Bible in 90 Days

¹⁶ And Joiada made a covenant between himself and all the people, and the king, that they should be the people of the Lord.

¹⁷ And all the people went into the house of Baal, and destroyed it: and they broke down his altars and his idols: and they slew Mathan the priest of Baal before the altars.

¹⁸ And Joiada appointed overseers in the house of the Lord, under the hands of the priests, and the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the Lord: to offer holocausts to the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses, with joy and singing, according to the disposition of David.

¹⁹ He appointed also porters in the gates of the house of the Lord, that none who was unclean in any thing should enter in.

²⁰ And he took the captains of hundreds, and the most valiant men, and the chiefs of the people, and all the people of the land, and they brought down the king from the house of the Lord, and brought him through the upper gate into the king's house, and set him on the royal throne.

²¹ And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet: but Athalia was slain with the sword.

24 Joas was seven years old when he began to reign: and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Sebia of Bersabee.

² And he did that which is good before the Lord all the days of Joiada the priest.

³ And Joiada took for him two wives, by whom he had sons and daughters.

⁴ After this Joas had a mind to repair the house of the Lord.

⁵ And he assembled the priests, and the Levites, and said to them: Go out to the cities of Juda, and gather of all Israel money to repair the temple of your God, from year to year: and do this with speed: but the Levites were negligent.

⁶ And the king called Joiada the chief, and said to him: Why hast thou not taken care to oblige the Levites to bring in out of Juda and Jerusalem the money that was appointed by Moses the servant of the Lord for all the multitude of Israel to bring into the tabernacle of the testimony?

⁷ For that wicked woman Athalia, and her children have destroyed the house of God, and adorned the temple of Baal with all the things that had been dedicated in the temple of the Lord.

⁸ And the king commanded, and they made a chest: and set it by the gate of the house of the Lord on the outside.

⁹ And they made a proclamation in Juda and Jerusalem, that every man should bring to the Lord the money which Moses the servant of God appointed for all Israel, in the desert.

¹⁰ And all the princes, and all the people rejoiced: and going In they contributed and cast so much into the chest of the Lord, that it was filled.

¹¹ And when it was time to bring the chest before the king by the hands of the Levites, (for they saw there was much money,) the king's scribe, and he whom the high priest had appointed went in: and they poured out the money that was in the chest: and they carried back the chest to its place: and thus they did from day to day, and there was gathered an immense sum of money.

¹² And the king and Joiada gave it to those who were over the works of the house of the Lord: but they hired with it stonecutters, and artificers of every kind of work to repair the house of the Lord: and such as wrought in iron and brass, to uphold what began to be falling.

¹³ And the workmen were diligent, and the breach of the walls was closed up by their hands, and they set up the house of the Lord in its former state, and made it stand firm.

¹⁴ And when they had finished all the works, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Joiada: and with it were made vessels for the temple for the ministry, and for holocausts and bowls, and other vessels of gold and silver: and holocausts were offered in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Joiada.

¹⁵ But Joiada grew old and was full of days, and died when he was a hundred and thirty years old.

¹⁶ And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good to Israel, and to his house.

¹⁷ And after the death of Joiada, the princes of Juda went in, and worshipped the king: and he was soothed by their services and hearkened to them.

¹⁸ And they forsook the temple of the Lord the God of their fathers, and served groves and idols, and wrath came upon Juda and Jerusalem for this sin.

¹⁹ And he sent prophets to them to bring them back to the Lord, and they would not give ear when they testified against them.

²⁰ The spirit of God then came upon Zacharias the son of Joiada the priest, and he stood in the sight of the people, and said to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Why transgress you the commandment of the Lord which will not be for your good, and have forsaken the Lord, to make him forsake you?

²¹ And they gathered themselves together against him, and stoned him at the king's commandment in the court of the house of the Lord.

²² And king Joas did not remember the kindness that Joiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. And when he died, he said: The Lord see, and require it.

²³ And when a year was come about, the army of Syria came up against him: and they came to Juda and Jerusalem, and killed all the princes of the people, and they sent all the spoils to the king of Damascus.

²⁴ And whereas there came a very small number of the Syrians, the Lord delivered into their hands an infinite multitude, because they had forsaken the Lord the God of their fathers: and on Joas they executed shameful judgments.

²⁵ And departing they left him in diseases: and his servants rose up him, for revenge of the blood of the son of Joiada the priest, and they slew him in his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.

²⁶ Now the men that conspired against him were Zabad the son of Semmaath an Ammonitess, and Jozabad the son of Semarith a Moabitess.

²⁷ And concerning his sons, and the sum of money which was gathered under him, and the repairing the house of God; they are written more diligently in the book of kings: and Amasias his son reigned in his stead.

25 Amasias was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem, the name of his mother was Joadan of Jerusalem.

² And he did what was good in the sight of the Lord: but yet not with a perfect heart.

³ And when he saw himself strengthened in his kingdom, he put to death the servants that had slain the king his father.

⁴ But he slew not their children, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying: The fathers shall not be slain for the children, nor the children for their fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.

⁵ Amasias therefore gathered Juda together, and appointed them by families, and captains of thousands and of hundreds in all Juda, and Benjamin: and he numbered them from twenty years old and upwards, and found three hundred thousand young men that could go out to battle, and could hold the spear and shield.

⁶ He hired also of Israel a hundred thousand valiant men, for a hundred talents of silver.

⁷ But a man of God came to him, and said: O king, let not the army of Israel go out with thee, for the Lord is not with Israel, and all the children of Ephraim:

⁸ And if thou think that battles consist in the strength of the army, God will make thee to be overcome by the enemies: for it belongeth to God both to help, and to put to flight.

⁹ And Amasias said to the man of God: What will then become of the hundred talents which I have given to the soldiers of Israeli and the man of God answered him: The Lord is rich enough to be able to give thee much more than this.

¹⁰ Then Amasias separated the army, that came to him out of Ephraim, to go home again: but they being much enraged against Juda, returned to their own country.

¹¹ And Amasias taking courage led forth his people, and went to the vale of saltpits, and slew of the children of Seir ten thousand.

¹² And other ten thousand men the sons of Juda took, and brought to the steep of a certain rock, and cast them down headlong from the top, and they all were broken to pieces.

¹³ But that army which Amasias had sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, spread themselves among the cities of Juda, from Samaria to Beth-horon, and having killed three thousand took away much spoil.

¹⁴ But Amasias after he had slain the Edomites, set up the gods of the children of Seir, which he had brought thence, to be his gods, and adored them, and burnt incense to them.

¹⁵ Wherefore the Lord being angry against Amasias, sent a prophet to him, to say to him: Why hast thou adored gods that have not delivered their own people out of thy hand?

¹⁶ And when he spoke these things, he answered him: Art thou the king's counsellor? be quiet, lest I kill thee. And the prophet departing, said: I know that God is minded to kill thee, because thou hast done this evil, and moreover hast not hearkened to my counsel.

¹⁷ Then Amasias king of Juda taking very bad counsel, sent to Joas the son of Joachaz the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying: Come, let us see one another.

¹⁸ But he sent back the messengers, saying: The thistle that is in Libanus, sent to the cedar in Libanus, saying: Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and behold the beasts that were in the wood of Libanus passed by, and trod down the thistle.

¹⁹ Thou hast said: I have overthrown Edom, and therefore thy heart is lifted up with pride: stay at home, why dost thou provoke evil against thee, that both thou shouldst fall and Juda with thee.

²⁰ Amasias would not hearken to him, because it was the Lord's will that he should be delivered into the hands of enemies, because of the gods of Edom.

²¹ So Joas king of Israel went up, and they presented themselves to be seen by one another: and Amasias king of Juda was in Bethsames of Juda:

²² And Juda fell before Israel and they fled to their dwellings.

²³ And Joas king of Israel took Amasias king of Juda, the son of Joas, the son Joachaz, in Bethsames, and brought him to Jerusalem: and broke down the walls thereof from the gate of Ephraim, to the gate of the corner, four hundred cubits.

²⁴ And he took all the gold, and silver, and all the vessels, that he found in the house of God, and with Obededom, and in the treasures of the king's house, moreover also the sons of the hostages, he brought back to Samaria.

²⁵ And Amasias the son of Joas king of Juda lived, after the death of Joas the son of Joachaz king of Israel, fifteen years.

²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Amasias, the first and last, are written in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel.

²⁷ And after he revolted from the Lord, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem. And he fled into Lachis, and they sent, and killed him there.

²⁸ And they brought him back upon horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of David.

26 And all the people of Juda took his son Ozias, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of Amasias his father.

² He built Ailath, and restored it to the dominion of Juda, after that the king slept with his fathers.

³ Ozias was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Jechelia of Jerusalem.

⁴ And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Amasias his father had done.

⁵ And he sought the Lord in the days of Zacharias that understood and saw God: and as long as he sought the Lord, he directed him in all things.

⁶ Moreover he went forth and fought against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Geth, and the wall of Jabnia, and the wall of Azotus: and he built towns in Azotus, and among the Philistines.

⁷ And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians, that dwelt in Gurbaal, and against the Ammonites.

⁸ And the ammonites gave gifts to Ozias: and his name was spread abroad even to the entrance of Egypt for his frequent victories.

⁹ And Ozias built towers in Jerusalem over the gate of the corner, and over the gate of the valley, and the rest, in the same side of the wall, and fortified them.

¹⁰ And he built towers in the wilderness, and dug many cisterns, for he had much cattle both in the plains, and in the waste of the desert: he had also vineyards and dressers of vines in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he was a man that loved husbandry.

¹¹ And the army of his fighting men, that went out to war, was under the hand of Jehiel the scribe, and Maasias the doctor, and under the hand of Henanias, who was one of the king's captains.

¹² And the whole number of the chiefs by the families of valiant men were two thousand six hundred.

¹³ And the whole army under them three hundred and seven thousand five hundred: who were fit for war, and fought for the king against the enemy.

¹⁴ And Ozias prepared for them, that is, for the whole army, shields, and spears, and helmets, and coats of mail, and bows, and slings to cast stones.

¹⁵ And he made in Jerusalem engines of diverse kinds, which he placed in the towers, and in the corners of the walls, to shoot arrows, and great stones: and his name went forth far abroad, for the Lord helped him, and had strengthened him.

¹⁶ But when he was made strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, and he neglected the Lord his God: and going into the temple of the Lord, he had a mind to burn incense upon the altar of incense.

¹⁷ And immediately Azarias the priest going in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, most valiant men,

¹⁸ Withstood the king and said: It doth not belong to thee, Ozias, to burn incense to the Lord, but to the priests, that is, to the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated for this ministry: go out of the sanctuary, do not despise: for this thing shall not be accounted to thy glory by the Lord God.

¹⁹ And Ozias was angry, and holding in his hand the censer to burn incense, threatened the priests. And presently there rose a leprosy in his forehead before the priests, in the house of the Lord at the altar of incense.

²⁰ And Azarias the high priest, and all the rest of the priests looked upon him, and saw the leprosy in his forehead, and they made haste to thrust him out. Yea himself also being frightened, hasted to go out, because he had quickly felt the stroke of the Lord.

²¹ And Ozias the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and he dwelt in a house apart being full of the leprosy, for which he had been cast out of the house of the Lord. And Joatham his son governed the king's house, and judged the people of the land.

²² But the rest of the acts of Ozias first and last were written by Isaias the son of Amos, the prophet.

²³ And Ozias slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the field of the royal sepulchres, because he was a leper: and Joatham his son reigned in his stead.

27 Joatham was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Jerusa the daughter of Sadoc.

² And he did that which was right before the Lord, according to all that Ozias his father had done, only that he entered not into the temple of the Lord, and the people still transgressed.

³ He built the high gate of the house of the Lord, and on the wall of Ophel he built much.

⁴ Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Juda, and castles and towers in the forests.

⁵ Ho fought against the king of the children of Ammon, and overcame them, and the children of Ammon gave him at that time a hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and as many measures of barley: so much did the children of Ammon give him in the second and third year.

⁶ And Joatham was strengthened, because he had his way directed before the Lord his God.

⁷ Now the rest of the acts of Joatham, and all his wars, and his works, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Juda.

⁸ He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.

⁹ And Joatham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Achaz his son reigned in his stead.

28 Achaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord as David his father had done,

² But walked in the ways of the kings of Israel; moreover also he cast statues for Baalim.

³ It was he that burnt incense in the valley of Benennom, and consecrated his sons in the fire according to the manner of the nations, which the Lord slew at the coming of the children of Israel.

⁴ He sacrificed also, and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

⁵ And the Lord his God delivered him into the hands of the king of Syria, who defeated him, and took a great booty out of his kingdom, and carried it to Damascus: he was also delivered into the hands of the king of Israel, who overthrew him with a great slaughter.

⁶ For Phacee the son of Romelia slew of Juda a hundred and twenty thousand in one day, all valiant men: because they had forsaken the Lord the God of their fathers.

⁷ At the same time Zechri a powerful man of Ephraim, slew Maasias the king's son, and Ezricam the governor of his house, and Elcana who was next to the king.

⁸ And the children of Israel carried away of their brethren two hundred thousand women, boys, and girls, and an immense booty: and they brought it to Samaria.

⁹ At that time there was a prophet of the Lord there, whose name was Oded: and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria, and said to them: Behold the Lord the God of your fathers being angry with Juda, hath delivered them into your hands, and you have butchered them cruelly, so that your cruelty hath reached up to heaven.

¹⁰ Moreover you have a mind to keep under the children of Juda and Jerusalem for your bondmen and bondwomen, which ought not to be done: for you have sinned in this against the Lord your God.

¹¹ But hear ye my counsel, and release the captives that you have brought of your brethren, because a great indignation of the Lord hangeth over you.

¹² Then some of the chief men of the sons of Ephraim, Azarias the son of Johanan, Barachias the son of Mosollamoth, Ezechias the son of Sellum, and Amasa the son of Adali, stood up against them that came from the war.

¹³ And they said to them: You shall not bring in the captives hither, lest we sin against the Lord. Why will you add to our sins, and heap up upon our former offences? for the sin is great, and the fierce anger of the Lord hangeth over Israel.

¹⁴ So the soldiers left the spoils, and all that they had taken, before the princes and all the multitude.

¹⁵ And the men, whom we mentioned above, rose up and took the captives, and with the spoils clothed all them that were naked: and when they had clothed and shed them, and refreshed them with meat and drink, and anointed them because of their labour, and had taken care of them, they set such of them as could not walk, and were feeble, upon beasts, and brought them to Jericho the city of palm trees to their brethren, and they returned to Samaria.

¹⁶ At that time king Achaz sent to the king of the Assyrians asking help.

¹⁷ And the Edomites came and slew many of Juda, and took a great booty.

¹⁸ The Philistines also spread themselves among the cities of the plains, and to the south of Juda: and they took Bethsames, and Aialon, and Gaderoth, and Socho, and Thamnan, and Gamzo, with their villages, and they dwelt in them.

¹⁹ For the Lord had humbled Juda because of Achaz the king of Juda, for he had stripped it of help, and had contemned the Lord.

²⁰ And he brought, against him Thelgathphalnasar king of the Assyrians, who also afflicted him, and plundered him without any resistance.

²¹ And Achaz stripped the house of the Lord, and the house of the kings, and of the princes, and gave gifts to the king of the Assyrians, and yet it availed him nothing.

²² Moreover also in the time of his distress he increased contempt against the Lord: king Achaz himself by himself,

²³ Sacrificed victims to the gods of Damascus that struck him, and he said: The gods of the kings of Syria help them, and I will appease them with victims, and they will help me; whereas on the contrary they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.

²⁴ Then Achaz having taken away all the vessels of the house of God, and broken them, shut up the doors of the temple of God, and made himself altars in all the corners of Jerusalem.

²⁵ And in all the cities of Juda he built altars to burn frankincense, and he provoked the Lord the God of his fathers to wrath.

²⁶ But the rest of his acts, and all his works first and last are written in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel.

²⁷ And Achaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of Jerusalem: for they received him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel. And Ezechias his son reigned in his stead.

29 Now Ezechias began to reign, when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Abia, the daughter of Zacharias.

² And he did that which was pleasing in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.

³ In the first year and month of his reign he opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them.

⁴ And he brought the priests and the Levites, and assembled them in the east street.

⁵ And he said to them: Hear me, ye Levites, and be sanctified, purify the house of the Lord the God of your fathers, and take away all filth out of the sanctuary.

⁶ Our fathers have sinned and done evil in the sight of the Lord God, forsaking him: they have turned away their faces from the tabernacle of the Lord, and turned their backs.

⁷ They have shut up the doors that were in tile porch, and put out the lamps. and have not burnt incense, nor offered holocausts in the sanctuary of the God of Israel.

⁸ Therefore the wrath of the Lord hath been stirred up against Juda and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, and to destruction, and to be hissed at, as you see with your eyes.

⁹ Behold, our fathers are fallen by the sword, our sons, and our daughters, and wives are led away captives for this wickedness.

¹⁰ Now therefore I have a mind that we make a covenant with the Lord the God of Israel, and he will turn away the wrath of his indignation from us.

¹¹ My sons, be not negligent: the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, and to minister to him, and to worship him, and to burn incense to him.

¹² Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azarias, of the sons of Caath: and of the sons of Merari, Cis the son of Abdi, and Azarias the son of Jalaleel. And of the sons of Gerson, Joah the son of Zemma, and Eden the son of Joah.

¹³ And of the sons of Elisaphan, Samri, and Jahiel. Also of the sons of Asaph, Zacharias, and Mathanias.

¹⁴ And of the sons of Heman, Jahiel, and Semei: and of the sons of Idithun, Semeias, and Oziel.

¹⁵ And they gathered together their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and went in according to the commandment of the king, and the precept of the Lord, to purify the house of God.

¹⁶ And the priests went into the temple of the Lord to sanctify it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found within to the entrance of the house of the Lord, and the Levites took it away, and carried it out abroad to the torrent Cedron.

¹⁷ And they began to cleanse on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the same month they came into the porch of the temple of the Lord, and they purified the temple in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the same month they finished what they had begun.

¹⁸ And they went is to king Ezechias, and said to him: We have sanctified all the house of the Lord, and the altar of holocaust, and the vessels thereof, and the table of proposition with all its vessels,

¹⁹ And all the furniture of the temple, which king Achaz in his reign had defiled, after his transgression; and behold they are all set forth before the altar of the Lord.

²⁰ And king Ezechias rising early, assembled all the rulers of the city, and went up into the house of the Lord:

²¹ And they offered together seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats for sin, for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, for Juda: and he spoke to the priests the sons of Aaron, to offer them upon the altar of the Lord.

²² Therefore they killed the bullocks, and the priests took the blood, and poured it upon the altar; they killed also the rams, and their blood they poured also upon the altar, and they killed the lambs, and poured the blood upon the altar.

²³ And they brought the he goats for sin before the king, and the whole multitude, and they laid their hand upon them:

²⁴ And the priests immolated them, and sprinkled their blood before the altar for an expiation of all Israel: for the king had commanded that the holocaust and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.

²⁵ And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps according to the regulation of David the king, and of Gad the seer, and of Nathan the prophet: for it was the commandment of the Lord by the hand of his prophets.

²⁶ And the Levites stood, with the instruments of David, and the priests with trumpets.

²⁷ And Ezechias commanded that they should offer holocausts upon the altar: and when the holocausts were offered, they began to sing praises to the Lord, and to sound with trumpets, and divers instruments which David the king of Israel had prepared.

²⁸ And all the multitude adored, and the singers, and the trumpeters, were in their office till the holocaust was finished.

²⁹ And when the oblation was ended, the king, and all that were with him bowed down and adored.

³⁰ And Ezechias and the princes commanded the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David, and Asaph the seer: and they praised him with great joy, and bowing the knee adored.

³¹ And Ezechias added, and said: You have filled your hands to the Lord, come and offer victims, and praises in the house of the Lord. And all the multitude offered victims, and praises, and holocausts with a devout mind.

³² And the number of the holocausts which the multitude offered, was seventy bullocks, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs.

³³ And they consecrated to the Lord six hundred oxen, and three thousand sheep.

³⁴ But the priests were few, and were not enough to flay the holocausts: wherefore the Levites their brethren helped them, till the work was ended, and priests were sanctified, for the Levites are sanctified with an easier rite than the priests.

³⁵ So there were many holocausts, and the fat of peace offerings, and the libations of holocausts: and the service of the house of the Lord was completed.

³⁶ And Ezechias, and all the people rejoiced because the ministry of the Lord was accomplished. For the resolution of doing this thing was taken suddenly.

30 And Ezechias sent to all Israel and Juda: and he wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasses, that they should come to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and keep the phase to the Lord the God of Israel.

² For the king, taking counsel, and the princes, and all the assembly of Jerusalem, decreed to keep the phase the second month.

³ For they could not keep it in its time; because there were not priests enough sanctified, and the people was not as yet gathered together to Jerusalem.

⁴ And the thing pleased the king, and all the people.

⁵ And they decreed to send messengers to all Israel from Bersabee even to Dan, that they should come, and keep the phase to the Lord the God of Israel in Jerusalem: for many had not kept it as it is prescribed by the law.

⁶ And the posts went with letters by commandment of the king, and his princes, to all Israel and Juda, proclaiming according to the king's orders: Ye children of Israel, turn again to the Lord the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Israel: and he will return to the remnant of you that have escaped the hand of the king of the Assyrians.

⁷ Be not like your fathers, and brethren, who departed from the Lord the God of their fathers, and he hath given them up to destruction, as you see.

⁸ Harden not your necks, as your fathers did: yield yourselves to the Lord, and come to his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: serve the Lord the God of your fathers, and the wrath of his indignation shall be turned away from you.

⁹ For if you turn again to the Lord: your brethren, and children shall find mercy before their masters, that have led them away captive, and they shall return into this land: for the Lord your God is merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.

¹⁰ So the posts went speedily from city to city, through the land of Ephraim, and of Manasses, even to Zabulon, whilst they laughed at them and mocked them.

¹¹ Nevertheless some men of Aser, and of Manasses, and of Zabulon, yielding to the counsel, came to Jerusalem.

¹² But the hand of God was in Juda, to give them one heart to do the word of the Lord, according to the commandment of the king, and of the princes.

¹³ And much people were assembled to Jerusalem to celebrate the solemnity of the unleavened bread in the second month:

¹⁴ And they arose and destroyed the altars that were in Jerusalem, and took sway all things in which incense was burnt to idols, and cast them into the torrent Cedron.

¹⁵ And they immolated the phase on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites being at length sanctified offered holocausts in the house of the Lord.

¹⁶ And they stood in their order according to the disposition, and law of Moses the man of God: but the priests received the blood which was to be poured out, from the hands of the Levites,

¹⁷ Because a great number was not sanctified: and therefore the Levites immolated the phase for them that came not in time to be sanctified to the Lord.

¹⁸ For a great part of the people from Ephraim, and Manasses, and Issachar, and Zabulon, that had not been sanctified, ate the phase otherwise than it is written: and Ezechias prayed for them, saying: The Lord who is good will shew mercy,

¹⁹ To all them, who with their whole heart, seek the Lord the God of their fathers: and will not impute it to them that they are not sanctified.

²⁰ And the Lord heard him, and was merciful to the people.

²¹ And the children of Israel, that were found at Jerusalem, kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great joy, praising the Lord every day: the Levites also, and the priests, with instruments that agreed to their office.

²² And Ezechias spoke to the heart of all the Levites, that had good understanding concerning the Lord: and they ate during the seven days of the solemnity, immolating victims of peace offerings, and praising the Lord the God of their fathers.

²³ And it pleased the whole multitude to keep other seven days: which they did with great joy.

²⁴ For Ezechias the king of Juda had given to the multitude a thousand bullocks, and seven thousand sheep: and the princes had given the people a thousand bullocks, and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests was sanctified.

²⁵ And all the multitude of Juda with the priests and Levites, and all the assembly, that came out of Israel; and the proselytes of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Juda were full of joy.

²⁶ And there was a great solemnity in Jerusalem, such as had not been in that city since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel.

²⁷ And the priests and the Levites rose up and blessed the people: and their voice was heard: and their prayer came to the holy dwelling place of heaven.

31 And when these things had been duly celebrated, all Israel that were found in the cities of Juda, went out, and they broke the idols, and cut down the groves. demolished the high places, and destroyed the altars, not only out of all Juda and Benjamin, but out of Ephraim also and Manasses, till they had utterly destroyed them: then all the children of Israel returned to their possessions and cities.

² And Ezechias appointed companies of the priests, and the Levites, by their courses, every man in his own office, to wit, both of the priests, and of the Levites, for holocausts, and for peace offerings, to minister, and to praise, and to sing in the gates of the camp of the Lord.

³ And the king's part was, that of his proper substance the holocaust should be offered always morning and evening, and on the sabbaths, and the new moons and the other solemnities, as it is written in the law of Moses.

⁴ He commanded also the people that dwelt in Jerusalem, to give to the priests, and the Levites their portion, that they might attend to the law of the Lord.

⁵ Which when it was noised abroad in the ears of the people, the children of Israel offered in abundance the firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey: and brought the tithe of all things which the ground bringeth forth.

⁶ Moreover the children of Israel and Juda, that dwelt in the cities of Juda, brought in the tithes of oxen, and sheep, and the tithes of holy things, which they had vowed to the Lord their God: and carrying them all, made many heaps.

⁷ In the third month they began to lay the foundations of the heaps, and in the seventh month, they finished them.

⁸ And when Ezechias and his princes came in, they saw the heaps, and they blessed the Lord and the people of Israel.

⁹ And Ezechias asked the priests and the Levites, why the heaps lay so.

¹⁰ Azarias the chief priest of the race of Sadoc answered him, saying: Since the firstfruits began to be offered in the house of the Lord, we have eaten, and have been filled, and abundance is left, because the Lord hath blessed his people: and of that which is left is this great store which thou seest.

¹¹ Then Ezechias commanded to prepare storehouses in the house of the Lord. And when they had done so,

¹² They brought in faithfully both the firstfruits, and the tithes, and all they had vowed. And the overseer of them was Chonenias the Levite, and Semei his brother was the second,

¹³ And after him Jehiel, and Azarias, and Nahath, and Asael, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Jesmachias, and Mahath, and Banaias, overseers under the hand of Chonenias, and Semei his brother, by the commandment of Ezechias the king, and Azarias the high priest of the house of God, to whom all things appertained.

¹⁴ But Core the son of Jemna the Levite, the porter of the east gate, was overseer of the things which were freely offered to the Lord, and of the firstfruits and the things dedicated for the holy of holies.

¹⁵ And under his charge were Eden, and Benjamin, Jesue, and Semeias, and Amarias, and Sechenias, in the cities of the priests, to distribute faithfully portions to their brethren, both little and great:

¹⁶ Besides the males from three years old and upward, to all that went into the temple of the Lord, and whatsoever there was need of in the ministry, and their offices according to their courses, day by day.

¹⁷ To the priests by their families, and to the Levites from the twentieth year and upward, by their classes and companies.

¹⁸ And to all the multitude, both to their wives, and to their children of both sexes, victuals were given faithfully out of the things that had been sanctified.

¹⁹ Also of the sons of Aaron who were in the fields and in the suburbs of each city, there were men appointed, to distribute portions to all the males, among the priests and the Levites.

²⁰ So Ezechias did all things, which we have said in all Juda, and wrought that which was good; and right, and truth, before the Lord his God,

²¹ In all the service of the ministry of the house of the Lord according to the law and the ceremonies, desiring to seek his God with all his heart, and he did it and prospered,

32 After these things, and this truth, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came and entered into Juda, and besieged the fenced cities, desiring to take them.

² And when Ezechias saw that Sennacherib was come, and that the whole force of the war was turning against Jerusalem,

³ He took counsel with the princes, and the most valiant men, to stop up the heads of the springs, that were without the city: and as they were all of this mind,

⁴ He gathered together a very great multitude, and they stopped up all the springs, and the brook, that ran through the midst of the land, saying: Lest the kings of the Assyrians should come, and And abundance of water.

⁵ He built up also with great diligence all the wall that had been broken down, and built towers upon it, and another wall without: and he repaired Mello in the city of David, and made all sorts of arms and shields:

⁶ And he appointed captains of the soldiers of the army: and he called them all together in the street of the gate of the city, and spoke to their heart, saying:

⁷ Behave like men, and take courage: be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of the Assyrians, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there are many more with us than with him.

⁸ For with him is an arm of flesh: with us the Lord our God, who is our helper, and fighteth for us. And the people were encouraged with these words of Ezechias king of Juda.

⁹ After this, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians sent his servants to Jerusalem, (for he with all his army was besieging Lachis,) to Ezechias king of Juda, and to all the people that were in the city, saying:

¹⁰ Thus saith Sennacherib king of the Assyrians: In whom do you trust, that you sit still besieged in Jerusalem?

¹¹ Doth not Ezechias deceive you, to give you up to die by hunger and thirst, affirming that the Lord your God shall deliver you from the hand of the king of the Assyrians?

¹² Is it not this same Ezechias, that hath destroyed his high places, and his altars, and commanded Juda and Jerusalem, saying: You shall worship before one altar, and upon it you shall burn incense?

¹³ Know you not what I and my fathers have done to all the people of the lands? have the gods of any nations and lands been able to deliver their country out of my hand?

¹⁴ Who is there among all the gods of the nations, which my fathers have destroyed, that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of this hand?

¹⁵ Therefore let not Ezechias deceive you, nor delude you with a vain persuasion, and do not believe him. For if no god of all the nations and kingdoms, could deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers, consequently neither shall your God be able to deliver you out of my hand.

¹⁶ And many other things did his servants speak against the Lord God, and against Ezechias his servant.

¹⁷ He wrote also letters full of blasphemy against the Lord the God of Israel, and he spoke against him: As the gods of other nations could not deliver their people out of my hand, so neither can the God of Ezechias deliver his people out of this hand.

¹⁸ Moreover he cried out with a loud voice, in the Jews' tongue, to the people that sat on the walls of Jerusalem, that he might frighten them, and take the city.

¹⁹ And he spoke against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, the works of the hands of men.

²⁰ And Ezechias the king, and Isaias the prophet the son of Amos, prayed against this blasphemy, and cried out to heaven.

²¹ And the Lord sent an angel who cut off all the stout men and the warriors, and the captains of the army of the king of the Assyrians: and he returned with disgrace into his own country. And when he was come into the house of his god, his sons that came out of his bowels, slew him with the sword.

²² And the Lord saved Ezechias and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of the hand of Sennacherib king of the Assyrians, and out of the hand of all, and gave them treasures on every side.

²³ Many also brought victims, and sacrifices to the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Ezechias king of Juda: and he was magnified thenceforth in the sight of all nations.

²⁴ In those days Ezechias was sick even to death, and he prayed to the Lord: and he heard him, and gave him a sign.

²⁵ But he did not render again according to the benefits which he had received, for his heart was lifted up: and wrath was enkindled against him, and against Juda and Jerusalem.

²⁶ And he humbled himself afterwards, because his heart had been lifted up, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and therefore the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Ezechias.

²⁷ And Ezechias was rich, and very glorious, and he gathered himself great treasures of silver and of gold, and of precious stones, of spices, and of arms, of all kinds, and of vessels of great price.

²⁸ Storehouses also of corn, of wine, and of oil, and stalls for all beasts, and folds for cattle.

²⁹ And he built himself cities: for he had flocks of sheep, and herds without number, for the Lord had given him very much substance.

³⁰ This same Ezechias was, he that stopped the upper source of the waters of Gihon, and turned them away underneath toward the west of the city of David: in ail his works he did prosperously what he would.

³¹ But yet in the embassy of the princes of Babylon, that were sent to him, to inquire of the wonder that had happened upon the earth, God left him that he might be tempted, and all things might be made known that were in his heart.

³² Now the rest of the acts of Ezechias, and of his mercies are written in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel.

³³ And Ezechias slept with his fathers, and they buried him above the sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Juda, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem celebrated his funeral: and Manasses his son reigned in his stead.

33 Manasses was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

² And he did evil before the Lord, according to all the abominations of the nations, which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel:

³ And he turned, and built again the high places which Ezechias his father had destroyed: and he built altars to Baalim, and made groves, and he adored all the host of heaven, and worshipped them.

⁴ He built also altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said: In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.

⁵ And he built them for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

⁶ And he made his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of Benennom: he observed dreams, followed divinations, gave himself up to magic arts, had with him magicians, and enchanters: and he wrought many evils before the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

⁷ He set also a graven, and a molten statue in the house of God, of which God had 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 for ever.

⁸ And I will not make the foot of Israel to be removed out of the land which I have delivered to their fathers: yet so if they will take heed to do what I hare commanded them, and all the law, and the ceremonies, and judgments by the hand of Moses.

⁹ So Manasses seduced Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to do evil beyond all the nations, which the Lord had destroyed before the face of the children of Israel.

¹⁰ And the Lord spoke to him, and to his people, and they would not hearken.

¹¹ Therefore he brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of the Assyrians: and they took Manasses, and carried him bound with chains and fetters to Babylon.

¹² And after that he was in distress he prayed to the Lord his God: and did penance exceedingly before the God of his fathers.

¹³ And he entreated him, and besought him earnestly: and he heard his prayer, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom, and Manasses knew that the Lord was God.

¹⁴ After this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon in the valley, from the entering in of the fish gate round about to Ophel, and raised it up to a great height: and he appointed captains of the army in all the fenced cities of Juda:

¹⁵ And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord: the altars also which he had made in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and he cast them all out of the city.

¹⁶ And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed upon it victims, and peace offerings, and praise: and he commanded Juda to serve the Lord the God of Israel.

¹⁷ Nevertheless the people still sacrificed in the high places to the Lord their God.

¹⁸ But the rest of the acts of Manasses, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of the Lord the God of Israel, are contained in the words of the kings of Israel.

¹⁹ His prayer also, and his being heard, and all his sins, and contempt, and places wherein he built high places, and set up groves, and statues before he did penance, are written in the words of Hozai.

²⁰ And Manasses slept with his fathers. and they buried him in his house: and his son Amen reigned in his stead.

²¹ Amen was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

²² And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasses his father had done: and he sacrificed to all the idols which Manasses his father had made, and served them.

²³ And he did not humble himself before the Lord, as Manasses his father had humbled himself, but committed far greater sins.

²⁴ And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house.

²⁵ But the rest of the multitude of the people slew them that had killed Amen, and made Josias his son king in his stead.

34 Josias was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one and thirty years in Jerusalem.

² And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father: he declined not, neither to the right hand, nor to the left.

³ And in the eighth year of his reign, when he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of his father David: and in the twelfth year after he began to reign, he cleansed Juda and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the idols, and the graven things.

⁴ And they broke down before him the altars of Baalim, and demolished the idols that had been set upon them: and be cut down the groves and the graven things, and broke them in pieces: and strewed the fragments upon the graves of them that had sacrificed to them.

⁵ And he burnt the bones of the priests on the altars of the idols, and he cleansed Juda and Jerusalem.

⁶ And in the cities of Manasses, and of Ephraim, and of Simeon, even to Nephtali he demolished all.

⁷ And when he had destroyed the altars, and the groves, and had broken the idols in pieces, and had demolished all profane temples throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

⁸ Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had cleansed the land, and the temple of the Lord, he sent Saphan the son of Eselias, and Maasias the governor of the city, Joha the son of Joachaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.

⁹ And they came to Helcias the high priest: and received of him the money which had been brought into the house of the Lord, and which the Levites and porters had gathered together from Manasses, and Ephraim, and all the remnant of Israel, and from all Juda, and Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

¹⁰ Which they delivered into the hands of them that were over the workmen in the house of the Lord, to repair the temple, and mend all that was weak.

¹¹ But they gave it to the artificers, and to the masons, to buy stones out of the quarries, and timber for the couplings of the building, and to rafter the houses, which the kings of Juda had destroyed.

¹² And they did all faithfully. Now the overseers of the workmen were Jahath and Abdias of the sons of Merari, Zacharias and Mosollam of the sons of Caath, who hastened the work: all Levites skillful to play on instruments.

¹³ But over them that carried burdens for divers uses, were scribes, and masters of the number of the Levites, and porters.

¹⁴ Now when they carried out the money that had been brought into the temple of the Lord, Helcias the priest found the book of the law of the Lord, by the hand of Moses.

¹⁵ And he said to Saphan the scribe: I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord: and he delivered it to him.

¹⁶ But he carried the book to the king, and told him, saying: Lo, all that thou hast committed to thy servants, is accomplished.

¹⁷ They have gathered together the silver that was found in the house of the Lord: and it is given to the overseers of the artificers, and of the workmen, for divers works.

¹⁸ Moreover Helcias the priest gave me this book. And he read it before the king.

¹⁹ And when he had heard the words of the law, he rent his garments:

²⁰ And he commanded Helcias, and Ahicam the son of Saphan, and Abdon the son of Micha, and Saphan the scribe, and Asaa the king's servant, saying:

²¹ Go, and pray to the Lord for me, and for the remnant of Israel, and Juda, concerning all the words of this book, which is found: for the great wrath of the Lord hath fallen upon us, because our fathers have not kept the words of the Lord, to do all things that are written in this book.

²² And Helcias and they that were sent with him by the king, went to Olda the prophetess, the wife of Sellum the son of Thecuath, the son of Hasra keeper of the wardrobe: who dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second part: and they spoke to her the words above mentioned.

²³ And she answered them: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Tell the man that sent you to me:

²⁴ Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring evils upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, and all the curses that are written in this book which they read before the king of Juda.

²⁵ Because they have forsaken me, and have sacrificed to strange gods, to provoke me to wrath with all the works of their hands, therefore my wrath shall fall upon this place, and shall not be quenched.

²⁶ But as to the king of Juda that sent you to beseech the Lord, thus shall you say to him: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Because thou hast heard the words of this book,

²⁷ And thy heart was softened. and thou hast humbled thyself in the sight of God for the things that are spoken against this place, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and reverencing my face, hast rent thy garments, and wept before me: I also have heard thee, saith the Lord.

²⁸ For now I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be brought to thy tomb in peace: and thy eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and the inhabitants thereof. They therefore reported to the king all that she had said.

²⁹ And he called together all the ancients of Juda and Jerusalem.

³⁰ And went up to the house of the Lord, and all the men of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites, and all the people from the least to the greatest. And the king read in their hearing, in the house of the Lord, all the words of the book.

³¹ And standing up in his tribunal, he made a covenant before the Lord to walk after him, and keep his commandments, and testimonies, and justifications with all his heart, and with all his soul, and to do the things that were written in that book which he had read.

³² And he adjured all that were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to do the same: and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of the Lord the God of their fathers.

³³ And Josias took away all the abominations out of all the countries of the children of Israel: and made all that were left in Israel, to serve the Lord their God. As long as he lived they departed not from the Lord the God of their fathers.

35 And Josias kept a phase to the Lord in Jerusalem, and it was sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the first month.

² And he set the priests in their offices, and exhorted them to minister in the house of the Lord.

³ And he spoke to the Levites, by whose instruction all Israel was sanctified to the Lord, saying: Put the ark in the sanctuary of the temple, which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built: for you shall carry it no more: but minister now to the Lord your God, and to his people Israel.

⁴ And prepare yourselves by your houses, and families according to your courses, as David king of Israel commanded, and Solomon his son hath written.

⁵ And serve ye in the sanctuary by the families and companies of Levi.

⁶ And being sanctified kill the phase, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of Moses.

⁷ And Josias gave to all the people that were found there in the solemnity of the phase, of lambs and of kids of the flocks, and of other small cattle thirty thousand, and of oxen three thousand, all these were of the king's substance.

⁸ And his princes willingly offered what they had vowed, both to the people and to the priests and the Levites. Moreover Helcias, and Zacharias, and Jahiel rulers of the house of the Lord, gave to the priests to keep the phase two thousand six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen.

⁹ And Chonenias, and Semeias and Nathanael, his brethren, and Hasabias, and Jehiel, and Jozabad princes of the Levites, gave to the rest of the Levites to celebrate the phase five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.

¹⁰ And the ministry was prepared, and the priests stood in their office: the Levites also in their companies, according to the king's commandment.

¹¹ And the phase was immolated: and the priests sprinkled the blood with their hand, and the Levites flayed the holocausts:

¹² And they separated them to give them by the houses and families of every one, and to be offered to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses, and with the oxen they did in like manner.

¹³ And they roasted the phase with fire, according to that which is written in the law: but the victims of peace offerings they boiled in caldrons, and kettles, and pots, and they distributed them speedily among all the people.

¹⁴ And afterwards they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: for the priests were busied in offering of holocausts and the fat until night: wherefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron last.

¹⁵ And the singers the sons of Asaph stood in their order, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Idithun the prophets of the king: and the porters kept guard at every gate, so as not to depart one moment from their service: and therefore their brethren the Levites prepared meats for them.