War between Israel and Moab

¹In the eighteenth year of the reign of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, Joram son of Ahab became king of Israel, and he ruled in Samaria for twelve years.

²He sinned against the Lord, but he was not as bad as his father or his mother Jezebel; he pulled down the image his father had made for the worship of Baal.

³Yet, like King Jeroboam son of Nebat before him, he led Israel into sin and would not stop.

⁴King Mesha of Moab raised sheep, and every year he gave as tribute to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool from 100,000 sheep.

⁵But when King Ahab of Israel died, Mesha rebelled against Israel.

⁶At once King Joram left Samaria and gathered all his troops.

⁷He sent word to King Jehoshaphat of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me; will you join me in war against him?” “I will,” King Jehoshaphat replied. “I am at your disposal, and so are my men and my horses.

⁸What route shall we take for the attack?” “We will go the long way through the wilderness of Edom,” Joram answered.

⁹So King Joram and the kings of Judah and Edom set out. After marching seven days, they ran out of water, and there was none left for the men or the pack animals.

¹⁰“We're done for!” King Joram exclaimed. “The Lord has put the three of us at the mercy of the king of Moab!”

¹¹King Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there a prophet here through whom we can consult the Lord?” An officer of King Joram's forces answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He was Elijah's assistant.”

¹²“He is a true prophet,” King Jehoshaphat said. So the three kings went to Elisha.

¹³“Why should I help you?” Elisha said to the king of Israel. “Go and consult those prophets that your father and mother consulted.” “No!” Joram replied. “It is the Lord who has put us three kings at the mercy of the king of Moab.”

¹⁴Elisha answered, “By the living Lord, whom I serve, I swear that I would have nothing to do with you if I didn't respect your ally, King Jehoshaphat of Judah.

¹⁵Now get me a musician.” As the musician played his harp, the power of the Lord came on Elisha,

¹⁶and he said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Dig ditches all over this dry stream bed.

¹⁷Even though you will not see any rain or wind, this stream bed will be filled with water, and you, your livestock, and your pack animals will have plenty to drink.’”

¹⁸And Elisha continued, “But this is an easy thing for the Lord to do; he will also give you victory over the Moabites.

¹⁹You will conquer all their beautiful fortified cities; you will cut down all their fruit trees, stop all their springs, and ruin all their fertile fields by covering them with stones.”

²⁰The next morning, at the time of the regular morning sacrifice, water came flowing from the direction of Edom and covered the ground.

²¹When the Moabites heard that the three kings had come to attack them, all the men who could bear arms, from the oldest to the youngest, were called out and stationed at the border.

²²When they got up the following morning, the sun was shining on the water, making it look as red as blood.

²³“It's blood!” they exclaimed. “The three enemy armies must have fought and killed each other! Let's go and loot their camp!”

²⁴But when they reached the camp, the Israelites attacked them and drove them back. The Israelites kept up the pursuit, slaughtering the Moabites

²⁵and destroying their cities. As they passed by a fertile field, every Israelite would throw a stone on it until finally all the fields were covered; they also stopped up the springs and cut down the fruit trees. At last only the capital city of Kir Heres was left, and the slingers surrounded it and attacked it.

²⁶When the king of Moab realized that he was losing the battle, he took seven hundred swordsmen with him and tried to force his way through the enemy lines and escape to the king of Syria, but he failed.

²⁷So he took his oldest son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him on the city wall as a sacrifice to the god of Moab. The Israelites were terrified and so they drew back from the city and returned to their own country.

King Uzziah of Judah

¹All the people of Judah chose Amaziah's sixteen-year-old son Uzziah to succeed his father as king.

²(It was after the death of Amaziah that Uzziah recaptured Elath and rebuilt the city.)

³Uzziah became king at the age of sixteen, and he ruled in Jerusalem for fifty-two years. His mother was Jecoliah from Jerusalem.

⁴Following the example of his father, he did what was pleasing to the Lord.

⁵As long as Zechariah, his religious adviser, was living, he served the Lord faithfully, and God blessed him.

⁶Uzziah went to war against the Philistines. He tore down the walls of the cities of Gath, Jamnia, and Ashdod, and built fortified cities near Ashdod and in the rest of Philistia.

⁷God helped him defeat the Philistines, the Arabs living at Gurbaal, and the Meunites.

⁸The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and he became so powerful that his fame spread even to Egypt.

⁹Uzziah strengthened the fortifications of Jerusalem by building towers at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and where the wall turned.

¹⁰He also built fortified towers in the open country and dug many cisterns, because he had large herds of livestock in the western foothills and plains. Because he loved farming, he encouraged the people to plant vineyards in the hill country and to farm the fertile land.

¹¹He had a large army ready for battle. Its records were kept by his secretaries Jeiel and Maaseiah under the supervision of Hananiah, a member of the king's staff.

¹²The army was commanded by 2,600 officers.

¹³Under them were 307,500 soldiers able to fight effectively for the king against his enemies.

¹⁴Uzziah supplied the army with shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows and arrows, and stones for slinging.

¹⁵In Jerusalem his inventors made equipment for shooting arrows and for throwing large stones from the towers and corners of the city wall. His fame spread everywhere, and he became very powerful because of the help he received from God.

Uzziah Is Punished for His Pride

¹⁶But when King Uzziah became strong, he grew arrogant, and that led to his downfall. He defied the Lord his God by going into the Temple to burn incense on the altar of incense.

¹⁷Azariah the priest, accompanied by eighty strong and courageous priests, followed the king

¹⁸to resist him. They said, “Uzziah! You have no right to burn incense to the Lord. Only the priests who are descended from Aaron have been consecrated to do this. Leave this holy place. You have offended the Lord God, and you no longer have his blessing.”

¹⁹Uzziah was standing there in the Temple beside the incense altar and was holding an incense burner. He became angry with the priests, and immediately a dreaded skin disease broke out on his forehead.

²⁰Azariah and the other priests stared at the king's forehead in horror and then forced him to leave the Temple. He hurried to get out, because the Lord had punished him.

²¹For the rest of his life King Uzziah was ritually unclean because of his disease. Unable to enter the Temple again, he lived in his own house, relieved of all duties, while his son Jotham governed the country.

²²The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz recorded all the other things that King Uzziah did during his reign.

²³Uzziah died and was buried in the royal burial ground, but because of his disease he was not buried in the royal tombs. His son Jotham succeeded him as king.

King Jotham of Judah

¹Jotham became king at the age of twenty-five, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. His mother was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok.

²He did what was pleasing to the Lord, just as his father had done; but unlike his father he did not sin by burning incense in the Temple. The people, however, went on sinning.

³It was Jotham who built the North Gate of the Temple and did extensive work on the city wall in the area of Jerusalem called Ophel.

⁴In the mountains of Judah he built cities, and in the forests he built forts and towers.

⁵He fought against the king of Ammon and his army and defeated them. Then he forced the Ammonites to pay him the following tribute each year for three years: four tons of silver, fifty thousand bushels of wheat, and fifty thousand bushels of barley.

⁶Jotham grew powerful because he faithfully obeyed the Lord his God.

⁷The other events of Jotham's reign, his wars, and his policies, are all recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

⁸Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years.

⁹He died and was buried in David's City and his son Ahaz succeeded him as king.

A Prayer for the King

¹Teach the king to judge with your righteousness, O God; share with him your own justice,

²so that he will rule over your people with justice and govern the oppressed with righteousness.

³May the land enjoy prosperity; may it experience righteousness.

⁴May the king judge the poor fairly; may he help the needy and defeat their oppressors.

⁵May your people worship you as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon gives light, for ages to come.

⁶May the king be like rain on the fields, like showers falling on the land.

⁷May righteousness flourish in his lifetime, and may prosperity last as long as the moon gives light.

⁸His kingdom will reach from sea to sea, from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth.

⁹The peoples of the desert will bow down before him; his enemies will throw themselves to the ground.

¹⁰The kings of Spain and of the islands will offer him gifts; the kings of Sheba and Seba will bring him offerings.

¹¹All kings will bow down before him; all nations will serve him.

¹²He rescues the poor who call to him, and those who are needy and neglected.

¹³He has pity on the weak and poor; he saves the lives of those in need.

¹⁴He rescues them from oppression and violence; their lives are precious to him.

¹⁵Long live the king! May he be given gold from Sheba; may prayers be said for him at all times; may God's blessings be on him always!

¹⁶May there be plenty of grain in the land; may the hills be covered with crops, as fruitful as those of Lebanon. May the cities be filled with people, like fields full of grass.

¹⁷May the king's name never be forgotten; may his fame last as long as the sun. May all nations ask God to bless them as he has blessed the king.

¹⁸Praise the Lord, the God of Israel! He alone does these wonderful things.

¹⁹Praise his glorious name forever! May his glory fill the whole world. Amen! Amen!

²⁰This is the end of the prayers of David son of Jesse.