אֵת

“When this letter arrives, since your master’s sons are with you and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and weaponry,

Then Jehu wrote them a second letter and said: “If you are on my side, and if you will obey me, then bring the heads of your master’s sons to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow.” Now the sons of the king, seventy in all, were being brought up by the leading men of the city.

When he left there, he found Jehonadab son of Rechab, who was coming to meet him. Jehu greeted him and asked, “Is your heart as true to mine as my heart is to yours?” “It is!” Jehonadab replied. “If it is,” said Jehu, “give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand, and Jehu helped him into his chariot,

…saying, “Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD!” So he had him ride in his chariot.

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

Then in the seventh year, Jehoiada sent for the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, and the guards, and had them brought into the house of the LORD. There he made a covenant with them and put them under oath. He showed them the king’s son

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.”

Let every priest receive it from his constituency, and let it be used to repair any damage found in the temple.”

So King Joash called Jehoiada and the other priests and said, “Why have you not repaired the damage to the temple? Now, therefore, take no more money from your constituency, but hand it over for the repair of the temple.”

So the priests agreed that they would not receive money from the people and that they would not repair the temple themselves.

No accounting was required from the men who received the money to pay the workmen, because they acted with integrity.

But the LORD was gracious to Israel and had compassion on them, and He turned toward them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And to this day, the LORD has been unwilling to destroy them or cast them from His presence.

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.

Then his officer, Pekah son of Remaliah, conspired against him along with Argob, Arieh, and fifty men of Gilead. And at the citadel of the king’s palace in Samaria, Pekah struck down and killed Pekahiah and reigned in his place.

He also took the bronze altar that stood before the LORD from the front of the temple (between the new altar and the house of the LORD) and he put it on the north side of the new altar.

They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and became worthless themselves, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.

For the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites and commanded them, “Do not worship other gods or bow down to them; do not serve them or sacrifice to them.

Do not forget the covenant I have made with you. Do not worship other gods,

Now, therefore, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!

Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,

Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: “Look, he has set out to fight against you.” So Sennacherib again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

And Isaiah had replied, “This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: Would you like the shadow to go forward ten steps, or back ten steps?”

“Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him count the money that has been brought into the house of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people.

But they need not account for the money put into their hands, since they work with integrity.”

And he went up to the house of the LORD with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets—all the people small and great—and in their hearing he read all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD.

The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where they pronounced judgment on him.

In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down and killed Gedaliah, along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

And he spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and set his throne above the thrones of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

And the king provided Jehoiachin a daily portion for the rest of his life.

Caleb son of Hezron had children by his wife Azubah and by Jerioth. These were the sons of Azubah: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon.

But Geshur and Aram captured Havvoth-jair, along with Kenath and its sixty surrounding villages. All these were descendants of Machir the father of Gilead.

…the covenant He made with Abraham, and the oath He swore to Isaac.

In all My journeys with all the Israelites, have I ever asked any of the leaders I appointed to shepherd My people, ‘Why haven’t you built Me a house of cedar?’

Once again there was a battle with the Philistines, and Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the count, because the king’s command was detestable to him.

Whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the LORD, under the care of Jehiel the Gershonite.

…and said: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying,

But will God indeed dwell with man upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.

Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How do you advise me to respond to these people?” he asked.

But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders; instead, he consulted the young men who had grown up with him and served him.

The young men who had grown up with him replied, “This is how you should answer these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must make it lighter.’ This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist!

…that this is what the LORD says: ‘You are not to go up and fight against your brothers. Each of you must return home, for this is My doing.’” So they listened to the words of the LORD and turned back from going against Jeroboam.