King James Version · The divided kingdom
2 Kings 5
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Now , captain of the host of the king of , was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him had given unto : he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a . And had gone out by companies, and had brought away out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on ’s wife. And she said unto her mistress, Would my were with the that is in ! for he would recover him of his . And one went in, and told his , saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. And the king of said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. 6And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his . And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I , to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his ? wherefore consider, I you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. And it was so, when the had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a in Israel. So came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of . And sent a unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and of his , and strike his hand over the place, and recover the . Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of , better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, , if the had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the : and his came again like unto of a little child, and he was clean. And he returned to the , he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I thee, take a of thy servant. But he said, As liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused. And said, Shall there not then, I thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor unto other gods, but unto . In this thing pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of to there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of : when I myself in the house of , pardon thy servant in this thing. And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way. But , the the , said, Behold, my master hath spared this , in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him. So followed after . And when saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount two young men of the sons of : give them, I thee, a of silver, and two changes of garments. And said, Be content, take two . And he urged him, and bound two of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they them before him. And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed. But he went in, and stood before his master. And said unto him, Whence comest thou, ? And he said, Thy servant went no whither. And he said unto him, Went not mine with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? The therefore of shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy for ever. And he went out from his a as white as snow.
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.