<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.

His officer Pekah son of Remaliah conspired against him. He and fifty Gileadites assassinated Pekahiah, as well as Argob and Arieh, in Samaria in the fortress of the royal palace.<n id="1" /> Pekah then took his place as king.p>

<p class="bodytext">That very night the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s messenger went out and killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When they<n id="1" /> got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses.<n id="2" />

One day,<n id="1" /> as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch,<n id="2" /> his sons<n id="3" /> Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword.<n id="4" /> They escaped to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.p>

But in the seventh month<n id="1" /> Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family,<n id="2" /> came with ten of his men and murdered Gedaliah,<n id="3" /> as well as the Judeans and Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah.

The men whose names are listed came during the time of King Hezekiah of Judah and attacked the Hamites&#8217; settlements,<n id="1" /> as well as the Meunites they discovered there, and they wiped them out to this very day. They dispossessed them,<n id="2" /> for they found pasture for their sheep there.

He even killed an Egyptian who was seven and a half feet<n id="1" /> tall. The Egyptian had a spear as big as the crossbeam of a weaver&#8217;s loom; Benaiah attacked<n id="2" /> him with a club. He grabbed the spear out of the Egyptian&#8217;s hand and killed him with his own spear.

So they marched against Baal Perazim and David defeated them there. David said, &#8220;Using me as his instrument,<n id="1" /> God has burst out against my enemies like water bursts out.&#8221; So that place is called Baal Perazim.<n id="2" />

he sent his son Hadoram<n id="1" /> to King David to extend his best wishes<n id="2" /> and to pronounce a blessing on him for his victory over Hadadezer, for Tou had been at war with Hadadezer.<n id="3" /> He also sent various items made of gold, silver, and bronze.<n id="4" />

<p class="bodytext">In the spring, at the time when kings normally conduct wars,<n id="1" /> Joab led the army into battle and devastated the land of the Ammonites. He went and besieged Rabbah, while David stayed in Jerusalem. Joab defeated Rabbah and tore it down.

They defeated all the cities surrounding Gerar, for the <sc>Lordsc> caused them to panic.<n id="1" /> The men of Judah<n id="2" /> looted all the cities, for they contained a huge amount of goods.<n id="3" />

Ben Hadad accepted King Asa&#8217;s offer and ordered his army commanders to attack the cities of Israel.<n id="1" /> They conquered<n id="2" /> Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim,<n id="3" /> and all the storage cities of Naphtali.

Zedekiah son of Kenaanah approached, hit Micaiah on the jaw, and said, &#8220;Which way did the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s spirit go when he went from me to speak to you?&#8221;

Now an archer shot an arrow at random<n id="1" /> and it struck the king of Israel between the plates of his armor. The king<n id="2" /> ordered his charioteer, &#8220;Turn around and take me from the battle line,<n id="3" /> for I am wounded.&#8221;

He followed their advice and joined Ahab&#8217;s son King Joram<n id="1" /> of Israel in a battle against King Hazael of Syria<n id="2" /> at Ramoth Gilead in which the Syrians defeated Joram.

Joram<n id="1" /> returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians<n id="2" /> in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. Ahaziah<n id="3" /> son of King Jehoram of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he had been wounded.<n id="4" />p>

Now the troops Amaziah had dismissed and had not allowed to fight in the battle<n id="1" /> raided<n id="2" /> the cities of Judah from Samaria<n id="3" /> to Beth Horon. They killed<n id="4" /> 3,000 people and carried off a large amount of plunder.p>

<p class="bodytext">When Amaziah returned from defeating the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people<n id="1" /> of Seir and made them his personal gods.<n id="2" /> He bowed down before them and offered them sacrifices.

While he was speaking, Amaziah<n id="1" /> said to him, &#8220;Did we appoint you to be a royal counselor? Stop prophesying or else you will be killed!&#8221;<n id="2" /> So the prophet stopped, but added, &#8220;I know that the <sc>Lordsc> has decided<n id="3" /> to destroy you, because you have done this thing and refused to listen to my advice.&#8221;p>

He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus whom he thought had defeated him.<n id="1" /> He reasoned,<n id="2" /> &#8220;Since the gods of the kings of Damascus helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.&#8221; But they caused him and all Israel to stumble.