Menahem Ends Jehu’s Line

15 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah became king. ² He was 16 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. ³ Now he did what was right in Adonai’s eyes, just like all that his father Amaziah had done. ⁴ However, the high places were not taken away—the people were still sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.

⁵ Then Adonai struck the king, so that he had tza’arat until the day of his death, and lived in an isolated house. Meanwhile Jotham, the king’s son, was in charge of the palace and governing the people of the land. ⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ⁷ Then Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. Then his son Jotham became king in his place.

⁸ In the thirty-eighth year of King Azariah of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria for six months. ⁹ But he did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes, as his fathers had done. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to commit. ¹⁰ Then Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against him and smote him before the people, killed him, and became king in his place. ¹¹ Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

¹² This was the word of Adonai that He spoke to Jehu, saying, “Your descendants to the fourth generation will sit on the throne of Israel,” and so it came to pass. ¹³ Shallum son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of King Uzziah of Judah, and he reigned for one month in Samaria. ¹⁴ Then Menahem son of Gadi marched up from Tirzah, reached Samaria, then struck down Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria, killed him, and became king in his place. ¹⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Shallum, including his conspiracy that he contrived, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

¹⁶ Then Menahem struck down Tiphsah and all who were in it, and its territories from Tirzah, because they did not open to him, therefore he attacked it and ripped open all its pregnant women. ¹⁷ In the thirty-ninth year of King Azariah of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel, and he reigned ten years in Samaria. ¹⁸ But he did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes. Throughout his days he never turned away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to commit.

¹⁹ Then King Pul of Assyria invaded the country, so Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver so that his hand might be with him to strengthen his hold on the kingdom. ²⁰ Menahem exacted the money from Israel, from every person of means, each one 50 shekels of silver to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back and stayed no longer in the land.

²¹ Now the rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ²² Then Menahem slept with his fathers, and his son Pekahiah became king in his place. ²³ In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned two years. ²⁴ But he did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to commit. ²⁵ Then Pekah son of Remaliah, his aide, conspired against him and assassinated him in Samaria, in the castle of the royal palace, along with Argob, Arieh, and 50 Gileadite men. So he killed him and became king in his place. ²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Israel and Aram Attack Judah

²⁷ In the fifty-second year of King Azariah of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned 20 years. ²⁸ But he did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to commit. ²⁹ In the days of Pekah king of Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria invaded and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee—all the region of Naphtali, and he deported them to Assyria. ³⁰ Then Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah. He attacked and assassinated him, and then became king in his place in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah. ³¹ Now the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

³² In the second year of Pekah son of King Remaliah of Israel, Jotham son of Uzziah king of Judah began to reign. ³³ He was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. ³⁴ Now he did what was right in the eyes of Adonai, just as his father Uzziah had done. ³⁵ However, the high places were not taken away, and the people were still sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. It was he who built the upper gate of the House of Adonai. ³⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ³⁷ In those days Adonai began to send King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah. ³⁸ Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David. Then Ahaz his son became king in his place.

16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of King Jotham of Judah, began to reign. ² Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. But he did not do what was right in the eyes of Adonai his God, as his father David had done. ³ Instead he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son pass through the fire, like the abominations of the nations whom Adonai had dispossessed before Bnei-Yisrael. ⁴ He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every leafy tree.

⁵ Then King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of King Remaliah of Israel marched against Jerusalem to wage war. They besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. ⁶ At that time King Rezin of Aram recovered Elath for Aram, and drove the Jews out of Elath. Then the Edomites came to Elath and settled there to this day.

⁷ So Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and deliver me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” ⁸ Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the House of Adonai and in the treasuries of the royal palace, and sent them as a present to the king of Assyria. ⁹ So the king of Assyria responded to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and captured it, and deported its inhabitants as captives to Kir and put Rezin to death.

Ahaz Remodels the Temple

¹⁰ Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria and saw the altar that was at Damascus. So King Ahaz sent to Urijah the kohen the pattern of the altar and its model needed for its construction. ¹¹ Then Urijah the kohen built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, and Urijah the kohen finished it by the time King Ahaz returned from Damascus. ¹² When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, the king approached the altar and went up to it. ¹³ Then he burned his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his fellowship offerings on the altar. ¹⁴ As for the bronze altar that was before Adonai, he moved it from the forefront of the House, from between his altar and the House of Adonai, and put it on the north side of his own altar.

¹⁵ Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the kohen saying, “Upon the great altar you will burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land and their grain offering and their drink offering. Also sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifices. But the bronze altar will be for me to inquire by.”

¹⁶ Thus Urijah the kohen did everything just as King Ahaz commanded. ¹⁷ Then King Ahaz cut off the borders of the stands and removed the laver from them. He also took down the sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pavement. ¹⁸ The covered passageway for Shabbat that they had built in the House as well as the outer entry for the king, he removed from the House of Adonai, because of the king of Assyria.

¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁰ Then Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. Then his son Hezekiah became king in his place.

¹³ But some traveling Jewish exorcists also tried to invoke the name of the Lord Yeshua, saying, “I charge you by the Yeshua whom Paul preaches.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of a Jewish ruling kohen named Sceva were doing this. ¹⁵ But the evil spirit answered them, “I know Yeshua and I know about Paul, but who are you?”

¹⁶ Then the man with the evil spirit sprang at them, subduing and overpowering all of them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷ This became known to all who lived in Ephesus, both Jewish and Greek people. Fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Yeshua was being magnified.

¹⁸ Many also of those who had believed came confessing and recounting their practices. ¹⁹ And many of those who practiced magic arts brought their books together in a heap, burning them before everyone. They totaled the value of the books and found it to be about fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰ So the word of the Lord was growing in power and prevailing.

Idol-Makers Start a Riot

²¹ Now after these things were accomplished, Paul resolved in the Ruach to go to Jerusalem after passing through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” ²² So after sending two who were assisting him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

²³ Around that time, there arose no small uproar concerning the Way. ²⁴ For a man named Demetrius—a silversmith, a maker of silver shrines of Artemis—was providing no small amount of business to the craftsmen. ²⁵ He gathered these together, along with those of related occupations, and he said, “Men, you know that our wealth is from this business. ²⁶ You see and hear that not only in Ephesus but also throughout all Asia, Paul has persuaded and perverted a considerable crowd, saying that handmade gods are not gods at all. ^{[a] 27} Not only is there a danger that this trade of ours might come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis might be considered as nothing. She whom all Asia and the world worships might even be thrown down from her majesty.”

²⁸ When they heard, they were filled with fury and began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹ The city was filled with confusion. They rushed into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were travel companions of Paul. ³⁰ Paul was wishing to enter among the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. ³¹ Some of the chiefs of Asia,^[b] being his friends, sent to him and begged him not to surrender himself in the theater.

³² Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion. Most did not know why they had come together. ³³ Some of the crowd solicited Alexander, whom the Jewish people put forward. Alexander motioned with his hand. He wished to offer a defense to the crowd. ³⁴ But recognizing that he was Jewish, for about two hours they all with one voice cried out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵ After the town clerk quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, what man is there who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis and of her image fallen from heaven? ³⁶ Since these things are undeniable, you must be calm and do nothing reckless. ³⁷ For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor revilers of our goddess. ³⁸ If Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. Let them accuse them. ³⁹ But if you seek anything further, it will be settled in the lawful assembly. ⁴⁰ For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, there being no reason which we are able to give to justify this mob.” Upon saying this, he dismissed the assembly.

He Builds Up Jerusalem

Psalm 147