Bible in 90 Days

Elisha does some more miracles

³⁸ After that, Elisha went back to Gilgal. There was a famine in that region. The group of prophets came to meet with Elisha. He said to his servant, ‘Put the large pot over the fire. Cook some soup for the prophets.’ ³⁹ One of the prophets went out into the fields to get some herbs to put in the soup. He found a wild plant and he picked some of its fruits. He filled the pockets of his coat with them. He brought the fruits back with him and he cut them into pieces. He put the pieces into the pot of soup. But he did not know what they were.

⁴⁰ They poured out the soup for the men to eat. But when they started to eat it, they shouted, ‘Man of God, this soup will kill us!’ They could not eat it. ⁴¹ Then Elisha said, ‘Bring some flour.’ He put the flour into the pot. He said, ‘Now pour out some more soup for the people to eat.’ Then there was nothing in the soup that would hurt them.

⁴² One day, a man came from Baal Shalishah. He brought 20 bread loaves for the man of God. The flour for the bread was made from the first barley that he had picked at harvest time. He also brought some fresh grain. Elisha said, ‘Give this food to the people to eat.’ ⁴³ But his servant said, ‘There is not enough food here to feed 100 men!’ Elisha said, ‘Give it to the people for them to eat. Do it, because the Lord says, “They will all eat as much as they want. There will even be some food left.” ’ ⁴⁴ So the servant gave the bread to the prophets to eat. They ate as much as they wanted and some food still remained. The Lord had said that this would happen.

God makes Naaman well again

5 Naaman was the leader of the king of Syria's army. Naaman's master respected him as a great man. The Lord had used Naaman to help Syria win wars against their enemies. Naaman was a brave soldier, but he had a bad disease of his skin.^[a]

² Groups of soldiers from Syria had gone to attack places in Israel. They had caught a young girl as their prisoner. She became a servant of Naaman's wife. ³ One day, the girl said to her master's wife, ‘I would like my master Naaman to meet the prophet who is in Samaria. The prophet would take away his disease.’

⁴ So Naaman went to see his master, the king of Syria. He told him what the girl from Israel had said. ⁵ The king of Syria replied, ‘Go to meet this prophet! I will send a letter to the king of Israel.’ So Naaman went to Israel. He took with him 30,000 pieces of silver, 6,000 pieces of gold, and 10 sets of clothes. ⁶ He also took the letter for the king of Israel. The message from the king of Syria said, ‘I am sending my servant Naaman to you, with this letter. I want you to take away the disease of his skin.’

⁷ When the king of Israel read the letter, he was very upset. He tore his clothes. He said, ‘I am not God, am I? I cannot kill people or make them alive again. Why does he think that I can make this man well again? I see that he is trying to start a fight with me.’

⁸ Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes. So he sent this message to him: ‘You did not have to tear your clothes. Tell the man from Syria to come to me. Then he will know that there is a true prophet in Israel.’

⁹ So Naaman went to see Elisha. He took with him his horses and his chariots. He stood outside the door of Elisha's house. ¹⁰ Elisha sent his servant with a message to Naaman. He said, ‘Go to the Jordan River. Wash yourself seven times in the river. Then your skin will be clean again. You will not have the disease.’

¹¹ But Naaman was angry and he went away. He said, ‘I thought that the prophet would come out of his house to see me. Then he would stand here with me. He would pray in the name of the Lord his God. Then he would move his hand over the bad place in my skin. After that my skin would be clean again. That is what I thought he would do. ¹² The Abana and Pharpar rivers in Damascus are better than any of the rivers in Israel. Surely, I could wash in those rivers and become clean!’ So Naaman turned around and he went away. He was very angry.

¹³ But Naaman's servants went to him. One of them said, ‘My master, the prophet might have asked you to do something very difficult. Then you surely would have done it! Now he says to you, “Wash yourself! Then you will be clean.” That is much easier for you to do.’

¹⁴ So Naaman went down to the Jordan River. He washed himself in it seven times, as the man of God had told him to do. Naaman's skin became well again. It became as clean as a young child's skin.

¹⁵ Then Naaman and all his servants went back to see Elisha, the man of God. Naaman stood in front of him and he said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in the whole world except the one in Israel. Please accept a gift from me, your servant.’ ¹⁶ But Elisha replied, ‘I serve the Lord. I promise you, as surely as he lives, I will not accept a gift from you.’ Naaman asked him many times to accept a gift but Elisha refused.

¹⁷ So Naaman said, ‘So, you will not accept my gift. But please agree to let me take home some soil from here. I will take as much soil as two mules can carry. Then I will never again make any sacrifices or burnt offerings to any other god. I will only worship the Lord. ¹⁸ But I pray that the Lord will forgive me, your servant, when I do this one thing: My master, the king of Syria, often goes into the temple of our god, Rimmon. When he bends down low to worship Rimmon, he takes hold of my arm. So I also have to bend down low with him. I ask the Lord to forgive me when I do that.’

¹⁹ Elisha said to Naaman, ‘Go home with peace in your mind.’ Then Naaman started on his way home.

²⁰ Elisha's servant, Gehazi, thought, ‘My master did not accept the gifts that Naaman offered to him. He made it too easy for that Syrian man. As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after him. I will accept a gift from him.’ ²¹ So Gehazi ran quickly after Naaman before he had gone very far. Naaman saw that a man was running after him. So he got down from his chariot to meet him. Naaman asked Gehazi, ‘Is everything well?’ ²² Gehazi answered, ‘Everything is well. My master sent me with this message: “Two young men from the group of prophets have just arrived at my house. They have come from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them 3,000 pieces of silver and two sets of clothes.” ’

²³ Naaman said, ‘Yes, I will. But please agree to take 6,000 pieces of silver.’ He asked Gehazi to accept them. He put the 6,000 pieces of silver into two bags, as well as two sets of clothes. He gave them to two of his servants and they carried them in front of Gehazi. ²⁴ When Gehazi reached a hill near Elisha's house, he took the things from the servants. He put them in his own room. He told the servants to go back to Naaman.

²⁵ Gehazi went in and he stood in front of his master. Elisha asked Gehazi, ‘Where have you been?’ Gehazi answered, ‘I have not been anywhere, sir.’ ²⁶ But Elisha said to him, ‘My spirit was with you when you went out. It was there when the man came down from his chariot to meet you. This is not the proper time to accept gifts of money, clothes, olive trees, vineyards, sheep, cows or servants. ²⁷ Now you will have the same disease in your skin that Naaman had! It will always be with you and your descendants.’

Then Gehazi went away from Elisha. His skin had already become white like snow because of the disease.

Another miracle that Elisha did

6 One day, the group of prophets said to Elisha, ‘The place where we meet with you is too small for us. ² We must go to the Jordan River to cut down some trees. Each one of us can bring back some wood to build a new place for us to meet in.’ Elisha agreed and he told them to go.

³ One of the prophets said, ‘Please come with us, sir.’ Elisha replied, ‘I will come with you.’ ⁴ So he went with them. They arrived at the Jordan River. They started to cut down some trees. ⁵ While one of them was cutting down a tree, his iron axe fell into the water. He shouted, ‘Oh! My master! The axe did not belong to me!’ ⁶ Elisha asked him, ‘Where did it fall in the water?’ He showed Elisha the place. Then Elisha cut a branch from a tree. He threw it in the water at that place. It caused the iron axe to come to the top of the water. ⁷ Elisha told the prophet, ‘Lift it out of the water.’ So the man took hold of it with his hand.

Elisha stops the Syrian army

⁸ There was a war between the king of Syria and Israel. The king of Syria talked with his officers. He said to them, ‘I will attack Israel at a certain place.’ ⁹ But Elisha, the man of God, sent a message to the king of Israel. He said, ‘Do not travel through that place. The Syrian army is going there to attack us.’ ¹⁰ So the king of Israel warned the people in that place to be careful. Several times Elisha told the king where the Syrian army would attack so that the king would be careful.

¹¹ This made the king of Syria very angry. He asked his officers to come to him. He said to them, ‘One of you is helping the king of Israel. Who is it?’ ¹² One of his officers said, ‘None of us is helping him, my master the king. There is a prophet who lives in Israel. His name is Elisha. He tells the king of Israel every word that you speak secretly, even what you say in your bedroom!’ ¹³ The king of Syria said, ‘Go and find the place where he is. Then I will send some men there to catch him.’

A report came back to the king of Syria, ‘Elisha is in Dothan.’ ¹⁴ So the king sent a big army of soldiers there, with horses and chariots. They arrived during the night and they made their camp all around the city.

¹⁵ The servant of Elisha, the man of God, got up early the next morning. He went out and he saw an army with horses and chariots all around the city. He said to Elisha, ‘Oh! My master! What can we do?’ ¹⁶ Elisha replied, ‘Do not be afraid. There are more men to fight for us than there are for them.’ ¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed, ‘Lord, please open my servant's eyes so that he can see clearly.’ The Lord opened the servant's eyes. Now he could see lots of horses and chariots that burned with fire. They were on the hill all around Elisha.

¹⁸ When the enemy soldiers came towards Elisha, he prayed, ‘Lord, please make these people become blind.’ The Lord did what Elisha had asked. He made the enemy soldiers become blind. ¹⁹ Elisha said to them, ‘You are on the wrong road. You have come to the wrong city. Follow me! I will lead you to the man that you are looking for.’ Elisha led them to Samaria.

²⁰ After they had gone into the city of Samaria, Elisha prayed again, ‘Lord, please open the eyes of these men so that they can see again.’ The Lord opened their eyes. Now they could see that they were in the middle of Samaria! ²¹ When the king of Israel saw the Syrian army in his city, he asked Elisha, ‘My master, what should I do? Should I kill them?’ ²² Elisha answered, ‘You must not kill them. That would not be right. You did not win a fight against them with your weapons. Give them some food and water. Then they can eat and drink before they go back to their master.’

²³ So the king of Israel made a big feast for them. They had a lot of food and drink. Then he sent them back to their master, the king of Syria. After this happened, no more groups of Syrian soldiers came to attack Israel.

The Syrian army attacks Samaria

²⁴ But later, King Ben-Hadad of Syria sent his whole army to attack Samaria. His soldiers made their camp all around the city. ²⁵ As a result, there was a famine in the city. The Syrian army were all around the city for a long time. Food in the city was very expensive. A donkey's head cost 80 pieces of silver. A small cup of dove's dung cost five pieces of silver.^[b]

²⁶ While the king of Israel was walking on the wall of the city, a woman shouted to him, ‘Please help me, my master the king!’ ²⁷ The king replied, ‘Why do you ask me? Only the Lord can help you. I have no wheat or wine to give you.’ ²⁸ Then the king asked her, ‘What is your problem?’ She answered, ‘This woman here said to me, “Let us take your son today, so that we can eat him. Tomorrow we will eat my son.” ²⁹ So we cooked my son and we ate him. The next day I said to her, “Now we will take your son, so that we can eat him.” But she has hidden him somewhere!’

³⁰ When the king heard the woman's words, he was very upset. He tore his clothes. As he walked along the wall, people could see what he was wearing. They saw that he was wearing sackcloth under his other clothes.^{[c] 31} He said, ‘I will certainly cut off Elisha's head today! May God punish me with death if Elisha still has his head by the end of the day!’

³² Elisha was sitting in his house. The leaders of the city were with him. The king sent a man to Elisha with a message. But before he arrived, Elisha said to the leaders, ‘I tell you this. That murderer, the king, has sent someone to cut off my head. When the king's man arrives, shut the door. Stop him from coming in here. We will soon hear the sound of his master as he arrives too.’

³³ While Elisha was still talking to the city's leaders, the king's man arrived with this message: ‘The Lord has caused this terrible trouble to happen to us. I cannot wait any longer for the Lord to help us.’^[d]

7 Elisha said, ‘Now listen to the Lord's message! This is what the Lord says: “About this time tomorrow, five kilograms of good flour will cost only one piece of silver. Ten kilograms of barley will also cost one piece of silver. You will be able to buy this food at the gate of Samaria.” ’^[e]

² The special officer who was near to the king said to the man of God, ‘That will never happen! Even if the Lord opens the skies and sends us rain, it could not happen so soon.’ Elisha said, ‘You yourself will see this happen, but you will not eat any of the food!’

How the war finished

³ At this time, there were four men who had leprosy. They were at Samaria's gate where people went in to the city. They said to each other, ‘We should not stay here. If we wait here we will die. ⁴ There is no food in the city. If we go in there we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So we will go out to the camp of the Syrian army. We will ask them to be kind to us. They may let us stay alive, or they may kill us. But we would have died anyway.’

⁵ At evening time, the men went towards the Syrian army's camp. When they reached the edge of the camp, they saw that there was nobody there! ⁶ The Lord God had caused the Syrian soldiers to hear the sound of horses, chariots and a very big army. So they said among themselves, ‘Listen! The king of Israel has paid the king of the Hittites and the king of Egypt to come here and attack us!’

⁷ So, that evening, the Syrian soldiers all ran away. They left their tents, their horses and their donkeys. They did not take anything with them. They ran away to save their lives. ⁸ When the four men reached the edge of the camp, they went into one of the tents. They ate and they drank what was there. They carried away silver and gold and clothes. They went away and they hid those things. Then they came back and they went into another tent. They took the valuable things from there too and they hid them.

⁹ Then they said to each other, ‘We should not be doing this. It is not right! This is a day of good news and we have not told anyone. If we wait until the morning, we will be in trouble. We must go now and tell the king's officers what has happened.’ ¹⁰ So they went back to the city's gate and they called out to the guards. They said to them, ‘We went out to the camp of the Syrian army. There was nobody there! We did not hear anyone at all. The horses and donkeys are still there, where the soldiers had tied them. The tents are still there, as they were before.’

¹¹ The guards at the city gate then shouted the news. People in the king's palace heard the news. ¹² The king got up in the middle of the night. He said to his officers, ‘I will tell you what the Syrian soldiers have done to deceive us. They know that we have no food. So they have left their tents and they have hidden in the fields. They are thinking, “The Israelites will surely come out of the city. Then we will catch them while they are still alive. We will then get into their city.” ’

¹³ One of the king's officers answered him, ‘Send some men with five of the horses that are still in our city. We will see what happens to them. All of us Israelites in the city will soon die. If the Syrian soldiers kill those men, they would have died anyway. So send them out of the city to find out what is happening.’ ¹⁴ So they prepared two chariots with their horses. The king sent the men to see what had happened to the Syrian army. He commanded the men, ‘Go and look for them.’

¹⁵ The king's men followed the Syrian soldiers as far as the Jordan River. They saw many things that the soldiers had dropped along the road. They had dropped clothes and weapons because they were in a hurry to run away. So the men returned to the king. They told him what they had seen.

¹⁶ Then the people in Samaria went out of the city. They took all the valuable things from the Syrian soldiers' tents. So then people could buy five kilograms of good flour for one piece of silver. They could also buy ten kilograms of barley for one piece of silver. That is what the Lord had said would happen.

¹⁷ The king had told his special officer to stand at the gate of the city. When the people ran out of the city, they knocked him down. He fell under their feet and he died. The man of God had already said that this would happen, when the king had come to his house.

¹⁸ Elisha had said to the king, ‘This time tomorrow, five kilograms of good flour will cost only one piece of silver. Ten kilograms of barley will also cost one piece of silver. You will be able to buy this food at the gate of Samaria.’ ¹⁹ But the officer had replied to the man of God, ‘That will never happen! Even if the Lord opens the skies and sends us rain, it could not happen so soon.’ Elisha had said, ‘You yourself will see this happen, but you will not eat any of the food!’

²⁰ That is what really happened to him! At the city gate, the people ran over the king's officer and he died.

Elisha helps the woman from Shunem

8 Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had made alive again, ‘Go away from here.^[f] The Lord says that there will be a famine in this country for seven years. So you and your family should go to live somewhere else during that time.’ ² The woman had done what the man of God had told her to do. She and her family went to live in the country of the Philistines for seven years. ³ After seven years, she came back from there. She went to the king to ask for her house and her land.^[g]

⁴ The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. The king said to Gehazi, ‘Tell me about all the great things that Elisha has done.’ ⁵ So Gehazi was telling the king that Elisha had made dead people alive again. While Gehazi was saying this, the woman from Shunem came in to ask the king for her house and her fields. It was her son that Elisha had made alive again. Gehazi said, ‘My master the king, this is the woman! And this is her son that Elisha made alive again!’

⁶ The king asked the woman about it. She told him what had happened. Then the king commanded one of his officers to take care of her. The king said to him, ‘This woman must receive back everything that belongs to her. She must also receive the value of all the crops that have grown in her fields since the day that she went away.’

King Ben-Hadad dies

⁷ Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, was ill in Damascus. Elisha went to Damascus at that time. Somebody told the king, ‘The man of God has come to the city.’ ⁸ The king said to Hazael, ‘Take a gift with you to go and meet the man of God. Ask him to get a message from the Lord. Ask him, “Will I get well again after this disease?” ’

⁹ So Hazael went to meet Elisha. He took a gift with him. There were 40 camels that carried many kinds of valuable things that came from Damascus. He arrived at Elisha's house and he stood in front of him. Hazael said, ‘Your servant, Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, has sent me to you. He asks, “Will I get well again after this disease?” ’

¹⁰ Elisha answered, ‘Go back to the king. Tell him, “Certainly, you will get well again.” But the Lord has shown me that the king will surely die.’ ¹¹ Then Elisha looked at him with open eyes until Hazael became ashamed. Then the man of God began to weep. ¹² So Hazael asked him, ‘Why are you weeping, my master?’ Elisha replied, ‘Because I know that you will cause great trouble for Israel's people. You will destroy their strong cities with fire. You will fight their young men and you will kill them. You will knock down their children to kill them. You will cut open their pregnant women.’

¹³ Hazael said, ‘I am only an ordinary man, sir. I am not more important than a dog! How could I ever do great things like that?’ Elisha answered, ‘The Lord has shown me that you will become the king of Syria.’

¹⁴ Then Hazael left Elisha. He returned to his master, the king. King Ben-Hadad asked him, ‘What did Elisha say to you?’ Hazael replied, ‘He told me that you will surely get well again.’

¹⁵ The next day, Hazael took a thick cloth. He used water to make it wet. Then he put it over the king's face so that he could not breathe. So King Ben-Hadad died. Hazael became king of Syria after him.

Jehoram becomes the king of Judah

¹⁶ When Ahab's son Joram had been king of Israel for five years, Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram started to rule Judah as king.^{[h] 17} He was 32 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for eight years. ¹⁸ He lived in the same bad way that the kings of Israel did. He did what the family of Ahab had done. He married a daughter of King Ahab and he became as wicked as King Ahab's family was. He did things that the Lord said were evil. ¹⁹ But the Lord did not want to destroy the nation of Judah, because of his promise to his servant, David. The Lord had promised that King David would always have descendants who would rule the nation.

²⁰ While Jehoram was king, Edom's people turned against Judah. They would no longer accept the king of Judah's authority over them. They decided to have their own king. ²¹ So King Jehoram travelled to Zair with all his chariots.^[i] The Edomite army came and they were all around him. But that night, Jehoram and his officers attacked the Edomites and they escaped. The Israelite army ran away to go back home. ²² Even today, Edom's people do not obey the rulers of Judah. The people of Libnah city also turned against Judah at the same time.

²³ The other things that happened while Jehoram was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about all the things that Jehoram did. ²⁴ Jehoram died and they buried him with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Ahaziah became king after him.

Ahaziah becomes the king of Judah

²⁵ When Ahab's son Joram had been king of Israel for 12 years, Jehoram's son Ahaziah started to rule Judah as king. ²⁶ Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for one year. His mother's name was Athaliah. She was a granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel.^{[j] 27} Ahaziah lived in the same bad way that Ahab's family had done. He did things that the Lord said were evil, as Ahab's family had done. That was because he had married a woman from Ahab's family.

²⁸ King Ahaziah went with Ahab's son, King Joram of Israel, to fight against Hazael, the king of Syria. They fought a battle at Ramoth Gilead. The Syrian army won the fight and they hurt King Joram. ²⁹ King Joram returned to Jezreel, so that his wounds could get better after the battle. While he was there, King Ahaziah went to visit him, because of his wounds.

Jehu becomes king of Israel

9 The prophet Elisha told a man from the group of prophets to come to him. Elisha said to him, ‘Tie your belt around you and prepare to travel. Take this bottle of olive oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead. ² When you arrive there, look for Jehu. He is the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him and take him into a room away from his friends. ³ Pour the oil from the bottle onto his head. Say to him, “This is what the Lord says to you: I have now chosen you to be king of Israel.” Then open the door and run away quickly!’

⁴ The young prophet that Elisha had sent went to Ramoth Gilead. ⁵ When he arrived there, he found the army officers. They were sitting together. The prophet said, ‘Captain, I have a message for you.’ Jehu asked him, ‘The message is for which of us?’ The prophet replied, ‘It is for you, sir.’ ⁶ So Jehu stood up and he went into the house. The young prophet poured the oil onto Jehu's head. He said to him, ‘This is what the Lord, Israel's God, says to you: “I have now chosen you to be king of the Lord's people, Israel. ⁷ You will destroy the family of your master, Ahab. In this way I will punish Ahab's wife Jezebel, because she killed the prophets and other people who served me. ⁸ The whole family of Ahab must die. I will kill every male among his descendants in Israel, whoever they are. ⁹ I will destroy Ahab's family as I did to the family of Nebat's son Jeroboam and the family of Ahijah's son Baasha. ¹⁰ Dogs will eat Jezebel's body on the ground in Jezreel. Nobody will bury her.” ’

Then the young prophet opened the door and he ran away.

¹¹ Jehu went out to the other army officers. They asked him, ‘Is everything well? Why did that crazy man come to you?’ Jehu replied, ‘It was not important. You know what that man is like and the kind of things he says.’ ¹² But the officers said, ‘That is not true! Tell us what he said.’ So Jehu told them what the prophet had said. He told them, ‘The prophet said, “This is what the Lord says: I have now chosen you to be the king of Israel.” ’

¹³ The other officers then quickly took their coats. They put them on the stone steps for Jehu to walk on. Then they made a loud noise with a trumpet. They shouted, ‘Jehu is king!’

Jehu kills Joram

¹⁴ So Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat and grandson of Nimshi, became an enemy of King Joram.

Joram had been in Ramoth Gilead with the whole army of Israel. They were fighting against Hazael, the king of Syria, who wanted to attack Israel. ¹⁵ The Syrian soldiers had hurt King Joram in the battle against King Hazael. So he returned to Jezreel to get well again.

Jehu said to his men, ‘If you really want to help me, do not let anyone leave this city. Nobody must go to warn the people in Jezreel.’ ¹⁶ Then Jehu got into his chariot and he rode to Jezreel, because King Joram was resting there. Ahaziah, the king of Judah, had also gone to Jezreel to visit King Joram.

¹⁷ A guard was standing on the tower in Jezreel to watch for enemies. He saw Jehu's soldiers coming towards the city. He shouted, ‘I can see a group of soldiers who are coming here on horses.’

King Joram said, ‘Send out a man on a horse to meet the soldiers. Ask them. “Are you coming to us as friends?” ’ ¹⁸ The man on the horse rode out of the city to meet Jehu. He said to Jehu, ‘The king asks you, “Are you coming here as friends?” ’ Jehu replied, ‘Whether we are friends or not, turn round and ride behind me!’

The guard on the tower reported to Joram, ‘The man that you sent with the message has reached them. But he is not coming back yet.’ ¹⁹ So King Joram sent a second man out on a horse. The rider said to Jehu, ‘The king asks you, “Are you coming here as friends?” ’ Jehu replied, ‘Whether we are friends or not, turn round and ride behind me!’

²⁰ The guard reported to Joram, ‘The man has reached them, but he is not coming back yet either. Their leader is driving his chariot like Nimshi's son, Jehu. He drives like a crazy man!’

²¹ Then King Joram commanded, ‘Prepare my chariot for me.’ So they brought his chariot to him. Then King Joram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah rode out of the city to meet Jehu. Each king was riding in his own chariot. They met Jehu at the piece of land that had once belonged to Naboth, the man from Jezreel.^{[k] 22} When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, ‘Have you come as a friend, Jehu?’ Jehu replied, ‘We cannot be friends. Your mother Jezebel still causes people to worship idols and to use magic.’

²³ Joram turned his chariot round and he drove away quickly. He shouted to King Ahaziah, ‘Ahaziah, they have deceived us!’ ²⁴ Then Jehu used his bow to shoot an arrow at Joram. The arrow hit Joram between his shoulders and it went through his heart. He fell over in his chariot and he died. ²⁵ Jehu gave a command to his officer, Bidkar. He said to him, ‘Pick him up! Throw his body onto the field that once belonged to Naboth. Remember, you and I rode together in chariots behind Joram's father, Ahab. That was when the Lord said this about Ahab: ²⁶ “Yesterday, I saw the blood of Naboth and his sons where you murdered them. One day, I will punish you as you deserve. I will do it here on this piece of land. That is what the Lord says.” So now pick up Joram's body and throw it on this piece of land. Do what the Lord has promised he would do.’

²⁷ King Ahaziah of Judah saw what had happened to Joram. So he rode away quickly on the road towards Beth Haggan. Jehu chased after him and he shouted, ‘Kill him too!’ Jehu's men shot arrows at Ahaziah as he rode in his chariot up the hill to Gur, near Ibleam. He escaped to Megiddo and he died there.

²⁸ King Ahaziah's servants took his body back to Jerusalem in a chariot. They buried him there in a grave beside his ancestors in the City of David. ²⁹ Ahaziah had become king of Judah when Ahab's son Joram had been king of Israel for 11 years.

³⁰ After that, Jehu went to Jezreel. Jezebel heard what had happened. So she made her eyes and her hair look beautiful. Then she looked out of a window in the palace.^{[l] 31} When Jehu came through the gate of the city, Jezebel called out to him, ‘Have you come as a friend, Zimri? No, you have murdered your master!’^{[m] 32} Jehu looked up at the window and he saw her. Then he shouted, ‘Who wants to help me? Anyone there?’ Two or three eunuchs looked out though a window at him.^{[n] 33} Jehu shouted to them, ‘Throw her down!’ So they threw her down. When she hit the ground, some of her blood splashed on the wall. It also splashed on Jehu's horses as he drove them over her body.

³⁴ Jehu went into the palace and he ate a meal. Then he said, ‘Take away that evil woman's body. She was the daughter of a king, so you should bury her properly.’ ³⁵ But when they went out to bury her, not much of her body was still there. They found only her skull, her feet and her hands. ³⁶ They went back and they told Jehu. He said, ‘The Lord told his servant, Elijah from Tishbe, that this would happen. He said, “Dogs will eat Jezebel's dead body on the ground in Jezreel. ³⁷ Her dead body will lie on the ground in Jezreel like dung. Nobody will be able to recognize who it is.” ’

Jehu kills Ahab's descendants

10 Ahab had 70 sons who lived in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and he sent them to Samaria. He sent them to Jezreel's officers and leaders, as well as to the men who took care of Ahab's sons.^{[o] 2} This was what the letter said:

‘When this letter reaches you, your master's sons will be with you. You also have his chariots and horses in a strong city. And you have weapons. ³ Choose the best person to be king from among your master's sons. Make him your king instead of his father. Then prepare to fight on behalf of your master's family.’

⁴ But the letter made the officers in Samaria very afraid. They said, ‘Even two kings could not win against Jehu. So we can never fight against him and win!’

⁵ So these people sent a message to Jehu:

The message said, ‘We are your servants. We will do anything that you tell us. We will not make anyone king. You must do what you think is right.’

⁶ So Jehu wrote a second letter to them. It said, ‘If you are ready to help me and you will obey me, do this: Bring the heads of your master's sons here to me in Jezreel. Bring them by this time tomorrow.’^[p]

At that time, important leaders of the city were taking care of the king's 70 sons. ⁷ When the letter arrived, these men took hold of the king's sons. They killed all 70 of them. They put their heads in baskets. Then they sent them to Jehu in Jezreel. ⁸ Someone told Jehu, ‘They have brought the heads of the king's sons.’ Then Jehu said, ‘Put them in two heaps at the gate of the city. Leave them there until the morning.’

⁹ The next morning, Jehu went out to the city's gate. He stood there in front of all the people. He said to them, ‘You are not guilty of any murder. I was the one who decided to kill my master, the king. But who killed these descendants of Ahab? It was not my decision! ¹⁰ You must realize this: Every punishment that the Lord said would happen to Ahab's family must happen. The Lord has done what he told his servant Elijah he would do.’

¹¹ After that, Jehu killed everybody in Jezreel who was a descendant of Ahab. He also killed Ahab's officers, his friends and his priests. No descendant of Ahab remained alive.

¹² Jehu left Jezreel and he went towards Samaria. He came to Beth Eked, where shepherds had a camp. ¹³ He met some relatives of Ahaziah, the king of Judah. Jehu asked them, ‘Who are you?’ They said, ‘We are relatives of Ahaziah. We are going to Jezreel to visit the families of the king and his mother.’^{[q] 14} Jehu said to his men, ‘Catch them, but do not kill them!’ So they took hold of them. Then they killed them all near the well at Beth Eked. They killed 42 people, so that none of them remained alive.

¹⁵ When Jehu left Beth Eked, he met Rekab's son Jehonadab. He was coming to meet Jehu. Jehu said, ‘Hello! Do you trust me, as I trust you?’ Jehonadab answered, ‘Yes, I do!’ Jehu replied, ‘Then hold your hand out to me.’ So he did that and Jehu pulled him up into his chariot. ¹⁶ Jehu said, ‘Come with me. You will see that I want to serve the Lord faithfully.’ So Jehonadab rode with Jehu in his chariot. ¹⁷ Jehu arrived in Samaria. He killed all the descendants of Ahab who were still alive in Samaria. The Lord had told Elijah that this would happen.

Jehu removes false prophets

¹⁸ Then Jehu called all the people to come together. He said to them, ‘Ahab served Baal, but he did not do it very well. But I, Jehu, will serve Baal much better! ¹⁹ So tell all the prophets who serve Baal to come here, as well as all Baal's servants and his priests. Make sure that they all come. I want to offer a great sacrifice to Baal. If any of them does not come, I will punish him with death.’

But Jehu was deceiving them. He wanted to kill all Baal's servants. ²⁰ He gave a command, ‘Prepare a special day when we can all worship Baal.’ So Jehu's servants told everybody about it.

²¹ Jehu sent a notice to everyone in Israel. All the servants of Baal came to the meeting. There was nobody who did not come. They all went into the temple of Baal, so that it was completely full of people. ²² Then Jehu said to the man who took care of the special clothes, ‘Bring out the robes for the servants of Baal to wear.’ So the man brought out the robes for them. ²³ Then Jehu and Rekab's son Jehonadab went into the temple of Baal. Jehu said to the servants of Baal, ‘Look around carefully. Be sure that there are no servants of the Lord here with you. There must only be servants of Baal here.’ ²⁴ So they went into the temple to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. But Jehu had put 80 of his men outside the temple. He had said to them, ‘Do not let any of these men escape. If you let anyone escape, I will punish you with death.’

²⁵ When Jehu had finished offering the sacrifices, he said to the guards and the soldiers, ‘Go into the temple and kill all Baal's servants. Do not let any of them escape.’ So the guards and soldiers used their swords to cut all the people down. They threw the dead bodies out of the temple. Then they went into the inside room of the temple. ²⁶ They took out the stones from the house of Baal and they destroyed them. ²⁷ They broke the special stone pillar of Baal and they destroyed the temple. People still use it as a toilet, even today!

²⁸ That is how Jehu stopped people from worshipping Baal in Israel. ²⁹ But Jehu did not turn away from the sins of Nebat's son, Jeroboam. Jeroboam had caused Israel to worship images of calves. There were still gold calves at Bethel and Dan. ³⁰ The Lord said to Jehu, ‘You have done well. You have done the things that I say are right. You have punished Ahab's family in the way that I wanted. So your descendants will be kings of Israel for four generations.’^{[r] 31} But Jehu was not careful to obey completely the law of the Lord, Israel's God. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam which he had caused Israel to do.

³² In those days, the Lord began to make Israel's land smaller. King Hazael of Syria could attack the Israelites anywhere in their land ³³ east of the Jordan River. He took from them all the land of Gilead. That included the land that belonged to the tribes of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh. Hazael took the land all the way from Aroer, along the Arnon Valley to Gilead and Bashan.

³⁴ The other things that happened while Jehu was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the great things that Jehu did. ³⁵ Jehu died and they buried him with his ancestors in Samaria. His son Jehoahaz became king after him. ³⁶ Jehu ruled over Israel as king in Samaria for 28 years.

Queen Athaliah and King Joash

11 Ahaziah's mother, Athaliah, heard the news that her son was dead. So she started to kill all the royal family. ² Jehosheba was the daughter of King Jehoram of Judah and the sister of Ahaziah. When Athaliah's servants had come to murder the royal sons, Jehosheba took Ahaziah's son Joash away and she hid him. She put him in a bedroom in the temple to hide him from Athaliah. So Joash stayed alive. ³ Joash and his nurse stayed safely in a room in the Lord's temple while Queen Athaliah ruled Judah for six years.

⁴ In the seventh year that Athaliah ruled Judah, the priest Jehoiada asked some of the king's officers to come to him.^[s] They were officers of army groups, the king's special guards and the palace guards.

They came to meet with Jehoiada in the Lord's temple. There, he made them promise to agree with his idea. Then he showed the king's son Joash to them.

⁵ Jehoiada said to the officers, ‘This is what you must do: The men who come to work on the Sabbath day must make three groups. One group will keep the palace safe. ⁶ Another group must stand at the Sur Gate. The third group must stand at the gate behind the special guards. ⁷ The two groups of soldiers who would not come to work on the Sabbath day must do this: They must be guards at the Lord's temple. They must keep the new king safe. ⁸ You must stand around the king. Each man must hold his weapon in his hand. If anyone comes near to you, you must kill them. You must stay near to the king everywhere that he goes.’

⁹ The officers of the army groups did what Jehoiada the priest told them to do. Each officer brought his group of men to Jehoiada. That included the men who worked on the Sabbath and those who did not. ¹⁰ Then Jehoiada gave some weapons that were in the Lord's temple to the officers. He gave them the spears and the shields that had belonged to King David. ¹¹ The guards held their weapons in their hands. They stood around the king to keep him safe. They stood in a line from the south side of the temple to the north side. They were around the altar at the front of the temple.

¹² Then Jehoiada brought the king's son out of the temple room. He put the crown onto Joash's head. He gave him a copy of the royal covenant. They poured olive oil on his head to show that he was now the king. They clapped their hands and they shouted, ‘May the king have a long life!’

¹³ Queen Athaliah heard the soldiers and the people as they were shouting. So she went to the Lord's temple where all the people were. ¹⁴ Then she saw the king! He was standing in the king's place beside the pillar in the temple.^[t] The army officers and the men with trumpets were standing beside the king. All the people of Judah were shouting with joy. Many of them made music with trumpets.

When Athaliah saw this, she was very upset. She tore her clothes. She shouted, ‘Treason! Treason!’^[u]

¹⁵ Jehoiada the priest gave a command to the army officers who had authority over groups of soldiers. He told them, ‘Bring her out of the temple to the line of guards outside. Use your swords to kill anyone who follows her.’ That was because Jehoiada had said, ‘You must not kill her inside the Lord's temple.’ ¹⁶ So they took hold of Athaliah. They took her through the gate for the king's horses into the yard of the palace. They killed her there.

¹⁷ Jehoiada prepared a covenant with the Lord. All the people and the king agreed to serve the Lord as his people. The people also agreed to serve the king faithfully.

¹⁸ Then people everywhere in the country went to the temple of Baal. They destroyed it. They completely knocked down its altars and idols. They killed Baal's priest, Mattan, in front of Baal's altars.

Then Jehoiada the priest put guards to keep the Lord's temple safe. ¹⁹ Jehoiada took with him the officers of army groups, the king's special guards, the palace guards and all the people. They went together to bring the king down from the Lord's temple into the palace. They went into the palace through the gate of the king's royal guards. Then Joash sat on his throne as king.

²⁰ All the people were very happy. There was no longer any trouble in Jerusalem now that Athaliah was dead. They had punished her with death at the palace.

²¹ And Joash was seven years old when he began to rule Judah as king.

Joash makes repairs to God's house

12 Joash became king of Judah in the seventh year that Jehu was king of Israel. Joash ruled in Jerusalem for 40 years. His mother's name was Zibiah. She came from Beersheba. ² Jehoiada the priest taught Joash to do what was right. So Joash pleased the Lord all through his life.^{[v] 3} But Joash did not remove the altars on the hills. The people continued to offer sacrifices and to burn incense on those altars.

⁴ Joash said to all the priests, ‘Bring together all the money that people have offered to the Lord in his temple. This includes:

⁵ Each priest should receive the money that he needs to make repairs to the temple. When he sees that something is broken, he can use some of the people's money to mend it.’

⁶ When Joash had been king for 23 years, the priests had still not made any repairs to the temple. ⁷ So King Joash called Jehoiada and the other priests to come to him. He said to them, ‘You have made no repairs to the temple yet! Why not? Do not take any more of your people's money! It must only be used to make repairs to the temple.’ ⁸ The priests agreed that they would not take any more money from the people. They agreed that they would not make repairs to the temple themselves.^[w]

⁹ Jehoiada the priest took a large box and he made a hole in the top of it. He put it outside the entrance of the temple, on the right side of the altar. The priests who were guards at the temple door took care of the box. When people brought gifts of money to the Lord's temple, the priests put the money in the box. ¹⁰ Whenever there was a lot of money in the box, the king's secretary and the leader of the priests counted the money. Then they put those gifts for the temple into bags. ¹¹ When they knew how much money was there, they gave it to the men who had authority over the work. Then those men paid the carpenters and the builders who were working on the Lord's temple. ¹² They also paid the men that cut the stones and the men who used the stones to build with. They bought wood and they bought stones that people had cut to use for the repairs to the Lord's temple. They used the money to pay for any work on the repairs.

¹³ But they did not use any of this money to buy things that they used in the temple. This included:

¹⁴ Instead, they used all the money to give to the men who had authority over the repairs to the Lord's temple. ¹⁵ Those men did not have to give a report on how they used the money. People knew that they were honest men. ¹⁶ But the money that people gave when they made a guilt offering or a sin offering belonged to the priests. It did not pay for the repairs on the temple.

¹⁷ At that time, Hazael, the king of Syria, attacked Gath.^[x] His army took the city for him. Then King Hazael decided to attack Jerusalem.

¹⁸ Joash, the king of Judah, took all the valuable things that he and his ancestors had given to God. Those ancestors were the kings of Judah: Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah. He also took gold that was in the palace and in the temple. He sent all those valuable things to Hazael, king of Syria.^[y] When Hazael received the gifts from Joash, he took his army away from Jerusalem.

¹⁹ The other things that happened while Joash was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about all the things that Joash did. ²⁰ Joash's officers decided to kill him. Two of them murdered him at Beth Millo, on the road that goes down to Silla. ²¹ The officers that killed him were Shimeath's son Jozabad and Shomer's son Jehozabad. People buried Joash beside his ancestors in the City of David. His son Amaziah became king after him.

Jehoahaz becomes the king of Israel

13 Jehu's son Jehoahaz became king of Israel when Ahaziah's son Joash had been king of Judah for 23 years. Jehoahaz ruled as king in Samaria for 17 years. ² But he did things that the Lord said were evil. He did the same bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins, and Jehoahaz did not stop doing them himself. ³ So the Lord was very angry with Israel. For many years the Lord put the Israelites under the power of King Hazael of Syria and his son Ben-Hadad.

⁴ Then King Jehoahaz asked the Lord for help. The Lord saw that the king of Syria was being very cruel to Israel, so he answered the prayer of Jehoahaz. ⁵ The Lord sent a leader to rescue Israel from Syria's power. So the Israelites lived safely in their own homes, as they had done before this time. ⁶ But the Israelites still did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam and his family had done. Jeroboam had caused the Israelites to do bad things, and they still continued to do them. There were still Asherah poles that people worshipped in Samaria.

⁷ The king of Syria had destroyed most of Jehoahaz's army. All that remained were:

The king of Syria completely destroyed all the rest of the army. Only dust remained!

⁸ The other things that happened while Jehoahaz was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the things that Jehoahaz used his power to do. ⁹ Jehoahaz died and they buried him beside his ancestors in Samaria. His son Jehoash became king after him.

Jehoash becomes the king of Israel

¹⁰ Jehoahaz's son Jehoash became the king of Israel when Joash had been king of Judah for 37 years. He ruled as king in Samaria for 16 years. ¹¹ But he did things that the Lord said were evil. He did not turn away from the bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins, and Jehoahaz did not stop doing them himself.

¹² The other things that happened while Jehoash was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the great things that Jehoash did. It tells about the war that he fought against Amaziah, king of Judah ¹³ Jehoash died and they buried him in Samaria beside the other kings of Israel. Jeroboam became king of Israel after him.

Elisha dies

¹⁴ When Jehoash was still king of Israel, Elisha became very ill. It was the illness from which he would soon die. Jehoash went to visit him. Jehoash stood beside Elisha and he wept. Jehoash said, ‘My father! My father! You are riding in Israel's chariot! Israel's men are riding on the horses!’^[z]

¹⁵ Elisha said to King Jehoash, ‘Fetch a bow and some arrows.’ The king did that. ¹⁶ Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, ‘Prepare to shoot an arrow.’ When he had done that, Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. ¹⁷ Elisha said, ‘Open the window towards the east.’ When the king opened it, Elisha said, ‘Shoot the arrow!’ The king shot the arrow and Elisha said, ‘That is the Lord's arrow which shows that you will win the battle against Syria. You will completely destroy Syria's army at Aphek.’

¹⁸ Then Elisha said, ‘Pick up the other arrows.’ When the king of Israel took them, Elisha said to him, ‘Hit the ground with them.’ The king hit the ground three times and then he stopped. ¹⁹ The man of God then became angry with King Jehoash. He said, ‘You should have hit the ground five times or six times. Then you would have completely destroyed Syria's army. But now you will only win three battles against Syria.’

²⁰ After that, Elisha died and they buried him.

Every year in spring, groups of fighters from Moab came to attack places in Israel. ²¹ One day some Israelites were burying a man who had died. While they were doing that, they saw a group of fighters from Moab. So they quickly threw the dead body into Elisha's grave. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the dead man became alive again! He jumped up and he stood there!

²² All the time that Jehoahaz was king of Israel, King Hazael of Syria was cruel to the Israelites. ²³ But the Lord was kind to them and he helped them. He loved them because of his covenant with their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So he has never wanted to destroy them or to send them away from him, even until now.

²⁴ Hazael, the king of Syria, died. His son Ben-Hadad became king after him. ²⁵ Then Jehoahaz's son, King Jehoash, took back some Israelite cities from Ben-Hadad. They were cities that Hazael had taken from Jehoahaz in war. King Jehoash won three battles against Ben-Hadad and he took back those cities for Israel.

Amaziah becomes the king of Judah

14 Joash's son Amaziah became the king of Judah when Jehoahaz's son Jehoash had been the king of Israel for two years. ² Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to rule as king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother's name was Jehoaddin. She was from Jerusalem. ³ Amaziah did things that the Lord said were good. He lived in the way that his father Joash had done. But he did not do as well as his ancestor King David had done. ⁴ He did not remove the altars on the hills. The people continued to offer sacrifices and to burn incense on those altars.

⁵ Amaziah made himself strong to rule his kingdom with authority. Then he killed the officers who had murdered his father, King Joash. ⁶ But he did not punish their sons with death. He obeyed the Lord's command that was written in the Book of the Law of Moses. The command says, ‘Do not punish fathers with death when their sons do bad things. Do not punish children with death when their fathers do bad things. Each person must die only because of his own sins.’^[aa]

⁷ Amaziah killed 10,000 soldiers from Edom in Salt valley.^[ab] He attacked Sela city and he took it for himself. He gave it a new name, ‘Joktheel’. That is still its name.

⁸ Then Amaziah sent men with a message to King Jehoash of Israel. He was the son of Jehoahaz and the grandson of Jehu. Amaziah's message said, ‘Come here and meet me.’ ⁹ But King Jehoash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah: ‘In Lebanon, a thorn bush sent this message to a cedar tree: “Please give your daughter to my son, to be his wife.” Then a wild animal of Lebanon came and knocked down the thorn bush. It walked all over it! ¹⁰ Yes! You have won the fight against Edom. But do not boast about your power! You may be very happy, but stay at home! Do not try to fight against us. If you do that, you will cause trouble that destroys both you and your kingdom, Judah.’

¹¹ But Amaziah did not accept Jehoash's message. So King Jehoash of Israel prepared to attack Amaziah's army. Jehoash and Amaziah met together in battle at Beth Shemesh, a town in Judah. ¹² Israel's army won the battle against Judah's army. All the soldiers from Judah ran back home. ¹³ At Beth Shemesh, King Jehoash of Israel caught the king of Judah, Amaziah, the son of Joash and the grandson of Ahaziah. Then King Jehoash went to attack Jerusalem. He destroyed the wall of Jerusalem, between the Ephraim Gate and the Corner Gate. That part of the wall was 180 metres long. ¹⁴ He took all the gold and silver and all the valuable things from the Lord's temple and the palace. He also took some of the people away with him as prisoners. Then he returned to Samaria.

King Jehoash of Israel dies

¹⁵ The other things that happened while Jehoash was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the great things that Jehoash did. It tells about the war that he fought against King Amaziah of Judah. ¹⁶ Jehoash died and they buried him beside the other kings of Israel in Samaria. His son Jeroboam became king after him.

King Amaziah of Judah dies

¹⁷ Joash's son Amaziah, the king of Judah, lived for 15 years after Jehoahaz's son Jehoash, the king of Israel, died. ¹⁸ The other things that happened while Amaziah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. ¹⁹ Some people in Jerusalem made a plan to kill Amaziah. So he ran away to Lachish. But the people in Jerusalem sent men to catch him in Lachish. They killed Amaziah there. ²⁰ They carried his dead body back to Jerusalem on a horse. They buried him there beside his ancestors in the City of David. ²¹ All the people in Judah made Amaziah's son Azariah king instead of his father. Azariah was 16 years old. ²² He was the king who built Elath into a strong city again. He put it back under Judah's power. He did that after his father Amaziah had died.

Jeroboam II becomes the king of Israel

²³ Jehoash's son Jeroboam became the king of Israel when Joash's son Amaziah had been king of Judah for 15 years. Jeroboam ruled Israel for 41 years in Samaria.^{[ac] 24} He did things that the Lord said were evil. He did not turn away from the bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. He had caused many people in Israel to do those sins.

²⁵ Jeroboam was the king who made Israel's border strong between Lebo-Hamath and the Salt Sea.^[ad] The Lord, Israel's God, had already told his prophet Jonah that this would happen. Jonah was the son of Amittai and he came from Gath Hepher.

²⁶ Everyone in Israel had a lot of trouble and pain, whoever they were. There was no leader who could rescue them. The Lord had seen this, so he helped Jeroboam. ²⁷ The Lord had never said that he would completely remove Israel from the earth. So he gave Jehoash's son Jeroboam the power to rescue them.

²⁸ The other things that happened while Jeroboam was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the great things that Jeroboam did. It tells how he fought battles to get back power for Israel over Damascus and Hamath. ²⁹ Jeroboam died and they buried him beside the other kings of Israel in Samaria. His son Zechariah became king after him.^[ae]

Azariah becomes the king of Judah

15 Amaziah's son Azariah became king of Judah when Jeroboam had been king of Israel for 27 years.^{[af] 2} Azariah was 16 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 52 years. His mother's name was Jecoliah. She came from Jerusalem. ³ Azariah did things that the Lord said were good, as his father Amaziah had done. ⁴ But he did not remove the altars on the hills. The people continued to offer sacrifices and to burn incense on those altars.

⁵ The Lord caused the king to have a bad disease in his skin.^[ag] He had the disease until the day that he died. He lived in a house away from other people. His son Jotham had authority in the palace and he ruled the people of Judah.

⁶ The other things that happened while Azariah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about the things that Azariah did. ⁷ Azariah died and they buried him beside his ancestors in the City of David. His son Jotham became king after him.

Zechariah becomes the king of Israel

⁸ Jeroboam's son Zechariah became king of Israel when Azariah had been king of Judah for 38 years. He ruled Israel as king in Samaria for six months. ⁹ Zechariah did things that the Lord said were evil, as his ancestors had done. He did not turn away from the bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins.

¹⁰ Jabesh's son Shallum made a plan to kill Zechariah. Shallum murdered Zechariah at Ibleam and he became king himself. ¹¹ The other things that happened while Zechariah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. ¹² The Lord had given this promise to Jehu: ‘Your descendants will be kings of Israel for four generations.’ That is what happened.^[ah]

Shallum becomes the king of Israel

¹³ Jabesh's son Shallum became the king of Israel when Uzziah had been king of Judah for 39 years. He ruled as king in Samaria for one month. ¹⁴ Then Gadi's son Menahem went from Tirzah up to Samaria. He attacked King Shallum and he killed him. Menahem became king of Israel instead.

¹⁵ The other things that happened while Shallum was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about the plan that he made to kill King Zechariah. ¹⁶ At that time, when Menahem came from Tirzah, he attacked the city of Tiphsah. The people who lived there refused to let him go into their city. So he killed them all. He even cut open the pregnant women.

Menahem becomes the king of Israel

¹⁷ Gadi's son Menahem became the king of Israel when Azariah had been king of Judah for 39 years. He ruled as king in Samaria for ten years. ¹⁸ Menahem did things that the Lord said were evil. He did not turn away from the bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins. ¹⁹ Then Pul, the king of Assyria, attacked the land of Israel.^[ai] Menahem paid him 34 tons of silver to help him to rule Israel with greater power. ²⁰ Menahem made all the rich people in Israel pay taxes to him. Every rich man had to pay 50 silver coins. Menahem gave that money to the king of Assyria. Then the king of Assyria went away. He did not stay any longer in Israel.

²¹ The other things that happened while Menahem was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about the things that Menahem did. ²² Menahem died and his son, Pekahiah, became king after him.

Pekahiah becomes the king of Israel

²³ Menahem's son Pekahiah became the king of Israel when Azariah had been king of Judah for 50 years. He ruled Israel as king in Samaria for two years. ²⁴ Pekahiah did things that the Lord said were evil. He did not turn away from the bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins.

²⁵ One of Pekahiah's officers was Remaliah's son, Pekah. Pekah made a plan to kill Pekahiah. He took 50 men from Gilead with him, and he killed King Pekahiah. He also killed Argob and Arieh. He killed them all in a strong room in the king's palace in Samaria. Pekah then became king instead of Pekahiah. ²⁶ The other things that happened while Pekahiah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about the things that Pekahiah did.