All the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in his father Amaziah’s place.

His assassination brought to fulfillment the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s word to Jehu,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Four generations of your descendants will rule over Israel.&#8221;<n id="2" /> That is exactly what happened.<n id="3" />p>

But the high places were not eliminated; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense on the high places. He built the Upper Gate to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.p>

He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from the watchtower to the city fortress.<n id="1" />p>

After three years he captured it (in the sixth year of Hezekiah&#8217;s reign); in the ninth year of King Hoshea&#8217;s reign over Israel Samaria was captured.

At that time King Hezekiah of Judah stripped the metal overlays from the doors of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and from the posts which he had plated<n id="1" /> and gave them to the king of Assyria.p>

The people were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered, &#8220;Don&#8217;t respond to him.&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">At that time Merodach-Baladan<n id="1" /> son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah was ill.

He took the cloak that had fallen off Elijah,<n id="1" /> hit the water with it, and said, &#8220;Where is the <sc>Lord, thesc> God of Elijah?&#8221; When he hit the water, it divided and Elisha crossed over.p>

<p class="bodytext">He went up from there to Bethel.<n id="1" /> As he was traveling up the road, some young boys<n id="2" /> came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, &#8220;Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!&#8221;

When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, &#8220;Am I God? Can I kill or restore life? Why does he ask me to cure a man of his skin disease?<n id="1" /> Certainly you must see that he is looking for an excuse to fight me!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">He and his entire entourage returned to the prophet. Naaman<n id="1" /> came and stood before him. He said, &#8220;For sure<n id="2" /> I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel! Now, please accept a gift from your servant.&#8221;

May the <sc>Lordsc> forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to worship, and he leans on my arm and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the <sc>Lordsc> forgive your servant for this.&#8221;<n id="1" />

When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his clothes. As he was passing by on the wall, the people could see he was wearing sackcloth under his clothes.<n id="1" />

Then they said to one another, &#8220;It&#8217;s not right what we&#8217;re doing! This is a day to celebrate, but we haven&#8217;t told anyone.<n id="1" /> If we wait until dawn,<n id="2" /> we&#8217;ll be punished.<n id="3" /> So come on, let&#8217;s go and inform the royal palace.&#8221;

Joram<n id="1" /> crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites, who had surrounded him, attacked at night and defeated him and his chariot officers.<n id="2" /> The Israelite army retreated to their homeland.<n id="3" />

Then Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi conspired against Joram.p><t /><p class="bodytext">Now Joram had been in Ramoth Gilead with the whole Israelite army,<n id="1" /> guarding against an invasion by King Hazael of Syria.

When they went back and told him, he said, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s word through his servant, Elijah the Tishbite, has come to pass. He warned,<n id="1" /> &#8216;In the plot of land at Jezreel, dogs will devour Jezebel&#8217;s flesh.

<p class="bodytext">He defeated<n id="1" /> 10,000 Edomites in the Salt Valley; he captured Sela in battle and renamed it Joktheel, a name it has retained to this very day.

He restored the border of Israel from Lebo Hamath in the north to the sea of the Arabah in the south,<n id="1" /> in accordance with the word of the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel announced through<n id="2" /> his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.