- Ahab & Jezebel’s son Ahaziah is king but is injured. He sends consultants to prophets of Baal-Zebub, & they are met by Elijah. He says that Ahaziah will die. Troops are sent 3 times to take Elijah. Twice they are destroyed but the 3rd time bring Elijah to Ahaziah, who dies. #2Kg1
- Elisha stays with Elijah while going from Bethel to Jericho & across the Jordan. He requests a double portion of the spirit of Elijah, who is taken up to the Lord by a chariot of fire in a whirlwind. Elisha makes a spring’s water pure. Bears maul 42 children who mock him. #2Kg2
- With Ahab dead, Moab revolts. King Joram of Israel, son of Ahab, allies with Edom & King Jehoshaphat of Judah. The armies lack water in the desert, but Elisha fills the valley with water. The Moabites think it is blood of their enemies. Moab is defeated. #2Kg3
- Prophet Elisha rescues a poor woman from debt by filling her vessels with oil to sell. Another old woman is barren & conceives. The boy later dies, but Elisha revives him by laying on him. Elisha makes poisoned potage edible and feeds 100 men with 20 barley loaves & corn. #2Kg4
- Naaman, captain of Syria’s army, is a leper. His servant suggests he see Elisha, who tells him to wash 7 times in the river Jordan. He does & is made clean. Elisha refuses his offering. Elisha’s servant Gehazi chases after Naaman & asks for gifts. For this, he gets leprosy. #2Kg5
- Elisha makes an axehead, which fell into the Jordan river, float. He warns the king of Israel of Syria’s traps. Syria pursues him, but Elisha blinds the army, who go to Samaria and feast. Ben-Hadad, King of Syria, besieges Samaria. A severe famine follows, with cannibalism. #2Kg6
- Elisha tells a lord of the king that tomorrow, measures of flour & barley will be a shekel. You will see but not eat of it. The Lord frightens the Syrians away with the sound of chariots. Lepers discover the empty camp filled with goods. The lord is crushed by the crowd. #2Kg7
- The woman whose son Elisha had revived flees a famine, returns, & her lands are restored. Hazael murders Ben-Hadad. Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, becomes Judah’s king during the reign of Joram. He puts down Edom’s rebellion. Jehoram dies, and is succeeded by his son Ahaziah. #2Kg8
- Elisha has a prophet anoint Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel, telling him to smite the house of Ahab. He meets Joram & Ahaziah, who are together. Is it peace? What hath thou to do with peace? Jehu kills them both. Jezebel is thrown out of a window and eaten by dogs. #2Kg9
- Jehu has Samarians cut off the heads of 70 sons of Ahab. He kills 42 relatives of Ahaziah. Jehu summons the worshippers of Baal to a sacrifice & slaughters them in the temple of Baal, which is torn down. The Lord praises Jehu. Israel loses Gilead to Hazael. Jehu dies. #2Kg10
- Athaliah, mother of Judah’s Ahaziah, wants all of the royal family dead so she can reign. Joash, the 7-year old son of Ahaziah, is hidden & protected by priest Jehoiada & anointed king of Judah. Athaliah cries treason & is slain. Images & priests of Baal are destroyed. #2Kg11
- After 23 years, the priests had not repaired the temple, so Joash directs the temple offerings to the workers (the priests still receive guilt & sin offerings). Joash is slain after giving the temple’s treasure to Hazael so he won’t attack. His son Amaziah becomes king. #2Kg12
- Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, becomes king of Israel. He follows his father’s ways & allows Asherah poles in Samaria. Israel is oppressed by Aram. When Jehoahaz dies his son Jehoash becomes king. Elisha tells Jehoash that he will defeat Aram, & reclaim some towns. Elisha dies. #2Kg13
- Amaziah is king of Judah on his father Joash’s death. He has his father’s killers slain, though not their children. He defeats the Edomites & threatens war with Israel, but is routed when Jehoash attacks. Jehoash dies & Jeroboam II is king. Amaziah dies & Azariah is king. #2Kg14
- Azariah, a leper, rules Judah. During his reign, the king of Israel is Zechariah, killed by his successor Shallum, who is killed by Menahem, who is succeeded by his son Pekahiah, then Pekah & Hoshea. These kings follow Jeroboam’s evil ways. Jotham succeeds Azariah. #2Kg15
- Ahaz succeeds his father Jotham as Judah’s king. He practices child sacrifice & worships foreign gods. Aram & Israel fight Judah, but fail because Ahaz pays tribute to Assyria, who wars against them. Ahaz sees an altar in Damascus & builds a similar one in Jerusalem. #2Kg16
- Hoshea stops paying tribute to the king of Assyria & is captured. Samaria is taken, as Israel had built up high places, made Asherah poles, sacrificed children & worshipped Baal, displeasing the Lord. Israel is exiled to Assyria, & resettled by Babylonians & others. #2Kg17
- Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, becomes king of Judah. He trusted in the Lord & destroyed the high places & Asherah poles. During his reign, Assyria conquers Samaria & besieges Jerusalem. You will be taken to a land of grain & wine, else you will eat your dung & drink your piss. #2Kg18
- This frightens Hezekiah, but the prophet Isaiah calms him. Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sends a threatening letter. Isaiah replies: Virgin Daughter Zion despises you,…I will put a hook in thy nose. An angel of the Lord slays 185000 Assyrian fighters, so Assyria retreats. #2Kg19
- Hezekiah is near death. The Lord hears his prayer. He lives 15 more years, the sign being the shadow going backwards. Hezekiah shows envoys from Babylon the treasures of the temple. Isaiah prophesies that Babylon will carry them off one day. Hezekiah dies & his son reigns. #2Kg20
- Manasseh rules Jerusalem 55 years, followed by his son Amon. Both were evil in the eyes of the Lord. Manasseh sacrificed a son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, consulted mediums, & built altars for Baal. Amon is slain after 2 years, & his son Josiah rules. #2Kg21
- Josiah does right in the sight of the Lord, repairs the temple & pays workers from temple offerings. Alarmed by what he reads in a book, Josiah sends for prophetess Huldah, who says that Judah will suffer for forsaking the Lord, though Josiah will go to the grave in peace. #2Kg22
- Josiah rids Judah of the high places, altars, idols, & priests of Ashtoreth, Chemosh & Milcom, ends child sacrifice, observes Passover & follows Mosaic law. Pharaoh Nechoh of Egypt slays Josiah & his son Jehoahaz rules. Tribute is paid to Nechoh, who makes Jehoiakim ruler. #2Kg23
- Jehoiakim serves & rebels against Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (NkB). The Lord sends nations against Judah to avenge Manasseh’a sins. Jehoiakim dies & is followed by his evil son Jehoiachin. NkB sacks Jerusalem, taking its treasure, people, & Jehoiachin. Zedekiah rules. #2Kg24
- NkB’s army besieges Jerusalem, causing famine. Zedekiah flees, is captured, blinded, his sons killed, & taken to Babylon. Jerusalem is sacked. Its temple is destroyed & treasure looted. Priests & leaders are slain (even those who swear fealty to NkB) & the people exiled. #2Kg25