2 Kings 23
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 23
Josiah the Reformer. 1 The king then sent and assembled all of the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 The king went up to the temple of the Lord, and all of the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem went with him, including the priests, the prophets, and all of the people, both the humble and the important. He read aloud all of the words from the book of the covenant that had been found in the temple of the Lord.
3 The king stood by the pillar, and he made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord and to observe his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, fulfilling the words of this covenant that were written in this book. All of the people joined in the covenant.
4 The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the doormen to carry out of the temple of the Lord all of the utensils that had been used for Baal, for Asherah, and for the heavenly host. He burned them outside of Jerusalem in a field in the Kidron Valley, and they took their ashes to Bethel.
5 He expelled the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and those that surrounded Jerusalem, those who had burned incense to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the planets, and to all of the hosts of heaven. 6 He brought the Asherah out of the temple of the Lord, taking it outside of Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley. He smashed it to pieces, tossing its dust upon the graves of the common people.
7 He also tore down the quarters that housed the male prostitutes in the temple of the Lord, and where the women did the weavings for the Asherah. 8 He brought all of the priests from the cities of Judah, and he desecrated all of the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba where the priests had burned incense. He demolished the shrines at the gates, at the entrance to the gate of Joshua, the leader of the city, which was to the left of the city gate. 9 Although the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord, they did eat the unleavened bread with their brethren.
10 He desecrated Topheth[a] in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in fire to Molech. 11 He removed the horses that the king of Judah had dedicated to the sun at the entrance to the temple of the Lord. They had been in the court near the room of the official Nathan-melech. He burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.
12 The king demolished the altars[b] that the kings of Judah had built on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz as well as the two altars that Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the Lord. He broke them to pieces and cast them into the Kidron Valley. 13 The king also desecrated the high places that were to the east of Jerusalem, that is, to the south of the Hill of Corruption which Solomon, the king of Israel, had dedicated to the Ashtaroth, the vile goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the vile god of the Moabites, and to Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites.
14 He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He defiled these places with human bones. 15 He broke down the altar in Bethel, the altar and the high place that Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had built. He burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and he also burned the Asherah.
16 Josiah looked around and when he saw that there were graves on the hillside, he sent for and removed the bones from the graves. He burned them upon the altar to defile it. This fulfilled the word of the Lord that the man of God had proclaimed through these words.
17 He then asked, “What is that monument that I see?” The men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.” 18 He said, “Leave it alone! Do not let anyone disturb his bones!” So they left his bones and the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.
19 Josiah also removed all of the shrines of the high places in the cities of Samaria that the kings of Israel had established, thus provoking the Lord to anger, just as he had done at Bethel.
20 Josiah killed all of the priests of the high places upon the altars and he burned human bones upon them. He then returned to Jerusalem.
21 The king then commanded all of the people saying, “Observe the Passover of the Lord, your God, according to what is written in this book of this covenant.” 22 Passover had not been observed from the days of the judges who governed Israel nor all throughout the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. 23 This Passover of the Lord was celebrated in Jerusalem in the eighteenth year of the reign of King Josiah.
24 Josiah also expelled the mediums and the wizards. He did away with the household gods, the idols, and all the other abominations that were to be found in the land of Judah and Jerusalem. He did this to fulfill the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the temple of the Lord.
25 There had never before been any king like him nor will there ever be one after him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and all his soul and all his might according to the law of Moses.
26 In spite of this, the Lord did not turn away the heat of his fierce anger which raged against Judah because all of the things that Manasseh had done to provoke his anger. 27 The Lord said, “I will remove Judah from out of my sight just as I have removed Israel. I will reject this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the temple of which I said: My name will be there.”
28 [c]As for all of the other deeds of Josiah, what he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
29 During his reign, Pharaoh Neco, the king of Egypt, traveled up to the Euphrates River to give his assistance to the king of Assyria. King Josiah attacked him. When Pharaoh Neco saw him at Megiddo, he killed him. 30 His servants brought his dead body back from Megiddo to Jerusalem and they buried him in his own tomb.
The people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and they anointed him as king in his father’s stead.
31 Reign of Jehoahaz. Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, and she was the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.
32 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, everything that his fathers had done.
33 Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he could not reign in Jerusalem. He imposed a tribute upon the land of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.[d]
34 Pharaoh Neco appointed Eliakim, the son of Josiah, as king in his father’s stead. He changed his name to Jehoiakim, and he took Jehoahaz away when he returned to Egypt, where he died.
35 Jehoiakim gave silver and gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to get the money that Pharaoh had demanded. He taxed the people of the land according to their assessments for the silver and the gold that he had to give to Pharaoh.
36 Reign of Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah, and she was the daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah.
37 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, everything that his fathers had done.
Footnotes
- 2 Kings 23:10 Topheth: a crematory for the sacrifice of children.
- 2 Kings 23:12 Altars: dedicated to the astral divinities (see 2 Ki 21:3f; Jer 19:13; Zep 1:5).
- 2 Kings 23:28 After the threat from Assyria (which was attacked by the Babylonians and Medes in 616 B.C.; Nineveh fell in 612 B.C.), came the threat from Egypt. Josiah tried to stop the pharaoh as the latter was marching to the aid of Assyria; Josiah opposed him at Haran but it ended tragically (609 B.C.).
- 2 Kings 23:33 Talent of gold: this is an unusually small amount to be charged and is rendered in older translations as ten or one hundred talents.
列王紀下 23
Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Traditional)
宣約書於民而立約
23 王差遣人招聚猶大和耶路撒冷的眾長老來。 2 王和猶大眾人與耶路撒冷的居民，並祭司、先知和所有的百姓，無論大小，都一同上到耶和華的殿。王就把耶和華殿裡所得的約書念給他們聽。 3 王站在柱旁，在耶和華面前立約，要盡心、盡性地順從耶和華，遵守他的誡命、法度、律例，成就這書上所記的約言。眾民都服從這約。
命除偶像及諸惡行
4 王吩咐大祭司希勒家和副祭司並把門的，將那為巴力和亞舍拉並天上萬象所造的器皿，都從耶和華殿裡搬出來，在耶路撒冷外汲淪溪旁的田間燒了，把灰拿到伯特利去。 5 從前猶大列王所立拜偶像的祭司在猶大城邑的丘壇和耶路撒冷的周圍燒香，現在王都廢去，又廢去向巴力和日、月、行星[a]並天上萬象燒香的人。 6 又從耶和華殿裡，將亞舍拉搬到耶路撒冷外汲淪溪邊焚燒，打碎成灰，將灰撒在平民的墳上。 7 又拆毀耶和華殿裡孌童的屋子，就是婦女為亞舍拉織帳子的屋子。 8 並且從猶大的城邑帶眾祭司來，汙穢祭司燒香的丘壇，從迦巴直到別是巴。又拆毀城門旁的丘壇，這丘壇在邑宰約書亞門前，進城門的左邊。 9 但是丘壇的祭司不登耶路撒冷耶和華的壇，只在他們弟兄中間吃無酵餅。 10 又汙穢欣嫩子谷的陀斐特，不許人在那裡使兒女經火獻給摩洛。 11 又將猶大列王在耶和華殿門旁太監拿單米勒靠近遊廊的屋子向日頭所獻的馬廢去，且用火焚燒日車。 12 猶大列王在亞哈斯樓頂上所築的壇和瑪拿西在耶和華殿兩院中所築的壇，王都拆毀，打碎了，就把灰倒在汲淪溪中。 13 從前以色列王所羅門在耶路撒冷前、邪僻山右邊，為西頓人可憎的神亞斯她錄、摩押人可憎的神基抹、亞捫人可憎的神米勒公所築的丘壇，王都汙穢了。 14 又打碎柱像，砍下木偶，將人的骨頭充滿了那地方。
15 他將伯特利的壇，就是叫以色列人陷在罪裡尼八的兒子耶羅波安所築的那壇，都拆毀焚燒，打碎成灰，並焚燒了亞舍拉。 16 約西亞回頭，看見山上的墳墓，就打發人將墳墓裡的骸骨取出來，燒在壇上，汙穢了壇，正如從前神人宣傳耶和華的話。 17 約西亞問說：「我所看見的是什麼碑？」那城裡的人回答說：「先前有神人從猶大來，預先說王現在向伯特利壇所行的事，這就是他的墓碑。」 18 約西亞說：「由他吧，不要挪移他的骸骨。」他們就不動他的骸骨，也不動從撒馬利亞來那先知的骸骨。 19 從前以色列諸王在撒馬利亞的城邑建築丘壇的殿，惹動耶和華的怒氣，現在約西亞都廢去了，就如他在伯特利所行的一般。 20 又將丘壇的祭司都殺在壇上，並在壇上燒人的骨頭，就回耶路撒冷去了。
21 王吩咐眾民說：「你們當照這約書上所寫的，向耶和華你們的神守逾越節。」 22 自從士師治理以色列人和以色列王、猶大王的時候，直到如今，實在沒有守過這樣的逾越節， 23 只有約西亞王十八年在耶路撒冷向耶和華守這逾越節。
24 凡猶大國和耶路撒冷所有交鬼的、行巫術的，與家中的神像和偶像，並一切可憎之物，約西亞盡都除掉，成就了祭司希勒家在耶和華殿裡所得律法書上所寫的話。 25 在約西亞以前沒有王像他盡心、盡性、盡力地歸向耶和華，遵行摩西的一切律法，在他以後也沒有興起一個王像他。
26 然而耶和華向猶大所發猛烈的怒氣仍不止息，是因瑪拿西諸事惹動他。 27 耶和華說：「我必將猶大人從我面前趕出，如同趕出以色列人一般，我必棄掉我從前所選擇的這城耶路撒冷和我所說立我名的殿。」
埃及王殺約西亞
28 約西亞其餘的事，凡他所行的，都寫在《猶大列王記》上。 29 約西亞年間，埃及王法老尼哥上到幼發拉底河攻擊亞述王。約西亞王去抵擋他，埃及王遇見約西亞在米吉多，就殺了他。 30 他的臣僕用車將他的屍首從米吉多送到耶路撒冷，葬在他自己的墳墓裡。國民膏約西亞的兒子約哈斯接續他父親做王。
約哈斯做猶大王
31 約哈斯登基的時候年二十三歲，在耶路撒冷做王三個月。他母親名叫哈慕她，是立拿人耶利米的女兒。 32 約哈斯行耶和華眼中看為惡的事，效法他列祖一切所行的。
法老尼哥囚約哈斯立約雅敬
33 法老尼哥將約哈斯鎖禁在哈馬地的利比拉，不許他在耶路撒冷做王，又罰猶大國銀子一百他連得、金子一他連得。 34 法老尼哥立約西亞的兒子以利亞敬接續他父親約西亞做王，給他改名叫約雅敬；卻將約哈斯帶到埃及，他就死在那裡。 35 約雅敬將金銀給法老，遵著法老的命向國民徵取金銀，按著各人的力量派定，索要金銀，好給法老尼哥。
36 約雅敬登基的時候年二十五歲，在耶路撒冷做王十一年。他母親名叫西布大，是魯瑪人毗大雅的女兒。 37 約雅敬行耶和華眼中看為惡的事，效法他列祖一切所行的。
Footnotes
- 列王紀下 23:5 「行星」或作「十二宮」。
2 Kings 23
New King James Version
Josiah Restores True Worship(A)
23 Now (B)the king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. 2 The king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he (C)read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant (D)which had been found in the house of the Lord.
3 Then the king (E)stood by a pillar and made a (F)covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant. 4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the (G)priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring (H)out of the temple of the Lord all the articles that were made for Baal, for [a]Asherah, and for all [b]the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the [c]constellations, and to (I)all the host of heaven. 6 And he brought out the (J)wooden[d] image from the house of the Lord, to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Brook Kidron and ground it to (K)ashes, and threw its ashes on (L)the graves of the common people. 7 Then he tore down the ritual [e]booths (M)of the [f]perverted persons that were in the house of the Lord, (N)where the (O)women wove hangings for the wooden image. 8 And he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from (P)Geba to Beersheba; also he broke down the high places at the gates which were at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were to the left of the city gate. 9 (Q)Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, (R)but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren.
10 And he defiled (S)Topheth, which is in (T)the Valley of the [g]Son of Hinnom, (U)that no man might make his son or his daughter (V)pass through the fire to Molech. 11 Then he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had [h]dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech, the officer who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12 The altars that were (W)on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which (X)Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king broke down and pulverized there, and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron. 13 Then the king defiled the [i]high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the [j]south of [k]the Mount of Corruption, which (Y)Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the people of Ammon. 14 And he (Z)broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images, and filled their places with the bones of men.
15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the [l]high place (AA)which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and burned the wooden image. 16 As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the (AB)word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. 17 Then he said, “What gravestone is this that I see?”
So the men of the city told him, “It is (AC)the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel.”
18 And he said, “Let him alone; let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of (AD)the prophet who came from Samaria.
19 Now Josiah also took away all the [m]shrines of the [n]high places that were (AE)in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke [o]the Lord to anger; and he did to them according to all the deeds he had done in Bethel. 20 (AF)He (AG)executed all the priests of the [p]high places who were there, on the altars, and (AH)burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.
21 Then the king commanded all the people, saying, (AI)“Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, (AJ)as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” 22 (AK)Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the Lord in Jerusalem. 24 Moreover Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of (AL)the law which were written in the book (AM)that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. 25 (AN)Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.
Impending Judgment on Judah
26 Nevertheless the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, with which His anger was aroused against Judah, (AO)because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. 27 And the Lord said, “I will also remove Judah from My sight, as (AP)I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, (AQ)‘My name shall be there.’ ”
Josiah Dies in Battle(AR)
28 Now 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 (AS)In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went [q]to the aid of the king of Assyria, to the River Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him. And Pharaoh Necho killed him at (AT)Megiddo when he (AU)confronted him. 30 (AV)Then his servants moved his body in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. And (AW)the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.
The Reign and Captivity of Jehoahaz(AX)
31 (AY)Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was (AZ)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 Now Pharaoh Necho put him in prison (BA)at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 Then (BB)Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and (BC)changed his name to (BD)Jehoiakim. And Pharaoh took Jehoahaz (BE)and went to Egypt, and [r]he died there.
Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah(BF)
35 So Jehoiakim gave (BG)the silver and gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give money according to the command of Pharaoh; he exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, from every one according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necho. 36 (BH)Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 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.
Footnotes
- 2 Kings 23:4 A Canaanite goddess
- 2 Kings 23:4 The gods of the Assyrians
- 2 Kings 23:5 Of the Zodiac
- 2 Kings 23:6 Heb. Asherah, a Canaanite goddess
- 2 Kings 23:7 Lit. houses
- 2 Kings 23:7 Heb. qedeshim, those practicing sodomy and prostitution in religious rituals
- 2 Kings 23:10 Kt. Sons
- 2 Kings 23:11 given
- 2 Kings 23:13 Places for pagan worship
- 2 Kings 23:13 Lit. right of
- 2 Kings 23:13 The Mount of Olives
- 2 Kings 23:15 A place for pagan worship
- 2 Kings 23:19 Lit. houses
- 2 Kings 23:19 Places for pagan worship
- 2 Kings 23:19 So with LXX, Syr., Vg.; MT, Tg. omit the Lord
- 2 Kings 23:20 Places for pagan worship
- 2 Kings 23:29 Or to attack, Heb. al can mean together with or against
- 2 Kings 23:34 Jehoahaz
Copyright © 2011 by Global Bible Initiative
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
