020:021 Hezekiah slept with his fathers; and Manasseh his son reigned
in his place.
021:001 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign;
and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem: and his mother's
name was Hephzibah.
021:002 He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh,
after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out
before the children of Israel.
021:003 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father
had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made
an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshiped all
the army of the sky, and served them.
021:004 He built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh said,
In Jerusalem will I put my name.
021:005 He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts
of the house of Yahweh.
021:006 He made his son to pass through the fire, and practiced sorcery,
and used enchantments, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits,
and with wizards: he worked much evil in the sight of Yahweh,
to provoke him to anger.
021:007 He set the engraved image of Asherah, that he had made,
in the house of which Yahweh said to David and to Solomon
his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen
out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever;
021:008 neither will I cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out
of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will
observe to do according to all that I have commanded them,
and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.
021:009 But they didn't listen: and Manasseh seduced them to do that
which is evil more than did the nations whom Yahweh destroyed
before the children of Israel.
021:010 Yahweh spoke by his servants the prophets, saying,
021:011 Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations,
and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were
before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols;
021:012 therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, Behold, I bring
such evil on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it,
both his ears shall tingle.
021:013 I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet
of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man
wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.
021:014 I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver
them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become
a prey and a spoil to all their enemies;
021:015 because they have done that which is evil in my sight,
and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers
came forth out of Egypt, even to this day.
021:016 Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had
filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin
with which he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil
in the sight of Yahweh.
021:017 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did,
and his sin that he sinned, aren't they written in the book
of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
021:018 Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden
of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son
reigned in his place.
021:019 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign;
and he reigned two years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name
was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
021:020 He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did
Manasseh his father.
021:021 He walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served
the idols that his father served, and worshiped them:
021:022 and he forsook Yahweh, the God of his fathers, and didn't walk
in the way of Yahweh.
021:023 The servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king
to death in his own house.
021:024 But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired
against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah
his son king in his place.
021:025 Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, aren't they
written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
021:026 He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza:
and Josiah his son reigned in his place.
022:001 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign;
and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem: and his mother's
name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.
022:002 He did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and walked
in all the way of David his father, and didn't turn aside
to the right hand or to the left.
022:003 It happened in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king
sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam,
the scribe, to the house of Yahweh, saying,
022:004 Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the money
which is brought into the house of Yahweh, which the keepers
of the threshold have gathered of the people:
022:005 and let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have
the oversight of the house of Yahweh; and let them give it
to the workmen who are in the house of Yahweh, to repair
the breaches of the house,
022:006 to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons,
and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the house.
022:007 However there was no reckoning made with them of the money
that was delivered into their hand; for they dealt faithfully.
022:008 Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe,
I have found the book of the law in the house of Yahweh.
Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it.
022:009 Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king
word again, and said, Your servants have emptied out the money
that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand
of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of Yahweh.
022:010 Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest
has delivered me a book. Shaphan read it before the king.
022:011 It happened, when the king had heard the words of the book
of the law, that he tore his clothes.
022:012 The king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son
of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe,
and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,
022:013 Go you, inquire of Yahweh for me, and for the people, and for
all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found;
for great is the wrath of Yahweh that is kindled against us,
because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book,
to do according to all that which is written concerning us.
022:014 So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan,
and Asaiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum
the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe
(now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter);
and they talked with her.
022:015 She said to them, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Tell you
the man who sent you to me,
022:016 Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will bring evil on this place,
and on the inhabitants of it, even all the words of the book
which the king of Judah has read.
022:017 Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense
to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all
the work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled
against this place, and it shall not be quenched.
022:018 But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Yahweh,
thus shall you tell him, Thus says Yahweh, the God
of Israel: As touching the words which you have heard,
022:019 because your heart was tender, and you did humble yourself
before Yahweh, when you heard what I spoke against this place,
and against the inhabitants of it, that they should become
a desolation and a curse, and have torn your clothes,
and wept before me; I also have heard you, says Yahweh.
022:020 Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you
shall be gathered to your grave in peace, neither shall
your eyes see all the evil which I will bring on this place.
They brought the king word again.
023:001 The king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah
and of Jerusalem.
023:002 The king went up to the house of Yahweh, and all the men of Judah
and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests,
and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great:
and he read in their ears all the words of the book of
the covenant which was found in the house of Yahweh.
023:003 The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before Yahweh,
to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments,
and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all [his] heart,
and all [his] soul, to confirm the words of this covenant
that were written in this book: and all the people stood
to the covenant.
023:004 The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests
of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring
forth out of the temple of Yahweh all the vessels that were made
for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the army of the sky,
and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields
of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel.
023:005 He put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah
had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities
of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; those also
who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon,
and to the planets, and to all the army of the sky.
023:006 He brought out the Asherah from the house of Yahweh,
outside of Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it
at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast the dust
of it on the graves of the common people.
023:007 He broke down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house
of Yahweh, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
023:008 He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah,
and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense,
from Geba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places
of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua
the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand
at the gate of the city.
023:009 Nevertheless the priests of the high places didn't come up
to the altar of Yahweh in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened
bread among their brothers.
023:010 He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children
of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter
to pass through the fire to Molech.
023:011 He took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given
to the sun, at the entrance of the house of Yahweh, by the
chamber of Nathan Melech the officer, who was in the court;
and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
023:012 The altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz,
which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which
Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Yahweh,
did the king break down, and beat [them] down from there,
and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.
023:013 The high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on
the right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Solomon
the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination
of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab,
and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon,
did the king defile.
023:014 He broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim,
and filled their places with the bones of men.
023:015 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place
which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin,
had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down;
and he burned the high place and beat it to dust,
and burned the Asherah.
023:016 As Josiah turned himself, he spied the tombs that were there
in the mountain; and he sent, and took the bones out of
the tombs, and burned them on the altar, and defiled it,
according to the word of Yahweh which the man of God proclaimed,
who proclaimed these things.
023:017 Then he said, What monument is that which I see?
The men of the city told him, It is the tomb of the man of God,
who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that you
have done against the altar of Bethel.
023:018 He said, Let him be; let no man move his bones.
So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet
who came out of Samaria.
023:019 All the houses also of the high places that were in the cities
of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke
[Yahweh] to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according
to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.
023:020 He killed all the priests of the high places that were there,
on the altars, and burned men's bones on them;
and he returned to Jerusalem.
023:021 The king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the Passover
to Yahweh your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.
023:022 Surely there was not kept such a Passover from the days of
the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings
of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;
023:023 but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah was this Passover
kept to Yahweh in Jerusalem.
023:024 Moreover those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards,
and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations
that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem,
did Josiah put away, that he might confirm the words of the law
which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found
in the house of Yahweh.
023:025 Like him was there no king before him, who turned to Yahweh with
all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might,
according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose
there any like him.
023:026 Notwithstanding, Yahweh didn't turn from the fierceness of his
great wrath, with which his anger was kindled against Judah,
because of all the provocation with which Manasseh
had provoked him.
023:027 Yahweh said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I
have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I
have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said,
My name shall be there.
023:028 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did,
aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the
kings of Judah?
023:029 In his days Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt went up against the king
of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went
against him; and [Pharaoh Necoh] killed him at Megiddo,
when he had seen him.
023:030 His servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo,
and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb.
The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah,
and anointed him, and made him king in his father's place.
023:031 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign;
and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: and his mother's
name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
023:032 He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to
all that his fathers had done.
023:033 Pharaoh Necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath,
that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a
tribute of one hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
023:034 Pharaoh Necoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room
of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim:
but he took Jehoahaz away; and he came to Egypt, and died there.
023:035 Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed
the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh:
he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land,
of everyone according to his taxation, to give it to Pharaoh Necoh.
023:036 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign;
and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's
name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
023:037 He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to
all that his fathers had done.
024:001 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up,
and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned
and rebelled against him.
024:002 Yahweh sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands
of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the
children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it,
according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by his
servants the prophets.
024:003 Surely at the commandment of Yahweh came this on Judah,
to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh,
according to all that he did,
024:004 and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled
Jerusalem with innocent blood: and Yahweh would not pardon.
024:005 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did,
aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the
kings of Judah?
024:006 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers; and Jehoiachin his son
reigned in his place.
024:007 The king of Egypt didn't come again out of his land any more;
for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt
to the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt.
024:008 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign;
and he reigned in Jerusalem three months: and his mother's
name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
024:009 He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to
all that his father had done.
024:010 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
024:011 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city, while his
servants were besieging it;
024:012 and Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon,
he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes,
and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth
year of his reign.
024:013 He carried out there all the treasures of the house of Yahweh,
and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all
the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made
in the temple of Yahweh, as Yahweh had said.
024:014 He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes,
and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives,
and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained,
save the poorest sort of the people of the land.
024:015 He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king's mother,
and the king's wives, and his officers, and the chief men of
the land, carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
024:016 All the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen
and the smiths one thousand, all of them strong and apt for war,
even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.
024:017 The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, [Jehoiachin's] father's brother,
king is his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
024:018 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign;
and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's
name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
024:019 He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to
all that Jehoiakim had done.
024:020 For through the anger of Yahweh did it happen in Jerusalem
and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence.
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
025:001 It happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month,
in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem,
and encamped against it; and they built forts against
it round about.
025:002 So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
025:003 On the ninth day of the [fourth] month the famine was sore
in the city, so that there was no bread for the people
of the land.
025:004 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war
[fled] by night by the way of the gate between the two walls,
which was by the king's garden (now the Chaldeans were
against the city round about); and [the king] went by the way
of the Arabah.
025:005 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king,
and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army
was scattered from him.
025:006 Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king
of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment on him.
025:007 They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out
the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and carried
him to Babylon.
025:008 Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month,
which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard,
a servant of the king of Babylon, to Jerusalem.
025:009 He burnt the house of Yahweh, and the king's house;
and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house,
burnt he with fire.
025:010 All the army of the Chaldeans, who were [with] the captain
of the guard, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about.
025:011 The residue of the people who were left in the city,
and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon,
and the residue of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain
of the guard carry away captive.
025:012 But the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land
to work the vineyards and fields.
025:013 The pillars of brass that were in the house of Yahweh,
and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the house of Yahweh,
did the Chaldeans break in pieces, and carried the brass
of them to Babylon.
025:014 The pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons,
and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered,
took they away.
025:015 The fire pans, and the basins, that which was of gold,
in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver, the captain
of the guard took away.
025:016 The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had
made for the house of Yahweh, the brass of all these vessels
was without weight.
025:017 The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital
of brass was on it; and the height of the capital was
three cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital
round about, all of brass: and like to these had the second
pillar with network.
025:018 The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest,
and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers
of the threshold:
025:019 and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men
of war; and five men of those who saw the king's face,
who were found in the city; and the scribe, the captain
of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty
men of the people of the land, who were found in the city.
025:020 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought
them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.
025:021 The king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death at Riblah
in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive
out of his land.
025:022 As for the people who were left in the land of Judah,
whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them
he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor.
025:023 Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men,
heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor,
they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah,
and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth
the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite,
they and their men.
025:024 Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them,
Don't be afraid because of the servants of the Chaldeans:
dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it
shall be well with you.
025:025 But it happened in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son
of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed came,
and ten men with him, and struck Gedaliah, so that he died,
and the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him at Mizpah.
025:026 All the people, both small and great, and the captains of
the forces, arose, and came to Egypt; for they were afraid
of the Chaldeans.
025:027 It happened in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity
of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven
and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon,
in the year that he began to reign, did lift up the head
of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;
025:028 and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne
of the kings who were with him in Babylon,
025:029 and changed his prison garments. [Jehoiachin] ate bread
before him continually all the days of his life:
025:030 and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him
of the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.