Solomon offereth sacrifices at Gabaon. His choice of wisdom
which God giveth him.
1:1. And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his
kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified
him to a high degree.
1:2. And Solomon gave orders to all Israel, to the captains
of thousands, and of hundreds, and to the rulers, and to
the judges of all Israel, and the heads of the families:
1:3. And he went with all the multitude to the high place
of Gabaon, where was the tabernacle of the covenant of the
Lord, which Moses the servant of God made, in the
wilderness.
1:4. For David had brought the ark of God from Cariathiarim
to the place, which he had prepared for it, and where he
had pitched a tabernacle for it, that is, in Jerusalem.
1:5. And the altar of brass, which Beseleel the son of Uri
the son of Hur had made, was there before the tabernacle of
the Lord: and Solomon and all the assembly sought it:
1:6. And Solomon went up thither to the brazen altar,
before the tabernacle of the covenant of the Lord, and
offered up on it a thousand victims.
1:7. And behold that night God appeared to him, saying: Ask
what thou wilt that I should give thee.
1:8. And Solomon said to God: Thou hast shewn great
kindness to my father David: and hast made me king in his
stead.
1:9. Now therefore, O Lord God, let thy word be fulfilled,
which thou hast promised to David my father: for thou hast
made me king over thy great people, which is as innumerable
as the dust of the earth.
1:10. Give me wisdom and knowledge that I may come in and
go out before thy people: for who can worthily judge this
thy people, which is so great?
1:11. And God said to Solomon: Because this choice hath
pleased thy heart, and thou hast not asked riches, and
wealth, and glory, nor the lives of them that hate thee,
nor many days of life: but hast asked wisdom and knowledge,
to be able to judge my people, over which I have made thee
king,
1:12. Wisdom and knowledge are granted to thee: and I will
give thee riches, and wealth, and glory, so that none of
the kings before thee, nor after thee, shall be like thee.
1:13. Then Solomon came from the high place of Gabaon to
Jerusalem before the tabernacle of the covenant, and
reigned over Israel.
1:14. And he gathered to himself chariots and horsemen, and
he had a thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve
thousand horsemen: and he placed them in the cities of the
chariots, and with the king in Jerusalem.
1:15. And the king made silver and gold to be in Jerusalem
as stones, and cedar trees as sycamores, which grow in the
plains in great multitude.
1:16. And there were horses brought him from Egypt, and
from Coa by the king's merchants, who went, and bought at a
price,
1:17. A chariot of four horses for six hundred pieces of
silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty: in like manner
market was made in all the kingdoms of the Hethites, and of
the kings of Syria.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 2
Solomon's embassy to Hiram, who sends him a skilful workman
and timber.
2:1. And Solomon determined to build a house to the name of
the Lord, and a palace for himself.
2:2. And he numbered out seventy thousand men to bear
burdens, and eighty thousand to hew stones in the
mountains, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.
2:3. He sent also to Hiram king of Tyre, saying: As thou
didst with David my father, and didst send him cedars, to
build him a house, in which he dwelt:
2:4. So do with me that I may build a house to the name of
the Lord my God, to dedicate it to burn incense before him,
and to perfume with aromatical spices, and for the
continual setting forth of bread, and for the holocausts,
morning and evening, and on the sabbaths, and on the new
moons, and the solemnities of the Lord our God for ever,
which are commanded for Israel.
2:5. For the house which I desire to build, is great: for
our God is great above all gods.
2:6. Who then can be able to build him a worthy house? if
heaven, and the heavens of heavens cannot contain him: who
am I that I should be able to build him a house? but to
this end only, that incense may be burnt before him.
2:7. Send me therefore a skilful man, that knoweth how to
work in gold, and in silver, in brass, and in iron, in
purple, in scarlet and in blue, and that hath skill in
engraving, with the artificers, which I have with me in
Judea and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.
2:8. Send me also cedars, and fir trees, and pine trees
from Libanus: for I know that thy servants are skilful in
cutting timber in Libanus, and my servants shall be with
thy servants,
2:9. To provide me timber in abundance. For the house which
I desire to build, is to be exceeding great, and glorious.
2:10. And I will give thy servants the workmen that are to
cut down the trees, for their food twenty thousand cores of
wheat, and as many cores of barley, and twenty thousand
measures of wine, and twenty thousand measures of oil.
2:11. And Hiram king of Tyre sent a letter to Solomon,
saying: Because the Lord hath loved his people, therefore
he hath made thee king over them.
2:12. And he added, saying: Blessed be the Lord the God of
Israel, who made heaven and earth, who hath given to king
David a wise and knowing son, endued with understanding and
prudence, to build a house to the Lord, and a palace for
himself.
2:13. I therefore have sent thee my father Hiram, a wise
and most skilful man,
2:14. The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, whose
father was a Tyrian, who knoweth how to work in gold, and
in silver, in brass, and in iron, and in marble, and in
timber, in purple also, and violet, and silk and scarlet:
and who knoweth to grave all sort of graving, and to devise
ingeniously all that there may be need of in the work with
thy artificers, and with the artificers of my lord David
thy father.
2:15. The wheat therefore, and the barley and the oil, and
the wine, which thou, my lord, hast promised, send to thy
servants.
2:16. And we will cut down as many trees out of Libanus, as
thou shalt want, and will convey them in floats by sea to
Joppe: and it will be thy part to bring them thence to
Jerusalem.
2:17. And Solomon numbered all the proselytes in the land
of Israel, after the numbering which David his father had
made, and they were found a hundred and fifty-three
thousand and six hundred.
2:18. And he set seventy thousand of them to carry burdens
on their shoulders, and eighty thousand to hew stones in
the mountains: and three thousand and six hundred to be
overseers of the work of the people.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 3
The plan and ornaments of the temple: the cherubims, the
veil, and the pillars.
3:1. And Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in
Jerusalem, in mount Moria, which had been shewn to David
his father, in the place which David had prepared in the
thrashingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
3:2. And he began to build in the second month, in the
fourth year of his reign.
3:3. Now these are the foundations, which Solomon laid, to
build the house of God, the length by the first measure
sixty cubits, the breadth twenty cubits.
3:4. And the porch in the front, which was extended in
length according to the measure of the breadth of the
house, twenty cubits: and the height was a hundred and
twenty cubits: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.
3:5. And the greater house he ceiled with deal boards, and
overlaid them with plates of fine gold throughout: and he
graved in them palm trees, and like little chains
interlaced with one another.
3:6. He paved also the floor of the temple with most
precious marble, of great beauty.
3:7. And the gold of the plates with which he overlaid the
house, and the beams thereof, and the posts, and the walls,
and the doors was of the finest: and he graved cherubims on
the walls.
3:8. He made also the house of the holy of holies: the
length of it according to the breadth of the temple, twenty
cubits, and the breadth of it in like manner twenty cubits:
and he overlaid it with plates of gold, amounting to about
six hundred talents.
3:9. He made also nails of gold, and the weight of every
nail was fifty sicles: the upper chambers also he overlaid
with gold.
3:10. He made also in the house of the holy of holies two
cherubims of image work: and he overlaid them with gold.
3:11. The wings of the cherubims were extended twenty
cubits, so that one wing was five cubits long, and reached
to the wall of the house: and the other was also five
cubits long, and reached to the wing of the other cherub.
3:12. In like manner the wing of the other cherub, was five
cubits long, and reached to the wall: and his other wing
was five cubits long, and touched the wing of the other
cherub.
3:13. So the wings of the two cherubims were spread forth,
and were extended twenty cubits: and they stood upright on
their feet, and their faces were turned toward the house
without.
3:14. He made also a veil of violet, purple, scarlet, and
silk: and wrought in it cherubims.
3:15. He made also before the doors of the temple two
pillars, which were five and thirty cubits high: and their
chapiters were five cubits.
3:16. He made also as it were little chains in the oracle,
and he put them on the heads of the pillars: and a hundred
pomegranates, which he put between the little chains.
3:17. These pillars he put at the entrance of the temple,
one on the right hand, and the other on the left: that
which was on the right hand, he called Jachin: and that on
the left hand, Booz.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 4
The altar of brass, the molten sea upon twelve oxen, the
ten loaves, the candlesticks and other vessels and
ornaments of the temple.
4:1. He made also an altar of brass twenty cubits long, and
twenty cubits broad, and ten cubits high.
4:2. Also a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim,
round in compass: it was five cubits high, and a line of
thirty cubits compassed it round about.
4:3. And under it there was the likeness of oxen, and
certain engravings on the outside of ten cubits compassed
the belly of the sea, as it were with two rows.
4:4. And the oxen were cast: and the sea itself was set
upon the twelve oxen, three of which looked toward the
north, and other three toward the west: and other three
toward the south, and the other three that remained toward
the east, and the sea stood upon them: and the hinder parts
of the oxen were inward under the sea.
4:5. Now the thickness of it was a handbreadth, and the
brim of it was like the brim of a cup, or of a crisped
lily: and it held three thousand measures.
4:6. He made also ten lavers: and he set five on the right
hand, and five on the left, to wash in them all such things
as they were to offer for holocausts: but the sea was for
the priests to wash in.
4:7. And he made ten golden candlesticks, according to the
form which they were commanded to be made by: and he set
them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the
left.
4:8. Moreover also ten tables: and he set them in the
temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. Also
a hundred bowls of gold.
4:9. He made also the court of the priests, and a great
hall, and doors in the hall, which he covered with brass.
4:10. And he set the sea on the right side over against the
east toward the south.
4:11. And Hiram made caldrons, and fleshhooks, and bowls:
and finished all the king's work the house of God:
4:12. That is to say, the two pillars, and the pommels, and
the chapiters, and the network, to cover the chapiters over
the pommels.
4:13. And four hundred pomegranates, and two wreaths of
network, so that two rows of pomegranates were joined to
each wreath, to cover the pommels, and the chapiters of the
pillars.
4:14. He made also bases, and lavers, which he set upon the
bases:
4:15. One sea, and twelve oxen under the sea;
4:16. And the caldrons, and fleshhooks, and bowls. All the
vessels did Hiram his father make for Solomon in the house
of the Lord of the finest brass.
4:17. In the country near the Jordan did the king cast
them, in a clay ground between Sochot and Saredatha.
4:18. And the multitude of vessels was innumerable, so that
the weight of the brass was not known.
4:19. And Solomon made all the vessels for the house of
God, and the golden altar, and the tables, upon which were
the loaves of proposition,
4:20. The candlesticks also of most pure gold with their
lamps to give light before the oracle, according to the
manner.
4:21. And certain flowers, and lamps, and golden tongs: all
were made of the finest gold.
4:22. The vessels also for the perfumes, and the censers,
and the bowls, and the mortars, of pure gold. And he graved
the doors of the inner temple, that is, for the holy of
holies: and the doors of the temple without were of gold.
And thus all the work was finished which Solomon made in
the house of the Lord.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 5
The ark is brought with great solemnity into the temple:
the temple is filled with the glory of God.
5:1. Then Solomon brought in all those things that David
his father had vowed, the silver, and the gold, and all the
vessels he put among the treasures of the house of God.
5:2. And after this he gathered together the ancients of
Israel and all the princes of the tribes, and the heads of
the families, of the children of Israel to Jerusalem, to
bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city
of David, which is Sion.
5:3. And all the men of Israel came to the king in the
solemn day of the seventh month.
5:4. And when all the ancients of Israel were come, the
Levites took up the ark,
5:5. And brought it in, together with all the furniture of
the tabernacle. And the priests with the Levites carried
the vessels of the sanctuary, which were in the tabernacle.
5:6. And king Solomon and all the assembly of Israel and
all that were gathered together before the ark, sacrificed
rams, and oxen without number: so great was the multitude
of the victims.
5:7. And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of
the Lord into its place, that is, to the oracle of the
temple, into the holy of holies under the wings of the
cherubims:
5:8. So that the cherubims spread their wings over the
place, in which the ark was set, and covered the ark itself
and its staves.
5:9. Now the ends of the staves wherewith the ark was
carried, because they were some thing longer, were seen
before the oracle: but if a man were a little outward, he
could not see them. So the ark has been there unto this
day.
5:10. And there was nothing else in the ark but the two
tables which Moses put there at Horeb when the Lord gave
the law to the children of Israel, at their coming out of
Egypt.
5:11. Now when the priests were come out of the sanctuary,
for all the priests that could be found there, were
sanctified: and as yet at that time the courses and orders
of the ministries were not divided among them,
5:12. Both the Levites and the singing men, that is, both
they that were under Asaph, and they that were under Heman,
and they that were under Idithun, with their sons, and
their brethren, clothed with fine linen, sounded with
cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, standing on the east
side of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty
priests, sounding with trumpets.
5:13. So when they all sounded together, both with
trumpets, and voice, and cymbals, and organs, and with
divers kind of musical instruments, and lifted up their
voice on high: the sound was heard afar off, so that when
they began to praise the Lord, and to say: Give glory to
the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever:
the house of God was filled with a cloud.
5:14. Nor could the priests stand and minister by reason of
the cloud. For the glory of the Lord had filled the house
of God.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 6
Solomon's blessings and prayer.
6:1. Then Solomon said: The Lord promised that he would
dwell in a cloud.
6:2. But I have built a house to his name, that he might
dwell there for ever.
6:3. And the king turned his face, and blessed all the
multitude of Israel for all the multitude stood attentive
and he said:
6:4. Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who hath
accomplished in deed that which he spoke to David my
father, saying:
6:5. From the day that I brought my people out of the land
of Egypt, I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel,
for a house to be built in it to my name: neither chose I
any other man, to be the ruler of my people Israel.
6:6. But I chose Jerusalem, that my name might be there:
and I chose David to set him over my people Israel.
6:7. And whereas David my father had a mind to build a
house to the name of the Lord the God of Israel,
6:8. The Lord said to him: Forasmuch as it was thy will to
build a house to my name, thou hast done well indeed in
having such a will:
6:9. But thou shalt not build the house, but thy son, who
shall come out of thy loins, he shall build a house to my
name.
6:10. The Lord therefore hath accomplished his word which
he spoke: and I am risen up in the place of David my
father, and sit upon the throne of Israel, as the Lord
promised: and have built a house to the name of the Lord
God of Israel.
6:11. And I have put in it the ark, wherein is the covenant
of the Lord, which he made with the children of Israel.
6:12. And he stood before the altar of the Lord, in
presence of all the multitude of Israel, and stretched
forth his hands.
6:13. For Solomon had made a brazen scaffold, and had set
it in the midst of the temple, which was five cubits long,
and five cubits broad, and three cubits high: and he stood
upon it: then kneeling down in the presence of all the
multitude of Israel, and lifting up his hands towards
heaven,
6:14. He said: O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like
thee in heaven nor in earth: who keepest covenant and mercy
with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their
hearts:
6:15. Who hast performed to thy servant David my father all
that thou hast promised him: and hast accomplished in fact,
what thou hast spoken with thy mouth, as also the present
time proveth.
6:16. Now then, O Lord God of Israel, fulfil to thy servant
David my father, whatsoever thou hast promised him, saying:
There shall not fail thee a man in my sight, to sit upon
the throne of Israel: yet so that thy children take heed to
their ways, and walk in my law, as thou hast walked before
me.
6:17. And now, Lord God of Israel, let thy word be
established which thou hast spoken to thy servant David.
6:18. Is it credible then that God should dwell with men on
the earth? If heaven and the heavens of heavens do not
contain thee, how much less this house, which I have built?
6:19. But to this end only it is made, that thou mayest
regard the prayer of thy servant and his supplication, O
Lord my God: and mayest hear the prayers which thy servant
poureth out before thee.
6:20. That thou mayest open thy eyes upon this house day
and night, upon the place wherein thou hast promised that
thy name should be called upon,
6:21. And that thou wouldst hear the prayer which thy
servant prayeth in it: hearken then to the prayers of thy
servant, and of thy people Israel. Whosoever shall pray in
its place, hear thou from thy dwelling place, that is, from
heaven, and shew mercy.
6:22. If any man sin against his neighbour, and come to
swear against him, and bind himself with a curse before the
altar in this house:
6:23. Then hear thou from heaven, and do justice to thy
servants, so to requite the wicked by making his wickedness
fall upon his own head, and to revenge the just, rewarding
him according to his justice.
6:24. If thy people Israel be overcome by their enemies,
(for they will sin against thee,) and being converted shall
do penance, and call upon thy name, and pray to thee in
this place,
6:25. Then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of
thy people Israel and bring them back into the land which
thou gavest to them, and their fathers.
6:26. If the heavens be shut up, and there fall no rain by
reason of the sin of the people, and they shall pray to
thee in this place, and confess to thy name, and be
converted from their sins, where thou dost afflict them,
6:27. Then hear thou from heaven, O Lord, and forgive the
sins of thy servants and of thy people Israel and teach
them the good way in which they may walk: and give rain to
thy land which thou hast given to thy people to possess.
6:28. If a famine arise in the land, or a pestilence or
blasting, or mildew, or locusts, or caterpillars: or if
their enemies waste the country, and besiege the cities,
whatsoever scourge or infirmity shall be upon them:
6:29. Then if any of thy people Israel, knowing his own
scourge and infirmity shall pray, and shall spread forth
his hands in this house,
6:30. Hear thou from heaven, from thy high dwelling place,
and forgive, and render to every one according to his ways,
which thou knowest him to have in his heart: for thou only
knowest the hearts of the children of men:
6:31. That they may fear thee, and walk in thy ways all the
days that they live upon the face of the land, which thou
hast given to our fathers.
6:32. If the stranger also, who is not of thy people
Israel, come from a far country, for the sake of thy great
name, and thy strong hand, and thy stretched out arm, and
adore in this place:
6:33. Hear thou from heaven thy firm dwelling place, and do
all that which that stranger shall call upon thee for: that
all the people of the earth may know thy name, and may fear
thee, as thy people Israel, and may know, that thy name is
invoked upon this house, which I have built.
6:34. If thy people go out to war against their enemies, by
the way that thou shalt send them, and adore thee towards
the way of this city, which thou hast chosen, and the house
which I have built to thy name:
6:35. Then hear thou from heaven their prayers, and their
supplications, and revenge them.
6:36. And if they sin against thee (for there is no man
that sinneth not) and thou be angry with them, and deliver
them up to their enemies, and they lead them away captive
to a land either afar off, or near at hand,
6:37. And if they be converted in their heart in the land
to which they were led captive, and do penance, and pray to
thee in the land of their captivity saying: We have sinned,
we have done wickedly, we have dealt unjustly:
6:38. And return to thee with all their heart, and with all
their soul, in the land of their captivity, to which they
were led away, and adore thee towards the way of their own
land which thou gavest their fathers, and of the city,
which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built to
thy name:
6:39. Then hear thou from heaven, that is, from thy firm
dwelling place, their prayers, and do judgment, and forgive
thy people, although they have sinned:
6:40. For thou art my God: let thy eyes, I beseech thee, be
open, and let thy ears be attentive to the prayer, that is
made in this place.
6:41. Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into thy resting
place, thou and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O
Lord God, put on salvation, and thy saints rejoice in good
things.
6:42. O Lord God, turn not away the face of thy anointed:
remember the mercies of David thy servant.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 7
Fire from heaven consumeth the sacrifices. The solemnity of
the dedication of the temple. God signifieth his having
heard Solomon's prayer: yet so if he continue to serve him.
7:1. And when Solomon had made an end of his prayer, fire
came down from heaven, and consumed the holocausts and the
victims: and the majesty of the Lord filled the house.
7:2. Neither could the priests enter into the temple of the
Lord, because the majesty of the Lord had filled the temple
of the Lord.
7:3. Moreover all the children of Israel saw the fire
coming down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house: and
falling down with their faces to the ground, upon the stone
pavement, they adored and praised the Lord: because he is
good, because his mercy endureth for ever.
7:4. And the king and all the people sacrificed victims
before the Lord.
7:5. And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two
thousand oxen, and one hundred and twenty thousand rams:
and the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.
7:6. And the priests stood in their offices: and the
Levites with the instruments of music of the Lord, which
king David made to praise the Lord: because his mercy
endureth for ever, singing the hymns of David by their
ministry: and the priests sounded with trumpets before
them, and all Israel stood.
7:7. Solomon also sanctified the middle of the court before
the temple of the Lord: for he offered there the
holocausts, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the
brazen altar, which he had made, could not hold the
holocausts and the sacrifices and the fat:
7:8. And Solomon kept the solemnity at that time seven
days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation,
from the entrance of Emath to the torrent of Egypt.
7:9. And he made on the eighth day a solemn assembly,
because he had kept the dedication of the altar seven days,
and had celebrated the solemnity seven days.
7:10. So on the three and twentieth day of the seventh
month he sent away the people to their dwellings, joyful
and glad for the good that the Lord had done to David, and
to Solomon, and to all Israel his people.
7:11. And Solomon finished the house of the Lord, and the
king's house, and all that he had designed in his heart to
do, in the house of the Lord, and in his own house, and he
prospered.
7:12. And the Lord appeared to him by night, and said: I
have heard thy prayer, and I have chosen this place to
myself for a house of sacrifice.
7:13. If I shut up heaven, and there fall no rain, or if I
give orders, and command the locust to devour the land, or
if I send pestilence among my people:
7:14. And my people, upon whom my name is called, being
converted, shall make supplication to me, and seek out my
face, and do penance for their most wicked ways: then will
I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and will
heal their land.
7:15. My eyes also shall be open, and my ears attentive to
the prayer of him that shall pray in this place.
7:16. For I have chosen, and have sanctified this place,
that my name may be there for ever, and my eyes and my
heart may remain there perpetually.
7:17. And as for thee, if thou walk before me, as David thy
father walked, and do according to all that I have
commanded thee, and keep my justices and my judgments:
7:18. I will raise up the throne of thy kingdom, as I
promised to David thy father, saying: There shall not fail
thee a man of thy stock to be ruler in Israel.
7:19. But if you turn away, and forsake my justices, and my
commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and
serve strange gods, and adore them,
7:20. I will pluck you up by the root out of my land which
I have given you: and this house which I have sanctified to
my name, I will cast away from before my face, and will
make it a byword, and an example among all nations.
7:21. And this house shall be for a proverb to all that
pass by, and they shall be astonished and say: Why hath the
Lord done thus to this land, and to this house?
7:22. And they shall answer: Because they forsook the Lord
the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land
of Egypt, and laid hold on strange gods, and adored them,
and worshipped them: therefore all these evils are come
upon them.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 8
Solomon's buildings and other acts.
8:1. And at the end of twenty years after Solomon had built
the house of the Lord and his own house:
8:2. He built the cities which Hiram had given to Solomon,
and caused the children of Israel to dwell there.
8:3. He went also into Emath Suba, and possessed it.
8:4. And he built Palmira in the desert, and he built other
strong cities in Emath.
8:5. And he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the
nether, walled cities with gates and bars and locks.
8:6. Balaath also and all the strong cities that were
Solomon's, and all the cities of the chariots, and the
cities of the horsemen. All that Solomon had a mind, and
designed, he built in Jerusalem and in Libanus, and in all
the land of his dominion.
8:7. All the people that were left of the Hethites, and the
Amorrhites, and the Pherezites, and the Hevites, and the
Jebusites, that were not of the stock of Israel:
8:8. Of their children, and of the posterity, whom the
children of Israel had not slain, Solomon made to be the
tributaries, unto this day.
8:9. But of the children of Israel he set none to serve in
the king's works: for they were men of war, and chief
captains, and rulers of his chariots and horsemen.
8:10. And all the chief captains of king Solomon's army
were two hundred and fifty, who taught the people.
8:11. And he removed the daughter of Pharao from the city
of David, to the house which he had built for her. For the
king said: My wife shall not dwell in the house of David
king of Israel, for it is sanctified: because the ark of
the Lord came into it.
8:12. Then Solomon offered holocausts to the Lord upon the
altar of the Lord which he had built before the porch,
8:13. That every day an offering might be made on it
according to the ordinance of Moses, in the sabbaths, and
on the new moons, and on the festival days three times a
year, that is to say, in the feast of unleavened bread, and
in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.
8:14. And he appointed according to the order of David his
father the offices of the priests in their ministries: and
the Levites in their order to give praise, and minister
before the priests according to the duty of every day: and
the porters in their divisions by gate and gate: for so
David the man of God had commanded.
8:15. And the priests and Levites departed not from the
king's commandments, as to any thing that he had commanded,
and as to the keeping of the treasures.
8:16. Solomon had all charges prepared, from the day that
he founded the house of the Lord, until the day wherein he
finished it.
8:17. Then Solomon went to Asiongaber, and to Ailath, on
the coast of the Red Sea, which is in the land of Edom.
8:18. And Hiram sent him ships by the hands of his
servants, and skilful mariners, and they went with
Solomon's servants to Ophir, and they took thence four
hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought it to king
Solomon.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 9
The queen of Saba admireth the wisdom of Solomon. His
riches and glory. His death.
9:1. And when the queen of Saba heard of the fame of
Solomon, she came to try him with hard questions at
Jerusalem, with great riches, and camels, which carried
spices, and abundance of gold, and precious stones. And
when she was come to Solomon, she proposed to him all that
was in her heart.
9:2. And Solomon explained to her all that she proposed:
and there was not any thing that he did not make clear unto
her.
9:3. And when she had seen these things, to wit, the wisdom
of Solomon, and the house which he had built,
9:4. And the meats of his table, and the dwelling places of
his servants, and the attendance of his officers, and their
apparel, his cupbearers also, and their garments, and the
victims which he offered in the house of the Lord: there
was no more spirit in her, she was so astonished.
9:5. And she said to the king: The word is true which I
heard in my country of thy virtues and wisdom.
9:6. I did not believe them that told it, until I came, and
my eyes had seen, and I had proved that scarce one half of
thy wisdom had been told me: thou hast exceeded the same
with thy virtues.
9:7. Happy are thy men, and happy are thy servants, who
stand always before thee, and hear thy wisdom.
9:8. Blessed be the Lord thy God, who hath been pleased to
set thee on his throne, king of the Lord thy God. Because
God loveth Israel, and will preserve them forever:
therefore hath he made thee king over them, to do judgment
and justice.
9:9. And she gave to the king a hundred and twenty talents
of gold, and spices in great abundance, and most precious
stones: there were no such spices as these which the queen
of Saba gave to king Solomon.
9:10. And the servants also of Hiram, with the servants of
Solomon, brought gold from Ophir, and thyine trees, and
most precious stones:
9:11. And the king made of the thyine trees stairs in the
house of the Lord, and in the king's house, and harps and
psalteries for the singing men: never were there seen such
trees in the land of Juda.
9:12. And king Solomon gave to the queen of Saba all that
she desired, and that she asked, and many more things than
she brought to him: so she returned, and went to her own
country with her servants.
9:13. And the weight of the gold, that was brought to
Solomon every year, was six hundred and sixty-six talents
of gold:
9:14. Beside the sum which the deputies of divers nations,
and the merchants were accustomed to bring, and all the
kings of Arabia, and the lords of the lands, who brought
gold and silver to Solomon.
9:15. And king Solomon made two hundred golden spears, of
the sum of six hundred pieces of gold, which went to every
spear:
9:16. And three hundred golden shields of three hundred
pieces of gold, which went to the covering of every shield:
and the king put them in the armoury, which was compassed
with a wood.
9:17. The king also made a great throne of ivory, and
overlaid it with pure gold.
9:18. And six steps to go up to the throne, and a footstool
of gold, and two arms one on either side, and two lions
standing by the arms:
9:19. Moreover twelve other little lions standing upon the
steps on both sides: there was not such a throne in any
kingdom.
9:20. And all the vessels of the king's table were of gold,
and the vessels of the house of the forest of Libanus were
of the purest gold. For no account was made of silver in
those days.
9:21. For the king's ships went to Tharsis with the
servants of Hiram, once in three years: and they brought
thence gold and silver, and ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
9:22. And Solomon was magnified above all the kings of the
earth for riches and glory.
9:23. And all the kings of the earth desired to see the
face of Solomon, that they might hear the wisdom which God
had given in his heart.
9:24. And every year they brought him presents, vessels of
silver and of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices,
and horses, and mules.
9:25. And Solomon had forty thousand horses in the stables,
and twelve thousand chariots, and horsemen, and he placed
them in the cities of the chariots and where the king was
in Jerusalem.
9:26. And he exercised authority over all the kings from
the river Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, and to
the borders of Egypt.
9:27. And he made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as
stones: and cedars as common as the sycamores, which grow
in the plains.
9:28. And horses were brought to him out of Egypt, and out
of all countries.
9:29. Now the rest of the acts of Solomon first and last
are written in the words of Nathan the prophet, and in the
books of Ahias the Silonite, and in the vision of Addo the
seer, against Jeroboam the son of Nabat.
9:30. And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel
forty years.
9:31. And he slept with his fathers: and they buried him in
the city of David: and Roboam his son reigned in his stead.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 10
Roboam answereth the people roughly: upon which ten tribes
revolt.
10:1. And Roboam went to Sichem: for thither all Israel
were assembled, to make him king.
10:2. And when Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who was in Egypt,
(for he was fled thither from Solomon,) heard it, forthwith
he returned.
10:3. And they sent for him, and he came with all Israel,
and they spoke to Roboam, saying:
10:4. Thy father oppressed with a most grievous yoke, do
thou govern us with a lighter hand than thy father, who
laid upon us a heavy servitude, and ease some thing of the
burden, that we may serve thee.
10:5. And he said to them: Come to me again after three
days. And when the people were gone,
10:6. He took counsel with the ancients, who had stood
before his father Solomon, while he yet lived, saying: What
counsel give you to me, that I may answer the people?
10:7. And they said to him: If thou please this people, and
soothe them with kind words, they will be thy servants for
ever.
10:8. But he forsook the counsel of the ancients, and began
to treat with the young men, that had been brought up with
him, and were in his train.
10:9. And he said to them: What seemeth good to you? or
what shall I answer this people, who have said to me: Ease
the yoke which thy father laid upon us?
10:10. But they answered as young men, and brought up with
him in pleasures, and said: Thus shalt thou speak to the
people, that said to thee: Thy father made our yoke heavy,
do thou ease it: thus shalt thou answer them: My little
finger is thicker than the loins of my father.
10:11. My father laid upon you a heavy yoke, and I will add
more weight to it: my father beat you with scourges, but I
will beat you with scorpions.
10:12. So Jeroboam, and all the people came to Roboam the
third day, as he commanded them.
10:13. And the king answered roughly, leaving the counsel
of the ancients.
10:14. And he spoke according to the advice of the young
men: My father laid upon you a heavy yoke, which I will
make heavier: my father beat you with scourges, but I will
beat you with scorpions.
10:15. And he condescended not to the people's requests:
for it was the will of God, that his word might be
fulfilled which he had spoken by the hand of Ahias the
Silonite to Jeroboam the son of Nabat.
10:16. And all the people upon the king's speaking roughly,
said thus unto him: We have no part in David, nor
inheritance in the son of Isai. Return to thy dwellings, O
Israel, and do thou, O David feed thy own house. And Israel
went away to their dwellings.
10:17. But Roboam reigned over the children of Israel that
dwelt in the cities of Juda.
10:18. And king Roboam sent Aduram, who was over the
tributes, and the children of Israel stoned him, and he
died: and king Roboam made haste to get up into his
chariot, and fled into Jerusalem.
10:19. And Israel revolted from the house of David unto
this day.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 11
Roboam's reign. His kingdom is strengthened.
11:1. And Roboam came to Jerusalem, and called together all
the house of Juda and of Benjamin, a hundred and fourscore
thousand chosen men and warriors, to fight against Israel,
and to bring back his kingdom to him.
11:2. And the word of the Lord came to Semeias the man of
God, saying:
11:3. Speak to Roboam the son of Solomon the king of Juda,
and to all Israel, in Juda and Benjamin:
11:4. Thus saith the Lord: You shall not go up, nor fight
against your brethren: let every man return to his own
house, for by my will this thing has been done. And when
they heard the word of the Lord, they returned, and did not
go against Jeroboam,
11:5. And Roboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built walled
cities in Juda.
11:6. And he built Bethlehem, and Etam, and Thecue,
11:7. And Bethsur, and Socho, and Odollam,
11:8. And Geth, and Maresa, and Ziph,
11:9. And Aduram, and Lachis, and Azecha,
11:10. Saraa also, and Aialon, and Hebron, which are in
Juda and Benjamin, well fenced cities.
11:11. And when he had enclosed them with walls, he put in
them governors and storehouses of provisions, that is, of
oil and of wine.
11:12. Moreover in every city he made an armoury of shields
and spears, and he fortified them with great diligence, and
he reigned over Juda, and Benjamin,
11:13. And the priests and Levites, that were in all Israel,
came to him out of all their seats,
11:14. Leaving their suburbs, and their possessions, and
passing over to Juda, and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and
his sons had cast them off, from executing the priestly
office to the Lord.
11:15. And he made to himself priests for the high places,
and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made.
11:16. Moreover out of all the tribes of Israel, whosoever
gave their heart to seek the Lord the God of Israel, came
into Jerusalem to sacrifice their victims before the Lord
the God of their fathers.
11:17. And they strengthened the kingdom of Juda, and
established Roboam the son of Solomon for three years: for
they walked in the ways of David and of Solomon, only three
years.
11:18. And Roboam took to wife Mahalath, the daughter of
Jerimoth the son of David: and Abihail the daughter of
Eliab the son of Isai.
11:19. And they bore him sons Jehus, and Somorias, and
Zoom.
11:20. And after her he married Maacha the daughter of
Absalom, who bore him Abia, and Ethai, and Ziza, and
Salomith.
11:21. And Roboam loved Maacha the daughter of Absalom
above all his wives and concubines: for he had married
eighteen wives, and threescore concubines: and he begot
eight and twenty sons, and threescore daughters.
11:22. But he put at the head of them Abia the son of
Maacha to be the chief ruler over all his brethren: for he
meant to make him king,
11:23. Because he was wiser and mightier than all his sons,
and in all the countries of Juda, and of Benjamin, and in
all the walled cities: and he gave them provisions in
abundance, and he sought many wives.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 12
Roboam for his sins is delivered up into the hands of the
king of Egypt: who carrieth away all the treasures of the
temple.
12:1. And when the kingdom of Roboam was strengthened and
fortified, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel
with him.
12:2. And in the fifth year of the reign of Roboam, Sesac
king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem (because they had
sinned against the Lord)
12:3. With twelve hundred chariots and threescore thousand
horsemen: and the people were without number that came with
him out of Egypt, to wit, Libyans, and Troglodites, and
Ethiopians.
12:4. And he took the strongest cities in Juda, and came to
Jerusalem.
12:5. And Semeias the prophet came to Roboam, and to the
princes of Juda, that were gathered together in Jerusalem,
fleeing from Sesac, and he said to them: Thus saith the
Lord: You have left me, and I have left you in the hand of
Sesac.
12:6. And the princes of Israel, and the king, being in a
consternation, said: The Lord is just.
12:7. And when the Lord saw that they were humbled, the
word of the Lord came to Semeias, saying: Because they are
humbled, I will not destroy them, and I will give them a
little help, and my wrath shall not fall upon Jerusalem by
the hand of Sesac.
12:8. But yet they shall serve him, that they may know the
difference between my service, and the service of a kingdom
of the earth.
12:9. So Sesac king of Egypt departed from Jerusalem,
taking away the treasures of the king's house, and he took
all with him, and the golden shields that Solomon had made,
12:10. Instead of which the king made brazen ones, and
delivered them to the captains of the shieldbearers, who
guarded the entrance of the palace.
12:11. And when the king entered into the house of the
Lord, the shieldbearers came and took them, and brought
them back again to their armoury.
12:12. But yet because they were humbled, the wrath of the
Lord turned away from them, and they were not utterly
destroyed: for even in Juda there were found good works.
12:13. King Roboam therefore was strengthened in Jerusalem,
and reigned: he was one and forty years old when he began
to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the
city which the Lord chose out of all the tribes of Israel,
to establish his name there: and the name of his mother was
Naama an Ammonitess.
12:14. But he did evil, and did not prepare his heart to
seek the Lord.
12:15. Now the acts of Roboam first and last are written in
the books of Semeias the prophet, and of Addo the seer, and
diligently recorded: and there was war between Roboam and
Jeroboam all their days.
12:16. And Roboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in
the city of David. And Abia his son reigned in his stead.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 13
Abia's reign: his victory over Jeroboam.
13:1. In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam, Abia reigned
over Juda.
13:2. Three years he reigned in Jerusalem, and his mother's
name was Michaia, the daughter of Uriel of Gabaa: and there
was war between Abia and Jeroboam.
Michaia... Alias Maacha. Her father had also two names,
viz., Absalom, or Abessalom, and Uriel.
13:3. And when Abia had begun battle, and had with him four
hundred thousand most valiant and chosen men, Jeroboam put
his army in array against him, eight hundred thousand men,
who were also chosen and most valiant for war.
13:4. And Abia stood upon mount Semeron, which was in
Ephraim, and said: Hear me, O Jeroboam, and all Israel:
13:5. Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave to
David the kingdom over Israel for ever, to him and to his
sons by a covenant of salt?
A covenant of salt... That is, a firm and perpetual
covenant. See Num. 18.19.
13:6. And Jeroboam the son of Nabat, the servant of Solomon
the son of David, rose up: and rebelled against his lord.
13:7. And there were gathered to him vain men, and children
of Belial: and they prevailed against Roboam the son of
Solomon: for Roboam was unexperienced, and of a fearful
heart, and could not resist them.
13:8. And now you say that you are able to withstand the
kingdom of the Lord, which he possesseth by the sons of
David, and you have a great multitude of people, and golden
calves, which Jeroboam hath made you for gods.
13:9. And you have cast out the priests of the Lord, the
sons of Aaron, and the Levites: and you have made you
priests, like all the nations of the earth: whosoever
cometh and consecrateth his hand with a bullock of the
herd, and with seven rams, is made a priest of those who
are no gods.
13:10. But the Lord is our God, whom we forsake not, and
the priests who minister to the Lord are the sons of Aaron,
and the Levites are in their order.
13:11. And they offer holocausts to the Lord, every day,
morning and evening, and incense made according to the
ordinance of the law, and the loaves are set forth on a
most clean table, and there is with us the golden
candlestick, and the lamps thereof, to be lighted always in
the evening: for we keep the precepts of the Lord our God,
whom you have forsaken.
13:12. Therefore God is the leader in our army, and his
priests who sound with trumpets, and resound against you: O
children of Israel, fight not against the Lord the God of
your fathers, for it is not good for you.
13:13. While he spoke these things, Jeroboam caused an
ambushment to come about behind him. And while he stood
facing the enemies, he encompassed Juda, who perceived it
not, with his army.
13:14. And when Juda looked back, they saw the battle
coming upon them both before and behind, and they cried to
the Lord: and the priests began to sound with the trumpets.
13:15. And all the men of Juda shouted: and behold when
they shouted, God terrified Jeroboam, and all Israel that
stood against Abia and Juda.
13:16. And the children of Israel fled before Juda, and the
Lord delivered them into their hand.
13:17. And Abia and his people slew them with a great
slaughter, and there fell wounded of Israel five hundred
thousand valiant men.
13:18. And the children of Israel were brought down, at
that time, and the children of Juda were exceedingly
strengthened, because they had trusted in the Lord the God
of their fathers.
13:19. And Abia pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities
from him, Bethel and her daughters, and Jesana with her
daughters, Ephron also and her daughters.
13:20. And Jeroboam was not able to resist any more, in the
days of Abia: and the Lord struck him, and he died.
13:21. But Abia, being strengthened in his kingdom, took
fourteen wives: and begot two and twenty sons, and sixteen
daughters.
13:22. And the rest of the acts of Abia, and of his ways
and works, are written diligently in the book of Addo the
prophet.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 14
The reign of Asa: his victory over the Ethiopians.
14:1. And Abia slept with his fathers, and they buried him
in the city of David: an Asa his son reigned in his stead:
in his days the land was quiet ten years.
14:2. And Asa did that which was good and pleasing in the
sight of his God, and he destroyed the altars of foreign
worship, and the high places.
14:3. And broke the statues, and cut down the groves.
14:4. And he commanded Juda to seek the Lord the God of
their fathers, and to do the law, and all the commandments.
14:5. And he took away out of all the cities of Juda the
altars, and temples, and reigned in peace.
14:6. He built also strong cities in Juda, for he was
quiet, and there had no wars risen in his time, the Lord
giving peace.
14:7. And he said to Juda: Let us build these cities, and
compass them with walls, and fortify them with towers, and
gates, and bars, while all is quiet from wars, because we
have sought the Lord the God of our fathers, and he hath
given us peace round about. So they built, and there was no
hinderance in building.
14:8. And Asa had in his army of men that bore shields and
spears of Juda three hundred thousand, and of Benjamin that
bore shields and drew bows, two hundred and eighty
thousand, all these were most valiant men.
14:9. And Zara the Ethiopian came out against them with his
army of ten hundred thousand men, and with three hundred
chariots: and he came as far as Maresa.
14:10. And Asa went out to meet him, and set his army in
array for battle in the vale of Sephata, which is near
Maresa:
14:11. And he called upon the Lord God, and said: Lord,
there is no difference with thee, whether thou help with
few, or with many: help us, O Lord our God: for with
confidence in thee, and in thy name we are come against
this multitude. O Lord thou art our God, let not man
prevail against thee.
14:12. And the Lord terrified the Ethiopians before Asa and
Juda: and the Ethiopians fled.
14:13. And Asa and the people that were with him pursued
them to Gerara: and the Ethiopians fell even to utter
destruction, for the Lord slew them, and his army fought
against them, and they were destroyed. And they took
abundance of spoils,
14:14. And they took all the cities round about Gerara: for
a great fear was come upon all men: and they pillaged the
cities, and carried off much booty.
14:15. And they destroyed the sheepcotes, and took an
infinite number of cattle, and of camels: and returned to
Jerusalem.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 15
The prophecy of Azarias. Asa's covenant with God. He
deposeth his mother.
15:1. And the spirit of God came upon Azarias the son of
Oded,
15:2. And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him: Hear ye
me, Asa, and all Juda and Benjamin: The Lord is with you,
because you have been with him. If you seek him, you shall
find: but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
15:3. And many days shall pass in Israel, without the true
God, and without a priest a teacher, and without the law.
15:4. And when in their distress they shall return to the
Lord the God of Israel, and shall seek him, they shall find
him.
15:5. At that time there shall be no peace to him that
goeth out and cometh in, but terrors on every side among
all the inhabitants of the earth.
15:6. For nation shall fight against nation, and city
against city, for the Lord will trouble them with all
distress.
15:7. Do you therefore take courage, and let not your hands
be weakened: for there shall be a reward for your work.
15:8. And when Asa had heard the words, and the prophecy of
Azarias the son of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and
took away the idols out of all the land of Juda, and out of
Benjamin, and out of the cities of mount Ephraim, which he
had taken, and he dedicated the altar of the Lord, which
was before the porch of the Lord.
15:9. And he gathered together all Juda and Benjamin, and
the strangers with them of Ephraim, and Manasses, and
Simeon: for many were come over to him out of Israel,
seeing that the Lord his God was with him.
15:10. And when they were come to Jerusalem in the third
month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa,
15:11. They sacrificed to the Lord in that day of the
spoils, and of the prey, that they had brought, seven
hundred oxen, and seven thousand rams.
15:12. And he went in to confirm as usual the covenant,
that they should seek the Lord the God of their fathers
with all their heart, and with all their soul.
15:13. And if any one, said he, seek not the Lord the God
of Israel, let him die, whether little or great, man or
woman.
15:14. And they swore to the Lord with a loud voice with
joyful shouting, and with sound of trumpet, and sound of
cornets,
15:15. All that were in Juda with a curse: for with all
their heart they swore, and with all their will they sought
him, and they found him, and the Lord gave them rest round
about.
15:16. Moreover Maacha the mother of king Asa he deposed
from the royal authority, because she had made in a grove
an idol of Priapus: and he entirely destroyed it, and
breaking it into pieces, burnt it at the torrent Cedron.
15:17. But high places were left in Israel: nevertheless
the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
15:18. And the things which his father had vowed, and he
himself had vowed, he brought into the house of the Lord,
gold and silver, and vessels of divers uses.
15:19. And there was no war unto the five and thirtieth
year of the kingdom of Asa.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 16
Asa is reproved for seeking help from the Syrians: his last
acts and death.
16:1. And in the six and thirtieth year of his kingdom,
Baasa the king of Israel came up against Juda, and built a
wall about Rama, that no one might safely go out or come in
of the kingdom of Asa.
Six and thirtieth year of his kingdom... That is, of the
kingdom of Juda, taking the date of it from the beginning
of the reign of Reboam.
16:2. Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the
treasures of the house of the Lord, and of the king's
treasures, and sent to Benadad king of Syria, who dwelt in
Damascus, saying:
16:3. There is a league between me and thee, as there was
between my father and thy father, wherefore I have sent
thee silver and gold, that thou mayst break thy league with
Baasa king of Israel, and make him depart from me.
16:4. And when Benadad heard this, he sent the captains of
his armies against the cities of Israel: and they took
Ahion, and Dan, and Abelmaim, and all the walled cities of
Nephtali.
16:5. And when Baasa heard of it, he left off the building
of Rama, and interrupted his work.
16:6. Then king Asa took all Juda, and they carried away
from Rama the stones, and the timber that Baasa had
prepared for the building: and he built with them Gabaa,
and Maspha.
16:7. At that time Hanani the prophet came to Asa king of
Juda, and said to him: Because thou hast had confidence in
the king of Syria, and not in the Lord thy God, therefore
hath the army of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand.
16:8. Were not the Ethiopians, and the Libyans much more
numerous in chariots, and horsemen, and an exceeding great
multitude: yet because thou trustedst in the Lord, he
delivered them into thy hand?
16:9. For the eyes of the Lord behold all the earth, and
give strength to those who with a perfect heart trust in
him. Wherefore thou hast done foolishly, and for this
cause from this time wars shall arise against thee.
16:10. And Asa was angry with the seer, and commanded him
to be put in prison: for he was greatly enraged because of
this thing: and he put to death many of the people at that
time.
16:11. But the works of Asa the first and last are written
in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel.
16:12. And Asa fell sick in the nine and thirtieth year of
his reign, of a most violent pain in his feet, and yet in
his illness he did not seek the Lord, but rather trusted in
the skill of physicians.
16:13. And he slept with his fathers: and he died in the
one and fortieth year of his reign.
16:14. And they buried him in his own sepulchre, which he
had made for himself in the city of David: and they laid
him on his bed full of spices and odoriferous ointments,
which were made by the art of the perfumers, and they burnt
them over him with very great pomp.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 17
Josaphat's reign: his care for the instruction of his
people: his numerous forces.
17:1. And Josaphat his son reigned in his stead, and grew
strong against Israel.
17:2. And he placed numbers of soldiers in all the fortified
cities of Juda. And he put garrisons in the land of Juda,
and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had
taken.
17:3. And the Lord was with Josaphat, because he walked in
the first ways of David his father: and trusted not in
Baalim,
17:4. But in the God of his father, and walked in his
commandments, and not according to the sins of Israel.
17:5. And the Lord established the kingdom in his hand, and
all Juda brought presents to Josaphat: and he acquired
immense riches, and much glory.
17:6. And when his heart had taken courage for the ways of
the Lord, he took away also the high places and the groves
out of Juda.
17:7. And in the third year of his reign, he sent of his
princes Benhail, and Abdias, and Zacharias, and Nathanael,
and Micheas, to teach in the cites of Juda:
17:8. And with them the Levites, Semeias, and Nathanias,
and Zabadias, and Asael, and Semiramoth, and Jonathan, and
Adonias, and Tobias, and Thobadonias Levites, and with them
Elisama, and Joram priests.
17:9. And they taught the people in Juda, having with them
the book of the law of the Lord: and they went about all
the cities of Juda, and instructed the people.
17:10. And the fear of the Lord came upon all the kingdoms
of the lands that were round about Juda, and they durst not
make war against Josaphat.
17:11. The Philistines also brought presents to Josaphat,
and tribute in silver, and the Arabians brought him cattle,
seven thousand seven hundred rams, and as many he goats.
17:12. And Josaphat grew, and became exceeding great: and
he built in Juda houses like towers, and walled cities.
17:13. And he prepared many works in the cities of Juda:
and he had warriors, and valiant men in Jerusalem.
17:14. Of whom this is the number of the houses and
families of every one: in Juda captains of the army, Ednas
the chief, and with him three hundred thousand most valiant
men.
17:15. After him Johanan the captain, and with him two
hundred and eighty thousand.
17:16. And after him was Amasias the son of Zechri,
consecrated to the Lord, and with him were two hundred
thousand valiant men.
17:17. After him was Eliada valiant in battle, and with him
two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield.
17:18. After him also was Jozabad, and with him a hundred
and eighty thousand ready for war.
17:19. All these were at the hand of the king, beside
others, whom he had put in the walled cities, in all Juda.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 18
Josaphat accompanies Achab in his expedition against
Ramoth; where Achab is slain, as Micheas had foretold.
18:1. Now Josaphat was rich and very glorious, and was
joined by affinity to Achab.
18:2. And he went down to him after some years to Samaria:
and Achab at his coming killed sheep and oxen in abundance
for him and the people that came with him: and he persuaded
him to go up to Ramoth Galaad.
18:3. And Achab king of Israel said to Josaphat king of
Juda: Come with me to Ramoth Galaad. And he answered him:
Thou art as I am, and my people as thy people, and we will
be with thee in the war.
18:4. And Josaphat said to the king of Israel: Inquire, I
beseech thee, at present the word of the Lord.
18:5. So the king of Israel gathered together of the
prophets four hundred men, and he said to them: Shall we go
to Ramoth Galaad to fight, or shall we forbear? But they
said: Go up, and God will deliver into the king's hand.
18:6. And Josaphat said: Is there not here a prophet of the
Lord, that we may inquire also of him?
18:7. And the king of Israel said to Josaphat: There is one
man, of whom we may ask the will of the Lord: but I hate
him, for he never prophesieth good to me, but always evil:
and it is Micheas the son of Jemla. And Josaphat said:
Speak not thus, O king.
18:8. And the king of Israel called one of the eunuchs, and
said to him: Call quickly Micheas the son of Jemla.
18:9. Now the king of Israel, and Josaphat king of Juda,
both sat on their thrones, clothed in royal robes, and they
sat in the open court by the gate of Samaria, and all the
prophets prophesied before them.
18:10. And Sedecias the son of Chanaana made him horns of
iron, and said: Thus saith the Lord: With these shalt thou
push Syria, till thou destroy it.
18:11. And all the prophets prophesied in like manner, and
said: Go up to Ramoth Galaad, and thou shalt prosper, and
the Lord will deliver them into the king's hand.
18:12. And the messenger that went to call Micheas, said to
him: Behold the words of all the prophets with one mouth
declare good to the king: I beseech thee therefore let not
thy word disagree with them, and speak thou also good
success.
18:13. And Micheas answered him: As the Lord liveth,
whatsoever my God shall say to me, that will I speak.
18:14. So he came to the king: and the king said to him:
Micheas, shall we go to Ramoth Galaad to fight, or forbear?
And he answered him: Go up, for all shall succeed
prosperously, and the enemies shall be delivered into your
hands.
18:15. And the king said: I adjure thee again and again to
say nothing but the truth to me, in the name of the Lord.
18:16. Then he said: I saw all Israel scattered in the
mountains, like sheep without a shepherd: and the Lord
said: These have no masters: let every man return to his
own house in peace.
18:17. And the king of Israel said to Josaphat: Did I not
tell thee that this man would not prophesy me any good, but
evil?
18:18. Then he said: Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord:
I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the army of
heaven standing by him on the right hand and on the left,
18:19. And the Lord said: Who shall deceive Achab king of
Israel, that he may go up and fall in Ramoth Galaad? And
when one spoke in this manner, and another otherwise:
Who shall deceive, etc... See the annotations, 3 Kings 22.
18:20. There came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord,
and said: I will deceive him. And the Lord said to him: By
what means wilt thou deceive him?
18:21. And he answered: I will go out, and be a lying spirit
in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said: Thou
shalt deceive, and shalt prevail: go out, and do so.
18:22. Now therefore behold the Lord hath put a spirit of
lying in the mouth of all thy prophets, and the Lord hath
spoken evil against thee.
18:23. And Sedecias the son of Chanaana came, and struck
Micheas on the cheek and said: Which way went the spirit of
the Lord from me, to speak to thee?
18:24. And Micheas said: Thou thyself shalt see in that day,
when thou shalt go in from chamber to chamber, to hide
thyself.
18:25. And the king of Israel commanded, saying: Take
Micheas, and carry him to Amon the governor of the city,
and to Joas the son of Amelech,
18:26. And say: Thus saith the king: Put this fellow in
prison, and give him bread and water in a small quantity
till I return in peace.
18:27. And Micheas said: If thou return in peace, the Lord
hath not spoken by me. And he said: Hear, all ye people.
18:28. So the king of Israel and Josaphat king of Juda went
up to Ramoth Galaad.
18:29. And the king of Israel said to Josaphat: I will
change my dress, and so I will go to the battle, but put
thou on thy own garments. And the king of Israel having
changed his dress, went to the battle.
18:30. Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of
his cavalry, saying: Fight ye not with small, or great, but
with the king of Israel only.
18:31. So when the captains of the cavalry saw Josaphat,
they said: This is the king of Israel. And they surrounded
him to attack him: but he cried to the Lord, and he helped
him, and turned them away from him.
18:32. For when the captains of the cavalry saw, that he was
not the king of Israel, they left him.
18:33. And it happened that one of the people shot an arrow
at a venture, and struck the king of Israel between the
neck and the shoulders, and he said to his chariot man:
Turn thy hand, and carry me out of the battle, for I am
wounded.
18:34. And the fight was ended that day: but the king of
Israel stood in his chariot against the Syrians until the
evening, and died at the sunset.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 19
Josaphat's charge to the judges and to the Levites.
19:1. And Josaphat king of Juda returned to his house in
peace to Jerusalem.
19:2. And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer met him, and said
to him: Thou helpest the ungodly, and thou art joined in
friendship with them that hate the Lord, and therefore thou
didst deserve indeed the wrath of the Lord:
19:3. But good works are found in thee, because thou hast
taken away the groves out of the land of Juda, and hast
prepared thy heart to seek the Lord the God of thy fathers.
19:4. And Josaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out
again to the people from Bersabee to mount Ephraim, and
brought them back to the Lord the God of their fathers.
19:5. And he set judges of the land in all the fenced
cities of Juda, in every place.
19:6. And charging the judges, he said: Take heed what you
do: for you exercise not the judgment of man, but of the
Lord: and whatsoever you judge, it shall redound to you.
19:7. Let the fear of the Lord be with you, and do all
things with diligence: for there is no iniquity with the
Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor desire of gifts.
19:8. In Jerusalem also Josaphat appointed Levites, and
priests and chiefs of the families of Israel, to judge the
judgment and the cause of the Lord for the inhabitants
thereof.
19:9. And he charged them, saying, Thus shall you do in the
fear of the Lord faithfully, and with a perfect heart.
19:10. Every cause that shall come to you of your brethren,
that dwell in their cities, between kindred and kindred,
wheresoever there is question concerning the law, the
commandment, the ceremonies, the justifications: shew it
them, that they may not sin against the Lord, and that
wrath may not come upon you and your brethren: and so doing
you shall not sin.
19:11. And Amarias the priest your high priest shall be
chief in the things which regard God: and Zabadias the son
of Ismahel, who is ruler in the house of Juda, shall be over
those matters which belong to the king's office: and you
have before you the Levites for masters, take courage and do
diligently, and the Lord will be with you in good things.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 20
The Ammonites, Moabites, and Syrians combine against
Josaphat: he seeketh God's help by public prayer and
fasting. A prophet foretelleth that God will fight for his
people: the enemies destroy one another. Josaphat with his
men gathereth the spoils. He reigneth in peace, but his
navy perisheth, for his society with wicked Ochozias.
20:1. After this the children of Moab, and the children of
Ammon, and with them of the Ammonites, were gathered
together to fight against Josaphat.
20:2. And there came messengers, and told Josaphat, saying:
There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the
sea, and out of Syria, and behold they are in Asasonthamar,
which is Engaddi.
20:3. And Josaphat being seized with fear betook himself
wholly to pray to the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for
all Juda.
20:4. And Juda gathered themselves together to pray to the
Lord: and all came out of their cities to make supplication
to him.
20:5. And Josaphat stood in the midst of the assembly of
Juda, and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord before the
new court,
20:6. And said: O Lord God of our fathers, thou art God in
heaven, and rulest over all the kingdoms and nations, in
thy hand is strength and power, and no one can resist thee.
20:7. Didst not thou our God kill all the inhabitants of
this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the
seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?
20:8. And they dwelt in it, and built in it a sanctuary to
thy name, saying:
20:9. If evils fall upon us, the sword of judgment, or
pestilence, or famine, we will stand in thy presence before
this house, in which thy name is called upon: and we will
cry to thee in our afflictions, and thou wilt hear, and
save us.
20:10. Now therefore behold the children of Ammon, and of
Moab, and mount Seir, through whose lands thou didst not
allow Israel to pass, when they came out of Egypt, but they
turned aside from them, and slew them not,
20:11. Do the contrary, and endeavour to cast us out of the
possession which thou hast delivered to us.
20:12. O our God, wilt thou not then judge them? as for us
we have not strength enough, to be able to resist this
multitude, which cometh violently upon us. But as we know
not what to do, we can only turn our eyes to thee.
20:13. And all Juda stood before the Lord with their little
ones, and their wives, and their children.
20:14. And Jahaziel the son of Zacharias, the son of
Banaias, the son of Jehiel, the son of Mathanias, a Levite
of the sons of Asaph, was there, upon whom the spirit of
the Lord came in the midst of the multitude,
20:15. And he said: Attend ye, all Juda, and you that dwell
in Jerusalem, and thou king Josaphat: Thus saith the Lord
to you: Fear ye not, and be not dismayed at this multitude:
for the battle is not yours, but God's.
20:16. To morrow you shall go down against them: for they
will come up by the ascent named Sis, and you shall find
them at the head of the torrent, which is over against the
wilderness of Jeruel.
20:17. It shall not be you that shall fight, but only stand
with confidence, and you shall see the help of the Lord
over you, O Juda, and Jerusalem: fear ye not, nor be you
dismayed: to morrow you shall go out against them, and the
Lord will be with you.
20:18. Then Josaphat, and Juda, and all the inhabitants of
Jerusalem fell flat on the ground before the Lord, and
adored him.
20:19. And the Levites of the sons of Caath, and of the
sons of Core praised the Lord the God of Israel with a loud
voice, on high.
20:20. And they rose early in the morning, and went out
through the desert of Thecua: and as they were marching,
Josaphat standing in the midst of them, said: Hear me, ye
men of Juda, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: believe
in the Lord your God, and you shall be secure: believe his
prophets, and all things shall succeed well.
20:21. And he gave counsel to the people, and appointed the
singing men of the Lord, to praise him by their companies,
and to go before the army, and with one voice to say: Give
glory to the Lord, for his mercy endureth for ever.
20:22. And when they began to sing praises, the Lord turned
their ambushments upon themselves, that is to say, of the
children of Ammon, and of Moab, and of mount Seir, who were
come out to fight against Juda, and they were slain.
20:23. For the children of Ammon, and of Moab, rose up
against the inhabitants of mount Seir, to kill and destroy
them: and when they had made an end of them, they turned
also against one another, and destroyed one another.
20:24. And when Juda came to the watch tower, that looketh
toward the desert, they saw afar off all the country, for a
great space, full of dead bodies, and that no one was left
that could escape death.
20:25. Then Josaphat came, and all the people with him to
take away the spoils of the dead, and they found among the
dead bodies, stuff of various kinds, and garments, and most
precious vessels: and they took them for themselves,
insomuch that they could not carry all, nor in three days
take away the spoils, the booty was so great.
20:26. And on the fourth day they were assembled in the
valley of Blessing: for there they blessed the Lord, and
therefore they called that place the valley of Blessing
until this day.
20:27. And every man of Juda, and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem returned, and Josaphat at their head, into
Jerusalem with great joy, because the Lord had made them
rejoice over their enemies.
20:28. And they came into Jerusalem with psalteries, and
harps, and trumpets into the house of the Lord.
20:29. And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms
of the lands when they heard that the Lord had fought
against the enemies of Israel.
20:30. And the kingdom of Josaphat was quiet, and God gave
him peace round about.
20:31. And Josaphat reigned over Juda, and he was five and
thirty years old, when he began to reign: and he reigned
five and twenty years in Jerusalem: and the name of his
mother was Azuba the daughter of Selahi.
20:32. And he walked in the way of his father Asa and
departed not from it, doing the things that were pleasing
before the Lord.
20:33. But yet he took not away the high places, and the
people had not yet turned their heart to the Lord the God
of their fathers.
20:34. But the rest of the acts of Josaphat, first and
last, are written in the words of Jehu the son of Hanani,
which he digested into the books of the kings of Israel.
20:35. After these things Josaphat king of Juda made
friendship with Ochozias king of Israel, whose works were
very wicked.
20:36. And he was partner with him in making ships, to go
to Tharsis: and they made the ships in Asiongaber.
20:37. And Eliezer the son of Dodau of Maresa prophesied to
Josaphat, saying: Because thou hast made a league with
Ochozias, the Lord hath destroyed thy works, and the ships
are broken, and they could not go to Tharsis.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 21
Joram's wicked reign: his punishment and death.
21:1. And Josaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried
with them in the city of David: and Joram his son reigned
in his stead.
21:2. And he had brethren the sons of Josaphat, Azarias,
and Jahiel, and Zacharias, and Azaria, and Michael, and
Saphatias, all these were the sons of Josaphat king of
Juda.
21:3. And their father gave them great gifts of silver, and
of gold, and pensions, with strong cities in Juda: but the
kingdom he gave to Joram, because he was the eldest.
21:4. So Joram rose up over the kingdom of his father: and
when he had established himself, he slew all his brethren
with the sword, and some of the princes of Israel.
21:5. Joram was two and thirty years old when he began to
reign: and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
21:6. And he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as
the house of Achab had done: for his wife was a daughter of
Achab, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.
21:7. But the Lord would not destroy the house of David:
because of the covenant which he had made with him: and
because he had promised to give a lamp to him, and to his
sons for ever.
21:8. In those days Edom revolted, from being subject to
Juda, and made themselves a king.
21:9. And Joram went over with his princes, and all his
cavalry with him, and rose in the night, and defeated the
Edomites who had surrounded him, and all the captains of
his cavalry.
21:10. However Edom revolted, from being under the dominion
of Juda unto this day: at that time Lobna also revolted,
from being under his hand. For he had forsaken the Lord the
God of his fathers.
21:11. Moreover he built also high places in the cities of
Juda, and he made the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit
fornication, and Juda to transgress.
21:12. And there was a letter brought him from Eliseus the
prophet, in which it was written: Thus saith the Lord the
God of David thy father: Because thou hast not walked in
the ways of Josaphat thy father nor in the ways of Asa king
of Juda,
21:13. But hast walked in the ways of the kings of Israel,
and hast made Juda and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to
commit fornication, imitating the fornication of the house
of Achab, moreover also thou hast killed thy brethren, the
house of thy father, better men than thyself,
21:14. Behold the Lord will strike thee with a great
plague, with all thy people, and thy children, and thy
wives, and all thy substance.
21:15. And thou shalt be sick of a very grievous disease of
thy bowels, till thy vital parts come out by little and
little every day.
21:16. And the Lord stirred up against Joram the spirit of
the Philistines, and of the Arabians, who border on the
Ethiopians.
21:17. And they came up into the land of Juda, and wasted
it, and they carried away all the substance that was found
in the king's house, his sons also, and his wives: so that
there was no son left him but Joachaz, who was the
youngest.
Joachaz... Alias Ochozias.
21:18. And besides all this the Lord struck him with an
incurable disease in his bowels.
21:19. And as day came after day, and time rolled on, two
whole years passed: then after being wasted with a long
consumption, so as to void his very bowels, his disease
ended with his life. And he died of a most wretched
illness, and the people did not make a funeral for him
according to the manner of burning, as they had done for
his ancestors.
21:20. He was two and thirty years old when he began his
reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he
walked not rightly, and they buried him in the city of
David: but not in the sepulchres of the kings.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 22
The reign and death of Ochozias. The tyranny of Athalia.
22:1. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ochozias his
youngest son king in his place: for the rovers of the
Arabians, who had broke in upon the camp, had killed all
that were his elder brothers. So Ochozias the son of Joram
king of Juda reigned.
22:2. Ochozias was forty-two years old when he began to
reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem, and the name
of his mother was Athalia the daughter of Amri.
22:3. He also walked in the ways of the house of Achab: for
his mother pushed him on to do wickedly.
22:4. So he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house
of Achab did: for they were his counsellors after the death
of his father, to his destruction.
22:5. And he walked after their counsels. And he went with
Joram the son of Achab king of Israel, to fight against
Hazael king of Syria, at Ramoth Galaad: and the Syrians
wounded Joram.
22:6. And he returned to be healed in Jezrahel: for he
received many wounds in the foresaid battle. And Ochozias
the son of Joram king of Juda, went down to visit Joram the
son of Achab in Jezrahel where he lay sick.
22:7. For it was the will of God against Ochozias that he
should come to Joram: and when he was come should go out
also against Jehu the son of Namsi, whom the Lord had
anointed to destroy the house of Achab.
22:8. So when Jehu was rooting out the house of Achab, he
found the princes of Juda, and the sons of the brethren of
Ochozias, who served him, and he slew them.
22:9. And he sought for Ochozias himself, and took him
lying hid in Samaria: and when he was brought to him, he
killed him, and they buried him: because he was the son of
Josaphat, who had sought the Lord with all his heart. And
there was no more hope that any one should reign of the
race of Ochozias.
22:10. For Athalia his mother, seeing that her son was
dead, rose up, and killed all the royal family of the house
of Joram.
22:11. But Josabeth the king's daughter took Joas the son
of Ochozias, and stole him from among the king's sons that
were slain. And she hid him with his nurse in a bedchamber:
now Josabeth that hid him, was daughter of king Joram, wife
of Joiada the high priest, and sister of Ochozias, and
therefore Athalia did not kill him.
22:12. And he was with them hid in the house of God six
years, during which Athalia reigned over the land.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 23
Joiada the high priest causeth Joas to be made king:
Athalia to be slain, and idolatry to be destroyed.
23:1. And in the seventh year Joiada being encouraged, took
the captains of hundreds, to wit, Azarias the son of
Jeroham, and Ismahel the son of Johanan, and Azarias the
son of Obed, and Maasias the son of Adaias, and Elisaphat
the son of Zechri: and made a covenant with them.
23:2. And they went about Juda, and gathered together the
Levites out of all the cities of Juda, and the chiefs of
the families of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.
23:3. And all the multitude made a covenant with the king
in the house of God: and Joiada said to them: Behold the
king's son shall reign, as the Lord hath said of the sons
of David.
23:4. And this is the thing that you shall do:
23:5. A third part of you that come to the sabbath, of the
priests, and of the Levites, and of the porters shall be at
the gates: and a third part at the king's house: and a third
at the gate that is called the Foundation: but let all the
rest of the people be in the courts of the house of the
Lord.
To the sabbath... That is, to perform in your weeks the
functions of your office, or the weekly watches.
23:6. And let no one come into the house of the Lord, but
the priests, and they that minister of the Levites: let
them only come in, because they are sanctified: and let all
the rest of the people keep the watches of the Lord.
23:7. And let the Levites be round about the king, every
man with his arms; and if any other come into the temple,
let him be slain; and let them be with the king, both
coming in, and going out.
23:8. So the Levites, and all Juda did according to all that
Joiada the high priest had commanded: and they took every
one his men that were under him, and that came in by the
course of the sabbath, with those who had fulfilled the
sabbath, and were to go out. For Joiada the high priest
permitted not the companies to depart, which were accustomed
to succeed one another every week.
23:9. And Joiada the priest gave to the captains the
spears, and the shields, and targets of king David, which
he had dedicated in the house of the Lord.
23:10. And he set all the people with swords in their hands
from the right side of the temple, to the left side of the
temple, before the altar, and the temple, round about the
king.
23:11. And they brought out the king's son, and put the
crown upon him, and the testimony, and gave him the law to
hold in his hand, and they made him king: and Joiada the
high priest and his sons anointed him: and they prayed for
him, and said: God save the king.
23:12. Now when Athalia heard the noise of the people
running and praising the king, she came in to the people,
into the temple of the Lord.
23:13. And when she saw the king standing upon the step in
the entrance, and the princes, and the companies about him,
and all the people of the land rejoicing, and sounding with
trumpets, and playing on instruments of divers kinds, and
the voice of those that praised, she rent her garments, and
said: Treason, treason.
23:14. And Joiada the high priest going out to the
captains, and the chiefs of the army, said to them: Take
her forth without the precinct of the temple, and when she
is without let her be killed with the sword. For the priest
commanded that she should not be killed in the house of the
Lord.
23:15. And they laid hold on her by the neck: and when she
was come within the horse gate of the palace, they killed
her there.
23:16. And Joiada made a covenant between himself and all
the people, and the king, that they should be the people of
the lord.
23:17. And all the people went into the house of Baal, and
destroyed it: and they broke down his altars and his idols:
and they slew Mathan the priest of Baal before the altars.
23:18. And Joiada appointed overseers in the house of the
Lord, under the hands of the priests, and the Levites, whom
David had distributed in the house of the Lord: to offer
holocausts to the Lord, as it is written in the law of
Moses, with joy and singing, according to the disposition
of David.
23:19. He appointed also porters in the gates of the house
of the Lord, that none who was unclean in any thing should
enter in.
23:20. And he took the captains of hundreds, and the most
valiant men, and the chiefs of the people, and all the
people of the land, and they brought down the king from the
house of the Lord, and brought him through the upper gate
into the king's house, and set him on the royal throne.
23:21. And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the
city was quiet: but Athalia was slain with the sword.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 24
Joas reigneth well all the days of Joiada: afterwards
falleth into idolatry and causeth Zacharias to be slain. He
is slain himself by his servants.
24:1. Joas was seven years old when he began to reign: and
he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother
was Sebia of Bersabee.
24:2. And he did that which is good before the Lord all the
days of Joiada the priest.
24:3. And Joiada took for him two wives, by whom he had
sons and daughters.
24:4. After this Joas had a mind to repair the house of the
Lord.
24:5. And he assembled the priests, and the Levites, and
said to them: Go out to the cities of Juda, and gather of
all Israel money to repair the temple of your God, from
year to year: and do this with speed: but the Levites were
negligent.
24:6. And the king called Joiada the chief, and said to
him: Why hast thou not taken care to oblige the Levites to
bring in out of Juda and Jerusalem the money that was
appointed by Moses the servant of the Lord for all the
multitude of Israel to bring into the tabernacle of the
testimony?
24:7. For that wicked woman Athalia, and her children have
destroyed the house of God, and adorned the temple of Baal
with all the things that had been dedicated in the temple
of the Lord.
24:8. And the king commanded, and they made a chest: and
set it by the gate of the house of the Lord on the outside.
24:9. And they made a proclamation in Juda and Jerusalem,
that every man should bring to the Lord the money which
Moses the servant of God appointed for all Israel, in the
desert.
24:10. And all the princes, and all the people rejoiced:
and going in they contributed and cast so much into the
chest of the Lord, that it was filled.
24:11. And when it was time to bring the chest before the
king by the hands of the Levites, (for they saw there was
much money,) the king's scribe, and he whom the high priest
had appointed went in: and they poured out the money that
was in the chest: and they carried back the chest to its
place: and thus they did from day to day, and there was
gathered an immense sum of money.
24:12. And the king and Joiada gave it to those who were
over the works of the house of the Lord: but they hired
with it stonecutters, and artificers of every kind of work
to repair the house of the Lord: and such as wrought in
iron and brass, to uphold what began to be falling.
24:13. And the workmen were diligent, and the breach of the
walls was closed up by their hands, and they set up the
house of the Lord in its former state, and made it stand
firm.
24:14. And when they had finished all the works, they
brought the rest of the money before the king and Joiada:
and with it were made vessels for the temple for the
ministry, and for holocausts and bowls, and other vessels
of gold and silver: and holocausts were offered in the
house of the Lord continually all the days of Joiada.
24:15. But Joiada grew old and was full of days, and died
when he was a hundred and thirty years old.
24:16. And they buried him in the city of David among the
kings, because he had done good to Israel, and to his
house.
24:17. And after the death of Joiada, the princes of Juda
went in, and worshipped the king: and he was soothed by
their services and hearkened to them.
24:18. And they forsook the temple of the Lord the God of
their fathers, and served groves and idols, and wrath came
upon Juda and Jerusalem for this sin.
24:19. And he sent prophets to them to bring them back to
the Lord, and they would not give ear when they testified
against them.
24:20. The spirit of God then came upon Zacharias the son
of Joiada the priest, and he stood in the sight of the
people, and said to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Why
transgress you the commandment of the Lord which will not
be for your good, and have forsaken the Lord, to make him
forsake you?
24:21. And they gathered themselves together against him,
and stoned him at the king's commandment in the court of
the house of the Lord.
24:22. And king Joas did not remember the kindness that
Joiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. And
when he died, he said: The Lord see, and require it.
24:23. And when a year was come about, the army of Syria
came up against him: and they came to Juda and Jerusalem,
and killed all the princes of the people, and they sent all
the spoils to the king of Damascus.
24:24. And whereas there came a very small number of the
Syrians, the Lord delivered into their hands an infinite
multitude, because they had forsaken the Lord the God of
their fathers: and on Joas they executed shameful
judgments.
24:25. And departing they left him in great diseases: and
his servants rose up against him, for revenge of the blood
of the son of Joiada the priest, and they slew him in his
bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David,
but not in the sepulchres of the kings.
24:26. Now the men that conspired against him were Zabad
the son of Semmaath an Ammonitess, and Jozabad the son of
Semarith a Moabitess.
24:27. And concerning his sons, and the sum of money which
was gathered under him, and the repairing the house of God,
they are written more diligently in the book of kings: and
Amasias his son reigned in his stead.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 25
Amasias' reign: he beginneth well, but endeth ill: he is
overthrown by Joas, and slain by his people.
25:1. Amasias 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 Joadan of Jerusalem.
25:2. And he did what was good in the sight of the Lord:
but yet not with a perfect heart.
25:3. And when he saw himself strengthened in his kingdom,
he put to death the servants that had slain the king his
father.
25:4. But he slew not their children, as it is written in
the book of the law of Moses, where the Lord commanded,
saying: The fathers shall not be slain for the children,
nor the children for their fathers, but every man shall die
for his own sin.
25:5. Amasias therefore gathered Juda together, and
appointed them by families, and captains of thousands and
of hundreds in all Juda, and Benjamin: and he numbered them
from twenty years old and upwards, and found three hundred
thousand young men that could go out to battle, and could
hold the spear and shield.
25:6. He hired also of Israel a hundred thousand valiant
men, for a hundred talents of silver.
25:7. But a man of God came to him, and said: O king, let
not the army of Israel go out with thee, for the Lord is
not with Israel, and all the children of Ephraim:
25:8. And if thou think that battles consist in the strength
of the army, God will make thee to be overcome by the
enemies: for it belongeth to God both to help, and to put to
flight.
25:9. And Amasias said to the man of God: What will then
become of the hundred talents which I have given to the
soldiers of Israel? and the man of God answered him: The
Lord is rich enough to be able to give thee much more than
this.
25:10. Then Amasias separated the army, that came to him
out of Ephraim, to go home again: but they being much
enraged against Juda, returned to their own country.
25:11. And Amasias taking courage led forth his people, and
went to the vale of saltpits, and slew of the children of
Seir ten thousand.
25:12. And other ten thousand men the sons of Juda took,
and brought to the steep of a certain rock, and cast them
down headlong from the top, and they all were broken to
pieces.
25:13. But that army which Amasias had sent back, that they
should not go with him to battle, spread themselves among
the cities of Juda, from Samaria to Beth-horon, and having
killed three thousand took away much spoil.
25:14. But Amasias after he had slain the Edomites, set up
the gods of the children of Seir, which he had brought
thence, to be his gods, and adored them, and burnt incense
to them.
25:15. Wherefore the Lord being angry against Amasias, sent
a prophet to him, to say to him: Why hast thou adored gods
that have not delivered their own people out of thy hand?
25:16. And when he spoke these things, he answered him: Art
thou the king's counsellor? be quiet, lest I kill thee. And
the prophet departing, said: I know that God is minded to
kill thee, because thou hast done this evil, and moreover
hast not hearkened to my counsel.
25:17. Then Amasias king of Juda taking very bad counsel,
sent to Joas the son of Joachaz the son of Jehu, king of
Israel, saying: Come, let us see one another.
25:18. But he sent back the messengers, saying: The thistle
that is in Libanus, sent to the cedar in Libanus, saying:
Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and behold the beasts
that were in the wood of Libanus passed by and trod down
the thistle.
25:19. Thou hast said: I have overthrown Edom, and
therefore thy heart is lifted up with pride: stay at home,
why dost thou provoke evil against thee, that both thou
shouldst fall and Juda with thee.
25:20. Amasias would not hearken to him, because it was the
Lord's will that he should be delivered into the hands of
enemies, because of the gods of Edom.
25:21. So Joas king of Israel went up, and they presented
themselves to be seen by one another: and Amasias king of
Juda was in Bethsames of Juda:
25:22. And Juda fell before Israel, and they fled to their
dwellings.
25:23. And Joas king of Israel took Amasias king of Juda,
the son of Joas, the son of Joachaz, in Bethsames, and
brought him to Jerusalem: and broke down the walls thereof
from the gate of Ephraim, to the gate of the corner, four
hundred cubits.
25:24. And he took all the gold, and silver, and all the
vessels, that he found in the house of God, and with
Obededom, and in the treasures of the king's house,
moreover also the sons of the hostages, he brought back to
Samaria.
25:25. And Amasias the son of Joas king of Juda lived,
after the death of Joas the son of Joachaz king of Israel,
fifteen years.
25:26. Now the rest of the acts of Amasias, the first and
last, are written in the book of the kings of Juda and
Israel.
25:27. And after he revolted from the Lord, they made a
conspiracy against him in Jerusalem. And he fled into
Lachis, and they sent, and killed him there.
25:28. And they brought him back upon horses, and buried
him with his fathers in the city of David.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 26
Ozias reigneth prosperously, till he invadeth the priests'
office, upon which he is struck with a leprosy.
26:1. And all the people of Juda took his son Ozias, who
was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of
Amasias his father.
26:2. He built Ailath, and restored it to the dominion of
Juda, after that the king slept with his fathers.
26:3. Ozias 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.
26:4. And he did that which was right in the eyes of the
Lord, according to all that Amasias his father had done.
26:5. And he sought the Lord in the days of Zacharias that
understood and saw God: and as long as he sought the Lord,
he directed him in all things.
26:6. Moreover he went forth and fought against the
Philistines, and broke down the wall of Geth, and the wall
of Jabnia, and the wall of Azotus: and he built towns in
Azotus, and among the Philistines.
26:7. And God helped him against the Philistines, and
against the Arabians, that dwelt in Gurbaal, and against
the Ammonites.
26:8. And the Ammonites gave gifts to Ozias: and his name
was spread abroad even to the entrance of Egypt for his
frequent victories.
26:9. And Ozias built towers in Jerusalem over the gate of
the corner, and over the gate of the valley, and the rest,
in the same side of the wall, and fortified them.
26:10. And he built towers in the wilderness, and dug many
cisterns, for he had much cattle both in the plains, and in
the waste of the desert: he had also vineyards and dressers
of vines in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he was a man
that loved husbandry.
26:11. And the army of his fighting men, that went out to
war, was under the hand of Jehiel the scribe, and Maasias
the doctor, and under the hand of Henanias, who was one of
the king's captains.
26:12. And the whole number of the chiefs by the families
of valiant men were two thousand six hundred.
26:13. And the whole army under them three hundred and
seven thousand five hundred: who were fit for war, and
fought for the king against the enemy.
26:14. And Ozias prepared for them, that is, for the whole
army, shields, and spears, and helmets, and coats of mail,
and bows, and slings to cast stones.
26:15. And he made in Jerusalem engines of diverse kinds,
which he placed in the towers, and in the corners of the
walls, to shoot arrows, and great stones: and his name went
forth far abroad, for the Lord helped him, and had
strengthened him.
26:16. But when he was made strong, his heart was lifted up
to his destruction, and he neglected the Lord his God: and
going into the temple of the Lord, he had a mind to burn
incense upon the altar of incense.
26:17. And immediately Azarias the priest going in after
him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, most
valiant men,
26:18. Withstood the king and said: It doth not belong to
thee, Ozias, to burn incense to the Lord, but to the
priests, that is, to the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated
for this ministry: go out of the sanctuary, do not despise:
for this thing shall not be accounted to thy glory by the
Lord God.
26:19. And Ozias was angry, and holding in his hand the
censer to burn incense, threatened the priests. And
presently there rose a leprosy in his forehead before the
priests, in the house of the Lord at the altar of incense.
26:20. And Azarias the high priest, and all the rest of the
priests looked upon him, and saw the leprosy in his
forehead, and they made haste to thrust him out. Yea
himself also being frightened, hasted to go out, because he
had quickly felt the stroke of the Lord.
26:21. And Ozias the king was a leper unto the day of his
death, and he dwelt in a house apart being full of the
leprosy, for which he had been cast out of the house of the
Lord. And Joatham his son governed the king's house, and
judged the people of the land.
26:22. But the rest of the acts of Ozias first and last were
written by Isaias the son of Amos, the prophet.
26:23. And Ozias slept with his fathers, and they buried
him in the field of the royal sepulchres, because he was a
leper: and Joatham his son reigned in his stead.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 27
Joatham's good reign.
27:1. Joatham 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.
27:2. And he did that which was right before the Lord,
according to all that Ozias his father had done, only that
he entered not into the temple of the Lord, and the people
still transgressed.
27:3. He built the high gate of the house of the Lord, and
on the wall of Ophel he built much.
27:4. Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Juda,
and castles and towers in the forests.
27:5. He fought against the king of the children of Ammon,
and overcame them, and the children of Ammon gave him at
that time a hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand
measures of wheat, and as many measures of barley: so much
did the children of Ammon give him in the second and third
year.
27:6. And Joatham was strengthened, because he had his way
directed before the Lord his God.
27:7. Now the rest of the acts of Joatham, and all his
wars, and his works, are written in the book of the kings
of Israel and Juda.
27:8. He was five and twenty years old when he began to
reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.
27:9. And Joatham slept with his fathers, and they buried
him in the city of David: and Achaz his son reigned in his
stead.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 28
The wicked and unhappy reign of Achaz.
28:1. Achaz was twenty years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: he did not that
which was right in the sight of the Lord as David his
father had done,
28:2. But walked in the ways of the kings of Israel;
moreover also he cast statues for Baalim.
28:3. It was he that burnt incense in the valley of
Benennom, and consecrated his sons in the fire according to
the manner of the nations, which the Lord slew at the
coming of the children of Israel.
28:4. He sacrificed also, and burnt incense in the high
places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
28:5. And the Lord his God delivered him into the hands of
the king of Syria, who defeated him, and took a great booty
out of his kingdom, and carried it to Damascus: he was also
delivered into the hands of the king of Israel, who
overthrew him with a great slaughter.
28:6. For Phacee the son of Romelia slew of Juda a hundred
and twenty thousand in one day, all valiant men, because
they had forsaken the Lord the God of their fathers.
28:7. At the same time Zechri a powerful man of Ephraim,
slew Maasias the king's son, and Ezricam the governor of
his house, and Elcana who was next to the king.
28:8. And the children of Israel carried away of their
brethren two hundred thousand women, boys, and girls, and an
immense booty: and they brought it to Samaria.
28:9. At that time there was a prophet of the Lord there,
whose name was Oded: and he went out to meet the army that
came to Samaria, and said to them: Behold the Lord the God
of your fathers being angry with Juda, hath delivered them
into your hands, and you have butchered them cruelly, so
that your cruelty hath reached up to heaven.
28:10. Moreover you have a mind to keep under the children
of Juda and Jerusalem for your bondmen and bondwomen, which
ought not to be done: for you have sinned in this against
the Lord your God.
28:11. But hear ye my counsel, and release the captives
that you have brought of your brethren, because a great
indignation of the Lord hangeth over you.
28:12. Then some of the chief men of the sons of Ephraim,
Azarias the son of Johanan, Barachias the son of
Mosollamoth, Ezechias the son of Sellum, and Amasa the son
of Adali, stood up against them that came from the war.
28:13. And they said to them: You shall not bring in the
captives hither, lest we sin against the Lord. Why will you
add to our sins, and heap up upon our former offences? for
the sin is great, and the fierce anger of the Lord hangeth
over Israel.
28:14. So the soldiers left the spoils, and all that they
had taken, before the princes and all the multitude.
28:15. And the men, whom we mentioned above, rose up and
took the captives, and with the spoils clothed all them
that were naked: and when they had clothed and shod them,
and refreshed them with meat and drink, and anointed them
because of their labour, and had taken care of them, they
set such of them as could not walk, and were feeble, upon
beasts, and brought them to Jericho the city of palm trees
to their brethren, and they returned to Samaria.
28:16. At that time king Achaz sent to the king of the
Assyrians asking help.
28:17. And the Edomites came and slew many of Juda, and
took a great booty.
28:18. The Philistines also spread themselves among the
cities of the plains, and to the south of Juda: and they
took Bethsames, and Aialon, and Gaderoth, and Socho, and
Thamnan, and Gamzo, with their villages, and they dwelt in
them.
28:19. For the Lord had humbled Juda because of Achaz the
king of Juda, for he had stripped it of help, and had
contemned the Lord.
For he had stripped it of help... That is, Achaz stripped
the kingdom of Juda of the divine assistance by his
wickedness, and by his introducing idolatry.
28:20. And he brought against him Thelgathphalnasar king of
the Assyrians, who also afflicted him, and plundered him
without any resistance.
28:21. And Achaz stripped the house of the Lord, and the
house of the kings, and of the princes, and gave gifts to
the king of the Assyrians, and yet it availed him nothing.
28:22. Moreover also in the time of his distress he
increased contempt against the Lord: king Achaz himself by
himself,
28:23. Sacrificed victims to the gods of Damascus that
struck him, and he said: The gods of the kings of Syria
help them, and I will appease them with victims, and they
will help me; whereas on the contrary they were the ruin of
him, and of all Israel.
28:24. Then Achaz having taken away all the vessels of the
house of God, and broken them, shut up the doors of the
temple of God, and made himself altars in all the corners
of Jerusalem.
28:25. And in all the cities of Juda he built altars to
burn frankincense, and he provoked the Lord the God of his
fathers to wrath.
28:26. But the rest of his acts, and all his works first
and last are written in the book of the kings of Juda and
Israel.
28:27. And Achaz slept with his fathers, and they buried
him in the city of Jerusalem: for they received him not
into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel. And Ezechias
his son reigned in his stead.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 29
Ezechias purifieth the temple, and restoreth religion.
29:1. Now Ezechias began to reign, when he was five and
twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in
Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Abia, the daughter of
Zacharias.
29:2. And he did that which was pleasing in the sight of
the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.
29:3. In the first year and month of his reign he opened
the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them.
29:4. And he brought the priests and the Levites, and
assembled them in the east street.
29:5. And he said to them: Hear me, ye Levites, and be
sanctified, purify the house of the Lord the God of your
fathers, and take away all filth out of the sanctuary.
29:6. Our fathers have sinned and done evil in the sight of
the Lord God, forsaking him: they have turned away their
faces from the tabernacle of the Lord, and turned their
backs.
29:7. They have shut up the doors that were in the porch,
and put out the lamps, and have not burnt incense, nor
offered holocausts in the sanctuary of the God of Israel.
29:8. Therefore the wrath of the Lord hath been stirred up
against Juda and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to
trouble, and to destruction, and to be hissed at, as you
see with your eyes.
29:9. Behold, our fathers are fallen by the sword, our
sons, and our daughters, and wives are led away captives
for this wickedness.
29:10. Now therefore I have a mind that we make a covenant
with the Lord the God of Israel, and he will turn away the
wrath of his indignation from us.
29:11. My sons, be not negligent: the Lord hath chosen you
to stand before him, and to minister to him, and to worship
him, and to burn incense to him.
29:12. Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai,
and Joel the son of Azarias, of the sons of Caath: and of
the sons of Merari, Cis the son of Abdi, and Azarias the
son of Jalaleel. And of the sons of Gerson, Joah the son of
Zemma, and Eden the son of Joah.
29:13. And of the sons of Elisaphan, Samri, and Jahiel.
Also of the sons of Asaph, Zacharias, and Mathanias.
29:14. And of the sons of Heman, Jahiel, and Semei: and of
the sons of Idithun, Semeias, and Oziel.
29:15. And they gathered together their brethren, and
sanctified themselves, and went in according to the
commandment of the king, and the precept of the Lord, to
purify the house of God.
29:16. And the priests went into the temple of the Lord to
sanctify it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they
found within to the entrance of the house of the Lord, and
the Levites took it away, and carried it out abroad to the
torrent Cedron.
29:17. And they began to cleanse on the first day of the
first month, and on the eighth day of the same month they
came into the porch of the temple of the Lord, and they
purified the temple in eight days, and on the sixteenth day
of the same month they finished what they had begun.
29:18. And they went in to king Ezechias, and said to him:
We have sanctified all the house of the Lord, and the altar
of holocaust, and the vessels thereof, and the table of
proposition with all its vessels,
29:19. And all the furniture of the temple, which king
Achaz in his reign had defiled, after his transgression;
and behold they are all set forth before the altar of the
Lord.
29:20. And king Ezechias rising early, assembled all the
rulers of the city, and went up into the house of the Lord:
29:21. And they offered together seven bullocks, and seven
rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats for sin, for the
kingdom, for the sanctuary, for Juda: and he spoke to the
priests the sons of Aaron, to offer them upon the altar of
the Lord.
29:22. Therefore they killed the bullocks, and the priests
took the blood, and poured it upon the altar; they killed
also the rams, and their blood they poured also upon the
altar, and they killed the lambs, and poured the blood upon
the altar.
29:23. And they brought the he goats for sin before the
king, and the whole multitude, and they laid their hand
upon them:
29:24. And the priests immolated them, and sprinkled their
blood before the altar for an expiation of all Israel: for
the king had commanded that the holocaust and the sin
offering should be made for all Israel.
29:25. And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with
cymbals, and psalteries, and harps according to the
regulation of David the king, and of Gad the seer, and of
Nathan the prophet: for it was the commandment of the Lord
by the hand of his prophets.
29:26. And the Levites stood, with the instruments of
David, and the priests with trumpets.
29:27. And Ezechias commanded that they should offer
holocausts upon the altar: and when the holocausts were
offered, they began to sing praises to the Lord, and to
sound with trumpets, and divers instruments which David the
king of Israel had prepared.
29:28. And all the multitude adored, and the singers, and
the trumpeters, were in their office till the holocaust was
finished.
29:29. And when the oblation was ended, the king, and all
that were with him bowed down and adored.
29:30. And Ezechias and the princes commanded the Levites
to praise the Lord with the words of David, and Asaph the
seer: and they praised him with great joy, and bowing the
knee adored.
29:31. And Ezechias added, and said: You have filled your
hands to the Lord, come and offer victims, and praises in
the house of the Lord. And all the multitude offered
victims, and praises, and holocausts with a devout mind.
29:32. And the number of the holocausts which the multitude
offered, was seventy bullocks, a hundred rams, and two
hundred lambs.
29:33. And they consecrated to the Lord six hundred oxen,
and three thousand sheep.
29:34. But the priests were few, and were not enough to
flay the holocausts: wherefore the Levites their brethren
helped them, till the work was ended, and priests were
sanctified, for the Levites are sanctified with an easier
rite than the priests.
29:35. So there were many holocausts, and the fat of peace
offerings, and the libations of holocausts: and the service
of the house of the Lord was completed.
29:36. And Ezechias, and all the people rejoiced because
the ministry of the Lord was accomplished. For the
resolution of doing this thing was taken suddenly.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 30
Ezechias inviteth all Israel to celebrate the pasch; the
solemnity is kept fourteen days.
30:1. And Ezechias sent to all Israel and Juda: and he
wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasses, that they should
come to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and keep the
phase to the Lord the God of Israel,
30:2. For the king, taking counsel, and the princes, and
all the assembly of Jerusalem, decreed to keep the phase
the second month.
30:3. For they could not keep it in its time; because there
were not priests enough sanctified, and the people was not
as yet gathered together to Jerusalem.
The host of heaven... The sun, moon, and stars.
30:4. And the thing pleased the king, and all the people.
30:5. And they decreed to send messengers to all Israel
from Bersabee even to Dan, that they should come, and keep
the phase to the Lord the God of Israel in Jerusalem: for
many had not kept it as it is prescribed by the law.
30:6. And the posts went with letters by commandment of the
king, and his princes, to all Israel and Juda, proclaiming
according to the king's orders: Ye children of Israel, turn
again to the Lord the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of
Israel: and he will return to the remnant of you that have
escaped the hand of the king of the Assyrians.
30:7. Be not like your fathers, and brethren, who departed
from the Lord the God of their fathers, and he hath given
them up to destruction, as you see.
30:8. Harden not your necks, as your fathers did: yield
yourselves to the Lord, and come to his sanctuary, which he
hath sanctified forever: serve the Lord the God of your
fathers, and the wrath of his indignation shall be turned
away from you.
30:9. For if you turn again to the Lord, your brethren, and
children shall find mercy before their masters, that have
led them away captive, and they shall return into this
land: for the Lord your God is merciful, and will not turn
away his face from you, if you return to him.
30:10. So the posts went speedily from city to city,
through the land of Ephraim, and of Manasses, even to
Zabulon, whilst they laughed at them and mocked them.
30:11. Nevertheless some men of Aser, and of Manasses, and
of Zabulon, yielding to the counsel, came to Jerusalem.
30:12. But the hand of God was in Juda, to give them one
heart to do the word of the Lord, according to the
commandment of the king, and of the princes.
30:13. And much people were assembled to Jerusalem to
celebrate the solemnity of the unleavened bread in the
second month:
30:14. And they arose and destroyed the altars that were in
Jerusalem, and took away all things in which incense was
burnt to idols and cast them into the torrent Cedron.
30:15. And they immolated the phase on the fourteenth day
of the second month. And the priests and the Levites being
at length sanctified offered holocausts in the house of the
Lord.
30:16. And they stood in their order according to the
disposition and law of Moses the man of God: but the
priests received the blood which was to be poured out, from
the hands of the Levites,
30:17. Because a great number was not sanctified: and
therefore the Levites immolated the phase for them that
came not in time to be sanctified to the Lord.
30:18. For a great part of the people from Ephraim, and
Manasses, and Issachar, and Zabulon, that had not been
sanctified, ate the phase otherwise than it is written: and
Ezechias prayed for them, saying: The Lord who is good will
shew mercy,
30:19. To all them, who with their whole heart, seek the
Lord the God of their fathers: and will not impute it to
them that they are not sanctified.
30:20. And the Lord heard him, and was merciful to the
people.
30:21. And the children of Israel, that were found at
Jerusalem, kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days
with great joy, praising the Lord every day. the Levites
also, and the priests, with instruments that agreed to
their office.
30:22. And Ezechias spoke to the heart of all the Levites,
that had good understanding concerning the Lord: and they
ate during the seven days of the solemnity, immolating
victims of peace offerings, and praising the Lord the God
of their fathers.
30:23. And it pleased the whole multitude to keep other
seven days: which they did with great joy.
30:24. For Ezechias the king of Juda had given to the
multitude a thousand bullocks, and seven thousand sheep:
and the princes had given the people a thousand bullocks,
and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests was
sanctified.
30:25. And all the multitude of Juda with the priests and
Levites, and all the assembly, that came out of Israel; and
the proselytes of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in
Juda were full of joy.
30:26. And there was a great solemnity in Jerusalem, such
as had not been in that city since the time of Solomon the
son of David king of Israel.
30:27. And the priests and the Levites rose up and blessed
the people: and their voice was heard: and their prayer
came to the holy dwelling place of heaven.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 31
Idolatry is abolished; and provisions made for the
ministers.
31:1. And when these things had been duly celebrated, all
Israel that were found in the cities of Juda, went out, and
they broke the idols, and cut down the groves, demolished
the high places, and destroyed the altars, not only out of
all Juda and Benjamin, but out of Ephraim also and
Manasses, till they had utterly destroyed them: then all
the children of Israel returned to their possessions and
cities.
31:2. And Ezechias appointed companies of the priests, and
the Levites, by their courses, every man in his own office,
to wit, both of the priests, and of the Levites, for
holocausts, and for peace offerings, to minister, and to
praise, and to sing in the gates of the camp of the Lord.
31:3. And the king's part was, that of his proper substance
the holocaust should be offered always morning and evening,
and on the sabbaths, and the new moons and the other
solemnities, as it is written in the law of Moses.
31:4. He commanded also the people that dwelt in Jerusalem,
to give to the priests, and the Levites their portion, that
they might attend to the law of the Lord.
31:5. Which when it was noised abroad in the ears of the
people, the children of Israel offered in abundance the
firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey: and brought
the tithe of all things which the ground bringeth forth.
31:6. Moreover the children of Israel and Juda, that dwelt
in the cities of Juda, brought in the tithes of oxen, and
sheep, and the tithes of holy things, which they had vowed
to the Lord their God: and carrying them all, made many
heaps.
31:7. In the third month they began to lay the foundations
of the heaps, and in the seventh month, they finished them.
31:8. And when Ezechias and his princes came in, they saw
the heaps, and they blessed the Lord and the people of
Israel.
31:9. And Ezechias asked the priests and the Levites, why
the heaps lay so.
31:10. Azarias the chief priest of the race of Sadoc
answered him, saying: Since the firstfruits began to be
offered in the house of the Lord, we have eaten, and have
been filled, and abundance is left, because the Lord hath
blessed his people: and of that which is left is this great
store which thou seest.
31:11. Then Ezechias commanded to prepare storehouses in
the house of the Lord. And when they had done so,
31:12. They brought in faithfully both the firstfruits, and
the tithes, and all they had vowed. And the overseer of
them was Chonenias the Levite, and Semei his brother was
the second,
31:13. And after him Jehiel, and Azarias, and Nahath, and
Asael, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and
Jesmachias, and Mahath, and Banaias, overseers under the
hand of Chonenias, and Semei his brother, by the
commandment of Ezechias the king, and Azarias the high
priest of the house of God, to whom all things appertained.
31:14. But Core the son of Jemna the Levite, the porter of
the east gate, was overseer of the things which were freely
offered to the Lord, and of the firstfruits and the things
dedicated for the holy of holies.
31:15. And under his charge were Eden, and Benjamin, Jesue,
and Semeias, and Amarias, and Sechenias, in the cities of
the priests, to distribute faithfully portions to their
brethren, both little and great:
31:16. Besides the males from three years old and upward,
to all that went into the temple of the Lord, and
whatsoever there was need of in the ministry, and their
offices according to their courses, day by day.
31:17. To the priests by their families, and to the Levites
from the twentieth year and upward, by their classes and
companies.
31:18. And to all the multitude, both to their wives, and
to their children of both sexes, victuals were given
faithfully out of the things that had been sanctified.
31:19. Also of the sons of Aaron who were in the fields and
in the suburbs of each city, there were men appointed, to
distribute portions to all the males, among the priests and
the Levites.
31:20. So Ezechias did all things which we have said in all
Juda, and wrought that which was good, and right, and
truth, before the Lord his God,
31:21. In all the service of the house of the Lord
according to the law and the ceremonies, desiring to seek
his God with all his heart, and he did it and prospered.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 32
Idolatry is abolished; and provisions made for the
ministers.
32:1. And when these things had been duly celebrated, all
Israel that were found in the cities of Juda, went out, and
they broke the idols, and cut down the groves, demolished
the high places, and destroyed the altars, not only out of
all Juda and Benjamin, but out of Ephraim also and
Manasses, till they had utterly destroyed them: then all
the children of Israel returned to their possessions and
cities.
32:2. And Ezechias appointed companies of the priests, and
the Levites, by their courses, every man in his own office,
to wit, both of the priests, and of the Levites, for
holocausts, and for peace offerings, to minister, and to
praise, and to sing in the gates of the camp of the Lord.
32:3. And the king's part was, that of his proper substance
the holocaust should be offered always morning and evening,
and on the sabbaths, and the new moons and the other
solemnities, as it is written in the law of Moses.
32:4. He commanded also the people that dwelt in Jerusalem,
to give to the priests, and the Levites their portion, that
they might attend to the law of the Lord.
32:5. Which when it was noised abroad in the ears of the
people, the children of Israel offered in abundance the
firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey: and brought
the tithe of all things which the ground bringeth forth.
32:6. Moreover the children of Israel and Juda, that dwelt
in the cities of Juda, brought in the tithes of oxen, and
sheep, and the tithes of holy things, which they had vowed
to the Lord their God: and carrying them all, made many
heaps.
32:7. In the third month they began to lay the foundations
of the heaps, and in the seventh month, they finished them.
32:8. And when Ezechias and his princes came in, they saw
the heaps, and they blessed the Lord and the people of
Israel.
32:9. And Ezechias asked the priests and the Levites, why
the heaps lay so.
32:10. Azarias the chief priest of the race of Sadoc
answered him, saying: Since the firstfruits began to be
offered in the house of the Lord, we have eaten, and have
been filled, and abundance is left, because the Lord hath
blessed his people: and of that which is left is this great
store which thou seest.
32:11. Then Ezechias commanded to prepare storehouses in
the house of the Lord. And when they had done so,
32:12. They brought in faithfully both the firstfruits, and
the tithes, and all they had vowed. And the overseer of
them was Chonenias the Levite, and Semei his brother was
the second,
32:13. And after him Jehiel, and Azarias, and Nahath, and
Asael, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and
Jesmachias, and Mahath, and Banaias, overseers under the
hand of Chonenias, and Semei his brother, by the
commandment of Ezechias the king, and Azarias the high
priest of the house of God, to whom all things appertained.
32:14. But Core the son of Jemna the Levite, the porter of
the east gate, was overseer of the things which were freely
offered to the Lord, and of the firstfruits and the things
dedicated for the holy of holies.
32:15. And under his charge were Eden, and Benjamin, Jesue,
and Semeias, and Amarias, and Sechenias, in the cities of
the priests, to distribute faithfully portions to their
brethren, both little and great:
32:16. Besides the males from three years old and upward,
to all that went into the temple of the Lord, and
whatsoever there was need of in the ministry, and their
offices according to their courses, day by day.
32:17. To the priests by their families, and to the Levites
from the twentieth year and upward, by their classes and
companies.
32:18. And to all the multitude, both to their wives, and
to their children of both sexes, victuals were given
faithfully out of the things that had been sanctified.
32:19. Also of the sons of Aaron who were in the fields and
in the suburbs of each city, there were men appointed, to
distribute portions to all the males, among the priests and
the Levites.
32:20. So Ezechias did all things which we have said in all
Juda, and wrought that which was good, and right, and
truth, before the Lord his God,
32:21. In all the service of the house of the Lord
according to the law and the ceremonies, desiring to seek
his God with all his heart, and he did it and prospered.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 33
Manasses for his manifold wickedness is led captive to
Babylon: he repenteth, and is restored to his kingdom, and
destroyeth idolatry: his successor Amon is slain by his
servants.
33:1. Manasses was twelve years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
33:2. And he did evil before the Lord, according to all the
abominations of the nations, which the Lord cast out before
the children of Israel:
33:3. And he turned, and built again the high places which
Ezechias his father had destroyed: and he built altars to
Baalim, and made groves, and he adored all the host of
heaven, and worshipped them.
The host of heaven... The sun, moon, and stars.
33:4. He built also altars in the house of the Lord,
whereof the Lord had said: In Jerusalem shall my name be
for ever.
33:5. And he built them for all the host of heaven in the
two courts of the house of the Lord.
33:6. And he made his sons to pass through the fire in the
valley of Benennom: he observed dreams, followed
divinations, gave himself up to magic arts, had with him
magicians, and enchanters: and he wrought many evils before
the Lord, to provoke him to anger.
33:7. He set also a graven, and a molten statue in the
house of God, of which God had said to David, and to
Solomon his son: In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I
have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my
name for ever.
33:8. And I will not make the foot of Israel to be removed
out of the land which I have delivered to their fathers:
yet so if they will take heed to do what I have commanded
them, and all the law, and the ceremonies, and judgments by
the hand of Moses.
33:9. So Manasses seduced Juda, and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, to do evil beyond all the nations, which the
Lord had destroyed before the face of the children of
Israel.
33:10. And the Lord spoke to his people, and they would not
hearken.
33:11. Therefore he brought upon them the captains of he
army of the king of the Assyrians: and they took Manasses,
and carried him bound with chains and fetters to Babylon.
33:12. And after that he was in distress he prayed to the
Lord his God: and did penance exceedingly before the God of
his fathers.
33:13. And he entreated him, and besought him earnestly:
and he heard his prayer, and brought him again to Jerusalem
into his kingdom, and Manasses knew that the Lord was God.
33:14. After this he built a wall without the city of
David, on the west side of Gihon in the valley, from the
entering in of the gate round about to Ophel, and raised it
up to a great height: and he appointed captains of the army
in all the fenced cities of Juda:
33:15. And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out
of the house of the Lord: the altars also which he had made
in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem,
and he cast them all out of the city.
33:16. And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed
upon it victims, and peace offerings, and praise: and he
commanded Juda to serve the Lord the God of Israel.
33:17. Nevertheless the people still sacrificed in the high
places to the Lord their God.
33:18. But the rest of the acts of Manasses, and his prayer
to his God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in
the name of the Lord the God of Israel, are contained in
the words of the kings of Israel.
33:19. His prayer also, and his being heard and all his
sins, and contempt, and places wherein he built high
places, and set up groves, and statues before he did
penance, are written in the words of Hozai.
33:20. And Manasses slept with his fathers, and they buried
him in his house: and his son Amon reigned in his stead.
33:21. Amon was two and twenty years old when he began to
reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.
33:22. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as
Manasses his father had done: he sacrificed to all the
idols which Manasses his father had made, and served them.
33:23. And he did not humble himself before the lord, as
Manasses his father had humbled himself, but committed far
greater sin.
33:24. And his servants conspired against him, and slew him
in his own house.
33:25. But the rest of the multitude of the people slew
them that had killed Amon, and made Josias his son king in
his stead.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 34
Josias destroyeth idolatry, repaireth the temple, and
reneweth the covenant between God and the people.
34:1. Josias was eight years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned one and thirty years in Jerusalem.
34:2. And he did that which was right in the sight of the
Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father: he
declined not, neither to the right hand, nor to the left.
34:3. And in the eighth year of his reign, when he was yet
a boy, he began to seek the God of his father David: and in
the twelfth year after he began to reign, he cleansed Juda
and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the
idols, and the graven things.
34:4. And they broke down before him the altars of Baalim,
and demolished the idols that had been set upon them: and
he cut down the groves and the graven things, and broke
them in pieces: and strewed the fragments upon the graves
of them that had sacrificed to them.
34:5. And he burnt the bones of the priests on the altars
of the idols, and he cleansed Juda and Jerusalem.
34:6. And in the cities of Manasses, and of Ephraim, and of
Simeon, even to Nephtali he demolished all.
34:7. And when he had destroyed the altars, and the groves,
and had broken the idols in pieces, and had demolished all
profane temples throughout all the land of Israel, he
returned to Jerusalem.
34:8. Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had
cleansed the land, and the temple of the Lord, he sent
Saphan the son of Elselias, and Maasias the governor of the
city, Joha the son of Joachaz the recorder, to repair the
house of the Lord his God.
34:9. And they came to Helcias the high priest: and
received of him the money which had been brought into the
house of the Lord, and which the Levites and porters had
gathered together from Manasses, and Ephraim, and all the
remnant of Israel, and from all Juda, and Benjamin, and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem,
34:10. Which they delivered into the hands of them that
were over the workmen in the house of the Lord, to repair
the temple, and mend all that was weak.
34:11. But they gave it to the artificers, and to the
masons, to buy stones out of the quarries, and timber for
the couplings of the building, and to rafter the houses,
which the kings of Juda had destroyed.
34:12. And they did all faithfully. Now the overseers of
the workmen were Jahath and Abdias of the sons of Merari,
Zacharias and Mosollam of the sons of Caath, who hastened
the work: all Levites skilful to play on instruments.
34:13. But over them that carried burdens for divers uses,
were scribes, and masters of the number of the Levites, and
porters.
34:14. Now when they carried out the money that had been
brought into the temple of the Lord, Helcias the priest
found the book of the law of the Lord, by the hand of
Moses.
34:15. And he said to Saphan the scribe: I have found the
book of the law in the house of the Lord: and he delivered
it to him.
34:16. But he carried the book to the king, and told him,
saying: Lo, all that thou hast committed to thy servants,
is accomplished.
34:17. They have gathered together the silver that was
found in the house of the Lord: and it is given to the
overseers of the artificers, and of the workmen, for divers
works.
34:18. Moreover Helcias the priest gave me this book. And
he read it before the king.
34:19. And when he had heard the words of the law, he rent
his garments:
34:20. And he commanded Helcias, and Ahicam the son of
Saphan, and Abdon the son of Micha, and Saphan the scribe,
and Asaa the king's servant, saying:
34:21. Go, and pray to the Lord for me, and for the remnant
of Israel, and Juda, concerning all the words of this book,
which is found: for the great wrath of the Lord hath fallen
upon us, because our fathers have not kept the words of the
Lord, to do all things that are written in this book.
34:22. And Helcias and they that were sent with him by the
king, went to Olda the prophetess, the wife of Sellum the
son of Thecuath, the son of Hasra keeper of the wardrobe:
who dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second part: and they spoke
to her the words above mentioned.
34:23. And she answered them: Thus saith the Lord the God
of Israel: Tell the man that sent you to me:
34:24. Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring evils upon
this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, and all the
curses that are written in this book which they read before
the king of Juda.
34:25. Because they have forsaken me, and have sacrificed
to strange gods, to provoke me to wrath with all the works
of their hands, therefore my wrath shall fail upon this
place, and shall not be quenched.
34:26. But as to the king of Juda that sent you to beseech
the Lord, thus shall you say to him: Thus saith the Lord
the God of Israel: Because thou hast heard the words of
this book,
34:27. And thy heart was softened, and thou hast humbled
thyself in the sight of God for the things that are spoken
against this place, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and
reverencing my face, hast rent thy garments, and wept
before me: I also have heard thee, saith the Lord.
34:28. For now I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou
shalt be brought to thy tomb in peace: and thy eyes shall
not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and
the inhabitants thereof. They therefore reported to the
king all that she had said.
34:29. And he called together all the ancients of Juda and
Jerusalem.
34:30. And went up to the house of the Lord, and all the
men of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests
and the Levites, and all the people from the least to the
greatest. And the king read in their hearing, in the house
of the Lord, all the words of the book.
34:31. And standing up in his tribunal, he made a covenant
before the Lord to walk after him, and keep his
commandments, and testimonies, and justifications with all
his heart, and with all his soul, and to do the things that
were written in that book which he had read.
34:32. And he adjured all that were found in Jerusalem and
Benjamin to do the same: and the inhabitants of Jerusalem
did according to the covenant of the Lord the God of their
fathers.
34:33. And Josias took away all the abominations out of all
the countries of the children of Israel and made all that
were left in Israel, to serve the Lord their God. As long
as he lived they departed not from the Lord the God of
their fathers.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 35
Josias celebrateth a most solemn pasch. He is slain by the
king of Egypt.
35:1. And Josias kept a phase to the Lord in Jerusalem, and
it was sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the first month.
35:2. And he set the priests in their offices, and exhorted
them to minister in the house of the Lord.
35:3. And he spoke to the Levites, by whose instruction all
Israel was sanctified to the Lord, saying: Put the ark in
the sanctuary of the temple, which Solomon the son of David
king of Israel built: for you shall carry it no more: but
minister now to the Lord your God, and to his people
Israel.
35:4. And prepare yourselves by your houses, and families
according to your courses, as David king of Israel
commanded, and Solomon his son hath written.
35:5. And serve ye in the sanctuary by the families and
companies of Levi.
35:6. And being sanctified kill the phase, and prepare your
brethren, that they may do according to the words which the
Lord spoke by the hand of Moses.
35:7. And Josias gave to all the people that were found
there in the solemnity of the phase, of lambs and of kids
of the flocks, and of other small cattle thirty thousand,
and of oxen three thousand, all these were of the king's
substance.
35:8. And his princes willingly offered what they had
vowed, both to the people and to the priests and the
Levites. Moreover Helcias, and Zacharias, and Jahiel rulers
of the house of the Lord, gave to the priests to keep the
phase two thousand six hundred small cattle, and three
hundred oxen.
35:9. And Chonenias, and Semeias and Nathanael, his
brethren, and Hasabias, and Jehiel, and Jozabad princes of
the Levites, gave to the rest of the Levites to celebrate
the phase five thousand small cattle, and five hundred
oxen.
35:10. And the ministry was prepared, and the priests stood
in their office: the Levites also in their companies,
according to the king's commandment.
35:11. And the phase was immolated: and the priests
sprinkled the blood with their hand, and the Levites flayed
the holocausts:
35:12. And they separated them, to give them by the houses
and families of every one, and to be offered to the Lord,
as it is written in the book of Moses, and with the oxen
they did in like manner.
35:13. And they roasted the phase with fire, according to
that which is written in the law: but the victims of peace
offerings they boiled in caldrons, and kettles, and pots,
and they distributed them speedily among all the people.
35:14. And afterwards they made ready for themselves, and
for the priests: for the priests were busied in offering of
holocausts and the fat until night, wherefore the Levites
prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of
Aaron last.
35:15. And the singers the sons of Asaph stood in their
order, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph,
and Heman, and Idithun, the prophets of the king: and the
porters kept guard at every gate, so as not to depart one
moment from their service, and therefore their brethren the
Levites prepared meats for them.
35:16. So all the service of the Lord was duly accomplished
that day, both in keeping the phase and offering holocausts
upon the altar of the Lord, according to the commandment of
king Josias.
35:17. And the children of Israel that were found there,
kept the phase at that time, and the feast of unleavened
seven days.
35:18. There was no phase like to this in Israel, from the
days of Samuel the prophet: neither did any of all the
kings of Israel keep such a phase as Josias kept, with the
priests, and the Levites, and all Juda, and Israel that
were found, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
35:19. In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josias was
this phase celebrated.
35:20. After that Josias had repaired the temple, Nechao
king of Egypt came up to fight in Charcamis by the
Euphrates: and Josias went out to meet him.
35:21. But he sent messengers to him, saying: What have I
to do with thee, O king of Juda? I come not against thee
this day, but I fight against another house, to which God
hath commanded me to go in haste: forbear to do against
God, who is with me, lest he kill thee.
35:22. Josias would not return, but prepared to fight
against him, and hearkened not to the words of Nechao from
the mouth of God, but went to fight in the field of
Mageddo.
35:23. And there he was wounded by the archers, and he said
to his servants: Carry me out of the battle, for I am
grievously wounded.
35:24. And they removed him from the chariot into another,
that followed him after the manner of kings, and they
carried him away to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried
in the monument of his fathers, and all Juda and Jerusalem
mourned for him,
35:25. Particularly Jeremias: whose lamentations for Josias
all the singing men and singing women repeat unto this day,
and it became like a law in Israel: Behold it is found
written in the Lamentations.
35:26. Now the rest of the acts of Josias and of his
mercies, according to what was commanded by the law of the
Lord:
35:27. And his works first and last, are written in the
book of the kings of Juda and Israel.
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 36
The reigns of Joachaz, Joakim, Joachin, and Sedecias: the
captivity of Babylon released at length by Cyrus.
36:1. Then the people of the land took Joachaz the son of
Josias, and made him king instead of his father in
Jerusalem.
36:2. Joachaz was three and twenty years old when he began
to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
36:3. And the king of Egypt came to Jerusalem, and deposed
him, and condemned the land in a hundred talents of silver,
and a talent of gold.
36:4. And he made Eliakim his brother king in his stead,
over Juda and Jerusalem: and he turned his name to Joakim:
but he took Joachaz with him and carried him away into
Egypt.
36:5. Joakim was five and twenty years old when he began to
reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did
evil before the Lord his God.
36:6. Against him came up Nabuchodonosor king of the
Chaldeans, and led him bound in chains into Babylon.
36:7. And he carried also thither the vessels of the Lord,
and put them in his temple.
36:8. But the rest of the acts of Joakim, and his
abominations, which he wrought, and the things that were
found in him, are contained in the book of the kings of
Juda and Israel. And Joachin his son reigned in his stead.
36:9. Joachin was eight years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem, and
he did evil in the sight of the Lord.
Eight years old... He was associated by his father to the
kingdom, when he was but eight years old; but after his
father's death, when he reigned alone, he was eighteen
years old. 4 Kings 24.8.
36:10. And at the return of the year, king Nabuchodonosor
sent, and brought him to Babylon, carrying away at the same
time the most precious vessels of the house of the Lord:
and he made Sedecias his uncle king over Juda and
Jerusalem.
36:11. Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began
to reign: and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
36:12. And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God, and
did not reverence the face of Jeremias the prophet speaking
to him from the mouth of the Lord.
36:13. He also revolted from king Nabuchodonosor, who had
made him swear by God: and he hardened his neck and his
heart, from returning to the Lord the God of Israel.
36:14. Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the
people wickedly transgressed according to all the
abominations of the Gentiles: and they defiled the house of
the Lord, which he had sanctified to himself in Jerusalem.
36:15. And the Lord the God of their fathers sent to them,
by the hand of his messengers, rising early, and daily
admonishing them: because he spared his people and his
dwelling place.
36:16. But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised
his words, and misused the prophets, until the wrath of the
Lord arose against his people, and there was no remedy.
36:17. For he brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans,
and he slew their young men with the sword in the house of
his sanctuary, he had no compassion on young man, or
maiden, old man or even him that stooped for age, but he
delivered them all into his hands.
36:18. And all the vessels of the house of Lord, great and
small, and the treasures of the temple and of the king, and
of the princes he carried away to Babylon.
36:19. And the enemies set fire to the house of God, and
broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burnt all the towers, and
what soever was precious they destroyed.
36:20. Whosoever escaped the sword, was led into Babylon,
and there served the king and his sons, till the reign of
the king of Persia,
36:21. That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremias
might be fulfilled, and the land might keep her sabbaths:
for all the days of the desolation she kept a sabbath, till
the seventy years were expired.
36:22. But in the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians,
to fulfil the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by the
mouth of Jeremias, the Lord stirred up the heart of Cyrus,
king of the Persians: who commanded it to be proclaimed
through all his kingdom, and by writing also, saying:
36:23. Thus saith Cyrus king of the Persians: All the
kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord the God of heaven given
to me, and he hath charged me to build him a house in
Jerusalem, which is in Judea: who is there among you of all
his people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go
up.
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