Joel · Jehoahaz to Jeroboam II

Joel 3 WEB

¹“For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, ²I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment on them there for my people, and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided my land, ³and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink. ⁴“Yes, and what are you to me, Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you repay me? And if you repay me, I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head. ⁵Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my finest treasures into your temples, ⁶and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their border. ⁷Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head; ⁸and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a faraway nation, for the LORD has spoken it.” ⁹Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up. ¹⁰Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ¹¹Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together.” Cause your mighty ones to come down there, LORD. ¹²“Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. ¹³Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.” ¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. ¹⁵The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. ¹⁶The LORD will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but the LORD will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel. ¹⁷“So you will know that I am the LORD, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more. ¹⁸It will happen in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters; and a fountain will flow out from the LORD’s house, and will water the valley of Shittim. ¹⁹Egypt will be a desolation and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. ²⁰But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. ²¹I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed, for the LORD dwells in Zion.”

2 Kings 13–14 WEB

^13:1In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria for seventeen years. ²He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. He didn’t depart from it. ³The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael, continually. ⁴Jehoahaz begged the LORD, and the LORD listened to him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them. ⁵(The LORD gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel lived in their tents as before. ⁶Nevertheless they didn’t depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin, but walked in them; and the Asherah also remained in Samaria.) ⁷For he didn’t leave to Jehoahaz of the people any more than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria destroyed them and made them like the dust in threshing. ⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ⁹Jehoahaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria; and Joash his son reigned in his place. ¹⁰In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria for sixteen years. ¹¹He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight. He didn’t depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin; but he walked in them. ¹²Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ¹³Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat on his throne. Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. ¹⁴Now Elisha became sick with the illness of which he died; and Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over him, and said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” ¹⁵Elisha said to him, “Take bow and arrows;” and he took bow and arrows for himself. ¹⁶He said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow;” and he put his hand on it. Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. ¹⁷He said, “Open the window eastward;” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” and he shot. He said, “The LORD’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Syria; for you will strike the Syrians in Aphek until you have consumed them.” ¹⁸He said, “Take the arrows;” and he took them. He said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground;” and he struck three times, and stopped. ¹⁹The man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck Syria until you had consumed it, but now you will strike Syria just three times.” ²⁰Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. ²¹As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a band of raiders; and they threw the man into Elisha’s tomb. As soon as the man touched Elisha’s bones, he revived, and stood up on his feet. ²²Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. ²³But the LORD was gracious to them, and had compassion on them, and favored them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them and he didn’t cast them from his presence as yet. ²⁴Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his place. ²⁵Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Joash struck him three times, and recovered the cities of Israel.

^14:1In the second year of Joash, son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah began to reign. ²He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. ³He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, yet not like David his father. He did according to all that Joash his father had done. ⁴However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. ⁵As soon as the kingdom was established in his hand, he killed his servants who had slain the king his father, ⁶but the children of the murderers he didn’t put to death, according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, as the LORD commanded, saying, “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin.” ⁷He killed ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela by war, and called its name Joktheel, to this day. ⁸Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let’s look one another in the face.” ⁹Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife.’ Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by, and trampled down the thistle. ¹⁰You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy the glory of it, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to your harm, that you fall, even you, and Judah with you?” ¹¹But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. ¹²Judah was defeated by Israel; and each man fled to his tent. ¹³Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh and came to Jerusalem, then broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits. ¹⁴He took all the gold and silver and all the vessels that were found in the LORD’s house and in the treasures of the king’s house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria. ¹⁵Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ¹⁶Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place. ¹⁷Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, fifteen years. ¹⁸Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ¹⁹They made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there. ²⁰They brought him on horses, and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in David’s city. ²¹All the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. ²²He built Elath and restored it to Judah. After that the king slept with his fathers. ²³In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria for forty-one years. ²⁴He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight. He didn’t depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. ²⁵He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to the LORD, the God of Israel’s word, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath Hepher. ²⁶For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter for all, slave and free; and there was no helper for Israel. ²⁷The LORD didn’t say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under the sky; but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash. ²⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, for Israel, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ²⁹Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.