Then Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned safely to his house in Jerusalem.

And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to King Jehoshaphat, "Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Therefore the wrath of the LORD [is] upon you.

Therefore the anger of the LORD was aroused against Amaziah, and He sent him a prophet who said to him, "Why have you sought the gods of the people, which could not rescue their own people from your hand?"

So it was, as he talked with him, that [the king] said to him, "Have we made you the king's counselor? Cease! Why should you be killed?" Then the prophet ceased, and said, "I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not heeded my advice."

Suddenly a prophet approached Ahab king of Israel, saying, "Thus says the LORD: 'Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand today, and you shall know that I [am] the LORD.' "

And the prophet came to the king of Israel and said to him, "Go, strengthen yourself; take note, and see what you should do, for in the spring of the year the king of Syria will come up against you."

Then he said to him, "Thus says the LORD: 'Because you have let slip out of [your] hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.' "

Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?" So Hezekiah said, "They came from a far country, from Babylon."

And he said, "What have they seen in your house?" So Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that [is] in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them."

Therefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria. They defeated him, and carried away a great multitude of them as captives, and brought [them] to Damascus. Then he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who defeated him with a great slaughter.

Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years.

For they persecute the [ones] You have struck, And talk of the grief of those You have wounded.

" Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My indignation.

Yet he does not mean so, Nor does his heart think so; But [it is] in his heart to destroy, And cut off not a few nations.

I was angry with My people; I have profaned My inheritance, And given them into your hand. You showed them no mercy; On the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily.

I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, Nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand, For You have filled me with indignation.

Why is my pain perpetual And my wound incurable, [Which] refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me like an unreliable stream, [As] waters [that] fail?

' Thus says the Lord GOD: "Because of what Edom did against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended by avenging itself on them,"

"I will lay My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel, that they may do in Edom according to My anger and according to My fury; and they shall know My vengeance," says the Lord GOD.

'therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "I will stretch out My hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites and destroy the remnant of the seacoast.

"Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, 'Aha! She is broken who [was] the gateway of the peoples; now she is turned over to me; I shall be filled; she is laid waste.'

"Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: 'Behold, I [am] against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up.

" For violence against your brother Jacob, Shame shall cover you, And you shall be cut off forever.

But you should not have gazed on the day of your brother In the day of his captivity; Nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah In the day of their destruction; Nor should you have spoken proudly In the day of distress.

You should not have stood at the crossroads To cut off those among them who escaped; Nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained In the day of distress.

For as you drank on my holy mountain, [So] shall all the nations drink continually; Yes, they shall drink, and swallow, And they shall be as though they had never been.

I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease; For I was a little angry, And they helped -- [but] with evil [intent."]

And He said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground.

And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top [is] in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."

And I said: "O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than [our] heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens.

"For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.