2 Kings 13
Open in the reader1In the twenty-third year of the reign of He-Who-Is-Strong son of He-Who-Is-Has-Grasped over Praised, He-Who-Is-Has-Seized son of He-Who-Is-He became king of Strives-with-God, and he reigned in Watch-Mountain seventeen years.
2And he did evil in the sight of He-Who-Is and followed the sins that The-People-Increase son of Regard had caused Strives-with-God to commit; he did not turn away from them.
3So the anger of He-Who-Is burned against Strives-with-God, and He delivered them continually into the hands of God-Has-Seen king of Highland and his son Son-hadad.
4Then He-Who-Is-Has-Seized sought the favor of He-Who-Is, and He-Who-Is listened to him because He saw the oppression that the king of Highland had inflicted on Strives-with-God.
5So He-Who-Is gave Strives-with-God a deliverer, and they escaped the power of the children of Highland. Then the people of Strives-with-God lived in their own homes as they had before.
6Nevertheless, they did not turn away from the sins that the house of The-People-Increase had caused Strives-with-God to commit, but they continued to walk in them. The Asherah pole even remained standing in Watch-Mountain.
7He-Who-Is-Has-Seized had no army left, except fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, because the king of Highland had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing.
8As for the rest of the acts of He-Who-Is-Has-Seized, along with all his accomplishments and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Strives-with-God?
9And He-Who-Is-Has-Seized rested with his fathers and was buried in Watch-Mountain. And his son He-Who-Is-Strong reigned in his place.
10In the thirty-seventh year of the reign of He-Who-Is-Strong over Praised, He-Who-Is-Bestows son of He-Who-Is-Has-Seized became king of Strives-with-God in Watch-Mountain, and he reigned sixteen years.
11And he did evil in the sight of He-Who-Is and did not turn away from all the sins that The-People-Increase son of Regard had caused Strives-with-God to commit, but he walked in them.
12As for the rest of the acts of He-Who-Is-Strong, along with all his accomplishments and his might, including his war against He-Who-Is-Strong king of Praised, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Strives-with-God?
13And He-Who-Is-Strong rested with his fathers, and The-People-Increase succeeded him on the throne. He-Who-Is-Strong was buried in Watch-Mountain with the kings of Strives-with-God.
14When My-God-Is-Salvation had fallen sick with the illness from which he would die, He-Who-Is-Strong king of Strives-with-God came down to him and wept over him, saying, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Strives-with-God!”
15My-God-Is-Salvation told him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So He-Who-Is-Strong took a bow and some arrows.
16Then My-God-Is-Salvation said to the king of Strives-with-God, “Put your hand on the bow.” So the king put his hand on the bow, and My-God-Is-Salvation put his hands on the king’s hands.
17“Open the east window,” said My-God-Is-Salvation. So he opened it and My-God-Is-Salvation said, “Shoot!” So he shot. And My-God-Is-Salvation declared: “This is He-Who-Is’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Highland, for you shall strike the children of Highland in Fortress until you have put an end to them.”
18Then My-God-Is-Salvation said, “Take the arrows!” So he took them, and My-God-Is-Salvation said to the king of Strives-with-God, “Strike the ground!” So he struck the ground three times and stopped.
19But the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times. Then you would have struck down Highland until you had put an end to it. But now you will strike down Highland only three times.”
20And My-God-Is-Salvation died and was buried. Now the child of From-the-Father raiders used to come into the land every spring.
21Once, as the Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders, so they threw the man’s body into My-God-Is-Salvation’s tomb. And as soon as his body touched the bones of My-God-Is-Salvation, the man was revived and stood up on his feet.
22And God-Has-Seen king of Highland oppressed Strives-with-God throughout the reign of He-Who-Is-Has-Seized.
23But He-Who-Is was gracious to Strives-with-God and had compassion on them, and He turned toward them because of His covenant with Father-of-a-Multitude, He-Laughs, and Heel-Grabber. And to this day, He-Who-Is has been unwilling to destroy them or cast them from His presence.
24When God-Has-Seen king of Highland died, his son Son-of-Hadad reigned in his place.
25Then He-Who-Is-Strong son of He-Who-Is-Has-Seized took back from Son-of-Hadad son of God-Has-Seen the cities that God-Has-Seen had taken in battle from his father He-Who-Is-Has-Seized. He-Who-Is-Strong defeated Son-of-Hadad three times, and so recovered the cities of Strives-with-God.