<p class="bodytext">Jehoiada the priest took a chest and drilled a hole in its lid. He placed it on the right side of the altar near the entrance of<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple. The priests who guarded the entrance would put into it all the silver brought to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.

The prophet<n id="1" /> got angry at him and said, &#8220;If you had struck the ground five or six times, you would have annihilated Syria!<n id="2" /> But now, you will defeat Syria only three times.&#8221;p>

But he did not execute the sons of the assassins. He obeyed the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s commandment as recorded in the law scroll of Moses,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Fathers must not be put to death for what their sons do,<n id="2" /> and sons must not be put to death for what their fathers do.<n id="3" /> A man must be put to death only for his own sin.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

Menahem got this silver by taxing all the wealthy men in Israel; he took fifty shekels of silver from each one of them and paid it to the king of Assyria.<n id="1" /> Then the king of Assyria left; he did not stay there in the land.p>

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>

Now look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If a man leans for support on it, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him.

But the chief adviser said to them, &#8220;My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you.<n id="1" /> His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

Isaiah the prophet visited King Hezekiah and asked him, &#8220;What did these men say? Where do they come from?&#8221; Hezekiah replied, &#8220;They come from the distant land of Babylon.&#8221;

The king went up to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;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<n id="1" /> all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been discovered in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.

When Josiah turned around, he saw the tombs there on the hill. So he ordered the bones from the tombs to be brought;<n id="1" /> he burned them on the altar and defiled it. This fulfilled the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s announcement made by the prophet while Jeroboam stood by the altar during a festival. King Josiah<n id="2" /> turned and saw the grave of the prophet who had foretold this.<n id="3" />

Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh the required amount of silver and gold, but to meet Pharaoh&#8217;s demands Jehoiakim had to tax the land. He collected an assessed amount from each man among the people of the land in order to pay Pharaoh Necho.<n id="1" />p>

The enemy broke through the city walls,<n id="1" /> and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night.<n id="2" /> They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king&#8217;s garden.<n id="3" /> (The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley.<n id="4" />

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.

<p class="bodytext">Now Elisha was sitting in his house with the community leaders.<n id="1" /> The king<n id="2" /> sent a messenger on ahead, but before he arrived,<n id="3" /> Elisha<n id="4" /> said to the leaders,<n id="5" /> &#8220;Do you realize this assassin intends to cut off my head?&#8221;<n id="6" /> Look, when the messenger arrives, shut the door and lean against it. His master will certainly be right behind him.&#8221;<n id="7" />

So now, bring to me all the prophets of Baal, as well as all his servants and priests.<n id="1" /> None of them must be absent, for I am offering a great sacrifice to Baal. Any of them who fail to appear will lose their lives.&#8221; But Jehu was tricking them<n id="2" /> so he could destroy the servants of Baal.

<p class="bodytext">He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined<n id="1" /> the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba.<n id="2" /> He tore down the high place of the goat idols<n id="3" /> situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate.

From the city he took a eunuch who was in charge of the soldiers, five<n id="1" /> of the king&#8217;s advisers<n id="2" /> who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens<n id="3" /> for military service, and sixty citizens from the people of the land who were discovered in the city.

They replied,<n id="1" /> &#8220;A man came up to meet us. He told us, &#8220;Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, &#8216;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are sending for an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron.<n id="2" /> Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;