King James Version · The divided kingdom
2 Chronicles 16
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In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of king of Israel came up against Judah, and built , to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to king of Judah. Then brought out silver and gold out of the of the and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben–hadad king of , that dwelt at , saying, There is a league between me and thee, as there was between and thy : behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with king of Israel, that he may depart from me. And Ben–hadad hearkened unto king , and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote , and Dan, and –maim, and all the store cities of . 5And it came to pass, when heard it, that he left off building of , and let his work cease. Then the king took all Judah; and they the stones of , and the timber thereof, wherewith was building; and he built therewith and . And at that time the came to king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of , and not relied on thy , therefore is the host of the king of escaped out of thine hand. Were not the and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on , he them into thine hand. For the eyes of run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. Then was wroth with the , and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And oppressed some of the people the same time. And, behold, the acts of , first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And in and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to , but to the physicians. And slept with his fathers, and in the one and fortieth year of his reign. And they in his own sepulchres, which he had made for himself in , and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries’ art: and they made a very great burning for him.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
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.