Study Desk

Jahath was the oldest son and Ziza was the second son. But Jeush and Beriah did not have many children. So Jeush and Beriah were counted like one family.

Then Rehoboam married Maacah. Maacah was Absalom's granddaughter. And Maacah gave Rehoboam these children: Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.

All the men of Judah stood before the Lord with their wives, babies, and children.

But the Lord would not destroy David's family because of the agreement he made with David. He had promised to keep a lamp burning for David and his children forever.

So now, the Lord will soon punish your people with terrible suffering. He will punish your children, your wives, and all your property.

Athaliah was Ahaziah's mother. When she saw that her son was dead, she killed all the king's children in Judah.

But Amaziah obeyed the law written in the Book of Moses and did not kill the official's children. The Lord commanded, "Parents must not be put to death for something their children did, and children must not be put to death for something their parents did. People should be put to death only for what they themselves did."

The Israelite army captured 200,000 of their own relatives living in Judah. They took women, children, and many valuable things from Judah and carried them back to Samaria.

So the messengers took the king's letters all through Israel and Judah. This is what the letters said: "Children of Israel, turn back to the Lord , the God who Abraham, Isaac, and Israel obeyed. Then God will come back to you who are still alive and have escaped from the kings of Assyria.

If you come back and obey the Lord , your relatives and your children will find mercy from the people who captured them. And your relatives and your children will come back to this land. The Lord your God is kind and merciful. He will not turn away from you if you come back to him."

He also burned his own children for a sacrifice in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He also used magic by doing soothsaying, divination, and sorcery. He talked with mediums and wizards. He did many things that the Lord said were evil and made him angry.

There near the Ahava River, I announced that we all should fast. We should fast to make ourselves humble before our God. We wanted to ask God for a safe trip for ourselves, our children, and for everything we owned.

So Israelites, don't let your children marry their children. Don't join them. Don't want the things they have. Obey my commands so that you will be strong and enjoy the good things of the land. And then you can keep this land and give it to your children.'

Ezra was praying and confessing. He was crying and bowing down in front of God's Temple. While Ezra was doing that, a large group of the Israelites—men, women, and children—gathered around him. They were crying.

Now let us make an agreement before our God to send away all these women and their children. We will do that to follow the advice of Ezra and the people who respect the laws of our God. We will obey God's law.

All these men married foreign women, and some of them had children with these wives.

Some of them were saying, "We have many children. We must get some grain if we are going to eat and stay alive."

Their children took the land. They defeated the Canaanites living there. You let them defeat those people. You let them do whatever they wanted to those nations, people, and kings.

So on that special day, the priests offered many sacrifices. Everyone was very happy because God had made them happy. Even the women and children were excited and happy. People far away could hear the happy sounds coming from Jerusalem.

And half of the children from those marriages didn't know how to speak the Jewish language. They spoke the language of Ashdod, Ammon, or Moab.