The Bible, Douay-Rheims Part 262

21:10. However Edom revolted, from being under the dominion of Juda unto this day: at that time Lobna also revolted, from being under his hand.

For he had forsaken the Lord the G.o.d of his fathers.

21:11. Moreover he built also high places in the cities of Juda, and he made the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and Juda to transgress.

21:12. And there was a letter brought him from Eliseus the prophet, in which it was written: Thus saith the Lord the G.o.d of David thy father: Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Josaphat thy father nor in the ways of Asa king of Juda,

21:13. But hast walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and hast made Juda and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, imitating the fornication of the house of Achab, moreover also thou hast killed thy brethren, the house of thy father, better men than thyself,

21:14. Behold the Lord will strike thee with a great plague, with all thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy substance.

21:15. And thou shalt be sick of a very grievous disease of thy bowels, till thy vital parts come out by little and little every day.

21:16. And the Lord stirred up against Joram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, who border on the Ethiopians.

21:17. And they came up into the land of Juda, and wasted it, and they carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, his sons also, and his wives: so that there was no son left him but Joachaz, who was the youngest.

Joachaz... Alias Ochozias.

21:18. And besides all this the Lord struck him with an incurable disease in his bowels.

21:19. And as day came after day, and time rolled on, two whole years pa.s.sed: then after being wasted with a long consumption, so as to void his very bowels, his disease ended with his life. And he died of a most wretched illness, and the people did not make a funeral for him according to the manner of burning, as they had done for his ancestors.

21:20. He was two and thirty years old when he began his reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he walked not rightly, and they buried him in the city of David: but not in the sepulchres of the kings.

2 Paralipomenon Chapter 22

The reign and death of Ochozias. The tyranny of Athalia.

22:1. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ochozias his youngest son king in his place: for the rovers of the Arabians, who had broke in upon the camp, had killed all that were his elder brothers. So Ochozias the son of Joram king of Juda reigned.

22:2. Ochozias was forty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother was Athalia the daughter of Amri.

Forty-two, etc... Divers Greek Bibles read thirty-two, agreeably to 4 Kings 8.17.

22:3. He also walked in the ways of the house of Achab: for his mother pushed him on to do wickedly.

22:4. So he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Achab did: for they were his counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction.

22:5. And he walked after their counsels. And he went with Joram the son of Achab king of Israel, to fight against Hazael king of Syria, at Ramoth Galaad: and the Syrians wounded Joram.

22:6. And he returned to be healed in Jezrahel: for he received many wounds in the foresaid battle. And Ochozias the son of Joram king of Juda, went down to visit Joram the son of Achab in Jezrahel where he lay sick.

22:7. For it was the will of G.o.d against Ochozias that he should come to Joram: and when he was come should go out also against Jehu the son of Namsi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Achab.

22:8. So when Jehu was rooting out the house of Achab, he found the princes of Juda, and the sons of the brethren of Ochozias, who served him, and he slew them.

22:9. And he sought for Ochozias himself, and took him lying hid in Samaria: and when he was brought to him, he killed him, and they buried him: because he was the son of Josaphat, who had sought the Lord with all his heart. And there was no more hope that any one should reign of the race of Ochozias.

22:10. For Athalia his mother, seeing that her son was dead, rose up, and killed all the royal family of the house of Joram.

22:11. But Josabeth the king's daughter took Joas the son of Ochozias, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain. And she hid him with his nurse in a bedchamber: now Josabeth that hid him, was daughter of king Joram, wife of Joiada the high priest, and sister of Ochozias, and therefore Athalia did not kill him.

22:12. And he was with them hid in the house of G.o.d six years, during which Athalia reigned over the land.

2 Paralipomenon Chapter 23

Joiada the high priest causeth Joas to be made king: Athalia to be slain, and idolatry to be destroyed.

23:1. And in the seventh year Joiada being encouraged, took the captains of hundreds, to wit, Azarias the son of Jeroham, and Ismahel the son of Johanan, and Azarias the son of Obed, and Maasias the son of Adaias, and Elisaphat the son of Zechri: and made a covenant with them.

23:2. And they went about Juda, and gathered together the Levites out of all the cities of Juda, and the chiefs of the families of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.

23:3. And all the mult.i.tude made a covenant with the king in the house of G.o.d: and Joiada said to them: Behold the king's son shall reign, as the Lord hath said of the sons of David.

23:4. And this is the thing that you shall do:

23:5. A third part of you that come to the sabbath, of the priests, and of the Levites, and of the porters shall be at the gates: and a third part at the king's house: and a third at the gate that is called the Foundation: but let all the rest of the people be in the courts of the house of the Lord.

To the sabbath... That is, to perform in your weeks the functions of your office, or the weekly watches.

23:6. And let no one come into the house of the Lord, but the priests, and they that minister of the Levites: let them only come in, because they are sanctified: and let all the rest of the people keep the watches of the Lord.

23:7. And let the Levites be round about the king, every man with his arms; and if any other come into the temple, let him be slain; and let them be with the king, both coming in, and going out.

23:8. So the Levites, and all Juda did according to all that Joiada the high priest had commanded: and they took every one his men that were under him, and that came in by the course of the sabbath, with those who had fulfilled the sabbath, and were to go out. For Joiada the high priest permitted not the companies to depart, which were accustomed to succeed one another every week.

23:9. And Joiada the priest gave to the captains the spears, and the shields, and targets of king David, which he had dedicated in the house of the Lord.

23:10. And he set all the people with swords in their hands from the right side of the temple, to the left side of the temple, before the altar, and the temple, round about the king.

23:11. And they brought out the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and the testimony, and gave him the law to hold in his hand, and they made him king: and Joiada the high priest and his sons anointed him: and they prayed for him, and said: G.o.d save the king.

23:12. Now when Athalia heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came in to the people, into the temple of the Lord.

23:13. And when she saw the king standing upon the step in the entrance, and the princes, and the companies about him, and all the people of the land rejoicing, and sounding with trumpets, and playing on instruments of divers kinds, and the voice of those that praised, she rent her garments, and said: Treason, treason.

23:14. And Joiada the high priest going out to the captains, and the chiefs of the army, said to them: Take her forth without the precinct of the temple, and when she is without let her be killed with the sword.

For the priest commanded that she should not be killed in the house of the Lord.

23:15. And they laid hold on her by the neck: and when she was come within the horse gate of the palace, they killed her there.

23:16. And Joiada made a covenant between himself and all the people, and the king, that they should be the people of the lord.

23:17. And all the people went into the house of Baal, and destroyed it: and they broke down his altars and his idols: and they slew Mathan the priest of Baal before the altars.

23:18. And Joiada appointed overseers in the house of the Lord, under the hands of the priests, and the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the Lord: to offer holocausts to the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses, with joy and singing, according to the disposition of David.

23:19. He appointed also porters in the gates of the house of the Lord, that none who was unclean in any thing should enter in.