Study Desk

And they rose early in the morning and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, so you shall be established; believe in his prophets, and you shall be delivered.

And it came to pass after three days, when they were through taking the spoil, because it was so much, they assembled themselves on the fourth day in the valley of Borktha; for there they blessed the LORD God; therefore the name of that place was called the valley of Borktha to this day.

So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet; for the LORD gave him rest on all sides.

So the Edomites revolted from the dominion of Judah to this day. At the same time also did the Edomites who dwelt in Libnah revolt from his rule, because Jehoram had forsaken the LORD God of his fathers.

And they came up against Judah and smote it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the kings house, and his sons also and his wives; so that no son was left to him except Ahaziah his youngest son.

And it came to pass that in the process of time, after the end of two years, the word of the prophet was fulfilled, his bowels fell out because of his sickness; so he died of sore disease. And his people did not honor him with a funeral according to the manner they had done for his fathers.

THEN the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead; for raiders had come to the camp and slain all the eldest. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned.

And he sought Ahaziah and he caught him (for he was hiding in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu; and when they had slain him, they buried him; for they said, He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart. So the house of Ahaziah had no one with power to rule over the kingdom.

But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, stole Joash the son of Ahaziah from among the kings sons who were about to be slain, and hid him and his nurse in her bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiadah the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah so that she did not slay him.

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiadah the priest had commanded, and every man took his men who were to keep watch on the sabbath, with those who were to go out on the sabbath; for Jehoiadah the priest had dismissed them from their duties.

And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the LORD SO that no one who was unclean in anything should enter in.

So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in order and strengthened it.

Yet God sent prophets to them to bring them back from their ways, but they would not listen, so the prophets testified against them, but they would not give ear.

For the army of Aram came with a small company of men, and the LORD delivered a very great army into their hand because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So what Joash had done was condemned by the judges.

But he did not slay the children of the murderers, because so it is written in the book of the law of Moses, where the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.

But when he became very rich, his pride was lifted up exceedingly, so he transgressed against the LORD his God and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense.

So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the cemetery, not in the burial place which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper; and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

So Jotham became mighty because he established his ways before the LORD his God.

So they sent back all the captives to Jerusalem. But again they dealt deceitfully with the LORD.

So that we may not do according to that which our fathers have done, for they did evil in the sight of the LORD our God, and have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs.