3. So they were pleased with what he did, and guarded the roads, lest

somebody should privately tell the thing to those that were at Jezreel.

Now Jehu took his choice horsemen, and sat upon his chariot, and went on

for Jezreel; and when he was come near, the watchman whom Joram had set

there to spy out such as came to the city, saw Jehu marching on, and

told Joram that he saw a troop of horsemen marching on. Upon which he

immediately gave orders, that one of his horsemen should be sent out to

meet them, and to know who it was that was coming. So when the horseman

came up to Jehu, he asked him in what condition the army was, for that

the king wanted to know it; but Jehu bid him not at all to meddle with

such matters, but to follow him. When the watchman saw this, he told

Joram that the horseman had mingled himself among the company, and came

along with them. And when the king had sent a second messenger, Jehu

commanded him to do as the former did; and as soon as the watchman told

this also to Joram, he at last got upon his chariot himself, together

with Ahaziah, the king of Jerusalem; for, as we said before, he was

there to see how Joram did, after he had been wounded, as being his

relation. So he went out to meet Jehu, who marched slowly, 16 and in

good order; and when Joram met him in the field of Naboth, he asked him

if all things were well in the camp; but Jehu reproached him bitterly,

and ventured to call his mother a witch and a harlot. Upon this the

king, fearing what he intended, and suspecting he had no good meaning,

turned his chariot about as soon as he could, and said to Ahaziah, "We

are fought against by deceit and treachery." But Jehu drew his bow, and

smote him, the arrow going through his heart: so Joram fell down

immediately on his knee, and gave up the ghost. Jehu also gave orders to

Bidkar, the captain of the third part of his army, to cast the dead body

of Joram into the field of Naboth, putting him in mind of the prophecy

which Elijah prophesied to Ahab his father, when he had slain Naboth,

that both he and his family should perish in that place; for that as

they sat behind Ahab's chariot, they heard the prophet say so, and that

it was now come to pass according to his prophecy. Upon the fall of

Joram, Ahaziah was afraid of his own life, and turned his chariot into

another road, supposing he should not be seen by Jehu; but he followed

after him, and overtook him at a certain acclivity, and drew his bow,

and wounded him; so he left his chariot, and got upon his horse, and

fled from Jehu to Megiddo; and though he was under cure, in a little

time he died of that wound, and was carried to Jerusalem, and buried

there, after he had reigned one year, and had proved a wicked man, and

worse than his father.

4. Now when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel adorned herself and stood

upon a tower, and said, he was a fine servant that had killed his

master! And when he looked up to her, he asked who she was, and

commanded her to come down to him. At last he ordered the eunuchs to

throw her down from the tower; and being thrown down, she be-sprinkled

the wall with her blood, and was trodden upon by the horses, and so

died. When this was done, Jehu came to the palace with his friends, and

took some refreshment after his journey, both with other things, and by

eating a meal. He also bid his servants to take up Jezebel and bury her,

because of the nobility of her blood, for she was descended from kings;

but those that were appointed to bury her found nothing else remaining

but the extreme parts of her body, for all the rest were eaten by dogs.

When Jehu heard this, he admired the prophecy of Elijah, for he foretold

that she should perish in this manner at Jezreel.

5. Now Ahab had seventy sons brought up in Samaria. So Jehu sent two

epistles, the one to them that brought up the children, the other to the

rulers of Samaria, which said, that they should set up the most valiant

of Ahab's sons for king, for that they had abundance of chariots, and

horses, and armor, and a great army, and fenced cities, and that by so

doing they might avenge the murder of Ahab. This he wrote to try the

intentions of those of Samaria. Now when the rulers, and those that had

brought up the children, had read the letter, they were afraid; and

considering that they were not at all able to oppose him, who had

already subdued two very great kings, they returned him this answer:

That they owned him for their lord, and would do whatsoever he bade

them. So he wrote back to them such a reply as enjoined them to obey

what he gave order for, and to cut off the heads of Ahab's sons, and

send them to him. Accordingly the rulers sent for those that brought up

the sons of Ahab, and commanded them to slay them, to cut off their

heads, and send them to Jehu. So they did whatsoever they were

commanded, without omitting any thing at all, and put them up in wicker

baskets, and sent them to Jezreel. And when Jehu, as he was at supper

with his friends, was informed that the heads of Ahab's' sons were

brought, he ordered them to make two heaps of them, one before each of

the gates; and in the morning he went out to take a view of them, and

when he saw them, he began to say to the people that were present, that

he did himself make an expedition against his master [Joram], and slew

him, but that it was not he that slew all these; and he desired them to

take notice, that as to Ahab's family, all things had come to pass

according to God's prophecy, and his house was perished, according as

Elijah had foretold. And when he had further destroyed all the kindred

of Ahab that were found in Jezreel, he went to Samaria; and as he was

upon the road, he met the relations of Ahaziah king of Jerusalem, and

asked them whither they were going? they replied, that they came to

salute Joram, and their own king Ahaziah, for they knew not that he had

slain them both. So Jehu gave orders that they should catch these, and

kill them, being in number forty-two persons.

6. After these, there met him a good and a righteous man, whose name was

Jehonadab, and who had been his friend of old. He saluted Jehu, and

began to commend him, because he had done every thing according to the

will of God, in extirpating the house of Ahab. So Jehu desired him to

come up into his chariot, and make his entry with him into Samaria; and

told him that he would not spare one wicked man, but would punish the

false prophets, and false priests, and those that deceived the

multitude, and persuaded them to leave the worship of God Almighty, and

to worship foreign gods; and that it was a most excellent and most

pleasing sight to a good and a righteous man to see the wicked punished.

So Jehonadab was persuaded by these arguments, and came up into Jehu's

chariot, and came to Samaria. And Jehu sought out for all Ahab's

kindred, and slew them. And being desirous that none of the false

prophets, nor the priests of Ahab's god, might escape punishment, he

caught them deceitfully by this wile; for he gathered all the people

together, and said that he would worship twice as many gods as Ahab

worshipped, and desired that his priests, and prophets, and servants

might be present, because he would offer costly and great sacrifices to

Ahab's god; and that if any of his priests were wanting, they should be

punished with death. Now Ahab's god was called Baal; and when he had

appointed a day on which he would offer those sacrifices, he sent

messengers through all the country of the Israelites, that they might

bring the priests of Baal to him. So Jehu commanded to give all the

priests vestments; and when they had received them, he went into the

house [of Baal], with his friend Jehonadab, and gave orders to make

search whether there were not any foreigner or stranger among them, for

he would have no one of a different religion to mix among their sacred

offices. And when they said that there was no stranger there, and they

were beginning their sacrifices, he set fourscore men without, they

being such of his soldiers as he knew to be most faithful to him, and

bid them slay the prophets, and now vindicate the laws of their country,

which had been a long time in disesteem. He also threatened, that if any

one of them escaped, their own lives should go for them. So they slew

them all with the sword, and burnt the house of Baal, and by that means

purged Samaria of foreign customs [idolatrous worship]. Now this Baal

was the god of the Tyrians; and Ahab, in order to gratify his father-in-

law, Ethbaal, who was the king of Tyre and Sidon, built a temple for him

in Samaria, and appointed him prophets, and worshipped him with all

sorts of worship, although, when this god was demolished, Jehu permitted

the Israelites to worship the golden heifers. However, because he had

done thus, and taken care to punish the wicked, God foretold by his

prophet that his sons should reign over Israel for four generations. And

in this condition was Jehu at this time.

CHAPTER 7. How Athaliah Reigned Over Jerusalem For Five [Six] Years When

Jehoiada The High Priest Slew Her And Made Jehoash, The Son Of Ahaziah,

King.

1. Now when Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, heard of the death of her

brother Joram, and of her son Ahaziah, and of the royal family, she

endeavored that none of the house of David might be left alive, but that

the whole family might be exterminated, that no king might arise out of

it afterward; and, as she thought, she had actually done it; but one of

Ahaziah's sons was preserved, who escaped death after the manner

following: Ahaziah had a sister by the same father, whose name was

Jehosheba, and she was married to the high priest Jehoiada. She went

into the king's palace, and found Jehoash, for that was the little

child's name, who was not above a year old, among those that were slain,

but concealed with his nurse; so she took him with her into a secret

bed-chamber, and shut him up there, and she and her husband Jehoiada

brought him up privately in the temple six years, during which time

Athaliah reigned over Jerusalem and the two tribes.

2. Now, on the Seventh year, Jehoiada communicated the matter to certain

of the captains of hundreds, five in number, and persuaded them to be

assisting to what attempts he was making against Athaliah, and to join

with him in asserting the kingdom to the child. He also received such

oaths from them as are proper to secure those that assist one another

from the fear of discovery; and he was then of good hope that they

should depose Athaliah. Now those men whom Jehoiada the priest had taken

to be his partners went into all the country, and gathered together the

priests and the Levites, and the heads of the tribes out of it, and came

and brought them to Jerusalem to the high priest. So he demanded the

security of an oath of them, to keep private whatsoever he should

discover to them, which required both their silence and their

assistance. So when they had taken the oath, and had thereby made it

safe for him to speak, he produced the child that he had brought up of

the family of David, and said to them, "This is your king, of that house

which you know God hath foretold should reign over you for all time to

come. I exhort you therefore that one-third part of you guard him in the

temple, and that a fourth part keep watch at all the gates of the

temple, and that the next part of you keep guard at the gate which opens

and leads to the king's palace, and let the rest of the multitude be

unarmed in the temple, and let no armed person go into the temple, but

the priest only." He also gave them this order besides, "That a part of

the priests and the Levites should be about the king himself, and be a

guard to him, with their drawn swords, and to kill that man immediately,

whoever he be, that should be so bold as to enter armed into the temple;

and bid them be afraid of nobody, but persevere in guarding the king."

So these men obeyed what the high priest advised them to, and declared

the reality of their resolution by their actions. Jehoiada also opened

that armory which David had made in the temple, and distributed to the

captains of hundreds, as also to the priests and Levites, all the spears

and quivers, and what kind of weapons soever it contained, and set them

armed in a circle round about the temple, so as to touch one another's

hands, and by that means excluding those from entering that ought not to

enter. So they brought the child into the midst of them, and put on him

the royal crown, and Jehoiada anointed him with the oil, and made him

king; and the multitude rejoiced, and made a noise, and cried, "God save

the king!"

3. When Athaliah unexpectedly heard the tumult and the acclamations, she

was greatly disturbed in her mind, and suddenly issued out of the royal

palace with her own army; and when she was come to the temple, the

priests received her; but as for those that stood round about the

temple, as they were ordered by the high priest to do, they hindered the

armed inert that followed her from going in. But when Athaliah saw the

child standing upon a pillar, with the royal crown upon his head, she

rent her clothes, and cried out vehemently, and commanded [her guards]

to kill him that had laid snares for her, and endeavored to deprive her

of the government. But Jehoiada called for the captains of hundreds, and

commanded them to bring Athaliah to the valley of Cedron, and slay her

there, for he would not have the temple defiled with the punishments of

this pernicious woman; and he gave order, that if any one came near to

help her, he should be slain also; wherefore those that had the charge

of her slaughter took hold of her, and led her to the gate of the king's

mules, and slew her there.

4. Now as soon as what concerned Athaliah was by this stratagem, after

this manner, despatched, Jehoiada called together the people and the

armed men into the temple, and made them take an oath that they would be

obedient to the king, and take care of his safety, and of the safety of

his government; after which he obliged the king to give security [upon

oath] that he would worship God, and not transgress the laws of Moses.

They then ran to the house of Baal, which Athaliah and her husband

Jehoram had built, to the dishonor of the God of their fathers, and to

the honor of Ahab, and demolished it, and slew Mattan, that had his

priesthood. But Jehoiada intrusted the care and custody of the temple to

the priests and Levites, according to the appointment of king David, and

enjoined them to bring their regular burnt-offerings twice a day, and to

offer incense according to the law. He also ordained some of the

Levites, with the porters, to be a guard to the temple, that no one that

was defiled might come there.

5. And when Jehoiada had set these things in order, he, with the

captains of hundreds, and the rulers, and all the people, took Jehoash

out of the temple into the king's palace; and when he had set him upon

the king's throne, the people shouted for joy, and betook themselves to

feasting, and kept a festival for many days; but the city was quiet upon

the death of Athaliah. Now Jehoash was seven years old when he took the

kingdom. His mother's name was Zibiah, of the city Beersheba. And all

the time that Jehoiada lived Jehoash was careful that the laws should be

kept, and very zealous in the worship of God; and when he was of age, he

married two wives, who were given to him by the high priest, by whom

were born to him both sons and daughters. And thus much shall suffice to

have related concerning king Jehoash, how he escaped the treachery of

Athaliah, and how he received the kingdom.

CHAPTER 8. Hazael Makes An Expedition Against The People Of Israel And

The Inhabitants Of Jerusalem. Jehu Dies, And Jehoahaz Succeeds In The

Government. Jehoash The King Of Jerusalem At First Is Careful About The

Worship Of God But Afterwards Becomes Impious And Commands Zechariah To

Be Stoned. When Jehoash [King Of Judah] Was Dead, Amaziah Succeeds Him

In The Kingdom.

1. Now Hazael, king of Syria, fought against the Israelites and their

king Jehu, and spoiled the eastern parts of the country beyond Jordan,

which belonged to the Reubenites and Gadites, and to [the half tribe of]

Manassites; as also Gilead and Bashan, burning, and spoiling, and

offering violence to all that he laid his hands on, and this without

impeachment from Jehu, who made no haste to defend the country when it

was under this distress; nay, he was become a contemner of religion, and

a despiser of holiness, and of the laws, and died when he had reigned

over the Israelites twenty-seven years. He was buried in Samaria, and

left Jehoahaz his son his successor in the government.

2. Now Jehoash, king of Jerusalem, had an inclination to repair the

temple of God; so he called Jehoiada, and bid him send the Levites and

priests through all the country, to require half a shekel of silver for

every head, towards the rebuilding and repairing of the temple, which

was brought to decay by Jehoram, and Athaliah and her sons. But the high

priest did not do this, as concluding that no one would willingly pay

that money; but in the twenty-third year of Jehoash's reign, when the

king sent for him and the Levites, and complained that they had not

obeyed what he enjoined them, and still commanded them to take care of

the rebuilding the temple, he used this stratagem for collecting the

money, with which the multitude was pleased. He made a wooden chest, and

closed it up fast on all sides, but opened one hole in it; he then set

it in the temple beside the altar, and desired every one to cast into

it, through the hole, what he pleased, for the repair of the temple.

This contrivance was acceptable to the people, and they strove one with

another, and brought in jointly large quantities of silver and gold; and

when the scribe and the priest that were over the treasuries had emptied

the chest, and counted the money in the king's presence, they then set

it in its former place, and thus did they every day. But when the

multitude appeared to have cast in as much as was wanted, the high

priest Jehoiada, and king Joash, sent to hire masons and carpenters, and

to buy large pieces of timber, and of the most curious sort; and when

they had repaired the temple, they made use of the remaining gold and

silver, which was not a little, for bowls, and basons, and cups, and

other vessels, and they went on to make the altar every day fat with

sacrifices of great value. And these things were taken suitable care of

as long as Jehoiada lived.

3. But as soon as he was dead [which was when he had lived one hundred

and thirty years, having been a righteous, and in every respect a very

good man, and was buried in the king's sepulchers at Jerusalem, because

he had recovered the kingdom to the family of David] king Jehoash

betrayed his [want of] care about God. The principal men of the people

were corrupted also together with him, and offended against their duty,

and what their constitution determined to be most for their good.

Hereupon God was displeased with the change that was made on the king,

and on the rest of the people, and sent prophets to testify to them what

their actions were, and to bring them to leave off their wickedness; but

they had gotten such a strong affection and so violent an inclination to

it, that neither could the examples of those that had offered affronts

to the laws, and had been so severely punished, they and their entire

families, nor could the fear of what the prophets now foretold, bring

them to repentance, and turn them back from their course of

transgression to their former duty. But the king commanded that

Zechariah, the son of the high priest Jehoiada, should be stoned to

death in the temple, and forgot the kindnesses he had received from his

father; for when God had appointed him to prophesy, he stood in the

midst of the multitude, and gave this counsel to them and to the king:

That they should act righteously; and foretold to them, that if they

would not hearken to his admonitions, they should suffer a heavy

punishment. But as Zechariah was ready to die, he appealed to God as a

witness of what he suffered for the good counsel he had given them, and

how he perished after a most severe and violent manner for the good

deeds his father had done to Jehoash.

4. However, it was not long before the king suffered punishment for his

transgression; for when Hazael, king of Syria, made an irruption into

his country, and when he had overthrown Gath, and spoiled it, he made an

expedition against Jerusalem; upon which Jehoash was afraid, and emptied

all the treasures of God and of the kings [before him], and took down

the gifts that had been dedicated [in the temple], and sent them to the

king of Syria, and procured so much by them, that he was not besieged,

nor his kingdom quite endangered; but Hazael was induced by the

greatness of the sum of money not to bring his army against Jerusalem;

yet Jehoash fell into a severe distemper, and was set upon by his

friends, in order to revenge the death of Zechariah, the son of

Jehoiada. These laid snares for the king, and slew him. He was indeed

buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal sepulchers of his forefathers,

because of his impiety. He lived forty-seven years, and Amaziah his son

succeeded him in the kingdom.

5. In the one and twentieth year of the reign of Jehoash, Jehoahaz, the

son of Jehu, took the government of the Israelites in Samaria, and held

it seventeen years. He did not [properly] imitate his father, but was

guilty of as wicked practices as those that first had God in contempt:

but the king of Syria brought him low, and by an expedition against him

did so greatly reduce his forces, that there remained no more of so

great an army than ten thousand armed men, and fifty horsemen. He also

took away from him his great cities, and many of them also, and

destroyed his army. And these were the things that the people of Israel

suffered, according to the prophecy of Elisha, when he foretold that

Hazael should kill his master, and reign over the Syrians and Damscenes.

But when Jehoahaz was under such unavoidable miseries, he had recourse

to prayer and supplication to God, and besought him to deliver him out

of the hands of Hazael, and not overlook him, and give him up into his

hands. Accordingly God accepted of his repentance instead of virtue; and

being desirous rather to admonish those that might repent, and not to

determine that they should be utterly destroyed, he granted him

deliverance from war and dangers. So the country having obtained peace,

returned again to its former condition, and flourished as before.

6. Now after the death of Jehoahaz, his son Joash took the kingdom, in

the thirty-seventh year of Jehoash, the king of the tribe of Judah. This

Joash then took the kingdom of Israel in Samaria, for he had the same

name with the king of Jerusalem, and he retained the kingdom sixteen

years. He was a good man, 17 and in his disposition was not at all like

his father. Now at this time it was that when Elisha the prophet, who

was already very old, and was now fallen into a disease, the king of

Israel came to visit him; and when he found him very near death, he

began to weep in his sight, and lament, to call him his father, and his

weapons, because it was by his means that he never made use of his

weapons against his enemies, but that he overcame his own adversaries by

his prophecies, without fighting; and that he was now departing this

life, and leaving him to the Syrians, that were already armed, and to

other enemies of his that were under their power; so he said it was not

safe for him to live any longer, but that it would be well for him to

hasten to his end, and depart out of this life with him. As the king was

thus bemoaning himself, Elisha comforted him, and bid the king bend a

bow that was brought him; and when the king had fitted the bow for

shooting, Elisha took hold of his hands and bid him shoot; and when he

had shot three arrows, and then left off, Elisha said, "If thou hadst

shot more arrows, thou hadst cut the kingdom of Syria up by the roots;

but since thou hast been satisfied with shooting three times only, thou

shalt fight and beat the Syrians no more times than three, that thou

mayst recover that country which they cut off from thy kingdom in the

reign of thy father." So when the king had heard that, he departed; and

a little while after the prophet died. He was a man celebrated for

righteousness, and in eminent favor with God. He also performed

wonderful and surprising works by prophecy, and such as were gloriously

preserved in memory by the Hebrews. He also obtained a magnificent

funeral, such a one indeed as it was fit a person so beloved of God

should have. It also happened, that at that time certain robbers cast a

man whom they had slain into Elisha's grave, and upon his dead body

coming close to Elisha's body, it revived again. And thus far have we

enlarged about the actions of Elisha the prophet, both such as he did

while he was alive, and how he had a Divine power after his death also.

7. Now, upon the death of Hazael, the king of Syria, that kingdom came

to Adad his son, with whom Joash, king of Israel, made war; and when he

had beaten him in three battles, he took from him all that country, and

all those cities and villages, which his father Hazael had taken from

the kingdom of Israel, which came to pass, however, according to the

prophecy of Elisha. But when Joash happened to die, he was buried in

Samaria, and the government devolved on his son Jeroboam.

CHAPTER 9. How Amaziah Made An Expedition Against The Edomites And

Amalekites And Conquered Them; But When He Afterwards Made War Against

Joash, He Was Beaten And Not Long After Was Slain, And Uzziah Succeeded

In The Government.

1. Now, in the second year of the reign of Joash over Israel, Amaziah

reigned over the tribe of Judah in Jerusalem. His mother's name was

Jehoaddan, who was born at Jerusalem. He was exceeding careful of doing

what was right, and this when he was very young; but when he came to the

management of affairs, and to the government, he resolved that he ought

first of all to avenge his father Je-hoash, and to punish those his

friends that had laid violent hands upon him: so he seized upon them

all, and put them to death; yet did he execute no severity on their

children, but acted therein according to the laws of Moses, who did not

think it just to punish children for the sins of their fathers. After

this he chose him an army out of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin, of

such as were in the flower of their age, and about twenty years old; and

when he had collected about three hundred thousand of them together, he

set captains of hundreds over them. He also sent to the king of Israel,

and hired a hundred thousand of his soldiers for a hundred talents of

silver, for he had resolved to make an expedition against the nations of

the Amalekites, and Edomites, and Gebalites: but as he was preparing for

his expedition, and ready to go out to the war, a prophet gave him

counsel to dismiss the army of the Israelites, because they were bad

men, and because God foretold that he should be beaten, if he made use

of them as auxiliaries; but that he should overcome his enemies, though

he had but a few soldiers, when it so pleased God. And when the king

grudged at his having already paid the hire of the Israelites, the

prophet exhorted him to do what God would have him, because he should

thereby obtain much wealth from God. So he dismissed them, and said that

he still freely gave them their pay, and went himself with his own army,

and made war with the nations before mentioned; and when he had beaten

them in battle, he slew of them ten thousand, and took as many prisoners

alive, whom he brought to the great rock which is in Arabia, and threw

them down from it headlong. He also brought away a great deal of prey

and vast riches from those nations. But while Amaziah was engaged in

this expedition, those Israelites whom he had hired, and then dismissed,

were very uneasy at it, and taking their dismission for an affront, [as

supposing that this would not have been done to them but out of

contempt,] they fell upon his kingdom, and proceeded to spoil the

country as far as Beth- horon, and took much cattle, and slew three

thousand men.

2. Now upon the victory which Amaziah had gotten, and the great acts he

had done, he was puffed up, and began to overlook God, who had given him

the victory, and proceeded to worship the gods he had brought out of the

country of the Amalekites. So a prophet came to him, and said, that he

wondered how he could esteem these to be gods, who had been of no

advantage to their own people who paid them honors, nor had delivered

them from his hands, but had overlooked the destruction of many of them,

and had suffered themselves to be carried captive, for that they had

been carried to Jerusalem in the same manner as any one might have taken

some of the enemy alive, and led them thither. This reproof provoked the

king to anger, and he commanded the prophet to hold his peace, and

threatened to punish him if he meddled with his conduct. So he replied,

that he should indeed hold his peace; but foretold withal, that God

would not overlook his attempts for innovation. But Amaziah was not able

to contain himself under that prosperity which God had given him,

although he had affronted God thereupon; but in a vein of insolence he

wrote to Joash, the king of Israel, and commanded that he and all his

people should be obedient to him, as they had formerly been obedient to

his progenitors, David and Solomon; and he let him know, that if he

would not be so wise as to do what he commanded him, he must fight for

his dominion. To which message Joash returned this answer in writing:

"King Joash to king Amaziah. There was a vastly tall cypress tree in

Mount Lebanon, as also a thistle; this thistle sent to the cypress tree

to give the cypress tree's daughter in marriage to the thistle's son;

but as the thistle was saying this, there came a wild beast, and trod

down the thistle: and this may be a lesson to thee, not to be so

ambitious, and to have a care, lest upon thy good success in the fight

against the Amalekites thou growest so proud, as to bring dangers upon

thyself and upon thy kingdom."

3. When Amaziah had read this letter, he was more eager upon this

expedition, which, I suppose, was by the impulse of God, that he might

be punished for his offense against him. But as soon as he led out his

army against Joash, and they were going to join battle with him, there

came such a fear and consternation upon the army of Amaziah, as God,

when he is displeased, sends upon men, and discomfited them, even before

they came to a close fight. Now it happened, that as they were scattered

about by the terror that was upon them, Amaziah was left alone, and was

taken prisoner by the enemy; whereupon Joash threatened to kill him,

unless he would persuade the people of Jerusalem to open their gates to

him, and receive him and his army into the city. Accordingly Amaziah was

so distressed, and in such fear of his life, that he made his enemy to

be received into the city. So Joash over threw a part of the wall, of

the length of four hundred cubits, and drove his chariot through the

breach into Jerusalem, and led Amaziah captive along with him; by which

means he became master of Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of God,

and carried off all the gold and silver that was in the king's palace,

and then freed the king from captivity, and returned to Samaria. Now

these things happened to the people of Jerusalem in the fourteenth year

of the reign of Amaziah, who after this had a conspiracy made against

him by his friends, and fled to the city Lachish, and was there slain by

the conspirators, who sent men thither to kill him. So they took up his

dead body, and carried it to Jerusalem, and made a royal funeral for

him. This was the end of the life of Amaziah, because of his innovations

in religion, and his contempt of God, when he had lived fifty-four

years, and had reigned twenty-nine. He was succeeded by his son, whose

name was Uzziah.

CHAPTER 10. Concerning Jeroboam King Of Israel And Jonah The Prophet;

And How After The Death Of Jeroboam His Son Zachariah Took The

Government. How Uzziah, King Of Jerusalem, Subdued The Nations That Were

Round About Him; And What Befell Him When He Attempted To Offer Incense

To God.

1. In the fifteenth year of the reign of Amaziah, Jeroboam the son of

Joash reigned over Israel in Samaria forty years. This king was guilty

of contumely against God, 18 and became very wicked in worshipping of

idols, and in many undertakings that were absurd and foreign. He was

also the cause of ten thousand misfortunes to the people of Israel. Now

one Jonah, a prophet, foretold to him that he should make war with the

Syrians, and conquer their army, and enlarge the bounds of his kingdom

on the northern parts to the city Hamath, and on the southern to the

lake Asphaltitis; for the bounds of the Canaanites originally were

these, as Joshua their general had determined them. So Jeroboam made an

expedition against the Syrians, and overran all their country, as Jonah

had foretold.

2. Now I cannot but think it necessary for me, who have promised to give

an accurate account of our affairs, to describe the actions of this

prophet, so far as I have found them written down in the Hebrew books.

Jonah had been commanded by God to go to the kingdom of Nineveh; and

when he was there, to publish it in that city, how it should lose the

dominion it had over the nations. But he went not, out of fear; nay, he

ran away from God to the city of Joppa, and finding a ship there, he

went into it, and sailed to Tarsus, in Cilicia 19 and upon the rise of a

most terrible storm, which was so great that the ship was in danger of

sinking, the mariners, the master, and the pilot himself, made prayers

and vows, in case they escaped the sea: but Jonah lay still and covered

[in the ship,] without imitating any thing that the others did; but as

the waves grew greater, and the sea became more violent by the winds,

they suspected, as is usual in such cases, that some one of the persons

that sailed with them was the occasion of this storm, and agreed to

discover by lot 20 which of them it was. When they had cast lots, 21 the

lot fell upon the prophet; and when they asked him whence he came, and

what he had done? he replied, that he was a Hebrew by nation, and a

prophet of Almighty God; and he persuaded them to cast him into the sea,

if they would escape the danger they were in, for that he was the

occasion of the storm which was upon them. Now at the first they durst

not do so, as esteeming it a wicked thing to cast a man who was a

stranger, and who had committed his life to them, into such manifest

perdition; but at last, when their misfortune overbore them, and the

ship was just going to be drowned, and when they were animated to do it

by the prophet himself, and by the fear concerning their own safety,

they cast him into the sea; upon which the sea became calm. It is also

reported that Jonah was swallowed down by a whale, and that when he had

been there three days, and as many nights, he was vomited out upon the

Euxine Sea, and this alive, and without any hurt upon his body; and

there, on his prayer to God, he obtained pardon for his sins, and went

to the city Nineveh, where he stood so as to be heard, and preached,

that in a very little time they should lose the dominion of Asia. And

when he had published this, he returned. Now I have given this account

about him as I found it written [in our books.]

3. When Jeroboam the king had passed his life in great happiness, and

had ruled forty years, he died, and was buried in Samaria, and his son

Zachariah took the kingdom. After the same manner did Uzziah, the son of

Amaziah, begin to reign over the two tribes in Jerusalem, in the

fourteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam. He was born of Jecoliah, his

mother, who was a citizen of Jerusalem. He was a good man, and by nature

righteous and magnanimous, and very laborious in taking care of the

affairs of his kingdom. He made an expedition also against the

Philistines, and overcame them in battle, and took the cities of Gath

and Jabneh, and brake down their walls; after which expedition he

assaulted those Arabs that adjoined to Egypt. He also built a city upon

the Red Sea, and put a garrison into it. He, after this, overthrew the

Ammonites, and appointed that they should pay tribute. He also overcame

all the countries as far as the bounds of Egypt, and then began to take

care of Jerusalem itself for the rest of his life; for he rebuilt and

repaired all those parts of the wall which had either fallen down by

length of time, or by the carelessness of the kings, his predecessors,

as well as all that part which had been thrown down by the king of

Israel, when he took his father Amaziah prisoner, and entered with him

into the city. Moreover, he built a great many towers, of one hundred

and fifty cubits high, and built walled towns in desert places, and put

garrisons into them, and dug many channels for conveyance of water. He

had also many beasts for labor, and an immense number of cattle; for his

country was fit for pasturage. He was also given to husbandry, and took

care to cultivate the ground, and planted it with all sorts of plants,

and sowed it with all sorts of seeds. He had also about him an army

composed of chosen men, in number three hundred and seventy thousand,

who were governed by general officers and captains of thousands, who

were men of valor, and of unconquerable strength, in number two

thousand. He also divided his whole army into bands, and armed them,

giving every one a sword, with brazen bucklers and breastplates, with

bows and slings; and besides these, he made for them many engines of war

for besieging of cities, such as cast stones and darts, with grapplers,

and other instruments of that sort.

4. While Uzziah was in this state, and making preparation [for

futurity], he was corrupted in his mind by pride, and became insolent,

and this on account of that abundance which he had of things that will

soon perish, and despised that power which is of eternal duration [which

consisted in piety towards God, and in the observation of the laws]; so

he fell by occasion of the good success of his affairs, and was carried

headlong into those sins of his father, which the splendor of that

prosperity he enjoyed, and the glorious actions he had done, led him

into, while he was not able to govern himself well about them.

Accordingly, when a remarkable day was come, and a general festival was

to be celebrated, he put on the holy garment, and went into the temple

to offer incense to God upon the golden altar, which he was prohibited

to do by Azariah the high priest, who had fourscore priests with him,

and who told him that it was not lawful for him to offer sacrifice, and

that "none besides the posterity of Aaron were permitted so to do." And

when they cried out that he must go out of the temple, and not

transgress against God, he was wroth at them, and threatened to kill

them, unless they would hold their peace. In the mean time a great

earthquake shook the ground and a rent was made in the temple, and the

bright rays of the sun shone through it, and fell upon the king's face,

insomuch that the leprosy seized upon him immediately. And before the

city, at a place called Eroge, half the mountain broke off from the rest

on the west, and rolled itself four furlongs, and stood still at the

east mountain, till the roads, as well as the king's gardens, were

spoiled by the obstruction. Now, as soon as the priests saw that the

king's face was infected with the leprosy, they told him of the calamity

he was under, and commanded that he should go out of the city as a

polluted person. Hereupon he was so confounded at the sad distemper, and

sensible that he was not at liberty to contradict, that he did as he was

commanded, and underwent this miserable and terrible punishment for an

intention beyond what befitted a man to have, and for that impiety

against God which was implied therein. So he abode out of the city for

some time, and lived a private life, while his son Jotham took the

government; after which he died with grief and anxiety at what had

happened to him, when he had lived sixty-eight years, and reigned of

them fifty-two; and was buried by himself in his own gardens.

CHAPTER 11. How Zachariah Shallum, Menahem Pekahiah And Pekah Took The

Government Over The Israelites; And How Pul And Tiglath-Pileser Made An

Expedition Against The Israelites. How Jotham, The Son Of Uzziah Reigned

Over The Tribe Of Judah; And What Things Nahum Prophesied Against The

Assyrians.

1. Now when Zachariah, the son of Jeroboam, had reigned six months over

Israel, he was slain by the treachery of a certain friend of his, whose

name was Shallum, the son of Jabesh, who took the kingdom afterward, but

kept it no longer than thirty days; for Menahem, the general of his

army, who was at that time in the city Tirzah, and heard of what had

befallen Zachariah, removed thereupon with all his forces to Samaria,

and joining battle with Shallum, slew him; and when he had made himself

king, he went thence, and came to the city Tiphsah; but the citizens

that were in it shut their gates, and barred them against the king, and

would not admit him: but in order to be avenged on them, he burnt the

country round about it, and took the city by force, upon a siege; and

being very much displeased at what the inhabitants of Tiphsah had done,

he slew them all, and spared not so much as the infants, without

omitting the utmost instances of cruelty and barbarity; for he used such

severity upon his own countrymen, as would not be pardonable with regard

to strangers who had been conquered by him. And after this manner it was

that this Menahem 22 continued to reign with cruelty and barbarity for

ten years. But when Pul, king of Assyria, had made an expedition against

him, he did not think meet to fight or engage in battle with the

Assyrians, but he persuaded him to accept of a thousand talents of

silver, and to go away, and so put an end to the war. This sum the

multitude collected for Menahem, by exacting fifty drachmae as poll-

money for every head; 23 after which he died, and was buried in Samaria,

and left his son Pekahiah his successor in the kingdom, who followed the

barbarity of his father, and so ruled but two years only, after which he

was slain with his friends at a feast, by the treachery of one Pekah,

the general of his horse, and the son of Remaliah, who laid snares for

him. Now this Pekah held the government twenty years, and proved a

wicked man and a transgressor. But the king of Assyria, whose name was

Tiglath-Pileser, when he had made an expedition against the Israelites,

and had overrun all the land of Gilead, and the region beyond Jordan,

and the adjoining country, which is called Galilee, and Kadesh, and

Hazor, he made the inhabitants prisoners, and transplanted them into his

own kingdom. And so much shall suffice to have related here concerning

the king of Assyria.

2. Now Jotham the son of Uzziah reigned over the tribe of Judah in

Jerusalem, being a citizen thereof by his mother, whose name was

Jerusha. This king was not defective in any virtue, but was religious

towards God, and righteous towards men, and careful of the good of the

city [for what part soever wanted to be repaired or adorned he

magnificently repaired and adorned them]. He also took care of the

foundations of the cloisters in the temple, and repaired the walls that

were fallen down, and built very great towers, and such as were almost

impregnable; and if any thing else in his kingdom had been neglected, he

took great care of it. He also made an expedition against the Ammonites,

and overcame them in battle, and ordered them to pay tribute, a hundred

talents, and ten thousand cori of wheat, and as many of barley, every

year, and so augmented his kingdom, that his enemies could not despise

it, and his own people lived happily.

3. Now there was at that time a prophet, whose name was Nahum, who spake

after this manner concerning the overthrow of the Assyrians and of

Nineveh: "Nineveh shall be a pool of water in motion so shall all her

people be troubled, and tossed, and go away by flight, while they say

one to another, Stand, stand still, seize their gold and silver, for

there shall be no one to wish them well, for they will rather save their

lives than their money; for a terrible contention shall possess them one

with another, and lamentation, and loosing of the members, and their

countenances shall be perfectly black with fear. And there will be the

den of the lions, and the mother of the young lions! God says to thee,

Nineveh, that they shall deface thee, and the lion shall no longer go

out from thee to give laws to the world." And indeed this prophet

prophesied many other things besides these concerning Nineveh, which I

do not think necessary to repeat, and I here omit them, that I may not

appear troublesome to my readers; all which thing happened about Nineveh

a hundred and fifteen years afterward: so this may suffice to have

spoken of these matters.

CHAPTER 12. How Upon The Death Of Jotham, Ahaz Reigned In His Stead;

Against Whom Rezin, King Of Syria And Pekah King Of Israel, Made War;

And How Tiglath-Pileser, King Of Assyria Came To The Assistance Of Ahaz,

And Laid Syria Waste And Removing The Damascenes Into Media Placed Other

Nations In Their Room.

1. Now Jotham died when he had lived forty-one years, and of them

reigned sixteen, and was buried in the sepulchers of the kings; and the

kingdom came to his son Ahaz, who proved most impious towards God, and a

transgressor of the laws of his country. He imitated the kings of

Israel, and reared altars in Jerusalem, and offered sacrifices upon them

to idols; to which also he offered his own son as a burnt-offering,

according to the practices of the Canaanites. His other actions were

also of the same sort. Now as he was going on in this mad course, Rezin,

the king of Syria and Damascus, and Pekah, the king of Israel, who were

now at amity one with another, made war with him; and when they had

driven him into Jerusalem, they besieged that city a long while, making

but a small progress, on account of the strength of its walls; and when

the king of Syria had taken the city Elath, upon the Red Sea, and had

slain the inhabitants, he peopled it with Syrians; and when he had slain

those in the [other] garrisons, and the Jews in their neighborhood, and

had driven away much prey, he returned with his army back to Damascus.

Now when the king of Jerusalem knew that the Syrians were returned home,

he, supposing himself a match for the king of Israel, drew out his army

against him, and joining battle with him was beaten; and this happened

because God was angry with him, on account of his many and great

enormities. Accordingly there were slain by the Israelites one hundred

and twenty thousand of his men that day, whose general, Amaziah by name,

slew Zechariah the king's son, in his conflict with Ahaz, as well as the

governor of the kingdom, whose name was Azricam. He also carried

Elkanah, the general of the troops of the tribe of Judah, into

captivity. They also carried the women and children of the tribe of

Benjamin captives; and when they had gotten a great deal of prey, they

returned to Samaria.

2. Now there was one Obed, who was a prophet at that time in Samaria; he

met the army before the city walls, and with a loud voice told them that

they had gotten the victory not by their own strength, but by reason of

the anger God had against king Ahaz. And he complained that they were

not satisfied with the good success they had had against him, but were

so bold as to make captives out of their kinsmen the tribes of Judah and

Benjamin. He also gave them counsel to let them go home without doing

them any harm, for that if they did not obey God herein, they should be

punished. So the people of Israel came together to their assembly, and

considered of these matters, when a man whose name was Berechiah, and

who was one of chief reputation in the government, stood up, and the

others with him, and said, "We will not suffer the citizens to bring

these prisoners into the city, lest we be all destroyed by God; we have

sins enough of our own that we have committed against him, as the

prophets assure us; nor ought we therefore to introduce the practice of

new crimes." When the soldiers heard that, they permitted them to do

what they thought best. So the forenamed men took the captives, and let

them go, and took care of them, and gave them provisions, and sent them

to their own country, without doing them any harm. However, these four

went along with them, and conducted them as far as Jericho, which is not

far from Jerusalem, and returned to Samaria.

3. Hereupon king Ahaz, having been so thoroughly beaten by the

Israelites, sent to Tiglath-Pileser, king of the Assyrians, and sued for

assistance from him in his war against the Israelites, and Syrians, and

Damascenes, with a promise to send him much money; he sent him also

great presents at the same time. Now this king, upon the reception of

those ambassadors, came to assist Ahaz, and made war upon the Syrians,

and laid their country waste, and took Damascus by force, and slew Rezin

their king, and transplanted the people of Damascus into the Upper

Media, and brought a colony of Assyrians, and planted them in Damascus.

He also afflicted the land of Israel, and took many captives out of it.

While he was doing thus with the Syrians, king Ahaz took all the gold

that was in the king's treasures, and the silver, and what was in the

temple of God, and what precious gifts were there, and he carried them

with him, and came to Damascus, and gave it to the king of Assyria,

according to his agreement. So he confessed that he owed him thanks for

all he had done for him, and returned to Jerusalem. Now this king was so

sottish and thoughtless of what was for his own good, that he would not

leave off worshipping the Syrian gods when he was beaten by them, but he

went on in worshipping them, as though they would procure him the

victory; and when he was beaten again, he began to honor the gods of the

Assyrians; and he seemed more desirous to honor any other gods than his

own paternal and true God, whose anger was the cause of his defeat; nay,

he proceeded to such a degree of despite and contempt [of God's

worship], that he shut up the temple entirely, and forbade them to bring

in the appointed sacrifices, and took away the gifts that had been given

to it. And when he had offered these indignities to God, he died, having

lived thirty-six years, and of them reigned sixteen; and he left his son

Hezekiah for his successor.

CHAPTER 13. How Pekah Died By The Treachery Of Hoshea Who Was A Little

After Subdued By Shalmaneser; And How Hezekiah Reigned Instead Of Ahaz;

And What Actions Of Piety And Justice He Did.

1. About the same time Pekah, the king of Israel, died by the treachery

of a friend of his, whose name was Hoshea, who retained the kingdom nine

years' time, but was a wicked man, and a despiser of the Divine worship;

and Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, made an expedition against him,

and overcame him, [which must have been because he had not God favorable

nor assistant to him,] and brought him to submission, and ordered him to

pay an appointed tribute. Now, in the fourth year of the reign of

Hoshea, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, began to reign in Jerusalem; and his

mother's name was Abijah, a citizen of Jerusalem. His nature was good,

and righteous, and religious; for when he came to the kingdom, he

thought that nothing was prior, or more necessary, or more advantageous

to himself, and to his subjects, than to worship God. Accordingly, he

called the people together, and the priests, and the Levites, and made a

speech to them, and said, "You are not ignorant how, by the sins of my

father, who transgressed that sacred honor which was due to God, you

have had experience of many and great miseries, while you were corrupted

in your mind by him, and were induced to worship those which he supposed

to be gods; I exhort you, therefore, who have learned by sad experience

how dangerous a thing impiety is, to put that immediately out of your

memory, and to purify yourselves from your former pollutions, and to

open the temple to these priests and Levites who are here convened, and

to cleanse it with the accustomed sacrifices, and to recover all to the

ancient honor which our fathers paid to it; for by this means we may

render God favorable, and he will remit the anger he hath had to us."

2. When the king had said this, the priests opened the temple; and when

they had set in order the vessels of God, and east out what was impure,

they laid the accustomed sacrifices upon the altar. The king also sent

to the country that was under him, and called the people to Jerusalem to

celebrate the feast of unleavened bread, for it had been intermitted a

long time, on account of the wickedness of the forementioned kings. He

also sent to the Israelites, and exhorted them to leave off their

present way of living, and return to their ancient practices, and to

worship God, for that he gave them leave to come to Jerusalem, and to

celebrate, all in one body, the feast of unleavened bread; and this he

said was by way of invitation only, and to be done of their own good-

will, and for their own advantage, and not out of obedience to him,

because it would make them happy. But the Israelites, upon the coming of

the ambassadors, and upon their laying before them what they had in

charge from their own king, were so far from complying therewith, that

they laughed the ambassadors to scorn, and mocked them as fools: as also

they affronted the prophets, which gave them the same exhortations, and

foretold what they would suffer if they did not return to the worship of

God, insomuch that at length they caught them, and slew them; nor did

this degree of transgressing suffice them, but they had more wicked

contrivances than what have been described: nor did they leave off,

before God, as a punishment for their impiety, brought them under their

enemies: but of that more hereafter. However, many there were of the

tribe of Manasseh, and of Zebulon, and of Issachar, who were obedient to

what the prophets exhorted them to do, and returned to the worship of

God. Now all these came running to Jerusalem, to Hezekiah, that they

might worship God [there].

3. When these men were come, king Hezekiah went up into the temple, with

the rulers and all the people, and offered for himself seven bulls, and

as many rams, with seven lambs, and as many kids of the goats. The king

also himself, and the rulers, laid their hands on the heads of the

sacrifices, and permitted the priests to complete the sacred offices

about them. So they both slew the sacrifices, and burnt the burnt-

offerings, while the Levites stood round about them, with their musical

instruments, and sang hymns to God, and played on their psalteries, as

they were instructed by David to do, and this while the rest of the

priests returned the music, and sounded the trumpets which they had in

their hands; and when this was done, the king and the multitude threw

themselves down upon their face, and worshipped God. He also sacrificed

seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. He also granted

the multitude sacrifices to feast upon, six hundred oxen, and three

thousand other cattle; and the priests performed all things according to

the law. Now the king was so pleased herewith, that he feasted with the

people, and returned thanks to God; but as the feast of unleavened bread

was now come, when they had offered that sacrifice which is called the

passover, they after that offered other sacrifices for seven days. When

the king had bestowed on the multitude, besides what they sanctified of

themselves, two thousand bulls, and seven thousand other cattle, the

same thing was done by the rulers; for they gave them a thousand bulls,

and a thousand and forty other cattle. Nor had this festival been so

well observed from the days of king Solomon, as it was now first

observed with great splendor and magnificence; and when the festival was

ended, they went out into the country and purged it, and cleansed the

city of all the pollution of the idols. The king also gave order that

the daily sacrifices should be offered, at his own charges, and

according to the law; and appointed that the tithes and the first-fruits

should be given by the multitude to the priests and Levites, that they

might constantly attend upon Divine service, and never be taken off from

the worship of God. Accordingly, the multitude brought together all

sorts of their fruits to the priests and the Levites. The king also made

garners and receptacles for these fruits, and distributed them to every

one of the priests and Levites, and to their children and wives; and

thus did they return to their old form of Divine worship. Now when the

king had settled these matters after the manner already described, he

made war upon the Philistines, and beat them, and possessed himself of

all the enemy's cities, from Gaza to Gath; but the king of Assyria sent

to him, and threatened to overturn all his dominions, unless he would

pay him the tribute which his father paid him formerly; but king

Hezekiah was not concerned at his threatenings, but depended on his

piety towards God, and upon Isaiah the prophet, by whom he inquired and

accurately knew all future events. And thus much shall suffice for the

present concerning this king Hezekiah.

CHAPTER 14. How Shalmaneser Took Samaria By Force And How He

Transplanted The Ten Tribes Into Media, And Brought The Nation Of The

Cutheans Into Their Country [In Their Room].

1. When Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, had it told him, that [Hoshea]

the king of Israel had sent privately to So, the king of Egypt, desiring

his assistance against him, he was very angry, and made an expedition

against Samaria, in the seventh year of the reign of Hoshea; but when he

was not admitted [into the city] by the king, 24 he besieged Samaria

three years, and took it by force in the ninth year of the reign of

Hoshea, and in the seventh year of Hezekiah, king of Jerusalem, and

quite demolished the government of the Israelites, and transplanted all

the people into Media and Persia among whom he took king Hoshea alive;

and when he had removed these people out of this their land he

transplanted other nations out of Cuthah, a place so called, [for there

is [still] a river of that name in Persia,] into Samaria, and into the

country of the Israelites. So the ten tribes of the Israelites were

removed out of Judea nine hundred and forty-seven years after their

forefathers were come out of the land of Egypt, and possessed themselves

of the country, but eight hundred years after Joshua had been their

leader, and, as I have already observed, two hundred and forty years,

seven months, and seven days after they had revolted from Rehoboam, the

grandson of David, and had given the kingdom to Jeroboam. And such a

conclusion overtook the Israelites, when they had transgressed the laws,

and would not hearken to the prophets, who foretold that this calamity

would come upon them, if they would not leave off their evil doings.

What gave birth to these evil doings, was that sedition which they

raised against Rehoboam, the grandson of David, when they set up

Jeroboam his servant to be their king, when, by sinning against God, and

bringing them to imitate his bad example, made God to be their enemy,

while Jeroboam underwent that punishment which he justly deserved.

2. And now the king of Assyria invaded all Syria and Phoenicia in a

hostile manner. The name of this king is also set down in the archives

of Tyre, for he made an expedition against Tyre in the reign of Eluleus;

and Menander attests to it, who, when he wrote his Chronology, and

translated the archives of Tyre into the Greek language, gives us the

following history: "One whose name was Eluleus reigned thirty-six years;

this king, upon the revolt of the Citteans, sailed to them, and reduced

them again to a submission. Against these did the king of Assyria send

an army, and in a hostile manner overrun all Phoenicia, but soon made

peace with them all, and returned back; but Sidon, and Ace, and

Palsetyrus revolted; and many other cities there were which delivered

themselves up to the king of Assyria. Accordingly, when the Tyrians

would not submit to him, the king returned, and fell upon them again,

while the Phoenicians had furnished him with threescore ships, and eight

hundred men to row them; and when the Tyrians had come upon them in

twelve ships, and the enemy's ships were dispersed, they took five

hundred men prisoners, and the reputation of all the citizens of Tyre

was thereby increased; but the king of Assyria returned, and placed

guards at their rivers and aqueducts, who should hinder the Tyrians from

drawing water. This continued for five years; and still the Tyrians bore

the siege, and drank of the water they had out of the wells they dug."

And this is what is written in the Tyrian archives concerning

Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria.

3. But now the Cutheans, who removed into Samaria, [for that is the name

they have been called by to this time, because they were brought out of

the country called Cuthah, which is a country of Persia, and there is a

river of the same name in it,] each of them, according to their nations,

which were in number five, brought their own gods into Samaria, and by

worshipping them, as was the custom of their own countries, they

provoked Almighty God to be angry and displeased at them, for a plague

seized upon them, by which they were destroyed; and when they found no

cure for their miseries, they learned by the oracle that they ought to

worship Almighty God, as the method for their deliverance. So they sent

ambassadors to the king of Assyria, and desired him to send them some of

those priests of the Israelites whom he had taken captive. And when he

thereupon sent them, and the people were by them taught the laws, and

the holy worship of God, they worshipped him in a respectful manner, and

the plague ceased immediately; and indeed they continue to make use of

the very same customs to this very time, and are called in the Hebrew

tongue Cutlans, but in the Greek tongue Samaritans. And when they see

the Jews in prosperity, they pretend that they are changed, and allied

to them, and call them kinsmen, as though they were derived from Joseph,

and had by that means an original alliance with them; but when they see

them falling into a low condition, they say they are no way related to

them, and that the Jews have no right to expect any kindness or marks of

kindred from them, but they declare that they are sojourners, that come

from other countries. But of these we shall have a more seasonable

opportunity to discourse hereafter.

FOOTNOTES

1 (return) [ These judges constituted by Jehoshaphat were a kind of

Jerusalem Sanhedrim, out of the priests, the Levites, and the principal

of the people, both here and 2 Chronicles 19:8; much like the old

Christian judicatures of the bishop, the presbyters, the deacons, and

the people.]

2 (return) [ Concerning this precious balsam, see the note on Atiq. B.

VIII. ch. 6. sect. 6.]

3 (return) [ What are here Pontus and Thrace, as the places whither

Jehoshaphat's fleet sailed, are in our other copies Ophir and Tarshish,

and the place whence it sailed is in them Eziongeber, which lay on the

Red Sea, whence it was impossible for any ships to sail to Pontus or

Thrace; so that Josephus's copy differed from our other copies, as is

further plain from his own words, which render what we read, that "the

ships were broken at Eziongeber, from their unwieldy greatness." But so

far we may conclude, that Josephus thought one Ophir to be some where in

the Mediterranean, and not in the South Sea, though perhaps there might

be another Ophir in that South Sea also, and that fleets might then sail

both from Phoenicia and from the Red Sea to fetch the gold of Ophir.]

4 (return) [ This god of flies seems to have been so called, as was the

like god among the Greeks, from his supposed power over flies, in

driving them away from the flesh of their sacrifices, which otherwise

would have been very troublesome to them.]

5 (return) [ It is commonly esteemed a very cruel action of Elijah, when

he called for fire from heaven, and consumed no fewer than two captains

and a hundred soldiers, and this for no other crime than obeying the

orders of their king, in attempting to seize him; and it is owned by our

Savior, that it was an instance of greater severity than the spirit of

the New Testament allows, Luke 9:54. But then we must consider that it

is not unlikely that these captains and soldiers believed that they were

sent to fetch the prophet, that he might be put to death for foretelling

the death of the king, and this while they knew him to be the prophet of

the true God, the supreme King of Israel, [for they were still under the

theocracy,] which was no less than impiety, rebellion, and treason, in

the highest degree: nor would the command of a subaltern, or inferior

captain, contradicting the commands of the general, when the captain and

the soldiers both knew it to be so, as I suppose, justify or excuse such

gross rebellion and disobedience in soldiers at this day. Accordingly,

when Saul commanded his guards to slay Ahimelech and the priests at Nob,

they knew it to be an unlawful command, and would not obey it, 1 Samuel

22:17. From which cases both officers and soldiers may learn, that the

commands of their leaders or kings cannot justify or excuse them in

doing what is wicked in the sight of God, or in fighting in an unjust

cause, when they know it so to be.]

6 (return) [ This practice of cutting down, or plucking up by the roots,

the fruit trees was forbidden, even in ordinary wars, by the law of

Moses, Deuteronomy 20:19, 20, and only allowed by God in this particular

case, when the Moabites were to be punished and cut off in an

extraordinary manner for their wickedness See Jeremiah 48:11-13, and

many the like prophecies against them. Nothing could therefore justify

this practice but a particular commission from God by his prophet, as in

the present case, which was ever a sufficient warrant for breaking any

such ritual or ceremonial law whatsoever.]

7 (return) [ That this woman who cried to Elisha, and who in our Bible

is styled "the wife of one of the sons of the prophets," 2 Kings 4:1,

was no other than the widow of Obadiah, the good steward of Ahab, is

confirmed by the Chaldee paraphrast, and by the Rabbins and others. Nor

is that unlikely which Josephus here adds, that these debts were

contracted by her husband for the support of those "hundred of the

Lord's prophets, whom he maintained by fifty in a cave," in the days of

Ahab and Jezebel, 1 Kings 18:4; which circumstance rendered it highly

fit that the prophet Elisha should provide her a remedy, and enable her

to redeem herself and her sons from the fear of that slavery which

insolvent debtors were liable to by the law of Moses, Leviticus 25:39;

Matthew 18:25; which he did accordingly, with God's help, at the expense

of a miracle.]

8 (return) [ Dr. Hudson, with very good reason, suspects that there is

no small defect in our present copies of Josephus, just before the

beginning of this section, and that chiefly as to that distinct account

which he had given us reason to expect in the first section, and to

which he seems to refer, ch. 8. sect. 6. concerning the glorious

miracles which Elisha wrought, which indeed in our Bibles are not a few,

2 Kings 6-9., but of which we have several omitted in Josephus's present

copies. One of those histories, omitted at present, was evidently in his

Bible, I mean that of the curing of Nanman's leprosy, 2 Kings 5.; for he

plainly alludes to it, B. III. ch. 11. sect. 4, where he observes, that

"there were lepers in many nations who yet have been in honor, and not

only free from reproach and avoidance, but who have been great captains

of armies, and been intrusted with high offices in the commonwealth, and

have had the privilege of entering into holy places and temples." But

what makes me most regret the want of that history in our present copies

of Josephus is this, that we have here, as it is commonly understood,

one of the greatest difficulties in all the Bible, that in 2 Kings 5:18,

19, where Naaman, after he had been miraculously cured by a prophet of

the true God, and had thereupon promised [ver. 17: that "he would

henceforth offer neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice unto other gods,

but unto the Lord," adds, "In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant,

that when my master goeth into the house of Rimnu to worship there, and

he leaneth on my hands, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmort; when I

bow down myself in the house of Rimmort, the Lord pardon thy servant in

this thing. And Elisha said, Go in peace." This looks like a prophet's

permission for being partaker in idolatry itself, out of compliance with

an idolatrous court.]

9 (return) [ Upon occasion of this stratagem of Elisha, in Josephus, we

may take notice, that although Josephus was one of the greatest lovers

of truth in the world, yet in a just war he seems to have had no manner

of scruple upon him by all such stratagems possible to deceive public

enemies. See this Josephus's account of Jeremiah's imposition on the

great men of the Jews in somewhat like case, Antiq. B. X. ch. 7. sect.

6; 2 Samuel 16:16, &c.]

10 (return) [ This son of a murderer was Joram, the son of Ahab, which

Ahab slew, or permitted his wife Jezebel to slay, the Lord's prophets,

and Naboth, 1 Kings 18:4; 21:19; and he is here called by this name, I

suppose, because he had now also himself sent an officer to murder him;

yet is Josephus's account of Joram's coming himself at last as repenting

of his intended cruelty, much more probable than that in our copies, 2

Kings 6:33, which rather implies the contrary.]

11 (return) [ This law of the Jews, for the exclusion of lepers out of

the camp in the wilderness, and out of the cities in Judea, is a known

one, Leviticus 13:46; Numbers 5:14.]

12 (return) [ Since Elijah did not live to anoint Hazael king of Syria

himself, as he was empowered to do, 1 Kings 19:15, it was most probably

now done, in his name, by his servant and successor Elisha. Nor does it

seem to me otherwise but that Benhadad immediately recovered of his

disease, as the prophet foretold; and that Hazael, upon his being

anointed to succeed him though he ought to have staid till he died by

the course of nature, or some other way of Divine punishment, as did

David for many years in the like case, was too impatient, and the very

next day smothered or strangled him, in order to come directly to the

succession.]

13 (return) [ What Mr. Le Clerc pretends here, that it is more probable

that Hazael and his son were worshipped by the Syrians and people of

Damascus till the days of Josephus, than Benhadad and Hazael, because

under Benhadad they had greatly suffered, and because it is almost

incredible that both a king and that king's murderer should be

worshipped by the same Syrians, is of little force against those

records, out of which Josephus drew this history, especially when it is

likely that they thought Benhadad died of the distemper he labored

under, and not by Hazael's treachery. Besides, the reason that Josephus

gives for this adoration, that these two kings had been great

benefactors to the inhabitants of Damascus, and had built them temples,

is too remote from the political suspicions of Le Clerc; nor ought such

weak suspicions to be deemed of any force against authentic testimonies

of antiquity.]

14 (return) [ This epistle, in some copies of Josephus, is said to come

to Jotare from Elijah, with this addition," for he was yet upon earth,"

which could not be true of Elijah, who, as all agree, was gone from the

earth about four years before, and could only be true of Elisha; nor

perhaps is there any more mystery here, than that the name of Elijah has

very anciently crept into the text instead of Elisha, by the copiers,

there being nothing in any copy of that epistle peculiar to Elijah.]

15 (return) [ Spanheim here notes, that this putting off men's garments,

and strewing them under a king, was an Eastern custom, which he had

elsewhere explained.]

16 (return) [ Our copies say that this "driving of the chariots was like

the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously," 2

Kings 9:20; whereas Josephus's copy, as he understood it, was this,

that, on the contrary, Jehu marched slowly, and in good order. Nor can

it be denied, that since there was interval enough for king Joram to

send out two horsemen, one after another, to Jehu, and at length to go

out with king Ahaziah to meet him, and all this after he was come within

sight of the watchman, and before he was come to Jezreel, the

probability is greatly on the side of Josephus's copy or

interpretation.]

17 (return) [ This character of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, that "he was

a good man, and in his disposition not at all like to his father," seems

a direct contradiction to our ordinary copies, which say [2 Kings 13:11]

that "he did evil in the sight of the Lord; and that he departed not

from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin:

he walked therein." Which copies are here the truest it is hard

positively to determine. If Josephus's be true, this Joash is the single

instance of a good king over the ten tribes; if the other be true, we

have not one such example. The account that follows, in all copies, of

Elisha the prophet's concern for him, and his concern for Elisha,

greatly favors Josephus's copies, and supposes this king to have been

then a good man, and no idolater, with whom God's prophets used not to

be so familiar. Upon the whole, since it appears, even by Josephus's own

account, that Amaziah, the good king of Judah, while he was a good king,

was forbidden to make use of the hundred thousand auxiliaries he had

hired of this Joash, the king of Israel, as if he and they were then

idolaters, 2 Chronicles 25:6-9, it is most likely that these different

characters of Joash suited the different parts of his reign, and that,

according to our common copies, he was at first a wicked king, and

afterwards was reclaimed, and became a good one, according to Josephus.]

18 (return) [ What I have above noted concerning Jehoash, seems to me to

have been true also concerning his son Jeroboam II., viz. that although

he began wickedly, as Josephus agrees with our other copies, and, as he

adds, "was the cause of a vast number of misfortunes to the Israelites"

in those his first years, [the particulars of which are unhappily

wanting both in Josephus and in all our copies,] so does it seem to me

that he was afterwards reclaimed, and became a good king, and so was

encouraged by the prophet Jonah, and had great successes afterward, when

"God had saved the Israelites by the hand of Jeroboam, the son of

Joash," 2 Kings 14:27; which encouragement by Jonah, and great

successes, are equally observable in Josephus, and in the other copies.]

19 (return) [ When Jonah is said in our Bibles to have gone to Tarshish,

Jonah 1:3, Josephus understood it that he went to Tarsus in Cilicia, or

to the Mediterranean Sea, upon which Tarsus lay; so that he does not

appear to have read the text, 1 Kings 22:48, as our copies do, that

ships of Tarshish could lie at Ezion-geber, upon the Red Sea. But as to

Josephus's assertion, that Jonah's fish was carried by the strength of

the current, upon a nean, it is by no means an improbable determination

in Josephus.]

20 (return) [ This ancient piece of religion, of supposing there was

great sin where there was great misery, and of casting lots to discover

great sinners, not only among the Israelites, but among these heathen

mariners, seems a remarkable remains of the ancient tradition which

prevailed of old over all mankind, that Providence used to interpose

visibly in all human affairs, and storm, as far as the Euxine Sea, it is

no way impossible; and since the storm might have driven the ship, while

Jonah was in it never to bring, or at least not long to continue,

notorious judge, near to that Euxine Sea, and since in three more days,

while but for notorious sins, which the most ancient Book of he was in

the fish's belly, that current might bring him to the Job shows to have

been the state of mankind for about the Assyrian coast, and since withal

that coast could bring him former three thousand years of the world,

till the days of Job nearer to Nineveh than could any coast of the

Mediterranian and Moses.]

21 (return) [ This account of an earthquake at Jerusalem at the very

same time when Uzziah usurped the priest's office, and went into the

sanctuary to burn incense, and of the consequences of the earthquake, is

entirely wanting in our other copies, though it be exceeding like to a

prophecy of Jeremiah, now in Zechariah 14:4, 5; in which prophecy

mention is made of "fleeing from that earthquake, as they fled from this

earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah;" so that there seems to

have been some considerable resemblance between these historical and

prophetical earthquakes.]

22 (return) [ Dr. Wall, in his critical notes on 2 Kings 15:20,

observes, "that when this Menahem is said to have exacted the money of

Israel of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of

silver, to give Pul, the king of Assyria, a thousand talents, this is

the first public money raised by any [Israelite] king by tax on the

people; that they used before to raise it out of the treasures of the

house of the Lord, or of their own house; that it was a poll-money on

the rich men, [and them only,] to raise oe353,000, or, as others count a

talent, oe400,000, at the rate of oe6 or oe7 per head; and that God

commanded, by Ezekiel, ch. 45:8; 46:18, that no such thing should be

done [at the Jews' restoration], but the king should have land of his

own."]

23 (return) [ This passage is taken out of the prophet Nahum, ch. 2:8-

13, and is the principal, or rather the only, one that is given us

almost verbatim, but a little abridged, in all Josephus's known

writings: by which quotation we learn what he himself always asserts,

viz. that he made use of the Hebrew original and not of the Greek

version]; as also we learn, that his Hebrew copy considerably differed

from ours. See all three texts particularly set down and compared

together in the Essay on the Old Testament, page 187.]

24 (return) [ This siege of Samaria, though not given a particular

account of, either in our Hebrew or Greek Bibles, or in Josephus, was so

very long, no less than three years, that it was no way improbable but

that parents, and particularly mothers, might therein be reduced to eat

their own children, as the law of Moses had threatened upon their

disobedience, Leviticus 26;29; Deuteronomy 28:53-57; and as was

accomplished in the other shorter sieges of both the capital cities,

Jerusalem and Samaria; the former mentioned Jeremiah 19:9; Antiq. B. IX.

ch. 4. sect. 4, and the latter, 2 Kings 6:26-29.]

BOOK X. Containing The Interval Of One Hundred And Eighty-Two Years And

A Half.—From The Captivity Of The Ten Tribes To The First Year Of Cyrus.

CHAPTER 1. How Sennacherib Made An Expedition Against Hezekiah; What

Threatenings Rabshakeh Made To Hezekiah When Sennacherib Was Gone

Against The Egyptians; How Isaiah The Prophet Encouraged Him; How

Sennacherib Having Failed Of Success In Egypt, Returned Thence To

Jerusalem; And How Upon His Finding His Army Destroyed, He Returned

Home; And What Befell Him A Little Afterward.

1. It was now the fourteenth year of the government of Hezekiah, king of

the two tribes, when the king of Assyria, whose name was Sennacherib,

made an expedition against him with a great army, and took all the

cities of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin by force; and when he was

ready to bring his army against Jerusalem, Hezekiah sent ambassadors to

him beforehand, and promised to submit, and pay what tribute he should

appoint. Hereupon Sennacherib, when he heard of what offers the

ambassadors made, resolved not to proceed in the war, but to accept of

the proposals that were made him; and if he might receive three hundred

talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold, he promised that he would

depart in a friendly manner; and he gave security upon oath to the

ambassadors that he would then do him no harm, but go away as he came.

So Hezekiah submitted, and emptied his treasures, and sent the money, as

supposing he should be freed from his enemy, and from any further

distress about his kingdom. Accordingly, the Assyrian king took it, and

yet had no regard to what he had promised; but while he himself went to

the war against the Egyptians and Ethiopians, he left his general

Rabshakeh, and two other of his principal commanders, with great forces,

to destroy Jerusalem. The names of the two other commanders were Tartan

and Rabsaris.

2. Now as soon as they were come before the walls, they pitched their

camp, and sent messengers to Hezekiah, and desired that they might speak

with him; but he did not himself come out to them for fear, but he sent

three of his most intimate friends; the name of one was Eliakim, who was

over the kingdom, and Shebna, and Joah the recorder. So these men came

out, and stood over against the commanders of the Assyrian army; and

when Rabshakeh saw them, he bid them go and speak to Hezekiah in the

manner following: That Sennacherib, the great king, 1 desires to know of

him, on whom it is that he relies and depends, in flying from his lord,

and will not hear him, nor admit his army into the city? Is it on

account of the Egyptians, and in hopes that his army would be beaten by

them? Whereupon he lets him know, that if this be what he expects, he is

a foolish man, and like one who leans on a broken reed; while such a one

will not only fall down, but will have his hand pierced and hurt by it.

That he ought to know he makes this expedition against him by the will

of God, who hath granted this favor to him, that he shall overthrow the

kingdom of Israel, and that in the very same manner he shall destroy

those that are his subjects also. When Rabshakeh had made this speech in

the Hebrew tongue, for he was skillful in that language, Eliakim was

afraid lest the multitude that heard him should be disturbed; so he

desired him to speak in the Syrian tongue. But the general,

understanding what he meant, and perceiving the fear that he was in, he

made his answer with a greater and a louder voice, but in the Hebrew

tongue; and said, that "since they all heard what were the king's

commands, they would consult their own advantage in delivering up

themselves to us; for it is plain the both you and your king dissuade

the people from submitting by vain hopes, and so induce them to resist;

but if you be courageous, and think to drive our forces away, I am ready

to deliver to you two thousand of these horses that are with me for your

use, if you can set as many horsemen on their backs, and show your

strength; but what you have not you cannot produce. Why therefore do you

delay to deliver up yourselves to a superior force, who can take you

without your consent? although it will be safer for you to deliver

yourselves up voluntarily, while a forcible capture, when you are

beaten, must appear more dangerous, and will bring further calamities

upon you."

3. When the people, as well as the ambassadors, heard what the Assyrian

commander said, they related it to Hezekiah, who thereupon put off his

royal apparel, and clothed himself with sackcloth, and took the habit of

a mourner, and, after the manner of his country, he fell upon his face,

and besought God, and entreated him to assist them, now they had no

other hope of relief. He also sent some of his friends, and some of the

priests, to the prophet Isaiah, and desired that he would pray to God,

and offer sacrifices for their common deliverance, and so put up

supplications to him, that he would have indignation at the expectations

of their enemies, and have mercy upon his people. And when the prophet

had done accordingly, an oracle came from God to him, and encouraged the

king and his friends that were about him; and foretold that their

enemies should be beaten without fighting, and should go away in an

ignominious manner, and not with that insolence which they now show, for

that God would take care that they should be destroyed. He also foretold

that Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, should fail of his purpose

against Egypt, and that when he came home he should perish by the sword.

4. About the same time also the king of Assyria wrote an epistle to

Hezekiah, in which he said he was a foolish man, in supposing that he

should escape from being his servant, since he had already brought under

many and great nations; and he threatened, that when he took him, he

would utterly destroy him, unless he now opened the gates, and willingly

received his army into Jerusalem. When he read this epistle, he despised

it, on account of the trust that he had in God; but he rolled up the

epistle, and laid it up within the temple. And as he made his further

prayers to God for the city, and for the preservation of all the people,

the prophet Isaiah said that God had heard his prayer, and that he

should not be besieged at this time by the king of Assyria 2 that for

the future he might be secure of not being at all disturbed by him; and

that the people might go on peaceably, and without fear, with their

husbandry and other affairs. But after a little while the king of

Assyria, when he had failed of his treacherous designs against the

Egyptians, returned home without success, on the following occasion: He

spent a long time in the siege of Pelusium; and when the banks that he

had raised over against the walls were of a great height, and when he

was ready to make an immediate assault upon them, but heard that

Tirhaka, king of the Ethiopians, was coming and bringing great forces to

aid the Egyptians, and was resolved to march through the desert, and so

to fall directly upon the Assyrians, this king Sennacherib was disturbed

at the news, and, as I said before, left Pelusium, and returned back

without success. Now concerning this Sennacherib, Herodotus also says,

in the second book of his histories, how "this king came against the

Egyptian king, who was the priest of Vulcan; and that as he was

besieging Pelusium, he broke up the siege on the following occasion:

This Egyptian priest prayed to God, and God heard his prayer, and sent a

judgment upon the Arabian king." But in this Herodotus was mistaken,

when he called this king not king of the Assyrians, but of the Arabians;

for he saith that "a multitude of mice gnawed to pieces in one night

both the bows and the rest of the armor of the Assyrians, and that it

was on that account that the king, when he had no bows left, drew off

his army from Pelusium." And Herodotus does indeed give us this history;

nay, and Berosus, who wrote of the affairs of Chaldea, makes mention of

this king Sennacherib, and that he ruled over the Assyrians, and that he

made an expedition against all Asia and Egypt; and says thus:

5. "Now when Sennacherib was returning from his Egyptian war to

Jerusalem, he found his army under Rabshakeh his general in danger [by a

plague], for God had sent a pestilential distemper upon his army; and on

the very first night of the siege, a hundred fourscore and five

thousand, with their captains and generals, were destroyed. So the king

was in a great dread and in a terrible agony at this calamity; and being

in great fear for his whole army, he fled with the rest of his forces to

his own kingdom, and to his city Nineveh; and when he had abode there a

little while, he was treacherously assaulted, and died by the hands of

his elder sons, 3 Adrammelech and Seraser, and was slain in his own

temple, which was called Araske. Now these sons of his were driven away

on account of the murder of their father by the citizens, and went into

Armenia, while Assarachoddas took the kingdom of Sennacherib." And this

proved to be the conclusion of this Assyrian expedition against the

people of Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 2. How Hezekiah Was Sick, And Ready To Die; And How God Bestowed

Upon Him Fifteen Years Longer Life, [And Secured That Promise] By The

Going Back Of The Shadow Ten Degrees.

1. Now king Hezekiah being thus delivered, after a surprising manner,

from the dread he was in, offered thank-offerings to God, with all his

people, because nothing else had destroyed some of their enemies, and

made the rest so fearful of undergoing the same fate that they departed

from Jerusalem, but that Divine assistance. Yet, while he was very

zealous and diligent about the worship of God, did he soon afterwards

fall into a severe distemper, insomuch that the physicians despaired of

him, and expected no good issue of his sickness, as neither did his

friends: and besides the distemper 4 itself, there was a very melancholy

circumstance that disordered the king, which was the consideration that

he was childless, and was going to die, and leave his house and his

government without a successor of his own body; so he was troubled at

the thoughts of this his condition, and lamented himself, and entreated

of God that he would prolong his life for a little while till he had

some children, and not suffer him to depart this life before he was

become a father. Hereupon God had mercy upon him, and accepted of his

supplication, because the trouble he was under at his supposed death was

not because he was soon to leave the advantages he enjoyed in the

kingdom, nor did he on that account pray that he might have a longer

life afforded him, but in order to have sons, that might receive the

government after him. And God sent Isaiah the prophet, and commanded him

to inform Hezekiah, that within three days' time he should get clear of

his distemper, and should survive it fifteen years, and that he should

have children also. Now, upon the prophet's saying this, as God had

commanded him, he could hardly believe it, both on account of the

distemper he was under, which was very sore, and by reason of the

surprising nature of what was told him; so he desired that Isaiah would

give him some sign or wonder, that he might believe him in what he had

said, and be sensible that he came from God; for things that are beyond

expectation, and greater than our hopes, are made credible by actions of

the like nature. And when Isaiah had asked him what sign he desired to

be exhibited, he desired that he would make the shadow of the sun, which

he had already made to go down ten steps [or degrees] in his house, to

return again to the same place, 5 and to make it as it was before. And

when the prophet prayed to God to exhibit this sign to the king, he saw

what he desired to see, and was freed from his distemper, and went up to

the temple, where he worshipped God, and made vows to him.

2. At this time it was that the dominion of the Assyrians was overthrown

by the Medes; 6 but of these things I shall treat elsewhere. But the

king of Babylon, whose name was Baladan, sent ambassadors to Hezekiah,

with presents, and desired he would be his ally and his friend. So he

received the ambassadors gladly, and made them a feast, and showed them

his treasures, and his armory, and the other wealth he was possessed of,

in precious stones and in gold, and gave them presents to be carried to

Baladan, and sent them back to him. Upon which the prophet Isaiah came

to him, and inquired of him whence those ambassadors came; to which he

replied, that they came from Babylon, from the king; and that he had

showed them all he had, that by the sight of his riches and forces he

might thereby guess at [the plenty he was in], and be able to inform the

king of it. But the prophet rejoined, and said, "Know thou, that, after

a little while, these riches of thine shall be carried away to Babylon,

and thy posterity shall be made eunuchs there, and lose their manhood,

and be servants to the king of Babylon; for that God foretold such

things would come to pass." Upon which words Hezekiah was troubled, and

said that he was himself unwilling that his nation should fall into such

calamities; yet since it is not possible to alter what God had

determined, he prayed that there might be peace while he lived. Berosus

also makes mention of this Baladan, king of Babylon. Now as to this

prophet [Isaiah], he was by the confession of all, a divine and

wonderful man in speaking truth; and out of the assurance that he had

never written what was false, he wrote down all his prophecies, and left

them behind him in books, that their accomplishment might be judged of

from the events by posterity: nor did this prophet do so alone, but the

others, which were twelve in number, did the same. And whatsoever is

done among us, Whether it be good, or whether it be bad, comes to pass

according to their prophecies; but of every one of these we shall speak

hereafter.

CHAPTER 3. How Manasseh Reigned After Hezekiah; And How When He Was In

Captivity He Returned To God And Was Restored To His Kingdom And Left It

To [His Son] Amon.

1. When king Hezekiah had survived the interval of time already

mentioned, and had dwelt all that time in peace, he died, having

completed fifty-four years of his life, and reigned twenty-nine. But

when his son Manasseh, whose mother's name was Hephzibah, of Jerusalem,

had taken the kingdom, he departed from the conduct of his father, and

fell into a course of life quite contrary thereto, and showed himself in

his manners most wicked in all respects, and omitted no sort of impiety,

but imitated those transgressions of the Israelites, by the commission

of which against God they had been destroyed; for he was so hardy as to

defile the temple of God, and the city, and the whole country; for, by

setting out from a contempt of God, he barbarously slew all the

righteous men that were among the Hebrews; nor would he spare the

prophets, for he every day slew some of them, till Jerusalem was

overflown with blood. So God was angry at these proceedings, and sent

prophets to the king, and to the multitude, by whom he threatened the

very same calamities to them which their brethren the Israelites, upon

the like affronts offered to God, were now under. But these men would

not believe their words, by which belief they might have reaped the

advantage of escaping all those miseries; yet did they in earnest learn

that what the prophets had told them was true.

2. And when they persevered in the same course of life, God raised up

war against them from the king of Babylon and Chaldea, who sent an army

against Judea, and laid waste the country; and caught king Manasseh by

treachery, and ordered him to be brought to him, and had him under his

power to inflict what punishment he pleased upon him. But then it was

that Manasseh perceived what a miserable condition he was in, and

esteeming himself the cause of all, he besought God to render his enemy

humane and merciful to him. Accordingly, God heard his prayer, and

granted him what he prayed for. So Manasseh was released by the king of

Babylon, and escaped the danger he was in; and when he was come to

Jerusalem, he endeavored, if it were possible, to cast out of his memory

those his former sins against God, of which he now repented, and to

apply himself to a very religious life. He sanctified the temple, and

purged the city, and for the remainder of his days he was intent on

nothing but to return his thanks to God for his deliverance, and to

preserve him propitious to him all his life long. He also instructed the

multitude to do the same, as having very nearly experienced what a

calamity he was fallen into by a contrary conduct. He also rebuilt the

altar, and offered the legal sacrifices, as Moses commanded. And when he

had re-established what concerned the Divine worship, as it ought to be,

he took care of the security of Jerusalem: he did not only repair the

old walls with great diligence, but added another wall to the former. He

also built very lofty towers, and the garrisoned places before the city

he strengthened, not only in other respects, but with provisions of all

sorts that they wanted. And indeed, when he had changed his former

course, he so led his life for the time to come, that from the time of

his return to piety towards God he was deemed a happy man, and a pattern

for imitation. When therefore he had lived sixty-seven years, he

departed this life, having reigned fifty-five years, and was buried in

his own garden; and the kingdom came to his son Amon, whose mother's

name was Meshulemeth, of the city of Jotbath.

CHAPTER 4. How Amon Reigned Instead Of Manasseh; And After Amon Reigned

Josiah; He Was Both Righteous And Religious. As Also Concerning Huldah

The Prophetess.

1. This Amon imitated those works of his father which he insolently did

when he was young: so he had a conspiracy made against him by his own

servants, and was slain in his own house, when he had lived twenty-four

years, and of them had reigned two. But the multitude punished those

that slew Amon, and buried him with his father, and gave the kingdom to

his son Josiah, who was eight years old. His mother was of the city of

Boscath, and her name was Jedidah. He was of a most excellent

disposition, and naturally virtuous, and followed the actions of king

David, as a pattern and a rule to him in the whole conduct of his life.

And when he was twelve years old, he gave demonstrations of his

religious and righteous behavior; for he brought the people to a sober

way of living, and exhorted them to leave off the opinion they had of

their idols, because they were not gods, but to worship their own God.

And by repeating on the actions of his progenitors, he prudently

corrected what they did wrong, like a very elderly man, and like one

abundantly able to understand what was fit to be done; and what he found

they had well done, he observed all the country over, and imitated the

same. And thus he acted in following the wisdom and sagacity of his own

nature, and in compliance with the advice and instruction of the elders;

for by following the laws it was that he succeeded so well in the order

of his government, and in piety with regard to the Divine worship. And

this happened because the transgressions of the former kings were seen

no more, but quite vanished away; for the king went about the city, and

the whole country, and cut down the groves which were devoted to strange

gods, and overthrew their altars; and if there were any gifts dedicated

to them by his forefathers, he made them ignominious, and plucked them

down; and by this means he brought the people back from their opinion

about them to the worship of God. He also offered his accustomed

sacrifices and burnt- offerings upon the altar. Moreover, he ordained

certain judges and overseers, that they might order the matters to them

severally belonging, and have regard to justice above all things, and

distribute it with the same concern they would have about their own

soul. He also sent over all the country, and desired such as pleased to

bring gold and silver for the repairs of the temple, according to every

one's inclinations and abilities. And when the money was brought in, he

made one Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Shaphan the scribe, and

Joab the recorder, and Eliakim the high priest, curators of the temple,

and of the charges contributed thereto; who made no delay, nor put the

work off at all, but prepared architects, and whatsoever was proper for

those repairs, and set closely about the work. So the temple was

repaired by this means, and became a public demonstration of the king's

piety.

2. But when he was now in the eighteenth year of his reign, he sent to

Eliakim the high priest, and gave order, that out of what money was

overplus, he should cast cups, and dishes, and vials, for ministration

[in the temple]; and besides, that they should bring all the gold or

silver which was among the treasures, and expend that also in making

cups and the like vessels. But as the high priest was bringing out the

gold, he lighted upon the holy books of Moses that were laid up in the

temple; and when he had brought them out, he gave them to Shaphan the

scribe, who, when he had read them, came to the king, and informed him

that all was finished which he had ordered to be done. He also read over

the books to him, who, when he had heard them read, rent his garment,

and called for Eliakim the high priest, and for [Shaphan] the scribe,

and for certain [other] of his most particular friends, and sent them to

Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, [which Shallum was a man of

dignity, and of an eminent family,] and bid them go to her, and say that

[he desired] she would appease God, and endeavor to render him

propitious to them, for that there was cause to fear, lest, upon the

transgression of the laws of Moses by their forefathers, they should be

in peril of going into captivity, and of being cast out of their own

country; lest they should be in want of all things, and so end their

days miserably. When the prophetess had heard this from the messengers

that were sent to her by the king, she bid them go back to the king, and

say that "God had already given sentence against them, to destroy the

people, and cast them out of their country, and deprive them of all the

happiness they enjoyed;" which sentence none could set aside by any

prayers of theirs, since it was passed on account of their

transgressions of the laws, and of their not having repented in so long

a time, while the prophets had exhorted them to amend, and had foretold

the punishment that would ensue on their impious practices; which

threatening God would certainly execute upon them, that they might be

persuaded that he is God, and had not deceived them in any respect as to

what he had denounced by his prophets; that yet, because Josiah was a

righteous man, he would at present delay those calamities, but that

after his death he would send on the multitude what miseries he had

determined for them.

3. So these messengers, upon this prophecy of the woman, came and told

it to the king; whereupon he sent to the people every where, and ordered

that the priests and the Levites should come together to Jerusalem; and

commanded that those of every age should be present also. And when they

had gathered together, he first read to them the holy books; after which

he stood upon a pulpit, in the midst of the multitude, and obliged them

to make a covenant, with an oath, that they would worship God, and keep

the laws of Moses. Accordingly, they gave their assent willingly, and

undertook to do what the king had recommended to them. So they

immediately offered sacrifices, and that after an acceptable manner, and

besought God to be gracious and merciful to them. He also enjoined the

high priest, that if there remained in the temple any vessel that was

dedicated to idols, or to foreign gods, they should cast it out. So when

a great number of such vessels were got together, he burnt them, and

scattered their ashes abroad, and slew the priests of the idols that

were not of the family of Aaron.

4. And when he had done thus in Jerusalem, he came into the country, and

utterly destroyed what buildings had been made therein by king Jeroboam,

in honor of strange gods; and he burnt the bones of the false prophets

upon that altar which Jeroboam first built; and, as the prophet [Jadon],

who came to Jeroboam when he was offering sacrifice, and when all the

people heard him, foretold what would come to pass, viz. that a certain

man of the house of David, Josiah by name, should do what is here

mentioned. And it happened that those predictions took effect after

three hundred and sixty-one years.

5. After these things, Josiah went also to such other Israelites as had

escaped captivity and slavery under the Assyrians, and persuaded them to

desist from their impious practices, and to leave off the honors they

paid to strange gods, but to worship rightly their own Almighty God, and

adhere to him. He also searched the houses, and the villages, and the

cities, out of a suspicion that somebody might have one idol or other in

private; nay, indeed, he took away the chariots [of the sun] that were

set up in his royal palace, 7 which his predecessors had framed, and

what thing soever there was besides which they worshipped as a god. And

when he had thus purged all the country, he called the people to

Jerusalem, and there celebrated the feast of unleavened bread, and that

called the passover. He also gave the people for paschal sacrifices,

young kids of the goats, and lambs, thirty thousand, and three thousand

oxen for burnt-offerings. The principal of the priests also gave to the

priests against the passover two thousand and six hundred lambs; the

principal of the Levites also gave to the Levites five thousand lambs,

and five hundred oxen, by which means there was great plenty of

sacrifices; and they offered those sacrifices according to the laws of

Moses, while every priest explained the matter, and ministered to the

multitude. And indeed there had been no other festival thus celebrated

by the Hebrews from the times of Samuel the prophet; and the plenty of

sacrifices now was the occasion that all things were performed according

to the laws, and according to the custom of their forefathers. So when

Josiah had after this lived in peace, nay, in riches and reputation

also, among all men, he ended his life in the manner following.

CHAPTER 5. How Josiah Fought With Neco [King Of Egypt.] And Was Wounded

And Died In A Little Time Afterward; As Also How Neco Carried Jehoahaz,

Who Had Been Made King Into Egypt And Delivered The Kingdom To

Jehoiakim; And [Lastly] Concerning Jeremiah And Ezekiel.

1. Now Neco, king of Egypt, raised an army, and marched to the river

Euphrates, in order to fight with the Medes and Babylonians, who had

overthrown the dominion of the Assyrians, 8 for he had a desire to reign

over Asia. Now when he was come to the city Mendes, which belonged to

the kingdom of Josiah, he brought an army to hinder him from passing

through his own country, in his expedition against the Medes. Now Neco

sent a herald to Josiah, and told him that he did not make this

expedition against him, but was making haste to Euphrates; and desired

that he would not provoke him to fight against him, because he

obstructed his march to the place whither he had resolved to go. But

Josiah did not admit of this advice of Neco, but put himself into a

posture to hinder him from his intended march. I suppose it was fate

that pushed him on this conduct, that it might take an occasion against

him; for as he was setting his army in array, 9 and rode about in his

chariot, from one wing of his army to another, one of the Egyptians shot

an arrow at him, and put an end to his eagerness of fighting; for being

sorely wounded, he command a retreat to be sounded for his army, and

returned to Jerusalem, and died of that wound; and was magnificently

buried in the sepulcher of his fathers, when he had lived thirty-nine

years, and of them had reigned thirty-one. But all the people mourned

greatly for him, lamenting and grieving on his account many days; and

Jeremiah the prophet composed an elegy to lament him, 10 which is extant

till this time also. Moreover, this prophet denounced beforehand the sad

calamities that were coming upon the city. He also left behind him in

writing a description of that destruction of our nation which has lately

happened in our days, and the taking of Babylon; nor was he the only

prophet who delivered such predictions beforehand to the multitude, but

so did Ezekiel also, who was the first person that wrote, and left

behind him in writing two books concerning these events. Now these two

prophets were priests by birth, but of them Jeremiah dwelt in Jerusalem,

from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, until the city and

temple were utterly destroyed. However, as to what befell this prophet,

we will relate it in its proper place.

2. Upon the death of Josiah, which we have already mentioned, his son,

Jehoahaz by name, took the kingdom, being about twenty-three years old.

He reigned in Jerusalem; and his mother was Hamutal, of the city Libhah.

He was an impious man, and impure in his course of life; but as the king

of Egypt returned from the battle, he sent for Jehoahaz to come to him,

to the city called Hamath 11 which belongs to Syria; and when he was

come, he put him in bands, and delivered the kingdom to a brother of

his, by the father's side, whose name was Eliakim, and changed his name

to Jehoiakim and laid a tribute upon the land of a hundred talents of

silver, and a talent of gold; and this sum of money Jehoiakim paid by

way of tribute; but Neco carried away Jehoahaz into Egypt, where he died

when he had reigned three months and ten days. Now Jehoiakim's mother

was called Zebudah, of the city Rumah. He was of a wicked disposition,

and ready to do mischief; nor was he either religious towards God, or

good-natured towards men.

CHAPTER 6. How Nebuchadnezzar, When He Had Conquered The King Of Egypt

Made An Expedition Against The Jews, And Slew Jehoiakim, And Made

Jehoiachin His Son King.

1. Now in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, one whose name was

Nebuchadnezzar took the government over the Babylonians, who at the same

time went up with a great army to the city Carchemish, which was at

Euphrates, upon a resolution he had taken to fight with Neco king of

Egypt, under whom all Syria then was. And when Neco understood the

intention of the king of Babylon, and that this expedition was made

against him, he did not despise his attempt, but made haste with a great

band of men to Euphrates to defend himself from Nebuchadnezzar; and when

they had joined battle, he was beaten, and lost many ten thousands [of

his soldiers] in the battle. So the king of Babylon passed over

Euphrates, and took all Syria, as far as Pelusium, excepting Judea. But

when Nebuchadnezzar had already reigned four years, which was the eighth

of Jehoiakim's government over the Hebrews, the king of Babylon made an

expedition with mighty forces against the Jews, and required tribute of

Jehoiakim, and threatened upon his refusal to make war against him. He

was affrighted at his threatening, and bought his peace with money, and

brought the tribute he was ordered to bring for three years.

2. But on the third year, upon hearing that the king of the Babylonians

made an expedition against the Egyptians, he did not pay his tribute;

yet was he disappointed of his hope, for the Egyptians durst not fight

at this time. And indeed the prophet Jeremiah foretold every day, how

vainly they relied on their hopes from Egypt, and how the city would be

overthrown by the king of Babylon, and Jehoiakim the king would be

subdued by him. But what he thus spake proved to be of no advantage to

them, because there were none that should escape; for both the multitude

and the rulers, when they heard him, had no concern about what they

heard; but being displeased at what was said, as if the prophet were a

diviner against the king, they accused Jeremiah, and bringing him before

the court, they required that a sentence and a punishment might be given

against him. Now all the rest gave their votes for his condemnation, but

the elders refused, who prudently sent away the prophet from the court

of [the prison], and persuaded the rest to do Jeremiah no harm; for they

said that he was not the only person who foretold what would come to the

city, but that Micah signified the same before him, as well as many

others, none of which suffered any thing of the kings that then reigned,

but were honored as the prophets of God. So they mollified the multitude

with these words, and delivered Jeremiah from the punishment to which he

was condemned. Now when this prophet had written all his prophecies, and

the people were fasting, and assembled at the temple, on the ninth month

of the fifth year of Jehoiakim, he read the book he had composed of his

predictions of what was to befall the city, and the temple, and the

multitude. And when the rulers heard of it, they took the book from him,

and bid him and Baruch the scribe to go their ways, lest they should be

discovered by one or other; but they carried the book, and gave it to

the king; so he gave order, in the presence of his friends, that his

scribe should take it, and read it. When the king heard what it

contained, he was angry, and tore it, and cast it into the fire, where

it was consumed. He also commanded that they should seek for Jeremiah,

and Baruch the scribe, and bring them to him, that they might be

punished. However, they escaped his anger.

3. Now, a little time afterwards, the king of Babylon made an expedition

against Jehoiakim, whom he received [into the city], and this out of

fear of the foregoing predictions of this prophet, as supposing he

should suffer nothing that was terrible, because he neither shut the

gates, nor fought against him; yet when he was come into the city, he

did not observe the covenants he had made, but he slew such as were in

the flower of their age, and such as were of the greatest dignity,

together with their king Jehoiakim, whom he commanded to be thrown

before the walls, without any burial; and made his son Jehoiachin king

of the country, and of the city: he also took the principal persons in

dignity for captives, three thousand in number, and led them away to

Babylon; among which was the prophet Ezekiel, who was then but young.

And this was the end of king Jehoiakim, when he had lived thirty-six

years, and of them reigned eleven. But Jehoiachin succeeded him in the

kingdom, whose mother's name was Nehushta; she was a citizen of

Jerusalem. He reigned three months and ten days.

CHAPTER 7. That The King Of Babylon Repented Of Making Jehoiachin King,

And Took Him Away To Babylon And Delivered The Kingdom To Zedekiah. This

King Would Not Believe What Was Predicted By Jeremiah And Ezekiel But

Joined Himself To The Egyptians; Who When They Came Into Judea, Were

Vanquished By The King Of Babylon; As Also What Befell Jeremiah.

1. But a terror seized on the king of Babylon, who had given the kingdom

to Jehoiachin, and that immediately; he was afraid that he should bear

him a grudge, because of his killing his father, and thereupon should

make the country revolt from him; wherefore he sent an army, and

besieged Jehoiachin in Jerusalem; but because he was of a gentle and

just disposition, he did not desire to see the city endangered on his

account, but he took his mother and kindred, and delivered them to the

commanders sent by the king of Babylon, and accepted of their oaths,

that neither should they suffer any harm, nor the city; which agreement

they did not observe for a single year, for the king of Babylon did not

keep it, but gave orders to his generals to take all that were in the

city captives, both the youth and the handicraftsmen, and bring them

bound to him; their number was ten thousand eight hundred and thirty-

two; as also Jehoiachin, and his mother and friends. And when these were

brought to him, he kept them in custody, and appointed Jehoiachin's

uncle, Zedekiah, to be king; and made him take an oath, that he would

certainly keep the kingdom for him, and make no innovation, nor have any

league of friendship with the Egyptians.