and Nathanael, and Micheas, to teach in the ci-royal robes: and they sat in the open court by ties of Juda: the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.

8 And with them the Levites, Semeias, and Nathanias, and Zabadias, and Asael, and Semira- 10 And Sedecias the son of Chanaana made moth, and Jonathan, and Adonias, and Tobias, him horns of iron, and said: Thus saith the Lord: and Thobadonias Levites, and with them Elisa- With these shalt thou push Syria, till thou dema and Joram priests. stroy it.

9 And they taught the people in Juda, having! 11 And all the prophets prophesied in like with them the book of the law of the Lord: and manner, and said: Go up to Ramoth Galand, and they went about all the cities of Juda, and in-thou shalt prosper: and the Lord will deliver structed the people. them into the king's hand.

10 And the fear of the Lord came upon all the 12 And the messenger that went to call Mikingdoms of the lands that were round about cheas, said to him: Behold, the words of all the Juda: and they durst not make war against Josa-prophets with one mouth declare good to the phat. king: I beseech thee therefore let not thy word disagree with them, and speak thou also good success.

11 The Philistines also brought presents to Josaphat, and tribute in silver; and the Arabians brought him cattle, seven thousand seven hundred rams, and as many he-goats.

12 And Josaphat grew, and became exceeding great: and he built in Juda houses like towers, and walled cities.

13 And he prepared many works in the cities of Juda: and he had warriors and valiant men in Jerusalem:

14 Of whom this is the number of the houses and families of every one: in Juda captains of the army, Ednas the chief; and with him three hundred thousand most valiant men.

15 After him Johanan the captain; and with him two hundred and eighty thousand.

13 And Micheas answered him: As the Lord liveth, whatsoever my God shall say to me, that will I speak.

14 So he came to the king: and the king said to him: Micheas, shall we go to Ramoth Galaad to fight, or forbear? And he answered him: Go up; for all shall succeed prosperously: and the enemies shall be delivered into your hands.

15 And the king said: I adjure thee again and again to say nothing but the truth to me, in the name of the Lord.

16 Then he said: I saw all Israel scattered in the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd: and the Lord said: These have no masters: let

16 And after him was Amasias the son of Ze-every man return to his own house in peace. chri, consecrated to the Lord; and with him were two hundred thousand valiant men.

17 After him was Eliada valiant in battle; and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield.

18 After him also was Jezabad; and with him a hundred and eighty thousand ready for war.

19 All these were at the hand of the king, beside others, whom he had put in the walled cities, in all Juda.

CHAP. XVIII.

Josaphat accompanies Achab in his expedition against Ramoth; where Achab is slain, as Micheas had foretold.

TOW Josaphat was rich and very glorious, and was joined by affinity to Achab.

2 And he went down to him after some years to Samaria: and Achab at his coming killed sheep and oxen in abundance for him and the people that came with him: and he persuaded him to go up to Ramoth Galaad.

3 And Achab king of Israel said to Josaphat, king of Juda: Come with me to Ramoth Galaad. And he answered him: Thou art as I am, and my people as thy people: and we will be with thee

in the war.

4 And Josaphat said to the king of Israel: Inquire, I beseech thee, at present the word of the Lord.

5 So the king of Israel gathered together of the prophets four hundred men: and he said to them: Shall we go to Ramoth Galaad to fight, or shall we forbear? But they said: Go up; and God will deliver it into the king's hand.

6 And Josaphat said: Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire also of him?

7 And the king of Israel said to Josaphat: There is one man, of whom we may ask the will of the Lord: but I hate him; for he never prophesieth good to me, but always evil: and it is Micheas the son of Jemla. And Josaphat said: Speak not thus, O king.

17 And the king of Israel said to Josaphat: Did I not tell thee that this man would not prophesy me any good, but evil?

18 Then he said: Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on the right hand and on the left.

19 And the Lord said: Who shall deceive* Achab king of Israel, that he may go up, and fall in Ramoth Galaad? And when one spoke in this manner, and another otherwise:

20 There came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said: I will deceive him. And the Lord said to him: By what means wilt thou deceive him?

21 And he answered: I will go out, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said: Thou shalt deceive, and shalt prevail: go out, and do so.

22 Now therefore behold, the Lord hath put a spirit of lying in the mouth of all thy prophets; and the Lord hath spoken evil against thee.

23 And Sedecias the son of Chanaana came, and struck Micheas on the cheek, and said: Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me, to speak to thee?

24 And Micheas said: Thou thyself shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go in from chamber to chamber, to hide thyself.

25 And the king of Israel commanded, saying: Take Micheas, and carry him to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joas the son of Amelech,

26 And say: Thus saith the king: Put this fellow in prison, and give him bread and water in a small quantity till I return in peace.

27 And Micheas said: If thou return in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me. And he said: Hear, all ye people.

28 So the king of Israel and Josaphat king of Juda went up to Ramoth Galaad.

29 And the king of Israel said to Josaphat: I will change my dress, and so I will go to the battle; but put thou on thy own garments. And the 8 And the king of Israel called one of the eu-king of Israel having changed his dress, went to nuchs, and said to him: Call quickly Micheas the the battle. son of Jemla.

9 Now the king of Israel, and Josaphat king

*Who shall deceive, &c. See the annotations,

of Juda, both sat on their thrones, clothed in 3 Kings, xxii.

30 Now the king of Syria had commanded the || Ammonites, were gathered together to fight captains of his cavalry, saying: Fight ye not with against Josaphat. small or great, but with the king of Israel only. 31 So when the captains of the cavalry saw Josaphat, they said: This is the king of Israel. And they surrounded him to attack him: but he cried to the Lord, and he helped him, and turned them away from him.

32 For when the captains of the cavalry saw that he was not the king of Israel, they left him. 33 And it happened that one of the people shot an arrow at a venture, and struck the king of Israel between the neck and the shoulders: and he said to his chariot-man: Turn thy hand, and carry me out of the battle; for I am wounded.

34 And the fight was ended that day: but the king of Israel stood in his chariot against the Syrians until the evening, and died at the sun-set. CHAP. XIX.

Josaphat's charge to the judges and to the Le

vites.

2 And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer met'

him, and said to him: Thou helpest the ungodly, and thou art joined in friendship with them that hate the Lord; and therefore thou didst deserve indeed the wrath of the Lord:

3 But good works are found in thee, because thou hast taken away the groves out of the land of Juda, and hast prepared thy heart to seek the Lord the God of thy fathers.

4 And Josaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again to the people from Bersabee to mount Ephraim, and brought them back to the Lord the God of their fathers.

5 And he set judges of the land in all the fenced cities of Juda, in every place.

6 And charging the judges, he said: Take heed what you do: for you exercise not the judgment of man, but of the Lord: and whatsoever you judge, it shall redound to you.

7 Let the fear of the Lord be with you, and do all things with diligence: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor desire of gifts.

8 In Jerusalem also Josaphat appointed Levites, and priests, and chiefs of the families of Israel, to judge the judgment and the cause of the Lord for the inhabitants thereof.

you do in the fear of the Lord faithfully, and with 9 And he charged them, saying: Thus shall a perfect heart.

2 And there came messengers, and told Josaphat, saying: There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea, and out of Syria: and behold, they are in Asasonthamar, which is Engaddi.

3 And Josaphat being seized with fear, betook himself wholly to pray to the Lord: and he proclaimed a fast for all Juda.

4 And Juda gathered themselves together to pray to the Lord: and all came out of their cities to make supplication to him.

5 And Josaphat stood in the midst of the assembly of Juda and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord before the new court;

6 And said: O Lord God of our fathers, thou art God in heaven, and rulest over all the kingdoms and nations: in thy hand is strength and power; and no one can resist thee.

7 Didst not thou, our God, kill all the inhabit

ants

of this land before thy people Israel, and ga

vest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? 8 And they dwelt in it, and built in it a sanctuary to thy name, saying:

9 If evils fall upon us, the sword of judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand in thy presence before this house, in which thy name is called upon: and we will cry to thee in our afflictions; and thou wilt hear, and save us.

10 Now therefore behold the children of Ammon, and of Moab, and mount Seir, through whose lands thou didst not allow Israel to pass, when they came out of Egypt, but they turned aside from them, and slew them not:

11 Do the contrary, and endeavour to cast us out of the possession which thou hast delivered

to us.

their little ones, and their wives, and their chil13 And all Juda stood before the Lord, with dren.

14 And Jahaziel the son of Zacharias, the son of Banaias, the son of Jehiel, the son of Mathanias, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, was there; upon whom the Spirit of the Lord came in the midst of the multitude.

that dwell in Jerusalem, and thou king Josaphat: 15 And he said: Attend ye, all Juda, and you 10 Every cause that shall come to you of your Thus saith the Lord to you: Fear ye not, and be brethren, that dwell in their cities, between kin- not dismayed at this multitude: for the battle is dred and kindred, wheresoever there is question not yours, but God's.

concerning the law, the commandment, the ce- 16 To-morrow you shall go down against them: remonies, the justifications: show it them, that for they will come up by the ascent named Sis; they may not sin against the Lord, and that and you shall find them at the head of the torwrath may not come upon you and your breth- rent, which is over-against the wilderness of ren: and so doing you shall not sin.

Jeruel.

11 And Amarias the priest your high priest 17 It shall not be you that shall fight; but only shall be chief in the things which regard God: stand with confidence, and you shall see the help and Zabadias the son of Ismahel, who is ruler in of the Lord over you, O Juda, and Jerusalem: the house of Juda, shall be over those matters fear ye not, nor be you dismayed: to-morrow which belong to the king's office: and you have you shall go out against them, and the Lord will before you the Levites for masters: take courage be with you. and do diligently; and the Lord will be with you in good things.

CHAP. XX.

bitants of Jerusalem, fell flat on the ground be 18 Then Josaphat, and Juda, and all the inhafore the Lord, and adored him.

19 And the Levites of the sons of Caath, and of the sons of Core, praised the Lord the God of Israel with a loud voice, on high.

The Ammonites, Moabites, and Syrians, combine against Josaphat. He seeketh God's help by public prayer and fasting. A prophet fore- 20 And they rose early in the morning, and telleth that God will fight for his people: the went out through the desert of Thecua: and as enemies destroy one another. Josaphat with they were marching, Josaphat standing in the his men gather the spoils. He reigneth in midst of them, said: Hear me, ye men of Juda, peace: but his navy perisheth, for his society and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: believe in with wicked Ochozias. the Lord your God, and you shall be secure: beFTER this the children of Moab, and the lieve his prophets, and all things shall succeed children of Ammon, and with them of the well.

21 And he gave counsel to the people, and ap-Azarias, and Jahiel, and Zacharias, and Azaria, pointed the singing men of the Lord, to praise and Michael, and Saphatias: all these were the him by their companies, and to go before the sons of Josaphat king of Juda. army, and with one voice to say: Give glory to the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever.

AND Josaphat slept with his fathers, and was they buried him in the city of David, but not in buried with them in the city of David: and the sepulchres of the kings.

Joram his son reigned in his stead.

2 And he had brethren the sons of Josaphat,||

CHAP. XXII.

The reign and death of Ochozias. of Athalia.

The tyranny

AND the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ocho

zias his youngest son king in his place: for the rovers of the Arabians, who had broke in upon the camp, had killed all that were his elder brothers. So Ochozias the son of Joram king of Juda reigned.

2 Ochozias was forty two years old when he began to reign: and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Athalia the daughter of Amri.

3 He also walked in the ways of the house of Achab: for his mother pushed him on to do wickedly.

4 So he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Achab did: for they were his counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction.

5 And he walked after their counsels. And he went with Joram the son of Achab king of Israel, to fight against Hazael king of Syria, at Ramoth Galaad: and the Syrians wounded Joram.

4 And this is the thing that you shall do:

of the priests, and of the Levites, and of the por5 A third part of you that come to the sabbathf ters, shall be at the gates; and a third part at the

king's undation, but her all the gate that is called

the Foundation: but let all the rest of the people be in the courts of the house of the Lord.

6 And let no one come into the house of the Lord, but the priests, and they that minister of the Levites: let them only come in, because they are sanctified: and let all the rest of the people keep the watches of the Lord.

7 And let the Levites be round about the king, every man with his arms: (and if any other come into the temple, let him be slain) and let them be with the king both coming in, and going out.

8 So the Levites, and all Juda did according to all that Joiada the high priest had commanded: and they took every one his men that were under him, and that came in by the course of the sabbath, with those who had fulfilled the sabbath, and were to go out. For Joiada the high priest permitted not the companies to depart, which were accustomed to succeed one another every week.

6 And he returned to be healed in Jezrahel; 9 And Joiada the priest gave to the captains for he received many wounds in the foresaid the spears, and the shields, and targets of king battle. And Ochozias the son of Joram king of David, which he had dedicated in the house of Juda, went down to visit Joram the son of Achab the Lord. in Jezrahel where he lay sick.

7 For it was the will of God against Ochozias, that he should come to Joram; and when he was come, should go out also against Jehu the son of Namsi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Achab.

8 So when Jehu was rooting out the house of Achab, he found the princes of Juda, and the sons of the brethren of Ochozias, who served him: and he slew them.

10 And he set all the people with swords in their hands from the right side of the temple, to the left side of the temple, before the altar, and the temple, round about the king.

11 And they brought out the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and the testimony, and gave him the law to hold in his hand; and they made him king: and Joiada the high priest and his sons anointed him: and they prayed for him, and said: God save the king.

9 And he sought for Ochozias himself, and 12 Now when Athalia heard the noise of the took him lying hid in Samaria: and when he was people running and praising the king, she came brought to him, he killed him: and they buried in to the people, into the temple of the Lord. him; because he was the son of Josaphat, who 13 And when she saw the king standing upon had sought the Lord with all his heart. And the step in the entrance, and the princes, and the there was no more hope that any one should reign of the race of Ochozias.

10 For Athalia his mother, seeing that her son was dead, rose up, and killed all the royal family of the house of Joram.

companies about him, and all the people of the land rejoicing, and sounding with trumpets, and playing on instruments of divers kinds, and the voice of those that praised, she rent her garments, and said: Treason, treason.

11 But Josabeth the king's daughter took Joas 14 And Joiada the high priest going out to the the son of Ochozias, and stole him from among captains, and the chiefs of the army, said to them: the king's sons, that were slain. And she hid Take her forth without the precinct of the temhim with his nurse in a bed-chamber: now Josa-ple; and when she is without, let her be killed beth that hid him, was daughter of king Joram, wife of Joiada the high priest, and sister of Ochozias: and therefore Athalia did not kill him.

12 And he was with them hid in the house of God six years, during which Athalia reigned over the land.

CHAP. XXIII.

Joiada the high priest causeth Joas to be made king; Athalia to be slain; and idolatry to be destroyed.

A

ND in the seventh year Joiada being encouraged, took the captains of hundreds, to wit, Azarias the son of Jeroham, and Ismahel the son of Johanan, and Azarias the son of Obed, and Maasias the son of Adaias, and Elisaphat the son of Zechri; and made a covenant with them.

2 And they went about Juda, and gathered together the Levites out of all the cities of Juda, and the chiefs of the families of Israel: and they came to Jerusalem.

3 And all the multitude made a covenant with the king in the house of God: and Joiada said to them: Behold, the king's son shall reign, as the Lord hath said of the sons of David.

with the sword. For the priest commanded that she should not be killed in the house of the Lord.

15 And they laid hold on her by the neck: and when she was come within the horse-gate of the palace, they killed her there.

16 And Joiada made a covenant between himself and all the people, and the king, that they should be the people of the Lord.

17 And all the people went into the house of Baal, and destroyed it: and they broke down his altars and his idols: and they slew Mathan the priest of Baal before the altars.

18 And Joiada appointed overseers in the house of the Lord, under the hands of the priests, and the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the Lord: to offer holocausts to the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses, with joy and singing, according to the disposition of David.

19 He appointed also porters in the gates of the house of the Lord, that none who was unclean in any thing should enter in.

20 And he took the captains of hundreds, and the most valiant men, and the chiefs of the peo+ To the sabbath. That is, to perform in your * Forty two, &c. Divers Greek bibles read weeks the functions of your office, or the weekly twenty two, agreeably to 4 Kings viii. 18.

watches.

[OAS was seven years old when he began to reign: and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Sebia of Bersabee.

2 And he did that which is good before the Lord all the days of Joiada the priest.

3 And Joiada took for him two wives, by whom he had sons and daughters.

4 After this Joas had a mind to repair the house of the Lord.

16 And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good to Israel, and to his house.

17 And after the death of Joiada, the princes of Juda went in, and worshipped the king: and he was soothed by their services, and hearkened to them.

18 And they forsook the temple of the Lord the God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Juda and Jerusalem for this sin.

19 And he sent prophets to them to bring them back to the Lord, and they would not give ear when they testified against them.

20 The Spirit of God then came upon Zacharias the son of Joiada the priest, and he stood in the sight of the people, and said to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Why transgress you the commandment of the Lord, which will not be for your good, and have forsaken the Lord, to make him forsake you?

21 And they gathered themselves together against him, and stoned him at the king's commandment in the court of the house of the Lord.

22 And king Joas did not remember the kindness that Joiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. And when he died, he said: The Lord see, and require it.

5 And he assembled the priests, and the Levites, and said to them: Go out to the cities of Juda, and gather of all Israel money to repair the temple of your God, from year to year, and do this with speed: but the Levites were negligent. 6 And the king called Joiada the chief, and 23 And when a year was come about, the said to him: Why hast thou not taken care to army of Syria came up against him: and they oblige the Levites to bring in out of Juda and came to Juda and Jerusalem, and killed all the Jerusalem the money that was appointed by princes of the people: and they sent all the spoils Moses, the servant of the Lord, for all the multi-to the king to Damascus. tude of Israel to bring into the tabernacle of the testimony?

7 For that wicked woman Athalia and her children have destroyed the house of God, and adorned the temple of Baal with all the things that had been dedicated in the temple of the Lord.

8 And the king commanded, and they made a chest; and set it by the gate of the house of the Lord on the outside.

9 And they made a proclamation in Juda and Jerusalem, that every man should bring to the Lord, the money which Moses the servant of God appointed for all Israel, in the desert.

24 And whereas there came a very small number of the Syrians, the Lord delivered into their hands an infinite multitude, because they had forsaken the Lord the God of their fathers: and on Joas they executed shameful judgments.

25 And departing they left him in great diseases: and his servants rose up against him, for revenge of the blood of the son of Joiada the priest: and they slew him in his bed; and he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.

26 Now the men that conspired against him were Zabad the son of Semmaath an Ammonitess, and Jozabad the son of Semarith a Moab

10 And all the princes, and all the people re-itess. joiced: and going in they contributed and cast so much into the chest of the Lord, that it was filled.

11 And when it was time to bring the chest before the king by the hands of the Levites (for they saw there was much money.) the king's scribe, and he whom the high priest had appointed, went in: and they poured out the money that was in the chest: and they carried back the chest to its place: and thus they did from day to day; and there was gathered an immense sum of

money.

12 And the king and Joiada gave it to those who were over the works of the house of the Lord: but they hired with it stone-cutters, and artificers of every kind of work to repair the house of the Lord: and such as wrought in iron and brass, to uphold what began to be falling.

13 And the workmen were diligent; and the breach of the walls was closed up by their hands; and they set up the house of the Lord in its former state, and made it stand firm.

27 And concerning his sons, and the sum of money, which was gathered under him, and the repairing the house of God, they are written more diligently in the book of kings: and Amasias his son reigned in his stead.

CHAP. XXV.

Amasias's reign: he beginneth well; but endeth ill. He is overthrown by Joas; and slain by his own people.

MASIAS was five and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Joadan of Jerusalem.

2 And he did what was good in the sight of the Lord; but yet not with a perfect heart."

3 And when he saw himself strengthened in his kingdom, he put to death the servants that had slain the king his father.

4 But he slew not their children; as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying: The fathers shall not be slain for the children, nor the children for their fathers; but every man shall die for his own

14 And when they had finished all the works, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Joiada: and with it were made vessels sin. for the temple for the ministry, and for holocausts 5 Amasias therefore gathered Juda together, an! bowls, and other vessels of gold and silver: and appointed them by families, and captains of and holocausts were offered in the house of the Lord continually, all the days of Joiada.

15 But Joiada grew old, and was full of days, and died when he was a hundred and thirty years

old.

thousands, and of hundreds, in all Juda and Benjamin: and he numbered them from twenty years fold and upwards, and found three hundred thousand young men that could go out to battle, and could hold the spear and shield.