King James Version · The divided kingdom
2 Kings 2
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And it came to pass, when would take up into by a whirlwind, that went with from . And said unto , Tarry here, I thee; for hath sent me to Beth–el. And said unto him, As liveth, and as thy liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Beth–el. And the sons of that were at Beth–el came forth to , and said unto him, Knowest thou that will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. And said unto him, , tarry here, I thee; for hath sent me to . And he said, As liveth, and as thy liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to . And the sons of that were at came to , and said unto him, Knowest thou that will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. And said unto him, Tarry, I thee, here; for hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As liveth, and as thy liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on. And fifty men of the sons of went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan. And took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground. And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that said unto , Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And said, I thee, let a double of thy be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of , and horses of , and parted them both asunder; and went up by a whirlwind into . And saw it, and he cried, , , the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; And he took the mantle of that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is of ? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and went over. And when the sons of which were to view at saw him, they said, of doth rest on . And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure of hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send. And when they urged him till he was , he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not. 18And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at ,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not? And the men of the city said unto , Behold, I thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground . And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith , I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more or land. 22So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of which he spake. And he went up from thence unto Beth–el: and as he was going up by , there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and them in the name of . And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them. And he went from thence to , and from thence he returned to .
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.