# verses

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<f>ⓦ</f> But me, your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon he has not invited.


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Has this thing been brought about by my lord the king and you have not told your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”


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<pb/>Then King David answered, “Call Bathsheba to me.” So she came into the king's presence and stood before the king.


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And the king swore, saying, <f>ⓧ</f>“As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my soul out of every adversity,


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<f>ⓨ</f> as I swore to you by the LORD, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,’ even so will I do this day.”


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Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground and paid homage to the king and said, <f>ⓩ</f>“May my lord King David live forever!”


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<pb/>King David said, “Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” So they came before the king.


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And the king said to them, “Take with you <f>ⓐ</f>the servants of your lord and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and bring him down to <f>ⓑ</f>Gihon.


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And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet there <f>ⓒ</f>anoint him king over Israel. <f>ⓓ</f>Then blow the trumpet and say, <f>ⓔ</f>‘Long live King Solomon!’


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You shall then come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, for he shall be king in my place. And I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.”


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And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, “Amen! May the LORD, the God of my lord the king, say so.


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<f>ⓕ</f> As the LORD has been with my lord the king, even so may he be with Solomon, <f>ⓖ</f>and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.”


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<pb/>So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, <f>ⓗ</f>and the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David's mule and brought him to Gihon.


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There Zadok the priest took the horn of <f>ⓘ</f>oil from the tent and <f>ⓙ</f>anointed Solomon. <f>ⓚ</f>Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, <f>ⓛ</f>“Long live King Solomon!”


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And all the people went up after him, playing on pipes, and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth was split by their noise.


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<pb/>Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished feasting. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “What does this uproar in the city mean?”


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While he was still speaking, behold, <f>ⓜ</f>Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. And Adonijah said, “Come in, <f>ⓝ</f>for you are a worthy man and bring good news.”


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and the king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the <f>ⓞ</f>Cherethites and the Pelethites. And they had him ride on the king's mule.


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And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at <f>ⓟ</f>Gihon, and they have gone up from there rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar. This is the noise that you have heard.


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Moreover, the king's servants came to congratulate our lord King David, saying, <f>ⓡ</f>‘May your God make the name of Solomon more famous than yours, and make his throne greater than your throne.’ And the king <f>ⓢ</f>bowed himself on the bed.


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And the king also said, ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, <f>ⓣ</f>who has granted someone <f>[4]</f> to sit on my throne this day, my own eyes seeing it.’”


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And Adonijah feared Solomon. So he arose and went <f>ⓤ</f>and took hold of <f>ⓥ</f>the horns of the altar.


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Then it was told Solomon, “Behold, Adonijah fears King Solomon, for behold, he has laid hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’”


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And Solomon said, “If he will show himself a worthy man, <f>ⓦ</f>not one of his hairs shall fall to the earth, but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.”


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So King Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and paid homage to King Solomon, and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.”


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and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, <f>ⓓ</f>that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn,


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that the LORD may <f>ⓔ</f>establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, <f>ⓕ</f>‘If your sons pay close attention to their way, <f>ⓖ</f>to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, <f>ⓗ</f>you shall not lack <f>[1]</f> a man on the throne of Israel.’


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<pb/>“Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah <f>ⓘ</f>did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, <f>ⓙ</f>Abner the son of Ner, <f>ⓚ</f>and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, avenging <f>[2]</f> in time of peace for blood that had been shed in war, and putting the blood of war <f>[3]</f> on the belt around his <f>[4]</f> waist and on the sandals on his feet.


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Act therefore <f>ⓛ</f>according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.


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But deal loyally with the sons of <f>ⓜ</f>Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be <f>ⓝ</f>among those who eat at your table, <f>ⓞ</f>for with such loyalty <f>[5]</f> they met me when I fled from Absalom your brother.


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And there is also with you <f>ⓟ</f>Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse on the day <f>ⓠ</f>when I went to Mahanaim. <f>ⓡ</f>But when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’


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Now therefore do not hold him guiltless, <f>ⓢ</f>for you are a wise man. You will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall <f>ⓣ</f>bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol.”


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And the time that David reigned over Israel was <f>ⓦ</f>forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.


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<pb/>Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, <f>ⓨ</f>“Do you come peacefully?” He said, “Peacefully.”


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He said, “You know that <f>ⓩ</f>the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel fully expected me to reign. However, the kingdom has turned about and become my brother's, <f>ⓐ</f>for it was his from the LORD.


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And he said, “Please ask King Solomon — he will not refuse you — to give me <f>ⓑ</f>Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”


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<pb/>So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her and bowed down to her. Then he sat on his throne and had a seat brought for the king's mother, <f>ⓒ</f>and she sat on his right.


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Then she said, “I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Make your request, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”


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King Solomon answered his mother, “And why do you ask <f>ⓔ</f>Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, <f>ⓕ</f>for he is my older brother, and on his side <f>ⓖ</f>are Abiathar <f>[6]</f> the priest and Joab the son of Zeruiah.”


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Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, <f>ⓗ</f>“God do so to me and more also if this word does not cost Adonijah his life!


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Now therefore <f>ⓘ</f>as the LORD lives, who has established me and placed me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, <f>ⓙ</f>as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today.”


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<pb/>And to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to <f>ⓛ</f>Anathoth, to your estate, for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death, <f>ⓜ</f>because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, <f>ⓝ</f>and because you shared in all my father's affliction.”


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<f>ⓞ</f> So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, thus fulfilling <f>ⓟ</f>the word of the LORD that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.


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<pb/>When the news came to Joab — for Joab <f>ⓠ</f>had supported Adonijah although <f>ⓡ</f>he had not supported Absalom — Joab fled to the tent of the LORD and caught hold of the <f>ⓢ</f>horns of the altar.


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And when it was told King Solomon, “Joab has fled to the tent of the LORD, and behold, he is beside the altar,” Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down.”


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So Benaiah came to the tent of the LORD and said to him, “The king commands, ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No, I will die here.” Then Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.”


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The king replied to him, <f>ⓣ</f>“Do as he has said, strike him down and bury him, <f>ⓤ</f>and thus take away from me and from my father's house the guilt for the blood that Joab shed without cause.


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The LORD will <f>ⓥ</f>bring back his bloody deeds on his own head, because, without the knowledge of my father David, he attacked and killed with the sword two men <f>ⓦ</f>more righteous and better than himself, <f>ⓧ</f>Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and <f>ⓨ</f>Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.


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<f>ⓩ</f> So shall their blood come back on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever. But for David and for his descendants and for his house and for his throne there shall be peace from the LORD forevermore.”


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Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and struck him down and put him to death. And he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.


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<f>ⓐ</f> The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in place of Joab, and the king put <f>ⓑ</f>Zadok the priest <f>ⓒ</f>in the place of Abiathar.


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<pb/>Then the king sent and summoned <f>ⓓ</f>Shimei and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there to any place whatever.


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For on the day you go out and cross <f>ⓔ</f>the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall die. <f>ⓕ</f>Your blood shall be on your own head.”


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And Shimei said to the king, “What you say is good; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.


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<pb/>But it happened at the end of three years that two of Shimei's servants ran away to <f>ⓖ</f>Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. And when it was told Shimei, “Behold, your servants are in Gath,”


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Shimei arose and saddled a donkey and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants. Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.


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the king sent and summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD and solemnly warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go out and go to any place whatever, you shall die’? And you said to me, ‘What you say is good; I will obey.’


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The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your own heart <f>ⓗ</f>all the harm that you did to David my father. So the LORD will <f>ⓘ</f>bring back your harm on your own head.


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But King Solomon shall be blessed, <f>ⓙ</f>and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever.”


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Then the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down, and he died. <pb/><f>ⓚ</f>So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into <f>ⓑ</f>the city of David until he had finished <f>ⓒ</f>building his own house <f>ⓓ</f>and the house of the LORD <f>ⓔ</f>and the wall around Jerusalem.


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<f>ⓕ</f> The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the LORD.


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<pb/>Solomon <f>ⓖ</f>loved the LORD, <f>ⓗ</f>walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places.


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And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, <f>ⓘ</f>for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.


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<f>ⓙ</f> At Gibeon <f>ⓚ</f>the LORD appeared to Solomon <f>ⓛ</f>in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.”


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And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because <f>ⓜ</f>he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and <f>ⓝ</f>have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.


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And now, O LORD my God, <f>ⓞ</f>you have made your servant king in place of David my father, <f>ⓟ</f>although I am but a little child. I do not know <f>ⓠ</f>how to go out or come in.


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<f>ⓡ</f> And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, <f>ⓢ</f>too many to be numbered or counted for multitude.


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<f>ⓣ</f> Give your servant therefore an understanding mind <f>ⓤ</f>to govern your people, that I may <f>ⓥ</f>discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”


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And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right,


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behold, <f>ⓦ</f>I now do according to your word. Behold, <f>ⓧ</f>I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.


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<f>ⓨ</f> I give you also what you have not asked, <f>ⓩ</f>both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days.


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And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, <f>ⓐ</f>as your father David walked, then <f>ⓑ</f>I will lengthen your days.”


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<pb/>And Solomon <f>ⓒ</f>awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.


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The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house.


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Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were alone. There was no one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house.


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And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast.


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When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had borne.”


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But the other woman said, “No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.” Thus they spoke before the king.


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<pb/>Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’”


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And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.”


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Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because <f>ⓔ</f>her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.”


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Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.”


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And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that <f>ⓕ</f>the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.


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Elihoreph and Ahijah the sons of Shisha were secretaries; <f>ⓑ</f>Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder;


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<f>ⓒ</f> Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the army; <f>ⓓ</f>Zadok and Abiathar were priests;


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Azariah the son of Nathan was over <f>ⓔ</f>the officers; Zabud the son of Nathan was priest and <f>ⓕ</f>king's friend;


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Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and <f>ⓖ</f>Adoniram the son of Abda was in charge of <f>ⓗ</f>the forced labor.


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<pb/>Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household. Each man had to make provision for one month in the year.


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Baana the son of Ahilud, in <f>ⓚ</f>Taanach, Megiddo, and all <f>ⓛ</f>Beth-shean that is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, and from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as the other side of Jokmeam;


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Ben-geber, <f>ⓜ</f>in Ramoth-gilead (he had <f>ⓝ</f>the villages of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, and he had <f>ⓞ</f>the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);


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Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, <f>ⓠ</f>the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. And there was one governor who was over the land.


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<pb/>Judah and Israel were as many <f>ⓡ</f>as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy.


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<f>[1]</f> <f>ⓢ</f>Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the <f>ⓣ</f>Euphrates <f>[2]</f> to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. <f>ⓤ</f>They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.


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<pb/>Solomon's provision for one day was thirty cors <f>[3]</f> of fine flour and sixty cors of meal,


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ten fat oxen, and twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl.


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For he had dominion over all the region west of the Euphrates <f>[4]</f> from Tiphsah to <f>ⓥ</f>Gaza, over all the kings west of the Euphrates. <f>ⓦ</f>And he had peace on all sides around him.


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And Judah and Israel <f>ⓧ</f>lived in safety, <f>ⓨ</f>from Dan even to Beersheba, <f>ⓩ</f>every man under his vine and under his fig tree, all the days of Solomon.


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And those officers supplied provisions for King Solomon, and for all who came to King Solomon's table, each one in his month. They let nothing be lacking.


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Barley also and straw for the horses and <f>ⓑ</f>swift steeds they brought to the place where it was required, each according to his duty.


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<pb/><f>ⓒ</f> And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind <f>ⓓ</f>like the sand on the seashore,


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so that Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all <f>ⓔ</f>the people of the east <f>ⓕ</f>and all the wisdom of Egypt.


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For he was <f>ⓖ</f>wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations.


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He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish.


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And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from <f>ⓙ</f>all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.


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<pb/><f>[1]</f> Now <f>ⓐ</f>Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, <f>ⓑ</f>for Hiram always loved David.


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<f>ⓒ</f> “You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God <f>ⓓ</f>because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.


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<f>ⓔ</f> But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune.


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And so I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, <f>ⓕ</f>as the LORD said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’


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Now therefore command that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. And my servants will join your servants, and I will pay you for your servants such wages as you set, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”


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<pb/>As soon as Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, “Blessed be the LORD this day, who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people.”


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And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have heard the message that you have sent to me. I am ready to do all you desire in the matter of cedar and cypress timber.


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My servants shall bring it down to the sea from Lebanon, and I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place you direct. And I will have them broken up there, and you shall receive it. And you shall meet my wishes <f>ⓖ</f>by providing food for my household.”


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while Solomon gave Hiram 20,000 cors <f>[2]</f> of wheat as food for his household, and 20,000 <f>[3]</f> cors of beaten oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year.


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And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, <f>ⓗ</f>as he promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.


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<pb/>King Solomon drafted <f>ⓘ</f>forced labor out of all Israel, and the draft numbered 30,000 men.


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And he sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in shifts. They would be a month in Lebanon and two months at home. <f>ⓙ</f>Adoniram was in charge of the draft.


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besides Solomon's 3,300 <f>ⓛ</f>chief officers who were over the work, <f>ⓜ</f>who had charge of the people who carried on the work.


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At the king's command <f>ⓝ</f>they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones.


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So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and <f>ⓞ</f>the men of Gebal did the cutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, <f>ⓑ</f>he began to build the house of the LORD.


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<f>ⓒ</f> The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits <f>[1]</f> long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.


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The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house.


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<f>ⓔ</f> He also built a structure <f>[3]</f> against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and <f>ⓕ</f>the inner sanctuary. And he made <f>ⓖ</f>side chambers all around.


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The lowest story <f>[4]</f> was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.


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<pb/>When the house was built, <f>ⓗ</f>it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.


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<pb/>The entrance for the lowest <f>[5]</f> story was on the south side of the house, and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third.


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<f>ⓘ</f> So he built the house and finished it, and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar.


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He built the structure against the whole house, five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.


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“Concerning this house that you are building, <f>ⓙ</f>if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, <f>ⓚ</f>which I spoke to David your father.


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And <f>ⓛ</f>I will dwell among the children of Israel <f>ⓜ</f>and will not forsake my people Israel.”


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He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, <f>ⓞ</f>and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress.


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<f>ⓟ</f> He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as <f>ⓠ</f>the Most Holy Place.


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The cedar within the house was carved in the form of <f>ⓡ</f>gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen.


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The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD.


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The inner sanctuary <f>[6]</f> was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid <f>[7]</f> an altar of cedar.


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And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold.


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And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. <f>ⓢ</f>Also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.


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<pb/><f>ⓣ</f> In the inner sanctuary <f>ⓤ</f>he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high.


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Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other.


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He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house. <f>ⓥ</f>And the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house.


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<pb/>Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms.


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<pb/>For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided. <f>[8]</f>


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He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.


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and two doors of cypress wood. <f>ⓦ</f>The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.


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On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work.


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<pb/><f>ⓨ</f> In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid, in the month of Ziv.


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And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.


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<pb/>He built <f>ⓑ</f>the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was a hundred cubits <f>[1]</f> and its breadth fifty cubits and its height thirty cubits, and it was built on four <f>[2]</f> rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars.


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And it was covered with cedar above the chambers that were on the forty-five pillars, fifteen in each row.


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All the doorways and windows <f>[3]</f> had square frames, and window was opposite window in three tiers.


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<pb/>And he made <f>ⓒ</f>the Hall of Pillars; its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth thirty cubits. There was a porch in front with pillars, and <f>ⓓ</f>a canopy in front of them.


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<pb/>And he made the Hall of the Throne where he was to pronounce judgment, even the Hall of Judgment. <f>ⓔ</f>It was finished with cedar from floor to rafters. <f>[4]</f>


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<pb/>His own house where he was to dwell, in the other court back of the hall, was of like workmanship. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter <f>ⓕ</f>whom he had taken in marriage.


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<pb/>All these were made of costly stones, cut according to measure, sawed with saws, back and front, even from the foundation to the coping, and from the outside to the great court.


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<f>ⓖ</f> The great court had three courses of cut stone all around, and a course of cedar beams; so had the inner court of the house of the LORD and <f>ⓗ</f>the vestibule of the house.


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He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze. And <f>ⓙ</f>he was full of wisdom, understanding, and skill for making any work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all his work.


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<pb/><f>ⓚ</f> He cast <f>ⓛ</f>two pillars of bronze. <f>ⓜ</f>Eighteen cubits was the height of one pillar, and a line of twelve cubits measured its circumference. It was hollow, and its thickness was four fingers. The second pillar was the same. <f>[5]</f>


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He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and <f>ⓝ</f>the height of the other capital was five cubits.


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There were lattices of checker work with wreaths of chain work for the capitals on the tops of the pillars, a lattice <f>[6]</f> for the one capital and a lattice for the other capital.


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Likewise he made pomegranates <f>[7]</f> in two rows around the one latticework to cover the capital that was on the top of the pillar, and he did the same with the other capital.


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Now the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars in the vestibule were of lily-work, four cubits.


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The capitals were on the two pillars and also above the rounded projection which was beside the latticework. There were <f>ⓞ</f>two hundred pomegranates in two rows all around, and so with the other capital.


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<f>ⓟ</f> He set up the pillars at the vestibule of the temple. He set up the pillar on the south and called its name Jachin, and he set up the pillar on the north and called its name Boaz.


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<pb/><f>ⓠ</f> Then he made <f>ⓡ</f>the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.


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Under its brim were <f>ⓢ</f>gourds, for ten cubits, compassing the sea all around. The gourds were in two rows, cast with it when it was cast.


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It stood on <f>ⓣ</f>twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and all their rear parts were inward.


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Its thickness was a handbreadth, <f>[8]</f> and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths. <f>[9]</f>


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<pb/>He also made the <f>ⓤ</f>ten stands of bronze. Each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.


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and on the panels that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames, both above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths of beveled work.


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Moreover, each stand had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and at the four corners were supports for a basin. The supports were cast with wreaths at the side of each.


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Its opening was within a crown that projected upward one cubit. Its opening was round, as a pedestal is made, a cubit and a half deep. At its opening there were carvings, and its panels were square, not round.


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And the four wheels were underneath the panels. The axles of the wheels were of one piece with the stands, and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.


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The wheels were made like a chariot wheel; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast.


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There were four supports at the four corners of each stand. The supports were of one piece with the stands.


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And on the top of the stand there was a round band half a cubit high; and on the top of the stand its stays and its panels were of one piece with it.


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And on the surfaces of its stays and on its panels, he carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths all around.


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After this manner he made <f>ⓥ</f>the ten stands. All of them were cast alike, of the same measure and the same form.


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<pb/>And he made <f>ⓦ</f>ten basins of bronze. Each basin held forty baths, each basin measured four cubits, and there was a basin for each of the ten stands.


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And he set the stands, five on the south side of the house, and five on the north side of the house. And he set the sea at the southeast corner of the house.


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<pb/><f>ⓧ</f> Hiram also made <f>ⓨ</f>the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of the LORD:


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the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars, and the two <f>ⓩ</f>latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars;


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and the <f>ⓐ</f>four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars;


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<pb/>Now <f>ⓒ</f>the pots, the shovels, and the basins, all these vessels in the house of the LORD, which Hiram made for King Solomon, were of burnished bronze.


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In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between <f>ⓓ</f>Succoth and <f>ⓔ</f>Zarethan.


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And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them; <f>ⓕ</f>the weight of the bronze was not ascertained.


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<pb/>So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the LORD: <f>ⓖ</f>the golden altar, <f>ⓗ</f>the golden table for <f>ⓘ</f>the bread of the Presence,


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<f>ⓙ</f> the lampstands of pure gold, five on the south side and five on the north, before the inner sanctuary; <f>ⓚ</f>the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold;


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the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and <f>ⓛ</f>fire pans, of pure gold; and the sockets of gold, for the doors of the innermost part of the house, <f>ⓜ</f>the Most Holy Place, and for the doors of the nave of the temple.


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<pb/>Thus all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the LORD was finished. And Solomon brought in <f>ⓝ</f>the things that David his father had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and stored them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, <f>ⓑ</f>the leaders of the fathers' houses of the people of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, <f>ⓒ</f>to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of <f>ⓓ</f>the city of David, which is Zion.


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And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at <f>ⓔ</f>the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.


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And they brought up the ark of the LORD, <f>ⓖ</f>the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up.


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And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, <f>ⓗ</f>sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.


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<f>ⓘ</f> Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD <f>ⓙ</f>to its place in <f>ⓚ</f>the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim.


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For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles.


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<f>ⓛ</f> And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before <f>ⓜ</f>the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day.


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There was nothing in the ark except <f>ⓝ</f>the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where <f>ⓞ</f>the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.


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so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.


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<pb/><f>ⓠ</f> Then Solomon said, “The LORD <f>[1]</f> has said that he would dwell <f>ⓡ</f>in thick darkness.


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Then the king turned around and <f>ⓤ</f>blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood.


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And he said, <f>ⓥ</f>“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled <f>ⓦ</f>what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying,


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<f>ⓧ</f> ‘Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, <f>ⓨ</f>that my name might be there. <f>ⓩ</f>But I chose David to be over my people Israel.’


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<f>ⓐ</f> Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.


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But the LORD said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.


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<f>ⓑ</f> Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’


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Now the LORD has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, <f>ⓒ</f>as the LORD promised, and I have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.


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And there I have provided a place for the ark, <f>ⓓ</f>in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”


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<pb/>Then Solomon <f>ⓔ</f>stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and <f>ⓕ</f>spread out his hands toward heaven,


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and said, “O LORD, God of Israel, <f>ⓖ</f>there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, <f>ⓗ</f>keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart;


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you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. <f>ⓘ</f>You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day.


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Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, <f>ⓙ</f>‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’


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<f>ⓚ</f> Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father.


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<pb/>“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, <f>ⓛ</f>heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!


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Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day,


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<f>ⓜ</f> that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, <f>ⓝ</f>‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place.


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And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.


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<pb/>“If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take <f>ⓞ</f>an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house,


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then hear in heaven and act and judge your servants, <f>ⓟ</f>condemning the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.


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<pb/><f>ⓠ</f> “When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and <f>ⓡ</f>if they turn again to you and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house,


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then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to their fathers.


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<pb/><f>ⓢ</f> “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them,


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then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when <f>ⓣ</f>you teach them <f>ⓤ</f>the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.


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<pb/><f>ⓥ</f> “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemy besieges them in the land at their gates, <f>[2]</f> whatever plague, whatever sickness there is,


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whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house,


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then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (<f>ⓦ</f>for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind),


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that they may fear you <f>ⓧ</f>all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.


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<pb/>“Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name's sake


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(for they shall hear of your great name <f>ⓨ</f>and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house,


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hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order <f>ⓩ</f>that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and <f>ⓐ</f>fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.


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<pb/>“If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the LORD <f>ⓑ</f>toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,


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<pb/>“If they sin against you — <f>ⓒ</f>for there is no one who does not sin — and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive <f>ⓓ</f>to the land of the enemy, far off or near,


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yet <f>ⓔ</f>if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, <f>ⓕ</f>‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’


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<f>ⓖ</f> if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you <f>ⓗ</f>toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name,


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and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and <f>ⓘ</f>grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them


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(<f>ⓙ</f>for they are your people, and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, <f>ⓚ</f>from the midst of the iron furnace).


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<f>ⓛ</f> Let your eyes be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, giving ear to them whenever they call to you.


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For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be your heritage, <f>ⓜ</f>as you declared through Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.”


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<pb/><f>ⓝ</f> Now as Solomon finished offering all this prayer and plea to the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had <f>ⓞ</f>knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven.


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“Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. <f>ⓠ</f>Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant.


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that he may <f>ⓢ</f>incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers.


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Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires,


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<f>ⓥ</f> Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”


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Solomon offered as peace offerings to the LORD 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD.


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The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD, for there he offered the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings, because <f>ⓨ</f>the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to receive the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings.


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<pb/>So Solomon held <f>ⓩ</f>the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from <f>ⓐ</f>Lebo-hamath to <f>ⓑ</f>the Brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days. <f>[3]</f>


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On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> As soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD <f>ⓑ</f>and the king's house and <f>ⓒ</f>all that Solomon desired to build,


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And the LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, <f>ⓔ</f>by putting my name there forever. <f>ⓕ</f>My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.


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And as for you, if you will <f>ⓖ</f>walk before me, <f>ⓗ</f>as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules,


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<f>ⓘ</f> then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’


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<f>ⓙ</f> But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,


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<f>ⓚ</f> then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, <f>ⓛ</f>and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, <f>ⓜ</f>and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.


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And this house will become a heap of ruins. <f>[1]</f> Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, <f>ⓝ</f>‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’


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Then they will say, ‘Because <f>ⓞ</f>they abandoned the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the LORD has brought all this disaster on them.’”


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<pb/><f>ⓟ</f> At the end of <f>ⓠ</f>twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD and the king's house,


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and Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.


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But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him.


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Therefore he said, “What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?” So they are called the land of <f>ⓡ</f>Cabul to this day.


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<pb/>And this is the account of <f>ⓢ</f>the forced labor that King Solomon drafted to build the house of the LORD and his own house and <f>ⓣ</f>the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and <f>ⓤ</f>Hazor and <f>ⓥ</f>Megiddo and Gezer


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(Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed <f>ⓦ</f>the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to <f>ⓧ</f>his daughter, Solomon's wife;


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and all the store cities that Solomon had, and <f>ⓩ</f>the cities for his chariots, and the cities for <f>ⓐ</f>his horsemen, and whatever Solomon <f>ⓑ</f>desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.


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All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel —


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<f>ⓒ</f> their descendants who were left after them in the land, <f>ⓓ</f>whom the people of Israel were unable to devote to destruction <f>[4]</f> — <f>ⓔ</f>these Solomon drafted to be <f>ⓕ</f>slaves, and so they are to this day.


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But <f>ⓖ</f>of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves. They were the soldiers, they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, his chariot commanders and his horsemen.


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<pb/>These were the chief officers who were over Solomon's work: <f>ⓗ</f>550 <f>ⓘ</f>who had charge of the people who carried on the work.


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<pb/>But <f>ⓙ</f>Pharaoh's daughter went up from the city of David to <f>ⓚ</f>her own house that Solomon had built for her. <f>ⓛ</f>Then he built <f>ⓜ</f>the Millo.


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<pb/>Three times a year Solomon used to offer up burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he built to the LORD, making offerings with it <f>[5]</f> before the LORD. So he finished the house.


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<pb/>King Solomon built a fleet of ships at <f>ⓝ</f>Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.


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And Hiram sent <f>ⓞ</f>with the fleet his servants, seamen who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon.


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And they went to <f>ⓟ</f>Ophir and brought from there gold, 420 talents, and they brought it to King Solomon.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Now when <f>ⓑ</f>the queen of <f>ⓒ</f>Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came <f>ⓓ</f>to test him with hard questions.


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She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels <f>ⓔ</f>bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind.


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And Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her.


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the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the LORD, there was no more breath in her.


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<pb/>And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom,


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but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard.


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<f>ⓕ</f> Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!


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<f>ⓖ</f> Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! <f>ⓗ</f>Because the LORD loved Israel forever, he has made you king, <f>ⓘ</f>that you may execute justice and righteousness.”


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<f>ⓙ</f> Then she gave the king 120 talents <f>[1]</f> of gold, and a very great quantity of spices and precious stones. Never again came such an abundance of spices as these that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.


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<pb/>Moreover, <f>ⓚ</f>the fleet of Hiram, which brought <f>ⓛ</f>gold from Ophir, brought from Ophir a very great amount of almug wood and precious stones.


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And the king made of the almug wood supports for the house of the LORD and for the king's house, also lyres and harps for the singers. No such almug wood has come or been seen to this day.


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<pb/>And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked besides what was given her by the bounty of King Solomon. So she turned and went back to her own land with her servants.


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besides that which came from the explorers and from the business of the merchants, and from all the kings of the west and from the governors of the land.


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King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold; 600 shekels <f>[2]</f> of gold went into each shield.


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And he made 300 <f>ⓝ</f>shields of beaten gold; three minas <f>[3]</f> of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in <f>ⓞ</f>the House of the Forest of Lebanon.


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The throne had six steps, and the throne had a round top, <f>[4]</f> and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests,


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while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the six steps. The like of it was never made in any kingdom.


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All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of <f>ⓟ</f>the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon.


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For the king had <f>ⓠ</f>a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. <f>[5]</f>


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And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.


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Every one of them brought his present, articles of silver and gold, garments, myrrh, <f>[6]</f> spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.


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<pb/><f>ⓢ</f> And Solomon gathered together <f>ⓣ</f>chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the <f>ⓤ</f>chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.


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And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as <f>ⓥ</f>the sycamore of the Shephelah.


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And Solomon's <f>ⓦ</f>import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king's traders received them from Kue at a price.


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A chariot could be imported from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver and a horse for 150, and so through the king's traders they were exported to all the kings of <f>ⓧ</f>the Hittites and the kings of Syria.


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<pb/>Now <f>ⓐ</f>King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,


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from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, <f>ⓑ</f>“You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.


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For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and <f>ⓒ</f>his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, <f>ⓓ</f>as was the heart of David his father.


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For Solomon went after <f>ⓔ</f>Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after <f>ⓕ</f>Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.


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So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done.


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Then Solomon built a high place for <f>ⓖ</f>Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for <f>ⓗ</f>Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem.


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<pb/>And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because <f>ⓘ</f>his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, <f>ⓙ</f>who had appeared to him twice


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and <f>ⓚ</f>had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded.


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Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, <f>ⓛ</f>I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.


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Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.


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However, <f>ⓜ</f>I will not tear away all the kingdom, but <f>ⓝ</f>I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem <f>ⓞ</f>that I have chosen.”


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<pb/>And the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal house in Edom.


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For <f>ⓟ</f>when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain, he struck down every male in Edom


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But Hadad fled to Egypt, together with certain Edomites of his father's servants, Hadad still being a little child.


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They set out from Midian and came to <f>ⓠ</f>Paran and took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house and assigned him an allowance of food and gave him land.


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And Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.


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And the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house. And Genubath was in Pharaoh's house among the sons of Pharaoh.


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But when Hadad heard in Egypt <f>ⓡ</f>that David slept with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.”


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But Pharaoh said to him, “What have you lacked with me that you are now seeking to go to your own country?” And he said to him, “Only let me depart.”


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<pb/>God also raised up as an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master <f>ⓢ</f>Hadadezer king of Zobah.


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And he gathered men about him and became leader of a marauding band, <f>ⓣ</f>after the killing by David. And they went to Damascus and lived there and made him king in Damascus.


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He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon, doing harm as Hadad did. And he loathed Israel and reigned over Syria.


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<pb/><f>ⓤ</f> Jeroboam the son of Nebat, <f>ⓥ</f>an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, also <f>ⓦ</f>lifted up his hand against the king.


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And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king. <f>ⓧ</f>Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of David his father.


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The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph.


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And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet <f>ⓨ</f>Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country.


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And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, <f>ⓐ</f>I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes


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(but <f>ⓑ</f>he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, <f>ⓒ</f>the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel),


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because they have <f>[1]</f> forsaken me <f>ⓓ</f>and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and they have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my rules, as David his father did.


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Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes.


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Yet to his son <f>ⓕ</f>I will give one tribe, that David my servant may always have <f>ⓖ</f>a lamp before me in Jerusalem, <f>ⓗ</f>the city where I have chosen to put my name.


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And I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel.


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And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, <f>ⓘ</f>I will be with you and <f>ⓙ</f>will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.


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Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, to <f>ⓚ</f>Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.


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<pb/><f>ⓛ</f> Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?


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And Solomon <f>ⓜ</f>slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And <f>ⓝ</f>Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Rehoboam went to <f>ⓑ</f>Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.


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And as soon as <f>ⓒ</f>Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for <f>ⓓ</f>he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from <f>[1]</f> Egypt.


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And they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam,


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<f>ⓔ</f> “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.”


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<pb/>Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”


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And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.”


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But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.


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And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?”


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And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs.


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And now, whereas <f>ⓖ</f>my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”


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<pb/>So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, <f>ⓗ</f>“Come to me again the third day.”


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he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, <f>ⓘ</f>“My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”


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So the king did not listen to the people, for <f>ⓙ</f>it was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that he might fulfill his word, which <f>ⓚ</f>the LORD spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.


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<pb/>And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. <f>ⓛ</f>To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So Israel went to their tents.


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Then King Rehoboam sent <f>ⓝ</f>Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.


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And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David but <f>ⓟ</f>the tribe of Judah only.


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<pb/><f>ⓠ</f> When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.


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“Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the <f>ⓢ</f>rest of the people,


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‘Thus says the LORD, You shall not go up or fight against your relatives the people of Israel. Every man return to his home, <f>ⓣ</f>for this thing is from me.’” So they listened to the word of the LORD and went home again, according to the word of the LORD.


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<pb/>Then Jeroboam <f>ⓤ</f>built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and <f>ⓥ</f>built Penuel.


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If this people <f>ⓦ</f>go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”


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So the king took counsel and <f>ⓧ</f>made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. <f>ⓨ</f>Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”


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Then <f>ⓩ</f>this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. <f>[2]</f>


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He also made <f>ⓐ</f>temples on high places and <f>ⓑ</f>appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites.


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And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like <f>ⓒ</f>the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel <f>ⓓ</f>the priests of the high places that he had made.


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He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar <f>ⓔ</f>to make offerings.


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<pb/>And behold, <f>ⓐ</f>a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the LORD to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar <f>ⓑ</f>to make offerings.


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<f>ⓒ</f> And the man cried against the altar by the word of the LORD and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, <f>ⓓ</f>Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’”


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And he gave <f>ⓔ</f>a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.’”


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And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself.


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The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.


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And the king said to the man of God, <f>ⓕ</f>“Entreat now the favor of the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him and became as it was before.


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And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and <f>ⓖ</f>I will give you a reward.”


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And the man of God said to the king, <f>ⓗ</f>“If you give me half your house, <f>ⓘ</f>I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place,


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for so was it commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.’”


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<pb/>Now <f>ⓙ</f>an old prophet lived in Bethel. And his sons <f>[1]</f> came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told to their father the words that he had spoken to the king.


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And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone.


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And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he mounted it.


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And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.”


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And he said, <f>ⓚ</f>“I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place,


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for it was said to me <f>ⓛ</f>by the word of the LORD, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.’”


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And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him.


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<pb/>And as they sat at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back.


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And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD and have not kept the command that the LORD your God commanded you,


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but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’”


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And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back.


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And as he went away <f>ⓜ</f>a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body.


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And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city where <f>ⓝ</f>the old prophet lived.


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<pb/>And when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the LORD; therefore the LORD has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word that the LORD spoke to him.”


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And he went and found his body thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey.


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And the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city <f>[2]</f> to mourn and to bury him.


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And he laid the body in his own grave. And they mourned over him, saying, <f>ⓞ</f>“Alas, my brother!”


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And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; <f>ⓟ</f>lay my bones beside his bones.


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<f>ⓠ</f> For the saying that he called out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against <f>ⓡ</f>all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of <f>ⓢ</f>Samaria shall surely come to pass.”


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<pb/>After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places.


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<f>ⓣ</f> And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, <f>ⓤ</f>so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.


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And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Arise, and disguise yourself, that it not be known that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to <f>ⓐ</f>Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, <f>ⓑ</f>who said of me that I should be king over this people.


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<f>ⓒ</f> Take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what shall happen to the child.”


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<pb/>Jeroboam's wife did so. She arose and went to <f>ⓓ</f>Shiloh and came to the house of <f>ⓔ</f>Ahijah. Now <f>ⓕ</f>Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age.


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And the LORD said to <f>ⓖ</f>Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you say to her.” <pb/>When she came, she pretended to be another woman.


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But when <f>ⓗ</f>Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another? For I am charged with unbearable news for you.


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Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: <f>ⓘ</f>“Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over my people Israel


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and <f>ⓙ</f>tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, and yet you have not been <f>ⓚ</f>like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes,


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but you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and <f>ⓛ</f>made for yourself other gods and <f>ⓜ</f>metal images, provoking me to anger, and <f>ⓝ</f>have cast me behind your back,


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therefore behold, I will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and <f>ⓞ</f>will cut off from Jeroboam every male, <f>ⓟ</f>both bond and free in Israel, and <f>ⓠ</f>will burn up the house of Jeroboam, as a man burns up dung until it is all gone.


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<f>ⓡ</f> Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat, for the LORD has spoken it.”’


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And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him <f>ⓣ</f>there is found something pleasing to the LORD, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.


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<f>ⓤ</f> Moreover, the LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today. And henceforth,


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the LORD will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and <f>ⓥ</f>root up Israel out of <f>ⓦ</f>this good land that he gave to their fathers and scatter them <f>ⓧ</f>beyond the Euphrates, <f>[1]</f> because they have made their <f>ⓨ</f>Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger.


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And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin.”


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<pb/>Then Jeroboam's wife arose and departed and came to <f>ⓩ</f>Tirzah. And <f>ⓐ</f>as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.


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And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, <f>ⓑ</f>according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet.


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<pb/>Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, <f>ⓒ</f>how he warred and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.


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And the time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years. And he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place.


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<pb/><f>ⓓ</f> Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, <f>ⓔ</f>the city that the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. <f>ⓕ</f>His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite.


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<f>ⓖ</f> And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and they <f>ⓗ</f>provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done.


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For they also built for themselves <f>ⓘ</f>high places <f>ⓙ</f>and pillars and <f>ⓚ</f>Asherim on every high hill and <f>ⓛ</f>under every green tree,


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and there were also <f>ⓜ</f>male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.


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He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house. <f>ⓞ</f>He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold <f>ⓟ</f>that Solomon had made,


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and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house.


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And as often as the king went into the house of the LORD, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom.


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<pb/><f>ⓠ</f> Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


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And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. <f>ⓢ</f>His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite. And <f>ⓣ</f>Abijam his son reigned in his place.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah.


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And he walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and <f>ⓑ</f>his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father.


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Nevertheless, for David's sake the LORD his God gave him <f>ⓒ</f>a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem,


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because <f>ⓓ</f>David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, <f>ⓔ</f>except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.


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<f>ⓖ</f> The rest of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? <f>ⓗ</f>And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.


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<f>ⓘ</f> And Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place.


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and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.


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He put away the <f>ⓚ</f>male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed <f>ⓛ</f>all the idols that his fathers had made.


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<f>ⓜ</f> He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her image and <f>ⓝ</f>burned it at the brook Kidron.


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<f>ⓞ</f> But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, <f>ⓟ</f>the heart of Asa was wholly true to the LORD all his days.


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And <f>ⓠ</f>he brought into the house of the LORD the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels.


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<f>ⓢ</f> Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and <f>ⓣ</f>built Ramah, <f>ⓤ</f>that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.


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Then Asa took all the silver and the gold <f>ⓥ</f>that were left in the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house and gave them into the hands of his servants. <f>ⓦ</f>And King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, <f>ⓧ</f>who lived in Damascus, saying,


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“Let there be <f>ⓨ</f>a covenant <f>[1]</f> between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.”


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And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and conquered <f>ⓩ</f>Ijon, <f>ⓐ</f>Dan, <f>ⓑ</f>Abel-beth-maacah, and all <f>ⓒ</f>Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.


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Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah, none was exempt, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them King Asa built <f>ⓕ</f>Geba of Benjamin and <f>ⓖ</f>Mizpah.


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<f>ⓗ</f> Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, and all that he did, and the cities that he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But in his old age he was diseased in his feet.


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And Asa slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and <f>ⓘ</f>Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.


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<pb/><f>ⓙ</f> Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years.


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He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD <f>ⓚ</f>and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin <f>ⓛ</f>which he made Israel to sin.


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<pb/><f>ⓜ</f> Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. And Baasha struck him down at <f>ⓝ</f>Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, for Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon.


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And as soon as he was king, he killed all the house of Jeroboam. He left to the house of Jeroboam not one that breathed, until he had destroyed it, <f>ⓞ</f>according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite.


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It was for the sins of Jeroboam that he sinned and <f>ⓟ</f>that he made Israel to sin, and because of the anger to which he provoked the LORD, the God of Israel.


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<pb/>Now the rest of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


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<pb/>In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel at Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years.


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He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD <f>ⓡ</f>and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he made Israel to sin.


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<pb/>And the word of the LORD came to <f>ⓐ</f>Jehu the son of <f>ⓑ</f>Hanani against Baasha, saying,


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“Since I <f>ⓒ</f>exalted you out of the dust and made you leader over my people Israel, and <f>ⓓ</f>you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins,


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behold, I will utterly <f>ⓔ</f>sweep away <f>ⓕ</f>Baasha and his house, and I will make your house <f>ⓖ</f>like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.


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<f>ⓗ</f> Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies in the field the birds of the heavens shall eat.”


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<pb/>Now the rest of the acts of Baasha and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


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And Baasha slept with his fathers and was buried at <f>ⓘ</f>Tirzah, and Elah his son reigned in his place.


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Moreover, the word of the LORD came by the prophet <f>ⓙ</f>Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and also because <f>ⓚ</f>he destroyed it.


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<pb/>In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned two years.


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But his servant <f>ⓛ</f>Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. When he was at Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, <f>ⓜ</f>who was over the household in Tirzah,


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Zimri came in and struck him down and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.


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<pb/>When he began to reign, as soon as he had seated himself on his throne, he struck down <f>ⓝ</f>all the house of Baasha. He <f>ⓞ</f>did not leave him a single male of his relatives or his friends.


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Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, <f>ⓟ</f>according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke against Baasha by <f>ⓠ</f>Jehu the prophet,


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for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and which they made Israel to sin, <f>ⓡ</f>provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idols.


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Now the rest of the acts of Elah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


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<pb/>In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the troops were encamped against <f>ⓢ</f>Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines,


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and the troops who were encamped heard it said, “Zimri has conspired, and he has killed the king.” Therefore all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp.


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And when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king's house and burned the king's house over him with fire and died,


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because of his sins that he committed, doing evil in the sight of the LORD, <f>ⓣ</f>walking in the way of Jeroboam, and for his sin which he committed, making Israel to sin.


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Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and the conspiracy that he made, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


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<pb/>Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts. Half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri.


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But the people who followed Omri overcame the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. So Tibni died, and Omri became king.


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In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for twelve years; six years he reigned in Tirzah.


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He bought the hill of <f>ⓤ</f>Samaria from Shemer for two talents <f>[1]</f> of silver, and he fortified the hill and called the name of the city that he built <f>ⓥ</f>Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.


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<pb/><f>ⓦ</f> Omri did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did more evil <f>ⓧ</f>than all who were before him.


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For <f>ⓨ</f>he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in the sins that he made Israel to sin, <f>ⓩ</f>provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols.


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Now the rest of the acts of Omri that he did, and the might that he showed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


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<pb/>In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.


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And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, <f>ⓐ</f>more than all who were before him.


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And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, <f>ⓑ</f>he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the <f>ⓒ</f>Sidonians, <f>ⓓ</f>and went and served Baal and worshiped him.


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And Ahab made an <f>ⓕ</f>Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger <f>ⓖ</f>than all the kings of Israel who were before him.


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<f>ⓗ</f> In his days Hiel of Bethel built <f>ⓘ</f>Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.


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<pb/>Now Elijah the Tishbite, of <f>ⓐ</f>Tishbe <f>[1]</f> in Gilead, said to Ahab, <f>ⓑ</f>“As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, <f>ⓒ</f>before whom I stand, <f>ⓓ</f>there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”


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“Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.


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So he went and did according to the word of the LORD. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan.


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And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.


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“Arise, go to <f>ⓔ</f>Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”


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So he arose and went to <f>ⓕ</f>Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there <f>ⓖ</f>gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.”


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And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”


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And she said, <f>ⓗ</f>“As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.”


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And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son.


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For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’”


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The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.


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<pb/>After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.


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And she said to Elijah, <f>ⓘ</f>“What have you against me, O <f>ⓙ</f>man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!”


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And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed.


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And he cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?”


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<f>ⓚ</f> Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this child's life <f>[2]</f> come into him again.”


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And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and <f>ⓛ</f>he revived.


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And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.”


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And the woman said to Elijah, <f>ⓜ</f>“Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.”


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> After many days the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.”


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and <f>ⓒ</f>when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.)


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And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, and not lose some of the animals.”


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So they divided the land between them to pass through it. Ahab went in one direction by himself, and Obadiah went in another direction by himself.


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<pb/>And as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. And Obadiah recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?”


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And he said, “How have I sinned, that you would give your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me?


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<f>ⓓ</f> As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they would say, ‘He is not here,’ he would take an oath of the kingdom or nation, that they had not found you.


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And as soon as I have gone from you, <f>ⓔ</f>the Spirit of the LORD will carry you I know not where. And so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have feared the LORD from my youth.


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Has it not been told my lord what I did <f>ⓕ</f>when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, how I hid a hundred men of the LORD's prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water?


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And Elijah said, <f>ⓖ</f>“As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.”


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And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father's house, because you have <f>ⓙ</f>abandoned the commandments of the LORD and <f>ⓚ</f>followed the Baals.


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Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount <f>ⓛ</f>Carmel, and the <f>ⓜ</f>450 prophets of Baal and <f>ⓝ</f>the 400 prophets of Asherah, <f>ⓞ</f>who eat at Jezebel's table.”


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And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long <f>ⓟ</f>will you go limping between two different opinions? <f>ⓠ</f>If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word.


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Then Elijah said to the people, <f>ⓡ</f>“I, even I only, am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal's prophets are <f>ⓢ</f>450 men.


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Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it.


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And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the LORD, and the God who <f>ⓣ</f>answers by fire, he is God.” And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.”


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Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of your god, but put no fire to it.”


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And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made.


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And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”


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And they cried aloud and <f>ⓤ</f>cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them.


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And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of <f>ⓥ</f>the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.


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<pb/>Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been <f>ⓦ</f>thrown down.


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Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD came, saying, <f>ⓧ</f>“Israel shall be your name,”


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and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD. And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two seahs <f>[1]</f> of seed.


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<f>ⓨ</f> And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water and <f>ⓩ</f>pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.”


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And he said, “Do it a second time.” And they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time.” And they did it a third time.


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<pb/>And at the time of <f>ⓐ</f>the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O LORD, <f>ⓑ</f>God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that <f>ⓒ</f>you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that <f>ⓓ</f>I have done all these things at your word.


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Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”


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<f>ⓔ</f> Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.


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And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, <f>ⓕ</f>“The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God.”


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And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to <f>ⓖ</f>the brook Kishon and <f>ⓗ</f>slaughtered them there.


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So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. <f>ⓘ</f>And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees.


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And he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” And he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go again,” seven times.


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And at the seventh time he said, “Behold, <f>ⓙ</f>a little cloud like a man's hand is rising from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’”


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And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to <f>ⓚ</f>Jezreel.


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<f>ⓛ</f> And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah, <f>ⓜ</f>and he gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab to the entrance of <f>ⓝ</f>Jezreel.


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<pb/>Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how <f>ⓐ</f>he had killed all the prophets with the sword.


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Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, <f>ⓑ</f>“So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.”


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Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to <f>ⓒ</f>Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.


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<pb/>But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. <f>ⓓ</f>And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”


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And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.”


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And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.


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And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.”


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And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food <f>ⓔ</f>forty days and forty nights to <f>ⓕ</f>Horeb, the mount of God.


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<pb/>There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, <f>ⓖ</f>the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”


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He said, “I have been very <f>ⓗ</f>jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, <f>ⓘ</f>thrown down your altars, and <f>ⓙ</f>killed your prophets with the sword, <f>ⓚ</f>and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”


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And he said, “Go out and <f>ⓛ</f>stand on the mount before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and <f>ⓜ</f>a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind <f>ⓝ</f>an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.


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And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. <f>[1]</f>


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And when Elijah heard it, <f>ⓞ</f>he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, <f>ⓟ</f>there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”


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He said, <f>ⓠ</f>“I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, <f>ⓡ</f>thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”


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And the LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.


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<f>ⓢ</f> And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and <f>ⓣ</f>Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.


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And the one who escapes from <f>ⓤ</f>the sword of Hazael <f>ⓥ</f>shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu <f>ⓦ</f>shall Elisha put to death.


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<f>ⓧ</f> Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not <f>ⓨ</f>kissed him.”


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<pb/>So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast <f>ⓩ</f>his cloak upon him.


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And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, <f>ⓐ</f>“Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?”


text:
And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh <f>ⓑ</f>with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his army together. <f>ⓑ</f>Thirty-two kings were with him, and horses and chariots. And he went up and closed in on <f>ⓒ</f>Samaria and fought against it.


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The messengers came again and said, “Thus says Ben-hadad: ‘I sent to you, saying, “Deliver to me your silver and your gold, your wives and your children.”


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Nevertheless I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, and they shall search your house and the houses of your servants and lay hands on whatever pleases you and take it away.’”


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<pb/>Then the king of Israel called all the <f>ⓓ</f>elders of the land and said, <f>ⓔ</f>“Mark, now, and see how this man is seeking trouble, for he sent to me for my wives and my children, and for my silver and my gold, and I did not refuse him.”


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So he said to the messengers of Ben-hadad, “Tell my lord the king, ‘All that you first demanded of your servant I will do, but this thing I cannot do.’” And the messengers departed and brought him word again.


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Ben-hadad sent to him and said, <f>ⓕ</f>“The gods do so to me and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people <f>ⓖ</f>who follow me.”


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And the king of Israel answered, “Tell him, ‘Let not him who straps on his armor boast himself as he who takes it off.’”


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When Ben-hadad heard this message as <f>ⓗ</f>he was drinking with the kings in the booths, he said to his men, “Take your positions.” And they took their positions against the city.


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<pb/>And behold, a prophet came near to Ahab king of Israel and said, “Thus says the LORD, Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, <f>ⓘ</f>I will give it into your hand this day, <f>ⓙ</f>and you shall know that I am the LORD.”


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And Ahab said, “By whom?” He said, “Thus says the LORD, By the servants of the governors of the districts.” Then he said, “Who shall begin the battle?” He answered, “You.”


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Then he mustered the servants of the governors of the districts, and they were 232. And after them he mustered all the people of Israel, seven thousand.


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<pb/>And they went out at noon, while Ben-hadad <f>ⓚ</f>was drinking himself drunk in the booths, he and the thirty-two kings who helped him.


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The servants of the governors of the districts went out first. And Ben-hadad sent out scouts, and they reported to him, “Men are coming out from Samaria.”


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He said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive. Or if they have come out for war, take them alive.”


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<pb/>So these went out of the city, the servants of the governors of the districts and the army that followed them.


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And each struck down his man. The Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them, but Ben-hadad king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen.


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And the king of Israel went out and struck the horses and chariots, and struck the Syrians with a great blow.


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<pb/>Then <f>ⓛ</f>the prophet came near to the king of Israel and said to him, “Come, strengthen yourself, and consider well what you have to do, for <f>ⓜ</f>in the spring the king of Syria will come up against you.”


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<pb/>And the servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills, and so they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.


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and muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.” And he listened to their voice and did so.


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<pb/><f>ⓝ</f> In the spring, Ben-hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to <f>ⓞ</f>Aphek to fight against Israel.


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And the people of Israel were mustered and were provisioned and went against them. The people of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, but the Syrians filled the country.


text:
And a <f>ⓟ</f>man of God came near and said to the king of Israel, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Because the Syrians have said, <f>ⓠ</f>“The LORD is a god of the hills but he is not a god of the valleys,” therefore <f>ⓡ</f>I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD.’”


text:
And they encamped opposite one another seven days. Then on the seventh day the battle was joined. And the people of Israel struck down of the Syrians 100,000 foot soldiers in one day.


text:
And the rest fled into the city of <f>ⓢ</f>Aphek, and the wall fell upon 27,000 men who were left. <pb/>Ben-hadad also fled and entered <f>ⓣ</f>an inner chamber in the city.


text:
And his servants said to him, “Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Let us <f>ⓤ</f>put sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads and go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.”


text:
So they <f>ⓥ</f>tied sackcloth around their waists and put ropes on their heads and went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please, let me live.’” And he said, “Does he still live? He is my brother.”


text:
Now the men were watching for a sign, and they quickly took it up from him and said, “Yes, your brother Ben-hadad.” Then he said, “Go and bring him.” Then Ben-hadad came out to him, and he caused him to come up into the chariot.


text:
And Ben-hadad said to him, <f>ⓦ</f>“The cities that my father took from your father I will restore, and you may establish bazaars for yourself in <f>ⓧ</f>Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” And Ahab said, “I will let you go on these terms.” So he made a covenant with him and let him go.


text:
<pb/>And a certain man of <f>ⓨ</f>the sons of the prophets said to his fellow <f>ⓩ</f>at the command of the LORD, “Strike me, please.” But the man refused to strike him.


text:
Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as you have gone from me, a lion shall strike you down.” And as soon as he had departed from him, <f>ⓐ</f>a lion met him and struck him down.


text:
Then he found another man and said, “Strike me, please.” And the man struck him — struck him and wounded him.


text:
So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the way, <f>ⓑ</f>disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes.


text:
And as the king passed, he cried to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle, and behold, a soldier turned and brought a man to me and said, ‘Guard this man; if by any means he is missing, <f>ⓒ</f>your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent <f>[1]</f> of silver.’


text:
And as your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” The king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you yourself have decided it.”


text:
Then he hurried to take the bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.


text:
And he said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, <f>[2]</f> therefore <f>ⓓ</f>your life shall be for his life, and your people for his people.’”


text:
<pb/>Now Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in <f>ⓐ</f>Jezreel, beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.


text:
And after this Ahab said to Naboth, <f>ⓑ</f>“Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house, and I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money.”


text:
But Naboth said to Ahab, “The LORD forbid <f>ⓒ</f>that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.”


text:
And Ahab <f>ⓓ</f>went into his house vexed and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him, for he had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” And he lay down on his bed and turned away his face and would eat no food.


text:
<pb/>But Jezebel his wife came to him and said to him, “Why is your spirit so vexed that you eat no food?”


text:
And he said to her, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money, or else, if it please you, I will give you another vineyard for it.’ And he answered, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’”


text:
And Jezebel his wife said to him, “Do you now govern Israel? Arise and eat bread and let your heart be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”


text:
<pb/><f>ⓔ</f> So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal, and she sent the letters to <f>ⓕ</f>the elders and the leaders who lived with Naboth in his city.


text:
And set two <f>ⓖ</f>worthless men opposite him, and let them bring a charge against him, saying, <f>ⓗ</f>‘You have cursed <f>[1]</f> God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”


text:
And the men of his city, <f>ⓘ</f>the elders and the leaders who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent word to them. As it was written in the letters that she had sent to them,


text:
And the two worthless men came in and sat opposite him. And the worthless men brought a charge against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth cursed God and the king.” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death with stones.


text:
<pb/>As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead.”


text:
And as soon as Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab arose to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.


text:
“Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in <f>ⓛ</f>Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession.


text:
And you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Have you killed and also taken possession?”’ And you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: <f>ⓜ</f>“In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood.”’”


text:
<pb/>Ahab said to Elijah, <f>ⓝ</f>“Have you found me, O my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because <f>ⓞ</f>you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD.


text:
Behold, I will bring disaster upon you. I will utterly burn you up, and <f>ⓟ</f>will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel.


text:
And I will make your house like <f>ⓠ</f>the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like <f>ⓡ</f>the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the anger to which you have provoked me, and because you <f>ⓢ</f>have made Israel to sin.


text:
And of Jezebel the LORD also said, <f>ⓣ</f>‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel within <f>ⓤ</f>the walls of Jezreel.’


text:
<f>ⓥ</f> Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat.”


text:
<pb/>(<f>ⓦ</f>There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited.


text:
He acted very abominably in going after <f>ⓧ</f>idols, as <f>ⓨ</f>the Amorites had done, whom the LORD cast out before the people of Israel.)


text:
<pb/>And when Ahab heard those words, he <f>ⓩ</f>tore his clothes and <f>ⓐ</f>put sackcloth on his flesh and <f>ⓑ</f>fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly.


text:
“Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; <f>ⓒ</f>but in his son's days I will bring the disaster upon his house.”


text:
<f>ⓐ</f> But in the third year <f>ⓑ</f>Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel.


text:
And the king of Israel said to his servants, “Do you know that <f>ⓒ</f>Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, and we keep quiet and do not take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?”


text:
And he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to battle at Ramoth-gilead?” And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, <f>ⓓ</f>“I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”


text:
Then the king of Israel <f>ⓔ</f>gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.”


text:
But <f>ⓕ</f>Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here another prophet of the LORD of whom we may inquire?”


text:
And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.”


text:
Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes, at the threshing floor <f>ⓖ</f>at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them.


text:
And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself <f>ⓗ</f>horns of iron and said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘With these <f>ⓘ</f>you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.’”


text:
And all the prophets prophesied so and said, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the LORD will give it into the hand of the king.”


text:
<pb/>And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.”


text:
And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?” And he answered him, “Go up and triumph; the LORD will give it into the hand of the king.”


text:
But the king said to him, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?”


text:
And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, <f>ⓛ</f>as sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’”


text:
And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, <f>ⓜ</f>“Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?”


text:
And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: <f>ⓝ</f>I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, <f>ⓞ</f>and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left;


text:
and the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another.


text:
And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be <f>ⓟ</f>a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’


text:
Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster for you.”


text:
<pb/>Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near <f>ⓠ</f>and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “How did the Spirit of the LORD go from me to speak to you?”


text:
And Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you go <f>ⓡ</f>into an inner chamber to hide yourself.”


text:
And the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah, and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son,


text:
and say, ‘Thus says the king, <f>ⓢ</f>“Put this fellow in prison and feed him meager rations of bread and water, <f>ⓣ</f>until I come in peace.”’”


text:
And Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, <f>ⓤ</f>the LORD has not spoken by me.” And he said, <f>ⓥ</f>“Hear, all you peoples!”


text:
And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, <f>ⓦ</f>“I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes.” And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.


text:
Now the king of Syria had commanded <f>ⓧ</f>the thirty-two captains of his chariots, “Fight with neither small nor great, but only with the king of Israel.”


text:
And when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is surely the king of Israel.” So they turned to fight against him. And Jehoshaphat cried out.


text:
And when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.


text:
But a certain man drew his bow at random <f>[1]</f> and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and carry me out of the battle, <f>ⓨ</f>for I am wounded.”


text:
And the battle continued that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians, until at evening he died. And the blood of the wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot.


text:
And about sunset a cry went through the army, “Every man to his city, and every man to his country!”


text:
And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes washed themselves in it, <f>ⓩ</f>according to the word of the LORD that he had spoken.


text:
Now the rest of the acts of Ahab and all that he did, and <f>ⓐ</f>the ivory house that he built and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


text:
<pb/><f>ⓑ</f> Jehoshaphat the son of <f>ⓒ</f>Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.


text:
Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.


text:
<f>ⓓ</f> He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the LORD. Yet <f>ⓔ</f>the high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.


text:
<pb/>Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he showed, and how he warred, are they not written <f>ⓖ</f>in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


text:
And from the land he exterminated the remnant <f>ⓗ</f>of the male cult prostitutes who remained in the days of his father Asa.


text:
Jehoshaphat made <f>ⓙ</f>ships of Tarshish to go to <f>ⓚ</f>Ophir for gold, but they did not go, for the ships were wrecked at <f>ⓛ</f>Ezion-geber.


text:
Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships,” but Jehoshaphat was not willing.


text:
<f>ⓜ</f> And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place.


text:
<pb/>Ahaziah the son of Ahab <f>ⓝ</f>began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel.


text:
He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD <f>ⓞ</f>and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.


text:
<f>ⓟ</f> He served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger <f>ⓠ</f>in every way that his father had done.


text:
<pb/>Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and lay sick; so he sent messengers, telling them, “Go, inquire of <f>ⓒ</f>Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, <f>ⓓ</f>whether I shall recover from this sickness.”


text:
But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah <f>ⓔ</f>the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of <f>ⓕ</f>Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?


text:
Now therefore thus says the LORD, <f>ⓖ</f>You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” So Elijah went.


text:
And they said to him, “There came a man to meet us, and said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you, and say to him, Thus says the LORD, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of <f>ⓗ</f>Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’”


text:
They answered him, <f>ⓘ</f>“He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”


text:
<pb/>Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty men with his fifty. He went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, <f>ⓙ</f>“O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’”


text:
But Elijah answered the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, <f>ⓚ</f>let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.


text:
<pb/>Again the king sent to him another captain of fifty men with his fifty. And he answered and said to him, “O man of God, this is the king's order, ‘Come down quickly!’”


text:
But Elijah answered them, “If I am a man of God, <f>ⓛ</f>let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.


text:
<pb/>Again the king sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up and came and fell on his knees before Elijah and entreated him, “O man of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty servants of yours, <f>ⓜ</f>be precious in your sight.


text:
Behold, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former captains of fifty men with their fifties, but now let my life be precious in your sight.”


text:
Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So he arose and went down with him to the king


text:
and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of <f>ⓝ</f>Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron — is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? — therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’”


text:
<pb/>So he died according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken. Jehoram became king in his place <f>ⓞ</f>in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, because Ahaziah had no son.


text:
Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


text:
<pb/>Now when the LORD was about to <f>ⓐ</f>take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and <f>ⓑ</f>Elisha were on their way from <f>ⓒ</f>Gilgal.


text:
And Elijah said to Elisha, <f>ⓓ</f>“Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, <f>ⓔ</f>“As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.


text:
And <f>ⓕ</f>the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take away your master from over you?” And he said, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”


text:
<pb/>Elijah said to him, “Elisha, <f>ⓖ</f>please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to <f>ⓗ</f>Jericho.” But he said, <f>ⓘ</f>“As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho.


text:
<f>ⓙ</f> The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take away your master from over you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”


text:
<pb/>Then Elijah said to him, <f>ⓚ</f>“Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.


text:
Fifty men of <f>ⓛ</f>the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan.


text:
Then Elijah <f>ⓜ</f>took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, <f>ⓝ</f>and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground.


text:
<pb/>When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.”


text:
And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.”


text:
And as they still went on and talked, behold, <f>ⓞ</f>chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.


text:
And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! <f>ⓟ</f>The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more. <pb/>Then he took hold of his own clothes <f>ⓠ</f>and tore them in two pieces.


text:
And he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.


text:
Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” And when he had struck the water, <f>ⓡ</f>the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.


text:
<pb/>Now when <f>ⓢ</f>the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.


text:
And they said to him, “Behold now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. It may be that <f>ⓣ</f>the Spirit of the LORD has caught him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley.” And he said, “You shall not send.”


text:
But when they urged him <f>ⓤ</f>till he was ashamed, he said, “Send.” They sent therefore fifty men. And for three days they sought him but did not find him.


text:
And they came back to him while he was staying at Jericho, and he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?”


text:
<pb/>Now the men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.”


text:
Then he went to the spring of water and <f>ⓥ</f>threw salt in it and said, “Thus says the LORD, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.”


text:
<pb/>He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!”


text:
And he turned around, and when he saw them, <f>ⓦ</f>he cursed them in the name of the LORD. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.


text:
<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> In the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twelve years.


text:
He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, though not like his father and mother, for he put away the <f>ⓑ</f>pillar of Baal <f>ⓒ</f>that his father had made.


text:
Nevertheless, he clung to <f>ⓓ</f>the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, <f>ⓔ</f>which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it.


text:
<pb/>Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, <f>ⓕ</f>and he had to deliver to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams.


text:
And he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to battle against Moab?” And he said, “I will go. <f>ⓗ</f>I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”


text:
Then he said, “By which way shall we march?” Jehoram answered, “By the way of the wilderness of Edom.”


text:
<pb/>So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and <f>ⓘ</f>the king of Edom. And when they had made a circuitous march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them.


text:
Then the king of Israel said, “Alas! <f>ⓙ</f>The LORD has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.”


text:
<f>ⓚ</f> And Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no prophet of the LORD here, through whom we may inquire of the LORD?” Then one of the king of Israel's servants answered, <f>ⓛ</f>“Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, <f>ⓜ</f>who poured water on the hands of Elijah.”


text:
And Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the LORD is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.


text:
<pb/>And Elisha said to the king of Israel, <f>ⓝ</f>“What have I to do with you? Go to <f>ⓞ</f>the prophets of your father and to <f>ⓟ</f>the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No; it is <f>ⓠ</f>the LORD who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.”


text:
And Elisha said, <f>ⓡ</f>“As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you.


text:
But now <f>ⓢ</f>bring me a musician.” And when the musician played, <f>ⓣ</f>the hand of the LORD came upon him.


text:
For thus says the LORD, ‘You shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals.’


text:
and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water <f>ⓤ</f>and ruin every good piece of land with stones.”


text:
The next morning, about the time of <f>ⓥ</f>offering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water.


text:
<pb/>When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armor, from the youngest to the oldest, were called out and were drawn up at the border.


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And when they rose early in the morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood.


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And they said, “This is blood; the kings have surely fought together and struck one another down. Now then, Moab, to the spoil!”


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But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose and struck the Moabites, till they fled before them. And they went forward, striking the Moabites as they went. <f>[1]</f>


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And they overthrew the cities, and <f>ⓦ</f>on every good piece of land every man threw a stone until it was covered. They stopped every spring of water and felled all the good trees, till only its stones were left in <f>ⓧ</f>Kir-hareseth, and the slingers surrounded and attacked it.


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When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him 700 <f>ⓨ</f>swordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom, but they could not.


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Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place <f>ⓩ</f>and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.


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<pb/>Now the wife of one of the <f>ⓐ</f>sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD, <f>ⓑ</f>but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”


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And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.”


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Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.”


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So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her.


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When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing.


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She came and told the <f>ⓒ</f>man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”


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<pb/>One day Elisha went on to <f>ⓓ</f>Shunem, where a <f>ⓔ</f>wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food.


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And she said to her husband, “Behold now, I know that this is a holy <f>ⓕ</f>man of God who is continually passing our way.


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Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there.”


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And he said to <f>ⓖ</f>Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” When he had called her, she stood before him.


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And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘See, you have taken all this trouble for us; what is to be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to <f>ⓗ</f>the commander of the army?’” She answered, “I dwell among my own people.”


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And he said, “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.”


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And he said, “At this season, <f>ⓘ</f>about this time next year, you shall embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord, <f>ⓙ</f>O man of God; <f>ⓚ</f>do not lie to your servant.”


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But the woman conceived, and she bore a son about that time <f>ⓛ</f>the following spring, as Elisha had said to her.


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And he said to his father, “Oh, <f>ⓜ</f>my head, my head!” The father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.”


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And when he had lifted him and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died.


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And she went up <f>ⓝ</f>and laid him on the bed of the <f>ⓞ</f>man of God and shut the door behind him and went out.


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Then she called to her husband and said, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may quickly go to <f>ⓟ</f>the man of God and come back again.”


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And he said, “Why will you go to him today? It is neither <f>ⓠ</f>new moon nor Sabbath.” She said, “All is well.”


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Then she saddled the donkey, and she said to her servant, “Urge the animal on; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.”


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So she set out and came to the man of God <f>ⓡ</f>at Mount Carmel. <pb/>When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, there is the Shunammite.


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Run at once to meet her and say to her, ‘Is all well with you? Is all well with your husband? Is all well with the child?’” And she answered, “All is well.”


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And when she came <f>ⓢ</f>to the mountain to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.”


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He said to Gehazi, <f>ⓤ</f>“Tie up your garment and <f>ⓥ</f>take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet anyone, <f>ⓦ</f>do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not reply. And <f>ⓧ</f>lay my staff on the face of the child.”


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Then the mother of the child said, <f>ⓨ</f>“As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her.


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Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. Therefore he returned to meet him and told him, “The child <f>ⓩ</f>has not awakened.”


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Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as <f>ⓒ</f>he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm.


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Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up <f>ⓓ</f>and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.


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Then he summoned Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, “Pick up your son.”


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She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground. <f>ⓔ</f>Then she picked up her son and went out.


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<pb/>And Elisha came again to <f>ⓕ</f>Gilgal when <f>ⓖ</f>there was a famine in the land. And as <f>ⓗ</f>the sons of the prophets <f>ⓘ</f>were sitting before him, he said to his servant, <f>ⓙ</f>“Set on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”


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One of them went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were.


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And they poured out some for the men to eat. But while they were eating of the stew, they cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.


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He said, “Then bring flour.” <f>ⓚ</f>And he threw it into the pot and said, “Pour some out for the men, that they may eat.” And there was no harm in the pot.


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<pb/>A man came from <f>ⓛ</f>Baal-shalishah, <f>ⓜ</f>bringing the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, <f>ⓝ</f>“Give to the men, that they may eat.”


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But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred men?” So he repeated, “Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’”


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Naaman, <f>ⓑ</f>commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. <f>[1]</f>


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Now the Syrians on <f>ⓒ</f>one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman's wife.


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She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”


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And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” <pb/>So he went, <f>ⓓ</f>taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels <f>[2]</f> of gold, and ten <f>ⓔ</f>changes of clothing.


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And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.”


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And when the king of Israel read the letter, <f>ⓕ</f>he tore his clothes and said, <f>ⓖ</f>“Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only <f>ⓗ</f>consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”


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<pb/>But when Elisha the <f>ⓘ</f>man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.”


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And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, <f>ⓙ</f>“Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.”


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But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.


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Are not Abana <f>[3]</f> and Pharpar, the rivers of <f>ⓚ</f>Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.


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But his servants came near and said to him, <f>ⓛ</f>“My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”


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So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, <f>ⓜ</f>and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, <f>ⓝ</f>and he was clean.


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<pb/>Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know that <f>ⓞ</f>there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so <f>ⓟ</f>accept now a present from your servant.”


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But he said, <f>ⓠ</f>“As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, <f>ⓡ</f>I will receive none.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused.


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Then Naaman said, “If not, please let there be given to your servant two mule loads of earth, for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the LORD.


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In this matter may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of <f>ⓢ</f>Rimmon to worship there, <f>ⓣ</f>leaning on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon your servant in this matter.”


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<f>ⓥ</f> Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “See, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not accepting from his hand what he brought. <f>ⓦ</f>As the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”


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So Gehazi followed Naaman. And when Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and said, <f>ⓧ</f>“Is all well?”


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And he said, “All is well. My master has sent me to say, ‘There have just now come to me from <f>ⓨ</f>the hill country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. Please give them a talent of silver and <f>ⓩ</f>two changes of clothing.’”


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And Naaman said, <f>ⓐ</f>“Be pleased to accept two talents.” And he urged him and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and laid them on two of his servants. And they carried them before Gehazi.


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And when he came to the hill, he took them from their hand and put them in the house, and he sent the men away, and they departed.


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He went in and stood before his master, and Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” And he said, “Your servant went nowhere.”


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But he said to him, “Did not my heart go when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it a time to accept money and garments, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male servants and female servants?


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Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.” So he went out from his presence <f>ⓑ</f>a leper, like snow.


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<pb/>Now <f>ⓐ</f>the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See, the place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us.


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Let us go to the Jordan and each of us get there a log, and let us make a place for us to dwell there.” And he answered, “Go.”


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But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, “Alas, my master! It was borrowed.”


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Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, <f>ⓑ</f>he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float.


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<pb/>Once when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants, saying, “At such and such a place shall be my camp.”


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But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are going down there.”


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And the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God told him. Thus he used to warn him, so that he saved himself there more than once or twice.


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<pb/>And the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing, and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel?”


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And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”


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And he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and seize him.” It was told him, “Behold, he is in <f>ⓒ</f>Dothan.”


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So he sent there horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city.


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<pb/>When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”


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He said, “Do not be afraid, <f>ⓓ</f>for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”


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Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please <f>ⓔ</f>open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of <f>ⓕ</f>horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.


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And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” <f>ⓖ</f>So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha.


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And Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria.


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<pb/>As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O LORD, <f>ⓗ</f>open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” So the LORD opened their eyes and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.


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As soon as the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, <f>ⓘ</f>“My father, shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down?”


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He answered, “You shall not strike them down. Would you strike down those whom you have taken captive <f>ⓙ</f>with your sword and with your bow? <f>ⓚ</f>Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.”


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So he prepared for them a great feast, and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the Syrians did not come again <f>ⓛ</f>on raids into the land of Israel.


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<pb/>Afterward <f>ⓜ</f>Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria.


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And there was a great famine in Samaria, as they besieged it, until a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab <f>[1]</f> of dove's dung for five shekels of silver.


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Now as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”


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And he said, “If the LORD will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?”


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And the king asked her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’


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<f>ⓝ</f> So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.”


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When the king heard the words of the woman, <f>ⓞ</f>he tore his clothes — now he was passing by on the wall — and the people looked, and behold, <f>ⓟ</f>he had sackcloth beneath on his body —


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and he said, <f>ⓠ</f>“May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.”


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<pb/>Elisha was sitting in his house, <f>ⓡ</f>and the elders were sitting with him. Now the king had dispatched a man from his presence, but before the messenger arrived Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this <f>ⓢ</f>murderer has sent to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door fast against him. Is not the sound of his master's feet behind him?”


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And while he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him and said, “This trouble is from the LORD! <f>ⓣ</f>Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”


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<pb/>But Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD: thus says the LORD, <f>ⓐ</f>Tomorrow about this time a seah <f>[1]</f> of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, <f>[2]</f> and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.”


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Then <f>ⓑ</f>the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, <f>ⓒ</f>“If the LORD himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”


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<pb/>Now there were four men who were lepers <f>[3]</f> <f>ⓓ</f>at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die?


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If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die.”


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So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there.


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For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians <f>ⓔ</f>hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us <f>ⓕ</f>the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.”


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<f>ⓖ</f> So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp as it was, and fled for their lives.


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And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went and hid them.


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<pb/>Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king's household.”


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So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, “We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no one to be seen or heard there, nothing but the horses tied and the donkeys tied and the tents as they were.”


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And the king rose in the night and said to his servants, “I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and get into the city.’”


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And one of his servants said, “Let some men take five of the remaining horses, seeing that those who are left here will fare like the whole multitude of Israel who have already perished. Let us send and see.”


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So they took two horsemen, and the king sent them after the army of the Syrians, saying, “Go and see.”


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So they went after them as far as the Jordan, and behold, all the way was littered with garments and equipment that the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king.


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<pb/>Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, <f>ⓗ</f>according to the word of the LORD.


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Now the king had appointed <f>ⓘ</f>the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. And the people trampled him in the gate, so that he died, as the man of God had said <f>ⓙ</f>when the king came down to him.


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For when the man of God had said to the king, “Two seahs of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria,”


text:
<f>ⓚ</f> the captain had answered the man of God, “If the LORD himself should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?” And he had said, <f>ⓛ</f>“You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”


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<pb/>Now Elisha had said to the woman <f>ⓐ</f>whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, and depart with your household, and sojourn wherever you can, for the LORD <f>ⓑ</f>has called for a famine, and it will come upon the land for <f>ⓒ</f>seven years.”


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So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God. She went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.


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And at the end of the seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went to appeal to the king for her house and her land.


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Now the king was talking with <f>ⓓ</f>Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.”


text:
And while he was telling the king how <f>ⓔ</f>Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, here is the woman, and here is her son whom Elisha restored to life.”


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And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed an official for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields from the day that she left the land until now.”


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<pb/>Now Elisha came to <f>ⓕ</f>Damascus. <f>ⓖ</f>Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick. And when it was told him, “The man of God has come here,”


text:
the king said to <f>ⓗ</f>Hazael, <f>ⓘ</f>“Take a present with you and go to meet the man of God, <f>ⓙ</f>and inquire of the LORD through him, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?’”


text:
So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, all kinds of goods of Damascus, forty camels' loads. When he came and stood before him, he said, <f>ⓚ</f>“Your son Ben-hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?’”


text:
And Elisha said to him, <f>ⓛ</f>“Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover,’ but <f>[1]</f> the LORD has shown me that <f>ⓜ</f>he shall certainly die.”


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And Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “Because I know <f>ⓞ</f>the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword <f>ⓟ</f>and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.”


text:
And Hazael said, “What is your servant, <f>ⓠ</f>who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” Elisha answered, <f>ⓡ</f>“The LORD has shown me that you are to be king over Syria.”


text:
Then he departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me <f>ⓢ</f>that you would certainly recover.”


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But the next day he took the bed cloth <f>[2]</f> and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, till he died. And Hazael became king in his place.


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<pb/>In the fifth year of <f>ⓣ</f>Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, <f>[3]</f> Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, began to reign.


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And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for <f>ⓥ</f>the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.


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Yet the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant, <f>ⓦ</f>since he promised to give <f>ⓧ</f>a lamp to him and to his sons forever.


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Then Joram <f>[4]</f> passed over to Zair with all his chariots and rose by night, and he and his chariot commanders struck the Edomites who had surrounded him, but his army <f>ⓩ</f>fled home.


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<f>ⓐ</f> So Edom revolted from the rule of Judah to this day. Then <f>ⓑ</f>Libnah revolted at the same time.


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Now the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


text:
So Joram slept with his fathers and was buried <f>ⓒ</f>with his fathers in the city of David, and <f>ⓓ</f>Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.


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<pb/><f>ⓔ</f> In the <f>ⓕ</f>twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, began to reign.


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Ahaziah was <f>ⓖ</f>twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah; she was <f>ⓗ</f>a granddaughter of Omri king of Israel.


text:
He also walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was son-in-law to the house of Ahab.


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<pb/>He went with Joram the son of Ahab to make war against <f>ⓘ</f>Hazael king of Syria at <f>ⓙ</f>Ramoth-gilead, and the Syrians wounded Joram.


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<f>ⓚ</f> And King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the Syrians had given him at <f>ⓛ</f>Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And <f>ⓜ</f>Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.


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<pb/>Then Elisha the prophet called one of <f>ⓐ</f>the sons of the prophets and said to him, <f>ⓑ</f>“Tie up your garments, and take this <f>ⓒ</f>flask of oil in your hand, and go to <f>ⓓ</f>Ramoth-gilead.


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And when you arrive, look there for Jehu <f>ⓔ</f>the son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. And go in and have him rise from among <f>ⓕ</f>his fellows, and lead him to an inner chamber.


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Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘Thus says the LORD, <f>ⓖ</f>I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee; do not linger.”


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And when he came, behold, the commanders of the army were in council. And he said, “I have a word for you, O commander.” And Jehu said, “To which of us all?” And he said, “To you, O commander.”


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So he arose and went into the house. And the young man poured the oil on his head, saying to him, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, <f>ⓗ</f>I anoint you king over the people of the LORD, over Israel.


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And you shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, so that I may avenge <f>ⓘ</f>on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD.


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For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, <f>ⓙ</f>and I will cut off from Ahab <f>ⓚ</f>every male, <f>ⓛ</f>bond or free, in Israel.


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And I will make the house of Ahab like <f>ⓜ</f>the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like <f>ⓝ</f>the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah.


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<f>ⓞ</f> And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.


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<pb/>When Jehu came out to the servants of his master, they said to him, <f>ⓟ</f>“Is all well? Why did <f>ⓠ</f>this mad fellow come to you?” And he said to them, “You know the fellow and his talk.”


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And they said, “That is not true; tell us now.” And he said, “Thus and so he spoke to me, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, I anoint you king over Israel.’”


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Then in haste <f>ⓡ</f>every man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare <f>[1]</f> steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, <f>ⓢ</f>“Jehu is king.”


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<pb/>Thus Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (<f>ⓣ</f>Now Joram with all Israel had been on guard at Ramoth-gilead against <f>ⓤ</f>Hazael king of Syria,


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<f>ⓥ</f> but King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) So Jehu said, “If this is your decision, then let no one slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel.”


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Then Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to visit Joram.


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<pb/>Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu as he came and said, “I see a company.” And Joram said, “Take a horseman and send to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’”


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So a man on horseback went to meet him and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’” And Jehu said, “What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me.” And the watchman reported, saying, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.”


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Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, “Thus the king has said, ‘Is it peace?’” And Jehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me.”


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Again the watchman reported, “He reached them, but he is not coming back. And the driving <f>ⓦ</f>is like the driving of Jehu <f>ⓧ</f>the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.”


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<pb/>Joram said, <f>ⓨ</f>“Make ready.” And they made ready his chariot. <f>ⓩ</f>Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah set out, each in his chariot, and went to meet Jehu, and met him <f>ⓐ</f>at the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.


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And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He answered, “What peace can there be, so long as <f>ⓑ</f>the whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many?”


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And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his heart, and he sank in his chariot.


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Jehu said to Bidkar <f>ⓒ</f>his aide, “Take him up and throw him <f>ⓓ</f>on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember, when you and I rode side by side behind Ahab his father, how <f>ⓔ</f>the LORD made this <f>ⓕ</f>pronouncement against him:


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‘As surely as I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons — declares the LORD — I will repay you on this plot of ground.’ Now therefore take him up and throw him on the plot of ground, in accordance with the word of the LORD.”


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<pb/><f>ⓖ</f> When Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled in the direction of Beth-haggan. And Jehu pursued him and said, “Shoot him also.” And they shot him <f>[2]</f> in the chariot at the ascent of Gur, which is by <f>ⓗ</f>Ibleam. And he fled to <f>ⓘ</f>Megiddo and died there.


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<f>ⓙ</f> His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the city of David.


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<pb/>When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. And <f>ⓛ</f>she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out of the window.


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And he lifted up his face to the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked out at him.


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He said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down. And some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled on her.


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Then he went in and ate and drank. And he said, “See now to this cursed woman and bury her, <f>ⓝ</f>for she is a king's daughter.”


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But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.


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When they came back and told him, he said, “This is the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite: <f>ⓞ</f>‘In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel,


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and the corpse of Jezebel shall be <f>ⓟ</f>as dung on the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, This is Jezebel.’”


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<pb/>Now Ahab had seventy sons in <f>ⓐ</f>Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of the city, <f>[1]</f> to the elders, and to <f>ⓑ</f>the guardians of the sons <f>[2]</f> of Ahab, saying,


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“Now then, as soon as this letter comes to you, seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, fortified cities also, and weapons,


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select the best and fittest of your master's sons and set him on his father's throne and fight for your master's house.”


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But they were exceedingly afraid and said, “Behold, the two kings could not stand before him. How then can we stand?”


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So he who was over the palace, and he who was over the city, together with the elders and the guardians, sent to Jehu, saying, <f>ⓒ</f>“We are your servants, and we will do all that you tell us. We will not make anyone king. Do whatever is good in your eyes.”


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Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying, “If you are on my side, and if you are ready to obey me, take the heads of your master's sons and come to me at Jezreel tomorrow at this time.” Now the king's sons, seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, <f>ⓓ</f>who were bringing them up.


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And as soon as the letter came to them, they took the king's sons <f>ⓔ</f>and slaughtered them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.


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When the messenger came and told him, “They have brought the heads of the king's sons,” he said, “Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.”


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Then in the morning, when he went out, he stood and said to all the people, “You are innocent. <f>ⓕ</f>It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who struck down all these?


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Know then that there shall <f>ⓖ</f>fall to the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for the LORD has done <f>ⓗ</f>what he said by his servant Elijah.”


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So Jehu struck down all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his great men and his close friends and his priests, until he left him none remaining.


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Jehu met <f>ⓘ</f>the relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah, and he said, “Who are you?” And they answered, “We are the relatives of Ahaziah, and we came down to visit the royal princes and the sons of the queen mother.”


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He said, “Take them alive.” And they took them alive and slaughtered them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two persons, and he spared none of them.


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<pb/>And when he departed from there, he met <f>ⓙ</f>Jehonadab the son of <f>ⓚ</f>Rechab coming to meet him. And he greeted him and said to him, “Is your heart true to my heart as mine is to yours?” And Jehonadab answered, “It is.” Jehu said, <f>[3]</f> “If it is, <f>ⓛ</f>give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand. And Jehu took him up with him into the chariot.


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And he said, “Come with me, and see <f>ⓜ</f>my zeal for the LORD.” So he <f>[4]</f> had him ride in his chariot.


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And when he came to Samaria, <f>ⓝ</f>he struck down all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, till he had wiped them out, according to the word of the LORD <f>ⓞ</f>that he spoke to Elijah.


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<pb/>Then Jehu assembled all the people and said to them, <f>ⓟ</f>“Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much.


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Now therefore call to me all the <f>ⓠ</f>prophets of Baal, all his worshipers and all his priests. Let none be missing, for I have a great sacrifice to offer to Baal. Whoever is missing shall not live.” But Jehu did it with cunning in order to destroy the worshipers of Baal.


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And Jehu ordered, <f>ⓡ</f>“Sanctify <f>ⓢ</f>a solemn assembly for Baal.” So <f>ⓣ</f>they proclaimed it.


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And Jehu sent throughout all Israel, and all the worshipers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left who did not come. And they entered <f>ⓤ</f>the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled from one end to the other.


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He said to him who was in charge of the wardrobe, “Bring out the vestments for all the worshipers of Baal.” So he brought out the vestments for them.


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Then Jehu went into the house of Baal with Jehonadab the son of Rechab, and he said to the worshipers of Baal, “Search, and see that there is no servant of the LORD here among you, but only the worshipers of Baal.”


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Then they <f>[5]</f> went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. <pb/>Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside and said, “The man who allows any of those whom I give into your hands to escape <f>ⓥ</f>shall forfeit his life.”


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So as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the officers, <f>ⓦ</f>“Go in and strike them down; let not a man escape.” So when they put them to the sword, the guard and the officers cast them out and went into the inner room of the house of Baal,


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And they demolished the <f>ⓩ</f>pillar of Baal, and demolished the house of Baal, and made it <f>ⓐ</f>a latrine to this day.


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But Jehu did not turn aside from <f>ⓑ</f>the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, <f>ⓒ</f>which he made Israel to sin — that is, the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan.


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And the LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, <f>ⓓ</f>your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.”


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But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. <f>ⓔ</f>He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin.


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<pb/>In those days the LORD <f>ⓕ</f>began to cut off parts of Israel. <f>ⓖ</f>Hazael defeated them throughout the territory of Israel:


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from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from <f>ⓗ</f>Aroer, which is by the Valley of the Arnon, that is, <f>ⓘ</f>Gilead and Bashan.


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Now the rest of the acts of Jehu and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


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So Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Now when <f>ⓑ</f>Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family.


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But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took <f>ⓒ</f>Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king's sons who were being put to death, and she put <f>[1]</f> him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus they <f>[2]</f> hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not put to death.


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And he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the LORD, while Athaliah reigned over the land.


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<pb/><f>ⓓ</f> But in the seventh year <f>ⓔ</f>Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of <f>ⓕ</f>the Carites and of the guards, and had them come to him in the house of the LORD. And he made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of the LORD, and he showed them the king's son.


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And he commanded them, “This is the thing that you shall do: one third of you, <f>ⓖ</f>those who come off duty on the Sabbath and guard the king's house


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(<f>ⓗ</f>another third being at the gate Sur and a third at the gate behind the guards) shall guard the palace. <f>[3]</f>


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And the two divisions of you, which come on duty in force on the Sabbath and guard the house of the LORD on behalf of the king,


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shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand. And whoever approaches the ranks is to be put to death. Be with the king <f>ⓘ</f>when he goes out and when he comes in.”


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<pb/>The captains did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and they each brought his men who were to go off duty on the Sabbath, with those who were to come on duty on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest.


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And the priest gave to the captains the spears and <f>ⓙ</f>shields that had been King David's, which were in the house of the LORD.


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And the guards stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house on behalf of the king.


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Then he brought out the king's son and put <f>ⓚ</f>the crown on him and gave him <f>ⓛ</f>the testimony. And they proclaimed him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, <f>ⓜ</f>“Long live the king!”


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<pb/>When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she went into the house of the LORD to the people.


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And when she looked, there was the king standing <f>ⓝ</f>by the pillar, according to the custom, and the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and <f>ⓞ</f>blowing trumpets. And Athaliah <f>ⓟ</f>tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!”


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Then Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains who were set over the army, “Bring her out between the ranks, and put to death with the sword anyone who follows her.” For the priest said, “Let her not be put to death in the house of the LORD.”


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So they laid hands on her; and she went through the horses' entrance to the king's house, and there she was put to death.


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<pb/>And Jehoiada <f>ⓠ</f>made a covenant between the LORD and the king and people, that they should be the LORD's people, and also <f>ⓡ</f>between the king and the people.


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Then all the people of the land went to <f>ⓢ</f>the house of Baal and tore it down; <f>ⓣ</f>his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest posted watchmen over the house of the LORD.


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And he took the captains, <f>ⓤ</f>the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the LORD, marching through <f>ⓥ</f>the gate of the guards to the king's house. And he took his seat on the throne of the kings.


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So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword at the king's house.


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<pb/>In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash <f>[1]</f> began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba.


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And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him.


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Nevertheless, <f>ⓐ</f>the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places.


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<pb/>Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things <f>ⓑ</f>that is brought into the house of the LORD, the money for which each man is assessed — the money from the assessment of persons — and <f>ⓒ</f>the money that a man's heart prompts him to bring into the house of the LORD,


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let the priests take, each from his donor, and let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is discovered.”


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Therefore King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, “Why are you not repairing the house? Now therefore take no more money from your donors, but hand it over for the repair of the house.”


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So the priests agreed that they should take no more money from the people, and that they should not repair the house.


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<pb/>Then Jehoiada the priest took <f>ⓓ</f>a chest and bored a hole in the lid of it and set it beside the altar on the right side as one entered the house of the LORD. And the priests who guarded the threshold put in it all the money that was brought into the house of the LORD.


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And whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king's secretary and the high priest came up and they bagged and counted <f>ⓔ</f>the money that was found in the house of the LORD.


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Then they would give the money that was weighed out into the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the LORD. And they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked on the house of the LORD,


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and <f>ⓕ</f>to the masons and the stonecutters, as well as to buy timber and quarried stone for making repairs on the house of the LORD, and for any outlay for the repairs of the house.


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<f>ⓖ</f> But there were not made for the house of the LORD <f>ⓗ</f>basins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, or any vessels of gold, or of silver, from the money that was brought into the house of the LORD,


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And <f>ⓘ</f>they did not ask for an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to pay out to the workmen, for they dealt honestly.


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The money from <f>ⓙ</f>the guilt offerings and the money from the <f>ⓚ</f>sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD; <f>ⓛ</f>it belonged to the priests.


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<pb/>At that time <f>ⓜ</f>Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it. But when Hazael set his face <f>ⓝ</f>to go up against Jerusalem,


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Jehoash king of Judah <f>ⓞ</f>took all the sacred gifts that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, <f>ⓟ</f>and his own sacred gifts, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king's house, and sent these to Hazael king of Syria. Then Hazael went away from Jerusalem.


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<pb/>Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


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<f>ⓠ</f> His servants arose and made a conspiracy <f>ⓡ</f>and struck down Joash in the house of <f>ⓢ</f>Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla.


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It was <f>ⓣ</f>Jozacar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of <f>ⓤ</f>Shomer, his servants, who struck him down, so that he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, <f>ⓥ</f>and Amaziah his son reigned in his place.


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<pb/>In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years.


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He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, <f>ⓐ</f>which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from them.


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<f>ⓑ</f> And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them continually into the hand of <f>ⓒ</f>Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of <f>ⓓ</f>Ben-hadad the son of Hazael.


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Then Jehoahaz <f>ⓔ</f>sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him, <f>ⓕ</f>for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them.


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(Therefore the LORD gave Israel <f>ⓖ</f>a savior, so that they escaped from the hand of the Syrians, and the people of Israel lived in <f>ⓗ</f>their homes as formerly.


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Nevertheless, they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, <f>ⓘ</f>which he made Israel to sin, but walked <f>[1]</f> in them; and <f>ⓙ</f>the Asherah also remained in Samaria.)


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For there was not left to Jehoahaz an army of more than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust <f>ⓚ</f>at threshing.


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Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


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So Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria, and Joash his son reigned in his place.


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<pb/>In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash <f>[2]</f> the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years.


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He also did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, <f>ⓛ</f>which he made Israel to sin, but he walked in them.


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<f>ⓜ</f> Now the rest of the acts of Joash <f>ⓝ</f>and all that he did, <f>ⓞ</f>and the might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


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So Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.


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<pb/>Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, <f>ⓟ</f>“My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”


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Then he said to the king of Israel, “Draw the bow,” and he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands.


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And he said, “Open the window eastward,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. And he said, “The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in <f>ⓠ</f>Aphek until you have made an end of them.”


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And he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” And he struck three times and stopped.


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Then <f>ⓡ</f>the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only <f>ⓢ</f>three times.”


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<pb/>So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of <f>ⓣ</f>Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year.


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And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.


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<f>ⓥ</f> But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion on them, <f>ⓦ</f>and he turned toward them, <f>ⓧ</f>because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, nor has he cast them from his presence until now.


text:
Then Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities <f>ⓨ</f>that he had taken from Jehoahaz his father in war. <f>ⓩ</f>Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> In the <f>ⓑ</f>second year of Joash the son of Joahaz, king of Israel, <f>ⓒ</f>Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign.


text:
He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem.


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And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not like David his father. He did in all things as Joash his father had done.


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<f>ⓓ</f> But the high places were not removed; <f>ⓔ</f>the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.


text:
And as soon as the royal power was <f>ⓕ</f>firmly in his hand, he struck down his servants <f>ⓖ</f>who had struck down the king his father.


text:
But he did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the LORD commanded, <f>ⓗ</f>“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin.”


text:
<pb/><f>ⓘ</f> He struck down ten thousand Edomites in <f>ⓙ</f>the Valley of Salt and took <f>ⓚ</f>Sela by storm, and called it <f>ⓛ</f>Joktheel, which is its name to this day.


text:
<pb/><f>ⓜ</f> Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash <f>[1]</f> the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, <f>ⓝ</f>let us look one another in the face.”


text:
And Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, <f>ⓞ</f>“A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle.


text:
You have indeed <f>ⓟ</f>struck down Edom, <f>ⓠ</f>and your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home, for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”


text:
<pb/>But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah <f>ⓡ</f>faced one another in battle at <f>ⓢ</f>Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.


text:
And Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits, <f>[2]</f> from <f>ⓤ</f>the Ephraim Gate to <f>ⓥ</f>the Corner Gate.


text:
And he seized <f>ⓦ</f>all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house, also hostages, and he returned to Samaria.


text:
<pb/><f>ⓧ</f> Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash that he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


text:
And Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.


text:
<pb/><f>ⓨ</f> Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.


text:
Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


text:
And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to <f>ⓩ</f>Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there.


text:
And they brought him on horses; and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.


text:
And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.


text:
<pb/>In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years.


text:
And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, <f>ⓑ</f>which he made Israel to sin.


text:
<f>ⓒ</f> He restored the border of Israel <f>ⓓ</f>from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of <f>ⓔ</f>the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant <f>ⓕ</f>Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from <f>ⓖ</f>Gath-hepher.


text:
For the LORD <f>ⓗ</f>saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, <f>ⓘ</f>for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel.


text:
<f>ⓙ</f> But the LORD had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.


text:
<pb/>Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he restored <f>ⓚ</f>Damascus and <f>ⓛ</f>Hamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


text:
And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.


text:
<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, <f>ⓑ</f>Azariah the son of Amaziah, king of Judah, began to reign.


text:
He was <f>ⓒ</f>sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.


text:
And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.


text:
<f>ⓓ</f> Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.


text:
<f>ⓔ</f> And the LORD touched the king, so that he was a leper <f>[1]</f> to the day of his death, <f>ⓕ</f>and he lived in a separate house. <f>[2]</f> And Jotham the king's son was over the household, governing the people of the land.


text:
Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


text:
And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers <f>ⓖ</f>in the city of David, and Jotham his son reigned in his place.


text:
<pb/>In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months.


text:
And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, <f>ⓗ</f>which he made Israel to sin.


text:
Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him and <f>ⓘ</f>struck him down at Ibleam and put him to death and reigned in his place.


text:
Now the rest of the deeds of Zechariah, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.


text:
(This was <f>ⓙ</f>the promise of the LORD that he gave to Jehu, “Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” And so it came to pass.)


text:
<pb/>Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of <f>ⓚ</f>Uzziah <f>[3]</f> king of Judah, and he reigned one month in <f>ⓛ</f>Samaria.


text:
Then Menahem the son of Gadi came up from <f>ⓜ</f>Tirzah and came to Samaria, and he struck down Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and put him to death and reigned in his place.


text:
Now the rest of the deeds of Shallum, and the conspiracy that he made, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.


text:
At that time Menahem sacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on, because they did not open it to him. Therefore he sacked it, <f>ⓝ</f>and he ripped open all the women in it who were pregnant.


text:
<pb/>In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel, and he reigned ten years in Samaria.


text:
And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart all his days from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.


text:
<f>ⓞ</f> Pul <f>[4]</f> the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave <f>ⓟ</f>Pul a thousand talents <f>[5]</f> of silver, that he might help him <f>ⓠ</f>to confirm his hold on the royal power.


text:
Menahem exacted the money from Israel, that is, from all the wealthy men, fifty shekels <f>[6]</f> of silver from every man, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay there in the land.


text:
Now the rest of the deeds of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?


text:
<pb/>In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned two years.


text:
And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, <f>ⓡ</f>which he made Israel to sin.


text:
And Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him with fifty men of the people of Gilead, and struck him down in Samaria, in the citadel of the king's house with Argob and Arieh; he put him to death and reigned in his place.


text:
Now the rest of the deeds of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.


text:
<pb/>In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twenty years.


text:
And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, <f>ⓢ</f>which he made Israel to sin.


text:
<pb/>In the days of Pekah king of Israel, <f>ⓣ</f>Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured <f>ⓤ</f>Ijon, <f>ⓥ</f>Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, <f>ⓦ</f>Kedesh, <f>ⓧ</f>Hazor, Gilead, and <f>ⓨ</f>Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria.


text:
Then Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah and struck him down and put him to death and reigned in his place, <f>ⓩ</f>in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.


text:
Now the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.


text:
<pb/>In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign.


text:
He was <f>ⓐ</f>twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok.


text:
And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, <f>ⓑ</f>according to all that his father Uzziah had done.


text:
<f>ⓒ</f> Nevertheless, the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. He built <f>ⓓ</f>the upper gate of the house of the LORD.


text:
Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


text:
In those days the LORD began to send <f>ⓔ</f>Rezin the king of Syria and <f>ⓕ</f>Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah.


text:
Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.


text:
<pb/>In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign.


text:
Ahaz was <f>ⓐ</f>twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David had done,


text:
but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. <f>ⓑ</f>He even burned his son as an offering, <f>[1]</f> <f>ⓒ</f>according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.


text:
<f>ⓓ</f> And he sacrificed and made offerings <f>ⓔ</f>on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.


text:
<pb/><f>ⓕ</f> Then Rezin king of Syria and <f>ⓖ</f>Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz <f>ⓗ</f>but could not conquer him.


text:
At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered <f>ⓘ</f>Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from <f>ⓙ</f>Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day.


text:
<f>ⓚ</f> So Ahaz sent messengers to <f>ⓛ</f>Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.”


text:
Ahaz also <f>ⓜ</f>took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasures of the king's house and sent a present to the king of Assyria.


text:
<f>ⓝ</f> And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus <f>ⓞ</f>and took it, carrying its people captive to <f>ⓟ</f>Kir, and he killed Rezin.


text:
<pb/>When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet <f>ⓠ</f>Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to <f>ⓡ</f>Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details.


text:
And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus.


text:
And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. <f>ⓢ</f>Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it


text:
and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.


text:
And <f>ⓣ</f>the bronze altar that was before the LORD he removed <f>ⓤ</f>from the front of the house, from the place between <f>ⓥ</f>his altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of <f>ⓦ</f>his altar.


text:
And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn <f>ⓧ</f>the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but <f>ⓨ</f>the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.”


text:
<pb/>And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down <f>ⓩ</f>the sea <f>[2]</f> from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal.


text:
And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the LORD, because of the king of Assyria.


text:
Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written <f>ⓐ</f>in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


text:
And Ahaz slept with his fathers and <f>ⓑ</f>was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.


text:
<pb/>In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, <f>ⓐ</f>Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years.


text:
And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him.


text:
<f>ⓑ</f> Against him came up <f>ⓒ</f>Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute.


text:
But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.


text:
Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it.


text:
<pb/>In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria <f>ⓓ</f>captured Samaria, <f>ⓔ</f>and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria <f>ⓕ</f>and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of <f>ⓖ</f>Gozan, and in the cities of <f>ⓗ</f>the Medes.


text:
<pb/>And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, <f>ⓘ</f>who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods


text:
<f>ⓙ</f> and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, <f>ⓚ</f>and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced.


text:
And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, <f>ⓛ</f>from watchtower to fortified city.


text:
They set up for themselves <f>ⓜ</f>pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,


text:
and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger,


text:
Yet the LORD <f>ⓞ</f>warned Israel and Judah <f>ⓟ</f>by every prophet <f>ⓠ</f>and every seer, saying, <f>ⓡ</f>“Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”


text:
<pb/>But they would not listen, <f>ⓢ</f>but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God.


text:
They despised his statutes <f>ⓣ</f>and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after <f>ⓤ</f>false idols <f>ⓥ</f>and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the <f>ⓦ</f>LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them.


text:
And they abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves metal images of <f>ⓧ</f>two calves; and they <f>ⓨ</f>made an Asherah and <f>ⓩ</f>worshiped all the host of heaven and served <f>ⓐ</f>Baal.


text:
<f>ⓑ</f> And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings <f>[1]</f> and used <f>ⓒ</f>divination and <f>ⓓ</f>omens and <f>ⓔ</f>sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.


text:
Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but <f>ⓕ</f>the tribe of Judah only.


text:
<pb/><f>ⓖ</f> Judah also did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced.


text:
And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them <f>ⓗ</f>and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.


text:
<pb/><f>ⓘ</f> When he had torn Israel from the house of David, <f>ⓙ</f>they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD <f>ⓚ</f>and made them commit great sin.


text:
until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, <f>ⓛ</f>as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. <f>ⓜ</f>So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.


text:
<pb/><f>ⓝ</f> And the king of Assyria brought people from <f>ⓞ</f>Babylon, Cuthah, <f>ⓟ</f>Avva, <f>ⓠ</f>Hamath, and <f>ⓡ</f>Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.


text:
And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD. Therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them.


text:
So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.”


text:
Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him <f>[2]</f> go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land.”


text:
So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in <f>ⓢ</f>Bethel and taught them how they should fear the LORD.


text:
<pb/>But every nation still made gods of its own and put them <f>ⓣ</f>in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived.


text:
The men of <f>ⓤ</f>Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,


text:
and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites <f>ⓥ</f>burned their children in the fire to <f>ⓦ</f>Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of <f>ⓧ</f>Sepharvaim.


text:
<f>ⓨ</f> They also feared the LORD <f>ⓩ</f>and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of <f>ⓐ</f>the high places.


text:
So they feared the LORD but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.


text:
<pb/>To this day they do according to the former manner. They do not fear the LORD, and they do not follow the statutes or the rules or the law or the commandment that the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, <f>ⓑ</f>whom he named Israel.


text:
The LORD made a covenant with them and commanded them, <f>ⓒ</f>“You shall not fear other gods <f>ⓓ</f>or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them,


text:
but <f>ⓔ</f>you shall fear the LORD, <f>ⓕ</f>who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and <f>ⓖ</f>with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice.


text:
And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, <f>ⓗ</f>you shall always be careful to do. <f>ⓘ</f>You shall not fear other gods,


text:
and <f>ⓙ</f>you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. <f>ⓚ</f>You shall not fear other gods,


text:
but <f>ⓛ</f>you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.”


text:
<pb/><f>ⓜ</f> So these nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children's children — as their fathers did, so they do to this day.


text:
<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, <f>ⓑ</f>Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.


text:
He was <f>ⓒ</f>twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was <f>ⓓ</f>Abi the daughter of Zechariah.


text:
<f>ⓔ</f> And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.


text:
<f>ⓕ</f> He removed the high places and broke the <f>ⓖ</f>pillars and cut down <f>ⓗ</f>the Asherah. And he broke in pieces <f>ⓘ</f>the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). <f>[1]</f>


text:
<f>ⓙ</f> He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, <f>ⓚ</f>so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.


text:
<f>ⓛ</f> For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses.


text:
<f>ⓜ</f> And the LORD was with him; wherever he went out, <f>ⓝ</f>he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him.


text:
<f>ⓞ</f> He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, <f>ⓟ</f>from watchtower to fortified city.


text:
<pb/>In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, <f>ⓠ</f>Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it,


text:
and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.


text:
The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in <f>ⓡ</f>Halah, and on the <f>ⓢ</f>Habor, <f>ⓣ</f>the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,


text:
because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.


text:
<pb/><f>ⓤ</f> In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.


text:
And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.” <f>ⓥ</f>And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents <f>[2]</f> of silver and thirty talents of gold.


text:
And Hezekiah <f>ⓦ</f>gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house.


text:
At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria.


text:
And the king of Assyria sent the <f>ⓧ</f>Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by <f>ⓨ</f>the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer's Field.


text:
And when they called for the king, there came out to them <f>ⓩ</f>Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and <f>ⓐ</f>Shebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.


text:
<pb/>And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours?


text:
Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me?


text:
Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of <f>ⓑ</f>a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.


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But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God,” is it not he <f>ⓒ</f>whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem”?


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Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.


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How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?


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Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”


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<pb/>Then <f>ⓓ</f>Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and <f>ⓔ</f>Shebnah, and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in <f>ⓕ</f>Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”


text:
But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?”


text:
<pb/>Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!


text:
Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my <f>[3]</f> hand.


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Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’


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Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me <f>[4]</f> and come out to me. Then <f>ⓖ</f>each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern,


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until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, <f>ⓗ</f>a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and <f>ⓘ</f>honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.”


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<f>ⓙ</f> Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?


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<f>ⓚ</f> Where are the gods of <f>ⓛ</f>Hamath and <f>ⓜ</f>Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and <f>ⓝ</f>Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?


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Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, <f>ⓞ</f>that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”


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<pb/>But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, “Do not answer him.”


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Then <f>ⓟ</f>Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah <f>ⓠ</f>with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, <f>ⓑ</f>he tore his clothes and <f>ⓒ</f>covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD.


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And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, <f>ⓓ</f>covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz.


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They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth.


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<f>ⓔ</f> It may be that the LORD your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent <f>ⓕ</f>to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for <f>ⓖ</f>the remnant that is left.”


text:
Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which <f>ⓗ</f>the servants of the king of Assyria have <f>ⓘ</f>reviled me.


text:
Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that <f>ⓙ</f>he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him <f>ⓚ</f>fall by the sword in his own land.’”


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<pb/>The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against <f>ⓛ</f>Libnah, for he heard that the king had left <f>ⓜ</f>Lachish.


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<f>ⓝ</f> Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “Behold, he has set out to fight against you.” So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,


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“Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God <f>ⓞ</f>in whom you trust deceive you by promising that <f>ⓟ</f>Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.


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Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered?


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<f>ⓠ</f> Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, <f>ⓡ</f>Gozan, <f>ⓢ</f>Haran, Rezeph, and the people of <f>ⓣ</f>Eden who were in Telassar?


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<f>ⓤ</f> Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”


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<pb/>Hezekiah received <f>ⓥ</f>the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD.


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And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said: “O LORD, the God of Israel, <f>ⓦ</f>enthroned above the cherubim, <f>ⓧ</f>you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.


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<f>ⓨ</f> Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; <f>ⓩ</f>open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent <f>ⓐ</f>to mock the living God.


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and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, <f>ⓑ</f>but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed.


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So now, O LORD our God, save us, please, from his hand, <f>ⓒ</f>that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that <f>ⓓ</f>you, O LORD, are God alone.”


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<pb/>Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria <f>ⓔ</f>I have heard.


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This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him: <pb/><t>“She despises you, she scorns you — </t><t><f>ⓕ</f>the virgin daughter of Zion; </t><t>she <f>ⓖ</f>wags her head behind you — </t><t>the daughter of Jerusalem. </t>


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<pb/><t>“Whom have you <f>ⓗ</f>mocked and <f>ⓘ</f>reviled? </t><t>Against whom have you raised your voice </t><t>and lifted your eyes to the heights? </t><t>Against <f>ⓙ</f>the Holy One of Israel!</t>


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<t><f>ⓚ</f> By your messengers you have mocked the Lord, </t><t>and you have said, <f>ⓛ</f>‘With my many chariots </t><t>I have gone up the heights of the mountains, </t><t>to the far recesses of <f>ⓜ</f>Lebanon; </t><t>I felled its tallest cedars, </t><t>its choicest cypresses; </t><t>I entered its farthest lodging place, </t><t>its most <f>ⓝ</f>fruitful forest.</t>


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<t>I dug wells </t><t>and drank foreign waters, </t><t>and I dried up with the sole of my foot </t><t>all the streams <f>ⓞ</f>of Egypt.’ </t>


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<pb/><t>“Have you not heard </t><t>that <f>ⓟ</f>I determined it long ago? </t><t>I planned from days of old </t><t>what <f>ⓠ</f>now I bring to pass, </t><t>that you should turn fortified cities </t><t>into heaps of ruins,</t>


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<t>while their inhabitants, shorn of strength, </t><t>are dismayed and confounded, </t><t>and have become <f>ⓡ</f>like plants of the field </t><t>and like tender grass, </t><t>like grass on the housetops, </t><t>blighted before it is grown. </t>


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<pb/><t>“But I know your sitting down </t><t><f>ⓢ</f>and your going out and coming in, </t><t>and your raging against me.</t>


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<t>Because you have raged against me </t><t>and your complacency has come into my ears, </t><t>I will <f>ⓣ</f>put my hook in your nose </t><t>and my bit in your mouth, </t><t>and <f>ⓤ</f>I will turn you back on the way </t><t>by which you came. </t>


text:
<pb/>“And this shall be <f>ⓥ</f>the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.


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<f>ⓦ</f> And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.


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For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion <f>ⓧ</f>a band of survivors. <f>ⓨ</f>The zeal of the LORD will do this.


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<pb/>“Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or <f>ⓩ</f>cast up a siege mound against it.


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<f>ⓐ</f> By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD.


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<f>ⓑ</f> For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake <f>ⓒ</f>and for the sake of my servant David.”


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<pb/>And that night <f>ⓓ</f>the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.


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And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, <f>ⓕ</f>Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> In those days <f>ⓑ</f>Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, <f>ⓒ</f>‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’”


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“Now, O LORD, <f>ⓓ</f>please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and <f>ⓔ</f>with a whole heart, <f>ⓕ</f>and have done what is good in your sight.” <f>ⓖ</f>And Hezekiah wept bitterly.


text:
“Turn back, and say to Hezekiah <f>ⓗ</f>the leader of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: <f>ⓘ</f>I have heard your prayer; <f>ⓙ</f>I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD,


text:
and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, <f>ⓚ</f>and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.”


text:
And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”


text:
<pb/>And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?”


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And Isaiah said, “This shall be <f>ⓛ</f>the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?”


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And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow <f>ⓜ</f>to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.”


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And Isaiah the prophet called to the LORD, <f>ⓝ</f>and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.


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<pb/><f>ⓞ</f> At that time <f>ⓟ</f>Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, <f>ⓠ</f>sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick.


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And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them <f>ⓡ</f>all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.


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Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.”


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He said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”


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Behold, the days are coming, when <f>ⓢ</f>all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD.


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<f>ⓣ</f> And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, <f>ⓤ</f>and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”


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Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, <f>ⓥ</f>“The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?”


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<pb/><f>ⓦ</f> The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made <f>ⓧ</f>the pool and the conduit <f>ⓨ</f>and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah.


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And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, <f>ⓑ</f>according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.


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For he rebuilt the high places <f>ⓒ</f>that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made <f>ⓓ</f>an Asherah, <f>ⓔ</f>as Ahab king of Israel had done, <f>ⓕ</f>and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.


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<f>ⓖ</f> And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, <f>ⓗ</f>“In Jerusalem will I put my name.”


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And he built altars <f>ⓘ</f>for all the host of heaven in <f>ⓙ</f>the two courts of the house of the LORD.


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<f>ⓚ</f> And he burned his son as an offering <f>[1]</f> and <f>ⓛ</f>used fortune-telling and <f>ⓜ</f>omens and dealt <f>ⓝ</f>with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.


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And the carved image of <f>ⓞ</f>Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the LORD said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, <f>ⓟ</f>and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.


text:
<f>ⓠ</f> And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.”


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But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel.


text:
<f>ⓡ</f> “Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things <f>ⓢ</f>more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, <f>ⓣ</f>and has made Judah also to sin <f>ⓤ</f>with his idols,


text:
therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster <f>[2]</f> that the ears of everyone who hears of it <f>ⓥ</f>will tingle.


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<f>ⓦ</f> And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.


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And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies,


text:
because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.”


text:
<pb/><f>ⓧ</f> Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin <f>ⓨ</f>that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.


text:
<pb/><f>ⓩ</f> Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


text:
<f>ⓐ</f> And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, <f>ⓑ</f>in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son reigned in his place.


text:
<pb/>Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.


text:
He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served <f>ⓓ</f>the idols that his father served and worshiped them.


text:
But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.


text:
Now the rest of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


text:
And he was buried in his tomb <f>ⓕ</f>in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place.


text:
<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of <f>ⓑ</f>Bozkath.


text:
And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the way of David his father, <f>ⓒ</f>and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.


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<pb/>In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the LORD, saying,


text:
“Go up to <f>ⓓ</f>Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money <f>ⓔ</f>that has been brought into the house of the LORD, which <f>ⓕ</f>the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people.


text:
<f>ⓖ</f> And let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD, and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of the LORD, repairing the house


text:
(that is, to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons), and let them use it for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the house.


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But <f>ⓗ</f>no accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly.”


text:
<pb/>And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found <f>ⓘ</f>the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.


text:
And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD.”


text:
Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.


text:
And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and <f>ⓚ</f>Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and <f>ⓛ</f>Achbor the son of <f>ⓜ</f>Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,


text:
“Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is <f>ⓝ</f>the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”


text:
<pb/>So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of <f>ⓞ</f>Tikvah, son of <f>ⓟ</f>Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in <f>ⓠ</f>the Second Quarter), and they talked with her.


text:
Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read.


text:
<f>ⓡ</f> Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore <f>ⓢ</f>my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched.


text:
But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard,


text:
<f>ⓣ</f> because your heart was penitent, and you <f>ⓤ</f>humbled yourself before the LORD, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become <f>ⓥ</f>a desolation and <f>ⓦ</f>a curse, and you <f>ⓧ</f>have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the LORD.


text:
Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and <f>ⓨ</f>you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place.’” And they brought back word to the king.


text:
And the king went up to the house of the LORD, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And <f>ⓑ</f>he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant <f>ⓒ</f>that had been found in the house of the LORD.


text:
And the king stood <f>ⓓ</f>by the pillar and <f>ⓔ</f>made a covenant before the LORD, <f>ⓕ</f>to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.


text:
<pb/>And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests <f>ⓖ</f>of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels made for <f>ⓗ</f>Baal, for <f>ⓘ</f>Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. <f>ⓙ</f>He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.


text:
And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations <f>ⓚ</f>and all the host of the heavens.


text:
And he brought out <f>ⓛ</f>the Asherah from the house of the LORD, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, <f>ⓜ</f>and burned it at the brook Kidron <f>ⓝ</f>and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves <f>ⓞ</f>of the common people.


text:
And he broke down the houses of <f>ⓟ</f>the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the LORD, <f>ⓠ</f>where the women wove hangings for <f>ⓡ</f>the Asherah.


text:
And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from <f>ⓢ</f>Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one's left at the gate of the city.


text:
<f>ⓣ</f> However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.


text:
And he defiled <f>ⓤ</f>Topheth, which is <f>ⓥ</f>in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, <f>ⓦ</f>that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to <f>ⓧ</f>Molech. <f>[1]</f>


text:
And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts. <f>[2]</f> And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.


text:
And the altars <f>ⓨ</f>on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars <f>ⓩ</f>that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, he pulled down and broke in pieces <f>[3]</f> and cast the dust of them <f>ⓐ</f>into the brook Kidron.


text:
And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of <f>ⓑ</f>the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for <f>ⓒ</f>Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for <f>ⓓ</f>Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for <f>ⓔ</f>Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.


text:
And he broke in pieces the <f>ⓕ</f>pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.


text:
<pb/>Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected <f>ⓖ</f>by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, <f>ⓗ</f>who made Israel to sin, <f>ⓘ</f>that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, <f>[4]</f> reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah.


text:
And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, <f>ⓙ</f>according to the word of the LORD that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things.


text:
Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, <f>ⓚ</f>“It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted <f>[5]</f> these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.”


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And he said, “Let him be; let no man move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones <f>ⓛ</f>of the prophet who came out of Samaria.


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And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were <f>ⓜ</f>in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the LORD to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel.


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And <f>ⓝ</f>he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, <f>ⓞ</f>and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.


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<pb/>And the king commanded all the people, <f>ⓟ</f>“Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, <f>ⓠ</f>as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”


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<f>ⓡ</f> For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah.


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<pb/>Moreover, Josiah put away <f>ⓢ</f>the mediums and the necromancers and <f>ⓣ</f>the household gods and <f>ⓤ</f>the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish <f>ⓥ</f>the words of the law that were written in the book <f>ⓦ</f>that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.


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<f>ⓧ</f> Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.


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<pb/>Still the LORD did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, <f>ⓨ</f>because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him.


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And the LORD said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, <f>ⓩ</f>as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, <f>ⓐ</f>and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”


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<pb/>Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


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<f>ⓑ</f> In his days <f>ⓒ</f>Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him at <f>ⓓ</f>Megiddo, as soon as he saw him.


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<f>ⓔ</f> And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from <f>ⓕ</f>Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. <f>ⓖ</f>And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's place.


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<pb/><f>ⓗ</f> Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was <f>ⓘ</f>Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.


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And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, <f>ⓙ</f>according to all that his fathers had done.


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And <f>ⓚ</f>Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at <f>ⓛ</f>Riblah in the land of <f>ⓜ</f>Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents <f>[6]</f> of silver and a talent of gold.


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And <f>ⓝ</f>Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and <f>ⓞ</f>changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, <f>ⓟ</f>and he came to Egypt and died there.


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And Jehoiakim <f>ⓠ</f>gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.


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<pb/><f>ⓡ</f> Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.


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And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, <f>ⓢ</f>according to all that his fathers had done.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him.


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And the LORD sent against him bands of the <f>ⓑ</f>Chaldeans and <f>ⓒ</f>bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, <f>ⓓ</f>according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by his servants the prophets.


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Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the LORD, to remove them out of his sight, <f>ⓔ</f>for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done,


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and also <f>ⓕ</f>for the innocent blood that he had shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD would not pardon.


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<f>ⓖ</f> Now the rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?


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<f>ⓘ</f> And the king of Egypt did not come again out of his land, <f>ⓙ</f>for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt <f>ⓚ</f>from the Brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates.


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<pb/><f>ⓛ</f> Jehoiachin was <f>ⓜ</f>eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.


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And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, <f>ⓝ</f>according to all that his father had done.


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<pb/>At that time the servants of <f>ⓞ</f>Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.


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<f>ⓠ</f> and Jehoiachin the king of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself and his mother and his servants and his officials and his palace officials. <f>ⓡ</f>The king of Babylon took him prisoner <f>ⓢ</f>in the eighth year of his reign


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and carried off all the treasures of the house of the LORD <f>ⓣ</f>and the treasures of the king's house, <f>ⓤ</f>and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the LORD, <f>ⓥ</f>which Solomon king of Israel had made, <f>ⓦ</f>as the LORD had foretold.


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<f>ⓧ</f> He carried away all Jerusalem and all the officials and all the mighty men of valor, <f>ⓨ</f>10,000 captives, <f>ⓩ</f>and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained, <f>ⓐ</f>except the poorest people of the land.


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<f>ⓑ</f> And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon. The king's mother, the king's wives, his officials, and the chief men of the land he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.


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And the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, <f>ⓒ</f>7,000, and the craftsmen and the metal workers, 1,000, all of them strong and fit for war.


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<f>ⓓ</f> And the king of Babylon <f>ⓔ</f>made Mattaniah, <f>ⓕ</f>Jehoiachin's uncle, king in his place, <f>ⓖ</f>and changed his name to Zedekiah.


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<pb/><f>ⓗ</f> Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was <f>ⓘ</f>Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.


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And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, <f>ⓙ</f>according to all that Jehoiakim had done.


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For because of the anger of the LORD it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence. <pb/><f>ⓚ</f>And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, <f>ⓑ</f>Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. <f>ⓒ</f>And they built siegeworks all around it.


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On the ninth day of the fourth month <f>ⓓ</f>the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.


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Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by <f>ⓔ</f>the king's garden, and <f>ⓕ</f>the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the <f>ⓖ</f>Arabah.


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But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him.


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Then they captured the king <f>ⓗ</f>and brought him up to the king of Babylon at <f>ⓘ</f>Riblah, and they passed sentence on him.


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They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, <f>ⓙ</f>and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon.


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<pb/><f>ⓚ</f> In the fifth month, on <f>ⓛ</f>the seventh day of the month — that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon — Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.


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<f>ⓜ</f> And he burned the house of the LORD <f>ⓝ</f>and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.


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And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, <f>ⓞ</f>broke down the walls around Jerusalem.


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<f>ⓟ</f> And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile.


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But the captain of the guard left <f>ⓠ</f>some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.


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<pb/><f>ⓡ</f> And the pillars <f>ⓢ</f>of bronze that were in the house of the LORD, and <f>ⓣ</f>the stands and <f>ⓤ</f>the bronze sea that were in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried the bronze to Babylon.


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<f>ⓥ</f> And they took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service,


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the fire pans also and the bowls. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver.


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As for the two pillars, the one sea, and the stands that Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, <f>ⓦ</f>the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight.


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<f>ⓧ</f> The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, <f>[1]</f> and on it was a capital of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits. A latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, were all around the capital. And the second pillar had the same, with the latticework.


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<pb/><f>ⓨ</f> And the captain of the guard took <f>ⓩ</f>Seraiah the chief priest and <f>ⓐ</f>Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the threshold;


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and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and <f>ⓑ</f>five men of the king's council who were found in the city; and the secretary of the commander of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the city.


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And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at <f>ⓒ</f>Riblah.


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And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at <f>ⓓ</f>Riblah in the land of Hamath. <f>ⓔ</f>So Judah was taken into exile out of its land.


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<pb/>And over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he appointed <f>ⓕ</f>Gedaliah the son of <f>ⓖ</f>Ahikam, son of Shaphan, governor.


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<f>ⓗ</f> Now when all the captains and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah governor, they came with their men to Gedaliah at <f>ⓘ</f>Mizpah, namely, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite.


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And Gedaliah swore to them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid because of the Chaldean officials. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.”


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<f>ⓙ</f> But in the seventh month, <f>ⓚ</f>Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah and put him to death along with the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.


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<f>ⓛ</f> Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.


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<pb/><f>ⓜ</f> And in the thirty-seventh year of <f>ⓝ</f>the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously <f>ⓞ</f>freed <f>[2]</f> Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison.


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And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon.


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So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life <f>ⓟ</f>he dined regularly at the king's table,


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and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, as long as he lived.


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<pb/><f>ⓖ</f> The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. And the sons of Aram: <f>[4]</f> Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech.


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To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg <f>[5]</f> (for in his days the earth was divided), and his brother's name was Joktan.


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<f>ⓚ</f> These are their genealogies: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,


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<f>ⓛ</f> The sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bore Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan.


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The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the descendants of Keturah.


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The sons of Shobal: Alvan, <f>[9]</f> Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, <f>[10]</f> and Onam. The sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah.


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The son <f>[11]</f> of Anah: Dishon. The sons of Dishon: Hemdan, <f>[12]</f> Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.


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<pb/><f>ⓡ</f> These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the people of Israel: Bela the son of Beor, the name of his city being Dinhabah.


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Baal-hanan died, and Hadad reigned in his place, the name of his city being Pai; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.


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<pb/>These are the sons of <f>ⓐ</f>Israel: <f>ⓑ</f>Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, <f>ⓒ</f>Issachar, Zebulun,


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<f>ⓘ</f> The sons of Judah: <f>ⓙ</f>Er, Onan and Shelah; these three Bath-shua the Canaanite bore to him. Now Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the sight of the LORD, and he put him to death.


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The son <f>[1]</f> of Carmi: Achan, the troubler of Israel, who <f>ⓜ</f>broke faith in the matter of the devoted thing;


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<f>ⓟ</f> Ram fathered Amminadab, and <f>ⓠ</f>Amminadab fathered <f>ⓡ</f>Nahshon, prince of the sons of Judah.


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And their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. <f>ⓨ</f>The sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel, three.


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<pb/><f>ⓑ</f> Caleb the son of Hezron fathered children by his wife Azubah, and by Jerioth; and these were her sons: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon.


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<pb/>Afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of <f>ⓖ</f>Machir the father of Gilead, whom he married when he was sixty years old, and she bore him Segub.


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<f>ⓗ</f> But Geshur and Aram took from them Havvoth-jair, Kenath, and its villages, sixty towns. All these were descendants of Machir, the father of Gilead.


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After the death of Hezron, <f>ⓘ</f>Caleb went in to Ephrathah, <f>[3]</f> the wife of Hezron his father, and she bore him <f>ⓙ</f>Ashhur, the father of Tekoa.


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<pb/>The sons of <f>ⓚ</f>Jerahmeel, the firstborn of Hezron: Ram, his firstborn, Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah.


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<pb/>The sons of <f>ⓠ</f>Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel: Mareshah <f>[5]</f> his firstborn, who fathered Ziph. The son <f>[6]</f> of Mareshah: <f>ⓡ</f>Hebron. <f>[7]</f>


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She also bore Shaaph the father of Madmannah, Sheva the father of Machbenah and the father of Gibea; and the <f>ⓢ</f>daughter of Caleb was Achsah.


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These were the descendants of Caleb. <pb/>The sons <f>[8]</f> of Hur the firstborn of <f>ⓣ</f>Ephrathah: Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim,


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And the clans of Kiriath-jearim: the Ithrites, the Puthites, the Shumathites, and the Mishraites; from these came the <f>ⓦ</f>Zorathites and the Eshtaolites.


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The sons of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab and half of the Manahathites, the Zorites.


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The clans also of the scribes who lived at Jabez: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites and the Sucathites. These are the <f>ⓧ</f>Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of <f>ⓨ</f>the house of Rechab.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> These are the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn, Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelite; the second, <f>ⓑ</f>Daniel, by Abigail the Carmelite,


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the third, Absalom, whose mother was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith;


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six were born to him in Hebron, <f>ⓒ</f>where he reigned for seven years and six months. <f>ⓓ</f>And he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.


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<f>ⓔ</f> These were born to him in Jerusalem: <f>ⓕ</f>Shimea, Shobab, Nathan and <f>ⓖ</f>Solomon, four by <f>ⓗ</f>Bath-shua, the daughter of <f>ⓘ</f>Ammiel;


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All these were David's sons, besides the sons of the concubines, <f>ⓛ</f>and Tamar was their sister.


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<pb/>The son of Solomon was <f>ⓜ</f>Rehoboam, <f>ⓝ</f>Abijah his son, <f>ⓞ</f>Asa his son, <f>ⓟ</f>Jehoshaphat his son,


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The sons of Josiah: <f>ⓑ</f>Johanan the firstborn, the second <f>ⓒ</f>Jehoiakim, the third <f>ⓓ</f>Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum.


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and the sons of Pedaiah: <f>ⓙ</f>Zerubbabel and Shimei; and the sons of <f>ⓚ</f>Zerubbabel: Meshullam and Hananiah, and Shelomith was their sister;


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The sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah and Jeshaiah, his son <f>[1]</f> Rephaiah, his son Arnan, his son Obadiah, his son Shecaniah.


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The son <f>[2]</f> of Shecaniah: <f>ⓛ</f>Shemaiah. And the sons of Shemaiah: <f>ⓜ</f>Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, and Shaphat, six.


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<f>ⓓ</f> Reaiah the son of Shobal fathered Jahath, and Jahath fathered Ahumai and Lahad. These were the clans of the <f>ⓔ</f>Zorathites.


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These were the sons <f>[1]</f> of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash; and the name of their sister was Hazzelelponi,


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and <f>ⓕ</f>Penuel fathered <f>ⓖ</f>Gedor, and Ezer fathered Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, the firstborn of <f>ⓗ</f>Ephrathah, the father of Bethlehem.


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Jabez was <f>ⓙ</f>more honorable than his brothers; and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” <f>[2]</f>


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Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm <f>[3]</f> so that it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked.


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Eshton fathered Beth-rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah, the father of Ir-nahash. These are the men of Recah.


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The sons of <f>ⓚ</f>Kenaz: <f>ⓛ</f>Othniel and Seraiah; and the sons of Othniel: Hathath and Meonothai. <f>[4]</f>


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Meonothai fathered Ophrah; and Seraiah fathered Joab, the father of Ge-harashim, <f>[5]</f> so-called because they were craftsmen.


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The sons of <f>ⓜ</f>Caleb the son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah, and Naam; and the son <f>[6]</f> of Elah: Kenaz.


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The sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. These are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered married; <f>[7]</f> and she conceived and bore <f>[8]</f> Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah, the father of Eshtemoa.


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And his Judahite wife bore <f>ⓝ</f>Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.


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The sons of the wife of Hodiah, the sister of Naham, were the fathers of Keilah the Garmite and Eshtemoa the Maacathite.


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The sons of <f>ⓞ</f>Shelah the son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the clans of the house of linen workers at Beth-ashbea;


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and Jokim, and the men of Cozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, who ruled in Moab and returned to Lehem <f>[9]</f> (now the records <f>[10]</f> are ancient).


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These were the potters who were inhabitants of Netaim and Gederah. They lived there in the king's service.


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Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers did not have many children, <f>ⓠ</f>nor did all their clan multiply <f>ⓡ</f>like the men of Judah.


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Beth-marcaboth, <f>ⓦ</f>Hazar-susim, <f>ⓧ</f>Beth-biri, and <f>ⓨ</f>Shaaraim. These were their cities until David reigned.


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along with all their villages that were around these cities as far as <f>ⓩ</f>Baal. These were their settlements, and they kept a genealogical record.


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these mentioned by name were princes in their clans, <f>ⓐ</f>and their fathers' houses increased greatly.


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They journeyed to the entrance of <f>ⓑ</f>Gedor, to the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks,


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where they found rich, good pasture, and the land was very broad, <f>ⓒ</f>quiet, and peaceful, for the former inhabitants there belonged to Ham.


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<f>ⓓ</f> These, registered by name, came in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and destroyed their tents and the Meunites who were found there, and marked them for destruction to this day, <f>ⓔ</f>and settled in their place, because there was pasture there for their flocks.


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And some of them, five hundred men of the Simeonites, went to <f>ⓕ</f>Mount Seir, having as their leaders Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi.


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And they defeated <f>ⓖ</f>the remnant of the Amalekites who had escaped, and they have lived there to this day.


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<pb/>The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (<f>ⓐ</f>for he was the firstborn, but because <f>ⓑ</f>he defiled his father's couch, <f>ⓒ</f>his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel, so that he could not be enrolled as the oldest son;


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<f>ⓓ</f> though Judah became strong among his brothers and a <f>ⓔ</f>chief came from him, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph),


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Beerah his son, whom <f>ⓖ</f>Tiglath-pileser <f>[1]</f> king of Assyria carried away into exile; he was a chief of the Reubenites.


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And his kinsmen by their clans, <f>ⓗ</f>when the genealogy of their generations was recorded: the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah,


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and Bela the son of Azaz, son of <f>ⓘ</f>Shema, son of Joel, who lived in <f>ⓙ</f>Aroer, as far as <f>ⓚ</f>Nebo and <f>ⓛ</f>Baal-meon.


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He also lived to the east as far as the entrance of the desert this side of the Euphrates, because their livestock had multiplied <f>ⓜ</f>in the land of Gilead.


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And in the days of Saul they waged war against the <f>ⓝ</f>Hagrites, who fell into their hand. And they lived in their tents throughout all the region east of Gilead.


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And their kinsmen according to their fathers' houses: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia and Eber, seven.


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These were the sons of Abihail the son of Huri, son of Jaroah, son of Gilead, son of Michael, son of Jeshishai, son of Jahdo, son of Buz.


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and they lived in Gilead, in Bashan and in its towns, and in all the pasturelands of <f>ⓟ</f>Sharon to their limits.


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All of these were recorded in genealogies in the days of <f>ⓠ</f>Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of <f>ⓡ</f>Jeroboam king of Israel.


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<pb/>The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had valiant men who carried shield and sword, and drew the bow, <f>ⓢ</f>expert in war, 44,760, able to go to war.


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And when they prevailed <f>[2]</f> over them, the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hands, <f>ⓥ</f>for they cried out to God in the battle, and he granted their urgent plea <f>ⓦ</f>because they trusted in him.


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They carried off their livestock: 50,000 of their camels, 250,000 sheep, 2,000 donkeys, and 100,000 men alive.


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For many fell, because the war was of God. And they lived <f>ⓧ</f>in their place until <f>ⓨ</f>the exile.


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<pb/>The members of the half-tribe of Manasseh lived in the land. They were very numerous from Bashan to Baal-hermon, <f>ⓩ</f>Senir, and Mount Hermon.


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These were the heads of their fathers' houses: Epher, <f>[3]</f> Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty warriors, famous men, heads of their fathers' houses.


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But they broke faith with the God of their fathers, and <f>ⓐ</f>whored <f>ⓑ</f>after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.


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So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of <f>ⓒ</f>Pul king of Assyria, the spirit of <f>ⓓ</f>Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and he took them into exile, namely, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them <f>ⓔ</f>to Halah, <f>ⓕ</f>Habor, Hara, and <f>ⓖ</f>the river Gozan, to this day.


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<f>ⓒ</f> The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. <f>ⓓ</f>The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.


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and Johanan fathered Azariah (<f>ⓚ</f>it was he who served as priest <f>ⓛ</f>in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem).


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and <f>ⓡ</f>Jehozadak went into exile when the LORD sent Judah and Jerusalem into exile <f>ⓢ</f>by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.


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<f>ⓦ</f> The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their fathers.


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<pb/>These are the men <f>ⓑ</f>whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the LORD <f>ⓒ</f>after the ark rested there.


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They ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting until Solomon built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they performed their service according to their order.


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These are the men who served and their sons. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman the singer the son of Joel, son of <f>ⓓ</f>Samuel,


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and his brother <f>ⓔ</f>Asaph, who stood on his right hand, namely, Asaph the son of Berechiah, son of Shimea,


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On the left hand were their brothers, the sons of Merari: Ethan the son of Kishi, son of Abdi, son of Malluch,


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And their brothers the Levites were appointed for all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God.


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<pb/>But Aaron and his sons made offerings <f>ⓕ</f>on the altar of burnt offering and on <f>ⓖ</f>the altar of incense for all the work of the Most Holy Place, and <f>ⓗ</f>to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.


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<pb/>These are their dwelling places according to their <f>ⓙ</f>settlements within their borders: to the sons of Aaron of the <f>ⓚ</f>clans of Kohathites, for theirs was the first lot,


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<f>ⓜ</f> To the sons of Aaron they gave the cities of refuge: Hebron, Libnah with its pasturelands, Jattir, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands,


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and from the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon, <f>[5]</f> Geba with its pasturelands, Alemeth with its pasturelands, and Anathoth with its pasturelands. All their cities throughout their clans were thirteen.


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<pb/><f>ⓝ</f> To the rest of the Kohathites were given by lot out of the clan of the tribe, out of the half-tribe, the half of Manasseh, ten cities.


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To the Gershomites according to their clans were allotted thirteen cities out of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and Manasseh in Bashan.


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<f>ⓞ</f> To the Merarites according to their clans were allotted twelve cities out of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.


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They gave by lot out of the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin <f>ⓠ</f>these cities that are mentioned by name.


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<pb/><f>ⓡ</f> And some of the clans of the sons of Kohath had cities of their territory out of the tribe of Ephraim.


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They were given the cities of refuge: Shechem with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands,


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and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Aner with its pasturelands, and Bileam with its pasturelands, for the rest of the clans of the Kohathites.


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<pb/><f>ⓣ</f> To the Gershomites were given out of the clan of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands and <f>ⓤ</f>Ashtaroth with its pasturelands;


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and out of the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands, Hammon with its pasturelands, and Kiriathaim with its pasturelands.


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<f>ⓥ</f> To the rest of the Merarites were allotted out of the tribe of Zebulun: <f>ⓦ</f>Rimmono with its pasturelands, <f>ⓧ</f>Tabor with its pasturelands,


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and <f>ⓨ</f>beyond the Jordan at Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, out of the tribe of Reuben: Bezer in the wilderness with its pasturelands, Jahzah with its pasturelands,


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and out of the tribe of Gad: <f>ⓩ</f>Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, <f>ⓐ</f>Mahanaim with its pasturelands,


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The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their fathers' houses, namely of Tola, mighty warriors of their generations, their number <f>ⓒ</f>in the days of David being 22,600.


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The son <f>[2]</f> of Uzzi: Izrahiah. And the sons of Izrahiah: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah, all five of them were chief men.


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And along with them, by their generations, according to their fathers' houses, were units of the army for war, 36,000, for they had many wives and sons.


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Their kinsmen belonging to all the clans of Issachar were in all 87,000 mighty warriors, enrolled by genealogy.


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The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri, five, heads of fathers' houses, mighty warriors. And their enrollment by genealogies was 22,034.


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The sons of Becher: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, <f>ⓔ</f>Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher.


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And their enrollment by genealogies, according to their generations, as heads of their fathers' houses, mighty warriors, was 20,200.


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The son of Jediael: Bilhan. And the sons of Bilhan: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar.


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All these were the sons of Jediael according to the heads of their fathers' houses, mighty warriors, 17,200, able to go to war.


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<pb/><f>ⓖ</f> The sons of Naphtali: <f>ⓗ</f>Jahziel, Guni, Jezer and <f>ⓘ</f>Shallum, the descendants of Bilhah.


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<pb/><f>ⓙ</f> The sons of Manasseh: Asriel, whom his Aramean concubine bore; she bore <f>ⓚ</f>Machir the father of Gilead.


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And Machir took a wife for Huppim and for Shuppim. The name of his sister was Maacah. And the name of the second was Zelophehad, and <f>ⓛ</f>Zelophehad had daughters.


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And Maacah the wife of Machir bore a son, and she called his name Peresh; and the name of his brother was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem.


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<pb/>The <f>ⓝ</f>sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, and Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son,


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Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead, whom the men of Gath who were born in the land killed, because they came down to raid their livestock.


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And Ephraim went in to his wife, and she conceived and bore a son. And he called his name Beriah, because disaster had befallen his house. <f>[3]</f>


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<f>ⓡ</f> Their possessions and settlements were Bethel and its towns, and to the east Naaran, and to the west <f>ⓢ</f>Gezer and its towns, Shechem and its towns, and Ayyah and its towns;


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<f>ⓣ</f> also in possession of the Manassites, <f>ⓤ</f>Beth-shean and its towns, Taanach and its towns, Megiddo and its towns, Dor and its towns. In these lived the sons of Joseph the son of Israel.


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All of these were men of Asher, heads of fathers' houses, approved, mighty warriors, chiefs of the princes. Their number enrolled by genealogies, for service in war, was 26,000 men.


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These are the sons of Ehud (they were heads of fathers' houses of the inhabitants of Geba, and they were carried into exile to <f>ⓔ</f>Manahath):


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And Shaharaim fathered sons in the country of Moab after he had sent away Hushim and Baara his wives.


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and Beriah and <f>ⓗ</f>Shema (they were heads of fathers' houses of the inhabitants of <f>ⓘ</f>Aijalon, who caused the inhabitants of Gath to flee);


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These were the heads of fathers' houses, according to their generations, chief men. These lived in Jerusalem.


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<pb/><f>ⓙ</f> <f>ⓚ</f>Jeiel <f>[3]</f> the father of Gibeon lived in Gibeon, and the name of his wife was Maacah.


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and Mikloth (he fathered Shimeah). Now these also lived opposite their kinsmen in Jerusalem, with their kinsmen.


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<f>ⓛ</f> Ner was the father of Kish, Kish of Saul, Saul of <f>ⓜ</f>Jonathan, Malchi-shua, Abinadab and Eshbaal;


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Azel had six sons, and these are their names: Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. All these were the sons of Azel.


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The sons of Ulam were men who were mighty warriors, bowmen, having many sons and grandsons, 150. All these were Benjaminites.


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<pb/>So all Israel was recorded in genealogies, and these are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. And <f>ⓐ</f>Judah was taken into exile in Babylon because of their breach of faith.


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<f>ⓑ</f> Now the first to <f>ⓒ</f>dwell again in their possessions in their cities were Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the <f>ⓓ</f>temple servants.


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Uthai the son of Ammihud, son of Omri, son of Imri, son of Bani, from the sons of <f>ⓔ</f>Perez the son of Judah.


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Ibneiah the son of Jeroham, Elah the son of Uzzi, son of Michri, and Meshullam the son of Shephatiah, son of Reuel, son of Ibnijah;


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and their kinsmen according to their generations, <f>ⓕ</f>956. All these were heads of fathers' houses according <f>ⓖ</f>to their fathers' houses.


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and Azariah the son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, the <f>ⓘ</f>chief officer of the house of God;


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and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, son of Pashhur, son of Malchijah, and Maasai the son of Adiel, son of Jahzerah, son of Meshullam, son of Meshillemith, son of Immer;


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besides their kinsmen, heads of their fathers' houses, 1,760, mighty men for the work of the service of the house of God.


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<pb/><f>ⓙ</f> Of the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah, of the sons of Merari;


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and Obadiah the son of Shemaiah, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun, and Berechiah the son of Asa, son of Elkanah, who lived in the villages of the Netophathites.


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<pb/>The gatekeepers were Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their kinsmen (Shallum was the chief);


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until then they were <f>ⓚ</f>in the king's gate on the east side as the gatekeepers of the camps of the Levites.


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Shallum the son of Kore, son of <f>ⓛ</f>Ebiasaph, son of Korah, and his kinsmen of his fathers' house, the <f>ⓜ</f>Korahites, were in charge of the work of the service, keepers of the thresholds of the tent, as their fathers had been in charge of the camp of the LORD, keepers of the entrance.


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And <f>ⓝ</f>Phinehas the son of Eleazar was the chief officer over them in time past; the LORD was with him.


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All these, who were chosen as gatekeepers at the thresholds, were 212. They were enrolled by genealogies in their villages. <f>ⓟ</f>David and Samuel <f>ⓠ</f>the seer established them in their office of trust.


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So they and their sons were in charge of the gates of the house of the LORD, that is, the house of the tent, as guards.


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And their kinsmen who were <f>ⓡ</f>in their villages were obligated to come <f>ⓢ</f>in every seven days, in turn, to be with these,


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for the four chief gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted to be over <f>ⓣ</f>the chambers and the treasures of the house of God.


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And they lodged around the house of God, for on them lay the duty of watching, and <f>ⓤ</f>they had charge of opening it every morning.


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<pb/>Some of them had charge of the utensils of service, for they were required to count them when they were brought in and taken out.


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Others of them were appointed over the furniture and over all the holy utensils, also over the <f>ⓥ</f>fine flour, the wine, the oil, the incense, and the spices.


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and Mattithiah, one of the Levites, the firstborn of <f>ⓧ</f>Shallum the <f>ⓨ</f>Korahite, was entrusted with <f>ⓩ</f>making the flat cakes.


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Also some of their kinsmen of the Kohathites had <f>ⓐ</f>charge of the showbread, to prepare it every Sabbath.


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<pb/>Now these, the <f>ⓑ</f>singers, the heads of fathers' houses of the Levites, were in the chambers of the temple free from other service, for they were on duty day and night.


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These were heads of fathers' houses of the Levites, according to their generations, leaders. These lived in Jerusalem.


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and Mikloth was the father of Shimeam; and these also lived opposite their kinsmen in Jerusalem, with their kinsmen.


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<f>ⓓ</f> Ner fathered Kish, Kish fathered Saul, Saul fathered Jonathan, Malchi-shua, Abinadab, and Eshbaal.


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And Ahaz fathered <f>ⓖ</f>Jarah, and Jarah fathered Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri. And Zimri fathered Moza.


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Azel had six sons and these are their names: Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan; these were the sons of Azel.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.


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And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul.


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Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.


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And when all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that the army <f>[1]</f> had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled, and the Philistines came and lived in them.


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<pb/>The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.


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And they stripped him and took his head and his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to their idols and to the people.


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all the valiant men arose and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh. And they buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh and fasted seven days.


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<pb/>So Saul died <f>ⓑ</f>for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the LORD in that he did not keep the command of the LORD, and also <f>ⓒ</f>consulted a medium, seeking guidance.


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He <f>ⓓ</f>did not seek guidance from the LORD. Therefore the LORD put him to death and <f>ⓔ</f>turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Then all Israel gathered together to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh.


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In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the LORD your God said to you, <f>ⓑ</f>‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over my people Israel.’”


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So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD. And they anointed David king over Israel, <f>ⓒ</f>according to the word of the LORD by Samuel.


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<pb/>And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, <f>ⓓ</f>that is, Jebus, where the Jebusites were, <f>ⓔ</f>the inhabitants of the land.


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The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You will not come in here.” Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.


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David said, “Whoever strikes the Jebusites first <f>ⓕ</f>shall be chief and commander.” And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, so he became chief.


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And he built the city all around from the Millo in complete circuit, and Joab repaired the rest of the city.


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<pb/><f>ⓗ</f> Now these are the chiefs of David's mighty men, who gave him strong support in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king, <f>ⓘ</f>according to the word of the LORD concerning Israel.


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This is an account of David's mighty men: <f>ⓙ</f>Jashobeam, a <f>ⓚ</f>Hachmonite, was <f>ⓛ</f>chief of the three. <f>[1]</f> He wielded his spear against 300 whom he killed at one time.


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He was with David at Pas-dammim <f>ⓝ</f>when the Philistines were gathered there for battle. There was a plot of ground full of barley, and the men fled from the Philistines.


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But he took his <f>[2]</f> stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and killed the Philistines. And the LORD saved them by a great victory.


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<pb/>Three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David at the cave of Adullam, when the army of Philistines was encamped in the <f>ⓞ</f>Valley of Rephaim.


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David was then in the stronghold, and the <f>ⓟ</f>garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem.


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And David said longingly, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!”


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Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and took it and brought it to David. But David would not drink it. He poured it out to the LORD


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and said, “Far be it from me before my God that I should do this. Shall I drink the lifeblood of these men? For at the risk of their lives they brought it.” Therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.


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<pb/>Now Abishai, the brother of Joab, was chief of the thirty. <f>[3]</f> And he wielded his spear against 300 men and killed them and won a name beside the three.


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He was the most renowned <f>[4]</f> of the thirty <f>[5]</f> and became their commander, but he did not attain to the three.


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<pb/>And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man <f>[6]</f> of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two heroes of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen.


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And he struck down an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits <f>[7]</f> tall. The Egyptian had in his hand a spear <f>ⓠ</f>like a weaver's beam, but Benaiah went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Now these are the men who came to David at Ziklag, while he could not move about freely because of Saul the son of Kish. And they were among the mighty men who helped him in war.


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They <f>ⓑ</f>were bowmen and could shoot arrows and sling stones with either the right or the <f>ⓒ</f>left hand; they were Benjaminites, <f>ⓓ</f>Saul's kinsmen.


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The chief was Ahiezer, then Joash, both sons of Shemaah of <f>ⓔ</f>Gibeah; also Jeziel and Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth; Beracah, Jehu of <f>ⓕ</f>Anathoth,


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Ishmaiah of <f>ⓖ</f>Gibeon, a mighty man among the thirty and a leader over the thirty; Jeremiah, <f>[1]</f> Jahaziel, Johanan, Jozabad of Gederah,


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<pb/>From the Gadites there went over to David at the stronghold in the wilderness mighty and experienced warriors, expert with shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions and who were <f>ⓘ</f>swift as gazelles upon the mountains:


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These Gadites were officers of the army; the least was a <f>ⓙ</f>match for a hundred men and the greatest for a thousand.


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These are the men who crossed the Jordan in the first month, when it was <f>ⓚ</f>overflowing all its banks, and put to flight all those in the valleys, to the east and to the west.


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David went out to meet them and said to them, “If you have come to me in friendship to help me, my heart will be joined to you; but if to betray me to my adversaries, although there is no wrong in my hands, then may the God of our fathers see and rebuke you.”


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Then <f>ⓛ</f>the Spirit clothed <f>ⓜ</f>Amasai, chief of the thirty, and he said, <pb/><t>“We are yours, O David, </t><t>and with you, O son of Jesse! </t><t><f>ⓝ</f>Peace, peace to you, </t><t>and peace to your helpers! </t><t>For your God helps you.” </t> <pb/>Then David received them and made them officers of his troops.


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<pb/>Some of the men of Manasseh deserted to David <f>ⓞ</f>when he came with the Philistines for the battle against Saul. (Yet he did not help them, for the rulers of the Philistines took counsel and sent him away, saying, <f>ⓟ</f>“At peril to our heads he will desert to his master Saul.”)


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As he went to Ziklag, these men of Manasseh deserted to him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, chiefs of thousands in Manasseh.


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They helped David against <f>ⓠ</f>the band of raiders, for they were all mighty men of valor and were commanders in the army.


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For from day to day men came to David to help him, until there was a great army, like an army of God.


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<pb/>These are the numbers of the divisions of the armed troops <f>ⓡ</f>who came to David in Hebron <f>ⓢ</f>to turn the kingdom of Saul over to him, <f>ⓣ</f>according to the word of the LORD.


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Of the Benjaminites, <f>ⓥ</f>the kinsmen of Saul, 3,000, of whom the <f>ⓦ</f>majority had to that point kept their allegiance to the house of Saul.


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Of Issachar, men who <f>ⓨ</f>had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command.


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Of Zebulun 50,000 seasoned troops, <f>ⓩ</f>equipped for battle with all the weapons of war, to help David <f>[3]</f> with <f>ⓐ</f>singleness of purpose.


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Of the Reubenites and Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh from beyond the Jordan, 120,000 men armed with all the weapons of war.


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<pb/>All these, men of war, arrayed in battle order, came to Hebron with <f>ⓔ</f>a whole heart to make David king over all Israel. Likewise, all the rest of Israel were of a <f>ⓕ</f>single mind to make David king.


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And they were there with David for three days, eating and drinking, for their brothers had made preparation for them.


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And also their relatives, from as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, came bringing food on donkeys and on camels and on mules and on oxen, abundant provisions of flour, <f>ⓖ</f>cakes of figs, clusters of raisins, and wine and oil, oxen and sheep, for there was joy in Israel.


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And David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you and from the LORD our God, let us send abroad to our brothers <f>ⓐ</f>who remain in all the lands of Israel, as well as to the priests and Levites in the cities that have pasturelands, that they may be gathered to us.


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Then let us bring again the ark of our God to us, <f>ⓑ</f>for we did not seek it <f>[1]</f> in the days of Saul.”


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<pb/><f>ⓒ</f> So David assembled all Israel <f>ⓓ</f>from the <f>ⓔ</f>Nile <f>[2]</f> of Egypt to Lebo-hamath, to bring the ark of God <f>ⓕ</f>from Kiriath-jearim.


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<f>ⓖ</f> And David and all Israel went up to <f>ⓗ</f>Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim that belongs to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the LORD who <f>ⓘ</f>sits enthroned above the cherubim.


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And they carried the ark of God on a new cart, from the house of <f>ⓙ</f>Abinadab, and Uzzah and Ahio <f>[3]</f> were driving the cart.


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And David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, with song and <f>ⓚ</f>lyres and harps and tambourines and cymbals and trumpets.


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<pb/>And when they came to the threshing floor of <f>ⓛ</f>Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen stumbled.


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And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down <f>ⓜ</f>because he put out his hand to the ark, and <f>ⓝ</f>he died there before God.


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And David was angry because the LORD had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzza <f>[4]</f> to this day.


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So David did not take the ark home into the city of David, but took it aside to the house <f>ⓞ</f>of Obed-edom the Gittite.


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And the ark of God remained with the household of Obed-edom in his house three months. <f>ⓟ</f>And the LORD blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that he had.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also masons and carpenters to build a house for him.


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And David knew that the LORD had established him as king over Israel, and that his kingdom was highly exalted for the sake of his people Israel.


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<f>ⓑ</f> These are the names of the children born to him in Jerusalem: <f>ⓒ</f>Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,


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<pb/>When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went out against them.


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And David inquired of God, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” And the LORD said to him, “Go up, and I will give them into your hand.”


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And he went up to Baal-perazim, and David struck them down there. And David said, “God has broken through <f>[1]</f> my enemies by my hand, like a bursting flood.” Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim.


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And when David again inquired of God, <f>ⓘ</f>God said to him, “You shall not go up after them; go around and come against them opposite the balsam trees.


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And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.”


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And the fame of David went out into all lands, and the LORD brought the <f>ⓙ</f>fear of him upon all nations.


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<pb/>David <f>[1]</f> built houses for himself in the city of David. And he prepared a place for the ark of God and <f>ⓐ</f>pitched a tent for it.


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Then David said that no one but the Levites may carry <f>ⓑ</f>the ark of God, for the LORD had chosen them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister to him forever.


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<f>ⓒ</f> And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD <f>ⓓ</f>to its place, which he had prepared for it.


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Then David summoned the priests <f>ⓕ</f>Zadok and <f>ⓖ</f>Abiathar, and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab,


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and said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites. <f>ⓗ</f>Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, <f>ⓘ</f>to the place that I have prepared for it.


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<f>ⓙ</f> Because you did not carry it the first time, the LORD our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule.”


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So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel.


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And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders <f>ⓚ</f>with the poles, <f>ⓛ</f>as Moses had commanded according to the word of the LORD.


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<pb/>David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on <f>ⓜ</f>musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy.


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So the Levites appointed <f>ⓝ</f>Heman the son of Joel; and of his brothers <f>ⓞ</f>Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari, their brothers, <f>ⓟ</f>Ethan the son of Kushaiah;


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and with them their brothers of the second order, Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel.


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Zechariah, <f>ⓠ</f>Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps according to <f>ⓡ</f>Alamoth;


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but Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, <f>ⓢ</f>Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead with lyres according to <f>ⓣ</f>the Sheminith.


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Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, should <f>ⓤ</f>blow the trumpets before the ark of God. <f>ⓥ</f>Obed-edom and Jehiah were to be gatekeepers for the ark.


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<pb/><f>ⓦ</f> So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of <f>ⓧ</f>Obed-edom with rejoicing.


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And because God helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD, they sacrificed <f>ⓨ</f>seven bulls and seven rams.


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David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as also were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and the singers and Chenaniah the leader of the music of the singers. And David wore a linen ephod.


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So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, to the sound of the horn, <f>ⓩ</f>trumpets, and cymbals, and made loud music on <f>ⓐ</f>harps and lyres.


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<pb/>And as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David dancing and celebrating, and she despised him in her heart.


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<pb/>And they brought in the ark of God and set it inside <f>ⓐ</f>the tent that David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.


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And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD


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and distributed to all Israel, both men and women, to each a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, <f>[1]</f> and a cake of raisins.


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<pb/>Then he appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the LORD, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the LORD, the God of Israel.


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<f>ⓑ</f> Asaph was the chief, and second to him were Zechariah, Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, who were to play harps and lyres; Asaph was to sound the cymbals,


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and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God.


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Then on that day <f>ⓒ</f>David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the LORD by Asaph and his brothers.


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<pb/><t><f>ⓓ</f> Oh give thanks to the LORD; <f>ⓔ</f>call upon his name; </t><t><f>ⓕ</f>make known his deeds among the peoples!</t>


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<t><f>ⓗ</f> Remember the wondrous works that he has done, </t><t><f>ⓘ</f>his miracles and the judgments he uttered,</t>


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<t>Remember his covenant forever, </t><t>the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,</t>


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<t>which <f>ⓛ</f>he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, </t><t>to Israel as an everlasting covenant,</t>


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<t>saying, <f>ⓜ</f>“To you I will give the land of Canaan, </t><t>as your portion for an inheritance.” </t>


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<pb/><t>When you were <f>ⓝ</f>few in number, </t><t>of little account, and <f>ⓞ</f>sojourners in it,</t>


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<t>For <f>ⓢ</f>great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, </t><t>and he is to be feared <f>ⓣ</f>above all gods.</t>


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<t>For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, </t><t><f>ⓤ</f>but the LORD made the heavens.</t>


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<pb/><t>Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, </t><t><f>ⓥ</f>ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!</t>


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<t>Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; </t><t>bring an offering and come before him! </t><t><f>ⓦ</f>Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; <f>[2]</f></t>


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<t>tremble before him, all the earth; </t><t>yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.</t>


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<t><f>ⓧ</f> Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, </t><t>and let them say among the nations, <f>ⓨ</f>“The LORD reigns!”</t>


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<t><f>ⓩ</f> Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; </t><t>let the field exult, and everything in it!</t>


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<t>Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy </t><t>before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.</t>


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Say also: <pb/><t>“Save us, O God of our salvation, </t><t>and gather and deliver us from among the nations, </t><t>that we may give thanks to your holy name </t><t>and glory in your praise.</t>


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<t><f>ⓑ</f> Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, </t><t>from everlasting to everlasting!” </t> <pb/><f>ⓒ</f>Then all the people said, “Amen!” and praised the LORD.


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<pb/>So David left Asaph and his brothers there <f>ⓓ</f>before the ark of the covenant of the LORD to minister regularly before the ark <f>ⓔ</f>as each day required,


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and also <f>ⓕ</f>Obed-edom and his <f>[3]</f> sixty-eight brothers, while <f>ⓖ</f>Obed-edom, the son of Jeduthun, and <f>ⓗ</f>Hosah were to be gatekeepers.


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And he left <f>ⓘ</f>Zadok the priest and his brothers the priests before the tabernacle of the LORD <f>ⓙ</f>in the high place that was at Gibeon


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to offer burnt offerings to the LORD <f>ⓚ</f>on the altar of burnt offering <f>ⓛ</f>regularly morning and evening, to do all that is written in the Law of the LORD that he commanded Israel.


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With them were <f>ⓜ</f>Heman and Jeduthun <f>ⓝ</f>and the rest of those chosen and <f>ⓞ</f>expressly named to give thanks to the LORD, <f>ⓟ</f>for his steadfast love endures forever.


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Heman and Jeduthun had trumpets and cymbals for the music and instruments <f>ⓠ</f>for sacred song. The sons of Jeduthun were appointed to the gate.


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<pb/><f>ⓡ</f> Then all the people departed each to his house, and David went home to bless his household.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Now when David lived in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, “Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent.”


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“Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: <f>ⓑ</f>It is not you who will build me a house to dwell in.


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For I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up Israel to this day, <f>ⓒ</f>but I have gone from tent to tent and from dwelling to dwelling.


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In all places where I have moved with all Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’


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Now, therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel,


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and I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.


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And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall waste them no more, as formerly,


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from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I <f>ⓓ</f>will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I declare to you that the LORD will build you a house.


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When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.


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<f>ⓔ</f> I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him, <f>ⓕ</f>as I took it from him who was before you,


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but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’”


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<pb/>Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, “Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?


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And this was a small thing in your eyes, O God. You have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come, and have shown me future generations, <f>[1]</f> O LORD God!


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<f>ⓖ</f> For your servant's sake, O LORD, and according to your own heart, you have done all this greatness, in making known all these great things.


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There is none like you, O LORD, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.


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And who is like your people Israel, the one <f>[2]</f> nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making for yourself a name for great and awesome things, in driving out nations before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt?


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And now, O LORD, let the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house be established forever, and do as you have spoken,


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and your name will be established and magnified forever, saying, ‘The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel's God,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you.


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For you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him. Therefore your servant has found courage to pray before you.


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Now you have been pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you, for it is you, O LORD, who have blessed, and it is blessed forever.”


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> After this David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and he took Gath and its villages out of the hand of the Philistines.


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<pb/>David also defeated <f>ⓑ</f>Hadadezer king of <f>ⓒ</f>Zobah-Hamath, as he went to set up his monument <f>[1]</f> at the river Euphrates.


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And David took from him 1,000 chariots, <f>ⓓ</f>7,000 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. And David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough for 100 chariots.


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And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king <f>ⓔ</f>of Zobah, David struck down 22,000 men of the Syrians.


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Then David put garrisons <f>[2]</f> in Syria of Damascus, and the Syrians became servants to David and brought tribute. And the LORD gave victory to David <f>[3]</f> wherever he went.


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And David took the shields of gold that were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem.


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And from <f>ⓕ</f>Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a large amount of bronze. <f>ⓖ</f>With it Solomon made the bronze sea and the pillars and the vessels of bronze.


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<pb/>When <f>ⓗ</f>Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer, king <f>ⓘ</f>of Zobah,


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he sent his son <f>ⓙ</f>Hadoram to King David, to ask about his health and to bless him because he had fought against <f>ⓚ</f>Hadadezer and defeated him; for <f>ⓛ</f>Hadadezer had often been at war with Tou. And he sent all sorts of articles of gold, of silver, and of bronze.


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These also King David dedicated to the LORD, together with the silver and gold that he had carried off from all the nations, from <f>ⓜ</f>Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek.


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Then he put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David's servants. And the LORD gave victory to David wherever he went.


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And <f>ⓞ</f>Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder;


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<f>ⓟ</f> and Zadok the son of Ahitub and <f>ⓠ</f>Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests; and <f>ⓡ</f>Shavsha was secretary;


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and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David's sons were the <f>ⓢ</f>chief officials in the service of the king.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Now after this Nahash the king of the Ammonites died, and his son reigned in his place.


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And David said, “I will deal kindly with Hanun the son of Nahash, for his father dealt kindly with me.” So David sent messengers to console him concerning his father. And David's servants came to the land of the Ammonites to Hanun to console him.


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But the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun, “Do you think, because David has sent comforters to you, that he is honoring your father? Have not his servants come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land?”


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So Hanun took David's servants and shaved them and cut off their garments in the middle, at their hips, and sent them away;


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and they departed. When David was told concerning the men, he sent messengers to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, “Remain at Jericho until your beards have grown and then return.”


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<pb/>When the Ammonites saw that they had become a stench to David, Hanun and the Ammonites sent 1,000 talents <f>[1]</f> of silver to hire chariots and horsemen <f>ⓑ</f>from Mesopotamia, from Aram-maacah, and from <f>ⓒ</f>Zobah.


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They hired 32,000 chariots and the king of Maacah with his army, who came and encamped before <f>ⓓ</f>Medeba. And the Ammonites were mustered from their cities and came to battle.


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And the Ammonites came out and drew up in battle array at the entrance of the city, and the kings who had come were by themselves in the open country.


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The rest of his men he put in the charge of <f>ⓔ</f>Abishai his brother, and they were arrayed against the Ammonites.


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And he said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me, but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will help you.


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Be strong, and let us use our strength for our people and for the cities of our God, and may the LORD do what seems good to him.”


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So Joab and the people who were with him drew near before the Syrians for battle, and they fled before him.


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And when the Ammonites saw that the Syrians fled, they likewise fled before <f>ⓕ</f>Abishai, Joab's brother, and entered the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.


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<pb/>But when the Syrians saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they sent messengers and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the Euphrates, <f>[2]</f> with <f>ⓖ</f>Shophach the commander of the army of <f>ⓗ</f>Hadadezer at their head.


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And when it was told to David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan and came to them and drew up his forces against them. And when David set the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him.


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And the Syrians fled before Israel, and David killed of the Syrians the men of <f>ⓘ</f>7,000 chariots and 40,000 <f>ⓙ</f>foot soldiers, and put to death also <f>ⓚ</f>Shophach the commander of their army.


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And when the servants of <f>ⓛ</f>Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became subject to him. So the Syrians were not willing to save the Ammonites anymore.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, Joab led out the army and ravaged the country of the Ammonites and came and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. And <f>ⓑ</f>Joab struck down Rabbah and overthrew it.


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<f>ⓒ</f> And David took the crown of their king from his head. He found that it weighed a talent <f>[1]</f> of gold, and in it was a precious stone. And it was placed on David's head. And he brought out the spoil of the city, a very great amount.


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And he brought out the people who were in it and set them to labor <f>[2]</f> <f>ⓓ</f>with saws and iron picks and axes. <f>[3]</f> And thus David did to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.


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<pb/><f>ⓔ</f> And after this there arose war with the Philistines at Gezer. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Sippai, who was one of the descendants of the giants, and the Philistines were subdued.


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And there was again war with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of <f>ⓕ</f>Jair struck down Lahmi <f>ⓖ</f>the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.


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And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants.


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These were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.


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So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Go, number Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, and bring me a report, that I may know their number.”


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But Joab said, “May the LORD add to his people a hundred times as many as they are! Are they not, my lord the king, all of them my lord's servants? Why then should my lord require this? Why should it be a cause of guilt for Israel?”


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But the king's word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came back to Jerusalem.


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And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to David. In all Israel there were <f>ⓒ</f>1,100,000 men who drew the sword, and in Judah <f>ⓓ</f>470,000 who drew the sword.


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<f>ⓔ</f> But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, for the king's command was abhorrent to Joab.


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And David said to God, “I have sinned greatly in that I have done this thing. But now, please <f>ⓕ</f>take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”


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“Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the LORD, Three things I offer you; choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’”


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either <f>ⓗ</f>three years of famine, or three months of devastation by your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the LORD, pestilence on the land, with the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.”


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Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is very great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”


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And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the LORD saw, and he <f>ⓘ</f>relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.


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And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, <f>ⓙ</f>clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.


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And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done great evil. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O LORD my God, be against me and against my father's house. But do not let the plague be on your people.”


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<pb/>Now <f>ⓚ</f>the angel of the LORD had commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and raise an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.


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Now Ornan was threshing wheat. He turned and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves.


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As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David and went out from the threshing floor and paid homage to David with his face to the ground.


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And David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of the threshing floor that I may build on it an altar to the LORD — give it to me at its full price — that the plague may be averted from the people.”


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Then Ornan said to David, “Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. See, I give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for the wood and the wheat for a grain offering; I give it all.”


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But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”


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And David built there an altar to the LORD and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the LORD, and the LORD <f>[2]</f> <f>ⓜ</f>answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering.


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<pb/>At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there.


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For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering <f>ⓝ</f>were at that time in the high place at Gibeon,


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but David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.


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<pb/>Then David said, <f>ⓐ</f>“Here shall be the house of the LORD God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”


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<pb/>David commanded to gather together the <f>ⓑ</f>resident aliens who were in the land of Israel, and he <f>ⓒ</f>set stonecutters to prepare dressed stones for building the house of God.


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David also provided great quantities of iron for nails for the doors of the gates and for clamps, <f>ⓓ</f>as well as bronze in quantities beyond weighing,


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and cedar timbers without number, <f>ⓔ</f>for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought great quantities of cedar to David.


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For David said, <f>ⓕ</f>“Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout all lands. I will therefore make preparation for it.” So David provided materials in great quantity before his death.


text:
<pb/>Then he called for Solomon his son and charged him to build a house for the LORD, the God of Israel.


text:
David said to Solomon, “My son, <f>ⓖ</f>I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the LORD my God.


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But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, <f>ⓗ</f>‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth.


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Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. <f>ⓘ</f>I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. <f>ⓙ</f>For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days.


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<f>ⓚ</f> He shall build a house for my name. <f>ⓛ</f>He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.’


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<pb/>“Now, my son, <f>ⓜ</f>the LORD be with you, so that you may succeed in building the house of the LORD your God, as he has spoken concerning you.


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<f>ⓝ</f> Only, may the LORD grant you discretion and understanding, that when he gives you charge over Israel you may keep the law of the LORD your God.


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<f>ⓞ</f> Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the rules that the LORD commanded Moses for Israel. <f>ⓟ</f>Be strong and courageous. Fear not; do not be dismayed.


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With great pains I have provided for the house of the LORD <f>ⓠ</f>100,000 talents <f>[1]</f> of gold, a million talents of silver, and <f>ⓡ</f>bronze and iron beyond weighing, for there is so much of it; timber and stone, too, I have provided. To these you must add.


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You have an abundance of workmen: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and all kinds of craftsmen without number, skilled in working


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“Is not the LORD your God with you? And <f>ⓤ</f>has he not given you peace <f>[2]</f> on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the LORD and his people.


text:
Now <f>ⓥ</f>set your mind and heart to seek the LORD your God. Arise and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, <f>ⓦ</f>so that the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the holy vessels of God may be brought into a house built <f>ⓧ</f>for the name of the LORD.”


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> When David was old and full of days, <f>ⓑ</f>he made Solomon his son king over Israel.


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The Levites, <f>ⓒ</f>thirty years old and upward, were numbered, and <f>ⓓ</f>the total was <f>ⓔ</f>38,000 men.


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“Twenty-four thousand of these,” David said, <f>[2]</f> <f>ⓕ</f>“shall have charge of the work in the house of the LORD, 6,000 shall be <f>ⓖ</f>officers and judges,


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4,000 gatekeepers, and 4,000 shall offer praises to the LORD with the instruments <f>ⓗ</f>that I have made for praise.”


text:
<f>ⓘ</f> And David organized them in divisions <f>ⓙ</f>corresponding to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.


text:
The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers' houses of Ladan.


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Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, therefore they became counted as a single father's house.


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<f>ⓝ</f> The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. <f>ⓞ</f>Aaron was set apart to dedicate the most holy things, that he and his sons forever should <f>ⓟ</f>make offerings before the LORD and <f>ⓠ</f>minister to him and <f>ⓡ</f>pronounce blessings in his name forever.


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The sons of Eliezer: Rehabiah the chief. Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.


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The <f>ⓦ</f>sons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.


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Eleazar died <f>ⓐ</f>having no sons, but only daughters; their <f>ⓑ</f>kinsmen, the sons of Kish, married them.


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<pb/><f>ⓓ</f> These were the sons of Levi by their fathers' houses, the heads of fathers' houses <f>ⓔ</f>as they were listed according to the number of the names of the individuals from <f>ⓕ</f>twenty years old and upward who were to do the work for the service of the house of the LORD.


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For David said, “The LORD, the God of Israel, <f>ⓖ</f>has given rest to his people, and he dwells in Jerusalem forever.


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And so the Levites no longer need <f>ⓗ</f>to carry the tabernacle or any of the things for its service.”


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For by the last words of David the sons of Levi were numbered from <f>ⓘ</f>twenty years old and upward.


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For their duty was to assist the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the LORD, having the care of the courts and the chambers, the cleansing of all that is holy, and any work for the service of the house of God.


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Their duty was also to assist with the <f>ⓙ</f>showbread, the <f>ⓚ</f>flour for the grain offering, the wafers of unleavened bread, the <f>ⓛ</f>baked offering, the <f>ⓜ</f>offering mixed with oil, and all <f>ⓝ</f>measures of quantity or size.


text:
and whenever burnt offerings were offered to the LORD <f>ⓞ</f>on Sabbaths, <f>ⓟ</f>new moons, and feast days, <f>ⓠ</f>according to the number required of them, regularly before the LORD.


text:
Thus <f>ⓡ</f>they were to keep charge of the tent of meeting and the sanctuary, and to attend the sons of Aaron, their brothers, for the <f>ⓢ</f>service of the house of the LORD.


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<pb/>The divisions of the sons of Aaron were these. The sons of <f>ⓐ</f>Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.


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<f>ⓑ</f> But Nadab and Abihu died before their father and had no children, so Eleazar and Ithamar became the priests.


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With the help of <f>ⓒ</f>Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, David organized them according to the appointed duties in their service.


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Since more chief men were found among the sons of Eleazar than among the sons of Ithamar, they organized them under sixteen heads of fathers' houses of the sons of Eleazar, and eight of the sons of Ithamar.


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They divided them <f>ⓓ</f>by lot, all alike, for there were sacred officers and officers of God among both the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar.


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And the scribe Shemaiah, the son of Nethanel, a Levite, recorded them in the presence of the king and the princes and Zadok the priest and <f>ⓔ</f>Ahimelech the son of Abiathar and the heads of the fathers' houses of the priests and of the Levites, one father's house being chosen for Eleazar and one chosen for Ithamar.


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These had as their appointed duty in their service <f>ⓖ</f>to come into the house of the LORD according to the procedure established for them by Aaron their father, as the LORD God of Israel had commanded him.


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<pb/>And of the rest of the sons of Levi: <f>ⓗ</f>of the sons of Amram, Shubael; of the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah.


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<f>ⓙ</f> The sons of Hebron: <f>[1]</f> Jeriah the chief, <f>[2]</f> Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth.


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<f>ⓝ</f> The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites according to their fathers' houses.


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These also, the head of each father's house and his younger brother alike, <f>ⓞ</f>cast lots, just as their brothers the sons of Aaron, in the presence of King David, <f>ⓟ</f>Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of fathers' houses of the priests and of the Levites.


text:
<pb/>David and the chiefs of the service also set apart for the service the sons of <f>ⓐ</f>Asaph, and of <f>ⓑ</f>Heman, and of <f>ⓒ</f>Jeduthun, who <f>ⓓ</f>prophesied with lyres, with <f>ⓔ</f>harps, and with cymbals. The list of those who did the work and of their duties was:


text:
Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah, sons of Asaph, under the direction of Asaph, who <f>ⓕ</f>prophesied under the direction of the king.


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Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, <f>[1]</f> Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun, <f>ⓖ</f>who prophesied with the lyre in thanksgiving and praise to the LORD.


text:
Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth.


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All these were the sons of Heman <f>ⓗ</f>the king's seer, according to the promise of God to exalt him, for God had given Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.


text:
They were all under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the LORD with cymbals, <f>ⓘ</f>harps, and lyres for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order of the king.


text:
The number of them along with their brothers, who were trained in singing to the LORD, all who were skillful, was <f>ⓙ</f>288.


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<pb/>The first lot fell for Asaph to Joseph; the second to Gedaliah, to him and his brothers and his sons, twelve;


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<pb/>As for the divisions of the gatekeepers: of the Korahites, Meshelemiah the son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph.


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And Meshelemiah had sons: <f>ⓐ</f>Zechariah the firstborn, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth,


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And <f>ⓑ</f>Obed-edom had sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sachar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth,


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Also to his son Shemaiah were sons born who were rulers in their fathers' houses, for they were men of great ability.


text:
The sons of Shemaiah: Othni, Rephael, Obed and Elzabad, whose brothers were able men, Elihu and Semachiah.


text:
All these were of the sons of Obed-edom with their sons and brothers, able men qualified for the service; sixty-two of Obed-edom.


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And <f>ⓓ</f>Hosah, of the sons of Merari, had sons: Shimri the chief (for though he was not the firstborn, his father made him chief),


text:
Hilkiah the second, Tebaliah the third, Zechariah the fourth: all the sons and brothers of Hosah were thirteen.


text:
<pb/>These divisions of the gatekeepers, corresponding to their chief men, had duties, just as their brothers did, ministering in the house of the LORD.


text:
The lot for the east fell to Shelemiah. They cast lots also for his son Zechariah, a shrewd counselor, and his lot came out for the north.


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For Shuppim and <f>ⓖ</f>Hosah it came out for the west, at the gate of Shallecheth on the road that goes up. Watch corresponded to watch.


text:
On the east there were six each day, <f>[1]</f> on the north four each day, on the south four each day, as well as two and two at the gatehouse.


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And for the <f>ⓗ</f>colonnade <f>[2]</f> on the west there were four at the road and two at the colonnade.


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<pb/>And of the Levites, Ahijah had charge of <f>ⓘ</f>the treasuries of the house of God and the treasuries of the dedicated gifts.


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The sons of Ladan, the sons of the Gershonites belonging to Ladan, the heads of the fathers' houses belonging to Ladan the Gershonite: <f>ⓙ</f>Jehieli. <f>[3]</f>


text:
<pb/><f>ⓚ</f> The sons of Jehieli, Zetham, and Joel his brother, were in charge of the treasuries of the house of the LORD.


text:
and <f>ⓜ</f>Shebuel the son of Gershom, son of Moses, was chief officer in charge of the treasuries.


text:
His brothers: from <f>ⓝ</f>Eliezer were his son Rehabiah, and his son <f>ⓞ</f>Jeshaiah, and his son Joram, and his son Zichri, and his son <f>ⓟ</f>Shelomoth.


text:
This Shelomoth and his brothers were in charge of all the treasuries of the dedicated gifts that David the king and the heads of the fathers' houses and the officers of the thousands and the hundreds and the commanders of the army <f>ⓠ</f>had dedicated.


text:
Also all that <f>ⓡ</f>Samuel the seer and Saul the son of Kish and Abner the son of Ner and Joab the son of Zeruiah had dedicated — all dedicated gifts were in the care of <f>ⓢ</f>Shelomoth <f>[4]</f> and his brothers.


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<pb/>Of the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons were appointed to <f>ⓣ</f>external duties for Israel, <f>ⓤ</f>as officers and judges.


text:
Of the Hebronites, <f>ⓥ</f>Hashabiah and his brothers, 1,700 men of ability, had the oversight of Israel westward of the Jordan for all the work of the LORD and for the service of the king.


text:
Of the Hebronites, <f>ⓦ</f>Jerijah was chief of the Hebronites of whatever genealogy or fathers' houses. (In the fortieth year of David's reign search was made and men of great ability among them were found at <f>ⓧ</f>Jazer in Gilead.)


text:
King David appointed him and his brothers, 2,700 men of ability, heads of fathers' houses, to have the oversight of the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of the Manassites for everything pertaining to God and for <f>ⓨ</f>the affairs of the king.


text:
<pb/>This is the number of the people of Israel, the heads of fathers' houses, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, and their officers who served the king in all matters concerning the divisions that came and went, month after month throughout the year, each division numbering 24,000:


text:
<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Jashobeam the son of Zabdiel was in charge of the first division in the first month; in his division were 24,000.


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He was a <f>ⓑ</f>descendant of Perez and was chief of all the commanders. He served for the first month.


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<f>ⓒ</f> Dodai the Ahohite <f>[1]</f> was in charge of the division of the second month; in his division were 24,000.


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The third commander, for the third month, was <f>ⓓ</f>Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada the chief priest; in his division were 24,000.


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This is the Benaiah <f>ⓔ</f>who was a mighty man of the thirty and in command of the thirty; Ammizabad his son was in charge of his division. <f>[2]</f>


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<f>ⓕ</f> Asahel the brother of Joab was fourth, for the fourth month, and his son Zebadiah after him; in his division were 24,000.


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The fifth commander, for the fifth month, was <f>ⓖ</f>Shamhuth the Izrahite; in his division were 24,000.


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Sixth, for the sixth month, was <f>ⓗ</f>Ira, the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite; in his division were 24,000.


text:
Seventh, for the seventh month, was <f>ⓘ</f>Helez the Pelonite, of the sons of Ephraim; in his division were 24,000.


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Eighth, for the eighth month, was <f>ⓙ</f>Sibbecai the Hushathite, of the Zerahites; in his division were 24,000.


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Ninth, for the ninth month, was <f>ⓚ</f>Abiezer of Anathoth, a Benjaminite; in his division were 24,000.


text:
Tenth, for the tenth month, was <f>ⓛ</f>Maharai of Netophah, of the Zerahites; in his division were 24,000.


text:
Eleventh, for the eleventh month, was <f>ⓜ</f>Benaiah of Pirathon, of the sons of Ephraim; in his division were 24,000.


text:
Twelfth, for the twelfth month, was <f>ⓝ</f>Heldai the Netophathite, of <f>ⓞ</f>Othniel; in his division were 24,000.


text:
<pb/>Over the tribes of Israel, for the Reubenites, Eliezer the son of Zichri was chief officer; for the Simeonites, Shephatiah the son of Maacah;


text:
for the Ephraimites, Hoshea the son of Azaziah; for the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joel the son of Pedaiah;


text:
for the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead, Iddo the son of Zechariah; for Benjamin, Jaasiel the son of Abner;


text:
David did not count those below twenty years of age, for the <f>ⓢ</f>LORD had promised to make Israel as many as the stars of heaven.


text:
Joab the son of Zeruiah began to count, but <f>ⓣ</f>did not finish. Yet <f>ⓤ</f>wrath came upon Israel for this, and the number was not entered in the chronicles of King David.


text:
<pb/>Over the king's treasuries was <f>ⓥ</f>Azmaveth the son of Adiel; and over the treasuries in the country, in the cities, in the villages, and in the towers, was Jonathan the son of Uzziah;


text:
and over the vineyards was Shimei the Ramathite; and over the produce of the vineyards for the wine cellars was Zabdi the Shiphmite.


text:
Over the olive and <f>ⓦ</f>sycamore trees in the Shephelah was Baal-hanan the Gederite; and over the stores of oil was Joash.


text:
Over the herds that pastured in <f>ⓧ</f>Sharon was Shitrai the Sharonite; over the herds in the valleys was Shaphat the son of Adlai.


text:
Over the camels was Obil the Ishmaelite; and over the donkeys was Jehdeiah the Meronothite. Over the flocks was Jaziz the <f>ⓨ</f>Hagrite.


text:
<pb/>Jonathan, David's uncle, was a counselor, being a man of understanding and a scribe. He and Jehiel the son of Hachmoni attended the king's sons.


text:
Ahithophel was succeeded by Jehoiada the son of <f>ⓑ</f>Benaiah, and <f>ⓒ</f>Abiathar. Joab was <f>ⓓ</f>commander of the king's army.


text:
<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> David assembled at Jerusalem all the officials of Israel, the <f>ⓑ</f>officials of the tribes, the officers of the divisions that served the king, the <f>ⓒ</f>commanders of thousands, the commanders of hundreds, the <f>ⓓ</f>stewards of all the property and livestock of the king and his sons, together with the palace officials, the <f>ⓔ</f>mighty men and all the seasoned warriors.


text:
Then King David rose to his feet and said: “Hear me, my brothers and my people. <f>ⓕ</f>I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and for the <f>ⓖ</f>footstool of our God, and I made preparations for building.


text:
But God said to me, <f>ⓗ</f>‘You may not build a house for my name, for you are a man of war and have shed blood.’


text:
Yet the LORD God of Israel <f>ⓘ</f>chose me from all my father's house to be king over Israel <f>ⓙ</f>forever. <f>ⓚ</f>For he chose Judah as leader, and in the house of Judah my father's <f>ⓛ</f>house, and among my father's sons he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel.


text:
And of <f>ⓜ</f>all my sons (for the LORD has given me many sons) he <f>ⓝ</f>has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.


text:
He said to me, ‘It is <f>ⓞ</f>Solomon your son who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.


text:
I will establish his kingdom <f>ⓟ</f>forever <f>ⓠ</f>if he continues strong in keeping my commandments and my rules, as he is today.’


text:
Now therefore in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek out all the commandments of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever.


text:
<pb/>“And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a <f>ⓡ</f>whole heart and with a willing mind, <f>ⓢ</f>for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. <f>ⓣ</f>If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.


text:
Be careful now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; <f>ⓤ</f>be strong and do it.”


text:
<pb/>Then David gave Solomon his son the <f>ⓥ</f>plan of the <f>ⓦ</f>vestibule of the temple, <f>[1]</f> and of its houses, its treasuries, its upper rooms, and its inner chambers, and of the room for the <f>ⓧ</f>mercy seat;


text:
and the plan of all that he had in mind for the courts of the house of the LORD, all the surrounding chambers, <f>ⓨ</f>the treasuries of the house of God, and the treasuries for dedicated gifts;


text:
for the <f>ⓩ</f>divisions of the priests and of the <f>ⓐ</f>Levites, and all the work of the service in the house of the LORD; for all the vessels for the service in the house of the LORD,


text:
the weight of gold for all golden vessels for each service, the weight of silver vessels for each service,


text:
the weight of the golden <f>ⓑ</f>lampstands and their lamps, the weight of gold for each lampstand and its lamps, the weight of silver for a lampstand and its lamps, according to the use of each lampstand in the service,


text:
and pure gold for the forks, the basins and the cups; for the golden bowls and the weight of each; for the silver bowls and the weight of each;


text:
for the <f>ⓒ</f>altar of incense made of refined gold, and its weight; also his plan for the golden chariot of the <f>ⓓ</f>cherubim that spread their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the LORD.


text:
“All this he made clear to me in writing from the hand of the LORD, <f>ⓔ</f>all the work to be done according to the plan.”


text:
<pb/>Then David said to Solomon his son, <f>ⓕ</f>“Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the LORD God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished.


text:
And behold the <f>ⓖ</f>divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God; and with you in all the work will be <f>ⓗ</f>every willing man who has skill for any kind of service; also the officers and all the people will be wholly at your command.”


text:
<pb/>And David the king said to all the assembly, “Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is <f>ⓐ</f>young and inexperienced, and the work is great, for <f>ⓑ</f>the palace will not be for man but for the LORD God.


text:
So I have provided for the house of my God, so far as I was able, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, and the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, besides great quantities of <f>ⓒ</f>onyx and stones for setting, antimony, colored stones, all sorts of precious stones and marble.


text:
Moreover, in addition to all that I have provided for the holy house, I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, and because of my devotion to the house of my God I give it to the house of my God:


text:
<f>ⓓ</f> 3,000 talents <f>[1]</f> of gold, of the gold of <f>ⓔ</f>Ophir, and 7,000 talents of refined silver, for overlaying the walls of the house, <f>[2]</f>


text:
and for all the work to be done by craftsmen, gold for the things of gold and silver for the things of silver. Who then will offer willingly, consecrating himself <f>[3]</f> today to the LORD?”


text:
<pb/>Then <f>ⓕ</f>the leaders of fathers' houses made their freewill offerings, as did also the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and <f>ⓖ</f>the officers over the king's work.


text:
They gave for the service of the house of God 5,000 talents and 10,000 <f>ⓗ</f>darics <f>[4]</f> of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of bronze and 100,000 talents of iron.


text:
And whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the LORD, in the care of <f>ⓘ</f>Jehiel the Gershonite.


text:
Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a <f>ⓙ</f>whole heart they had offered freely to the LORD. David the king also rejoiced greatly.


text:
<pb/>Therefore David blessed the LORD in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: <f>ⓚ</f>“Blessed are you, O LORD, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever.


text:
<f>ⓛ</f> Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.


text:
<f>ⓜ</f> Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. <f>ⓝ</f>In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.


text:
<pb/>“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.


text:
<f>ⓞ</f> For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are <f>ⓟ</f>like a shadow, and there is no abiding. <f>[5]</f>


text:
O LORD our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own.


text:
I know, my God, <f>ⓠ</f>that you test the heart and <f>ⓡ</f>have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you.


text:
O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you.


text:
<f>ⓢ</f> Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may <f>ⓣ</f>build the palace <f>ⓤ</f>for which I have made provision.”


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<pb/>Then David said to all the assembly, <f>ⓥ</f>“Bless the LORD your God.” And all the assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers, <f>ⓦ</f>and bowed their heads and paid homage to the LORD and to the king.


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And they offered sacrifices to the LORD, and on the next day offered burnt offerings to the LORD, 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 lambs, with their <f>ⓧ</f>drink offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel.


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And they ate and drank before the LORD on that day with great gladness. <pb/><e>Solomon Anointed King</e> </pb> <pb/>And they made Solomon the son of David king <f>ⓨ</f>the second time, and they <f>ⓩ</f>anointed him as prince for the LORD, and <f>ⓐ</f>Zadok as priest.


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<pb/><f>ⓑ</f> Then Solomon sat on the <f>ⓒ</f>throne of the LORD as king in place of David his father. And he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him.


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All the leaders and the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David, pledged their allegiance to King Solomon.


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And the LORD made Solomon very <f>ⓓ</f>great in the sight of all Israel and <f>ⓔ</f>bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel.


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The <f>ⓕ</f>time that he reigned over Israel was forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.


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Then he died <f>ⓖ</f>at a good age, <f>ⓗ</f>full of days, riches, and honor. And Solomon his son reigned in his place.


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Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the Chronicles <f>ⓘ</f>of Samuel the seer, and in the Chronicles of <f>ⓙ</f>Nathan the prophet, and in the Chronicles of <f>ⓚ</f>Gad the seer,


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with accounts of all his rule and his might and of the circumstances <f>ⓛ</f>that came upon him and upon Israel and upon all the kingdoms of the countries.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Solomon the son of David established himself in his kingdom, <f>ⓑ</f>and the LORD his God was with him and made him exceedingly great.


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<pb/>Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the <f>ⓒ</f>commanders of thousands and of hundreds, to the judges, and to all the leaders in all Israel, the heads of fathers' houses.


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And Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to <f>ⓓ</f>the high place that was at Gibeon, <f>ⓔ</f>for <f>ⓕ</f>the tent of meeting of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness, was there.


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<f>ⓖ</f> (But David had brought up the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim to the place that David had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.)


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Moreover, <f>ⓗ</f>the bronze altar that <f>ⓘ</f>Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, had made, was there before the tabernacle of the LORD. And Solomon and the assembly <f>ⓙ</f>sought it <f>[1]</f> out.


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And Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the LORD, which was at the tent of meeting, <f>ⓚ</f>and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.


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And Solomon said to God, “You have shown great and steadfast love to David my father, <f>ⓜ</f>and have made me king in his place.


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O LORD God, <f>ⓝ</f>let your word to David my father be now fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people as numerous <f>ⓞ</f>as the dust of the earth.


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Give me now wisdom and knowledge to <f>ⓟ</f>go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?”


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God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for <f>ⓠ</f>possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked for long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king,


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wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you <f>ⓡ</f>riches, possessions, and honor, <f>ⓢ</f>such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.”


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So Solomon came from <f>[2]</f> the <f>ⓣ</f>high place at Gibeon, from before <f>ⓤ</f>the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem. And he reigned over Israel.


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<pb/><f>ⓥ</f> Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. <f>ⓦ</f>He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed <f>ⓧ</f>in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.


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And the king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah.


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And Solomon's import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king's traders would buy them from Kue for a price.


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They imported a chariot from Egypt for 600 shekels <f>[3]</f> of silver, and a horse for 150. Likewise through them these were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.


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<pb/><f>[1]</f> <f>ⓐ</f>Now Solomon purposed to build a temple for the name of the LORD, and a royal palace for himself.


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<f>[2]</f> <f>ⓑ</f>And Solomon assigned 70,000 men to bear burdens and 80,000 to quarry in the hill country, and <f>ⓒ</f>3,600 to oversee them.


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<f>ⓓ</f> And Solomon sent word to Hiram the king of Tyre: <f>ⓔ</f>“As you dealt with David my father and sent him cedar to build himself a house to dwell in, so deal with me.


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Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the LORD my God and dedicate it to him for the burning of <f>ⓕ</f>incense of sweet spices before him, and for <f>ⓖ</f>the regular arrangement of the showbread, and for <f>ⓗ</f>burnt offerings morning and evening, <f>ⓘ</f>on the Sabbaths and the new moons and the appointed feasts of the LORD our God, as ordained forever for Israel.


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<f>ⓚ</f> But who is able to build him a house, since <f>ⓛ</f>heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him?


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So now <f>ⓜ</f>send me a man skilled to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue fabrics, trained also in engraving, to be with the skilled workers who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, <f>ⓝ</f>whom David my father provided.


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Send me also cedar, cypress, and algum timber from Lebanon, for I know that <f>ⓞ</f>your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon. And my servants will be with your servants,


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<f>ⓟ</f> I will give for your servants, the woodsmen who cut timber, 20,000 cors <f>[3]</f> of crushed wheat, 20,000 cors of barley, 20,000 baths <f>[4]</f> of wine, and 20,000 baths of oil.”


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<pb/>Then Hiram the king of Tyre answered in a letter that he sent to Solomon, <f>ⓠ</f>“Because the LORD loves his people, he has made you king over them.”


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Hiram also said, “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, <f>ⓡ</f>who made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, who has discretion and understanding, <f>ⓢ</f>who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal palace for himself.


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<f>ⓣ</f> the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre. He is <f>ⓤ</f>trained to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and in purple, blue, and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and to do all sorts of engraving and execute any design that may be assigned him, with your craftsmen, the craftsmen of my lord, David your father.


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Now therefore the wheat and barley, oil and wine, <f>ⓥ</f>of which my lord has spoken, let him send to his servants.


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<f>ⓦ</f> And we will cut whatever timber you need from Lebanon and bring it to you in rafts by sea to <f>ⓧ</f>Joppa, so that you may take it up to Jerusalem.”


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<pb/>Then Solomon counted all the resident aliens who were in the land of Israel, <f>ⓨ</f>after the census of them that David his father had taken, and there were found 153,600.


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<f>ⓩ</f> Seventy thousand of them he assigned to bear burdens, 80,000 to quarry in the hill country, and 3,600 as overseers to make the people work.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem <f>ⓑ</f>on Mount Moriah, where the LORD <f>[1]</f> had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, <f>ⓒ</f>on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.


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These are Solomon's <f>ⓓ</f>measurements <f>[2]</f> for building the house of God: <f>ⓔ</f>the length, in cubits <f>[3]</f> of the old standard, was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.


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The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, <f>[4]</f> and its height was 120 cubits. He overlaid it on the inside with pure gold.


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<f>ⓕ</f> The nave he lined with cypress and covered it with fine gold <f>ⓖ</f>and made palms and chains on it.


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So he lined the house with gold — its beams, its thresholds, its walls, and its doors — <f>ⓗ</f>and he carved cherubim on the walls.


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<pb/><f>ⓘ</f> And he made the Most Holy Place. Its length, corresponding to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and its breadth was twenty cubits. He overlaid it with 600 talents <f>[5]</f> of fine gold.


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The weight of gold for the nails was fifty shekels. <f>[6]</f> And he overlaid <f>ⓙ</f>the upper chambers with gold.


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<pb/><f>ⓚ</f> In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of wood <f>[7]</f> and overlaid <f>[8]</f> them with gold.


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The wings of the cherubim together extended twenty cubits: one wing of the one, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub;


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and of this cherub, one wing, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and the other wing, also of five cubits, was joined to the wing of the first cherub.


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The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits. The cherubim <f>[9]</f> stood on their feet, <f>ⓛ</f>facing the nave.


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<f>ⓜ</f> And he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and he worked cherubim on it.


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<pb/><f>ⓝ</f> In front of the house he made two pillars thirty-five cubits high, with a capital of five cubits on the top of each.


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He made chains like a necklace <f>[10]</f> and put them on the tops of the pillars, and he made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains.


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<f>ⓞ</f> He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south, the other on the north; that on the south he called Jachin, and that on the north Boaz.


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<pb/>He made <f>ⓐ</f>an altar of bronze, twenty cubits <f>[1]</f> long and twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high.


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<f>ⓑ</f> Then he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.


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Under it were figures of gourds, <f>[2]</f> for ten cubits, compassing the sea all around. The gourds were in two rows, cast with it when it was cast.


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It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and all their rear parts were inward.


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Its thickness was a handbreadth. <f>[3]</f> And its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. <f>ⓒ</f>It held 3,000 baths. <f>[4]</f>


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<f>ⓓ</f> He also made ten basins in which to wash, and set five on the south side, and five on the north side. In these they were to rinse off what was used for the burnt offering, and the sea was for the priests to wash in.


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<pb/>And he made ten golden lampstands <f>ⓔ</f>as prescribed, and set them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north.


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<f>ⓕ</f> He also made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. And he made a hundred basins of gold.


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He made <f>ⓖ</f>the court of the priests <f>ⓗ</f>and the great court and doors for the court and overlaid their doors with bronze.


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<pb/><f>ⓙ</f> <f>ⓚ</f>Hiram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. <f>ⓛ</f>So Hiram finished the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of God:


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the two pillars, <f>ⓜ</f>the bowls, and the two capitals on the top of the pillars; and the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars;


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<f>ⓝ</f> and the 400 pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars.


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The pots, the shovels, <f>ⓟ</f>the forks, and all the equipment for these <f>ⓠ</f> <f>ⓡ</f>Huram-abi made of burnished bronze for King Solomon for the house of the LORD.


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In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah. <f>[5]</f>


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<f>ⓢ</f> Solomon made all these things in great quantities, for the weight of the bronze was not sought.


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<pb/>So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of God: the golden altar, <f>ⓣ</f>the tables for the bread of the Presence,


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the lampstands and their lamps of pure gold <f>ⓤ</f>to burn before the inner sanctuary, as prescribed;


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the snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and fire pans, of pure gold, and the sockets <f>[6]</f> of the temple, for the inner doors to the Most Holy Place and for the doors of the nave of the temple were of gold.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Thus all the work that Solomon did for the house of the LORD was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, and stored the silver, the gold, and all the vessels in the treasuries of the house of God.


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<pb/>Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers' houses of the people of Israel, in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of <f>ⓑ</f>the city of David, which is Zion.


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And they brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; <f>ⓓ</f>the Levitical priests brought them up.


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And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.


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Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim.


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The cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles.


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And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen <f>ⓔ</f>from the Holy Place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. And they are <f>[1]</f> there to this day.


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There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets <f>ⓕ</f>that Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.


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And when the priests came out of the Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without regard to <f>ⓖ</f>their divisions,


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and all the Levitical <f>ⓗ</f>singers, <f>ⓘ</f>Asaph, <f>ⓙ</f>Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with <f>ⓚ</f>cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 <f>ⓛ</f>priests who were trumpeters;


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and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the LORD), and when the song was raised, <f>ⓜ</f>with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the LORD, <pb/><t><f>ⓝ</f>“For he is good, </t><t>for his steadfast love endures forever,” </t> <pb/>the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud,


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so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, <f>ⓞ</f>for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.


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Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood.


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And he said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying,


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‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, and I chose no man as prince over my people Israel;


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<f>ⓒ</f> but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there, <f>ⓓ</f>and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’


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<f>ⓔ</f> Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.


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But the LORD said to David my father, ‘Whereas <f>ⓕ</f>it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.


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Nevertheless, it is not you who shall build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’


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Now the LORD has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my father and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and I have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.


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And there I have set the ark, <f>ⓖ</f>in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with the people of Israel.”


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<pb/>Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.


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<f>ⓗ</f> Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits <f>[1]</f> long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court, and he stood on it. <f>ⓘ</f>Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven,


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and said, “O LORD, God of Israel, <f>ⓙ</f>there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, <f>ⓚ</f>keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart,


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<f>ⓛ</f> who have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day.


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Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, <f>ⓜ</f>‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, <f>ⓝ</f>if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’


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Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David.


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<pb/>“But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, <f>ⓞ</f>heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built!


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Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you,


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<f>ⓟ</f> that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place.


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And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place, <f>ⓠ</f>and when you hear, forgive.


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<pb/>“If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house,


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then hear from heaven and act and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.


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<pb/>“If your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house,


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<f>ⓡ</f> then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to them and to their fathers.


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<pb/><f>ⓢ</f> “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict <f>[2]</f> them,


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<f>ⓣ</f> then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way <f>[3]</f> in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.


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<pb/><f>ⓤ</f> “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemies besiege them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is,


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whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house,


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<f>ⓥ</f> then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, <f>ⓦ</f>for you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind,


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that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.


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<pb/>“Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house,


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hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house <f>ⓧ</f>that I have built is called by your name.


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<pb/>“If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,


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<pb/>“If they sin against you — <f>ⓨ</f>for there is no one who does not sin — and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near,


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yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’


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if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,


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then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you.


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Now, O my God, <f>ⓩ</f>let your eyes be open <f>ⓐ</f>and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.


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<pb/><t>“And now arise, O LORD God, and go to your <f>ⓑ</f>resting place, </t><t>you and the ark of your might. </t><t>Let your priests, O LORD God, be <f>ⓒ</f>clothed with salvation, </t><t>and let your saints <f>ⓓ</f>rejoice in your goodness.</t>


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<t>O LORD God, <f>ⓔ</f>do not turn away the face of your anointed one! </t><t><f>ⓕ</f>Remember your steadfast love for David your servant.” </t>


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, <f>ⓑ</f>fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, <f>ⓒ</f>and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.


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And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD's house.


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When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good, <f>ⓓ</f>for his steadfast love endures forever.”


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King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.


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The priests stood at their posts; <f>ⓕ</f>the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the LORD that King David had made for giving thanks to the LORD — <f>ⓖ</f>for his steadfast love endures forever — whenever David offered praises by their ministry; <f>[1]</f> <f>ⓗ</f>opposite them the priests sounded trumpets, and all Israel stood.


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<pb/><f>ⓘ</f> And Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD, for there he offered the burnt offering and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat.


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<pb/>At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from <f>ⓙ</f>Lebo-hamath to the <f>ⓚ</f>Brook of Egypt.


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And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days.


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On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the prosperity <f>[2]</f> that the LORD had granted to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people.


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<pb/><f>ⓛ</f> Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king's house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the LORD and in his own house he successfully accomplished.


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Then the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer <f>ⓜ</f>and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.


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<f>ⓝ</f> When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people,


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if my people who are called by my name <f>ⓞ</f>humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.


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<f>ⓠ</f> For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.


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And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules,


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then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, <f>ⓡ</f>‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’


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<pb/><f>ⓢ</f> “But if you <f>[3]</f> turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,


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<f>ⓣ</f> then I will pluck you <f>[4]</f> up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it <f>ⓤ</f>a proverb and a byword among all peoples.


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And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, <f>ⓥ</f>‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’


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Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the house of the LORD and his own house,


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He also built <f>ⓑ</f>Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, <f>ⓒ</f>fortified cities <f>ⓓ</f>with walls, gates, and bars,


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and Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had and all the cities for his chariots and the cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.


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<f>ⓔ</f> All the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel,


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from their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the people of Israel had not destroyed — these Solomon drafted <f>ⓕ</f>as forced labor, and so they are to this day.


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But of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves for his work; they were soldiers, and his officers, the commanders of his chariots, and his horsemen.


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<pb/><f>ⓖ</f> Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter up from the city of David to the house that he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, for the places to which the ark of the LORD has come are holy.”


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<pb/>Then Solomon offered up burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD <f>ⓗ</f>that he had built before the vestibule,


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<f>ⓘ</f> as the duty of each day required, offering <f>ⓙ</f>according to the commandment of Moses for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the <f>ⓚ</f>three annual feasts — the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths.


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According to the ruling of David his father, he appointed <f>ⓛ</f>the divisions of the priests for their service, <f>ⓜ</f>and the Levites for their offices of praise and <f>ⓝ</f>ministry before the priests <f>ⓞ</f>as the duty of each day required, and <f>ⓟ</f>the gatekeepers in their divisions at each gate, for so David <f>ⓠ</f>the man of God had commanded.


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And they did not turn aside from what the king had commanded the priests and Levites concerning any matter and concerning the treasuries.


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<pb/>Thus was accomplished all the work of Solomon from <f>[1]</f> the day the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was completed.


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<pb/>Then Solomon went to <f>ⓡ</f>Ezion-geber and <f>ⓢ</f>Eloth on the shore of the sea, in the land of Edom.


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And Hiram sent to him by the hand of his servants ships and servants familiar with the sea, and they went to Ophir together with the servants of Solomon and brought from there <f>ⓣ</f>450 talents <f>[2]</f> of gold and brought it to King Solomon.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Now when <f>ⓑ</f>the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions, having a very great retinue and camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind.


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And Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from Solomon that he could not explain to her.


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the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, and their clothing, his cupbearers, and their clothing, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the LORD, there was no more breath in her.


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but I did not believe the <f>[1]</f> reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, half the greatness of your wisdom was not told me; you surpass the report that I heard.


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Happy are your wives! <f>[2]</f> Happy are these your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!


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Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you <f>ⓓ</f>and set you on his throne as king for the LORD your God! <f>ⓔ</f>Because your God loved Israel and would establish them forever, he has made you king over them, that you may execute justice and righteousness.”


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Then she gave the king 120 talents <f>[3]</f> of gold, and a very great quantity of spices, and precious stones. There were no spices such as those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.


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<pb/>Moreover, the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, <f>ⓕ</f>who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum wood and precious stones.


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And the king made from the algum wood <f>ⓖ</f>supports for the house of the LORD and for the king's house, lyres also and harps for the singers. There never was seen the like of them before in the land of Judah.


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<pb/>And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked <f>ⓗ</f>besides what she had brought to the king. So she turned and went back to her own land with her servants.


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besides that which the explorers and merchants brought. <f>ⓙ</f>And all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land brought gold and silver to Solomon.


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King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold; 600 shekels <f>[4]</f> of beaten gold went into each shield.


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And he made 300 shields of beaten gold; <f>ⓚ</f>300 shekels of gold went into each shield; and the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.


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The throne had six steps and a footstool of gold, which were attached to the throne, and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests,


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while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the six steps. Nothing like it was ever made for any kingdom.


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All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon.


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For the king's ships went to <f>ⓛ</f>Tarshish with the servants of Hiram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. <f>[5]</f>


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And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.


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Every one of them brought his present, articles of silver and of gold, garments, myrrh, <f>[6]</f> spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.


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And Solomon had <f>ⓝ</f>4,000 stalls for horses and chariots, and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.


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<f>ⓞ</f> And he ruled over all the kings <f>ⓟ</f>from the Euphrates <f>[7]</f> to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt.


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<f>ⓠ</f> And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah.


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<pb/><f>ⓢ</f> Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from <f>ⓣ</f>first to last, are they not written in the history of <f>ⓤ</f>Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of <f>ⓥ</f>Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of <f>ⓦ</f>Iddo <f>ⓧ</f>the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?


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And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in <f>ⓨ</f>the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.


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And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, <f>ⓑ</f>where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt.


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<f>ⓒ</f> “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.”


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<pb/>Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, <f>[1]</f> who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”


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And they said to him, <f>ⓓ</f>“If you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”


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But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.


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And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us’; thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs.


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And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”


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<pb/>So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.”


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King Rehoboam spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”


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So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by God that the LORD might fulfill his word, <f>ⓔ</f>which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.


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<pb/>And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. <f>ⓕ</f>Each of you to your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So all Israel went to their tents.


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Then King Rehoboam sent <f>ⓖ</f>Hadoram, <f>[2]</f> who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and the people of Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam quickly mounted his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.


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‘Thus says the LORD, You shall not go up or fight against <f>ⓒ</f>your relatives. Return every man to his home, for this thing is from me.’” So they listened to the word of the LORD and returned and did not go against Jeroboam.


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And he put shields and spears in all the cities and made them very strong. So he held Judah and Benjamin.


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<pb/>And the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel presented themselves to him from all places where they lived.


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For the Levites left <f>ⓕ</f>their common lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, <f>ⓖ</f>because Jeroboam and his sons cast them out from serving as priests of the LORD,


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and he appointed his own <f>ⓗ</f>priests for the high places and for the goat idols and for <f>ⓘ</f>the calves that he had made.


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<f>ⓙ</f> And those who had set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers.


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<f>ⓚ</f> They strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and for three years they made Rehoboam the son of Solomon secure, for they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon.


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<pb/>Rehoboam took as wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of <f>ⓛ</f>Eliab the son of Jesse,


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After her he took <f>ⓜ</f>Maacah the daughter of Absalom, who bore him <f>ⓝ</f>Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.


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Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and concubines (he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters).


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<f>ⓞ</f> And Rehoboam appointed <f>ⓟ</f>Abijah the son of Maacah as chief prince among his brothers, for he intended to make him king.


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And he dealt wisely and distributed some of his sons through all the districts of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities, and he gave them abundant provisions and procured wives for them. <f>[1]</f>


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> When the rule of Rehoboam was established <f>ⓑ</f>and he was strong, <f>ⓒ</f>he abandoned the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him.


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<f>ⓓ</f> In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, <f>ⓔ</f>Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem


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with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people were without number who came with him from Egypt — <f>ⓕ</f>Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians.


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Then <f>ⓗ</f>Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the LORD, <f>ⓘ</f>‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.’”


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Then the princes of <f>ⓙ</f>Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, <f>ⓚ</f>“The LORD is righteous.”


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When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah: <f>ⓛ</f>“They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, <f>ⓜ</f>and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.


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Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him, <f>ⓝ</f>that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”


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<pb/><f>ⓞ</f> So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house. He took away everything. He also took away <f>ⓟ</f>the shields of gold that Solomon had made,


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and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house.


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And as often as the king went into the house of the LORD, the guard came and carried them and brought them back to the guardroom.


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And when <f>ⓠ</f>he humbled himself the wrath of the LORD turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction. Moreover, <f>ⓡ</f>conditions were good <f>[1]</f> in Judah.


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<pb/><f>ⓢ</f> So King Rehoboam grew strong in Jerusalem and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite.


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<pb/><f>ⓤ</f> Now the acts of Rehoboam, <f>ⓥ</f>from first to last, are they not written in the chronicles of <f>ⓦ</f>Shemaiah the prophet and of <f>ⓧ</f>Iddo <f>ⓨ</f>the seer? <f>[2]</f> There were continual wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.


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And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David, and <f>ⓩ</f>Abijah <f>[3]</f> his son reigned in his place.


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He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was <f>ⓒ</f>Micaiah <f>[1]</f> the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. <pb/><f>ⓓ</f>Now there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.


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Abijah went out to battle, having an army of valiant men of war, 400,000 chosen men. And Jeroboam <f>ⓔ</f>drew up his line of battle against him with 800,000 chosen mighty warriors.


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Then Abijah stood up on Mount <f>ⓕ</f>Zemaraim that is in <f>ⓖ</f>the hill country of Ephraim and said, “Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel!


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Ought you not to know that the LORD God of Israel <f>ⓗ</f>gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by <f>ⓘ</f>a covenant of salt?


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Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up <f>ⓙ</f>and rebelled against his lord,


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and certain <f>ⓚ</f>worthless scoundrels <f>[2]</f> gathered about him and defied Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was <f>ⓛ</f>young and irresolute <f>[3]</f> and could not withstand them.


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<pb/>“And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David, because you are a great multitude and have with you <f>ⓜ</f>the golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods.


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<f>ⓝ</f> Have you not driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes <f>ⓞ</f>for ordination <f>[4]</f> with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of what are <f>ⓟ</f>not gods.


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But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him. We have priests ministering to the LORD who are sons of Aaron, and Levites for their service.


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They offer to the LORD <f>ⓠ</f>every morning and every evening burnt offerings and incense of sweet spices, set out <f>ⓡ</f>the showbread on the table of pure gold, <f>ⓢ</f>and care for the golden lampstand that its lamps may <f>ⓣ</f>burn every evening. For we <f>ⓤ</f>keep the charge of the LORD our God, but you have forsaken him.


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Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests <f>ⓥ</f>with their battle trumpets to sound the call to battle against you. O sons of Israel, <f>ⓦ</f>do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed.”


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<pb/>Jeroboam had sent <f>ⓧ</f>an ambush around to come upon them from behind. Thus his troops <f>[5]</f> were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them.


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And when Judah looked, behold, the battle was in front of and behind them. <f>ⓨ</f>And they cried to the LORD, and the priests <f>ⓩ</f>blew the trumpets.


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Then the men of Judah raised the battle shout. And when the men of Judah shouted, <f>ⓐ</f>God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.


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Abijah and his people struck them with great force, so there fell slain of Israel 500,000 chosen men.


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Thus the men of Israel were subdued at that time, and the men of Judah prevailed, <f>ⓒ</f>because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers.


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And Abijah pursued Jeroboam <f>ⓓ</f>and took cities from him, Bethel with its villages and Jeshanah with its villages and <f>ⓔ</f>Ephron <f>[6]</f> with its villages.


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Jeroboam did not recover his power in the days of Abijah. <f>ⓕ</f>And the LORD struck him down, <f>ⓖ</f>and he died.


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The rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways and his sayings, are written in the <f>ⓗ</f>story of the prophet <f>ⓘ</f>Iddo.


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<pb/><f>[1]</f> <f>ⓐ</f>Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land had rest for ten years.


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He took away the foreign altars <f>ⓑ</f>and the high places and broke down <f>ⓒ</f>the pillars and cut down the <f>ⓓ</f>Asherim


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and commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment.


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He also took out of all the cities of Judah <f>ⓔ</f>the high places and the <f>ⓕ</f>incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him.


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He built <f>ⓖ</f>fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, <f>ⓗ</f>for the LORD gave him peace.


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And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with <f>ⓘ</f>walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the LORD our God. We have sought him, <f>ⓙ</f>and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered.


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And Asa had an army of <f>ⓚ</f>300,000 from Judah, armed with large shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin that carried shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.


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<pb/>Zerah <f>ⓛ</f>the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as <f>ⓜ</f>Mareshah.


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And Asa went out to meet him, and <f>ⓝ</f>they drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at <f>ⓞ</f>Mareshah.


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And Asa <f>ⓟ</f>cried to the LORD his God, “O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, <f>ⓠ</f>for we rely on you, <f>ⓡ</f>and in your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.”


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Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as <f>ⓣ</f>Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, for they were broken before the LORD and his army. The men of Judah <f>[3]</f> carried away very much spoil.


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And they attacked all the cities around <f>ⓤ</f>Gerar, <f>ⓥ</f>for the fear of the LORD was upon them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them.


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And they struck down the tents of those who had livestock and carried away sheep in abundance and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.


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and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: <f>ⓑ</f>The LORD is with you while you are with him. <f>ⓒ</f>If you seek him, he will be found by you, <f>ⓓ</f>but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.


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<f>ⓔ</f> For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law,


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<f>ⓕ</f> but when in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.


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In those times there was no peace <f>ⓖ</f>to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands.


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They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress.


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<f>ⓗ</f> But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, <f>ⓘ</f>for your work shall be rewarded.”


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<pb/>As soon as Asa heard these words, <f>ⓙ</f>the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from <f>ⓚ</f>the cities that he had taken in <f>ⓛ</f>the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the LORD <f>ⓜ</f>that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the LORD. <f>[2]</f>


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And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, <f>ⓝ</f>and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.


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They sacrificed to the LORD on that day <f>ⓞ</f>from the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep.


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<f>ⓟ</f> And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul,


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but that whoever would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, <f>ⓠ</f>should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.


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They swore an oath to the LORD with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns.


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And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, <f>ⓡ</f>and the LORD gave them rest all around.


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<pb/><f>ⓢ</f> Even Maacah, <f>ⓣ</f>his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image <f>ⓤ</f>for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, <f>ⓥ</f>crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron.


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<f>ⓦ</f> But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days.


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And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> In the <f>ⓑ</f>thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, <f>ⓒ</f>that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.


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Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the LORD and the king's house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying,


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“There is a covenant <f>[1]</f> between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.”


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And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the <f>ⓓ</f>store cities of Naphtali.


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Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.


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<pb/>At that time <f>ⓔ</f>Hanani <f>ⓕ</f>the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, <f>ⓖ</f>“Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you.


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Were not <f>ⓗ</f>the Ethiopians and <f>ⓘ</f>the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet <f>ⓙ</f>because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand.


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<f>ⓚ</f> For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those <f>ⓛ</f>whose heart is blameless <f>[2]</f> toward him. <f>ⓜ</f>You have done foolishly in this, for from now on <f>ⓝ</f>you will have wars.”


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Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him <f>ⓞ</f>in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.


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<pb/><f>ⓟ</f> The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.


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In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians.


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They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier <f>ⓠ</f>that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer's art, <f>ⓡ</f>and they made a very great fire in his honor.


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He placed forces in all the <f>ⓐ</f>fortified cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim <f>ⓑ</f>that Asa his father had captured.


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The LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals,


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but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, <f>ⓒ</f>and not according to the practices of Israel.


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Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand. And all Judah <f>ⓓ</f>brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, <f>ⓔ</f>and he had great riches and honor.


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His heart was courageous in the ways of the LORD. And furthermore, <f>ⓕ</f>he took the high places and the Asherim out of Judah.


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<pb/>In the third year of his reign he sent his officials, Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, <f>ⓖ</f>to teach in the cities of Judah;


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<f>ⓗ</f> and with them the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah; and with these Levites, the priests Elishama and Jehoram.


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And <f>ⓘ</f>they taught in Judah, having the Book of the Law of the LORD with them. They went about through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.


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<pb/><f>ⓙ</f> And the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah, and they made no war against Jehoshaphat.


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Some of the Philistines <f>ⓚ</f>brought Jehoshaphat presents and silver for tribute, and the Arabians also brought him 7,700 rams and 7,700 goats.


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and he had large supplies in the cities of Judah. He had soldiers, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem.


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This was the muster of them by fathers' houses: Of Judah, the commanders of thousands: Adnah the commander, with 300,000 mighty men of valor;


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and next to him Amasiah the son of Zichri, <f>ⓛ</f>a volunteer for the service of the LORD, with 200,000 mighty men of valor.


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These were in the service of the king, besides <f>ⓝ</f>those whom the king had placed in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.


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<pb/>Now Jehoshaphat <f>ⓐ</f>had great riches and honor, <f>ⓑ</f>and he made a marriage alliance with Ahab.


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<f>ⓒ</f> After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. And Ahab killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead.


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Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” He answered him, “I am as you are, my people as your people. We will be with you in the war.”


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Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for God will give it into the hand of the king.”


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And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.”


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Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes. And they were sitting at the threshing floor <f>ⓓ</f>at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them.


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And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.’”


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And all the prophets prophesied so and said, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph. The LORD will give it into the hand of the king.”


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And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I refrain?” And he answered, “Go up and triumph; they will be given into your hand.”


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And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, <f>ⓖ</f>as sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’”


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And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?”


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And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: <f>ⓗ</f>I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left.


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And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab the king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another.


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Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’


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And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be <f>ⓘ</f>a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’


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Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets. The LORD has declared disaster concerning you.”


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<pb/>Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near <f>ⓙ</f>and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “Which way did the Spirit of the LORD go from me to speak to you?”


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And Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.”


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And the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah and take him back to Amon <f>ⓚ</f>the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son,


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and say, ‘Thus says the king, <f>ⓛ</f>Put this fellow in prison and feed him with meager rations of bread and water until I return in peace.’”


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And Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the LORD has not spoken by me.” And he said, <f>ⓜ</f>“Hear, all you peoples!”


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And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes.” And the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into battle.


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Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots, “Fight with neither small nor great, but only with the king of Israel.”


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As soon as the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is the king of Israel.” So they turned to fight against him. And Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him; God drew them away from him.


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For as soon as the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.


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But a certain man drew his bow at random <f>[1]</f> and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.”


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And the battle continued that day, and the king of Israel was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians until evening. Then at sunset he died.


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But <f>ⓐ</f>Jehu the son of <f>ⓑ</f>Hanani <f>ⓒ</f>the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you <f>ⓓ</f>help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, <f>ⓔ</f>wrath has gone out against you from the LORD.


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Nevertheless, <f>ⓕ</f>some good is found in you, for <f>ⓖ</f>you destroyed the Asheroth out of the land, and have <f>ⓗ</f>set your heart to seek God.”


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<pb/>Jehoshaphat lived at Jerusalem. And he went out again among the people, from Beersheba to <f>ⓘ</f>the hill country of Ephraim, and brought them back to the LORD, the God of their fathers.


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and said to the judges, “Consider what you do, <f>ⓛ</f>for you judge not for man but for the LORD. He is with you in giving judgment.


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Now then, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for <f>ⓜ</f>there is no injustice with the LORD our God, <f>ⓝ</f>or partiality or taking bribes.”


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<pb/>Moreover, in Jerusalem Jehoshaphat <f>ⓞ</f>appointed certain Levites and priests and heads of families of Israel, <f>ⓟ</f>to give judgment for the LORD and to decide disputed cases. They had their seat at Jerusalem.


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And he charged them: <f>ⓠ</f>“Thus you shall do in the fear of the LORD, in faithfulness, <f>ⓡ</f>and with your whole heart:


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<f>ⓢ</f> whenever a case comes to you from your brothers who live in their cities, concerning bloodshed, law or commandment, statutes or rules, then you shall warn them, that they may not incur guilt before the LORD and <f>ⓣ</f>wrath may not come upon you and your brothers. Thus you shall do, and you will not incur guilt.


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And behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you <f>ⓤ</f>in all matters of the LORD; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the governor of the house of Judah, in all the king's matters, and the Levites will serve you as officers. <f>ⓥ</f>Deal courageously, and may the LORD be with the upright!” <f>[1]</f>


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<pb/>After this <f>ⓐ</f>the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, <f>[1]</f> came against Jehoshaphat for battle.


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Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, <f>[2]</f> from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in <f>ⓑ</f>Hazazon-tamar” (that is, <f>ⓒ</f>Engedi).


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Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face <f>ⓓ</f>to seek the LORD, and <f>ⓔ</f>proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.


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And Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.


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<pb/>And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court,


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and said, “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not <f>ⓕ</f>God in heaven? You <f>ⓖ</f>rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. <f>ⓗ</f>In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.


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Did you not, our God, <f>ⓘ</f>drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of <f>ⓙ</f>Abraham your friend?


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<f>ⓚ</f> ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, <f>[3]</f> or pestilence, or famine, <f>ⓛ</f>we will stand before this house and before you — <f>ⓜ</f>for your name is in this house — and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’


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And now behold, the men of <f>ⓝ</f>Ammon and Moab and <f>ⓞ</f>Mount Seir, whom <f>ⓟ</f>you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, <f>ⓠ</f>and whom they avoided and did not destroy —


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behold, they reward us <f>ⓡ</f>by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit.


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O our God, will you not <f>ⓢ</f>execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but <f>ⓣ</f>our eyes are on you.”


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<pb/>Meanwhile all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.


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And <f>ⓤ</f>the Spirit of the LORD came <f>[4]</f> upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly.


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And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the LORD to you, <f>ⓥ</f>‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, <f>ⓦ</f>for the battle is not yours but God's.


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Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of <f>ⓧ</f>the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel.


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<f>ⓨ</f> You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ <f>ⓩ</f>Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, <f>ⓐ</f>and the LORD will be with you.”


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<pb/>Then Jehoshaphat <f>ⓑ</f>bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshiping the LORD.


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And the Levites, of the <f>ⓒ</f>Kohathites and the <f>ⓓ</f>Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.


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<pb/>And they rose early in the morning and went out into <f>ⓔ</f>the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! <f>ⓕ</f>Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.”


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And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the LORD and praise him <f>ⓖ</f>in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say, <pb/><t><f>ⓗ</f>“Give thanks to the LORD, </t><t>for his steadfast love endures forever.” </t>


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<pb/>And when they began to sing and praise, the LORD set <f>ⓘ</f>an ambush against the men of <f>ⓙ</f>Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed.


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For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, <f>ⓚ</f>they all helped to destroy one another.


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<pb/>When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the horde, and behold, there <f>[5]</f> were dead bodies lying on the ground; none had escaped.


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When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found among them, in great numbers, goods, clothing, and precious things, which they took for themselves until they could carry no more. They were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much.


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On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, <f>[6]</f> for there they blessed the LORD. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Beracah to this day.


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Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy, <f>ⓛ</f>for the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies.


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<f>ⓜ</f> And the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel.


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<pb/><f>ⓞ</f> Thus Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.


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He walked in the way of Asa his father and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the LORD.


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<f>ⓟ</f> The high places, however, were not taken away; <f>ⓠ</f>the people had not yet set their hearts upon the God of their fathers.


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<pb/>Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, from first to last, are written in the chronicles of <f>ⓡ</f>Jehu the son of Hanani, <f>ⓢ</f>which are recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel.


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<pb/><f>ⓣ</f> After this Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined with Ahaziah king of Israel, who acted wickedly.


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Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, <f>ⓥ</f>“Because you have joined with Ahaziah, the LORD will destroy what you have made.” And the ships were wrecked and were not able to go to Tarshish.


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<pb/><f>ⓐ</f> Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place.


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He had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of <f>ⓑ</f>Israel. <f>[1]</f>


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Their father gave them great gifts of silver, gold, and valuable possessions, together with <f>ⓒ</f>fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn.


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When Jehoram had ascended the throne of his father and was established, he killed all his brothers with the sword, and also some of the princes of <f>ⓓ</f>Israel.


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<f>ⓔ</f> Jehoram was <f>ⓕ</f>thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.


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<f>ⓖ</f> And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for <f>ⓗ</f>the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.


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Yet the LORD was not willing to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and since he had promised to give <f>ⓘ</f>a lamp to him and to his sons forever.


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Then Jehoram passed over with his commanders and all his chariots, and he rose by night and struck the Edomites who had surrounded him and his chariot commanders.


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So Edom revolted from <f>ⓚ</f>the rule of Judah to this day. At that time Libnah also revolted from his rule, because he had forsaken the LORD, the God of his fathers.


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<pb/>Moreover, he made high places in the hill country of Judah and led the inhabitants of Jerusalem <f>ⓛ</f>into whoredom and made Judah go astray.


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And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father, <f>ⓜ</f>‘Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or <f>ⓝ</f>in the ways of Asa king of Judah,


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<f>ⓞ</f> but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel and have enticed Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem <f>ⓟ</f>into whoredom, <f>ⓠ</f>as the house of Ahab led Israel into whoredom, and also you <f>ⓡ</f>have killed your brothers, of your father's house, who were better than you,


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behold, the LORD will bring a great plague on your people, your children, your wives, and all your possessions,


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and you yourself will have a severe sickness <f>ⓢ</f>with a disease of your bowels, until your bowels come out because of the disease, day by day.’”


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<pb/><f>ⓣ</f> And the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the anger <f>[2]</f> of the Philistines and of <f>ⓤ</f>the Arabians who are near the Ethiopians.


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And they came up against Judah and invaded it and carried away all the possessions they found that belonged to the king's house, and also his sons and his wives, so that no son was left to him except <f>ⓥ</f>Jehoahaz, his youngest son.


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In the course of time, at the end of two years, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great agony. His people made no fire in his honor, <f>ⓧ</f>like the fires made for his fathers.


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<f>ⓨ</f> He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he departed <f>ⓩ</f>with no one's regret. <f>ⓐ</f>They buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.


