All the people of the land celebrated, for the city had rest now that they had killed Athaliah. ¹ 

Look, our fathers died violently ¹  and our sons, daughters, and wives were carried off ²  because of this.

In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins ¹  around them,

Jehoram took control of his father’s kingdom and became powerful. ¹  Then he killed all his brothers, ²  as well as some of the officials of Israel.

He deported to Babylon all who escaped the sword. They served him and his sons until the Persian kingdom rose to power.

‘If disaster comes on us in the form of military attack, ¹  judgment, plague, or famine, we will stand in front of this temple before you, for you are present in this temple. ²  We will cry out to you for help in our distress, so that you will ³  hear and deliver us.’

Jehoiada the priest sent out the officers of the units of hundreds, who were in charge of the army, and ordered them, “Bring her outside the temple to the guards. ¹  Put the sword to anyone who follows her.” The priest gave this order because he had decided she should not be executed in the Lord’s temple. ² 

The Lord sent a messenger ¹  and he wiped out all the soldiers, princes, and officers in the army of the king of Assyria. So Sennacherib ²  returned home humiliated. ³  When he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons ⁴  struck him down with the sword.

He brought against them the king of the Babylonians, who slaughtered ¹  their young men in their temple. ²  He did not spare ³  young men or women, or even the old and aging. God ⁴  handed everyone over to him.