand of [the] Philistines. For I have seen [the suffering of] my people, because their cry [of distress] has come to me."

"The trees went certainly, to anoint a king over themselves. And they said to the olive tree, 'Rule over us.'

Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel. Blow on the trumpet and say, 'Long live King Solomon!'

Then David answered Recab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and he said to them, "{As Yahweh lives}, who redeemed my soul from all trouble, when the [one] who told me, "Look, Saul [is] dead," {thought that he [was] bringing good news}, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which [was] as my giving the news [back] to him. {How much more} when wicked men kill a righteous man in his house, on his bed! So then, shall I not seek his lifeblood from your hand, so that I may destroy you from the earth?" read more.
Then David commanded the young men, and they killed them, and they cut off their hands and their feet, and they hung [them] at the pool at Hebron, but the head of Ish-Bosheth they took and buried in the grave of Abner at Hebron.

Then the king said to him, "Do as he spoke; fall upon him and bury him, and so you shall remove the innocent blood that Joab shed from on me and from on the house of my father.

Then King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, "Thus may God do to me and thus may he add, if Adonijah hasn't spoken this thing at the expense of his life.

King Solomon sent through the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, so he struck him, and he died.

So the king said to the runners [who were] stationed around him, "Turn and kill the priests of Yahweh, because {they also support David} and because they knew that he was fleeing and {did not disclose it to me}." But the servants of the king [were] not willing to raise their hand to attack the priests of Yahweh. Then the king said to Doeg, "You turn and attack the priests!" So Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests himself, and on that day he killed eighty-five men who wore [the] linen ephod.

The barley and the straw for the horses and for packhorses they brought to the place where they were, each according to his share.

The king sat at his seat {as before}, the seat by the wall, and Jonathan got up, and Abner sat beside Saul, but David's place was empty. But Saul said nothing on that day, for he thought, "{Something happened to him}. He [is] not [ceremonially] clean; surely he [is] not clean." {And then} on the next day, the second day of the new moon, that David's place was empty. So Saul asked Jonathan his son, "Why did the son of Jesse not come either yesterday or today to the feast?"

Then David said to him, "Don't be afraid, for {I will certainly show} loyal love to you for the sake of Jonathan your father, and I will restore to you all the lands of Saul your father. And you shall always eat food at my table." Then he did obeisance and said, "What [is] your servant that you have paid attention to the dead dog like me?" David summoned Ziba the servant of Saul and said to him, "All that [was] Saul's and all his household I have given to the son of your master. read more.
You shall till the land for him, you and your sons and your servants; you shall bring [in the produce] and it shall be food for the son of your master that he may eat. But Mephibosheth the son of your master may always eat food at my table." (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty slaves.) Ziba said to the king, "According to all that my master the king commands his servant, so your servant will do." So Mephibosheth [was] eating at his table as one of the sons of the king. Now Mephibosheth had a young son whose name [was] Micah, and all of the dwelling of the household of Ziba [became] servants for Mephibosheth. And Mephibosheth [was] living in Jerusalem, because he [was] continually eating at the table of the king, [even though] he [was] lame in both of his feet.

The king said to Barzillai, "You cross over with me, and I will provide for you [to dwell] with me in Jerusalem."

The food of Solomon for one day was thirty dry measures of choice meal and sixty dry measures of flour; ten stall-fed oxen and twenty pasture-fed oxen and a hundred sheep, besides deer and buck gazelles and roebucks and well-fed fowls.

They [were] each bringing his gift; objects of silver and objects of gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. {This used to happen year after year}.

And [when they] came into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down [and] worshiped him. And opening their treasure boxes, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

So she came to Jerusalem with very great wealth; [with] camels carrying spices, very much gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon, and she spoke to him all that was on her heart.

So the king of Aram said, "Go, I will send a letter to the king of Israel." He went and took {with him} ten talents of silver, six thousand [shekels of] gold, and ten sets of clothing.

Then she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, abundant spices, and precious stones. Spices as these did not come again in such abundance [as that which] the queen of Sheba brought to King Solomon.

He chose for himself three thousand from Israel. Two thousand [of these] were with Saul at Micmash in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. He sent away the rest of the people, each to his tent.

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was over] the Kerethites and the Pelethites, and the sons of David [were] priests.

And King Rehoboam made small shields of bronze in their place and committed them into the hand of the commanders of the guards who were keeping the entrance of the house of the king.

He himself was certainly distinguished among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David appointed him over his bodyguard.

And some of the Philistines brought a gift and silver to Jehoshaphat [as] tribute. The Arabians also brought him seven thousand seven hundred sheep and seven thousand seven hundred goats.

Now Solomon was ruling over all the kingdoms from the River [to] the land of [the] Philistines, and up to the border of Egypt, who [were] bringing tribute and [were] serving Solomon all the days of his life.

from the descendants who were left over after them in the land, whom the Israelites had not destroyed, Solomon conscripted them as forced labor until this day.

For he [was] ruling over all the west of the River from Tiphsah up to Gaza, over all the kings west of the River; and he had peace from every side all around. Judah and Israel lived in security, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which, from all of the tribes of Israel, Yahweh chose to place his name. And the name of his mother [was] Naamah the Ammonitess. But Judah did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and they annoyed him more than their fathers did with their sins that they had committed. They also built for themselves high places and stone pillars and sacred poles on every high hill and under every green tree. read more.
There were also male shrine prostitutes in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which Yahweh had driven out from before the {Israelites}. It happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and he took the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and he took all the treasures of the king's house. He took the small gold shields that Solomon had made, so King Rehoboam made small copper shields in place of them and {entrusted them} to the commanders of the royal guard who keep the doorway of the king's house. Whenever the king came [to] the house of Yahweh, the royal guard carried them and brought them back to the alcove room of the royal guard. The remainder of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? There was always war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. Then Rehoboam slept with his ancestors, and he was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. The name of his mother [was] Naamah the Ammonitess. Abijam his son became king in his place.

When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all of the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand {choice troops} to fight with the house of Israel, to restore the kingship to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. Then the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, "Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon the king of Judah and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and the remainder of the people, saying, read more.
'Thus says Yahweh: "You shall not go up and you shall not fight with your brothers the {Israelites}. Return each of you to his house, for this thing was from me." '" So they heeded the word of Yahweh, and they returned to go home according to the word of Yahweh.

But as for the {Israelites} who were living in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam ruled over them. Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was {in charge of} the forced labor, but the {Israelites} stoned him with stones, and he died. Then King Rehoboam hastily went up into the chariot to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel has rebelled against the house of David until this day. read more.
When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand {chosen warriors}, to fight against Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. But the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying, "Say to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, 'Thus says Yahweh: "Do not go up, and do not fight against your brothers. Return, each man to his house, for this matter has come from me." '" So they obeyed the words of Yahweh and turned back from going against Jeroboam. And Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and he built cities as strongholds in Judah. He built Bethlehem, Etah, Tekoa, Beth-Zur, Socoh, Adullam, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, fortified cities that [are] in Judah and in Benjamin. And he strengthened the fortifications and put commanders in them, [along with] stores of food, olive oil, and wine. And in all the cities [he put] shields and spears, and he greatly strengthened them. So he had Judah and Benjamin. Now the priests and the Levites who [were] throughout all Israel took their stand with him from all their territories. For the Levites left their pasturelands and their property and came to Judah and to Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests to Yahweh. And he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat idols and for the bull calves that he had made. Then after them, from all the tribes of Israel, those who set their heart to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to offer to Yahweh, the God of their ancestors. And they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, secure for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years. Then Rehoboam took to himself as a wife Mahalath, the daughter of Yerimot son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse. And she bore to him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. And after her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom, who bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines (for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters). And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah as chief and crown prince over his brothers, in order to make him king. And he dealt wisely and distributed some of his sons throughout all the land of Judah and Benjamin, through all the fortified cities, and gave abundant provisions to them and obtained many wives [for them]. And when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and when he was strengthened, he forsook the law of Yahweh, and all Israel with him. And it happened [that] in the fifth year of King Rehoboam (for they had acted unfaithfully against Yahweh), Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem with one thousand two hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen. And there was no number to the people who came up with him from Egypt--Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites. And he took the fortified cities that belonged to Judah, and he came up to Jerusalem. Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem from before Shishak. And he said to them, "Thus says Yahweh: 'You yourselves have abandoned me, and I myself have surely abandoned you into the hand of Shishak.'" Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "Yahweh [is] righteous." And when Yahweh saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah, saying, "They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy. I will give to them some way of escape, that my anger not be poured out against Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. However, they shall be his servants, that they might know my service and the service of the kingdoms of [other] countries." Then Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and he took the treasures out of the house of Yahweh and the treasures out of the king's house. He took everything. He also took the small shields of gold that Solomon had made. And King Rehoboam made small shields of bronze in their place and committed them into the hand of the commanders of the guards who were keeping the entrance of the house of the king. And whenever the king went into the house of Yahweh, the guards came and carried them, and then they returned them to the alcove of the guards. And when he humbled himself, the anger of Yahweh was turned away from him, so that he did not destroy [the city] completely. Moreover, matters were well in Judah. So King Rehoboam was strengthened in Jerusalem, and he reigned [there]. Now, Rehoboam [was] forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city where Yahweh had chosen to put his name out of all the tribes of Israel. And the name of his mother [was] Naamah the Ammonite. And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek Yahweh. Now the words of Rehoboam [from] the first to the last, are they not written in the chronicles of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer as a record? And [there were] battles [between] Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. And Rehoboam slept with his ancestors, and he was buried in the city of David, and Abijah his son reigned in his place.

Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel. Blow on the trumpet and say, 'Long live King Solomon!'

Then Absalom sent scouts throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "When you hear the sound of the trumpet, you shall shout 'Absalom has become king in Hebron!'"

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!"

So they hastened each one to take his cloak, and they spread [them] under him on the bare steps, blew on the trumpet, and said, "Jehu is king!"

Then he did obeisance and said, "What [is] your servant that you have paid attention to the dead dog like me?"

They told the king, "Nathan the prophet is here." He came into the presence of the king and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

Then David got up afterward and went out of the cave and called after Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked after him, David knelt down [with his] face to the ground and bowed down.

Joab fell with his face to the ground and did obeisance. And he blessed the king, and he said, "Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, [in] that the king has granted the request of his servant."

And Jesse took a donkey [loaded with] bread and a skin of wine and one {young goat} and sent [them] to Saul by the hand of David his son.

However, some {worthless men} said, "How can this [man] deliver us?" So they despised him and brought no gift to him, but he kept silent.

And they were there with David three days, eating and drinking, for their kinsmen were prepared for them. And also their relatives, as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought food on donkeys, on camels, on mules, and on oxen--provisions of flour, cakes of figs, raisin cakes, wine and oil, cattle and sheep in abundance, for [there was] great joy in Israel.

In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Joram became king of Judah. Ahaziah [was] twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. The name of his mother [was] Athaliah daughter of Omri, king of Israel. He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, as the house of Ahab; for he [was] the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. read more.
He went with Joram the son of Ahab for the battle against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-Gilead, and the Arameans wounded Joram. Joram the king returned to Jezreel to heal from the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted at Ramah when Hazael king of Aram fought him. Ahaziah the son of Joram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he [was] ill.

Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram [was] lying there, and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to visit Joram. Now the watchman [was] standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu when he came, and he said, "I see a company." Joram said, "Take a horseman and send [him] to meet them." And he said, "Is it peace?" So the rider of the horse went out to meet him, and he said, "Thus the king asks, 'Is it peace?'" Then Jehu said, "{What do you have to do with peace}? Turn after me." Then the watchman reported, saying, "The messenger went up to them, but he did not return." read more.
Then he sent out a second horseman, and he came to them and said, "Thus the king asks, 'Is it peace?'" Then Jehu said, "{What do you have to do with peace}? Turn after me." So the sentinel reported, saying, "He went up to them, but he did not return, and the driving [is] like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives with madness." Then Joram said, "Get ready," so he got his chariot ready. Joram king of Israel went out, and Ahaziah king of Judah, each with his chariot. They went out to meet Jehu, and they found him at the tract of land of Naboth the Jezreelite. When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, "[Is it] peace?" And he said, "What peace [is there] while the prostitutions of your mother Jezebel and her sorceries are numerous?" Joram turned his {chariot} and fled and said to Ahaziah, "It's treason, Ahaziah!" Then Jehu {drew his bow} and shot Joram between his shoulders so that the arrow went out from his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot. He said to Bidkar his third [servant], "Lift [him] out and throw him on the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, for remember, you and I [were] with the pair [of chariots] behind Ahab his father when Yahweh pronounced this oracle against him: '"Since I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his children yesterday," declares Yahweh, "I will requite it for you in this tract of land," declares Yahweh.' So then lift him out and throw him on the tract of land according to the word of Yahweh." When Ahaziah king of Judah saw, he fled the way of Beth-Haggen. Jehu pursued after him and said, "Shoot him also, in the chariot." [They shot him] at the ascent of Gur which [is] in Ibleam, and he fled [to] Megiddo, but he died there. Then his officers carried him to Jerusalem, and they buried him in his tomb with his ancestors in the city of David. In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king over Judah.

And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his place, for the band of men who had come with the Arabs to the camp had murdered all the older sons. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, the king of Judah, reigned. Ahaziah [was] forty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother [was] Athaliah, the daughter of Omri. He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor for doing wickedness. read more.
And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh as the house of Ahab [had done], for they were his counselors to his destruction after the death of his father. He also walked in their counsel and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, to war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-Gilead. And the Arameans wounded Joram. And he returned to be healed in Jezreel because of the wounds he had suffered at Ramah, when he made war against Hazael king of Aram. And Azariah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram son of Ahab in Jezreel for he [was] sick. But the downfall of Ahaziah was from God, [and intended] to come to Joram. And when he came, he went out with Jehoram to Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom Yahweh had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab. And it happened [that] when Jehu was judging the house of Ahab, he found the princes of Judah and the sons of the brothers of Ahaziah who ministered to Ahaziah, and he killed them. And he searched for Ahaziah and captured him. And he was hiding in Samaria. And they brought him to Jehu and put him to death. And they buried him, for they said, "He [is] the descendant of Jehoshaphat, who sought Yahweh with his whole heart." And the house of Ahab had no one to exercise power over the kingdom.

Then Samuel said to Saul, "You have behaved foolishly! You have not kept the command of Yahweh your God which he commanded you. For then, Yahweh would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.

[so as] not to exalt his heart above his countrymen and not to turn aside from the commandment to the right or to the left, so that {he may reign long over his kingdom}, he and his children in the midst of Israel."

Then Samuel said to him, "Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor {who is better than you}. Moreover, the Glory of Israel will not break faith and will not regret, for he [is] not a human that he should regret."

"This time tomorrow I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you must anoint him as leader over my people Israel. He will deliver my people from the hand of [the] Philistines. For I have seen [the suffering of] my people, because their cry [of distress] has come to me."

So he sent and brought him. Now he [was] ruddy with beautiful eyes and of {handsome} appearance. And Yahweh said, "Arise, anoint him, for this [is] he."

"When you have come to that land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you and you have taken possession of it and you have settled in it, and you say, 'I will set over me a king like all the nations that [are] around me,' indeed, you may set a king over you whom Yahweh your God will choose, from the midst of your countrymen you must set a king over you; you are not allowed to appoint over you a man, a foreigner, who [is] not your countryman.

Then the men of Judah came, and they anointed David there as king over the house of Judah, and they told David, "The men of Jabesh-Gilead buried Saul."

The days that David reigned over Israel [were] forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

The remainder of the acts of Zimri and his conspiracy which he made, [are] they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?

In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the army was encamping against Gibbethon which belonged to the Philistines.

It happened that as soon as he became king, at the moment he sat on his throne, he killed all of the house of Baasha. He left {no males} [among] his kindred or [any of] his friends. So Zimri destroyed all of the house of Baasha according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke against Baasha by the hand of Jehu the prophet

All of the people of Judah took sixteen-year-old Azariah and made him king in place of this father Amaziah.

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. read more.
Only he did not remove the high places; the people [were] still sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. 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. The remainder of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, [are] they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? So Azariah slept with his ancestors, and they buried him with his ancestors in the city of David, and Jotham his son became king in his place.

Then he brought out the son of the king, put the crown on him with the testimony, and they made him king, anointed him, clapped [their] hands, and said, "[Long] live the king!"

Then Samuel said to all the people, "Do you see him whom Yahweh has chosen? For there is no one like him among all the people!" And all the people shouted and said, "Long live the king!"

When Hushai the Arkite the friend of David came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, "[Long] live the king, [long] live the king!"

Then he brought out the son of the king, put the crown on him with the testimony, and they made him king, anointed him, clapped [their] hands, and said, "[Long] live the king!"

Then they brought out the son of the king and set upon him the crown and [gave him] the statute and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, "{Long live the king}!"

For you meet him [with] blessings of good [things]. You set on his head a crown of fine gold.

Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah responded and said, "Because of this, should not Shimei be put to death, for he cursed the anointed one of Yahweh?"

He said to his men, "Far be it from me in Yahweh, that I do this thing to my lord, to Yahweh's anointed one, by stretching out my hand against him! For he [is] the anointed one of Yahweh."

{When they came}, he saw Eliab and said, "Surely his anointed one [is] before Yahweh!"

Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it over his head and kissed him and said, "{Has not} Yahweh anointed you as leader over his inheritance?

So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day {on}. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.

I have found David, my servant. With my holy oil I have anointed him,

Then you shall go up after him, and let him come and sit on my throne; he shall be king in my place. I have appointed him to be leader over Israel and Judah."

And also, Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom!

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.

Zedekiah [was] twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet {who spoke for} Yahweh. And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to Yahweh, the God of Israel. read more.
All the leaders of the priests and the people likewise increased in unfaithfulness according to all the detestable things of the nations. And they polluted the house of Yahweh that he had consecrated in Jerusalem. And Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, had repeatedly and persistently sent to them by the hand of his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they were mocking the messengers of God and despising his words and scoffing at his prophets until the wrath of Yahweh rose against his people until there was no remedy. Therefore he brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, and he killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary. He showed no mercy on a young man, a virgin, [the] elderly, or decrepit. He delivered all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, the great and the small, the storehouses of the house of Yahweh, and the storehouses of the king and his princes, these all he brought to Babylon. And they burned the house of God. And they shattered the walls of Jerusalem and burned its citadels with fire and destroyed all the vessels of its treasuries. And he took {those who escaped the sword} to Babylon. And they became servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land has enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days of desolation it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his uncle king in his place and changed his name [to] Zedekiah. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother [was] Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh [just] like all that Jehoiakim had done. read more.
For it happened because of the anger of Yahweh, in Jerusalem and in Judah, until they were cast out from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. It happened that in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came, he and his army, against Jerusalem. He encamped against it and built siege works against it all around. So the city came under siege until the eleventh year of the king. In the ninth month, the famine became severe in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land. Then the city was breached, and all of the men of war [entered] by night by way of the gate between the wall which was by the garden of the king, and the Chaldeans [were] against the city all around, so he left by the way of the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the Arabah of Jericho, and all of his army scattered from him. So they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and {they passed sentence on him}. They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; then they blinded the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in bronze fetters and brought him [to] Babylon.

They told the king, "Nathan the prophet is here." He came into the presence of the king and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

Then David got up afterward and went out of the cave and called after Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked after him, David knelt down [with his] face to the ground and bowed down.

It shall be that when my lord the king sleeps with his ancestors, I and my son Solomon will be [considered as] sinners."

Jehoshaphat the son of Asa became king over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. He walked in all of the way of Asa his father, and he did not turn aside from it, doing right in the eyes of Yahweh. Only he did not remove the high places; the people [were] still sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. read more.
But, Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel. The remainder of the acts of Jehoshaphat, his powerful [deeds] he did, and how he fought, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? The remainder of the male shrine prostitutes who were left over in the days of Asa his father he exterminated from the land. There was not a king in Edom; a governor [served] as king. Jehoshaphat built ships of the Tarshish [type] to go to Ophir for the gold; but he did not go because the ships were destroyed at Ezion-Geber. Then Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "Let my servants go with your servants in the ships," but Jehoshaphat was not willing. And Jehoshaphat slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David his ancestor, and Joram his son became king in his place.

And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place, and he strengthened himself against Israel. And he put troops in all the fortified cities of Judah, and put garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that Asa his father had taken. And Yahweh was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the former ways of David his father and did not seek after the Baals, read more.
but he sought after the God of his ancestors and walked in his commandments and not according to the works of Israel. So Yahweh established the kingdom in his hand. And all Judah gave tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had much wealth and honor. And his heart was courageous in the ways of Yahweh. Moreover, he removed the high places and the Asherahs from Judah. In the third year of his reign he sent his officials, Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; and with them the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-Adonijah; and with them the priests Elisham and Joram. And they taught in Judah, and the scroll of the law of Yahweh [was] with them when they went around in all the cities of Judah, and they taught the people. And the fear of Yahweh was upon all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah, and they did not make war against Jehoshaphat. And some of the Philistines brought a gift and silver to Jehoshaphat [as] tribute. The Arabians also brought him seven thousand seven hundred sheep and seven thousand seven hundred goats. And Jehoshaphat {grew greater and greater}, and he built fortresses and storage cities in Judah. And he had many supplies in the cities of Judah and mighty warriors for battle in Jerusalem. Now these [were] their enrollment by the house of their ancestors: of Judah, the commanders of thousands: Adnah, the commander, and with him [were] three hundred thousand mighty armed warriors; and at his side, Jehohanan the commander, and with him [were] two hundred and eighty thousand; and at his side, Amasiah the son of Zicri, who had made a freewill offering to Yahweh, and with him [were] two hundred thousand mighty armed warriors. And from Benjamin: Eliada, a powerful mighty warrior, and with him [were] two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield; and at his side, Jehozabad, and with him [were] one hundred and eighty thousand armed for war. These were serving the king, besides [those] whom the king had placed in the fortified cities throughout all Judah. Now Jehoshaphat had much wealth and honor, and he became son-in-law to Ahab. And {after some years} he went down to Ahab in Samaria. And Ahab slaughtered many sheep and cattle for him and for the people who [were] with him, and urged him to go up against Ramoth-Gilead. And Ahab the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, "Will you go up with me to Ramoth-Gilead?" And he answered him, "I [am] as you [are], and my people [are] as your people with you in war." Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "Seek {first of all} the word of Yahweh." Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets, four hundred men. And he said to them, "Shall we go to Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall we cease?" And they said, "Go up, since God will give [it] into the hand of the king." Then Jehoshaphat said, "Is there not here another prophet of Yahweh that we might inquire of him?" Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "[There is] yet one man by whom to seek Yahweh, but I hate him, because he never prophesies good concerning me, but {always} disaster. He [is] Micaiah the son of Imlah." Then Jehoshaphat said, "Let not the king say thus." Then the king of Israel called to a eunuch and said, "Quickly bring Micaiah the son of Imlah." Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were each sitting on his throne, clothed in robes. And they were sitting at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. And Zedekiah the son of Kenaanah made for himself horns of iron, and he said, "Thus says Yahweh: 'With these you will gore Aram to their destruction.'" And all the prophets prophesied thus, saying, "Go up to Ramoth-Gilead and triumph! Yahweh will give it into the hand of the king." Then the messenger who went to call Micaiah said to him, "Behold, the words of the prophets [are] good with one voice to the king. Please let your word be as one with them and speak good." But Micaiah said, "As Yahweh lives, only what my God has said, that will I speak." And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, "Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-Gilead to war or shall I cease?" And he said, "Go up and triumph! They shall be given into your hand." But the king said to him, "How many times shall I make you swear that you speak nothing except the truth in the name of Yahweh?" Then he said, "I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains like sheep that had no shepherd. And Yahweh said, 'These have no masters; let them return to his own house in peace.'" Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not say to you he would not prophesy good concerning me, but only disaster?" Then Micaiah said, "Therefore hear the word of Yahweh: I saw Yahweh sitting upon his throne with all the host of heaven standing on his right and on his left. And Yahweh said, 'Who will entice Ahab the king of Israel that he would go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead?' And one said this, and another said that. Then a spirit came forth and stood before Yahweh and said, 'I will entice him.' Then Yahweh said to him, 'By what means?' Then he said, 'I will go forth and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And he said, 'You will entice him and will also succeed. Go out and do so.' So now, behold, Yahweh has put a spirit of deception into the mouths of these your prophets. Yahweh has spoken disaster against you." Then Zedekiah the son of Kenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, "{Which way} did the Spirit of Yahweh come from me to speak to you?" Then Micaiah said, "Behold, you will see on that day when you go into a private room to hide yourself." Then the king of Israel said, "Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the commander of the city and to Jehoash the son of the king, and say, 'Thus says the king: "Put this one into the prison house, and let him eat {a meager ration of bread and water} until I return in peace." '" And Micaiah said, "If you surely return in peace Yahweh has not spoken with me." Then he said, "Hear, peoples, all of them!" Then the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth-Gilead. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you, wear your garments." So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went to war. Now the king of Aram had commanded the commanders of his chariots, saying, "Do not fight with the small [or] the great, but only with the king of Israel." And it happened [that] when the commanders of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, then they said, "It [is] the king of Israel!" And they turned against him to fight. Then Jehoshaphat cried out and Yahweh helped him. God drove them away from him. And it happened [that] when the commanders of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from following him. Now a certain man drew the bow {at random} and struck the king of Israel between the soldering of [his] breastplate armor. Then he said to the chariot driver, "{Turn around}; get me away from the [war] camp, for I am wounded." And the battle went on that day, and the king of Israel was propped up in the chariot facing Aram until the evening. And he died at the time of the going down of the sun. Then Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. And Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him. And he said to King Jehoshaphat, "Should you [be] a help to the wicked and love those who hate Yahweh? On account of this, wrath [has come] against you from Yahweh. Nevertheless some good things have been found in regard to you, for you burned the Asherahs out of the land and set your heart to seek God." And Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem and returned and went out among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and brought them back to Yahweh, the God of their ancestors. And he appointed judges in the land and in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city. And he said to the judges, "Consider what you are doing, for you are not judging for a man but for Yahweh. Now [he is] with you in speaking justice. So now, let the fear of Yahweh be upon you all. {Be careful what you do}, for there is neither wickedness nor {showing partiality} and taking bribes with Yahweh our God." Moreover, Jehoshaphat appointed in Jerusalem some of the Levites and the priests and heads of the {families} of Israel as judges and to decide legal disputes for Yahweh. And they sat [in] Jerusalem. And he commanded them, saying, "Thus you must do in the fear of Yahweh in faithfulness and with a whole heart. Any legal dispute that comes before you from your brothers who live in their cities concerning bloodguilt, law, commandment, statutes, and justice, you must warn them, so that they do not incur guilt before Yahweh, and that wrath may not come upon you and your brothers. Thus you must do that you do not incur guilt. And behold, Amariah the chief priest [is] over you in all matters of the word of Yahweh, and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the governor of the house of Judah, in all matters of the king, and the Levites [shall be] before you [as] officials. Be strong and do [well]! May Yahweh be with the upright." And it happened [that] afterward, the {Moabites}, the {Ammonites}, and some of the Meunites came against Jehoshaphat for war. And they came and reported [it] to Jehoshaphat, saying, "A great multitude from beyond the sea, from Aram, is coming against you. Now behold, [they are] in Hazazon Tamar" (that [is], En Gedi). Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek Yahweh. And he called for a fast through all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek after Yahweh; even from all the cities of Judah they came to seek Yahweh. Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of Yahweh before the new courtyard. And he said, "O Yahweh, God of our ancestors, are you not God in heaven? Now you rule in all the kingdoms of the nations, and in your hand [are] power and might, and there is none [who can] resist against you. O, our God, did you yourself not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it to the descendants of Abraham your friend forever? And they lived in it and built for you a sanctuary for your name in it, saying, 'If disaster, a sword, punishment, disease, or famine come upon us, we shall stand before this house and before you--for your name [is] in this house--and cry out to you out of our trouble, then you will hear and save [us].' And now, look, the people of Moab and Ammon and Mount Seir whom you did not allow Israel to come against when they came from Egypt, from whom they turned aside and did not destroy, now behold, they are rewarding us by coming to dispossess us from your possession which you gave us as an inheritance. O our God, will you not judge them, for there is no power in us before this great multitude that is coming against us. Now we do not know what we shall do, for our eyes [are] upon you." And all Judah was standing before Yahweh, [and] also their little children, their wives, and their children. Then the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite from the descendants of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, "Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat, thus says Yahweh to you: 'Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed before this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's. Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they are coming up the ascent of Ziz. And you will find them at the end of the valley facing the desert of Jeruel. [There will be] no [need] for you to fight in this [battle]. Take your stand! Stand and see the deliverance of Yahweh among you, O Judah and Jerusalem! Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out before them and Yahweh [will be] with you.'" Then Jehoshaphat bowed his face down to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before Yahweh to worship Yahweh. Then the Levites, from the {Kohathites} and from the {Korahites} stood up to praise Yahweh the God of Israel with an exceedingly loud voice. And they rose up early in the morning and went out to the desert of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Hear me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in Yahweh your God, and you shall be established! Believe in his prophets, and you shall succeed!" And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed singers to Yahweh [who were] giving praise to the splendor of [his] holiness when they went out before the army. And they said, "Give thanks to Yahweh, for his loyal love [is] everlasting!" And {when} they began with singing and praise, Yahweh set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who were coming against Judah. And they were defeated when the people of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to destroy and demolish [them]. And when the inhabitants of Seir had made an end of them, each helped to destroy his comrade. And Judah came against the watchtower of the wilderness. And they looked at the crowd, and behold, corpses were lying on the ground. There was none [who had] escaped. When Jehoshaphat came with his people to plunder their booty, they found among them in abundance possessions, corpses, and precious items. And they took plunder for themselves {until they could carry no more}. And they were three days in plundering the booty, for it [was] abundant. And on the fourth day, they assembled in the Valley of Berakah, for there they blessed Yahweh. Therefore the name of that place is called the Valley of Berakah up to this day. And all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned, and Jehoshaphat [was] at their head in returning to Jerusalem with joy, for Yahweh caused them to rejoice over their enemies. And they came to Jerusalem with harps, stringed instruments, and trumpets to the house of Yahweh. And the fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of the earth when they heard that Yahweh had fought against the enemies of Israel. So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at rest, since his God gave rest to him all around. So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. [He was] thirty-five years old when he began to reign. And he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother [was] Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. And he walked in the way of his father Asa and did not turn aside from it, to do what was right in the eyes of Yahweh. Only the high places were not removed. The people still had not yet set their heart on the God of their ancestors. Now the rest of the words of Jehoshaphat, [from] the first to the last, behold, they [are] written in the chronicles of Jehu the son of Hanani, which [are] recorded in the scroll of the kings of Israel. And afterward Jehoshaphat the king of Judah joined with Ahaziah the king of Israel, who acted wickedly. He joined with him to build ships to go to Tarshish. And they built the ships in Ezion Geber. Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, "Because of your joining with Ahaziah, Yahweh will break down your works." And the ships were destroyed and were not able to go to Tarshish. And Jehoshaphat slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place.

Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of Josiah his father, and he changed his name to Jehoiakim. Then he took Jehoahaz and brought [him] to Egypt, and he died there. The silver and the gold Jehoiakim gave to Pharaoh; however, he taxed the land to give the silver {to meet the demands of Pharaoh}. Each according to assessment, he exacted [payment] of the silver and the gold from the people of the land to give to Pharaoh Neco. Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother [was] Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah read more.
He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his ancestors had done. In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up [because] Jehoiakim had become his servant [for] three years; then he turned and rebelled against him. So Yahweh sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, raiding bands of Aram, raiding bands of Moab, and raiding bands of the {Ammonites}. He had sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yahweh that he had spoken by the hand of his servants the prophets. Surely, it was {on the command} of Yahweh against Judah to remove them from his sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done. Also, [for] the blood of the innocent that he had shed--and he filled Jerusalem [with] innocent blood--Yahweh was not willing to forgive. The remainder of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, [are] they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? So Jehoiakim slept with his ancestors, and Jehoiachin his son became king in his place.

Jehoiakim [was] twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God. Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon went up against him, and he bound him with bronze fetters to bring him to Babylon. And Nebuchadnezzar brought to Babylon the objects of the house of Yahweh and put them into the temple in Babylon. read more.
Now the remainder of the words of Jehoiakim and the detestable things that he did and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the scroll of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

Amon [was] twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And he did what [was] evil in the eyes of Yahweh as Manasseh his father had done. And Amon sacrificed to all the idols that Manasseh his father had made, and he served them. And he did not humble himself before Yahweh, as Manasseh his father humbled himself, but Amon himself multiplied [his] guilt. read more.
And his servants conspired against him and killed him in his house. But the people of the land struck down all who conspired against King Amon. And the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.

Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother [was] Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz from Jotbah. He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh as Manasseh his father had done. He walked in all of the way which his father had walked, and he served the idols which his father had served and bowed down to them. read more.
He abandoned Yahweh the God of his ancestors and did not walk in the way of Yahweh. The servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his palace. But the people of the land killed all who conspired against the king and made Josiah his son king in his place. The remainder of the acts of Amon that he did, [are] they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? They buried him in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son became king in place of him.

And they ate and drank before Yahweh on that day with great joy. And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and they anointed [him] commander for Yahweh, and Zadok the priest.

All these [were] men of war arrayed in battle line {with a whole heart}. They came to Hebron to make David king over all Israel. Likewise, all the rest of Israel [had] one heart to make David king.

The king said to them, "Take with you all the servants of your lord, and let them make Solomon my son ride on my mule, and bring him down to Gihon. Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel. Blow on the trumpet and say, 'Long live King Solomon!'

And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah as chief and crown prince over his brothers, in order to make him king. And he dealt wisely and distributed some of his sons throughout all the land of Judah and Benjamin, through all the fortified cities, and gave abundant provisions to them and obtained many wives [for them].

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, and another third at the gate of Sur, and a third at the gate behind the runners, shall guard the post of the palace alternately. read more.
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. Then he brought out the son of the king, put the crown on him with the testimony, and they made him king, anointed him, clapped [their] hands, and said, "[Long] live the king!" 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 Jehoiada {made} a covenant between Yahweh and the king and the people, that the people should be as a people for Yahweh, and [also a covenant] between the king and the people. 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. All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city rested; [for] Athaliah had been killed with the sword in the palace of the king. Jehoash [was] {seven years old} when he began to reign. In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king. He reigned in Jerusalem forty years, and the name of his mother [was] Zibiah from Beersheba. Jehoash did right in the eyes of Yahweh all of his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. Only the high places were not removed; the people [were] still making sacrifices and offering incense on the high places. 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, let the priests take for themselves, each from his treasurers, and let them repair the breach of the temple for every place where damage is found." It happened in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash that the priests had not repaired the damage in the temple. 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. It happened that when they saw a great deal of money in the chest, the secretary of the king and the high priest would come up, put the money in bags, then count the money found in the temple of Yahweh. 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. [The] money of [the] guilt offering and [the] money of [the] sin offering was not brought into the temple of Yahweh, but were [each] for the priests. 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. Now the remainder of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? Then his servants arose and conspired and killed Joash [in] the house of the Millo as he was going down toward Silla. Jozabad the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him and killed him, so they buried him with his ancestors in the city of David. Then Amaziah his son became king in his place.

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother [was] Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah from Bozkath. He did right in the eyes of Yahweh, and he walked in all of the way of David his ancestor and did not turn aside to the right or to the left. It happened in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent [word to] Shaphan the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the secretary of the temple of Yahweh, saying, read more.
"Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, and let them count the money being brought to the temple of Yahweh which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people, and let them give it into the hand of those appointed doers of the work at the temple of Yahweh. Let them give it to the doers of the work who [are] at the temple of Yahweh to repair the breach of the temple: to the skilled craftsmen, to the builders, to the masons, and to buy timber and hewing stones to repair the temple. Only the money being given to them is not to be accounted for by them, for they [are] dealing with honesty." Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the scroll of the Torah in the temple of Yahweh," and Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it. Shaphan the secretary came to the king and returned the king a word, and he said, "Your servant poured out the money found in the temple, and they have given it into the hand of the doers of the work appointed [over] the temple of Yahweh." Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king saying, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll." Then Shaphan read before the king. When the king heard the words of the scroll of the Torah, he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Acbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the servant of the king, saying, "Go, inquire of Yahweh for me and for the people and for all of Judah concerning the words of this scroll [that was] found. For the wrath of Yahweh that is kindled against us [is] great because our ancestors did not listen to the words of this scroll to do according to all that is written concerning us!" So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah the son of Harhas, the keeper of the robes. Now she [was] living in Jerusalem in the second district. Then they spoke to her, and she said to them, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, 'Say to the man who sent you to me, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Look I am bringing evil to this place and upon its inhabitants, [according to] all of the words of that scroll that the king of Judah has read because they have abandoned me and they have burned incense to other gods, provoking me to anger with all of the works of their hands. My wrath shall be kindled against this place and not be quenched.'" And to the king of Judah who sent all of you to inquire of Yahweh, thus you shall say to him, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, '[Concerning] the words that you have heard, because you have a responsive heart, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants to become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before my face, I have also heard, declares Yahweh. Therefore look, I am gathering you to your ancestors, and you shall be gathered to your tombs in peace. Your eyes will not see all of the disaster that I am bringing onto this place.'" '" Then they {reported the word} to the king. So the king sent [word], and all of the elders of Judah and Jerusalem gathered to him. Then the king went up [to] the temple of Yahweh, and all of the men of Judah and all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem [were] with him, [including] the priests, the prophets, and all of the people from smallest to greatest; and in their {hearing} he read all of the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the temple of Yahweh. Then the king stood by the pillar, and he {made} a covenant before Yahweh, to go after Yahweh and to keep his commands and his warnings and his statutes, with all of [his] heart and with his all of his soul, to keep the words of this covenant written on this scroll. Then all of the people {joined} in the covenant. Then the {king} commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the second priests, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the temple of Yahweh all of the objects made for Baal and for the Asherah and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and then he carried their ashes to Bethel He removed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained [to] burn incense on the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem and who offered incense to, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven. He brought out the Asherah image from the temple of Yahweh outside of Jerusalem to the Wadi of the Kidron and burnt it {there}; then he pulverized [it] to dust and threw its dust upon the tombs of the children of the people. He tore down the shrines of the male shrine prostitutes which were in the temple of Yahweh, where the women were weaving shrines for the Asherah. Then he brought all of the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests from Geba up to Beersheba burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were on the left of each gate of the city. However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of Yahweh in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread in the midst of their relatives. He defiled the Topheth which [is] in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, {to prevent} anyone causing his sons or his daughters to pass through the fire for Molech. He kept the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun from coming to the temple of Yawheh at the side room of Nathan-Melech the eunuch, which [was] in the court; and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire. The altars which [were] on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the temple of Yahweh, the king tore down and ran from there and threw their ashes into the Wadi Kidron. The high places which [were] east of Jerusalem, which [were] on the south of the Mountain of Destruction which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the detestable thing of the {Ammonites}, the king defiled. He also broke into pieces the stone pillars and cut down the Asherah poles and covered their sites [with] human bones. Moreover, the altar which [was] in Bethel, the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin, had built, even that altar and the high place, [Josiah] tore down. Then he burned down the high place and crushed [the] pole of Asherah worship to dust and burned it with fire. When Josiah turned and saw the tombs which [were] there on the hill, he sent and took the bones from the tombs and burned [them] on the altar. [Thus] he defiled them according to the word of Yahweh that the man of God had proclaimed who had proclaimed these things. Then he said, "What [is] this gravestone that I [am] seeing?" The men of the city said to him, "[This is the] tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel." So Josiah said, "Let him rest and let no man move his bones." So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria. Moreover, all of the shrines of the high places which [were] in the towns of Samaria which the kings of Israel had made to provoke [Yahweh], Josiah removed, and he did to them like all of the deeds he had done in Bethel Then he slaughtered all of the priests of the high places who [were] there, on the altars, and he burned the bones of the humans on them. Then he returned [to] Jerusalem. 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. For they had not kept this Passover from the days of the judges who had judged over Israel {or} [during] the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was kept for Yahweh in Jerusalem. Moreover, the mediums and the spiritists, the household gods and the idols, and all of the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah removed in order to establish the words of the law written on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found [in] the temple of Yahweh. There was not a king like him before him, who turned to Yahweh with all of his heart and with all of his soul and with all of his might according to the law of Moses, nor did one arise like him afterwards. However, Yahweh did not turn from the fierceness of his great anger which was kindled against Judah because of all of the provocations [with] which Manasseh had provoked him. Yahweh had said, "Even Judah I will remove from my face, as I have removed Israel; I will reject this city that I have chosen, even Jerusalem and the house [of] which I said, 'My name shall be there'!" The remainder of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, [are] they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? In his days, Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went to meet him, and he killed him at Megiddo as soon as he saw him. So his servants drove him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, and they brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for [there] is no authority except by God, and those that exist are put in place by God.

Therefore [it is] necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience.

Subject yourselves to every human authority for the sake of the Lord, whether to a king as having supreme authority,

indeed, you may set a king over you whom Yahweh your God will choose, from the midst of your countrymen you must set a king over you; you are not allowed to appoint over you a man, a foreigner, who [is] not your countryman.

But Yahweh the God of Israel chose me from all of the house of my father to be king over Israel forever, for he chose Judah as leader, and in the house of Judah, the house of my father, and among the sons of my father he took pleasure in me to reign over all Israel. And from all my sons--for Yahweh has given many sons to me--he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of Yahweh over Israel. And he said to me, 'Solomon your son, he himself shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him as a son to myself, and I myself will be as a father to him,

Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all of Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. It happened that Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard [of it] while he was still in Egypt where he had fled from the face of King Solomon, and Jeroboam had lived in Egypt. So they sent and summoned him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came. [Then] they spoke to Rehoboam, saying, read more.
"Your father made our yoke heavy; now lighten the hard labor of your father and the heavy yoke which he placed on us, and we will serve you." He said, "Go up for three days and then return to me"; so the people went away. Then King Rehoboam consulted with the old men who had been {serving} before Solomon his father when he was alive, saying, "How [are] you advising [me] {to answer this people}?" They said to him, "If you will be a servant today to this people, then you will serve them; and if you answer them and speak good words to them, they will always be your servants." But he rejected the advice of the old men, which they gave him, and he consulted with the youngsters who had grown up with him, who were {serving} before him. He said to them, "What [are] you advising that we should reply to this people who spoke to me by saying, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us.'" Then the youngsters who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus you shall say to this people who spoke to you: 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten [it] for us,' you shall say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. So then, my father loaded a heavy yoke on all of you, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions!'" Jeroboam and all of the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had spoken: "Return to me on the third day." Then the king answered all the people harshly, [as] he had rejected the advice of the old men that they had offered. He spoke to them according to the advice of the youngsters, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add onto your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions." So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turning of events from Yahweh in order to fulfill his word which Yahweh had spoken through the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. When all of Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, "{What share do we have in David}? [There is] no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel! Now look to your house, David!" Then Israel went to their tents. The {Israelites} were living in the cities of Judah, and Rehoboam was reigning over them. King Rehoboam sent Adoram who [was] over the forced labor, and all of Israel cast stones at him and he died, but King Rehoboam managed to get up on the chariot to flee [to] Jerusalem. So Israel rebelled against the house of David until this day. It happened that just when all of Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all of Israel. Not one [followed] after the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone.

Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come [to] Shechem to make him king. And it happened [that] when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard [it]--now he [was] in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon--Jeroboam returned from Egypt. And they sent and called him. Then Jeroboam and all Israel went, and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying, read more.
"Your father made our yoke heavy. Now, therefore, lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, and we will serve you." And he said to them, "In three days return to me again." And the people went away. Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the elders who had been {serving} before Solomon his father when he was alive, saying, "What word do you advise to answer this people?" And they said to him, "If you will be good to this people and please them, then speak good words to them. Then they will be your servants {forever}." But he forsook the advice of the elders that advised him and took counsel of the young men who had grown up with him who were {serving} before him. And he said to them, "What do you advise that we should say in return to this people, who said to me, 'Lighten the yoke that your father has put upon us'?" Then the young men who had grown up with him said to him, "Thus you should say to this people who have said to you, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, so you yourself should lighten [it] for us.' Thus you should say to them, 'My little finger [is] thicker than the loins of my father. So now, my father laid upon you a heavy yoke, but I myself will add to the yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I myself [will do so] with scorpions.'" Then Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king had spoken, saying, "Return to me on the third day." And the king answered them harshly, and King Rehoboam forsook the advice of the elders. And he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, "I will make your yoke heavy, and I myself will add to it. My father disciplined you with whips, but I [will do so] with scorpions." So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turning [of events] from God, so that Yahweh might fulfill his word that he had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat. So all Israel [saw] that the king would not listen to them, and the people answered the king, saying, "What portion [is there] for us in David? [We have] no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Each to your tents, O Israel! Now look to your own house, David!" And all Israel went to their own tents.

So all the people went to Gilgal and they made Saul king there before Yahweh in Gilgal. They sacrificed fellowship offerings there before Yahweh. Then Saul rejoiced there greatly [along with] all the men of Israel. Then Samuel said to all Israel, "Look, I have listened to your voice regarding all that you have said to me, so I have set a king over you. And so then here [is] the king walking about before you. Now I am old and gray, but my sons (look at them!) [are] with you; and I have walked about before you from my youth until this day. read more.
Here I am! Testify against me before Yahweh and before his anointed one! Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I exploited? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe, that I may shut my eyes {regarding} him?-then I will restore it to you." Then they said, "You have not exploited us or oppressed us, and you have not taken anything from the hand of anyone." So he said to them, "Yahweh [is] witness against you, and his anointed one [is] witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand." Then they said, "[He is] witness." Then Samuel said to the people, "Yahweh [is witness], who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your ancestors up from the land of Egypt. So then take your stand, so that I may judge you before Yahweh with [regard to] all the [deeds of] justice of Yahweh that he performed with both you and your ancestors. "When Jacob came to Egypt, your ancestors cried out to Yahweh, so he sent Moses and Aaron, and they brought your ancestors out from Egypt and settled them in this place. But they forgot Yahweh their God, so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the hosts of Hazor, and into the hand of [the] Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. So they cried out to Yahweh and said, 'We have sinned, because we have forsaken Yahweh and have served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hand of our enemies and we will serve you!' So Yahweh sent Jerub-Baal and Bedan and Jephthah and Samuel. Then he delivered you from the hand of your enemies all around, and you lived [in] security. "And when you saw that Nahash, the king of [the] {Ammonites}, was coming against you, you said to me, 'No! A king shall reign over us,' although Yahweh your God [is] your king. So then look! [Here is] the king you have chosen, for whom you have asked! Look, Yahweh has placed a king over you! If you will fear Yahweh, and serve him, and listen to his voice, and not be rebellious against {what Yahweh says}, and both you and the king who rules over you will [follow] after Yahweh your God, [all will be well]. But, if you do not listen to the voice of Yahweh, and you rebel against {what Yahweh says}, then the hand of Yahweh will be against you [as it was] against your ancestors. So then take your stand again and see this great thing that Yahweh [is going to] do before your eyes. [Is] the wheat harvest not today? I will call out to Yahweh so that he still sends thunder and rain, so that you will know and will see that your wickedness [is] great that you have done in the eyes of Yahweh by asking for a king for yourselves." So Samuel called out to Yahweh, and Yahweh brought thunder and rain that [same] day, so all the people feared Yahweh and Samuel greatly. Then all the people said to Samuel, "Pray for your servants to Yahweh your God so that we will not die, because we have added to all our sins by requesting a king for ourselves." And Samuel said to the people, "Do not fear! You have done all this evil; only do not turn aside from {following} Yahweh. But you must serve Yahweh with all your heart. And do not turn aside after the triviality, which have no value and cannot deliver, for they are triviality. For Yahweh will not forsake his people for the sake of his great name, because Yahweh has decided to make you his [own] people. Also, as for me, far be it from me {that I should sin} against Yahweh by ceasing to pray for you! I will instruct you in the good and righteous way. Only fear Yahweh and serve him faithfully with all of your heart. For consider {what great things he has done for you}. But if you continue to do wickedness, both you and your king will be swept away." Saul [was thirty] {years old} at the beginning of his reign, and he reigned [forty-]two years over Israel. He chose for himself three thousand from Israel. Two thousand [of these] were with Saul at Micmash in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. He sent away the rest of the people, each to his tent. Jonathan defeated the garrison of [the] Philistines that [was] at Geba, and [the] Philistines heard [about it]. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews hear!" And all Israel did hear, saying, "Saul has defeated the garrison of [the] Philistines; and also, Israel has become a stench among [the] Philistines!" So the people were called out after Saul at Gilgal. And the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and an army as numerous as sand which [is] on the seashore. And they came up and encamped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven. When the men of Israel saw that [it was] {too difficult} for them, because the army was hard pressed, the people hid themselves in the caves, in the thorn bushes, in the cliffs, in the vaults and in the wells. [Some] of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. But Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the army {followed him trembling}. He waited seven days according to the appointed time Samuel determined, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and {the army started to slip away from him}. So Saul said, "Bring here to me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings." Then he offered up the burnt offering. {Just as} he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Samuel was coming. So Saul went out to meet him [and] to bless him. But Samuel said, "What have you done?" Saul said, "Because I saw that the army {was scattering} from me and you did not come {at the appointed time} and [that the] Philistines had gathered at Micmash, therefore I said, 'Now [the] Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not yet implored the face of Yahweh.' So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering." Then Samuel said to Saul, "You have behaved foolishly! You have not kept the command of Yahweh your God which he commanded you. For then, Yahweh would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now, your kingdom will not endure. Yahweh has sought for himself a man according to his [own] heart, and Yahweh has appointed him as leader over his people, because you have not kept what Yahweh commanded you." Then Samuel got up and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul mustered the people who were found with him, about six hundred men. Saul and Jonathan his son and the army that remained with them [were] staying in Geba [of] Benjamin, and [the] Philistines encamped at Micmash. The {raiders} went out from the camp of [the] Philistines [in] three divisions. One division turned on the road to Ophrah toward the land of Shual. One division turned on the road to Beth Horon, and one turned on the road toward the border overlooking the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness. Now no skilled craftsman could be found in all the land of Israel, for [the] Philistines had said, "So that the Hebrews cannot make swords or spears for themselves." So all Israel [went] down to [the] Philistines, each to have his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his iron plowshare sharpened. The charge was {two-thirds of a shekel} for the plowshare and for the mattock, and {a third of a shekel for the pick} and for the axe, and to set the goading sticks. {So} on [the] day of battle, there was not a sword or a spear found in the hands of all the army that was with Saul and Jonathan, but {Saul and his son Jonathan had them}. Now the garrison of [the] Philistines went out to the pass of Micmash. {One day} Jonathan the son of Saul said to {his armor bearer}, "Come and let us go over to the garrison of [the] Philistines which [is] over there." But he did not tell his father. Now Saul [was] staying at the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree that [was] in Migron, and the troops that [were] with him [were] about six hundred men. Now Ahijah, the son of Ahitub (the brother of Ichabod), the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli the priest of Yahweh at Shiloh, was carrying an ephod. The troops did not know that Jonathan had gone. Now between the passes where Jonathan sought to go over to the garrison of [the] Philistines [there was] a crag of rock {on one side} and a crag of rock {on the other}. The name of the one [was] Bozez and the name of the other [was] Seneh. The one crag on the north [was] opposite Micmash and the other on the south [was] opposite Geba. So Jonathan said to {his armor bearer}, "Come, let us go over to the garrisons of these uncircumcised; perhaps Yahweh will act for us, for there is no hindrance for Yahweh to save by many or by few." And {his armor bearer} said, "Do all that [is] in your heart {that you are inclined to do}. {I am with you all of the way}! Then Jonathan said, "Look, we [are about to] go over to the men; and we will show ourselves to them. If they say to us: 'Wait until we reach you,' {then we will stand as we are} and not go up to them. But if they say, 'Come up to us,' then we will go up, for Yahweh has given them into our hand, and this [will be] the sign for us." So the two of them showed themselves to the garrison of [the] Philistines, and [the] Philistines said, "The Hebrews [are] coming out from the holes in which they have hidden themselves." Then the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and {his armor bearer}, "Come up to us and we will show you something!" Then Jonathan said to {his armor bearer}, "Come up after me, for Yahweh has given them into the hand of Israel!" So Jonathan went up on his hands and his feet, with {his armor bearer} after him. They fell before Jonathan and then {his armor bearer} would kill them after him. So was the first attack [in] which Jonathan and {his armor bearer} killed about twenty men within about half of a furrow in an acre of [an] open field. Then there was terror in the camp, in the open field, and among all the army of the garrison. Even the {raiders} trembled. The earth shook, and it became {a very great panic}. And the lookouts of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin saw {that} the multitude {surged back and forth}. Saul said to the troops that [were] with him, "Please call the roll and see who has gone from us." So they called the roll {and found that} Jonathan and {his armor bearer} were not [present]. Then Saul said to Ahijah, "Bring near the ark of God" (for the ark of God was {at that time} with the {Israelites}). While Saul was still speaking to the priest, the tumult in the camp of [the] Philistines {increased more and more}, so Saul said to the priest, "Withdraw your hand!" Then Saul and all the troops who were with him were assembled on command and came up to the battle, and look! Each [Philistine's] sword [was] against his friend; [and there was] a very great confusion. The Hebrews who had been for [the] Philistines {previously}, who had gone up with them into the camp all around, even they {joined the Israelites} who were with Saul and Jonathan. All the men of Israel who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim heard that [the] Philistines had fled, so even they pursued them closely in the battle. So on that day Yahweh delivered Israel, and the battle shifted to Beth Aven. Now the men of Israel were hard pressed on that day, because Saul had made the army take an oath, saying, "Cursed be the man who eats [any] food until evening, when I will have avenged myself on my enemies!" So none of the army tasted [any] food. (Now all [the people of] the land used to go into the forest, for there was honey on the surface of the ground.) When the army came to the forest, look! [There was] honey flowing, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the army was afraid of the solemn oath. However, Jonathan had not heard about the oath of his father with the army, so he extended the end of the staff which was in his hand, and he dipped it into the honeycomb. Then he put his hand to his mouth and his eyes gleamed. Then a man from the army informed [him] and said, "Your father made the army swear a solemn [oath], saying, 'Cursed be the man who eats food today,'" so the army [is] exhausted. Then Jonathan said, "My father has brought trouble on the land! See now that my eyes have brightened because I have tasted a little of this honey. {How much more could have been done} if the troops had eaten freely today from the plunder of their enemies that they had found! For now the loss among [the] Philistines [is] not great." They defeated [the] Philistines that day from Micmash to Aijalon, and the troops were very weary. Then the troops took the plunder: they took sheep and cattle and {calves} and slaughtered [them] on the ground and the troops ate [them all] with the blood. So they reported [it] to Saul, saying, "Look! The troops [are] sinning against Yahweh by eating [the animals] with the blood!" And he said, "You have dealt treacherously! Roll to me a large stone {today}!" Then Saul said, "Disperse [yourselves] among the troops and say to them, 'Bring to me each [one] his ox and each his sheep and slaughter them in this [place] and eat, but do not sin against Yahweh by eating [the animals] with the blood.'" So all the troops brought [them], each [leading] his ox in his hand that night, and slaughtered [it] there. Then Saul built an altar to Yahweh; {it was the first altar he built} to Yahweh. Saul said, "Let us go down after [the] Philistines [by] night, and let us plunder them until the morning light, and let us not leave [alive] a man among them." So they said, "Do all that [is] good in your eyes." But the priest said, "Let us draw near to God here." So Saul inquired of God, "Should I go down after [the] Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?" But he did not answer him on that day. Then Saul said, "Come here, all [you] leaders of the people, {so that we find out} what the sin was this day. For as Yahweh lives, who delivers Israel, [I swear] that even if it [is] in Jonathan my son, {he will certainly die}!" But nobody from all the army answered him. Then he said to all Israel, "You will be {on one side}, and I and my son Jonathan will be {on the other}." And the army said to Saul, "Do [what is] good in your eyes." Then Saul said to Yahweh the God of Israel, "{Render a decision perfectly}." Jonathan and Saul were chosen [by lot] and the people went out. Then Saul said, "Let them cast [the lot] between me and my son Jonathan," and Jonathan was chosen. So Saul said, "Tell me what you have done." So Jonathan told him and said, "I {merely tasted} a little honey with the end of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am, I must die." Then Saul said, "So may God do [to me] and {more}, you will certainly die today, Jonathan!" But the army said to Saul, "Must Jonathan die, who accomplished this great victory in Israel? Far from it! As Yahweh lives, not a hair from his head will fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day." So the army ransomed Jonathan and he did not die. Saul went up from [pursuing the] Philistines, and [the] Philistines went to their place. So Saul took the kingship over Israel, and he fought all around against his enemies, against Moab, against the {Ammonites}, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. He inflicted punishment against all who rebelled. He acted bravely and defeated [the] Amalekites and rescued Israel from the hand of those who plundered it. Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malki-Shua; the names of his two daughters [were as follows]: the name of the firstborn [was] Merab and the younger [was] Michal. The name of Saul's wife [was] Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz, and the name of the commander of his army [was] Abner, the son of Ner, Saul's uncle. Now Kish [was] the father of Saul, but Ner, the father of Abner, [was] the son of Abiel. Warfare was severe against [the] Philistines all the days of Saul. Whenever Saul saw {anyone who was a mighty warrior} or {any brave man}, he {conscripted him into his service}. Then Samuel said to Saul, "Yahweh sent me to anoint you as king over his people Israel. So then, {listen to the words} of Yahweh! Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'I have observed what Amalek did to Israel, {how he opposed him} when he went up from Egypt. So then, go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that is his! You must not spare him, but kill both man and woman, both child and nursing infant, both ox and sheep, both camel and donkey.'" Saul summoned the army and mustered them at Telaim; two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. Then Saul came up to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the wadi. Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, leave! Withdraw from among the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you with them. You have shown loyal love to all the {Israelites} when they came up from Egypt." So the Kenites left from among [the] Amalekites. Then Saul defeated [the] Amalekites from Havilah as one goes to Shur which [is] {east of} Egypt. He captured Agag the king of Amalek alive, but all the people he utterly destroyed with the {edge} of the sword. However, Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the cattle and the second [best] of the young fatlings and {all that was valuable}; they were not willing to utterly destroy them. But all the possessions that were despised or worthless, they utterly destroyed. Then the word of Yahweh came to Samuel, saying, "I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not kept my word." {Samuel became angry}, and he cried out to Yahweh all night. Then Samuel got up early in the morning to meet Saul. Samuel was told, "Saul has gone to Carmel, and look, he [is] setting up a monument for himself." Then he turned around and crossed over and went down to Gilgal. When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, "May you be blessed by Yahweh! I have kept the word of Yahweh." But Samuel said, "Then what [is] this bleating of the sheep [that I hear] in my ears and the lowing of the cattle that I am hearing?" Saul said, "They have brought them from [the] Amalekites; the troops spared the best of the sheep and the cattle in order to sacrifice them to Yahweh your God. But the rest we have utterly destroyed." Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stop and let me tell you what Yahweh said to me last night." So he said to him, "Speak." Samuel said, "Even though you [are] small in your [own] eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? Yahweh has anointed you as king over Israel. When Yahweh sent you on your way, he said to you: 'Go! You must utterly destroy the sinners, [the] Amalekites, and you must fight against them until you have destroyed them.' Why did you not listen to the voice of Yahweh and fall with shouting on the plunder? You have done evil in the sight of Yahweh!" Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have listened to the voice of Yahweh, and I have gone on the way that Yahweh sent me! I brought Agag the king of Amalek, and the Amalekites I have utterly destroyed. The troops took from the plunder, sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God at Gilgal." Then Samuel said, "Is there [as much] delight for Yahweh in burnt offerings and sacrifices as [there is] in {obeying} Yahweh? Look! {To obey} [is] better than sacrifice; to give heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion [is like] the sin of divination; arrogance [is like] iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has rejected you from [being] king!" Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned because I have transgressed {the commandment of Yahweh} and your words, for I feared the troops and I listened to their voice. So then, please pardon my sin and return with me {so that I can worship} Yahweh." But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of Yahweh, and he has rejected you from being king over Israel!" As Samuel turned around to go, he caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. Then Samuel said to him, "Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor {who is better than you}. Moreover, the Glory of Israel will not break faith and will not regret, for he [is] not a human that he should regret." Then he said, "I have sinned! Now please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me {so that I can worship} Yahweh your God." So Samuel returned after Saul, and Saul {worshiped} Yahweh. Then Samuel said, "Bring Agag the king of Amalek out to me!" Agag came to him confidently, for Agag thought, "Surely the bitterness of death {is over}." Samuel said, "Just as your sword bereaved women, so will your mother be bereaved among women!" Then Samuel hacked Agag to pieces in the presence of Yahweh at Gilgal. Then Samuel went to Ramah and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. Samuel {did not see Saul again} until the day of his death, but Samuel mourned over Saul, and Yahweh regretted that he made Saul king over Israel. Then Yahweh said to Samuel, "{How long} will you mourn about Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel! Fill up your horn [with] oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have chosen a king for myself among his sons." But Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears, he will kill me." Yahweh said, "You must take a heifer from the herd {with you}, and you must say, 'I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.' You will invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will make known to you what you must do. You will anoint for me [the one] whom I tell you." So Samuel did what Yahweh said. He came to Bethlehem, and the elders of the city came trembling to meet him. They said, "{Have you come in peace}?" He said, "[I come in] peace. I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." So he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. {When they came}, he saw Eliab and said, "Surely his anointed one [is] before Yahweh!" But Yahweh said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For [God does] not [see] what man sees, for a man {looks on the outward appearance}, but Yahweh {looks on the heart}." Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel, and he said, "This one also Yahweh has not chosen." So Jesse made Shammah pass [before Samuel], but he said, "Yahweh also has not chosen this one." And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, "Yahweh has not chosen any of these." Then Samuel said to Jesse, "{Are all the young men here}?" And he said, "The youngest still remains, but look, he [is] shepherding the flock." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him, for we cannot {sit down} until he comes here." So he sent and brought him. Now he [was] ruddy with beautiful eyes and of {handsome} appearance. And Yahweh said, "Arise, anoint him, for this [is] he." So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day {on}. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah. Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul and an evil spirit from Yahweh tormented him. So the servants of Saul said to him, "Look please, an evil spirit from God [is] tormenting you. Please, let our lord command your servants [who are] before you! Let them seek a man skilled in playing on the lyre. {When} the evil spirit from God [is] upon you, he can play {on it} and {you will feel better}." So Saul said to his servants, "Please select a man {who plays a stringed instrument well} and bring [him] to me." One of the servants answered and said, "Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite [who is] skillful in playing a stringed instrument, a {brave man, a warrior, prudent in speech, and handsome}. And Yahweh [is] with him." So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me David your son who [is] with the sheep." And Jesse took a donkey [loaded with] bread and a skin of wine and one {young goat} and sent [them] to Saul by the hand of David his son. So David came to Saul and {entered his service}. He loved him greatly and {he became Saul's armor bearer}. Then Saul sent [word] to Jesse, saying, "Please let David stand before me, because he has found favor {in my sight}." So whenever the [evil] spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the stringed instrument and play it with his hand. Then {it would bring relief} for Saul; {he would feel better} and the evil spirit would depart from him. [The] Philistines gathered their camps for battle and they were gathered [at] Socoh which [belongs] to Judah. They camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes Dammim. Then Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and they formed ranks [for the] battle to meet [the] Philistines. [The] Philistines were standing on the hill on one side and [the army of] Israel was standing on the hill on the other side with the valley between them. Then {a champion} went out from the camps of [the] Philistines, whose name was Goliath from Gath. His height was six cubits and a span. A bronze helmet was on his head, and he was clothed with scale body armor; the weight of the body armor was five thousand bronze shekels. Bronze greaves were on his legs, and a bronze javelin [was slung] between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam and the point of his spear [weighed] six hundred iron shekels. {His shield bearer} was walking in front of him. He stood and called to the battle lines of Israel and said to them, "Why have you come out to form ranks [for] battle? [Am] I not the Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Commission for yourselves a man and let him come down to me. If he [is] able to fight with me and he defeats me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail over him and defeat him, then you will be our servants and you will serve us." Then the Philistine said, "I hereby defy the battle lines of Israel today! Give me a man so that we may fight each other!" When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and very afraid. Now David was the son of an Ephrathite. This [man was] from Bethlehem of Judah, and his name was Jesse. {He had} eight sons; in the days of Saul this man was old, [yet] he [still] walked among the men. The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone and {followed} Saul to the battle. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, his second [oldest] was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah. Now David was the youngest. The three oldest {followed} Saul, but David went {back and forth} from Saul to feed the sheep of his father in Bethlehem. Now the Philistine came forward early and late, and he took his stand [for] forty days. Then Jesse said to his son David, "Please take for your brothers an ephah of this roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and bring [them] quickly to the camp for your brothers. And these ten portions of cheese you will bring to the commander of the thousand; {find out how your brothers are doing}, and take their pledge." Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel [were] in the valley of Elah fighting [the] Philistines. David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper, and he took [the provisions] and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment while the troops [were] going to the battle line, and they raised the war cry. Israel and [the] Philistines drew up [in] battle lines, {one battle line against the other}. David left the baggage [he had] with him in the {care} of the baggage keeper, ran to the battle line, and came and {asked how his brothers were doing}. While he [was] speaking to them, {the champion}, whose name was Goliath the Philistine from Gath, [was] coming up from the caves of [the] Philistines. He spoke {just as he had previously}, and David heard [his words]. When all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from his presence and were very afraid. And the men of Israel said, "Did you see this man who has come up? For he [is] going up to defy Israel! It will be [that] the man who defeats him, the king will make him very rich with great wealth and will give him his daughter [in marriage] and will make his father's house free in Israel." Now David had spoken to the men [who were] standing with him, saying, "What will be done for the man who defeats this Philistine and removes [the] disgrace from Israel? For who [is] this uncircumcised Philistine that he defies the battle lines of the living God?" And the troops had spoken to him according to this word, saying, "So it will be done for the man who defeats him." His oldest brother Eliab heard while he was speaking to the men, {and Eliab became very angry against David} and said, "Why have you come down today, and with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumptuousness and the evil of your heart! For you have come down in order to see the battle!" David replied, "What have I done now? {I merely asked a question}! He turned around from him to another opposite [him] and {he spoke to him in the same way}, and the people {answered him as before}. Now the words which David had spoken were heard and they reported [them] {to} Saul, and he summoned him. David said to Saul, "Do not let anyone's heart fail concerning him! Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." But Saul said to David, "You will not be able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, because you are [only] a boy, whereas [he has] been a man of war since his childhood!" And David said to Saul, "Your servant has been a shepherd of the flock for his father. If the lion or the bear would come and carry off a sheep from the group, I would go out after it and strike it down and rescue [the sheep] from its mouth. If it rose against me, I would grab [it] by its beard and strike it down and kill it. Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he defied the battle lines of the living God." And David said, "Yahweh, who rescued me from the hand of the lion and from the hand of the bear, will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine!" Then Saul said to David, "Go and may Yahweh be with you!" Then Saul clothed David with his [own] fighting attire and put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him [with] body armor. Then David strapped on his sword over his fighting attire, but he tried in vain to walk [around], for he was not trained to use [them]. So David said to Saul, "I am not able to walk with these, because I am not trained to use [them]." So David removed them. Then he took his staff in his hand, picked out for himself five smooth stones from the wadi, and he put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch. And with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine. Then the Philistine {came on, getting nearer and nearer} to David, with {his shield bearer} in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him, for he was [only] a boy and ruddy with a handsome appearance. So the Philistine said to David, "[Am] I a dog, that you [are] coming to me with sticks?" Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, "Come to me so that I can give your flesh to the birds of heaven and to the wild animals of the field!" Then David said to the Philistine, "You [are] coming to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I am coming to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have defied! This day Yahweh will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down {and cut off your head}! Then I will give [the] corpses of the army of [the] Philistines this day to the birds of heaven and to the animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God [who is] for Israel. And all of this assembly will know that Yahweh does not rescue with sword or with spear, for the battle [belongs] to Yahweh, and he will give you into our hands!" {When} the Philistine got up and came and drew near to meet David, David {ran quickly} to the battle line to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand into the bag and took a stone from it and slung [it]. He struck the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with the sling and with the stone, and he struck down the Philistine and killed him, but there was no sword in David's hand. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it from its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. The men of Israel and Judah got up, raised the war cry, and pursued [the] Philistines {as far as} the valley and up to the gates of Ekron. So the slain of [the] Philistines fell on the way to Shaaraim up to Gath and as far as Ekron. Then the {Israelites} returned from pursuing [the] Philistines and plundered their camp. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem and placed his weapons in his tent. Now when Saul saw David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, "Whose son [is] this young man, Abner?" And Abner said, "As your soul lives, O king, I do not know." Then the king said, "You inquire whose son this young man [is]." So when David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul. The head of the Philistine [was] in his hand. Then Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, young man?" And David said, "[I am] the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite." {When} he finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan became attached to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his [own] soul. Saul took him on that [very] day and did not allow him to return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his [own] soul. Jonathan stripped off the robe {that he was wearing} and gave it to David, along with his fighting attire, and even his sword, his bow, and his belt. David went out {whenever} Saul sent him, [and] he succeeded. So Saul appointed him over the men of the war, and it {pleased} all the people and even {pleased} the servants of Saul. {When they were coming back} after David had returned from striking down the Philistine, the women went out from all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tambourines, with joy, and with three-stringed instruments. And the women sang as they danced, and they said, "Saul has struck down his thousands, but David his ten thousands!" {Saul became very angry}, and {this saying displeased him}, and he thought, "They have attributed to David ten thousands, but to me they have attributed thousands! {What more can he have but the kingdom}?" So Saul was watching David [with suspicion] from that day onward. {On} [the] next day, the evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied in the middle of the house. Now David was playing [the lyre] with his hand on [that] day {as usual}, and the spear was in Saul's hand. Then Saul hurled the spear and thought, "{I will pin David to the wall}." But David eluded him twice. {Now Saul was threatened by the presence of David} because Yahweh was with him, but had departed from Saul. So Saul removed him {from his presence}, and made him commander of a thousand, {so he marched in and out at the front of the army}. And David was achieving success in all his ways and Yahweh [was] with him, but when Saul saw that he [was] very successful, {he was severely threatened by him}. However, all of Israel and Judah [were] loving David, for he was going forth and marching ahead of them. Then Saul said to David, "Here [is] my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you as [your] wife. Only be {a brave warrior} for me and fight the battles of Yahweh." For Saul thought, "My hand will not be against him, but let the hand of [the] Philistines be against him." But David said to Saul, "Who [am] I, and [who are] my relatives, the clan of my father in Israel, that I should be a son-in-law to the king?" {But} at the time Saul's daughter Merab [was] to be given to David, she was given [instead] to Adriel the Meholathite as wife. Now Saul's daughter Michal loved David, so they told Saul, and the matter {pleased him}. And Saul thought, "I will give her to him, so that she may be a snare for him and the hand of [the] Philistines may be against him." So Saul said to David, "For a second [time] you can become my son-in-law today." Then Saul commanded his servants, "Speak to David in secret, saying, 'Look, the king [is] pleased with you, and all his servants love you. So then, become a son-in-law of the king.'" And Saul's servants spoke these words {to David privately}. But David said, "[Is] it insignificant {in your sight} to become the son-in-law of the king, [as] I am a poor and lightly esteemed man?" So the servants of Saul informed him, saying, "{This is what David said}." Then Saul said, "This [is] what you must say to David: '{The king desires no bride price} except for a hundred foreskins of [the] Philistines, to avenge himself on the enemies of the king.'" (Now Saul had planned to allow David to fall by the hand of [the] Philistines.) So his servants told David these words, and the matter {pleased David} to become the son-in-law of the king [as] {the specified time had not expired}. And David got up, and he and his men went and struck down two hundred men [of the] Philistines. Then David brought their foreskins, and {they presented the full number} to become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter as [his] wife. When Saul {realized} that Yahweh [was] with David and {his own daughter Michal} loved him, Saul {was threatened by David still more}, so Saul {became a perpetual enemy of David}. Then the commanders of [the] Philistines went out [for battle], and as often as they went out, David succeeded more than all the servants of Saul, and his name became very esteemed. Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants about killing David, but Saul's son Jonathan {liked David very much}. So Jonathan informed David, saying, "My father Saul [is] trying to kill you; now please take care! In the morning you should stay in the hiding place and conceal yourself. I will go out and stand {at my father's side} in the field where you are, and I will speak about you to my father; {if I find out anything} I will tell [it] to you." So Jonathan spoke well about David to his father Saul and said to him, "The king should not sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his service for you [has been] very good. He put his life in his hand and attacked the Philistine, and Yahweh brought about a great victory for all of Israel, and you saw [it] and rejoiced! Now why should you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?" And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan and swore, "{As Yahweh lives}, he will not be put to death!" Jonathan called to David and told him all of these words. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul and he was before him as {formerly}. War came again, so David went out and fought against [the] Philistines and {defeated them thoroughly} so that they fled before him. Then the evil spirit from Yahweh came upon Saul while he was sitting in his house [with] his spear in his hand. And David [was] playing a stringed instrument in [his] hand. So Saul tried {to pin David to the wall with the spear}, but {he eluded Saul}, so that he struck the spear into the wall, and David fled and escaped that [same] night. Then Saul sent messengers to David's house to guard him and to kill him in the morning, but Michal his wife told David, saying, "If {you do not save your life} tonight, [then] tomorrow you [will be] killed!" So Michal lowered David through the window, and he went and fled and escaped. Then Michal took the household god and put it on the bed and put a quilt of goat's hair at its head and covered [it] with the clothes. And Saul sent messengers to arrest David, but she said, "He [is] ill." So Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, "Bring him up to me in the bed, so that I can kill him." When the messengers came, {to their surprise} the idol [was] on the bed [with] the quilt of goat's hair at the head. Then Saul said to Michal, "Why have you deceived me like this and sent away my enemy, so that he escaped?" Michal said to Saul, "He said to me, 'Let me go, why should I kill you?'" So David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. And it was told to Saul, "David [is] in Naioth in Ramah." So Saul sent messengers to capture David. When they saw the company of the prophets prophesying and Samuel standing [as] chief over them, then the Spirit of God came upon Saul's messengers, and they also prophesied. So they told Saul, and he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. Again Saul sent messengers a third [time], and they also prophesied. Then he also went to Ramah. When he came to the great cistern which [was] in Secu, he asked and said, "Where [are] Samuel and David?" Someone said, "Look [they are] in Naioth in Ramah." So he went there to Naioth in Ramah and the Spirit of God came upon him also, and {he walked along prophesying} until he came to Naioth in Ramah. He also stripped [off] his clothes and prophesied before Samuel. He lay naked all that day and all night. Therefore they say, "[Is] Saul also among the prophets?" Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, "What have I done? What [is] my guilt and what [is] my sin before your father that [he is] {trying to kill me}? And he said to him, "Far from it! You will not die! Look, my father does not do {anything large or small unless he reveals it to me}. Why should my father hide this thing or anything from me?" Then David {took an oath} again and said, "Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he thought, 'Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he worry.' But {as Yahweh lives} and {as your soul lives}, surely [there is] merely a step between me and death!" Then Jonathan said to David, "{Whatever you wish}, I will do for you." David said to Jonathan, "Look, tomorrow [is] the new moon, and I should certainly sit with the king to eat. You must send me away so that I can hide myself in the field until the third evening. If your father misses me at all, then you must say, 'David earnestly asked from me to run to Bethlehem his city, for {the yearly sacrifice} [is] there for all the clan.' If he says 'Good,' [it will mean] peace for your servant; but if he [is] very angry, know that {he has decided to do me harm}. So you must show loyal love to your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Yahweh with you. But if there [is] guilt in me, [then] kill me yourself! But why should you bring me to your father?" Then Jonathan said, "Far be it from you! For if I know for certain that {my father decided evil should come upon you}, would I not have told it to you?" Then David said to Jonathan, "Who will tell me if what your father answers you [is] harsh?" And Jonathan said to David, "Come, let us go out to the field." So the two of them went out to the field. Then Jonathan said to David, "Yahweh the God of Israel [is my witness] that I will question my father {by this time the day after tomorrow}. And look, {if he is well disposed toward you}, will I not send [word] to you and {disclose it to you}? {So may Yahweh punish Jonathan and more} if {my father decides to do you harm} and if {I fail to disclose it to you} and send word to you that you can go safely. And may Yahweh be with you, as he has been with my father. And not while I am still alive, will you not show the loyal love of Yahweh with me, that I may not die? And do not cut off your loyal love from {my family} forever, not [even] when Yahweh {exterminates} each of the enemies of David from the face of the earth." So Jonathan {made a covenant} with the house of David, [saying,] "May Yahweh {call the enemies of David to account}." And Jonathan again made David swear an oath, because he loved him; for with the love of his soul he loved him. Then Jonathan said to him, "Tomorrow [is] the new moon, and you will be missed, for your seat will stay empty. On the third day you must go down quickly and go to the place where you hid yourself {on the day all this started} and remain beside the stone Ezel. I will shoot three arrows [to the] side as [if] I were shooting at a target. {Then} I will send [word to] my servant, 'Go, find the arrows!' If I clearly say to the boy, 'Look, the arrows [are] {on this side of you}; {bring} it,' then come, for [it means] peace for you. And there is no problem, {as Yahweh lives}. But if I say this to the young man, 'Look, the arrows [are] {beyond you},' go, for Yahweh has sent you away. And [as for] the matter about which you and I spoke, look, Yahweh [is] between you and me forever." So David hid himself in the field. {When the new moon came}, {the king was seated at the feast}. The king sat at his seat {as before}, the seat by the wall, and Jonathan got up, and Abner sat beside Saul, but David's place was empty. But Saul said nothing on that day, for he thought, "{Something happened to him}. He [is] not [ceremonially] clean; surely he [is] not clean." {And then} on the next day, the second day of the new moon, that David's place was empty. So Saul asked Jonathan his son, "Why did the son of Jesse not come either yesterday or today to the feast?" Jonathan answered Saul, "David earnestly asked permission from me [to go] up to Bethlehem. He said, 'Send me away, please, for our clan sacrifice [is] in the city, and my brother commanded me [to be present]. So then, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me slip away and see my brothers.' Therefore he has not come to the table of the king." Then {Saul became angry} at Jonathan and said to him, "[You] son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? For {as long as} the son of Jesse [is] alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established! So then, send and bring him to me, for {he will surely die}!" But Jonathan answered his father Saul and said to him, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?" Then Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. So Jonathan knew {that his father had decided} to kill David. Jonathan got up from the table {enraged}, and did not eat on the second day of the new moon because he was upset about David, because his father had disgraced him. {And then} in the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointment with David, and a young boy [was] with him. He said to his servant, "Run, please find the arrows that I am shooting!" The boy ran, and he shot the arrow to pass [over] him. When the boy came up to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called out after the boy and said, "[Is] not the arrow {beyond you}?" Then Jonathan called out after the boy, "Quick, hurry, do not linger!" And Jonathan's servant collected the arrows and came to his master. But the boy did not know anything [about this]; only Jonathan and David knew the matter. Jonathan gave his weapons to his servant and said to him, "Go, bring [them] to the city." The boy left, and then David got up from the south side, and he fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And they kissed {each other} and wept {together}, but David [wept] the most. Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, because we have sworn, the two of us, [an oath] in the name of Yahweh, saying, "Yahweh will be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring forever." Then he got up and left, and Jonathan went into the city. Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came trembling to meet David, and he said to him, "Why are you alone and there are no men with you?" So David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king charged me [with] a matter and said to me, 'No one must know anything about this matter [on] which I am sending you, [with] which I have charged you and the servants.'" So {I have arranged to meet with my servants at a certain place}. Now then, {what do you have at hand}? Give me five [loaves] of bread or {whatever is here}." The priest answered David and said, "There is no ordinary bread {here at hand}; there is only holy bread, [but] only if the young men have kept themselves from women." David answered the priest and said to him, "Indeed, women [were] held back from us {as it has been when I've gone out before}. And the things of the young men are holy when it [is] an ordinary journey. {How much more} {today} will the things be holy?" So the priest gave him [the] holy [bread], for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence, which was removed from before Yahweh, in order to set hot bread [there] on the day when it was taken away. Now there was a man from the servants of Saul on that day, detained before Yahweh, whose name [was] Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's shepherds. David asked Ahimelech, "Is there not {at your disposal} a spear or a sword? For I took neither my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's matter was urgent." So the priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine whom you killed in the valley of Elah [is] here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, [then] take it, for there is no other except it here." And David said, "There is none like it; give it to me." So David got up and fled on that day from the presence of Saul, and he came to Achish the king of Gath. The servants of Achish said to him, "[Is] not this David the king of the land? [Is] it not for this [one] that they sang in the dances, saying, 'Saul killed his thousands, but David his ten thousands?'" {David took these words seriously} and {felt severely threatened by} Achish the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior {before them} and pretended to be mad {in their presence}. He made scratches on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down into his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see a madman! Why did you bring him to me? Do I lack madmen that you have brought this one to act like a madman before me? Should this one enter my household?" David went from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and all his father's household heard, they came down to him there. Every man in distress and every man who had a creditor and every embittered man gathered to him, and he became {their commander}. Now there [were] about four hundred men with him. And David went up from there to Mizpah of Moab. He said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and my mother {stay} with you until I know what God will do for me." So {he brought them before the king of Moab}, and they stayed with him all the days David was in the stronghold. Then Gad the prophet said to David, "You should not stay in the stronghold; leave and go into the land of Judah." So David left and came [to] the forest of Hereth. Now Saul heard that David and the men who [were] with him had been located. Saul [was] sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk [tree] at Ramah. Now his spear [was] in his hand and all his servants [were] stationed around him. Then Saul said to the servants who [were] standing around him, "Please listen, {Benjaminites}! Will the son of Jesse give you all fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? For all of you have conspired against me, and {no one discloses to me} the {making} [of an agreement] between my son and the son of Jesse! None of you have had sympathy for me or {disclosed to me} [that] {my son commissioned my servant against me to ambush me} as [has been done] this day!" But Doeg the Edomite, who [was] stationed among the servants of Saul, answered and said, "I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. And he inquired of Yahweh for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine." So the king sent to summon Ahimelech the son of Ahitub the priest, and all his father's household, the priests who [were] at Nob. So all of them came to the king. Saul said, "Listen please, son of Ahitub." He said, "Here I [am], my lord." Then Saul said to him, "Why did you conspire against me, you and the son of Jesse, when you gave to him bread and a sword, and by inquiring of God for him so that he might arise against me to ambush [me] as [has been done] this day?" But Ahimelech answered the king and said, "And who among all your servants [is] as faithful as David? He [is] the son-in-law of the king who moves [quickly] to safeguard you and is honored in your house. [Only] today I began to inquire of God for him. Far be it from me that {the king should impute anything against his servant} or against my father's household, for your servant has not known any of this matter, little or much." Then the king said, "You must certainly die, Ahimelech, you and all your father's household!" So the king said to the runners [who were] stationed around him, "Turn and kill the priests of Yahweh, because {they also support David} and because they knew that he was fleeing and {did not disclose it to me}." But the servants of the king [were] not willing to raise their hand to attack the priests of Yahweh. Then the king said to Doeg, "You turn and attack the priests!" So Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests himself, and on that day he killed eighty-five men who wore [the] linen ephod. And {he put to the sword} Nob, the city of the priests, from man to woman, from child to infant, and ox and donkey and sheep; [all] {to the sword}. But, one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, whose name was Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of Yahweh. Then David said to Abiathar, "I knew on that day that Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would certainly tell Saul. {I am responsible for the deaths of all your father's household}! Stay with me! Do not fear, because he who seeks my life seeks your life. You are in good care with me." Now they told David, "Look, [the] Philistines [are] fighting in Keilah and they [are] raiding the threshing floors." So David inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" And Yahweh said to David, "Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah." But David's men said to him, "Look, we [are] afraid here in Judah. {How much more} [if] we go [to] Keilah to the battle lines of [the] Philistines?" So David again inquired of Yahweh, and Yahweh answered him and said, "Get up, go down [to] Keilah, for I [am] giving [the] Philistines into your hand. So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with [the] Philistines. They drove off their livestock and {dealt them a heavy blow}. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. {Now when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled} to David [at] Keilah, he went down [with] an ephod in his hand. When it was told to Saul that David had gone to Keilah, Saul said, "God {has given him} into my hand, because he has shut himself in by going into a city [with] {two barred gates}. Saul then summoned all of the army for the battle, to go down [to] Keilah to lay a siege against David and his men. When David learned that Saul [was] plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod here." And David said, "O Yahweh, God of Israel, your servant has clearly heard that Saul [is] seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city because of me. Will the rulers of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O Yahweh, God of Israel, please tell your servant!" And Yahweh said, "He will come down." Then David said, "Will the rulers of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?" And Yahweh said, "They will deliver [you]." So David and his men got up, about six hundred men, and went out from Keilah and wandered wherever they could go. When it was told to Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, {he stopped his pursuit}. David remained in the wilderness, in the strongholds, and in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him {continually}, but God did not give him into his hand When David realized that Saul had gone out to seek his life, David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. So Jonathan the son of Saul got up and went to David [at] Horesh, and {encouraged him} through God. He said to him, "Do not be afraid, for the hand of my father Saul will not find you. You will be king over Israel, and {I will be second to you}. My father Saul knows [this] also." Then the two of them {made} a covenant before Yahweh. David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went to his house. Then [the] Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, "[Is] not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh on the hill of Hakilah, which [is] south of Jeshimon So then, O king, {whenever you want} to come down, come down, and [it will be] for us to deliver him into the hand of the king." And Saul said to them, "May you be blessed by Yahweh, for you have shown me compassion Go, please, make certain again! Find out and see {exactly where he is} and who has seen him there! For they have said to me, 'He [is] very cunning.' Look, find out all of the hiding places where he hides. Then return to me {with dependable information}, and I will go with you. And then if he [is] there in the land, then I will seek him among all the thousands of Judah." Then they got up and went to Ziph before Saul. Now David and his men [were] in the wilderness of Maon in the Arabah, to the south of Jeshimon. And Saul and his men went to seek [him], and they told David, so he went down [to] the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard [this], he pursued David [into] the wilderness of Maon. Saul went {on one side of the mountain}, and David and his men {went on the other side of the mountain}. David was hurrying to get away from Saul, while Saul and his men [were] closing in on David and his men to capture them. But a messenger came to Saul, saying, "Hurry and come, because [the] Philistines have made a raid on the land!" So Saul returned from pursuing David, and he went to confront [the] Philistines. Therefore, they called that place the Rock of Division. David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of En Gedi. When Saul returned from [pursuing the] Philistines, they told him, "Look, David [is] in the wilderness of En Gedi." So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and he and his men went to search [for] David {in the direction of} the Rocks of the Mountain Goats. He came to the sheep pens beside the road, and a cave [was] there. Then Saul went in {to relieve himself}. Now David and his men [were] sitting in the innermost part of the cave. And David's men said to him, "Look, today [is] the day about which Yahweh said to you, 'See, I am giving your enemy into your hand, and you can do to him {whatever seems good to you}.'" So David got up and secretly cut the hem of Saul's robe. {And then} afterward David {felt guilty}, because he had cut {the hem of Saul's robe}. He said to his men, "Far be it from me in Yahweh, that I do this thing to my lord, to Yahweh's anointed one, by stretching out my hand against him! For he [is] the anointed one of Yahweh." So David rebuked his men with the words and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave, and he went on his way. Then David got up afterward and went out of the cave and called after Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked after him, David knelt down [with his] face to the ground and bowed down. Then David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to the words of people who say: 'Look, David [is] {seeking to do you harm}'? Look, this day your eyes have seen that Yahweh gave you today into my hand in the cave, and some said to kill you. But {I took pity} on you and said, 'I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, because he [is] Yahweh's anointed one.' Now, my father, see, yes, see, the hem of your robe in my hand! For {when I cut} the hem of your robe I did not kill you. Know and {realize} that there is no evil or rebellion in my hand. I did not sin against you, but you [are] hunting down my life to take it. May Yahweh judge between me and you, and may Yahweh avenge me on you, but my hand will not be against you! Just as the ancient proverb says, 'From the wicked, wickedness goes out,' but my hand will not be against you! After whom did the king of Israel go out? After whom are you pursuing? After a dead dog? After one flea? May Yahweh be [the] judge, and let him judge between me and you, and may he see and plead my case. {May he vindicate me against you}!" When David finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, "[Is] this your voice, my son David?" And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. Then he said to David, "You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me the good, but I have repaid you the evil. You have explained to me today that you have dealt well with me, how Yahweh delivered me into your hand but you did not kill me. For a man has found his enemy but sent him on [his] way safely. Now may Yahweh reward you with good in return for this day, for what you have done for me. So now then, look, I know that you will certainly be king and the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand. So then, swear to me by Yahweh that you will not cut off my {descendants} after me and that you will not wipe out my name from my father's house." So David swore [this on oath] to Saul, and Saul went to his house, but David and his men went up to the stronghold. Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him. They buried him at his house at Ramah. Then David got up and went down to the wilderness of Paran. Now there was a man in Maon, whose business [was] in Carmel. The man was very rich and {owned} three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. {Now} the shearing of his sheep [was taking place] in Carmel. The name of the man [was] Nabal, and the name of his wife [was] Abigail. Now the woman [was] wise and beautiful, but the man [was] stubborn and {mean}, and he [was] as his heart. David heard in the wilderness that Nabal [was] shearing his sheep. So David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, "Go up to Carmel and go to Nabal; {you will greet him in my name}. Then you must say to him, '[Long] life [to you], and {may it go well with you, with your house, and with all that is yours}. Now I have heard that {you have shearers}. Now while your shepherds [were] with us, we did not mistreat them, and nothing of theirs [was] missing, all the days they were in Carmel. Ask your servants and they will tell you! Let the young men find favor in your eyes because we have come on a feast day. Please give {whatever you have on hand} for your servants and for your son David." So David's young men came and they spoke all these words to Nabal in the name of David. Then they waited. But Nabal answered David's servants and said, "Who [is] David? And who [is] the son of Jesse? Today, [there] are many servants breaking away from the presence of their masters. Should I take my bread and my water and my meat which I have slaughtered for my shearers and give [it] to men whom I do not know where they [are] from? So David's young men turned on their way and returned and came and told him according to all these words. Then David said to his men, "Each man strap on his sword!" So each one strapped on his sword, and David also strapped on his sword. About four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage. But a young man of the servants told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, "Look, David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, but he addressed them angrily, even though the men [were] very good to us; we were not mistreated and did not miss anything all the days we went about with them {while we were} in the field. They were a wall to us both night and day, all {the days we were} with them keeping the sheep. And so then, know and {consider} what you should do, for evil has been decided against our master and against all his household, and he [is such] {a wicked man}, {nobody can reason with him}!" Then Abigail {quickly took} two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes, and she put [them] on the donkeys. Then she said to her servants, "Go ahead before me; look, I am coming after you," but she did not tell her husband Nabal. {And then}, [as] she [was] riding on the donkey and [was] going down the ravine of the mountain, David and his men [were] coming down to meet her, and she met them. Now David had said, "Surely {in vain} I guarded all that this fellow had in the desert. And nothing was missed of all that [was] his, but he returned evil against me in place of good! {May God severely punish the enemies of David} and again do thus if I leave behind {anything that is his} until the morning, [not even] {one male}!" When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell on her face before {David's anger}, and she bowed down to the ground. She fell at his feet and said, "On me, my lord, [be] the guilt! Please let your female servant speak {to you personally}! Hear the words of your female servant! Please do not let my lord set his heart against {this worthless man}, Nabal; for as his name, so [is] he. Nabal [is] his name, and stupidity [is] with him! But I, your female servant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent. So then, my lord, {as Yahweh lives and as your soul lives}, since Yahweh restrained you from bloodguilt {by taking matters into your own hand}, so then, may your enemies be like Nabal, even {those who seek to do my lord harm}. So then, this gift which your female servant has brought to my lord, may it be given to the young men {who follow my lord}. Please forgive the transgression of your female servant, because Yahweh will certainly make a lasting house for my lord, because my lord [is] fighting the battles of Yahweh, and evil will not be found in you {as long as you live}. Should a man arise to pursue you and to seek your life, may the life of my lord be wrapped in the pouch of the living with Yahweh your God. But as for the life of your enemy, he will sling it from within the pocket of the sling! {And then} when Yahweh has done for my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you as leader over Israel, then this will not be an obstacle for you or a stumbling block of conscience for my lord [either] by the shedding of blood without cause or by {my lord taking matters into his own hands}. And when Yahweh does good to my lord, then remember your female servant." Then David said to Abigail, "Blessed be Yahweh the God of Israel who has sent you this day to meet me! And blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you who have prevented me this day from bloodguilt and [from] delivering myself by my own hand. But {as Yahweh lives}, the God of Israel who has prevented me from harming you, if you had not hurried and come to meet me, surely there would not have been {one male} left alive for Nabal by the light of morning!" Then David took from her hand what she had brought for him, and he said to her, "Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to your voice, and I have {granted your request}." Then Abigail went to Nabal, and look, {he was holding a feast} in his house like the feast of the king. {Nabal was enjoying himself}, and he [was] very drunk, so she did not tell him a thing, {nothing at all}, until the light of morning. {And then} in the morning when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these words. Then his heart died {within him}, and he became like a stone. {And then}, about ten days later, Yahweh struck Nabal and he died. When David heard that Nabal had died, he said, "Blessed be Yahweh who has vindicated the case of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and he has kept back his servant from evil; but Yahweh has returned the evil of Nabal on his [own] head." Then David sent and spoke with Abigail to take her for his wife. So the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, and they spoke to her, saying, "David has sent us to you to take you for his wife." She got up and bowed down [with] her face to the ground and said, "Here is your female servant, as a slave to wash the feet of my lord's servants." Then Abigail {quickly got up} and rode on the donkey, [along with] five of her maidservants who {attended her}, and she went after the messengers of David and became his wife. David had also taken Ahinoam from Jezreel, and both of them became his wives. (Now Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who [was] from Gallim.) The Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, "[Is] not David hiding on the hill of Hakilah opposite Jeshimon?" Then Saul got up and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, and three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. Now Saul was on the hill of Hakilah, which [is] opposite Jeshimon by the road, but David was staying in the wilderness. When he realized that Saul had come to the wilderness after him, David sent spies, and he learned that Saul had come {for certain}. Then David got up and came to the place where Saul had encamped, and David saw the place where Saul [was] lying down, {as well as} Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. (Now Saul [was] lying in the encampment, and the army [was] encamping around him.) David answered and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah the brother of Joab, saying, "Who will go down with me to Saul, in the camp?" And Abishai said, "I will go down with you." So David and Abishai came to the army [by] night, and {there was} Saul lying asleep in the encampment with his spear thrust into the ground near his head, and Abner and the army [were] lying all around him. Then Abishai said to David, "God has handed over your enemy into your hand today! So then, {please let me pin him to the ground with the spear} {one time}, and {I will not strike him twice}." But David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him! For who has stretched out his hand against Yahweh's anointed one and remained blameless?" And David said, "{As Yahweh lives}, {certainly} Yahweh will strike him, or his day will come and he will die, or he will go down in the battle and {perish}. {Yahweh forbid me} from stretching out my hand against Yahweh's anointed one! So then, please take the spear that [is] near his head and the jar of water, and let us go." So David took the spear and the jar of water from [near] Saul's head, and they went [away]. {No one saw, no one knew, and no one awakened}, for all of them [were] sleeping because a deep sleep of Yahweh had fallen upon them. Then David went to the other side and stood on the top of the hill at a distance; the distance [was] great between them. David called out to the army and to Abner the son of Ner, "Will you not answer, Abner?" And Abner answered and said, "Who [are] you [that] you call to the king?" So David said to Abner, "[Are] you not a man? And who [is] like you in Israel? Why did you not keep watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came to destroy your lord the king. This thing that you have done [is] not good. {As Yahweh lives}, {surely you people deserve to die} since you have not kept watch over your lord, over Yahweh's anointed one! So then, see where the king's spear [is] and the jar of water that [was] near his head!" Then Saul recognized David's voice and said, "[Is] this your voice, my son David?" And David said, "[It is] my voice, my lord the king." Then he said, "Why [is] my lord pursuing after his servant? For what have I done? And what evil [is] in my hand? And so then, please let my lord the king listen to the words of his servant: If Yahweh has incited you against me, may he delight in an offering; but if {it is mortals}, [may] they be accursed {before} Yahweh, for they have driven me away today from sharing in the inheritance of Yahweh, saying, 'Go, serve other gods!' And so then, do not let my blood fall to the ground {away from} the presence of Yahweh, for the king of Israel has gone out to seek a single flea, as one hunts a partridge in the mountains." Then Saul said, "I have sinned! Come back, David my son, for I will not harm you again, because my life [was] precious in your eyes this day. Look, I have acted like a fool and {have made a terrible mistake}." David answered and said, "Here is the king's spear; let one of the young men come over and take it. Yahweh repays to each [one] his righteousness and his faithfulness, for Yahweh gave you into my hand today, but I was not willing to stretch out my hand against Yahweh's anointed. Look, as your life was precious in my eyes this day, may my life be great in the eyes of Yahweh, and may he rescue me from all trouble." Then Saul said to David, "Blessed are you, my son David; {you will not only do many things, but also will always succeed}!" Then David went on his way and Saul returned to his place. Then David {thought to himself}, "Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul! There is nothing better for me but [that] I must certainly escape to the land of [the] Philistines. Then Saul will desist from searching for me further in all of the territories of Israel, and so I will escape from his hand." So David got up and crossed over, he and the six hundred men who [were] with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, the king of Gath. David settled with Achish in Gath, he and his men, each with his household. David [took along] his two wives Ahinoam {from Jezreel} and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. And it was reported to Saul that David had fled [to] Gath, so {he no longer searched for him}. Then David said to Achish, "Please, if I have found favor in your eyes, then let them give me a place in one of the {country towns} that I can live there. Why should your servant live in {the royal city} with you?" So Achish gave him Ziklag on that day. (Therefore, Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah until this day.) The number of days that David lived in the countryside of the Philistines [was] one year and four months. Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites, for they had been living [in] the land for a long time {in the direction of} Shur and {as far as} the land of Egypt. So David struck the land and did not leave a man or a woman alive; he took the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned and came to Achish. And Achish said, "Against whom have you raided today?" David said, "Against the Negev of Judah and against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites and against the Negev of the Kenites." And David did not leave alive a man or a woman to bring [them back] to Gath, thinking, "So that they will not report about us, saying, 'David did thus and so.'" Thus was his practice all the days that he lived in the countryside of [the] Philistines. And Achish trusted David, saying, "{He has made himself utterly hated} among his people in Israel, and he will be my servant forever." {Now} in those days [the] Philistines gathered their forces for war to fight against Israel. So Achish said to David, "Certainly you realize that you must go out with me in the army, you and your men." David said to Achish, "Very well, you will know what your servant can do." Achish said to David, "Very well, I will make you {my bodyguard} for life." (Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him, and they had buried him in Ramah, his [own] city. And Saul had expelled the mediums and the soothsayers from the land.) Then [the] Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem, so Saul assembled all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the army of [the] Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. And Saul inquired of Yahweh, but Yahweh did not answer him, not by dreams or by the Urim or by the prophets. So Saul said to his servants, "Search for me {a woman who is a medium} so that I may go to her and inquire of her." His servants said to him, "Look [there is] a woman who [is] a medium in Endor." So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went {with two of his men}. And they came to the woman [by] night and he said, "Please consult a spirit for me through {the ritual pit}, and bring up for me [the one] whom I tell you." But the woman said to him, "Look, you know what Saul did, how he exterminated the mediums and the soothsayers from the land! Why [are] you setting a trap for my life to kill me?" Then Saul swore to her by Yahweh, "{As Yahweh lives}, {you will not be punished} for this thing." So the woman asked, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" He said, "Bring up Samuel for me." When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice, and the woman said to Saul, "Why did you deceive me? You [are] Saul!" The king said to her, "Do not be afraid! What do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a god coming up from the ground!" Then he said to her, "What [is] his appearance?" She said, "An old man [is] coming up, and {he is wrapped in a robe}." Then Saul realized that it was Samuel, and he knelt [with] his face to the ground and bowed down. Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul said, "{I am in distress}! For [the] Philistines [are about] to make war against me, but God has turned away from me, and he does not answer me any more, not {by the prophets} or by the dreams. So I called to you to let me know what I should do." Then Samuel said, "Why do you ask me, since Yahweh has turned away from you and has become your enemy? Yahweh has done to you just as he spoke by my hand! Yahweh has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor, to David. Because you {did not obey} Yahweh and did not carry out the fierce anger of his {wrath} against Amalek, therefore Yahweh has done this thing to you today. And Yahweh will also give Israel with you into the hands of [the] Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons [will be] with me, and Yahweh will also give the army of Israel into [the] hand of [the] Philistines." {Then Saul immediately fell prostrate} to the ground, and he was very afraid because of the words of Samuel; there was no more strength in him, for he had not eaten food all day and all night. Then the woman came to Saul and realized that he was absolutely terrified, so she said to him, "Look, your female servant {has obeyed you}, and I have {risked my life}. I have listened to your words that you have spoken to me. So then, you also please listen to the voice of your female servant, and let me set before you a morsel of bread, and [you] eat so that {you will have strength} in you when you go on your way." But he refused and said, "I will not eat!" However, his servants urged him, and the woman also. So he listened {to what they said}, and he got up from the ground and sat on the bed. Now the woman had a fattened bull calf in the house, {so she quickly slaughtered it} and took flour, kneaded [dough], and baked him [some] unleavened bread. She brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they got up and went away that [very] night. Now [the] Philistines assembled all their forces at Aphek, and Israel [was] encamped at the spring that [is] in Jezreel. The rulers of [the] Philistines [were] passing on according to hundreds and thousands, David and his men passing on at the rear with Achish. Then the commanders of [the] Philistines said, "What [are] these Hebrews [doing here]?" And Achish said to the commanders of [the] Philistines, "Is this not David, the servant of Saul, the king of Israel, who has been with me {for days and years}? I have not found anything [threatening] in him from the day of his desertion until this day!" But the commanders of [the] Philistines were angry with him and they said to him, "Send the man back so that he might return to his place where you have assigned him! But he will not go down with us into the battle, so that he does not become an adversary to us in the battle. By what could this fellow make himself favorable to his lord? Is it not with the heads of these men? [Is] this not David about whom they sing in the dances, saying, 'Saul has killed his thousands, but David his ten thousands'?" So Achish called David and said to him, "{As Yahweh lives}, certainly you were honest, and {I am pleased to have you marching with me} in the campaign. For I have not found any wrong in you from the day you came to me until this day, but in the eyes of the rulers, you [are] not good. So then, return and go in peace, so that you do not do {something that displeases} the rulers of [the] Philistines." Then David said to Achish, "But what have I done? And what have you found in your servant from the day that I {entered your service} until this day, that I should not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?" And Achish answered and said to David, "I know that you [are] good in my eyes, like an angel of God! However, the commanders of [the] Philistines have said, 'He must not go up with us into the battle.' So then, rise early in the morning, [you] and the servants of your lord who came with you. When you rise early in the morning and it is light [enough] for you, leave. So David set out early, he and his men, to leave in the morning to return to the land of [the] Philistines, but [the] Philistines went up [to] Jezreel. {Now} when David and his men came [to] Ziklag on the third day, [the] Amalekites had raided [the] Negev and Ziklag. When they attacked Ziklag, they burned it with fire. They took captive the women who were in it, {from the youngest to the oldest}. They did not kill anyone, but carried [them] off and went on their way. When David and his men came to the city, {they saw}, and [it] was burned with fire, and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who [were] with him raised their voices and wept until there was not [enough] strength in them to weep. Two of David's wives had been taken captive. Ahinoam {from Jezreel} and Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. And {David was in a very precarious situation}, for the people spoke of stoning him, for the souls of all the people were bitter, each [one] over his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God. Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Please bring the ephod here for me." So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. And David inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Should I pursue after this band [of raiders]? Will I overtake them?" He said to him, "Pursue [them], for you will certainly overtake them, and you will certainly rescue them." So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the Wadi Besor, but the rest remained. David pursued, he and four hundred men; but two hundred men stayed because they were too exhausted to pass over the Wadi Besor. Then they found an Egyptian man in the open country and brought him to David, and they gave him food and he ate; they also gave him water. They gave him a slice of fig cake and two raisin cakes; he ate and {this revived him}, because he had not eaten food or drunk water [for] three days and three nights. Then David said to him, "{To whom do you belong}, and from where [are] you? The young man said, "I am an Egyptian young man, a servant of an Amalekite man, but my master abandoned me because I became ill three days ago. We raided the Negev of the Kerethites and that [which belongs] to Judah and then the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire." So David asked him, "Will you take me down to this band [of raiders]?" He said, "Swear to me by God that you will not kill me and that you will not deliver me into my master's hand! Then I will take you down to this band." So he took him down, and {there they were}, spread out over the surface of all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all of the abundant plunder which they had taken from the land of [the] Philistines and from the land of Judah. Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped {except} four hundred young men who rode [off] on camels and fled. So David recovered all that [the] Amalekites had taken; David also rescued his two wives. None of theirs [was] missing {from the smallest to the greatest}, even sons and daughters, from [the] plunder up to everything they had taken for themselves; David brought back everything. And David took all of the sheep, and the cattle they drove along in front of that livestock, and they said, "This [is] David's plunder." Then David came to [the] two hundred men {who had been too exhausted to follow} David; they had left them behind at the Wadi Besor. They went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. David came near with the people and {asked them how they were doing}. Then all the corrupt and useless men among the men who went with David reacted and said, "Because they did not go with us, we will not give them [anything] from the plunder which we recovered, {except} each [man may take] his own wife and children. They must take them along and go!" But David said to them, "You should not do so, my brothers, with what Yahweh has given to us! He has preserved us and has given the [raiding] band that came against us into our hand. And who would listen to you regarding this matter? For as the share of the one who went down into the battle, so the share of the one who remained with the baggage will be. They will share alike." So from that day and beyond, he made it a rule and a regulation for Israel until this day. Then David came to Ziklag, and he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, "{Here is} a gift for you from the plunder of the enemies of Yahweh!" [It was] for those in Bethel, for those in Ramoth of the Negev, for those in Jattir, for those in Aroer, for those in Siphmoth, for those in Eshtemoa, for those in Racal, for those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites, for those in the towns of the Kenites, for those in Hormah, for those in Bor Ashan, for those in Athach, for those in Hebron, and for all the places {where David and his men had roamed}. Now [the] Philistines [were] fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before [the] Philistines, and they fell slain on Mount Gilboa. And [the] Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and [the] Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malki-Shua, the sons of Saul. {Saul was in the thick of the battle}, and {the archers} spotted him, and he [was] badly wounded by the archers. Then Saul said to {his armor bearer}, "Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, so that these uncircumcised do not come and thrust me through and make a fool of me!" But {his armor bearer} [was] not willing [to do so] because he [was] very afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it. And when {his armor bearer} saw that Saul [was] dead, he also fell on his sword and died with him. So Saul died, and his three sons, {his armor bearer}, [and] all his men together that [same] day. And when the men of Israel who [were] on the other side of the valley and [those] who were beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the towns and fled. Thus [the] Philistines came and lived in them. {And then} the next day, [the] Philistines came to strip the dead and they found Saul and his three sons lying [dead] on Mount Gilboa. So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor. Then they sent [messengers] around in the land of [the] Philistines to proclaim [victory in] the temples of their idols and [to] the people. And they put his armor [in] the temple of the Ashtoreth, and they fastened his corpse to the wall of Beth Shan. When the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard about it, what [the] Philistines had done to Saul, all of {the valiant men} set out and went all night and took the corpse of Saul and the corpses of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. Then they took their bones and buried [them] under the tamarisk in Jabesh, and they fasted [for] seven days.

Now [when] Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son [was] dead, she arose and murdered all the {royal descendants} of the house of Judah. But Jehosheba the daughter of the king took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and kidnapped him away from the sons of the king who were to be put to death. And she put him and his nurse in a private bedroom. So Jehosheba the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, because she was a sister of Ahaziah, hid him from before Athaliah so that she did not put him to death. And he was hidden with them in the house of God six years, but Athaliah reigned over the land.

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. He remained with her in the temple of Yahweh, hidden for six years [while] Athaliah was reigning over the land.

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. The name of his mother [was] Nehushta daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem. He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his father had done. At that time, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came [to] Jerusalem, and the city came under the siege. read more.
Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city [while] his servants were besieging it. Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his court officials. The king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. Then he took from there all of the treasures of the temple of Yahweh and the treasures of the palace of the king. He cut up all of the vessels of gold which Solomon the king of Israel had made in the temple of Yahweh, as Yahweh had foretold. He deported all of Jerusalem: all of the commanders, ten thousand of the skilled warriors, and the artisans; no one was left over except the poorest of the people of the land. He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon; the mother of the king, the wives of the king, his court officials, and the citizenry of the land he caused to go into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: of all of the skilled men, seven thousand, and [of] the skilled craftsmen and the artisans, one thousand. All of the mighty warriors {fit for war} the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

Jehoiachin [was] eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. And at the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with objects of the treasure of the house of Yahweh. And he made Zedekiah his brother king in Judah and Jerusalem.

Manasseh [was] twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to the detestable things of the nations whom Yahweh drove out before the {Israelites}. And {he rebuilt} the high places that Hezekiah his father broke down, and he set up altars for the Baals, made Asherahs, and bowed down to the host of heaven and served them. read more.
And he built altars in the house of Yahweh, [of] which Yahweh had said, "In Jerusalem my name shall be forever." And he built altars to all the host of heaven in the two courtyards of the house of Yahweh. And he himself burned his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom. And he practiced sorcery and divination, and he engaged in witchcraft and dealt with mediums and spiritists. And he did much evil in the eyes of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger. And he placed the carved image of the idol that he had made in the house of God, [of] which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. And I will {never} remove the foot of Israel from upon the land that I appointed to your ancestors, if only you will take care to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the regulations, and the judgments by the hand of Moses." And Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do evil more than the nations that Yahweh destroyed before the {Israelites}. And Yahweh spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not listen. So Yahweh brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria upon them, and they took Manasseh captive with hooks, and they bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon. And when he was in distress he entreated Yahweh his God and greatly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors and prayed to him. And God responded to him and heard his plea and let him return to Jerusalem to his kingdom. And Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God. Then afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of the Gihon in the valley, and for the entrance into the Gate of the Fishes. And it encircled the Ophel and raised it very high. Then he placed strong commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah. And he removed the foreign gods and the carved image from the house of Yahweh and all the altars which he built on the mountain of the house of Yahweh and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. And he restored the altar of Yahweh and offered sacrifices of peace offerings and thank offerings upon it. And he commanded Judah to serve Yahweh, the God of Israel. Nevertheless, the people offered at the high places, but only to Yahweh their God. Now the remainder of the words of Manasseh and his prayer to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, behold, they [are] in the words of the kings of Israel. And his prayer, and [how] he responded to him, all his sin and his unfaithful acts, and the places where he built the high places and set up Asherahs and idols before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the words of the seers. And Manasseh slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in his house. And Amon his son became king in his place.

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother [was] Hephzibah. He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, according to the detestable things of the nations that Yahweh had driven out from the presence of the {Israelites}. He returned and rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. He erected altars for Baal and made a pole of Asherah worship just as Ahab king of Israel had made, and he bowed down to all of the host of heaven and served them. read more.
He built altars in the temple of Yahweh [about] which Yahweh had said, "I will put my name in Jerusalem." He built an altar to all of the host of heaven in the two courtyards of the temple of Yahweh. He made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying and divination, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He increased the doing of evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke him. He put the image of the Asherah that he had made in the temple which Yahweh had said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this temple and in Jerusalem which I have chosen from all of the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. I will not again make the feet of Israel wander from the land which I have given to their ancestors, if they only observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, as far as the law that Moses my servant commanded them." But Manasseh did not listen and tempted them to do evil more than the nations that Yahweh destroyed before the presence of the {Israelites}. So Yahweh spoke by the hand of his servants the prophets, saying, "Because Manasseh the king of Judah committed these detestable things [and] did evil more than the Amorites did who were before him and caused even Judah to sin with his idols, therefore, thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, 'Look, I am bringing disaster upon Jerusalem and Judah about which the two ears of all who hear it will tingle. I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes the dish; he wipes it and turns it on its face. I will give up the remainder of my inheritance, and I will give them into the hand of their enemies. They shall become as prey and as spoil for all their enemies, because they have done evil in my eyes and were provoking me from the day that their ancestors came out from Egypt up to this day.'" Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he filled Jerusalem {from one end to another}, apart from his sin which he caused Judah to sin by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh. The remainder of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did and his sin that he committed, [are] they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? Then Manasseh slept with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his palace, in the garden of Uzza. Amon his son became king in his place.

Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. The name of his mother [was] Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all his ancestors had done. Then Pharaoh Neco confined him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, from reigning in Jerusalem, and imposed a levy on the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in place of his father in Jerusalem. Jehoahaz [was] twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and laid a tribute upon the land [of] one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. read more.
And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and he changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz his brother and brought him to Egypt.

And behold, Amariah the chief priest [is] over you in all matters of the word of Yahweh, and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the governor of the house of Judah, in all matters of the king, and the Levites [shall be] before you [as] officials. Be strong and do [well]! May Yahweh be with the upright."

And Zikri, a mighty warrior of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the son of the king, Azrikam the commander of the house, and Elkanah the second to the king.

A declaration of Yahweh to my lord, "Sit at my right [hand] until I make your enemies your footstool."

Bathsheba came to King Solomon to speak to him concerning Adonijah, and the king got up to meet her, bowed down to her, and then sat on his throne. Then he set up a throne for the king's mother, and she sat on his right.

Kings' daughters [are] among your noble ladies. The queen stands at your right hand in gold of Ophir.

Then Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent, and he anointed Solomon. They blew on the trumpet, and all the people said, "Long live King Solomon!" All the people went up after him, and the people were playing on the flutes and rejoicing [with] great joy, and the earth shook with their noise. And Adonijah and all the invited guests who were with him heard [it]. Now they were finished eating when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet and said, "{Why is there such a noise in the city?}" read more.
While he was still speaking, suddenly Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. Adonijah said, "Come, for you are a man of valor, and you bring good news." Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, "But our lord King David has made Solomon king! He sent Zadok the priest with the king, and Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites; they made him ride on the king's mule. Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him as king at Gihon, and they have gone up from there rejoicing. The city has gone wild; this [is] the sound which you heard. And also, Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom! The servants of the king also came to congratulate our lord King David, saying, 'Your God has made the name of Solomon better than your name and his throne greater than your throne!' So the king worshiped on the bed. What is more, the king said, 'May Yahweh the God of Israel be blessed, who has given this day one sitting on my throne, and my eyes are seeing [it]!'" Then all the invited guests who [were] for Adonijah trembled and got up and went, each on his way. Adonijah was afraid because of Solomon, and he got up and went and grasped the horns of the altar. Solomon was told, "Look, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, and he has grasped the horns of the altar, saying, 'Let King Solomon swear to me {first} that he will surely not kill his servant with the sword!'" Solomon said, "If he is a son of noble character, not a hair of his [head] will fall to the ground, but if evil is found in him, then he will die." Then King Solomon sent and brought him down from upon the altar. He came and did obeisance to King Solomon. Solomon said to him, "Go to your house." The days of David came near [for him] to die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying, "I [am about to] go the way of all the world. Be strong and be {courageous}. You shall keep the charge of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, and his testimonies, as are written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and everywhere you turn, so that Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, 'If your sons take heed of their way, to walk before me in faithfulness, with all their heart and with all their soul, no man of yours will be cut off from the throne of Israel.'" "Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me when he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Jether, and he murdered them and put the blood of war in [a time of] peace. He put the blood of war on the leather belt that was on his waist and on the sandals which were on his feet. You must act according to your wisdom, but you must not let his gray hair go down to Sheol in peace. Regarding the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, you shall do loyal love and let them be among those who eat at your table, because they met me when I fled from Absalom your brother. And look, Shimei the son of Gera the son of the Benjaminite from Bahurim is with you. Now he {cursed me severely} when I went to Mahanaim, but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, so I swore to him by Yahweh, 'I surely will not kill you with the sword.' So then, do not leave him unpunished, for you [are] a wise man, and you will know what you must do to him. You must bring his grey hair down to Sheol with blood." Then David slept with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David. The days that David reigned over Israel [were] forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. Then Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established. Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, and she said, "{Are you coming in peace}?" He said, "Peace." Then he said, "{May I have a word with you}?" Then she said, "Go on." He said, "You know that the kingship was mine and that all Israel had set their face toward me as king, but the kingship turned around and became my brother's, for it was from Yahweh for him [to have it]. Now one request I am asking from you, and you must {not refuse me}." Then she said to him, "Go on." He said, "Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not refuse you, so that he will give to me Abishag the Shunnamite as wife." Then Bathsheba said, "Very well, I will speak to the king concerning you." Bathsheba came to King Solomon to speak to him concerning Adonijah, and the king got up to meet her, bowed down to her, and then sat on his throne. Then he set up a throne for the king's mother, and she sat on his right. She said, "I have one small request I am asking from you. Do {not refuse me}." The king said to her, "Ask, my mother, for I will {not refuse you}." Then she said, "Let Abishag the Shunnamite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife." King Solomon answered and said to his mother, "Why are you asking Abishag the Shunnamite for Adonijah? Ask for him also the kingdom, for he is my brother, older than I; and [ask] for him also Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah." Then King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, "Thus may God do to me and thus may he add, if Adonijah hasn't spoken this thing at the expense of his life. So then, {as Yahweh lives}, who has established me and seated me on the throne of my father David and who has established for me a dynasty as he promised, then surely Adonijah will be put to death today." King Solomon sent through the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, so he struck him, and he died. To Abiathar the priest, the king said, "Go to Anathoth, to your field, for {you deserve to die}, but on this day I will not kill you, for you carried the ark of the Lord Yahweh before David my father, and because you endured hardship in all the hardship that my father endured." So Solomon banished Abiathar from being priest to Yahweh, thus fulfilling the word which Yahweh had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. When the message came to Joab (now Joab {had supported} Adonijah but {had not supported} Absalom), he fled to the tent of Yahweh and grasped the horns of the altar. It was told to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of Yahweh and was beside the altar. So Solomon sent [word] to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go and fall upon him." So Benaiah went to the tent of Yahweh, and he said to him, "Thus says the king: 'Come out.'" And he said, "No, for I want to die here." So Benaiah returned a word to the king, saying, "Thus Joab spoke, and thus he answered me." Then the king said to him, "Do as he spoke; fall upon him and bury him, and so you shall remove the innocent blood that Joab shed from on me and from on the house of my father. Yahweh will return his blood on his head, because he fell upon two men, more righteous and better than he, and he killed them with the sword, even though my father did not know it; [namely] Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. And their blood will return on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever, but for David and his descendants and for his house and his throne, [there] will be peace forever from Yahweh." So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, and he fell on him and killed him, and he was buried in his house in the wilderness. Then the king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army, and the king appointed Zadok the priest in place of Abiathar. Then the king sent and summoned Shimei, and he said to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but you must not go out {anywhere whatsoever} from there. It shall happen that on the day you go out and cross over the Wadi Kidron, know for certain that {you will surely die}. Your blood will be on your head." Shimei said to the king, "The word is good that my lord the king has spoken to me; thus will your servant do." So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days. It happened that at the end of three years, two of Shimei's slaves fled to Achish, son of Maacah, the king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, "Your slaves [are] here in Gath." So Shimei got up and saddled his donkey, and he went to Gath, to Achish, to search for his slaves. So Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath. When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned, the king sent and summoned Shimei, and he said to him, "Did I not make you swear by Yahweh? I warned you, saying, 'On the day you go out and you go {anywhere whatsoever}, know for certain that {you will surely die}.' And you said to me, 'The word is good; I accept.' Why have you not kept the oath of Yahweh and the command which I commanded you?" Then the king said to Shimei, "You know all the evil which your heart knows, what you did to David my father. Now Yahweh will return the evil on your head, but King Solomon will be blessed and the throne of David will be established before Yahweh forever." Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell upon him, and he died. So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon. Solomon intermarried with Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and he took the daughter of Pharaoh and brought her to the city of David until he finished building his house, the house of Yahweh, and the walls of Jerusalem all around. But the people [were] sacrificing on the high places, for the house for the name of Yahweh had not [yet] been built in those days. Solomon loved Yahweh, by walking in the statutes of David his father; only he [was] sacrificing and offering incense on the high places. So the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice, for the great high place [was] there. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. Yahweh appeared to Solomon at Gibeon in a dream at night, and God said, "Ask what I should give to you." Then Solomon said, "You have shown great loyal love with your servant David my father, as he walked before you in faithfulness and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with you. You have shown for him this great loyal love, and you have given a son to him who is sitting on his throne as [it is] this day. So then, O Yahweh, you are my God. You have made your servant king in place of David my father [though] I [am] a young boy. I do not know going out or coming in. Your servant [is] in the middle of your people whom you have chosen; a great people who cannot be counted or numbered because of abundance. Give to your servant a listening heart to judge your people, to discern between good and bad, because who is able to judge this, your difficult people?" The word was good in the eyes of [the] Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said to him, "Because you have asked this thing and you did not ask for yourself {a long life} and you did not ask riches for yourself and you did not ask for the life of your enemies, but you have asked for yourself {the ability to make wise judgments}; behold, I do hereby do according to your word. I hereby give you a wise and discerning heart; there was no one like you before you, nor afterwards will one like you arise. Too, what you have not asked I give to you: both riches and honor, [so that] no man among the kings will be like you all of your days. If you will walk in my ways by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David your father walked, then I will lengthen your days." Then Solomon awoke, and look, [it was] a dream, and he came [to] Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of [the] Lord, and he offered burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings, and he held a feast for all of his servants. Then two prostitutes came to the king, and they stood before him. The one woman said, "Please my lord, I and this woman are living in one house, and I gave birth, with her in the house. It happened on the third day [after] my giving birth, this woman also gave birth, and we [were] together. There was not anyone with us in the house, only the two of us [were] in the house. Then the son of this woman died [in the] night because she laid on him. So she got up in the middle of the night, and she took my son from beside me while your servant was asleep, and she put him in her lap, and she put her dead son in my lap. When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead! When I looked closely at him in the morning, behold, it was not my son whom I had borne." Then the other woman said, "No, for my son [is] the living one, and your son [is] the dead one." The other kept on saying, "No, for your son [is] the dead one, and my son [is] the living one," and so they argued in front of the king. Then the king said, "This one [is] saying, 'This [is] my son, the living one, but your son [is] the dead one,' and the other one keeps saying, 'But no! Your son [is] the dead one, and my son [is] living!'" So the king said, "Bring me a sword," and they brought the sword before the king. Then the king said, "Divide the living child into two, and give half to the one and half to the other." Then the woman whose son [was] the living one spoke to the king because her compassion was aroused for her son, and she said, "Please, my lord, give her the living child, but certainly do not kill him!" The other one [was] saying, "As for me, so for you! Divide [him]!" Then the king answered and said, "Give the living child to her, and do not kill him; she [is] his mother." When all of Israel heard the judgment that the king had rendered, they {stood in awe} of the king, because they realized that the wisdom of God was in him to execute justice. King Solomon was king over all Israel. Now these are the officials who were his: Azariah the son of Zadok [was] the priest. Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, [were] the secretaries; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud [was] the recorder. Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was] over the army, and Zadok and Abiathar were priests. Azariah the son of Nathan [was] over the governors, and Zabud the son of Nathan was a priest, an advisor to the king. Ahishar [was] over the palace, and Adoniram the son of Abda [was] over the forced labor. Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel, and they sustained the king and his palace, {each one was to sustain for each month of the year}. These [are] their names: Ben-Hur [was] in the hill country of Ephraim. Ben-Deker [was] in Makaz and in Shaalbim and in Beth-Shemesh and Elon of Beth-Hanan. Ben-Hesed [was] in the Arubbot; Socoh and all the land of Hepher [were] his. Ben-Abinadab [was] in all of Naphat of Dor; Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife. Baanah the son of Ahilud [was] in Taanach and Megiddo and all Beth-Shean which [is] beside Zarethan below Jezreel, of Beth-Shean up to Abel-Meholah up to the other side of Jokmeam. Ben-Geber [was] in Ramoth-Gilead; the villages of Jair, the son of Manasseh which are in the Gilead [were] his, and the region of Argob which [is] in the Bashan, sixty great cities, with walls [having] crossbars of bronze, [were] his. Ahinadab the son of Iddo [was in] Mahanaim. Ahimaaz [was] in Naphtali; he moreover also had taken Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife. Baanah the son of Hushai [was] in Asher and Bealoth. Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah [was] in Issachar. Shimei the son of Ela [was] in Benjamin. Geber the son of Uri [was] in the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, and of Og, the king of Bashan; one governor which [was] over the land. Judah and Israel [were] as many as the sand which is on the seashore in abundance, eating and drinking and rejoicing! Now Solomon was ruling over all the kingdoms from the River [to] the land of [the] Philistines, and up to the border of Egypt, who [were] bringing tribute and [were] serving Solomon all the days of his life. The food of Solomon for one day was thirty dry measures of choice meal and sixty dry measures of flour; ten stall-fed oxen and twenty pasture-fed oxen and a hundred sheep, besides deer and buck gazelles and roebucks and well-fed fowls. For he [was] ruling over all the west of the River from Tiphsah up to Gaza, over all the kings west of the River; and he had peace from every side all around. Judah and Israel lived in security, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. Now Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his war chariots and twelve thousand horsemen. These governors sustained King Solomon and all who came near to the table of King Solomon, each [in] his month; they did not omit anything. The barley and the straw for the horses and for packhorses they brought to the place where they were, each according to his share. God gave wisdom to Solomon and very great discernment, as well as {breadth of understanding}, as the sand which is on the edge of the seashore. The wisdom of Solomon was greater than the wisdom of all the people of [the] east and more than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than all the men: Ethan the Ezrahite; Heman, Calcol, and Darda the children of Mahol; and {he was very well known}. He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. He spoke concerning the trees, from the cedar which [is] in Lebanon up to the hyssop which grows on the wall; he also spoke concerning the animals, concerning the birds, concerning the creeping things, and concerning the fish. They came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon; from all the kings of the earth who had heard [of] his wisdom. Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him as king in place of his father, for Hiram had always been a friend for David. Then Solomon sent to Hiram, saying, "You knew David my father, that he was not able to build a house for the name of Yahweh his God, {in view of the warfare} which surrounded him, until Yahweh placed them under the soles of his feet. But now Yahweh my God has given me rest all around me. There is no adversary, and there is no bad occurrence. Here I am, intending to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, as Yahweh promised to my father David, saying, 'Your son, whom I will set in your place on your throne, shall build the house for my name.' So then, command that they may cut cedars for me from Lebanon, and let my servants be with your servants. The wage of your servants I will give to you according to all that you say, for you know that there is no one among us who knows [how] to cut timber like the Sidonians." When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and he said, "Blessed be Yahweh this day, who has given to David a wise son over this great people." Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, "I have heard what you have sent to me; I will do all of your desire concerning the timber of cedars and concerning the timber of cypresses. My servants will bring [them] down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them [into] rafts in the sea [to float to] the place which you indicated to me. Then I shall break them up there, and you may carry [them further], and {you shall meet my needs} by giving food for my house." So Hiram was giving to Solomon the cedar timbers and the cypress timbers, {everything he needed}. Then Solomon gave to Hiram twenty thousand dry measures of wheat [as] food for his household, and twenty dry measures of {specially prepared olive oil}; thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year. Yahweh gave wisdom to Solomon as he promised to him, and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them {made} a covenant. Then King Solomon conscripted a forced labor from all Israel, and the forced labor [numbered] thirty thousand men. He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand {every month}; the work groups were a month in Lebanon and two months at home; now Adoniram was over the forced labor. Solomon had seventy thousand {common laborers} and eighty thousand stone craftsmen in the hill country. Besides the chiefs of the officers Solomon had, there were three thousand three hundred having charge over the people who were doing the work. When the king commanded, they quarried great stones [and] precious stones to lay [the] foundation of the house [with] hewn stones. So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the Gebalites hewed [stones], and they prepared the timber and the stone to build the house. It happened in the four hundred and eightieth year [after] the {Israelites} went out from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year {of Solomon's rule} over Israel, the month of Ziv (that [is] the second month), that he began to build the house for Yahweh. Now the house that King Solomon built for Yahweh [was] sixty cubits [in] its length and twenty cubits [in] its width and thirty cubits [in] its height. The vestibule on the face of the main hall of the temple [was] twenty cubits [in] its length, and the width of the temple [was] ten cubits wide on the face of the temple. And he made for the temple specially designed framed windows, and he built a structure against the wall of the temple [running] all along the walls of the house, for the outer sanctuary and for the inner sanctuary, and made side rooms all around. The lower structure [was] five cubits in its width and the middle [was] six cubits in its width and the third [was] seven cubits in its width, for he made niches for the temple all around to the outside, [so that] beams [would] not attach to the walls of the temple. Now while the temple was being built, it was built [with] stones finished [at the] quarry, [so that] no hammer or stone shaping tool or any instrument of iron was heard in the temple as it was being built. The doorway of the side room in the middle of the side of the temple [was] on the south; they went up with a stairway to the middle and from the middle to the third [floor]. So he built the house and finished it. He covered the temple [with] rafters and wood planks and with the cedars. He also built the structure against all of the temple five cubits in height and fastened it to the temple with beams of cedar. Then the word of Yahweh came to Solomon, saying, "[Regarding] this temple that you are building: if you walk in my ordinances and if you do my judgments and you keep all my commandments to walk in them, then I will establish my promise with you which I made to David your father. And I will dwell {among} the {Israelites}, and I will not forsake my people Israel." So Solomon built the temple and finished it. He lined the walls {of the inside of the house} with boards of cedar; from the floor of the temple up to the rafters of the ceiling he covered [them with] wood {on the inside}. He also covered the floor of the temple with cypress boards. He built twenty cubits from the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor up to the ceiling, and he built for it an inner sanctuary on the inside, as the {most holy place}. The main hall of the temple was forty cubits {in front of the inner sanctuary}, with the cedar within the inner house [having] carvings of gourds and buds of flowers. It [was] entirely of cedar; there was not a stone visible. Now [in] the inner sanctuary in the middle of the temple he prepared the inside to place the ark of the covenant of Yahweh there. In front, the inner sanctuary [was] twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it [with] pure gold and covered the altar [with] cedar. Solomon overlaid the temple on the inside [with] pure gold, and he drew across it with golden chains in front of the inner sanctuary, which he overlaid with gold. All of the temple he overlaid with gold until all of the temple [was] finished; all of the altar which belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold. He made two cherubim of olive wood for the inner sanctuary, ten cubits high. Five cubits [was] the first wing of the cherub, and five cubits the second wing of the cherub, from the tip of his [one] wing up to the tip of his [other] wing. The second cherub [was] ten cubits [according to] {the same} measurement, and [there] was one shape for the two cherubim. The height of the first cherub [was] ten cubits and so [was] the second cherub. He placed the cherubim in the middle of the inner house, and they spread out the wings of the cherubim; the wing of the first cherub touched against the wall and the wing of the second cherub [was] touching against the second wall; their wings [spread] to the middle of the house [and were] touching wing to wing. He also overlaid the cherubim with gold. On all of the walls around the house, he carved engravings of cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers both inside and out. He overlaid the floor of the house with gold both inside and out. He made doors of olive wood for the doorway of the inner sanctuary, [as well as for] the doorpost of the fifth doorframe. [On] the two doors of olive wood he made carvings of cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers, and he overlaid them with gold {by beating} out the gold on the cherubim and the palm tree images. Thus he made doorframes of olive wood on four sides for the doorway of the main hall and two doors of cypress wood; one door [with] two folding panels and the second door [with] two folding panels. He carved cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers and overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work. Then he built the inner courtyard [with] three rows of dressed stone and a row of cedar beams. In the fourth year, the house of Yahweh was founded in the month of Ziv. In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, that is, the eighth month, the house was finished [according] to all his specifications and [according] to all his plans. He had built it in seven years. Solomon built his house [over] thirteen years, and he finished all of his house. He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon; one hundred cubits its length, fifty cubits its width, and thirty cubits its height, on four rows of cedar pillars and cedar beams atop the pillars. It was covered with cedar above, and the supporting beams which [were] on the forty-five pillars, fifteen [to] the row. [There were] three rows of specially designed windows; [with] window to window three times. All of the doorways and the doorframes [had] four-sided casings, with opening to opposite opening three times. The hall of pillars he made fifty cubits [in] its length and thirty cubits [in] its width, and a porch [was] {in front of them}, with pillars and an overhang {in front of them}. He made the hall of the throne where he [would] pronounce judgment, the hall of justice, and [it was] covered with cedar from the floor to the rafters. His house where he would live in the next courtyard on the inside of the porch was like this work, and he would make a house like this porch for the daughter of Pharaoh whom Solomon had taken [as wife]. All of these [were] of precious stones, according to the measurement of dressed stone, sawn with a saw {on all sides}; from [the] foundation up to the eaves and from [the] outside up to the great courtyard. [The] foundation [was of] precious stones, [and] large stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits with precious stones above, {just the right size}, and cedar. The great courtyard all around had three rows of dressed stones and a row of cedar beams; for [both] the courtyard of the inner house of Yahweh and for the porch of the house. King Solomon invited and received Hiram from Tyre. He [was] the son of a widow woman from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father [was] a man of Tyre, an artisan of bronze. He was filled with wisdom and with ability and with the knowledge to do all the work with the bronze. And he came to King Solomon, and he did all of his work. He cast the two pillars [out of] bronze; eighteen cubits [was] the height of the first, and a cord of twelve cubits would encircle the second pillar. He made two capitals to place on the tops of the pillars [out of] molten bronze; the first capital [was] five cubits [in] height, and the second capital [was] five cubits [in] height. A network of latticework [and] wreaths of chainwork with small chains [were] for the capitals which [were] on top of the pillars; seven for the first capital and seven for the second capital. He also made the pillars with two rows around on the lattice, each to cover the capitals which [were] on top, [out of] the pomegranate-shaped ornaments, and thus he did for the second capital [as well]. And [on] the capitals which [were] on top of the pillars in the porch [were] works of lilies four cubits [high]. And capitals [were] on the two pillars above near the bulging section which was beside the lattice, and two hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments [were] in rows all around on the second capital. He set up the pillars for the porch of the main hall; he erected the pillar on the right and called its name Jakin, and he set up the pillar on the left and called its name Boaz. On the top of the pillars [was] a work of lilies; and so the work of the pillars [was] finished. He also made the molten sea, ten cubits {in diameter}, and five cubits [was] its height. A measuring line of thirty cubits would encircle it all around. Gourds [were] under its rim surrounding it all around; ten to the cubit, surrounding the sea all around with two rows of gourds, [which] were cast when he cast the metal. [The sea] was standing on twelve oxen, with three facing to the north, three facing to the west, three facing to the south, and three facing to the east. The sea [was] on top of them, with all of their hindquarters [turned] to the inside. Its thickness [was] a handbreadth, but its rim [was] as the work on the brim of a cup, [like the] bud of a lily; it held two thousand baths. He made the ten stands of bronze; each stand [was] four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits in height. Now this [was] the construction of the stands: there [were] frames for them and frames between the crossbars, and on the frames which [were] between the crossbars [were] lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the crossbars both above and beneath the lions and oxen [were] works of cascading wreaths. [There were] four bronze wheels for each of the stands, with bronze axles; the four support pedestals for these [were] under the basin, and the supports [were] decorated on each side [with] wreaths. Its opening from [the] inside of the capital and above [was] a cubit; its pedestal [was] a round work of a cubit and a half; moreover, on its opening [were] the carvings with four-sided frames, not circular. Four of the wheels [were] underneath the frames, and the axles of the wheels [were] on the stands. The height of each wheel [was] a cubit and a half. The construction of the wheel [was] like the construction of the wheel of the chariot; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their naves [were] all cast. The four supports [were] the four corners of each stand, with the stand supporting it. On top of the stand [was] half a cubit deep, circular all around, and on the top of the stand [were] its supports and its frames. He engraved on the plates, on its supports, and on its frame cherubim, lions and images of a palm tree, according to the space for each, with wreaths all around. He made the ten stands like this in one cast, with the same measurement and shape for each of them. He also made ten bronze basins, [each] holding forty baths; each basin [was] four cubits, one basin on each of the ten stands. He placed five of the stands on the south side of the house and five on the north side of the house, and the sea he set on the southeast side of the house. Hiram also made the basins and the shovels and the bowls for drinking wine; and so Hiram finished doing all of the work {that he was to do} for King Solomon in the house of Yahweh: the two pillars and the bowls of the capitals which [were] atop the two pillars, and the two lattice works to cover the two bowls of the capitals which [were] atop the pillars; and the four hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments for the two lattice works, the two rows of pomegranate-shaped ornaments for each latticework to cover the two bowls of the capitals which [were] on the surface of the pillars; and the ten stands and the ten basins on the stands; and the one sea and the twelve oxen under the sea; and the pots, the shovels, and the bowls for drinking wine. All the vessels of the tent which Hiram had made for King Solomon [for] the house of Yahweh [were] polished bronze. The king had cast them in the plain of the Jordan with the casting mold [set in] the ground between Succoth and Zarethan. Solomon left all of the vessels [unweighed] because of their very great abundance, so the weight of the bronze could not be determined. Solomon also made all of the vessels which [were] in the house of Yahweh: the golden altar and the golden table on which [was] the bread of the presence; as well as the five lampstands of beaten gold at the south and five lampstands at the north before the presence of the inner sanctuary, with the flower-shaped ornaments, the lamps, and the pair of tongs [all of gold]. The cups, the snuffers, the bowls for drinking wine, the bowls for the incense, and the firepans [were made from] beaten gold; the facades for the doors of the inner house, for the {most holy place}, for the doors of the main hall of the temple [were of] gold. [When] all of the work which king Solomon did on the house of Yahweh was completed, Solomon brought out the holy objects of his father David, the silver and the gold and the vessels, [which] he put in the treasury rooms of the house of Yahweh. At that time, Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the {families} of the {Israelites} before King Solomon, in order to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from the city of David, that is, Zion. All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the festival in the month of Ethnaim, that is, the seventh month. All the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. So they brought up the ark of Yahweh and the tent of assembly and all of the holy vessels that [were] in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel who were assembling with him in the presence of the ark [were] sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted nor numbered because of abundance. The priests brought the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, to the {most holy place}, under the wings of the cherubim, for the cherubim [were] spreading their wings over the place of the ark. The cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles from above. The poles [were] long, and the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place {in front of} the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen [from] the outside, and they are there until this day. There was not [anything] in the ark {except} the two tablets of stone which Moses had placed there at Horeb, where Yahweh {made} [a covenant] with the {Israelites} after they went out from the land of Egypt. When the priests went out from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of Yahweh. The priests [were] not able to stand to minister {because of the presence of} the cloud, for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh. Then Solomon said, "Yahweh has said that [he] would dwell in the very thick cloud. I have certainly built a lofty house for you, a place for you to live forever." [Then] the king turned his face around, and he blessed all of the assembly of Israel. (Now all the assembly of Israel was standing). Then he said, "Blessed be Yahweh the God of Israel who has promised with his mouth [to] David my father and fulfilled {by his oath}, saying, 'From the day that I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a house where my name might be, but I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.' {David my father desired} to build a house for the name of Yahweh the God of Israel, but Yahweh said to David my father, 'Because {you desired} to build a house for my name, you did well in that it was within your heart. However, you will not build the house, but your son who has come from your loins, he shall build the house for my name.' Yahweh has carried out his promise which he had made; I have risen in place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel as Yahweh promised, and I have built the house for the name of Yahweh the God of Israel. I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant which Yahweh made with our ancestors when He brought them out of the land of Egypt." Then Solomon stood before the altar of Yahweh in the presence of all of the assembly of Israel, and he spread out his hands [to] the heavens, and he said, "O Yahweh, God of Israel, there is no god like you in the heavens above or on the earth beneath, keeping the covenant and the loyal love for your servants who are walking before you with all their heart. You have kept for your servant David my father what you promised to him, and you have spoken with your mouth, and with your hand you have fulfilled [it] this very day. So then, O Yahweh, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you promised to him, saying, 'For you, no man will be cut off from before me who [will be] sitting on the throne of Israel, if only your sons keep their ways to walk before me just as you have walked before me.' So then, O God of Israel, please let your word be confirmed which you have promised to your servant David my father. For will God really dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens could not contain you! {How could} this house that I have built? You must regard the prayer of your servant and his plea! O Yahweh my God, listen to the pleading and to the prayer that your servant [is] praying before you this day, so that your eyes [will] be open to this house night and day, to the place which you said, 'My name will be there,' to hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. You must listen to the plea of your servant and your people Israel which they pray [toward] this place; and you must hear from the place where you live, from heaven you must hear and you must forgive. [If] a man sins against his neighbor and he pronounces an oath against him to curse him, and the curse comes before your altar in this house, then you shall hear in heaven and you shall act and you shall judge your servant, to declare the wicked guilty by bringing his way upon his head and {to declare the righteous innocent} by rewarding him according to his righteousness. When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy {because} they sinned against you, and [when] they turn to you and confess your name and pray and beg for mercy from you in this house, then you shall hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and you shall bring them back to the ground which you gave to their ancestors. When you shut up the heavens so there is no rain because they have sinned against you, then they pray to this place and they confess your name and they return from their sin because you punished them, then you shall hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, for you will teach them the good way in which they should go, and you will give rain upon your land which you have given to your people as an inheritance. If there should be in the land famine or disease, if there should be blight or mildew or locust or caterpillars, if it happens that his enemy lays siege against him in the land of his gates, if any plague or any disease, any prayer or any plea which is [offered] by any person for all of your people Israel, who each knows the infestation of his [own] heart and spreads out his palms to this house, then you shall hear in heaven the place of your dwelling, and you shall forgive and act and give to the man whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you alone know the heart of all the sons of man. [Do these things] so that they may fear you all the days that they live on the face of the land that you gave to our ancestors. Also for the foreigner who is not from your people Israel, and he comes from a distant land because of your name, (for they shall hear of your great name and your powerful hand and your outstretched arm), and he shall come and pray toward this house, you shall hear in heaven, the place of your dwelling, and act according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you as your people Israel, and to know that your name has been invoked over this house that I have built. If your people go out to battle against his enemy in the way that you shall send them and they pray to Yahweh, toward the city which you have chosen and the house which I have built for your name, then you shall hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and you shall {vindicate} them. "If they sin against you (for there is not a person who does not sin) and you are angry with them and you give them to an enemy and they take them captive to the land of the enemy far or near, and then they return their heart in the land where they have been taken captive and they return and plead to you in the land of their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned and we did wrong. We acted wickedly,' if they return to you with all of their heart and with all of their soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive and they pray to you toward their land which you gave to their ancestors, the city that you have chosen and the house that you built for your name, then you shall hear in heaven, the place of your dwelling, their prayer and their plea, and you shall {vindicate them}. You shall forgive your people who sinned against you, [even] for all their transgressions which they committed against you. You shall give them compassion before their captors so that they may have compassion on them, for they [are] your people and your inheritance whom you brought from Egypt from the middle of the smelter of iron. [O,] that your eyes [may] be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, to listen to them in all things [when] they call to you. For you have separated them for yourself as an inheritance from all the peoples of the earth, as you promised through the hand of Moses your servant when you brought out our ancestors from Egypt, my Lord Yahweh!" It happened that when Solomon finished praying to Yahweh all of the prayer and this plea, he got up from before the altar of Yahweh, from kneeling down on his knees with his palms outstretched to heaven. He stood and blessed all of the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, "Blessed be Yahweh who gave a resting place to his people Israel. According to all that he promised, not one word has fallen from all of his promises [concerning] the good which he spoke through the hand of Moses his servant. May Yahweh our God be with us as he was with our ancestors, and may he not leave us or abandon us, to incline our hearts toward him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his judgments which he commanded our ancestors. Let these my words which I pleaded before Yahweh [be] near to Yahweh our God, by day and by night, to maintain the justice of his servant and the justice of his people Israel {as each day requires} so that all of the people of the earth may know that Yahweh, he [is] God; there is none other. Let your heart be completely with Yahweh our God by walking in his statutes, by keeping his commands as this day." Then the king and all of Israel with him offered a sacrifice in the presence of Yahweh. Solomon sacrificed the fellowship offerings which he offered to Yahweh: twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep; and the king and all of the {Israelites} dedicated the house of Yahweh. On that day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard before the house of Yahweh because he offered there the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings because the bronze altar that was in the presence of Yahweh was too small to hold the burnt offerings and the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings. Solomon held the festival at that time and all of Israel with him, a great assembly from Lebo Hamath up to the wadi of Egypt before Yahweh our God, for seven days [and] seven days, [a total of] fourteen days. On the eighth day, he sent the people away, and they blessed the king, and they went to their tents rejoicing and {in good spirits} because of all the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people. It happened that as Solomon finished the building of the house of Yahweh, the king's house, and all the things Solomon desired to do, Yahweh appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him in Gibeon. Yahweh said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your plea which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house which you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. As for you, if you walk before me as David your father walked, with {integrity of heart} and with uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, [and if] you keep my ordinances and my judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, 'A man will not be cut off for you from upon the throne of Israel.' "If ever you or any of your descendants turn from [following] me and do not keep my commandments [and] my ordinances that I have set before you and you go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then I will cut Israel off from the face of the land that I have given to them, [even] the house which I have consecrated for my name I will cast away from my face; and Israel shall become a proverb and an object of taunting among all the peoples. This house shall become a heap of ruins; all those passing by will be appalled by it and hiss, and they will say, 'On what account did Yahweh do this to this land and to this house?' And they will say, 'Because they have forsaken Yahweh their God who brought their ancestors out from the land of Egypt and they embraced other gods and bowed down to them and served them. Therefore, Yahweh brought on them all of this disaster.'" It happened at the end of twenty years [in] which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Yahweh and the house of the king, [since] Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with wood of cedar and with wood of cypresses and with the gold according to all his desire, then King Solomon gave twenty cities in the land of the Galilee to Hiram. So Hiram went out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, but they were not right in his eyes. So he said, "What [are] these cities that you have given to me, my brother?" {So they are called the land of Cabul until this day}. Then Hiram sent to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold. This [is] the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to build the house of Yahweh and his house, the Millo, the walls of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had gone up and captured Gezer and burnt it with fire. He had also killed the Canaanites who were living in the city and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, the wife of Solomon. Solomon rebuilt Gezer and Lower Beth-Horon, [as well as] Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness in the land; and [he also built] all of the storage cities which were Solomon's, the cities [for] the chariots, the cities [for] the cavalry, and all of Solomon's desire that he wanted to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his dominion. All of the people who were remaining from the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites who [were] not of the {Israelites}, their children who remained after them in the land, whom the {Israelites} were not able to completely destroy, Solomon conscripted them for forced labor, until this very day. But from the {Israelites} Solomon did not make a slave, but they [were] the men of war, his officers, his commanders, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and his cavalry. These [were] the commanders of the overseers who [were] over the work for Solomon, five hundred and fifty, ruling over the people doing the work. As soon as the daughter of Pharaoh went up from the city of David to her house which he built for her, then he built the Millo. Solomon sacrificed three times a year: burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar that he had built to Yahweh, and he offered incense with it before Yahweh; and so he completed the house. King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-Geber which [is] near Elath on the shore of the {Red Sea} in the land of Edom. Hiram sent his servants with the fleet of ships, {sailors} who knew the sea, with the servants of Solomon. They went to Ophir and imported from there four hundred and twenty talents of gold, and they brought it to King Solomon. Now the queen of Sheba had heard of the fame of Solomon regarding the name of Yahweh, and she came to test him with hard questions. So she came to Jerusalem with very great wealth; [with] camels carrying spices, very much gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon, and she spoke to him all that was on her heart. {Solomon answered all of her questions}; there was not a thing hidden from the king which he could not explain to her. When the queen of Sheba observed all the wisdom of Solomon and the house which he had built, the food of his table, the seat of his servants, the {manner} of his servants and their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings which he offered in the house of Yahweh, {she was breathless}. Then she said to the king, "The report which I heard in my land was true concerning your accomplishments and your wisdom. I had not believed the report to be true until I came and my eyes had seen, and behold! The half had not been told to me. {Your wisdom and prosperity surpass} the report that I had heard. Happy [are] your men and happy [are] these your servants who stand before you continually hearing your wisdom. May Yahweh your God be blessed, who has delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel, because of the love of Yahweh for Israel forever, and he has made you king to execute justice and righteousness." Then she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, abundant spices, and precious stones. Spices as these did not come again in such abundance [as that which] the queen of Sheba brought to King Solomon. Moreover, the fleet of ships of Hiram which carried the gold from Ophir [also] brought from Ophir abundant amounts of almug wood and precious stones. The king made a raised structure for the house of Yahweh and for the house of the king out of the almug wood, as well as lyres and harps for the singers. [This much] almug wood has not come nor been seen [again] up to this day. King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all of her desire that she asked, besides that which {King Solomon freely offered her}. Then she turned and went to her land with her servants. The weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year [was] six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, apart from [that of] the men of the traders and the profits of the traders, and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the land. King Solomon made two hundred shields of hammered gold; six hundred [measures of] gold went up over each shield. Also [he made] three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went up over each of the small shields; and the king put them [into] the House of the Forest of Lebanon. The king also made a large ivory throne, and he overlaid it [with] fine gold. Six steps [led up] to the throne, and [there was] a circular top to the throne behind it, and armrests were {on each side of the seat}, with two lions standing beside the armrests. Twelve lions [were] standing there, six on each of the six steps {on either side}; nothing like this was made for any of the kingdoms. All of the drinking vessels of King Solomon [were] gold, and all the vessels for the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver; [it was] not considered as something valuable in the days of Solomon. For the fleet of Tarshish belonged to the king [and was] on the sea with the fleet of Hiram; once every three years the fleet of Tarshish used to come carrying gold and silver, ivory, apes, and baboons. King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth with respect to wealth and wisdom. All of the earth [was] seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. They [were] each bringing his gift; objects of silver and objects of gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. {This used to happen year after year}. Solomon gathered chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses. He stationed them in the cities of the chariots and with the king in Jerusalem. The king made the silver in Jerusalem as the stones, and the cedars he made as the sycamore fig trees which are in the Shephelah in abundance. The import of the horses which were Solomon's [was] from Egypt and from Kue; the traders of the king received [horses] from Kue at a price. A chariot went up and went out from Egypt at six hundred silver [shekels] and a horse at a hundred and fifty. So it was for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Aram; by their hand they were exported. King Solomon loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, Hittite; from the nations which Yahweh had said to the {Israelites}, "You shall not {marry them}, and they shall not {marry you}. They will certainly turn your heart after other gods." But Solomon clung to them to love. He had seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart. It happened at the time of Solomon's old age that his wives guided his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully with Yahweh his God as the heart of David his father [had been]. Solomon went after Ashtoreth the god of [the] Sidonians and after Molech the abhorrence of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of Yahweh and did not fully [follow] after Yahweh as David his father. At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain which {faces} Jerusalem and for Molech, the abomination of the {Ammonites}. Thus he did for all of his foreign wives, offering incense and sacrificing to their gods. Yahweh was angry with Solomon, for he had turned his heart from Yahweh, the God of Israel who had appeared to him twice. And he had commanded him concerning this matter not to go after other gods, but he did not keep that which Yahweh commanded. So Yahweh said to Solomon, "Because this was with you, and you did not keep my covenant and my ordinances which I have commanded you, I will certainly tear the kingdom from you, and I will give it to your servant. However, I will not do it in your days, for the sake of David your father; from the hand of your son I will tear it [away]. Yet all of the kingdom I will not tear [away]. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen." Then Yahweh raised an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite, from the descendants of that king in Edom. It had happened that when David was at Edom, Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain, and he killed every male in Edom. For Joab and all Israel had stayed there six months until he exterminated every male in Edom. But Hadad himself had fled, and some Edomite men from the servants of his father with him, to go to Egypt, when Hadad [was] a young boy. They had set out from Midian until they came to Paran where they took men from Paran with them and came [to] Egypt, [to] Pharaoh king of Egypt. He gave to him a house and assigned food for him and gave him land. Hadad found great favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, and he gave him the sister of his wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen, as wife. The sister of Tahpenes bore Genubath his son for him, and Tahpenes weaned him in the middle of the house of Pharaoh. Genubath was [in] the house of Pharaoh in the midst of the children of Pharaoh. Now Hadad heard in Egypt that David had slept with his ancestors and that Joab the commander of the army was dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Send me away that I may go to my land." Pharaoh said to him, "What do you lack with me that you now [are] seeking to go to your land?" He said, "No, but you must surely send me away." God had [also] raised Rezon the son of Eliada as an adversary against him, who had fled from Hadadezer the king of Zobah, his master. He gathered men around him and he became the commander of bandits. When David killed [some of] them, they went to Damascus and settled {there}, and they reigned in Damascus. He was an adversary for Israel all the days of Solomon, and [along with] the evil that Hadad [did], he detested Israel [while] he reigned over Aram. Now Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah (now the name of his mother [was] Zeruah, a widow woman), a servant of Solomon {rebelled against the king}. This [is] the reason that he rebelled against the king: [when] Solomon built the Millo, he closed the gap of the city of David his father. Now the man Jeroboam [was] a man of ability, and Solomon saw that the young man {was a diligent worker}, so he appointed him over all of the forced labor for the house of Joseph. It happened at that time that Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, and he accidentally met Ahijah the Shilonite the prophet on the way. Now he had clothed himself with new clothing. While the two of them [were] alone in the field, Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which [was] on him and tore it into twelve pieces. Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I [am about] to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give to you ten tribes, but one tribe shall be for him, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel; because he has forsaken me, and they bowed down to Ashtoreth, the god of [the] Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Molech, the god of the {Ammonites}. They did not walk in my ways to do right in my eyes, my ordinances, or my judgments, as [did] David his father. But I will not take all of the kingdom from his hand, but I will make him a leader all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my ordinances. But I will take the kingship from the hand of his son, and I will give ten tribes to you. To his son I will give one tribe in order to be a lamp for my servant David, always before my face, in Jerusalem the city in which I have chosen to place my name. You I will take, and you shall reign over all your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. It shall be that if you listen to all that I command you and you walk in my ways and you do right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, then I will be with you, and I will build an enduring house for you as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. I will punish the offspring of David on account of this; however, not always.'" Then Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam got up and fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king of Egypt, and he remained in Egypt until the death of Solomon. Now the rest of the acts of Solomon and all that he did and his wisdom; [are] they not written on the scroll of the acts of Solomon? All the days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all of Israel [were] forty years. Then Solomon slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son became king in his place.

In the twentieth year of Jeroboam the king of Israel, Asa became the king of Judah. He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [was] Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. Asa did right in the eyes of Yahweh, like David his ancestor. read more.
He put away the male shrine prostitutes from the land, and he removed all of the idols that his ancestors made. Also, he had Maacah his mother removed from the office of queen mother, [as] she had made a repulsive image for the Asherah. Asa also cut down her repulsive image and burned it in the Wadi Kidron. But the high places he did not remove. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was completely with Yahweh all of his days. He brought the holy objects of his father and his [own] holy objects to the house of Yahweh, silver and gold and utensils. There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all of their days. Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and he built Ramah {to hinder the coming and going of anyone to Asa} king of Judah. Asa took all of the silver and gold remaining in the storerooms of the house of Yahweh and in the treasury rooms of the house of the king, and he gave them into the hand of his servants; so King Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad the son of Tabrimmon the son of Hezion, the king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying, "[Let there be] a covenant between me and you, between my father and your father. Look, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel that he may go up [away] from me." Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa, and he sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and he attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-Beth-Maacah, and all of Kinnereth, in addition to all the land of Naphtali. When Baasha heard, he stopped building Ramah, and he lived in Tirzah. Then King Asa proclaimed among all of Israel that there was no one free from obligation, so they carried the stones of Ramah and its wood with which Baasha had built, and King Asa rebuilt Geba in Benjamin with them, and the Mizpah. The remainder of the acts of Asa, all of his achievements, all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? But at the time of his old age, {he developed a foot disease}. Asa slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David his ancestor; Jehoshaphat his son became king in his place.

Then Nathan said to him, "You [are] the man! Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: 'I anointed you as king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you the household of your master and the women of your master into your lap. I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah; if [that had been too] little, I would have added to you {much more}. Why have you despised the word of Yahweh by doing evil in his eyes? Uriah the Hittite you have struck down with the sword, and his wife you have taken to yourself as wife! You have killed him with the sword of the {Ammonites}! read more.
So then, a sword will not turn away from your house forever, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife!' Thus says Yahweh, 'Look, I [am] going to raise up evil against you from [within] your house, and I will take your women before your eyes, and I will give them to your neighbor, and he shall sleep with your wives {in broad daylight}. Though you did this in secret, I will do this thing before all of Israel {in broad daylight}!'"

"Arise, go down to meet Ahab the king of Israel who is in Samaria. Look in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession of it. You shall say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: "Have you committed murder and also taken possession?" ' You shall also say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: "In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will also lick your blood." '" Then Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, my enemy?" He said, "I have found you because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh. read more.
'Look, I [am] bringing disaster on you, and I will sweep away after you. I will cut off for Ahab {every male} in Israel, bond or free. I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, {because you made me angry} and have caused Israel to sin.' Moreover, concerning Jezebel, Yahweh has said, 'The dogs will eat Jezebel in the outer rampart of Jezreel.' The one who dies for Ahab in the city, the dogs will eat; the one who dies in the open country, the birds of heaven will eat."

It happened that just when all of Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all of Israel. Not one [followed] after the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone.

Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and he resided in it. Then he went out from there and built Penuel. Then Jeroboam {said to himself}, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem. The heart of this people will return to their master Rehoboam the king of Judah, and they shall kill me and {return to him}." read more.
And the king had decided, so he made two golden calves and he said to them, "{You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough}; here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt." He put one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. This thing became a sin, and the people walked before the one as far as Dan. Then he built the houses on the high places, and he appointed priests {from all walks of life} who were not from the sons of Levi. Jeroboam also inaugurated a religious feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the religious feast which was in Judah, and he offered [sacrifices] on the altar. Thus he did in Bethel, by sacrificing to the calves that he had made; and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. He offered [sacrifices] on the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month which his heart had devised. He inaugurated a religious feast for the {Israelites}, and he went up to the altar to offer incense. Suddenly a man of God from Judah came to Bethel, by the word of Yahweh, while Jeroboam [was] standing at the altar to offer incense. Then he proclaimed against the altar by the word of Yahweh and said, "O altar, altar, thus says Yahweh: 'Look, a son will be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall burn on you.'" He gave a sign on that day, saying, "This [is] the sign that Yahweh has predetermined: Look, [this] altar will be torn [apart], and the ashes that [are] on it will be poured out." It happened at the moment the king heard the word of the man of God that he cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him!" But his hand which he stretched out to him was paralyzed, and he was not able to draw it back to himself. Then the altar was torn [apart] and the ashes from the altar poured out according to the sign which the man of God had announced by the word of Yahweh. Then the king responded and said to the man of God, "Please entreat the favor of Yahweh your God, and pray for me that my hand may return to me." So the man of God entreated the face of Yahweh, and the hand of the king returned to him, as it was in the beginning. Then the king spoke to the man of God, "Come with me to the house and refresh yourself, that I may give you a gift." Then the man of God said to the king, "Even if you give to me half of your house I will not come with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water in this place, for the word of Yahweh has commanded me, saying, 'You shall not eat bread nor drink water, and you shall not return on the way that you came.'" So he went another way, and he did not return by the way on which he had come to Bethel. Now a certain older prophet was living in Bethel, and his son came and recounted to him all of the things that the man of God had done that day in Bethel [and] the words he had spoken to the king, and they told them to their father. Then their father asked them, "{Which way did he go}?" His sons had seen the way which the man of God who had come from Judah had taken. Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it and went after the man of God. He found him sitting under the oak and said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" He said, "I [am]." Then he said to him, "Come with me to the house and eat [some] food." Then he said, "I am not able to return with you or to go with you. I will not eat food nor will I drink water with you in this place. For a word [came] to me by the word of Yahweh, 'You shall not eat food, nor shall you drink water there. You shall not return to go by the way that you came.'" Then he said, "I [am] also a prophet like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, 'Let him return with you to your house that he may eat food and drink water.'" He lied to him. So he returned with him and ate food in his house and drank water. Now it happened that they [were] sitting at the table, and the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who brought him back. He proclaimed to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says Yahweh: 'Because you have disobeyed the word of Yahweh and have not kept the command which Yahweh your God commanded you, but you have returned and have eaten food and drank water in the place which he ordered you not to eat food nor to drink water, then your dead body shall not return to the tomb of your ancestors.'" It happened after he ate food and drank water that he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. When he left, a lion found him on the road and killed him, and his dead body [was] thrown on the road with the donkey standing beside it, and the lion [was] standing by the dead body. As men [were] passing by and they saw the dead body thrown in the road and the lion standing beside the dead body, they came and told it in the city where the old prophet [was] living. When the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard, he said, "It [is] the man of God who disobeyed the mouth of Yahweh, and Yahweh has given him to the lion. He tore him in pieces and killed him according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken to him." Then he spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled it. He went and found his dead body thrown in the road and a donkey with the lion standing beside it, but the lion had not eaten the corpse nor attacked the donkey. So the prophet lifted up the corpse of the man of God and put it on the donkey and brought it back. He came to the city of the old prophet to mourn him and to bury him. He put his corpse in his tomb, and they mourned over him, "Alas, my brother!" It happened after he buried him that he said to his sons, "When I die, you shall bury me in the tomb where the man of God [is] buried; you shall lay my bones beside his bones. For surely, the thing which he proclaimed by the word of Yahweh against the altar which [is] in Bethel will happen, [as it will] against all the houses of the high places which [are] in the cities of Samaria." After this event, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but he returned and [again] made priests for the high places of people from {all walks of life}. He filled his hand with all [his] desire and became [one of] the priests of the high places [himself]. This matter became sin in the house of Jeroboam, to make it disappear and to destroy [it] from the surface of the earth. At that time, Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill. Jeroboam said to his wife, "Please get up and disguise yourself so that they will not know that you [are] the wife of Jeroboam, and go [to] Shiloh. Look, Ahijah the prophet is there, and he spoke concerning me [before I became] king over this people. You must take ten loaves of bread in your hand and cakes and a jar of honey, and you must go to him. He shall tell you what will happen to the boy." The wife of Jeroboam did so. She got up, went [to] Shiloh, and came [to] the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah was not able to see, for {his eyes were fixed} because of his old age. Then Yahweh said to Ahijah, "Look, the wife of Jeroboam [is] coming to seek a word from you about her son, for he [is] ill. {Thus and so} you shall say to her. When she comes, she [will be] disguising herself." It happened at the moment Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps coming through the doorway, he said, "Come [in], wife of Jeroboam. Why [are] you making yourself unrecognizable? I have been sent a hard [message] for you: Go, tell Jeroboam, 'Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: "Because I raised you from the midst of the people and I made you leader over my people Israel, I tore the kingdom from the house of David and I gave it to you. But you were not like my servant David who kept my commandments, and who went after me with all his heart, to do only [what is] right in my eyes. But you did more evil than all who were before you. You have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten idols to provoke me, but me you have {completely disregarded}. Therefore, look, I am about to bring disaster upon the house of Jeroboam, and I will cut off {males} from Jeroboam, bond or free, in Israel. I will burn after the house of Jeroboam as one burns after the manure, until it is finished. He who dies for Jeroboam in the city, the dogs will eat. He who dies in the open field, the birds from the heavens will eat, for Yahweh has spoken [it]." ' As for you, get up. Go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child will die. All of Israel will mourn for him, and they will bury him. This one alone will come to a tomb for Jeroboam, because a good thing has been found in him by Yahweh the God of Israel in the house of Israel. Yahweh will raise up a king for himself over Israel who will even now cut off the house of Jeroboam this day. Yahweh will strike Israel as one shakes the reed plant in the water, and he will root Israel up from this good land that he gave to their ancestors. He will scatter them beyond the River because they have made their sacred poles [which are] provoking Yahweh. He will give up Israel because of the sin of Jeroboam which he sinned and which he caused Israel to sin." Then the wife of Jeroboam got up, went, and came to Tirzah. [As] she [was] coming to the threshold of the house, the boy died. They buried him and all of Israel mourned for him, according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet. The remainder of the acts of Jeroboam, how he fought and how he reigned, behold, they [are] written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel. The days which Jeroboam reigned were twenty-two years, and he slept with his ancestors. Then Nadab his son became king in place of him.

Then he brought out the son of the king, put the crown on him with the testimony, and they made him king, anointed him, clapped [their] hands, and said, "[Long] live the king!"

Then they brought out the son of the king and set upon him the crown and [gave him] the statute and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, "{Long live the king}!"

Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it over his head and kissed him and said, "{Has not} Yahweh anointed you as leader over his inheritance?

And all the officials and mighty warriors, and also all the sons of King David, {pledged allegiance to} King Solomon.

In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, [reigning] sixteen years. 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. The remainder of the acts of Joash and all that he did, his powerful [deeds], and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, [are] they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? read more.
Then Joash slept with his ancestors, and Jeroboam sat on his throne. Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. 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. [Yet] the man of God became angry against him and said, "For striking five or six times, then you would have defeated Aram until finishing [them], but now you will defeat Aram [only] three times." Elisha died and they buried him. Now the raiding parties of Moab came {in the spring}. And it happened that they [were] burying a man; suddenly they saw the marauding band, so they threw the man in the grave of Elisha. [As he] went [in], the man touched the bones of Elisha, and became alive and got up on his feet! Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. 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. When Hazael king of Aram died, his son Ben-Hadad became king in his place. Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz returned and took the cities from the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael which he had taken from the hand of Jehoahaz his father in the war. Three times Jehoash defeated him and recovered the towns of Israel.

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. You have indeed defeated Edom and your heart is lifted up; enjoy the honor and stay home. Why should you provoke trouble so that you fall and Judah with you?" read more.
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. Now the remainder of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his powerful [deeds], and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, [are] they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? Then Jehoash slept with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.

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 was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. He did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that Uzziah his father had done. read more.
Only the high places were not removed; the people still [were] sacrificing and offering incense on the high places. He built the upper gate of the temple of Yahweh. Now the remainder of the acts of Jotham which he did, [are] they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? (Now, in those days, Yahweh began to send Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah.) So Jotham slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David his ancestor, and his son Ahaz became king in his place.

And over the cattle pastured in the Sharon [was] Shitrai the Sharonite. And over the cattle in the valley [was] Shaphat the son of Adlai.

Now there was a man from the servants of Saul on that day, detained before Yahweh, whose name [was] Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's shepherds.

So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah the son of Harhas, the keeper of the robes. Now she [was] living in Jerusalem in the second district. Then they spoke to her,

Then Hilkiah and those whom the king [had sent] went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, son of Tikvath, son of Hasrah, keeper of the garments. (Now she was living in Jerusalem in the second district.) And they spoke to her concerning this.

Now in the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Joram son of Jehoshaphat became the king of Judah. He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He walked in the way of the kings of Israel as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab became his wife, and he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. read more.
Yet Yahweh was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant, as he had promised to give him a lamp for his sons always. In his days, Edom rebelled {against the rule} of Judah, and they set up a king over them. So Joram crossed over to Zair and all the chariots with him. It happened that he arose [by] night and attacked Edom who had surrounded him and the commanders of the chariots; but the army fled to their tents. So Edom has rebelled {against the rule} of Judah until this day; then Libnah [also] rebelled at that time. The remainder of the acts of Joram and all that he did, [are] they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? So Joram slept with his ancestors, and he was buried with his ancestors in the city of David, and Ahaziah his son became king in place of him.

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. He did right in the eyes of Yahweh, only not as David his ancestor; as all which Jehoash his father had done, he did. read more.
Only the high places were not removed; the people [were] still sacrificing and offering incense on the high places. It happened that when the kingdom was firmly in his hand, he killed his servants who had killed his father the king. 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. You have indeed defeated Edom and your heart is lifted up; enjoy the honor and stay home. Why should you provoke trouble so that you fall and Judah with you?" 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. Now the remainder of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his powerful [deeds], and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, [are] they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? Then Jehoash slept with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place. Amaziah the son of Jehoash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. The remainder of the acts of Amaziah, [are] they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? They conspired against him in Jerusalem, so he fled to Lachish. But they sent [men] after him to Lachish, and they killed him there. Then they carried him on the horses, and he was buried with his ancestors in the city of David.

When your days [are] full and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you who will go out from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he will be a son for me, whom I will punish when he does wrong, with a rod of men and with blows of the {human beings}. read more.
But my loyal love shall not depart from him as I took [it] from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before you; your throne shall be established forever." '"

Once I have sworn by my holiness, 'I will surely not lie to David, His offspring will endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. Like [the] moon it will be steadfast forever, and [like] an enduring witness in the sky.'" Selah

" 'You will not curse God, and you will not curse a leader among your people.

Do not curse the king even in your thoughts, and do not curse the rich even in your own bedroom, for a bird of the sky may carry your voice; a winged messenger may repeat your words.

Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and he walked in the way of his father and in his sin that he caused Israel to commit. Baasha son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. Now Nadab and all of Israel [were] laying siege to Gibbethon,

Now the remainder of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, [are] they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?

In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah. Three years he reigned in Jerusalem. The name of his mother [was] Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. He walked in all the sins of his father that he had done before him, and his heart was not fully with Yahweh his God as the heart of David his father. read more.
For the sake of David, Yahweh his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by establishing his son after him and by causing Jerusalem to exist; because David did right in the eyes of Yahweh and he didn't turn aside from all that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. The remainder of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? There was also war between Abijam and Jeroboam. Abijam slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in the city of David, and Asa his son became king in his place.

And Ahithophel [was] an adviser to the king, and Hushai the Arkite [was] a friend of the king.

Azariah the son of Nathan [was] over the governors, and Zabud the son of Nathan was a priest, an advisor to the king.

[The] kings of [the] earth establish themselves, and the rulers conspire together against Yahweh and his anointed:

Then he speaks to them in his wrath, and in his fury he terrifies them:

You will break them with an iron rod. Like a potter's vessel you will shatter them."

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.

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. read more.
Hoshea the son of Elah conspired against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and he attacked and killed him. He reigned in place of him in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. Now the remainder of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, look, they are written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel.

Ahaziah son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and he went in the way of his father and his mother and in the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin. He served Baal and bowed down to him; and he provoked Yahweh the God of Israel according to all that his father did.

The remainder of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, [are] they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?

Ahishar [was] over the palace, and Adoniram the son of Abda [was] over the forced labor.

And Zikri, a mighty warrior of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the son of the king, Azrikam the commander of the house, and Elkanah the second to the king.

the food of his table, the seat of his servants, the {manner} of his servants and their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings which he offered in the house of Yahweh, {she was breathless}.

And she said to the king, "The word which I heard in my land concerning your words and your wisdom [is] true,

{With patience} a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone.

The wrath of a king [is] a messenger of death, but one who is wise will appease it.

However, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel and they said, "No, but there must be a king over us, so that we {also} may be like all the nations, and our king may rule us and go out before us and fight our battles."

They said to him, "Look, you are old and your sons do not follow in your ways. So then appoint a king for us to judge us, like all the nations.

A king who judges with truthfulness [to] the poor, his throne will be established forever.

An abomination to kings [is] doing evil, for by righteousness the throne will be established.

And the king made steps for the house of Yahweh and the house of the king, and lyres and harps for the singers [from] the algum wood. And there was not seen [anything] like them before in the land of Judah.

They are led with joy and gladness. They enter [the] palace of [the] king.

Now Joab [was] over all the army of Israel and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was] over the Carites and over the Pelethites.

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was over] the Kerethites and the Pelethites, and the sons of David [were] priests.

The rage of a king growls like a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

Roaring like the lion [is the] dreaded anger of a king; he who provokes him forfeits his life.

Then Nathan said to him, "You [are] the man! Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: 'I anointed you as king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.

So he sent and brought him. Now he [was] ruddy with beautiful eyes and of {handsome} appearance. And Yahweh said, "Arise, anoint him, for this [is] he."

Jeroboam and all of the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had spoken: "Return to me on the third day."

When all of Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, "{What share do we have in David}? [There is] no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel! Now look to your house, David!" Then Israel went to their tents.

But David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him! For who has stretched out his hand against Yahweh's anointed one and remained blameless?"

David said to him, "How [is it that] you [were] not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy Yahweh's anointed one?"

Then Yahweh said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people concerning all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

But you today have rejected your God who always delivers you from all of your calamities and your distresses. You have said to him, 'No, but you must appoint a king over us!' So then present yourselves before Yahweh by your tribes and by your clans."

Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his uncle king in his place and changed his name [to] Zedekiah.

Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of Josiah his father, and he changed his name to Jehoiakim. Then he took Jehoahaz and brought [him] to Egypt, and he died there.

They said to him, "Caesar's." Then he said to them, "Therefore give to Caesar the things of Caesar, and to God the things of God!"

For because of this you also pay taxes, for [the authorities] are servants of God, busily engaged in this very [thing]. Pay to everyone [what is] owed: [pay] taxes to whom taxes [are due]; [pay] customs duties to whom customs duties [are due]; [pay] respect to whom respect [is due]; [pay] honor to whom honor [is due].

From the city he took one court official who [was] chief officer over the men of war, five men {from the king's council} who were found in the city, the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men from the people of the land being found in the city.

Happy [are] your men and happy [are] these your servants who stand before you continually hearing your wisdom.

but I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of these.

Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "[I will] disguise myself and go into the battle, but you wear your robes." So the king of Israel disguised himself, and he went into the battle.

And he changes the times and the seasons, and he deposes kings and he sets up kings; he gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to [men who] know understanding.

So then look! [Here is] the king you have chosen, for whom you have asked! Look, Yahweh has placed a king over you!

Ahishar [was] over the palace, and Adoniram the son of Abda [was] over the forced labor.

King Rehoboam sent Adoram who [was] over the forced labor, and all of Israel cast stones at him and he died, but King Rehoboam managed to get up on the chariot to flee [to] Jerusalem.

Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar [were] priests and Seraiah [was] scribe.

Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, [were] the secretaries; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud [was] the recorder.

Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, [were] the secretaries; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud [was] the recorder.

Joab the son of Zeruiah [was] over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud [was] secretary.

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was] over the army, and Zadok and Abiathar were priests.

Joab the son of Zeruiah [was] over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud [was] secretary.

And he changes the times and the seasons, and he deposes kings and he sets up kings; he gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to [men who] know understanding.

So Yahweh said to Solomon, "Because this was with you, and you did not keep my covenant and my ordinances which I have commanded you, I will certainly tear the kingdom from you, and I will give it to your servant.

Honor all [people], love the community of believers, fear God, honor the king.

Pay to everyone [what is] owed: [pay] taxes to whom taxes [are due]; [pay] customs duties to whom customs duties [are due]; [pay] respect to whom respect [is due]; [pay] honor to whom honor [is due].

But the Lord said to him, "Go, because this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.

Do you believe the prophets, King Agrippa? I know that you believe." But Agrippa [said] to Paul, "In a short time are you persuading me to become a Christian?"

"Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: Yahweh, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. And he himself has appointed me to build a house for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever among you [who is] from all of his people, may his God be with him and may he go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and may he build the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel. He is the God who [is] in Jerusalem. And let every survivor, from wherever he {resides} be assisted by the men of that place with silver and gold, with possessions and domestic animals, and with the freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem."

Then King Darius issued forth a decree, and they searched the house of the treasury of scrolls being stored in Babylonia. But it was in Ecbatana in the province of Media, in the citadel, that a certain scroll had written on it, "A record. In the first year of King Cyrus, he issued forth a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem. Let the house be built, the place where sacrifices are offered and let its foundations be raised. Its height [shall be] sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits, read more.
with three layers of great stones and a layer of timber. Let the new expenses be paid from the house of the king. Also, let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylonia, be returned and brought to the temple in Jerusalem to its place. Put them in the house of God." "Now then, Tattenai governor of [the province] Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and your associates, the envoys who are in [the province] Beyond the River--keep far away from there. Leave this work of the house of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God on its site. And I issue forth a decree for what you should do for these elders of the Jews to build this house of God. The full expense will be paid to these men from the riches of the king from the taxes of [the province] Beyond the River, without delay. Whatever may be needed--{young bulls}, young rams, sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil for the priests in Jerusalem--let it be given to them day by day with no negligence, that they may offer incense offerings to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his children. Furthermore, I issue forth a decree that if any person violates this decree, let a beam be pulled out from his house and let him be impaled on it. And let his house be made a pile of rubble on [account of] this. May the God who has set his name there overthrow any king or people who sets his hand to alter [or] to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, issue forth a decree. Let it be done with diligence."

and especially those who go after the flesh in defiling lust and who despise authority. Bold [and] arrogant, they do not tremble in awe [as they] blaspheme majestic beings,

the one who says to a king, 'You worthless man,' to noblemen, 'You wicked man,'

and especially those who go after the flesh in defiling lust and who despise authority. Bold [and] arrogant, they do not tremble in awe [as they] blaspheme majestic beings,

Despite that, in the same way also these [men], [because of their] dreams, defile the flesh and reject authority and blaspheme majestic beings.

"{And then} {when he is sitting} on the throne of his kingdom, then he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll {before} the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to revere Yahweh your God by {diligently observing} all the word of this law and these rules, [so as] not to exalt his heart above his countrymen and not to turn aside from the commandment to the right or to the left, so that {he may reign long over his kingdom}, he and his children in the midst of Israel."

Now Ahab son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah. Ahab son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. But Ahab son of Omri did evil in the eyes of Yahweh more than all who were before him. {If it wasn't enough that he went} after the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he also took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal the king of the Sidonians. He went and served Baal and bowed down to him. read more.
And he built an altar to Baal in the house of Baal which he had built in Samaria. Ahab also made the sacred pole, and {he continued to provoke} Yahweh the God of Israel more than all the kings of Israel who were before him. In his days, Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho; at the cost of Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundation, and at the cost of Segub his younger sibling, he set up its gates, according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke by the hand of Joshua the son of Nun. Elijah the Tishbite from Tishbe of Gilead said to Ahab, "{As Yahweh lives}, the God of Israel before whom I stand, there shall surely not be dew nor rain these years {except by my command}." Then the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, "Go from this place and turn to the east; you must hide yourself in the Wadi Kerith {which faces the Jordan}. It shall be that you shall drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the crows to sustain you there." So he went and did according to the word of Yahweh. He went and stayed in the Wadi Kerith {which faces the Jordan}. The crows [were] bringing bread and meat in the morning for him and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the wadi. It happened {after a while} that the wadi dried up, because there was no rain in the land. Then the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, "Get up and go to Zarephath which belongs to Sidon and stay there. Look, I have commanded a woman there, a widow, to sustain you." So he arose and went to Zarephath and came to the gate of the city. There [was] a widow woman gathering wood, so he called to her, and he said, "Please bring a little water for me in a vessel so that I can drink." She went to fetch [it], and he called to her and said, "Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand." She said, "{As Yahweh your God lives}, surely I do not have a cake, {but only a handful of flour} in the jar and a little olive oil in the jug. Here I [am] gathering a few pieces of wood, and I will go and prepare it for me and my son, that we might eat it and die." Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go and do according to your word; only make for me a small bread cake from it first, and bring it out to me. Make it for yourself and for your son afterward. For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'The jar of flour will not be emptied and the jug of olive oil will not run out until the day Yahweh gives rain on the surface of the earth.'" So she went and did according to the word of Elijah; then [both] she and he ate with her household for many days. The jar of flour was not emptied and the jug of olive oil did not run out, according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke by the hand of Elijah. It happened after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; and his illness was very severe until there was no breath left in him. She said to Elijah, "{What do you have against me}, O man of God, [that] you have come to me to make known my guilt and to cause my son to die?" Then he said to her, "Give me your son." He took him from her lap and carried him up to the upper room where he was staying, and he laid him on his bed. Then he called to Yahweh and said, "O Yahweh my God, are you also causing evil to come upon the widow with whom I [am] dwelling as an alien by causing her son to die?" He stretched himself out on the child three times and called to Yahweh and said, "O Yahweh my God, please let the life of this child return within him." Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child returned within him, and he lived. Elijah then took the child and brought him down from the upper room to the house and gave him to his mother. Elijah said, "Look, your son [is] alive." Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now this I know, that you [are] a man of God and the word of Yahweh in your mouth [is] truth." It happened many days [later] that the word of Yahweh came to Elijah in the third year, saying, "Go, present yourself to Ahab so that I may give rain on the surface of the earth." So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine [was] severe in Samaria. Ahab summoned Obadiah who [was] over the house. (Now Obadiah was fearing Yahweh greatly. It had happened that when Jezebel killed the prophets of Yahweh, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them {by fifties} in the cave and sustained them [with] food and water.) Ahab said to Obadiah, "Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the wadis. Perhaps we may find green grass that we may keep horses and mules alive and that we might not lose any of the animals." So they divided the land for themselves in order to pass through it; Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. It happened that Obadiah [was] on the way, and suddenly Elijah was there to meet him. When he recognized him, he fell on his face and said, "[Is] this you, my lord Elijah?" He said to him, "I [am]. Go, say to your lord, 'Elijah [is] here.'" He said, "How have I sinned that you [are] giving your servant into the hand of Ahab to kill me? {As Yahweh your God lives}, surely there is not a nation or a kingdom to which my lord has not sent me to seek you. [If] they would say, 'He is not here,' then he would make the kingdom or the nation swear that it could not find you. Now you [are] saying, 'Go, say to your lord: "Elijah [is] here." ' And it will happen that I will go from you and the Spirit of Yahweh will carry you up to where I do not know. Then I will come to tell Ahab, but he will not find you, and then he will kill me, [even though] your servant has feared Yahweh from my youth. Has it not been told to my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of Yahweh? I hid a hundred men of the prophets of Yahweh {by fifties} in the cave, and I sustained them [with] food and water. Now you [are] saying, 'Go, say to your lord: "Elijah [is] here," ' and he will kill me." Elijah said, "{As Yahweh of hosts lives}, before whom I stand, I will certainly show myself to him today." So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and he told him, so Ahab went to meet Elijah. When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, "[Is] this you [who] throws Israel into confusion?" He said, "I did not throw Israel into confusion; rather you and the house of your father [have] by forsaking the commands of Yahweh when you went after the Baals! So then, send [word] and assemble all of Israel to me on Mount Carmel, with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at the table of Jezebel." So Ahab sent [word] among the {Israelites}, and he assembled the prophets to Mount Carmel. Elijah approached to all the people and said, "How long [will] you [go] limping over two opinions? If Yahweh [is] God, go after him; but if Baal, go after him." But the people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, "I alone [am] left a prophet of Yahweh, but the prophets of Baal [are] four hundred and fifty men. Let them give us two bulls, and let them choose for themselves one bull, cut him in pieces, and put it on the wood, but don't let them start a fire on it. I will prepare the other bull and set it on the wood, but I will put no fire [on it]. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Yahweh, and it shall be that the god who answers by fire, he [is] God." Then all the people answered and said, "The word [is] good!" Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you [are] the majority, and call on the name of your god, but don't set fire [under it]." So they took the bull that he allowed to them, prepared it, and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, "O Baal, answer us!" But there was no voice and there was no answer, so they limped about the altar which they had made. It happened at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, "Call out with a loud voice, for he [is] a god! Perhaps he is meditating, or {is using the bathroom}, or [is] on a journey. Perhaps he [is] asleep and must wake up!" So they called out with a loud voice, and they cut themselves with swords and with spears as was their custom, until the blood poured out over them. It happened as noon passed, they raged until the [time of] the evening offering, but there was no voice, there was no answer, and no [one] paid attention. Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me," so all the people came closer to him. He repaired the altar of Yahweh [that had been] destroyed. Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of God came, saying, "Israel shall be your name." With them, he built an altar in the name of Yahweh, and he made a trench {which would have held} about two seahs of seed, all around the altar. And he arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces, and placed [it] on the wood. Then he said, "Fill four jars [with] water, and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood." He said, "Do [it] again!" They did [it] again. He said, "Do [it] a third time!" So they did [it] a third time. The water went all around the altar, and the trench also was filled [with] water. It happened at the offering of the [evening] oblation, Elijah the prophet went near, and he said, "O Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; let it be known today that you [are] God in Israel and [that] I [am] your servant and [that] I have done all of these things by your words. Answer me, O Yahweh, answer me; that this people may know that you, O Yahweh, [are] God and that you have turned their hearts back again." Then the fire of Yahweh fell, and it consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust; and the water which [was] in the trench it licked up! When all the people saw, they fell on their faces and said, "Yahweh, he [is] God! Yahweh, he [is] God!" Then Elijah said to them, "Seize the prophets of Baal; don't let any man of them escape!" So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the wadi of Kishon and killed them there. Then Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink, for [there is] the sound of the noise of rain." So Ahab went up to eat and to drink while Elijah went to the top of Carmel, bent down to the earth, and put his face between his knees. Then he said to his servant, "Please go [and] look in the direction of [the] sea." So he went up and looked; then he said, "There is nothing." Then he said, "Go back," seven times. It happened that at the seventh time, he said, "Look, there is a small cloud, as [the] hand of a man, coming up from the sea." Then [Elijah] said, "Go up, say to Ahab, 'Harness [your horses] and go down, lest the rain stop you.'" {In no time} the heavens grew black [with] clouds and wind, and there was heavy rain. Ahab rode and he went to Jezreel, but the hand of Yahweh was on Elijah; he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab as one comes to Jezreel. Then Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "Thus may the gods do [to me], and may they add [to it], surely at this time tomorrow I will make your life as the life of one of them!" Then he became afraid, got up, and {fled for his life}. He came [to] Beersheba which belongs to Judah, and he left his servant there. Then he went into the wilderness one day's journey, and he went and sat under a certain broom tree. Then {he asked Yahweh that he might die}, and he said, "It is enough now, Yahweh; take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." He lay down and fell asleep under a certain broom tree, and suddenly this angel [was] touching him and said to him, "Get up, eat!" He looked, and behold, a bread cake on hot coals [was] near his head and a jar of water, so he ate and drank. Then he did it again and lay down. The angel of Yahweh appeared a second [time] and touched him and said, "Get up, eat, for the journey is greater than you." So he got up, ate, drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights up to Horeb, the mountain of God. He came to the cave there and spent the night there. Suddenly the [word] of Yahweh came to him and asked him, "{Elijah, what are you doing here}?" Then he said, "I have been very zealous for Yahweh the God of hosts, for the {Israelites} have forsaken your covenant. They have demolished your altars, and they have killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left over, and they seek to take my life. He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before Yahweh." Suddenly Yahweh was passing by, with a great and strong wind ripping the mountains and crushing rocks before Yahweh; [but] Yahweh [was] not in the wind. After the wind, [there was] an earthquake; [but] Yahweh was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake [was] a fire, [but] Yahweh was not in the fire. After the fire [there was] the sound of a gentle whisper. It happened at the moment Elijah heard, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood [at] the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice [came] to him and said, "{Elijah, why are you here}?" He said, "I have been very zealous for Yahweh the God of Hosts, for the {Israelites} have forsaken your covenant, demolished your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword; I alone am left, and they seek to take my life!" Then Yahweh said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. Go and anoint Hazael as king over Aram; and Jehu son of Nimshi you shall anoint as king over Israel. You shall also anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-Meholah as prophet in your place. It shall be that the [one] who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. I will leave in Israel seven thousand, all of the knees that have not bowed down to Baal and all of the mouths that have not kissed him." So he went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat while he [was] plowing [with] twelve pairs of oxen before him. When he and the twelve passed Elijah, he threw his cloak on him. Then he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, "Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will go after you." Then he said, "Go, return, for what I have done to you?" So he returned from after him, and he took a pair of oxen and slaughtered them, and with the yoke of the oxen he boiled the flesh and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and served him. Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered all of his army, and thirty-two kings [were] with him, and horses and chariots. He went up and laid siege against Samaria and fought with it. He sent messengers to the city to Ahab king of Israel. He said to him, "Thus says Ben-Hadad: 'Your silver and your gold are mine, and your women and your best sons are mine.'" Then the king of Israel answered and said, "As your word, my master the king; I [am] yours, and all that is mine [is yours]." The messengers returned and said, "Thus says Ben-Hadad, saying, 'I sent to you saying, "Your silver and gold are mine, and your women and your best sons you must give to me." So [at this] time tomorrow, I will send my servants to you that they might search your house and the houses of your servants. All the desire of your eyes {they will lay hands on} and take it away.'" Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, "Please know and realize that this [man is] seeking trouble, for he sent to me for my women, my sons, my silver, and my gold, and I did not withhold [anything] from him." All of the elders and all of the people said to him, "Do not listen and do not consent." So he said to the messengers of Ben-Hadad, "Say to my lord the king, 'All that you demanded from your servant at the first, I will do, but this thing I am not able to do.'" Then the messengers went and {made a report to him}. Then Ben-Hadad sent to him and said, "Thus may the gods do to me and thus may they add if the dust of Samaria is sufficient for the hollow of a hand for all of the people who are at my feet." The king of Israel answered and said, "Tell [him], 'Let not him who girds on his armor boast as one who takes off his armor.'" It happened at the moment he heard this word, he and the kings [were] drinking in the {tents}. He said to his servants, "Get ready [to attack]." So they got ready [to attack] the city. Suddenly a certain prophet approached Ahab king of Israel and said, "Thus says Yahweh: 'Have you seen all this great crowd? Behold, I [am] giving it into your hand today, that you may know that I [am] Yahweh.'" Ahab said, "By whom?" And he said, "Thus says Yahweh: 'By the servants of the commanders of the provinces.'" He asked, "Who will begin the battle?" And he said, "You." So he mustered the servants of the commanders of the provinces, and there were two hundred and thirty-two. After them he mustered all of the army, all the sons of Israel, seven thousand. They went out at noon while Ben-Hadad [was] drinking [himself] drunk in the tents, he and the thirty-two kings helping him. Then the servants of the commanders of the provinces went out first, and Ben-Hadad sent, and they reported to him, saying, "Men have come out from Samaria." Then he said, "If they have come out for peace, seize them alive; and if they have come out for war, seize them alive." But these had come out from the city, the servants of the commanders of the provinces, and the army that [was] after them. Each man killed his man, and the Arameans fled, so Israel pursued them, but Ben-Hadad king of Aram escaped on a horse with cavalry. The king of Israel went out and attacked the horses and the chariots and defeated Aram with a great blow. Then the prophet came near to the king of Israel, and he said to him, "Go, strengthen yourself; {consider well} what you should do, for the king of Aram is coming against you at the turn of the year." The servants of the king of Aram said to him, "Their gods [are] gods of the mountains, therefore they were stronger than we. Let us fight with them in the plain; surely we will be stronger than they. Do this thing: remove the kings each from his post, and put a governor in their place. You must muster an army for yourself as the army {you have lost}, and horses and chariots as the horses and chariots [you lost], then we will fight them in the plain. Surely we will be stronger than they." So he listened to their voice and did so. It happened at the turning of the year that Ben-Hadad mustered Aram and went up to Aphek for the war with Israel. The {Israelites} had been mustered and provisioned, and they went to engage them. The {Israelites} encamped opposite them as two flocks of goats, but the Arameans filled the land. Then the man of God approached, and he spoke to the king of Israel, and he said, "Thus says Yahweh: 'Because Aram has said, "Yahweh [is] a god of the mountains and not a god of the valleys," ' I will give all this great crowd into your hand that you may know that I [am] Yahweh." These encamped opposite for seven days, and it happened on the seventh day that {the battle began}, and the {Israelites} killed the Arameans, one hundred thousand infantry in one day. Then those who remained fled to Aphek, to the city, and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men who had remained, so Ben-Hadad fled and went to the innermost rooms of the city. Then his servants said to him, "Please now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are kings of mercy. Let us now put sackcloth on around our waists and ropes on our heads. Then let us go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps {he will let you live}." So they tied sackcloth around their waists and ropes on their heads. Then they went to the king of Israel and said, "Your servant Ben-Hadad says, 'Please let me live.'" And he said, "[Is] my brother still alive?" The men took this as a good omen and they quickly accepted [it] as true from him, and they said, "Your brother Ben-Hadad [lives]." So he said, "Go, get him." Ben-Hadad came out to him, and [Ahab] pulled him up on the chariot. [Ben-Hadad] said to him, "The cities which my father took from your father I shall return. You may set up streets with stalls for yourself in Damascus just as my father set up in Samaria." [Then Ahab said], "{On these terms} I will let you go," So he made a covenant with him and let him go. A certain man from the sons of the prophets said to his fellow countryman, "By the word of Yahweh, please strike me." But the man refused to strike him. He said to him, "Because you have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh, look, as you now are going from me, a lion will kill you." When he went from beside him, the lion found him and killed him. Then he found another man and said, "Strike me, please," so the man struck him sharply and wounded him. Then the prophet went and {waited} for the king along the road and disguised himself with a headband over his eyes. As the king [was] passing by, he called to the king and said, "Your servant went out in the thick of the battle, and suddenly a man turned and brought a man to me and said, 'Guard this man. If by any means he should be missed, it will be your life in his place, or you shall pay a talent of silver.' It happened that your servant {was busy here and there}, and he {disappeared}." Then the king said to him, "Your own judgment has been determined." He quickly removed the headband from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him, that he [was] from the prophets. He said to him, "Thus says Yahweh: 'Because you have let the man I devoted for destruction go from [your] hand, your life shall be in place of his life and your people in place of his people.'" Then the king of Israel went to his house, sullen and angry, and he came to Samaria. It happened after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which [was] in Jezreel beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "Give me your vineyard that it may be mine for a garden of vegetable plants, because it is near, beside my house, and I will give to you a better vineyard in place of it. If it is better in your eyes, I will give you the money of its price." Naboth said to Ahab, "Far be it from me from Yahweh that I should give the inheritance of my ancestors to you." Then Ahab went to his house, sullen and angry because of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him [when] he had said, "I will not give to you the inheritance of my ancestors." So he lay on his bed, turned away his face, and would not eat [any] food. Then Jezebel his wife came to him, and she said to him, "What is this, that your spirit is sullen and you are not eating food?" Then he said to her, "When I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and asked him, 'Give me your vineyard for money, or it you prefer, I will give you a vineyard in place of it,' he said, 'I will not give you my vineyard.'" Jezebel his wife said to him, "Now, you {rule} over Israel. Get up, eat food, and let your heart be {cheerful}. I myself will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite." So she wrote letters in the name of Ahab and sealed them with his seal. She sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who [were] dwelling with Naboth in his city. She had written in the letters, saying, "Call a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people. Seat two men, {scoundrels}, opposite him. Let them witness against him saying, 'You cursed God and the king.' Then you shall bring him out and stone him so that he dies." The men of his city and the elders and nobles who were living in his city did according to what Jezebel had sent to them, as [was] written in the letters which she had sent to them. They called a fast, and they seated Naboth at the head of the people. Then the two men, {scoundrels}, came, sat opposite him, and the {scoundrels} witnessed against Naboth before the people, saying, "Naboth cursed God and the king," so they brought him outside of the city and stoned him with stones, and he died. They sent to Jezebel saying, "Naboth has been stoned, and he is dead." It happened at the moment Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and died, Jezebel said to Ahab, "Get up, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite which he had refused to give to you for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead." When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it. The word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, "Arise, go down to meet Ahab the king of Israel who is in Samaria. Look in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession of it. You shall say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: "Have you committed murder and also taken possession?" ' You shall also say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: "In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will also lick your blood." '" Then Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, my enemy?" He said, "I have found you because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh. 'Look, I [am] bringing disaster on you, and I will sweep away after you. I will cut off for Ahab {every male} in Israel, bond or free. I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, {because you made me angry} and have caused Israel to sin.' Moreover, concerning Jezebel, Yahweh has said, 'The dogs will eat Jezebel in the outer rampart of Jezreel.' The one who dies for Ahab in the city, the dogs will eat; the one who dies in the open country, the birds of heaven will eat." Truly, there was no one like Ahab who had sold himself by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh, whose wife Jezebel urged him on. Also, he acted very abominably by going after idols like all the Amorites had done whom Yahweh had driven out from before the {Israelites}." When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth over his flesh, fasted, lay in the sackcloth, and went about dejectedly. Then the word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, "Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring disaster in his days. I will bring the disaster on his house in the days of his son." They lived three years, and there was no war between Aram and Israel. It happened in the third year, Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to the king of Israel, and the king of Israel said to his servants, "Do you know Ramoth-Gilead belongs to us, and we [are] doing nothing about taking it from the hand of the king of Aram?" Then he said to Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to the battle for Ramoth-Gilead?" Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "{I am like you}; {my people are like your people}; {my horses are like your horses}." Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, "Please inquire for the word of Yahweh today." Then the king of Israel assembled the prophets, about four hundred men, and he said to them, "Shall I go against Ramoth-Gilead for the battle, or should I refrain?" Then they said, "Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king." So Jehoshaphat said, "Is there no prophet of Yahweh here that we might still inquire from him?" Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "[There is] still one man to inquire from Yahweh, but I despise him, for he never prophesies [anything] good concerning me, but only bad: Micaiah the son of Imlah." Then Jehoshaphat said, "The king should not say so." The king of Israel summoned a certain court official, and he said, "Quickly fetch Micaiah son of Imlah." The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah [were] each sitting on his throne, dressed [in their] robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, [with] all the prophets prophesying before them. Zedekiah son of Kenaanah made horns of iron for himself and said, "Thus says Yahweh: 'With these you shall gore the Arameans until finishing them.'" All of the prophets [were] likewise prophesying, saying, "Go up [to] Ramoth-Gilead and triumph, and Yahweh will give it into the hand of the king." Then the messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, "Please now, the words of the prophet are {unanimously} favorable to the king. Please let your words be as one word with them, and speak favorably." Then Micaiah said, "{As Yahweh lives}, surely only as Yahweh speaks to me, that will I speak." When he came to the king, the king asked him, "Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-Gilead to the battle, or shall we refrain?" He said to him, "Go up and triumph, and Yahweh will give [it] into the hand of the king." Then the king said to him, "How many times must I make you swear that you shall not tell me [anything] but truth in the name of Yahweh?" So he said, "I saw all of Israel scattering to the mountains, like the sheep without a shepherd. Yahweh also said, 'There are no masters for these, let them return in peace, each to his house.'" Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not say to you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but disaster?" And he said, "Therefore, hear the word of Yahweh. I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne with all the hosts of heaven standing beside him from his right hand and from his left [hand]. And Yahweh said, 'Who will entice Ahab so that he will go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead?' Then {this one was saying one thing and the other one was saying another}. Then a spirit came out and stood before Yahweh and said, 'I will entice him,' and Yahweh said to him, 'How?' He said, 'I will go out and I will be a false spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And he said, 'You shall entice and succeed, go out and do so.' So then, see that Yahweh has placed a false spirit in the mouth of all of these your prophets, and Yahweh has spoken disaster concerning you." Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah came near and slapped Micaiah on the cheek and said, "When did the Spirit of Yahweh pass from me to speak with you?" Then Micaiah said, "Behold, you [are about to] see on that day when you go {from room to room} to hide." The king of Israel said, "Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the commander of the city and to Jehoash the son of the king; and say, 'Thus says the king: "Put this [fellow in] the house of imprisonment and feed him reduced rations of food and water until I come in peace." '" Then Micaiah said, "If you indeed return in peace, then Yahweh has not spoken with me." Then he said, "Let all the peoples hear!" Then the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up [to] Ramoth-Gilead. Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "[I will] disguise myself and go into the battle, but you wear your robes." So the king of Israel disguised himself, and he went into the battle. The king of Aram commanded his thirty-two chariot commanders, saying, "You shall not fight with small or great, but only against the king of Israel, him alone!" When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, "Surely he [is] the king of Israel," and they turned to fight against him, so Jehoshaphat called out. When the chariot commanders saw that it [was] not the king of Israel, they turned away from him. But another man drew his bow fully and struck the king of Israel between the armor scales and the breastplate; so he said to his chariot driver, "Turn {the chariot} and bring me out from the camp, for I am wounded." The battle intensified on that day, and the king was being propped up in the chariot opposite Aram, but he died in the evening, and the blood of the wound ran out to the floor of the chariot. Then the shout passed through the camp about sunset, saying, "Each man to his city and each to his land!" So the king died, and {they brought him} to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked his blood (now, the prostitutes washed themselves [there]) according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken. The remainder of the acts of Ahab and all that he did, and the ivory palace and all the cities that he built, [are] they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? So Ahab slept with his ancestors, and Ahaziah his son became king in his place.

He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor for doing wickedness. And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh as the house of Ahab [had done], for they were his counselors to his destruction after the death of his father.

And he built towers in the desert and hewed many cisterns, for he had much livestock, both in the Shephelah and on the plain, [along with] farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil.

And he made cities for himself, and livestock of sheep and abundant cattle, for God had given to him very abundant possessions.

and Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa the king of Judah, and he reigned in his place. It happened that as soon as he became king, he killed all of the house of Jeroboam. There was no one left of Jeroboam who breathed, until he had destroyed him according to the word of Yahweh that he had spoken by the hand of his servant, Ahijah the Shilonite, because of the sins of Jeroboam that he had committed and that he had caused Israel to commit [and] because of his anger [with] which he had provoked Yahweh the God of Israel. read more.
Now the remainder of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, [are] they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah had become king over all of Israel; [he lived] in Tirzah twenty-four years. He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and he walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin that he caused Israel to commit. The word of Yahweh came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, "Because I exalted you from the dust and I made you a leader over my people Israel, but you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and you caused my people Israel to sin, to provoke me with their sins, I am now [about to] consume Baasha and his house. I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Those who die for Baasha in the city, the dogs will eat; those who die for him in the field, the birds of the heavens will eat." The remainder of the acts of Baasha, what he did, and his powerful deeds, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? Baasha slept with his ancestors and was buried in Tirzah, and Elah his son became king in his place. Moreover, the word of Yahweh came to Baasha and to his house by the hand of Jehu the son of Hanani the prophet, because of all the evil that he did in the eyes of Yahweh by provoking him with the work of his hands, by being like the house of Jeroboam; and he destroyed him.

And over the olive trees and the sycamore trees that [were] in the Shephelah [was] Baal-Hanan the Gederite. And over the treasury houses of olive oil [was] Joash.

And over the vineyards [was] Shemei the Ramathite. And over the produce in the vineyards for the storehouses of the wine [was] Zabdi the Shiphmite.

And over the camels [was] Obil the Ishmaelite. And over the female donkeys [was] Jehdeiah the Meronothite. And over the sheep [was] Jaziz the Hagrite.

All of these [were] officials of the property of King David.

And over those who did the work in the field to till the soil [was] Ezri the son of Kelub.

And Ahithophel [was] an adviser to the king, and Hushai the Arkite [was] a friend of the king.

And over the treasury rooms of the king [was] Azmaveth the son of Adiel. And over the treasuries in the country, in the cities, in the unwalled villages, and in the towers [was] Jonathan the son of Uzziah.

And over the treasury rooms of the king [was] Azmaveth the son of Adiel. And over the treasuries in the country, in the cities, in the unwalled villages, and in the towers [was] Jonathan the son of Uzziah.

he did not allow anyone to oppress them, and he rebuked kings on their account,

You must take the flask of olive oil and pour it out on his head. You must say, 'Thus says Yahweh, "I hereby anoint you as king over Israel." ' Then you must open the door and flee; do not linger!" So the young man, servant of the prophet, went [to] Ramoth-Gilead. He came, and look, the commanders of the army [were] sitting [there]. He said, "I have a word for you, O commander!" Jehu said, "For whom? For all of us?" And he said, "For you, O commander!" read more.
He got up and went to the house, and poured the olive oil on his head and said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'I hereby anoint you as king over the people of Yahweh, over Israel. You will destroy the house of Ahab your master, and you will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all of the servants of Yahweh, from the hand of Jezebel. All of the house of Ahab will perish, and I shall cut off {all males} from Ahab, both bond and free. I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. The dogs will eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and there shall not be {anyone to bury her}.'" Then he opened the door and fled. Then Jehu came out to the officers of his master, and they said to him, "Peace? Why did this madman come to you?" And he said to them, "You know the man and his foolish talk." Then they said, "Liar. Please tell us." He said, "{Thus and so} he said to me, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh, "I hereby anoint you as king over Israel." '" So they hastened each one to take his cloak, and they spread [them] under him on the bare steps, blew on the trumpet, and said, "Jehu is king!" So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Now Joram was keeping guard in Ramoth-Gilead, he and all of Israel, because of the {threat} of Hazael king of Aram. But Joram the king had returned to heal in Jezreel from the wound which the Arameans had inflicted on him when he fought with Hazael king of Aram. Jehu said, "{If this is what you want}, do not let him go out as a fugitive from the city to go to make it known in Jezreel." Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram [was] lying there, and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to visit Joram. Now the watchman [was] standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu when he came, and he said, "I see a company." Joram said, "Take a horseman and send [him] to meet them." And he said, "Is it peace?" So the rider of the horse went out to meet him, and he said, "Thus the king asks, 'Is it peace?'" Then Jehu said, "{What do you have to do with peace}? Turn after me." Then the watchman reported, saying, "The messenger went up to them, but he did not return." Then he sent out a second horseman, and he came to them and said, "Thus the king asks, 'Is it peace?'" Then Jehu said, "{What do you have to do with peace}? Turn after me." So the sentinel reported, saying, "He went up to them, but he did not return, and the driving [is] like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives with madness." Then Joram said, "Get ready," so he got his chariot ready. Joram king of Israel went out, and Ahaziah king of Judah, each with his chariot. They went out to meet Jehu, and they found him at the tract of land of Naboth the Jezreelite. When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, "[Is it] peace?" And he said, "What peace [is there] while the prostitutions of your mother Jezebel and her sorceries are numerous?" Joram turned his {chariot} and fled and said to Ahaziah, "It's treason, Ahaziah!" Then Jehu {drew his bow} and shot Joram between his shoulders so that the arrow went out from his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot. He said to Bidkar his third [servant], "Lift [him] out and throw him on the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, for remember, you and I [were] with the pair [of chariots] behind Ahab his father when Yahweh pronounced this oracle against him: '"Since I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his children yesterday," declares Yahweh, "I will requite it for you in this tract of land," declares Yahweh.' So then lift him out and throw him on the tract of land according to the word of Yahweh." When Ahaziah king of Judah saw, he fled the way of Beth-Haggen. Jehu pursued after him and said, "Shoot him also, in the chariot." [They shot him] at the ascent of Gur which [is] in Ibleam, and he fled [to] Megiddo, but he died there. Then his officers carried him to Jerusalem, and they buried him in his tomb with his ancestors in the city of David. In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king over Judah. When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard [of it], so she painted her eyes with black eye paint and adorned her head and looked through the window. Now Jehu had come in the gate, so she said, "[Is it] peace, O Zimri, murderer of his master?" When he lifted up his face to the window, he asked, "Who [is] with me?" Two or three eunuchs looked down to him. So he said, "Throw her down." So they threw her down, and her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled her. Then he came and ate and drank, and said, "Please take care of this cursed one and bury her, for she is the daughter of a king." When they went to bury her, they could not find her, except the skull, the feet, and the palms of the hands. They returned and told him, and he said, "This [is] the word of Yahweh which he spoke by the hand of his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'On the plot of ground of Jezreel, the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel.'" So the dead body of Jezebel became dung on the surface [spread] on the field in the plot of ground of Jezreel, so one cannot say, "This [is] Jezebel." Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria, and Jehu wrote letters, and he sent them to Samaria to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders and to the guardians of Ahab, saying, "Now, when this letter comes to you and your master's sons [are] with you, the chariots [are] with you, the horses, a fortified city, and weapons, then you must select the best and the most suitable from the sons of your master, and you must place [him] on the throne of his father, and they must fight for the house of your masters." But they were very afraid, and they said, "Look, two kings could not stand before him; how can we stand?" So whoever was over the house, and whoever was over the city, and the elders and the guardians sent to Jehu, saying, "We [are] your servants; all that you say to us, we shall do. We shall not make anyone a king. Do [what] is good in your eyes." Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying, "If you [are] for me, and you [are] listening to my voice, take the heads of the men of the sons of your master and come to me at [this] time tomorrow at Jezreel." Now the sons of the king, seventy men, [were] with the leaders of the city who were raising them. When the letter came to them, they took the sons of the king, and they killed seventy men. Then they put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel. Then the messenger came and told him, saying, "They have brought the heads of the king's sons," and he said, "Put them [in] two piles [at] the entrance of the gate until morning." It happened in the morning that he went out, stood, and said to all of the people, "You [are] righteous. Look, I conspired against my master and killed him. But who killed all of these? Know then that {the word of Yahweh will not fail} which Yahweh spoke concerning the house of Ahab; Yahweh has done what he spoke by the hand of his servant Elijah. Then Jehu killed all of the remainder of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all of his leaders, his close friends, and his priests, until there was no survivor left for him. Then he arose and went and came to Samaria. On the way, he was [at] Beth-Eked of the shepherds, and Jehu met the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah. He asked, "Who [are] you?" They said, "We [are] the brothers of Ahaziah; we came down for the peace of the king's children and the children of the queen." Then he said, "Seize them alive!" So they seized them alive but then slaughtered them at the cistern of Beth-Eked, forty-two men. He did not allow any of them to survive. Next he went from there and found Jehonadab the son of Recab to meet him. He greeted him and asked him, "{Is your heart right with me as my heart is with you}?" Then Jehonadab said, "Yes, it is. Give your hand!" And he gave his hand and took him up to him on the chariot. Then he said, "Come with me! Look at my zeal for Yahweh!" So he let him ride in his chariot. Then he came to Samaria and killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria until he wiped them out according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken to Elijah. Then Jehu assembled all of the people and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will worship him greatly. So then, summon to me all of the prophets of Baal and all of his servants and his priests; no man should fail to come, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Anyone who fails to come shall not live!" Now Jehu was acting with cunning in order to destroy the servants of Baal. Then Jehu said, "Sanctify a [solemn] assembly for Baal!" So they proclaimed [it]. Jehu sent [word] through all of Israel, and all of the servants of Baal came; there did not remain a man who did not come. They came to the house of Baal so that the house of Baal was filled from {wall to wall}. He said to the one who [was] over the wardrobe, "Bring out clothing for all of the servants of Baal." So he brought the clothing out for them. Then Jehu and Jehonadab the son of Recab came [to] the temple of Baal, and he said to the servants of Baal, "Search and see that there is none of the servants of Yahweh here with you; only those who serve Baal." They came to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed for himself eighty men outside, and he said, "The man who lets [anyone] escape from the men who I am {entrusting to you}, {he will pay with his life}!" It happened that when he finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the royal guard and to the officers, "Come and kill them; let no man go free!" So {they put them to the sword}, and the royal guard and the officers threw them out, then they went up to the citadel of the temple of Baal. They brought out the stone pillars of the temple of Baal and burned {them}. So they broke down the stone pillars of Baal and destroyed the temple of Baal and made it into a latrine until this day. So Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel. Only Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat [by] which he caused Israel to sin; [namely,] the calf-shaped idols of gold which [were in] Bethel and Dan. Yahweh said to Jehu, "Because you have done well by doing right in my eyes and you have done to the house of Ahab according to all that [was] in my heart; [therefore,] sons of the fourth generation will sit for you on the throne of Israel." But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of Yahweh God of Israel with all his heart; he did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam [by] which he caused Israel to sin. In those days, Yahweh began to reduce Israel, so Hazael defeated them in every territory of Israel, from the Jordan eastward: all of the land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer which [is] on the Wadi Arnon and Gilead and Bashan. Now the remainder of the acts of Jehu and all that he did and all of his powerful [deeds, are] they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? So Jehu slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in Samaria, and Jehoahaz his son became king in his place. Now the days which Jehu had reigned over Israel [were] twenty-eight years in Samaria.

And he must not {acquire many} wives for himself, so that his heart [would] turn aside; and {he must not accumulate silver and gold for himself excessively}.

And he must not {acquire many} wives for himself, so that his heart [would] turn aside; and {he must not accumulate silver and gold for himself excessively}.

Except, he may {not make numerous} for himself horses, and he may not allow the people to [to go] to Egypt {in order to increase horses}, for Yahweh has said to you that {you may never return}.

And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to revere Yahweh your God by {diligently observing} all the word of this law and these rules,

And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to revere Yahweh your God by {diligently observing} all the word of this law and these rules,

indeed, you may set a king over you whom Yahweh your God will choose, from the midst of your countrymen you must set a king over you; you are not allowed to appoint over you a man, a foreigner, who [is] not your countryman.

[Is] the wheat harvest not today? I will call out to Yahweh so that he still sends thunder and rain, so that you will know and will see that your wickedness [is] great that you have done in the eyes of Yahweh by asking for a king for yourselves." So Samuel called out to Yahweh, and Yahweh brought thunder and rain that [same] day, so all the people feared Yahweh and Samuel greatly. Then all the people said to Samuel, "Pray for your servants to Yahweh your God so that we will not die, because we have added to all our sins by requesting a king for ourselves." read more.
And Samuel said to the people, "Do not fear! You have done all this evil; only do not turn aside from {following} Yahweh. But you must serve Yahweh with all your heart.

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. read more.
For Yahweh saw that the misery of Israel was very bitter, whether bond or free, but there was no helper for Israel. 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? So Jeroboam slept with his ancestors the kings of Israel, and his son Zechariah became king in his place.

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. Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him, so he attacked him in Samaria in the citadel fortress of [the] palace of the king, with Argob and Arieh. With him [also were] fifty men from the children of the Gileadites, and he killed him and became king in his place. read more.
Now the remainder of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he did, look, they are written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel.

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. Now the remainder of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he conspired; look, they [are] written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel.

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. read more.
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. Now the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, [are] they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? So Menahem slept with his ancestors, and Pekahiah his son became king in his place.

In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel [for] twelve years. He reigned in Tirzah six years, then bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver, fortified the hill, and called the name of the city Samaria that he built after Shemer, the owner of the hill. But Omri did evil in the eyes of Yahweh more than all who were before him. read more.
He went in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in his sins that he caused Israel to sin by provoking Yahweh the God of Israel with their idols. The remainder of the acts of Omri that he did and his powerful deeds, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? Omri slept with his ancestors, and he was buried in Samaria, and Ahab his son became king in his place.

Now Joram the son of Ahab had become king over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. He reigned twelve years and did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, yet not as his father or his mother, as he removed the stone pillars of Baal that his father had made. But he did cling to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin, and he did not depart from it. read more.
Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and he used to deliver to the king of Israel a hundred thousand male lambs and a hundred thousand wool rams. It happened that when Ahab died, Mesha king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. So King Joram went out on that day from Samaria, and he mustered all of Israel. He went and sent [a message] to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me against Moab for the battle?" And he said, "I will go up. {I am like you}; {my people are like your people}; {my horses are like your horses}." Then he said, "Which way shall we go up?" And he answered, "By way of the wilderness of Edom." So the king of Israel and the king of Judah and the king of Edom went around, a way of seven days, but there was no water for the army or for the animals which {were with them}. Then the king of Israel said, "Aha, Yahweh has called for these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab." Then Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there no prophet of Yahweh here that we might inquire [guidance] from Yahweh?" One of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, "Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah." Jehoshaphat said, "The word of Yahweh is with him." So the king of Israel, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom went down to him. Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, "{What do we have in common}? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother." Then the king of Israel said to him, "No, for Yahweh has called for these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab." Then Elisha said, "{As Yahweh of hosts lives}, before whom I stand, surely if I was not {regarding the face} of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would have not looked at you nor even glanced at you. But now, bring me a musician." It happened that at the moment the musician played, the hand of Yahweh came upon him. He said, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Make this wadi {full of cisterns},' for thus says Yahweh, 'You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this wadi will be full of water; and you and all of your livestock and your animals shall drink.' And since this is too trivial in the eyes of Yahweh, he will also give Moab into your hand, and you shall defeat every fortified city, every choice city, and you shall fell every good tree. All of the springs of water you shall stop up, and every tract of good land you shall ruin with the stones." It happened in the morning about the time of the [morning] offering, that water was suddenly coming from the direction of Edom and the land was filled with water. Now all of Moab had heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, and all {who were fighting age and up} were called up, and they stood at the border. When they arose early in the morning, the sun shone on the waters, and Moab saw the waters from the opposite [side] as red as blood. Then they said, "This [is] blood! Certainly the kings have fought one another, and each has killed his neighbor. Now, to the war booty, O Moab!" But when they came to the camp of Israel, Israel stood up and killed Moab, so that they fled from before them. They came at her and defeated Moab. The cities they tore down, [on] every good tract of land they threw stones until it was filled up, every spring of water they stopped up, and every good tree they felled. They let the stone walls at Kir Hareseth remain, but the slingers surrounded and attacked it. When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too heavy for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew the sword to break through to the king of Edom, but they were not able. He took his firstborn son who was to become king in his place and offered him [as] a burnt offering on the wall. Great wrath came upon Israel, and they withdrew from him and returned to the land. A certain woman from the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead. Now you know that your servant was a fearer of Yahweh, but the creditor came to take two of my children for himself as slaves. Elisha asked her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" Then she said, "Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of olive oil." Then he said to her, "Go, ask for yourself [some] containers from the streets, from all your neighbors. {You must collect as many empty containers as you can}! You must also go and shut the door behind you and your children, and you must pour out [oil] into all of these containers and set the filled [ones] aside." So she went from him, and she shut the door behind her and her children. They [were] bringing [containers] to her, and she [kept] pouring. It happened that when the containers were full, she said to her son, "Bring near me another container," but he said to her, "There is not another container." Then the olive oil stopped flowing. So she came and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the olive oil and repay your debt. You and your sons can live on what is left over." It happened one day that Elisha passed through to Shunem where there [was] a wealthy woman, and she urged him to eat bread; so it happened each time he passed through, he would stop there to eat. She said to her husband, "Please now, I know that he [is] a holy man of God who is passing {our way} regularly; let us make a small enclosed room [upstairs] and put a bed, table, chair, and lampstand there for him, so that when he comes to us, he can turn and stay there. One day it happened that he came there and went to the upper room and lay down there. He said to Gehazi his servant, "Call to this Shunammite," so he called to her, and she stood before him. He said to him, "Please say to her, 'Look, you took all this trouble, showing care for us; what is there [for me] to do for you? To speak for you to the king or to the commander of the army?'" She said, "I [am] living among my people." Then he said, "What may be done for her?" Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son, and her husband is old." And he said, "Call for her," so he called for her and she stood in the doorway. And he said, "At this time {next spring}, you [will be] embracing a son." She said, "No, my lord, man of God! You must not tell a lie to your servant!" But the woman conceived, and she bore a son {in the spring}, which Elisha had promised to her. The child grew older, and it happened one day that he went out to his father [and] to the reapers. Then he said to his father, "My head, my head!" So he said to the servant, "Carry him to his mother." So they carried him and brought him to his mother; he sat on her lap until noon and then died. She went up, laid him on the bed of the man of God, closed [the door], and went out behind it. She called to her husband and said, "Please send one of the servants and one of the female donkeys for me, so that I can go quickly up to the man of God and return." And he said, "Why are you going to him today? [It is] neither the new moon nor the Sabbath!" And she said, "Peace." She saddled the female donkey, and she said to her servant, "Drive along and go; you must not hold me back from riding, unless I tell you." So she went and came to the man of God by Mount Carmel. It happened when the man of God saw her {at a distance}, he said to Gehazi his servant, "There is this Shunammite. Now, please run to meet her and ask her, 'Is it peace for you? Is it peace for your husband? Is it peace for the boy?'" She said, "Peace." So she came to the man of God at the mountain, and she caught hold of his feet. Then Gehazi came near to push her away, but the man of God said, "Let her alone, for her soul is bitter, and Yahweh has hidden it from me and has not told me." Then she said, "Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say that you must not mislead me?" Then he said to Gehazi, "Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet anyone, you must not greet them; if anyone greets you, you must not answer them. You must put my staff on the face of the boy." Then the mother of the boy said, "{As Yahweh lives} and {as your soul lives}, I will surely not leave you." So he got up and went after her. Gehazi crossed over before them, and he put the staff on the face of the boy; but there was no sound, and there was no sign of life, so he returned to meet him. He told him, saying, "The boy did not wake up." When Elisha came to the house, here [was] the boy dead, lying on his bed. He went and closed the door behind the two of them and prayed to Yahweh. Then he went up and lay upon the child and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his palms on his palms. As he bent down over him, the flesh of the boy became warm. He returned and went {to and fro} in the house one time, then he went up and bent over him. Then the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. [Elisha] called to Gehazi and said, "Call this Shunammite." So he called her and she came to him; then he said, "Pick up your son." She came and fell at his feet and bowed down to the ground; then she picked up her son and went out. So Elisha returned to Gilgal. Now the famine [was] in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. He said to his servant, put on the large pot and cook a stew for the sons of the prophets. One went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a {wild vine} and gathered wild gourds from it [and] filled his cloak. Then he came and cut them into the pot of stew, but they did not know [what they were]. They served the men to eat, but when they ate from the stew, they cried out and said, "There [is] death in the pot, man of God!" They were not able to eat [it]. Then he said, "Bring [some] flour," and he threw it into the pot. He then said, "Serve the people and let them eat." There was nothing harmful in the pot. A man came from Baal-Shalishah and brought food to the man of God: firstfruits and twenty loaves of barley bread, with ripe grain in his sack. He said, "Give [it] to the people and let them eat." Then his servant said, "How can I set this before a hundred men?" He said, "Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus Yahweh says, 'They shall eat and have some left over.'" So he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of Yahweh. Now Naaman was the commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man before his master and {highly regarded}, for by him Yahweh had given victory to Aram. Now the man was a mighty warrior, [but he was] afflicted with a skin disease. When the Arameans went [on] a raid, they brought back a young girl from the land of Israel, and {she came into the service of} the wife of Naaman. She said to her mistress, "If only my lord would [come] before the prophet who [is] in Samaria; then {he would cure his skin disease}." He came and told his master, saying, "Thus and so the girl who [is] from the land of Israel said." So the king of Aram said, "Go, I will send a letter to the king of Israel." He went and took {with him} ten talents of silver, six thousand [shekels of] gold, and ten sets of clothing. So he brought the letter of the king to Israel, saying, "Now, when this letter comes to you, I have just sent Naaman my servant to you that you may cure him from his skin disease." It happened that when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God to cause death or to give life? This man [is] sending a man to me to cure his disease. Indeed! But know and see that he seeks an opportunity against me." It happened that as soon as Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, "Why did you tear your clothes? Please may he come to me, that he might know that there is a prophet in Israel." Then Naaman came with his horses and his chariots, and he stopped [at] the doorway of the house of Elisha. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, you must wash seven times in the Jordan, then your flesh shall return to you, and you shall be clean." But Naaman became angry and he went and said, "Look, I said to myself, 'Surely he will come out, stand, call upon the name of Yahweh his God, and wave his hands over the spot; then he would take away the skin disease.' Are not the Abana and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all of the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them that I may be clean?" Then he turned and left in anger. But his servants came near and spoke to him and said, "My father, [if] the prophet had spoken a difficult thing to you to do, would you not have done [it]? [Why not] even when he says to you, 'Wash and you shall be clean'?" So he went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh returned as the flesh of a small boy, and he was clean. When he returned to the man of God, he and all of his army, he came and stood before him and said, "Please now, I know that there is no God in all of the world except in Israel. So then, please take a gift from your servant." And he said, "{As Yahweh lives}, before whom I stand, I surely will not take [it]." [Still] he urged him to take [it], but he refused. Then Naaman said, "If not, then please let a load of soil on a pair of mules be given to your servants, for your servant will never again bring a burnt offering and sacrifice to other gods, [but] only to Yahweh. As far as this matter, may Yahweh pardon your servant when my master goes [into] the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he [is] leaning himself on my arm, that I also bow down [in] the house of Rimmon: when I bow down [in] the house of Rimmon, may Yahweh please pardon your servant in this matter." He said to him, "Go in peace," so he went from him {a short distance}. But Gehazi the servant of Elisha, the man of God, thought, "Look, my master has refrained from taking what this Aramean Naaman brought from his hand. {As Yahweh lives}, I will certainly run after him, and I will accept something from him." So Gehazi pursued after Naaman. When Naaman saw [someone] running after him, he jumped off his chariot to meet him and asked him, "[Is it] peace?" He said, "Peace. My master has sent me saying, 'Look, {just now} two servants from the hill country of Ephraim came to me, from the sons of the prophets. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.'" Then Naaman said, "Be prepared to accept two talents." So he urged him and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing and gave it to two of his servants and they carried it before him. When he came to the citadel, he took them from their hand and put them in the house, then sent away the men so that they went. When he went and stood by his master, Elisha asked him, "From where have you come, Gehazi?" And he said, "Your servant has not gone {anywhere}." Then he said to him, "Did not my heart go [with you] as the man turned from on his chariot to meet you? [Is] it time to take silver, clothes, olive orchards, vineyards, sheep, oxen, male slaves, and female slaves? The skin disease of Naaman shall cling to you and to your offspring forever." Then he went out from before him having a skin disease like the snow. Then the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "Please look; the place where we are living before you [is] too cramped for us. Let us please go to the Jordan and each bring from there one log that we might make a place there for us to live." Then he said, "Do so." Then a certain one said, "Please be prepared and go with your servants," and he said, "I will go." He went with them, and they went to the Jordan, and they cut down the trees. It happened as the one [was] felling the log, that the iron ax fell into the water. He called out and said, "Oh, no! My master, it was borrowed!" Then the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" So he showed him the place, and then he cut off a stick and threw [it] there and made the iron ax float. Then he said, "Pick [it] up for yourself," so he stretched out his hand and took it. The king of Aram was fighting with Israel, so he consulted with his officers, saying, "My camp is {at such and such a place}." Then the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, "Take care while crossing over to this place, because [the] Arameans [are] descending there." So the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God said to him and warned him, so he was on guard there {continually}. Then the heart of the king of Aram was stormy because of this matter, so he called his servants and said to them, "Can you not tell me {who among us sides with the king of Israel}?" Then one of his servants said, "No, my lord the king, but Elisha the prophet who is [in] Israel tells the king of Israel things which you speak {in your own bedchamber}." Then he said, "Go and see where he [is] so that I can send and capture him." Then he was told to him, "Look, [he is] in Dothan." So he sent horses, chariots, and an oppressing army there. They arrived at night and surrounded the town. The attendant of the man of God arose early and went out, and look, the army [was] surrounding the city with horses and chariots. His servant said to him, "Oh no, my master! What shall we do?" And he said, "Don't be afraid, for more [are] with us than are with them." Then Elisha prayed and said, "O Yahweh, please open his eyes that he may see," and Yahweh opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw, and look, the mountain [was] full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. They came down to him, and Elisha prayed to Yahweh and said, "Please strike this people with blindness," so he struck them with blindness as {Elisha had spoken}. Then Elisha said to them, "This [is] not the way and this [is] not the city. Come after me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek." Then he brought them to Samaria. It happened at the moment they came to Samaria, Elisha said, "O Yahweh, open the eyes of these that they may see," so Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw, and look, the middle of Samaria! Then the king of Israel said to Elisha when he saw them, "Shall I kill them? Shall I kill, my father?" And he said, "You shall not kill. Would you kill [those] whom you took captive with the sword or with the bow? Put food and water before them that they may eat and drink and then go to their master." So he made a great feast for them, and they ate and drank; then he sent them, and they went to their master. And the bands of the Arameans did not come again into the land of Israel. It happened after this that Ben-Hadad king of Aram assembled all of his army and marched up and laid siege against Samaria. There was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, a siege [was] against it, until the head of a donkey [went] for eighty shekels of silver, and one fourth of the measure of the dung of doves [went] for five shekels of silver. It happened that the king of Israel [was] crossing over on the wall, and a woman called out to him, saying, "Help, my lord the king!" He said, "No, let Yahweh help you. {How} can I save you? From the threshing floor or from the wine press?" The king said to her, "{What is the problem}?" Then the woman said, "This woman said to me, 'Give me your son, and let us eat him today, then tomorrow we will eat my son.' So we cooked my son and ate him, and I said to her the next day, 'Give your son that we may eat him.' But she had hidden her son." It happened that when the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. Now he had been walking on the wall, and the people saw, and behold, sackcloth was over his flesh underneath. Then he said, "May God do to me and thus may he add, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today!" Now Elisha [was] sitting in his house and the elders [were] sitting with him, and [the king] dispatched a man from before him, but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, "Did you see that this son of a murderer has sent to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, close the door; and you must {hold the door closed against him}. [Is] not the sound of the feet of his master behind him?" While he [was] still speaking with them, suddenly the messenger [was] coming down to him, and he said, "Look this trouble [is] from Yahweh. Why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?" Elisha said, "Hear the word of Yahweh: 'Thus says Yahweh, "At this time tomorrow a seah of wheat bread flour [will sell] for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria.'" Then the officer {on whom the king relied} answered the man of God and said, "Look, [even if] Yahweh [is] making windows in heaven, could this thing happen?" And he said, "Look, you [will be] seeing [it] with your eyes, but you shall not eat from it there." Now four men who had a skin disease were [at] the entrance of the gate, and they said {to each other}, "Why [are] we sitting here until we die? If we say, 'Let us go [into] the city,' the famine [is] in the city, and we shall die there; but if we sit here, we shall die. So then, come, let us fall into the camp of [the] Arameans. If they let us live, we shall live; but if they kill us, then we shall die." So they got up at dusk to go to the camp of [the] Arameans. They went up to the edge of the camp of [the] Arameans, and look, there was no man there! Now the Lord had caused the camp of [the] Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, the sound of horses, and the sound of a great army. So they said {to one another}, "Look, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us!" So they got up and fled at dusk and left their tents, their horses, their donkeys, and the camp as it was, and they fled for their lives. When these who had the skin disease came to the edge of the camp, they went into a certain tent and they ate, drank, and took from there silver and gold and clothes. Then they went and hid [them], then returned and came to another tent, and they took from there and went and hid [them]. Then they said {to one another}, "We [are] not doing right. This day is a day of good news! If we [are] silent and wait until the light of morning, they will find us and {we will be punished}. So then, come, let us go and tell the house of the king." When they came, they called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, saying, "We came to the camp of [the] Arameans, and behold, there was no man or the voice of a man there! Only the horses and the donkeys were tied up, and the tents [were left] as they [were]." Then the gatekeepers called and told [it] inside the house of the king. The king got up in the night and said to his servants, "Please let me tell you what [the] Arameans have done to us. [The] Arameans know that we [are] hungry, so they went out from the camp to hide in the field, saying, 'When they go out from the city, we shall seize them alive and go into the city.'" Then one of his servants replied and said, "Please let them take five of the remaining horses which remain in [the city]; behold, they [are] like all of the multitude of Israel that remain in it; they are like all the multitude of Israel who have perished. Let us send and see." So he took two charioteer horsemen, and the king sent after the camp of [the] Arameans, saying, "Go, find out," and they went after them to the Jordan. Look, all of the way [was] littered with clothes and equipment which [the] Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and told the king. So the people went out and plundered the camp of [the] Arameans. A seah of wheat flour [went] for a shekel and two seahs of barley [went] for a shekel according to the word of Yahweh. Then the king appointed the officer he was depending on over the gate, but the people trampled him and he died, according to that which the man of God had said which he spoke when the king came down to him. It happened as the man of God spoke to the king, saying, "Two seahs of barley [shall be sold] for a shekel and a seah of wheat flour for a shekel at this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria." Then the officer had replied to the man of God and said, "Look, even if Yahweh is opening the windows in heaven, could this thing happen?" And he had said, "Look you [are about to] see it with your eyes, but you will not eat from it." So it had happened to him; the people trampled him in the gate and he died. Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, "Get up and go, you and your household, and dwell as an alien wherever you can, for Yahweh has called for a famine, and it will come to the land [for] seven years." So the woman got up and did according to the word of the man of God. She and her household went and dwelt as an alien in the land of [the] Philistines for seven years. It happened at the end of seven years that the woman returned from the land of [the] Philistines and went out to appeal to the king for her household and for her {properties}. Now the king [was] speaking to Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, "Please tell me all of the great things which Elisha has done." It happened that as he [was] telling the king how he had restored the dead to life, suddenly the woman whose son he had restored to life [was] crying out to the king about her household and about her field. Then Gehazi said, "My lord the king, this [is] the woman and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life!" So the king asked the woman, and she told him. So the king appointed for her a certain court official, saying, "Restore all that [is] hers and all the yield of the field from [the] day she left the land up to now." Elisha came [to] Damascus. Now Ben-Hadad king of Aram [was] ill, and he was told, "The man of God has come up here." Then the king said to Hazael, "Take a gift in your hand and go meet the man of God. Inquire of Yahweh from him, saying, 'Shall I recover from this illness?'" So Hazael went to meet him and took a gift in his hand of all of the good things of Damascus, a load [on each] of forty camels, and he came and stood before him. Then he said, "Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, saying, 'Shall I recover from this illness?'" Elisha said to him, "Go; say to him, 'You shall certainly recover,' but Yahweh has shown me that he certainly will die." Then the man {fixed his gaze and stared at him} until he was ashamed and the man of God cried. Then Hazael asked, "Why [is] my lord crying?" He said, "Because I know what evil you will do to the {Israelites}. You will {set their fortifications on fire}, and you will kill their young men with the sword. Their little ones you will dash to pieces, and their pregnant women you will rip open!" Then Hazael said, "But how could your servant, who [is] like a dog, do this great thing?" Elisha said, "Yahweh has shown me [that] you [are to be] king over Aram." So he departed from Elisha and came to his master. He asked him, "What did Elisha say to you." So he said, "He said to me that you will certainly recover." On the next day, he took the bed cover, dipped [it] in the water, and spread [it] over his face so that he died. Then Hazael became king in his place. Now in the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Joram son of Jehoshaphat became the king of Judah. He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He walked in the way of the kings of Israel as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab became his wife, and he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. Yet Yahweh was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant, as he had promised to give him a lamp for his sons always. In his days, Edom rebelled {against the rule} of Judah, and they set up a king over them. So Joram crossed over to Zair and all the chariots with him. It happened that he arose [by] night and attacked Edom who had surrounded him and the commanders of the chariots; but the army fled to their tents. So Edom has rebelled {against the rule} of Judah until this day; then Libnah [also] rebelled at that time. The remainder of the acts of Joram and all that he did, [are] they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? So Joram slept with his ancestors, and he was buried with his ancestors in the city of David, and Ahaziah his son became king in place of him. In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Joram became king of Judah. Ahaziah [was] twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. The name of his mother [was] Athaliah daughter of Omri, king of Israel. He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, as the house of Ahab; for he [was] the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. He went with Joram the son of Ahab for the battle against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-Gilead, and the Arameans wounded Joram. Joram the king returned to Jezreel to heal from the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted at Ramah when Hazael king of Aram fought him. Ahaziah the son of Joram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he [was] ill. Now Elisha the prophet called for one of the sons of the prophets, and he said to him, "Gird your loins, and take this flask of olive oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-Gilead. Go there and look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi. Go, for you must cause him to arise from among his brothers, and you must bring him into an {inner room}. You must take the flask of olive oil and pour it out on his head. You must say, 'Thus says Yahweh, "I hereby anoint you as king over Israel." ' Then you must open the door and flee; do not linger!" So the young man, servant of the prophet, went [to] Ramoth-Gilead. He came, and look, the commanders of the army [were] sitting [there]. He said, "I have a word for you, O commander!" Jehu said, "For whom? For all of us?" And he said, "For you, O commander!" He got up and went to the house, and poured the olive oil on his head and said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'I hereby anoint you as king over the people of Yahweh, over Israel. You will destroy the house of Ahab your master, and you will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all of the servants of Yahweh, from the hand of Jezebel. All of the house of Ahab will perish, and I shall cut off {all males} from Ahab, both bond and free. I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. The dogs will eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and there shall not be {anyone to bury her}.'" Then he opened the door and fled. Then Jehu came out to the officers of his master, and they said to him, "Peace? Why did this madman come to you?" And he said to them, "You know the man and his foolish talk." Then they said, "Liar. Please tell us." He said, "{Thus and so} he said to me, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh, "I hereby anoint you as king over Israel." '" So they hastened each one to take his cloak, and they spread [them] under him on the bare steps, blew on the trumpet, and said, "Jehu is king!" So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Now Joram was keeping guard in Ramoth-Gilead, he and all of Israel, because of the {threat} of Hazael king of Aram. But Joram the king had returned to heal in Jezreel from the wound which the Arameans had inflicted on him when he fought with Hazael king of Aram. Jehu said, "{If this is what you want}, do not let him go out as a fugitive from the city to go to make it known in Jezreel." Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram [was] lying there, and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to visit Joram. Now the watchman [was] standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu when he came, and he said, "I see a company." Joram said, "Take a horseman and send [him] to meet them." And he said, "Is it peace?" So the rider of the horse went out to meet him, and he said, "Thus the king asks, 'Is it peace?'" Then Jehu said, "{What do you have to do with peace}? Turn after me." Then the watchman reported, saying, "The messenger went up to them, but he did not return." Then he sent out a second horseman, and he came to them and said, "Thus the king asks, 'Is it peace?'" Then Jehu said, "{What do you have to do with peace}? Turn after me." So the sentinel reported, saying, "He went up to them, but he did not return, and the driving [is] like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives with madness." Then Joram said, "Get ready," so he got his chariot ready. Joram king of Israel went out, and Ahaziah king of Judah, each with his chariot. They went out to meet Jehu, and they found him at the tract of land of Naboth the Jezreelite. When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, "[Is it] peace?" And he said, "What peace [is there] while the prostitutions of your mother Jezebel and her sorceries are numerous?" Joram turned his {chariot} and fled and said to Ahaziah, "It's treason, Ahaziah!" Then Jehu {drew his bow} and shot Joram between his shoulders so that the arrow went out from his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot. He said to Bidkar his third [servant], "Lift [him] out and throw him on the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, for remember, you and I [were] with the pair [of chariots] behind Ahab his father when Yahweh pronounced this oracle against him: '"Since I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his children yesterday," declares Yahweh, "I will requite it for you in this tract of land," declares Yahweh.' So then lift him out and throw him on the tract of land according to the word of Yahweh."

Since the word of the king [is] supreme, no one can say to him, "What are you doing?"

The produce of the land is exploited by everyone; {even the king profits from the field [of the poor]}!

These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him [are] called and chosen and faithful."

[It is] not for the kings, O Lemuel; drinking wine [is] not for the kings, nor [is] strong drink for rulers. Or else he will drink and forget what has been decreed, and he will pervert the rights of all the {afflicted}.

In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria for six months. 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. Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, struck him in front of the people, killed him, and reigned in his place. read more.
Now the remainder of the acts of Zechariah, look, they are written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel. 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.

In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha became king over Israel for two years. His servant Zimri the commander of half of the chariots conspired against him. Now he had been in Tirzah drinking [himself] drunk in the house of Arza who was over the palace in Tirzah. Zimri came and struck him down and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah and became king in his place. read more.
It happened that as soon as he became king, at the moment he sat on his throne, he killed all of the house of Baasha. He left {no males} [among] his kindred or [any of] his friends. So Zimri destroyed all of the house of Baasha according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke against Baasha by the hand of Jehu the prophet because of all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son which they committed and which they caused Israel to sin by provoking Yahweh the God of Israel with their idols. The remainder of the acts of Elah and all that he did, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?

His servant Zimri the commander of half of the chariots conspired against him. Now he had been in Tirzah drinking [himself] drunk in the house of Arza who was over the palace in Tirzah. Zimri came and struck him down and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah and became king in his place.

Therefore, I urge first of all [that] petitions, prayers, requests, [and] thanksgiving be made on behalf of all people, on behalf of kings and all those who are in authority, in order that we may live a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all the {needy}. Open your mouth, judge righteousness, and defend [the] poor and needy.

{Just then}, Saul was coming from the field behind the cattle. Saul said, "What [is the matter] with the people, that they [are] weeping?" So they recounted to him the words of the men of Jabesh. Then the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and {he became very angry}. So he took a yoke of oxen and cut them into pieces and sent [them] throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers, saying, "Whoever [is] not going out after Saul and after Samuel, so will it be done to his oxen." Then the fear of Yahweh fell on the people and they went out as one man.

And so then, listen to their voice. However, you must earnestly warn them; you must explain to them the custom of the king who will rule over them." So Samuel spoke all the words of Yahweh to the people who [were] requesting a king from him. He said, "This will be the custom of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and his horsemen, and they will run before his chariots. read more.
He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and [those] {to do his plowing} and to reap his harvest, and [those] to make weapons of war and the equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters as [his] perfume makers and as cooks and as bakers. He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive trees and will give [them] to his servants. He will take a tenth of your seed and your vineyards and give [it] to his high officials and to his servants. He will take your male slaves and your female slaves and the best of your young men and your donkeys and {will use them for his projects}. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you [yourselves] will become his servants. So you will cry out on that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but Yahweh will not answer you on that day!"

So all the people went to Gilgal and they made Saul king there before Yahweh in Gilgal. They sacrificed fellowship offerings there before Yahweh. Then Saul rejoiced there greatly [along with] all the men of Israel.

Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel, and they sustained the king and his palace, {each one was to sustain for each month of the year}. These [are] their names: Ben-Hur [was] in the hill country of Ephraim. Ben-Deker [was] in Makaz and in Shaalbim and in Beth-Shemesh and Elon of Beth-Hanan. read more.
Ben-Hesed [was] in the Arubbot; Socoh and all the land of Hepher [were] his. Ben-Abinadab [was] in all of Naphat of Dor; Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife. Baanah the son of Ahilud [was] in Taanach and Megiddo and all Beth-Shean which [is] beside Zarethan below Jezreel, of Beth-Shean up to Abel-Meholah up to the other side of Jokmeam. Ben-Geber [was] in Ramoth-Gilead; the villages of Jair, the son of Manasseh which are in the Gilead [were] his, and the region of Argob which [is] in the Bashan, sixty great cities, with walls [having] crossbars of bronze, [were] his. Ahinadab the son of Iddo [was in] Mahanaim. Ahimaaz [was] in Naphtali; he moreover also had taken Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife. Baanah the son of Hushai [was] in Asher and Bealoth. Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah [was] in Issachar. Shimei the son of Ela [was] in Benjamin. Geber the son of Uri [was] in the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, and of Og, the king of Bashan; one governor which [was] over the land.

A ruler listening to a word of falsehood, all his officials are wicked.

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. He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, only not as the kings of Israel who were before him. Shalmaneser the king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his vassal and paid tribute to him. read more.
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.

In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, [reigning] seventeen years. 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. So the {anger of Yahweh was kindled} against Israel, and he gave them into the hand of Hazael king of Aram and into the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael {repeatedly}. read more.
Then Jehoahaz entreated Yahweh, and Yahweh listened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Aram oppressed them. Yahweh gave Israel a savior, and they went out from under the hand of Aram. So the {Israelites} lived in their tents as {formerly}. 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. For there was no army left over for Jehoahaz except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand infantry, for the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them as the dust at threshing. Now the remainder of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did and his powerful [deeds, are] they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel? Then Jehoahaz slept with his ancestors and they buried him in Samaria, and Jehoash his son became king in his place.

Then Absalom sent scouts throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "When you hear the sound of the trumpet, you shall shout 'Absalom has become king in Hebron!'"

Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel, and they sustained the king and his palace, {each one was to sustain for each month of the year}. These [are] their names: Ben-Hur [was] in the hill country of Ephraim. Ben-Deker [was] in Makaz and in Shaalbim and in Beth-Shemesh and Elon of Beth-Hanan. read more.
Ben-Hesed [was] in the Arubbot; Socoh and all the land of Hepher [were] his. Ben-Abinadab [was] in all of Naphat of Dor; Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife. Baanah the son of Ahilud [was] in Taanach and Megiddo and all Beth-Shean which [is] beside Zarethan below Jezreel, of Beth-Shean up to Abel-Meholah up to the other side of Jokmeam. Ben-Geber [was] in Ramoth-Gilead; the villages of Jair, the son of Manasseh which are in the Gilead [were] his, and the region of Argob which [is] in the Bashan, sixty great cities, with walls [having] crossbars of bronze, [were] his. Ahinadab the son of Iddo [was in] Mahanaim. Ahimaaz [was] in Naphtali; he moreover also had taken Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife. Baanah the son of Hushai [was] in Asher and Bealoth. Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah [was] in Issachar. Shimei the son of Ela [was] in Benjamin. Geber the son of Uri [was] in the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, and of Og, the king of Bashan; one governor which [was] over the land.

So David came to Saul and {entered his service}. He loved him greatly and {he became Saul's armor bearer}.

The delight of kings [are] the lips of righteousness, and he who speaks what is upright he will love.

A man who is skillful in his work, you shall see: before kings, he will serve; he will not serve before the commoners.

A decision is upon the lips of a king; in judgment his mouth will not sin.

A wise king winnows the wicked, and he will drive a wheel over them.

A deep pit is the mouth of an {adulteress}, [he with whom] Yahweh is angry will fall there.

An abomination to kings [is] doing evil, for by righteousness the throne will be established.

The favor of a king [is] for the servant who deals wisely, but his wrath will be [on] him who acts shamefully.

Fear Yahweh, my son, and the king; with those who change, do not associate.

Then Samuel told the people the custom of the kingship, and he wrote [the rules] down on a scroll and laid [it] before Yahweh. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each to his own house.

A ruler who lacks understanding is a cruel oppressor, [but] those who hate unjust gain will have long days.

A ruler who lacks understanding is a cruel oppressor, [but] those who hate unjust gain will have long days.

In the multitude of people is the glory of the king, but without a population, a prince [is] ruined.

and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood

apart from [that of] the men of the traders and the profits of the traders, and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the land.

Do not give your strength to the women, and your ways to destroy kings.

{Fine speech} [is] not becoming a fool, {still less} [is] {false speech} for a ruler.

Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, struck him in front of the people, killed him, and reigned in his place.

Now Adonijah the son of Haggith was exalting himself, saying, "I will be king," so he prepared for himself a chariot and horsemen and fifty men running before him. His father did not rebuke him {at any time} [by] saying, "Why did you do so?" Now he was also very handsome of appearance; she had borne him after Absalom. {He conferred} with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and {they supported Adonijah}.

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.

Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years.

Baasha son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. Now Nadab and all of Israel [were] laying siege to Gibbethon,

Then Omri went up and all Israel with him from Gibbethon, and they besieged Tirzah.

He walked in all of the way of Asa his father, and he did not turn aside from it, doing right in the eyes of Yahweh. Only he did not remove the high places; the people [were] still sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.

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

David reigned over all of Israel, and he was administering justice and righteousness for all his people.

Asa did right in the eyes of Yahweh, like David his ancestor.

A king who sits on [the] throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes.

The glory of God conceals things, but the glory of kings searches out things.

Or else he will drink and forget what has been decreed, and he will pervert the rights of all the {afflicted}.

So then, O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of [the] earth. Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest he be angry and you perish [on the] way, for his anger burns quickly. Blessed are all [who] take refuge in him.

The God of Israel said to me, the rock of Israel has spoken; 'He who rules over mankind rules righteously, in the fear of God.

By me kings reign, and rulers decree righteousness.

Do not promote yourself before the king, and in the place of the great ones do not stand.

All the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David {made a covenant} with them at Hebron in the presence of Yahweh; then they anointed David as king over Israel.

So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Now Joram was keeping guard in Ramoth-Gilead, he and all of Israel, because of the {threat} of Hazael king of Aram.

He did right in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that David his ancestor had done.

He did right in the eyes of Yahweh, and he walked in all of the way of David his ancestor and did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

And kings shall be your {guardians}, and their queens your nurses. They shall bow down, {faces} [to the] ground, to you, and they will lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I [am] Yahweh; those who await me shall not be ashamed.

They said to him, "Look, you are old and your sons do not follow in your ways. So then appoint a king for us to judge us, like all the nations.

You shall keep the charge of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, and his testimonies, as are written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and everywhere you turn,

So then, the one who resists authority resists the ordinance [which is] from God, and those who resist will receive condemnation on themselves.

So then, the one who resists authority resists the ordinance [which is] from God, and those who resist will receive condemnation on themselves.

I gave you a king in my anger, and I took [him] in my wrath.

The king [is] not saved by [the] greatness of an army. The warrior is not delivered by [the] greatness of strength.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for [there] is no authority except by God, and those that exist are put in place by God.

Gird your sword on [your] thigh, O mighty one, [in] your splendor and your majesty.

And [the] strength of [the] king loves justice. You have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.

If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your post, for calmness can undo great offenses.

Then Nebuchadnezzar said in rage and anger to bring in Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; then they brought in these men before the king.

The rage of a king growls like a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

Roaring like the lion [is the] dreaded anger of a king; he who provokes him forfeits his life.

Because of this the king became angry, and he became very much enraged, and he said [that] all the wise men of Babylon [are] to be destroyed.

"Who then is the faithful and wise slave whom the master has put in charge of his household slaves to give them their food at the right time?

The rage of a king growls like a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

In the light of the face of the king [there is] life, and his favor [is] like a cloud of spring rain.

Many are those who seek the {favor} of a ruler, but from Yahweh {one obtains justice}.

on behalf of kings and all those who are in authority, in order that we may live a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

Now it happened that in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus to register all the empire.

The mounted couriers on the royal horses went out without delay, urged by the king's word. The law was given in the citadel of Susa.

And it happened, at the proclaiming of the edict of the king and his law, when many young women were being gathered to the citadel of Susa {under Hegai's care}, Esther was taken to the {king's palace} {under the care of} Hegai who was in charge of the women.

{I make a decree} that in all the dominion of my kingdom [people] will be trembling and fearing before the God of Daniel, for he [is] the living God and endures {forever} and his kingdom [is] one that will not be destroyed and his {dominion has no end}.

And from me {is set forth} a decree that any people, nation, or language that [may] utter criticism against their God--[the God of] Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego--will be broken into pieces and their house will be made like ruins. {For} there is not another God who is able to rescue like this [God]."

Then he brought out the son of the king, put the crown on him with the testimony, and they made him king, anointed him, clapped [their] hands, and said, "[Long] live the king!"

All the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David {made a covenant} with them at Hebron in the presence of Yahweh; then they anointed David as king over Israel.

Then they brought out the son of the king and set upon him the crown and [gave him] the statute and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, "{Long live the king}!"

So all the people went to Gilgal and they made Saul king there before Yahweh in Gilgal. They sacrificed fellowship offerings there before Yahweh. Then Saul rejoiced there greatly [along with] all the men of Israel.

It happened that just when all of Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all of Israel. Not one [followed] after the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone.

And the news reached the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne and removed his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.

So on an appointed day Herod, [after] putting on royal clothing and sitting down on the judgment seat, began to deliver a public address to them.

The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah [were] each sitting on his throne, dressed [in their] robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, [with] all the prophets prophesying before them.

The king also made a large ivory throne, and he overlaid it [with] fine gold.

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.

If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your post, for calmness can undo great offenses.

Then Nebuchadnezzar said in rage and anger to bring in Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; then they brought in these men before the king.

The rage of a king growls like a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

Roaring like the lion [is the] dreaded anger of a king; he who provokes him forfeits his life.

Because of this the king became angry, and he became very much enraged, and he said [that] all the wise men of Babylon [are] to be destroyed.

but concerning the Son, "Your throne, O God, [is] {forever and ever}, and the scepter of righteous [is the] scepter of your kingdom.

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star will go out from Jacob, and a scepter will rise from Israel; it will crush the foreheads of Moab and destroy all the children of Seth.

"All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that [if] any man or woman who goes to the king to the inner courtyard, who is not called, he has one law, to be killed, except if the king extends to him the gold scepter so that he may live. I have not been called to come to the king {for thirty days}."

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff between his feet, until Shiloh comes. And to him shall be the obedience of nations.

Yahweh has broken [the] staff of [the] wicked, [the] scepter of rulers,

"Who then is the faithful and wise slave whom the master has put in charge of his household slaves to give them their food at the right time?

The rage of a king growls like a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.