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But by the twenty-third year of Joash's reign the priests still had not made any repairs in the Temple.

But they still did not give up the sins into which King Jeroboam had led Israel, but kept on committing them; and the image of the goddess Asherah remained in Samaria.

This made Elisha angry, and he said to the king, "You should have struck five or six times, and then you would have won complete victory over the Syrians; but now you will defeat them only three times."

but the Lord was kind and merciful to them. He would not let them be destroyed, but helped them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has never forgotten his people.

He did what was pleasing to the Lord , but he was not like his ancestor King David; instead, he did what his father Joash had done.

However, he did not kill their children but followed what the Lord had commanded in the Law of Moses: "Parents are not to be put to death for crimes committed by their children, and children are not to be put to death for crimes committed by their parents; people are to be put to death only for a crime they themselves have committed."

But King Jehoash sent back the following reply: "Once a thorn bush on the Lebanon Mountains sent a message to a cedar: ‘Give your daughter in marriage to my son.' A wild animal passed by and trampled the bush down.

But Amaziah refused to listen, so King Jehoash marched out with his men and fought against him at Beth Shemesh in Judah.

There was a plot in Jerusalem to assassinate Amaziah, so he fled to the city of Lachish, but his enemies followed him there and killed him.

But it was not the Lord 's purpose to destroy Israel completely and forever, so he rescued them through King Jeroboam II.

But the pagan places of worship were not destroyed, and the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.

But the pagan places of worship were not destroyed, and the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. It was Jotham who built the North Gate of the Temple.

King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel attacked Jerusalem and besieged it, but could not defeat Ahaz.

Then he ordered Uriah: "Use this large altar of mine for the morning burnt offerings and the evening grain offerings, for the burnt offerings and grain offerings of the king and the people, and for the people's wine offerings. Pour on it the blood of all the animals that are sacrificed. But keep the bronze altar for me to use for divination."

He sinned against the Lord , but not as much as the kings who had ruled Israel before him.

But one year Hoshea sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, asking for his help, and stopped paying the annual tribute to Assyria. When Shalmaneser learned of this, he had Hoshea arrested and put in prison.

But they would not obey; they were stubborn like their ancestors, who had not trusted in the Lord their God.

But even the people of Judah did not obey the laws of the Lord their God; they imitated the customs adopted by the people of Israel.

But the people who settled in Samaria continued to make their own idols, and they placed them in the shrines that the Israelites had built. Each different group made idols in the cities they were living in:

So they worshiped the Lord , but they also worshiped their own gods according to the customs of the countries from which they had come.