King James Version · The divided kingdom
2 Kings 15
Touch any underlined name to see who or where it is. Tap a verse number to see where it is taken up elsewhere.
In the twenty and seventh year of king of Israel began son of king of Judah to reign. Sixteen years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in . And his mother’s name was Jecholiah of . And he did that which was right in the sight of , according to all that his had done; that the were not removed: the people and burnt still on the . And smote the king, so that he was a unto the day of his , and dwelt in a several house. And the king’s son was over the house, judging the people of the land. And the rest of the acts of , and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? So slept with his fathers; and they with his fathers in : and his son reigned in his stead. In and eighth year of king of Judah did Zachariah the son of reign over Israel in six months. And he did that which was evil in the sight of , as his fathers had done: he departed not from the of the son of , who made Israel to . And the son of conspired against him, and smote him before the people, and slew him, and reigned in his stead. And the rest of the acts of Zachariah, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. This was the word of which he spake unto , saying, Thy sons shall sit on of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass. the son of began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in . For the son of Gadi went up from , and came to , and smote the son of in , and slew him, and reigned in his stead. And the rest of the acts of , and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. Then smote Tiphsah, and all that were therein, and the coasts thereof from : because they opened not to him, therefore he smote it; and all the women therein that were with child he ripped up. 17In the nine and thirtieth year of king of Judah began the son of Gadi to reign over Israel, and reigned ten years in . 18And he did that which was evil in the sight of : he departed not all his days from the of the son of , who made Israel to . And Pul the king of came against the land: and gave Pul a thousand of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm in his hand. And exacted the money of Israel, even of all the of wealth, of each man fifty of silver, to give to the king of . So the king of turned back, and stayed not there in the land. 21And the rest of the acts of , and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 22And slept with his fathers; and his son reigned in his stead. In the fiftieth year of king of Judah the son of began to reign over Israel in , and reigned two years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of : he departed not from the of the son of , who made Israel to . But the son of , a captain of his, conspired against him, and smote him in , in the palace of the king’s house, with and Arieh, and with him fifty men of the Gileadites: and he killed him, and reigned in his room. 26And the rest of the acts of , and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. In the two and fiftieth year of king of Judah the son of began to reign over Israel in , and reigned twenty years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of : he departed not from the of the son of , who made Israel to . In the days of king of Israel came king of , and took , and –beth–maachah, and , and , and , and , and , all the land of , and carried them to . And the son of Elah made a conspiracy against the son of , and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of the son of . 31And the rest of the acts of , and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. In the second year of the son of king of Israel began the son of king of Judah to reign. Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in . And his mother’s name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok. And he did that which was right in the sight of : he did according to all that his had done. Howbeit the were not removed: the people and still in the . He built the higher of the . Now the rest of the acts of , and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? In those days began to send against Judah the king of , and the son of . And slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in his : and his son reigned in his stead.
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.