Bible in 90 Days

Pekah King of Israel

²⁷ Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria during Uzziah’s^[a] fifty-second year as king of Judah. Pekah ruled twenty years, ²⁸ and he did what the Lord said was wrong. Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to sin, and Pekah did not stop doing the same sins.

²⁹ Tiglath-Pileser^[b] was king of Assyria. He attacked while Pekah was king of Israel, capturing the cities of Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, and Hazor. He also captured Gilead and Galilee and all the land of Naphtali and carried the people away to Assyria. ³⁰ Then Hoshea son of Elah made plans against Pekah son of Remaliah and attacked and killed him. Then Hoshea became king in Pekah’s place during the twentieth year Jotham son of Uzziah was king.

³¹ Everything else Pekah did is written in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.

Jotham King of Judah

³² Jotham son of Uzziah became king of Judah during the second year Pekah son of Remaliah was king of Israel. ³³ Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. ³⁴ Jotham did what the Lord said was right, just as his father Uzziah had done. ³⁵ But the places where gods were worshiped were not removed, and the people still made sacrifices and burned incense there. Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the Temple of the Lord.

³⁶ The other things Jotham did while he was king are written in the book of the history of the kings of Judah. ³⁷ At that time the Lord began to send Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah. ³⁸ Jotham died and was buried with his ancestors in Jerusalem, the city of David, his ancestor. Then Jotham’s son Ahaz became king in his place.

Ahaz King of Judah

16 Ahaz was the son of Jotham king of Judah. Ahaz became king of Judah in the seventeenth year Pekah son of Remaliah was king of Israel. ² Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he ruled sixteen years in Jerusalem. Unlike his ancestor David, he did not do what the Lord his God said was right. ³ Ahaz did the same things the kings of Israel had done. He even made his son pass through fire. He did the same hateful sins as the nations had done whom the Lord had forced out of the land ahead of the Israelites. ⁴ Ahaz offered sacrifices and burned incense at the places where gods were worshiped, on the hills, and under every green tree.

⁵ Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, came up to attack Jerusalem. They surrounded Ahaz but could not defeat him. ⁶ At that time Rezin king of Aram took back the city of Elath for Aram, and he forced out all the people of Judah. Then Edomites moved into Elath, and they still live there today.

⁷ Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your friend. Come and save me from the king of Aram and the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” ⁸ Ahaz took the silver and gold that was in the Temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the palace, and he sent these as a gift to the king of Assyria. ⁹ So the king of Assyria listened to Ahaz. He attacked Damascus and captured it and sent all its people away to Kir. And he killed Rezin.

¹⁰ Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. Ahaz saw an altar at Damascus, and he sent plans and a pattern of this altar to Uriah the priest. ¹¹ So Uriah the priest built an altar, just like the plans King Ahaz had sent him from Damascus. Uriah finished the altar before King Ahaz came back from Damascus. ¹² When the king arrived from Damascus, he saw the altar and went near and offered sacrifices on it. ¹³ He burned his burnt offerings and grain offerings and poured out his drink offering. He also sprinkled the blood of his fellowship offerings on the altar.

¹⁴ Ahaz moved the bronze altar that was before the Lord at the front of the Temple. It was between Ahaz’s altar and the Temple of the Lord, but he put it on the north side of his altar. ¹⁵ King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “On the large altar burn the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, and the whole burnt offering, the grain offering, and the drink offering for all the people of the land. Sprinkle on the altar all the blood of the burnt offering and of the sacrifice. But I will use the bronze altar to ask questions of God.” ¹⁶ So Uriah the priest did everything as King Ahaz commanded him.

¹⁷ Then King Ahaz took off the side panels from the bases and removed the washing bowls from the top of the bases. He also took the large bowl, which was called the Sea, off the bronze bulls that held it up, and he put it on a stone base. ¹⁸ Ahaz took away the platform for the royal throne, which had been built at the Temple of the Lord. He also took away the outside entrance for the king. He did these things because of the king of Assyria.

¹⁹ The other things Ahaz did as king are written in the book of the history of the kings of Judah. ²⁰ Ahaz died and was buried with his ancestors in Jerusalem, and Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became king in his place.

Hoshea, Last King of Israel

17 Hoshea son of Elah became king over Israel during Ahaz’s twelfth year as king of Judah. Hoshea ruled in Samaria nine years. ² He did what the Lord said was wrong, but he was not as bad as the kings of Israel who had ruled before him.

³ Shalmaneser king of Assyria came to attack Hoshea. Hoshea had been Shalmaneser’s servant and had made the payments to Shalmaneser that he had demanded. ⁴ But the king of Assyria found out that Hoshea had made plans against him by sending messengers to So, the king of Egypt. Hoshea had also stopped giving Shalmaneser the payments, which he had paid every year in the past. For that, the king put Hoshea in prison. ⁵ Then the king of Assyria came and attacked all the land of Israel. He surrounded Samaria and attacked it for three years. ⁶ He defeated Samaria in the ninth year Hoshea was king, and he took the Israelites away to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.

Israelites Punished for Sin

⁷ All these things happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God. He had brought them out of Egypt and had rescued them from the power of the king of Egypt, but the Israelites had honored other gods. ⁸ They lived like the nations the Lord had forced out of the land ahead of them. They lived as their evil kings had shown them, ⁹ secretly sinning against the Lord their God. They built places to worship gods in all their cities, from the watchtower to the strong, walled city. ¹⁰ They put up stone pillars to gods and Asherah idols on every high hill and under every green tree. ¹¹ The Israelites burned incense everywhere gods were worshiped, just as the nations who lived there before them had done, whom the Lord had forced out of the land. The Israelites did wicked things that made the Lord angry. ¹² They served idols when the Lord had said, “You must not do this.” ¹³ The Lord used every prophet and seer to warn Israel and Judah. He said, “Stop your evil ways and obey my commands and laws. Follow all the teachings that I commanded your ancestors, the teachings that I gave you through my servants the prophets.”

¹⁴ But the people would not listen. They were stubborn, just as their ancestors had been who did not believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They rejected the Lord’s laws and the agreement he had made with their ancestors. And they refused to listen to his warnings. They worshiped useless idols and became useless themselves. They did what the nations around them did, which the Lord had warned them not to do.

¹⁶ The people rejected all the commands of the Lord their God. They molded statues of two calves, and they made an Asherah idol. They worshiped all the stars of the sky and served Baal. ¹⁷ They made their sons and daughters pass through fire and tried to find out the future by magic and witchcraft. They always chose to do what the Lord said was wrong, which made him angry. ¹⁸ Because he was very angry with the people of Israel, he removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left.

Judah Is Also Guilty

¹⁹ But even Judah did not obey the commands of the Lord their God. They did what the Israelites had done, ²⁰ so the Lord rejected all the people of Israel. He punished them and let others destroy them; he threw them out of his presence. ²¹ When the Lord separated them from the family of David, the Israelites made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam led the Israelites away from the Lord and led them to sin greatly. ²² So they continued to do all the sins Jeroboam did. They did not stop doing these sins ²³ until the Lord removed the Israelites from his presence, just as he had said through all his servants the prophets. So the Israelites were taken out of their land to Assyria, and they have been there to this day.

The Beginning of the Samaritan People

²⁴ The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and put them in the cities of Samaria to replace the Israelites. These people took over Samaria and lived in the cities. ²⁵ At first they did not worship the Lord, so he sent lions among them which killed some of them. ²⁶ The king of Assyria was told, “You sent foreigners into the cities of Samaria who do not know the law of the god of the land. This is why he has sent lions among them. The lions are killing them because they don’t know what the god wants.”

²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send back one of the priests you took away. Let him live there and teach the people what the god wants.” ²⁸ So one of the priests who had been carried away from Samaria returned to live in Bethel. And he taught the people how to honor the Lord.

²⁹ But each nation made gods of its own and put them in the cities where they lived and in the temples where gods were worshiped. These temples had been built by the Samaritans. ³⁰ The people from Babylon made Succoth Benoth their god. The people from Cuthah worshiped Nergal. The people of Hamath worshiped Ashima. ³¹ The Avvites worshiped Nibhaz and Tartak. The Sepharvites burned their children in the fire, sacrificing them to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. ³² They also honored the Lord, but they chose priests for the places where gods were worshiped. The priests were chosen from among themselves, and they made sacrifices for the people. ³³ The people honored the Lord but also served their own gods, just as the nations did from which they had been brought. ³⁴ Even today they do as they did in the past. They do not worship the Lord nor obey his rules and commands. They do not obey the teachings or the commands of the Lord, which he gave to the children of Jacob, whom he had named Israel. ³⁵ The Lord had made an agreement with them and had commanded them, “Do not honor other gods. Do not bow down to them or worship them or offer sacrifices to them. ³⁶ Worship the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and strength. Bow down to him and offer sacrifices to him. ³⁷ Always obey the rules, orders, teachings, and commands he wrote for you. Do not honor other gods. ³⁸ Do not forget the agreement I made with you, and do not honor other gods. ³⁹ Instead worship the Lord your God, who will save you from all your enemies.”

⁴⁰ But the Israelites did not listen. They kept on doing the same things they had done before. ⁴¹ So these nations honored the Lord but also worshiped their idols, and their children and grandchildren still do as their ancestors did.

Hezekiah King of Judah

18 Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah became king during the third year Hoshea son of Elah was king of Israel. ² Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. ³ Hezekiah did what the Lord said was right, just as his ancestor David had done. ⁴ He removed the places where gods were worshiped. He smashed the stone pillars and cut down the Asherah idols. Also the Israelites had been burning incense to Nehushtan, the bronze snake Moses had made. But Hezekiah broke it into pieces.

⁵ Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. ⁶ Hezekiah was loyal to the Lord and did not stop following him; he obeyed the commands the Lord had given Moses. ⁷ And the Lord was with Hezekiah, so he had success in everything he did. He turned against the king of Assyria and stopped serving him. ⁸ Hezekiah defeated the Philistines all the way to Gaza and its borders, including the watchtowers and the strong, walled cities.

The Assyrians Capture Samaria

⁹ Shalmaneser king of Assyria surrounded Samaria and attacked it in the fourth year Hezekiah was king. This was the seventh year Hoshea son of Elah was king of Israel. ¹⁰ After three years the Assyrians captured Samaria. This was in the sixth year Hezekiah was king, which was Hoshea’s ninth year as king of Israel. ¹¹ The king of Assyria took the Israelites away to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes. ¹² This happened because they did not obey the Lord their God. They broke his agreement and did not obey all that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded. They would not listen to the commands or do them.

Assyria Attacks Judah

¹³ During Hezekiah’s fourteenth year as king, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the strong, walled cities of Judah and captured them. ¹⁴ Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent a message to the king of Assyria at Lachish. He said, “I have done wrong. Leave me alone, and I will pay anything you ask.” So the king of Assyria made Hezekiah pay about twenty-two thousand pounds of silver and two thousand pounds of gold. ¹⁵ Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was in the Temple of the Lord and in the palace treasuries. ¹⁶ Hezekiah stripped all the gold that covered the doors and doorposts of the Temple of the Lord. Hezekiah had put gold on these doors himself, but he gave it all to the king of Assyria.

¹⁷ The king of Assyria sent out his supreme commander, his chief officer, and his field commander. They went with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. When they came near the waterway from the upper pool on the road where people do their laundry, they stopped. ¹⁸ They called for the king, so the king sent Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah out to meet them. Eliakim son of Hilkiah was the palace manager, Shebna was the royal secretary, and Joah son of Asaph was the recorder.

¹⁹ The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah this:

“‘The great king, the king of Assyria, says: What can you trust in now? ²⁰ You say you have battle plans and power for war, but your words mean nothing. Whom are you trusting for help so that you turn against me? ²¹ Look, you are depending on Egypt to help you, but Egypt is like a splintered walking stick. If you lean on it for help, it will stab your hand and hurt you. The king of Egypt will hurt all those who depend on him. ²² You might say, “We are depending on the Lord our God,” but Hezekiah destroyed the Lord’s altars and the places of worship. Hezekiah told Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship only at this one altar in Jerusalem.”

²³ “‘Now make an agreement with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses if you can find enough men to ride them. ²⁴ You cannot defeat one of my master’s least important officers, so why do you depend on Egypt to give you chariots and horsemen? ²⁵ I have not come to attack and destroy this place without an order from the Lord. The Lord himself told me to come to this country and destroy it.’”

²⁶ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to us in the Aramaic language. We understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew, because the people on the city wall can hear you.”

²⁷ “No,” the commander said, “my master did not send me to tell these things only to you and your king. He sent me to speak also to those people sitting on the wall who will have to eat their own dung and drink their own urine like you.”

²⁸ Then the commander stood and shouted loudly in the Hebrew language, “Listen to what the great king, the king of Assyria, says! ²⁹ The king says you should not let Hezekiah fool you, because he can’t save you from my power. ³⁰ Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely save us. This city won’t be handed over to the king of Assyria.’

³¹ “Don’t listen to Hezekiah. The king of Assyria says, ‘Make peace with me, and come out of the city to me. Then everyone will be free to eat the fruit from his own grapevine and fig tree and to drink water from his own well. ³² After that I will come and take you to a land like your own—a land with grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olives, and honey. Choose to live and not to die!’

“Don’t listen to Hezekiah. He is fooling you when he says, ‘The Lord will save us.’ ³³ Has a god of any other nation saved his people from the power of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? They did not save Samaria from my power. ³⁵ Not one of all the gods of these countries has saved his people from me. Neither can the Lord save Jerusalem from my power.”

³⁶ The people were silent. They didn’t answer the commander at all, because King Hezekiah had ordered, “Don’t answer him.”

³⁷ Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah tore their clothes to show how upset they were. (Eliakim son of Hilkiah was the palace manager, Shebna was the royal secretary, and Joah son of Asaph was the recorder.) The three men went to Hezekiah and told him what the field commander had said.

Jerusalem Will Be Saved

19 When King Hezekiah heard the message, he tore his clothes and put on rough cloth to show how sad he was. Then he went into the Temple of the Lord. ² Hezekiah sent Eliakim, the palace manager, and Shebna, the royal secretary, and the older priests to Isaiah. They were all wearing rough cloth when they came to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. ³ They told Isaiah, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of sorrow and punishment and disgrace, as when a child should be born, but the mother is not strong enough to give birth to it. ⁴ The king of Assyria sent his field commander to make fun of the living God. Maybe the Lord your God will hear what the commander said and will punish him for it. So pray for the few of us who are left alive.”

⁵ When Hezekiah’s officers came to Isaiah, ⁶ he said to them, “Tell your master this: The Lord says, ‘Don’t be afraid of what you have heard. Don’t be frightened by the words the servants of the king of Assyria have spoken against me. ⁷ Listen! I am going to put a spirit in the king of Assyria. He will hear a report that will make him return to his own country, and I will cause him to die by the sword there.’”

⁸ The field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish. When he went back, he found the king fighting against the city of Libnah.

⁹ The king received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt, was coming to attack him. When the king of Assyria heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Tell Hezekiah king of Judah: Don’t be fooled by the god you trust. Don’t believe him when he says Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. ¹¹ You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done. They have completely defeated every country, so do not think you will be saved. ¹² Did the gods of those people save them? My ancestors destroyed them, defeating the cities of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and the people of Eden living in Tel Assar. ¹³ Where are the kings of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”

Hezekiah Prays to the Lord

¹⁴ When Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Temple of the Lord. He spread the letter out before the Lord ¹⁵ and prayed to the Lord: “Lord, God of Israel, whose throne is between the gold creatures with wings, only you are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. ¹⁶ Hear, Lord, and listen. Open your eyes, Lord, and see. Listen to the words Sennacherib has said to insult the living God. ¹⁷ It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed these countries and their lands. ¹⁸ They have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire, but they were only wood and rock statues that people made. So the kings have destroyed them. ¹⁹ Now, Lord our God, save us from the king’s power so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you, Lord, are the only God.”

God Answers Hezekiah

²⁰ Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah that said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria. ²¹ This is what the Lord has said against Sennacherib:

²⁹ “Then the Lord said, ‘Hezekiah, I will give you this sign:

³² “So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

³⁵ That night the angel of the Lord went out and killed one hundred eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up early the next morning, they saw all the dead bodies. ³⁶ So Sennacherib king of Assyria left and went back to Nineveh and stayed there.

³⁷ One day as Sennacherib was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with a sword. Then they escaped to the land of Ararat. So Sennacherib’s son Esarhaddon became king of Assyria.

Hezekiah’s Illness

20 At that time Hezekiah became so sick he almost died. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to see him and told him, “This is what the Lord says: Make arrangements because you are not going to live, but die.”

² Hezekiah turned toward the wall and prayed to the Lord, ³ “Lord, please remember that I have always obeyed you. I have given myself completely to you and have done what you said was right.” Then Hezekiah cried loudly.

⁴ Before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, the Lord spoke his word to Isaiah: ⁵ “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears, so I will heal you. Three days from now you will go up to the Temple of the Lord. ⁶ I will add fifteen years to your life. I will save you and this city from the king of Assyria; I will protect the city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”

⁷ Then Isaiah said, “Make a paste from figs.” So they made it and put it on Hezekiah’s boil, and he got well.

⁸ Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the Temple of the Lord on the third day?”

⁹ Isaiah said, “The Lord will do what he says. This is the sign from the Lord to show you: Do you want the shadow to go forward ten steps or back ten steps?”

¹⁰ Hezekiah answered, “It’s easy for the shadow to go forward ten steps. Instead, let it go back ten steps.”

¹¹ Then Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, and the Lord brought the shadow ten steps back up the stairway of Ahaz that it had gone down.

Messengers from Babylon

¹² At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan was king of Babylon. He sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, because he had heard that Hezekiah was sick. ¹³ Hezekiah listened to the messengers, so he showed them what was in his storehouses: the silver, gold, spices, expensive perfumes, his swords and shields, and all his wealth. He showed them everything in his palace and his kingdom.

¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say? Where did they come from?”

Hezekiah said, “They came from a faraway country—from Babylon.”

¹⁵ So Isaiah asked him, “What did they see in your palace?”

Hezekiah said, “They saw everything in my palace. I showed them all my wealth.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to the words of the Lord: ¹⁷ ‘In the future everything in your palace and everything your ancestors have stored up until this day will be taken away to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. ¹⁸ ‘Some of your own children, those who will be born to you, will be taken away. And they will become servants in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

¹⁹ Hezekiah told Isaiah, “These words from the Lord are good.” He said this because he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime.”

²⁰ Everything else Hezekiah did—all his victories, his work on the pool, his work on the tunnel to bring water into the city—is written in the book of the history of the kings of Judah. ²¹ Then Hezekiah died, and his son Manasseh became king in his place.

Manasseh King of Judah

21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he was king fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. ² He did what the Lord said was wrong. He did the hateful things the other nations had done—the nations that the Lord had forced out of the land ahead of the Israelites. ³ Manasseh’s father, Hezekiah, had destroyed the places where gods were worshiped, but Manasseh rebuilt them. He built altars for Baal, and he made an Asherah idol as Ahab king of Israel had done. Manasseh also worshiped all the stars of the sky and served them. ⁴ The Lord had said about the Temple, “I will be worshiped in Jerusalem,” but Manasseh built altars in the Temple of the Lord. ⁵ He built altars to worship the stars in the two courtyards of the Temple of the Lord. ⁶ He made his own son pass through fire. He practiced magic and told the future by explaining signs and dreams, and he got advice from mediums and fortune-tellers. He did many things the Lord said were wrong, which made the Lord angry.

⁷ Manasseh carved an Asherah idol and put it in the Temple. The Lord had said to David and his son Solomon about the Temple, “I will be worshiped forever in this Temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel. ⁸ I will never again make the Israelites wander out of the land I gave their ancestors. But they must obey everything I have commanded them and all the teachings my servant Moses gave them.” ⁹ But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them to do more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.

¹⁰ The Lord said through his servants the prophets, ¹¹ “Manasseh king of Judah has done these hateful things. He has done more evil than the Amorites before him. He also has led Judah to sin with his idols. ¹² So this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will bring so much trouble on Jerusalem and Judah that anyone who hears about it will be shocked. ¹³ I will stretch the measuring line of Samaria over Jerusalem, and the plumb line used against Ahab’s family will be used on Jerusalem. I will wipe out Jerusalem as a person wipes a dish and turns it upside down. ¹⁴ I will throw away the rest of my people who are left. I will give them to their enemies, and they will be robbed by all their enemies, ¹⁵ because my people did what I said was wrong. They have made me angry from the day their ancestors left Egypt until now.’”

¹⁶ Manasseh also killed many innocent people, filling Jerusalem from one end to the other with their blood. This was besides the sin he led Judah to do; he led Judah to do what the Lord said was wrong.

¹⁷ The other things Manasseh did as king, even the sin he did, are written in the book of the history of the kings of Judah. ¹⁸ Manasseh died and was buried in the garden of his own palace, the garden of Uzza. Then Manasseh’s son Amon became king in his place.

Amon King of Judah

¹⁹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he was king for two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz, who was from Jotbah. ²⁰ Amon did what the Lord said was wrong, as his father Manasseh had done. ²¹ He lived in the same way his father had lived: he worshiped the idols his father had worshiped, and he bowed down before them. ²² Amon rejected the Lord, the God of his ancestors, and did not follow the ways of the Lord.

²³ Amon’s officers made plans against him and killed him in his palace. ²⁴ Then the people of the land killed all those who had made plans to kill King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.

²⁵ Everything else Amon did is written in the book of the history of the kings of Judah. ²⁶ He was buried in his grave in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah became king in his place.

Josiah King of Judah

22 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he ruled thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah, who was from Bozkath. ² Josiah did what the Lord said was right. He lived as his ancestor David had lived, and he did not stop doing what was right.

³ In Josiah’s eighteenth year as king, he sent Shaphan to the Temple of the Lord. Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, was the royal secretary. Josiah said, ⁴ “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, and have him empty out the money the gatekeepers have gathered from the people. This is the money they have brought into the Temple of the Lord. ⁵ Have him give the money to the supervisors of the work on the Temple of the Lord. They must pay the workers who repair the Temple of the Lord— ⁶ the carpenters, builders, and bricklayers. Also use the money to buy timber and cut stone to repair the Temple. ⁷ They do not need to report how they use the money given to them, because they are working honestly.”

The Book of the Teachings Is Found

⁸ Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the royal secretary, “I’ve found the Book of the Teachings in the Temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it.

⁹ Then Shaphan the royal secretary went to the king and reported to Josiah, “Your officers have paid out the money that was in the Temple of the Lord. They have given it to the workers and supervisors at the Temple.” ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the royal secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from the book to the king.

¹¹ When the king heard the words of the Book of the Teachings, he tore his clothes to show how upset he was. ¹² He gave orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the royal secretary, and Asaiah the king’s servant. These were the orders: ¹³ “Go and ask the Lord about the words in the book that was found. Ask for me, for all the people, and for all Judah. The Lord’s anger is burning against us, because our ancestors did not obey the words of this book; they did not do all the things written for us to do.”

¹⁴ So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to talk to Huldah the prophetess. She was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, who took care of the king’s clothes. Huldah lived in Jerusalem, in the new area of the city.

¹⁵ She said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, ¹⁶ ‘This is what the Lord says: I will bring trouble to this place and to the people living here, as it is written in the book which the king of Judah has read. ¹⁷ The people of Judah have left me and have burned incense to other gods. They have made me angry by all that they have done. My anger burns against this place like a fire, and it will not be put out.’ ¹⁸ Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to ask the Lord, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the words you heard: ¹⁹ When you heard my words against this place and its people, you became sorry for what you had done and humbled yourself before me. I said they would be cursed and would be destroyed. You tore your clothes to show how upset you were, and you cried in my presence. This is why I have heard you, says the Lord. ²⁰ So I will let you die, and you will be buried in peace. You won’t see all the trouble I will bring to this place.’”

So they took her message back to the king.

The People Hear the Agreement

23 Then the king gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem together. ² He went up to the Temple of the Lord, and all the people from Judah and Jerusalem went with him. The priests, prophets, and all the people—from the least important to the most important—went with him. He read to them all the words of the Book of the Agreement that was found in the Temple of the Lord. ³ The king stood by the pillar and made an agreement in the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord and obey his commands, rules, and laws with his whole being, and to obey the words of the agreement written in this book. Then all the people promised to obey the agreement.

Josiah Destroys the Places for Idol Worship

⁴ The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the next rank and the gatekeepers to bring out of the Temple of the Lord everything made for Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky. Then Josiah burned them outside Jerusalem in the open country of the Kidron Valley and carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵ The kings of Judah had chosen priests for these gods. These priests burned incense in the places where gods were worshiped in the cities of Judah and the towns around Jerusalem. They burned incense to Baal, the sun, the moon, the planets, and all the stars of the sky. But Josiah took those priests away. ⁶ He removed the Asherah idol from the Temple of the Lord and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it and beat it into dust. Then he threw the dust on the graves of the common people. ⁷ He also tore down the houses of the male prostitutes who were in the Temple of the Lord, where the women did weaving for Asherah.

⁸ King Josiah brought all the false priests from the cities of Judah. He ruined the places where gods were worshiped, where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba. He destroyed the places of worship at the entrance to the Gate of Joshua, the ruler of the city, on the left side of the city gate. ⁹ The priests at the places where gods were worshiped were not allowed to serve at the Lord’s altar in Jerusalem. But they could eat bread made without yeast with their brothers.

¹⁰ Josiah ruined Topheth, in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could sacrifice his son or daughter to Molech. ¹¹ Judah’s kings had placed horses at the front door of the Temple of the Lord in the courtyard near the room of Nathan-Melech, an officer. These horses were for the worship of the sun. So Josiah removed them and burned the chariots that were for sun worship also.

¹² The kings of Judah had built altars on the roof^[c] of the upstairs room of Ahaz. Josiah broke down these altars and the altars Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the Temple of the Lord. Josiah smashed them to pieces and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley. ¹³ King Josiah ruined the places where gods were worshiped east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Olives.^[d] Solomon king of Israel had built these places. One was for Ashtoreth, the hated goddess of the Sidonians. One was for Chemosh, the hated god of Moab. And one was for Molech, the hated god of the Ammonites. ¹⁴ Josiah smashed to pieces the stone pillars they worshiped, and he cut down the Asherah idols. Then he covered the places with human bones.

¹⁵ Josiah also broke down the altar at Bethel—the place of worship made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had led Israel to sin. Josiah burned that place, broke the stones of the altar into pieces, then beat them into dust. He also burned the Asherah idol. ¹⁶ When he turned around, he saw the graves on the mountain. He had the bones taken from the graves, and he burned them on the altar to ruin it. This happened as the Lord had said it would through the man of God.

¹⁷ Josiah asked, “What is that monument I see?”

The people of the city answered, “It’s the grave of the man of God who came from Judah. This prophet announced the things you have done against the altar of Bethel.”

¹⁸ Josiah said, “Leave the grave alone. No one may move this man’s bones.” So they left his bones and the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

¹⁹ The kings of Israel had built temples for worshiping gods in the cities of Samaria, which had caused the Lord to be angry. Josiah removed all those temples and did the same things as he had done at Bethel. ²⁰ He killed all the priests of those places of worship; he killed them on the altars and burned human bones on the altars. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

Josiah Celebrates the Passover

²¹ The king commanded all the people, “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God as it is written in this Book of the Agreement.” ²² The Passover had not been celebrated like this since the judges led Israel. Nor had one like it happened while there were kings of Israel and kings of Judah. ²³ This Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s rule.

²⁴ Josiah destroyed the mediums, fortune-tellers, house gods, and idols. He also destroyed all the hated gods seen in the land of Judah and Jerusalem. This was to obey the words of the teachings written in the book Hilkiah the priest had found in the Temple of the Lord.

²⁵ There was no king like Josiah before or after him. He obeyed the Lord with all his heart, soul, and strength, following all the Teachings of Moses.

²⁶ Even so, the Lord did not stop his strong and terrible anger. His anger burned against Judah because of all Manasseh had done to make him angry. ²⁷ The Lord said, “I will send Judah out of my sight, as I have sent Israel away. I will reject Jerusalem, which I chose. And I will take away the Temple about which I said, ‘I will be worshiped there.’”

²⁸ Everything else Josiah did is written in the book of the history of the kings of Judah.

²⁹ While Josiah was king, Neco king of Egypt went to help the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah marched out to fight against Neco, but at Megiddo, Neco faced him and killed him. ³⁰ Josiah’s servants carried his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own grave. Then the people of Judah chose Josiah’s son Jehoahaz and poured olive oil on him to make him king in his father’s place.

Jehoahaz King of Judah

³¹ Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he was king in Jerusalem for three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal, who was the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. ³² Jehoahaz did what the Lord said was wrong, just as his ancestors had done.

³³ King Neco took Jehoahaz prisoner at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that Jehoahaz could not rule in Jerusalem. Neco made the people of Judah pay about seventy-five hundred pounds of silver and about seventy-five pounds of gold.

³⁴ King Neco made Josiah’s son Eliakim the king in place of Josiah his father. Then Neco changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz to Egypt, where he died. ³⁵ Jehoiakim gave King Neco the silver and gold he demanded. Jehoiakim taxed the land and took silver and gold from the people of the land to give to King Neco. Each person had to pay his share.

Jehoiakim King of Judah

³⁶ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he was king in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah, who was from Rumah. ³⁷ Jehoiakim did what the Lord said was wrong, just as his ancestors had done.

24 While Jehoiakim was king, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked the land of Judah. So Jehoiakim became Nebuchadnezzar’s servant for three years. Then he turned against Nebuchadnezzar and broke away from his rule. ² The Lord sent raiding parties from Babylon, Aram, Moab, and Ammon against Jehoiakim to destroy Judah. This happened as the Lord had said it would through his servants the prophets.

³ The Lord commanded this to happen to the people of Judah, to remove them from his presence, because of all the sins of Manasseh. ⁴ He had killed many innocent people and had filled Jerusalem with their blood. And the Lord would not forgive these sins.

⁵ The other things that happened while Jehoiakim was king and all he did are written in the book of the history of the kings of Judah. ⁶ Jehoiakim died, and his son Jehoiachin became king in his place.

⁷ The king of Egypt did not leave his land again, because the king of Babylon had captured all that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

Jehoiachin King of Judah

⁸ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he was king three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem. ⁹ Jehoiachin did what the Lord said was wrong, just as his father had done.

¹⁰ At that time the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem. When they reached the city, they attacked it. ¹¹ Nebuchadnezzar himself came to the city while his officers were attacking it. ¹² Jehoiachin king of Judah surrendered to the king of Babylon, along with Jehoiachin’s mother, servants, nobles, and officers. So Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiachin a prisoner in the eighth year he was king of Babylon. ¹³ Nebuchadnezzar took all the treasures from the Temple of the Lord and from the palace. He cut up all the gold objects Solomon king of Israel had made for the Temple of the Lord. This happened as the Lord had said it would. ¹⁴ Nebuchadnezzar took away all the people of Jerusalem, including all the leaders, all the wealthy people, and all the craftsmen and metal workers. There were ten thousand prisoners in all. Only the poorest people in the land were left. ¹⁵ Nebuchadnezzar carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, as well as the king’s mother and his wives, the officers, and the leading men of the land. They were taken captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. ¹⁶ The king of Babylon also took all seven thousand soldiers, who were strong and able to fight in war, and about a thousand craftsmen and metal workers. Nebuchadnezzar took them as prisoners to Babylon. ¹⁷ Then he made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in Jehoiachin’s place. He also changed Mattaniah’s name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah King of Judah

¹⁸ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he was king in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah^[e] from Libnah. ¹⁹ Zedekiah did what the Lord said was wrong, just as Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰ All this happened in Jerusalem and Judah because the Lord was angry with them. Finally, he threw them out of his presence.

The Fall of Jerusalem

Zedekiah turned against the king of Babylon.

25 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army during Zedekiah’s ninth year as king, on the tenth day of the tenth month. He made a camp around the city and piled dirt against the city walls to attack it. ² The city was under attack until Zedekiah’s eleventh year as king. ³ By the ninth day of the fourth month, the hunger was terrible in the city. There was no food for the people to eat. ⁴ Then the city was broken into, and the whole army ran away at night through the gate between the two walls by the king’s garden. While the Babylonians were still surrounding the city, Zedekiah and his men ran away toward the Jordan Valley. ⁵ But the Babylonian army chased King Zedekiah and caught up with him in the plains of Jericho. All of his army was scattered from him, ⁶ so they captured Zedekiah and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah. There he passed sentence on Zedekiah. ⁷ They killed Zedekiah’s sons as he watched. Then they put out his eyes and put bronze chains on him and took him to Babylon.

⁸ Nebuzaradan was the commander of the king’s special guards. This officer of the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem on the seventh day of the fifth month, in Nebuchadnezzar’s nineteenth year as king of Babylon. ⁹ Nebuzaradan set fire to the Temple of the Lord and the palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building was burned.

¹⁰ The whole Babylonian army, led by the commander of the king’s special guards, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. ¹¹ Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, captured the people left in Jerusalem, those who had surrendered to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the people. ¹² But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to take care of the vineyards and fields.

¹³ The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the bronze stands, and the large bronze bowl, which was called the Sea, in the Temple of the Lord. Then they carried the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes, and all the bronze objects used to serve in the Temple. ¹⁵ The commander of the king’s special guards took away the pans for carrying hot coals, the bowls, and everything made of pure gold or silver. ¹⁶ There were two pillars and the large bronze bowl and the movable stands which Solomon had made for the Temple of the Lord. There was so much bronze that it could not be weighed. ¹⁷ Each pillar was about twenty-seven feet high. The bronze capital on top of the pillar was about four and one-half feet high. It was decorated with a net design and bronze pomegranates all around it. The other pillar also had a net design and was like the first pillar.

Judah Is Taken Prisoner

¹⁸ The commander of the guards took some prisoners—Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank, and the three doorkeepers. ¹⁹ Of the people who were still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, as well as five people who advised the king. He took the royal secretary who selected people for the army and sixty other men who were in the city. ²⁰ Nebuzaradan, the commander, took all these people and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹ There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them killed. So the people of Judah were led away from their country as captives.

Gedaliah Becomes Governor

²² Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon left some people in the land of Judah. He appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, as governor.

²³ The army captains and their men heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, so they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, and their men. ²⁴ Then Gedaliah promised these army captains and their men, “Don’t be afraid of the Babylonian officers. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and everything will go well for you.”

²⁵ In the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama from the king’s family, came with ten men and killed Gedaliah. They also killed the men of Judah and Babylon who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah. ²⁶ Then all the people, from the least important to the most important, along with the army leaders, ran away to Egypt, because they were afraid of the Babylonians.

Jehoiachin Is Set Free

²⁷ Jehoiachin king of Judah was held in Babylon for thirty-seven years. In the thirty-seventh year Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon, and he let Jehoiachin out of prison on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. ²⁸ Evil-Merodach spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a seat of honor above the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹ So Jehoiachin put away his prison clothes. For the rest of his life, he ate at the king’s table. ³⁰ Every day, for as long as Jehoiachin lived, the king gave him an allowance.