him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until 28 I come in peace. And Micaiah said: If thou return at all in peace, Jehovah has not spoken by me. And he said: Hear it, the peoples, all of them.

29

And the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat the king of 30 Judah, went up to Ramoth-gilead. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat: I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; and do thou put on thy robes. And the king of 31 Israel disguised himself, and entered into the battle. And

the king of Syria had commanded his thirty and two captains over his chariots, saying: Fight with neither small nor great, 32 save only with the king of Israel. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said: Surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned to fight 33 against him; and Jehoshaphat cried out. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing 34 him. And a man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints and the coat of mail. And he said to his charioteer: Turn thy hand, and carry me out 35 of the host; for I am wounded. And the battle increased that day. And the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians; and he died at evening. And the blood ran 36 out from the wound into the hollow of the chariot. And the joyful cry went through the host, at the going down of the sun, saying: Every man to his city, and every man to his own country.

37

And the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they 38 buried the king in Samaria. And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood, and the harlots bathed there; according to the word of Jeho39 vah, which he spoke. Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and

all that he did, and the ivory house which he built, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of 40 the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? So Ahab lay down with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.

V. 34. At a venture; that is, without knowing any reason for aiming as he did, as he knew not who it was at whom he aimed.

41 And Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, began to reign over 42 Judah in the fourth year of Ahab, king of Israel. Jehosha

44

45

phat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And 43 his mother's name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah. Yet the high places were not taken away; the people sacrificed and burned incense yet on the high places. And Jehoshaphat was at peace with the king of Israel. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he showed, and how he warred, are they not written in the book 46 of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? And the remnant of the sodomites, which were left in the days of his father 47 Asa, he put away out of the land. There was then no king 48 in Edom; a deputy was king. Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish, to go to Ophir for gold. And they went not; for 49 the ships were broken at Ezion-geber. Then said Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, to Jehoshaphat: Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships. And Jehoshaphat would not.

50

And Jehoshaphat lay down with his fathers; and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. And Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.

51 Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, began to reign over Israel in Samaria, in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of 52 Judah; and he reigned two years over Israel. And he did

evil in the sight of Jehovah, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of 53 Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. And he served Baal, and worshipped him; and provoked to anger Jehovah God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.

291

1

SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS.

AND Moab rebelled against Israel, after the death of Ahab. 2 And Ahaziah fell down through a window-lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick. And he sent messengers, and said to them: Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this sickness. 3 And the angel of Jehovah said to Elijah the Tishbite: Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them: Is it because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Now therefore thus says Jehovah: From that bed, to which thou hast gone up, thou shalt not come down; for thou shalt surely die. And Elijah departed.

5

And he said to

And the messengers turned back to him. " them: Why is this, that ye have turned back? And they said to him: A man came up to meet us; and he said to us: Go, turn back to the king who sent you, and say to him: Thus says Jehovah: Is it because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore from that bed, to which thou hast gone up, thou 7 shalt not come down; for thou shalt surely die. And he said to them: What manner of man was he who came up to 8 meet you, and told you these words? And they said to him: He was a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about

Chap. i. The history is here resumed from the close of the first book, and is continued to the extinction of the national independence by the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests.V. 1. Moab rebelled. For the subjugation of Moab, see 2 Sam. 8: 2.--V. 2. Ahaziah, the son and successor of Ahab. See 1 Kings 22: 40, and 51-53.-Baal-zebub. One of the various local designations of Baal, referred to in the note on Judges 2: 11. The name means FlyBaal, Lord of the fly, the fly-destroyer; so named as the protector against the plague of flies, the pest of hot climates.-Ekron. A city of the Philistines, near to the royal residence in Samaria.

Then the
And he

9 his loins. And he said: It is Elijah the Tishbite. king sent to him a captain of fifty, with his fifty. went up to him; and, behold, he was sitting on the top of the mountain. And he spoke to him: Man of God, the 10 king has said, Come down. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty: If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and 11 his fifty. And again he sent to him, another captain of fifty, with his fifty. And he answered and said to him: Man 12 of God, thus has the king said: Come down quickly. And Elijah answered and said to them: If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

13

15

And again he sent a captain of fifty the third time, with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said to him: Man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the 14 life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight. Behold, there came down fire from heaven, and consumed the two former captains of fifties, with their fifties. And now, let life be precious in thy sight. And the angel of Jehovah said to Elijah: Go down with him; be not afraid of him. 16 And he arose, and went down with him to the king. And he said to him, thus says Jehovah: Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron,is it not because there is no God in Israel, to inquire of his word, therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed, to which thou hast gone up, for thou shalt surely die.

17

my

And he died according to the word of Jehovah, which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram reigned in his stead, in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of 18 Judah, because he had no son. Now the rest of the acts

V. 11. He answered. On the use of this word, see the writer's note on Job 3:2, and on 1 Sam. 9:17. Probably the expression of the prophet's countenance, and the fate of the other fifty, moved him to this response, pleading for himself the order of the king.

of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?

1 AND it came to pass, when Jehovah caused Elijah to be borne to heaven in a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha 2 from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha: Tarry here, I pray thee; for Jehovah has sent me to Beth-el. And Elisha said: As Jehovah lives, and as thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. 3 So they went down to Beth-el. And the sons of the prophets that were at Beth-el came forth to Elisha; and they said to him: Knowest thou that Jehovah will take away thy master from thy head to-day? And he said: Yea, I know it; hold 4 your peace. And Elijah said to him: Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for Jehovah has sent me to Jericho. And he said: As Jehovah lives, and as thy soul lives, I will not 5 leave thee. So they came to Jericho. And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha; and they said to him: Knowest thou that Jehovah will take away thy master from thy head to-day? And he answered: Yea, I 6 know it; hold your peace. And Elijah said to him: Tarry, I pray thee, here; for Jehovah has sent me to the Jordan. And he said: As Jehovah lives, and as thy soul lives, I will 7 not leave thee. And they two went on. And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood over against them 8 afar off; and they two stood by the Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters; and they were divided hither and thither, and they two passed over on the dry ground.

9

And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said to Elisha: Ask what I shall do for thee, before I shall be taken away from thee. And Elisha said: I pray 10 thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he

said: Thou hast asked a hard thing. If thou shalt see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; and if 11 not, it shall not be. And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked, that, behold, a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and they parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up in a whirlwind to heaven.