The reign of Azarias, and Joatham in Juda: and of Zacharias, Sellum,
Manahem, Phaceia, and Phacee in Israel.
15:1. In the seven and twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel,
reigned Azarias, son of Amasias, king of Juda.
Azarias.... Otherwise called Ozias.
15:2. He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
two and fifty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Jechelia,
of Jerusalem.
15:3. And he did that which was pleasing before the Lord, according to
all that his father, Amasias, had done.
15:4. But the high places he did not destroy, for the people
sacrificed, and burnt incense in the high places.
15:5. And the Lord struck the king, so that he was a leper unto the day
of his death, and he dwelt in a free house apart: but Joatham, the
king’s son, governed the palace, and judged the people of the land.
A leper.... In punishment of his usurping the priestly function. 2 Par.
26.
15:6. And the rest of the acts of Azarias, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of
Juda?
15:7. And Azarias slept with his fathers: and they buried him with his
ancestors in the city of David, and Joatham, his son, reigned in his
stead.
15:8. In the eight and thirtieth year of Azarias, king of Juda, reigned
Zacharias, son of Jeroboam, over Israel, in Samaria, six months:
15:9. And he did that which is evil before the Lord, as his fathers had
done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who
made Israel to sin.
15:10. And Sellum, the son of Jabes, conspired against him: and struck
him publicly, and killed him, and reigned in his place.
15:11. Now the rest of the acts of Zacharias, are they not written in
the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?
15:12. This was the word of the Lord, which he spoke to Jehu, saying:
Thy children, to the fourth generation, shall sit upon the throne of
Israel. And so it came to pass.
15:13. Sellum, the son of Jabes, began to reign in the nine and
thirtieth year of Azarias, king of Juda: and reigned one month in
Samaria.
15:14. And Manahem, the son of Gadi, went up from Thersa, and he came
into Samaria, and struck Sellum, the son of Jabes, in Samaria, and slew
him, and reigned in his stead.
15:15. And the rest of the acts of Sellum, and his conspiracy which he
made, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the
kings of Israel?
15:16. Then Manahem destroyed Thapsa and all that were in it, and the
borders thereof from Thersa, because they would not open to him: and he
slew all the women thereof that were with child, and ripped them up.
15:17. In the nine and thirtieth year of Azarias, king of Juda, reigned
Manahem, son of Gadi, over Israel, ten years, in Samaria.
15:18. And he did that which was evil before the Lord: he departed not
from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin,
all his days.
15:19. And Phul, king of the Assyrians, came into the land, and Manahem
gave Phul a thousand talents of silver to aid him and to establish him
in the kingdom.
15:20. And Manahem laid a tax upon Israel, on all that were mighty and
rich, to give the king of the Assyrians, each man fifty sicles of
silver: so the king of the Assyrians turned back, and did not stay in
the land.
15:21. And the rest of the acts of Manahem, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of
Israel?
15:22. And Manahem slept with his fathers: and Phaceia, his son,
reigned in his stead.
15:23. In the fiftieth year of Azarias, king of Juda, reigned Phaceia,
the son of Manahem, over Israel, in Samaria, two years.
15:24. And he did that which was evil before the Lord: he departed not
from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin.
15:25. And Phacee the son of Romelia, his captain, conspired against
him, and smote him in Samaria, in the tower of the king’s house, near
Argob, and near Arie, and with him fifty men of the sons of the
Galaadites, and he slew him, and reigned in his stead.
15:26. And the rest of the acts of Phaceia, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of
Israel?
15:27. In the two and fiftieth year of Azarias, king of Juda, reigned
Phacee, the son of Romelia, over Israel, in Samaria, twenty years.
15:28. And he did that which was evil before the Lord: he departed not
from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin.
15:29. In the days of Phacee, king of Israel, came Theglathphalasar,
king of Assyria, and took Aion, and Abel Domum Maacha, and Janoe, and
Cedes, and Asor, and Galaad, and Galilee, and all the land of
Nephthali: and carried them captives into Assyria.
15:30. Now Osee, son of Ela, conspired, and formed a plot against
Phacee, the son of Romelia, and struck him, and slew him: and reigned
in his stead in the twentieth year of Joatham, the son of Ozias.
In the twentieth year of Joatham.... That is, in the twentieth year,
from the beginning of Joatham’s reign. The sacred writer chooses rather
to follow here this date than to speak of the years of Achaz, who had
not yet been mentioned.
15:31. But the rest of the acts of Phacee, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of
Israel?
15:32. In the second year of Phacee, the son of Romelia king of Israel,
reigned Joatham, son of Ozias, king of Juda.
15:33. He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Jerusa,
the daughter of Sadoc.
15:34. And he did that which was right before the Lord: according to
all that his father Ozias had done, so did he.
15:35. But the high places he took not away: the people still
sacrificed, and burnt incense in the high places: he built the highest
gate of the house of the Lord.
15:36. But the rest of the acts of Joatham, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of
Juda?
15:37. In those days the Lord began to send into Juda, Rasin king of
Syria, and Phacee the son of Romelia.
15:38. And Joatham slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in
the city of David, his father; and Achaz, his son, reigned in his
stead.