Book 12        4 Kings

THE FOURTH BOOK OF KINGS

4 Kings Chapter 1

Ochozias sendeth to consult Beelzebub: Elias foretelleth his death: and
causeth fire to come down from heaven, upon two captains and their
companies.

1:1. And Moab rebelled against Israel, after the death of Achab.

1:2. And Ochozias fell through the lattices of his upper chamber, which
he had in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, saying to them:
Go, consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, whether I shall recover of
this my illness.

1:3. And an angel of the Lord spoke to Elias, the Thesbite, saying:
Arise, and go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say
to them: Is there not a God in Israel, that ye go to consult Beelzebub,
the god of Accaron?

1:4. Wherefore, thus saith the Lord: From the bed, on which thou art
gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die. And Elias
went away.

1:5. And the messengers turned back to Ochozias. And he said to them:
Why are you come back?

1:6. But they answered him: A man met us, and said to us: Go, and return
to the king, that sent you, and you shall say to him: Thus saith the
Lord: Is it because there was no God in Israel, that thou sendest to
Beelzebub, the god of Accaron? Therefore thou shalt not come down from
the bed, on which thou art gone up, but thou shalt surely die.

1:7. And he said to them: What manner of man was he who met you, and
spoke these words?

1:8. But they said: A hairy man, with a girdle of leather about his
loins. And he said: It is Elias, the Thesbite.

1:9. And he sent to him a captain of fifty, and the fifty men that were
under him. And he went up to him, and as he was sitting on the top of a
hill, he said to him: Man of God, the king hath commanded that thou come
down.

1:10. And Elias answering, said to the captain of fifty: If I be a man
of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume thee, and thy fifty.
And there came down fire from heaven and consumed him, and the fifty
that were with him.

Let fire, etc... Elias was inspired to call for fire from heaven upon
these captains, who came to apprehend him; not out of a desire to
gratify any private passion; but to punish the insult offered to
religion, to confirm his mission, and to shew how vain are the efforts
of men against God, and his servants, whom he willeth to protect.

1:11. And he again sent to him another captain of fifty men, and his
fifty with him. And he said to him: Man of God: Thus saith the king:
Make haste and come down.

1:12. Elias answering, said: If I be a man of God, let fire come down
from heaven, and consume thee, and thy fifty. And fire came down from
heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

1:13. Again he sent a third captain of fifty men, and the fifty that
were with him. And when he was come, he fell upon his knees before
Elias, and besought him, and said: Man of God, despise not my life, and
the lives of thy servants that are with me.

1:14. Behold fire came down from heaven, and consumed the two first
captains of fifty men, and the fifties that were with them: but now I
beseech thee to spare my life.

1:15. And the angel of the Lord spoke to Elias, saying: Go down with
him, fear not. He arose therefore, and went down with him to the king,

1:16. And said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast sent
messengers to consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, as though there
were not a God in Israel, of whom thou mightest inquire the word;
therefore, from the bed on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come
down, but thou shalt surely die.

1:17. So he died, according to the word of the Lord, which Elias spoke;
and Joram, his brother, reigned in his stead, in the second year of
Joram, the son of Josaphat, king of Juda, because he had no son.

The second year of Joram, etc... Counted from the time that he was
associated to the throne by his father Josaphat.

1:18. But the rest of the acts of Ochozias, which he did, are they not
written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

4 Kings Chapter 2

Eliseus will not part from Elias. The water of the Jordan is divided by
Elias' cloak. Elias is taken up in a fiery chariot, and his double
spirit is given to Eliseus. Eliseus healeth the waters by casting in
salt. Boys are torn by bears for mocking Eliseus.

2:1. And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elias, into
heaven, by a whirlwind, that Elias and Eliseus were going from Galgal.

Heaven... By heaven here is meant the air, the lowest of the heavenly
regions.

2:2. And Elias said to Eliseus: Stay thou here, because the Lord hath
sent me as far as Bethel. And Eliseus said to him: As the Lord liveth,
and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And when they were come
down to Bethel,

2:3. The sons of the prophets, that were at Bethel, came forth to
Eliseus, and said to him: Dost thou know that, this day, the Lord will
take away thy master from thee? And he answered: I also know it: hold
your peace.

The sons of the prophets... That is, the disciples of the prophets; who
seem to have had their schools, like colleges or communities, in Bethel,
Jericho, and other places in the days of Elias and Eliseus.

2:4. And Elias said to Eliseus: Stay here, because the Lord hath sent me
to Jericho. And he said: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I
will not leave thee.  And when they were come to Jericho,

2:5. The sons of the prophets, that were at Jericho, came to Eliseus,
and said to him: Dost thou know that, this day, the Lord will take away
thy master from thee? And he said: I also know it: hold your peace.

2:6. And Elias said to him: Stay here, because the Lord hath sent me as
far as the Jordan. And he said: as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul
liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on together.

2:7. And fifty men, of the sons of the prophets, followed them, and
stood in sight, at a distance: but they two stood by the Jordan.

2:8. And Elias took his mantle, and folded it together, and struck the
waters, and they were divided hither and thither, and they both passed
over on dry ground.

2:9. And when they were gone over, Elias said to Eliseus: Ask what thou
wilt have me to do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And
Eliseus said: I beseech thee, that in me may be thy double spirit.

Double spirit... A double portion of thy spirit, as the eldest son and
heir: or thy spirit which is double in comparison of that which God
usually imparteth to his prophets.

2:10. And he answered: Thou hast asked a hard thing; nevertheless, if
thou see me when I am taken from thee, thou shalt have what thou hast
asked: but if thou see me not, thou shalt not have it.

2:11. And as they went on, walking and talking together, behold, a fiery
chariot and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and Elias went up by
a whirlwind into heaven.

2:12. And Eliseus saw him, and cried: My father, my father, the chariot
of Israel, and the driver thereof.  And he saw him no more: and he took
hold of his own garments, and rent them in two pieces.

2:13. And he took up the mantle of Elias, that fell from him: and going
back, he stood on the bank of the Jordan;

2:14. And he struck the waters with the mantle of Elias, that had fallen
from him, and they were not divided.  And he said: Where is now the God
of Elias? And he struck the waters, and they were divided hither and
thither, and Eliseus passed over.

2:15. And the sons of the prophets, at Jericho, who were over against
him, seeing it, said: The spirit of Elias hath rested upon Eliseus. And
coming to meet him, they worshipped him, falling to the ground.

They worshipped him... viz., with an inferior, yet religious veneration,
not for any temporal, but spiritual excellency.

2:16. And they said to him: Behold, there are with thy servants, fifty
strong men, that can go, and seek thy master, lest, perhaps, the spirit
of the Lord, hath taken him up and cast him upon some monntain, or into
some valley. And he said: Do not send.

2:17. But they pressed him, till he consented, and said: Send. And they
sent fifty men: and they sought three days, but found him not.

2:18. And they came back to him: for he abode at Jericho, and he said to
them: Did I not say to you?  Do not send.

2:l9. And the men of the city, said to Eliseus: Behold the situation of
this city is very good, as thou, my lord, seest: but the waters are very
bad, and the ground barren.

2:20. And he said: Bring me a new vessel, and put salt into it. And when
they had brought it,

2:21. He went out to the spring of the waters, and cast the salt into
it, and said: Thus saith the Lord: I have healed these waters, and there
shall be no more in them death or barrenness.

2:22. And the waters were healed unto this day, according to the word of
Eliseus, which he spoke.

2:23. And he went up from thence to Bethel: and as he was going up by
the way, little boys came out of the city and mocked him, saying: Go up,
thou bald head, go up, thou bald head.

2:24. And looking back, he saw them, and cursed them in the name of the
Lord: and there came forth two bears out of the forest, and tore of
them, two and forty boys.

Cursed them... This curse, which was followed by so visible a judgment
of God, was not the effect of passion, or of a desire of revenging
himself; but of zeal for religion, which was insulted by these boys, in
the person of the prophet; and of a divine inspiration: God punishing in
this manner the inhabitants of Bethel, (the chief seat of the calf
worship,) who had trained up their children in a prejudice against the
true religion and its ministers.

2:25. And from thence he went to mount Carmel, and from thence he
returned to Samaria.

4 Kings Chapter 3

The kings of Israel, Juda, and Edom, fight against the king of Moab.
They want water, which Eliseus procureth without rain: and prophesieth
victory. The king of Moab is overthrown, his city is besieged: he
sacrificeth his firstborn son: so the Israelites raise the siege.

3:1. And Joram the son of Achab, reigned over Israel, in Samaria, in the
eighteenth year of Josaphat, king of Juda. And he reigned twelve years.

3:2. And he did evil before the Lord, but not like his father and his
mother: for he took away the statues of Baal, which his father had made.

3:3. Nevertheless, he stuck to the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat,
who made Israel to sin, nor did he depart from them.

3:4. Now Mesa, king of Moab, nourished many sheep, and he paid to the
king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams,
with their fleeces.

3:5. And when Achab was dead, he broke the league which he had made with
the king of Israel.

3:6. And king Joram went out that day from Samaria, and mustered all
Israel.

3:7. And he sent to Josaphat; king of Juda, saying: The king of Moab is
revolted from me: come with me against him to battle. And he answered: I
will come up: he that is mine, is thine: my people are thy people: and
my horses, thy horses.

3:8. And he said: Which way shall we go up? But he answered: By the
desert of Edom.

3:9. So the king of Israel, and the king of Juda, and the king of Edom,
went, and they fetched a compass of seven days journey, and there was no
water for the army, and for the beasts, that followed them.

3:10. And the king of Israel said: Alas, alas, alas, the Lord hath
gathered us three kings together, to deliver us into the hands of Moab.

3:11. And Josaphat said: Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that
we may beseech the Lord by him?  And one of the servants of the king of
Israel answered: Here is Eliseus, the son of Saphat, who poured water on
the hands of Elias.

3:12. And Josaphat said: The word of the Lord is with him. And the king
of Israel, and Josaphat, king of Juda, and the king of Edom, went down
to him.

3:13. And Eliseus said to the king of Israel: What have I to do with
thee? go to the prophets of thy father, and thy mother. And the king of
Israel said to him: Why hath the Lord gathered together these three
kings, to deliver them into the hands of Moab?

3:14. And Eliseus said to him: As the Lord of hosts liveth, in whose
sight I stand, if I did not reverence the face of Josaphat, king of
Juda, I would not have hearkened to thee, nor looked on thee.

3:15. But now bring me hither a minstrel. And when the minstrel played,
the hand of the Lord came upon him, and he said:

3:16. Thus saith the Lord: Make the channel of this torrent full of
ditches.

3:17. For thus saith the Lord: You shall not see wind, nor rain: and yet
this channel shall be filled with waters, and you shall drink, you and
your families, and your beasts.

3:18. And this is a small thing in the sight of the Lord: moreover, he
will deliver, also, Moab into your hands.

3:19. And you shall destroy every fenced city, and every choice city,
and shall cut down every fruitful tree, and shall stop up all the
springs of waters, and every goodly field you shall cover with stones.

3:20. And it came to pass, in the morning, when the sacrifices used to
be offered, that behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country
was filled with water.

3:21. And all the Moabites hearing that the kings were come up to fight
against them, gathered together all that were girded with a belt upon
them, and stood in the borders.

3:22. And they rose early in the morning, and the sun being now up, and
shining upon the waters, the Moabites saw the waters over against them
red, like blood,

3:23. And they said: It is the blood of the sword: the kings have fought
among themselves, and they have killed one another: go now, Moab, to the
spoils.

3:24. And they went into the camp of Israel: but Israel rising up,
defeated Moab, who fled before them. And they being conquerors, went and
smote Moab.

3:25. And they destroyed the cities: And they filled every goodly field,
every man casting his stone: and they stopt up all the springs of
waters: and cut down all the trees that bore fruit, so that brick walls
only remained: and the city was beset by the slingers, and a great part
thereof destroyed.

Brick walls only remained... It was the proper name of the capital city
of the Moabites. In Hebrew, Kir-Haraseth.

3:26. And when the king of Moab saw this, to wit, that the enemies had
prevailed, he took with him seven hundred men that drew the sword, to
break in upon the king of Edom: but they could not.

3:27. Then he took his eldest son, that should have reigned in his
stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall: and there was
great indignation in Israel, and presently they departed from him, and
returned into their own country.

4 Kings Chapter 4

Miracles of Eliseus. He raiseth a dead child to life.

4:1. Now a certain woman of the wives of the prophets, cried to Eliseus,
saying: Thy servant, my husband, is dead, and thou knowest that thy
servant was one that feared God, and behold the creditor is come to take
away my two sons to serve him.

4:2. And Eliseus said to her: What wilt thou have me do for thee? Tell
me, what hast thou in thy house?  And she answered: I, thy handmaid,
have nothing in my house but a little oil, to anoint me.

4:3. And he said to her: Go, borrow of all thy neighbours empty vessels,
not a few.

4:4. And go in, and shut thy door, when thou art within, and thy sons:
and pour out thereof into all those vessels: and when they are full,
take them away.

4:5. So the woman went, and shut the door upon her, and upon her sons:
they brought her the vessels, and she poured in.

4:6. And when the vessels were full, she said to her son: Bring me yet a
vessel. And he answered: I have no more. And the oil stood.

4:7. And she came, and told the man of God. And he said: Go, sell the
oil, and pay thy creditor: and thou and thy sons live of the rest.

4:8. And there was a day when Eliseus passed by Sunam: now there was a
great woman there, who detained him to eat bread: and as he passed often
that way, he turned into her house to eat bread.

4:9. And she said to her husband: I perceive that this is a holy man of
God, who often passeth by us.

4:10. Let us, therefore, make him a little chamber, and put a little bed
in it for him, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick, that when he
cometh to us he may abide there.

4:11. Now, there was a certain day, when he came, and turned into the
chamber, and rested there.

4:12. And he said to Giezi, his servant: Call this Sunamitess.  And when
he had called her, and she stood before him,

4:13. He said to his servant: Say to her: Behold, thou hast diligently
served us in all things; what wilt thou have me to do for thee? Hast
thou any business, and wilt thou, that I speak to the king, or to the
general of the army? And she answered: I dwell in the midst of my own
people.

4:14. And he said: What will she then that I do for her? And Giezi said:
Do not ask, for she hath no son, and her husband is old.

4:15. Then he bid him call her. And when she was called, and stood
before the door,

4:16. He said to her: At this time, and this same hour, if life be in
company, thou shalt have a son in thy womb. But she answered: Do not, I
beseech thee, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie to thy handmaid.

4:17. And the woman conceived, and brought forth a son in the time, and
at the same hour that Eliseus had said.

4:18. And the child grew. And on a certain day, when he went out to his
father to the reapers,

4:19. He said to his father: My head acheth, my head acheth. But he said
to his servant. Take him, and carry him to his mother.

4:20. And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, she sat
him on her knees, until noon, and then he died.

4:21. And she went up, and laid him upon the bed of the man of God, and
shut the door: and going out,

4:22. She called her husband, and said: Send with me, I beseech thee,
one of thy servants, and an ass, that I may run to the man of God, and
come again.

4:23. And he said to her: Why dost thou go to him?  to day is neither
new moon nor sabbath. She answered: I will go.

4:24. And she saddled an ass, and commanded her servant: Drive, and make
haste, make no stay in going: And do that which I bid thee.

4:25. So she went forward, and came to the man of God, to mount Carmel:
and when the man of God saw her coming towards, he said to Giezi, his
servant: Behold that Sunamitess.

4:26. Go, therefore, to meet her, and say to her: Is all well with thee,
and with thy husband, and with thy son? And she answered: Well.

4:27. And when she came to the man of God, to the mount, she caught hold
on his feet: and Giezi came to remove her. And the man of God said: Let
her alone for her soul is in anguish, and the Lord hath hid it from me,
and hath not told me.

4:28. And she said to him: Did I ask a son of my lord?  did I not say to
thee: Do not deceive me?

4:29. Then he said to Giezi: Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy
hand, and go. If any man meet thee, salute him not: and if any man
salute thee, answer him not: and lay my staff upon the face of the
child.

Salute him not... He that is sent to raise to life the sinner
spiritually dead, must not suffer himself to be called off, or diverted
from his enterprise, by the salutations or ceremonies of the world.

4:30. But the mother of the child said: As the Lord liveth, and as thy
soul liveth, I will not leave thee. He arose, therefore, and followed
her.

4:31. But Giezi was gone before them, and laid the staff upon the face
of the child, and there was no voice nor sense: and he returned to meet
him, and told him, saying: The child is not risen.

St. Augustine considers a great mystery in this miracle wrought by the
prophet Eliseus, thus: By the staff sent by his servant is figured the
rod of Moses, or the Old Law, which was not sufficient to bring mankind
to life then dead in sin. It was necessary that Christ himself should
come, and by taking on human nature, become flesh of our flesh, and
restore us to life. In this Eliseus was a figure of Christ, as it was
necessary that he should come himself to bring the dead child to life
and restore him to his mother, who is here, in a mystical sense, a
figure of the Church.

4:32. Eliseus, therefore, went into the house, and behold the child lay
dead on his bed:

4:33. And going in, he shut the door upon him, and upon the child, and
prayed to the Lord.

4:34. And he went up, and lay upon the child: and put his mouth upon his
mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he
bowed himself upon him, and the child's flesh grew warm.

4:35. Then he returned and walked in the house, once to and fro: and he
went up, and lay upon him: and the child gaped seven times, and opened
his eyes.

4:36. And he called Giezi, and said to him: Call this Sunamitess. And
she being called, went in to him: and he said: Take up thy son.

4:37. She came and fell at his feet, and worshipped upon the ground: and
took up her son, and went out.

4:38. And Eliseus returned to Galgal, and there was a famine in the
land, and the sons of the prophets dwelt before him: And he said to one
of his servants: Set on the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of
the prophets.

4:39. And one went out into the field to gather wild herbs: and he found
something like a wild vine, and gathered of it wild gourds of the field,
and filled his mantle, and coming back, he shred them into the pot of
pottage; for he knew not what it was.

Wild gourds of the field... Colocynthidas. They are extremely bitter,
and therefore are called the gall of the earth; and are poisonous if
taken in a great quantity.

4:40. And they poured it out for their companions to eat: and when they
had tasted of the pottage, they cried out, saying: Death is in the pot,
O man of God.  And they could not eat thereof.

4:41. But he said: Bring some meal. And when they had brought it, he
cast it into the pot, and said: Pour out for the people, that they may
eat. And there was now no bitterness in the pot.

4:42. And a certain man came from Baalsalisa, bringing to the man of
God, bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and new corn in
his scrip. And he said: Give to the people, that they may eat.

4:43. And his servant answered him: How much is this, that I should set
it before a hundred men? He said again: Give to the people, that they
may eat: for thus saith the Lord: They shall eat, and there shall be
left.

4:44. So he set it before them: and they ate, and there was left,
according to the word of the Lord.

4 Kings Chapter 5

Naaman the Syrian is cleansed of his leprosy. He professeth his belief
in one God, promising to serve him. Giezi taketh gifts of Naaman, and is
struck with leprosy.

5:1. Naaman, general of the army, of the king of Syria, was a great man
with his master, and honourable: for by him the Lord gave deliverance to
Syria: and he was a valiant man, and rich, but a leper.

5:2. Now there had gone out robbers from Syria, and had led away captive
out of the land of Israel, a little maid, and she waited upon Naaman's
wife.

5:3. And she said to her mistress: I wish my master had been with the
prophet that is in Samaria: he would certainly have healed him of the
leprosy which he hath.

5:4. Then Naaman went in to his lord, and told him, saying: Thus and
thus said the girl from the land of Israel.

5:5. And the king of Syria said to him: Go; and I will send a letter to
the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of
silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment;

5:6. And brought the letter to the king of Israel, in these words: When
thou shalt receive this letter, know that I have sent to thee Naaman, my
servant, that thou mayst heal him of his leprosy.

5:7. And when the king of Israel had read the letter, he rent his
garments, and said: Am I God, to be able to kill and give life, that
this man hath sent to me to heal a man of his leprosy? mark, and see how
he seeketh occasions against me.

5:8. And when Eliseus, the man of God, had heard this, to wit, that the
king of Israel had rent his garments, he sent to him, saying: Why hast
thou rent thy garments?  let him come to me, and let him know that there
is a prophet in Israel.

5:9. So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and stood at the door
of the house of Eliseus:

5:10. And Eliseus sent a messenger to him, saying: Go, and wash seven
times in the Jordan, and thy flesh shall recover health, and thou shalt
be clean.

5:11. Naaman was angry, and went away, saying: I thought he would have
come out to me, and standing, would have invoked the name of the Lord
his God, and touched with his hand the place of the leprosy, and healed
me.

5:12. Are not the Abana, and the Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, better
than all the waters of Israel, that I may wash in them, and be made
clean? So as he turned, and was going away with indignation,

5:13. His servants came to him, and said to him: Father, if the prophet
had bid thee do some great thing, surely thou shouldst have done it: how
much rather what he now hath said to thee: Wash, and thou shalt be
clean?

5:14. Then he went down, and washed in the Jordan seven times, according
to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored, like the
flesh of a little child: and he was made clean.

5:15. And returning to the man of God, with all his train, he came, and
stood before him, and said: In truth, I know there is no other God, in
all the earth, but only in Israel: I beseech thee, therefore, take a
blessing of thy servant.

A blessing... a present.

5:16. But he answered: As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will
receive none. And when he pressed him, he still refused.

5:17. And Naaman said: As thou wilt: but I beseech thee, grant to me,
thy servant, to take from hence two mules' burden of earth: for thy
servant will not henceforth offer holocaust, or victim, to other gods,
but to the Lord.

5:18. But there is only this, for which thou shalt entreat the Lord for
thy servant; when my master goeth into the temple of Remmon, to worship
there, and he leaneth on my hand: if I bow down in the temple of Remmon,
when he boweth down in the same place, that the Lord pardon me, thy
servant, for this thing.

5:19. And he said to him: Go in peace. So he departed from him, in the
spring time of the earth.

Go in peace... What the prophet here allowed, was not an outward
conformity to an idolatrous worship; but only a service which by his
office he owed to his master: who on all public occasions leaned on him:
so that his bowing down when his master bowed himself down was not in
effect adoring the idols: nor was it so understood by the standers by,
since he publicly professed himself a worshipper of the only true and
living God, but it was no more than doing a civil office to the king his
master, whose leaning upon him obliged him to bow at the same time that
he bowed.

5:20. But Giezi, the servant of the man of God, said: My master hath
spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving of him that which he
brought: as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and take something of
him.

5:21. And Giezi followed after Naaman: and when he saw him running after
him, he leapt down from his chariot to meet him, and said: Is all well?

5:22. And he said: Well: my master hath sent me to thee, saying: Just
now there are come to me from mount Ephraim, two young men of the sons
of the prophets: give them a talent of silver, and two changes of
garments.

5:23. And Naaman said: It is better that thou take two talents. And he
forced him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, and two changes
of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants, and they carried
them before him.

5:24. And when he was come, and now it was the evening, he took them
from their hands, and laid them up in the house, and sent the men away,
and they departed.

5:25. But he went in, and stood before his master. And Eliseus said:
Whence comest thou, Giezi? He answered: Thy servant went no whither.

5:26. But he said: Was not my heart present, when the man turned back,
from his chariot, to meet thee?  So now thou hast received money, and
received garments, to buy oliveyards and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen,
and men-servants, and maid-servants.

5:27. But the leprosy of Naaman, shall also stick to thee, and to thy
seed for ever. And he went out from him a leper, as white as snow.

4 Kings Chapter 6

Eliseus maketh iron to swim upon the water: he leadeth the Syrians that
were sent to apprehend him into Samaria, where there eyes being opened,
they are courteously entertained. The Syrians besiege Samaria: the
famine there causeth a woman to eat her own child. Upon this the king
commandeth Eliseus to be put to death.

6:1. And the sons of the prophets said to Eliseus: Behold, the place
where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.

6:2. Let us go as far as the Jordan, and take out of the wood every man
a piece of timber, that we may build us there a place to dwell in. And
he said: Go.

6:3. And one of them said: But come thou also with thy servants. He
answered: I will come.

6:4. So he went with them. And when they were come to the Jordan, they
cut down wood.

6:5. And it happened, as one was felling some timber, that the head of
the ax fell into the water: and he cried out, and said: Alas, alas,
alas, my lord, for this same was borrowed.

6:6. And the man of God said: Where did it fall? and he shewed him the
place: Then he cut off a piece of wood, and cast it in thither: and the
iron swam.

6:7. And he said: Take it up. And he put out his hand, and took it.

6:8. And the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with
his servants, saying: In such and such a place, let us lay an ambush.

6:9. And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying: Beware that
thou pass not to such a place: for the Syrians are there in ambush.

6:10. And the king of Israel, sent to the place which the man of God had
told him, and prevented him, and looked well to himself there not once
nor twice.

6:11. And the heart of the king of Syria, was troubled for this thing.
And calling together his servants, he said: Why do you not tell me who
it is that betrays me to the king of Israel?

6:12. And one of his servants said: No one, my lord, O king: but
Eliseus, the prophet, that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel all
the words, that thou speakest in thy privy chamber.

6:13. And he said to them: Go, and see where he is: that I may send and
take him. And they told him: saying: Behold he is in Dothan.

6:14. Therefore, he sent thither horses, and chariots, and the strength
of an army: and they came by night, and beset the city.

6:15. And the servant of the man of God, rising early went out, and saw
an army round about the city, and horses and chariots: and he told him,
saying: Alas, alas, alas, my lord, what shall we do?

6:16. But he answered: Fear not: for there are more with us than with
them.

6:17. And Eliseus prayed, and said: Lord, open his eyes, that he may
see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw: and
behold, the mountain was full of horses, and chariots of fire round
about Eliseus.

6:18. And the enemies came down to him: but Eliseus prayed to the Lord,
saying: Strike, I beseech thee, this people with blindness: and the Lord
struck them with blindness, according to the word of Eliseus.

Blindness... The blindness here spoken of was of a particular kind,
which hindered them from seeing the objects that were really before
them; and represented other different objects to their imagination: so
that they no longer perceived the city of Dothan, nor were able to know
the person of Eliseus; but were easily led by him, whom they took to be
another man, to Samaria. So that he truly told them, this is not the
way, neither is this the city, etc., because he spoke with relation to
the way and to the city, which was represented to them.

6:19. And Eliseus said to them: This is not the way, neither is this the
city: follow me, and I will shew you the man whom you seek. So he led
them into Samaria.

6:20. And when they were come into Samaria, Eliseus said: Lord, open the
eyes of these men, that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes,
and they saw themselves to be in the midst of Samaria.

6:21. And the king of Israel said to Eliseus, when he saw them: My
father, shall I kill them?

6:22. And he said: Thou shalt not kill them: for thou didst not take
them with thy sword, or thy bow, that thou mayst kill them: but set
bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to
their master.

6:23. And a great provision of meats was set before them, and they ate
and drank; and he let them go: and they went away to their master: and
the robbers of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.

6:24. And it came to pass, after these things, that Benadad, king of
Syria, gathered together all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria.

6:25. And there was a great famine in Samaria: and so long did the siege
continue, till the head of an ass was sold for fourscore pieces of
silver, and the fourth part of a cabe of pigeons' dung, for five pieces
of silver.

6:26. And as the king of Israel was passing by the wall, a certain woman
cried out to him, saying: Save me, my lord, O king.

6:27. And he said: If the Lord doth not save thee, how can I save thee?
out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? And the king said to her:
What aileth thee? And she answered:

6:28. This woman said to me: Give thy son, that we may eat him today,
and we will eat my son tomorrow.

6:29. So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next
day: Give thy son, that we may eat him. And she hath hid her son.

6:30. When the king heard this, he rent his garments, and passed by upon
the wall. And all the people saw the haircloth which he wore within next
to his flesh.

6:31. And the king said: May God do so and so to me, and may he add
more, if the head of Eliseus, the son of Saphat, shall stand on him this
day.

6:32. But Eliseus sat in his house, and the ancients sat with him. So he
sent a man before: and before that messenger came, he said to the
ancients: Do you know that this son of a murderer hath sent to cut off
my head? Look then when the messenger shall come, shut the door, and
suffer him not to come in: for behold the sound of his master's feet is
behind him.

6:33. While he was yet speaking to them, the messenger appeared, who was
coming to him. And he said: Behold, so great an evil is from the Lord:
what shall I look for more from the Lord?

4 Kings Chapter 7

Eliseus prophesieth a great plenty, which presently ensueth upon the
sudden flight of the Syrians; of which four lepers bring the news to the
city. The incredulous nobleman is trod to death.

7:1. And Eliseus said: Hear ye the word of the Lord: Thus saith the
Lord: Tomorrow, about this time, a bushel of fine flour shall be sold
for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, in the gate of
Samaria.

A stater... It is the same as a sicle or shekel.

7:2. Then one of the lords, upon whose hand the king leaned, answering
the man of God, said: If the Lord should make flood-gates in heaven, can
that possibly be which thou sayest? And he said: Thou shalt see it with
thy eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.

7:3. Now there were four lepers, at the entering in of the gate: and
they said one to another: What mean we to stay here till we die?

7:4. If we will enter into the city, we shall die with the famine: and
if we will remain here, we must also die: come therefore, and let us run
over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare us, we shall live: but if
they kill us, we shall but die.

7:5. So they arose in the evening, to go to the Syrian camp. And when
they were come to the first part of the camp of the Syrians, they found
no man there.

7:6. For the Lord had made them hear, in the camp of Syria, the noise of
chariots, and of horses, and of a very great army: and they said one to
another: Behold, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of
the Hethites, and of the Egyptians; and they are come upon us.

7:7. Wherefore they arose, and fled away in the dark, and left their
tents, and their horses and asses in the camp, and fled, desiring to
save their lives.

7:8. So when these lepers were come to the beginning of the camp, they
went into one tent, and ate and drank: and they took from thence silver,
and gold, and raiment, and went, and hid it: and they came again, and
went into another tent, and carried from thence in like manner, and hid
it.

7:9. Then they said one to another: We do not well: for this is a day of
good tidings. If we hold our peace, and do not tell it till the morning,
we shall be charged with a crime: come, let us go, and tell it in the
king's court.

7:10. So they came to the gate of the city, and told them, saying: We
went to the camp of the Syrians, and we found no man there, but horses,
and asses tied, and the tents standing.

7:11. Then the guards of the gate went, and told it within in the king's
palace.

7:12. And he arose in the night, and said to his servants: I tell you
what the Syrians have done to us: They know that we suffer great famine,
and therefore they are gone out of the camp, and lie hid in the fields,
saying: When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and
then we may get into the city.

7:13. And one of his servants answered: Let us take the five horses that
are remaining in the city (because there are no more in the whole
multitude of Israel, for the rest are consumed), and let us send and
see.

7:14. They brought therefore two horses, and the king sent into the camp
of the Syrians, saying: Go, and see.

7:15. And they went after them, as far as the Jordan: and behold, all
the way was full of garments, and vessels, which the Syrians had cast
away, in their fright, and the messengers returned, and told the king.

7:16. And the people going out, pillaged the camp of the Syrians: and a
bushel of fine flour was sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley
for a stater, according to the word of the Lord.

7:17. And the king appointed that lord on whose hand he leaned, to stand
at the gate: and the people trod upon him in the entrance of the gate;
and he died, as the man of God had said, when the king came down to him.

7:18. And it came to pass, according to the word of the man of God,
which he spoke to the king, when he said: Two bushels of barley shall be
for a stater, and a bushel of fine flour for a stater, at this very time
tomorrow, in the gate of Samaria.

7:19. When that lord answered the man of God, and said: Although the
Lord should make flood-gates in heaven, could this come to pass which
thou sayest? And he said to him: Thou shalt see it with thy eyes, and
shalt not eat thereof.

7:20. And so it fell out to him, as it was foretold, and the people trod
upon him in the gate, and he died.

4 Kings Chapter 8

After seven years' famine foretold by Eliseus, the Sunamitess returning
home, recovereth her lands, and revenues. Eliseus foresheweth the death
of Benadad, king of Syria, and the reign of Hazael. Joram's wicked reign
in Juda. He dieth, and his son Ochozias succeedeth.

8:1. And Eliseus spoke to the woman, whose son he had restored to life,
saying: Arise, and go thou, and thy household, and sojourn wheresoever
thou canst find: for the Lord hath called a famine, and it shall come
upon the land seven years.

8:2. And she arose, and did according to the word of the man of God: and
going with her household, she sojourned in the land of the Philistines
many days.

8:3. And when the seven years were ended, the woman returned out of the
land of the Philistines, and she went forth to speak to the king for her
house and for her lands.

8:4. And the king talked with Giezi, the servant of the man of God,
saying: Tell me all the great things that Eliseus hath done.

8:5. And when he was telling the king how he had raised one dead to
life, the woman appeared, whose son he had restored to life, crying to
the king for her house, and her lands. And Giezi said: My lord, O king,
this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Eliseus raised to life.

8:6. And the king asked the woman: and she told him. And the king
appointed her an eunuch, saying: Restore her all that is hers, and all
the revenues of the lands, from the day that she left the land to this
present.

8:7. Eliseus also came to Damascus, and Benadad, king of Syria was sick;
and they told him, saying: The man of God is come hither.

8:8. And the king said to Hazael: Take with thee presents, and go to
meet the man of God, and consult the Lord by him, saying: Can I recover
of this my illness?

8:9. And Hazael went to meet him, taking with him presents, and all the
good things of Damascus, the burdens of forty camels. And when he stood
before him, he said: Thy son, Benadad, the king of Syria, hath sent me
to thee, saying: Can I recover of this my illness?

8:10. And Eliseus said to him: Go tell him: Thou shalt recover: but the
Lord hath shewed me that he shall surely die.

Tell him: thou shalt recover... By these words the prophet signified
that the king's disease was not mortal: and that he would recover if no
violence were used. Or he might only express himself in this manner, by
way of giving Hazael to understand that he knew both what he would say
and do; that he would indeed tell the king he should recover; but would
be himself the instrument of his death.

8:11. And he stood with him, and was troubled so far as to blush: and
the man of God wept.

8:12. And Hazael said to him: Why doth my lord weep? And he said:
Because I know the evil that thou wilt do to the children of Israel.
Their strong cities thou wilt burn with fire, and their young men thou
wilt kill with the sword, and thou wilt dash their children, and rip up
their pregnant women.

8:13. And Hazael said: But what am I, thy servant, a dog, that I should
do this great thing? And Eliseus said: The Lord hath shewed me that thou
shalt be king of Syria.

8:14. And when he was departed from Eliseus he came to his master, who
said to him: What said Eliseus to thee? And he answered: He told me:
Thou shalt recover.

8:15. And on the next day, he took a blanket, and poured water on it,
and spread it upon his face: and he died, and Hazael reigned in his
stead.

8:16. In the fifth year of Joram, son of Achab, king of Israel, and of
Josaphat, king of Juda, reigned Joram, son of Josaphat, king of Juda.

And of Josaphat, etc... That is, Josaphat being yet alive, who sometime
before his death made his son Joram king, as David had done before by
his own son Solomon.

8:17. He was two and thirty years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

8:18. And he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of
Achab had walked: for the daughter of Achab was his wife: and he did
that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.

8:19. But the Lord would not destroy Juda, for David his servant's sake,
as he had promised him, to give him a light, and to his children always.

8:20. In his days Edom revolted from being under Juda, and made
themselves a king.

8:21. And Joram came to Seira, and all the chariots with him: and he
arose in the night, and defeated the Edomites that had surrounded him,
and the captains of the chariots, but the people fled into their tents.

8.22. So Edom revolted from being under Juda, unto this day. Then Lobna
also revolted at the same time.

8:23. But the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they
not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?

8:24. And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the
city of David, and Ochozias, his son, reigned in his stead.

8:25. In the twelfth year of Joram, the son of Achab, king of Israel,
reigned Ochozias, son of Joram, king of Juda.

8:26. Ochozias was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and
he reigned one year in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Athalia the
daughter of Amri king of Israel.

Daughter... That is, grand-daughter; for she was daughter of Achab son
of Amri, ver. 18.

8:27. And he walked in the ways of the house of Achab: and he did evil
before the Lord, as did the house of Achab: for he was the son in law of
the house of Achab.

8:28. He went also with Joram, son of Achab, to fight against Hazael,
king of Syria, in Ramoth Galaad, and the Syrians wounded Joram:

8:29. And he went back to be healed, in Jezrahel: because the Syrians
had wounded him in Ramoth, when he fought against Hazael, king of Syria
And Ochozias, the son of Joram, king of Juda, went down to visit Joram,
the son of Achab, in Jezrahel, because he was sick there.

4 Kings Chapter 9

Jehu is anointed king of Israel, to destroy the house of Achab and
Jezebel. He killeth Joram king of Israel, and Ochozias king of Juda.
Jezebel is eaten by dogs.

9:1. And Eliseus the prophet, called one of the sons of the prophets,
and said to him: Gird up thy loins, and take this little bottle of oil
in thy hand, and go to Ramoth Galaad.

9:2. And when thou art come thither, thou shalt see Jehu the son of
Josaphat the son of Namsi: and going in, thou shalt make him rise up
from amongst his brethren, and carry him into an inner chamber.

9:3. Then taking the little bottle of oil, thou shalt pour it on his
head, and shalt say: Thus saith the Lord: I have anointed thee king over
Israel. And thou shalt open the door and flee, and shalt not stay there.

9:4. So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went away to Ramoth
Galaad,

9:5. And went in thither: and behold, the captains of the army were
sitting, and he said: I have a word to thee, O prince. And Jehu said:
Unto whom of us all?  And he said: To thee, O prince.

9:6. And he arose, and went into the chamber: and he poured the oil upon
his head, and said: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: I have anointed
thee king over Israel, the people of the Lord.

9:7. And thou shalt cut off the house of Achab, thy master, and I will
revenge the blood of my servants, the prophets, and the blood of all the
servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezabel.

9:8. And I will destroy all the house of Achab, and I will cut off from
Achab, him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up, and
the meanest in Israel.

9:9. And I will make the house of Achab, like the house of Jeroboam, the
son of Nabat, and like the house of Baasa, the son of Ahias.

9:10. And the dogs shall eat Jezabel, in the field of Jezrahel, and
there shall be no one to bury her. And he opened the door and fled.

9:11. Then Jehu went forth to the servants of his Lord: and they said to
him: Are all things well? why came this madman to thee? And he said to
them: You know the man, and what he said.

9:12. But they answered: It is false; but rather do thou tell us. And he
said to them: Thus and thus did he speak to me: and he said: Thus saith
the Lord: I have anointed thee king over Israel.

9:13. Then they made haste, and taking every man his garment, laid it
under his feet, after the manner of a judgment seat, and they sounded
the trumpet, and said: Jehu is king.

9:14. So Jehu, the son of Josaphat, the son of Namsi, conspired against
Joram. Now Joram had besieged Ramoth Galaad, he, and all Israel,
fighting with Hazael, king of Syria:

9:15. And was returned to be healed in Jezrahel of his wounds; for the
Syrians had wounded him, when he fought with Hazael, king of Syria. And
Jehu said: If it please you, let no man go forth or flee out of the
city, lest he go, and tell in Jezrahel.

9:16. And he got up, and went into Jezrahel for Joram was sick there,
and Ochozias king of Juda, was come down to visit Joram.

9:17. The watchman therefore, that stood upon the tower of Jezrahel, saw
the troop of Jehu coming, and said: I see a troop. And Joram said: Take
a chariot, and send to meet them, and let him that goeth say: Is all
well?

9:18. So there went one in a chariot to meet him, and said: Thus saith
the king: Are all things peaceable?  And Jehu said: What hast thou to do
with peace? go behind and follow me. And the watchman told, saying: The
messenger came to them, but he returneth not.

9:19. And he sent a second chariot of horses: and he came to them, and
said: Thus saith the king: Is there peace? And Jehu said: What hast thou
to do with peace? pass, and follow me.

9:20. And the watchman told, saying: He came even to them, but returneth
not: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu, the son of Namsi; for
he drives furiously.

9:21. And Joram said: Make ready the chariot. And they made ready his
chariot: and Joram, king of Israel, and Ochozias, king of Juda, went
out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu, and met him in
the field of Naboth, the Jezrahelite.

9:22. And when Joram saw Jehu, he said: Is there peace, Jehu? And he
answered: What peace? so long as the fornications of Jezabel, thy
mother, and her many sorceries, are in their vigour.

9:23. And Joram turned his hand, and fleeing, said to Ochozias: There is
treachery, Ochozias.

9:24. But Jehu bent his bow with his hand, and shot Joram between the
shoulders: and the arrow went out through his heart, and immediately he
fell in his chariot.

9:25. And Jehu said to Badacer, his captain: Take him, and cast him into
the field of Naboth, the Jezrahelite: for I remember, when I and thou,
sitting in a chariot, followed Achab, this man's father, that the Lord
laid this burden upon him, saying:

9:26. If I do not requite thee in this field, saith the Lord, for the
blood of Naboth, and for the blood of his children, which I saw
yesterday, saith the Lord. So now take him, and cast him into the field,
according to the word of the Lord.

9:27. But Ochozias, king of Juda, seeing this, fled by the way of the
garden house: and Jehu pursued him, and said: Strike him also in his
chariot. And they struck him in the going up to Gaver, which is by
Jeblaam: and he fled into Mageddo, and died there.

9:28. And his servants laid him upon his chariot, and carried him to
Jerusalem: and they buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers, in the
city of David.

9:29. In the eleventh year of Joram, the son of Achab, Ochozias reigned
over Juda;

9:30. And Jehu came into Jezrahel. But Jezabel, hearing of his coming
in, painted her face with stibic stone, and adorned her head, and looked
out of a window.

9:31. At Jehu coming in at the gate, and said: Can there be peace for
Zambri, that hath killed his master?

9:32. And Jehu lifted up his face to the window, and said: Who is this?
And two or three eunuchs bowed down to him.

9:33. And he said to them: Throw her down headlong; And they threw her
down, and the wall was sprinkled with her blood, and the hoofs of the
horses trod upon her.

9:34. And when he was come in to eat, and to drink, he said: Go, and see
after that cursed woman, and bury her; because she is a king's daughter.

9:35. And when they went to bury her, they found nothing but the skull,
and the feet, and the extremities of her hands.

9:36. And coming back they told him. And Jehu said: It is the word of
the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elias, the Thesbite, saying: In
the field of Jezrahel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezabel.

9:37. And the flesh of Jezabel shall be as dung upon the face of the
earth in the field of Jezrahel; so that they who pass by shall say: Is
this that same Jezabel?

4 Kings Chapter 10

Jehu destroyeth the house of Achab: abolisheth the worship of Baal, and
killeth the worshippers: but sticketh to the calves of Jeroboam. Israel
is afflicted by the Syrians.

10:1. And Achab had seventy sons in Samaria: so Jehu wrote letters, and
sent to Samaria, to the chief men of the city, and to the ancients, and
to them that brought up Achab's children, saying:

10:2. As soon as you receive these letters, ye that have your master's
sons, and chariots, and horses, and fenced cities, and armour,

10:3. Choose the best, and him that shall please you most of your
master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for the
house of your master.

10:4. But they were exceedingly afraid, and said: Behold two kings could
not stand before him, and how shall we be able to resist?

10:5. Therefore they that were over the king's house, and the rulers of
the city, and the ancients, and the bringers up of the children, sent to
Jehu, saying: We are thy servants: whatsoever thou shalt command us we
will do; we will not make us any king: do thou all that pleaseth thee.

10:6. And he wrote letters the second time to them, saying: If you be
mine, and will obey me, take the heads of the sons of your master, and
come to me to Jezrahel by tomorrow at this time. Now the king's sons,
being seventy men, were brought up with the chief men of the city.

10:7. And when the letters came to them, they took the king's sons, and
slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to
him to Jezrahel.

10:8. And a messenger came, and told him, saying: They have brought the
heads of the king's sons. And he said: Lay ye them in two heaps by the
entering in of the gate until the morning.

10:9. And when it was light, he went out, and standing, said to all the
people: You are just: if I conspired against my master, and slew him;
who hath slain all these?

10:10. See therefore now that there hath not fallen to the ground any of
the words of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of
Achab, and the Lord hath done that which he spoke in the hand of his
servant Elias.

10:11. So Jehu slew all that were left of the honse of Achab in
Jezrahel, and all his chief men, and his friends, and his priests, till
there were no remains left of him.

10:12. And he arose, and went to Samaria: and when he was come to the
shepherds' cabin in the way,

10:13. He met with the brethren of Ochozias, king of Juda, and he said
to them: Who are you? And they answered: We are the brethren of
Ochozias, and are come down to salute the sons of the king, and the sons
of the queen.

10:14. And he said: Take them alive. And they took them alive, and
killed them at the pit by the cabin, two and forty men, and he left not
any of them.

10:15. And when he was departed thence, he found Jonadab, the son of
Rechab, coming to meet him, and he blessed him. And he said to him: Is
thy heart right as my heart is with thy heart? And Jonadab said: It is.
If it be, said he, give me thy hand. He gave him his hand. And he lifted
him up to him into the chariot,

10:16. And said to him: Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. So
he made him ride in his chariot,

10:17. And brought him into Samaria. And he slew all that were left of
Achab, in Samaria, to a man, according to the word of the Lord which he
spoke by Elias.

10:18. And Jehu gathered together all the people, and said to them:
Achab worshipped Baal a little, but I will worship him more.

I will worship him more... Jehu sinned in thus pretending to worship
Baal, and causing sacrifice to be offered to him: because evil is not to
be done, that good may come of it. Rom. 3.8.

10:19. Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, and all his
servants, and all his priests: let none be wanting, for I have a great
sacrifice to offer to Baal: whosoever shall be wanting, shall not live.
Now Jehu did this craftily, that he might destroy the worshippers of
Baal.

10:20. And he said: Proclaim a festival for Baal. And he called,

10:21. And he sent into all the borders of Israel; and all the servants
of Baal came: there was not one left that did not come. And they went
into the temple of Baal: and the house of Baal was filled, from one end
to the other.

10:22. And he said to them that were over the wardrobe: Bring forth
garments for all the servants of Baal.  And they brought them forth
garments.

10:23. And Jehu, and Jonadab, the son of Rechab, went to the temple of
Baal, and said to the worshippers of Baal: Search, and see that there be
not any with you of the servants of the Lord, but that there be the
servants of Baal only.

10:24. And they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings: but
Jehu had prepared him fourscore men without, and said to them: If any of
the men escape, whom I have brought into your hands, he that letteth him
go, shall answer life for life.

10:25. And it came to pass, when the burnt offering was ended, that Jehu
commanded his soldiers and captains, saying: Go in, and kill them: let
none escape. And the soldiers and captains slew them with the edge of
the sword, and cast them out: and they went into the city of the temple
of Baal,

10:26. And brought the statue out of Baal's temple, and burnt it,

10:27. And broke it in pieces. They destroyed also the temple of Baal,
and made a jakes in its place unto this day.

10:28. So Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel:

10:29. But yet he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of
Nabat, who made Israel to sin, nor did he forsake the golden calves that
were in Bethel, and Dan.

10:30. And the Lord said to Jehu: because thou hast diligently executed
that which was right and pleasing in my eyes, and hast done to the house
of Achab according to all that was in my heart: thy children shall sit
upon the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.

10:31. But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of
Israel, with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of
Jeroboam, who had made Israel to sin.

10:32. In those days the Lord began to be weary of Israel: and Hazael
ravaged them in all the coasts of Israel,

10:33. From the Jordan eastward, all the land of Galaad, and Gad, and
Ruben, and Manasses, from Aroer, which is upon the torrent Arnon, and
Galaad, and Basan.

10:34. But the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and his
strength, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of
the kings of Israel?

10:35. And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria:
and Joachaz, his son, reigned in his stead.

10:36. And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel, in Samaria, was eight
and twenty years.

4 Kings 11

Athalia's usurpation and tyranny. Joas is made king. Athalia is slain.

11:1. Now Athalia, the mother of Ochozias, seeing that her son was dead,
arose and slew all the royal seed.

11:2. But Josaba the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ochozias, took
Joas, the son of Ochozias, and stole him from among the king's sons that
were slain, out of the bedchamber with his nurse: and hid him from the
face of Athalia; so that he was not slain.

11:3. And he was with her six years, hid in the house of the Lord. And
Athalia reigned over the land.

11:4. And in the seventh year Joiada sent, and taking the centurions and
soldiers, brought them in to him into the temple of the Lord, and made a
covenant with them: and taking an oath of them in the house of the Lord,
shewed them the king's son:

11:5. And he commanded them, saying: This is the thing that you must do.

11:6. Let a third part of you go in on the sabbath, and keep the watch
of the king's house. And let a third part be at the gate of Sur; and let
a third part be at the gate behind the dwelling of the shieldbearers;
and you shall keep the watch of the house of Messa.

11:7. But let two parts of you all that go forth on the sabbath, keep
the watch of the house of the Lord about the king.

11:8. And you shall compass him round about, having weapons in your
hands: and if any man shall enter the precinct of the temple, let him be
slain: and you shall be with the king, coming in and going out.

11:9. And the centurions did according to all things that Joiada the
priest, had commanded them: and takiug every one their men, that went in
on the sabbath, with them that went out in the sabbath, came to Joiada,
the priest.

11:10. And he gave them the spears, and the arms of king David, which
were in the house of the Lord.

11:11. And they stood, having every one their weapons in their hands,
from the right side of the temple, unto the left side of the altar, and
of the temple, about the king.

11:12. And he brought forth the king's son, and put the diadem upon him,
and the testimony: and they made him king, and anointed him: and
clapping their hands, they said: God save the king.

The testimony... The book of the law.

11:13. And Athalia heard the noise of the people running: and going in
to the people into the temple of the Lord,

11:14. She saw the king standing upon a tribunal, as the manner was, and
the singers, and the trumpets near him, and all the people of the land
rejoicing, and sounding the trumpets: and she rent her garments, and
cried: A conspiracy, a conspiracy.

A tribunal... A tribune, or a place elevated above the rest.

11:15. But Joiada commanded the centurions that were over the army, and
said to them: Have her forth without the precinct of the temple, and
whosoever shall follow her, let him be slain with the sword. For the
priest had said: Let her not be slain in the temple of the Lord.

11:16. And they laid hands on her: and thrust her out by the way by
which the horses go in, by the palace, and she was slain there.

11:17. And Joiada made a covenant between the Lord, and the king, and
the people, that they should be the people of the Lord; and between the
king and the people.

11:18. And all the people of the land went into the temple of Baal, and
broke down his altars, and his images they broke in pieces thoroughly:
they slew also Mathan the priest of Baal before the altar. And the
priest set guards in the house of the Lord.

11:19. And he took the centurions, and the bands of the Cerethi, and the
Phelethi, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king from
the house of the Lord: and they came by the way of the gate of the
shieldbearers into the palace, and he sat on the throne of the kings.

11:20. And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet:
but Athalia was slain with the sword in the king's house.

11:21. Now Joas was seven years old when he began to reign.

4 Kings Chapter 12

The temple is repaired. Hazael is bought off from attacking Jerusalem.
Joas is slain.

12:1. In the seventh year of Jehu, Joas began to reign: and he reigned
forty years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Sebia, of Bersabee.

12:2. And Joas did that which was right before the Lord all the days
that Joiada, the priest, taught him.

12:3. But yet he took not away the high places: for the people still
sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

12:4. And Joas said to the priests: all the money of the sanctified
things, which is brought into the temple of the Lord by those that pass,
which is offered for the price of a soul, and which of their own accord,
and of their own free heart, they bring into the temple of the Lord:

Sanctified... That is, dedicated to God's service.-Ibid. The price of a
soul... That is, the ordinary oblation, which every soul was to offer by
the law. Ex. 30.

12:5. Let the priests take it according to their order and repair the
house, wheresoever they shall see any thing that wanteth repairing.

12:6. Now till the three and twentieth year of king Joas the priests did
not make the repairs of the temple.

12:7. And king Joas called Joiada, the high priest, and the priests,
saying to them: Why do you not repair the temple? Take you, therefore,
money no more according to your order, but restore it for the repairing
of the temple.

12:8. And the priests were forbidden to take any more money of the
people, and to make the repairs of the house.

12:9. And Joiada, the high priest, took a chest, and bored a hole in the
top, and set it by the altar at the right hand of them that came into
the house of the Lord; and the priests that kept the doors, put therein
all the money that was brought to the temple of the Lord.

12:10. And when they saw that there was very much money in the chest,
the king's scribe, and the high priest, came up, and poured it out, and
counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord.

12:11. And they gave it out by number and measure into the hands of them
that were over the builders of the house of the Lord: and they laid it
out to the carpenters, and the masons, that wrought in the house of the
Lord,

12:12. And made the repairs: and to them that cut stones, and to buy
timber, and stones to be hewed, that the repairs of the house of the
Lord might be completely finished, and wheresoever there was need of
expenses to uphold the house.

12:13. But there were not made of the same money for the temple of the
Lord, bowls, or fleshhooks, or censers, or trumpets, or any vessel of
gold and silver, of the money that was brought into the temple of the
Lord:

12:14. For it was given to them that did the work, that the temple of
the Lord might be repaired.

12:15. And they reckoned not with the men that received the money to
distribute it to the workmen, but they bestowed it faithfully.

12:16. But the money for trespass, and the money for sins, they brought
not into the temple of the Lord, because it was for the priests.

12:17. Then Hazael, king of Syria, went up, and fought against Geth, and
took it, and set his face to go up to Jerusalem.

12:18. Wherefore Joas, king of Juda, took all the sanctified things,
which Josaphat, and Joram, and Ochozias, his fathers, the kings of Juda,
had dedicated to holy uses, and which he himself had offered: and all
the silver that could be found in the treasures of the temple of the
Lord, and in the king's palace: and sent it to Hazael, king of Syria,
and he went off from Jerusalem.

12:19. And the rest of the acts of Joas, and all that he did, are they
not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?

12:20. And his servants arose, and conspired among themselves, and slew
Joas, in the house of Mello, in the descent of Sella.

12:21. For Josachar the son of Semaath, and Jozabad the son of Somer his
servant, struck him, and he died: and they buried him with his fathers
in the city of David; and Amasias, his son, reigned in his stead.

The city of David... He was buried in the same city with his fathers,
but not in the sepulchres of the kings. 2 Par. 14.

4 Kings Chapter 13

The reign of Joachaz and of Joas kings of Israel. The last acts and
death of Eliseus the prophet: a dead man is raised to life by the touch
of his bones.

13:1. In the three and twentieth year of Joas son of Ochozias, king of
Juda, Joachaz, the son of Jehu, reigned over Israel, in Samaria,
seventeen years.

13:2. And he did evil before the Lord, and followed the sins of
Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin; and he departed not
from them.

13:3. And the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he
delivered them into the hand of Hazael, the king of Syria, and into the
hand of Benadad, the son of Hazael, all days.

13:4. But Joachaz besought the face of the Lord, and the Lord heard him:
for he saw the distress of Israel, because the king of Syria had
oppressed them:

13:5. And the Lord gave Israel a saviour, and they were delivered out of
the hand of the king of Syria: and the children of Israel dwelt in their
pavilions as yesterday and the day before.

13:6. But yet they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam,
who made Israel to sin, but walked in them: and there still remained a
grove also in Samaria.

A grove... Dedicated to the worship of idols.

13:7. And Joachaz had no more left of the people than fifty horsemen,
and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen: for the king of Syria had
slain them, and had brought them low as dust by threshing in the
barnfloor.

13:8. But the rest of the acts of Joachaz, and all that he did, and his
valour, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the
kings of Israel?

13:9. And Joachaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in
Samaria: and Joas, his son, reigned in his stead.

13:10. In the seven and thirtieth year of Joas, king of Juda, Joas the
son of Joachaz reigned over Israel, in Samaria, sixteen years.

13:11. And he did that which is evil in the sight of the Lord: he
departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made
Israel to sin; but he walked in them.

13:12. But the rest of the acts of Joas, and all that he did, and his
valour wherewith he fought against Amasias, king of Juda, are they not
written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

13:13. And Joas slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat upon his
throne. But Joas was buried in Samaria, with the kings of Israel.

13:14. Now Eliseus was sick of the illness whereof he died: and Joas,
king of Israel, went down to him, and wept before him, and said: O my
father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the guider thereof.

13:15. And Eliseus said to him: Bring a bow and arrows. And when he had
brought him a bow and arrows,

13:16. He said to the king of Israel: Put thy hand upon the bow. And
when he had put his hand, Eliseus put his hands over the king's hands,

13:17. And said: Open the window to the east. And when he had opened it,
Eliseus said: Shoot an arrow.  And he shot. And Eliseus said: The arrow
of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of the deliverance from Syria:
and thou shalt strike the Syrians in Aphec, till thou consume them.

13:18. And he said: Take the arrows. And when he had taken them, he said
to him: Strike with an arrow upon the ground. And he struck three times,
and stood still.

13:19. And the man of God was angry with him, and said: If thou hadst
smitten five or six or seven times, thou hadst smitten Syria even to
utter destruction: but now three times shalt thou smite it.

If thou hadst smitten, etc... By this it appears that God had revealed
to the prophet that the king should overcome the Syrians as many times
as he should then strike on the ground; but as he had not at the same
time revealed to him how often the king would strike, the prophet was
concerned to see that he struck but thrice.

13:20. And Eliseus died, and they buried him. And the rovers from Moab
came into the land the same year.

13:21. And some that were burying a man, saw the rovers, and cast the
body into the sepulchre of Eliseus.  And when it had touched the bones
of Eliseus, the man came to life and stood upon his feet.

13:22. Now Hazael, king of Syria, afflicted Israel all the days of
Joachaz.

13:23. And the Lord had mercy on them, and returned to them, because of
his covenant, which he had made with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob: and
he would not destroy them, nor utterly cast them away, unto this present
time.

13:24. And Hazael, king of Syria, died; and Benadad, his son, reigned in
his stead.

13:25. Now Joas the son of Joachaz, took the cities out of the hand of
Benadad, the son of Hazael, which he had taken out of the hand of
Joachaz, his father, by war; three times did Joas beat him, and he
restored the cities to Israel.

4 Kings Chapter 14

Amasias reigneth in Juda: he overcometh the Edomites: but is overcome by
Joas king of Israel. Jereboam the second reigneth in Israel.

14:1. In the second year of Joas son of Joachaz, king of Israel, reigned
Amasias son of Joas, king of Juda.

14:2. He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign; and nine
and twenty years he reigned in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was
Joadan, of Jerusalem.

14:3. And he did that which was right before the Lord, but yet not like
David his father. He did according to all things that Joas his father,
did:

14:4. But this only, that he took not away the high places; for yet the
people sacrificed, and burnt incense in the high places:

14:5. And when he had possession of the kingdom, he put his servants to
death that had slain the king, his father.

14:6. But the children of the murderers he did not put to death,
according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses,
wherein the Lord commanded, saying: The fathers shall not be put to
death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for
the fathers: but every man shall die for his own sin.

14:7. He slew of Edom in the valley of the Saltpits, ten thousand men,
and took the rock by war, and called the name thereof Jectehel, unto
this day.

14:8. Then Amasias sent messengers to Joas, son of Joachaz, son of Jehu,
king of Israel, saying: Come, let us see one another.

Let us see one another... This was a challenge to fight.

14:9. And Joas, king of Israel, sent again to Amasias, king of Juda,
saying: A thistle of Libanus sent to a cedar tree, which is in Libanus,
saying: Give thy daughter to my son to wife. And the beasts of the
forest, that are in Libanus, passed, and trod down the thistle.

14:10. Thou hast beaten and prevailed over Edom, and thy heart hath
lifted thee up; be content with this glory, and sit at home; why
provokest thou evil, that thou shouldst fall, and Juda with thee?

14:11. But Amasias did not rest satisfied. So Joas, king of Israel, went
up; and he and Amasias, king of Juda, saw one another in Bethsames, a
town in Juda.

14:12. And Juda was put to the worse before Israel, and they fled every
man to their dwellings.

14:13. But Joas, king of Israel, took Amasias, king of Juda, the son of
Joas, the son of Ochozias, in Bethsames, and brought him into Jerusalem;
and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem, from the gate of Ephraim to the
gate of the corner, four hundred cubits.

14:14. And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that
were found in the house of the Lord, and in the king's treasures, and
hostages, and returned to Samaria.

14:15. But the rest of the acts of Joas, which he did, and his valour,
wherewith he fought against Amasias, king of Juda, are they not written
in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

14:16. And Joas slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria, with
the kings of Israel: and Jeroboam, his son, reigned in his stead.

14:17. And Amasias, the son of Joas, king of Juda, lived after the death
of Joas, son of Joachaz, king of Israel, fifteen years.

14:18. And the rest of the acts of Amasias, are they not written in the
book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?

14:19. Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled
to Lachis. And they sent after him to Lachis, and killed him there.

14:20. And they brought him away upon horses, and he was buried in
Jerusalem with his fathers, in the city of David.

14:21. And all the people of Juda took Azarias, who was sixteen years
old, and made him king instead of his father, Amasias.

14:22. He built Elath, and restored it to Juda, after that the king
slept with his fathers.

14:23. In the fifteenth year of Amasias, son of Joas, king of Juda,
reigned Jeroboam, the son of Joas, king of Israel, in Samaria, one and
forty years:

14:24. And he did that which is evil before the Lord.  He departed not
from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin.

14:25. He restored the borders of Israel from the entrance of Emath,
unto the sea of the wilderness, according to the word of the Lord, the
God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant, Jonas, the son of Amathi,
the prophet, who was of Geth, which is in Opher.

Opher... The tribe of Zabulon.

14:26. For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was
exceedingly bitter, and that they were consumed even to them that were
shut up in prison, and the lowest persons, and that there was no one to
help Israel.

14:27. And the Lord did not say that he would blot out the name of
Israel from under heaven; but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, the
son of Joas.

14:28. But the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and
his valour, wherewith he fought, and how he restored Damascus and Emath
to Juda, in Israel, are they not written in the book of the words of the
days of the kings of Israel?

14:29. And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel; and
Zacharias, his son, reigned in his stead.

4 Kings Chapter 15

The reign of Azarias, and Joatham in Juda: and of Zacharias, Sellum,
Manahem, Phaceia, and Phacee in Israel.

15:1. In the seven and twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel,
reigned Azarias, son of Amasias, king of Juda.

Azarias... Otherwise called Ozias.

15:2. He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
two and fifty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Jechelia,
of Jerusalem.

15:3. And he did that which was pleasing before the Lord, according to
all that his father, Amasias, had done.

15:4. But the high places he did not destroy, for the people sacrificed,
and burnt incense in the high places.

15:5. And the Lord struck the king, so that he was a leper unto the day
of his death, and he dwelt in a free house apart: but Joatham, the
king's son, governed the palace, and judged the people of the land.

A leper... In punishment of his usurping the priestly function. 2 Par.
26.

15:6. And the rest of the acts of Azarias, and all that he did, are they
not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?

15:7. And Azarias slept with his fathers: and they buried him with his
ancestors in the city of David, and Joatham, his son, reigned in his
stead.

15:8. In the eight and thirtieth year of Azarias, king of Juda, reigned
Zacharias, son of Jeroboam, over Israel, in Samaria, six months:

15:9. And he did that which is evil before the Lord, as his fathers had
done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who
made Israel to sin.

15:10. And Sellum, the son of Jabes, conspired against him: and struck
him publicly, and killed him, and reigned in his place.

15:11. Now the rest of the acts of Zacharias, are they not written in
the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

15:12. This was the word of the Lord, which he spoke to Jehu, saying:
Thy children, to the fourth generation, shall sit upon the throne of
Israel. And so it came to pass.

15:13. Sellum, the son of Jabes, began to reign in the nine and
thirtieth year of Azarias, king of Juda: and reigned one month in
Samaria.

15:14. And Manahem, the son of Gadi, went up from Thersa, and he came
into Samaria, and struck Sellum, the son of Jabes, in Samaria, and slew
him, and reigned in his stead.

15:15. And the rest of the acts of Sellum, and his conspiracy which he
made, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the
kings of Israel?

15:16. Then Manahem destroyed Thapsa and all that were in it, and the
borders thereof from Thersa, because they would not open to him: and he
slew all the women thereof that were with child, and ripped them up.

15:17. In the nine and thirtieth year of Azarias, king of Juda, reigned
Manahem, son of Gadi, over Israel, ten years, in Samaria.

15:18. And he did that which was evil before the Lord: he departed not
from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, all
his days.

15:19. And Phul, king of the Assyrians, came into the land, and Manahem
gave Phul a thousand talents of silver to aid him and to establish him
in the kingdom.

15:20. And Manahem laid a tax upon Israel, on all that were mighty and
rich, to give the king of the Assyrians, each man fifty sicles of
silver: so the king of the Assyrians turned back, and did not stay in
the land.

15:21. And the rest of the acts of Manahem, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of
Israel?

15:22. And Manahem slept with his fathers: and Phaceia, his son, reigned
in his stead.

15:23. In the fiftieth year of Azarias, king of Juda, reigned Phaceia,
the son of Manahem, over Israel, in Samaria, two years.

15:24. And he did that which was evil before the Lord: he departed not
from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin.

15:25. And Phacee the son of Romelia, his captain, conspired against
him, and smote him in Samaria, in the tower of the king's house, near
Argob, and near Arie, and with him fifty men of the sons of the
Galaadites, and he slew him, and reigned in his stead.

15:26. And the rest of the acts of Phaceia, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of
Israel?

15:27. In the two and fiftieth year of Azarias, king of Juda, reigned
Phacee, the son of Romelia, over Israel, in Samaria, twenty years.

15:28. And he did that which was evil before the Lord: he departed not
from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin.

15:29. In the days of Phacee, king of Israel, came Theglathphalasar,
king of Assyria, and took Aion, and Abel Domum Maacha, and Janoe, and
Cedes, and Asor, and Galaad, and Galilee, and all the land of Nephthali:
and carried them captives into Assyria.

15:30. Now Osee, son of Ela, conspired, and formed a plot against
Phacee, the son of Romelia, and struck him, and slew him: and reigned in
his stead in the twentieth year of Joatham, the son of Ozias.

In the twentieth year of Joatham... That is, in the twentieth year, from
the beginning of Joatham's reign. The sacred writer chooses rather to
follow here this date than to speak of the years of Achaz, who had not
yet been mentioned.

15:31. But the rest of the acts of Phacee, and all that he did, are they
not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

15:32. In the second year of Phacee, the son of Romelia king of Israel,
reigned Joatham, son of Ozias, king of Juda.

15:33. He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Jerusa,
the daughter of Sadoc.

15:34. And he did that which was right before the Lord: according to all
that his father Ozias had done, so did he.

15:35. But the high places he took not away: the people still
sacrificed, and burnt incense in the high places: he built the highest
gate of the house of the Lord.

15:36. But the rest of the acts of Joatham, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of
Juda?

15:37. In those days the Lord began to send into Juda, Rasin king of
Syria, and Phacee the son of Romelia.

15:38. And Joatham slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in
the city of David, his father; and Achaz, his son, reigned in his stead.

4 Kings Chapter 16

The wicked reign of Achaz: the kings of Syria and Israel war against
him: he hireth the king of the Assyrians to assist him: he causeth an
altar to be made after the pattern of that of Damascus.

16:1. In the seventeenth year of Phacee, the son of Romelia reigned
Achaz, the son of Joatham, king of Juda.

16:2. Achaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
sixteen years in Jerusalem: he did not that which was pleasing in the
sight of the Lord, his God, as David, his father.

16:3. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel: moreover, he
consecrated also his son, making him pass through the fire, according to
the idols of the nations which the Lord destroyed before the children of
Israel.

16:4. He sacrificed also, and burnt incense in the high places, and on
the hills, and under every green tree.

16:5. Then Rasin, king of Syria, and Phacee, son of Romelia, king of
Israel, came up to Jerusalem to fight: and they besieged Achaz, but were
not able to overcome him.

16:6. At that time Rasin, king of Syria, restored Aila to Syria, and
drove the men of Juda out of Aila: and the Edomites came into Aila, and
dwelt there unto this day.

16:7. And Achaz sent messengers to Theglathphalasar, king of the
Assyrians, saying: I am thy servant, and thy son: come up, and save me
out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of
Israel, who are risen up together against me.

16:8. And when he had gathered together the silver and gold that could
be found in the house of the Lord, and in the king's treasures, he sent
it for a present to the king of the Assyrians.

16:9. And he agreed to his desire: for the king of the Assyrians went up
against Damascus, and laid it waste: and he carried away the inhabitants
thereof to Cyrene; but Rasin he slew.

16:10. And king Achaz went to Damascus to meet Theglathphalasar, king of
the Assyrians, and when he had seen the altar of Damascus, king Achaz
sent to Urias, the priest, a pattern of it, and its likeness, according
to all the work thereof.

16:11. And Urias, the priest, built an altar according to all that king
Achaz had commanded from Damascus so did Urias, the priest, until king
Achaz came from Damascus.

16:12. And when the king was come from Damascus, he saw the altar and
worshipped it: and went up and offered holocausts, and his own
sacrifice;

16:13. And he offered libations, and poured the blood of the peace
offerings, which he had offered, upon the altar.

16:14. But the altar of brass that was before the Lord, he removed from
the face of the temple, and from the place of the altar, and from the
place of the temple of the Lord: and he set it at the side of the altar
towards the north.

16:15. And king Achaz commanded Urias, the priest, saying: Upon the
great altar offer the morning holocaust, and the evening sacrifice, and
the king's holocaust, and his sacrifice, and the holocaust of the whole
people of the land, and their sacrifices, and their libations: and all
the blood of the holocaust, and all the blood of the victim, thou shalt
pour out upon it: but the altar of brass shall be ready at my pleasure.

16:16. So Urias, the priest, did according to all that king Achaz had
commanded him.

16:17. And king Achaz took away the graven bases, and the laver that was
upon them: and he took down the sea from the brazen oxen that held it
up, and put it upon a pavement of stone.

16:18. The Musach also for the sabbath, which he had built in the
temple, and the king's entry from without, he turned into the temple of
the Lord, because of the king of the Assyrians.

Musach... The covert, or pavilion, or tribune, for the king.

16:19. Now the rest of the acts of Achaz which he did, are they not
written in the book of the words of the of the days of the kings of
Juda?

16:20. And Achaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the
city of David, and Ezechias, his son, reigned in his stead.

4 Kings Chapter 17

The reign of Osee. The Israelites for their sins are carried into
captivity: other inhabitants are sent to Samaria, who make a mixture of
religion.

17:1. In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Juda, Osee the son of Ela
reigned in Samaria, over Israel, nine years.

In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Juda... He began to reign before:
but was not in quiet possession of the kingdom to the twelfth year of
Achaz.

17:2. And he did evil before the Lord: but not as the kings of Israel
that had been before him.

17:3. Against him came up Salmanasar, king of the Assyrians; and Osee
became his servant, and paid him tribute.

17:4. And when the king of the Assyrians found that Osee, endeavouring
to rebel, had sent messengers to Sua, the king of Egypt, that he might
not pay tribute to the king of the Assyrians, as he had done every year,
he besieged him, bound him, and cast him into prison.

17:5. And he went through all the land: and going up to Samaria, he
besieged it three years.

17:6. And in the ninth year of Osee, the king of the Assyrians took
Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria: and he placed them in Hala,
and Habor, by the river of Gozan, in the cities of the Medes.

17:7. For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the
Lord, their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under
the hand of Pharao, king of Egypt; and they worshipped strange gods.

17:8. And they walked according to the way of the nations which the Lord
had destroyed in the sight of the children of Israel, and of the kings
of Israel: because they had done in like manner.

17:9. And the children of Israel offended the Lord, their God, with
things that were not right: and built them high places in all their
cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

17:10. And they made them statues and groves on every high hill, and
under every shady tree:

17:11. And they burnt incense there upon altars, after the manner of the
nations which the Lord had removed from their face: and they did wicked
things, provoking the Lord.

17:12. And they worshipped abominations, concerning which the Lord had
commanded them that they should not do this thing.

17:13. And the Lord testified to them in Israel, and in Juda, by the
hand of all the prophets and seers, saying: Return from your wicked
ways, and keep my precepts, and ceremonies, according to all the law
which I commanded your fathers: and as I have sent to you in the hand of
my servants the prophets.

17:14. And they hearkened not, but hardened their necks like to the neck
of their fathers, who would not obey the Lord, their God.

17:15. And they rejected his ordinances, and the covenant that he made
with their fathers, and the testimonies which he testified against them:
and they followed vanities, and acted vainly: and they followed the
nations that were round about them, concerning which the Lord had
commanded them that they should not do as they did.

17:16. And they forsook all the precepts of the Lord, their God: and
made to themselves two molten calves, and groves, and adored all the
host of heaven: and they served Baal,

17:17. And consecrated their sons, and their daughters, through fire:
and they gave themselves to divinations, and soothsayings: and they
delivered themselves up to do evil before the Lord, to provoke him.

17:18. And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from
his sight, and there remained only the tribe of Juda.

17:19. But neither did Juda itself keep the commandments of the Lord,
their God: but they walked in the errors of Israel, which they had
wrought.

17:20. And the Lord cast off all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them,
and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, till he cast them away
from his face:

17:21. Even from that time, when Israel was rent from the house of
David, and made Jeroboam, son of Nabat, their king: for Jeroboam
separated Israel from the Lord, and made them commit a great sin.

17:22. And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam,
which he had done: and they departed not from them,

17:23. Till the Lord removed Israel from his face, as he had spoken in
the hand of all his servants, the prophets: and Israel was carried away
out of their land to Assyria, unto this day.

17:24. And the king of the Assyrians brought people from Babylon, and
from Cutha, and from Avah, and from Emath, and from Sepharvaim: and
placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel:
and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.

17:25. And when they began to dwell there, they feared not the Lord: and
the Lord sent lions among them, which killed them.

17:26. And it was told the king of the Assyrians, and it was said: The
nations which thou hast removed, and made to dwell in the cities of
Samaria, know not the ordinances of the God of the land: and the Lord
hath sent lions among them: and behold they kill them, because they know
not the manner of the God of the land.

17:27. And the king of the Assyrians commanded, saying: Carry thither
one of the priests whom you brought from thence captive, and let him go,
and dwell with them: and let him teach them the ordinances of the God of
the land.

17:28. So one of the priests, who had been carried away captive from
Samaria, came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should
worship the Lord.

17:29. And every nation made gods of their own and put them in the
temples of the high places, which the Samaritans had made, every nation
in their cities where they dwelt.

17:30. For the men of Babylon made Sochothbenoth: and the Cuthites made
Nergel: and the men of Emath made Asima.

17:31. And the Hevites made Nebahaz, and Tharthac.  And they that were
of Sepharvaim burnt their children in fire, to Adramelech and Anamelech,
the gods of Sepharvaim.

17:32. And nevertheless they worshipped the Lord. And they made to
themselves, of the lowest of the people, priests of the high places, and
they placed them in the temples of the high places.

17:33. And when they worshipped the Lord, they served also their own
gods, according to the custom of the nations out of which they were
brought to Samaria:

17:34. Unto this day they follow the old manner: they fear not the Lord,
neither do they keep his ceremonies, and judgments, and law, and the
commandment, which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he
surnamed Israel:

17:35. With whom he made a covenant, and charged them, saying: You shall
not fear strange gods, nor shall you adore them, nor worship them, nor
sacrifice to them.

17:36. But the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
with great power, and a stretched out arm, him shall you fear, and him
shall you adore, and to him shall you sacrifice.

17:37. And the ceremonies, and judgments, and law, and the commandment,
which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do them always: and you
shall not fear strange gods.

17:38. And the covenant that he made with you, you shall not forget:
neither shall ye worship strange Gods,

17:39. But fear the Lord, your God, and he shall deliver you out of the
hand of all your enemies.

17:40. But they did not hearken to them, but did according to their old
custom.

17:41. So these nations feared the Lord, but nevertheless served also
their idols: their children also, and grandchildren, as their fathers
did, so do they unto this day.

4 Kings Chapter 18

The reign of Ezechias: he abolisheth idolatry and prospereth.
Sennacherib cometh up against him: Rabsaces soliciteth the people to
revolt; and blasphemeth the Lord.

18:1. In the third year of Osee, the son of Ela, king of Israel, reigned
Ezechias, the son of Achaz, king of Juda.

18:2. He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he
reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was
Abi, the daughter of Zacharias.

18:3. And he did that which was good before the Lord, according to all
that David, his father, had done:

18:4. He destroyed the high places, and broke the statues in pieces, and
cut down the groves, and broke the brazen serpent, which Moses had made:
for till that time the children of Israel burnt incense to it: and he
called its name Nohestan.

And he called its name Noheston... That is, their brass; or a little
brass. So he called it in contempt, because they had made an idol of it.

18:5. He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel: so that after him there
was none like him among all the kings of Juda, nor any of them that were
before him:

18:6. And he stuck to the Lord, and departed not from his steps, but
kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.

18:7. Wherefore the Lord also was with him, and in all things, to which
he went forth, he behaved himself wisely. And he rebelled against the
king of the Assyrians, and served him not.

18:8. He smote the Philistines as far as Gaza, and all their borders,
from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

18:9. In the fourth year of king Ezechias, which was the seventh vear of
Osee, the son of Ela, king of Israel, Salmanasar, king of the Assyrians,
came up to Samaria, and besieged it,

18:10. And took it. For after three years, in the sixth year of
Ezechias, that is, in the ninth year of Osee, king of Israel, Samaria
was taken:

18:11. And the king of the Assyrians carried away Israel into Assyria,
and placed them in Hala, and in Habor, by the rivers of Gozan, in the
cities of the Medes.

18:12. Because they hearkened not to the voice of the Lord, their God,
but transgressed his covenant: all that Moses, the servant of the Lord,
commanded, they would not hear, nor do.

18:13. In the fourteenth year of king Ezechias, Sennacherib, king of the
Assyrians, came up against the fenced cities of Juda, and took them.

18:14. Then Ezechias, king of Juda, sent messengers to the king of the
Assyrians, to Lachis, saying: I have offended, depart from me: and all
that thou shalt put upon me, I will bear. And the king of the Assyrians
put a tax upon Ezechias, king of Juda, of three hundred talents of
silver, and thirty talents of gold.

18:15. And Ezechias gave all the silver that was found in the house of
the Lord, and in the king's treasures.

18:16. At that time Ezechias broke the doors of the temple of the Lord,
and the plates of gold which he had fastened on them, and gave them to
the king of the Assyrians.

18:17. And the king of the Assyrians sent Tharthan, and Rabsaris, and
Rabsaces, from Lachis, to king Ezechias, with a strong army, to
Jerusalem: and they went up and came to Jerusalem, and they stood by the
conduit of the upper pool, which is in the way of the fuller's field.

18:18. And they called for the king: and there went out to them Eliacim,
the son of Helcias, who was over the house, and Sobna, the scribe, and
Joahe, the son of Asaph, the recorder.

18:19. And Rabsaces said to them: Speak to Ezechias: Thus saith the
great king, the king of the Assyrians: What is this confidence, wherein
thou trustest?

18:20. Perhaps thou hast taken counsel, to prepare thyself for battle.
On whom dost thou trust, that thou darest to rebel?

18:21. Dost thou trust in Egypt a staff of a broken reed, upon which if
a man lean, it will break and go into his hand, and pierce it? so is
Pharao, king of Egypt, to all that trust in him.

18:22. But if you say to me: We trust in the Lord, our God: is it not
he, whose high places and altars Ezechias hath taken away: and hath
commanded Juda and Jerusalem: You shall worship before this altar in
Jerusalem?

18:23. Now therefore come over to my master, the king of the Assyrians,
and I will give you two thousand horses, and see whether you be able to
have riders for them.

18:24. And how can you stand against one lord of the least of my
master's servants? Dost thou trust in Egypt for chariots and for
horsemen?

18:25. Is it without the will of the Lord that I am come up to this
place to destroy it? The Lord said to me: Go up to this land, and
destroy it.

18:26. Then Eliacim, the son of Helcias, and Sobna, and Joahe, said to
Rabsaces: We pray thee, speak to us, thy servants, in Syriac: for we
understand that tongue: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in
the hearing of the people that are upon the wall.

18:27. And Rabsaces answered them, saying: Hath my master sent me to thy
master, and to thee, to speak these words, and not rather to the men
that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink
their urine with you?

18:28. Then Rabsaces stood, and cried out with a loud voice in the Jews'
language, and said: Hear the word of the great king, the king of the
Assyrians.

18:29. Thus saith the king: Let not Ezechias deceive you: for he shall
not be able to deliver you out of my hand.

18:30. Neither let him make you trust in the Lord, saying: The Lord will
surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the
king of the Assyrians.

18:31. Do not hearken to Ezechias. For thus saith the king of the
Assyrians: Do with me that which is for your advantage, and come out to
me: and every man of you shall eat of his own vineyard, and of his own
fig tree: and you shall drink water of your own cisterns,

18:32. Till I come, and take you away, to a land, like to your own land,
a fruitful land, and plentiful in wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a
land of olives, and oil, and honey, and you shall live, and not die.
Hearken not to Ezechias, who deceiveth you, saying: The Lord will
deliver us.

18:33. Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their land from the
hand of the king of Assyria?

18:34. Where is the god of Emath, and of Arphad?  where is the god of
Sepharvaim, of Ana, and of Ava?  have they delivered Samaria out of my
hand?

18:35. Who are they among all the gods of the nations that have
delivered their country out of my hand, that the Lord may deliver
Jerusalem out of my hand?

18:36. But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for
they had received commandment from the king that they should not answer
him.

18:37. And Eliacim, the son of Helcias, who was over the house, and
Sobna, the scribe, and Joahe, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to
Ezechias, with their garments rent, and told him the words of Rabsaces.

4 Kings Chapter 19

Ezechias is assured of God's help by Isaias the prophet. The king of the
Assyrians still threateneth and blasphemeth. Ezechias prayeth, and God
promiseth to protect Jerusalem. An angel destroyeth the army of the
Assyrians, their king returneth to Nineve, and is slain by his two sons.

19:1. And when king Ezechias heard these words, he rent his garments,
and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.

19:2. And he sent Eliacim, who was over the house, and Sobna, the
scribe, and the ancients of the priests, covered with sackcloths, to
Isaias, the prophet, the son of Amos.

19:3. And they said to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day of
tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: the children are come to
the birth, and the woman in travail hath not strength.

19:4. It may be the Lord, thy God, will hear all the words of Rabsaces,
whom the king of the Assyrians, his master, hath sent to reproach the
living God, and to reprove with words, which the Lord, thy God, hath
heard: and do thou offer prayer for the remnants that are found.

19:5. So the servants of king Ezechias came to Isaias.

19:6. And Isaias said to them: Thus shall you say to your master: Thus
saith the Lord: Be not afraid for the words which thou hast heard, with
which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me.

19:7. Behold I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a message,
and shall return into his own country, and I will make him fall by the
sword in his own country.

19:8. And Rabsaces returned, and found the king of the Assyrians
besieging Lobna: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachis.

19:9. And when he heard of Tharaca, king of Ethiopia: Behold, he is come
out to fight with thee: and was going against him, he sent messengers to
Ezechias, saying:

19:10. Thus shall you say to Ezechias, king of Juda: Let not thy God
deceive thee, in whom thou trustest: and do not say: Jerusalem shall not
be delivered into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.

19:11. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of the Assyrians have done
to all countries, how they have laid them waste: and canst thou alone be
delivered?

19:12. Have the gods of the nations delivered any of them, whom my
fathers have destroyed, to wit, Gozan, and Haran, and Reseph, and the
children of Eden, that were in Thelassar?

19:13. Where is the king of Emath, and the king of Arphad, and the king
of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Ana, and of Ava?

19:14. And when Ezechias had received the letter of the hand of the
messengers, and had read it, he went up to the house of the Lord, and
spread it before the Lord,

19:15. And he prayed in his sight, saying: O Lord God of Israel, who
sittest upon the cherubims, thou alone art the God of all the kings of
the earth: thou madest heaven and earth:

19:16. Incline thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes and see: and
hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to upbraid unto us the
living God.

19:17. Of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have destroyed
nations, and the lands of them all.

19:18. And they have cast their gods into the fire: for they were not
gods, but the work of men's hands, of wood and stone, and they destroyed
them.

19:19. Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all
the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, the only God.

19:20. And Isaias, the son of Amos, sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus saith
the Lord, the God of Israel: I have heard the prayer thou hast made to
me concerning Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians.

19:21. This is the word that the Lord hath spoken of him: The virgin,
the daughter of Sion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn: the
daughtor of Jerusalem hath wagged her head behind thy back.

19:22. Whom hast thou reproached, and whom hast thou blasphemed? against
whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on high?
against the holy one of Israel.

19:23. By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord, and
hast said: With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the
height of the mountains, to the top of Libanus, and have cut down its
tall cedars, and its choice fir trees. And I have entered into the
furthest parts thereof, and the forest of its Carmel.

Carmel... A pleasant fruitful hill in the forest. These expressions are
figurative, signifying under the names of mountains and forests, the
kings and provinces whom the Assyrians had triumphed over.

19:24. I have cut down, and I have drunk strange waters, and have dried
up with the soles of my feet all the shut up waters.

19:25. Hast thou not heard what I have done from the beginning? from the
days of old I have formed it, and now I have brought it to effect: that
fenced cities of fighting men should be turned to heaps of ruins:

I have formed it, etc... All thy exploits, in which thou takest pride,
are no more than what I have decreed; and are not to be ascribed to thy
wisdom or strength, but to my will and ordinance: who have given to thee
to take and destroy so many fenced cities, and to carry terror wherever
thou comest.-Ibid. Heaps of ruin... Literally ruin of the hills.

19:26. And the inhabitants of them were weak of hand, they trembled and
were confounded, they became like the grass of the field, and the green
herb on the tops of houses, which withered before it came to maturity.

19:27. Thy dwelling, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy way I
knew before, and thy rage against me.

19:28. Thou hast been mad against me, and thy pride hath come up to my
ears: therefore I will put a ring in thy nose, and a bit between thy
lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

19:29. And to thee, O Ezechias, this shall be a sign: Eat this year what
thou shalt find: and in the second year, such things as spring of
themselves: but in the third year sow and reap: plant vineyards, and eat
the fruit of them.

19:30. And whatsoever shall be left of the house of Juda, shall take
root downward, and bear fruit upward.

19:31. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and that which
shall be saved out of mount Sion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do
this.

19:32. Wherefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of the
Assyrians: He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow into it,
nor come before it with shield, nor cast a trench about it.

19:33. By the way that he came he shall return: and into this city he
shall not come, saith the Lord.

19:34. And I will protect this city, and will save it for my own sake,
and for David, my servant's sake.

19:35. And it came to pass that night, that an angel of the Lord came,
and slew in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five
thousand. And when he arose early in the morning, he saw all the bodies
of the dead.

19:36. And Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, departing, went away, and
he returned and abode in Ninive.

19:37. And as he was worshipping in the temple of Nesroch, his god,
Adramelech and Sarasar, his sons, slew him with the sword, and they fled
into the land of the Armenians, and Asarhaddon, his son, reigned in his
stead.

4 Kings Chapter 20

Ezechias being sick, is told by Isaias that he shall die; but praying to
God, he obtaineth longer life, and in confirmation thereof receiveth a
sign by the sun's returning back. He sheweth all his treasures to the
ambassadors of the king of Babylon: Isaias reproving him for it,
foretelleth the Babylonish captivity.

20:1. In those days Ezechias was sick unto death: and Isaias, the son of
Amos, the prophet, came and said to him: Thus saith the Lord God: Give
charge concerning thy house, for thou shalt die, and not llve.

20:2. And he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord,
saying:

20:3. I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in
truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is pleasing
before thee. And Ezechias wept with much weeping.

20:4. And before Isaias was gone out of the middle of the court, the
word of the Lord came to him, saying:

20:5. Go back, and tell Ezechias, the captain of my people: Thus saith
the Lord, the God of David, thy father: I have heard thy prayer, and I
have seen thy tears: and behold I have healed thee: on the third day
thou shalt go up to the temple of the Lord.

20:6. And I will add to thy days fifteen years: and I will deliver thee
and this city out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and I will
protect this city for my own sake, and for David, my servant's sake.

20:7. And Isaias said: Bring me a lump of figs. And when they had
brought it, and laid it upon his boil, he was healed.

20:8. And Ezechias had said to Isaias: What shall be the sign that the
Lord will heal me, and that I will go up to the temple of the Lord the
third day?

20:9. And Isaias said to him: This shall be the sign from the Lord, that
the Lord will do the word which he hath spoken: Wilt thou that the
shadow go forward ten lines, or that it go back so many degrees?

20:10. And Ezechias said: It is an easy matter for the shadow to go
forward ten lines: and I do not desire that this be done, but let it
return back ten degrees.

20:11. And Isaias, the prophet, called upon the Lord, and he brought the
shadow ten degrees backwards by the lines, by which it had already gone
down on the dial of Achaz.

20:12. At that time Berodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of the
Babylonians, sent letters and presents to Ezechias: for he had heard
that Ezechias had been sick.

20:13. And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming, and he shewed them the
house of his aromatical spices, and the gold, and the silver, and divers
precious odours, and ointments, and the house of his vessels, and all
that he had in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all
his dominions, that Ezechias shewed them not.

20:14. And Isaias, the prophet, came to king Ezechias, and said to him:
What said these men? or from whence came they to thee? And Ezechias said
to him: From a far country, they came to me out of Babylon.

20:15. And he said: What did they see in thy house? Ezechias said: They
saw all the things that are in my house: There is nothing among my
treasures that I have not shewed them.

20:16. And Isaias said to Ezechias: Hear the word of the Lord.

20:17. Behold the days shall come, that all that is in thy house, and
that thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried
into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.

20:18. And of thy sons also that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt
beget, they shall take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of
the king of Babylon.

20:19. Ezechias said to Isaias: The word of the Lord, which thou hast
spoken, is good: let peace and truth be in my days.

20:20. And the rest of the acts of Ezechias, and all his might, and how
he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought waters into the city, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of
Juda?

20:21. And Ezechias slept with his fathers, and Manasses, his son
reigned in his stead.

4 Kings Chapter 21

The wickedness of Manasses: God's threats by his prophets. His wicked
son Amon succeedeth him, and is slain by his servants.

21:1. Manasses was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned five and fifty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was
Haphsiba.

21:2. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the idols
of the nations, which the Lord destroyed from before the face of the
children of Israel.

21:3. And he turned, and built up the high places, which Ezechias, his
father, had destroyed: and he set up altars to Baal, and made groves, as
Achab, the king of Israel, had done: and he adored all the host of
heaven, and served them.

21:4. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord
said: In Jerusalem I will put my name.

21:5. And he built altars for all the host of heaven, in the two courts
of the temple of the Lord.

21:6. And he made his son pass through fire: and he used divinations,
and observed omens, and appointed pythons, and multiplied soothsayers,
to do evil before the Lord, and to provoke him.

Pythons... That is, diviners by spirits.

21:7. He set also an idol of the grove, which he had made, in the temple
of the Lord: concerning which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his
son: In this temple, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all
the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for ever.

21:8. And I will no more make the feet of Israel to be moved out of the
land, which I gave to their fathers: only if they will observe to do all
that I have commanded them, according to the law which my servant Moses
commanded them.

21:9. But they hearkened not: but were seduced by Manasses, to do evil
more than the nations which the Lord destroyed before the children of
Israel.

21:10. And the Lord spoke in the hand of his servants, the prophets,
saying:

21:11. Because Manasses, king of Juda, hath done these most wicked
abominations, beyond all that the Amorrhites did before him, and hath
made Juda also to sin with his filthy doings:

21:12. Therefore thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will
bring on evils upon Jerusalem and Juda: that whosoever shall hear of
them, both his ears shall tingle.

21:13. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the
weight of the house of Achab: and I will efface Jerusalem, as writings
tables are wont to be effaced, and I will erase and turn it, and draw
the pencil often over the face thereof.

21:14. And I will leave the remnants of my inheritance, and will deliver
them into the hands of their enemies: and they shall become a prey, and
a spoil to all their enemies.

21:15. Because they have done evil before me, and have continued to
provoke me, from the day that their fathers came out of Egypt, even unto
this day.

21:16. Moreover, Manasses shed also very much innocent blood, till he
filled Jerusalem up to the mouth: besides his sins, wherewith he made
Juda to sin, to do evil before the Lord.

21:17. Now the rest of the acts of Manasses, and all that he did, and
his sin, which he sinned, are they not written in the book of the words
of the days of the kings of Juda?

21:18. And Manasses slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden
of his own house, in the garden of Oza: and Amon, his son, reigned in
his stead.

21:19. Two and twenty years old was Amon when he began to reign, and he
reigned two years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Messalemeth,
the daughter of Harus, of Jeteba.

21:20. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasses, his
father, had done.

21:21. And he walked in all the way in which his father had walked: and
he served the abominations which his father had served, and he adored
them.

21:22. And forsook the Lord, the God of his fathers, and walked not in
the way of the Lord.

21:23. And his servants plotted against him, and slew the king in his
own house.

21:24. But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired
against king Amon: and made Josias, his son, their king in his stead.

21:25. But the rest of the acts of Amon, which he did, are they not
written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?

21:26. And they buried him in his sepulchre, in the garden of Oza: and
his son, Josias, reigned in his stead.

4 Kings Chapter 22

Josias repaireth the temple. The book of the law is found, upon which
they consult the Lord, and are told that great evils shall fall upon
them, but not in the time of Josias.

22:1. Josias was eight years old when he began to reign: he reigned one
and thirty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Idida, the
daughter of Hadaia, of Besecath.

22:2. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and
walked in all the ways of David, his father: he turned not aside to the
right hand, or to the left.

22:3. And in the eighteenth year of king Josias, the king sent Saphan,
the son of Assia, the son of Messulam, the scribe of the temple of the
Lord, saying to him:

22:4 .Go to Helcias, the high priest, that the money may be put together
which is brought into the temple of the Lord, which the doorkeepers of
the temple have gathered of the people.

22:5. And let it be given to the workmen by the overseers of the house
of the Lord: and let them distribute it to those that work in the temple
of the Lord, to repair the temple:

22:6. That is, to carpenters and masons, and to such as mend breaches:
and that timber may be bought, and stones out of the quarries, to repair
the temple of the Lord.

22:7. But let there be no reckoning made with them of the money which
they receive, but let them have it in their power, and in their trust.

22:8. And Helcias, the high priest, said to Saphan, the scribe: I have
found the book of the law in the house of the Lord: and Helcias gave the
book to Saphan, and he read it.

The book of the law... That is, Deuteronomy.

22:9. And Saphan, the scribe, came to the king, and brought him word
again concerning that which he had commanded, and said: Thy servants
have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the
Lord: and they have given it to be distributed to the workmen, by the
overseers of the works of the temple of the Lord.

22:10. And Saphan, the scribe, told the king, saying: Helcias, the
priest, hath delivered to me a book. And when Saphan had read it before
the king,

22:11. And the king had heard the words of the law of the Lord, he rent
his garments.

22:12. And he commanded Helcias, the priest, and Ahicam, the son of
Saphan, and Achobor, the son of Micha, and Saphan, the scribe, and
Asaia, the king's servant, saying:

22:13. Go and consult the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all
Juda, concerning the words of this book which is found: for the great
wrath of the Lord is kindled against us, because our fathers have not
hearkened to the words of this book, to do all that is written for us.

22:14. So Helcias, the priest, and Ahicam, and Achobor, and Sapham, and
Asaia, went to Holda, the prophetess, the wife of Sellum, the son of
Thecua, the son of Araas, keeper of the wardrobe, who dwelt in
Jerusalem, in the Second: and they spoke to her.

The Second... A street, or part of the city, so called; in Hebrew,
Massem.

22:15. And she said to them: Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel:
Tell the man that sent you to me:

22:16. Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will bring evils upon this place,
and upon the inhabitants thereof, all the words of the law which the
king of Juda hath read:

22:17. Because they have forsaken me, and have sacrificed to strange
gods, provoking me by all the works of their hands: therefore my
indignation shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be
quenched.

22:18. But to the king of Juda, who sent you to consult the Lord, thus
shall you say: Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: for as much as
thou hast heard the words of the book,

22:19. And thy heart hath been moved to fear, and thou hast humbled
thyself before the Lord, hearing the words against this place, and the
inhabitants thereof, to wit, that they should become a wonder and a
curse: and thou hast rent thy garments, and wept before me; I also have
heard thee; saith the Lord.

22:20. Therefore I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be
gathered to thy sepulchre in peace; that thy eyes may not see all the
evils which I will bring upon this place.

4 Kings Chapter 23

Josias readeth the law before all the people. They promise to observe
it. He abolisheth all idolatry, celebrateth the phase: is slain in
battle by the king of Egypt. The short reign of Joachaz, in whose place
Joakim is made king.

23:1. And they brought the king word again what she had said. And he
sent: and all the ancients of Juda and Jerusalem were assembled to him.

23:2. And the king went up to the temple of the Lord, and all the men of
Juda, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, the priests, and
the prophets, and all the people, both little and great: and in the
hearing of them all he read all the words of the book of the covenant,
which was found in the house of the Lord.

23:3. And the king stood upon the step: and he made a covenant with the
Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his
testimonies, and his ceremonies, with all their heart, and with all
their soul, and to perform the words of this covenant, which were
written in that book: and the people agreed to the covenant.

The king stood upon the step... That is, his tribune, or tribunal, a
more eminent place, from whence he might be seen and heard by the
people.

23:4. And the king commanded Helcias, the high priest, and the priests
of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to cast out of the temple of
the Lord all the vessels that had been made for Baal, and for the grove,
and for all the host of heaven: and he burnt them without Jerusalem, in
the valley of Cedron, and he carried the ashes of them to Bethel.

23:5. And he destroyed the soothsayers, whom the kings of Juda had
appointed to sacrifice in the high places in the cities of Juda, and
round about Jerusalem: them also that burnt incense to Baal, and to the
sun, and to the moon, and to the twelve signs, and to all the host of
heaven.

23:6. And he caused the grove to be carried out from the house of the
Lord, without Jerusalem, to the valley of Cedron, and he burnt it there,
and reduced it to dust, and cast the dust upon the graves of the common
people.

23:7. He destroyed also the pavilions of the effeminate, which were in
the house of the Lord, for which the women wove as it were little
dwellings for the grove.

23:8. And he gathered together all the priests out of the cities of
Juda: and he defiled the high places, where the priests offered
sacrifice, from Gabaa to Bersabee: and he broke down the altars of the
gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Josue, governor of the
city, which was on the left hand of the gate of the city.

23:9. However, the priests of the high places came not up to the altar
of the Lord, in Jerusalem: but only eat of the unleavened bread among
their brethren.

23:10. And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of
Ennom: that no man should consecrate there his son, or his daughter,
through fire, to Moloch.

23:11. And he took away the horses which the kings of Juda had given to
the sun, at the entering in of the temple of the Lord, near the chamber
of Nathanmelech the eunuch, who was in Pharurim: and he burnt the
chariots of the sun with fire.

23:12. And the altars that were upon the top of the upper chamber of
Achaz, which the kings of Juda had made, and the altars which Manasses
had made in the two courts of the temple of the Lord, the king broke
down: and he ran from thence, and cast the ashes of them into the
torrent Cedron.

23:13. The high places also that were at Jerusalem, on the right side of
the Mount of Offence, which Solomon, king of Israel, had built to
Astaroth, the idol of the Sidonians, and to Chamos, the scandal of Moab,
and to Melchom, the abomination of the children of Ammon, the king
defiled.

23:14. And he broke in pieces the statues, and cut down the groves: and
he filled their places with the bones of dead men.

23:15. Moreover, the altar also that was at Bethel, and the high place,
which Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, had made: both
the altar, and the high place, he broke down and burnt, and reduced to
powder, and burnt the grove.

23:16. And as Josias turned himself, he saw there the sepulchres that
were in the mount: and he sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres,
and burnt them upon the altar, and defiled it according to the word of
the Lord, which the man of God spoke, who had foretold these things.

23:17. And he said: What is that monument which I see? And the men of
that city answered: It is the sepulchre of the man of God, who came from
Juda, and foretold these things which thou hast done upon the altar of
Bethel.

23:18. And he said: Let him alone, let no man move his bones. So his
bones were left untouched with the bones of the prophet, that came out
of Samaria.

23:19. Moreover all the temples of the high places which were in the
cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the
Lord, Josias took away: and he did to them according to all the acts
that he had done in Bethel.

23:20. And he slew all the priests of the high places, that were there,
upon the altars; and he burnt men's bones upon them: and returned to
Jerusalem.

23:21. And he commanded all the people, saying: Keep the Phase to the
Lord your God, according as it is written in the book of this covenant.

23:22. Now there was no such a Phase kept from the days of the judges,
who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, and of
the kings of Juda,

23:23. As was this Phase, that was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem, in the
eighteenth year of king Josias.

23:24. Moreover the diviners by spirits, and soothsayers, and the
figures of idols, and the uncleannesses, and the abominations, that had
been in the land of Juda and Jerusalem, Josias took away: that he might
perform the words of the law, that were written in the book, which
Helcias the priest had found in the temple of the Lord.

23:25. There was no king before him like unto him, that returned to the
Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his
strength, according to all the law of Moses: neither after him did there
arise any like unto him.

23:26. But yet the Lord turned not away from the wrath of his great
indignation, wherewith his anger was kindled against Juda: because of
the provocations, wherewith Manasses had provoked him.

23:27. And the Lord said: I will remove Juda also from before my face,
as I have removed Israel: and I will cast off this city Jerusalem, which
I chose, and the house, of which I said: My name shall be there.

23:28. Now the rest of the acts of Josias, and all that he did, are they
not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?

23:29. In his days Pharao Nechao, king of Egypt, went up against the
king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josias went to meet
him: and was slain at Mageddo, when he had seen him.

23:30. And his servants carried him dead from Mageddo: and they brought
him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of
the land took Joachaz, the son of Josias: and they anointed him, and
made him king in his father's stead.

23:31. Joachaz was three and twenty years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was
Amital, the daughter of Jeremias, of Lobna.

23:32. And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that his
fathers had done.

23:33. And Pharao Nechao bound him at Rebla, which is in the land of
Emath, that he should not reign in Jerusalem: and he set a fine upon the
land, of a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.

23:34. And Pharao Nechao made Eliacim, the son of Josias, king in the
room of Josias his father: and turned his name to Joakim. And he took
Joachaz away and carried him into Egypt, and he died there.

23:35. And Joakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharao, after he had
taxed the land for every man, to contribute according to the commandment
of Pharao: and he exacted both the silver and the gold of the people of
the land, of every man according to his ability: to give to Pharao
Nechao.

23:36. Joakim was five and twenty years old when he began to reign: and
he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Zebida,
the daughter of Phadaia, of Ruma.

23:37. And he did evil before the Lord according to all that his fathers
had done.

4 Kings Chapter 24

The reign of Joakim, Joachin, and Sedecias.

24:1. In his days Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon came up, and Joakim
became his servant three years: then again he rebelled against him.

24:2. And the Lord sent against him the rovers of the Chaldees, and the
rovers of Syria, and the rovers of Moab, and the rovers of the children
of Ammon: and he sent them against Juda, to destroy it, according to the
word of the Lord, which he had spoken by his servants, the prophets.

The Lord sent against him the rovers... Latrunculos. Bands or parties of
men, who pillaged and plundered wherever they came.

24:3. And this came by the word of the Lord against Juda, to remove them
from before him for all the sins of Manasses which he did;

24:4. And for the innocent blood that he shed, filling Jerusalem with
innocent blood: and therefore the Lord would not be appeased.

24:5. But the rest of the acts of Joakim, and all that he did, are they
not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?
And Joakim slept with his fathers:

24:6. And Joachin, his son, reigned in his stead.

24:7. And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his own
country: for the king of Babylon had taken all that had belonged to the
king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt, unto the river Euphrates.

24:8. Joachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned three months in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Nohesta,
the daughter of Elnathan, of Jerusalem.

24:9. And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that his father
had done.

24:10. At that time the servants of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon,
came up against Jerusalem, and the city was surrounded with their forts.

24:11. And Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came to the city, with his
servants, to assault it.

24:12. And Joachin, king of Juda, went out to the king of Babylon, he,
and his mother, and his servants, and his nobles, and his eunuchs: and
the king of Babylon received him in the eighth year of his reign.

24:13. And he brought out from thence all the treasures of the house of
the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house: and he cut in pieces
all the vessels of gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the
temple of the Lord, according to the word of the Lord.

24:14. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all
the valiant men of the army, to the number of ten thousand, into
captivity: and every artificer and smith: and none were left, but the
poor sort of the people of the land.

24:15. And he carried away Joachin into Babylon, and the king's mother,
and the king's wives, and his eunuchs: and the judges of the land he
carried into captivity, from Jerusalem, into Babylon.

24:16. And all the strong men, seven thousand, and the artificers, and
the smiths, a thousand, all that were valiant men, and fit for war: and
the king of Babylon led them captives into Babylon.

24:17. And he appointed Matthanias, his uncle, in his stead: and called
his name Sedecias.

24:18. Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and
he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Amital,
the daughter of Jeremias, of Lobna.

24:19. And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that Joakim had
done.

24:20. For the Lord was angry against Jerusalem and against Juda, till
he cast them out from his face: and Sedecias revolted from the king of
Babylon.

4 Kings Chapter 25

Jerusalem is besieged and taken by Nabuchodonosor: Sedecias is taken:
the city and temple are destroyed. Godolias, who is left governor, is
slain. Joachin is exalted by Evilmerodach.

25:1. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth
month, the tenth day of the month, that Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon,
came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem: and they surrounded it:
and raised works round about it.

25:2. And the city was shut up and besieged till the eleventh year of
king Sedecias,

25:3. The ninth day of the month: and a famine prevailed in the city,
and there was no bread for the people of the land.

25:4. And a breach was made into the city: and all the men of war fled
in the night between the two walls by the king's garden (now the
Chaldees besieged the city round about), and Sedecias fled by the way
that leadeth to the plains of the wilderness.

25:5. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook
him in the plains of Jericho: and all the warriors that were with him
were scattered, and left him:

25:6. So they took the king, and brought him to the king of Babylon, to
Reblatha, and he gave judgment upon him.

25:7. And he slew the sons of Sedecias before his face, and he put out
his eyes, and bound him with chains, and brought him to Babylon.

25:8. In the fifth month, the seventh day of the month, the same is the
nineteenth year of the king of Babylon, came Nabuzardan, commander of
the army, a servant of the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem.

25:9. And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and the
houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burnt with fire.

25:10. And all the army of the Chaldees, which was with the commander of
the troops, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about.

25:11. And Nabuzardan, the commander of the army, carried away the rest
of the people, that remained in the city, and the fugitives, that had
gone over to the king of Babylon, and the remnant of the common people.

25:12. But of the poor of the land he left some dressers of vines and
husbandmen.

25:13. And the pillars of brass that were in the temple of the Lord, and
the bases, and the sea of brass, which was in the house of the Lord, the
Chaldees broke in pieces, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.

25:14. They took away also the pots of brass, and the mazers, and the
forks, and the cups, and the mortars, and all the vessels of brass, with
which they ministered.

25:15. Moreover also the censers, and the bowls, such as were of gold in
gold: and such as were of silver in silver, the general of the army took
away.

25:16. That is, two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had
made in the temple of the Lord: the brass of all these vessels was
without weight.

25:17. One pillar was eighteen cubits high: and the chapiter of brass,
which was upon it, was three cubits high: and the network, and the
pomegranates that were upon the chapiter of the pillar, were all of
brass: and the second pillar had the like adorning.

25:18. And the general of the army took Seraias, the chief priest, and
Sophonias, the second priest, and three doorkeepers:

25:19. And out of the city one eunuch, who was captain over the men of
war: and five men of them who had stood before the king, whom he found
in the city, and Sopher, the captain of the army, who exercised the
young soldiers of the people of the land: and threescore men of the
common people, who were found in the city:

25:20. These Nabuzardan, the general of the army, took away, and carried
them to the king of Babylon, to Reblatha.

25:21. And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Reblatha, in
the land of Emath: so Juda was carried away out of their land.

25:22. But over the people that remained in the land of Juda, which
Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, had left, he gave the government to
Godolias, the son of Ahicam, the son of Saphan.

25:23. And when all the captains of the soldiers had heard this, they
and the men that were with them, to wit, that the king of Babylon had
made Godolias governor they came to Godolias to Maspha, Ismael, the son
of Nathanias, and Johanan, the son of Caree, and Saraia, the son of
Thanehumeth, the Netophathite, and Jezonias, the son of Maachathi, they
and their men.

25:24. And Godolias swore to them and to their men, saying: Be not
afraid to serve the Chaldees: stay in the land, and serve the king of
Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

25:25. But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ismael, the son of
Nathanias, the son of Elisama, of the seed royal came, and ten men with
him, and smote Godolias; so that he died: and also the Jews and the
Chaldees that were with him in Maspha.

25:26. And all the people, both little and great, and the captains of
the soldiers, rising up, went to Egypt, fearing the Chaldees.

25:27. And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the
captivity of Joachin, king of Juda, in the twelfth month, the seven and
twentieth day of the month: Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, in the year
that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Joachin, king of Juda, out
of prison.

25:28. And he spoke kindly to him: and he set his throne above the
throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon.

25:29. And he changed his garments which he had in prison, and he ate
bread always before him, all the days of his life.

25:30. And he appointed him a continual allowance, which was also given
him by the king, day by day, all the days of his life.