The captain of the royal guard took the golden and silver censers ¹  and basins.

Someone went out to the field to gather some herbs and found a wild vine. ¹  He picked some of its fruit, ²  enough to fill up the fold of his robe. He came back, cut it up, and threw the slices ³  into the stew pot, not knowing they were harmful. ⁴ 

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.

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.

Jehoash said to the priests, “I place at your disposal ¹  all the consecrated silver that has been brought to the Lord’s temple, including the silver collected from the census tax, ²  the silver received from those who have made vows, ³  and all the silver that people have voluntarily contributed to the Lord’s temple. ⁴ 

King Jehoash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah, “A thornbush in Lebanon sent this message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ Then a wild animal ¹  of Lebanon came by and trampled down the thorn. ² 

He put an idol of Asherah he had made in the temple, about which the Lord had said to David and to his son Solomon, “This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home. ¹ 

She went and told the prophet. ¹  He said, “Go, sell the olive oil. Repay your creditor, and then you and your sons can live off the rest of the profit.”

Now Elisha the prophet summoned a member of the prophetic guild ¹  and told him, “Tuck your robes into your belt, take this container ²  of olive oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead.

But Jehu did not carefully and wholeheartedly obey the law of the Lord God of Israel. ¹  He did not repudiate the sins which Jeroboam had encouraged Israel to commit. ² 

This happened because the Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them up from the land of Egypt and freed them from the power of ¹  Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped ²  other gods;

This will happen because they have abandoned me and offered sacrifices ¹  to other gods, angering me with all the idols they have made. ²  My anger will ignite against this place and will not be extinguished!’”

He told his servant Gehazi, “Ask the Shunammite woman to come here.” ¹  So he did so and she came to him. ² 

Elisha told him, “Ask her to come here.” ¹  So he did so ²  and she came and stood in the doorway. ³ 

So he set it before them; they ate and had some left over, just as the Lord predicted. ¹ 

During his reign Edom freed themselves from Judah’s control and set up their own king. ¹ 

The rest of the events of Amaziah’s reign are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. ¹ 

Azariah ¹  built up Elat and restored it to Judah after the king ²  had passed away. ³ 

Instead you must worship the Lord your God; then he will rescue you from the power of all your enemies.”

He followed in the footsteps of his father ¹  and worshiped and bowed down to the disgusting idols ²  which his father had worshiped. ³