Bible in 90 Days

Pekah Reigns in Israel

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 He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he caused Israel to sin.

²⁹ In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel-Beth-Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, the Gilead, the Galilee, and all the land of Naphtali; then he deported them to Assyria. ³⁰ Hoshea the son of Elah conspired against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and he attacked and killed him. He reigned in place of him in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. ³¹ Now the remainder of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, look, they are written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel.

Jotham Reigns in Judah

³² In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah began to reign. ³³ He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. ³⁴ He did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that Uzziah his father had done. ³⁵ Only the high places were not removed; the people still were sacrificing and offering incense on the high places. He built the upper gate of the temple of Yahweh. ³⁶ Now the remainder of the acts of Jotham which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ³⁷ (Now, in those days, Yahweh began to send Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah.) ³⁸ So Jotham slept with his ancestors^[a] and was buried with his ancestors^[b] in the city of David his ancestor,^[c] and his son Ahaz became king in his place.

Ahaz Reigns in Judah and Seeks Help against the Assyrians

16 In 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 sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do right in the eyes of Yahweh his God as David his ancestor.^{[d] 3} He walked in the way of the kings of Israel; he even let his son pass through the fire according to the detestable things of the nations which Yahweh drove out from before the Israelites.^{[e] 4} He sacrificed and offered incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. ⁵ Then Rezin the king of Aram went up with Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel against Jerusalem for battle, and they besieged Ahaz but were not able to defeat^[f] him. ⁶ At that time, Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram and drove out the Judeans from Elath. The Arameans came to Elath and have lived there until this day.

⁷ Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel who are rising up against me.” ⁸ Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasury rooms of the palace of the king, and he sent a gift to the king of Assyria. ⁹ So the king of Assyria listened to him and he went up to Damascus and captured it and deported them to Kir. He also killed Rezin.

Damascus Falls to the Assyrians

¹⁰ So King Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria in Damascus, and he saw the altar which was in Damascus, so King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest the builder’s plan of the altar and the exact model of how it had been made.^{[g] 11} So Uriah the priest built the altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus; thus Uriah the priest did before King Ahaz came from Damascus. ¹² When the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar, so he went near to the altar and went up on it. ¹³ Then he offered his burnt offerings and his grain offerings, he poured his libations and dashed the blood of his fellowship offerings against the altar. ¹⁴ Now the bronze altar which was before Yahweh, he brought over from the front of the temple, from between his altar and the temple of Yahweh, and he placed it at the side of his altar to the north. ¹⁵ Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the grain offering of the evening, the burnt offering of the king and his grain offering, the burnt offering of all of the people of the land, their offerings, their libations, and all of the blood of the burnt offerings, the blood of the sacrifices you must dash on it. But the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” ¹⁶ So Uriah the priest did according to all that King Ahaz commanded. ¹⁷ Then King Ahaz cut off the side panels of the water carts and removed from upon them the basin, and the sea he took down from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone base. ¹⁸ The covering for the Sabbath which they had built in the palace and in the entrance of the king to the outside, he removed from the temple of Yahweh because of the presence of the king of Assyria. ¹⁹ Now the remainder of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ²⁰ So Ahaz slept with his ancestors^[h] and was buried with his ancestors^[i] in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

Hoshea Reigns in Israel

17 In the twelfth year of Ahaz the king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, reigning nine years. ² He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, only not as the kings of Israel who were before him. ³ Shalmaneser the king of Assyria^[j] came up against him, and Hoshea became his vassal and paid tribute to him. ⁴ But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and he did not offer tribute to the king of Assyria as he had year after year; so the king of Assyria arrested him, and confined him in a house of imprisonment. ⁵ So the king of Assyria went up in all the land, then he went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years.

Israel Deported to Assyria and the Reasons It Fell

⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported Israel to Assyria. He placed them in Halah, in Habor, in the river regions of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. ⁷ Now this happened because the Israelites^[k] had sinned against Yahweh their God when he brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh the king of Egypt and they feared other gods. ⁸ They walked in the statutes of the nations whom Yahweh had driven out from before the Israelites,^[l] which the kings of Israel had introduced. ⁹ The Israelites^[m] secretly did things which were not right, against Yahweh their God; they built high places for themselves in all their towns, from the watchtower up to the fortified city. ¹⁰ They set up for themselves stone pillars and poles of Asherah worship on every high hill and under every green tree. ¹¹ They burned incense there on all the high places, like the nations which Yahweh deported before them, and they did evil things to provoke Yahweh. ¹² They served idols which Yahweh had said to them, “You shall not do this thing!” ¹³ Yahweh warned Israel and Judah by the hand of his every prophet, with every seer saying, “Turn from all of your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my ordinances, according to all the law which I commanded your ancestors,^[n] which I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets.” ¹⁴ But they did not listen and they stiffened their necks, like the necks of their ancestors^[o] who did not believe in Yahweh their God. ¹⁵ They rejected his statutes, his covenant which he made^[p] with their ancestors,^[q] and his warnings which he gave to them; and they went after the idols, became vain, and went after all the nations which were all around them, which Yahweh had commanded them not to do as they did. ¹⁶ They abandoned all the commands of Yahweh their God and made for themselves two molten calf-shaped idols; they made a pole of Asherah worship and bowed down to the army of the heavens and served Baal. ¹⁷ They made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, they practiced divination and read omens, and they sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke him. ¹⁸ So Yahweh was very angry with Israel and he removed them from his presence; none remained except the tribe of Judah alone.

¹⁹ Even Judah did not keep the commands of Yahweh their God, and they walked in the customs of Israel which they introduced, ²⁰ so Yahweh rejected all the offspring of Israel and punished them, and he gave them into the hand of the plunderers until he banished them from his presence. ²¹ For he had torn Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king, but Jeroboam detached Israel from following Yahweh, and he made them sin a great sin. ²² The Israelites^[r] walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he committed, and they did not depart from it, ²³ until Yahweh removed Israel from his presence as he had foretold by the hand of all his servants, the prophets. And so he deported Israel from upon his land to Assyria until this day.

Israel Repopulated with Foreign Captives

²⁴ The king of Assyria brought from Babylonia, from Cush, from Arva, from Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and he settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites,^[s] so they took possession of Samaria and lived in her cities. ²⁵ It happened that when they began living there, they did not fear Yahweh, so Yahweh sent lions among them, and they were killing them.^{[t] 26} So they said to the king of Assyria, “The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the customs of the God of the land, so he sent lions among them, and now they are killing them because they do not know the customs of the God of the land.” ²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Release one of the priests whom you deported from there, and let him go and settle there. Let him teach them the customs of the God of the land.” ²⁸ So one of the priests went, whom they had deported from Samaria, and he settled in Bethel and was teaching them how they should fear Yahweh.

²⁹ Yet every nation was making their^[u] gods, and they put them in the shrine of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they were living. ³⁰ The men of Babylonia made Succoth Benoth; the men of Cush made Nergal; the men of Hamath made Ashima. ³¹ The Arvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; the Sepharvites were burning their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim. ³² Those who were fearing Yahweh made priests of the high places from among themselves,^[v] and they were sacrificing for them in the shrines of the high places. ³³ Yahweh they were fearing, but their gods they were serving, according to the customs of the nations from which they were deported.

³⁴ Until this day they are doing according to their former customs; none of them are fearing Yahweh, and none of them are doing according to their statutes, to their decisions, to the law, or to the commands that Yahweh commanded the descendants^[w] of Jacob to which he had given the name Israel. ³⁵ Yahweh had made^[x] a covenant with them and commanded them, “You shall not fear other gods, nor shall you bow down to them, nor shall you serve them, nor shall you sacrifice to them. ³⁶ Rather, Yahweh, who brought you out from the land of Egypt with great strength and with an outstretched arm—him you shall fear, and to him you shall bow down, and to him you shall sacrifice. ³⁷ The statutes, the decisions, the law, and the commands that he wrote to you, you shall observe to do always, and you shall not fear other gods. ³⁸ The covenant that I have made^[y] with you, you shall not forget, and you shall not fear other gods. ³⁹ But Yahweh your God you shall fear, and he will deliver you from the hand of all of your enemies.” ⁴⁰ They did not listen but kept on doing according to their former customs. ⁴¹ So these nations were fearing Yahweh, but they were serving their idols, as were their children and their children’s children; as their ancestors^[z] did, they are doing until this day.

Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

18 It happened in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king. ² He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. ³ He did right in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that David his ancestor^[aa] had done. ⁴ He removed the high places, and he smashed the stone pillars; he cut down the poles of Asherah worship and demolished the bronze serpent which Moses had made, for up to those days the Israelites^[ab] were offering incense to it and called it Nehushtan. ⁵ He trusted in Yahweh the God of Israel; there was no one like him, before or after, among all the kings of Judah. ⁶ He held on to Yahweh; he did not depart from following him, and he kept his commands that Yahweh had commanded Moses. ⁷ Yahweh was with him; everywhere he went, he succeeded. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. ⁸ He attacked the Philistines up to Gaza and its territory from the watchtower up to the fortified city.

⁹ It happened in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, that is, the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came against Samaria and laid siege against her. ¹⁰ At the end of three years, he captured it in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel; Samaria was captured. ¹¹ Then the king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Habor, in the river regions of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹² because they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh their God, and they transgressed his covenant; all that he had commanded Moses, the servant of Yahweh, they did not listen to nor did they obey.

Sennacherib of Assyria Invades Judah

¹³ In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all of the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ¹⁴ So Hezekiah king of Judah sent word to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me. What you impose on me I will bear.” So the king of Assyria imposed on Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵ Then Hezekiah gave all of the silver found in the temple of Yahweh and in the storerooms of the house of the king. ¹⁶ At that time, Hezekiah cut off the doors of the temple of Yahweh and the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and he gave them to the king of Assyria. ¹⁷ So the king of Assyria sent the commander in chief, the chief eunuch, and the chief advisor^[ac] from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a heavy army. They went up and came to Jerusalem, then they went up and came and stood at the aqueduct of the upper pool which is on the main road of the washer’s^[ad] field. ¹⁸ Then they called to the king, so Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who was over the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came out to them.

Assyrians Advise against Trust in Yahweh

¹⁹ Then the chief advisor said to them, “Please say to Hezekiah: ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What is this confidence that you trust? ²⁰ You think only a word of lips, ‘I have advice and power for the war.’ Now, on whom do you trust that you have rebelled against me? ²¹ Now, look! You rely^[ae] on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, which when a man leans on it, it goes into his hand and pierces it! So is Pharaoh the king of Egypt for all who are trusting on him! ²² But if you say to me, ‘On Yahweh our God we trust,’ is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, and he had said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘In the presence of this altar you shall bow down only in Jerusalem?’ ²³ So then, please make a wager with my lord, with the king of Assyria, and I will give to you a thousand horses if you are able on your part to put riders on them.^{[af] 24} How can you repulse a single captain among the least of the servants of my master^[ag]? Yet you rely for yourself on Egypt for chariots and horsemen! ²⁵ Have I now come up against this place without Yahweh to destroy it? Yahweh has said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it!’”’”

²⁶ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah and Shebna and Joah said to the chief commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we are understanding, but you must not speak Judean with us in the ears of the people who are on the wall.” ²⁷ The chief commander said to them, “Is it solely to your master and to you my master has sent me to speak these words? Is it not for the men who sit on the wall to eat their feces and to drink their urine with you?”

²⁸ Then the chief commander stood and called with a great voice in Judean, and he spoke and said, “Hear the word of the king, the great king of Assyria! ²⁹ Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to rescue you from my^[ah] hand. ³⁰ Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, “Certainly Yahweh will rescue us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria!”’ ³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make with me a treaty of peace and come out to me that each may eat from his vine and each from his fig tree, and each may drink water from his cistern! ³² Until I come and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees, olive oil, and honey, that you may live and not die! You must not listen to Hezekiah, for he has misled you by saying, “Yahweh will deliver us!” ³³ Did the gods of each of the nations ever rescue the land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? For did they rescue Samaria from my hand? ³⁵ Who among all of the gods of the countries have rescued their countries from my hand that Yahweh should rescue Jerusalem from my hand?’”

³⁶ The people were silent, and they did not answer him a word, for the command of that king was saying, “You shall not answer him.” ³⁷ Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who was over the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder came to Hezekiah with torn clothes, and they told him the words of the chief commander.

Isaiah Sends Encouragement to Hezekiah

19 It happened that when King Hezekiah heard, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went to the temple of Yahweh. ² He sent Eliakim who was over the palace, Shebna the secretary, the elders, and the priests, all clothed in sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. ³ They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘A day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace is this day, for the children are about to be born,^[ai] but there is no strength to bear them. ⁴ Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear all of the words of the chief commander whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to insult the living God, and he will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remainder who are left.’” ⁵ So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶ and Isaiah said to them, “Thus you must say to your master, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “You must not be afraid because the face of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. ⁷ Look, I am putting in him a spirit. He will hear a rumor and return to his land. Then I will cause him to fall by the sword in his land.”’”

The Assyrians Defy God

⁸ When the chief commander returned, he found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish. ⁹ He heard about Tirhakah, the king of Cush, saying, “Look, he has set out to fight with you,” so he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus you shall say to Hezekiah the king of Judah, ‘Let not your God whom you are trusting deceive you, by his saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria!” ¹¹ Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, by utterly destroying them, and shall you be delivered? ¹² Did the gods of the nations that my predecessors^[aj] destroyed deliver them? Not Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, nor the children of Eden who were in Tel Assar. ¹³ Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah Prays to Yahweh

¹⁴ Hezekiah took the letters from the hand of the messengers and read them. Then he went up to the temple of Yahweh, and Hezekiah spread them out before the presence of Yahweh. ¹⁵ Then Hezekiah prayed before the face of Yahweh and said, “O Yahweh, God of Israel who lives above the cherubim. You are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the world; you have made the heavens and the earth. ¹⁶ Incline your ears and hear; open, O Yahweh, your eyes and see and hear the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to insult the living God. ¹⁷ Truly, O Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have utterly destroyed the nations and their land. ¹⁸ He has hurled their gods in the fire because they are not gods, but the work of the hands of a human made of wood and stone, so they destroyed them. ¹⁹ So then, O Yahweh our God, rescue us, please, from his hand, that all of the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Yahweh, you alone are God!”

Isaiah Brings a Prophetic Response

²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, ‘What you have prayed to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. ²¹ This is the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him:

²⁹ “‘This will be the sign for you: Eat the volunteer plants for the year, and in the second year, the volunteer plants that spring up from that. But in the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ³⁰ The remainder of the house of Judah which survives will again take root below and bear fruit above. ³¹ For from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out and survivors from Mount Zion; the zeal of Yahweh will do this.

³² “‘Therefore thus says Yahweh to the king of Assyria, “He shall not come to this city, nor shall he shoot an arrow there, nor shall he bring a small shield near her, nor shall he cast a siege ramp against her. ³³ By the way that he came to her he shall return; but to this city, he shall not come,” declares Yahweh. ³⁴ And I will defend this city to save her for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’”

An Angel Neutralizes the Assyrian Army

³⁵ It happened in that night that an angel of Yahweh went out, and he struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyria. When they got up early in the morning, look! All of them were dead corpses. ³⁶ Then Sennacherib king of Assyria set out and went and returned and lived in Nineveh. ³⁷ It happened that he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer^[ak] struck him with the sword. Then they escaped into the land of Ararat, and Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.

Hezekiah Loses Health and Regains It through Prayer

20 In those days Hezekiah became deathly ill,^[al] and Isaiah the son of Amoz the prophet came to him and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Command your house, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’” ² Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh, saying, ³ “O Yahweh, please remember how I went about before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and remember the good that I have done in your eyes.” Then Hezekiah wept bitterly.^{[am] 4} Isaiah had not gone out from the middle of the city when the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, ⁵ “Return; you must say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, ‘Thus says Yahweh the God of David your ancestor,^[an] “I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. Look, I am about to heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the temple of Yahweh. ⁶ I will add to your days fifteen years, and from the hand of the king of Assyria I will deliver you and this city. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”’” ⁷ Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of figs,” so they took and put it on the skin sores, and he lived.

⁸ Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What is the sign that Yahweh will heal me that I shall go up on the third day to the temple of Yahweh?” ⁹ Isaiah said, “This is the sign for you from Yahweh that Yahweh will do the thing that he has promised: Shall the shadow advance ten steps or shall it return ten steps?” ¹⁰ Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. No, but let the shadow return backwards ten steps.” ¹¹ Isaiah the prophet called to Yahweh, and he brought back the shadow on the steps where it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz, backwards ten steps.

Hezekiah Reveals Too Much to a Babylonian Envoy

¹² At that time, Berodak-Baladan the son of Baladan king of Babylon^[ao] sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been ill. ¹³ Hezekiah heard about them and showed them all of the house of his treasure, both the silver and the gold, the spices, the good olive oil, the room of his weapons, and all that could be found in his treasuries. There was nothing that he did not show them in his palace and in all of his kingdom. 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?” Hezekiah said, “From a far land; they have come from Babylon.” ¹⁵ Then he asked, “What did they see in your palace?” And Hezekiah said, “All that is in my palace they have seen; there is nothing that I did not show them in my treasuries.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Yahweh! ¹⁷ ‘Look, days are coming when all that is in your palace will be carried off; even all that your ancestors^[ap] have stored up until this day, to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says Yahweh. ¹⁸ ‘Your sons who went out from you, whom you brought forth, will be taken, and they shall be eunuchs in the temple of the king of Babylon.’” ¹⁹ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of Yahweh which you have spoken is good,” and he thought, “Is it not that peace and security shall be in my days?” ²⁰ Now the remainder of the acts of Hezekiah, all of his powerful deeds, and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought the water into the city, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ²¹ Then Hezekiah slept with his ancestors,^[aq] and Manasseh his son became king in his place.

Evil Manasseh Reigns after Godly Hezekiah

21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hephzibah. ² He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, according to the detestable things of the nations that Yahweh had driven out from the presence of the Israelites.^{[ar] 3} He returned and rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. He erected altars for Baal and made a pole of Asherah worship just as Ahab king of Israel had made, and he bowed down to all of the host of heaven and served them. ⁴ He built altars in the temple of Yahweh about which Yahweh had said, “I will put my name in Jerusalem.” ⁵ He built an altar to all of the host of heaven in the two courtyards of the temple of Yahweh. ⁶ He made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying and divination, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He increased the doing of evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke him. ⁷ He put the image of the Asherah that he had made in the temple which Yahweh had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this temple and in Jerusalem which I have chosen from all of the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. ⁸ I will not again make the feet of Israel wander from the land which I have given to their ancestors,^[as] if they only observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, as far as the law that Moses my servant commanded them.” ⁹ But Manasseh did not listen and tempted them to do evil more than the nations that Yahweh destroyed before the presence of the Israelites.^[at]

Yahweh Sends a Rebuke to Manasseh

¹⁰ So Yahweh spoke by the hand of his servants the prophets, saying, ¹¹ “Because Manasseh the king of Judah committed these detestable things and did evil more than the Amorites did who were before him and caused even Judah to sin with his idols, ¹² therefore, thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, ‘Look, I am bringing disaster upon Jerusalem and Judah about which the two ears of all who hear it will tingle. ¹³ I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes the dish; he wipes it and turns it on its face. ¹⁴ I will give up the remainder of my inheritance, and I will give them into the hand of their enemies. They shall become as prey and as spoil for all their enemies, ¹⁵ because they have done evil in my eyes and were provoking me from the day that their ancestors^[au] came out from Egypt up to this day.’”

¹⁶ Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he filled Jerusalem from one end to another,^[av] apart from his sin which he caused Judah to sin by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh. ¹⁷ The remainder of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did and his sin that he committed, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ¹⁸ Then Manasseh slept with his ancestors^[aw] and was buried in the garden of his palace, in the garden of Uzza. Amon his son became king in his place.

Amon Reigns in Judah Only Two Years

¹⁹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz from Jotbah. ²⁰ He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh as Manasseh his father had done. ²¹ He walked in all of the way which his father had walked, and he served the idols which his father had served and bowed down to them. ²² He abandoned Yahweh the God of his ancestors^[ax] and did not walk in the way of Yahweh. ²³ The servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his palace. ²⁴ But the people of the land killed all who conspired against the king and made Josiah his son king in his place. ²⁵ The remainder of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ²⁶ They buried him in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son became king in place of him.

Josiah Becomes King in Judah

22 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah from Bozkath. ² He did right in the eyes of Yahweh, and he walked in all of the way of David his ancestor^[ay] and did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

³ It happened in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent word to Shaphan the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the secretary of the temple of Yahweh, saying, ⁴ “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, and let them count the money being brought to the temple of Yahweh which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people, ⁵ and let them give it into the hand of those appointed doers of the work at the temple of Yahweh. Let them give it to the doers of the work who are at the temple of Yahweh to repair the breach of the temple: ⁶ to the skilled craftsmen, to the builders, to the masons, and to buy timber and hewing stones to repair the temple. ⁷ Only the money being given to them is not to be accounted for by them, for they are dealing with honesty.”

A Scroll of the Torah Discovered in the Temple

⁸ Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the scroll of the Torah in the temple of Yahweh,” and Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it. ⁹ Shaphan the secretary came to the king and returned the king a word, and he said, “Your servant poured out the money found in the temple, and they have given it into the hand of the doers of the work appointed over the temple of Yahweh.” ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” Then Shaphan read before the king.

¹¹ When the king heard the words of the scroll of the Torah, he tore his clothes. ¹² Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Acbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the servant of the king, saying, ¹³ “Go, inquire of Yahweh for me and for the people and for all of Judah concerning the words of this scroll that was found. For the wrath of Yahweh that is kindled against us is great because our ancestors^[az] did not listen to the words of this scroll to do according to all that is written concerning us!”

The Prophetess Huldah Predicts Doom for Judah

¹⁴ So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah the son of Harhas, the keeper of the robes. Now she was living in Jerusalem in the second district. Then they spoke to her, ¹⁵ and she said to them, “Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, ‘Say to the man who sent you to me, ¹⁶ “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Look I am bringing evil to this place and upon its inhabitants, according to all of the words of that scroll that the king of Judah has read ¹⁷ because they have abandoned me and they have burned incense to other gods, provoking me to anger with all of the works of their hands. My wrath shall be kindled against this place and not be quenched.’” ¹⁸ And to the king of Judah who sent all of you to inquire of Yahweh, thus you shall say to him, “Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, ‘Concerning the words that you have heard, ¹⁹ because you have a responsive heart, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants to become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before my face, I have also heard, declares Yahweh. ²⁰ Therefore look, I am gathering you to your ancestors,^[ba] and you shall be gathered to your tombs in peace. Your eyes will not see all of the disaster that I am bringing onto this place.’”’” Then they reported the word^[bb] to the king.

Josiah’s Covenantal Reforms

23 So the king sent word, and all of the elders of Judah and Jerusalem gathered to him. ² Then the king went up to the temple of Yahweh, and all of the men of Judah and all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem were with him, including the priests, the prophets, and all of the people from smallest to greatest; and in their hearing^[bc] he read all of the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the temple of Yahweh. ³ Then the king stood by the pillar, and he made^[bd] a covenant before Yahweh, to go after Yahweh and to keep his commands and his warnings and his statutes, with all of his heart and with his all of his soul, to keep the words of this covenant written on this scroll. Then all of the people joined^[be] in the covenant.

⁴ Then the king^[bf] commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the second priests, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the temple of Yahweh all of the objects made for Baal and for the Asherah and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and then he carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵ He removed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem and who offered incense to, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven. ⁶ He brought out the Asherah image from the temple of Yahweh outside of Jerusalem to the Wadi of the Kidron and burnt it there;^[bg] then he pulverized it to dust and threw its dust upon the tombs of the children of the people. ⁷ He tore down the shrines of the male shrine prostitutes which were in the temple of Yahweh, where the women were weaving shrines for the Asherah. ⁸ Then he brought all of the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests from Geba up to Beersheba burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were on the left of each gate of the city. ⁹ However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of Yahweh in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread in the midst of their relatives. ¹⁰ He defiled the Topheth which is in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, to prevent^[bh] anyone causing his sons or his daughters to pass through the fire for Molech. ¹¹ He kept the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun from coming to the temple of Yawheh at the side room of Nathan-Melech the eunuch, which was in the court; and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire. ¹² The altars which were on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the temple of Yahweh, the king tore down and ran from there and threw their ashes into the Wadi Kidron. ¹³ The high places which were east of Jerusalem, which were on the south of the Mountain of Destruction which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the detestable thing of the Ammonites,^[bi] the king defiled. ¹⁴ He also broke into pieces the stone pillars and cut down the Asherah poles and covered their sites with human bones.

¹⁵ Moreover, the altar which was in Bethel, the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin, had built, even that altar and the high place, Josiah tore down. Then he burned down the high place and crushed the pole of Asherah worship to dust and burned it with fire. ¹⁶ When Josiah turned and saw the tombs which were there on the hill, he sent and took the bones from the tombs and burned them on the altar. Thus he defiled them according to the word of Yahweh that the man of God had proclaimed who had proclaimed these things. ¹⁷ Then he said, “What is this gravestone that I am seeing?” The men of the city said to him, “This is 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 So Josiah said, “Let him rest and let no man move his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria. ¹⁹ Moreover, all of the shrines of the high places which were in the towns of Samaria which the kings of Israel had made to provoke Yahweh, Josiah removed, and he did to them like all of the deeds he had done in Bethel. ²⁰ Then he slaughtered all of the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and he burned the bones of the humans on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Passover Renewed

²¹ Then the king commanded all of the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, as has been written on the scroll of this covenant.” ²² For they had not kept this Passover from the days of the judges who had judged over Israel or^[bj] during the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. ²³ But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was kept for Yahweh in Jerusalem.

²⁴ Moreover, the mediums and the spiritists, the household gods and the idols, and all of the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah removed in order to establish the words of the law written on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found in the temple of Yahweh. ²⁵ There was not a king like him before him, who turned to Yahweh with all of his heart and with all of his soul and with all of his might according to the law^[bk] of Moses, nor did one arise like him afterwards.

²⁶ However, Yahweh did not turn from the fierceness of his great anger which was kindled against Judah because of all of the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. ²⁷ Yahweh had said, “Even Judah I will remove from my face, as I have removed Israel; I will reject this city that I have chosen, even Jerusalem and the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there’!”

²⁸ The remainder of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ²⁹ In his days, Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went to meet him, and he^[bl] killed him at Megiddo as soon as he saw him. ³⁰ So his servants drove him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, and they brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.

Jehoahaz Reigns in Judah

³¹ Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. ³² He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all his ancestors^[bm] had done. ³³ Then Pharaoh Neco confined him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, from reigning in Jerusalem, and imposed a levy on the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

Jehoiakim Replaces Jehoahaz

³⁴ Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of Josiah his father, and he changed his name to Jehoiakim. Then he took Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt, and he died there. ³⁵ The silver and the gold Jehoiakim gave to Pharaoh; however, he taxed the land to give the silver to meet the demands of Pharaoh.^[bn] Each according to assessment, he exacted payment of the silver and the gold from the people of the land to give to Pharaoh Neco.

³⁶ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Zebudah,^[bo] the daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah. ³⁷ He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his ancestors^[bp] had done.

First Invasion of Nebuchadnezzar; Jehoiakim Submits

24 In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up because Jehoiakim had become his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him. ² So Yahweh sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, raiding bands of Aram, raiding bands of Moab, and raiding bands of the Ammonites.^[bq] He had sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yahweh that he had spoken by the hand of his servants the prophets. ³ Surely, it was on the command^[br] of Yahweh against Judah to remove them from his sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done. ⁴ Also, for the blood of the innocent that he had shed—and he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood—Yahweh was not willing to forgive. ⁵ The remainder of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ⁶ So Jehoiakim slept with his ancestors,^[bs] and Jehoiachin his son became king in his place. ⁷ The king of Egypt did not again come out from his land, for the king of Babylon had taken territory from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

Jehoichin Succeeds Jehoiakim

⁸ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem. ⁹ He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his father had done.

Second Invasion of Nebuchadnezzar

¹⁰ At that time, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and the city came under the siege. ¹¹ Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city while his servants were besieging it. ¹² Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his court officials. The king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. ¹³ Then he took from there all of the treasures of the temple of Yahweh and the treasures of the palace of the king. He cut up all of the vessels of gold which Solomon the king of Israel had made in the temple of Yahweh, as Yahweh had foretold. ¹⁴ He deported all of Jerusalem: all of the commanders, ten thousand of the skilled warriors, and the artisans; no one was left over except the poorest of the people of the land. ¹⁵ He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon; the mother of the king, the wives of the king, his court officials, and the citizenry of the land he caused to go into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ¹⁶ of all of the skilled men, seven thousand, and of the skilled craftsmen and the artisans, one thousand. All of the mighty warriors fit for war^[bt] the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. ¹⁷ Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his uncle king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah Replaces Jehoiachin

¹⁸ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. ¹⁹ He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh just like all that Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰ For it happened because of the anger of Yahweh, in Jerusalem and in Judah, until they were cast out from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

The Final Invasion of Nebuchadnezzar

25 It happened that in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came, he and his army, against Jerusalem. He encamped against it and built siege works against it all around. ² So the city came under siege until the eleventh year of the king. ³ In the ninth month, the famine became severe in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land. ⁴ Then the city was breached, and all of the men of war entered by night by way of the gate between the wall which was by the garden of the king, and the Chaldeans were against the city all around, so he^[bu] left by the way of the Arabah. ⁵ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the Arabah of Jericho, and all of his army scattered from him. ⁶ So they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on him.^{[bv] 7} They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; then they blinded the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.

Jerusalem Is Sacked and the Temple Burned

⁸ In the fifth month, on the seventh of the month, that is, the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, a commander of the imperial guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ⁹ He burned the temple of Yahweh, the palace of the king, and all of the houses of Jerusalem; every large house he burned with fire. ¹⁰ He and all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the imperial guard tore down the wall of Jerusalem all around. ¹¹ The remainder of the people left in the city, the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the remainder of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the commander of the imperial guard deported.

¹² But the poor of the land the commander of the imperial guard left for the vineyards and for tilling.

Plunder Taken by the Chaldeans

¹³ The bronze pillars which were in the temple^[bw] of Yahweh, the water carts, and the bronze sea that was in the temple of Yahweh, the Chaldeans broke into pieces and carried their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ The pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the dishes, and the vessels of bronze with which they served there, they took. ¹⁵ The firepans and the basins, whatever was gold, the commander of the imperial guard took for the gold and whatever was silver, for the silver. ¹⁶ The two pillars, the one sea, and the water cart which Solomon had made for the temple of Yahweh, there was no weighing to the bronze of all of these vessels. ¹⁷ The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; a bronze capital was on it, with the height of the capital being three cubits. The latticework and pomegranates on the capital all around were bronze, and likewise on the latticework for the second pillar.

¹⁸ Then the commander of the imperial guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and three of the threshold keepers. ¹⁹ From the city he took one court official who was chief officer over the men of war, five men from the king’s council^[bx] who were found in the city, the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men from the people of the land being found in the city. ²⁰ Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹ Then the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath; thus Judah was removed from its land.

Gedaliah Appointed Governor

²² Now as far as the people left in Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon left behind, he appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan over them. ²³ When all of the commanders of the troops heard, they and the men, that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Kareah, Seriah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. ²⁴ Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and he said to them, “You must not be afraid because of the Chaldeans. Settle in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and may it go well with you.” ²⁵ But it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama from the offspring of the kingship came, and ten men with him, and they struck down Gedaliah so that he died with the Judeans and with the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶ Then all the people, from youngest to oldest, and the commanders of the troops, went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the presence of the Chaldeans.

Elderly Jehoiachin Cared for in Babylon

²⁷ It happened in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month on the twenty-seventh of the month, lifted Evil-Merodach king of Babylon in the year that he became king, the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah from the house of imprisonment. ²⁸ He spoke kindly^[by] to him, and he gave him a better seat than the seat of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹ So he changed the clothes of his imprisonment, and he ate food continually in his presence all the days of his life. ³⁰ His allowance was continually given to him from the king, a portion every day^[bz] all the days of his life.