When all this was over, the Israelites ¹  who were in the cities of Judah went out and smashed the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and demolished ²  all the high places and altars throughout Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. ³  Then all the Israelites returned to their own homes in their cities. ⁴ 

When the king heard the words of the law scroll, he tore his clothes.

The rest of the events of Josiah’s reign, including the faithful acts he did in obedience to what is written in the law of the Lord ¹ 

King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem; ¹  he ²  was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. ³  Rehoboam’s ⁴  mother was an Ammonite named Naamah.

‘If disaster comes on us in the form of military attack, ¹  judgment, plague, or famine, we will stand in front of this temple before you, for you are present in this temple. ²  We will cry out to you for help in our distress, so that you will ³  hear and deliver us.’

He passed his sons through the fire ¹  in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom and practiced divination, omen reading, and sorcery. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits and appointed magicians to supervise it. ²  He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord and angered him. ³ 

The Annals of the Prophets include his prayer, give an account of how the Lord responded to it, record all his sins and unfaithful acts, and identify the sites where he built high places and erected Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself. ¹ 

The Lord told my father David, ‘It is right for you to have a strong desire to build a temple to honor me. ¹ 

They supported ¹  the kingdom of Judah and were loyal to ²  Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years; they followed the edicts of ³  David and Solomon for three years.

Lawless good-for-nothing men ¹  gathered around him and conspired ²  against Rehoboam son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was an inexperienced young man ³  and could not resist them.

They defeated all the cities surrounding Gerar, for the Lord caused them to panic. ¹  The men of Judah ²  looted all the cities, for they contained a huge amount of goods. ³ 

At that time ¹  they sacrificed to the Lord some of the plunder they had brought back, including 700 head of cattle and 7,000 sheep. ² 

In the third year of his reign he sent his officials Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah.

These were their divisions by families: There were a thousand officers from Judah. ¹  Adnah the commander led 300,000 skilled warriors,

This is what you must do. One third of you priests and Levites who are on duty during the Sabbath will guard the doors.

They seized her and took her into the precincts of the royal palace through the horses’ entrance. ¹  There they executed her.

The rest of the events of Amaziah’s reign, from start to finish, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ¹ 

The Israelites seized from their brothers 200,000 wives, sons, and daughters. They also carried off a huge amount of plunder and took it ¹  back to Samaria. ² 

Now listen to me! Send back those you have seized from your brothers, for the Lord is very angry at you!” ¹ 

In Judah God moved the people to unite and carry out the edict the king and the officers had issued at the Lord’s command. ¹