World English Bible · The divided kingdom
2 Kings 1
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rebelled against Israel after the of . fell down through the lattice in his upper room that was in , and was sick. So he sent , and said to them, "Go, inquire of , the of , whether I will recover of this sickness." But said to the Tishbite, "Arise, go up to meet the of the king of , and tell them, 'Is it because there is no in Israel that you go to inquire of , the of ? Now therefore says, "You will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely ."'" Then departed. 5The returned to him, and he said to them, "Why is it that you have returned?" They said to him, "A man came up to meet us, and said to us, 'Go, return to the king who sent you, and tell him, " says, 'Is it because there is no in Israel that you send to inquire of , the of ? Therefore you will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely .'"'" He said to them, "What kind of man was he who came up to meet you and told you these words?" They answered him, "He was a hairy man, and wearing a leather belt around his waist." He said, "It's the Tishbite." Then the king sent a captain of fifty with his fifty to him. He went up to him; and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. He said to him, ", the king has said, 'Come down!'" answered to the captain of fifty, "If I am a , then let come down from and consume you and your fifty!" Then came down from , and consumed him and his fifty. Again he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. He answered him, ", the king has said, 'Come down quickly!'" answered them, "If I am a , then let come down from and consume you and your fifty!" Then came down from , and consumed him and his fifty. Again he sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. The third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before , and begged him, and said to him, ", please let my life and the life of these fifty of your servants be precious in your sight. Behold, came down from and consumed the last two captains of fifty with their fifties. But now let my life be precious in your sight." said to , "Go down with him. Don't be afraid of him." Then he arose and went down with him to the king. He said to him, " says, 'Because you have sent to inquire of , the of , is it because there is no in Israel to inquire of his word? Therefore you will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely .'" So he according to word which had spoken. began to reign in his place in the second year of the son of king of Judah, because he had no son. Now the rest of the acts of which he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. 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.