After three years he captured it (in the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign); in the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign over Israel Samaria was captured.

His servants approached and said to him, “O master, ¹  if the prophet had told you to do some difficult task, ²  you would have been willing to do it. ³  It seems you should be happy that he simply said, “Wash and you will be healed.” ⁴ 

Now Elisha advised the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “You and your family should go and live somewhere else for a while, ¹  for the Lord has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years.”

He eliminated ¹  the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices ²  on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices ³  to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.)

Josiah also got rid of ¹  the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, ²  the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, ³  and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law ⁴  recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple.

Hazael asked, “Why are you crying, my master?” He replied, “Because I know the trouble you will cause the Israelites. You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, smash their children to bits, and rip open their pregnant women.”

When he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Jehu ordered the royal guard ¹  and officers, “Come in and strike them down! Don’t let any escape!” So the royal guard and officers struck them down with the sword and left their bodies lying there. ²  Then they entered the inner sanctuary of the temple of Baal. ³ 

So Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram and sister of Ahaziah, took Ahaziah’s son Joash and sneaked ¹  him away from the rest of the royal descendants who were to be executed. She hid him and his nurse in the room where the bed covers were stored. ²  So he was hidden from Athaliah and escaped execution. ³ 

The king went up to the Lord’s temple, accompanied by all the people of Judah, all the residents of Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets. All the people were there, from the youngest to the oldest. He read aloud ¹  all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been discovered in the Lord’s temple.

Nebuchadnezzar ¹  took from there all the riches in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace. He removed all the gold items which King Solomon of Israel had made for the Lord’s temple, just as the Lord had warned.

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.”

Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord when he says, “The Lord will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”

“Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over ¹  to the king of Assyria.”

The king ¹  sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers. This third captain went up and fell ²  on his knees before Elijah. He begged for mercy, “Prophet, please have respect for my life and for the lives of these fifty servants of yours.

The king tore down the altars the kings of Judah had set up on the roof of Ahaz’s upper room, as well as the altars Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. He crushed them up ¹  and threw the dust in the Kidron Valley.

In the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the people of Israel ¹  to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes.

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.

The king of Assyria deported the people of Israel ¹  to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes.

He issued this edict because ¹  a Passover like this had not been observed since the days of the judges; it was neglected for the entire period of the kings of Israel and Judah. ² 

King Jehoash of Judah collected all the sacred items that his ancestors Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had consecrated, as well as his own sacred items and all the gold that could be found in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He sent it all ¹  to King Hazael of Syria, who then withdrew ²  from Jerusalem.