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Micah 1:1
A message from the Lord came to Micah. He was from the town of Moresheth. The message came while Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. This is the vision Micah saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Here is what he said.
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Isaiah 1:1
Here is the vision about Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah saw. It came to him when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were ruling. They were kings of Judah. Isaiah was the son of Amoz.
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Amos 1:1
These are the words of Amos. He was a shepherd from the town of Tekoa. Here is the vision he saw concerning Israel. It came to him two years before the earthquake. At that time Uzziah was king of Judah. Jeroboam, the son of Jehoash, was king of Israel. Here are the words of Amos.
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Romans 9:25
God says in Hosea,“ I will call those who are not my people‘ my people.’ I will call the one who is not my loved one‘ my loved one.’ ”( Hosea 2:23)
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2 Kings 15 32
Jotham began to rule as king over Judah. It was in the second year that Pekah was king of Israel. He was the son of Remaliah. Jotham was the son of Uzziah.
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2 Kings 14 16-2 Kings 15 2
Jehoash joined the members of his family who had already died. He was buried in Samaria in the royal tombs of Israel. Jehoash’s son Jeroboam became the next king after him.Amaziah king of Judah lived for 15 years after Jehoash king of Israel died. Amaziah was the son of Joash. Jehoash was the son of Jehoahaz.The other events of Amaziah’s rule are written down. They are written in the official records of the kings of Judah.Some people made evil plans against Amaziah in Jerusalem. So he ran away to Lachish. But they sent men to Lachish after him. There they killed him.His body was brought back on a horse. Then he was buried in the family tomb in Jerusalem, the City of David.All the people of Judah made Uzziah king. He was 16 years old. They made him king in place of his father Amaziah.Uzziah rebuilt Elath. He brought it under Judah’s control again. He did it after Amaziah joined the members of his family who had already died.Jeroboam became king of Israel in Samaria. It was in the 15th year that Amaziah was king of Judah. Jeroboam ruled for 41 years. Amaziah was the son of Joash. Jeroboam was the son of Jehoash.Jeroboam did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. He didn’t turn away from any of the sins the earlier Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, had committed. That Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit those same sins.Jeroboam, the son of Jehoash, made the borders of Israel the same as they were before. They reached from Lebo Hamath all the way to the Dead Sea. That’s what the Lord, the God of Israel, had said would happen. He had spoken that message through his servant Jonah. Jonah the prophet was the son of Amittai. Jonah was from the town of Gath Hepher.The Lord had seen how much everyone in Israel was suffering. It didn’t matter whether they were slaves or free. They didn’t have anyone to help them.The Lord hadn’t said he would wipe out Israel’s name from the earth. So he saved them by the power of Jeroboam, the son of Jehoash.The other events of the rule of Jeroboam are written down. What he and his army accomplished is written down. That includes how he brought Damascus and Hamath back under Israel’s control. Damascus and Hamath had belonged to the territory of Judah. Everything he did is written in the official records of the kings of Israel.Jeroboam joined the members of his family who had already died. He was buried in the royal tombs of Israel. Jeroboam’s son Zechariah became the next king after him.Uzziah began to rule as king over Judah. It was in the 27th year that Jeroboam was king of Israel. Uzziah was the son of Amaziah.Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 52 years. His mother’s name was Jekoliah. She was from Jerusalem.
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2 Kings 18 1-2 Kings 18 37
Hezekiah began to rule as king over Judah. It was in the third year that Hoshea was king of Israel. He was the son of Elah. Hezekiah was the son of Ahaz.Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother’s name was Abijah. She was the daughter of Zechariah.Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as King David had done.Hezekiah removed the high places. He smashed the sacred stones. He cut down the poles used to worship the female god named Asherah. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made. Up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. They called it Nehushtan.Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like Hezekiah among all the kings of Judah. There was no king like him either before him or after him.Hezekiah remained faithful to the Lord. He didn’t stop serving him. He obeyed the commands the Lord had given Moses.The Lord was with Hezekiah. Because of that, Hezekiah was successful in everything he did. He refused to remain under the control of the king of Assyria. He didn’t serve him.He won the war against the Philistines. He won battles at their lookout towers. He won battles at their cities that had high walls around them. He won battles against the Philistines all the way to Gaza and its territory.Shalmaneser marched to Samaria and surrounded it. It was in the fourth year of King Hezekiah. That was the seventh year of Hoshea, the king of Israel. Hoshea was the son of Elah. Shalmaneser was king of Assyria.At the end of three years the army of Assyria captured Samaria. That happened in the sixth year of Hezekiah’s rule. It was the ninth year of the rule of Hoshea, the king of Israel.The king of Assyria took the people of Israel away from their own land. He sent them off to Assyria. He made some of them live in Halah. He made others live in Gozan on the Habor River. And he made others live in the towns of the Medes.These things happened because the Israelites hadn’t obeyed the Lord their God. They had broken the covenant he had made with them. They had refused to do everything Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded. They hadn’t paid any attention to those commands. They hadn’t obeyed them.Sennacherib attacked and captured all the cities of Judah that had high walls around them. It was in the 14th year of the rule of Hezekiah. Sennacherib was king of Assyria.Hezekiah, the king of Judah, sent a message to the king of Assyria at Lachish. Hezekiah said,“ I have done what is wrong. Pull your troops back from me. Then I’ll pay you anything you ask me to.” The king of Assyria forced Hezekiah, the king of Judah, to give him 11 tons of silver. Hezekiah also had to give him one ton of gold.So Hezekiah gave him all the silver in the Lord’ s temple. He also gave him all the silver among the treasures in the royal palace.Hezekiah, the king of Judah, had covered the doors and doorposts of the Lord’ s temple with gold. But now he had to strip it off. He had to give it to the king of Assyria.The king of Assyria sent his highest commander from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. He also sent his chief officer and his field commander along with a large army. All of them came up to Jerusalem. They stopped at the channel that brings water from the Upper Pool. The channel was on the road to the Washerman’s Field.The Assyrians called for King Hezekiah. Eliakim, Shebna and Joah went out to them. Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, was in charge of the palace. Shebna was the secretary. Joah, the son of Asaph, kept the records.The field commander said to them,“ Give Hezekiah this message. Tell him,“‘ Sennacherib is the great king of Assyria. He says,“ Why are you putting your faith in what your king says?You say you have a military plan. You say you have a strong army. But your words don’t mean anything. Who are you depending on? Why don’t you want to stay under my control?Look, I know you are depending on Egypt. Why are you doing that? Egypt is nothing but a broken papyrus stem. Try leaning on it. It will only cut your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is just like that to everyone who depends on him.But suppose you say to me,‘ We are depending on the Lord our God.’ Didn’t Hezekiah remove your god’s high places and altars? Didn’t Hezekiah say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem,‘ You must worship at the altar in Jerusalem’?“‘ “Go ahead and make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you 2,000 horses. But only if you can put riders on them!You are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen. You can’t drive away even the least important officer among my master’s officials.Besides, do you think I’ve come without receiving a message from the Lord? Have I come to attack and destroy this place without a message from him? The Lord himself told me to march out against your country. He told me to destroy it.” ’ ”Then Shebna, Joah and Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, spoke to the field commander. They said,“ Please speak to us in the Aramaic language. We understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew. If you do, the people sitting on the city wall will be able to understand you.”But the commander replied,“ My master sent me to say these things. Are these words only for your master and you to hear? Aren’t they also for the people sitting on the wall? They are going to suffer just like you. They’ll have to eat their own waste. They’ll have to drink their own urine.”Then the commander stood up and spoke in the Hebrew language. He called out,“ Pay attention to what the great king of Assyria is telling you.He says,‘ Don’t let Hezekiah trick you. He can’t save you from my power.Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord. Don’t believe him when he says,“ You can be sure that the Lord will save us. This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” ’“ Don’t listen to Hezekiah. The king of Assyria says,‘ Make a peace treaty with me. Come over to my side. Then each one of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree. Each one of you will drink water from your own well.You will do that until I come back. Then I’ll take you to a land just like yours. It’s a land that has a lot of grain and fresh wine. It has plenty of bread and vineyards. It has olive trees and honey. So choose life! Don’t choose death!’“ Don’t pay any attention to Hezekiah. He’s telling you a lie when he says,‘ The Lord will save us.’Has the god of any nation ever saved his land from the power of the king of Assyria?Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they saved Samaria from my power?Which one of all the gods of those countries has been able to save his land from me? So how can the Lord save Jerusalem from my power?”But the people remained silent. They didn’t say anything. That’s because King Hezekiah had commanded,“ Don’t answer him.”Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, went to Hezekiah. Eliakim was in charge of the palace. Shebna the secretary went with him. So did Joah, the son of Asaph. Joah kept the records. All of them went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn. They told him what the field commander had said.
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2 Kings 16 1-2 Kings 16 20
Ahaz began to rule as king over Judah. It was in the 17th year of the rule of Pekah, the son of Remaliah. Ahaz was the son of Jotham.Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 16 years. Ahaz didn’t do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He didn’t do what King David had done.He followed the ways of the kings of Israel. He even sacrificed his son in the fire to another god. He followed the practices of the nations. The Lord hated those practices. He had driven out those nations to make room for the Israelites.Ahaz offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places. He also did it on the tops of hills and under every green tree.Rezin and Pekah marched up to Jerusalem and surrounded it. Rezin was king of Aram. Pekah, the son of Remaliah, was king of Israel. They attacked Ahaz. But they couldn’t overpower him.At that time Rezin, the king of Aram, won back Elath for Aram. He drove out the people of Judah. Then the people of Edom moved into Elath. And they still live there to this day.Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath- Pileser. He was king of Assyria. The message of Ahaz said,“ I am your servant. You are my master. Come up and save me from the power of the kings of Aram and Israel. They are attacking me.”Ahaz took the silver and gold that were in the Lord’ s temple. He also took the silver and gold that were among the treasures in the royal palace. He sent all of it as a gift to the king of Assyria.So the king of Assyria did what Ahaz asked him to do. He attacked the city of Damascus and captured it. He sent its people away to Kir. And he put Rezin to death.Then King Ahaz went to Damascus. He went there to see Tiglath- Pileser, the king of Assyria. Ahaz saw an altar in Damascus. He sent a drawing of it to Uriah the priest. Ahaz also sent him plans for building it.So Uriah the priest built an altar. He followed all the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. He finished it before Ahaz returned.The king came back from Damascus. When he saw the altar, he approached it. Then he offered sacrifices on it.He offered up his burnt offering and grain offering. He poured out his drink offering. And he splashed the blood from his friendship offerings against the altar.The bronze altar for burnt offerings stood in front of the Lord. It was between the new altar and the Lord’ s temple. Ahaz took the bronze altar away from the front of the temple. He put it on the north side of the new altar.Then King Ahaz gave orders to Uriah the priest. He said,“ Offer sacrifices on the large new altar. Offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering. Offer my burnt offering and my grain offering. Offer the burnt offering of all the people of the land. Offer their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood from all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar to look for advice and direction.”Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had ordered.Ahaz cut off the sides of the bronze stands. He removed the bowls from the stands. He removed the huge bowl from the bronze bulls it stood on. He placed the bowl on a stone base.He took away the covered area that had been used on the Sabbath day. It had been built at the Lord’ s temple. He removed the royal entrance that was outside the temple. Ahaz did all these things to honor the king of Assyria.The other events of the rule of Ahaz are written down. Everything he did is written in the official records of the kings of Judah.Ahaz joined the members of his family who had already died. He was buried in the family tomb in the City of David. Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became the next king after him.
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Jeremiah 1:4
A message from the Lord came to me. The Lord said,
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2 Chronicles 26 1-2 Chronicles 26 23
All the people of Judah made Uzziah king. He was 16 years old. They made him king in place of his father Amaziah.Uzziah rebuilt Elath. He brought it under Judah’s control again. He did it after Amaziah joined the members of his family who had already died.Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 52 years. His mother’s name was Jekoliah. She was from Jerusalem.Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done.He tried to obey God during the days of Zechariah. Zechariah taught him to have respect for God. As long as Uzziah obeyed the Lord, God gave him success.Uzziah went to war against the Philistines. He broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. Then he rebuilt some towns that were near Ashdod. He also rebuilt some other towns where Philistines lived.God helped him fight against the Philistines. He also helped him fight against the Meunites and against the Arabs who lived in Gur Baal.The Ammonites brought to Uzziah the gifts he required of them. He became famous all the way to the border of Egypt. That’s because he had become very powerful.Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem. They were at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate and the angle of the wall. He made the towers very strong.He also built towers in the desert. He dug many wells, because he had a lot of livestock. The livestock were in the western hills and on the plains. Uzziah had people working in his fields and vineyards in the hills and in the rich lands. That’s because he loved the soil.Uzziah’s army was well trained. It was ready to march out by military groups according to their numbers. Jeiel and Maaseiah brought them together. Jeiel was the secretary. Maaseiah was the officer. They were under the direction of Hananiah. He was one of the royal officials.The total number of family leaders who were over the fighting men was 2,600.An army of 307,500 men was under their command. The men were trained for war. They were a powerful force. They helped the king against his enemies.Uzziah provided the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows, and stones for their slings.In Jerusalem he invented machines to be used on the towers and on the corners of city walls. These machines were used by men who shot arrows from the walls. The machines were also used by men to throw large stones from the walls. Uzziah became famous everywhere. God greatly helped him until he became powerful.But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride brought him down. He wasn’t faithful to the Lord his God. He entered the Lord’ s temple to burn incense on the altar for burning incense.Azariah the priest followed him in. So did 80 other brave priests of the Lord.They stood up to Uzziah. They said,“ Uzziah, it isn’t right for you to burn incense to the Lord. Only the priests are supposed to do that. They are members of the family line of Aaron. They have been set apart to burn incense. So get out of here. Leave the temple. You haven’t been faithful. The Lord God won’t honor you.”Uzziah was holding a shallow cup. He was ready to burn incense in it. He became angry. He shouted at the priests in the Lord’ s temple. He did it near the altar for burning incense. While he was shouting, a skin disease suddenly broke out on his forehead.Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him. They saw that Uzziah had a skin disease on his forehead. So they hurried him out of the temple. Actually, he himself really wanted to leave. He knew that the Lord was making him suffer.King Uzziah had the skin disease until the day he died. He lived in a separate house because he had the disease. And he wasn’t allowed to enter the Lord’ s temple. Uzziah’s son Jotham was in charge of the palace. Jotham ruled over the people of the land.The other events of Uzziah’s rule from beginning to end were written down by Isaiah the prophet. Isaiah was the son of Amoz.Uzziah joined the members of his family who had already died. He was buried near them in a royal burial ground. People said,“ He had a skin disease.” Uzziah’s son Jotham became the next king after him.
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Joel 1:1
A message from the Lord came to Joel, the son of Pethuel. Here is what Joel said.
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2 Kings 13 13
Jehoash joined the members of his family who had already died. He was buried in the royal tombs in Samaria. Jeroboam became the next king on Israel’s throne after him.
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Zechariah 1:1
A message from the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet. Zechariah was the son of Berekiah. Berekiah was the son of Iddo. It was the eighth month of the second year that Darius was king of Persia. Here is what Zechariah said.
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John 10:35
We know that Scripture is always true. God spoke to some people and called them‘ gods.’
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Jonah 1:1
A message from the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai. The Lord said,
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2 Peter 1 21
Prophecy never came simply because a prophet wanted it to. Instead, the Holy Spirit guided the prophets as they spoke. So, although prophets are human, prophecy comes from God.
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Ezekiel 1:3
A message from the Lord came to me. I was by the Kebar River in Babylon. The power of the Lord came on me there. I am Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi.
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Jeremiah 1:2
A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. It came in the 13th year that Josiah was king over Judah. Josiah was the son of Amon.
