CHAPTER 3

From Rehoboam to Hezekiah

Israel Separates From Judah

Jeroboam I of the Northern Kingdom

Jeroboam reasoned, "Now the kingdom will revert to the house of David if this people goes up to sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem.  Then the hearts of this people will return to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me."

So the king sought advice, and made two calves of gold, and said, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: Look! Your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”  And he set one in Bethel, and the other in Dan.  And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship, even to Dan.

Ahijah the prophet said, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel, I raised you up from among the people, and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you.  And yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, but have done evil.  For you have gone and made other gods, cast images, to provoke me to anger, and have put me behind your back.

"Therefore, look, I will bring evil on the house of Jeroboam, and will take away the rest of the house of Jeroboam, as a man takes away dung, till it is all gone.

"The Lord shall strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river.  And he shall give Israel up, because of the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned, and who made Israel sin."

GOD DELIVERS JUDAH UNDER KING ASA

And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa reigned over Judah.  Asa did what was right in the sight of the Lord, as did David his father.  He took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols.  Also Maachah, his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol, and Asa destroyed her idol.

Asa had an army.  From Judah there were 300,000, and from Benjamin, 280,000.  All these were mighty and brave men.  Zerah the Cushite came out against them with an army of a million, and three hundred chariots, and came to Mareshah.

Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array.  Asa cried to the Lord his God, and said, "Lord, it is nothing to you to help, whether with many, or with those who are powerless.  Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on you, and in your name we go against this multitude.  O Lord, you are our God; don't let man prevail against you."

So the Lord struck down the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah and the Ethiopians fled.  Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign.

GOD HELPS JEHOSAPHAT, KING OF JUDAH

Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place, and strengthened himself against Israel.  The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the original ways of his ancestor David, and not as Israel did.  Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand.

AHAB, KING OF ISRAEL AND ELIJAH THE PROPHET

In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel.  And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.

And it happened, as if it had been nothing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and worshipped Baal and raised up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria.

Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew or rain these years, except at my word.”

Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it did not rain for three years and six months.

A great famine was in all the land.  And the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Get away to Zarephat, which belongs to Sidon: See, I have commanded a widow there to feed you."

The word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, "Go, show yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the earth.”  And it came about, that when Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, "Are you he who troubles Israel?"

He answered, "I have not troubled Israel, but it is you, and your father's house, in forsaking the commandments of the Lord, and  following the Baals.  So now, gather to me all Israel, to mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal, and the 400 prophets of the groves, who eat at Jezebel's table."

So Ahab summoned all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together to mount Carmel.  Elijah came to all the people, and said, "How long do you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if it is Baal, then follow him.”  And the people did not answer him a word.  Then Elijah said to the people, "I, only I, am left of the prophets of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are 450 men.  Let them therefore give us two bulls.  Let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it.  I will prepare the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it.  And you, call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord.  The God who answers by fire will be God.”  And all the people answered and said, "That is well spoken."

They took the bull and prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us.”  But there was no voice, no answer.  They leaped around the altar which was made and Elijah mocked them.

Elijah repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken and made a trench around it.  And he put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, "Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the sacrifice, and on the wood! Do it the second time! Do it the third time!.”  So they did, and the water ran around the altar and in the trench.

Elijah the prophet approached, and said, "Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make it known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things by your word.  Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that you are the Lord God, and that you have brought them back again."

Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.  And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, "The Lord is God! the Lord is God!"

Ahab went to eat and to drink.  Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel and threw himself down on the ground and put his face between his knees.  He prayed, and the heavens gave rain.

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done.  He had slain all the prophets with the sword.  Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "Let the gods treat me the same way, and more too, if I don't make your life like the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time."

When he learned of that, he arose, and ran for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah and to Horeb.  He said, "Lord, they have killed your prophets, and dug down your altars; and I only am left, and they seek my life.”  God answered: "I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the statue of Baal."

The Lord said to him, "Go and anoint Elisha, the son of Shaphat, to be prophet in your place.”  So he left there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was ploughing.  Elijah threw his coat over him.  He left the oxen, and followed Elijah, and was his servant.

ELISHA

And it happened, when the Lord was about to take Elijah up into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.  Elijah said to him, "Stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan".  And he said, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.”  And they both went on and stood by the Jordan.

Elijah took off his coat, wrapped it up, and struck the water, and it separated.  So they both crossed over on dry ground.  When they had gone over, Elijah said to Elisha, " Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken away from you.”  And Elisha said, "I ask you to let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”  And he said, "You have asked something hard, but if you see me when I am taken away from you, it shall happen."

And as they went on, and talked, look, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them  and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

Elisha saw it, and cried out, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and its horsemen.”  He didn't see him any more.  He took his own clothes, and tore them into two pieces.  He also picked up the coat of Elijah that had fallen from him, and returned, and stood by the bank of the Jordan.  He took the coat of Elijah and struck the water, and said, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" And when he too had struck the waters, they separated, and Elisha crossed over.

Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, was telling the king all the great things that Elisha had done and how he had restored a dead body to life.  And behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land.  And Ghazi said, "My Lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.”  And when the king asked the woman, she told him.  So the king appointed for her a certain officer, saying, "Restore all that was hers.”

Many lepers were in Israel; none was cleansed, but Naaman the Syrian.

JEHORAM, KING OF JUDAH

And Jehoram, king of Judah, began to reign.  He strengthened his position, and killed all his brothers with the sword, and different other princes of Israel.  He acted like the kings of Israel, like the family of Ahab, for he had Ahab's daughter for wife, and he did evil.  However the Lord was not willing to destroy the family of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, promising to give him  and his sons a light for ever.

In his days the Edomites revolted from the control of Judah, and made themselves a king.  Moreover the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabs that were near the Ethiopians.  They came up to Judah, and penetrated into it, and carried away all the riches that were found in the king's house, and his sons too, and his wives, so that there was not a son left to him, except Jehoahaz, the youngest.

After all this the Lord struck him in his bowels with an incurable disease and after two years his bowels came out because of his sickness.  So he died of a painful disease.

THE PROPHECY OF OBADIAH AGAINST EDOM

‘’For your violence against your brother Jacob you shall be cut off for ever.  When strangers carried away his wealth, and foreigners entered his gates, you were as one of them.  You should not have been happy about the children of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor should you have spoken proudly in their day of misery.

“For the day of the Lord is near for all the Gentiles.  As you have done, it shall be done to you, retribution will come on your own head.  For as you, on my holy mountain, have drunk, so shall all the heathen drink continually.  Yes, they shall drink, they shall swallow, and they shall be as if they had never existed.  But on mount Zion shall be salvation, and holiness will be there.  The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions and the Lord shall rule.”

AHAB'S DAUGHTER USURPS THE THRONE OF JUDAH

In  year twelve of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign.  He reigned one year in Jerusalem.  He walked in the ways of the family of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the Lord.

He went with Joram the son of Ahab to fight against Hazael king of Syria.  The Syrians wounded Joram, who returned to be healed in Jezreel.  And Azariah king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab at Jezreel, because he was sick.

God caused the destruction of Ahaziah by his coming to Joram.  For when he came, he accompanied Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the family of Ahab.  When Jehu was carrying out judgment upon the house of Ahab he went after Ahaziah and they caught him, (for he was hiding in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu; and when they had slain him, they buried him "Because," said they, "he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart."

But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and killed all the royal posterity of the house of Judah.  But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, stole him from among the king's sons who were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber and hid him from Athaliah, so that she did not kill him.  And he was hid with them in the house of God for six years while Athaliah reigned.

In the seventh year Jehoiada fortified his resolve, and took the captains of hundreds into covenant with him and made a covenant with the king in the house of God.  He said to them, "See, the king's son shall reign, as the Lord has said of David's line."

And he set all the people, every man with his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the temple to the left side, along by the altar, and around the king.  Then they brought out the prince, and put  the crown on him, and made him king.  And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, "God save the king."

Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the people cheering for the king, she came towards the people into the house of the Lord.  And she looked, and saw the king standing at the pillar at the entrance, and the princes and trumpeters by the king and all the people of the land was rejoicing, and they blew the trumpets.  Then Athaliah tore her clothes, and cried out, "Treason, Treason."

Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the host, and said to them, "Take her out between the ranks.  Don't kill her in the house of the Lord.”  So  when she came to the entrance of the horse gate, by the king's house, they killed her there.

Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem.  He acted rightly in the sight of the Lord during the life of Jehoiada the priest.

THE PROPHET JOEL

The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.  "Hear this, old men, and listen all who live in the land.  Has this ever been in your time, or even in the time of your fathers? Tell your children about it, and let them tell their children.

"What the palmerworm has left the locust has eaten and what the locust has left the cankerworm has eaten and what the cankerworm has left the caterpillar has eaten.
"Awake, you drunkards.  Weep and howl, all you wine drinkers, because the new wine is cut off from your mouth.  For a nation has come to my land, strong, and innumerable, whose teeth are the teeth of a lions.  It has laid waste my vines, and taken the bark off my fig trees: he has made it bare; its branches are made white.  Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.  The field is laid waste, the land mourns; for the grain is destroyed and oil is lacking.

"Gird yourselves, and lament, you priests! Howl, you ministers of the altar! Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for the meal offering and the drink offering is withheld from the house of your God.  Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry to the Lord.  Alas, for the day of the Lord is near, and as a destruction from the Almighty it shall come.

"Then the Lord will be jealous for his land, and pity his people.  Yes, the Lord will answer and say to his people, Look, I will send you grain, and wine, and oil, and you shall be satisfied.  I will not make you a reproach among the heathen any more.  I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive it into a barren and desolate land, facing the eastern sea, with its hind part toward the further sea, and its stink shall come up.

"And I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

"And it shall come to pass, afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.  Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions.  Even upon the servants and handmaids in those days I will pour out my spirit.

"And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.

"And it shall happen, that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.  For in  Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, in the remnant which the Lord shall call.

"For, behold, in those days, and at that time, when I deliver Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will judge them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and divided up my land.

"Let the heathen be awakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the heathen round about.  Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.  Come, get down, for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.  Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.  The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

"The Lord shall roar and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake.  But the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

"So you shall know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain.  Then Jerusalem shall be holy and no strangers shall pass through it any more.  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with water, and a fountain shall come out of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.  For the Lord dwells in Zion".

JOAS ABANDONS THE LORD

Jehoiada became old, and died.  He was a hundred and thirty years old when he died.  They buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel.
After the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah paid homage to the king.  Then the king listened to them and they abandoned the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and were devoted to groves and idols, and anger came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this trespass.

Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again to the Lord, and they testified against them.  But they would not give ear.  The Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who said to them, "Thus says God, Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has also forsaken you."

And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord.  Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son.

JEROBOAM II OF ISRAEL AND THE PROPHET JONAH

In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam king of Israel began to reign in Samaria.  And he did evil in the sight of the Lord.  He did not abandon all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin.

He restored the border of Israel from the entrance to Hamath to the sea of the plain, in accordance with the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spoke by means of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai.  For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter.  For there was no helper for Israel.  The Lord did not say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me."
But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; he found a ship going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went into it.

But the Lord sent a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest, so that the ship was in danger of being broken up.  Then the sailors were afraid, and cried out every one to his god, and threw out the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it.  But Jonah had gone down into the side of the ship and lain down, and was fast asleep.
The men said to him, "Why have you done this? For the men knew that he had fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.”  Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you, so the sea may be calm for us?" For the sea was raging and tempestuous.

He said to them, "Take me up, and throw me into the sea.  By that means the sea will be calm for you.  For I know that it is for my sake this great tempest is on you.”  Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land, but they could not, for the sea was tempestuous against them.

Therefore they cried to the Lord, and said, "We implore you, O Lord, don't let us perish for this man's life, for shedding innocent blood!" So they picked up Jonah, and threw him into the sea and the sea ceased raging

Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah.  And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.  The Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.  He arose and went to Nineveh.  The men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonas.

THE PROPHET AMOS

The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, concerning Israel, in the days of Jeroboam, king of Israel: "Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment.  Because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes.  A man and his father went in to the same maid, to profane my holy name and they drink wine in the house of their god.

"I have smitten you with blasting and mildew.  When your gardens and vineyards  increased, the palmerworm devoured them.  Yet you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

"I have sent among you disease as in Egypt.  I have slain your young men with the sword, and have taken away your horses.  I have made the stink of your camps to come up to your nostrils.  Yet you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

"I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a firebrand plucked out of the fire: yet you have not come back to me, says the Lord.
"Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.  Wailing shall be in all streets, and they shall say, Alas! alas!  In all the vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through, says the Lord.
"Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! To what advantage is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.  As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him.

"I hate, I despise your feast days; I will not smell your solemn assemblies; though you offer me burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them.  Take away from me the noise of your songs, for I will not listen to the melody of your viols.  But let justice run down like water, and righteousness as a mighty stream."

He showed me this: the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.  He said, "Look, I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel.  The sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword".

Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to endure all his words.  For this is what Amos says, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive.”

Amaziah said to Amos, "O you seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat your bread, and prophesy there.  Don't prophesy any more at Bethel, for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court."

Then Amos said to Amaziah, "I was not a prophet, nor was I a prophet's son, but I was an herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit.  And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.  Now therefore hear the word of the Lord: you say, Don't prophesy against Israel.  Therefore thus says the Lord: your wife shall be a harlot in the city, your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, your land shall be divided by line and you shall die in a polluted land.  Israel shall certainly go into captivity out of its land."

"Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth, but I will not completely destroy the house of Jacob, says the Lord.  For, look, I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve.  All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword who say, The evil shall not overtake  us.

"In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that has fallen, close up the breaches of it and raise up its ruins.  And I will build it as in the days of old that they may possess the remnant  of all the nations, who are called by my name, says the Lord."

THE PROPHET HOSEA

The word of the Lord came to Hosea in the days of Jeroboam, king of Israel.  "Then the Lord said to me, Go, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, like the love of the Lord to the children of Israel, who look to other gods.”

So I bought her for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer and a half of barley.  And I said to her, “Remain for me many days; do not play the harlot, and don't be for another man.  So will I also be for you.  For the children of Israel shall remain many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice.  Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king and shall fear the Lord and his goodness, in the latter days."

“Hear the word of the Lord, children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, or mercy, or knowledge of God in the land.  By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing and committing adultery, they break all bounds.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall be no priest to me; since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

"They have set up kings, but not by me.  They have made princes, and I knew it not.  With their silver and their gold they have made idols for themselves.

"I taught Ephraim how to go, taking them by their arms.  But they did not know that I healed them.  I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love, and I was to them as those who take off the yoke from their jaws, and I laid food before them.

"The Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.  O Israel, return to your God; for you have fallen by your sin.  Take words, and turn to the Lord.  Say to him, Take away all sin, and receive us graciously.  Asshur shall not save us, neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, You are our gods.  For in you the fatherless finds mercy.

"I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for my anger is turned away."

THE END OF THE KINGDOM OF THE TEN TRIBES

In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel for nine years.  And he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.  The king of Assyria discovered a conspiracy in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and had brought no present 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.

Then the king of Assyria came up through all the land, and went to Samaria, and besieged it for three years.  In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor and in the cities of the Medes.

For the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the rule of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, and walked in the practices of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel.  The children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam; they did not depart from them until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets.  So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria, until this day.

Also, the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel.  They possessed Samaria, and lived in its cities.

UZZIAH, KING OF JUDAH

In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah (Uzziah) king of Judah began to reign.  He sought God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.

But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense.  The Lord struck the king, so that he was a leper until the day of his death, and dwelt in a separate house.  Jotham the king's son was over the household, ruling the people of the land.

ISAIAH'S VISION AND CALL

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

" In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and raised up, and his train filled the temple.  Above it stood the seraphims.  Each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.  And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.  And the posts of the door moved at the voice, and the house was filled with smoke.

"Then I said, Woe is me! for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live in the middle of a people of unclean lips.  For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

"Then one of the seraphims flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar.  And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Look, this has touched your lips, your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.  Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me.

"And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear indeed, but don't understand; see indeed, but don't perceive, until the cities are laid waste without an inhabitant, and the Lord has removed men far away.  But a tenth shall return."

AHAZ AND THE PRINCE OF PEACE

In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign, and did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father.  He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and made his son pass through the fire, like the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.

Then Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war and they besieged Ahaz.  It was told the house of David, "Syria is confederate with Ephraim.”  His heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as trees are moved with the wind.

Then the Lord said to Isaiah, "Go out now to meet Ahaz, and say to him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be faint hearted because of the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and the son of Remaliah.  If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.  Ask  a sign of the Lord your God."

But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord."
And he said, "Hear now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."(which is, "God with us.")

"Now therefore, look, the Lord brings up upon them the waters of the river, strong and abundant, even the king of Assyria and all his glory, and he shall come up out of all his channels, and go over all his banks.  And he shall pass through Judah and overflow and reach even to the neck.  The stretching out of his wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.

"And they shall look to the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, fearful gloom.  At first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more grievously afflicted her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.  Those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them the light has shined.  For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  There shall be no end of the increase of his government and peace, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to organize it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from now even for ever.  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

"So thus says the Lord God of hosts, O my people which dwells in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian.  For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and my anger, by their destruction.  Behold the Lord of hosts shall lop the bough and the high trees shall be hewn down and the haughty shall be humbled.

"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.  The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and shall make him quick of understanding in the fear of the Lord.  He shall not judge in accordance with the sight of his eyes, nor reprove after the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness shall he judge for the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth.  He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.  Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.  The cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.  The sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the snake's den.  They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

"And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles resort: and his rest shall be glorious."

THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH

Now it happened in the third year of Hoshea king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.  And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with all that David his father did.  He removed the high places, and broke the images, and broke in pieces the brass serpent that Moses had made.  For in those days the children of Israel burnt incense to it.  He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, for he adhered to the Lord, and did not stop following him and the Lord was with him.  He prospered wherever he went.  He rebelled against the king of Assyria, and did nor serve him.

THE PROPHET MICAH

Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, "Thus says the Lord of hosts; Zion shall be ploughed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest."

Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah implored the Lord, and the Lord relented of the evil which he had pronounced against them.

The word of the Lord came to Micah: "I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.  They have passed through the gate, and have gone out by it.  Their king passes before them, the Lord at their head.  In that day, says the Lord, I will assemble her who halts, and I will gather her who is driven out and her whom I have afflicted, and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion, even for ever.

"But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come for me the one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings out have been from of old, from everlasting.  Therefore he will give them up, until the time that she who travails has given birth.  Then the rest of his brothers shall return to the children of Israel.  And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.  For now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.  This man shall be peace."

GOD COMES TO SAVE FROM THE ASSYRIANS

In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them, and planned to fight against Jerusalem.

Therefore Hezekiah the king and the prophet Isaiah prayed and cried to heaven.

And Isaiah said to them, "Thus says the Lord, Do not be afraid.  You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you.  Trust in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.

"Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar, burning with anger, and his lips are full of indignation, and his breath as an overflowing stream.  As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending he will deliver it also.  Then the Assyrian shall fall with the sword, but not that of a mighty man.  Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not, behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a reward; he will come and save you."

Then the angel of the Lord went out, and in the camp of the Assyrians smote a hundred and eighty-five thousand.  In the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.  So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

"Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.  Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry to her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins."

Verses used to construct this history:

Chapter 3:  Hos1 6,7.  JEROBOAM I 1Ki12 26,27,28-30; 1Ki14 2,6-16.  GOD DELIVERS ASA 1Ki 15 9,11; 2Ch14 7-8,10-12; 2Ch16 13 HELPS JEHOSAPHAT,  2Ch17 1-4  AHAB & ELIJAH 1Ki16 29-32; 1Ki17 1,8; Jas5 17; Lu4 24-26; 1Ki18 1,17-24,26,27,30-39,42; Jas5 16,18; 1Ki19 1-3; Ro11 2-5.  1Ki19 15,16,19,20; 2Ki2 1,6-9,11-14;  ELISHA  2Ki8 4,5; Lu4 24,27; 2Ki17 13,14 JEHORAM 2Ki8 16; 2Ch21 4,6,7,8, 16,17,19.  OBADIAH 2,3,10-12,15-17,21.  AHAB'S DAUGHTER REIGN 2Ki8 25,27,28;  2Ch22 5-12; 2Ch23 1 ,3,10,11, 15;  2Ch24 1,2.  JOEL Joe1 1-7,10,13-15; Joe2 18,25,28-32; Joe3 1,2,12-14,16,21.  JOAS ABANDONS THE Lord 2Ch24 15,18,20-22.  JEROBOAM II & JONAH 2Ki14 23,24,27, 25; Jon1 1-5,10-15, 17; Lu11 32; Jon2 10; Jon3:1-3; Ma16 4.  AMOS Am1 1; Am2 6-8; Am4 9-12; Am5 16-19,21,23,24; Am7 7-17; Am9 8,11,12.  HOSEA Ho1 1; Ho3 1-5; Ho4 1,2,6; Ho8 4,5; Ho11 3-5; 14:1-4.  END OF KINGDOM OF TEN TRIBES 2Ki17 1-8,15-18,23,24.  UZZIAH 2Ki15 1; 2Ch26 5,16; 2Ki15 5.  ISAIAH'S VISION AND CALL Isa1 1; Isa6 1-12 AHAZ & THE PRINCE OF PEACE 1K16 1,2,5; Isa7 2-4,11-14; Mt1 23; Isa7 16,17; Isa8 23; Isa8 7,8,22; Isa9 1,5,6; Isa10 24,25,33; Isa11 1-10.  REIGN OF HEZEKIAH 2Ki18 1-7.  MICAH Jer26 18,19; Mic1 1; Mic2 12,13; Mic4 6,7; Mic5 2,4,5.  GOD SAVES FROM  ASSYRIANS Isa36 1; Isa37 6; 2Ch32 2,21; Isa26 3,4; Isa30 27,30,31; Isa31 5,8; Isa35 4; Isa 37 36-38;  Isa 40 1,2.

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