Bible in 90 Days
27 In the fifty-second year of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekah, the son of Remaliah, began to reign over Israel in Samaria (for twenty years).
28 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin.
29 In the days of Pekah, king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, came and took Ijon and Abel Beth Maachah and Janoah and Kedesh and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them away to Assyria.
30 And Hoshea, the son of Elah, worked treason against Pekah, the son of Remaliah, and struck him and killed him, and reigned in his place in the twentieth year of Jotham, the son of Uzziah.
31 Concerning the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
32 In the second year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign.
33 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.
34 And he did uprightly in the sight of the LORD. He did according to all that his father, Uzziah, had done.
35 But the high places were not put away. The people still offered and burnt incense in the high places. He built the highest gate of the House of the LORD.
36 Concerning the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
37 In those days, the LORD began to send Rezin, the king of Aram, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, against Judah.
38 And Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David, his father. And Ahaz, his son, reigned in his place.
16 The seventeenth year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz, the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign.
2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do uprightly in the sight of the LORD his God (like David his father),
3 but walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son go through the fire, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
4 Also, he offered and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
5 Then Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to fight. And they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him.
6 At the same time, Rezin, king of Aram, restored Elath to Aram and drove the Jews from Elath. So, the Aramites came to Elath and dwell there to this day.
7 Then Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and deliver me out of the hand of the king of Aram and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.”
8 And Ahaz took the silver and the gold that was found in the House of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria.
9 And the king of Assyria listened to him. And the king of Assyria went up against Damascus. And when he had taken it, he carried the people away to Kir and killed Rezin.
10 And King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria. And when King Ahaz saw the altar that was at Damascus, he sent to Urijah the Priest the pattern of the altar, and the fashion of it, and all its workmanship.
11 And Urijah the Priest made an altar, in all points like that which King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. So did Urijah the Priest while King Ahaz came from Damascus.
12 So when the king had come from Damascus, the king saw the altar. And the king drew near to the altar and offered on it.
13 And he burnt his burnt offering and his meat offering and poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings beside the altar,
14 and set it by the bronze altar, which was before the LORD, and brought it in further from the front of the House, between the altar and the House of the LORD, and set it on the northern side of the altar.
15 And King Ahaz commanded Urijah the Priest, and said, “In the morning, set the burnt offering on fire upon the great altar, and in the evening the meat offering, and the king’s burnt offering and his meat offering with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings. And pour all the blood of the burnt offering by them, and all the blood of the sacrifice. And the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire.”
16 And Urijah the Priest did according to all that King Ahaz had commanded.
17 And King Ahaz broke the borders of the bases, and took the caldrons from off them, and took down the sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it upon a pavement of stones.
18 And the veil for the Sabbath (that they had made in the House) and he turned the king’s outside entrance into the house of the LORD, because of the king of Assyria.
19 Concerning the rest of the acts of Ahaz, which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. And Hezekiah, his son, reigned in his place.
17 In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hoshea, the son of Elah, began to reign in Samaria over Israel (for nine years).
2 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him.
3 And Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against him. And Hoshea became his servant and gave him presents.
4 And the king of Assyria found treason in Hoshea. For he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done yearly. Therefore, the king of Assyria shut him up and put him in prison.
5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land and went against Samaria and besieged it for three years.
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria, Samaria took and carried Israel away to Assyria and put them in Halah and in Habor, by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7 For when the children of Israel sinned against the LORD their God (Who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt) and feared other gods,
8 and walked according to the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel, and after those of the kings of Israel which they had made,
9 and the children of Israel had secretly done things that were not upright before the LORD their God, and had built high places throughout all their cities, from the watchtower to the defensed city,
10 and had made themselves images and groves upon every high hill and under every green tree,
11 and burnt incense there in all the high places, as did the heathen, whom the LORD had taken away before them, and worked wicked things to anger the LORD,
12 and served idols (of which the LORD had said to them, “You shall do no such thing.”),
13 nevertheless, the LORD testified to Israel, and to Judah, by all the Prophets, and by all the Seers, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep My Commandments, and My Statutes, according to all the Law which I Commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants, the Prophets.”
14 Still, they would not obey, but hardened their necks (like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God).
15 And they refused His Statutes and His Covenant that He made with their fathers, and His Testimonies with which He witnessed to them. And they followed vanity, and became empty, and followed the heathen who were all around them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them that they should not do like them.
16 Finally, they left all the Commandments of the LORD their God, and made themselves molten images (two calves), and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
17 And they made their sons and daughters pass through the fire, and used witchcraft and enchantments. Indeed, they sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to anger Him.
18 Therefore, the LORD was exceedingly angry with Israel, and put them out of His sight. No one was left, only the tribe of Judah.
19 Yet Judah did not keep the Commandments of the LORD their God, but walked according to the statutes of Israel which they had made.
20 Therefore, the LORD cast off all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hands of plunderers, until He had cast them out of His sight.
21 For He cut off Israel from the House of David. And they made Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, king. And Jeroboam drew Israel away from following the LORD and made them sin a great sin.
22 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, which he did, not departing from them,
23 until the LORD put Israel away, out of His sight (as He had said by all His servants the Prophets) and carried Israel away, out of their land, to Assyria, until this day.
24 And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel. So, they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in its cities.
25 And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD. Therefore, the LORD sent lions among them, which killed them.
26 Therefore, they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations which you have removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, do not know the justice of the God of the land. Therefore, He has sent lions among them. And behold, they kill them, because they do not know the justice of the God of the land.”
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Take back one of the priests whom you brought from there. And let him go and dwell there and teach them the justice of the God of the country.”
28 So, one of the priests whom they had carried from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the LORD.
29 Nonetheless, every nation made their own gods and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in every city in which they dwelt.
30 For the men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth. And the men of Cuth made Nergal. And the men of Hamath made Ashima.
31 And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak. And the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech (the gods of Sepharvaim).
32 Thus they feared the LORD and appointed priests from themselves for the high places, who prepared sacrifices for them in the houses of the high places.
33 They feared the LORD but served their own gods, after the rituals of the nations from whom they had been carried.
34 They observe these rituals to this day. They neither fear God nor obey the Ordinances nor Customs nor the Law nor the Commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom He named Israel,
35 and with whom the LORD had made a Covenant, and charged them, saying, “Fear no other gods, or bow yourselves to them, or serve them, or sacrifice to them.
36 “But fear the LORD Who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power, and an outstretched arm. Fear Him and worship Him and sacrifice to Him.
37 “Also, diligently keep the Statutes and the Ordinances and the Law and the Commandment which He wrote for you, so that you do them continually. And do not fear other gods.
38 “And do not forget the Covenant that I have made with you, or fear other gods.
39 “But fear the LORD your God, and He will deliver you out of the hands of all your enemies.”
40 However, they did not obey but did after their old customs.
41 So, these nations feared the LORD and served their own images, as did their children and their children’s children. As their fathers have done, so do they, to this day.
18 Now in the third year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign and reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. Also, his mother’s name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.
3 And he did uprightly in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David, his father, had done.
4 He took away the high places and broke the images and cut down the groves and broke the bronze serpent that Moses had made into pieces. For until those days, the children of Israel had burnt incense to it. And he called it “Nehushtan”.
5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel. There has been no one like him among all the kings of Judah since. Nor was there any like him before.
6 For he clung to the LORD, not departing from Him but keeping His Commandments (which the LORD had commanded Moses).
7 So the LORD was with him. He prospered wherever he went. Also, he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
8 He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its territories, from the watchtower to the defensed city.
9 And in the fourth year of King Hezekiah (which was the seventh year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel) Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria and besieged it.
10 And after three years, they took it, in the sixth year of Hezekiah. That is, in the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
11 Then, the king of Assyria carried away Israel to Assyria and put them in Halah, and in Habor, by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
12 because they would not obey the Voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed His Covenant—all that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded—and would neither obey nor do them.
13 Moreover, in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the strong cities of Judah and took them.
14 Then Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent to the king of Assyria, to Lachish, saying, “I have offended. Depart from me, and whatever you lay upon me I will bear.” And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah, king of Judah, three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15 Therefore, Hezekiah gave all the silver that was found in the House of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house.
16 In the same season, Hezekiah pulled off the plating of the doors of the Temple of the LORD, and the pillars (which said Hezekiah, king of Judah, had covered over) and gave them to the king of Assyria.
17 And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah, with a great army, against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they had come up, they stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is by the path of the fuller’s field,
18 and called to the king. Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah (who was steward of the house), came out to them, and Shebna the chancellor, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
19 And Rabshakeh said to them, “Please tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the great king of Assyria, “What confidence is this in which you trust?
20 Do you think, ‘Surely, I have eloquence, counsel and strength for the war?’ In whom then do you trust that you rebel against me?
21 “Lo, now you trust in this broken staff of reed, on Egypt, upon which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who trust in him.
22 “But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is not that He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this Altar in Jerusalem?’”
23 ‘Now, therefore, give hostages to my lord, the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to set riders upon them.
24 ‘For how can you repel any captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
25 ‘Have I now come up without the LORD to this place, to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land, and destroy it.”’”
26 Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in the Aramites’ language. For we understand it. And do not talk to us in the Jews’ tongue in the audience of the people who are on the wall.
27 But Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master only sent me to your master, and to you, to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”
28 So Rabshakeh stood, and spoke, saying, “Hear the words of the great king, of the king of Assyria!
29 “Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you! For he shall not be able to deliver you out of my hand!
30 ‘And do not let Hezekiah make you to trust in the LORD, saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us! And this city shall not be given over into the hand of the king of Assyria!”
31 ‘Do not listen to Hezekiah! For thus says the king of Assyria, “Make peace with me! And come out to me, so that every man may eat of his own vine, and every man of his own fig tree, and drink every man of the water of his own well,
32 “until I come and bring you to a land like your own land, a land of wheat and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey, so that you may live and not die!” And do not obey Hezekiah, for he deceives you, saying, “The LORD will deliver us!”
33 ‘Have any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
34 ‘Where is the god of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where is the god of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivah? How have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
35 ‘Who are they among all the gods of the nations, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”
36 But the people held their peace and did not answer him a word. For the king’s commandment was, saying, “Do not answer him.”
37 Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was steward of the house, and Shebna the chancellor, and Joah, the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
19 And when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth, and came into the House of the LORD,
2 and sent Eliakim, who was the steward of the house, and Shebna the chancellor, and the elders of the priests clothed in sackcloth to Isaiah, the Prophet, the son of Amoz.
3 And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of tribulation and of rebuke and blasphemy. For the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth.
4 ‘If so be that the LORD your God has heard all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to rail on the living God, and to reproach Him with words which the LORD your God has heard, then lift up your prayer for the remnant who are left.’”
5 So, the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said to them, “So shall you say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
7 “Behold, I will send a blast upon him. And he shall hear a noise and return to his own land. And I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”’”
8 So, Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah (for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish).
9 Also, about Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, he heard men say, “Behold, he has come out to fight against you.” Therefore, he departed and sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah, king of Judah, and say, ‘Do not let your God in Whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
11 ‘Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, how they have destroyed them. And shall you be delivered?
12 ‘Have the gods of the heathen delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed—Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden—who were in Telassar?
13 ‘Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Shepharvaim, Hena and Ivah?’”
14 So Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it. And Hezekiah went up into the House of the LORD. And Hezekiah spread it before the LORD.
15 And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, “O LORD God of Israel, Who dwells between the Cherubim. You are Elohim, alone over all the kingdoms of the Earth. You have made Heaven and Earth.
16 “LORD, bow down Your Ear, and hear.: LORD, open Your Eyes and behold. And hear the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to blaspheme the living God.
17 “It is true, LORD, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,
18 “and have set fire on their gods. For they were no gods, but the work of man’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore, they destroyed them.
19 “Now therefore, O LORD our God, I pray, save us out of his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the Earth may know that You, O LORD, are the only God.”
20 Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I have heard that which you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib, king of Assyria.’
21 “This is the Word that the LORD has spoken against him: ‘O virgin daughter of Zion! He has despised you, laughed you to scorn. O daughter of Jerusalem! He has shaken His Head at you.
22 ‘Whom have you railed on? And Whom have you blasphemed? And against Whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? —against the Holy One of Israel.
23 ‘By your messengers you have railed on the LORD, and said, “By the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the top of the mountains, by the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down their high cedars, their fair fir trees. And I will go into the lodging of his borders, and into the forest of his fruit.
24 “I have dug and drunk the waters of others. And with the plant of my feet I have dried all the rivers of entrenchment.”
25 ‘Have you not heard how in ancient times I made it, and formed it long ago? And should I now bring it to be destroyed, and laid on ruinous heaps, as defensed cities,
26 ‘whose inhabitants have small power, are afraid, and confounded? They are like the grass of the field, and green herb, grass on the house tops, or as corn blasted before it is grown.
27 ‘I know your dwelling, your going out and your coming in, and your fury against Me.
28 ‘And because you rage against Me, and your tumult has come up to My Ears, I will put My hook in your nostrils, and My bridle in your lips, and will bring you back again the same way you came.
29 ‘And this shall be a sign to you. This year, you shall eat such things as grow by themselves, and the next year such as grow without sowing, and the third year you shall sow and reap and plant vineyards and eat their fruits.
30 ‘And the remnant of the House of Judah that has escaped, shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
31 ‘For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and some who shall escape out of Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts shall do this.’
32 “Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not enter into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a siege mount against it.
33 ‘He shall return the way he came, and shall not come into this city,’ says the LORD,
34 ‘For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake, and for David My servant’s sake.’”
35 And the same night, the Angel of the LORD went out and struck a hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyria. So, when they rose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
36 So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and went his way and returned and dwelt in Nineveh.
37 And as he was in the Temple worshipping Nisroch, his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, killed him with the sword. And they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his place.
20 About that time, Hezekiah was sick to death. And the Prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Put your house in order. For you shall die, and not live.’”
2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying,
3 “O LORD, I pray, remember now how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 And before Isaiah had gone out into the middle of the court, the Word of the LORD came to him, saying:
5 “Turn back and tell Hezekiah, the captain of My people, ‘Thus says the LORD God of David, your father: “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. Behold, I have healed you. On the third day, you shall go up to the House of the LORD.
6 “And I will add fifteen years to your days and will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city for My own sake, and for David My servant’s sake.”’”
7 Then Isaiah said, “Take a lump of dry figs.” And they took it and laid it on the boil. And he recovered.
8 (For Hezekiah had said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up into the House of the LORD on the third day?”
9 And Isaiah answered, “Which sign would you prefer from the LORD, that the LORD will do what He has spoken: that the shadow go forward ten degrees or go back ten degrees?”
10 And Hezekiah answered, “It is a small thing for the shadow to pass forward ten degrees. So, not that. But let the shadow go back ten degrees.”
11 And Isaiah the Prophet called to the LORD; and He brought back the shadow ten degrees by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.)
12 The same season, Berodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah was sick.
13 And Hezekiah heard them and showed them his whole treasure house: the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious ointment, the entire house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, and in all his realm, that Hezekiah did not show them.
14 Then Isaiah the Prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where have they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.”
15 Then he said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”
16 And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the Word of the LORD:
17 ‘Behold, the days come, that all that is in your house, and whatever your fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried into Babylon. Nothing shall be left,’ says the LORD,
18 ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who shall proceed out of you, which you shall beget, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”
19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The Word of the LORD which you have spoken is good.” For he said, “Is it not good if there is peace and truth in my days?”
20 Concerning the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his valiant deeds, and how he made a pool and a conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
21 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers. And Manasseh, his son, reigned in his place.
21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign and reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. Also, his mother’s name was Hephzibah.
2 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he went back and built the high places which Hezekiah, his father, had destroyed. And he erected altars for Baal and made a grove (as did Ahab, king of Israel) and worshipped all the host of heaven and served them.
4 Also, he built altars in the House of the LORD, of the which the LORD said, “In Jerusalem will I put My Name.”
5 And he built altars for all the host of the heaven in the two courts of the House of the LORD.
6 And he made his sons pass through the fire and gave himself to witchcraft and sorcery. And he used mediums and those who were soothsayers and did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to anger Him.
7 And he set the image of the grove that he had made in the House (of which the LORD 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 forever.
8 “And I will never again make the feet of Israel move out of the land which I gave their fathers, so that they will observe and do all that I have Commanded them, according to all the Law that My servant Moses commanded them.”).
9 Yet they did not obey. But Manasseh led them out of the way, to do more wickedly than the heathen did (whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel).
10 Therefore, the LORD spoke by His servants, the Prophets, saying,
11 “Because Manasseh, king of Judah, has done such abominations, and has worked more wickedly than all that the Amorites who were before him did, and has also made Judah sin with his idols,
12 “therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring a misery upon Jerusalem and Judah, so that whoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle.
13 ‘And I will stretch the line of Samaria and the plummet of the House of Ahab over Jerusalem. And I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, which he wipes and turns upside down.
14 ‘And I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies. And they shall be robbed and plundered by all their adversaries,
15 ‘because they have done evil in My sight and have provoked Me to anger since the time their fathers came out of Egypt until this day.’”
16 Moreover, Manasseh shed exceedingly much innocent blood, until he filled Jerusalem from end to end (besides his sin with which he had made Judah sin and do evil in the sight of the LORD).
17 Concerning the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza. And Amon, his son, reigned in his place.
19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. Also, his mother’s name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
20 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did.
21 For he walked in all the ways that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them.
22 And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD.
23 And the servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his own house.
24 And the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people made Josiah, his son, king in his place.
25 Concerning the rest of the acts of Amon, which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
26 And they buried him in his sepulcher, in the garden of Uzza. And Josiah, his son, reigned in his place.
22 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. Also, his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.
2 And he did uprightly in the sight of the LORD and walked in all the ways of David, his father, and bowed neither to the right hand nor to the left.
3 And in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the chancellor, to the House of the LORD, saying,
4 “Go up to Hilkiah, the High Priest, so that he may count all the silver which has been brought into the House of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered from the people.
5 “And let them deliver it into the hands of those who do the work and have the oversight of the House of the LORD. Let them give it to those who work in the House of the LORD, to repair the decayed places of the House:
6 “to the builders and carpenters and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone, to repair the House.
7 However, let no accounting be made with them of the money that is delivered into their hand; for they deal faithfully.”
8 And Hilkiah the High Priest said to Shaphan the chancellor, “I have found the Book of the Law in the House of the LORD.” And Hilkiah gave the Book to Shaphan. And he read it.
9 So Shaphan the chancellor came to the king, and brought him word back, and said, “Your servants have gathered the money that was found in the House and have delivered it into the hands of those who do the work and have the oversight of the House of the LORD.”
10 Also, Shaphan the chancellor told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the Priest has delivered a Book to me.” And Shaphan read it before the king.
11 And when the king had heard the Words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes.
12 Therefore, the king commanded Hilkiah the Priest, and Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Achbor, the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the chancellor, and Asahiah, the king’s servant, saying,
13 “Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah concerning the Words of this Book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us because our fathers have not obeyed the Words of this Book, to do according to all that which is written in it for us.”
14 So Hilkiah the Priest and Ahikam and Achbor and Shaphan and Asahiah went to Huldah the Prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem, in the college). And they communed with her.
15 And she answered them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me,
16 “Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will bring misery upon this place, and on its inhabitants—all the Words of the Book which the king of Judah has read—
17 ‘because they have forsaken Me and have burnt incense to other gods, to anger Me with all the works of their hands. Also, My wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.’”’
18 “But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, so shall you say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Concerning the Words that you have heard:
19 “because your heart melted, and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place, and against the inhabitants of the same—that it would be destroyed and accursed—and have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have also heard that,” says the LORD,
20 “Behold, therefore, I will gather you to your fathers. And you shall be put in your grave in peace. And your eyes shall not see all the misery which I will bring upon this place.”’” Thus, they brought word back to the king.
23 Then the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem to him.
2 And the king went up into the House of the LORD, with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and Prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their ears all the Words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the House of the LORD.
3 And the king stood by the pillar and made a Covenant before the LORD, that they would walk after the LORD, and keep His Commandments, and His Testimonies, and His Statutes, with all their heart and with all their soul, so that they might carry out the Words of this Covenant written in this Book. And all the people established the Covenant.
4 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the High Priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the Door, to bring all the vessels that were made for Baal (and for the grove and for all the host of heaven) out of the Temple of the LORD. And he burnt them outside Jerusalem, in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes into Bethel.
5 And he took down the Chemarim, whom the kings of Judah had made to burn incense in the high places, in the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem, and also those that burnt incense to Baal (to the Sun and to the Moon and to the planets and to all the host of heaven).
6 And he brought out the grove from the Temple of the LORD, outside Jerusalem, to the valley of Kidron, and burnt it in the valley Kidron and stamped it to powder and cast its dust upon the graves of the children of the people.
7 And he broke down the houses of the Sodomites who were in the House of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
8 Also, he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burnt incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and destroyed the high places of the gates that were in the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which was on the left side of the gate of the city.
9 Nevertheless, the priests of the high places did not come up to the Altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, except only when they ate of the unleavened bread among their brethren.
10 He also defiled Topheth, which was in the valley of the children of Hinnom, so that no man would make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.
11 He also took down the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the Sun at the entrance of the House of the LORD, by the chamber of Nethan-Melech the eunuch (who was ruler of the suburbs) and burnt the chariots of the Sun with fire,
12 and the altars that were on the top of the chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made. And the king broke down the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the House of the LORD and quickly went from there and cast the dust of them in the brook Kidron.
13 Moreover, the king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, and on the right hand of the Mount of Corruption (which Solomon, the king of Israel, had built for Ashtoreth, the idol of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh, the idol of the Moabites, and for Milcom, the abomination of the children of Ammon).
14 And he broke the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
15 Furthermore, the altar that was at Bethel (the high place made by Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin), both this altar and also the high place, he broke down and burnt (the high place). He stamped them to powder and burnt the grove.
16 And as Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were on the mountain, and sent and took the bones out of the graves and burnt them upon the altar and polluted it, according to the Word of the LORD that the man of God had proclaimed, who cried the same words.
17 Then he said, “What monument is that which I see?” And the men of the city said to him, “It is the sepulcher of the man of God, who came from Judah and told these things that you have done to the altar of Bethel.”
18 Then he said, “Let him alone. Let no one remove his bones.” So his bones were saved with the bones of the Prophet who came from Samaria.
19 Josiah also took away all the houses of the high places which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to anger the LORD. And he did to them just as he had done in Bethel.
20 And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there upon the altars, and burnt men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.
21 Then the king commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in the Book of this Covenant.”
22 And there was no Passover like that held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Judah.
23 And in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the Passover was celebrated to the LORD in Jerusalem.
24 Josiah also took away the mediums and the soothsayers and the images and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, to perform the Words of the Law which were written in the Book that Hilkiah the Priest found in the House of the LORD.
25 There was no king like him before, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses. Nor did there ever arise any like him after.
26 Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which He was angry against Judah because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him.
27 Therefore the LORD said, “I will also put Judah out of My sight, as I have put away Israel, and will cast off this city, Jerusalem, which I have chosen, and the House of which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’”
28 Concerning the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
29 In his days, Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria, to the river Perath. And King Josiah went against him. And when Pharaoh saw him, he killed him at Megiddo.
30 Then his servants carried his body from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own sepulcher. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and anointed him and made him king in his father’s place.
31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. Also, his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
32 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.
33 And Pharaoh Necho put him in bonds at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, while he reigned in Jerusalem, and put the land under a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
34 And Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim, the son of Josiah, king instead of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away, who when he came to Egypt, died there.
35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh and taxed the land to give the money, according to the commandment of Pharaoh. He levied silver and gold to give to Pharaoh Necho, from every man of the people of the land, according to his value.
36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. Also, his mother’s name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
37 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.
24 In his days, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up. And Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Afterward, he turned and rebelled against him.
2 And the LORD sent bands of the Chaldeans against him, and bands of the Aramites, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the Ammonites. And he sent them against Judah, to destroy it, according to the Word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servants, the Prophets.
3 Surely by the Commandment of the LORD this came upon Judah, so that He might put them out of His sight for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did,
4 and for the innocent blood that he shed (for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood). Therefore, the LORD would not pardon it.
5 Concerning the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
6 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers. And Jehoiachin, his son, reigned in his place.
7 And the king of Egypt no longer came out of his land. For the king of Babylon had captured all that pertained to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt to the river Perath.
8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign and reigned in Jerusalem for three months. Also, his mother’s name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
9 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.
10 In that time, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against Jerusalem. So the city was besieged.
11 And Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came against the city. And his servants besieged it.
12 Then Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, came out against the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his princes and his eunuchs. And the king of Babylon took him, in the eighth year of his reign.
13 And he carried away all the treasures of the House of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and broke all the vessels of gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the Temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.
14 And he carried away all of Jerusalem and all the princes and all the strong men of war (ten thousand into captivity) and all the workmen and cunning men. So no one remained except the poor people of the land.
15 And he carried Jehoiachin away into Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his eunuchs. And he carried away the mighty of the land into captivity—from Jerusalem to Babylon—
16 and all the men of war (seven thousand) and carpenters and locksmiths (a thousand). All who were strong and apt for war the king of Babylon brought to Babylon as captives.
17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, his uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. Also, his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
19 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
20 Therefore, the wrath of the LORD was certainly against Jerusalem and Judah, until He cast them out of His sight. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
25 And in the ninth year of his reign, the tenth month, tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army, came against Jerusalem, and camped against it. And they built a siege wall against it, all around.
2 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
3 And on the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
4 Then the city was broken up. And all the men of war fled by night, by way of the gate between two walls that was by the king’s garden. Now the Chaldeans were by the city, all around. And the king went by way of the wilderness.
5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and took him in the deserts of Jericho. And all his army was scattered from him.
6 Then they took the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon, to Riblah, where they gave judgment upon him.
7 And they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon.
8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, chief steward and servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem
9 and burnt the House of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. And he burnt all the great houses with fire.
10 And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the chief steward, broke down the walls of Jerusalem, all around.
11 And the rest of the people who were left in the city, and those who had fled and fallen to the king of Babylon with the remnant of the multitude, chief steward Nebuzaradan carried away captive.
12 But the chief steward left of the poor of the land to dress the vines, and to till the land.
13 Also, the Chaldeans broke the pillars of bronze that were in the House of the LORD, and the bases, and the bronze sea that was in the House of the LORD and carried the bronze from them to Babylon.
14 They also took away the pots and the shovels and the instruments of music and the incense dishes and all the vessels of bronze in which they ministered.
15 And the chief steward took away the ash pans and the basins, that were of gold and silver,
16 with the two pillars, one sea and the bases, which Solomon had made for the House of the LORD. The bronze from all these vessels was without weight.
17 The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits. And its chapiter was bronze. And the height of the chapiter (with network) was three cubits, with pomegranates upon the chapiters, all around, all of bronze. And the second pillar was the same, with the network.
18 And the chief steward took Seraiah, the High Priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the Door.
19 And he took a eunuch out of the city, who had the oversight of the men of war, and five of the men from the city who were in the king’s presence, and Sopher (captain of the army), who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.
20 And Nebuzaradan, the chief steward, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon, to Riblah.
21 And the king of Babylon struck them and killed them at Riblah, in the land of Hamath. So, Judah was carried away captive, out of his own land.
22 However, people remained in the land of Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, left alone. And he made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler over them.
23 Then, when all the captains of the army and their men heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah, to Mizpah. They were: Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah and Johanan, the son of Careah, and Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah, the son of Maachathi, they and their men.
24 And Gedaliah swore to them, and to their men, and said to them, “Do not fear to be the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and you shall be well.”
25 But in the seventh month, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the king’s seed, came, and ten men with him. And he struck Gedaliah and he died, and so did he the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
26 Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the army, arose and came to Egypt. For they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
27 Nevertheless, in the thirty-seventh year after Jehoiachin, king of Judah, was carried away, in the twelfth month, the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-Merodach, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of the prison
28 and spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon
29 and changed his prison garments. And he continually ate bread before him, all the days of his life.
30 And his portion was a continual portion, given to him by the king, every day a certain amount, all the days of his life.
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