Manasseh Rules Judah

33 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king. And he ruled for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ² He did what was bad in the eyes of the Lord. He did the hated things of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the sons of Israel. ³ For he built again the high places which his father Hezekiah had broken down. He built altars for the false gods of Baal and made objects of worship for the false goddess Asherah. He worshiped all the stars of heaven and served them. ⁴ And he built altars in the Lord’s house, of which the Lord had said, “My name will be in Jerusalem forever.” ⁵ He built altars for all the stars of heaven in the two open spaces of the house of the Lord. ⁶ And he burned his sons as a gift in the valley of Ben-hinnom. He did witchcraft and asked the demon world about the future. He asked the demon world to do very special things, and he talked with people who spoke with the spirits of the dead. He did what was very bad in the eyes of the Lord, and made Him angry. ⁷ Manasseh made an object to look like a false god, and put it in God’s house, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem which I have chosen from all the families of Israel, I will put My name forever. ⁸ And I will never again take Israel out of the land which I have chosen for your fathers, if only they will obey all that I have told them in the Laws given through Moses.” ⁹ Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to do more sinful things than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel.

Manasseh Turns from His Sin

¹⁰ The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. ¹¹ So the Lord brought the captains of the army of the king of Assyria against them. And they took Manasseh with hooks and tied him with brass chains and brought him to Babylon. ¹² When Manasseh was in trouble, he prayed to the Lord his God, and put away his pride before the God of his fathers. ¹³ When he prayed to Him, God heard his prayer and listened to him, and brought him again to Jerusalem and to his nation. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.

¹⁴ After this he built the outside wall of the city of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, as far as the Fish Gate. He built it around the Ophel, and made it very high. Then he put army captains in all the strong cities of Judah. ¹⁵ He took away the strange gods and the false god from the house of the Lord. And he took away all the altars he had built on the mountain of the Lord’s house and in Jerusalem, and threw them outside the city. ¹⁶ He set up the altar of the Lord and gave peace gifts and thank gifts in worship on it. And he told Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁷ But the people still killed animals in worship at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

The End of Manasseh’s Rule

¹⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words the men who spoke for God spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, are among the writings of the kings of Israel. ¹⁹ His prayer and how God heard his prayer, and of all his sin and how he was not faithful, are found in the writings of the men who spoke for God. Also it is written where he built the high places, and made the objects of the false goddess Asherah, and made objects to look like gods, before he put away his pride. ²⁰ So Manasseh died and they buried him in his own house. And his son Amon became king in his place.

²¹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and ruled for two years in Jerusalem. ²² Amon did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done. He killed animals in worship to all the false gods his father Manasseh had made, and he served them. ²³ He did not put away his pride before the Lord as his father Manasseh had done, but Amon added to his guilt. ²⁴ His servants made plans against him, and killed him in his own house. ²⁵ But the people of the land killed all those who had killed King Amon and made his son Josiah king in his place.

Josiah Rules Judah

34 Josiah was eight years old when he became king. And he ruled thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ² He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David. He did not turn aside to the right or to the left. ³ For in the eighth year of his rule while he was still young, he began to look for the God of his father David. In the twelfth year he began to take the sinful things out of Judah and Jerusalem. He took away the high places, the objects of the false goddess Asherah, and all the objects made to look like gods. ⁴ They tore down the altars of the false gods of Baal in front of him. And he cut down the special perfume altars which stood above them. He broke in pieces the objects of the false goddess Asherah and all the objects made to look like gods. Then he ground them to dust and spread it on the graves of those who had given gifts in worship to them. ⁵ He burned the bones of their religious leaders on their altars, and made Judah and Jerusalem free from worshiping false gods. ⁶ And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in the broken down places around them, ⁷ Josiah tore down the altars and beat to dust the objects of Asherah and the objects made to look like gods. He cut down all the special perfume altars through all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

The Book of the Law Is Found

⁸ Now it was the eighteenth year of his rule, and Josiah had made the land and the Lord’s house free from worshiping false gods. At that time he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the leader of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, who wrote down the things that happened, to do the work needed on the house of the Lord his God. ⁹ They came to Hilkiah the head religious leader and gave him the money that was brought into the house of God. The Levites who watched the door had received this money from Manasseh and Ephraim and from all those who were left of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the people of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ Then they gave the money to the workmen who watched over the work of the Lord’s house. And the workmen who were working in the Lord’s house used it to make the house like new. ¹¹ They gave the money to those who work with wood and to the builders to buy cut stone and wood for joints and building-pieces for the houses. The kings of Judah had not had the needed work done on them. ¹² And the men were faithful in doing the work. Watching over them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam of the sons of the Kohathites. The Levites who were good at playing music ¹³ watched over those who carried loads and those who did work in every kind of duty. Some of the Levites were writers and leaders and gate-keepers.

¹⁴ When they were bringing out the money which had been brought into the Lord’s house, Hilkiah the religious leader found the book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses. ¹⁵ Hilkiah told Shaphan the writer, “I have found the book of the Law in the Lord’s house.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. ¹⁶ Then Shaphan brought the book to the king, and said to him, “Your servants are doing all the work that they have been given to do. ¹⁷ They have taken all the money that was found in the Lord’s house and have given it to the leaders and the workmen.” ¹⁸ Then Shaphan the writer said to the king, “Hilkiah the religious leader gave me a book.” And Shaphan read it in front of the king. ¹⁹ When King Josiah heard the words of the Law, he tore his clothes. ²⁰ Then the king called Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the writer, and Asaiah the king’s servant. He told them, ²¹ “Go, ask the Lord for me, and for those who are left in Israel and Judah, about the words of the book which have been found. For much of the Lord’s anger has been poured out on us because our fathers have not obeyed the Word of the Lord. They have not done all that is written in this book.”

²² So Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to Huldah the woman who spoke for God. She was the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, who watched over the clothing. (She lived in Jerusalem in the second part of the city.) They spoke to her about this. ²³ And she said to them, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me ²⁴ what I say. See, I am bringing much trouble to this place and to its people. I am allowing all the curses to come which are written in the book they have read in front of the king of Judah. ²⁵ They have left Me and have burned special perfume to other gods, that they might make Me angry with all the work of their hands. So My anger will be poured out on this place, and it will not be stopped. ²⁶ But tell the king of Judah who sent you to the Lord, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says about the words which you have heard: ²⁷ ‘Your heart was broken and you had no pride before God when you heard His words against this place and its people. And because you came before Me with no pride, tore your clothes, and cried before Me, I have heard you,’ says the Lord. ²⁸ ‘Your eyes will not see all the much trouble that I will bring on this place and its people. It will come after you die. You will be taken to your grave in peace.’”’” The men brought back this word to the king.

Josiah Brings Back True Worship

²⁹ Then the king sent and gathered together all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ The king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the religious leaders, the Levites, and all the people from the greatest to the least. And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the agreement which was found in the Lord’s house. ³¹ Then the king stood in his place and made an agreement before the Lord. He agreed to follow the Lord, to obey His Laws with all his heart and soul, and to do what is written in the agreement in this book. ³² And he made all who were there in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand with him. So the people of Jerusalem promised to obey the agreement of God, the God of their fathers. ³³ Josiah took away all the hated false gods from all the lands belonging to the sons of Israel. He made all who were in Israel worship the Lord their God. While Josiah was alive, they did not turn from following the Lord God of their fathers.

Josiah Keeps the Passover

35 Then Josiah kept the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem. They killed the Passover animals on the fourteenth day of the first month. ² He gave the religious leaders their duties and gave them strength to do the work of the Lord’s house. ³ And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, “Put the holy box of the agreement in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. You do not need to carry it on your shoulders any longer. Now work for the Lord your God and His people Israel. ⁴ Make yourselves ready by your fathers’ houses in your groups, in the way that was written by King David of Israel and his son Solomon. ⁵ Stand in the holy place by the family groups of your brothers who are not religious leaders. And let some of the Levites help each family group of the people. ⁶ Now kill the Passover animals, and make yourselves holy. Make things ready for your brothers to obey the word of the Lord by Moses.”

⁷ Then Josiah gave flocks of lambs and young goats as Passover gifts for all the people who were there. He gave 30,000 of them, and 3,000 bulls. These were from the king’s animals. ⁸ His leaders also gave a free-will gift to the people, the religious leaders, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel, the leaders of the house of God, gave 2,600 animals from the flocks and 300 bulls to the religious leaders for the Passover gifts. ⁹ Conaniah, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, gave 5,000 animals from the flocks and 500 bulls to the Levites for the Passover gifts.

¹⁰ So everything was made ready for the Passover. The religious leaders stood in their places, and the Levites stood by their groups, as the king had told them. ¹¹ Then they killed the Passover animals. The religious leaders took the blood from them and put it on the altar. And the Levites cut the skins from the animals. ¹² They set aside the burnt gifts that they might give them to the family groups of the people, to give to the Lord, as it is written in the Book of Moses. They did the same thing with the bulls. ¹³ So they cooked the Passover animals on the fire as the Law said. They boiled the holy things in pots and deep dishes, and carried them in a hurry to all the people. ¹⁴ After this they made everything ready for themselves and for the religious leaders because the religious leaders, the sons of Aaron, were giving in worship the burnt gifts and the fat parts until night. So the Levites made things ready for themselves and for the religious leaders, the sons of Aaron. ¹⁵ The singers, the sons of Asaph, were also in their places, as had been written by David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s man of God. The men who were gate-keepers did not have to leave their duty, because their brothers the Levites made things ready for them.

¹⁶ All the work of the Lord was made ready that day to keep the Passover, and to give burnt gifts on the Lord’s altar, as King Josiah had said. ¹⁷ So the people of Israel who were there kept the Passover at that time. And they kept the Special Supper of Bread Without Yeast for seven days. ¹⁸ There had not been kept a Passover like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the man of God. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah did with the religious leaders, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were there, and the people of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ This Passover was kept in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s rule.

The End of Josiah’s Rule

²⁰ After all this, when Josiah had made the house of the Lord ready, King Neco of Egypt came up to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates. And Josiah went out to fight against him. ²¹ But Neco sent men to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, O King of Judah? I am not coming against you today but against the house with which I am at war, and God has told me to hurry. Do not stand in the way of God Who is with me, or He will destroy you.” ²² But Josiah would not turn away from him. He made himself to look like someone else, so he could fight against him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the Plain of Megiddo. ²³ And the bowmen shot King Josiah. The king told his servants, “Take me away, for I am hurt.” ²⁴ So his servants took him out of the war-wagon and carried him in his second war-wagon, and brought him to Jerusalem. And there he died. He was buried in the graves of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem were filled with sorrow for Josiah. ²⁵ Then Jeremiah sang a song of sorrow for Josiah. And all the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their songs of sorrow to this day. They made them a law in Israel, and they are written in the Lamentations. ²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his good works as written in the Law of the Lord, ²⁷ and his acts, first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

Joahaz Rules Judah

36 Then the people of the land took Joahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in place of his father in Jerusalem. ² Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king. And he ruled for three months in Jerusalem. ³ Then the king of Egypt took Joahaz’s power away at Jerusalem, and made the people of the land pay a tax of silver weighing as much as 100 men, and gold weighing as much as one man. ⁴ The king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Eliakim’s brother Joahaz and brought him to Egypt.

Jehoiakim Rules Judah

⁵ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord his God. ⁶ King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up against him and tied him with brass chains to take him to Babylon. ⁷ Nebuchadnezzar also brought some of the things of the Lord’s house to Babylon and put them in his place of worship there. ⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and the sinful things which he did, and what was found against him, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin became king in his place.

Jehoiachin Rules Judah

⁹ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem three months and ten days. He did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord. ¹⁰ In the spring of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the objects of great worth from the Lord’s house. He made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

Zedekiah Rules Judah

¹¹ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹² He did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord his God. He had much pride in front of Jeremiah the man of God who spoke for the Lord. ¹³ And he turned against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him make a promise by God. He was strong-willed and made his heart hard against turning to the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁴ Also none of the rulers of the religious leaders and people were faithful. They followed all the sinful things of the nations. And they brought sinful things into the Lord’s house, which the Lord had made holy in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem Is Taken

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent men to speak for Him again and again, because He had loving-pity on His people and on His house. ¹⁶ But the people always made fun of the men sent by God. They hated God’s words and laughed at His men who spoke for God, until the Lord was very angry with His people. And there was no way for things to be better. ¹⁷ So God brought the king of the Babylonians against them, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of God. He had no pity on anyone, young or old, men or women or the sick. He gave them all into the king’s hand. ¹⁸ And he brought to Babylon all the things of the house of God, great and small, and the riches of the Lord’s house, and the riches of the king and of his rulers. ¹⁹ Then they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned all of its buildings built for battles, and destroyed all of its objects of great worth. ²⁰ He carried away to Babylon those who had not been killed by the sword. They were made to work for him and his sons until the rule of the nation of Persia. ²¹ This was done so the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah came true. For the seventy years that the land was not being used, the Day of Rest was kept. So the Days of Rest were enjoyed that had not been kept before.

Cyrus Tells the Jews to Return

²² The Lord’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah came true in this way also: In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord caused the spirit of King Cyrus to send word to all his nation, and also to write it down, saying, ²³ “King Cyrus of Persia says, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the nations of the earth. He has chosen me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.’”