World English Bible · The divided kingdom
2 Chronicles 16
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In -sixth year of reign, king of Israel went up against Judah, and built , that he might not allow anyone to go out or come in to king of Judah. Then brought out silver and gold out of the of house and of the king's house, and sent to Ben king of , who lived at , saying, "Let there be a treaty between me and you, as there was between and your . Behold, I have sent you silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with king of Israel, that he may depart from me." Ben listened to King , and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they struck , Dan, Maim, and all the storage cities of . 5When heard of it, he stopped building , and let his work cease. Then the king took all Judah, and they the stones and timber of , with which had built; and he built and with them. At that time the came to king of Judah, and said to him, "Because you have relied on the king of , and have not relied on your , therefore the army of the king of has escaped out of your hand. Weren't the and the Lubim a huge army, with chariots and exceedingly many horsemen? Yet, because you relied on , he them into your hand. For eyes run back and forth throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose is perfect toward him. You have done foolishly in this; for from now on you will have wars." Then was angry with the , and put him in the prison; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. oppressed some of the people at the same time. Behold, the acts of , first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. In -ninth year of his reign, was diseased in his feet. His disease was exceedingly great; yet in his disease he didn't seek , but the physicians. slept with his fathers, and in the forty-first year of his reign. They in his own , which he had dug out for himself in city, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumers' art; and they made a very great for him.
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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.