ery day
do with great pomp pay their worship to these kings, [13] and value
themselves upon their antiquity; nor do they know that these kings are
much later than they imagine, and that they are not yet eleven hundred
years old. Now when Joram, the king of Israel, heard that Berthadad was
dead, he recovered out of the terror and dread he had been in on his
account, and was very glad to live in peace.

CHAPTER 5. Concerning The Wickedness Of Jehoram King O Jerusalem; His
Defeat And Death.

1. Now Jehoram the king of Jerusalem, for we have said before that he
had the same name with the king of Israel, as soon as he had taken the
government upon him, betook himself to the slaughter of his brethren,
and his father's friends, who were governors under him, and thence made
a beginning and a demonstration of his wickedness; nor was he at all
better than those kings of Israel who at first transgressed against the
laws of their country, and of the Hebrews, and against God's worship.
And it was Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, whom he had married, who
taught him to be a bad man in other respects, and also to worship
foreign gods. Now God would not quite root out this family, because of
the promise he had made to David. However, Jehoram did not leave off the
introduction of new sorts of customs to the propagation of impiety, and
to the ruin of the customs of his own country. And when the Edomites
about that time had revolted from him, and slain their former king,
who was in subjection to his father, and had set up one of their own
choosing, Jehoram fell upon the land of Edom, with the horsemen that
were about him, and the chariots, by night, and destroyed those that
lay near to his own kingdom, but did not proceed further. However, this
expedition did him no service, for they all revolted from him, with
those that dwelt in the country of Libnah. He was indeed so mad as to
compel the people to go up to the high places of the mountains, and
worship foreign gods.

2. As he was doing this, and had entirely cast his own country laws out
of his mind, there was brought him an epistle from Elijah the prophet
[14] which declared that God would execute great judgments upon him,
because he had not imitated his own fathers, but had followed the wicked
courses of the kings of Israel; and had compelled the tribe of Judah,
and the citizens of Jerusalem, to leave the holy worship of their own
God, and to worship idols, as Ahab had compel