I am not condemning you because of your sacrifices, or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me.

Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerub-Baal, and is not Zebul the deputy he appointed? Serve the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem! But why should we serve Abimelech?

All the people throughout all the tribes of Israel were arguing among themselves saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies. He rescued us from the hand of the Philistines, but now he has fled from the land because of Absalom.

All the people of the land went and demolished the temple of Baal. They smashed its altars and idols to bits. They killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altar. Jehoiada the priest then placed guards at the Lord’s temple.

The Lord sent a messenger and he wiped out all the soldiers, princes, and officers in the army of the king of Assyria. So Sennacherib returned home humiliated. When he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons struck him down with the sword.

“I also hereby issue orders as to what you are to do with those elders of the Jews in order to rebuild this temple of God. From the royal treasury, from the taxes of Trans-Euphrates the complete costs are to be given to these men, so that there may be no interruption of the work.

So the people went out and brought these things back and constructed temporary shelters for themselves, each on his roof and in his courtyard and in the courtyards of the temple of God and in the plaza of the Water Gate and the plaza of the Ephraim Gate.

He called that place Bethel, although the former name of the town was Luz.

Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was there no hail.

Now Jair son of Manasseh went and captured their small towns and named them Havvoth Jair.

This is the blessing Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death.

The border of Amorite territory ran from the Scorpion Ascent to Sela and on up.

From Tebah and Berothai, Hadadezer’s cities, King David took a great deal of bronze.

Then a messenger came to David and reported, “The men of Israel are loyal to Absalom!”

When David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul’s concubine, had done,

(Rehoboam continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.)

The Lord says this about Jezebel, ‘Dogs will devour Jezebel by the outer wall of Jezreel.’

(Rehoboam continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.)

There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

Later the Moabites and Ammonites, along with some of the Meunites, attacked Jehoshaphat.