Nebuzaradan, captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

So he went with them. When they arrived at the Jordan, they started cutting down trees.

In the seventh year Jehoiada summoned ¹  the officers of the units of hundreds of the Carians ²  and the royal bodyguard. ³  He met with them ⁴  in the Lord’s temple. He made an agreement ⁵  with them and made them swear an oath of allegiance in the Lord’s temple. Then he showed them the king’s son.

Do not audit the foremen who disburse the silver, for they are honest.” ¹ 

The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed ¹  at Riblah in the territory ²  of Hamath. So Judah was deported from its land.

for this is what the Lord says, ‘You will not feel ¹  any wind or see any rain, but this valley will be full of water and you and your cattle and animals will drink.’

The messenger came and told Jehu, ¹  “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” Jehu ²  said, “Stack them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning.”

Jehoahaz asked for the Lord’s mercy ¹  and the Lord responded favorably, ²  for he saw that Israel was oppressed by the king of Syria. ³ 

He followed in the footsteps of ¹  the kings of Israel. He passed his son through the fire, ²  a horrible sin practiced by the nations ³  whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites.

So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria went back and settled in Bethel. ¹  He taught them how to worship ²  the Lord.

They were worshiping ¹  the Lord and at the same time serving their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which they had been deported.

The Lord made an agreement ¹  with them ²  and instructed them, “You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them.

Were the nations whom my ancestors destroyed – the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar – rescued by their gods? ¹ 

What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger; he finally threw them out of his presence. ¹  Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

He wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me, ¹  then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” ²  Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent ³  men of the city were raising them.

But the Lord’s angelic messenger told Elijah the Tishbite, “Get up, go to meet the messengers from the king of Samaria. Say this to them: ‘You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are on your way to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub the god of Ekron. ¹ 

When Jehu rejoined ¹  his master’s servants, they ²  asked him, “Is everything all right? ³  Why did this madman visit you?” He replied, “Ah, it’s not important. You know what kind of man he is and the kinds of things he says.” ⁴ 

In the morning he went out and stood there. Then he said to all the people, “You are innocent. I conspired against my master and killed him. But who struck down all of these men?

Jehu encountered ¹  the relatives ²  of King Ahaziah of Judah. He asked, “Who are you?” They replied, “We are Ahaziah’s relatives. We have come down to see how ³  the king’s sons and the queen mother’s sons are doing.”

But the Lord had mercy on them and felt pity for them. ¹  He extended his favor to them ²  because of the promise he had made ³  to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has been unwilling to destroy them or remove them from his presence to this very day. ⁴