1 & 2 King (<i>GOD'S WORD</i>)

1 and 2 Kings (GOD'S WORD)

1 Kings 1:41-53 (GOD'S WORD)

⁴¹Adonijah and all his guests heard this as they finished eating. When Joab heard the sound of the horn, he asked, “What’s the reason for the noise in the city?” ⁴²He was still speaking when Jonathan, son of the priest Abiathar, arrived. “Come in,” Adonijah said. “You’re an honorable man, so you must be bringing good news.”
⁴³“Not at all,” Jonathan answered Adonijah. “His Majesty King David has made Solomon king. ⁴⁴The king has sent the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, Benaiah (son of Jehoiada), the Cherethites, and the Pelethites with him. They have put him on the king’s mule. ⁴⁵The priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan have anointed him king at Gihon. They have come from there celebrating, so the city is excited. That is the sound you heard. ⁴⁶Solomon is now seated on the royal throne. ⁴⁷Furthermore, the royal officials have come to congratulate
His Majesty King David, saying, ‘May your God make Solomon’s name more famous than yours and his reign greater than your reign.’ The king himself bowed down on his bed ⁴⁸and said, ‘Praise the LORD God of Israel who has let me see the heir to my throne.’ ”⁴⁹Adonijah’s guests were frightened, so they got up and scattered in all directions. ⁵⁰Adonijah was afraid of Solomon. He got up, went to the tent of meeting, and took hold of the horns of the altar.⁵¹Someone told Solomon, “Adonijah is afraid of you, King Solomon. He is holding on to the horns of the altar and saying, ‘Make King Solomon swear to me today that he will not have me killed.’ ”
⁵²Solomon said, “If he will behave like an honorable man, not one hair on his head will fall to the ground. But if he does anything wrong, he will die.” ⁵³King Solomon sent men to take him from the altar. Adonijah bowed down in front of King Solomon. “Go home,” Solomon told him.

1 Kings 6:14-22 (GOD'S WORD)

¹⁴When Solomon had finished building the temple's {frame}, ¹⁵he began to line the inside walls of the temple with cedar boards. He paneled the inside of the temple with wood from floor to ceiling. He covered the floor of the temple with cypress planks.
¹⁶He sectioned off a 30-foot-long room at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from the floor to the rafters. He built it to serve as an inner room, the most holy place. ¹⁷The 60-foot-long room at the front of the temple served as the main hall. ¹⁸Gourds and flowers were carved into the cedar paneling inside the temple. Everything was {covered with} cedar. No stone could be seen.
¹⁹He prepared the inner room of the temple in order to put the ark of the Lord's promise there.
²⁰The inner room was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. Soloum covered it and the cedar altar with pure gold. ²¹He covered the inside of the temple with pure gold. He put golden chains across the front of the inner room which was covered with gold.²²He covered the entire inside of the temple with gold. He also covered the entire altar in the inner room with gold.

1 Kings 7:23-26 (GOD'S WORD)

²³Hiram made a pool from cast metal. It was 15 feet in diameter. It was round, 7½ feet high, and had a circumference of 45 feet. ²⁴Under the rim were two rows of gourds all around the 45-foot circumference of the pool. They were cast in metal when the pool was cast. ²⁵The pool was set on 12 metal bulls. Three bulls faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east. The pool was set on them, and their hindquarters were toward the center [of the pool]. ²⁶The pool was three inches thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup, shaped like a lily’s bud. It held 12,000 gallons.

1 Kings 8:1-11 (GOD'S WORD)

    ¹ Then Solomon assembled the respected leaders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the Israelite families. They came to King Solomon in Jerusalem to take the ark of the LORD’s promise from the City of David (that is, Zion). ²All the people of Israel gathered around King Solomon at the Festival {of Booths} in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.
    ³When all the leaders of Israel had arrived, the priests picked up the LORD’s ark. ⁴They brought the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy utensils in it {to the temple}. The priests and the Levites carried them ⁵while King Solomon with the whole assembly from Israel were offering countless sheep and cattle sacrifices in front of the ark. ⁶The priests brought the ark of the LORD’s promise to its place in the inner room of the temple (the most holy place) under the wings of the angels.
    ⁷When the angels’ outstretched wings were over the place where the ark {rested}, the angels became a covering above the ark and its poles. ⁸The poles were so long that their ends could be seen in the holy place by anyone standing in front of the inner room, but they couldn’t be seen outside. (They are still there today.) ⁹There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a promise to the Israelites after they left Egypt.
    ¹⁰When the priests left the holy place, a cloud filled the LORD’s temple. ¹¹The priests couldn’t serve because of the cloud. The LORD’s glory filled his temple.

1 Kings 12:25-33 (GOD'S WORD)

²⁵ Jeroboam rebuilt Shechem in the hills of Ephraim and lived there. Then he left that place and built Penuel. ²⁶He said to himself, “The kingdom will
probably return to David’s dynasty now. ²⁷King Rehoboam of Judah, the former master of these people, will regain popularity if they go to sacrifice in the LORD’s temple in Jerusalem. Then they will kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah.”
²⁸After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said, “You’ve been worshiping in Jerusalem long enough. Israel, here are your gods who brought you out of Egypt.” ²⁹He put one in Bethel and the other in Dan. ³⁰Worshiping them became Israel’s sin. The people went as far as Dan to worship the one calf. ³¹Jeroboam built worship sites on hilltops. He appointed men who were not descended from Levi to be priests.
³²Jeroboam appointed a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, just like the festival in Judah. He went to the altar in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had made. He appointed priests from the illegal worship sites to serve in Bethel. ³³He went to his altar in Bethel to burn an offering on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the festival he had invented for the Israelites.

1 Kings 16:31-33 (GOD'S WORD)

³¹It wasn't enough that he committed the same sins as Jeroboam (Nebat's son). He also married Jezebel, daughter of King Ethgaal of Sidon. Ahab then served and worshiped Baal. ³²He built the temple of Baal in Samaria and set up an altar there. ³³Ahab made poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah. He did more to make the LORD God of Israel furious than all the kings of Israel who came before him.

1 Kings 17:1-24 (GOD'S WORD)

¹ Elijah, who was from Tishbe but had settled in Gilead, said to Ahab, “I solemnly swear, as the LORD God of Israel whom I serve lives, there will be no dew or rain during the next few years unless I say so.”
    ²Then the LORD spoke his word to Elijah: ³“Leave here, turn east, and hide beside the Cherith River, which is east of the Jordan River. ⁴You can drink from the stream, and I’ve commanded ravens to feed you there.”
    ⁵Elijah left and did what the word of the LORD {had told him} . He went to live by the Cherith River, which is east of the Jordan River. ⁶Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening. And he drank from the stream.
    ⁷But after some time the stream dried up because no rain had fallen in the land.
   ⁸Then the LORD spoke his word to Elijah: ⁹“Get up, go to Zarephath (which belongs to Sidon), and stay there. I’ve commanded a widow there to feed you.”
    ¹⁰He got up and went to Zarephath. As he came to the town’s entrance, a widow was gathering wood. He called to her, “Please bring me a drink of water.”¹¹As she was going to get it, he called to her again, “Please bring me a piece of bread too.”
   ¹²She said, “I solemnly swear, as the LORD your God lives, I didn’t bake any bread. I have one handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I’m gathering wood. I’m going to prepare something for myself and my son so that we can eat it and then die.”
    ¹³Then Elijah told her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home, and do as you’ve said. But first make a small loaf and bring it to me. Then prepare something for yourself and your son. ¹⁴This is what the LORD God of Israel says: Until the LORD sends rain on the land, the jar of flour will never be empty and the jug will always contain oil.”
    ¹⁵She did what Elijah had told her. So she, Elijah, and her family had food for a long time. ¹⁶The jar of flour never became empty, and the jug always contained olive oil, as the LORD had promised through Elijah.
   ¹⁷Afterwards, the son of the woman who owned the house got sick. He got so sick that finally no life was left in him. ¹⁸The woman asked Elijah, “What do you and I have in common, man of God?a Did you come here to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”
    ¹⁹He said to her, “Give me your son.” Elijah took him from her arms, carried him to the upstairs room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.
    ²⁰Then he called to the LORD, “LORD my God, have you brought misery on the widow I’m staying with by killing her son?”²¹Then Elijah stretched himself over the boy three times and called to the LORD, “LORD my God, please make this child’s life return to him.” ²²The LORD heard Elijah’s request, and the child’s life returned to him. He was alive again.
    ²³Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upstairs room of the house, and gave him to his mother. He said, “Look! Your son is alive.”
   ²⁴The woman said to Elijah, “Now I’m convinced that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is true.”

1 Kings 18:17-41 (GOD'S WORD)

¹⁷When he saw Elijah, Ahab said, “Is that you, you troublemaker of Israel?”
    ¹⁸Elijah answered, “I haven’t troubled Israel. You and your father’s family have done it by disobeying the LORD’s commands and following the various Baal gods. ¹⁹Order all Israel to gather around me on Mount Carmel. And bring the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
    ²⁰Ahab sent word to all the Israelites and brought the prophets together on Mount Carmel. ²¹Elijah stood up in front of all the people and asked them, “How long will you try to have it both ways? If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal is God, follow him.” The people didn’t say a word.
    ²²So Elijah told the people, “I’m the only surviving prophet of the LORD, but there are 450 prophets of Baal. ²³Give us two bulls. Let the prophets of Baal choose one for themselves, cut it into pieces, lay it on the wood, but not set it on fire. I’ll do the same with the other bull. ²⁴“You call on the name of your gods, but I will call on the name of the LORD.
The god who answers by fire is the real God.” All the people answered, “That’s fine.”
    ²⁵Elijah told the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves. Prepare yours first, because there are more of you. Call on the name of your god, but don’t set the wood on fire.”
    ²⁶They took the bull he gave them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon. They said, “Baal, answer us!” But there wasn’t a sound or an answer. So they danced around the altar they had made. ²⁷At noon Elijah started to make fun of them. “Shout louder, since he is a god. Maybe he’s thinking, relieving himself, or traveling! Maybe he’s sleeping, and you have to wake him!”
    ²⁸So they shouted louder. They also cut themselves with swords and spears until their blood flowed. (This is what their ritual called for.) ²⁹In the afternoon they continued to rant and rave until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no sound, no answer, no attention given to them.³⁰Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come over here.” So all the people
came to him. He rebuilt the LORD’s altar that had been torn down. ³¹Elijah took 12 stones, one for each of the tribes named after Jacob’s sons. (The LORD had
spoken his word to Jacob: “Your name will be Israel.”) ³²Elijah built an altar in the LORD’s name with those stones. He also made a trench that could hold 12
quarts of grain around the altar. ³³He arranged the wood, cut up the bull, and put it on the wood.
    ³⁴He said, “Fill four jars with water. Pour the water on the offering and on the wood.” Then he said, “Do it again,” and they did it again. Then he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. ³⁵The water flowed around the altar, and even the trench was filled with water.
    ³⁶When it was time to offer the sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward. He said, “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make known today that you are God in Israel and that I’m your servant and have done all these things by your instructions. ³⁷Answer me, LORD! Answer me! Then these people will know that you, LORD, are God and that you are winning back their hearts.”
    ³⁸So a fire from the LORD fell down and consumed the burnt offering, wood, stones, and dirt. The fire even dried up the water that was in the trench. ³⁹All the people saw it and     immediately bowed down to the ground. “The LORD is God!” they said. “The LORD is God!”
   ⁴⁰Elijah told them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let any of them escape.” The people seized them, and Elijah took them to the Kishon River and slaughtered them there.⁴¹Then Elijah told Ahab, “Get up, eat, and drink. It sounds like a heavy rain
is coming .”

1 Kings 19:1-3 (GOD'S WORD)

¹Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including how he had executed all the prophets.²Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah. She said. "May the gods strike me dead if by this time tomorrow I don't take your life the way you took the lives of Baal's prophets."
³Frightened, Elijah fled to save his life. He came to Beersheba in Judah and left his servant there.

1 Kings 20:31-32 (GOD'S WORD)

³¹ His officers told him, “We have heard that the kings of Israel are merciful. Allow us to dress in sackcloth, put ropes around our necks, and go to the king of Israel. Maybe he’ll let you live.” ³²So they dressed in sackcloth and put ropes around their necks. They went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Benhadad says, ‘Please let me live.’ ”
Ahab asked, “He’s still alive? He’s my brother.”

1 Kings 21:1-16 (GOD'S WORD)

    ¹This is what happened next. Naboth from Jezreel had a vineyard in Jezreel next to the palace of King Ahab of Samaria.
    ²Ahab told Naboth, "Give me your vineyard. It will become my vegetable garden because it is near my house. I will give you a better vineyard for it. Or if you prefer, I will pay you a fair price for it."
    ³Naboth told Ahab, "The LORD has forbidden me to give you what I inherited from my ancestors."
    ⁴Resentful and upset, Ahab went home because of what Naboth from Jezreel had told him. ({Naboth had said,} "I will not give you what I inherited from my ancestors.") So Ahab lay on the couch, turned his face {from everyone}, and refused to eat.
   ⁵His wife Jezebel came to him and asked, "Why are you so resentful of everything? Why don't you eat?"
    ⁶He told her, "I talked to Naboth from Jezreel. I said to him, `Sell me your vineyard. Or, if you like, I'll give you another vineyard for it.' But he said. ` I won't give you my vineyard.'"
    ⁷His wife Jezebel said to him, "Aren't you king of Israel? Get up, eat, and cheer up. I'll give you the vineyard belonging to Naboth from Jezreel."
   ⁸So Jezebel wrote letters, signed them with Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal. She sent them to the respected leaders and nobles living in Naboth's city. ⁹In these letters she wrote: "Announce a fast. Seat Naboth as leader of the people. ¹⁰Have two good-for-nothing men sit opposite him and accuse him of cursing God and the king. Then stone him to death outside the city."
    ¹¹The men in Naboth's city--the respected leaders and nobles who lived there--did what Jezebel asked them to do. They did just as she had written in the letters she sent. ¹²They announced a feast and had Naboth seated as the leader of the people. ¹³The two good-for-nothing men came in and sat opposite him. In front of the people, these men accused Naboth of cursing God and the king. So the people stoned him to death outside the city.¹⁴Then the leaders sent {this message} to Jezebel: "Naboth has been stoned to death."
    ¹⁵Jezebel received the message and said to Ahab, "Get up! Confiscate the vineyard which Naboth from Jezreel refused to sell you. He's dead now."
    ¹⁶When he heard about Naboth's death, Ahab went to confiscate the vineyard.

1 Kings 22:13-23 (GOD'S WORD)

    ¹³The messenger who went to call Micaiah told him, “The prophets have all told the king the same good message. Make your message agree with their message. Say something good.”
    ¹⁴Micaiah answered, “I solemnly swear, as the LORD lives, I will tell him whatever the LORD tells me.”
    ¹⁵When he came to the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to war against Ramoth in Gilead or not?”
Micaiah said to him, “Attack and you will win. The LORD will hand it over to you.”
    ¹⁶The king asked him, “How many times must I make you take an oath in the LORD’s name to tell me nothing but the truth?”
    ¹⁷So Micaiah said, “I saw Israel’s troops scattered in the hills like sheep without a shepherd. The LORD said, ‘These [sheep] have no master. Let each one go home in peace.’ ”
    ¹⁸The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you he wouldn’t prophesy anything good about me, only evil?”
    ¹⁹Micaiah added, “Then hear the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and the entire army of heaven was standing near him on his right and his left. ²⁰The LORD asked, ‘Who will deceive Ahab so that he will attack and be killed at Ramoth in Gilead?’ Some answered one way, while others said something else. ²¹“Then the Spirit stepped forward, stood in front of the LORD, and said, ‘I will deceive him.’
    “ ‘How?’ the LORD asked.
²²“The Spirit answered, ‘I will go out and be a spirit that tells lies through the mouths of all of Ahab’s prophets.’
    “The LORD said, ‘You will succeed in deceiving him. Go and do it.’
²³“So, the LORD has put into the mouths of all these prophets of yours a spirit that makes them tell lies. The LORD has spoken evil about you.”

2 Kings 1:9-18 (GOD'S WORD)

    ⁹ The king sent an army officer with 50 men to Elijah. When the officer found Elijah sitting on top of a hill, he told Elijah, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’ ”
    ¹⁰Elijah answered the officer, “If I’m a man of God, fire will come from heaven and burn up you and your 50 men.” Then fire came from heaven and burned up the officer and his 50 men.
    ¹¹The king sent another officer with 50 men to Elijah. The officer said, “Man of God, this is what the king says: Come here right away!”
    ¹²Elijah answered the officer, “If I’m a man of God, fire will come from heaven and burn up you and your 50 men.” Then God’s fire came from heaven and burned up the officer and his 50 men.
    ¹³The king sent a third officer with 50 men. The officer of the third group went up the hill and knelt in front of Elijah. The officer begged him, “Man of God, please treat my life and the lives of these 50 servants of yours as something precious. ¹⁴Fire has come from heaven and burned up the first two officers and their 100 men. But treat my life as something precious.”
    ¹⁵The angel of the LORD told Elijah, “Go with him. Don’t be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went with him to the king. ¹⁶Elijah told the king, “This is what the LORD says: You sent messengers to seek advice from Baalzebub, the god of Ekron. Is this because {you think} there is no God in Israel whose word you can seek? You will not get up from the bed you are lying on. Instead, you will die there.”
    ¹⁷So Ahaziah died as the Lord had predicted through Elijah. Joram succeeded him as king because Ahaziah had no son. ¹⁸Isn’t everything else about
Ahaziah—the things he did—written in the official records of the kings of Israel?

2 Kings 2:1-25 (GOD'S WORD)

   ¹When the Lord was going to take Elijah to heaven in a windstorm, Elijah and Elisha left Gilgal.²Elijah said to Elisha, "Please stay here because the Lord is sending me to Bethel." Elisah answered, "I solemnly swear, as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not abandon you." So they went to Bethel.
     ³Some of the disciples of the prophets at Bethel came to Elisha. They asked him, "Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?" He answered, "Yes, I know. Be quiet." ⁴Elijah said, "Elisha, please stay here because the Lord is sending me to Jeracho." Elisha answered, "I solemnly swear, as the Lord lives and as the you live, I will not abandon you." So they went to Jericho.
     ⁵Then some of the disciples of the prophets who where in Jericho approached Elisha. They asked, "Do you know that the Lord is doing to take your master today?" He answered, "Yes, I know. Be quiet."
   ⁶Elisha said to Elijah, "Please stay here because the Lord is sending me to the Jordon River." Elisha answered, "I solemnly swear, as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not abandon you."
    ⁷Fifty disciples of the prophets stood at a distance as Elijah and Elisha stood by the Jordon River.⁸Elijah took his coat, rolled it up, and struck the water with it. The water divided to their left and their right, and the two men crossed [the river] on dry ground.
   ⁹While they were crossing, Elijah asked Elisha, "What should I do for you before I'm taken from you?" Elisha answered, "Let me inherit a double share of your spirit."
   ¹⁰Elijah said, "You have asked for something difficult. If you see me taken from you, it will be yours. Otherwise, it will not." ¹¹As they continued walking and talking, a fiery chariot with fiery horses separated the two of them, and Elijah went to heaven in a windstorm.
    ¹²When Elisha saw this, he cried out, "Master! Master! Isreal's chariot and horses!" When he couldn't see Elijah anymore, he grabbed his own garment and tore it in two [to show his grief].
¹³Then he picked up Elijah's coat (which had fallon off Elijah) went back, and stood on the bank of the Jordon River.¹⁴He took the coat and struck the water with it. He asked, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" As he struck the water, it divided to the left and to the right, and Elisha crossed [the river].
    ¹⁵The disciples of the prophets who where at Jericho saw him from a distance. They said, "Elijah's spirit rests on Elisha!" Then they went to meet him and bowed in front of him with their faces touching the ground. ¹⁶They said to him, "There are 50 strong men here with us. Please let them go and search for your master. Maybe the Lord's Spirit lifted him up and dropped him on one of the hills or in one of the valleys." Elisha answered, "Don't send them [to look]."¹⁷But the disciples kept urging him [to send the men] until he was embarrassed. So he said, "Send them." They sent 50 men who searched for three days without finding him. ¹⁸They returned to Elisha in Jericho, where he was waiting. He said, "Didn't I tell you not to go?"
   ¹⁹The people of the city [of Jericho] told Elisha, “This city’s location is as good as you will ever find. But the water is bad, and the land cannot grow crops.”
   ²⁰Elisha said, “Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it.” They brought it to him.
    ²¹He went to the spring and threw the salt into it. Then he said, “This is what the LORD says: I have purified this water. No more deaths or crop failures will come from this water.” ²²To this day the water is still pure, as Elisha had said. ²³From there he went to Bethel. As he walked along the road, some boys came out of the city and mocked him. They said, “Go away, baldy! Go away!”
   ²⁴Looking back, he saw them and cursed them in the LORD’s name. Two bears came out of the woods and tore 42 of these youths apart. ²⁵He left that place, went to Mount Carmel, and returned to Samaria.

2 Kings 3:20-27 (GOD'S WORD)

    ²⁰That is what happened in the morning. At the time of the grain offering, water flowed from Edom and filled the countryside.
    ²¹All the people of Moab heard that the kings had come to fight them. So all men old enough to bear arms were called to fight. They stood at the border. ²²When the Moabites got up early in the morning as the sun was rising over the weater, they saw the water from a distance. It was as red as blood. ²³They said, "It's blood! The kings have been fighting one another and have killed each other. Now, Moabites, let's take their goods!"
    ²⁴So when the Moabites came to Israel's camp, the Israelites attacked them, and they fled from the Israelites. Israel went after the Moabites and defeated them. ²⁵Then Israel tore down the cities, each man throwing rocks on every good field until it was covered. They sealed every well and cut down every good tree. Only the stones [in the walls] of Kir Hareseth were left. Soldiers surrounded Kir Hareseth and attacked it with slings and stones. ²⁶When the king of Moab saw he was losing the battle, he took 700 swordsmen to try to break through to the king of Edom. But they couldn't do it. ²⁷Then he took his firstborn son, who would have succeeded him as king, and sacrificed him on the wall as a burnt offering. There was bitter anger against the Israelites. So they went home to their own country.

2 Kings 9:30-37 (GOD'S WORD)

    ³⁰When Jehu arrived in Jezreel, Jezebel heard about it. She put on eye shadow, fixed her hair, and looked out of a second-story window. ³¹When Jehu entered the gateway, she asked, "Is everything alright, Zimri, murderer of your master?"
    ³²Looking up at the window, he asked, "Is anyone on my side? Anyone?" Then two or three eunuchs looked out at him.
    ³³He said, "Throw her down. " They threw her down, and some of her blood splattered on the wall and the horses. The horses trampled her.
    ³⁴He went inside, ate and drank. Then he said, "Take care of this woman who had a curse on her. After all, she was a king's daughter." ³⁵But when they went out to bury her, they couldn't find any of her body except her skull, feet, and hands. ³⁶They came back and told him.
    Jehu said. "The LORD spoke through his servant Elijah from Tishbe. He said, 'Dogs will eat Jezebel's body inside the walls of Jezreel. ³⁷Jezebel's corpse will be like manure on the ground in the fields surrounding Jezreel so that no one will be able to say that this is Jezebel.'"

2 Kings 21:10-15 (GOD'S WORD)

¹⁰ Then the LORD spoke through his servants the prophets: ¹¹“King Manasseh of Judah has done disgusting things, things more evil than what the Amorites who {were here} before him had done. Manasseh has also made Judah sin by {worshiping} his idols. ¹²So this is what I, the LORD God of Israel, said: I’m going to bring such a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears about it will ring. ¹³I will measure Jerusalem with the measuring line used for Samaria and the plumb line used for Ahab’s dynasty. I will wipe out Jerusalem in the same way that a dish is wiped out and turned upside down. ¹⁴I will abandon the rest of my people. I will put them under the control of their enemies, and they will become property that their enemies capture. ¹⁵I will do this because they have done what I consider evil and have been making me furious from the time their ancestors left Egypt until this day."

2 Kings 23:24-30 (GOD'S WORD)

   ²⁴Josiah also got rid of the mediums, psychics, family idols, other idols, and disgusting gods that could be seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this to confirm the words of the Teachings written in the book that the priest Hilkiah found in the LORD’s temple.
    ²⁵No king before Josiah had turned to the LORD with all his heart, soul, and strength, as directed in Moses’ Teachings. No other bkingn was like Josiah.
    ²⁶But the LORD still didn’t turn his hot, burning anger from Judah. After all, Manasseh had done all these things to make him furious.²⁷The LORD had said, “I will put Judah out of my sight as I put Israel out of my sight. I will reject Jerusalem, the city that I chose, and I will reject the temple where I said my name would be.”
   ²⁸Isn’t everything else about Josiah—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Judah?
    ²⁹In Josiah’s days Pharaoh Necoh (the king of Egypt) came to help the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went to attack Necoh. When Pharaoh saw him at Megiddo, Pharaoh killed him. ³⁰His officers put his dead body in a chariot and brought it from Megiddo to Jerusalem. They buried Josiah in his tomb.
Then the people of the land took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.