World English Bible · The divided kingdom
2 Chronicles 15
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of came on the son of Oded. He went out to meet , and said to him, "Hear me, , and all Judah and ! is with you while you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. Now for a long time Israel was without the true , without a teaching priest, and without law. But when in their distress they turned to , the of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. In those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him who came in; but great troubles were on all the inhabitants of the lands. They were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for troubled them with all adversity. But you be strong! Don't let your hands be slack, for your work will be rewarded." When heard these words and the of Oded the , he took courage, and the out of all the land of Judah and , and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill country of ; and he renewed that was before porch. He gathered all Judah and , and those who lived with them out of , , and ; for they came to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that his was with him. So they gathered themselves together at in the third month, in the fifteenth year of reign. They to in that day, of the plunder which they had brought, seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep. They entered into to seek , the of their fathers, with all their and with all their ; and that whoever would not seek , the of Israel, should be put to , whether small or great, whether man or woman. They to with a loud voice, with shouting, with , and with cornets. All Judah rejoiced at the , for they had with all their and sought him with their whole ; and he was found by them. Then gave them rest all around. Also , the mother of the king, he removed from being queen mother, because she had made an for an ; so cut down her , ground it into , and burned it at the brook . But the were not taken away out of Israel; nevertheless of was perfect all his days. He brought the things that his had dedicated and that he himself had dedicated, silver, gold, and vessels into house. There was no more war to -fifth year of reign.
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The world at this moment · The divided kingdom, 931 BC to 745 BC ›
Israel in the north and Judah in the south, often at odds, with Aram of Damascus as the immediate threat and Assyria growing in the distance.
- Aram of Damascus
- The immediate enemy for most of two centuries, close enough to raid every campaigning season and strong enough to take territory. Most of the wars in Kings that read like national emergencies are border wars with Damascus.
- Assyria
- Growing steadily in the distance. Shalmaneser III fights a coalition at Qarqar in 853 BC and his own inscription lists King Ahab of Israel among his opponents with two thousand chariots, the earliest Assyrian mention of an Israelite king. A later monument shows Jehu bowing and paying tribute. Assyria is not yet the destroyer, but it is already taking notes.
- Egypt
- Divided and unreliable, capable of the occasional raid, such as Shishak stripping the temple in Rehoboam's fifth year, but no longer an empire that governs the Levant.
- Further afield
- The Greeks adopt the alphabet, hold the first Olympiad by tradition in 776 BC, and begin to compose the Homeric poems. Rome is founded by tradition in 753 BC, a village of huts at this point. This is the century in which the classical world begins.