World English Bible · The divided kingdom
2 Kings 8
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Now had spoken to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, "Arise, and go, you and your household, and stay for a while wherever you can; for has called for a . It will also come on the land for seven years." The woman arose, and did according to the word. She went with her household, and lived in the land of the for seven years. At the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the . Then she went out to beg the king for her house and for her land. Now the king was talking with the the , saying, "Please tell me all the great things that has done." As he was telling the king how he had restored to life him who was , behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life begged the king for her house and for her land. said, "My , O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom restored to life." When the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed to her a certain officer, saying, "Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now." came to ; and the king of was sick. He was told, "The has come here." The king said to , "Take a present in your hand, and go meet the , and inquire of by him, saying, 'Will I recover from this sickness?'" So went to meet him and took a present with him, even of every good thing of , forty camels' burden, and came and stood before him and said, "Your son king of has sent me to you, saying, 'Will I recover from this sickness?'" said to him, "Go, tell him, 'You will surely recover;' however has shown me that he will surely ." He settled his gaze steadfastly on him, until he was . Then the wept. said, "Why do you weep, my ?" He answered, "Because I know the evil that you will do to the . You will set their strongholds on , and you will kill their young men with , and will dash their little ones in pieces, and rip up their pregnant women." said, "But what is , who is but a dog, that he could do this great thing?" answered, " has shown me that you will be king over ." Then he departed from , and came to his master, who said to him, "What did say to you?" He answered, "He told me that you would surely recover." On the next day, he took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it on the king's , so that he . Then reigned in his place. In the fifth year of the son of king of Israel, being king of Judah then, the son of king of Judah began to reign. He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign. He reigned eight years in . He walked in of the kings of Israel, as did house, for he married daughter. He did that which was evil in sight. However, would not destroy Judah, for his servant's sake, as he promised him to give to him a lamp for his children always. In his days revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves. Then crossed over to Zair, and all his chariots with him; and he rose up by night and struck the who surrounded him with the captains of the chariots; and the people fled to their tents. So revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day. Then revolted at the same time. The rest of the acts of , and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in city; and his son reigned in his place. In the twelfth year of the son of king of Israel, the son of king of Judah began to reign. was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in . His mother's name was the daughter of king of Israel. He walked in of house and did that which was evil in sight, as did house, for he was the son-in-law of house. He went with the son of to war against king of at , and wounded . King returned to be healed in from the wounds which had given him at , when he fought against king of . the son of , king of Judah, went down to see the son of in , because he was sick.
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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.