World English Bible · The divided kingdom
2 Kings 10
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Now had seventy sons in . wrote letters and sent them to , to the of , even the , and to those who brought up sons, saying, "Now as soon as this letter comes to you, since your master's sons are with you, and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city also, and armor, select the best and fittest of your master's sons, set him on his , and fight for your master's house." But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, "Behold, the two kings didn't stand before him! How then shall we stand?" He who was over the household, and he who was over the city, the also, and those who the children, sent to , saying, "We are your servants, and will do all that you ask us. We will not make any man king. You do that which is good in your eyes." Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, "If you are on my side, and if you will listen to my voice, take the heads of the men who are your master's sons, and come to me to by tomorrow this time." Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up. When the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and killed them, even seventy people, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to . A came and told him, "They have brought the heads of the king's sons." He said, "Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the until the morning." In the morning, he went out and stood, and said to all the people, "You are . Behold, I conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these? Know now that nothing will fall to the earth of word, which spoke concerning house. For has done that which he spoke by his servant ." So struck all that remained of house in , with all his great men, his familiar friends, and his priests, until he left him no one remaining. 12He arose and departed, and went to . As he was at the shearing house of the on , met with the brothers of king of Judah, and said, "Who are you?" They answered, "We are the brothers of . We are going down to greet the children of the king and the children of the queen." He said, "Take them alive!" They took them alive, and killed them at of the shearing house, even forty-two men. He didn't leave any of them. When he had departed from there, he met the son of coming to meet him. He greeted him, and said to him, "Is right, as is with ?" answered, "It is." "If it is, give me your hand." He gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot. He said, "Come with me, and see my for ." So they made him ride in his chariot. When he came to , he struck all who remained to in , until he had destroyed them, according to word which he spoke to . gathered all the people together, and said to them, " a little, but will him much. Now therefore call to me all of , all of his , and all of his priests. Let no one be absent, for I have a great to . Whoever is absent, he shall not live." But did deceptively, intending to destroy the of . said, " a solemn for !" So they proclaimed it. sent through all Israel; and all the of came, so that there was not a man left that didn't come. They came into the house of ; and the house of was filled from one end to another. He said to him who kept the wardrobe, "Bring out robes for all the of !" So he brought robes out to them. went with the son of into the house of . Then he said to the of , "Search, and see that none of the servants of are here with you, but only the of ." So they went in to offer and burnt offerings. Now had appointed for himself eighty men outside, and said, "If any of the men whom I bring into your hands escape, he who lets him go, his life shall be for the life of him." As soon as he had finished the burnt offering, said to the guard and to the captains, "Go in and kill them! Let no one escape." So they struck them with the edge of . The guard and the captains threw the bodies out, and went to the inner shrine of the house of . They brought out the pillars that were in the house of and burned them. They broke down of , and broke down the house of , and made it a latrine, to this day. 28Thus destroyed out of Israel. However, didn't depart from the of the son of , with which he made Israel to —the golden calves that were in and that were in Dan. said to , "Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to house according to all that was in , your shall sit on of Israel to the fourth generation." But took no heed to walk in of , the of Israel, with all . He didn't depart from the of , with which he made Israel to . In those days began to cut away parts of Israel; and struck them in all the borders of Israel from eastward, all the land of , the , and the , and the , from , which is by the valley of the , even and . Now the rest of the acts of , and all that he did, and all his might, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? slept with his fathers; and they in . his son reigned in his place. 36The time that reigned over Israel in was twenty-eight years.
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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.