(12:2) In Jehu’s seventh year Jehoash became king; he reigned for forty years in Jerusalem. ¹  His mother was Zibiah, who was from Beer Sheba.

When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning. ¹ 

The king ¹  heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was marching out to fight him. ²  He again sent messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them:

During Jehoiakim’s reign, ¹  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked. ²  Jehoiakim was his subject for three years, but then he rebelled against him. ³ 

The descendants of Aaron were also allotted as cities ¹  of refuge Hebron, Libnah and its pasturelands, Jattir, Eshtemoa and its pasturelands,

Baal-Hanan the Gederite was in charge of the olive and sycamore trees in the lowlands; ¹  Joash was in charge of the storehouses of olive oil.

The king made silver and gold as plentiful ¹  in Jerusalem as stones; cedar was ²  as plentiful as sycamore fig trees are in the lowlands. ³ 

The king made silver as plentiful ¹  in Jerusalem as stones; cedar was ²  as plentiful as sycamore fig trees are in the lowlands ³ .

Abijah ascended Mount Zemaraim, in the Ephraimite hill country, and said: “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel!

But as for us, the Lord is our God and we have not rejected him. Aaron’s descendants serve as the Lord’s priests and the Levites assist them with the work. ¹ 

Abijah’s power grew; he had ¹  fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

They defeated all the cities surrounding Gerar, for the Lord caused them to panic. ¹  The men of Judah ²  looted all the cities, for they contained a huge amount of goods. ³ 

(Wicked Athaliah and her sons had broken into God’s temple and used all the holy items of the Lord’s temple in their worship of the Baals.)

But a prophet ¹  visited him and said: “O king, the Israelite troops must not go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel or any of the Ephraimites. ² 

But Amaziah did not heed the warning, ¹  for God wanted to hand them over to Joash because they followed the gods of Edom. ² 

The priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their towns, and all the rest of Israel lived in their towns.

And during the reign ¹  of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, ²  Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their colleagues ³  wrote to King Artaxerxes ⁴  of Persia. This letter ⁵  was first written in Aramaic but then translated. [Aramaic:] ⁶ 

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak began ¹  to rebuild the temple of God in Jerusalem. The prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

But God was watching over ¹  the elders of Judah, and they were not stopped ²  until a report could be dispatched ³  to Darius and a letter could be sent back concerning this.

Leave the work on this temple of God alone. ¹  Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this temple of God in its proper place.