1   And Moab moued warre agaynst Israel, after that Achab was dead. ^note

2   And Ochozias fel through the lanchions of his vpper chamber which he had in Samaria, and was sicke: and he sent messengers, saying to them: Goe, consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron, whether I may liue of this my infirmitie.

3   And

Of Israel Ochozias. an Angel of our Lord spake to Elias the Thesbite, saying: Arise, and goe vp to meete the messengers of the king of Samaria, and thou shal say to them: What is there not a God in Israel, that ye goe to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron?

4   Wherfore thus saith our Lord: From the bed on which thou art ascended, thou shalt not goe downe, but dying thou shalt die. And Elias went away.

5   And the messengers returned to Ochozias. Who said to them: Why are you returned?

6   But they answered him: A man mette vs: and sayd to vs: Goe, and returne to the king, that sent you, and you shal say to him: Thus saith our Lord: Doest thou therfore send to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron, because there was no God in Israel? Therfore from the bed, which thou art vpon, thou shalt not goe downe, but dying thou shalt dye.

7   Who said to them: What shape and habite had that man, which mette you, and spake these wordes?

8   But they said: A hearie man, and girded about his raines with a girdle of lether: Who said: ^note It is Elias the Thesbite.

9   And he sent vnto him a captaine of fiftie men, and the fiftie that were vnder him. Who went vp and sayd to him sitting in the toppe of the mount: Man of God, the king hath commanded that thou come downe.

10   And Elias answering, sayd to the captaine of fiftie men: If I be a man of God, ^note let fyre come downe from heauen, and deuoure thee, and thy fiftie. Fyre therfore came downe from heauen, and deuoured him and the fiftie men that were with him.

11   And he sent againe vnto him an other captaine of fiftie men, and his fiftie with him. Who spake to him: Man of God, Thus saith the king: Make hast, come downe.

12   Elias answering said: If I be a man of God, let fyre come downe from heauen, and deuoure thee, and thy fiftie. Fyre therfore came downe from heauen, and deuoured him, and his fiftie.

13   Agayne he sent a third captaine of fiftie men, and the fiftie that were with him. Who when he was come, bowed his knees toward Elias, and prayed him and sayd: Man of God despise not my life and the liues of thy seruantes that are with me.

14   Behold fyre came downe from heauen, and hath deuoured the two first captaynes of fiftie men, and the fifties, that were with them: but now I besech the that thou haue mercie on my life.

15   And an Angel of our Lord spake to Elias, saying: Goe downe with him, feare not. He therfore arose, and went

Of Isr. Ioram. Elias. Eliseus. downe with him to the king,

16   and spake to him: Thus saith our Lord: Because thou hast sent messengers to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron, as though there were not a God in Israel, of whom thou mightest aske the word, therfore from the bed, which thou art ascended vpon, thou shalt not descend, but dying thou shalt die.

17   He died therfore according to the word of our Lord which Elias spake, & Ioram his brother reigned for him, in the second yeare of Ioram the sonne of Iosaphat the king of Iuda: for he had no sonne.

18   But the rest of the wordes of Ochozias, which he wrought, are not these written in the Booke of the wordes of the daies of the kinges of Israel? Chap. II. Eliseus wil not part from Elias. 7. Fiftie disciples folow them to Iordan. 8. The water is diuided by Elias cloke, and they two pa&esset; the drie chanel, 9. Elias is a&esset;umpted in a firie chariote, and his duble spirite is geuen to Eliseus, 13. who returning by like miraculous meanes ouer Iordan, the disciples receiue and honour him as their religious Superiour. 16. They seeke Elias, but find him not. 19. Eliseus amendeth the waters by casting in salt. 23. Boyes are torne by beares for mocking Eliseus.

1   And it came to passe, when our Lord would take vp Elias by a hurle winde into ^note heauen, Elias and Eliseus went from Galgal.

2   And Elias sayd to Eliseus: Sitte here, because our Lord hath sent me as far as Bethel. To whom Eliseus sayd: Our Lord liueth, and thy soule liueth, I wil not leaue thee. ^note And when he was come downe to Bethel,

3   the children of the prophetes, that were in Bethel, went forth to Eliseus, and sayd to him: Doest thou know, that this day our Lord wil take thy maister from thee? Who answered:I also know it: hold your peace.

4   And Elias sayd to Eliseus: Sitte here, because our Lord hath sent me into Iericho. And he sayd: Our Lord liueth, & thy soule liueth, I wil not leaue thee. And when they were come to Iericho,

5   the children of the prophetes, that were in Iericho, came to Eliseus, and sayd to him: Doest thou know that this day our Lord wil take away thy maister from thee? And he sayd: I also know it, hold your peace.

6   And Elias sayd to him: Sitte here, because our Lord hath sent me as farre as Iordan. Who sayd: Our Lord liueth, and thy soule liueth, I wil not leaue thee: They went therfore both together,

7   & fiftie men of the children of the prophetes

Elias. Eliseus folowed them, who also stood ouer agaynst them, farre of: but they two stood vpon Iordan.

8   And Elias tooke his mantel, and folded it together, and smote the waters; which were diuided into two partes, and they both passed ouer by the drie land.

9   And when they were ouer, Elias sayd to Eliseus: Aske what thou wilt haue me to doe for thee, before I be taken from thee. And Eliseus sayd: I besech thee that in me may be ^note thy duble spirit.

10   who answered: Thou hast asked a hard thing: Neuerthelesse if thou see me, when I shal be taken from thee, thou shalt haue that thou hast asked: but if thou see me not, thou shalt not haue it.

11   And when they went forward, and going talked together, behold a fyrie chariote, and fyrie horses parted them two asunder: and Elias ascended by a hurle winde into heauen.

12   And Eliseus saw him, and cried: My father, my father, the chariote of Israel, and the guider therof. And he saw him no more: and he tooke his garmentes, and rent them in two peeces.

13   And he tooke vp the mantel of Elias, that was fallen to him: and returning he stood vpon the banke of Iordan,

14   and with the mantel of Elias, that fel downe to him, he smote the waters, and they were not diuided. And he sayd: Where is the God of Elias, now also? and he smote the waters, and they were diuided this way and that way, and Eliseus passed ouer.

15   And the children of the prophetes, that were in Iericho, ouer agaynst him seing him, sayd: The spirit of Elias hath rested vpon Eliseus. And coming to meete him, ^note adored him flatte to the ground,

16   and they sayd to him: Behold, there are with thy seruantes fiftie strong men, that can goe, and seeke thy maister, lest perhaps the spirit of our Lord hath taken him, and cast him vpon one of the mountaines, or into one of the valleis. Who sayd: Send not.

17   And they forced him, til he agreed, and sayd: Send. And they sent fiftie men. Who when they had sought three daies, found not.

18   And they returned to him: but he dwelt in Iericho, and he sayd to them: Did I not say to you: Send not?

19   The men also of the citie sayd to Eliseus: Behold the habitation of this citie is verie good, as thy selfe my lord perceiuest: but the waters are very il, and the ground barren.

20   But he sayd: Fetch me a new vessel, and put salt into it. Which when they had brought,

21   going out to the fountayne of the waters, he cast salt into it, and sayd: Thus sayth our Lord: I haue amended these waters, and

Of Israel Ioram. death shal no more be in them, nor barrennesse.

22   The waters therfore were amended vntil this day, according to the word of Eliseus, which he spake.

23   And from thence he went vp into Bethel: & when he went vp by the way, little laddes came forth out of the citie, and mocked him, saying: Come vp baldhead, come vp baldhead.

24   Who when he had looked backe, he saw them, & cursed them in the name of our Lord: and two beares came forth out of the forest, & tore of them two and fourtie boyes.

25   and from thence he went into the mount of Carmel, and from thence he turned into Samaria. Chap. III. Ioram king of Israel accompianed with the kinges of Iuda & Edom, fighteth against the king of Moab, for not paying tribute according to their league. 9. wanting waters. 16. Eliseus procureth sufficient without raine: and prophecieth victorie. 21. The king of Moab deceiued by a vision is ouerthrowne in the fielde. 26. then being besiged immolateth his first begotten sonne: and the Israelites leaue the siege.

1   And Ioram the sonne of Achab reigned ouer Israel in Samaria the eightenth yeare of Iosaphat the king of Iuda. And he reigned twelue yeares.

2   And he did euil before our Lord, but not as his father and mother: for he tooke away the statues of Baal, which his father had made.

3   Neuertheles in the sinnes of Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat, who made Israel to sinne, he stucke fast, and departed not from them.

4   Moreouer Mesa the king of Moab, nourished manie sheepe, and he payed to the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambes, and a hundred thousand rammes with their fleeces.

5   And when Achab was dead, he brake the league, which he had made with the king of Israel.

6   Therfore king Ioram went forth that day out of Samaria, and mustered al Israel.

7   And he sent to Iosaphat the king of Iuda, saying: The king of Moab is reuolted from me, come with me against him to battel. Who answered: I wil come vp: he that is mine, is thine: my people, thy people: & my horses thy horses.

8   And he said: What way shal we goe vp? but he answered: By the desert of Idumea.

9   Therfore the king of Israel, and the king of Iuda, and the king of Edom went forward, and compassed seuen daies iourney, neither was there water for the armie, and the beastes, that folowed them.

10   And the king of Israel said: Alas alas alas, our Lord hath gathered vs three kinges

Of Iuda Iosaphat. of Isr. Ioram. together, that he might deliuer vs into the handes of Moab.

11   And Iosaphat said: Is there not here a prophet of our Lord, that we may besech our Lord by him? And one of the seruantes of the king of Israel answered: Here is Eliseus the sonne of Saphat, which powred water vpon the handes of Elias.

12   And Iosaphat sayd: The word of our Lord is with him. And the king of Israel went downe to him, and Iosaphat the king of Iuda, and the king of Edom.

13   And Eliseus said to the king of Israel: What is to me and thee? goe to the prophetes of thy father, and thy mother. And the king of Israel said to him: Why hath our Lord gathered together these three kinges, that he might deliuer them into the handes of Moab?

14   And Eliseus said to him: The Lord of hostes liueth, in whose sight I stand, If I did not reuerence the face of Iosaphat the king of Iuda, I would not certes haue harkened to thee, nor looked on thee.

15   But now bring me hither a plaier on instrumentes. And when the player sang, the hand of our Lord came vpon him, and he said:

16   Thus saith our Lord: Make the chanel of this torrent diches and diches.

17   For thus saith our Lord: You shal not see winde, nor raine: and this chanel shal be filled with waters, & you shal drinke, and your families, & your beastes.

18   And this is a smal thing in the sight of our Lord: morcouer he wil deliuer also Moab into your handes.

19   And you shal strike euerie fensed citie, and euerie principal citie, and ^note shal cut downe al fruitcful trees, and shal stoppe vp al fountaines of waters, and euerie goodlie field you shal couer with stones.

20   It came to passe therfore in the morning, when they vsed to offer the sacrifice, and behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the ground was filled with waters.

21   But al the Moabites hearing that the kinges were come vp to fight against them, they called together al that were girded with a belt vpon them, and they stoode in the borders.

22   And rysing early in the morning, and the sunne being now risen ouer against the waters, the Moabites saw the waters ouer against them red, as it were bloud,

23   and said: It is the bloud of the sword: the kinges haue fought among them selues, and are slaine one of an other: now goe on forward to the pray, Moab.

24   And they went forward into the campe of Israel: Moreouer Israel rysing vp, stroke Moab: but they fled before them. They therfore that had ouercome, came and stroke Moab,

25   and

of Isr. Ioram. Eliseus. destroyed the cities: & euerie principal field they filled euerie man casting stones: and they stopt vp al the fountaines of waters: and cut downe al trees that bare fruite, so that there remained onlie brike walles: and the citie was besette of the slingers, and for a great part therof was strooken.

26   Which when the king of Moab had seene, to witte, that the enemies had preuayled, he tooke with him seuen hundred men that drew sword, to breake in vpon the king of Edom: and they could not.

27   And taking his first begotten sonne, that should haue reigned for him, he offered him an holocaust vpon the wal: and there was great indignation in Israel, and forthwith they retyred from him, and returned into their countrie. Chap. IIII. Eliseus so multiplieth a poore widowes oyle, that she payeth her debtes, and liueth of the rest. 8. By his prayers a Sunamite woman hath a sonne. 18. which dying he rayseth to life. 38. He taketh away the bitternes of coloquintida, which by chance was put in the potte, 42. and feedeth manie with few loaues.

1   And a certayne woman of the wiues of the prophetes cried to Eliseus, saying: Thy seruant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy seruant was one that feared God, & behold the creditour is come to take away my two sonnes to serue him. ^note

2   To whom Eliseus sayd: What wilt thou that I doe for thee? Tel me, what hast thou in thy house? But she answered: I thy handmaid haue nothing in my house, but a litle oyle, to anoynt me withal.

3   To whom he sayd: Goe, borrow of al thy neighbours emptie vessels not a few.

4   And goe in, and shut thy doore, when thou art within, thou and thy sonnes: and powre therof into al these vessels: and when they shal be ful, thou shalt take them away.

5   The woman therfore went, and shut the doore vpon her, and vpon her sonnes: they brought her vessels, and she powred in.

6   And when the vessels were ful, she sayd to her sonne: Bring me yet a vessel. And he answered: I haue none. And the oile stood.

7   And she came, and told the man of God. And he sayde, Goe, sel the oyle, and pay thy creditour: and thou and thy sonnes liue of the rest:

8   And there came a certayne day, and Eliseus passed by Sunam: and there was there a great woman, which held him to eate bread: and when he passed often that way, he turned in to her to eate bread.

9   Who

Eliseus. sayd to her husband: I perceiue that this is a holie man of God, which passeth by vs often.

10   Let vs therfore make him a litle chamber, and sette him a litle bed in it, and a table, and a stoole, and a candlesticke, that when he cometh to vs he may tarie there.

11   There came therfore a certayne day, and coming he turned in to the chamber, and rested there.

12   And he sayd to Giezi his seruant: Call this Sunamite. Who when he had called her, and she stoode before him,

13   he sayd to his seruant: Speake to her: Behold thou hast diligently ministred to vs in al thinges, what wilt thou that I doe for thee? hast thou any busines, and wilt thou that I speake to the king, or the general of the warrefare? Who answered: I dwel in the middes of myne owne people.

14   And he sayd: What wil she then that I doe for her? And Giezi sayd: Aske not: for she hath no sonne, and her husband is old.

15   He therfore c&obar;manded him to cal her: who when she was called, and stoode before the doore,

16   he sayd to her: At this tyme, this self same houre, if life accompanie, thou shalt haue a sonne in thy wombe. But she answered: Doe not I besech thee my lord, man of God, doe not lie to thy handmayd.

17   And the woman conceiued, and brought forth a sonne in that time, and in the self same houre, that Eliseus had sayd.

18   And the childe grewe. And vpon a cerraine day, when going forth he went to his father, vnto the reapers,

19   he sayd to his father: My head aketh, my head aketh. But he said to his seruant, take him, and bring him to his mother,

20   who when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, she sette him vpon her knees vntil noone, and he dyed.

21   And she went vp, and laid him vpon the bed of the man of God, and shut the doore: and going forth

22   called her husband, and sayd: Send with me, I besech thee, one of the seruantes, and an asse, that I may runne to the man of God, and returne.

23   Who sayd to her: For what cause doest thou goe to him? The Calendes be not to day, nor the Sabbath. Who answered: I wil goe.

24   And she sadled the asse, and commanded her seruant: driue, and make hast, make no stay in going. And doe that which I command thee.

25   She therfore went forward, and came to the man of God into mount Carmel: and when the man of God saw her ouer against him, he said to Giezi his seruant: Behold that Sunamite. ^note

26   Goe therfore to meete her, and say to her: Is al wel about thee, and about thy husband,

Eliseus. and about thy sonne? Who answered: Wel.

27   And when she was come to the man of God into the mount, she caught his feet: and Giezi came to remoue her. And the man of God said: Let her alone, for her soule is in anguish, and our Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.

28   Who said to him: Did I aske a sonne of my Lord? Did I not say to thee: Mocke me not?

29   And he said to Giezi: Girde thy loynes, and take my staffe in thy hand, & goe. If a man meete thee, salute him not: and if any man salute thee, answer him not: and thou shalt put my staffe vpon the face of the childe.

30   Moreouer the mother of the childe said: Our Lord liueth, and thy soul liueth, I wil not leaue thee. He arose therfore, and folowed her.

31   But Giezi was gone before them, and had put the staffe vpon the face of the childe, & there was not voice, nor sense: and he returned to meete him, and told him, saying: ^note The childe is not risen.

32   Eliseus therfore went into the house, and behold the childe lay dead on his bed:

33   and going in he shut the doore vpon him, & vpon the childe & prayed to our Lord.

34   And he went vp, and lay vpon the childe: and he put his mouth vpon his mouth, & his eies vpon his eies & his handes vpon his handes: and he bowed him self ouer him, and the childes flesh was warmed.

35   But he returning, walked vp and downe in the house, once hither & thither: & he went vp, and lay vpon him: and the childe gaped seuen tymes, and opened his eies.

36   And he called Gierzi, & said to him: Call this Sunamite. Who being called, went in vnto him: Who said: Take thy sonne.

37   She came, and fel at his feete, and adored vpon the ground: and tooke her sonne, and went out,

38   and Eliseus returned into Galgal. And there was a famine in the land, and the children of the prophetes dwelt before him; and he sayd to one of his seruantes: Sette on a greate potte, and seeth broth for the children of the prophetes.

39   And one went out into the field to gather wilde herbes: and he found as it were a wilde vine, and gathered of it the colocynthides of the field, and filled his mantel, and returning cut it into the potte of broth, for he knew not what it was.

40   They therfore powred it to their felowes, to eate: and when they had tasted of the broth, they cried, saying: Death is in the potte, man of God. And they could not eate.

41   But he sayd: Bring meale, and when they had brought it, he cast it into the potte, and said: powere in for the multitude, that they may eate. And

Of Israel Ioram. Eliseus. there was no more anie bitternesse in the potte.

42   And a certaine man came from Baalsalisa bringing to the man of God loaues of the first fruites, twentie barley loaues, and new wheate in his scrippe. But he said: Geue to the people, that they may eate.

43   And his seruant answered him: How much is this, that I should sette it before an hundred men? Agayne he said: Geue to the people, that they may eate: for thus saith our Lord: They shal eate, and there shal be leaft.

44   He therfore sette it before them: who did eate, and there was leaft according to the word of our Lord. Chap. V. Naaman the general captaine of Syria is clensed of deprosie, by washing him self as Eliseus appointeth him seuen times in Ioraan. 15. professeth his bel of in one God promising to serue him. 20. Giezi taketh giftes of Naaman, 25. and is stricken with leprosie.

1   Naaman the General of the warfare of the king of Syria, was a great man with his lord, and honorable: for by him our Lord gaue health to Syria: and he was a valiant man and rich, but a leper. ^note

2   Moreouer out of Syria there were come forth robbers, and had led away captiue out of the Land of Israel a litle girle, which wayted vpon the wife of Naaman.

3   Who said to her maistresse: I would my lord had bene with the prophete, that is in Samaria: surely he would haue cured him from the leprosie, which he hath.

4   Naaman therfore went into his lord, and told him saying: Thus and thus hath the wench of the Land of Israel spoken.

5   And the king of Syria sayd to him: Goe, & I wil send letters to the king of Israel. Who when he was sette forward, and had taken with him ten talentes of siluer, and six thousand peces of gold, and ten change of rayment,

6   he brought the letters to the king of Israel, in these wordes: When thou shalt receiue this letter, know that I haue sent to thee Naaman my seruant, that thou mayest cure him of his leprosie.

7   And when the king of Israel had read the letters, he rent his garmentes, and said: Am I God, that I can kil, and geue life, because this man hath sent to me, that I should cure a man of his leprosie? marke, and seé that he seeketh occasions against me.

8   Which when Eliseus the man of God had heard, to witte, that the king of Israel had rent his garmentes, he sent to him, saying: Why hast thou rent thy garmentes? let him come to me and let him

Of Isr. Ioram. Eliseus. know that there is a prophet in Israel.

9   Naaman therfore came with horses and chariotes, and stood at the doore of the house of Eliseus:

10   and Eliseus sent a messenger to him, saying: Goe and be washed seuen times in Iordan, and thy flesh shal receiue health, and thou shalt be cleane.

11   Naaman being angrie departed, saying: I thought he would come out to me, and standing would inuocate the name of the Lord his God, and touch with his hand the place of the leprosie, and cure me.

12   What are not Abana, and Pharphar the riuers of Damascus, better then al the waters of Israel, that I may be washed in them, and be made cleane? Therfore when he had turned him self, and went away with indignation,

13   his seruantes came vnto him, & spake to him: Father, & if the prophet had sayd a great thing to thee, certes, thou shouldest haue done it: how much more wheras now he sayd vnto thee: Be washed, and thou shalt be cleane?

14   He went downe, & washed in Iordan seuen times according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored, as the flesh of a litle childe, & he was made cleane.

15   And returning to the man of God with al his trayne, he came, and stood before him, & sayd: In very deede I know that there is no other God in al the earth, but only in Israel. I besech the therfore to take a benediction of thy seruant.

16   But he answered: Our Lord liueth, before whom I stand, I wil not take it. And when he would haue forced him, he did in nowise agree.

17   And Naaman sayd: As thou wilt, but I besech thee: graunt vnto me thy seruant, that I may take of ^note the earth the burden of two mules: for they seruant wil no more make holocaust, or victimes to strange goddes, but to the Lord.

18   But this onlie is it, for which thou shalt besech the Lord for thy seruant, when my maister shal goe into the temple of Remmon, to adore: and he leaning vpon my hand, if I shal adore in the temple of Remmon, he adoring in the same place, that the Lord pardon me thy seruant for this thing.

19   Who sayd to him:09Q0189 Goe in peace. He therfore went from him in the spring time of the earth.

20   And ^note Giezi the seruant of the man of God sayd: My maister hath spared Naaman this Syrian, that he tooke not of him the things which he brought: Our Lord liueth, I wil runne after him, and wil take some thing of him.

21   And Giezi folowed at the backe of Naaman: whom when he saw running toward him, he lept downe from his chariote to mete him, and said: Are al thinges wel?

22   And

Eliseus. he said: Wel. my maister hath sent me to thee, saying: Euen now there are come to me two young men from mount Ephraim, of the children of the prophetes: geue them a talent of siluer, and two change of rayment.

23   And Naaman sayd: It is better that thou take two talentes. And he forced him, & bound the two talentes of siluer in two bagges, and the duble rayment, & layd it vpon two of his seruantes, who also caried it before him.

24   And when he was come now in the euening, he tooke it out of their hand, & layd it vp in the house, & dismissed the men, and they departed.

25   And himself going in, stood before his maister. And Eliseus said: From whence comest thou Giezi? Who answered: Thy seruant hath not gone any whither.

26   But he sayd: Was not my hart present, when the man returned out of his chariote to meete thee? Now therfore thou hast receiued siluer, and taken rayment, to bye oliuetes, and vineyardes, and sheepe, and oxen, and seruantes, and handmaides.

27   But the leprosie also of Naaman shal cleaue to thee, and to thy seede, for euer. And he went out from him a leper as it were snow. ^{note note}

Chap. VI. Eliseus maketh iron to swimme vpon the water: 8. leadeth the king of Syria his men (sent to apprehend him) blindly into Samaria. 20. VVhere their eyes being opened, they are curtously intertained, and freely dismi&esset;ed. 24. The Syrians besiege Samaria. 26. For extreme famine a mother eateth her child. 31. And the king commandeth to kil Eliseus.

1   And the children of the prophetes sayd to Eliseus: Behold the place, wherin we dwel before thee is streite for vs.

2   Let vs goe as far as Iordan, and take out of the wood euerie man some timber, that we may build there a place to dwel in. Who said: Goe.

3   And one of them sayd: Come therfore thou also with thy seruantes. He answered: I wil

Of Isr. Ioram. Eliseus. come.

4   And he went with them. And when they were come to Iordan they cut wood.

5   And it chanced, that when one had cut downe timber, the head of the axe fel into the water: and he cried out, and said: Alas alas alas my lord, this same also I ^note did borow.

6   And the man of God sayd: where fel it? and he shewed him the place: he therfore cut of a pece of wood, and cast it thither: and the yron did swimme,

7   and he said: Take it vp. Who stretched forth his hand, and tooke it.

8   And the king of Syria fought against Israel, and tooke counsel with his seruantes, saying: In that and that place let vs lay embushementes.

9   Therfore the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying: Beware thou passe not into such a place: because the Syrians are there in embushementes.

10   The king of Israel therfore sent to the place, which the man of God had told him, and preuented him, and looked wel to him self there not once or twise.

11   And the hart of the king of Syria was trubled for this thing. And calling together his seruantes, he sayd: Why doe you not tel me who is the betraier of me to the king of Israel?

12   And one of his seruantes sayd: Not so my lord king, but Eliseus the prophet, which is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel al wordes, whatsoeuer thou shalt speake in thy priuy chamber.

13   And he sayd to them: Goe, and see where he is: that I may send, and take him. And they told him, saying: Behold in Dothan.

14   He therfore sent thither horses and chariotes, and the force of his armie: who when they were come in the night, they besette the citie.

15   And the seruant of the man of God rising early, went out, and saw an armie round about the citie, and horses and chariotes: and he told him, saying: Alas alas alas my lord, what shal we doe.

16   But he answered: Feare not: for there are more with vs then with them.

17   And when Eliseus had prayed, he sayd: Lord open the eies of this man, that he may see. And our Lord opened the eies of the seruant, and ^note he behold: and loe and mountaine ful of horses, and of firie chariotes round about Eliseus.

18   But the enemies went downe to him: moreouer Eliseus prayed to our Lord, saying: Strike, I besech thee, this people with blindenesse. And our Lord smote them, that they saw not, according to the word of Eliseus.

19   And Eliseus sayd to them: This is not the way neither is this the citie: folow me, & I wil shew you the man, whom you seeke. He therfore led them into Samaria:

20   and when they

of Isr. Ioram. Eliseus. were entered into Samaria, Eliseus said: Lord open the eies of these men, that they may see. And our Lord opened their eies, and they saw them selues to be in the middes of Samaria.

21   And the king of Israel said to Eliseus, when he had sene them: Shal I strike them, my father?

22   And he said: Thou shalt not strike them: for thou didst not take them with thy sword, and thy bow, that thou mayst strike them: but ^note set bread and water before them, that they may eate and drinke, and goe to their maister.

23   And a great preparation of meates was sette before them, and they did eate and drinke, and he dismissed them, and they went away to their maister, and the robbers of Syria came no more into the Land of Israel.

24   And it came to passe after these thinges, Benadad the king of Syria gathered together al his armie, and went vp, and besieged Samaria.

25   And there was a great famine in Samaria: and so long it was besieged, til the head of an asse was sold for foure score siluer peeces, & the fourth part of a cabe of pigeons dung, for fiue siluer peeces.

26   And when the king of Israel passed by the wall, a certayne woman cried out to him, saying: Saue me my lord king.

27   Who sayd: No, our Lord saue thee: how can I saue thee? of the floore, or of the presse? And the king sayd to her: What ayleth thee? Who answered:

28   This woman sayd to me: Geue thy sonne, that we may eate him to day, & my sonne we wil eate to morrow.

29   We therfore boyled my sonne, and did eate him. And I sayd to her the next day: Geue thy sonne, that we may eate him. Who hath hid her sonne.

30   Which when the king had heard, he rent his garmentes, and passed by the wal. And al the people saw the hearecloth, which he ware next vpon his flesh.

31   And the king sayd: These thinges doe God to me, and these adde he, if the head of Eliseus the sonne of Saphat shal stand vpon him this day.

32   But Eliseus sate in his house, and the ancientes sate with him. He therfore sent a man before: and before that messenger came, he sayd to the ancientes: Doe you know that this murderers sonne hath sent to cut of my head? See therfore, when the messenger shal come, shut the doore, and suffer him not to enter in: for behold the sound of his maisters feete is behinde him.

33   Whiles he was yet speaking to them, the messenger appeared, which came to him. And he sayd: Behold, this so great euil is of our Lord: what shal I looke for more of our Lord?

Eliseus. Chap. VII. Eliseus prophecieth plentie of corne the next day, and death to a chief man that wil not beleue it. 3. Foure Lepers going to yeld themselues to the Syrians, 6. who by Gods prouidence are frighted and fled away, 9. bring newes therof to Samaria, 12. which by trial is found true, 16. And so there is plentie of corne, and the incredulous nobleman is trod to death, with presse of multitude in the gate, as the prophet fortold.

1   And Eliseus sayd: Heare ye the word of our Lord: Thus sayth our Lord: At this time to morow a bushel of floure shal be at one stater, and two bushels of barley at one stater, in the gate of Samaria.

2   One of the Dukes, vpon whose hand the king leaned, answearing the man of God, sayd: If our Lord shal make fludgates in heauen, ^note can that possibly be which thou speakest? Who sayd: Thou shalt see it with thine eies, and shalt not eate therof.

3   There were therfore foure men lepers, beside the entrance of the gate: who sayd one to an other: What meane we to be here til we die?

4   Whether we enter into the citie, we shal die for famine: or whether we tarie here, die we must; come therfore, and let vs runne away to the campe of Syria. If they spare vs, we shal liue: but if they wil kil vs, we shal die neuerthelesse.

5   They arose therfore in the euening, to come to the campe of Syria. And when they were come to the beginning of the campe of Syria, they found no man there.

6   For our Lord had made them in the campe of Syria to heare the sound of chariotes, and horses, and of a verie great armie: and they sayd one to an other: Behold the king of Israel hath for wages hyred agaynst vs the kinges of the Hetheites, and of the Ægyptians, and they are come vpon vs.

7   They arose therfore, and fled in the darke, and leaft their tentes, and their horses and asses in the campe, and fled desirous to saue their liues only.

8   Therfore when these lepers were come to the beginning of the campe, they entered into one tabernacle, and did eate and drinke: and they tooke thence siluer, and gold, and rayment, and went, and hid it: againe they returned to an other tabernacle, and from thence likewise taking away they hid it.

9   And they said one to an other: We doe not wel: for this is a day of good tydinges. If we shal hold our peace, and wil not tel vntil morning, we shal be blamed of a heinous offence: Come, let vs goe, and make report in the kinges

Eliseus. court.

10   And when they were come to the gate of the citie, they told them saying: We went to the campe of Syria, and found no man there, but horses, and asses tyed, and the tentes pitched.

11   The porters therfore went, and told it to the king within his palace.

12   Who arose in the night, & sayd to his seruants: I tel you what the Syrians haue done to vs: They know that we suffer great famine, and therfore they are gone out of the campe and lie hid in the fieldes, saying: When they shal come forth out of the citie, we wil take them aliue, and then we may enter into the citie.

13   But one of his seruantes answered: Let vs take fiue horses that are remaining in the citie (because they onlie are in the whole multitude of Israel for the other are consumed) and sending, we may trie.

14   They brought therfore two horses, and the king sent into the campe of the Syrians, saying, Goe ye, and see.

15   Who went after them as far as Iordan: and behold al the way was ful of ravment, and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away, when they were amased, and the messengers returning told the king.

16   And the people going forth spoyled the campe of Syria: and a bushel of floure became at one stater, and two bushels of barley at one stater, according to the word of our Lord.

17   Moreouer the king appoynted that duke on whose hand he leaned, to stand at the gate: whom the multitude trode in the entrance of the gate, & he died, according as the man of God had spoken, when the king came downe to him

18   And it came to passe according to the word of the man of God, which he spake to the king, when he sayd: Two bushels of barley shal be at one stater, and a bushel of floure at one stater, this verie tyme to morow it the gate of Samaria:

19   when that duke answered the man of God, and sayd: Although our Lord would make fludgates in the heauen, can this be done which thou speakest? And he said to him: Thou shalt see with thine eies, and shal not eate therof.

20   It chanced therfore to him as it was foretold, and the people trode him in the gate, and he died. Chap. VIII. After seuen yeares femine fortold by Eliseus, the Sunamite Woman returning home, recouereth her landes and reuenewes. 7. Eliseus forsheweth the death of Benadad king of Syria, and cruel reigne of Hazael. 16. Ioram reigning in Iuda, the Idumeans reuolt from him. also Lobna. 23. He dieth, and his sonne Ochozias succeedeth.

Of Isr. Ioram. Eliseus.

1   And Eliseus spake to the woman, whose sonne he restored to life, saying: Arise, goe thou and thy house, and soiourne whersoeuer thou shalt finde: for our Lord hath called a famine, and it shal come vpon the land seuen yeares.

2   Who arose, & did according to the word of the man of God: & going with her houshould, she soiourned in the land of the Philistijms many dayes.

3   And when the seuen yeares were ended, the woman returned out of the Land of the Philisthijms: and she went forth to speake to the king for her house, and for her landes.

4   And the king spake with Giezi the seruant of the man of God, saying: Tel me al the meruelous thinges that Eliseus hath done.

5   And when he had told the king how he had raysed a dead man, the woman appeared, whose sonne he had reuiued, crying to the king for her house, and her landes. And Giezi sayd: My lord king, this is the woman, and this is her sonne, whom Eliseus raysed.

6   And the king asked the woman: who told him. And the king gaue her an eunuch, saying: Restore her al thinges that are hers, and al the reuenewes of the landes, from the day, that she least the land vntil this present.

7   Eliseus also came to Damascus, and Benadad the king of Syria was sicke: and they told him, saying: The man of God cometh hither.

8   And the king sayd to Hazael: Take with thee presentes, and goe to meete the man of God, and consult the Lord by him, saying: Can I escape of this myne infirmitie?

9   Hazael therfore went to meete him, hauing with him presentes, and al good thinges of Damascus, the lodes of fourtie camels. And when he stood before him, he sayd: Thy sonne Benadad the king of Syria hath sent me to thee, saying: Can I recouer of this mine infirmitie?

10   And Eliseus sayd to him: Goe, tel him: ^note Thou shalt be healed: but our Lord hath shewed me that dying he shal die.

11   And he stood with him, and was trubled so far that he blushed: and the man of God wept.

12   To whom Hazael sayd: Why doeth my lord weepe? But he sayd: Because I know what euils thou wilt doe to the children of Israel. Their fensed cities thou wilt burne with fyre, and their yongmen thou wilt kil with the sword, and their litle ones thou wilt dash in peeces, and wemen with childe thou wilt diuide.

13   And Hazael sayd: What am I thy seruant a dog, that I should doe this great thing? And Eliseus sayd: Our Lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be king of Syria.

14   Who when he was departed

Of Iuda Ioram. Ochozias from Eliseus, came to his maister, who sayd to him: What sayd Eliseus to thee? But he answered: He told me: Thou shalt recouer health.

15   And when the next day was come, he tooke a couerlette, and powred water theron, and spred it vpon his face: who being dead, Hazael reigned for him.

16   In the fifth yeare of Ioram the sonne of Achab the king of Israel, and of Iosaphat the king of Iuda, reigned Ioram the sonne of Iosaphat the king of Iuda.

17   He was two and thirtie yeares old when he began to reigne, and he reigned eight yeares in Ierusalem.

18   And he walked in the waies of the kinges of Israel, as the house of Achab had walked: for ^note the daughter of Achab was his wife: and he did that which is euil in the sight of our Lord.

19   But our Lord would not destroy Iuda, for Dauid his seruant, as he had promised him, to geue him a lampe to him, and to his children alwaies.

20   In his daies reuolted Edom, from being vnder Iuda, and made to it self a king.

21   And Ioram came to Seira, and al the chariotes with him: and he arose in the night, and stroke the Idumeans, that had beset him, and the captaynes of the chariotes, and the people fled into their tabernacles.

22   Edom therfore reuolted from being vnder Iuda, vntil this day. Then Lobna also reuolted at that time.

23   But the rest of the wordes of Ioram, and al that he did, are not these thinges written in the Booke of the wordes of the kinges of Iuda?

24   And Ioram slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the Citie of Dauid, and Ochozias his sonne reigned for him.

25   In the twelfth yeare of Ioram the sonne of Achab the king of Israel, reigned Ochozias the sonne of Ioram the king of Iuda.

26   Two and twentie yeares old was Ochozias when he began to reigne, and he reigned one yeare in Ierusalem: the name of his mother was Athalia the daughter of Amri the king of Israel.

27   And he walked in the waies of the house of Achab: and he did that which is euil before our Lord, as the house of Achab: for he was the sonne in lawe of the house of Achab.

28   He went also with Ioram the sonne of Achab, to fight agaynst Hazael the king of Syria in Ramoth Galaad, and the Syrians wounded Ioram:

29   Who returned to be cured, in Iezrahel: because the Syrians wounded him in Ramoth fighting agaynst Hazael the king of Syria. Moreouer Ochozias the sonne of Ioram the king of Iuda, went downe to visite Ioram the sonne of Achab into Iezrahel, because he was sicke there.

Of Israel Ioram. Iehu. Chap. IX. Iehu is anointed king of Israel, 7. to destroy the house of Achab and Iezabel. 14. He presently killeth Ioram king of Israel, 27. Likwise Ochozias king of Iuda. 30. also Iezabel, who is eaten by dogges.

1   And Eliseus the prophete called one of the children of the prophetes, and sayd to him: Girde thy loynes, and take this litle boxe of oyle in thy hand, and goe into Ramoth Galaad.

2   And when thou shalt come thither, thou shalt see Iehu the sonne of Iosaphat the sonne of Namsi: and going in thou shalt rayse him out of the middes of his brethren, and shalt bring him into an inner chamber.

3   And holding the litle boxe of oyle, thou shalt powre vpon his head, and shalt say: Thus sayth our Lord: I haue anoynted thee king ouer Israel. And thou shalt open the doore, and flee, and shalt not stay there.

4   The yongman therfore the childe of a prophete went into Ramoth Galaad,

5   and entered in thither: and behold the captaynes of the armie sate, and he sayd: I haue a word to thee o prince: And Iehu sayd: to whom of vs al? But he sayd: To thee o prince.

6   And he arose, and went into the chamber: but he powred oyle vpon his head, and sayd: Thus sayth our Lord the God of Israel: I haue anoynted thee king ouer the people of the Lord of Israel,

7   and thou shalt strike the house of Achab thy maister, and I wil reuenge the bloud of my seruantes the prophetes, and the bloud of al the seruantes of the Lord of the hand of Iezabel.

8   And I wil destroy al the house of Achab, and wil kil of Achab him that pisseth agaynst a wal, and the shut vp, and the meanest in Israel.

9   And I wil make the house of Achab, as the house of Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat, and as the house of Baasa the sonne of Ahias.

10   Iezabel also the dogges shal eate in the field of Iezrahel, neither shal there be anie to burie her. And he opened the doore, and fled.

11   And Iehu went forth to his maisters seruantes. Who said to him: Are al thinges wel? Why came this madde man to thee? Who sayd to them: You know the man, and what he spake.

12   But they answered: It is false, but rather doe thou tel vs. Who sayd to them: Thus and thus he spake to me: and he sayd: Thus sayth our Lord, I haue anoynted thee king ouer Israel

13   They therfore made hast, and euerie man taking his mantel layd it vnder his feete, after the similitude of a iudgement seate, & they sounded the

Of Israel Ioram. Iehu. trumpet, and sayd: Iehu hath the kingdom.

14   Iehu therfore the sonne of Iosaphat the sonne of Namsi conspired agaynst Ioram: Moreouer Ioram had besieged Ramoth Galaad, he, and al Israel agaynst Hazael the king of Syria:

15   and was returned to be cured in Iezrael of the woundes, for the Syrians had wounded him, fighting against Hazael the king of Syria. And Iehu sayd: If it please you, let no man goe forth fugitiue out of the citie, lest he goe, and tel in Iezrahel.

16   And he mounted, and went into Iezrahel: for Ioram was sicke there, and Ochozias the king of Iuda was come downe to visite Ioram.

17   The watchman therfore, that stood vpon the toure of Iezrahel, saw the troupe of Iehu coming, & said: I see a troupe. And Ioram said: Take a Chariote, and send to meete them, and let him that goeth say: Are al thinges wel?

18   He went therfore, that was gotten vp into the chariote, to meete him, and sayd: Thus saith the king: Are al thinges peaceable? And Iehu sayd: What hast thou to doe with peace? passe, and folow me. The watchman also told, saying: The messenger came to them, & returneth not.

19   He sent also the second chariote of horses: and he came to them, and said: Thus sayth the king: Is there peace? And Iehu sayd: What hast thou to doe with peace? passe, and folow me.

20   And the watchman told, saying: He is come as far as they, & returneth not: and it is the pace as it were the pace of Iehu the sonne of Namsi, for he goeth amayne.

21   And Ioram sayd: Make readie the chariote. And they made readie his chariote, and Ioram the king of Israel went forth, and Ochozias the king of Iuda, ech in their chariotes, and they went forth to meete Iehu, and found him in the field of Naboth the Iezrahelite.

22   And when Ioram had seene Iehu, he sayd: Is there peace Iehu? But he answered: What peace? The fornications of Iezabel thy mother, and her manie sorceries are in their vigour.

23   And Ioram turned his hand, and fleing sayd to Ochozias: Treason Ochozias.

24   Moreouer Iehu bent his bow with his hand, and stroke Ioram betwen the shoulders: and the arrow went out through his hart, and immediatly he fel in his chariote.

25   And Iehu sayd to captaine Badacer: Take him, throwe him forth in the field of Naboth the Iezrahelite: for I remember when I and thou sitting in a chariote did folow Achab this mans father, that our Lord lifted vp this burden vpon him, saying:

26   If not for the bloud of Naboth, and ^note for

Of Iuda Ochozias. of Isr. Iehu. the bloud of his children, which I saw yesterday, sayth our Lord, I require thee not in this field sayth our Lord. Now therfore take him, and throw him into the field according to the word of our Lord.

27   But Ochozias the king of Iuda seing this, fled by the way of the house of the garden: and Iehu pursewed him, and said: This man also strike ye in his chariote. And they stroke him in the going vp of Gauer, which is beside Ieblaam: who fled into Mageddo, and died there.

28   And his seruantes layd him vpon his chariote, and caried him into Ierusalem: and they buried him there in his sepulchre with his fathers in the Citie of Dauid.

29   In the eleuenth yeare of Ioram the sonne of Achab, reigned Ochozias ouer Iuda,

30   and Iehu came into Iezrahel. Moreouer Iezabel hearing of his entrance, paynted her face with slibicke stone, and decked her head, and beheld through the window

31   Iehu coming at the gate, and sayd: Can there be peace to Zambri, that killed his maister?

32   And Iehu lifted vp his face to the window, and sayd: What is she? And two or three eunuches bowed them selues to him.

33   But he sayd to them: Cast her downe headlong, & they threw her downe and the wal was sprinkled with the bloud, and the hoofes of the horses trode her.

34   And when he was entered in, to eate, and to drinke, he sayd: Goe, and see that cursed woman, and burie her: because she is a kinges daughter.

35   And when they went to burie her, they found nothing but the skul, and the feete, and the extreme partes of the handes.

36   And returning they told him. And Iehu sayd: It is the word of our Lord, which he spake by his seruant Elias the Thesbite, saying: In the field of Iezrahel shal the dogges eate the flesh of Iezabel,

37   and the flesh of Iezabel shal be as dung vpon the face of the earth in the field of Iezrahel, so that they which passe by shal say: Is this that same Iezabel? Chap. X. The Samaritanes fearing the force of Iehu, choose no other king, but offer him their seruice: 6. and by his commandment kil the late kings seuentie sonnes. 12. Fourtie two brothers of Ochazias late king of Iuda are slaine. 15. Iehu making league with Ionadab, vtterly destroyeth Achabs house. 18. by a stratagem killeth al the worshippers of Baal, 26. burneth his statua, & turneth his temple into a iakes: 28. but maintaineth Ieroboams golden calues. 32. The Asyrians afflict Israel. 34. Iehu dieth, and his sonne Ioachaz reigneth.

of Isr. Iehu.

1   And Achab had seuentie sonnes in Samaria: Iehu therfore wrote letters, and sent into Samaria to the chiefe of the citie, and to the ancientes, and to them that brought vp Achabs children, saying:

2   As sowne as you shal receiue these letters, ye that haue your maisters sonnes, and chariotes, and horses, and fensed cities, and armour,

3   choose the better, and him that shal please you of your maisters sonnes, and set him vpon his fathers throne, and fight for the house of your lord.

4   They were sore afrayd, and sayd: Behold two kinges could not stand before him, and how shal we be able to resist?

5   The ouerseers therfore of the house, and the rulers of the citie, and the ancientes, and the tutors sent to Iehu, saying: We are thy seruantes, whatsoeuer thou shalt command we wil doe, neither wil we make vs a king: Doe thou whatsoeuer pleaseth thee.

6   And he wrote letters to them agayne, the second tyme, saying: If you be mine, and obey me, take the heades of your maisters sonnes, and come to me this verie houre to morow into Iezrahel. Moreouer the kinges sonnes, seuentie men were brought vp with the chiefe of the citie.

7   And when the letters were come to them, they tooke the kinges sonnes, and slew seuentie men, and put their heades in baskets, and sent them to him into Iezrahel.

8   And a messenger came, & told him, saying: They haue brought the heades of the kinges sonnes. Who answered: Lay them in two heapes by the entrance of the gate vntil morning.

9   And when it was light, he went forth, and standing sayd to al the people: You are iust: If I haue conspired agaynst my maister, and haue slayne him, who hath strooken al these?

10   See therfore now there hath not fallen of the wordes of our Lord on the ground, which our Lord spake vpon the house of Achab, and our Lord hath done that which he spake in the hand of his seruant Elias.

11   Iehu therfore smote al that were leaft of the house of Achab in Iezrahel, and al his nobles, and familiars, and priestes, til there remayned no reliques of him.

12   And he arose, and came into Samaria: and when he was come to the cabbin of the shepeheardes in the way,

13   he found the brethren of Ochozias the king of Iuda, and he sayd to them: What are you? Who answered: We are the brethren of Ochozias, and are come downe to salute the kinges sonnes, and the queenes sonnes.

14   Who sayd: Take them aliue. Whom when they had taken aliue, they killed them in a cesterne beside

Of Israel Iehu. the cabbin, two and fourtie men, and he leaft not any of them.

15   And when he was gone thence, he found ^note Ionadab the sonne of Rechab coming to meete him, and he blessed him. And he sayd to him: Is thy hart right as my hart with thy hart? And Ionadab sayd: It is. If it be so, quoth he, geue me thy hand. Who gaue him his hand. But he lifted him vp to him into the chariote,

16   and sayd him: Come with me, and see my zele for our Lord. And being sette in his chariote,

17   he brought him into Samaria. And he stroke al that were leaft of Achab in Samaria, til there was not one, according to the word of our Lord, which he spake by Elias.

18   Iehu therfore assembled al the people, and sayd to them: Achab worshipped Baal a litle, but ^note I wil worshipe him more.

19   Now therfore cal to me al the prophetes of Baal, and al his seruantes, and al his priestes: let there be none but that he come, for I haue a great sacrifice to Baal: He that shal be wanting shal not liue. Moreouer Iehu did this craftely, that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.

20   And he sayd: Sanctifie a solemne day to Baal. And he called

21   and sent into al the borders of Israel, and al the seruantes of Baal came: there was leaft not one that came not. And they entered into the temple of Baal: and the house of Baal was filled, from one end to the other.

22   And he sayd to them that were ouer the garmentes: Bring forth garmentes for al the seruantes of Baal. And they brought them forth garmentes.

23   And Iehu going in, and Ionadab the sonne of Rechab into the temple of Baal, sayd to the worshippers of Baal: Search, and see lest perhaps there be any with you of the seruantes of the Lord, but that there be the seruantes of Baal onlie.

24   They therfore went in to make victimes and holocaustes: but Iehu had prepared him without fourescore men, and sayd to them: Whosoeuer shal escape of these men, whom I wil bring into your handes, his life shal be for the life of him.

25   And it came to passe, when the holocauste was ended, Iehu commanded his souldiars and captaynes: Goe in, and strike them, let none escape. And the souldiars and captaynes stroke them in the edge of the sword, and cast them forth: and they went into the citie of the temple of Baal,

26   and brought forth the statue out of Baals temple, and burnt it,

27   and brake it in peeces. They destroyed also the temple of Baal, and made a iakes for it vntil this day.

28   Iehu therfore destroyed Baal out of Israel:

Of Isr. Iehu. Ioachaz.

29   but yet from the sinnes of Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat, who made Israel to sinne, he departed not, neither forsooke he the golden calues, that were in Bethel, and Dan.

30   And our Lord sayd to Iehu: ^note Because thou hast diligently done that which was right, and that pleased in mine eies, and hast done al thinges that were in my hart, against the house of Achab: thy children shal sitte vpon the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.

31   Moreouer Iehu obserued not to walke in the law of our Lord the God of Israel in al his hart: for he departed not from the sinnes of Ieroboam, who had made Israel to sinne.

32   In those daies our Lord began to be wearie of Israel: and Hazael smote them in al the costes of Israel,

33   from Iordan agaynst the East quarter, al the land of Galaad, and Gad, and Ruben, and Manasses, from Aroer, which is vpon the Torrent Arnon, and Galaad, and Basan.

34   But the rest of the wordes of Iehu, & al that he did, and his strength, are not these thinges writen in the Booke of the wordes of the dayes of the kinges of Israel?

35   And Iehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria: and Ioachaz his sonne reigned for him.

36   And the dayes which Iehu reigned ouer Israel, be eight and twentie yeares in Samaria. Chap. XI. Athalia killing al the kinges progenie (except loas, who is saued by his aunt) vsurpeth the kingdome. 4. But the seuenth yeare Ioiada the high priest crowneth Ioas king. 13. causeth Athalia to be slaine, 17. and maketh couenant betwen God, the king, and the people.

1   Bvt Athalia the mother of Ochozias seing her sonne dead, arose, and ^note slew al the kinges seede.

2   But Iosaba king Iorams daughter, the sister of Ochozias, taking Ioas the sonne of Ochozias, stole him out of the middes of the kinges children, that were slaine, and his nurce out of the bedchamber: and hid him from the face of Athalia, that he should not be slaine.

3   And he was with her sixe yeares secretly in the house of our Lord. Moreouer Athalia reigned ouer the land.

4   And in the seuenth yeare ^note Ioiada sent and taking the centurions, and the souldiars brought them in to him into the temple of our Lord, and made a couenant with them: and adiuring them in the house of our Lord, shewed them the kinges sonne:

5   and commanded them, saying: This is the thing, which you must doe.

6   Let the third part

Iuda Q. Athalia of you goe in on the Sabbath, and keepe the watch of the kinges house. And let a third part be at the gate Sur: & let a third part be at the gate behind the dwelling of the shildebearers: and you shal keepe the watch of the house of Messa.

7   But let two partes of you al that goe forth on the Sabbath, keepe the watch of the house of our Lord about the king.

8   And you shal gard him round about, hauing weapons in your hands: & if anie man shal enter the precinct of the temple, let him be slaine: and you shal be with the king coming in & going out.

9   And the centurions did according to al thinges, that Ioiada the priest had commanded them: & euerie one taking their men, that went in on the Sabbath, with them that went out in the Sabbath, came to Ioiada the priest.

10   Who gaue them the speares, & the weapons of king Dauid, which were in the house of our Lord.

11   And they stood euerie one hauing their weapons in their hand, on the right side of the temple, vnto the leaft side of the altar, & of the temple, about the king.

12   And he brought forth the kinges sonne, and put vpon him the diademe, and the couenant: and they made him king, and anoynted him: and clapping with the hand, sayd: God saue the king.

13   And Athalia heard the voice of people running: and she going in to the multitudes into the temple of our Lord,

14   saw the king standing vpon the tribunal seate according to the maner, and the singers, and trumpettes nere him, and al the people of the land reioysing, and sounding the trumpettes: and she rent her garmentes, and cried: A conspiracie, a conspiracie.

15   But Ioiada commanded the centurions, that were ouer the armie, and sayd to them: Lead her forth without the precinct of the temple, and whosoeuer shal folow her, let him be striken with the sword. For the priest had sayd: Let her ^note not be slaine in the temple of our Lord.

16   And they layd handes on her: and threw her by the way of the entrance of the horses, beside the palace, and she was slaine there.

17   Ioiada therfore made a couenant betwen our Lord, and the king, and betwen the people, that it should be the people of our Lord, and betwen the king and the people.

18   And al the people of the land entered into the temple of Baal, and destroyed his altars, and his images they brake in peces stoutly: Mathan also the priest of Baal they slew before the altar. And the priest sette gardes in the house of our Lord.

19   And he tooke the centurious, and the legions of Cerethi

Of Iuda Ioas. and Phelethi, and al the people of the land, and they brought the king from the house of our Lord: and they came by the way of the gate of the shildebearers into the palace, and he sate vpon the throne of the kinges.

20   And al the people of the land reioysed, and the citie was quiet: but Athalia was slaine with the sword in the kinges house.

21   And Ioas was seuen yeares old, when he began to reigne. Chap. XII. Ioas vvilleth the priestes to repair vvhat needeth in the temple, receiuing al the money offered there. 6. vvhich they not performing, the high priest promideth that al is amended, 16. the priestes receiuing only the money due to themselues. 17. Hazael king of Syria taking Geth, and threatning Ierusalem is pacified vvith money. 19. Ioas is trattarously slaine by his seruantes, and his sonne Amasias reigneth.

1   In the seuenth yeare of Iehu reigned Ioas: and he reigned fourtie yeares in Ierusalem The name of his mother was Sebia of Bersabee.

2   And Ioas did right before our Lord al the daies, that Ioiada the priest taught him.

3   But yet the excelses he tooke not away: for the people immolated & burnt incense in the excelfes.

4   And Ioas sayd to the priestes: Al the money of the sanctified thinges, which is brought into the temple of our Lord by the passengers, which is offered for the ^note price of a soule, and which of their owne accord, and of their owne free hart they bring into the temple of our Lord:

5   let the priestes take it according to their order, and maynteine reparations of the house, if they shal see any thing that needeth reparation.

6   Therfore vntil the three and twenteth yeare of king Ioas, the priestes did not make reparations of the temple.

7   And king Ioas called Ioiada the high priest and the priestes, saying to them: Why make you not the reparations of the temple? Take you therfore money no more according to your order, but render it to the reparation of the temple.

8   And the priestes were prohibited to take money anie more of the people, and to make the reparations of the temple.

9   And Ioiada the high priest tooke ^note a treasurie, and opened a hole in the toppe, and sette it by the altar at the right hand of them that goe into the house of our Lord, and the priestes that kept the doores, did cast into it al the money, that was brought to the temple of our Lord.

10   And when they saw that there was very much money in the treasurie, the

Of Iuda Ioas. kinges scribe, and the high priest went vp, and powred it out, and counted the money, that was sound in the house of our Lord:

11   and they gaue it according to number and measure into their hand, which did ouersee the masons of the house of our Lord: who bestowed it on carpenters, and on masons, such as wrought in the house of our Lord,

12   and made reparations: and on them that hewed stones, and that they should bye trees, and stones, that were hewed, so that the reparation of the house of our Lord was accomplished in al thinges, which had neede of cost to vphold the house.

13   But yet there were not made of the same money the watter pottes of the temple of our Lord, and the fleshhookes, and censars, and trumpets, and euerie vessel of gold and siluer, of the money, that was brought into the temple of our Lord.

14   For it was geuen them that did the worke, that the temple of our Lord might be repayred:

15   and there was no account made with those men, that receiued the money to distribute it to the craftes men, but vpon their fidelitie they bestowed it.

16   But the money for offence, & the money for sinnes, they brought not into the temple of our Lord, because it was the priestes.

17   Then Hazael the king of Syria went vp, and fought agaynst Geth, and tooke it: and directed his face to goe vp to Ierusalem.

18   For which cause Ioas the king of Iuda tooke al the sanctified thinges, which Iosaphat, and Ioram, and Ochozias his fathers the kinges of Iuda had ^note consecrated, and which him self had offered: and al the siluer, that could be found in the treasures of the temple of our Lord, and in the kinges palace: and sent it to Hazael the king of Syria, and he retyred from Ierusalem.

19   But the rest of the wordes of Ioas, and al that he did, are not these thinges writen in the Booke of the wordes of the daies of the kinges of Iuda?

20   And his seruantes arose, and conspired among them selues, and stroke Ioas in the house of Mello in the descent of Sella.

21   For Iosachar the sonne of Semaath, and Iozabad the sonne of Somer his seruantes, stroke him, and he died: and they buried him with his fathers in ^note the citie of Dauid, and Amasias his sonne reigned for him. Chap. XIII. Ioachaz King of Israel is afflicted by the Syrians, 4. and deliuered. 6. Yet destroyeth not idolatrie. 8. dieth, and his sonne Ioas foloweth his euil steppes. 14. Eliseus being sicke willeth the king to shoote, 18. and to strike the

Of Isr. Iachaz. Ioas. earth, who striking thrise, is told that he shal thrise strike the Syrians. 20. Eliseus dieth, and a dead man is reuiued touching his bones. 22. Ioas receuereth that which the Syrians had taken from Israel.

1   In the three and twenteth yeare of Ioas the sonne of Ochozias the king of Iuda, reigned Ioachaz the sonne of Iehu ouer Israel in Samaria, seuentene yeares.

2   And he did euil before our Lord, and folowed the sinnes of Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat, who made Israel to sinne, and declined not from them.

3   And the furie of our Lord was wrath agaynst Israel, and he deliuered them into the hand of Hazael the king of Syria, and into the hand of Benadad the sonne of Hazael, alwaies.

4   But Ioachaz besought the face of our Lord, and our Lord heard him: for he saw the distresse of Israel, that the king of Syria had broken them:

5   and our Lord gaue a sauiour to Israel, and they were deliuered out of the hand of the king of Syria: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tabernacles as yesterday and the day before.

6   But yet they departed not from the sinnes of Ieroboam who made Israel to sinne, but they walked in them: for the grone also remayned in Samaria.

7   And there were leaft to Ioachaz of the people but fiftie horsemen, and ten chariotes, and ten thousand footmen: for the king of Syria had slaine them, and had brought them as dust by threshing in the barne floore.

8   But the rest of the wordes of Ioachaz, and al that he did, and his strength, are not these thinges writen in the Booke of the wordes of the daies of the kinges of Israel?

9   And Ioachaz slept with his fathers, & they buried him in Samaria: and Ioas his sonne reigned for him.

10   In the seuen and thirteth yeare of Ioas the king of Iuda reigned Ioas the sonne of Ioachaz ouer Israel in Samaria sixtene yeares,

11   and he did that which is euil in the sight of our Lord, he declined not from al the sinnes of Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat, who made Israel to sinne, but he walked in them.

12   But the rest of the wordes of Ioas, and al that he did, and his strength, how he fought agaynst Amasias the king of Iuda, are not these thinges writen in the Booke of the wordes of the dayes of the kinges of Israel?

13   And Ioas slept with his fathers: but Ieroboam sate vpon his throne. Moreouer Ioas, was buried in Samaria with the kinges of Israel.

14   And Eliseus was sicke of an infirmitie, wherof also he died: and Ioas the king of Israel went downe

Of Isr. Ioas. Eliseus dieth. to him, and wept before him, and sayd: My father, my father, the chariote of Israel and the garder therof.

15   And Eliseus sayd to him: fetch a bow and arrowes. And when he had brought him a bow, and arrowes,

16   he sayd to the king of Israel: Put thy hand vpon the bow. And when he had put his hand, Eliseus put his handes ouer the kinges handes,

17   and sayd: Open the east window. And when he had opened it, Eliseus sayd: Shote an arrow. And he shot. And Eliseus sayd: The arrow of the saluation of our Lord, and the arrow of saluation agaynst Syria: and thou shalt strike Syria in Aphec, til thou consume it.

18   And he sayd: Take vp the arrowes. Who when he had taken them agayne, he sayd to him: Strike the earth with a iauelin. And when he had striken three times, and stood stil,

19   the man of God was angrie with him, & sayd: ^note If thou hadst striken fiue or six or seuen times, thou hadst striken Syria euen to destruction: but now three times shalt thou strike it.

20   Eliseus therfore died, and they buried him. And the rouers of Moab came into the land the same yeare.

21   And certayne persons burying a man, saw the rouers, and threw the bodie in the sepulchre of Eliseus. Which when it had touched the bones of Eliseus, the man reuiued, and stood vpon his feete.

22   Hazael therfore the king of Syria afflicted Israel al the daies of Ioachaz:

23   and our Lord had mercie on them, and returned to them for his couenant, which he had with Abraham, and Isaac, and Iacob: and he would not destroy them, nor vtterly cast them away, vntil this present time.

24   And Hazael the king of Syria died, and Benadad his sonne reigned for him.

25   Moreouer Ioas the sonne of Ioachaz, tooke the cities out of the hand of Benadad the sonne of Hazael, which he had taken out of the hand of Ioachaz his father by the right of warre, three times did Ioas strike him, and he deliuered the cities to Israel. Chap. XIIII. ^note Amasias king of Iuda killeth those that had slaine his father; 7. and striketh Edom. 8. Prouoking Ioas king of Israel to warre, receiueth a contemtible answer: 11. prouoking againe is beaten in battle, and Ierusalem is ransact. 15. Ioas dieth and his sonne Ieroboam foloweth the bad steppes of the first Ieroboam; yet recouereth manie places lost before. and dying his sonne Zacharias reigneth.

of Iuda Amasias. of Isr. Ioas.

1   In the second yeare of Ioas the sonne of Ioachaz the king of Israel reigned Amasias the sonne of Ioas the king of Iuda.

2   Fiue and twentie yeares old was he when he began to reigne: and nine and twentie yeares he reigned in Ierusalem, the name of his mother was Ioadan of Ierusalem.

3   And he did right before our Lord, but yet not as Dauid his father. He did according to al thinges, which Ioas father did:

4   but this onlie that he tooke not away the excelses: for yet the people immolated, and burnt incense in the excelses.

5   And when he obtayned the kingdom, he smote his seruantes, which had slaine the king his father:

6   but their children that killed him, he did not put to death, according to that which is written in the booke of the law of Moyses, as our Lord commanded, saying: The fathers shal not die for the children, neither shal the children die for the fathers: but euerie one shal die in his owne sinne.

7   He smote Edom in the Vail of Salt pittes ten thousand, and tooke the rocke in battel, and called the name therof, Iectehel vntil this present daye.

8   Then Amasias sent messengers to Ioas the sonne of Ioachaz, the sonne of Iehu the king of Israel, saying: Come, ^notelet vs see one an other.

9   And Ioas the king of Israel sent agayne to Amasias the king of Iuda saying: A thistle of Libanus sent to a cedar tree, which is in Libanus, saying: Geue thy daughter to my sonne to wife. And the beastes of the forest, that are in Libanus, passed and trode the thistle.

10   Thou striking hast preuayled ouer Edom, and thy hart hath puffed thee vp: be content with the glorie, and sit in thy house: Why prouokest thou euil, that thou mayst fal and Iuda with thee.

11   And Amasias agreed not. And Ioas the king of Israel went vp, and they saw eche other, he and Amasias the king of Iuda in Bethsames a towne of Iuda.

12   And Iuda was strooken before Israel, and euerie man fled into their tabernacles.

13   But Ioas the king of Israel did take Amasias the king of Iuda the sonne of Ioas, the sonne of Ochozias, in Bethsames, and brought him into Ierusalem: and he brake downe the wal of Ierusalem, from the gate of Ephraim vnto the gate of the corner, fowre hundred cubites.

14   And he tooke al the gold, and siluer, and al the vessel, that were found in the house of our Lord, and in the kinges treasures, and hostages, and returned into Samaria.

15   But the rest of the wordes of Ioas which he did, and his strength, wherwith he fought against

Of Isr. Ioas. Ieroboam. Of Iuda Azarias. Amasias the king of Iuda, are not these thinges writen in the Booke of the wordes of the daies of the kinges of Israel?

16   And Ioas slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kinges of Israel: & Ieroboam his sonne reigned for him.

17   And Amasias the sonne of Ioas the king of Iuda liued, after that Ioas the sonne of Ioachaz the king of Israel was dead, fifetene yeares.

18   But the rest of the wordes of Amasias, are not these thinges writen in the Booke of the wordes of the daies of the kinges of Iuda?

19   And there was a conspiracie made against him in Ierusalem: but he fled into Lachis. And they sent after him into Lachis, and killed him there

20   And they caried him away vpon horses, and he was buried in Ierusalem with his fathers in the Citie of Dauid.

21   And al the people of Iuda tooke Azarias sixtene yeares old, and made him king for his father Amasias.

22   He built Ælath, and restored it to Iuda, after that the king slept with his fathers.

23   In the fiftenth yeare of Amasias the sonne of Ioas the king of Iuda, reigned Ieroboam the sonne of Ioas the king of Israel in Samaria, one and fourtie yeares:

24   and he did that which is euil before our Lord. He departed not from al the sinnes of Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat, who made Israel to sinne.

25   He restored the borders of Israel from the entrance of Emath, vnto the Sea of the wildernesse, according to the word of our Lord the God of Israel, which he spake by his seru&abar;t Ionas the sonne of Amathi, the prophete, who was of Geth, which is in Opher.

26   For our Lord saw the afliction of Israel exceding bitter, and that they were consumed vnto the imprisoned & meanest persons, and that there was none to helpe Israel.

27   Neither did our Lord determine that he would destroy the name of Israel from vnder heauen, but he saued them in the hand of Ieroboam the sonne of Ioas.

28   But the rest of the wordes of Ieroboam, and al that he did, and his strength, wherwith he fought, and how he restored Damascus, and Emath to Iuda in Israel, are not these thinges writen in the Booke of the wordes of the daies of the kinges of Israel?

29   And Ieroboam slept with his fathers the kinges of Israel, and Zacharias his sonne, reigned for him. Chap. XV. Azarias beginneth wel, 4. afterward (for offering incense on the altar. 2. Paralip. 26.) is strooken with leprosie, cast out of the temple, and from conuersation with the people, his sonne Ioathan ruling the kingdom. 8. sellum

Of Iuda Azarias. Of Israel Zacharias. Sellum. killeth Zacharias king of Israel and reigneth in his place. 14. After one moneth Manahem killeth Sellum & reigneth also wickedly. 19. Maketh league with the Syrians. 22. dieth and his sonne Phaceia reigneth. 25. Phacee killeth him, and reigneth. 29. The A&esset;yrians spoyle the countrie, and carie away manie captiues. 30. Osee killeth Phacee and reigneth. 32. In the meane time Ioathan regning in Iuda is infested with enemies. 38. dieth, and his sonne Achaz reigneth.

1   In the seuen and twenteth yeare of Ieroboam the king of Israel reigned ^note Azarias the sonne of Amasias the king of Iuda.

2   He was sixtene yeares old, when he began to reigne, and two and fiftie yeares he reigned in Ierusalem: the name of his mother was Iechelia of Ierusalem,

3   And he did that which was liked before our Lord, according to al thinges that his father Amasias did.

4   But the excelses he destroyed not: as yet the people sacrificed, and burnt incense in the excelses.

5   And our Lord stroke the king, and he was ^note a leper vntil the day of his death, and he dwelt in a free house a part: but Ioathan the kinges sonne gouerned the palace, and iudged the people of the land.

6   But the rest of the wordes of Azarias, and al that he did, are not these thinges writen in the Booke of the wordes of the daies of the kinges of Iuda?

7   And Azarias slept with his fathers: and they buried him with his ancestors ^note in the citie of Dauid, and Ioathan his sonne reigned for him.

8   In the eight and thirteth yeare of Azarias the king of Iuda, reigned Zacharias the sonne of Ieroboam ouer Israel in Samaria sixe monethes:

9   and he did that which is euil before our Lord, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sinnes of Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat, who made Israel to sinne.

10   And Sellum the sonne of Iabes conspired against him: and smote him openly, killed him, and reigned for him.

11   But the rest of the wordes of Zacharias, are not these writen in the Booke of the wordes of the dayes of the kinges of Israel?

12   This is the word of our Lord, which he spake to Iehu, saying: Thy children shal sit vnto the fourth generation vpon the throne of Israel. And so it came to passe.

13   Sellum the sone of Iabes reigned the nine and thirteth yeare of Azarias the king of Iuda: and reigned one moneth in Samaria.

14   And Manahem the sonne of Gadi went vp from Thersa: and he came into Samaria, and smote Sellum the sonne of Iabes in Samaria,

Of Isr. Manahem Phaceia. Phacee. Of Inda Azarias. and slew him, & reigned for him.

15   But the rest of the wordes of Sellum, & his conspiracie, wherwith he wrought treason, are not these thinges written in the Booke of the wordes of the dayes of the kinges of Israel?

16   Then Manahem stroke Thapsa and al that were in it and the borders therof from Thersa, for they would not open vnto him: and he slew al wemen therof that were withchilde, and ripped them.

17   In the nine and thirteth yeare of Azarias the king of Iuda, reigned Manahem the sonne of Gadi ouer Israel ten yeares in Samaria.

18   And he did that which was euil before our Lord: he departed not from the sinnes of Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat, who made Israel to sinne al his dayes.

19   Phul also the king of the Assyrians came into the land, and Manahem gaue to Phul a thousand talentes of siluer, that he should ayde him, & establish his kingdom.

20   And Manahem put a taxe of siluer vpon Israel, on them that were mightie and riche to geue the king of the Assyrians, fiftie sicles of siluer euerie man: and the king of the Assyrians returned, and taried not in the land.

21   But the rest of the wordes of Manahem, and al that he did, are not these thinges writen in the Booke of the wordes of the daies of the kinges of Israel?

22   And Manahem slept with his fathers: and Phaceia his sonne reigned for him.

23   In the fifteth yeare of Azarias the king of Inda reigned Phaceia the sonne of Manahem ouer Israel in Samria two yeares:

24   and he did that which was euil before our Lord: he departed not from the sinnes of Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat, who made Israel to sinne.

25   And Phacee the sonne of Romelia, his captaine conspired against him, and stroke him in Samaria, in the towre of the kinges house beside, Argob and beside Arie, and with him fiftie men of the children of the Galaadites, and he slewe him, and reigned for him.

26   But the rest of the wordes Phaceia & al that he did, are not these things written in the Booke of the wordes of the daies of the kings of Israel.

27   In the two and fifteth yeares of Azarias the king of Iuda reigned Phacee the sonne Romelia ouer Israel in Samaria twentie yeares.

28   And he did that which was euil before our Lord: he departed not from the sinnes of Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat, who made Israel to sinne.

29   In the dates of Phacee the king of Israel came Theglathphalasar the king of Assur, & ^note tooke Aion, and Abel the house of Maachat and Ianoe, and Cedes, and Asor, and Galaad, and Galilee, and al

Of Iuda Ioatham. Achaz. Of Isr. Phacee. Osee. the land of Nepthali: and transported them vnto the Assyrians.

30   And Osee the sonne of Ela conspired, and lay in wayte against Phacee the sonne of Romelia, and stroke him, and slew him: and he reigned for him the twentith yeare of Ioatham the sonne of ^note Ozias.

31   But the rest of the wordes of Phacee, and al that he did, are not these things written in the Booke of the wordes of the dayes of the kings of Israel?

32   In the second yeare of Phacee the sonne of Romelia the king of Israel, reigned Ioatham the sonne of Ozias the king of Iuda.

33   Fiue and twentie yeares old was he when he began to reigne, and sixtene yeares he reigned in Ierusalem: the name of his mother was Ierusa, the daughter of Sadoc.

34   And he did that which was liked before our Lord: according to al things, which Ozias his father had done, did he worke.

35   Howbeit the excelses he tooke not away: as yet the people immolated, and burnt incense in the excelses, he built the highest gate of the house of our Lord.

36   But the rest of the wordes of Ioatham, and al that he did, are not these things written in the Booke of the words of the dayes of the kings of Iuda?

37   In those dayes our Lord began to send into Iuda Rasin the king of Syria, and Phacee the sonne of Romelia.

39   And Ioatham slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the citie of Dauid his father, and Achaz his sonne reigned for him. Chap. XVI. Achaz king of Iuda besides other idolatrie, sacrificeth his owne sonne to idoles. 5. The kinges of Israel and Syria besiegeing Ierusalem, the A&esset;yrians are hyred to releue it. 10. Acbaz causeth Vrias to make an altar like to one in Damascus, 14. in place of Gods altar: 17. remoueth diuers other things perteyning to diuine seruice, 19. dieth, and his sonne Ezechias reigneth.

1   In the seuenteth yeare of Phacee the sonne of Romelia reigned Achaz the sonne of Ioatham king of Iuda.

2   Twentie yeares old was Achaz when he began to reigne, and he reigned sixtene yeares in Ierusalem: he did not that which was pleasing in the sight of our Lord his God, as Dauid his father.

3   But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel: moreouer also he consecrated his sonne, making him passe through fire according to the idols of the Gentils: which our Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.

4   He immolated

Of Iuda Achaz. Of Isr. Osee. also victimes, and burnt incense the excelses, and on the hilles, and vnder euery tree full of greene leaues.

5   Then went vp Rasin the king of Syria, and Phacee the sonne of Romelia the king of Israel into Ierusalem to fight: & when they besieged Achaz, they were not able to ouercome him.

6   At that time Rasin the king of Syria restored Alia to Syria, and threw out the Iewes out of Aila: and the Idumeians came into Aila, and dwelt there vnto this day.

7   And Achaz sent messengers to Theglathphalasar the king of the Assyrians, saying: I am thy seruant, and thy sonne: come vp, and saue me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and from the hand of the king of Israel, which are risen together against me.

8   And when he had gathered together the siluer and gold, that could be founde in the house of our Lord, and in the kings treasures, he sent giftes to the king of the Assyrians.

9   Who also agreed to his wil: for the king of the Assyrians went vp into Damascus, and wasted it: and he transferred the inhabitants therof to Cyrene, but Rasin he slew.

10   And king Achaz went forth to meete Theglathphalasar the king of the Assyrians into Damascus, and when he had seene the altar of Damascus, king Achaz sent to Vrias the priest a paterne of it, and a similitude according to al the worke therof.

11   And Vrias the priest built an altar, according to al things, which king Achaz had commanded, from Damascus, so did the priest Vrias, whilest king Achaz came from Damascus.

12   And when the king was come from Damascus, he saw the altar and worshipped it: and went vp and immolated holocaustes, and his sacrifice,

13   and offered libamentes, and powred the bloud of the pacifiques, which he had offered vpon the altar.

14   Moreouer the altar of brasse that was before our lord, he remoued from the face of the temple, and from the place of the altar, and from the place of the temple of our Lord: and he sett it at the side of the altar toward the North.

15   King Achaz also comanded Vrias the priest, saying: Vpon the greater altar offer the morning holocaust, and the euening sacrifice, and the kings holocaust, and his sacrifice, and the holocaust of the whole people of the land, and their sacrifices, and their libamentes: and al the bloud of the holocaust, and al the bloud of the victime thou shalt powre out vpon it: but the altar of brasse shalbe prepared readie at my pleasure

16   Vrias therfore the priest did according to al

Of Iuda Achaz. Ezechias Of Israel Osee. things, which king Achaz had commanded him.

17   And king Achaz tooke the engrauen feete, and the lauatorie that was vpon them: and he tooke downe the ^note sea from the oxen of brasse, that held it vp, and put it vpon the pauement paued with stone.

18   The ^note Musach also of the Sabbath, which he had built in the temple: and the entrie of the king outward he turned into the temple of our Lord because of the king of the Assyrians.

19   But the rest of the wordes of Achaz, which he did, are not these writen in the Booke of the wordes of the dayes of the kinges of Iuda?

20   And Achaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the citie of Dauid, and Ezechias his sonne reigned for him. Chap. XVII. Salmanazar king of Assyrians maketh Osee king of Israel tributarie, and perceuing his endeuour to be deliuered therof, imprisoneth him; after three yeares siege taketh Samaria, and carieth the people captiue into A&esset;iria. 7. Al which God permitteth for diuers great sinnes here recited. 25. The new inhabitantes of the countrie not knowing God, are deuoured by lions. VVherupon a true priest is sent to instruct them. 29. but they lerning the rites of true religion do mixt the same with idolatrie.

1   In the twelfth yeare of Achaz king of Iuda, reigned Osee the sonne of Ela in Samaria ouer Israel nine yeares.

2   And he did euil before our Lord: but not as the kinges of Israel, that had bene before him.

3   Against him came vp Salmanasar king of the Assyrians, and Osee was made seruant to him, and payd him tributes.

4   And when the king of the Assyrians had found, that Osee endeuoring to rebel had sent messengers to Sua the king of Ægypt, that he might not pay tributes to the king of the Assyrians, as euery yeare he was accustomed, he besieged him, and cast him blound into prison.

5   And he ranged through al the land: and going vp to Samaria, he besieged in three yeares.

6   And in the ninth yeare of Osee, the king of Assyrians tooke Samaria, and transferred Israel vnto the Assyrians: and he put them in Hala, and in Habor beside the riuer of Gozan, in the cities of the Medes.

7   For it came to passe, when the children of Israel had sinned to our Lord their God, which brought them out of the land of Ægypt, and out of the hand of Pharao the king of Ægypt, they worshipped strange goddes.

8   And they walked according to the rite of the Gentiles, which our Lord had consumed in the sight of

Of Israel Osee. the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel: because they had done in like maner.

9   And the children of Israel offended our Lord their God with wordes not right: & built them excelses in al their cities from the Towre of watchmen vnto the fensed citie.

10   And they made them statues & groues on euerie high hil, and vnder euerie thicke woddie tree:

11   and burnt there incense vpon the altars after the maner of the Gentiles, which our Lord remoued from their face: and they did wicked things, prouoking our Lord.

12   And they worshipped the filthes, wherof our Lord commanded them that thou should not doe this thing.

13   And our Lord testified in Israel and in Iuda by the hand of al the Prophetes and Seers, saying: Returne from your most wicked wayes, and keepe my precepts, and ceremonies according to al the law, which I commanded your fathers: and as I haue sent to you in the hand of my seruantes the Prophetes.

14   Who heard not, but hardened their necke according to the necke of their fathers, who would not obey our Lord their God.

15   And they cast away his ordinances, and the couenant that he made with their fathers, and the testifications, wherwith he contested them: and they folowed vanities, and did vaynly: and they folowed the Gentiles, that were round about them, concerning which our Lord had commanded them, that they should not doe as they did.

16   And they forsooke al the preceptes of our Lord their God: and made to them selues two molten calues, and groues, and adored al the hoste of heauen: and they serued Baal,

17   and consecrated their sonnes, and their daughters through fyre: and they gaue themselues to deuinations, and soothsayings: and they deliuered vp themselues to doe euil before our Lord, ^note that they might prouoke him.

18   And our Lord was wrath with Israel vehemently, and tooke them away from his sight, and there remayned but the tribe of Iuda onlie.

19   But neither Iuda it self kept the commandementes of our Lord their God: but walked in the errours of Israel, which it had wrought.

20   And our Lord reiected al the seede of Israel, and afflicted them, & deliuered them into the hand of the spoylers, til he threwe them away from his face:

21   euen now from that time, when Israel was rent from the house of Dauid, and made Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat their king: for Ieroboam seperated Israel from our Lord, and made them sinne a great sinne.

22   And the children of Israel walked in

The 10. tribes ledde captiue into Assyria. al the sinnes of Ieroboam, which he had done: and they departed not from them,

23   vntil our Lord tooke away Israel from his face, as he had spoken in the hand of al his seruantes the Prophetes: and Israel was transported out of their land vnto the Assyrians, vntil this day.

24   And the king of the Assyrians brought from Babylon, and from Cutha, and from Auah, and from Emath, and from Sepharuaim: and placed them in the cities of Samaria for the children of Israel: who possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities therof.

25   And when they began to dwel there, they feared not our Lord: and our Lord sent lions vpon them, which killed them.

26   And it was told the king of the Assyrians, and sayd. The nations, which thou hast transferred, and made to dwel in the cities of Samaria, know not the ordinances of the God of the land: and the Lord hath sent lions vpon them: and behold they kil them, for that they know not the rite of the God of the land.

27   And the king of the Assyrians commanded, saying: Bring thither one of the priestes, which you brought thence captiue, and let him goe, and dwel with them: and let him teach them the ordinances of the God of the land

28   Therfore when one of those priests, which were led captiue from Samaria, was come, he dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should worship our Lord.

29   And euerie Nation framed their owne god, and put them in the highe temples, which the Samaritanes had made, Nation and Nation in their cities, where they dwelt.

30   For the men of Babylon made Socothbenoth: and the Cutheites made Nergel: and the men of Emath made Asima.

31   Moreouer the Heueites made Nebahaz & Tharthac. And they that were of Sepharuaim burnt their children in fyre, to Adramelech, and Anamelech the goddes of Sepharuaim.

32   and neuetheles they ^note worshipped our Lord. And they made to themselues of the vilest persones priestes of the excelses, and they placed them in the highe temples.

33   And when they worshipped our Lord, they serued also their owne goddes according to the custome of the Nations out of the which they were transported to Samaria:

34   vntil this present day they folow the old maner: they feare not our Lord, neither keepe they his ceremonies, and iudgements, and law, and the commandemet, which our Lord commanded the children of Iacob, whom he surnamed Israel:

35   and he had made a couenant with them, & had commanded

The 10. tribes ledde captiue into Assyria. them, saying: Feare not strange goddes, and adore them not, neither worship them, and immolate not to them.

36   But the Lord your God, which brought you out of the Land of Ægypt in great strength, and a stretched out arme, him feare ye, and him adore, and to him doe ye immolate.

37   The ceremonies also, and iudgementes, and law, and the commandment, that he wrote you, kepe ye, that you may doe them alwaies: and feare not strange goddes.

38   And the couenant, that he made with you, forget not: neither doe ye worship strange goddes,

39   but feare our Lord your God, and he wil deliuer you out of the hand of al your enemies.

40   But they heard not, but did according to their old custome.

41   These Nations therfore were fearing of our Lord but neuerthelesse seruing their idols also: for both their children and nephewes, as their fathers did, soe doe they vntil this present day. Chap. XVIII. Ezechias destroyeth al places of idolatrie in Iuda, breaking also the brasen serpent, made by Moyses, because the people offered incense to it. 9. The captiuitie of the ten tribes is repeted. 13. Ezechias not able to resist the Assyrians payeth much money to them. 17. They neuertheles send forces against Ierusalem, reproch the king, blaspheme God, and terrifie the people.

1   In the third yeare of Osee the sonne of Ela king of Israel, reigned Ezechias the sonne of Achaz king of Iuda. ^note

2   Fiue and twentie yeares old was he when he began to reigne: and he reigned nine and twentie yeares in Ierusalem: the name of his mother was Abi the daughter of Zacharias.

3   And he did that which was good before our Lord, according to al thinges which Dauid his father had done.

4   He destroyed the excelses, and brake the statuees in peeces, and cut downe the groues, and brake the brasen serpent, which Moyses had made: for vntil that time the children of Israel ^noteburnt incense to it: and he called the name therof ^note Nohestan.

5   He trusted in our Lord the God of Israel: therfore after him there was not the like to him in al the kings of Iuda, yea neither among them that were before him:

6   and he cleaued to our Lord, and departed not from his steppes, and he did his commandmentes, which our Lord commanded Moyses.

7   Wherfore our Lord also was with him, and in al things, to the which he proceded, he behaued himselfe wisely. He rebelled also agaynst the king of the

Of Iuda Ezechias. Assyrians, and serued him not.

8   He stroke the Philisthians as farre as Gaza, & al the borders, from the Towre of watchmen vnto the fensed citie.

9   In the fourth yeare of king Ezechias, which was the seuenth yeare of Osee the sonne of Ela the king of Israel, came vp Salmanasar the king of the Assyrians into Samaria, and assaulted it,

10   and tooke it. For after three yeares, in the sixt yeare of Ezechias, that is, the ninth yeare of Osee the king of Israel, Samaria was taken:

11   and the king of the Assyrians transported Israel vnto the Assyrians, and placed them in Hala, and in Habor riuers of Gozan in the cities of the Medes:

12   because they heard not the voice of our Lord their God, but transgressed his couenant: al things, that Moyses the seruant of our Lord commanded, they heard not, neither did they it.

13   In the fourtenth yeare of king Ezechias, came vp Sennacherib the king of Assyrians to al the fensed cities of Iuda: and tooke them.

14   Then sent Ezechias the king of Iuda messengers to the king of the Assyrians into Lachis, saying: I haue sinned, retyre from me: and al that thou shalt put vpon me, I will beare. Therfore the king of the Assyrians put a taxe vpon Ezechias the king of Iuda, three hundred talents of siluer, and thirtie talents of gold.

15   And Ezechias gaue al the siluer that was found in the house of our Lord, and in the kinges treasures.

16   At that time Ezechias brake the doores of the temple of our Lord, and the plates of gold, which he had fastened on them, and gaue them to the king of the Assyrians.

17   But the king of the Assyrias sent Tharthan, and Rabsaris, and Rabsaces from Lachis to king Ezechias with a strong powre to Ierusalem: who when they were come vp they came to Ierusalem, and stoode beside the conduite of the vpper poole, which is in the way of the fullers field.

18   And they called the king: and there went out to them Eliacim the sonne of Helcias gouernour of the house and Sobna the Scribe and Ioahe the sonne of Asaph, the ^note register.

19   And Rabsaces sayd to them: Speake to Ezechias: Thus sayth the great king, the king of Assyrians: What is this confidence, that thou doest stay vpon?

20   Perhaps thou hast taken counsel, to prepare thy selfe to battle. Wherin hast thou confidence, that thou darest to rebel?

21   Dost thou hope in Ægypt a staffe of reede and broken, vpon which if a man leane, broken into splinters it wil enter into his hand, and pearce it? so is Pharao the king

Ezechias of Ægypt, to al that haue confidence in him.

22   But if you wil say to me: We haue confidence in our Lord God: is not this he, whose excelses and altars Ezechias hath taken away: and he commanded Iuda and Ierusalem: Before this altar shal you adore in Ierusalem?

23   Now therfore passe to my lord the king of the Assyrians, and I wil geue you two thousand horses, and see whether you be able to haue ryders for them.

24   And how can you resiste before one prince of the least seruantes of my lord? Hast thou confidence in Ægypt for the chariotes and horsemen?

25   Why am I come vp without the wil of the Lord to destroy it? The Lord sayd to me: Goe vp to this land, ^note and destroy it.

26   And Eliacim the sonne of Helcias, and Sobna, and Ioahe sayd to Rabsaces: We pray thee that thou speake to vs thy seruantes in Syryake: for we vnderstand this tongue: and speake not to vs in the Iewes language, the people hearing it, which is vpon the wal.

27   And Rabsaces answered them, saying: What did my lord send me to thee, that I should speake these wordes, and not rather to the men that sit vpon the wal, that they may eate their owne dung, and drinke their vrine with you?

28   Rabsaces therfore stood, and cryed out with a lowd voyce in the Iewes language, and sayd: Heare ye the wordes of the great king, the king of the Assyrians.

29   Thus sayth the king: Let not Ezechias seduce you: for he shal not be able to deliuer you out my hand.

30   Neither let him geue you confidence vpon the Lord, saying: Our Lord deliuering wil deliuer vs, and this citie shal not be geuen into the hand of the king of the Assyrians.

31   Doe not heare Ezechias. For thus sayth the king of the Assyrians: Doe with me that which is profitable for you, and come forth to me: and euery man shal eate of his vineyard, and of his figge tree: and you shal drinke waters of your owne cesternes,

32   til I come, and transporte you into a land, that is like to your land, into a fruiteful land, and plentiful of wyne, a land of bread and of vineyardes, a land of oliuetes, and of oyle and honie, and you shal liue, and shal not die. Heare not Ezechias, who deceiueth you, saying: Our Lord wil deliuer vs.

33    ^noteDid the goddes of Nations deliuer their land from the hand of the king of Assyrians?

34   Where is the God of Emath & Arphad? Where is the God of Sepharuaim, of Ana, and Aua? did they deliuer Samaria out of my hand?

35   What are they among al the goddes of nations, which

Ezechias. haue deliuered their countrey out of my hand, that the Lord can deliuer Ierusalem out of my hand?

36   The people therfore held their peace, and did not answer him any thing: for they had receiued the kings commandement that they should not answer him.

37   And Eliacim the sonne of Helcias, gouernour of the house, and Sobna the scribe, and Ioahe the sonne of Asaph register came to Ezeehias, their garments rent, and told him the wordes of Rabsaces. Chap. XIX. Ezechias in affliction requesteth the prayers of Isaias the prophet. 6. who assureth him of Gods helpe. 8. The king of the A&esset;yrians stil threatneth and blasphemeth. 15. Ezechias praieth, 20. and God hearing the prayers of the one, and blasphemies of the other, 28. promiseth to protect Ierusalem. 35. An Angel in one night killeth an hundred fourscore and fiue thousand of the A&esset;yrians campe, their king returneth to Niniue, is there slaine by two of his owne sonnes, and an other sonne reigneth in his place.

1   VVhich thinges when Ezechias the king had heard, he rent his garmentes, and was couered with sackcloth, and entered into the house of our Lord.

2   And he sent Eliacim the gouernour of the house, and Sobna the scribe, and the ancientes of the priestes couered with sackclothes, to Isaias the prophete the sonne of Amos.

3   Who sayd to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day of tribulation, and rebuke, and of blasphemie: the children are come to the birth, and the woman in trauel hath not strength.

4   If perhaps our Lord thy God wil heare al the wordes of Rabsaces, whom the king of the Assyrians his maister hath sent to vpbrayd the liuing God, and reproue with wordes, which our Lord thy God hath heard: and make thou prayer for the remnantes that are found.

5   The seruantes therfore of king Ezechias came to Isaie.

6   And Isaie sayd to them: Thus shal you say to your maister: Thus sayth our Lord: Feare not for the wordes, which thou hast heard, with which the seruantes of the king of the Assyrians haue blasphemed me.

7   Behold I wil send into him a spirit, and he shal here a message, and shal returne into his country, and I wil ouerthrow him with the sword in his country.

8   Rabsaces therfore returned, and found the king of Assyrians expugning Lobna: for he heard that he was departed from Lachis.

9   And when he had heard of Tharaca the king of Æthiopia, saying:

Ezechias. Behold, he is come forth to fight agaynst thee: and went agaynst him, he sent messengers to Ezechias, saying:

10   Say this to Ezechias the king of Iuda: Let not thy God seduce thee, in whom thou hast confidence: neither say thou: Ierusalem shal not be deliuered into the handes of the king of the Assyrians.

11   For thou thy self hast heard what the kinges of the Assyrians haue done to al the countries, how they haue spoyled them: canst thou therfore onlie be deliuered?

12   Why haue the goddes of the Nations deliuered al those, whom my fathers haue destroyed, to witte, Gozan, & Haran, and Reseph, and the children of Eden, which were in Thelassar?

13   Where is the king of Emath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the citie of Sepharuaim, of Ana and Aua?

14   Therfore when Ezechias had receiued the letters of the hand of messengers, & had read them, he went vp into the house of our Lord, & layd them open ^note before our Lord,

15   & prayd in his sight, saying: Lord God of Israel, which sittest vpon the cherubins, thou art the only God of al the kinges of the earth: thou madest heauen and earth:

16   Incline thine eare, and heare: open Lord thine eies, and see: and heare al the wordes of Sennacherib, who hath sent to vpbrayd vnto vs the liuing God.

17   In verie deede Lord, the kinges of the Assyrians haue destroyed Nations, and the countries of al.

18   And they haue cast their goddes into fire: for they were not goddes, but the workes of mens handes of wood and stone, and they destroyed them.

19   Now therfore O Lord our God, saue vs from his hand, that al the kingdomes of the earth may know, that thou art the Lord the onlie God.

20   And Isaie the sonne of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus saith our Lord the God of Israel: That which thou hast besought me concerning Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians, I haue heard.

21   This is the word, that our Lord hath spoken of him: The ^note virgine daughter of Sion hath dispised thee, and scorned thee: Behinde thy backe hath the daughter of Ierusalem wagged her head.

22   Whom hast thou vpbrayded, and whom hast thou blasphemed? against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted vp thine eies in high? against the holie one of Israel.

23   By the hand of thy seruantes thou hast vpbrayded our Lord, and hast sayd: In the multitude of my chariotes haue I climed the height of mouutaynes, in the toppe of Libanus, and haue cut downe high cedars therof, and the chosen firretrees of it. And I haue

Ezechias. entered into the borders therof, & the forrest of the ^note carmel therof

24   haue I cut downe. And I haue drunke strange waters, and haue dried vp with the steppes of my feete al the waters inclosed.

25   Why, hast thou not heard what I haue done from the begining? From ancient daies I haue made that thing, and now I haue brought it to effect: and fensed cities shal be into ruine of litle hilles bickering together.

26   And they that sitte in them, weake of hand, they haue trembled and are confounded, they became as the grasse of the field, and the greene herbe of the roofes of houses, which withered before it came to ripenesse.

27   Thy habitation, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy waye I haue knowen before, & thy furie against me.

28   Thou hast bene madde against me, & thy pride hath ascended into myn eares: I therfore wil put a ring in thy nostrels, and a bitte in thy lippes, and wil bring thee back into the way, by the which thou camest.

29   And to thee Ezechias this shal be a signe: Eate this yeare what thou shalt finde: & in the second yeare, the things that growe of themselues: moreouer in the third yeare sawe ye and reape: plant ye vineyardes, and eate the fruite of them.

30   And whatsoeuer shal be leaft of the house of Iuda, shal take roote downeward, and beare fruit vpward.

31   For out of Ierusalem there shal remmantes goe forth, and that which is to be saued from the mounte of Sion: the zeale of the Lord of hostes shal doe this.

32   Wherfore thus sayth our Lord of the king of the Assyrians: He shal not enter into this citie, nor shoote arrowe into it, neither shal shield occupie it, nor munition compasse it.

33   By the way, that he came, he shal returne: and into this citie he shal nos enter, sayth our Lord.

34   And I wil protect this citie. and wil saue it for my self, and for Dauid my seruant.

35   It came to passe therfore in that night, an Angel of our Lord came, and stroke in the campe of the Assyrians an hundred eightie fiue thousand. And when he was risen early, he sawe al the bodies of the dead,

36   and Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians departing went away, and taried in Niniue.

37   And when he adored in the temple of Nesroch his god, Adramelech and Sarafar his sonnes stroke him with the sword, and they fled into the land of the Armenians, and Asarhaddon his sonne reigned for him.

Ezechias. Chap. XX. Ezechias being sick is told by Isaias that he shal die: but praying to God obtayneth fiftenne yeares longer life, 8. and in confirmation therof receiueth a signe in Achaz dial, returning back tenne lines. 12. To the Assyrians bringing him presents, he sheweth al his treasures. 16. which Isaias reprouing prophecieth the captiuitie of Iuda. 20. Ezechias dieth, and his sonne Mana&esset;es reigneth.

1   In those dayes Ezechias was sick euen to death: and Isaie the sonne of Amos the prophete, came and sayd to him: Thus sayth our Lord God: Take order with thy house, for thou shalt die, and shalt not liue.

2   Who turned his face to the wal, and prayed our Lord, saying:

3   I besech thee Lord, remember I pray thee how I haue walked before thee in truth, and in a perfect hart, and haue done that which is liked before thee. Ezechias therfore wept with great weeping.

4   And before Isaie was gone out of the middes of the court, the word of our Lord came to him, saying:

5   Returne, and tel Ezechias the prince of my people: Thus sayth our Lord the God of Dauid thy father: I haue heard thy prayer, and seene thy teares: and behold I haue healed thee, the third day thou shalt goe vp to the temple of the Lord.

6   And I wil adde to thy daies fiftene yeares: yea & out of the hand of the king of Assyrians I wil deliuer thee, and this citie, & I wil protect this citie for my sake, and for Dauid my seruant.

7   And Isaie said: Fetch me a bunch of figges. Which when they had brought, and had layd it vpon his sore, he was cured.

8   And Ezechias had sayd to Isaie: What signe shal there be, that our Lord wil heale me, and that I shal goe vp the third day to the temple of our Lord?

9   To whom Isaie sayd: This shal be the signe from our Lord, that our lord wil doe the word, which he hath spoken: Wilt thou that the shadow goe forward ten lines, or that it goe backe soe many degrees.

10   And Ezechias sayd: It is an easie matter for the shadow to goe forward ten lines, neither wil I that this be done, but that it returne back ten degrees.

11   Isaie therfore the prophet inuocated our Lord, and brought backe the shadow by ^note the lines, by the which it was now gone downe in the dial of Achaz, backward ten degrees.

12   In that time Berodach Baladan, the sonne of Baladan, the king of the Babilonians sent letters and giftes to Ezechias: for he had heard that Ezechias had bene sicke.

Ezechias Manasses.

13   And Ezechias reioysed in their coming, and he shewed them the house of aromatical spices, and gold and siluer, and diuerse precious, odours, oyntementes also, and the house of his vessels, and al that he had in his treasures. There was not any thing which Ezechias shewed them not in his house, and in al his powre.

14   And Isaie the prophete came to king Ezechias, and sayd to him: What sayd these men? or from whence came they to thee? To whom Ezechias said: From a far counttie they came to me out of Babylon.

15   But he answered: What saw they in thy house? Ezechias sayd: They saw al things whatsoeuer are in my house: there is nothing that I haue not shewed them in my treasures.

16   Isaie therfore said to Ezechias, heare the word of our Lord:

17   Behold the daies shal come, & al things shal be taken away, that are in thy house, and that thy fathers haue layd vp vntil this day, into Babylon: there shal not anie thing remayne, sayth our Lord.

18   Yea of the children also that come forth of thee, whom thou shalt beget shalbe taken away, and they shal be eunuches in the palace of the king of Babylon.

19   Ezechias said to Isaie: The word of our Lord which thou hast spoken is good: be there peace and truth in my daies.

20   But the rest of the wordes of Ezechias, and al his strength, and how he made a poole, and a conduite, and brought waters in to the citie, are not these things writen in the Booke of the wordes of the daies of the kinges of Iuda?

21   And Ezechias slept with his fathers, and Manasses his sonne reigned for him. Chap. XXI. For the enormious impietie of Manasses, 10. God threatneth destruction of the kingdom. 16. He spilleth innocent bloud, 18. dieth, and his sonne Amon reigneth also wickedly: 23. is slaine by his seruantes, and his sonne Iosias reigneth.

1   Twelve yeares old was Manasses, when he began to reigne, & he reigned fiue and fiftie yeares in Ierusalem: the name of his mother was haphsiba.

2   And he did euil in the sight of our Lord, acording to the idols of the Nations, which our Lord destroyed from the face of the children of Israel.

3   And he was turned, and built the excelses, which Ezechias his father had destroyed: and he sette vp altars to Baal, and made groues, as Achab the king of Israel had done: and he adored al the host of heauen, and worshipped it.

Manasses.

4   And he built altars in the house of our Lord, of the which our Lord sayd: In Ierusalem I wil put my name.

5   And he built altars to al the host of heauen in the two courtes of the temple of our Lord.

6   And he made his sonne passe through fyre: and he vsed soothsaying, and obserued diuinations, and made pithones, and multiplied inchanters, to doe euil before our Lord, and to prouoke him.

7   He sette also the idol of the groue, which he had made in the temple of our Lord: concerning the which our Lord spake to Dauid, and to Salomon his sonne: In this temple, and in Ierusalem, which I haue chosen out of al the tribes of Israel, I wil put my name for euer.

8   And I wil noe more make the foote of Israel to be moued out of the land, which I gaue to their fathers: yet so if in worke they shal keepe al things, that I haue commanded them, al the law which my seruantes Moyses commanded them.

9   But they heard not: but were seduced by Manasses, to doe euil ^note aboue the Nations, which our Lord destroyed before the face of the children of Israel.

10   And our Lord spake in the hand of his seruantes the prophetes, saying:

11   Because Manasses the king of Iuda hath done these most wicked abominations, passing al thinges that the Amorrheites did before him, and hath made Iuda also to sinne in his filthes:

12   therfore thus sayth our Lord the God of Israel: Behold I wil bring in euils vpon Ierusalem and Iuda: that whosoeuer shal heare it, both his eares shal tingle.

13   And I wil stretch out vpon Ierusalem the corde of Samaria, and the weight of the house of Achab: and I wil wipe out Ierusalem, as tables are wont to be wiped out, and wyping out I wil turne it, and draw often the pencil vpon the face therof.

14    ^noteBut I wil leaue remnantes of mine inheritance, and wil deliuer them into the handes of their enemies: and they shalbe vnto waste, and vnto spoile to al their aduersaries:

15   because they haue done euil before me, and haue continewed prouoking me, from the day that their fathers came out of Ægypt, vntil this day.

16   Moreouer Manasses shed also innocent bloud exceding much til he filled Ierusalem euen to the mouth: beside his sinnes, wherin he made Iuda to sinne, to doe euil before our Lord.

17   But the rest of the wordes of Manasses, and al that he did, and his sinne, which he sinned, are not these thinges written in the Booke of the wordes of the dayes of the kinges of Iuda?

18   And Manasses slept with

Amon. Iosias. his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Oza: and Amon his sonne reigned for him.

19   Two and twentie yeares old was Amon when he began to reigne: two yeares also he reigned in Ierusalem: the name of his mother was Messalemeth the daughter of Ieteba.

20   And he did euil in the sight of our Lord, as Manasses his father had done.

21   And he walked in al the way, by the which his father had walked: and he serued the filthes, which his father had serued, and he adored them,

22   and forsooke our Lord the God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of our Lord.

23   And his seruantes lay in wayte agaynst him, and slewe the king in his house.

24   But the people of the land stroke al them, that had conspired agaynst king Amon: and made Iosias his sonne their king for him.

25   But the rest of the wordes of Amon which he did, are not these writen in the Booke of the wordes of the dayes of the kinges of Iuda?

26   And they buried him in his sepulchre, in the garden of Oza: and Iosias his sonne reigned for him. Chap. XXII. Iosias repayreth the temple, and Diuine seruice. 8. The booke of law is found 11. Wherupon they consult our Lord, 15. and are foretold that much euil shal fal vpon them, 18. but the good king shal dye in peace.

1   Eight yeares old was Iosias when he began to reigne, he reigned one and thirtie yeares in Ierusalem: the name of his mother was Idida, the daughter of Hadaia of Besecath.

2   And he did that which was liked before our Lord, and walked in al the waies of Dauid his father: he declined not to the right hand, or to the lefte.

3   And in the eightenth yeare of king Iosias, the king sent Saphan the sonne of Aslia, the sonne of Messulam, the scribe of the temple of our Lord, saying to him:

4   Goe to Helcias the high priest, that the money may be gathered into a summe, which hath beene brought into the temple of our Lord, which the porters of the temple haue gathered of the people,

5   and let it be geuen to the workemen by the ouerseers of the house of our Lord: who also shal destribute it to them that worke in the temple of our Lord, to make the reparations of the temple:

6   that is, to the carpenters and masons, and to them that mend broken places: and that timber may be bought, and stones out of the quarries to repayre the temple of our Lord.

7   Yet let not

Iosias. the money which they receiue be accounted to them, but let them haue it in their powre, and vpon their fidelitie.

8   And Helcias the highe priest sayd to Saphan the scribe: I haue found the Booke of the law in the house of our Lord: and Helcias gaue the volume to Saphan, who also did reade it.

9   Saphan also the scribe came to the king, and reported vnto him that which he had commanded, and sayd: Thy seruantes haue gathered into a summe the money, which is found in the house of our Lord: and they haue geuen it to be destributed to the workemen, by the ouerseers of the workes of the temple of our Lord.

10   Saphan also the scribe told the king, saying: Helcias the priest hath geuen me a Booke. Which when Saphan had read before the king,

11   and the king had heard the wordes of the law of our Lord, he rent his garmentes.

12   And he willed Helcias the priest, and Ahicam the sonne of Saphan, and Achobor the sonne of Micha, and Saphan the Scribe, and Asaia the kinges seruant, saying:

13   Goe and consult our Lord for me, and for the people, and for al Iuda, concerning the wordes of this volume, which is found: for the great wrath of our Lord is kindled agaynst vs: because our fathers haue not heard the wordes of this Booke, to doe al that is writen for vs.

14   Helcias therfore the priest, and Ahicam, and Achabor, and Saphan, and Asaia went to Holda a prophetesse the wife of Sellum the sonne of Thecua, the sonne of Araas keeper of the garmentes, who dwelt in Ierusalem in the ^note second: and they spake to her.

15   And she answered them: Thus sayth our Lord the God of Israel: Tel the man, that sent you to me:

16   Thus sayth our Lord: Behold, I wil bring euils vpon this place, and vpon the inhabitantes therof, al the wordes of the law which the king of Iuda hath read:

17   because they haue forsaken me, and haue sacrificed to strange goddes, prouoking me in al the workes of their handes: and my indignation shal be kindled in this place, and shal not be quenched.

18   But to the king of Iuda, that sent you to consult our lord, thus you shal say: Thus sayth our Lord the God of Israel: For that thou hast heard the wordes of the volume,

19   and thy hart is striken with feare, and thou art humbled before the Lord, hearing the wordes agaynst this place, and the inhabitantes therof, to witte that they should become a wonder and a curse: and hast rent thy garmentes, and wept before me, and I haue

Iosias heard it, sayth our Lord:

20   therfore I wil gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy sepulchre in peace, that thy eies may not see al the euils, which I wil bring in vpon this place. Chap. XXIII. ^note Iosias reading the law before the people, they al promise to serue God. 4. Al thinges belonging to Idolatrie are cast forth of the temple, 8. and other places of Iuda. 15. He also destroyeth the altar in Bethel (not remouing the bones of a prophet) 19. and other altares in Samaria: killeth the false priestes. 21. And maketh a notorious great Pasch. 26. Yet God threatneth the captiuitie of Iuda for their sinnes. 29. Iosias is slaine in battle by the king of Ægypt: and his sonne Iochaz reigneth. VVho after three monethes is deposed by the king of Ægypt, and his brother Eliacim, henceforth called Ioakim, made king.

1   And they reported to the king that which she had sayd. Who sent: and al the ancientes of Iuda and Ierusalem were assembled to him.

2   And the king went vp to the temple of our Lord, and al the men of Iuda, and al that dwelt in Ierusalem with him priestes and prophetes, and al the people from litle to great: and in hearing of al he read al the wordes of the Booke of the couenant, which was found in the house of our Lord.

3   And the king stood vpon the steppe: and made a couenant with our Lord, to walke after our Lord, & kepe his preceptes, and testimonies and ceremonies, with al their hart, and with al their soule, and to performe the wordes of this couenant, which were writen in that booke: & the people agreed to the couenant:

4   And the king willed Helcias the high priest, & the priestes of the second order, & al the porters, that they should cast out of the temple of our Lord al the vessels, that had bene made to Baal, and in the groue, and to al the host of heauen: & he burnt them without Ierusalem in the Valley cedron, and caried the dust of them into Bethel.

5   And he destroyed the Southsayers, which the kinges of Iuda had appointed to sacrifice in the excelses in the cities of Iuda, and round about Ierusalem: and them that burnt incense to Baal, and to the Sunne, and to the Moone, and to the twelue signes, and to al the host of heauen.

6   And he caused the groue to be caried forth out of the house of our Lord without Ierusalem in the Valley cedron, & he burnt it there, and brought it into dust, and threw it vpon the sepulchres of the common people.

7   He destroyed also the litle houses of the effeminates,

Iosias. which were in the house of our Lord, for the which the wemen woue as it were litle houses of the groue.

8   And he gathered together al the priestes of the cities of Iuda: and he contaminated the excelses, where the priestes did sacrifice from Gabaa vnto Bersabee: and he destroyed the altars of the gates in the entrance of the doore of Iosue chief of the citie, which was on the left hand of the gate of the citie.

9   Howbeit the priestes ^note of the excelses went not vp to the altar of our Lord in Ierusalem: but only they did eate azimes in the middes of their brethren.

10   He contaminated also Topheth, which is in the Valley of the sonne of Ennom: that no man should consecrate his sonne or daughter by fyre to Moloch.

11   He tooke away also the horses, which the kinges of Iuda had geuen to the Sunne, in the entrance of the temple of our Lord, beside the chamber of Nathanmelech the eunuch, who was in Pharurim: and the chariotes of the Sunne he burnt with fire.

12   The altars also that were vpon the roofes of the vpper chamber of Achaz, which the kinges of Iuda had made, and the altars which Manasses had made in the two courtes of the temple of our Lord, the king destroyed: and he ranne from thence, and sprinkled the ashes of them into the Torrent cedron.

13   The excelses also that were in Ierusalem on the right side of the Mount of offence, which Salomon the king of Israel had built to Astaroth the idol of the Sidonians, and to Chamos the scandal of Moab, and to Melchom the abomination of the children of Ammon, the king destroyed.

14   And he brake in peces the statues, and cut downe the groues: and he filled their places with the bones of dead men.

15   Moreouer the altar also, that was in Bethel, and the excelse, which Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat had made, who made Israel to sinne: and that altar, and excelse he destroyed, and burnt, and brake into powder, and the groue also he burnt.

16   And Iosias turning, saw there sepulchres, that were in the mount: and he sent and tooke the bones out of the sepulchres, and burnt them vpon the altar, and polluted it according to the word of our Lord, which the man of God spake, who had foretold these thinges.

17   And he sayd: What title is that, which I see? And the citizens of that citie answered: It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Iuda, and foretold these thinges which thou hast done vpon the altar of Bethel.

18   And he sayd:

The Pasch of Iosias. Let him alone, let no man moue his bones. And his bones remayned vntouched with the bones of the prophet, that came out of Samaria.

19   Moreouer al the temples of the excelses, which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kinges of Israel had made to prouoke our Lord, Iosias tooke away: and he did to them according to al the workes, which he had done in Bethel.

20   And he slew al the priestes of the excelses, that were there vpon the altars: and he burnt mens bones vpon them: & turned into Ierusalem.

21   And he commanded al the people, saying: Make a Phase to our Lord your God, according as it is writen in the booke of this couenant.

22   For ^notethere was not such a Phase made from the daies of the Iudges, which iudged Israel, and of al the daies of the kinges of Israel, and of the kinges of Iuda,

23   as in the eightenth yeare of king Iosias this Phase was made to our Lord in Ierusalem.

24   Yea and the Pythones, and Southsayers, and the images of idols, and the filthes, and the abominations, that had bene in the land of Iuda and Ierusalem, Iosias tooke away: that he might establish the wordes of the law, that were writen in the Booke, which Helcias the priest found in the temple of our Lord.

25   There was no king before him like to him, that returned to our Lord in al his hart, & in al his soule, and in al his powre according to al the law of Moyses neither after him did there arise the like to him.

26   But yet our Lord was not auerted from the wrath of his great furie, wherwith his furie was wrath agaynst Iuda: for the prouocations, wherwith ^noteManasses had prouoked him.

27   Our Lord therfore sayd Iuda also wil I take away from my face, as I haue taken away Israel: and I wil reiect this citie, which I chose Ierusalem, and the house, wherof I sayd: My name shal be there.

28   But the rest of the wordes of Iosias, and al that he did, are not these thinges writen in the Booke of the wordes of the daies of the kinges of Iuda?

29   In his dayes came vp Pharao Nechao the king of Ægypt, agaynst the king of Assyrians to the riuer Euphrates: and Iosias the king went to meete him: and was slaine in Mageddo, when he had seene him.

30   And his seruantes caried him dead from Mageddo: & they brought him into Ierusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre. And the people of the land tooke Ioachaz the sonne of Iosias: and they anoynted him, and made him king for his father.

31   Three and twentie yeares old was Ioachaz when he began to reigne, and

Ioachaz. Ioakim. he reigned three monethes in Ierusalem: the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Ieremie of Lobna.

32   And he did euil before our Lord, according to al thinges which his fathers had done.

33   And Pharao Nechao bound him in Rebla, which is in the land Emath, that he should not reigne in Ierusalem: and he sette a penaltie vpon the land, an hundred talentes of siluer, and a talent of gold.

34   And Pharao Nechao made Eliacim king the sonne of Iosias, for Iosias his father: and turned his name Ioakim. Moreouer he tooke Ioachaz and brought him into Ægypt, and he died there.

35   And Ioakim gaue the siluer and the gold to Pharao, when he had taxed the land vpon euerie man, that it might be payd according to the precept of Pharao: and he exacted of euerie man according to his abilitie, as wel siluer as gold of the people of the land: to geue vnto Pharao Nechao.

36   Fiue and twentie yeares old was Ioakim, when he begau to reigne: and he reigned eleuen yeares in Ierusalem: the name of his mother was zebida the daughter of Phadaia of Ruma.

37   And he did euil before our Lord according to al thinges, which his fathers had done. Chap. XXIIII. Ioakim serueth the king of Babylon three yeares. 2. Manie rouers infest his countrie. 5. He dieth, and his sonne Ioachim reigneth 10. The king of Babylon carieth king Ioachim, and al the chief persones, and treasures into Babylon, 17. appointing Matthanias, whom he nameth Sedecias, king of Iuda. 20. VVho reuolteth from the king of Babylon.

1   In his daies came vp Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, and Ioakim was made his seruant three yeares: and he rebelled agaynst him againe.

2   And our Lord senr in vpon him the rouers of the Chaldees, and the rouers of Syria, and the rouers of Moab, & the rouers of the children of Ammon: and he sent them into Iuda, to destroy it, according to the word of our Lord, which he had spoken by his seruantes the prophetes.

3   And this by the word of our Lord was done against Iuda, to take it away before him for al the sinnes of Manasses which he did,

4   and for the innocent bloud, that he had shed, & filled Ierusalem with the bloud of innocentes: & for this thing God would not be made propitious.

5   But the rest of the wordes of Ioakim, and al that he did, are not these thinges writen in the Booke of the wordes of the daies of

Ioachin. Sedecias. the kinges of Iuda? And Ioakim ^note slept with his fathers:

6   and Ioachin his sonne reigned for him.

7   And the king of Ægypt added no more to come out of his countrie: for the king of Babylon had taken al that had beene the kinges of Ægypt, from the riuer of Ægypt, vnto the riuer Euphrates.

8   Eightene yeares old was Ioachin when he began to reigne, and he reigned three monethes in Ierusalem: the name of his mother was Nohesta the daughter of Elnathan of Ierusalem.

9   And he did euil before our Lord, according to al thinges which his father had done.

10   At that time came vp the seruantes of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon into Ierusalem, and the citie was compassed with fortes.

11   And Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon came to the citie with his seruantes to assault it.

12   And Ioachin the king of Iuda went forth to the king of Babylon, he and his mother, and his seruantes, and his nobles, and his eunuches: and the king of Babylon receiued him the eight yeare of his reigne.

13   And he brought forth from thence al the treasures of the house of our Lord, and the treasures of the kinges house: and he cut in peces al the golden vessel, which Salomon the king of Israel had made in the temple of our Lord, according to the word of our Lord.

14   And he transported al Ierusalem, and al the princes, and al the strong men of the armie, ten thousand into captiuitie: and euerie artificer and incloser: and nothing was left, sauing the poore sorte of the people of the land.

15   He transported also Ioachin into Babylon, and the kinges mother, and the kinges wiues, and his eunuches: and the iudges of the land he led into captiuitie from Ierusalem into Babylon.

16   And al the strong men, seuen thousand, and the artificers, and inclosers a thousand, al valiant men and warries: and the king of Babylon led them captiues into Babylon.

17   And he appointed Matthanias his vncle for him: and called his name Sedecias.

18   One and twentie yeares old was Sedecias when he began to reigne, and he reigned eleuen yeares in Ierusalem: the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Ieremie of Lobna,

19   And he did euil before our Lord, according to al thinges which Ioakim had done.

20   For our Lord was wrath against Ierusalem and against Iuda, til he cast them away from his face: and Sedecias ^note reuolted from the king of Babylon.

Sedecias Chap. XXV. Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon beseiging Ierusalem two yeares, the souldiars pre&esset;ed with famine flee away. King Sedecias also fleeth, 5. is taken and brought before Nabuchodonosor. 7. Al his sonnes are slaine in his sight: his eyes are put out, and he is caried into Babylon: the Temple, the kinges palace, and other houses burned; the walles destroyed, the people caried captiue 12. except poore husbandmen. 13. Al ve&esset;el of bra&esset;e, siluer, and gold broken and transported. 18. Saraias high priest, and other principal men are slaine. 22. Godolias made gouernernour, 25. is slaine by Ismael. 27. Ioachin is deliuered from prison, and exalted by a new king of Babylon.

1   And it came to passe in the ninthe yeare of his reigne, the tenth moneth, the tenth day of the moneth, came Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, himselfe and al his armie vnto Ierusalem, and they besette it: and built rampires rond about it.

2   And the citie was shut vp & trenched about vntil the eleuenth yeare of king Sedecias,

3   the ninth day of the moneth: and there was a sore famine in the citie, neither was there bread for the people of the land

4   And a breach was made into the citie: and al the men of warre fled in the night by the way of the gate, which is betwen the duble wal toward the kinges garden (moreouer the Chaldees besieged the citie round about) Sedecias therfore fled by the way, that leadeth to the champayne of the wildernes.

5   And the armie of the Chaldees pursewed the king, and ouertooke him in the plaine of Iericho: and al the warriers, that were with him, were dispersed, and forsooke him.

6   They therfore hauing taken the king, brought him to the king of Babylon into Reblatha, who spake iudgement with him.

7   And he slewe the sonnes of Sedecias before his face, and he ^note put out his eies, and bound him with cheynes, and ^note brought him into Babylon.

8   The fifth moneth, the seuenth day of the moneth, that is, the ninetenth yeare of the king of Babylon, came Nabuzardan the General of the armie, the seruant of the king of Babylon into Ierusalem.

9   And he burnt the house, of our Lord, the kings house, and the houses of Ierusalem, & euerie house he burnt with fyre.

10   And al the armie of the Chaldees, which was with the General of the souldiars, destroyed the walles of Ierusalem round about.

11   And Nabuzardan the General of the armie, transported the remnant of the people that remained in the citie, and the fugitiues, that were fled to the

Iuda captiue in Babylon. king of Babylon, and the rest of the comon people.

12   And of the poore of the land he leift dressers of vineyardes and husbandmen.

13   And the brasen pillers, that were in the temple of our Lord, and the feete, and the sea of brasse, which was in the house of our Lord, the Chaldees brake, and transported al the brasse into Babylon.

14   The pottes also of brasse, and masars, and forkes with three teeth, and cuppes, and litle mortars, and al the vessel of brasse, in the which they ministred, they tooke away.

15   Moreouer also the censars, and phials: those that were of gold: and that were of siluer the General of the warfare tooke,

16   that is, two pillers, one sea, and the feete which Salomon had made in the temple of our Lord: there was ^note no weight of the brasse of al the vessels.

17   One piller had eightene cubites in height: and the litle head of brasse vpon it was three cubites in height: and the nette, and the pomegranates vpon the litle head of the piller, al of brasse: the second also had the like adorning.

18   Also the general of the armie tooke Saraias the chiefe priest, and Sophonias the second priest, and three porters.

19   And of the citie one Eunuch, which was captayne ouer the men of warre: and fiue men of them, that wayted before the king, whom he found in the citie, and Sopher the captaine of the armie who proued the yong souldiars of the people of the land: and threescore men of the common people, which were found in the citie.

20   Whom Nabuzardan the General of the armie taking, brought them to the king of Babylon into Reblatha.

21   And the king of Babylon stroke them, and slew them in Reblatha in the land of Emath: and Iuda was transported out of their land.

22   And he made Godolias the sonne of Ahicam the sonne of Saphan Gouernour ouer the people, that was leift in the land of Iuda, which Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon had leift.

23   Which when al the captaynes of the souldiars had heard, they and the men that were with them, to witte, that the king of Babylon had appoynted Godolias, there came to Godolias into Maspha Ismael the sonne of Mathanias, and Iohanan the sonne of Carée, and the Saraia the sonne of Thanehumeth a Netophathite, and Iezonias the sonne of Maachathi, they and their felowes.

24   And Godolias sware to them and to their companions, saying: Be not afrayd to serue the Caldees: tarie in the countrie, and serue the king of Babylon, and it shal be wel with you.

25   But

Ioachin exalted. it came to passe in the seuenth moneth, there came Ismahel the sonne of Nathanias, the sonne of Elisama of the kinges seede, and ten men with him: and stroke Godolias, who also died: yea the Iewes also & the Chaldees, that were with him in Maspha.

26   And al the people rysing vp from litle to great, & the captaynes of the souldiars, came into Ægypt fearing the Caldees.

27   But it came to passe in the seuen and thirteth yeare of the Transmigration of Ioachin the king of Iuda, in the twelfth moneth, the seuen and twenteth day of the moneth: Euilmerodach the king of Babylon, in the yeare, that he began to reigne, ^note lifted vp the head of Ioachin the king of Iuda out of prison.

28   And he spake vnto him courteously: and he sette his throne aboue the throne of the kinges, that were with him in Babylon.

29   And he changed his garmentes, which he had in the prison, and he did eate bread alwayes in his sight, al the dayes of his life.

30   A certayne prouision also he appointed for him without intermission, which was also geuen him of the king day by day, al the daies of his life.

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