הָיָה

And Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead back to life. Just then the woman whose son Elisha had revived came to appeal to the king for her house and her land. So Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is the son Elisha restored to life.”

But the next day Hazael took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over the king’s face. So Ben-hadad died, and Hazael reigned in his place.

Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years.

And Jehoram walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done. For he married a daughter of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the LORD.

So Jehoram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. When the Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, he rose up and attacked by night. His troops, however, fled to their homes.

Thus Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram,

When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” he replied, “as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”

And Jezebel’s body will lie like dung in the field on the plot of ground at Jezreel, so that no one can say: This is Jezebel.’”

And when the letter arrived, they took the sons of the king and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.

The next morning, Jehu went out and stood before all the people and said, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him. But who killed all these?

When he had finished making the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and officers, “Go in and kill them. Do not let anyone out.” So the guards and officers put them to the sword, threw the bodies out, and went into the inner room of the temple of Baal.

And Joash remained hidden with his nurse in the house of the LORD for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.

You must surround the king with weapons in hand, and anyone who approaches the ranks must be put to death. You must stay close to the king wherever he goes.”

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people that they would be the LORD’s people. He also made a covenant between the king and the people.

By the twenty-third year of the reign of Joash, however, the priests had not yet repaired the damage to the temple.

Whenever they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the royal scribe and the high priest would go up, count the money brought into the house of the LORD, and tie it up in bags.

The money from the guilt offerings and sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD; it belonged to the priests.

Once, as the Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders, so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. And as soon as his body touched the bones of Elisha, the man was revived and stood up on his feet.

He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem.

As soon as the kingdom was firmly in his grasp, Amaziah executed the servants who had murdered his father the king.

He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother’s name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem.

And the LORD afflicted the king with leprosy until the day he died, so that he lived in a separate house while his son Jotham had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.

So the word of the LORD spoken to Jehu was fulfilled: “Four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.”

Then Pul king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver in order to gain his support and strengthen his own grip on the kingdom.

He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok.

Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Offer on the great altar the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, and the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, as well as the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings of all the people of the land. Splatter on the altar all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar to seek guidance.”

And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him.

Shalmaneser king of Assyria attacked him, and Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute.

All this happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had worshiped other gods

Now when the settlers first lived there, they did not worship the LORD, so He sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

Thus one of the priests they had carried away came and lived in Bethel, and he began to teach them how they should worship the LORD.

Nevertheless, the people of each nation continued to make their own gods in the cities where they had settled, and they set them up in the shrines that the people of Samaria had made on the high places.

So the new residents worshiped the LORD, but they also appointed for themselves priests of all sorts to serve in the shrines of the high places.

They worshiped the LORD, but they also served their own gods according to the customs of the nations from which they had been carried away.

So these nations worshiped the LORD but also served their idols, and to this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.

In the third year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah.

He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.

He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtan that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had burned incense to it.

Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. No king of Judah was like him, either before him or after him.

And the LORD was with Hezekiah, and he prospered wherever he went. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to serve him.

In the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the seventh year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and besieged it.

On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.

Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble.

Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.

And that very night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!