Page images
PDF
EPUB

And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael, all their days. And Jehoahaz besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened unto him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.

(And the Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before time.

Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin, but walked therein: and there remained the grove also in Samaria.)

Neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like the dust by threshing. And when Jehoahaz had reigned seven years, he died and was buried in Samaria. JEHOASH (called also JoASH) the son of Jehoahaz, reigned in the stead of his father.

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin; but he walked therein.

And Joash slept with his fathers: and Jeroboam sat upon his throne: and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. Sixteen years reigned he over Israel.

JEROBOAM the son of Jehoash reigned after his father. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. And when he had reigned

forty and one years he died.

:

ZACHARIAH the son of Jeroboam reigned next over Israel and he did evil before the Lord as his fathers had done; and when he had reigned six months, Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him and slew him.

SHALLUM having slain Zachariah, reigned in his stead one month in Samaria; then Menahem the son of Gadi slew him.

MENAHEM reigned in the stead of Shallum.

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: he departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

In his reign Pul, king of Assyria, came out against Israel: but Menahem gave him a thousand talents of silver,

and he turned back again. Menahem reigned ten years in Samaria, and then he slept with his fathers.

PEKAHIAH the son of Menahem reigned in his stead; but Pekah, one of his captains, conspired against him, and slew him.

PEKAH having slain Pekahiah, reigned in his stead. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, like the kings that were before him.

In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-bethmaaonoh, and Janoah, and Kadesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphthali, and carried them captive to Assyria.

And HOSHEA the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him when he had reigned twenty years.

LESSON CXIII. 2 KINGS, CHAP. XVII. XVIII.

HOSHEA having slain Pekah, reigned in his stead; and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.

Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.

Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods;

And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right, against the Lord their God, and they built

them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:

And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them: and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger: for they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.

Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the necks of their fathers, that did not believe. in the Lord their God.

And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them: and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.

And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divinations and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry. with Israel, and removed them out of their own land.

And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.

And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them which slew some of them.

Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold

they slay them; because they know not the manner of the God of the land.

Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence: and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.

Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria, came and dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear the Lord. Howbeit, every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.

So the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said, by all his servants the prophets: so Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria, when Hoshea had reigned over them nine years.

THE KINGS OF JUDAH.

LESSON CXIV. 1 KINGS, 2 CHRONICLES.

THESE are the twenty kings who reigned over Judah after the kingdom which Solomon governed was divided into two kingdoms.

REHOBOAM, the son of Solomon, reigned in Judah: he was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel to place his name there.

But Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed above all that their fathers had done.

For they also built them high places, and images, and groves on every high hill, and under every green tree. They did according to all the abominations of the nations, which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.

And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem : and he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord; and the treasures of the king's house; he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? and he slept with his fathers:

And ABIJAM his son reigned in his stead. Three years he reigned in Jerusalem; and he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father.

Nevertheless for David's sake did the Lord his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem: Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him, all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

ASA, the son of Abijam, reigned in his stead: he began to reign in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, king of Israel.

And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father. And he removed all the idols: and removed his mother Maachah from being queen, because she made an idol in the grove.

But the high places were not removed; nevertheless, Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days.-Forty and one years reigned Asa in Jerusalem. And there was

war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

JEHOSHAPHAT, the son of Asa, reigned in his stead; he began to reign in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.

And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father: he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord: nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; for the people offered burnt incense yet in high places.

And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel. And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. Twenty and five years reigned he in Jerusalem.

JEHORAM, the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah reigned in the stead of his father. In the fifth year of the reign of Joram king of Israel, did Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign.

And he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab; for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord.

Howbeit the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a light to him and to his sons

« PreviousContinue »