2 Reis 15

ARC · Chapter 15/25

1No anno vinte e sete de Jeroboão, rei d'Israel, começou a reinar Azarias, filho d'Amasias, rei de Judah.

2Tinha dezeseis annos quando começou a reinar, e cincoenta e dois annos reinou em Jerusalem: e era o nome de sua mãe Jecolia, de Jerusalem.

3E fez o que era recto aos olhos do Senhor, conforme tudo o que fizera Amasias, seu pae.

4Tão sómente os altos se não tiraram: porque ainda o povo sacrificava e queimava incenso nos altos.

5E o Senhor feriu o rei, e ficou leproso até ao dia da sua morte; e habitou n'uma casa separada: porém Jothão, filho do rei, tinha o cargo da casa, julgando o povo da terra.

6Ora o mais dos successos de Azarias, e tudo o que fez, porventura não está escripto no livro das chronicas dos reis de Judah?

7E Azarias dormiu com seus paes, e o sepultaram junto a seus paes, na cidade de David: e Jothão, seu filho, reinou em seu logar.

8No anno trinta e oito d'Azarias, rei de Judah, reinou Zacharias, filho de Jeroboão, sobre Israel, em Samaria, seis mezes.

9E fez o que parecia mal aos olhos do Senhor, como tinham feito seus paes; nunca se apartou dos peccados de Jeroboão, filho de Nebat, que fez peccar a Israel.

10E Sallum, filho de Jabés, conspirou contra elle e o feriu diante do povo, e o matou; e reinou em seu logar.

11Ora o mais dos successos de Zacharias, eis que está escripto no livro das chronicas dos reis de Israel.

12Esta foi a palavra do Senhor, que fallou a Jehu, dizendo: Teus filhos, até á quarta geração, se assentarão sobre o throno d'Israel. E assim foi.

13Sallum, filho de Jabés, começou a reinar no anno trinta e nove de Uzias, rei de Judah: e reinou um mez inteiro em Samaria.

14Porque Menahem, filho de Gadi, subiu de Tirza, e veiu a Samaria; e feriu a Sallum, filho de Jabés, em Samaria, e o matou, e reinou em seu logar.

15Ora o mais dos successos de Sallum, e a conspiração que fez, eis que está escripto no livro das chronicas dos reis d'Israel.

16Então Menahem feriu a Tiphsah, e a todos os que n'ella havia, como tambem a seus termos desde Tirza, porque não lhe tinham aberto; e os feriu pois, e a todas as mulheres gravidas fendeu pelo meio.

17Desde o anno trinta e nove de Azarias, rei de Judah, Menahem, filho de Gadi, começou a reinar sobre Israel, e reinou dez annos em Samaria.

18E fez o que parecia mal aos olhos do Senhor: todos os seus dias se não apartou dos peccados de Jeroboão, filho de Nebat, que fez peccar a Israel.

19Então veiu Pul, rei d'Assyria, contra a terra: e Menahem deu a Pul mil talentos de prata, para que a sua mão fosse com elle, a fim de firmar o reino na sua mão.

20E Menahem tirou este dinheiro d'Israel, de todos os poderosos e ricos, para o dar ao rei da Assyria, por cada homem cincoenta siclos de prata: assim voltou o rei d'Assyria, e não ficou ali na terra.

21Ora o mais dos successos de Menahem, e tudo quanto fez, porventura não está escripto no livro das chronicas dos reis d'Israel?

22E Menahem dormiu com seus paes: e Pekaia, seu filho, reinou em seu logar.

23No anno cincoenta de Azarias, rei de Judah, começou a reinar Pekaia, filho de Menahem, e reinou sobre Israel, em Samaria, dois annos.

24E fez o que parecia mal aos olhos do Senhor: nunca se apartou dos peccados de Jeroboão, filho de Nebat, que fez peccar a Israel.

25E Peka, filho de Remalias, seu capitão, conspirou contra elle, e o feriu em Samaria, no paço da casa do rei, juntamente com Argob e com Arieh, e com elle cincoenta homens dos filhos dos gileaditas: e o matou, e reinou em seu logar.

26Ora o mais dos successos de Pekaia, e tudo quanto fez, eis que está escripto no livro das chronicas dos reis d'Israel.

27No anno cincoenta e dois de Azarias, rei de Judah, começou a reinar Peka, filho de Remalias, e reinou sobre Israel, em Samaria, vinte annos.

28E fez o que parecia mal aos olhos do Senhor: nunca se apartou dos peccados de Jeroboão, filho de Nebat, que fez peccar a Israel.

29Nos dias de Peka, rei de Israel, veiu Tiglath-pileser, rei d'Assyria, e tomou a Ijon, e a Abel-beth-maaca, e a Janoah, e a Kedes, e a Hasor, e a Gilead, e a Galilea, e a toda a terra de Naphtali, e os levou a Assyria.

30E Hoseas, filho de Ela, conspirou contra Peka, filho de Remalias, e o feriu, e o matou, e reinou em seu logar, no vigesimo anno de Jothão, filho de Uzias.

31Ora o mais dos successos de Peka, e tudo quanto fez, eis que está escripto no livro das chronicas dos reis d'Israel.

32No anno segundo de Peka, filho de Remalias, rei d'Israel, começou a reinar Jothão, filho de Uzias, rei de Judah.

33Tinha vinte e cinco annos de edade quando começou a reinar, e reinou dezeseis annos em Jerusalem: e era o nome de sua mãe Jerusa, filha de Zadok.

34E fez o que era recto aos olhos do Senhor: fez conforme tudo quanto fizera seu pae Uzias.

35Tão sómente os altos se não tiraram; porque ainda o povo sacrificava e queimava incenso nos altos: este edificou a porta alta da casa do Senhor.

36Ora o mais dos successos de Jothão, e tudo quanto fez, porventura não está escripto no livro das chronicas dos reis de Judah?

37N'aquelles dias começou o Senhor a enviar contra Judah, a Resin, rei da Syria, e a Peka, filho de Remalias.

38E Jothão dormiu com seus paes, e foi sepultado junto a seus paes, na cidade de David, seu pae: e Achaz, seu filho, reinou em seu logar.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

An unstable and violent succession of kings passes through the throne of Israel (Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah), with several assassinated in conspiracies. In Judah, Azariah (Uzziah) reigns for a long time but is struck with leprosy for overstepping into priestly duties. Assyria, under Tiglath-Pileser, begins to seriously threaten the region.

Explanation

This chapter shows the accelerating decline of the Northern Kingdom, with kings rising to power through successive assassinations — a pattern of instability that contrasts sharply with the dynastic continuity in Judah. The punishment of Azariah/Uzziah with leprosy (detailed more fully in 2 Chronicles 26:16-21) for burning incense in the temple, a function reserved for priests, shows that even generally faithful kings face serious consequences when they overstep boundaries set by God. The rise of the Assyrian threat in this chapter marks the beginning of the end for the Northern Kingdom, which would be conquered just a few decades later.

Fun facts

  • Tiglath-Pileser III, mentioned here for the first time, was one of the most expansionist kings in Assyrian history, and his campaign of conquests is thoroughly documented in Assyrian inscriptions that directly mention biblical kings such as Menahem, externally confirming the biblical chronology.
  • Menahem's practice of 'ripping open the pregnant women' of Tiphsah (v.16) is one of the most brutal accounts in the Old Testament, reflecting psychological warfare tactics documented in other ancient Near Eastern cultures used to terrorize rebellious populations.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Reis 15:1Azariah (also called Uzziah), son of Amaziah, begins to reign over Judah (the southern kingdom) in the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam II in Israel (the north).
  2. 2 Reis 15:2Azariah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and stayed fifty-two years on the throne in Jerusalem — one of the longest reigns in the whole book.
  3. 2 Reis 15:3Azariah does what is right, following the example of his father Amaziah, keeping up Judah’s (the south’s) reasonably good pattern.
  4. 2 Reis 15:4Like almost every good king of Judah, Azariah does not remove the high places, the shrines where the people kept insisting on sacrificing outside the temple.
  5. 2 Reis 15:5Leprosy forced even a king to live apart, cut off from public affairs. Because of this, his son Jotham ends up governing in practice as a kind of regent, even while his father is formally still alive and reigning.
  6. 2 Reis 15:6The closing formula for Azariah points to the chronicles of the kings of Judah (the southern kingdom).
  7. 2 Reis 15:7Azariah dies and is buried with his ancestors in the City of David; his son Jotham takes the throne of Judah (the south).
  8. 2 Reis 15:8Zechariah, son of Jeroboam II, reigns over Israel (the north) in Samaria for only six months — the start of a string of short, violent reigns in the northern kingdom.
  9. 2 Reis 15:9Zechariah also does what is evil, repeating the sin of the golden calves that had persisted since the first Jeroboam.
  10. 2 Reis 15:10Shallum conspires against Zechariah, kills him publicly, and takes the throne of Israel (the north) — the abrupt end of Jehu’s dynasty.
  11. 2 Reis 15:11The closing formula for Zechariah points to the chronicles of the kings of Israel (the northern kingdom).
  12. 2 Reis 15:12Zechariah’s death fulfills exactly the promise made to Jehu: his descendants would reign only to the fourth generation — Jehu, Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II, and Zechariah complete that count.
  13. 2 Reis 15:13Shallum reigns just one full month in Samaria, beginning in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah of Judah (the south) — the shortest reign in the book.
  14. 2 Reis 15:14Menahem comes from Tirzah, attacks Shallum in Samaria, kills him, and takes the throne of Israel (the north) in his place.
  15. 2 Reis 15:15The closing formula for Shallum mentions the very conspiracy he carried out, recorded in the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
  16. 2 Reis 15:16Menahem brutally attacks the city of Tiphsah for not opening its gates to him, an episode of extreme violence against the local population, including pregnant women.
  17. 2 Reis 15:17Menahem begins to reign over Israel (the north) from the thirty-ninth year of Azariah of Judah (the south), and reigns ten years in Samaria.
  18. 2 Reis 15:18Menahem also does what is evil, never turning away from the sins of Jeroboam throughout his whole reign.
  19. 2 Reis 15:19This is the first recorded direct contact between a king of Israel and Assyria, since Pul is another name for Tiglath-pileser III. Paying this tribute buys time, but it also signals to Assyria that Israel is a valuable target — the start of a pressure that will end in the fall of the northern kingdom.
  20. 2 Reis 15:20To pay the tribute to Assyria, Menahem taxes the rich and powerful of Israel (the north) fifty shekels of silver per person, and so gets the Assyrian king to withdraw without settling in the land.
  21. 2 Reis 15:21The closing formula for Menahem points to the chronicles of the kings of Israel (the northern kingdom).
  22. 2 Reis 15:22Menahem dies, and his son Pekahiah takes the throne of Israel (the north) in his place.
  23. 2 Reis 15:23Pekahiah reigns over Israel (the north) in Samaria for only two years, beginning in the fiftieth year of Azariah of Judah (the south).
  24. 2 Reis 15:24Pekahiah also does what is evil, continuing the same sin of Jeroboam that marks almost every king of the north.
  25. 2 Reis 15:25Pekah, a captain of Pekahiah’s own army, conspires against him, kills him inside the palace in Samaria with the help of fifty Gileadite men, and takes the throne.
  26. 2 Reis 15:26The closing formula for Pekahiah points to the chronicles of the kings of Israel (the northern kingdom).
  27. 2 Reis 15:27Pekah begins to reign over Israel (the north) in Samaria for twenty years, starting in the fifty-second year of Azariah of Judah (the south).
  28. 2 Reis 15:28Pekah also does what is evil, repeating the same sin of Jeroboam that runs through the whole book in the northern kingdom.
  29. 2 Reis 15:29This is the first wave of Assyrian deportations against Israel, decades before the final fall of Samaria. Assyria typically deported conquered populations in stages, both to break any local resistance and to relocate labor within the empire.
  30. 2 Reis 15:30In this final period of the northern kingdom, almost every king reaches the throne by killing his predecessor. It is a symptom of the instability that directly precedes Israel’s final collapse, recorded in the chapters that follow.
  31. 2 Reis 15:31The closing formula for Pekah points to the chronicles of the kings of Israel (the northern kingdom).
  32. 2 Reis 15:32Jotham, son of Uzziah, begins to reign over Judah (the southern kingdom) in the second year of Pekah in Israel (the north).
  33. 2 Reis 15:33Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and stayed sixteen years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Jerusha, daughter of Zadok.
  34. 2 Reis 15:34Jotham does what is right, following the example of his father Uzziah — Judah (the south) keeps up a pattern of relatively good kings in this period.
  35. 2 Reis 15:35Once again the high places are not removed, but Jotham leaves a concrete mark: he builds the upper gate of the house of the Lord.
  36. 2 Reis 15:36The closing formula for Jotham points to the chronicles of the kings of Judah (the southern kingdom).
  37. 2 Reis 15:37In the days of Jotham the Lord begins allowing the first attacks by Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel (the north) against Judah (the south) — the warning sign of the crisis that breaks out in the next chapter.
  38. 2 Reis 15:38Jotham dies and is buried with his ancestors in the City of David; his son Ahaz takes the throne of Judah (the south).

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