The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 12: 4 Kings

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9:26. If I do not requite thee in this field, saith the Lord, for the
blood of Naboth, and for the blood of his children, which I saw
yesterday, saith the Lord. So now take him, and cast him into the field,
according to the word of the Lord.

9:27. But Ochozias, king of Juda, seeing this, fled by the way of the
garden house: and Jehu pursued him, and said: Strike him also in his
chariot. And they struck him in the going up to Gaver, which is by
Jeblaam: and he fled into Mageddo, and died there.

9:28. And his servants laid him upon his chariot, and carried him to
Jerusalem: and they buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers, in the
city of David.

9:29. In the eleventh year of Joram, the son of Achab, Ochozias reigned
over Juda;

9:30. And Jehu came into Jezrahel. But Jezabel, hearing of his coming
in, painted her face with stibic stone, and adorned her head, and looked
out of a window.

9:31. At Jehu coming in at the gate, and said: Can there be peace for
Zambri, that hath killed his master?

9:32. And Jehu lifted up his face to the window, and said: Who is this?
And two or three eunuchs bowed down to him.

9:33. And he said to them: Throw her down headlong; And they threw her
down, and the wall was sprinkled with her blood, and the hoofs of the
horses trod upon her.

9:34. And when he was come in to eat, and to drink, he said: Go, and see
after that cursed woman, and bury her; because she is a king's daughter.

9:35. And when they went to bury her, they found nothing but the skull,
and the feet, and the extremities of her hands.

9:36. And coming back they told him. And Jehu said: It is the word of
the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elias, the Thesbite, saying: In
the field of Jezrahel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezabel.

9:37. And the flesh of Jezabel shall be as dung upon the face of the
earth in the field of Jezrahel; so that they who pass by shall say: Is
this that same Jezabel?

4 Kings Chapter 10

Jehu destroyeth the house of Achab: abolisheth the worship of Baal, and
killeth the worshippers: but sticketh to the calves of Jeroboam. Israel
is afflicted by the Syrians.

10:1. And Achab had seventy sons in Samaria: so Jehu wrote letters, and
sent to Samaria, to the chief men of the city, and to the ancients, and
to them that brought up Achab's children, saying:

10:2. As soon as you receive these letters, ye that have your master's
sons, and chariots, and horses, and fenced cities, and armour,

10:3. Choose the best, and him that shall please you most of your
master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for the
house of your master.

10:4. But they were exceedingly afraid, and said: Behold two kings could
not stand before him, and how shall we be able to resist?

10:5. Therefore they that were over the king's house, and the rulers of
the city, and the ancients, and the bringers up of the children, sent to
Jehu, saying: We are thy servants: whatsoever thou shalt command us we
will do; we will not make us any king: do thou all that pleaseth thee.

10:6. And he wrote letters the second time to them, saying: If you be
mine, and will obey me, take the heads of the sons of your master, and
come to me to Jezrahel by tomorrow at this time. Now the king's sons,
being seventy men, were brought up with the chief men of the city.

10:7. And when the letters came to them, they took the king's sons, and
slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to
him to Jezrahel.

10:8. And a messenger came, and told him, saying: They have brought the
heads of the king's sons. And he said: Lay ye them in two heaps by the
entering in of the gate until the morning.

10:9. And when it was light, he went out, and standing, said to all the
people: You are just: if I conspired against my master, and slew him;
who hath slain all these?

10:10. See therefore now that there hath not fallen to the ground any of
the words of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of
Achab, and the Lord hath done that which he spoke in the hand of his
servant Elias.

10:11. So Jehu slew all that were left of the honse of Achab in
Jezrahel, and all his chief men, and his friends, and his priests, till
there were no remains left of him.

10:12. And he arose, and went to Samaria: and when he was come to the
shepherds' cabin in the way,

10:13. He met with the brethren of Ochozias, king of Juda, and he said
to them: Who are you? And they answered: We are the brethren of
Ochozias, and are come down to salute the sons of the king, and the sons
of the queen.

10:14. And he said: Take them alive. And they took them alive, and
killed them at the pit by the cabin, two and forty men, and he left not
any of them.

10:15. And when he was departed thence, he found Jonadab, the son of
Rechab, coming to meet him, and he blessed him. And he said to him: Is
thy heart right as my heart is with thy heart? And Jonadab said: It is.
If it be, said he, give me thy hand. He gave him his hand. And he lifted
him up to him into the chariot,

10:16. And said to him: Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. So
he made him ride in his chariot,

10:17. And brought him into Samaria. And he slew all that were left of
Achab, in Samaria, to a man, according to the word of the Lord which he
spoke by Elias.

10:18. And Jehu gathered together all the people, and said to them:
Achab worshipped Baal a little, but I will worship him more.

I will worship him more... Jehu sinned in thus pretending to worship
Baal, and causing sacrifice to be offered to him: because evil is not to
be done, that good may come of it. Rom. 3.8.

10:19. Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, and all his
servants, and all his priests: let none be wanting, for I have a great
sacrifice to offer to Baal: whosoever shall be wanting, shall not live.
Now Jehu did this craftily, that he might destroy the worshippers of
Baal.

10:20. And he said: Proclaim a festival for Baal. And he called,

10:21. And he sent into all the borders of Israel; and all the servants
of Baal came: there was not one left that did not come. And they went
into the temple of Baal: and the house of Baal was filled, from one end
to the other.

10:22. And he said to them that were over the wardrobe: Bring forth
garments for all the servants of Baal. And they brought them forth
garments.

10:23. And Jehu, and Jonadab, the son of Rechab, went to the temple of
Baal, and said to the worshippers of Baal: Search, and see that there be
not any with you of the servants of the Lord, but that there be the
servants of Baal only.

10:24. And they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings: but
Jehu had prepared him fourscore men without, and said to them: If any of
the men escape, whom I have brought into your hands, he that letteth him
go, shall answer life for life.

10:25. And it came to pass, when the burnt offering was ended, that Jehu
commanded his soldiers and captains, saying: Go in, and kill them: let
none escape. And the soldiers and captains slew them with the edge of
the sword, and cast them out: and they went into the city of the temple
of Baal,

10:26. And brought the statue out of Baal's temple, and burnt it,

10:27. And broke it in pieces. They destroyed also the temple of Baal,
and made a jakes in its place unto this day.

10:28. So Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel:

10:29. But yet he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of
Nabat, who made Israel to sin, nor did he forsake the golden calves that
were in Bethel, and Dan.

10:30. And the Lord said to Jehu: because thou hast diligently executed
that which was right and pleasing in my eyes, and hast done to the house
of Achab according to all that was in my heart: thy children shall sit
upon the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.

10:31. But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of
Israel, with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of
Jeroboam, who had made Israel to sin.

10:32. In those days the Lord began to be weary of Israel: and Hazael
ravaged them in all the coasts of Israel,

10:33. From the Jordan eastward, all the land of Galaad, and Gad, and
Ruben, and Manasses, from Aroer, which is upon the torrent Arnon, and
Galaad, and Basan.

10:34. But the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and his
strength, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of
the kings of Israel?

10:35. And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria:
and Joachaz, his son, reigned in his stead.

10:36. And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel, in Samaria, was eight
and twenty years.

4 Kings 11

Athalia's usurpation and tyranny. Joas is made king. Athalia is slain.

11:1. Now Athalia, the mother of Ochozias, seeing that her son was dead,
arose and slew all the royal seed.

11:2. But Josaba the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ochozias, took
Joas, the son of Ochozias, and stole him from among the king's sons that
were slain, out of the bedchamber with his nurse: and hid him from the
face of Athalia; so that he was not slain.

11:3. And he was with her six years, hid in the house of the Lord. And
Athalia reigned over the land.

11:4. And in the seventh year Joiada sent, and taking the centurions and
soldiers, brought them in to him into the temple of the Lord, and made a
covenant with them: and taking an oath of them in the house of the Lord,
shewed them the king's son:

11:5. And he commanded them, saying: This is the thing that you must do.

11:6. Let a third part of you go in on the sabbath, and keep the watch
of the king's house. And let a third part be at the gate of Sur; and let
a third part be at the gate behind the dwelling of the shieldbearers;
and you shall keep the watch of the house of Messa.

11:7. But let two parts of you all that go forth on the sabbath, keep
the watch of the house of the Lord about the king.

11:8. And you shall compass him round about, having weapons in your
hands: and if any man shall enter the precinct of the temple, let him be
slain: and you shall be with the king, coming in and going out.

11:9. And the centurions did according to all things that Joiada the
priest, had commanded them: and takiug every one their men, that went in
on the sabbath, with them that went out in the sabbath, came to Joiada,
the priest.

11:10. And he gave them the spears, and the arms of king David, which
were in the house of the Lord.

11:11. And they stood, having every one their weapons in their hands,
from the right side of the temple, unto the left side of the altar, and
of the temple, about the king.

11:12. And he brought forth the king's son, and put the diadem upon him,
and the testimony: and they made him king, and anointed him: and
clapping their hands, they said: God save the king.

The testimony... The book of the law.

11:13. And Athalia heard the noise of the people running: and going in
to the people into the temple of the Lord,

11:14. She saw the king standing upon a tribunal, as the manner was, and
the singers, and the trumpets near him, and all the people of the land
rejoicing, and sounding the trumpets: and she rent her garments, and
cried: A conspiracy, a conspiracy.

A tribunal... A tribune, or a place elevated above the rest.

11:15. But Joiada commanded the centurions that were over the army, and
said to them: Have her forth without the precinct of the temple, and
whosoever shall follow her, let him be slain with the sword. For the
priest had said: Let her not be slain in the temple of the Lord.

11:16. And they laid hands on her: and thrust her out by the way by
which the horses go in, by the palace, and she was slain there.

11:17. And Joiada made a covenant between the Lord, and the king, and
the people, that they should be the people of the Lord; and between the
king and the people.

11:18. And all the people of the land went into the temple of Baal, and
broke down his altars, and his images they broke in pieces thoroughly:
they slew also Mathan the priest of Baal before the altar. And the
priest set guards in the house of the Lord.

11:19. And he took the centurions, and the bands of the Cerethi, and the
Phelethi, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king from
the house of the Lord: and they came by the way of the gate of the
shieldbearers into the palace, and he sat on the throne of the kings.

11:20. And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet:
but Athalia was slain with the sword in the king's house.

11:21. Now Joas was seven years old when he began to reign.

4 Kings Chapter 12

The temple is repaired. Hazael is bought off from attacking Jerusalem.
Joas is slain.

12:1. In the seventh year of Jehu, Joas began to reign: and he reigned
forty years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Sebia, of Bersabee.

12:2. And Joas did that which was right before the Lord all the days
that Joiada, the priest, taught him.

12:3. But yet he took not away the high places: for the people still
sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

12:4. And Joas said to the priests: all the money of the sanctified
things, which is brought into the temple of the Lord by those that pass,
which is offered for the price of a soul, and which of their own accord,
and of their own free heart, they bring into the temple of the Lord:

Sanctified... That is, dedicated to God's service.-Ibid. The price of a
soul... That is, the ordinary oblation, which every soul was to offer by
the law. Ex. 30.

12:5. Let the priests take it according to their order and repair the
house, wheresoever they shall see any thing that wanteth repairing.

12:6. Now till the three and twentieth year of king Joas the priests did
not make the repairs of the temple.

12:7. And king Joas called Joiada, the high priest, and the priests,
saying to them: Why do you not repair the temple? Take you, therefore,
money no more according to your order, but restore it for the repairing
of the temple.

12:8. And the priests were forbidden to take any more money of the
people, and to make the repairs of the house.

12:9. And Joiada, the high priest, took a chest, and bored a hole in the
top, and set it by the altar at the right hand of them that came into
the house of the Lord; and the priests that kept the doors, put therein
all the money that was brought to the temple of the Lord.

12:10. And when they saw that there was very much money in the chest,
the king's scribe, and the high priest, came up, and poured it out, and
counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord.

12:11. And they gave it out by number and measure into the hands of them
that were over the builders of the house of the Lord: and they laid it
out to the carpenters, and the masons, that wrought in the house of the
Lord,

12:12. And made the repairs: and to them that cut stones, and to buy
timber, and stones to be hewed, that the repairs of the house of the
Lord might be completely finished, and wheresoever there was need of
expenses to uphold the house.

12:13. But there were not made of the same money for the temple of the
Lord, bowls, or fleshhooks, or censers, or trumpets, or any vessel of
gold and silver, of the money that was brought into the temple of the
Lord:

12:14. For it was given to them that did the work, that the temple of
the Lord might be repaired.

12:15. And they reckoned not with the men that received the money to
distribute it to the workmen, but they bestowed it faithfully.

12:16. But the money for trespass, and the money for sins, they brought
not into the temple of the Lord, because it was for the priests.

12:17. Then Hazael, king of Syria, went up, and fought against Geth, and
took it, and set his face to go up to Jerusalem.

12:18. Wherefore Joas, king of Juda, took all the sanctified things,
which Josaphat, and Joram, and Ochozias, his fathers, the kings of Juda,
had dedicated to holy uses, and which he himself had offered: and all
the silver that could be found in the treasures of the temple of the
Lord, and in the king's palace: and sent it to Hazael, king of Syria,
and he went off from Jerusalem.

12:19. And the rest of the acts of Joas, and all that he did, are they
not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?

12:20. And his servants arose, and conspired among themselves, and slew
Joas, in the house of Mello, in the descent of Sella.

12:21. For Josachar the son of Semaath, and Jozabad the son of Somer his
servant, struck him, and he died: and they buried him with his fathers
in the city of David; and Amasias, his son, reigned in his stead.

The city of David... He was buried in the same city with his fathers,
but not in the sepulchres of the kings. 2 Par. 14.

4 Kings Chapter 13

The reign of Joachaz and of Joas kings of Israel. The last acts and
death of Eliseus the prophet: a dead man is raised to life by the touch
of his bones.

13:1. In the three and twentieth year of Joas son of Ochozias, king of
Juda, Joachaz, the son of Jehu, reigned over Israel, in Samaria,
seventeen years.

13:2. And he did evil before the Lord, and followed the sins of
Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin; and he departed not
from them.

13:3. And the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he
delivered them into the hand of Hazael, the king of Syria, and into the
hand of Benadad, the son of Hazael, all days.

13:4. But Joachaz besought the face of the Lord, and the Lord heard him:
for he saw the distress of Israel, because the king of Syria had
oppressed them:

13:5. And the Lord gave Israel a saviour, and they were delivered out of
the hand of the king of Syria: and the children of Israel dwelt in their
pavilions as yesterday and the day before.

13:6. But yet they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam,
who made Israel to sin, but walked in them: and there still remained a
grove also in Samaria.

A grove... Dedicated to the worship of idols.

13:7. And Joachaz had no more left of the people than fifty horsemen,
and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen: for the king of Syria had
slain them, and had brought them low as dust by threshing in the
barnfloor.

13:8. But the rest of the acts of Joachaz, and all that he did, and his
valour, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the
kings of Israel?

13:9. And Joachaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in
Samaria: and Joas, his son, reigned in his stead.

13:10. In the seven and thirtieth year of Joas, king of Juda, Joas the
son of Joachaz reigned over Israel, in Samaria, sixteen years.

13:11. And he did that which is evil in the sight of the Lord: he
departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made
Israel to sin; but he walked in them.

13:12. But the rest of the acts of Joas, and all that he did, and his
valour wherewith he fought against Amasias, king of Juda, are they not
written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

13:13. And Joas slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat upon his
throne. But Joas was buried in Samaria, with the kings of Israel.

13:14. Now Eliseus was sick of the illness whereof he died: and Joas,
king of Israel, went down to him, and wept before him, and said: O my
father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the guider thereof.

13:15. And Eliseus said to him: Bring a bow and arrows. And when he had
brought him a bow and arrows,

13:16. He said to the king of Israel: Put thy hand upon the bow. And
when he had put his hand, Eliseus put his hands over the king's hands,

13:17. And said: Open the window to the east. And when he had opened it,
Eliseus said: Shoot an arrow. And he shot. And Eliseus said: The arrow
of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of the deliverance from Syria:
and thou shalt strike the Syrians in Aphec, till thou consume them.

13:18. And he said: Take the arrows. And when he had taken them, he said
to him: Strike with an arrow upon the ground. And he struck three times,
and stood still.

13:19. And the man of God was angry with him, and said: If thou hadst
smitten five or six or seven times, thou hadst smitten Syria even to
utter destruction: but now three times shalt thou smite it.

If thou hadst smitten, etc... By this it appears that God had revealed
to the prophet that the king should overcome the Syrians as many times
as he should then strike on the ground; but as he had not at the same
time revealed to him how often the king would strike, the prophet was
concerned to see that he struck but thrice.

13:20. And Eliseus died, and they buried him. And the rovers from Moab
came into the land the same year.

13:21. And some that were burying a man, saw the rovers, and cast the
body into the sepulchre of Eliseus. And when it had touched the bones
of Eliseus, the man came to life and stood upon his feet.

13:22. Now Hazael, king of Syria, afflicted Israel all the days of
Joachaz.

13:23. And the Lord had mercy on them, and returned to them, because of
his covenant, which he had made with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob: and
he would not destroy them, nor utterly cast them away, unto this present
time.

13:24. And Hazael, king of Syria, died; and Benadad, his son, reigned in
his stead.

13:25. Now Joas the son of Joachaz, took the cities out of the hand of
Benadad, the son of Hazael, which he had taken out of the hand of
Joachaz, his father, by war; three times did Joas beat him, and he
restored the cities to Israel.

4 Kings Chapter 14

Amasias reigneth in Juda: he overcometh the Edomites: but is overcome by
Joas king of Israel. Jereboam the second reigneth in Israel.

14:1. In the second year of Joas son of Joachaz, king of Israel, reigned
Amasias son of Joas, king of Juda.

14:2. He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign; and nine
and twenty years he reigned in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was
Joadan, of Jerusalem.

14:3. And he did that which was right before the Lord, but yet not like
David his father. He did according to all things that Joas his father,
did:

14:4. But this only, that he took not away the high places; for yet the
people sacrificed, and burnt incense in the high places:

14:5. And when he had possession of the kingdom, he put his servants to
death that had slain the king, his father.

14:6. But the children of the murderers he did not put to death,
according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses,
wherein the Lord commanded, saying: The fathers shall not be put to
death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for
the fathers: but every man shall die for his own sin.

14:7. He slew of Edom in the valley of the Saltpits, ten thousand men,
and took the rock by war, and called the name thereof Jectehel, unto
this day.

14:8. Then Amasias sent messengers to Joas, son of Joachaz, son of Jehu,
king of Israel, saying: Come, let us see one another.

Let us see one another... This was a challenge to fight.

14:9. And Joas, king of Israel, sent again to Amasias, king of Juda,
saying: A thistle of Libanus sent to a cedar tree, which is in Libanus,
saying: Give thy daughter to my son to wife. And the beasts of the
forest, that are in Libanus, passed, and trod down the thistle.

14:10. Thou hast beaten and prevailed over Edom, and thy heart hath
lifted thee up; be content with this glory, and sit at home; why
provokest thou evil, that thou shouldst fall, and Juda with thee?

14:11. But Amasias did not rest satisfied. So Joas, king of Israel, went
up; and he and Amasias, king of Juda, saw one another in Bethsames, a
town in Juda.

14:12. And Juda was put to the worse before Israel, and they fled every
man to their dwellings.

14:13. But Joas, king of Israel, took Amasias, king of Juda, the son of
Joas, the son of Ochozias, in Bethsames, and brought him into Jerusalem;
and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem, from the gate of Ephraim to the
gate of the corner, four hundred cubits.

14:14. And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that
were found in the house of the Lord, and in the king's treasures, and
hostages, and returned to Samaria.

14:15. But the rest of the acts of Joas, which he did, and his valour,
wherewith he fought against Amasias, king of Juda, are they not written
in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

14:16. And Joas slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria, with
the kings of Israel: and Jeroboam, his son, reigned in his stead.

14:17. And Amasias, the son of Joas, king of Juda, lived after the death
of Joas, son of Joachaz, king of Israel, fifteen years.

14:18. And the rest of the acts of Amasias, are they not written in the
book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?

14:19. Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled
to Lachis. And they sent after him to Lachis, and killed him there.

14:20. And they brought him away upon horses, and he was buried in
Jerusalem with his fathers, in the city of David.

14:21. And all the people of Juda took Azarias, who was sixteen years
old, and made him king instead of his father, Amasias.

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